really, there was plenty fraudulent about lulu flint. [break][break]
for starters: her name. the soft-spoken saoirse quinn was a (literally) buried detail of the past, replaced by the infamously aggressive force that was lulu flint. additionally, she possessed no degrees or certifications. everything she had learned, similarly to elisa, had been found through isolated study—and a knack for accessing things she wasn’t supposed to.[break][break]
still, she never corrected a soul who called her by her various bogus titles. professor flint. doctor flint. she took it in stride, often hiding her smirk behind a casual sip of coffee.[break][break]
no such cup was in her hand today. her meeting with the florist, Elisabeth Fiorelli, was an especially important one. [break][break]
as she continued through the laboratory, she surveyed the various new additions they’d accumulated, spending time at each to gaze curiously at them. quiet and loyal at her heel was a houndoom—one of the two which guarded her office, rumored around the labs to be especially vicious. [break][break]
soon enough, she spotted a face she was confident belonged to the woman she was meeting. straightening from her inspection, she approached, heels clicking beneath the edges of her lab coat. [break][break]
”fiorelli, i presume?” [break][break]
when she got close enough, she held out her hand. [break][break]
”lulu flint.”

[attr="class","ooc"]Elisabeth Fiorelli [break][break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-houndoom"]

elisabeth came off as polite, perhaps even the slightest bit demure in her handshake. lulu did not find this surprising, and expected little more from a plant person. this did not take away from her excitement to hear the newest details from she whose expertise came highly recommended.[break][break]

while peering down at the specimen shown to her, lulu allowed elisabeth her full explanation uninterrupted. her face stretched in interest at the detail of the seafloor blooms. that had not been a previously known fact or a consideration for the head scientist. this was good news. however, as elisabeth continued, lulu’s attention was more fully captured by the implication of her theory.[break][break]

”it makes sense. with newly developed technology, we’ve been able to detect and measure infinity energy around hoenn—as well as identify it in the crystablooms. we’ve picked up more sporadic activity in areas where distortions are about to occur, leading us to believe they are actually caused by this same energy. this only further solidifies that theory.” [break][break]

this time, it was lulu’s turn to consider a hypothesis in a pause of silence.[break][break]

”it seems that, perhaps, as much of this resource as hoenn possesses, it is either growing in abundance, or rising more to the surface from where it must have been dormant for a very long time—longer than we can recall, historically.”[break][break]

it could sound like doom. or, it could sound like opportunity.[break][break]

”i’d say we can feel certain that there will only be more phenomena.” actually, it was a fairly easy guess, regardless of clues. ”we can now prepare to make the most of it. these crystablooms will provide us with the power we will need to take advantage of hoenn's impending problems; perhaps even fix them, in rocket’s name.”

[attr="class","ooc"]Elisabeth Fiorelli [break][break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-houndoom"]

lulu’s eyebrow raised back. using the crystabloom as a safe channel for infinity energy was an intriguing idea. how much could a flower take before it was overpowered? how did their resilience hold up to the generator, and what notes could they take from its natural design?[break][break]

after a moment of consideration, she nodded. ”not just a conduit, but a source.” and they had plenty of it. [break][break]

did they have a goal for it? lulu, personally, had too many to count. infinity energy had given her a breakthrough in her career. it was what she knew best, and she had faith that with it, rocket would be unstoppable.[break][break]

”of course. they will power our trips to space, and beyond; to other worlds.” [break][break]

she was unable to keep the small smile from her face at what was to come. meanwhile, gorgo the houndoom stared back up at elisabeth, quiet and patient. her sharp, ever-alert red eyes left the woman eventually to follow others working around the room.[break][break]

”actually, that brings me to my next question: in your opinion, how long might these flowers retain their energy after being removed from hoenn’s soil?”

[attr="class","ooc"]Elisabeth Fiorelli [break][break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-houndoom"]

being that there had been such rapid fluctuations in energy, she had doubts that hoenn’s dirt itself could retain the energy on its own in any substantial amount—but it was possible. how did mega stones form, after all?[break][break]

lulu listened, attentive, absorbing what she could understand, while inwardly turning over different theories of her own. while elisabeth’s idea of crystabloom reproduction was very intriguing, it still raised some concerns. [break][break]

“if additional infinity energy were needed to propagate them, that could make them unfortunately unsustainable when their purpose to us is that energy; however, if prompting reproduction with the infinity energy from mega stones were to result in a greater output of crystablooms, it could still be greatly beneficial to us...” she paused. “it's a very interesting theory. keep at it.”[break][break]

lingering with another curious moment of silence, she then revisited the prior topic.[break][break]

“and what about the soil? infinity energy in the ground does not seem to stay at a constant level—although i won’t rule out that our readings could be inaccurate due to other phenomena. would the soil lose its radiation eventually, and perhaps in turn, then, its fertileness?”

[attr="class","ooc"]Elisabeth Fiorelli [break][break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-houndoom"]

”using the mega stones to try and create distortions could be a very rewarding venture… however expensive…” mega stones were still fairly rare, after all, and with readings to help them gauge when the distortions might occur naturally, lulu figured following them and taking advantage of such already-occurring phenomena might’ve been the way to go.[break][break]

then, the soil samples came, and following their explanation, lulu was clearly deep in thought. [break][break]

”this is quite a discovery.”[break][break]

another moment, and she sighed lightly. she rarely appeared overwhelmed, but it was difficult to hide the surprise, and the weight of such findings in her eyes. [break][break]

”if i am understanding correctly, i would theorize that these space-time distortions are not only a way through time, but perhaps a culmination of multiple timelines and places ‘patchworked’ together, so to speak.” which was difficult to wrap the mind around, really—and also vaguely terrifying. again, she recalled her memory of dialga. [break][break]

”different worlds, perhaps.”[break][break]

was hoenn’s pull on the multiverse so great that whole other worlds were being pulled into their own, simultaneously? were these collisions on a different plane, like a meteor shower? like meteno?[break][break]

they were getting hit, over and over. perhaps these worlds were dying, and they were merely glimpsing final moments, apocalypses so frequent that they simply ran together. [break][break]

was it the tree’s appetite? was that where all of the energy was coming from? [break][break]

fuck.

[attr="class","ooc"]Elisabeth Fiorelli [break][break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-houndoom"]