“Not an order. More suggestion,” she noted, almost absent-mindedly towards that superior of hers. There was a hint of confusion in her voice. Given who he was, she had no authority to give him orders, so why, exactly, could she give him orders? The other one talking about this was not the same though, so she mostly just ignored him. Simply acting for the sake of acting was never the right answer. One could get lucky, certainly, but that was about it. At the end of the day, without strategy, all but the luckiest routes led to doom.

Hence, she should have felt vindicated when things swiftly took a turn for the worse. But that wasn’t her nature. Especially not when something this fascinating happened. Just like it wasn’t in her nature to be scared for long. Yes, she felt a certain pressure to her mind from the danger that could not be missed. Especially when those tendrils whirled straight past her. Their momentum threw her hair into disarray and she had to take a step back, briefly shocked. However, she then noticed those things killing Pokemon in a very novel and interesting way.
In fact, it almost seemed like a kind of poison. One that completely and utterly annihilated that which it affected. Elation surged and her mind went into overdrive. Subconsciously, she had the good sense to not go and touch those herself, steeled by years working with poisonous substances. But her attention was split all about, trying to absorb as much information as possible and trying to make sense of it.

Tendrils, snow turned into snow and at the centre a certain intelligence. All of that was of great interest. Being close to the action herself, she naturally was hit by the spores as well, but with the strength being sapped, she did manage to do two things: first, to send out her Venipede, intrigued to see if this would affect a poison type as well. And then to turn up her palm and catch one of the spores like it was a snowflake. Sure, it would hit her anyway, but she wanted to see it up close like that. “Non-lethal, at first glance. Intriguing. They could have been the same type as the tendrils but aren’t. The tree only seems to use that on those acting aggressively. Corrupted defense mechanism. Stronger than back during the expedition within.”

Her head would turn towards the one causing this in the first place. “And it knows to cut lines of communication and how they work. Subject possibly has the vessel’s intelligence, or at least access to it. None of this seems random. Illumina somewhat working against this supports theory of being connected to the tree.” Naturally, with strength being sapped and not having an illumia of herself, she couldn’t do much more than give a running commentary like this. But that was fine for now. Just being able to witness enough for a woman of science, in her eyes.

---

- Replies to Gavin
- watches proceedings and analyses as best as she can
- is hit by spores, calls out Venipede to see if it affects poison types as it does others
- basically talks to herself haha

slVUhXHz

It was a saddening occurrence, a cruel twist of fate that this man with burning existential questions did not voice them out loud. For this woman of science may have well had the answer to said burning existential question. But, alas, he did not. And so, the words would remain unspoken regardless. It was a shame, really. But it could not be helped.

So, for the time being, there just was the mission of carrying about eggs was all there was to it. Whistling gently to herself, eggs secured in the basket she was carrying, Shizue started walking, thoughts to herself. Really, her body just moved on autopilot, as it often did when she was in that mindscape. It wasn’t too uncommon for her to look up from whatever she was doing only to wonder just how she’d gotten to a place. Menial things just kind of passed her by sometimes.

As such, she simply and subconsciously aligned with the man also currently moving this way. The one with the burning question. There was always more safety in numbers. Especially in brawny looking numbers. So, this was just the most logical thing for her to do, plain and simple.

Carrying around eggs was not exactly Rocket Science. But there was a Rocket scientist doing that, nonetheless. Mostly because she was going that way anyhow, having just dropped off a Pokemon at the daycare for her own purposes. Transporting those eggs cost her nothing but a bit of attention, which she had to spare. Plus, those eggs could grow up to become poison types ready to further her studies, too, so that was at least something useful about it.



Plus, everyone was doing it. It would have been suspicious not to. Being a Rocket did not mean kicking Poochyenas any chance one got. Something reasonable was reasonable, no matter what faction.



Hence, she stored the eggs she had been given into the carrying basket, before looking around to see who else was currently setting out on her route. Strength in numbers. Especially when one had to be careful with those eggs.


John Sullivan or Gwyar Wledig

Taking this with EBC

Curious. Expected, but still curious. The tree was not from this world. Research and experience revealed that much. Hence, it stood to argue that it naturally would be related to more otherworldly experiences. That was just common sense. Yet, by nature it was impossible to predict just what these experiences would be. And this time, she was determined to experience some herself. For the last expedition, she had not been present. But now that darkness was spilling out from it, she came of her own accord. Others, like Whitney and Norman from the labs, were frightened, certainly. Yet Shizue was looking forward to this. She had set out on her own accord and was already close to the tree.

