[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]During Rocket's grand Sootopolis summit—how incredibly long ago that seemed now!—Aurelie had expressed a sincere interest in investigating whatever minerals the Rocket mining team could manage to secure from the infamous 99943 METENO meteoroid, even if she knew those minerals would be unlikely to be anything that she could ever use for smithing. She'd never have guessed that the meteoroid would yield something like the Tera Crystals, of which she'd only heard vague speculation and rumors so far. Some said they could change a Pokemon's type or form, while others claimed they turned the Pokemon into living crystal, and still others whispered the Tera Crystals could all be reassembled to form a deadly weapon, an amazing new energy source, or something even more fantastical.

It was all quite mysterious and fascinating, and thoroughly within Aurelie's general field of interest, if not her professional specialty or a cause that she would've cared to fight and die for. When she'd seen the notice at Rocket HQ for assistants to help with testing a newly acquired Tera crystal, Aurelie had signed up promptly and eagerly. Though she wasn't as interested in seeing the crystal's effect on her Pokemon, the red-haired smith was quite excited to analyze, measure, and record the properties of this literally otherworldly new material.

Besides, this would be her first foray into Rocket's labs, which would surely be an education all on its own. Though Aurelie had never envisioned pursuing any other career but metalsmithing, most of her materials engineering classmates had gone on to work in industrial or academic R&D, and of course they'd all done time as interns and co-ops in labs and companies around Anistar City, assisting with the professional engineers' tasks and tests. Aurelie wondered if working in the Rocket labs would feel nostalgic or novel—if she'd be transported back to her college years or if she'd encounter the "ghastly and unnatural" experiments that League propaganda always claimed Rocket was conducting.

She grinned at the thought as she pushed open the doors to the lab that the owner of the Tera crystal, Naomi Sato, had reserved. Her Magneton floated gently behind her, its innate magnetic field dampened by an arrangement of solenoids and batteries generating an opposing magnetic field so that it wouldn't disrupt the electronics or cause a magnetic storm inside the lab. If ever a Pokemon could help test a new material's electric conductivity or magnetism, Aurelie figured it'd be a Magneton.

Lab coats, safety goggles, gloves, and aprons were hanging by the doors, and Aurelie slid them on while scanning the lab for anyone else there. Seeing a pink-haired young woman also swathed in PPE, with a Togekiss hovering beside her, Aurelie walked toward her. Extending her hand, she offered a friendly smile.

"Hello, I'm Aurelie," she said forthrightly, tilting her head to one side and studying the young woman. She looked vaguely familiar, probably from the summit. "Nice to meet you. Are you the one running the Tera crystal experiment? If so," Aurelie went on, "just let me know where you'd like to start."

Looking at all the equipment laid out, she asked animatedly, "Tensile strength? Compressibility? Mineral hardness? Temperature testing?"

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]"Ooooh, it's beautiful," Aurelie breathed out, her single eye widening in wonder and her lips parting in unalloyed awe when Nomi displayed her Tera Crystal. Entranced by the scintillating play of red and gold hues within the crystal, she listened to Nomi's explanation in attentive silence, shaking her head slightly when Nomi asked if she'd read the Meteno 99943 expedition reports and nodding along at the description of the different crystals they'd recovered from the meteoroid.

When Nomi sheepishly admitted that she might have gotten too much equipment, Aurelie broke into a grin and vigorously shook her head. "When it comes to equipment, I don't think there's any such thing as going overboard," the red-haired smith declared, surveying the lab appreciatively. "The more resources you have available to you, the more you'll be able to find out about the crystal, right? And the more we learn about these crystals, the better—if only because knowledge is always worth having."

However, even after having said that, when Nomi suggested using the Tera Crystal to trigger a possible reaction from her Pokemon, Aurelie found herself hesitating. Knowledge was worth having, yes, but she honestly hadn't anticipated this request. She looked back and forth from Nomi's Togekiss to her Magneton for a moment, her brows furrowing in uncertainty.

"You want to test this on my Pokemon?" she repeated slowly, pressing her lips together. Glancing again at her quiescent Magneton, swathed in wires and solenoids, she said hesitantly, "I...well, I'm sure the crystal's effects—the terastallizing—clearly had no ill effects on your Pokemon, since they look well and unhamed. But...well..."

How to say that this hadn't been what Aurelie had thought she was signing up for, when she'd seen the call for volunteer assistants? She hadn't thought the volunteer's Pokemon would be offered up as test subjects, even for a phenomenon that was probably safe and possibly even beneficial. The red-haired smith was all for turning knobs and pushing buttons on machines, hitting metals and minerals with a hammer, watching things melt and deform inside a furnace, and running currents through things.

But her Pokemon? Wasn't there some kind of informed consent form for this sort of thing? Had she just missed this important detail when she'd signed up to assist? Aurelie admitted privately and grudgingly that she wouldn't put it past herself to not have noticed this in her eagerness to see the mysterious Tera Crystals up close.

