doctor was inaccurate but common, and went uncorrected. it had gotten so old that it no longer put a smirk on her face. she simply rolled with it.[break][break]

”delaney. doing fine, thanks.” despite the anxiety that persisted after having come so very close to death at the hands of Greyson Connors recently. the bruise was covered by a typical turtleneck. the stoniness she'd worn before her absence had returned, at least for now.[break][break]

she scanned the premises before focusing on the rift, anticipating the sensation of stepping through to the other side – to another world displaced from the great beyond.[break][break]

”the primal shard? i’m aware. do you have thoughts about it?”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]fern delaney

she watched the tapu koko dart into the rift ahead of them, wondering how to bring up its relative without sounding suspicious of its motives. after abandoning her seat with the blessed and powerful, she treaded much lighter.[break][break]

”interesting. many legendaries seem drawn to the power in hoenn. perhaps there’s a shortage, beyond what the megalopolans experienced.”[break][break]

she followed them in, only after releasing a pokemon of her own. penrose had not been to megalopolis in some time.[break][break]

on the other side of the rift, however, the poipole was more distracted by the attractive sheen of the admin’s hair under the faint neon glow. it neared like a moth to flame, before catching the scientist’s glare and floating off to hover at a more respectful distance.[break][break]

”i imagine you’re probably aware of the tapu bulu at the ultra crater? the one with the flute?”[break][break]

that tapu was shiny too.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]fern delaney [break]

her head tilted to the side and she hummed a little, before elaborating, ”yes–but across dimensions, and/or universes.”[break][break]

she thought it likely that more of the legendaries they believed to be of universe 820 had come from elsewhere, too.[break][break]

”or maybe they are just drawn to the anomalies, here to–“ save their own worlds ”help us all avoid great calamity.”[break][break]

her poipole’s attention turned to the tapu koko as it listened about its kin. a friendly, glowing stare peered from around the guardian’s bright shell, as it hoped to make eye contact.[break][break]

lulu nodded about the other tapu’s. ”i hadn’t realized the bulu had been spotted in other rifts, too. do we know if it’s the same one?”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]fern delaney [break]

”necrozma. more than one.”[break][break]

there was little sense in concealing her distrust in too many gods when the admin already seemed to harbor some of their own.[break][break]

”hm. no, actually.” she looked over at their shadowed grin. ”i think they’re here to save themselves.”[break][break]

as the tapu koko zig-zagged around penrose, the poipole tried its best to follow the leader, but could hardly hope to keep up.[break][break]

”if we’re lucky…” lulu echoed, trailing off as she watched their interaction with little amusement, feeling the scar on her mind from the tapu’s kin.[break][break]

”my research in the ultra crater has led me to believe time there passes differently. there is an altar on a moon that rises and explodes in the sky. when you leave and enter the rift again, another moon rises in its place with that same altar unscathed.” she paused to ponder, before suggesting, ”it could be that each time we enter these rifts, we are stepping into an alternate universe.”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]fern delaney [break]

“why not? two attacked sootopolis. even if necrozma is naturally unique in our own reality, no such thing is truly one of a kind. the universes are stacked so closely; it is too easy for reiterations to break through to the other side.”[break][break]

“our world is the only one, presumably, that is such a threat to all existence, such a beacon of power – and that seems to be precisely what a necrozma seeks out.”[break][break]

it was a thing that did not care about the consequences, or what it killed. it was only hungry. she recalled witnessing such horrifically insatiable emptiness in the later days of Chu-e Choi ’s connection with it.[break][break]

the cold dread that came with necrozma’s name, like a chill off a winter sea, subsided with a shift to a different topic.[break][break]

“i’m less familiar with megalopolis, admittedly. i’ve seen no substantial clues in the reports, but it can’t be ruled out yet.”[break][break]

then, in lieu of interesting evidence, she decided to share another mystery – one she suspected the likes of admin fern delaney might find intriguing.[break][break]

“a bit unrelated, but during the first excursions into the giant chasm, i had a run-in with Remiel Calcifet . he tried to hire me for some kind of research here, but wouldn’t tell me what of.”[break][break]

there was the shimmer of a z-crystal after a couple paces and she picked it up, glancing over it idly as they continued.[break][break]

“i highly doubt it would have been league-sanctioned work. time loop or not, there is something here for someone like calcifet, who is surely still in his probationary period, to go so far out of his way.”

[attr="class","ooc"]fern delaney [break]