[attr="class","body"]
"Tell us everything you know about the Origin Point."[break][break]
[break]
The bruised and battered woman strapped to the chair was unfamiliar to Nomi, but Holo knew her. She'd specifically sought her out, had seemed to know she would attempt to stop the meteor.
Lulu Flint , Holo called her. Rocket Head Scientist. An Avatar of Darkrai. Dangerous. One of the many anomalies on
this Hoenn.[break][break]
Lulu's close-cropped dark hair framed keen jasper eyes, smoldering with a quiet fury. She couldn't be much older than Nomi, though there was a tension to the way she held herself, sharpening her beauty into something guarded and steely. She seemed to Nomi as if she had been through many trials already, and this was merely another obstacle in her path - something to be endured, rather than feared.[break][break]
Nomi's own brow furrowed, her own fists clenched. Rocket was responsible for what had happened to her parents. Rockets were
murderers. She could taste the blood as her teeth bit into her cheek. She wanted so badly to act, but Holo had promised her a measure of retribution. So, instead, she waited.[break][break]
Holo's Unown-A floated around Lulu, watching her for signs of attempted escape.[break][break]
"Look around you for the answers, Holo. Avatars. Space-time distortions. Universe 490's intrusion into our world...the cloud!" Lulu scoffed, shaking her head. Her voice was cold and soft, like the first snowflake that started a blizzard.
"That's all you could ever need to know about the Origin Point, and then some."[break][break]
Holo smiled, and it did not quite reach her eyes.
"So you do understand. Good. It will make this easier."[break][break]
The white-haired academic turned to Nomi, gaze softening.[break][break]
"I need your help, Naomi. Can you do something for me?"[break][break]
Nomi snapped to attention, crimson eyes meeting Holo's.[break][break]
"Of course," she replied automatically. Her heart hammered. Was it time?[break][break]
To Lulu, Holo began to speak, taking on the same tone of voice she used when she lectured, the countless lessons she had been teaching Nomi about the true nature of the many universes that made up their reality.[break][break]
"The social consciousness is dangerous, Lulu. You've been meddling with dreams, but you know nothing about their nature. Many archetypes persist through time and space. The Unown are the building blocks of our worlds, and they can create anything out of the tiniest speck of imagination. What's more, there is a realm where the past and future merge together, create new possibilities out of an energy you have yet to discover."[break][break]
Lulu's eyes widened: shock, anxiety,
hunger.[break][break]
"It is a pity. You could have been my student." Holo shook her head, as if sincerely regretful.
"Alas, I found her first. And she's perfect."[break][break]
Nomi realized with a sudden jolt that Holo was talking about her.[break][break]
Me? Perfect for what?[break][break]
The Unown-A floated over to Nomi, and she felt a sudden warmth emanating from it.[break][break]
"You wanted revenge, Naomi. Go ahead and take it. The Unown will help you."[break][break]
Nomi hesitated. She didn't want to kill anybody. That would make her no better than Rocket.[break][break]
"Is that still what you want?"[break][break]
"I want..." Nomi sucked in a breath, chest tightening.
"I want Rocket to suffer. For what they did to my parents."[break][break]
"Then go ahead. Send their best scientist, their brightest mind, away. She wants to go, after all," Holo laughed.
"Whether she survives the journey is of no consequence to us. Her bond with her God will be severed. She will no longer be a factor in the Origin Point's survival."[break][break]
Nomi felt a tugging deep inside of her, as if the Unown-A was...looking straight into her soul, and touching it somehow. She shuddered, but then power began to coalesce around her. The Unown glowed. Lulu's expression finally turned apprehensive, and Nomi could see the fear manifesting within her.[break][break]
A tear opened up in the space between Nomi and Lulu. A portal of swirling blue energy formed, and Nomi thought she could see a myriad of galaxies within it. The Unown-A glowed white-hot, and in a flash of light, Lulu was sucked into it. The chair and her bonds remained, but she was gone. Sent away to somewhere...
else.[break][break]
"Well done, Naomi." Holo congratulated, resting a hand on her shoulder. It was a familiar weight, one Nomi had grown accustomed to. She looked up at Holo, and in that moment, the approval - the
adoration - that radiated from the white-haired woman caused all of Nomi's questions (
Where? How? Why?) to instantly evaporate.[break][break]
Her heart swelled. She'd done the right thing. She'd helped Holo with something important. And Rocket would suffer for it.[break][break]
"Welcome to the DRK Triad."[break][break][break]
[break]
NOTES – In the aftermath of the
METENO INCIDENT, Nisa Holo and Nomi capture
Lulu Flint and interrogate her (
instead of what happened in
this thread). Holo directs Nomi to use the Unown to send Lulu away, to another reality. Nomi complies, and is officially inducted into the DRK Triad.[break]
[break][break]