Still, Aurelie couldn't shake the feeling that it was one thing to administer tests upon an inanimate substance and quite another to do so to a living creature like a Pokemon.

"I...well, I'm not sure," she faltered now, looking again at the Togekiss beside Nomi. "I'm all for helping with experimentation on the crystal itself, but my Pokemon..." She let the sentence trail off, smiling apologetically at Nomi but not wavering in her unease over the request.

"Have you tried replicating the, uh, terastallization process on other Pokemon before? Or would this be the first time you've asked to see what it does to other Pokemon besides your Togekiss?" she asked. "Can you describe to me what happens to your Pokemon during this process? What do you have to do to activate the process, and how many times have you tried it? Better yet, can you demonstrate the terastallization for me here and now?"

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]Listening to the other woman's lecture and watching the Terastallization process on her Pokemon, Aurelie crossed her arms and nodded attentively. Privately, the red-haired smith concluded that in the future, she should do more research on any similar requests for lab assistants before showing up. Nomi seemed so taken aback by Aurelie's lack of knowledge and skepticism about Tera Orbs and Terastallizing her Pokemon, which led Aurelie to wonder if she should have anticipated it ahead of time, rather than assuming that the testing would be centered on the physical properties of the Tera Orb crystal itself.

"Thank you for explaining all of that at such length and in terms worthy of a five-year-old," she responded gravely, when Nomi was finished demonstrating the Terastallizing process and the effects of Tera Blasts. "I appreciate you simplifying the concepts so much. I believe I understand better now."

The transformation itself had been fascinating to watch, and the beauty of the Togekiss' altered form, which now looked as if it had been carved from sparkling crystal, was undeniable. It was interesting and rather odd to see the bouquet of crystalline daisies atop the Pokemon's head, though. Given that Nomi had said her Tera Orb changed its Tera type to Fire, Aurelie had rather expected a more fiery effect, like little flames or candles, rather than a daisy crown.

Her one-eyed gaze shifted back the Tera Orb that Nomi was still holding in front of her Togekiss and she tilted her head pensively to one side. She wondered if it was similar to the Mega Stones that also had a transformative effect on Pokemon. Those stones also seemed as though they would attune to only one Pokemon at a time, so it made sense that Tera Orbs would behave the same way. At the same time, though, these Tera Orbs came from outer space, on a meteoroid that could have come from far beyond their solar system or even galaxy. They couldn't simply assume it would be similar to anything from their own planet.

"All right, then go ahead and try your Tera Orb on my Magneton, whenever you are ready," Aurelie said politely. "From what you said about it not affecting any of your other Pokemon, I think it would be surprising if it did affect mine. But it's worth seeing if it does."

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]Aurelie nodded assent to Nomi's suggestion that she be the one to try out the Terastallization process on her own Pokemon. The red-haired smith took hold of the Tera Crystal somewhat gingerly from Nomi's hand, feeling as if someone had just offered her a priceless diamond. And in a way, these Tera Crystals were so rare and powerful that they probably would command a price above rubies or diamonds, if anyone were ever cavalier enough to sell them.

For a moment, she simply rolled the Tera Crystal in her hand for a moment. "This feels so normal," the red-haired smith remarked in a low, wondering tone. "I don't know why, but I was expecting it to feel warm, since it's a Fire-type crystal. But it doesn't feel warmer, or heavier, or particularly different from an ordinary crystal."

Trying to remember how Nomi had activated the transformation process on her own Togekiss, Aurelie held out the crystal in front of her Magneton. When Nomi had done it, the crystal had flared to life with an incandescent fiery glow and her Pokemon's body had taken on a jewel-like, faceted look. This time, in front of Aurelie's Pokemon, nothing happened.

"Huh," was all she could say at first. Moving her hand back and forth, Aurelie offered, chuckling a little, "Abracadabra? Open sesame? Hocus pocus? Please?"

Again, nothing happened. Her Magneton looked toward her benignly, its contours remaining metallic rather than gemstone-like, while the Tera Crystal sat inert in her palm. After waiting a minute or so just to be sure, Aurelie gave a shrug and handed the Tera Crystal back to Nomi.

"Looks like your initial hypothesis was correct," she said lightly, feeling relieved to have gotten the test over with without causing anything strange or unexpected to happen to her Magneton. "That Tera Crystal seems like it's attuned specifically to just your Pokemon and won't transform anyone else. It must have been interesting to test that out for the first time and see your Togekiss undergo that transformation, not knowing what was happening or what it might be doing to your Pokemon."

Then Aurelie clapped her hands together briskly, an eager smile spreading across her face. "Now, should we get started with learning more about the material properties of this Tera Crystal? I'm no gemologist, but I am familiar with some of the basic tests they run to identify and classify new or unfamiliar gemstones.

