World Tree MUSH

Miwa had been burned pretty badly during the conflict with the Takhamuns. Auzren's treatment with her medpack certainly helped ease her pain and accelerate the healing process, but despite the higher technology available to Starfleet, she would probably still receive more effective treatment on her own world, particularly as she lived in Alola, where the Aether Institute was based, a company on the forefront in researching Pokemon genetics and medicine. At Auzren's suggestion that she should rest, Miwa had first given directions for which vines to take to get back to her home island. 

 From there, Miwa had taken the advise and has been sleeping for several hours. Upon traveling through the last vine in Miwa's directions, Auzren would see Ula'Ula island, the largest in a small chain of islands that would likely seem quite similar to Hawaii if Auzren was familiar with that part of a more traditional version of Earth. To the western side of the island was a large beach which Miwa had indicated was near her home, and just past the north end of the beach, there was a large red and white building with a Pokeball symbol above the door, which she had explained along with her directions that it was sort of like a hospital for creatures like herself. As if sensing she was home, Miwa stired in her sleep and her eyes slowly opened, looking around groggily. "Oof, how long was I out?"

    The Takhamuns are one more thing to be added to the list of Most Important Things To Research. Right now, though, that list is tucked aside, as her patient and passenger is sleeping and healing. There wasn't that much that she could do, Miwa's biology being quite new - but at least the anesthetics and sedatives worked, as did some of the basic burn gels to the worst areas.

    And then it was just a quiet trip aboard Passaic to get to her homeworld, fortunately shortened by these 'vines' connecting the various locations. Taking advantage of the trip, she's been scanning and studying the things, comparing them with Lorentzian wormholes, Krasnikov tubes, even the great Bajoran structure - with some speculation as to whether the 'Gardeners' are some similar group of 'Prophets' perhaps.

    Well, it passes the time at least. Though only a little of that, as the vine opens to reveal what looks like a small island paradise. "Ooh, Risa. Somewhat." A tap of a button activates the intercom in the sleeping area. "Miwa? We're arriving in Alola, coming up on Ula'Ula now. We'll be landing in a few minutes, if you'd like to watch." Not that the runabout has the greatest view in the world, but it's always interesting to see your home from above.

Miwa took a moment to stretch, feeling stiff after sleeping like a rock for so long. "Alright, I'm coming then, wouldn't want to miss the view." She replies through the intercom, feeling a little more coherent now than a moment ago when she woke up and started talking to an empty room. She shuffled along, walking on her flippers and tail and moving a bit slower than usual, making it up to the bridge of the shuttle, she looks out at the view below, eyes widening as she smiles. 

 "Wow, I can float along in a water bubble using my aquakinesis power, but I've never been this high. Too afraid the winds might be a problem, and if the bubble popped, well, that would be very bad..." She says as she moves even closer to see the view a little better. "There's a big grassy field near the Pokemon Center, you can land there I guess, and see what Nurse Joy thinks I need as far as further treatment, there's also food and supplies available there." She says as she points with her right flipper.

    Auzren glances back as her passenger appears, grey eyes taking in the mermaid's form. "I'd not have thought you could walk on your flippers. Are you feeling alright?" At least, as alright as it gets for the moment. The Trill gestures to the copilot's seat, making sure there's enough room. The seats are quite large, and well padded; they're just fit more for someone Auzren's shape than Miwa's.

    Meanwhile a few taps on the control panels send the runabout in a wide circle, giving Miwa a good view of most of the island. It's not a full loop, but at least it's a scenic detour as she brings the craft in for a soft landing. "So this is your home? It's beautiful, it reminds me of Risa. The beaches, the greenery, plus all that ocean." Auzren grins, shutting down Passaic's engines before standing and tugging her skirt into place.

    "Shall we get you to the nurse then? I at least want to know for sure you're alright, though..." A glance out the window once more, the prosthetic at her jaw glinting a moment as she bites a lip and thinks. "I'd love to look around, and hear more about your world. It's quite beautiful!"

    With a hiss, the hatch opens, ramp extending to the grass. Auzren gestures to the door, letting Miwa lead - it's her home after all, even if the Trill is tucking a tricorder along for the trip. Who knows what might be interesting out there, after all?

