(This is still continuing Basque's flashback from chapter 4a)

*Basque's POV*

...

...

...

"Hey, Basque?"

Ngh... Now I've got this splitting headache to deal with... Was it from that 'Pokeball' that Arcadia had thrown at me. I have no idea...

I open my eyes, and the change of scenery is immediately welcoming to me. Gone are the innumerable trees, small lake, and Berry bushes. In their place, stands a large dome-shaped corridor with granite-based walls, a few wooden shelves lined with books, and a large desk, coupled with papers and similar in size to the one that Arcadia had been using earlier. The tiled floor underpaw feels slightly cold when I first touch it, but I'm soon used to it and begin to enjoy walking on its polished surface. The entire back half, however, seems to be entire made of water, as the water, itself, is just another building block of this place. Finally, a small cot, probably large enough to hold two of me, is propped up against one of the free walls. I assume that it is for Arcadia.

I look up, and Arcadia stares down at me.

"You're finally awake!" he sighs in relief,

"For a second there, I thought that you weren't able to handle being a Pokeball."

I don't really think I 'handled it' at all... My head is throbbing like an alarm, and I can feel that burning sensation in my gut again...

As if on cue, my stomach begins to growl, and Arcadia chuckles.

"'Fast metabolism' is an understatement," he mumbles to himself,

"I've got to find a way to maybe increase the amount of time it takes for his stomach to empty... Anyway, Basque, I saw how curious you were about liquefying yourself back in the forest. I have a feeling that I can help you hone that ability, if you'd like. Would that be something that you want to do?"

He asks the question, as if there's even a shadow of doubt in his mind that I'll decline his offer.

He seems to be quite curious about it, himself. But, he did figure out the water in my stomach, so I have a feeling that he will be able to understand this water that I can become, too.

I slowly nod my head and reply, wanting to discover every possible application of the ability, myself. He motions to the large water-wall behind me.

"So, could you show me that transformation of yours one more time, first?" he asks me.

I shrug, walk over to the wall of water, and jump in with both forepaws outstretched. Immediately, I sigh in relief as the cool liquid washes over me. It feels good to be in my element, no matter where it is. On top of that, a look of surprise is transfixed to my face- the wall that I thought had been no more than a few meters thick of water, I can now see to be almost a kilometer wide!

Remembering what Arcadia had asked me to do, I look down at my paw and close my eyes, imagining the same scene from the forest- a Vaporeon, swimming in a lake, when it starts to dissolve into the water around it. I open my eyes again and, just as I had hoped, my paw is nothing more than a watery representation of what it had previously been.

Out of the corner of my eye, deeper into this expansive pool of water, I spot another small Finneon swimming through the water about one hundred meters back, and I lick my lips, knowing that I could swallow it easily. Then, I look down at my paw, still made of water, and an idea forms in my head.

Can I use my own water to grab it? Let's find out!

Immediately, I trace my eyes across the water, imagining a current of water pushing me towards the Finneon, and my body responds without fail, completely liquefying itself and speeding towards the fish with speeds that I'd have never even thought possible.

The hundred meters distancing me from my prey seems to disappear into nothingness in light of the jet-level speeds that I could reach while completely liquefied. However, the second I draw within paw's reach of the Finneon, I close my eyes and remember what I had looked like before becoming water, and my body adapts to that change instantaneously, just in time for me to swipe with my paw and grab the Finneon from seemingly nowhere. I quickly re-assimilate and swim back, prey in paw, to where Arcadia is waiting outside the water with a smile on his face.

I build up a little more speed as I rocket back and leap out of the water, handily landing on all fours back on dry ground, using my tail to keep my balance after making the transition. I look around, expecting to have strewn water everywhere from my grand entrance, but, oddly, it all seems to be contained inside the area where the water had originally been.

Arcadia traces my gaze and looks at the ceiling.

