lulu always held a grudge. this wasn’t second chance ranch. this was the thunderdome. the look on her face sent the couple of scientists who’d been in close vicinity scattering. they knew crazy when they saw it.

”oh,” her voice ran through several disdainful notes. she fixed cian with a stare like icicles, perhaps colder than the avalanche he’d dropped on her head during hst—but maybe not. it’d been pretty fucking cold.

”it’s you.”

practically vibrating with aggressive, serial killer energy, she snapped, ”i don’t think you realize how many torture devices i have here. who sent you, or are you really so stupid that you’d come of your own accord?”

CIAN MAHER

☉

maybe the way the few scientists scatter away should've been telling enough for their interaction to come. but maybe he's just an optimist and wants to see the best in people.

jk. he sees nothing good in her. he just likes stirring shit.

"it's me. i'm, uh, surprised you remember."

careful, cian.

"science sent me. apparently they wanted me to show you these distortion pokemon."

Lulu Flint

☉

why was he surprised? was he being serious?

her fiery eyes narrowed more, suspicious and hateful. she wanted to send him out on his way, down to another part of the labs, and off to the biologists—but she’d taken an interest in these specimens in particular. they were related to the distortions. from another time.

”... great.”

her eyes never left his, maybe trying to burn a hole through this head.

”well,” she prompted sharply, throwing a hand out to gesture, ”go ahead.”

CIAN MAHER

☉

her hatred only seems to fuel him for whatever reason. he doesn't dislike her but he's also not fond of her. maybe that'll change with time.

until then...

"yes, ma'am."

cian pulls out two pokeballs and casually lobs them into the air. they burst open to reveal a samurott and an avalugg, except both have distinct differences in their appearances.

miscalculating his throw slightly, the avalugg forms right atop a table only to crush it under its sudden weight.

"oops. anyways, yeah, that's them."

Lulu Flint

☉

of course, it was an avalugg, dropped onto a table. this was why he was minor league. that, or it was toxicity as its finest.

lulu was notoriously easy to rile, of course. whether or not this had been intentional made no difference. it was her job to ensure that mistakes stayed out of the lab. mistakes like cian maher.

her eyes burned with disbelief, widening at his provocation.

”what the fuck was that?!”

CIAN MAHER

☉

"sorry! sorry. i'll pay for that."

even if he's not sure what else he might have broken besides the table. are those shards of the glass on the floor?

he is painfully aware of her dislike of him, however. more hatred than dislike by this point, surely.

crossing his arms over his chest, he glances over to the avalugg and samurott.

"so, what'd you think?"

Lulu Flint

☉

she glared. incompetence.

”yes. you will.” perhaps not just monetarily, by the tone in her voice. she strained against the restrictions of professionalism and the need to maintain morale. if she could drop half of them into a sharpedo tank...

though her grudge kept the look on her face sharp, she willed her attention to fully shift.

”they seem to be variations of pokemon that can be found in our world, as you can see.”

she circled, heels clicking with each step as she got closer—but hopefully not too close.

”have you noticed any differences in their typings, from native avalugg or samurott? it seems to be common in pokemon retrieved from the distortions.”

CIAN MAHER

☉

despite finding himself in an unfamiliar space, cian easily makes it his own. he slides into a nearby stool before leaning on the table, humming in thought.

"i think the avalugg's part-rock. it doesn't seem to be as prone to fire as it used to be."

he looks over at the samurott who's sat like a good pupper.

"not sure about the samurott, though."

then, back at the head scientist.

"have you received anything similar to them?"

Lulu Flint

☉

she was curious to see what the two were capable of, of course. beyond new typings combinations, were there new typings themselves that had come from these distortions? new types of energy possessed by these variations they’d never seen before?

”i see.”

her eyes returned to cian, expression still flat with lingering distaste. sometimes, she wished she could shrug her responsibilities and easily as she could remove her labcoat. unfortunately, the days of strangling people like Killian Decker were behind her.

”if you mean other pokémon from the distortion, then yes. they are becoming more and more abundant.” which was potentially very dangerous, both to hoenn’s ecosystems and humanity. but had that ever stopped rocket before? of course not.

”recently, a variation of petilil was brought in.”

it had appeared to be wearing shoes, which she had been very, perhaps inappropriately amused by.

”have you been able to train them?”

CIAN MAHER

☉

"as the best minor league gym leader, yes i have been able to train them."

shameless as ever.

samurott waddles over to cian to nudge its head against his leg much like a feline pokemon would.

"they act the same as they were before the change. i just wonder what it is exactly that's causing them."

he reaches down to give samurott good pats on its head.

"maybe we can harnest that energy somehow."

Lulu Flint

☉

lulu blinked at him, her annoyance only rising for whatever reason, and then her eyes lowered to the samurott. she was unimpressed by the cute display. she didn’t trust these variations yet. they needed further testing. instead, they were really living amongst them now. like pets.

”the energy behind their transformation?”

she considered.

”hm. i imagine whatever is causing the distortions is also causing these transformations. we’ve discovered that there are fluctuations of infinity energy around the areas where space-time distortions occur. it could be similar to the instances of spontaneous mega evolution we’ve seen around the region with primal energy.”

her eyes settled on his strange-looking pokémon. ”i wonder if the absorber would draw more power from them than their former variations.”

CIAN MAHER

☉

cian's busy patting his samurott so it takes him a few moments to process what's been said. when he finally does, he looks up.

"hold up."

his eyebrows furrow. does she think he'd just let her use his samurott like that? not like he'd have much of a choice in the end, but still, he can protest.

and if anything, protesting it just covers his tracks better when he rats later.

"what does the absorber do again?"

Lulu Flint

☉

in her defense, she’d only said, ‘i wonder’, not ’give me your fucking samurott bitch’, but her eyes were as cold and heartless, void of anything but selfish curiosity. she didn’t hide this when he looked back up. he should’ve known better. why bring it here if it wasn’t an offering?

”it absorbs infinity energy, the bioenergy in all living things. the power of life itself, essentially.”

and she knew what it sounded like, which was why she added, ”not deadly if we time it right.”

CIAN MAHER

☉