Miwa nods with a bit of a chuckle. "Well, sure I can. Though it was a little easier in my previous two evolution stages, the longer tail does complicate things a bit." She explains, though that was likely to only bring more questions about the whole evolution thing as it certainly worked differently for Pokemon than most species on other worlds. The walking was also not exactly comfortable in her current condition either. "I am feeling better, still pretty sore even with the medicine dulling the pain. I feel like alright though with some more medicine and lots of rest." 

 With a nod about how beautiful her home was, she would begin to lead the way toward the Pokemon Center as she continued to talk to Auzren. "I used to be a performer in a musical theatre troupe, so I've traveled a lot, and as much of my world that I've seen, there is nowhere I'd rather live than right here. I even like this island the best, though a few of the others do have unique perks that warrant a visit on occasion. 

 Auzren would have plenty to scan with her tricorder, as in addition to the beautiful scenery and flora, there were all manner of creatures to be seen by land sea or sky, and once they made it through the doors to the Pokemon Center, there would be still more, along with their human trainer partners. There was also a cafe on one side, and a shop on the other that doubled as a sort of Pokemon pharmacy. In the center was the main reception desk for the Pokemon Center itself, with a young woman with pink hair standing behind the desk in a white and pink nurse's outfit, standing next to her was a white and pink egg shaped Pokemon with curled ears two black eyes, a small mouth, an egg pouch in front, and several feather shaped white appendages along it's waist and around it's arm.

 Nurse Joy recognizes Miwa as she's been here before, and quickly rushes over to the meet her and Auzren. "Oh my, Miwa, what happened this time? You look like you got hit with the world's biggest Scald attack!" Miwa looks at the nurse sheepishly and replies. "Yeah, something like that..."

    Auzren's head tilts a little at the mention of previous evolution stages, the twin pigtails bobbing as she considers it. "Absolutely fascinating. Actual evolutionary growth, not simply mutation within a species?" Ahem. She raises a hand to forestall complaint or further explanation. "Well, just thinking of things. Sorry, scientist first and always!"

    The tricorder's left tucked in her belt, though Auzren can't keep her eyes off the world around them. She takes a deep breath to really taste the seaside air, all the scents of tide pools and sand and life there. "Huh...a performer? Then, if you don't mind my asking, what prompted you to go, well. The battle of the pyramids, I mean." What was it that motivated her to put down the microphone and go off adventuring, risking burns as she had?

    Eventually on their walk that tricorder comes out, as Auzren pauses and squats down a moment to scan some particularly interesting little creature doing its thing. "It's like an epohh, fascinating...I'm sorry, I'm distracted. Where were we?"

    Once they're at the center, though, it's more business - Joy's very clearly a dedicated nurse. "Open flame, to be honest. Though she was wrapped in a sheath of water at the time, the burns were still mostly directional. I gave her some first aid, and did what I could to treat things, then brought her immediately here. I'm...guessing she's stable, since she walked here from the ship, but..." But it's her first pokemon, it's hard to know just what a stable baseline is! At least Joy's got things well in hand.

Miwa wasn't really entirely sure how evolution differed from mutation in the sense that Auzren was talking about it, but she nodded anyway, guessing Auzren meant bigger changes, as was the case.. "Later if we head back to my home, or at least near it, I can maybe introduce you to a friend of mine, he's a Popplio, the first stage of my species' evolution. The second stage is called Brionne. I'll explain more then, it'll make more sense when you can see what Popplio looks like. You're welcome to come all the way to my actual home, long as you don't mind getting a little wet" She would answer, somewhat excited by the woman's enthusiasm about learning about her world, it was nice to meet others who were curious and loved to see new places like she did.

 "As for why I left performing, I just grew tired of endlessly traveling to the same places over and over, and the increasingly grueling show schedule as things got more popular. I am thinking of starting to perform again on my own, but I'll be doing it on my own terms, in-between seeing new places and people, and helping my friends when they need it. The reason I went to battle the battle at the pyramids, is because I worried if what was going on there spread to other worlds, it might get out of control, and threaten the entire world tree. I don't want that to happen, obviously." 

