"Hi, Ashie!" Allotta plops down in the seat offered, scratching her belly and looking at everything. She's obviously like a kid in a candy store. Sadly, unlike most of the other players who would probably come, Allotta is just nosy and will not remember any of the things she sees. Gotta be the 'go with the flow' type and all that.

"Yeah, I don't mind! Survey team, though... Hmm... Any idea what kind of pokemon we'll be able to find there?" She opens up her menu and peruses her Pokemon. Slots all full... Sobble, Litten, and Charmander... well, she would keep them for now. Blue and Sparkler were teammates. The Charmander she was planning on trading for another cat like Big Bang.

Tapping the menu, she closed it and shook her head.

"Sorry, no pokemon to trade in."

The sudden intensity makes Allotta raise a brow, glancing back up to meet Ash's eyes. She is far less concerned than Ash seems to be, quickly waving it off.

"Kyogre." Allotta shrugs. That seems like that's all the explanation she's going to give, but then she shifts in her seat and leans forward, too. Her eyes sparkle as she starts to speak, voice lowering to draw the other into her tale.

"So, like, the storm was coming, right? So we all, the other players, right? Anyway, we all started fortifying all the areas the best we could to get ready for the big storm... oh! Bunya warned us about it is how we knew! So, like, we all work hard to make sure Beta Island is all gussied up, then the High Tide Shrine starts to kind of... freak? I wasn't there for that part.

So, Kyogre was summoned! We were all going to fight it!" For a second, her excitement dies down, mouth slanting and eyebrows scrunching up as she leaned back.

"Something wasn't, like, right, though? We couldn't hurt it and it was... weird. All glitchy. The whole thing was messed up. It looked like we were going to all get our butts kicked." She shakes her head. "Then, uh... I don't know his name. Some cat guy in green? I guess he was talking to C0D13 and C0D13 came and like, destroyed it! But then... C0D13 went bonkers with power and tried to delete everyone and everything. He sent out these little guys to eat the island. It was like termites on wood. We all went to different parts of the island to fend them off, then...."

She leans forward again, letting anticipation build...!

"Well, I didn't see how it ended. I went to the bathroom and when I came back, my UI had popped up I had rewards to accept. I guess everyone else stopped C0D13 while I was busy."

A shake of the head and a shrug. What could you do when nature called?

"Bunya? Nah, she's really cool! We would take her Starters we found. Sometimes she would be fishing with the fisherman when I came to visit, but she's cool." Then Allotta's face pinched up again. She had talked with Bunya a few times and really liked the strange NPC catwoman. "I can't say I blame her for finding something to do. She was kind of trapped out of this sad little tent with a cooler while she waited for us to come back. Actually, the whole of the Base Camp is pretty ramshackle. Bethany was really the only person I ever saw with, like, anything semi-developed more than a stall or tent."

She tilts her head, thinking.

"Actually, is there any way we can try and spruce that up for the people who live there? I don't want people to be, like, in poverty or something here. That's just messed up and sad."

Laguna walks into the laboratory, an exhausted look on her face. She couldn't sleep, everything was a bit too much. The real world was too depressing right now. The budget was tight this month, and in truth, she didn't really want to think about complicated topics this late. It was easier to forget it all cuddling with her Pokemon instead of staring at the apartment that cost her so much.

It wasn't long until she received the message from Professor Ash, a request for an interview. Given everything that had occurred, it only made sense that the professor would want to know about what happened. Rubbing at her sleepy eyes, her recently recovered Bergmite was sliding about by her side as she entered the lab.

Without a second of hesitation, the woman flopped down into the seat and quietly listened to the explanations, the questions, and the like. She seemed... tense. As if she was hiding any exhaustion she might have had, instead of being blatantly obvious like herself. Laguna frowned, humming in thought. Glacia affectionately brushed against the Professor, as if he was asking to play, but now wasn't the time for such fun, unfortunately.