"My Magneton are quite useful, aren't they?" he asks rhetorically,

"I've rigged up a magnetic field to repel only certain objects from leaving that 'box' of water. Thus, I can allow my Pokemon to freely enter and leave that water without having to deal with the leftover water when they leave it. Handy, isn't it?"

Useful, maybe? For him, perhaps, but they really don't affect me much. All my water is contained inside my own body.

I look back at Arcadia with the Finneon still clenched under my paw. It tries to flop, lifelessly, away, reminding me of its existence and ensuring its fate. Immediately, I transfer the small Pokemon from my paw to my mouth and swallow, purring when it finally lands in my stomach a few seconds later.

Something about having a Pokemon in my stomach just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside... Perhaps having to only eat meat isn't such a bad idea after all! It means I can experience this more and more...

Arcadia chuckles to himself when he hears my purring.

"You enjoy that feeling, don't you? Perhaps that's just another part of what I did to him..." he mumbles the last part himself, stroking my head with his hand.

"Alright, Basque, it's getting late. Tomorrow morning, we'll continue honing your ability to turn to water at a moment's notice. And I'll restock my waters with fish again so you have something to do when you get hungry!"

He runs his hand down my back and stands up, walking to the cot in the corner of the room and lying down.

"Good night, Basque," he says calmly, before closing his eyes,

"We have much to do tomorrow to strengthen you and your abilities!"

I nod and walk right up next to the cot, lying down on the cold, tiled floor with a smile on my face. I could still feel the Finneon swimming around in my gut as my eyes close and sleep takes me.

...

I don't want to become dependent on Arcadia's reserve of fish for life, but I figure that allowing him to help me is one of the best things I can do to thank him for helping me to live. Although I don't usually show gratitude to anyone, something about Arcadia's selflessness towards my survival begins to garner a sort of trust between human and Pokemon. I might even consider Arcadia my friend...

I almost internally laugh at my own thought.

Friends... I have no friends- they all died in the forest long ago. But Arcadia isn't like them- he's different, but I have yet to understand how.

The next morning, by the time I'm awake, Arcadia is already sitting at his desk, writing more notes on that clipboard of his. I open my eyes and stretch. I begin to walk over to Arcadia to see what he's doing until my stomach begins to growl again.

And I know what that means, by now! I think to myself with a smile.

In a flash, I get a running start and dive, headfirst, into the water, imagining myself as the water that makes up the surroundings. This time, without even closing my eyes, my body begins to change, regarding its new suite of transportation with honor.

My gaze soon locks onto another fish, this time a plump, red Magikarp, aimlessly loitering near the bottom of the water. Wasting no time at all, I jet through the water, let my paws assimilate, and grip the fish between both forepaws tightly, swimming back to Arcadia with my newest catch.

He stands up from his desk and walks over to me when I re-enter the room.

"Well done, Basque," he compliments me,

"You're getting the hang of liquefying and assimilating quickly. That'll be quite useful, no doubt about it. But, I want to try something different today. You're clearly able to master liquefaction while you're in the water, but what about while you're on dry ground? Can you still become water there?"

Hm... I had never thought of attempting that... But, if it works... Maybe I could catch things that aren't just fish to eat by catching them off guard with my liquefaction, first. That would certainly expand my options to survive on...

I shrug, and close my eyes, imagining the same Vaporeon, swimming through the water, dissolving into it, and I begin to feel myself becoming water, until, about halfway through, an intense tugging sensation afflicts my gut, and I tense up.

The pain... It feels like my body wants to rip itself apart...! Ngh...!

I fall to the floor, clutching my chest. Arcadia quickly stoops down and holds my head in his hands, facing it to look at him.

"What's happening to you, Basque? You've got to tell me what's wrong, so I can fix it," he says, with a pained smile on his face.

But I can barely focus on him over the gnawing agony that continues to spread throughout my entire body. I begin to whimper- it legitimately feels like I'm going to tear myself apart, and Arcadia begins to panic.