 Later at the Pokemon Center, Nurse Joy would nod to the answer from both Miwa and Auzren, and quickly give Miwa an exam on the spot, part of it using various tools provided by her Blissey assistant. Finally she would look back at the Primarina and the Trill. "Well, it seems your treatment has stabilized her, so thank you." She says to Auzren. Turning to Miwa. "You should be fine if you just rest and regularly apply burn heal medicine." She says, as Blissey brings over a bag full of spray bottles. Nurse Joy hands the bag to Miwa, then realizes she doesn't have a human trainer, and the bottles would be hard to use with flippers, hard as in pretty much impossible. "Um, you do have someone to help you with these I hope?" She asks, not really knowing Miwa's living situation, her gaze lifts up to Auzren.

    The Trill waits for Joy's examination, before finally answering. An offer for a home visit gets a nod - and a long thought, as Miwa's speaking of her home. What kind of home...'near it' she says, and then mentions getting wet. "Underwater, I presume. Hmm...I should be able to replicate some breathing equipment, if that's the case. Not so difficult!" She looks out at the ocean, grinning. "Actually, I'd very much look forward to that. It's been a while since I was on Risa, so getting in some swimming in a paradise like this might just be what it's time for."

    The explanation of her presence gets a slow nod. "That place...it can spread, whatever destroyed the world and rendered it a desert? That wasn't just...what was his name, Takhamun's doing, was it. That ark, there wasn't enough energy even in it for something that massive." Whatever he'd been doing with that power, absorbing it bit by bit...to wipe all life from a world and turn it into a wasteland barely capable of existing needs much, much more.

    Very likely, it was already on the way to it, Auzren thinks. "That message...the Gardeners, who are they? I've found very little about them, but it's obvious they're..." She shakes her head. "Maybe not in charge, but clearly related to the World Tree itself. I'd like to learn more about them."

    To Joy, she grins. "All part of the service, ma'am. Lieutenant Auzren Cen of the United Federation of Planets. Actually, I can carry those. The patient should at least have a little more looking after, shouldn't she?" Grin.

Nurse Joy nods and hands the bag of medicinal sprays to Auzren. "A Lieutenant huh? Well thank you for helping to take care of Miwa here. The people and Pokemon around here really love her, myself included, so I'd hate to hear something happened to her." She says before turning to Miwa. "You take care of yourself now. I don't want to see you coming here because you're hurt again anytime soon alright?" She says with a smile, gently patting Miwa's floof of hair, knowing better than to touch a burn victim's skin in such a way. 

 Miwa turns to Azuren and smiles. "Alright, guess next stop is home then, but I don't really want to walk that far. I'd rather float, so I hope you don't mind a little singing as we go." She says with a grin as they make their way out of the Pokemon Center. She forms a bubble of water around herself, and then begins to sing a special sort of melody that allows her to control the water, making the bubble lift up into the air with her inside it, and float along, leading the way at a brisk walking pace. She continued to speak to Auzren, working the words she wanted to say into the singing. "I don't know much about the Gardeners either, still learning a lot as my world only opened to the rest of the tree recently, but like you, I'm curious to learn more. As for my home, it's on a small island which is a short swim from the beach. I live in a cave, and the entrance is underwater, though there is plenty of air inside and even a sort of sky-light. It's simple, but cozy and private." 

Before long, they'd be on the beach, and several Pokemon who know Miwa would come over to check on her, there were a few Wingull, blue and white birds with short yellow and black beaks, a Lapras, a blue and beige Pokemon with a grey shell on it's back which resembles a plesiosaur, and finally Popplio, who excitedly comes bounding up the beach, looking like a baby sea lion with blue skin and a pink clown nose. Seeing his enthusiasm, Miwa warns. "Be gentle Popplio, I'm a little burnt right now. My friend Auzren here is going to help me get better."