"Hmm, well, yeah I did catch a few. I have a uh, a cat that needs a good home." She'd gloss over it, it truly didn't seem to be the most important question here. What happened indeed. Definitely a lot to go over. and how exactly to talk about it... without explaining it in video game terms. Professor Ash certainly didn't know it was a video game, and wouldn't believe her if she said it.

Laguna yawned, stretching a bit before beginning. "Right, so like, Kyogre showed up, but it was flawed, right? Something was wrong, and it was all glitchy. It was attempting to regain its Primal Energy from the shrine, this sort of... ancient force of power it used to have. But we could hardly hit it, our attacks would go right through it, or it would go through the ground."

At the retelling of the story, Glacia finally began to understand it wasn't playtime, and hopped up into Laguna's lap to relax, like an oddly cold lapcat. "And... There's this Porygon out there that can talk, goes by the name C0D13. That's like, c zero d thirteen, but pronounced Cody. Dumb, but whatever.. He has tried to like, fix these kinda strange messes, but he was... kind of an asshole. Called me a repeat offender, for just fu-, ahem, freaking standing there. Anyways, he ends up arriving and somehow just had the power to like, temporarily just poof Kyogre from existence! And then he claims the primal power for himself like the selfish prick he is, apparently."

She sits up a bit straight in her chair, feeling oddly tense recounting the situation. "He summoned these like, mini versions of himself that tried to destroy literally everything. I think the primal power messed with his head, but he always was an asshole anyway. Point is, we had to find something else to counter Kyogre's stolen power. There's another shrine, underneath the crater. Bedrock Shrine. It held the power of Groudon... but it was asleep."

Laguna goes still for a moment, even as Glacia snuggles up closer. "We had to wake up the shrine, to gain the power of Groudon. He blessed us with his own primal power, but not after a great number of sacrifices..." She frowns, moving to lift up the Bergmite in her hands. He suddenly glitches right before their eyes, his ice-spikes filled with tv static, binary flashed across his eyes and the rest of his frozen body, his form even seemed to have an after-image after it moved. As if real life was lagging behind, almost.

"We had to sacrifice to him... And Glacia here, volunteered."

She let the silence hang for a moment, unsure exactly how else to share the rest for a moment. "Glacia... died. I, somehow, found the entrance to... the afterlife, essentially, after the fight. The Everworld as it's apparently called, and got her back. But it was, hard, and painful, I'll tell you that. I, kind of felt ill for a few days after that. My legs still feel like they are carved to bits."

She lowered the Bergmite back down onto her lap, and the glitches seemed to calm down for a while. The static still seemed to spark beneath a few of her spikes, but it wasn't as obvious as before. "Groudon blessed us trainers and our pokemon with his primal power after speaking to us, and we beat up and destroyed COD13. There are a good many forces that we just, don't understand, I guess? I got some like, something called Kyogre DNA in my bag, but I can't even touch it. Makes no sense to me."

Laguna sighed once more, rubbing at her own eyes. The exhaustion was certainly getting to her. "Sorry, I didn't really see Bunya much. I think she tried to have someone arrested for having an illegal cat, while we were fighting for our lives, so you know, that's not cool. But that's all I really know."

Glacia hopped down from her lap, skating across the room with her frozen feet. Her physical form flickered back and forth, as if the world didn't quite know where to place her. "I know that's not all like, super helpful, but maybe I can write down a few notes for you later? Like, exactly what Groudon said when he spoke to us, or about this Seta dude who apparently rules hell is like. Oh, sorry, Everworld. I'd do it now, but I'm very tired. Have you ever heard of this Everworld System Admin:ProfessorAsh ?"

Request? Yeah, right.

Finn finds himself rudely teleported into the middle of the office, stumbling a bit to avoid collision with the desk as he re-orients himself to his new surroundings. Blue eyes flick about the room before landing on C0D13:ProfessorAsh and narrowing. He folds his arms.

"Hey, what's the deal? I was in the middle of—"

She doesn't seem to care.

Finn huffs, sitting down when requested and leaning back in the chair.

"Do I get a choice?" he gripes, when she asks him to humor her.

No, seems to be the consensus.

