[PRP] Rocks on a Roll (Fin)

[Gwennythe]

"It shouldn't be too long. She's developing, um, well, really quickly. And, yes... I can and it is adorable..." Tam' replied with a smirk "Though, they are predators. I suspect they /could/ be effective, surprisingly so, especially given their, um, disarming appearance, if they really wanted to be... More threatening once they evolve... From, um, what I understand, though, they're much more of a threat to Shellders than anything else. More fossil evidence of them preying on Shellders has been found than most anything indicating an ecosystem of that time..."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Well, if Killer can manage to be menacing then I think just about any species can," Aulus replied with a grin. "Scarier when bigger though, for sure, those... beaks? Would you call it a beak? Nasty looking." Aulus passed the pad back to Tam and made a thoughtful noise. "You know, it would be interesting to revive a fossil Shellder. Would we just end up with a Shellder? All fossil pokemon have rock type, right? So would you get a rock and water Shellder? What type do you think the fossil pokemon were originally? Was Amura pure ice? Might it have been ice and electric maybe? It learns Thunderwave naturally after all and can be taught a lot of electric moves by tm and tutor."

Aulus found that he liked theory quite a lot, talking with Tam always made him feel like he was using his brain a lot which quite often wasn't the case when he was doing day to day work. Sure he had to think, but it was thinking the same thoughts he'd thought before in order to deal with familiar situations whereas this was thinking down new paths about different things.  

[Gwennythe]

"Aw. I guess that's true. Neph, too, as a Spinarak... Did you know she, um, attacked Lu? Literally /right/ before she evolved... I didn't even know she was out until he came into the room I was in, terrified..." The scientist nodded.
"Yep. Beaks. Um, pretty powerful too... Now that... That is an interesting study of debate right now." Tambrey grinned; she liked when people asked questions like that- questions that she herself wanted to know the answers to.
"A -lot- of researchers are actually postulating that kind of theory. It's really likely that our various, um, reconstructive and resurrection technologies are actually where the rock typing comes from, and then, of course, it ends up in their DNA and so all the genetic samples we have basically say they're rock types too... And, well, it could be one of the most bizarre mutations in pokémon, in my opinion... Um. I suppose Amaura could have been... It would be really difficult to strip out the rock mutation though without knowing for sure... Um. But!" She, of course, had been reviewing fossil-relevant information and theory on her bad "If you, um, go to the menu and open 'recent', the second one down should be some extracts of a paper on Mega Aerodactyl... A lot of researchers believe that Mega Aerodactyl might, in fact, um, be a throwback to what Aerodactyl was truly like when it originally lived..."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Lu?" Aulus frowned. "That's the giant quiet guy who sometimes comes to karate, right? Hehe, I'm not surprised somehow, I remember when she attacked a gun." When they'd been escaping from....

Anyway.

"I head heard that," Aulus continued quickly, "Aerodactyl has always been one of my favourites.... Got to wonder what they all really looked like though, right? There's just so much we don't know! About fossil pokemon, mega pokemon, all pokemon! How the hell does evolution even work? Changing size so rapidly.... I mean, conservation of energy right? They've got to get the extra them from somewhere. Is it stored up and suddenly pushed out when they evolve? When they're ready to evolve do they draw it in from the environment? How does it work?"  

[Gwennythe]

"Mhm. Um. Yes. Asked me out once... Sweet guy but, um, awkward... But yes, she decided he was big, I guess, so he was a good opponent. I had her ball lock checked over and tweaked after that... No escapes since." Thankfully... Ariados-Neph, running about the halls unchecked, was a scary thought.

