Welcome to Gaia! ::

The halls and rooms were brightly lit, in contrast to the darkened windows. Though the lights were so bright, the windows were polished with a kind of wax that did not reflect that light.. It was almost eight PM, and the evening shift regulars seemed ready to leave.

Each room featured different instruments, none of which Tails could identify, and one in particular seemed interesting -- it was separated in the middle by the wall of glass, and a man in a blue business coat stood before a green screen covering the wall.

"Don't worry about being too quiet, now. The telecast is sound-proof," Seth said. The coat leading Tristen had skulked off for some coffee. "We have a few Castform on the second floor, if you want to see."

"Ooh! I know I do," Tails said.

"Alright. Upstairs then," Seth said.

It was warmer upstairs, and more open. The ceiling was another sheet of glass and on sunnier days, this room must have been greenhouse-warm. Along the panes hung baskets of several kinds of plant: ivy, berries, hibiscus. Playing hide and seek amongst these were two round, gray Pokemon with very few features.

"Whee!" was their cry whenever one found the other.

"They're so small," Tails said.

"Yeah. This is their normal form," Tails said and nodded. "Hey, um. Can I try something?"

"Try something?" Seth asked.

"Yeah. Don't worry, I won't hurt anything. I don't think I will, anyway."

"What do you have planned?" Seth asked.

"If it turns into a raindrop when it's exposed to rain, what if I made some kind of warm and sunny environment?" Tails said.

"Can you even do that? Do you know how to do Sunny Day?"

Tails grinned. "If you let me, I'll show you. I dunno if it's Sunny Day, but..."

"Well, let's watch and see if he can do it," Seth said.

Tails stepped into the center of the room, glancing between the two Castform. They bounced, squealed, perhaps saying hi. He sat down, because he'd need to conserve the energy. There was nothing for the next minute, but the Castform were focused exclusively on him. This did not go unnoticed by Seth.

The room warmed, though the rain outside did not cease. At eighty-five degrees, one of Tails' tails stiffened. Glowed. From the tip rose a pulsing white-green ball of energy. The Castform bounced and squealed again, rattling the baskets.

"It's not quite Sunny Day. That requires some kind of ritual," Seth said. "This feels closer to a simulation of a sunny day. Ah! There they go!"

The two Pokemon danced about Tails' energy ball, shining just like it. There was a blinding flash, but when Tails could see again, the Castform had transformed. They looked like little sunny smiley faces.

Happy little suns.

"I didn't expect I'd be seeing this," Seth said, rubbing his chin. "Pokemon able to simulate weather outside the conventional techniques? I'll need to vet this by the other regional institutes. I'm glad we brought you kids in."

"Whew." Tails stood, with a little help from the two Castform. He had overdid it again. The Castform seemed to sense this.