"Basque! Basque, please, what's wrong?!" he almost shouts, but my only response is to clench my jaw and try not to scream in pain. I could feel the cells in my body becoming water, but it wasn't water that I could control- they seem to be completely separating from my very being.

"Ar... Arcadia..." I mumble weakly,

"It's not working... I'm stuck between a Vaporeon and water- and the water is winning... Ngh..."

Arcadia quickly wraps both arms around me, one around my chest, and another cradling my head.

"I know what to do!" he shouts, more to abate his own nerves than my own. Without hesitation, he heaves my body forward as hard as he can. The last thing I see before I pass out from the pain is the large wall of water quickly coming closer to me.

...

...

My body... Am I OK?

I slow open my eyes to see the familiar red-robed Arcadia looking at me with concern in his eyes.

"Basque? Hey, Basque?" he whispers sternly in my ear.

I whimper in pain, the events of what just happened still running through my mind at hyperspeed.
"I... I could feel myself becoming water for a second... Then, it's like my cells became confused on what to shift to... It felt like I was being ripped apart..."

Arcadia immediately places his hand on my forehead.

"After I threw you into the water, it seems that your body must have regained its bearings," he explains,

"And you liquefied shortly after. Then, I separated your body's water from the surrounding water with a few tweaks of my Magneton's pulses, and, when I pulled you out, you began to return to being a Vaporeon again. But, don't lose hope, Basque! Being able to completely change your cellular structure to match an environment isn't the easiest thing in the world. Even a Kecleon has to stand in front of a bush for its body to change to become the same color. We'll continue to work on it," he tells me, and I nod. To end the "successful outing," my stomach begins to growl, and Arcadia nudges the Magikarp that I had pulled out of the water earlier towards me. I look at it and lick my lips, immediately grabbing the fish and stuffing it into my mouth. Because of its size, I have to chew parts of it off one at a time, but I don't mind- the smaller chunks just multiply the feeling of satisfaction when I swallow them down. The rest of the day is largely uneventful, as I don't want to risk trying to become water on dry ground until I had regained most of my strength.

But I've got to master that! If I'm in a place without water, what good is an ability that I can't use?!

...

The next few weeks are more of the same- I wake up, grab a nearby fish, feast on it, breaking the larger ones down into small enough bits for me to swallow, purring when it all lands in my stomach, and trying to liquefy myself in front of Arcadia again. The first twenty or thirty times I try, however, all become the same, painful nightmare as the first day, and I fall asleep later wondering if the next time I try it, my body will successfully liquefy on dry ground.

...

However, one fateful day, something happens during my daily routine that would change me, forever.

...

I wake up the next day, and my stomach immediately begins to growl before I've even lifted myself from my curled-up position on the floor. Over the past weeks, I had since come to enjoy the taste of fish in my gut more and more, and I hungrily bound towards the water and leap inside, grabbing the first Magikarp that crosses my field of vision, and returning to Arcadia. This time, however, when I bring it up to my mouth to swallow it, he gently pries the fish from my paws and looks at me.

"I've been watching you for a while," he says,

"And I think the problem is that your body is focused on your gut, rather than your own liquefaction. My guess is that you probably can't fully transform when you have a fish in your stomach. You also need to transform quickly- your cells will become overworked quickly if you're mid-way between Vaporeon and water, for too long."

My stomach continues to growl, but I listen to his advice and heed it.

I begin to imagine, once again, a Vaporeon swimming in a lake, when it begins to melt into its surroundings, slowly becoming water. Just like every other time, my body begins to slowly shift itself to become water. I can feel myself spreading across the floor, but, to my surprise, I didn't feel a burning sensation in my gut, although, after a few seconds, I did begin to feel a deep pain in my chest, just as Arcadia had predicted I would.

