Nomi had seen her fair share of strange trees. The gruesome Jubokko tree in the Border. The strange barren tree, white as bone, in the RKS Simulation. Now there was a new tree - one teeming with plump, colorful fruit. It looked relatively harmless, but she knew better than to assume it could not hurt her.[break][break]
"They don't," she admitted, flipping through the copies of her field notes from when she was in the dream of Galar. "Only power spots."[break][break]
She frowned up at the massive plant and its whimsical fruit, as if scowling at it might encourage it to reveal its secrets.[break][break]
"I'd like to run some tests on that fruit," she said to Priam, without breaking eye contact with the tree. "You said you wanted to show off, right?"[break][break]
She turned to him then and grinned, pleasant demeanor returning despite her lack of knowledge regarding this new inexplicable oddity.[break][break]
"Go and get me one."

TAGS – priam conrad[break]
NOTES – Mission | Outfit

[attr="class","pkmn"]

She took the fruit from him, amused.[break][break]
"So it seems," she agreed.[break][break]
The fruit was a bulbous, vibrant thing - larger than most berries, but not so big as to feel heavy in her arms. She sniffed it, finding the scent hard to place. Tart, but maybe also a little sweet? Certainly more like a fruit than a vegetable. Tamato berries were often deceiving that way.[break][break]
"I wonder if it's edible," she mused. It would be a terrible idea to taste it without first running extensive testing. She wouldn't put it past priam conrad to do such a thing, however.[break][break]
Slipping the fruit carefully into her pack, she noticed Kallistatus drifting closer to the tree. Did the Unown sense something?[break][break]
A rustling caught her attention, and she looked over her shoulder, brow furrowed.[break][break]
"Did you hear anything?" She asked Priam.

TAGS – priam conrad[break]
NOTES – Mission | Outfit

[attr="class","pkmn"]

"Calyrex?"[break][break]
Ah, right. That kingly Pokemon from Galar...the one that had spoken to them in their shared dream at the Ancient Tomb. She shivered - though the air around the tree was quite warm - remembering the cryptic prophecy it had bestowed upon them, more curse than blessing.[break][break]
Priam, who was putting on quite the show of courage, approached the bush. She might have giggled at his overdramatic bravado, if not for the very real possibility of a threat - after all, their region was in turmoil, and the tree they were visiting all but screamed "anomaly." This was a point of interest, and there was no telling what else might be interested in the fruit.[break][break]
"It was probably nothing, we can - "[break][break]
The sudden flapping of wings caused Nomi to reel around; a flock of crazed-looking, hungry Crobat had burst from the underbrush on the other side of the tree, and were rushing straight for the tree.

TAGS – priam conrad[break]
NOTES – Mission | Outfit

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Priam's indecision spurred Nomi to act on his behalf. With the wave of her hand, she summoned a wall of blue crystal around the tree. It shimmered, a glittering dome of possibility, too quickly generated for the Crobat to avoid. They slammed into it, already deterred somewhat by Priam's stick, bouncing off the solid substance with dazed expressions.[break][break]
"Find a different meal!" She shouted up at them, sweat beading along her hairline from the exertion of altering reality. Several of the bat Pokemon flew away in fear, but one or two loomed overhead, more angry than afraid.[break][break]
"Kal?" Nomi turned to the shiny Unown-K. Normally, she had no desire to attack wild Pokemon unless she were defending herself - or she needed them for her experiments - but this tree was special, and she didn't want its fruit eaten before they had a chance to properly study it.[break][break]
A HIDDEN POWER blasted forth, scattering the remaining Crobat, but not before two waves of AIR SLASH blew wind in their direction, knocking Nomi back a step.[break][break]
"I wonder what drew them to the tree? Do you think the fruit smells that good?"[break][break]
She glanced down at the one she still held in the crook of her arm. It didn't radiate its scent in a particularly strong way...but there were other ways Pokemon could detect power, she supposed.

TAGS – priam conrad[break]
NOTES – Mission | Outfit

[attr="class","pkmn"]

Sources of power.[break][break]
"Like the Tera crystals, the dream mist, and the paradox Pokemon," she confirmed, nodding, reading his mind without realizing it. He was right. Every new anomaly drew Pokemon and people of all kinds to it, inevitably, because of power.[break][break]
And each of those powers was unique. So what would this tree have to offer? A transformative power, like Mega-evolution? A typing power, like Terastallization? Or a power more enigmatic, like the dream mist?[break][break]
She glanced down at the fruit in her arms. "Yes, we should definitely take this one back to the labs." She glanced up at the tree, then smiled somewhat sheepishly at him. "But...perhaps you could get me a second one? Just in case."[break][break]
Experiments always needed contingency plans.

TAGS – priam conrad[break]
NOTES – Mission | Outfit

[attr="class","pkmn"]