More and more people checked in, too. Which was good. Something had appeared and seemed to siphon something from the tree. It was the shape of a human. But that human had been deceased. Clearly, this was a Pokemon using the corpse or something similar. It could have also been a Ditto-like being, of course.

Naturally, someone went and immediately attacked it. Shizue could only roll her eyes. “Attacking without a plan is pointless.” She does not look at the man who had ordered his Shedninja to attack. But she addressed him nonetheless. Then, she actually does turn towards Gavin. “You know this being. This parasite. Best share now. Before the fighting starts in full.” Clearly, that man was angry at the entity. But being governed by emotion was an issue. Especially in a situation like this.

---

- Approaches the tree and observes
- addresses Remiel Calcifet and Cillian Quinn

also claiming topapex

Not just another mountain. It was the same mountain. At least for Shizue, that was. She’d been here not too long ago, albeit with a partner back then. The guy had not really understood her fondness for poison Pokemon, but he had also very much acted like the hired muscle he was and presented her Pokemon for the catch. She could not get him again on short notice today. But since she was still looking for some species that might live on this pass, she had decided to take a look on her own anyway, accompanied by the Litten she had caught here.

Not a poison type, no, but she had grown fond of it. Really, they needed a poisonous kitten Pokemon. That would be nice. She had hoped Glameow to be one, when first seeing one, but it turned out to just be a normal one. Maybe if she got herself an Eevee and just pumped it full of poison without killing it, that could trigger a proper evolution? Maybe she should try if she found one. For now the woman in black pants, shirt and a veritable labcoat just continued down the path, following faint noises. Seemed like someone talking, but since she was on the layer below him, she could not make out the source of those words.

claiming exeguttor

This be fine

This test clearly was a success, judging by the kind of Pokemon that, after some waiting, appeared. A Swalot, if she recalled correctly a pure poison type, one that could probably be useful in her research. And for disposing of trash, apparently, since those things ate everything.

Speaking of, it also seemed intent on outright eating the lure after identifying it. Which was good, since she had her Vileplume bestow some Sleep Powder onto it just in case, probably much befitting her reputation as a researcher of Poisons and, to some degree, status effects. The Swalot, well, swallowed, and after a bit of time it did fall to the side, fast asleep. Naturally, she threw a ball at it and caught it before it could wake and leave, considering the whole ordeal a proper success already.

The pandemonium was calming down, she figured. At the very least, now that she had thrown a ball at the Quilava, that should hopefully get the last of the wild Pokemon right into a ball. Oddly enough, her companion had decided to go for the Oddish, even though he usually went for the fire types. But she figured that was just the nature of shinies. People always got somewhat competitive about those, though she did not really do. They were just another colour than others. Was she a shiny human because she had green hair? It was silly.

But that was fine here. Sure, she could probably pull rank and make him trade this, but why would she? After all, she already had an Oddish of her own. Well, an evolved form. But that was good enough. She would find some way to make use of that Quilava, of course. Maybe as a guinea pig for these weird distortions. Those she still had to investigate, so some disposable Pokemon would be useful for that.
She took that for now and accepted the outcomes as they fell. “Well, you are the muscle here, so I will defer to your opinion on the matter. Your Pokemon will eventually run out of juice, after all. We can always come back here some other time. Most wild ones will probably run from us by now, after all.”

More Poison types. Wonderful. She wasn’t exactly one to reject other types, strictly speaking, but she was getting increasingly elated from these captures. They had a fairly decent haul and even her partner seemed to get what he was seeking. There really was little more that she could ask for, so she remained alert and content, balls at the ready while Pokemon were served to her on a silver platter by someone much better at fighting.
“To be fair, if you get that into your system, you won’t be able to tell what is happening anyway. Not like most people can self-diagnose the symptoms of a poison to begin with. And even if they do, it is often difficult to find out ex post what happened. Most poisons you need to already know you are looking for to find them during an obduction. That’s why you want those with exotic effects. Makes it way harder for anyone to prove that a poisoning even took place.” A bit morbid, maybe, but she enjoyed the lecturing part of this little excursion. It wasn’t often that she could explain these sorts of things to a receptive audience. Most of the other Rocket scientists either didn’t care or they already knew. Kind of pointless to re-explain things, after all.

However, when her capturing partner turned his attention fully towards the sight ahead of them, she followed suit, falling silent and letting him handle this. Seviper was definitely on her list of Pokemon to catch, so she held onto her ball, ready to throw if and when that battle was decided, either by those two or outside intervention. She had no intentions at all to let this one go.

---

capturing seviper

For rolling