    Both hands take the sprays, careful not to bump into Joy's own. "Quite welcome. Certainly my duty to make sure she gets back home safely." Auzren nods once at the nurse's instructions. "She'll be well taken care of. I'll make sure she's settled in." It's not as if she has anywhere specific to be right now, and one interesting place is just as good as another.

    Mind a little singing? "Not one bit. My second host was a singer, though I've not got any real talent. I'm not terrible or anything, but he was definitely the professional. Sing away!" She watches as Miwa forms her bubble and as the minor menagerie appears. It's an interesting group, and there's more to them than mere animals it seems. Definitely intelligence, the Trill thinks.

    "That's right." Introduced, she kneels down in the sand to greet the creatures, though her hands stay in her lap. "I'll be staying for a little bit until Miwa's all better. Burns can be bad for someone like her, after all." She suspects it'd be Joy tending to her side, but she can give the nurse a little bit of a break. And learn more about these creatures and their evolutionary system.

    There's a pause as she considers. "Tell you what. You take this," she continues, unpinning the badge on her chest and handing it over to drop onto Miwa's fin, "and I'll meet you there shortly. I've got a bit of a shortcut, if it's a grotto. Tap it when you get home and I'll be right there. And I want to bring a few extra things along, so I've got to go back to the ship anyway." Which, she bets, is probably being crawled over by inquisitive pokemon of all kinds right now.

    It won't take long for Miwa to reach her home, she's betting, but it'll give her a few minutes to get some food and other supplies. Once that's gathered up into a bundle and stuffed in a carrier, she'll fetch a spare badge - and then, quite likely to Miwa's surprise, beams right in to an open spot once signaled.

    "Surprise!"

Miwa smiles as Auzren speaks to the trio of wild water Pokemon. Auzren might feel like they almost understood what she was saying, at least picking up that she was going to help their friend. "So, this energetic guy is Popplio as I mentioned, the gull is called Wingul, and lastly out in the water there is Lapras, she could carry you to my little island if you wish." Miwa explains, only to pause and listen as Auzren explains her plan to get some things from her ship, accepting the badge and putting it in her hair just behind the translucent fin at the top of her head. 

 "Alright then, so you can follow me by this little badge? That's really neat! I guess I'll see you in a few!" Miwa offers with a wave of her flipper, then makes her way into the ocean and quickly swims to her tiny off shore island before diving under the surface and coming up into the underwater entrance to the cave. She pulls herself out of the water and Popplio follows close behind, just in time to see Auzren appear in the cave. "Wow, that's incredible!" Miwa says as she blinks in amazement. "Welcome to my home. Seems Popplio wanted to join us." She says as she pats him on the head with her flipper, and he responds with an excited bark. "So, what do you think, now that you've been here a bit? I'm sure you probably have lots of questions."

    Popplio gets a nod, as do the other two. Wingul and Lapras, hmm? "Mm, that won't be necessary, but I appreciate the offer. I'll be right there, though, don't worry." She watches as the others disappear, before gathering her things and transporting herself over.

    The grotto is quite roomy, fortunately. "Hello Popplio. So this is home?" Auzren looks around the inside of the cave, taking in the sights. "And it's a transporter system. It lets me move around a lot quicker than most places, it's pretty common for Starfleet. We can't always land, after all, but you still need to get to the surface somehow." It's hardly technical, but does fill in the gaps.

    And then Auzren settles in, tucking her carry bag beside her and looking around. "Well...I suppose I do. I hope you don't mind an inquisitive guest, actually. I'd love to know all about you and your world, for starters...and I think we might just be a while." She can't help grinning, and looks forward to a LOT to learn.

The cave was pretty simple for the most part, though it was indeed roomy, there are some storage containers and a cooler to store food and such, and also a hammock bed connected to one wall, and an inflatable mattress also for guests, otherwise it's pretty spartan. Miwa smiles as Popplio moves closer to Auzren, seeming curious of her. She chuckles at the response about having an inquisitive guest, shaking her head. "I don't mind at all, I guess I'm rather curious about your technology and the worlds you may have seen, particularly this Risa you spoke of earlier. So maybe we can trade questions for a while, you can help me with my medicine, and then we can call it a night. You're welcome to stay if you like. I have food here."