He rifles through his inventory, and a single pokeball materializes in his palm. He sets it on the desk.

"Some fire-pig-thing. Not interested."

He considers giving up his Litten, too, but they've made memories together.

Her next question is given more consideration.

"Well. There was that big storm, and then Kyogre showed up. It was glitchy as all hell, clipping into the environment and junk, and then it fuckin — disappeared." He claps his hands together for dramatic effect. "C0D13 showed up. Y'know, the support AI, or whatever. He tried to fucking delete me. He did delete a couple other people but they're back now I think." He waves his hand dismissively. "Anyway we kicked C0D13's ass and he fucked off, so that was that. Then I got this egg."

He brings out the KYOGRE EGG, but doesn't set it on the desk. He seems protective of it.

"Bunya?" It seems to take Finn a second. "Oh, the catgirl. Uh. She sleeps on the job sometimes and she might be eating some of the starter Pokemon? I dunno, she seemed fine I guess."

Finn taps the damp shell of the KYOGRE EGG.

"Do you know what I'm supposed to do with this? Oh, and can I go now?"

"Take a seat," said Professor Ash.

Kath Ulu turned the seat around, and put one leg up on it to assert dominance. Sure, Professor Ash was the top dog around here, but Kath Ulu had something she didn't. Experience.

"I'll take it when I leave," Kath replied. "When I go back outside to the island I saved."


Professor Ash went on with her NPC dialogue, and Kath turned to Grookey. "We've come a long way, huh?"

"That's right baby," Grookey said. "And we got a long way still to go."

Kath put her hand up at the end of the first question, waving it away like a fly. She wasn't giving up any of her pokemon, even the ones she didn't like. It wasn't so much a matter of ownership as it was a matter of rarity - when the hell else was she going to get any of these nerds? Better to hold onto them, for now.

"Next," said Professor Ash, "What happened on Beta Island?"

"Shit, where do I begin?" Kath said. As she spoke, branches spread from her boot on the chair, the roots intertwining with the legs and stretching out along the floor. Behind her, Bulby bloomed vibrant pink colours, keeping an eye out for any surprises.

"We started out with a few pitfalls," said Kath. "I... might not have been the best trainer, in the Midas Rush. I left some pokemon behind."

She studied Professor Ash for a reaction, but saw nothing cross the AI's face.

"But..." Kath went on. Grookey gave her an encouraging poke in the shin. "Ow. But I tried to be better. I never wanted to leave my boys behind again."

"And you didn't," Bulby couldn't help himself.

"No," Kath said. "I didn't. We stuck together Kyogre's assault on the High Tide Shrine. We beat back the unstable AI, and somehow we survived total destruction when we all got deleted."

She wasn't studying Professor Ash anymore. Rather, she was staring past her, talking more to herself than the NPC. She hadn't let her team down. Even when everything went wrong, she hadn't abandoned them. She'd been on their side.

"I've met some wonderful people here, too. I saw Lucky stood up against a God on the beach. Sarah Lee stayed brave in the face of certain death. Alotta Bambooga, Orion Cayge, and Laguna came together: saving the Crater from destruction. I also met Manish."

Kath took a deep breath.

"I'm excited to find out what happens next. We'll take it on the new adventure together."

She picked up the chair, leaving a lavender topiary behind in its place.

"Oh, and as for your final question," Kath stopped at the door. "I have no idea who the fuck Professor Bunya is."

And with that, she left.

"Any idea what kind of pokemon we'll be able to find there?"

"I'm expecting to see a variety of native Unova Pokemon," Ash says, clicking her pen. "But I expect some things will have changed after the long-term corruption. Perhaps new Pokemon have moved in as well."

She listens to Allotta's account of the events of Beta Island without interruption, though her pen moves like lightning across the pad. About halfway through she seems to give up on taking notes and simply sits back, adjusting to the wealth of information.

"Kyogre," she murmurs. "It's not unexpected... we knew strange powers would be stirring in this land." She does not seem surprised you couldn't fight it: isn't it natural to fall short against a creature of legend? "I wish I'd known. I would have done my best to prepare you for the conflict. There are texts, histories..." She trails off, eyes misty.

