BLOOM

Meeting with Rowan Wrynn.

Fortunately, Camp Winstrate rarely saw any action at their doorstep.

One of the young soldiers standing guard at the gate swayed on his feet as the new ranger and his Pelipper made their landing, getting smacked in the arm with the butt of a rifle by his irritable partner.

The more alert of the two approached Rowan in order to verify his credentials, while the sleepy one approached the guards booth, to report the arrival to their commanding officer.

A few seconds later, the chain fence rolled open for the ranger and his pelipper, the entrance flanked by the guardsman duo as they gestured for him to go inside, giving him some vague instructions.

The Lieutenant Colonel was in the hangar. Couldn't miss the place— left from the former gym battlefield, the warehouse at the end of the flight ramp.

A notable feature of the camp was the clear signs of rampant insect cohabitation. From the large vespiaries to the network of interconnected webbings that linked the various structures' rooftops, it was obvious the good colonel placed few inhibitions on his favorite pokemon. And perhaps tragically, the soldiers running errands, duties and training regimes about the place had clearly gotten used to the state of affairs.

Mercifully, the airstrip leading to the hangar was kept ever pristine and webbing free (in the unlikely case angelo vestri needed to make an emergency landing).

And inside the warehouse at the very end... were no aircrafts. Camp Winstrate had none. So they used the old hangar as a mechanics' shed instead.

Various desert buggies filled the warehouse, with several soldiers working around the clock in order to provide them upkeep. Draped in oily, dirty jumpsuits and thick working gloves, it was clear these were all mechanics.

Noting Rowan, one of the younger workers rolled off from under one of the buggies and sat up on his car creeper, plucking out the cigarette in his mouth. His hat made him standout, the dirty badge etched on it a little hard to miss.

"Hey. Yer Kingsman's man, yeah?" He asked as he grabbed a discarded ashtray and flicked the butt of his cigarette, dropping ashes onto it. "'Rowan Wrynn'?"

BLOOM

Meeting with Rowan Wrynn.

"Dang, that feels nice to hear." Doug said with a laugh, shaking the other's hand firmly. "Pleasure's all mine so far!"

Doug had heard of Rowan too. A rocket defector like @cyan. Seemed like they were getting more of those these days. Maybe the PAAA fiasco was good for something? This one had Raziel Beckett's vouching however. Having Reshiram's avatar's trust went a long way.

In any case... He went to take puff from his ciggarette, before freezing.

"Ah, 'pologies." He said, pressing the butt of his ciggarette onto the ashtray. "Anyway— indeed. Come along; it's a bit of a walk from'ere."

The gardens were on the other end of the camp, relative to the hangar.

Naturally, he wasn't just going to silently, awkwardly walk the good looking gentleman there.

"So yer researching crystal blooms! Or is it more 'bout the energy in 'em?" He asked. "... Oh, ya don't have to answer that if it's all secret."

He knew egg heads loved their secrets... until it was time to publish anyway.

BLOOM

Meeting with Rowan Wrynn.

"For real?" He asked, his brows rising in surprise. "That's amazing! This could save so many pokemon!"

Shadow Pokemon were a bizarre lot. Many were powerful, but just as many seemed to be in constant pain from their continued existence.

Any machine that could relieve them of the pain forced upon them...

"Shit, ya should've just led with that, man!" The youth said with a cheerful laugh, clapping Rowan's back. "Come on, then! Let's get a move on!"

By which he meant, sprint the rest of the way there. For a smoker, the young officer had a hell of a pair of lungs in him. Maybe he was new to the vice.

---

The garden was nested far away from the offices, barracks, warehouses, hangars and training fields.

A field of poppy flowers greeted them as they arrived from the east, stretching far over a grassy field surrounded by tall trees. Puddles and small ponds formed into an incomplete, spiral that reached towards a small body of water at the center of the gardens. Interesting and bizarre rock formations formed around the waters as an ever present breeze blew through the well trimmed trees, allowing for a measure of sunlight to reach the rest of the plantlife abound.

And finally, what Rowan had come for—

"Welcome to the garden!" The former Gym leader said as he stopped before a relatively small bed of shimmering blooms. Nested in a more shadowy, damp area of the gardens, the blooms seemed to be growing around small ponds and puddles, shimmering like gems as thin, stray sunrays cut through the canopy of trees. "These are what'cha looking for, yeah?"

Several pokemon of all types seemed to lounge about the gardens; not just the lt. colonels, but those of his subordinates as well.

Doug rubbed his nose with a grin, looking a little proud as stray sunrays refracted from crystal petals.

"Ya wouldn't believe how tedious getting them to bloom can be! I was lucky to learn from the best of the best."

He should visit Elisabeth Fiorelli sometime and thank her for her teachings... maybe send a bouquet of crystal blooms her way!

BLOOM

Meeting with Rowan Wrynn.

"Pardon?" Doug asked, staring at Rowan as if a second head had just sprouted from the young man's neck.

It was hard to feel too proud of his success in raising the garden when he was being told the person responsible for said success was—

"A rocket? What?" Doug said, turning to the other with a twisting brow. "No? No... No? That doesn't—"

Elisabeth Fiorelli?!

"It doesn't make any sense." He said, stressing the last word with both intonation and gestures, leaning closer with index and thumb pinched tightly as he held his hands head level. "She's a florist."

He threw his hand towards the blooms

"She— She's the one who taught me how to raise these!" He suddenly seemed to remember something, his hand fishing into pocket before fumbling about a phone, face twisted in frustration as he stiffly and clumsily maneuvered within the touch screen to open the gallery, before showing off a selfie taken with her... and several bugs.

"She's a member of the _Unofficial Bugcatcher's association!"

Rocket? Elisabeth?

BLOOM

Meeting with Rowan Wrynn.

That was not what he wanted to hear. That did not help at all.

"... Ya too, huh?" He said after a moment of silence, hands moving to rest at his hips as his head craned back, a tired sigh escaping his lips.

There was another moment of silence were he simply stared at the clouds without speaking a word.

"Chrysanthemums. White chrysanthemums, actually. No notes for me, though. Wonder why." He said, before taking a deep breath.


"... I... tried m'hand at romance. Once. so I knew a little 'bout flower talk when I got'em." His mouth opened, then closed again. "Thought they were supposed to mean loyalty, or innocence."

He paused.

"Wondering if they were supposed to be funeral flowers instead."