I concentrate harder, imagining the feeling of water sliding across my back, entering it, and completely transforming me. The pain in my chest dwindles to nothing in a matter of milliseconds, and I slowly open my eyes, knowing that I've accomplished my goal at last.

Arcadia looks at me with a smile on his face.

"Would you look at that, Basque? After all these tries, you've finally got the hang of it!" he congratulates me.

But I don't stay in this water-sona of mine for too long. My stomach begins to growl again, and I quickly assimilate to grab the fish that I had caught back from Arcadia, bringing it to my mouth and swallowing. However, when I separate the Magikarp's right fin from the rest of its body, something begins to happen in my mouth that causes a burning sensation to run up and down every vein in my entire body.

I quickly spit out the Pokemon- every last part of it- and my stomach groans in consternation. Immediately, I can feel my throat constricting in on itself, like it's suddenly not able to deal with the small trickles of blood left in my mouth from the Magikarp.

To my horror, I quickly realize that the cause of my throat's blockage is that small amount of red left over, but it's not the Magikarp's blood. My tongue begins to catch in the back of my mouth as my throat closes itself, tighter and tighter, and my breathing becomes erratic as I struggle to pass air through the nearly-blocked passage.

Arcadia quickly springs into action, grabbing me by the chest and throwing me into the water with every ounce of strength that he can muster. However, when I hit the water, my throat doesn't open up, and I signal this to him, practically choking on my own spit at this point.

"Basque!" he calls, diving into the water and pulling me back out once again. I try to choke out a single word, to tell him what's going on, but I can't get anything past my blocked throat, only managing to wheeze while my remaining air is continually depleted from my lungs, unable to be replenished.

"Basque! Open your mouth! As wide as you can!" Arcadia yells.

Moving my mouth stung horribly, causing more and more blood to pool in my mouth, and I suddenly feel a sharp cut in the back of my throat widen. How it had gotten there, I have no idea, but all I could tell, now, is that whatever had made that cut is the source of all this pain, as well as my blocked throat. Nevertheless, I do what Arcadia says and open my mouth, using all of my willpower not to slam it shut on Arcadia's hand when he places it against the inside of my jaw.

Arcadia gasps when his hand finds the cut near the back of my throat, but he tries to remain as calm as he can.

"Basque, I need you to keep your head completely still! There's something in your mouth, and I need to get it out!" Arcadia half-yells, half-whispers.

I tense up immediately, but I strain myself to keep my head stationary. Thoughts fly through my head like angry Durant, threatening to gnaw through my concentration and force my mouth down on Arcadia's hand.

I've got to keep it... Open...! Even though it hurts...!

Arcadia continues to stick his hand deeper into my throat. I can feel his hand close around something, and a sharp pain runs through my entire body. I almost close my mouth instinctively to stop the pain, but I know that I could potentially sever Arcadia's hand if I did that.

And he still hasn't removed whatever's in there yet!

The splitting pain continues to plague me, and tears well up in my eyes from how badly it hurts, second only to what I had felt when I had been stuck between a Vaporeon and water.

I want to say something, to ask Arcadia what's going on, but I hold my tongue to the side of my mouth. Moving it now to speak would only hurt both him and me, so I decide to just stay silent, barely clinging to consciousness on what little air I had left.

A few seconds later, Arcadia places his other hand on the top of my head and consoles me,

"This is going to hurt, but there's no other way to get this out!"

Before I can mentally process what he's about to do, a searing pain, as well as a large amount of blood, begin to pool in my mouth, and Arcadia removes his hand, brandishing a bloodied fisherman's hook.
He looks at the small object like it had been crafted by the devil, himself, and throws it to the floor under his desk in anger. He turns back to me, tears in his eyes, and begins to embrace me, while blood continues to pour down my throat. However, once Arcadia had removed the hook from what was probably the back of my throat, air begins to flow through my lungs again.

I gasp, breathing in a combination of precious air and my own blood, but I didn't particularly. All I can tell is that I'm still alive, and, if Arcadia hadn't removed that hook from my throat, I would be as good as dead.