Then she comes back. "But it's done now."

Notably, Ash does not ask more about C0D13 , nor your inconvenient bathroom break.

"Actually, is there any way we can try and spruce that up for the people who live there? I don't want people to be, like, in poverty or something here. That's just messed up and sad."

The Professor's brows raise in surprise. "For Beta Island? That's a kind request." She taps her chin with her pen, considering. "Most of our budget it allotted for the settlement in Asper, but if there's anything remaining, we can send it to the island in a couple months time."

Ash takes the unnamed Chespin and Mumble the Piplup with a nod of thanks. "Much appreciated. Don't worry, I'll make sure to match these two starters with their ideal trainer," she says reassuringly. The Pokeballs vanish.

manish earns 60 bytes!

The Professor is infinitely patient, but even her eyes start to glaze over as she seems to realize Manish is recounting the entirety of his time on UNOVR. She doesn't cut back in until Manish's rambling narrative returns to the subject of the High Tide Shrine, and her eyes grow keen with interest.

"I swear, I didn’t do anything weird to the Shrine. I probably should have said something about the uh, well, weird voice. I just didn’t want to get in trouble! I really am sorry…"

"A voice?" Ash asks sharply, making a note on her otherwise entirely-blank notepad. "You say the shrine spoke to you? Interesting." Was it the voice of Kyogre, or the shrine itself? It would not be unheard of for Legendary Pokemon to actually communicate with people, considering their incredible powers. "It seems we have much to learn about the shrines of UNOVR - their function, power, and reason for existence."

The woman's eyes narrow slightly at the second mention of C0D13 . The word 'delete' doesn't sit right with her, but she chooses not to ask.

"Dr. Bunya is a very talented young woman," Ash says with a sigh, "And she does have a fondness for fish. Please don't consider this a betrayal." The odd answer is just as odd as Bunya, so she seems resigned to it. "No need for tears." She gives you a small, wire-thin smile.

Professor Ash's eyes widen imperceptibly at the illegal Litten. "Ah," she says. After a moment, she seems to think better of what she was going to say and simply accepts the trade, the fire-type disappearing. "Thank you. You'll find I'm not one for Pokemon species prejudice. It's just another form of superstition, as far as I'm concerned."

laguna earns 30 bytes!

Finally, someone tells Professor Ash who C0D13 is. The light dawns in her eyes, and suddenly everything makes sense. "A Porygon," she murmurs, scribbling a note. "interesting. That makes sense." The strange terminology trainers had been using, the digital imagery. As for why it had become so powerful, Laguna offered an explanation for that too: the Primal Power it had absorbed.

The news of the second shrine piques Ash's interest. "Two shrines. It seems there's still much we don't know about this world," she says aloud. "I see why the effect was so dramatic now. I never expected the power of a single shrine to reach the mainland like it has." With the Corruption Zone having receded as much as it had, they could soon send survey teams into the unknown.

Regarding your Kyogre DNA, Professor Ash seems intrigued. "Dr. Bunya might know some method to—" she begins, but the next question stops her.

"Have you ever heard of this Everworld, Professor Ash?"

Laguna's last question and description of events has Ash slowly nodding. Her specialty is in the supernatural. "Yes," she says slowly. She rises from her desk, crossing the room to her bookcase and pulling down a tome of world myths. "I wouldn't call it hell compared to some other afterlife theories, but The Everworld is a kind of purgatory in pre-corrupted Unovan mythology. Similar 'afterlife' depictions appear across other regional mythologies, too." She flips through the book. "I can't find any reference to the character 'Seta' you mentioned, however. A gatekeeper of sorts is referenced, but not by name."

She closes the book, returning to her desk. "I'd greatly appreciate those notes," she says. "There are accounts of passage to the Everworld to retrieve a lost soul, but most of them are mere cautionary tales." Orpheus, Izanagi, and so on. "For someone to actually enter... well." She regards you with a curious expression.

"I suppose you trainers are very special."

