The sound of a helicopter filled the area around the scientists, each one rushing to secure papers as the wind blew things away. It took a moment for the helicopter to stabilize itself so it could land, but once the pilot found his footing it was no problem. A slender black haired woman made her way towards the craft once it shut down, a sour expression on her face. From the helicopter came Luna and Darix, both surveying the area around them before noticing the woman.
"Karmin my old friend!" Darix exclaimed with open arms. "I was hoping you were still on site. It's been ages since I've seen you in person!" He finished as he approached the woman for a hug.
Before he could embrace her, a solid smack filled the camp, followed by silence as all who witnessed it simply stared. Darix was taken aback by this motion, unsure of how to respond to his friend hitting him across the face.
"You absolute imbecile!" Karmin shouted. "What in the name of Arceus do you think you are doing bringing a chopper into my research site?! Sending papers everywhere, knocking down tents, and scaring off the wildlife, I'm surprised you didn't wake up the target with how reckless you were!" She exclaimed loud enough for the entire camp to hear.
Luna began reaching for the device on her left wrist before Darix waved her away. Darix simply chuckled for a moment before kneeling and grabbing Karmin's hand. Placing a single kiss upon the back of her hand achieved what he had hoped it would. Karmin's face began to flush as the man rose back to his feet.
"Still as commanding as ever Karmin." He laughed. "I knew making you the Sinnoh admin was a good idea."
"Of course it was sir." She stammered out. "No one else can get information from the wildlife quite as I can." She's said confidently as she brushed aside a lock of hair
A cough came from behind Darix, drawing their attention to it. Luna was gesturing to the rest of the camp, which was still staring at the three of them, eagerly awaiting more to happen.
"Quite right Luna." Darix chuckled. "I need a word with you Karmin, in private if possible." He said in hushed tones.
"Of course Director." She responded. "Alright back to work people, Future Tech isn't going to get that research done by sitting and staring all day!" She shouted at the rest of the camp.
Most of the workers immediately went back to their duties, though a few still tried to watch the three as they entered their supervisor's tent. Once inside the tent, the tone between the three shifted from one of friends to one of strictly business partners.
The joyous expression Darix had been wearing was exchanged for a scowl as he pressed a button on the device upon his wrist. A small energy wave flowed from the device to the edges of the tent, stopping the wind from blowing through it and all the sound from outside with it. Once he was satisfied that the location was secure, Darix took a seat, waiting for his admins to follow suit.
"So I take it this surprise meeting is because of the information I sent you regarding the target?" Karmin said coldly as she took a seat.
"That is correct." Luna said, flipping through her notes. "When I had last checked in on you, you had said that the target." She began as she was cut off.
"You had said that Heatran was Located here at Stark Mountain last we had checked," Darix said, finishing Luna's sentence. "The tent is secure, no need for code words right now." He sighed out.
"Right." Luna sighed as she flipped through a few more pages. "Now you are sending a message to the Director over my head, telling him you are unsure if Heatran is even located in Sinnoh. What made your information change so drastically over a few days?" She questioned.
"That is not entirely what I said, Luna." Karmin said as she shot a glare at Luna. "I had said that I was unsure if Heatran was only located in Sinnoh anymore." She explained as she regained her composure.
"And what do you mean by that?" Darix questioned, leaning to the edge of his seat.
"What I mean is, I don't think there is only one Heatran."
Karmin's response was met with puzzled silence in the room. Darix and Luna shared a glance before looking back to Karmin.
"How is that possible?" Luna began. "All of our research shows that Heatran is no different from most other legendary Pokemon and is limited to one or two in our entire universe."
"That was what I thought at first too! That was until I came across something in a few of our Forever Tech mines." She said as she walked over to her desk.
Putting on some latex gloves, Karmin gently reached into one of the drawers. From it, she pulled out a bright orange stone, roughly the size of a basketball, and set it upon a slab on the desk. Luna and Darix both rushed over to inspect the stone before Karmin stopped them. Once the stone was in place, she reached into another drawer, this time pulling out a second stone identical to the first one. Once both stones were set on the desk, she removed her gloves and sighed.
"Are these?" Darix began before his question was answered for him.
"These are both Magma stones." Karmin said bluntly with a smug look on her face.
"The stone that is said to control Heatran?" Luna asked softly.
"The exact ones." She responded. "Both of them are genuine, I double-checked with some of our best scientists over at your FD lab."
"But that's impossible." Luna shot back. "This is the one item said to control Heatran, just like the Blue Orb controls Kyogre, and that means there is only one in the whole world."
"That's my point, dear Luna." Karmin chuckled. "Because we found two of them, one in Unova and one in Hoenn. I believe that there are at least three Heatran in our world, or there could be more out there that we don't even know about, just waiting for someone to wake them up!"
"This is amazing research Karmin." Darix said, rising to his feet and regaining his composure. "But how does this change your mission?" He asked, his eyebrows raising.
"It doesn't Director." Karmin said flatly. "All it means is that if the Heatran here in Sinnoh turns out to be too powerful to handle, we have others we could fall back on."
"That is good information to have, we don't want to end up like Team Magma with their little stunt all those years ago now do we?"
"No, sir."
"And you are sure that you'll be able to get at least one of the Heatrans Karmin?"
"Yes, sir."
"And the cover-up for finding Infinity Energy in Stark Mountain?"
"No longer a cover-up sir, we have managed to find a few small pockets that should allow for Mega Evolution stones to be produced here in Sinnoh just as in the other regions."
"Excellent." He said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Good work Karmin, I knew you wouldn't let me down."
Once he had finished speaking, Darix flipped the dial on his device again. This time the wave of energy moved from the edges of the tent back into the device. With a single flash of blue light, the sounds from the rest of the camp could be heard in the tent once again, much to the annoyance of Luna.
"Your team really can't work quietly can they Karmin?" Luna teased.
"Oh they can, they just don't when someone with a Diglett nose is visiting." She joked back.
"Ladies enough, you can hash things out later." Darix said as he rolled his eyes. "For now, you and I need to head over to Hoenn and check in with the deep-sea divers." He said, gesturing for Luna to follow. "Keep up the good work Karmin, I know you will go far if you just don't get stuck listening to your Pokemon again."
"Yes, sir!" Karmin said, mockingly saluting the Director as he left her tent. "I won't let you down Darix." She said so softly so only she could hear.
Thank you to everyone who has been reading this story as it's been coming out. I didn't originally think this was going to be much of a story, but as I write more and more, I am getting more into the idea behind it!
I also have to give a special shout out to Kyle for the character concept behind Karmin! They and other people have been an awesome help filling out some of the other characters in Team Rebirth and it goes a long way!
If you want to submit a character concept for me to work on including as one of the background characters, fill out this form and they might show up in a future chapter! forms . gle /8YBxdA5nWPYdwonG7
Anyways, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you enjoy what I have to come with Project rebirth!