Hm. Sometimes she wondered if Aulus wouldn't have made a good scientist... Of course, fascination wasn't quite the same as studying and formulating theories and testing data, but it was -the- best starting point to entering into that kind of world, and it was nice to have someone to talk to, outside of data, and the labs, about theories and such things.
"We've only honestly found, um... barely any of what probably lived in the past. Fossils are, well, rare by the very circumstances required for them to occur... There are a -lot- of theories about those other things, though... Um, evolution in particular is very well studied, and we know for sure that their very genes play a part in the process... Though, um, we're not sure how. Take, um, Eevee, for example... We -know- that the unstable genome inside Eevee renders the pokémon to be extra susceptible to radiation mutations... Um, i.e. elemental stones... So we can, in fact, guide Eevee evolution using the correct radiation for the result we want... We, um, don't know /how/ Eevee came to be that way, though it's clearly a beneficial trait for adaptability, but we know for sure that its evolution has a genetic basis. Um... The mass issue, though... That one is still seriously problematic and, um, a lot of researchers suggest a marriage of quantum and biological sciences to explain it... But the truth is, we just can't know for sure, even if we can manipulate it... It's a really wonderful mystery!" She always did get very excited about going into scientific concepts, especially ones that weren't yet well understood. Her enthusiasm was probably akin to a kid, well, talking about dinosaurs, or some new playground craze.  

[TawnyAngel]

Lu had asked Tam out? Hu. She was with Rory of course, a guy Aulus still found himself deeply suspicious of for some reason. Tam liked him though and that was what mattered, his high standards for his friend - or paranoia over her well-being, or whatever it was - could take a back seat. He wanted her to be happy.

"That's why they're so easy to heal, and why pokeballs work right?" Aulus asked more or less rhetorically, echoing Tam's enthusiasm with his own. "I mean, the fact that they can evolve means they're unstable in a way, and so they can be affected in ways other things can't. And the way some other pokemon evolve, based on their gender or which stat is higher? There's so much," he waved his hands, "everything. I guess it's good though, we'd be bored if we just had all the answers wouldn't we? I wish we knew more, but I hope we never know everything? You know what I mean? What's life without mystery and new stuff to discover?"  

[Gwennythe]

"Mhm. They seem to have a relation with... well, um, energy. I mean, like... A connection to how it changes states that's far beyond /our/ understanding, and a lot of it seems to come from... well... their genetics. So many secrets are just hidden right in plain sight..." This was a favourite subject, after all. "And, um... I agree but I don't think there's any risk that we'll, um, actually know everything any time close to the near future..." She spread her palms in a kind of shrug as she walked. "I think that's, um, a lot of why I do what I do... I love solving mysteries but I love -pursuing- the mysteries, perhaps, um, even more..."  

[TawnyAngel]

Aulus gave a little laugh and shook his head. "I should have studied something actually useful at university rather than getting shoved into business by my parents, I might be something other than muscle if I had.... If I hadn't dropped out in my first year anyway." Because of reasons. He'd never told anyone about that, he still felt weird and stupid about it, he was sure he could have dealt with it better. Plus of course he'd been a little s**t back then. He'd been a little s**t when he joined TR. How had Tam, Claire, and Alex ever liked him?  

[Gwennythe]

Tambrey smiled as Aulus laughed, but was quick to interject at the end of his statement.
"Ah, but, um, you're already much more than muscle... You're a strategist, um, you know more about fieldwork than most anyone I can think of and you're proven your dedication to... well, um, everyone on each mission you've been in, often at cost to yourself..." She didn't make a point of looking at the robotic arm, but it was probably clear that she meant his injuries and the loss of his original arm in particular. "And, now, on top of that, you're an awesome cyborg. So, yeah. Um, definitely more than muscle, or just muscle, anyway... Besides all that, you're a good partner, um... I am best in the lab, honestly, but you help me be ready for being out there. Training, support.. All that."  

[TawnyAngel]

It was true he guessed, he had got pretty good at field work and all but.... Well, it just didn't feel quite as worthy as the brain-work Tam and Alex did, and Claire had been an elite for so long now and he was still just.... He felt like he was missing something, hadn't done something, or something, but he didn't want to say so to his partner.