Special indeed.

Ash leans in to watch the video footage of Bunya, brows drawing together. "Why didn't she call for help?" she murmured, shaking her head slightly. Bunya had evidently asked the trainers to help fix things instead of the region professor. Did Bunya not think Ash's methods would be as effective?

Ash does not comment on terms like 'hp' and 'timer', assuming them to be figurative. The depiction of C0D13 , who she now knows is a Porygon, matches what the other player characters have said so far.

"Well then Codie deleted us."

"You most likely found yourself in the Everworld, a kind of Pokemon purgatory," Ash says thoughtfully, taking notes. "It seems you brought Kyogre's spirit back from the brink of death. Fascinating. You're fortunate to have survived yourselves."

She answers only one more question, fixing Sarah Lee with a very serious expression.

"Bunya is not fourteen. I've lost track of her exact age, but we started working together shortly after she completed her doctorate. She is not new, and she absolutely knows better. It is integral that our operations here on UNOVR go according to plan. Bunya's skillset is useful, but she lacks real-world experience." She shakes her head. "If you vouch for her, then you'll do me the favor of keeping an eye on her."

Ash seems more serious than usual as Finn arrives, ignoring his poor humor. The relaxed air with which she started these exit interviews has abated in favor of urgency.

"Thank you," she says, collecting the Tepig. "Now, on to business."

Finn has earned 30 bytes!

Ash looks forward to the standard depiction of the Porygon C0D13 seizing the Legendary Pokemon's power and does not receive it. She tilts her head slightly at the term Finn casually uses to refer to the normal-type. Sarah Lee had used it as well.

"Y'know, the support AI, or whatever."

"AI... I suppose a Porygon is a kind of AI," Ash murmurs. She is more puzzled why the trainers are so unified in their understanding of the situation. They seem to have a deep familiarity with the alleged Porygon, and treat her as if she should be equally aware. Has she missed something? Some urban legend all of her trainers share?

She's distracted by the kyogre egg.

"Fascinating," she says. When Finn asks if he can go, she shakes her head. "This may take some time."

She crosses the room to consult her bookshelf, then returns. She fixes Finn with her eyes. "Let me preface this by saying I'm no biologist: things like Pokemon husbandry, incubation period and so on are quite out of my realm of knowledge."

That said, Ash does not hesitate to share what she does know. "One thing is clear: an egg of such significance will require a significant event to hatch. Perhaps even certain conditions. A relevant location or element, or the presence of danger, or perhaps even a bond with its trainer." Ash flips her book open to a picture of Kyogre. "Truly, I wish we could study it, perhaps take a sample... Bunya would be particularly interested..."

As if remembering her assistant's fondness for fish, Ash's face becomes pained. "Hmm. On second thought, I'll trust you to keep the egg safe." She didn't know what to make of the claims of Bunya possibly 'eating the starter Pokemon.' Perhaps it was just part of the Bunya's sense of humor.

Big Bee has earned 30 BYTES!

"Another one," Ash murmurs, transferring the extra Grookey as the groudon egg is revealed.

"Do you think it's going to hatch into a Groudon?"

"It's a logical assumption, considering what others have told me." Ash says, raising her eyebrows. She jots a note when Big Bee mentions the Bedrock Shrine. "That was a very insightful move. I blieve that's exactly what the egg needed, at least in part." Perhaps the setting itself evoked the necessary "safe conditions" an egg like that might need, or perhaps the residual power was necessary to activate it.

"It appears it still requires some time, or perhaps other conditions," Ash says, then passes on the same information she'd given to Finn. She shows Big Bee a portrait of Groudon from one her books, since none of the other trainers had mentioned actually seeing one. "I'd love to see it when it hatches. Bunya would also be particularly interested."

Professor Ash rocks back in her desk chair and laughs, a pure, bright sound that rings like a bell in the sterile laboratory. "You remembered! Thank you, orioncayge ." She takes the styrofoam cup, adds one sugar packet, and stirs it in.