I can already feel the tears welling up in my eyes, not from the pain, but from thankfulness- thankfulness that I had a Trainer like Arcadia, who's always there for me.

"Basque..." he begins to say,

"Do you want me to..."

He stops when my stomach growls loudly. I turn to find the Magikarp, still lying where I had spat it out, and I try to fit it into my mouth, but, as soon as it touches my throat, my entire body begins to throb. Quickly, in order to try to fit something in my stomach, I begin to take frequent swallows, attempting to pull the Magikarp down my throat, but all I manage to do is get it caught in my injured area and heave it back up onto the ground, along with some more of my blood.

I stare at the broken fish on the tiled floor in front of me. I couldn't swallow it, and I probably wouldn't be able to for as long as it takes for my throat to heal, which, judging by the amount of blood it shed, would be longer than my quick metabolism would give me to wait.

The realization of my inability to get food to my stomach hits me like a punch to the gut, sparking a sharp pain throughout the region.

If I can't swallow anything, but my stomach continues to digest me before I can put food in it... I'll be dead before it heals!

I try to fruitlessly swallow the Magikarp a third time, but the attempt only causes me to spew out more of my blood along with it. Tears fill my eyes, knowing that I'm as good as dead at this point.

Arcadia picks up the Magikarp that I had just spit up for the third time and places it on the floor next to my gut, thinking as hard as he can, but quickly and panicked. His hands are clammy, and he seems to realize, as well, how little time I have left if we can't figure out a way to put food in my stomach.

"How do we get something from here..." he muses out loud, pointing to the Magikarp,

"To here?" He moves his finger to point at my stomach, which continues to growl louder and louder, until I can't even think over the noise.

Just then, a small sliver of hope crosses Arcadia's face, and he smiles.

"Basque, I know how to do it! I know how we can feed you without using your throat!" he says excitedly but forcefully. I look at him for the desperate answer to the countdown on my life,

"Basque, turn your chest to water! I have an idea that just might work!"

I immediately catch on to what he's going to try to do, and, as much as I doubt the plan, I won't bother to disobey Arcadia after he'd saved me, not just once, but twice.

And now, he'll do it a third time, if this works! I've got to trust him! Arcadia!

I close my eyes quickly, and my body begins to liquefy, starting at the region Arcadia specifies. Luckily, after all those times that I'd practiced it, I'd gotten quite proficient at controlling the transformation.

Arcadia sees the chance and takes it, grabbing the Magikarp and thrusting it through the water that makes up my stomach area. He quickly withdraws it while the Pokemon is encased in water.

"Now assimilate again! Quickly!"

As he says this, I will my stomach region to become part of my body again, and, as if by magic, my stomach walls form around the Magikarp, trapping it inside.

I imagine the Magikarp flopping about inside there and begin to purr, remembering how wonderful it feels to have something filling up my gut, and Arcadia both smiles and sighs in relief at the same time.

"I... I can't believe that worked..." he almost laughs.

I can't either, but... I loved doing that! Something about encasing another Pokemon like that, then assimilating on top of them! I don't even have to use my damaged throat, and there's nothing that prey can do about it!

"Now, you need your rest after that... horrific experience," Arcadia tells me, resting his hand on my stomach, as if to make sure that the Magikarp is actually inside. He sighs.

"But, when you wake up, we need to practice that new tactic. Something tells me you're going to be using it alot, the way you smiled when it happened," he laughs,

"Perhaps your body was simply directing the enzyme to the right place."

I simply nod and curl up around my stomach, falling unconscious almost immediately due to exhaustion and blood loss.

...

Arcadia. Thanks... For everything... The only reason that I'm living now, is because of you and your compassion for me. I'll never forget that...

...