"Well I can't deny the awesome cyborg," he said instead as they rounded another flight of stairs with a grin and a flex of his metal hand. "I'm getting the hang of the claws now, but I think I want to get some Wolverine-type punching daggers too. Heh. But yeah, we make a good team, but you've always done great in the field when I've seen you in action."  

[Gwennythe]

"You should have seen me on some of my early missions..." Tambrey admitted after a moment. "Um. I think my first might have been... Um... Against Galactic's big spider... I got Lasi concussed, and the pair of us blown up by a Shaymin... Um. Broke my arm... Then, I think on the /first/ time we had a mission to their airship... I, um, nearly got smashed by an Abomasnow. I had to be saved by Mau's Vaporeon..."

She pondered for a moment over a thought.

"Have you considered.. um... training /from/ a pokémon? To help get some claw techniques? I know it's usually... we train pokémon, but it could be useful, maybe?"  

[TawnyAngel]

"I got stuck under a mountain on my first mission," Aulus replied with a wry grin. "I was the only grunt and the only guy, I'm sure they only took me for the muscle. I guess nobody's early missions are spectacular though." That had been when he'd first met Galactic, seemed a lifetime ago now. That one guy was dead now - he couldn't even remember his name - and Deimos was still their's. Tethys... if she was still out there, he could take her. He was stronger now, if she ever came back he could face her and win. b***h with her stupid pretentious hair thought she could wield a staff? He would love the chance to show her how it was done!

....Yet the very idea of her still made him feel a cold bolt of terror down his spine. How he would actually deal with her if he ever actually did see her he couldn't honestly say, but he hoped it would be beating the s**t out of her not cowering.

"Uh... what?" Aulus shook himself as they rounded the corner up to the training floor. "Oh, yeah I have! I've been watching how Foxtrot uses her claws, she's about as close as I'm going to get to a good model I think. I'll need to observe more, and experiment, but I think I can use what she does myself to some degree."  

[Gwennythe]

"Stuck under a mountain..." Tambrey winced a little. That didn't sound fun. "Probably not... Um. I guess experience really does count for a lot..." Actually, when she thought about it, the same was rather true of the labs; the more she worked on various projects, the more she knew how to handle new problems and new projects.

Only guy? Heh. So they both had a history of being 'imprisoned' in some way, alongside Galactic- twice, for Aulus; she'd read up enough to know the mission he was referring to, in reality... And, in reverse, when they'd been purposefully imprisoned, she'd been the only girl on the mission team. They definitely shared enough experience, and history, together that she suspected their being matched as partners had been more thought out than she sometimes thought about it.

"Ah, neat. Hm. I wonder..." She frowned in concentration "Do you think, tech-wise, you could bind, like, um, some attacks to your claws? Mock up, um, an ice or thunder punch of your own? I suppose that would drain the battery though..."  

[TawnyAngel]

"Now that I hadn't thought about," Aulus replied with a Thinking Scowl. They reached the training floor and he stepped through into the corridor, holding the door for Tam behind him. "I guess it would be draining, but it could be useful in a pinch. Some kind of electric charge would probably be easiest to hook up, and it would go with my staff. I'd hate to break a theme and...." Was there anyone else here? He glanced around. No, just them. "Controlling it sounds sort of appealing, do you know what I mean?" She did. "Part of the reason I wanted it on my staff." To use what had once been used against them.  

[Gwennythe]

Tambrey noted the thinking expression and felt... kind of pleased that she'd given him something to consider. She sometimes felt about her lab work in the same way that Aulus seemed to think about being muscle, except she considered the issue more that it was 'impersonal' a lot of the time... To give a helpful suggestion to a friend was nice... Though. Electricity was still... something that made her anxious. She /did/ know what he meant, however.
"Mhm. Um. Yes... I suppose that's why I so often have Jubilee and Gauntlet around, or on my team in some part..."