Professor Lauren Cherry

Gaia

Lauren was born in Southern Island 1700 years ago. The younger sister to Lati, Lauren was inseparable from her brother early in life. Even though the two did not have a parent, the two spent their first 500 years together at all times. They would play and survive within Southern Island, and, with some help with their Arceus, Morrigan, the two lived in harmony. However, one day, Groudon and Kyogre began to fight each other, putting the entire Hoenn Region in jeopardy. No one within the Hoenn Region were able to stop them. Humans were too weak, the Regis were in slumber, and Rayquaza did not exist in this world. Thus, with no one to stop the two titans, Lati and Lauren set off to try to defend their home.

Lauren was quickly injured during the affair. Lati, however, defeated both of them by himself, and returned home with Lauren without a trace.

Humans didn’t recognize Lati’s actions, but Morrigan did. After the battle and Lauren’s subsequent recovery, Morrigan acknowledged Lati as her Hoenn enforcer, while not acknowledging Lauren in any way. Over the next 200 years, Lati would be occasionally called to deal with other threats throughout the region while she would stay alone. While it was usually lonely during those times, Lauren quickly accepted the new status quo.

That was until, 1,000 years ago when an amnesiac Heidi suddenly appeared on the island. Lauren and Lati took her in and nursed her to health. Heidi didn’t remember her name or any details of her life prior to arriving on the island. So, Lauren and Lati accepted her as their sister to live with them. Over the years, the trio grew close, and Lauren’s occasional loneliness was cured with the arrival of the new sister. Even when Lati would leave on his own, Lauren and Heidi would play together or travel together to better learn about humans and their various discoveries. Heidi and Lauren would sometimes separate to achieve their own goals, but they and Lati would always meet together in Southern Island like one happy family.

Elysium

One day, while Lati was away, an Ultra Wormhole appeared on Southern Island. It seemed dormant at first, but when Heidi and Lauren noticed and approached it, the Ultra Wormhole sucked them in, transporting them into another world – one where Mega Evolution existed. The duo landed in Sky Pillar in front of Zinnia and Rayquaza, who nursed them to health and helped them understand what happened. They learned that they were transported into another world and that there was no known way at the time to return home. Zinnia and Rayquaza gave them the space to grieve, and, after a long talk, the duo agreed to stay in the world until they could find a way to return to their old home. Heidi decided to live with Rayquaza and Zinnia in Sky Pillar while Lauren applied and was hired as a researcher in Team Magma. 

During her tenure in Team Magma, Lauren spent several years advancing her career and assisting with research of helping humans and Pokémon coexist in an ever-growing world; however, on her free time, in between art, caring for her Pokémon, and spending time with her new and ever-growing family, Lauren spent additional time researching both the inherit energy within Pokémon and the multiverse phenomenon. Initially, she wished to find a way to return home. She wished to find Lati back home and convince him to come to live with her so that she, Lati, and Heidi could live together in the new world together without a care.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned. One day, Lauren learned of Lati’s ultimate fate in his world – that he was killed during a civil war that he waged against Morrigan to save humanity in that world. Lauren grew depressed for some time, but her dreams were even further dashed when Heidi was forced to inherit as Arceus of the world they currently lived in, all but guaranteeing that Heidi will forever be bound to the current world. For some time, Lauren was distraught, seeing her dreams destroyed before her eyes; however, this change of events gave her a new goal: to help Heidi return to her old state, and for her to find her home world to retrieve her brother’s Soul Dew.

Professor Cherry

Due to her research in Team Magma and previous experience in her previous world, Lauren caught the attention of the Professor School and Professor Birch in the Hoenn Region. Lauren was recommended to the school and passed it, publishing theses on the energy link between Mega Evolution and Primal Reversion. As she performed more research for the academy, Lauren was eventually offered an opportunity to open her own laboratory to further her research in Lilycove City. She accepted the position and quit her job at Team Magma in a belief that doing so would be helpful both to herself personally and to the world she lived in at large. Since moving in, Lauren changed her appearance and her formal name to reflect the acceptance of change and of her new life at “Professor Cherry,” a Pokémon Professor that specializes on the relationship between the different energies that Pokémon utilize and purpose in the world.