When I wake up, a clock on the wall signals to me that it's almost night time, but I don't really mind. As soon as my stomach growls once, I eagerly open my eyes and dash for the pool of water, my eyes darting back and forth to select my next target, the second one to be used to test this new way to assimilate.

After a few seconds, I locate a larger blue fish, a younger Lumineon, probably about two-and-a-half feet in size. The gears in my brain begin to turn- I know I can't swallow a Pokemon of that size whole, but maybe I can envelop it whole!

Immediately liquefying myself, I speed towards the unsuspecting fish and force the water that comprises me to create a sphere around the Lumineon, scaring it half-to-death. However, as soon as the sphere of water appears, I slam it shut on the Pokemon and assimilate around it, forcing it into my stomach. I turn and swim back into the room, although my newfound weight holds me back from going as fast as I'd like to.

Unbeknownst to me, Arcadia has gotten up from his desk and is watching the entire spectacle from outside the water, and he looks at me and laughs as soon as I leave the water a few seconds later.

"Well," Arcadia chuckles, petting me on the head,

"Looks like we found your new favorite pastime."

I nod my head, although nothing seems to be happening inside my stomach. Arcadia notices this and asks me what's wrong.

I try to make myself purr to mask the fact that nothing's happened yet, and he presses a button on his glasses. Then, I remember,

Right, I have to guide the enzyme there, don't I?
I close my eyes and think of the white fog that Arcadia had showed me back in the forest; almost instantly, a warm feeling rises from my gut, and I can't help but loudly purr in happiness.

This feels... So good... I don't think I could have ever figured this out without Arcadia's help.

I slowly nuzzle my head against his hand, and he smiles.

"Tomorrow," Arcadia tells me,

"We're going to bring down Percival. And I know the perfect place to start. Get some rest, you'll need it for where we're going."

I look back at him, smiling, and he holds my Pokeball towards me.

"Good night, Basque," Arcadia consoles me. Then, he pushes the button on its surface, and I fall asleep inside the weightless feeling of the ball, knowing that today marks the start of a new chapter of my life.

...

...

...

"Basque?" a voice whispers from outside my Pokeball. I can't feel my own body, but I know who the speaker it- that voice belongs to Arcadia.

"I've made it here, and I've got Basque with me," he says. He seems to be talking to someone else that I can't see, but I can't make out who the speaker is.

"And speak in Eevee for him. He's a little new to English and hasn't been exposed to it much."

Arcadia directs his voice back to me again,

"Basque, are you ready? You're about to meet your allies in this cause against Percival."

Allies? Well, if Arcadia trusts them, then so will I!

A few seconds later, I hear my Pokeball open, and the entire world quickly appears all around me in a flash of light. I look around with bewilderment. Although the scenery around me is quite similar to Arcadia's room with the water inside, the amount of people in it had certainly increased. Unlike Arcadia's room, there is no large body of water making up the back wall, or even a large cot for Arcadia to sleep on. Where there used to be one single desk, I could see four, maybe five, all lined up against the wall, each enclosed by its own set of walls.

I let my tail flick against the ground once, just to get a feel for where I am- it doesn't really help me find my bearings very well, unfortunately. As I watch the five walled-in areas, more humans begin to appear, one from each, except for the last one. Each of them, as soon as they appear, walks over to me and introduces himself to me, all in Eevee that I could understand. I assume this to be because Arcadia had told them to.

It doesn't take me long to match face, name, and garb, although they all seem to be wearing the same type of red lab coat as Arcadia. The tallest one is Cassius, recognizable for his upturned black hair and fiery red eyes. Next in line is Davian, who sports a cooler demeanor, with sea-blue hair and eyes to match. The third person's name is Sigmund. The shortest of the four, Sigmund seems to be the most serious and analytical of them all; at least, that's what I make of his sharp-framed, blackened glasses that conceal his eyes and matted black hair. Finally, the last one to introduce himself is Rex, a older man with a mysterious air around him. His green eyes shine almost as bright as Arcadia's own, but his hair is a sickly white.

Arcadia turns to me once the other four humans have assembled.

"These," Arcadia tells me, pointing to each of them in turn,

"Are the Cosmos. We're an underground group created years ago to advance science in its proper direction. That man that hurt me and left you to die, Percival, was part of the Cosmos, too. He was our fearless leader, unafraid to adventure into new frontiers. He's actually the one who recruited me to the Cosmos- I'm their newest member."

Sigmund kneels down and looks at me with skepticism.

"This is the Basque that you've been telling us about?" he asks,

"That can turn himself into water? That can envelop other Pokemon and force them into his stomach? He's only a Vaporeon- can he really do everything that you've detailed in your..."

"Be quiet, Sigmund," Cassius growls at him,

"I'm anxious to see just what Basque can do! If what Arcadia says is true, then he's exactly what we need to take down Percival once and for all. You see, I've been doing some espionage, and my Pidgeot saw him right outside Geosenge Town only a few days ago. He was with his Toxicroak, attacked what looked like one Umbreon, named Sombra, that lives in the western forest, and took it to his lab with him. We have reason to believe that Percival is planning on using Sombra to advance his research on the Eevee genome. By the urgency with which he stole away with the Umbreon, I have a bad feeling that he knows that we're following him. My recommendation is that we steal Sombra back from him and attempt to sabotage his research while we're at it. If he's allowed to actually find a way to stimulate that dead Espeon of his, he could potential be able to create any life that he wants. If that happens..."

"Poor little Esper..." Arcadia muses,

"I wish that I could have helped him save her, somehow. Then, we wouldn't have to deal with the madman, Percival... I almost feel bad for her corpse."

Esper... That's who Percival was screaming about when he left Arcadia and I alone. So Esper must have died during the weeks that I was training with Arcadia.

Cassius continues,

"We need to leave now, while the sun is still coming up, before he has the chance to come up with a counter-attack."

"Well, if we're going to sabotage it," Rex laughs,

"Why don't we just bury it in the process?! My precious Electrode will be more then happy to overload every machine in the entire lab until it explodes in on itself!"

Arcadia laughs and looks at me.

"Rex is our sabotage expert. He used to be a construction worker in his prime, so he can find every weak point in a structure practically just by looking at it."

"But is Basque..." Sigmund begins to critique, but Cassius interrupts him again,

"I have full faith that Arcadia is telling the truth. If you want to see his abilities in action, we're setting out for Percival's lab momentarily."

He turns back to the group and asks,

"Are we all ready to finally stop Percival where he stands?!"

A chorus of favorable replies answers him, and Arcadia turns to me.

"Our plans are simple this time. Percival has taken an innocent Umbreon to his lab to do who-knows-what with him. The rest of the team has been planning this attack for a while, but I've taken a break because I cared more about you. Now that you're healthy, I figured that you could help us."

Now, it's my turn, Arcadia! I'll help you take down Percival, I swear it!

"Now, our assignment is simple, Basque," he instructs me,

"We just need to get in there, find Sombra, and rescue him from the lab. The only problem is that he's probably been manipulated by Percival already, so he's not going to come peacefully. That's where you come in. Now that I know that you can hold a Pokemon in your gut without hurting them until you will it, I need you to entrap Sombra in there, so we can get him out of here."

Sigmund continues to critique the plan as Arcadia talks.

"So, say that he's actually able to trap an entire Umbreon in his stomach," Sigmund asks,

"How is he going to carry himself out of the lab after practically doubling his weight?!"

"I'll handle that," Davian, who had been silent up into now, finally says,

"My Machamp could lift ten Basques with one arm, even if they all had an Umbreon inside them!"

Sigmund looks at him analytically, but Davian doesn't lose his cool in the slightest.

"Then it's settled!" Cassius shouts,

"Let's end Percival's reign of terror before it even starts!"

*Flashback End*