Perhaps on purpose, perhaps by accident, Orion's interview is less formal than the others. Ash holds her steaming coffee in both hands, eyes fixed on the man as he recounts his tale. Her clipboard sits her desk, forgotten. "You certainly tell a good story," she says, relaxed. "Your account matches the one others have given me."

In a way, it's a relief to have someone else as poorly-informed as she is. "It's hard for me to wrap my head around as well," the Professor admits. She finally leans forward, setting the cup on the desk. "Do you mean to say you literally fought the Porygon? That's quite bold. And unusual."

Remembering their first meeting, she gives a small smile, the barest hint of humor. "Then again, you are an ex-Pokemon Master, correct?"

Professor Ash blinks. "You managed to retrieve a DNA sample from the Legendary Pokemon?" she asks, incredulous. She does not ask to see such a sample (that would be illogical) but the possibilities are already churning in her mind. She taps the end of her pen on her chin. "I hesitate to speak for Dr. Bunya, but perhaps she knows a way to sequence more DNA from the sample you found. The science may not be so different from fossil resurrection. We once worked together to recreate Mew from a single hair follicle."

She set down her pen with a sigh. "It flew away, unfortunately. Such a waste." No matter: it was the challenge that had been the fun part.

Ash turns her attention to the miniaturized Porygon2. "A more destructive pet than most," she says, frowning at the MINI_CODIE_2 as it chews a hole through her desk. Nevertheless, she can see how they would be effective at destroying a wider area en masse. "An effective demonstration." Please stop now, is implied, but fails to land.

At Furrlicity's admission about C0D13, the woman slowly nods.

"Pokemon are not bad or good," she says thoughtfully. "Much like computers. They simply do what they are told. You're probably right that this 'Codie' was controlled by the power it had absorbed. I know I was not a part of this conflict, but as far as it's worth... I hope so too."

Perhaps this Everworld she'd been hearing about might yet house its digital soul.

"I'm afraid you won't be able to do that," Professor Ash says gently, looking Kath up and down. "The ferry to Beta Island has disappeared. We're doing our best to locate it now, but so far we've been unsuccessful."

She sits down across from the blooming young woman, amused by the way she talks to her Pokemon. She makes a small note about the abundant aesthetic effects of the Gardener, thinking privately her gifts would be better suited to a greenhouse than a laboratory.

"I'm glad you've learned to value your Pokemon," Ash says as Kath leaves her lab, seemingly happy with the one-sided conversation. She directs the second part to her notepad. "Compassion is a rarer trait in this world than you might think."

It would be easy to write the encounter with Kath off: much like Manish, it seemed to encapsulate a personal journey more than an objective account of events. The girl spoke dismissively, defensively, like she had something to prove.

...To who? To Professor Ash? Not likely— Kath had acted like she was barely there.

"Who, then..."

Was it just her, or had the trainer and her Grookey actually been communicating?

Lucky has earned 30 bytes!

"Wherever spots in Asper have gone and opened up, I'd bet you a favor that there's another one of these damn shrines in it for us to find. Keep an eye out for it."

"Ah, yes. The shrines. I suspected as much," the Professor muses. "My instruments detected the energy surge all the way from the mainland." 'Detected' was putting it mildly. They'd been inoperable for days. It had been a nerve-wracking experience.

She crosses her legs, leaning back in her desk chair. "Searching out new shrines will be an important prerogative in the new area. We need to collect more data on how these shrines work. Are they expelling or absorbing the corruption?"

With Beta Island now inaccessible, there was no way for her to visit and take samples at the previous shrines now. Of course, she could never leave her lab for that long anyway: that was part of why she'd sent the trainers to bring back Bunya instead.

Regarding Bunya, Ash just sighs, rubbing her temples. "She put her faith in the trainers and it paid off, I'll grant her that." She does not speak of her other misgivings.

"See ya, Soots. Call me if you need me to check out anything else, yeah?"

Professor Ash does not react to her new nickname. She gives you a nod. "There will be much to 'check out.' Wild Pokemon, shrines, remnants from the corruption. I'll be counting on you, Lucky Guy ."