"... Dr. Bunya?"

Celeste stood still in the Starter Lab, leaning on her cane as she looked around the room. It was quite the mess, far from the organized laboratory that she remembered from when Professor Ash was in charge on the European servers when she joined.

Not to mention, the whole shadow thing.

She hummed in thought, slowly finding a place to sit. Reaching over to push some half-empty abandoned takeout containers off a stack of books and watched them splat against the floor. She slowly sat down on the edge of the book stack, letting out a soft sigh. It seemed mostly stable for now, she didn't exactly weigh that much anyways.

She had a dozen questions, but held them back for now. Where was Ash? What happened to her form? What were the rules of physics when this world continually seemed to break its own laws? Corruption, Glitches, and Gods galore. Very intriguing.

"Before you ask your questions, I must say. This is quite the good look for you. I'd ask in-depth what happened, but I'm sure anyone else can inform me, and you must be quite the busy woman. She'd pause, only for a faint smirk to form on her face as she gently brushed back her orange hood. "I do hope you still have your monocle, at least. I can't see it in the shadows, but it was so charming. I'd miss it dearly."

"But, for all intents and purposes, I am indeed, ready. Fire away, my good doctor."

She sat, pondering on the nature of these questions. Bunya clearly didn't have the rubric for what the answers would mean for the personality test, and yet she still asked regardless. Was it because she truly was curious? Just her job to ask anyways? Celeste didn't know.

And yet, she was intrigued by the questions herself. She was quiet for a few moments, her minds eye wandering as she allowed herself to contemplate them all. It might seem like she was quiet for quite a long time, before just swiftly picking up and answering all three at once.

"Gothitelle. To have foreseen the end of all things, the death of everything one could fathom and continue to exist is something worthy of respect. But the truth, that their tears are for their Trainers, their loved ones, seeing the end of their time upon this plane, and not their own?" She pauses, a soft warm smile on her face. "One must be inconceivably thoughtful. I would appreciate meeting one again."

"Secondly," She'd slowly stand up to her feet this time, not wanting to remain too idle. "One does not require powers to be a hero. Solely the correct mindset. But the intent is to ask about the powers I imagine, so I digress. Telepathy, easily answered."

"And lastly, that would be The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, written by Douglas Adams. I quite adored it as a young woman. If you haven't yet read it, I would recommend it. It makes a mockery of modern society with its incredibly, and deeply ordinary protagonist, finding himself within a world of absolute absurdity in the depths of space, after the entirity of the Earth has been destroyed."

She didn't really expect Bunya to have any knowledge on the title, but she had no reason to not recommend a good book, just because it came from her reality. Perhaps one day, such facts wouldn't be as limiting.

How intriguing. Saw the movie? Just what knowledge of the world were the beings of this world gifted? Did that mean she could sit down and watch the movie with Bunya at some point, or any other "NPC" for that matter?

It made her wonder what their reasonings for the absence of Pokémon within the story would be.

Or, perhaps they were just inserted in haphazardly, judging by the drawing of the Finizen? Surely the creators of this universe thought of a good many things, but at what point did these artificial intelligences learn of media on their own, during their creation? Their birth? The circumstances of their existence fascinated her endlessly.

Before she could talk further in depth about it, or wonder about the nature of the Infinite Improbability Drive or Super Computer known as Earth, or about any of the endless questions about the meaning of life, she was given her Pokémon.

Celeste hummed in soft thought, her thumb smoothing out the tape as she read it. "Sobble. I didn't expect this. But I suppose it was probable, as all things technically are."

She'd smile softly to herself, releasing the Sobble from its ball. It immediately formed sitting atop Bunya's desk, immediately attempting to hide away behind a stack of takeout boxes as tears pooled in the corners of its eyes. Seemingly terrified by Bunya's new form, eyes wide.

"N-no closer!" They replied, shuddering in fear. "Not normal! Not normal at all! The Bunya I knew is dead! Waaaaaah!" It just began bawling its eyes out, and Celeste's smile swiftly twisted into a deep frown.

"... I am sorry, little one. Allow me to escort you from this place, get you to safety." Celeste began, very calmly holding out her hand.

"I- But I-" A few more sniffles, almost paralyzed to move. But one look at those glowing purple orbs that seemed like Bunya's eyes had it terrified, quickly moving to climb up the arm of Celeste and hide behind her back. "Yes! Quick, flee! Run! Run while you can! Don't come back!"

Celeste for her part, leaned forwards for a slight bow to the professor. "I shall be off. Do take care of yourself now." And with that, she slowly turned around and stepped out of the office.

Only for her Sobble to climb immediately around to Celeste's chest, rather than be exposed to the sight of Bunya any longer. Poor thing.