in her office, she sat at her desk reviewing notes from ultra space. a poipole slept on the floor, curled up against a houndoom that lifted her head to peer at the intruder.[break][break]

lulu looked away from her notes towards the door, and her eyebrows shot up into her bands at the sight of him.[break][break]

”dr. wright.” it was less a greeting, more a shocked acknowledgement of his presence. ”it has be a while.” years? definitely years.[break][break]

no way Cillian Quinn was going to like this. how had this man even made it back onto the submarine? it had to have meant someone higher up had let him back, which meant a lesson had been learned, and actually, it was great timing.[break][break]

she pushed away her notes, too surprised to smile as she gestured to the chair in front of her. ”would you like to catch up?”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]Yuan Wright [break]

hardly any time at all. perhaps truer for her than some of his other colleagues, who’d spent twenty more years in a dream, but she opted not to bring up her absence. she gave a nod instead. ”indeed.”[break][break]

”since the genesect incident? more avatars, more aliens, more genesects… giant pokemon, severe warping of temporal and spatial dimensions, leaking of the interdream zone and space crystals causing imagination to become indistinguishable from reality, rifts all over the region that open up to other realms – including one inside an evidently terrible creature called eternatus.” she took a breath. ”we were almost decimated by a meteor, but the league warped it to an alternate hoenn that hates us, so we’ll see how that pans out if they’re not dead. we’re not lacking for enemies, that’s for sure. assassins from beyond our universe that say they work for arceus have been targeting us for anomalies they say will cause the end of all existence.”[break][break]

she paused, her eyes weary at the thought of recapping everything all at once. it was simply too much, even to summarize in the barest of ways. ”i’ll forward the reports.”[break][break]

penrose shifted against the houndoom on the floor, eyes half-open and watching the doctor curiously, but too comfortable to investigate just yet.[break][break]

”what about you? tell me about your 'escapades'.”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]Yuan Wright [break]

she nodded in agreement about the thrilling possibility of traveling to alternate dimensions. ”the problem is it’s probably a two-way street – but again, we’ll see what happens.”[break][break]

her eyebrow quirked with a smirk as yuan raised his hands over his head. penrose was also intrigued, the poipole stirred more wide-eyed and curious by such exciting animation.[break][break]

her amusement faded at the mention of a terrible deal with Cillian Quinn . she’d witnessed his fear that day on the submarine as it had filled with seawater, threatening their lives and all the work aboard their vessel. she also knew he was vengeful soul – something they shared in common.[break][break]

”as you can see, there are plenty of puzzles and challenges to better suit your brightness here. the region grows wilder and more mysterious by the day.”[break][break]

her head tilted then, returning to the topic of her brother’s requirements. ”you said the deal was awful. how do you mean?”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]Yuan Wright [break]

she shrugged. ”not sure. if they’re alive, they may be on their way here, or they may already be here under our noses.[break][break]

“it was the league that traveled to sea!hoenn in the first place. their head professor illeana reyes has since acquired palkia, which grants them greater ability of inter-dimensional travel. one question i’ve wondered is, would they be contending with another creation trio if they were to go too far?”[break][break]

she paused for a moment, before concluding, ”we don’t know what other universes are capable of, what technology they have at their disposal, or even the rate at which they are advancing – but i imagine if and when they arrive, it will be to do more than just say hello.”[break][break]

his response to her question made her quirk a dyed and drawn-on brow. blonde peeked just the tiniest bit from hair she’d become slightly less attentive of over time, but it was not enough to spot except for by the particularly talented eyes in front of her, with the impressive ability to distinguish between a pair of seemingly identical dittos.[break][break]

she smirked back at the doctor, almost sure he’d never been informed of her relation to Cillian Quinn . really, she’d always expected something like this to happen much sooner. ”i need a touch-up, don’t i?”[break][break]

as he angled his chin under the light more, her smirk faded. ”i’ll ask him to take it easy, if you’d like. i do try to look out for my colleagues.”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]Yuan Wright [break]

“let’s hope so. i think if we were to be invaded by yet another dimension, technological advancement would be critical to our survival – be it to fight back more effectively, or abandon a doomed target.”[break][break]

they’d been able to do frustratingly little in the way of developing transport through ultra space, even with all the megalopolans had left behind in their invasion years prior. it was now a race. war was in the air, and it wreaked of more than just their government.[break][break]

on the lighter topic of hair dye, lulu leaned back in her seat and clasped her hands in her lap. her eyes narrowed a little with a smirk at his perceptiveness. the jig was up.[break][break]

“you’re very clever, doctor. Cillian Quinn my brother. i can do my best, but no promises.”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]Yuan Wright [break]