"We can easily test for qualities like transparency, refractive index, and specific gravity, without needing to run any destructive tests," she continued, pondering the Tera Crystal thoughtfully. "With something so rare and valuable—and probably impossible to replace–I imagine we'll be sticking to non-destructive testing methods and staying away from anything that might damage the Crystal. If you've got drill bits in different materials here, particularly diamond, we should be able to compare its relative hardness without damaging it."

Of course, it might be interesting to see whether it was even possible to damage or deform these crystals. What an extraordinary substance it would be, if it turned out to be indestructible! But given how difficult it had clearly been to obtain one of these Tera Crystals, Aurelie wouldn't blame anyone for not wanting to take that risk. It wasn't like you could just buy another Tera Crystal at the store if you broke this one, after all.

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT

[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]Still buoyed up by sheer relief that the Tera Crystal hadn't done anything unexpected or irreversible to her Magneton, Aurelie flashed a genuine smile in response to Nomi's thanks and reassurance that even the negative result hadn't gone to waste. Nomi had correctly guessed that Aurelie hadn't really worried about the value of the test results, given that she hadn't expected this test to happen in the first place. Perhaps she should have, though, instead of fixating so much on the materials testing aspect.

"I guess I should be thanking you for letting me actually see and even try to use one of those crystals," the red-haired smith replied jovially, her single uncovered eye straying toward the fiery stone. Her lips curling in a wry smile, she went on, "I doubt I'd ever have gotten a chance to play with one otherwise in a laboratory setting, considering that I'm not a scientist or high-ranking Rocket leader.

"So," she went on, "thank you for this opportunity. Let's make the most of it!"

Aurelie listened attentively as Nomi explained the origins of the Tera Shards, which had come from a large mineral vein within the great meteor that had portended so much danger—and yet so much opportunity—to Hoenn in general. She honestly wasn't sure if she remembered hearing that Rayquaza was the one who'd blown apart the meteor to avert wholesale catastrophe, but it certainly made sense. That image alone almost made her wish she'd been present to witness the meteor and mineral vein breaking apart—but also made her glad she hadn't been there, amidst all that chaos and conflict.

When Nomi finished her story and supported not using destructive tests on the Tera Crystal, Aurelie couldn't help murmuring, "That's fascinating! What an adventure that must have been."

Her gaze sharpening, she couldn't help but add, "At the same time, now that story almost makes me want to use destructive tests on the crystal. You're right to conclude that Rayquaza's rupturing the mineral vein means they certainly aren't indestructible. But at the same time, it took the power of a Legendary Pokemon to manage to break it!

"So, surely a mere tiny little diamond-tipped drill bit won't be nearly as powerful as that, right? Right?" She tipped her head to one side and grinned, looking amused by her own logic. Then she held her hands up and added, conceding the point, "But you're right, we shouldn't chance it. It's not worth it just to satisfy my curiosity."

As they started the materials testing, Aurelie happily threw herself into the various experiments that Nomi was willing to run on the crystal. The crystal turned out to be remarkably impervious to heat and cold alike, yet it certainly responded to the presence of fire, seeming to glitter even more brightly than ever—perhaps somewhat understandably, given its connection to Fire types. They tested its hardness by scratching it upon other minerals with known hardness, ranging from talc to quartz to diamond, and were unsurprised to learn it was at least as hard as diamond. And Aurelie relished getting to use the Rocket lab's lasers and other specialized light beams to test the crystal's refractive index, transparency, dispersion, and fluorescence.

Most interestingly, the crystal turned out to be something of a semiconductor, demonstrating relatively high resistance to her Magneton's electrical currents at room temperature. As they heated up the Tera Crystal, though, it looked unchanged, yet its electrical conductivity increased rapidly to the level of copper wire. It also became more magnetic as its temperature increased, a development that made Aurelie's brow furrow in puzzled wonder.

"This is definitely an unusual substance," she mused, perhaps rather obviously to the clearly far more scientifically-minded Nomi. "It must contain some very exotic transition metals, to react like that! Truly fantastic."

At the end of their long and satisfying day of testing, they both stretched and yawned. Aurelie couldn't tell how Nomi felt, but she at least was both slightly worn out and deeply contented with their efforts. Pulling off her goggles with a sigh, she grinned and extended her hand once more for Nomi, this time for a handshake of farewell.

"It was good to meet you," she said forthrightly and laughingly to the pink-haired scientist, "and even better to encounter your Tera Crystal! This was definitely a fun time. If you ever run more experiments like these and need another pair of hands, keep me in mind."

Then the red-haired smith winked at Nomi and beckoned toward her in playful invitation. "But until then, let's grab some dinner together. What do you say? I'd love to hear more stories about what it was like being on that meteor..."

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT