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Description
Commissioned by Tallaan featuring his Cinderace LCU Lucca~

Comments are welcome and encouraged ^v^

Here is a continuation of the Elite Takeover story:

The approach was an unyielding dark blur, with only glimmers of glowing green sparking and fading into the night that engulfed the ominous castle tower. Though it could hardly amount a stealthy entrance: the dark-scaled shark dragon pokemon was well-hidden from sight among the starry sky, but its engine propulsion flight sang the choir of fighter jet angels as it darted towards its target. In tow, the speedy Garchomp carried two choice trainers aboard its back, both braving intense conditions and speed as a herald to a foreboding and critical rescue mission.

"I see an island just up ahead!" the male passenger, brandishing intense curly fire red hair that resembled an explosion, yelled as loud as his voice could carry. Though the sound of voices would be snuffed out by the rapid pace of the air moving past their faces during flight, each passenger wore an earpiece that let them hear the other speak. Still, the young man gripped the flight harness with all his might, using the other hand to tap on his partner's shoulder as she sat ahead of him mounted before the Garchomp's mighty shoulders.

"Affirmative! This is the location marked by Lance's Dragonite!" the blonde-haired female confirmed her partern's sighting with ease as she came better prepared of the two, sporting at set of aviator goggles to shield her eyes during flight. She nudged on the reins of the harness, signaling to her trusted Garchomp to climb to a higher altitude as they approached the island's coordinates.

The pair of trainers braced themselves with all their collective might, each feeling their own stomachs shift and roll to the unforgiving toll of climbing against gravity's will. They mustered an observant peek over the starboard side of their pokemon mount, eyes peeled and straining, looking for a signal or sign that would never come. All the while, the steely-eyed Garchomp kept its focus forward and followed orders.

"I can't spot a signal flare; she hasn't reported in for way too long!" the female flight-master strained to project her voice loud enough for the receiver to hear. With the thin air choking and gravity crushing their bodies, the female gave a double pat against the side of Garchomp's neck, signaling it to cease their climb and roll into a steady downward spiral on approach to the island. Now able to properly breathe and more calmly observe the castle structure from above, the elite pair formulated a plan.

"There's no doubt someone has heard our approach by now, but they don't know how many of us are coming," the blonde mistress commanded a calm confidence as the squad's altitude crept ever so steadily downward. "We'll approach from different ends of the island. I'm pretty sure I saw a doorway entrance before we pulled up. Flint, can you spot a decent landing zone?"

Flint was still fighting off the nauseating rolling sensation in his stomach to manage to peer over Garchomp's side. Through grimacing grunts, he managed to spy what appeared to be a flat exposed expanse of land in the rear portion of the island. "In the back, it looks like a flat field, Cyn!"

The female turned her gaze to the opposite side to confirm Flint's sighting. As Garchomp's flight rounded out another pass at the island, she turned to Flint with dreadful sincerity. "Get ready, I'm going to drop you in range of that LZ! Remember, our priority is to locate and rescue Lorelei! Got it?!"

Flint gripped a pokeball from his belt holster; the third position on his team: Rapidash. Held firm within his hand, he placed all his trust in his equine companion to foster a safe landing. It would require perfect execution and timing, but it was now or never if he wanted to help find Lorelei. "Got it! I'm ready!"

In a rehearsed swoop, the deft Garchomp slowed and banked its flight path as much as possible without stalling midair and dropping out of the sky, still several hundred feet above the expansive field-wide structure at the rear of the castle grounds. With little hesitation, Flint released his grip of the flight harness, falling into the vice of the impromptu skydive. Steadying his body against the forces of the drop, Flint lunged his hand forward with pokeball pointed directly towards the surface that wished to greet him with dooming velocity.

"Rapidash, execute a Bounce attack, now!" Flint shouted the stern order as the pokeball lit up with life, cracking up open with a loud 'PONG' to release the vivid energy within. The brilliant flash of light lashed a fiery whinny as it began to congeal into a solid equine shape just beneath the body of the elite fire-handler. Once the light had finally become solid mass, Flint cradled both arms around the stoutly strong neck of the freshly summoned Rapidash before him, bracing for the impact swiftly approaching the pair.

With a charged energy ready in his hooves, Rapidash expertly met the ground with a crafted collision that shattered the stone surface surrounding them like a brittle clay pot; shards of shaped stone seats spraying at Flint like shrapnel, grazing his body with only slight scrapes. The biggest brunt of the blow now absorbed, Rapidash dispersed the remaining energy of their skydive with an elegant bound powered by his hind legs, elevating the pair back another twenty or so feet in the air in a graceful hop.

At last, the steed and his commandant came to rest on stable ground set inward of the stoney seats they impacted on. "'Atta boy, that was excellent!" Flint praised his faithful mount as they settled from the blistering pace of the landing. Rapidash turned his head to meet Flint's eyes with his own, acknowledging the praise while at the same time expressing his concern with the ominous structure before them.

The obsidian castle tower, bridled by a churning windmill, imposed its mighty stature above the trainer and pokemon pair. Its primary atrium bolstered by a vast footprint of the main level floor as it yawned wide to the open flat level surface on which Flint now found himself. With only the lashing flames of his Rapidash companion serving as light, Flint could barely make out the staircase fashioned shapes of the walls flanking his position. This wide flat floor, and the staggered raised walls; these sightlines felt all too familiar! Much like...

"A stadium?" Flint's deduction sprang from the instinct of having battled in countless stadia throughout his ascension to the Elite ranks. As his eyes wandered downwards, it only confirmed his suspicions: chalk linework establishing the boundaries of pokemon battles, designated areas for trainers to stand, and of course, the emblematic center circle resembling a pokeball.

From within the maw of the gaping portal betwixt the central atrium and the expansive battlefield, a pair of soft padded footsteps wandered with reserved pace to spy on the fiery pair. The slight 'PING' of a metal coin rang as a foreboding metronome as the figure maintained its approach on the intrusive guests.

A tender female whisper slithered from the soft yet mysterious figure. "I've located the intruders: confirmed two targets." As downy soft as the whisper was, the message rang loud and clear across an earpiece communicator the figure wore in a long floppy ear.

"Two pokemon?" a separate female voice volleyed the question from the other end of the transceiver.

"One pokemon, one human; both male by scent," the figure retorted. The Rapidash in the distance seemed to pick up on the whispers, fixating his ears forward at full attention.

"Capture the human at all costs. Lucca, our security is in your hands." The voice on the other side of the earpiece signed off with final orders. Flint, atop his Rapidash, had advanced several paces toward the shrouded figure by this point.

"I know someone's there! Who are you?!" Flint shouted with an authoritative tone. "By order of the Elite Four of Sinnoh, show yourself now!"

The figure stepped forward from the deepest shadows, revealing herself as a bipedal rabbit shaped pokemon that stood no more than the average meter and a half height attributed to her species. However, the pokemon's body was patterned with a dark grey rubbery texture and translucent green sections that resembled lava lamps. She continued to casually flip the coin she held in her left paw, maintaining a calm and intimidating demeanor.

"Is that a... Cinderace? In Kanto?" Flint was perplexed at the presence of the Galarian starter so far away from native grounds.

"You're in no position to be making demands, human," the Cinderace spat back with cocky vigor. "Since you're trespassing, my master has ordered me to bring you in. But I get to decide your mode of capture." Lucca was practically singing her threats. "So, what do you prefer, hmm? Easy? Or Fun?"

Flint snapped out of his perplexed awe and fastened his grip on his equine escort. "Rapidash, Flare Blitz, now!"

The odd-colored Cinderace gripped the coin in her paw and mashed it into the gelatinous plume form atop her head. While this plume would normally serve as decorative fur on a normal member of her species, Lucca could control and mold its shape into a hat resembling the cap of a police officer or security guard, complete with the solver coin acting as a badge. With her uniform complete, the rabbit pokemon readied itself for battle. "Thank Arceus he chose fun!"

Rapidash wasted no time charging into its Flare Blitz attack. With pointed horn and stampeding hooves, the flaming unicorn gained more and more speed as it motored forward toward the lithe and lightweight Cinderace. It took all of Flint's might and fortitude to maintain his grip and balance atop his pokemon vanguard. As mind-bending as it was to encounter a pokemon that could speak, moreso one that looked so alien, Flint knew he had to prioritize action over inquisition on his rescue mission.

As the red-hot elite duo charged to close the gap, Lucca was calmly rolling a wad of green gel underneath her foot. The gooey mass was swelling, increasing in size with each rolling motion back and forth, gathering more and more goo that was secreted by the bunny's gel-lined foot. It made slick, sticky noises as it rolled, adhering only to itself and not capturing any of the dust from the ground floor. Lucca worked this green blob at a steady pace until it was size of a large football. In a flash, the Cinderace propped up the green sphere of gluey goo onto the top side of her opposite foot, launched it in a serve several feet above her own head, and delivered a power kick that would make a missile jealous, propelling the sticky blob sky high above the castle's peak.

Flint knew that Cinderace were famous for their footballing skills, but his fiery focus was undeterred by the adept display of strength. The flaming pair continued to lunge forward, closing the gap now to under one hundred feet betwixt the opposing sides.

After showing off her first volley, Lucca rapidly resumed a repeated regiment of producing more goo balls with a speedy dance of her feet. Each blob was much smaller than the first but took only a couple seconds each to produce. What started as a mimickery of tap dancing sped into a series of high kicks from a cancan. Kick and shift, kick and shift: each beat of her rhythm sending a goo ball hurling towards the Elite trainer.

Barreling ever closer, Rapidash and Flint reacted in synchronized fashion to swerve past the volley of goo balls launched their way. Dodging left, swerving right, lashes of flames licking sparks into the night air just outside the castle. Progress for the pair was stammering from a charge to a crawl, yet the gap was ever closing.

Persistent still to pelt her potential prisoners, Lucca continued her frenzied routine that bordered on manic dancing, producing and launching more and more sticky slimy ammunition at the pair charging her down. With the distance of the standoff waning shorter and shorter, the ever-quick rabbit pokemon found herself falling behind the pace.

Rapidash charged harder and faster, his hooves now set ablaze with the frustrated pace of his built-up attack. Deftly dodging and weaving, his target was now but a meter or two away. The blazing unicorn lunged forward with deadly intent to skewer the hyperactive rabbit upon the spear of his horn.

"Got ya!!!"

Lucca lunged forward with her own prepared strike: a sly and precise kick to the unicorn's jaw before his Flare Blitz could connect. Though not the strongest strike or most deadly of impacts, it was enough to knock the Rapidash off kilter and stumble about after its failed spearhead surge, tumbling across the unforgiving stony floor. Flint was no better off, dismounted and tumbling about the dust in shame.

Struggling up to his scraped knees, Flint's first concern was with his Rapidash. He looked fairly okay after the failed attack: pride was the biggest bruise. Flint reached out to comfort his equine escort, eager to regain his mount. "Are you okay, buddy?"

Before Rapidash could muster so much as a grunt or a whinny, a moist and sloppy squish rang aloud with a wet thud as a thick green blob rained down from the sky with meteoric intent. The original green blob Lucca had sent skyward finally hit its mark, sticking the fiery unicorn to the ground in slimy vice grip, but perhaps more critically, completely coating Rapidash's head, creating a sinister vacuous seal.

"What?! No!!! Rapidash!!!" Flint panicked as he reached a hand to try and assist the frenzied unicorn as hooves thrashed about in desperate panic. Sticky green strands greeted Flint's grip as he ripped at the slime that threatened to suffocate his friend. "Dammit, this gunk is so sticky!"

The flame-kissed pair continued to struggle, unaware that Cinderace was not only watching from just a few meters away, she had been preparing her next attack the entire time: rolling yet another sticky goo ball beneath her foot. Once again, at the size of a toy football, Lucca deftly lifted the green glob atop her opposite foot, where a new process took place. In mere seconds, the bottom half of the gooey ball was coated with the same grey latex that composed most of her body, slowly seeping up from the top of her foot. The newly improvised weapon resembled a sinister pokeball adorned with bumps and curves.

"Now, human, THIS ONE'S FOR YOU!"

With a signature striking kick, Lucca launched the freshly formed gooey ball at a rocket pace toward the hapless Elite trainer. Zooming ever closer upon its target, the half-grey half-green pokeball swelled in size and mass with a lurching gurgle, inflating to proportions that could easily swallow up a human. Flint could do little to avoid the oncoming attack, turning to run away as far as he could as the massive blob of a ball began to surround and engulf him from the rear end-forward. The ecstatic elastic Cinderace couldn’t help but leap for joy when her attack hit home.

The translucent green portion of the squishy sphere worked eagerly to swallow up Flint’s body, becoming sticky and permeable in the process. Slurping first at his arms and legs, the enlarged sphere sucked the bewildered trainer deeper and deeper inwards, sloshing about with loud slimy noises as he struggled to work and reach his arms free. *Ssssshlurp. Shlorp. Squilsh* But to no avail. For every lunge forward, Flint sank that much deeper and more into the hungry amoeba-like blob engulfing him. Even Flint’s yelps and screams for help could not escape, as the green goo slithered up his neck and steadily swallowed his head, drowning out his yells into gentle gurgles and blubs.

Drowning was all that Flint had left to look forward to. The once viscous and sticky goo that engulfed him gave way to a much more fluid surrounding. He found himself floating in this enlarged capsule of green liquid, sealed in by the translucent plastic-like layer that was now in a much more solid state. Flint managed to muster a weakly kick against the surface, only to find that it would not release him, simply bouncing him back into the bosom of warm fluid. It was oddly... comforting?

Comfortable, warm, even a glow emanating from the bottom of his captivity capsule: it all reminded him of countless nights spent around a campfire with his beloved pokemon companions. Even amongst the cold dangers of the outside world, the solace of a warm burning blaze would blanket him in a peaceful respite. Flint couldn’t help but curl up as his thoughts swam aimlessly in warm memories. He had even forgotten about the panic that beset him just moments before, as if the liquid encasing him were breathable. All he had to do was let the fluid seep in and out. In and out. It was as simple as breathing.

He felt so comfortably warm and fuzzy. So fuzzy all over his arms and legs, and lighter too. Flint peered through the haze of green liquid and saw... fur! His clothes had vanished, no doubt dissolved by the volatile fluids around him. Light colored fur was covering more and more of his body with each passing second! It was as if a strange creature were crawling all over his skin and claiming his body as his own. Stranger still, his limbs were shrinking and becoming shorter; his fingers and toes disappearing behind a veil of soft fur. Flint pawed around, feeling the shape of his own face and head, growing queasy to comprehend the rounded form his skull had now taken.

Lucca gently approached the grey and green sphere capsule that stood before her, eager to tip the container level so that she could behold her handywork. The coin adorning her gelatin security cap flipped sides: blank and no longer resembling a badge. The gooey cap returned to its usual flowing mane-like shape. With a gentle nudge, the enlarged capsule sphere rolled slightly so that the grey opaque half rested entirely on the bottom, leaving the transparent half up top as a perfect viewing window of the miracle happening within.

“So cute!” Lucca’s face lit up with glee as she squealed at the sight of the human-turned pokemon that floated within. Flint’s overall body shape resembled that of a rabbit, much like his captor, except much smaller in size and proportion. “You’ve got such precious eyes, and those cute little buckteeth. Oh, and your floppy ears are simply adorable!”

Flint saw that the chirpy Cinderace was telling the truth. His body was now completely covered in fur from head to toe. He could feel the oversized ears that sprouted from his head, and the soft paws and feet and even a cotton tail that belonged to a spritely rabbit pokemon. He also noticed a series of strange dark stripes that formed on his limbs. He had never seen a pokemon with such markings before. Was this a side effect of the transformation?

“Just one more detail and we can let you out of there. I bet you’re ready to come out of that cramped little space, aren’t you?” Lucca teased with a strangely satisfying tone. Flint couldn’t help but agree: the once spacious containment capsule seemed to be shrinking in size around his timid new body.

As the capsule shrank, a small bump appeared to be forming at the rear of the grey rubbery part. The bump grew more and more until it split open with a wet *schlick*. It was a small grey and green pokeball! It looked exactly like the larger capsule, only shrunk down to the size of a pokeball in handheld standby mode. The ball simply spilled out of the grey rubber that had somehow turned gooey and malleable. Once the ball was completely removed there was no tear or rip or any disturbance left in the surface of the rubber. Lucca was delighted to see this and other small pokeballs being expelled from the containment capsule, one after another.

A total of four pokeballs, all the same green and grey color scheme, were phased out of the larger pod where Flint was still floating about. Similarly, the green sticky mess that once held down Rapidash in a gruesome capture was now replaced by another green and grey pokeball. “Now all of the pokemon you brought are safely contained,” Lucca mused as she leaned on the translucent viewing portion of Flint’s capsule.

“Now for my favorite part~”

Flint felt his shrunken body being jostled about by the shifting of the gelatinous pod that swallowed him up. Flurries of bubbles clouded his vision as any view of the outside world was blocked out by the opaque section of the capsule stretching up to surround his entire body, the dwindling size and volume of the pod threatening to strangle his delicate bunny body. The walls were tightening and closing in. The now soft and pliable rubber was squeezing his body forward until his face pressed against the surface. Flint felt his breath leaving his body; the pressure around him squeezing further and tighter until...

*schlippp ...ssssssshlorp ...shlick*

Flint felt the surface of the rubber become moist and slick as it opened up to release his freshly furred face to the outside world. It clung to his face with a sticky and tacky texture, yet it felt warm and pleasing rather than gross as one might expect. The gelatinous grey rubber hugged the various curves of his head, neck and body as the gentle pressure eased him forth, sliding further and further out of the pod.

*squilsh ...ssssshlipp*

The moist noises continued to emanate from the wet surface as Flint continued to crawl his way out. He peered his eyes open now that he wasn’t surrounded by strange green fluid anymore; he was met by the warm and motherly gaze of the grey and green Cinderace towering above him. He was taken aback; just minutes ago this battle-hungry pokemon was hurling projectiles at him, but her face and smile seemed so inviting now. Still, he was scared of what fate awaited him now that he was a puny pokemon. What if it was all a trick? What if she had horrible plans for him? Flint wanted desperately to curl back in and hide within the gooey glob that was threatening to push him out.

Flint fought and struggled against the current-like pressure that continued to squeeze him against the stretchy rubber surface. He attempted to paw at the squishy walls that surrounded his body, but the wet rubber gave way to his desperate swipes. His paw split open the moist web of goo with an unsettling squelch. Flint desperately wanted to recoil his paw in horror and disgust, unable to truly control his body as he failed to flail about.

It was a labor to breathe; Flint grew more and more exhausted by the second. The sticky membrane sucking and slurping on his hapless body turned his stomach and crushed his vigor. When he could manage to see out of the haze of struggle and frustration, Flint saw the ever-patient tender face of the motherly Cinderace looking down upon him. His thoughts drifted to his own mother far away in Sinnoh. Oh, what he would give to be back home at this very moment: safe from danger and panic. Free to embrace his loving mother one more time...

“Please!” Flint was on the verge of tears. His form an exhausted mess of fluff and fur propped up by the artificial womb that suckled on his bunny body. “Please help me...”

Lucca reached out her own paw, offering it to Flint’s desperate plea. “That’s it, my dear! You can do it!” she sang praise to the breaching bunny pokemon as he called out to her motherly figure. She reached out with her other paw to gently pet his soft furred head, comforting and encouraging him to keep going.

After a suffocating struggle, Flint managed to reach his paw out to grip the kind offer from the rubberized rabbit. The touch of her paw: it was soft beyond measure. It didn’t feel artificial at all! There was warmth coursing through her touch, as if a real and true beating heart sat inside that lava-lamp torso of hers. And her grip was tender and accepting; not forceful at all. Supportive and caring: just like the touch from a mother would feel.

“Mom...” the tears welled up in Flint’s eyes as the warm grasp of Lucca’s paw filled his rapidly beating heart with hope. All he could think about now were memories of his own mother helping him when he was frightened or hurt. The sinking slog of dread washed from his body as his form continued to inch forward little by little from the sticky slime pod that still gripped him tight.

“That’s right, you can come out. Mama’s got you,” Lucca continued to coo and soothe her pride and joy as he wriggled his tiny legs out of the gooey rubber that gripped him. The once oppressive sticky grip of the gel membrane slurping off one last hug of his body as it molded back into its whole, rotund shape. Once completely free, Lucca cradled the freshly hatched Scorbunny in her arms as he settled into the warmth of her bosom.

Rocking the small and harmless Scorbunny within her arms, Lucca couldn’t help but beam with joy at the wonderful work she had done tonight. With a quick flick of her wrist, she recalled all six grey and green pokeballs that were scattered about the floor to situate around her waist, much like a trainer holstering pokeballs to their belt. The Scorbunny that was formerly Flint felt compelled to cry at a sinking feeling he felt in his tiny body.

“Mmmma. Mama!” Flint could only sob into her chest. He no longer knew anything of what he was or what he did in the past. All he knew was safe and sound with Mama. “Mama...”

“There, there little one,” Lucca hummed to calm her upset progeny. “Let’s go inside where it’s warm. Mama will take care of you there~”

Description
Commissioned by Tallaan featuring his Cinderace LCU Lucca~

Comments are welcome and encouraged ^v^

Here is a continuation of the Elite Takeover story:

The approach was an unyielding dark blur, with only glimmers of glowing green sparking and fading into the night that engulfed the ominous castle tower. Though it could hardly amount a stealthy entrance: the dark-scaled shark dragon pokemon was well-hidden from sight among the starry sky, but its engine propulsion flight sang the choir of fighter jet angels as it darted towards its target. In tow, the speedy Garchomp carried two choice trainers aboard its back, both braving intense conditions and speed as a herald to a foreboding and critical rescue mission.

"I see an island just up ahead!" the male passenger, brandishing intense curly fire red hair that resembled an explosion, yelled as loud as his voice could carry. Though the sound of voices would be snuffed out by the rapid pace of the air moving past their faces during flight, each passenger wore an earpiece that let them hear the other speak. Still, the young man gripped the flight harness with all his might, using the other hand to tap on his partner's shoulder as she sat ahead of him mounted before the Garchomp's mighty shoulders.

"Affirmative! This is the location marked by Lance's Dragonite!" the blonde-haired female confirmed her partern's sighting with ease as she came better prepared of the two, sporting at set of aviator goggles to shield her eyes during flight. She nudged on the reins of the harness, signaling to her trusted Garchomp to climb to a higher altitude as they approached the island's coordinates.

The pair of trainers braced themselves with all their collective might, each feeling their own stomachs shift and roll to the unforgiving toll of climbing against gravity's will. They mustered an observant peek over the starboard side of their pokemon mount, eyes peeled and straining, looking for a signal or sign that would never come. All the while, the steely-eyed Garchomp kept its focus forward and followed orders.

"I can't spot a signal flare; she hasn't reported in for way too long!" the female flight-master strained to project her voice loud enough for the receiver to hear. With the thin air choking and gravity crushing their bodies, the female gave a double pat against the side of Garchomp's neck, signaling it to cease their climb and roll into a steady downward spiral on approach to the island. Now able to properly breathe and more calmly observe the castle structure from above, the elite pair formulated a plan.

"There's no doubt someone has heard our approach by now, but they don't know how many of us are coming," the blonde mistress commanded a calm confidence as the squad's altitude crept ever so steadily downward. "We'll approach from different ends of the island. I'm pretty sure I saw a doorway entrance before we pulled up. Flint, can you spot a decent landing zone?"

Flint was still fighting off the nauseating rolling sensation in his stomach to manage to peer over Garchomp's side. Through grimacing grunts, he managed to spy what appeared to be a flat exposed expanse of land in the rear portion of the island. "In the back, it looks like a flat field, Cyn!"

The female turned her gaze to the opposite side to confirm Flint's sighting. As Garchomp's flight rounded out another pass at the island, she turned to Flint with dreadful sincerity. "Get ready, I'm going to drop you in range of that LZ! Remember, our priority is to locate and rescue Lorelei! Got it?!"

Flint gripped a pokeball from his belt holster; the third position on his team: Rapidash. Held firm within his hand, he placed all his trust in his equine companion to foster a safe landing. It would require perfect execution and timing, but it was now or never if he wanted to help find Lorelei. "Got it! I'm ready!"

In a rehearsed swoop, the deft Garchomp slowed and banked its flight path as much as possible without stalling midair and dropping out of the sky, still several hundred feet above the expansive field-wide structure at the rear of the castle grounds. With little hesitation, Flint released his grip of the flight harness, falling into the vice of the impromptu skydive. Steadying his body against the forces of the drop, Flint lunged his hand forward with pokeball pointed directly towards the surface that wished to greet him with dooming velocity.

"Rapidash, execute a Bounce attack, now!" Flint shouted the stern order as the pokeball lit up with life, cracking up open with a loud 'PONG' to release the vivid energy within. The brilliant flash of light lashed a fiery whinny as it began to congeal into a solid equine shape just beneath the body of the elite fire-handler. Once the light had finally become solid mass, Flint cradled both arms around the stoutly strong neck of the freshly summoned Rapidash before him, bracing for the impact swiftly approaching the pair.

With a charged energy ready in his hooves, Rapidash expertly met the ground with a crafted collision that shattered the stone surface surrounding them like a brittle clay pot; shards of shaped stone seats spraying at Flint like shrapnel, grazing his body with only slight scrapes. The biggest brunt of the blow now absorbed, Rapidash dispersed the remaining energy of their skydive with an elegant bound powered by his hind legs, elevating the pair back another twenty or so feet in the air in a graceful hop.

At last, the steed and his commandant came to rest on stable ground set inward of the stoney seats they impacted on. "'Atta boy, that was excellent!" Flint praised his faithful mount as they settled from the blistering pace of the landing. Rapidash turned his head to meet Flint's eyes with his own, acknowledging the praise while at the same time expressing his concern with the ominous structure before them.

The obsidian castle tower, bridled by a churning windmill, imposed its mighty stature above the trainer and pokemon pair. Its primary atrium bolstered by a vast footprint of the main level floor as it yawned wide to the open flat level surface on which Flint now found himself. With only the lashing flames of his Rapidash companion serving as light, Flint could barely make out the staircase fashioned shapes of the walls flanking his position. This wide flat floor, and the staggered raised walls; these sightlines felt all too familiar! Much like...

"A stadium?" Flint's deduction sprang from the instinct of having battled in countless stadia throughout his ascension to the Elite ranks. As his eyes wandered downwards, it only confirmed his suspicions: chalk linework establishing the boundaries of pokemon battles, designated areas for trainers to stand, and of course, the emblematic center circle resembling a pokeball.

From within the maw of the gaping portal betwixt the central atrium and the expansive battlefield, a pair of soft padded footsteps wandered with reserved pace to spy on the fiery pair. The slight 'PING' of a metal coin rang as a foreboding metronome as the figure maintained its approach on the intrusive guests.

A tender female whisper slithered from the soft yet mysterious figure. "I've located the intruders: confirmed two targets." As downy soft as the whisper was, the message rang loud and clear across an earpiece communicator the figure wore in a long floppy ear.

"Two pokemon?" a separate female voice volleyed the question from the other end of the transceiver.

"One pokemon, one human; both male by scent," the figure retorted. The Rapidash in the distance seemed to pick up on the whispers, fixating his ears forward at full attention.

"Capture the human at all costs. Lucca, our security is in your hands." The voice on the other side of the earpiece signed off with final orders. Flint, atop his Rapidash, had advanced several paces toward the shrouded figure by this point.

"I know someone's there! Who are you?!" Flint shouted with an authoritative tone. "By order of the Elite Four of Sinnoh, show yourself now!"

The figure stepped forward from the deepest shadows, revealing herself as a bipedal rabbit shaped pokemon that stood no more than the average meter and a half height attributed to her species. However, the pokemon's body was patterned with a dark grey rubbery texture and translucent green sections that resembled lava lamps. She continued to casually flip the coin she held in her left paw, maintaining a calm and intimidating demeanor.

"Is that a... Cinderace? In Kanto?" Flint was perplexed at the presence of the Galarian starter so far away from native grounds.

"You're in no position to be making demands, human," the Cinderace spat back with cocky vigor. "Since you're trespassing, my master has ordered me to bring you in. But I get to decide your mode of capture." Lucca was practically singing her threats. "So, what do you prefer, hmm? Easy? Or Fun?"

Flint snapped out of his perplexed awe and fastened his grip on his equine escort. "Rapidash, Flare Blitz, now!"

The odd-colored Cinderace gripped the coin in her paw and mashed it into the gelatinous plume form atop her head. While this plume would normally serve as decorative fur on a normal member of her species, Lucca could control and mold its shape into a hat resembling the cap of a police officer or security guard, complete with the solver coin acting as a badge. With her uniform complete, the rabbit pokemon readied itself for battle. "Thank Arceus he chose fun!"

Rapidash wasted no time charging into its Flare Blitz attack. With pointed horn and stampeding hooves, the flaming unicorn gained more and more speed as it motored forward toward the lithe and lightweight Cinderace. It took all of Flint's might and fortitude to maintain his grip and balance atop his pokemon vanguard. As mind-bending as it was to encounter a pokemon that could speak, moreso one that looked so alien, Flint knew he had to prioritize action over inquisition on his rescue mission.

As the red-hot elite duo charged to close the gap, Lucca was calmly rolling a wad of green gel underneath her foot. The gooey mass was swelling, increasing in size with each rolling motion back and forth, gathering more and more goo that was secreted by the bunny's gel-lined foot. It made slick, sticky noises as it rolled, adhering only to itself and not capturing any of the dust from the ground floor. Lucca worked this green blob at a steady pace until it was size of a large football. In a flash, the Cinderace propped up the green sphere of gluey goo onto the top side of her opposite foot, launched it in a serve several feet above her own head, and delivered a power kick that would make a missile jealous, propelling the sticky blob sky high above the castle's peak.

Flint knew that Cinderace were famous for their footballing skills, but his fiery focus was undeterred by the adept display of strength. The flaming pair continued to lunge forward, closing the gap now to under one hundred feet betwixt the opposing sides.

After showing off her first volley, Lucca rapidly resumed a repeated regiment of producing more goo balls with a speedy dance of her feet. Each blob was much smaller than the first but took only a couple seconds each to produce. What started as a mimickery of tap dancing sped into a series of high kicks from a cancan. Kick and shift, kick and shift: each beat of her rhythm sending a goo ball hurling towards the Elite trainer.

Barreling ever closer, Rapidash and Flint reacted in synchronized fashion to swerve past the volley of goo balls launched their way. Dodging left, swerving right, lashes of flames licking sparks into the night air just outside the castle. Progress for the pair was stammering from a charge to a crawl, yet the gap was ever closing.

Persistent still to pelt her potential prisoners, Lucca continued her frenzied routine that bordered on manic dancing, producing and launching more and more sticky slimy ammunition at the pair charging her down. With the distance of the standoff waning shorter and shorter, the ever-quick rabbit pokemon found herself falling behind the pace.

Rapidash charged harder and faster, his hooves now set ablaze with the frustrated pace of his built-up attack. Deftly dodging and weaving, his target was now but a meter or two away. The blazing unicorn lunged forward with deadly intent to skewer the hyperactive rabbit upon the spear of his horn.

"Got ya!!!"

Lucca lunged forward with her own prepared strike: a sly and precise kick to the unicorn's jaw before his Flare Blitz could connect. Though not the strongest strike or most deadly of impacts, it was enough to knock the Rapidash off kilter and stumble about after its failed spearhead surge, tumbling across the unforgiving stony floor. Flint was no better off, dismounted and tumbling about the dust in shame.

Struggling up to his scraped knees, Flint's first concern was with his Rapidash. He looked fairly okay after the failed attack: pride was the biggest bruise. Flint reached out to comfort his equine escort, eager to regain his mount. "Are you okay, buddy?"

Before Rapidash could muster so much as a grunt or a whinny, a moist and sloppy squish rang aloud with a wet thud as a thick green blob rained down from the sky with meteoric intent. The original green blob Lucca had sent skyward finally hit its mark, sticking the fiery unicorn to the ground in slimy vice grip, but perhaps more critically, completely coating Rapidash's head, creating a sinister vacuous seal.

"What?! No!!! Rapidash!!!" Flint panicked as he reached a hand to try and assist the frenzied unicorn as hooves thrashed about in desperate panic. Sticky green strands greeted Flint's grip as he ripped at the slime that threatened to suffocate his friend. "Dammit, this gunk is so sticky!"

The flame-kissed pair continued to struggle, unaware that Cinderace was not only watching from just a few meters away, she had been preparing her next attack the entire time: rolling yet another sticky goo ball beneath her foot. Once again, at the size of a toy football, Lucca deftly lifted the green glob atop her opposite foot, where a new process took place. In mere seconds, the bottom half of the gooey ball was coated with the same grey latex that composed most of her body, slowly seeping up from the top of her foot. The newly improvised weapon resembled a sinister pokeball adorned with bumps and curves.

"Now, human, THIS ONE'S FOR YOU!"

With a signature striking kick, Lucca launched the freshly formed gooey ball at a rocket pace toward the hapless Elite trainer. Zooming ever closer upon its target, the half-grey half-green pokeball swelled in size and mass with a lurching gurgle, inflating to proportions that could easily swallow up a human. Flint could do little to avoid the oncoming attack, turning to run away as far as he could as the massive blob of a ball began to surround and engulf him from the rear end-forward. The ecstatic elastic Cinderace couldn’t help but leap for joy when her attack hit home.

The translucent green portion of the squishy sphere worked eagerly to swallow up Flint’s body, becoming sticky and permeable in the process. Slurping first at his arms and legs, the enlarged sphere sucked the bewildered trainer deeper and deeper inwards, sloshing about with loud slimy noises as he struggled to work and reach his arms free. *Ssssshlurp. Shlorp. Squilsh* But to no avail. For every lunge forward, Flint sank that much deeper and more into the hungry amoeba-like blob engulfing him. Even Flint’s yelps and screams for help could not escape, as the green goo slithered up his neck and steadily swallowed his head, drowning out his yells into gentle gurgles and blubs.

Drowning was all that Flint had left to look forward to. The once viscous and sticky goo that engulfed him gave way to a much more fluid surrounding. He found himself floating in this enlarged capsule of green liquid, sealed in by the translucent plastic-like layer that was now in a much more solid state. Flint managed to muster a weakly kick against the surface, only to find that it would not release him, simply bouncing him back into the bosom of warm fluid. It was oddly... comforting?

Comfortable, warm, even a glow emanating from the bottom of his captivity capsule: it all reminded him of countless nights spent around a campfire with his beloved pokemon companions. Even amongst the cold dangers of the outside world, the solace of a warm burning blaze would blanket him in a peaceful respite. Flint couldn’t help but curl up as his thoughts swam aimlessly in warm memories. He had even forgotten about the panic that beset him just moments before, as if the liquid encasing him were breathable. All he had to do was let the fluid seep in and out. In and out. It was as simple as breathing.

He felt so comfortably warm and fuzzy. So fuzzy all over his arms and legs, and lighter too. Flint peered through the haze of green liquid and saw... fur! His clothes had vanished, no doubt dissolved by the volatile fluids around him. Light colored fur was covering more and more of his body with each passing second! It was as if a strange creature were crawling all over his skin and claiming his body as his own. Stranger still, his limbs were shrinking and becoming shorter; his fingers and toes disappearing behind a veil of soft fur. Flint pawed around, feeling the shape of his own face and head, growing queasy to comprehend the rounded form his skull had now taken.

Lucca gently approached the grey and green sphere capsule that stood before her, eager to tip the container level so that she could behold her handywork. The coin adorning her gelatin security cap flipped sides: blank and no longer resembling a badge. The gooey cap returned to its usual flowing mane-like shape. With a gentle nudge, the enlarged capsule sphere rolled slightly so that the grey opaque half rested entirely on the bottom, leaving the transparent half up top as a perfect viewing window of the miracle happening within.

“So cute!” Lucca’s face lit up with glee as she squealed at the sight of the human-turned pokemon that floated within. Flint’s overall body shape resembled that of a rabbit, much like his captor, except much smaller in size and proportion. “You’ve got such precious eyes, and those cute little buckteeth. Oh, and your floppy ears are simply adorable!”

Flint saw that the chirpy Cinderace was telling the truth. His body was now completely covered in fur from head to toe. He could feel the oversized ears that sprouted from his head, and the soft paws and feet and even a cotton tail that belonged to a spritely rabbit pokemon. He also noticed a series of strange dark stripes that formed on his limbs. He had never seen a pokemon with such markings before. Was this a side effect of the transformation?

“Just one more detail and we can let you out of there. I bet you’re ready to come out of that cramped little space, aren’t you?” Lucca teased with a strangely satisfying tone. Flint couldn’t help but agree: the once spacious containment capsule seemed to be shrinking in size around his timid new body.

As the capsule shrank, a small bump appeared to be forming at the rear of the grey rubbery part. The bump grew more and more until it split open with a wet *schlick*. It was a small grey and green pokeball! It looked exactly like the larger capsule, only shrunk down to the size of a pokeball in handheld standby mode. The ball simply spilled out of the grey rubber that had somehow turned gooey and malleable. Once the ball was completely removed there was no tear or rip or any disturbance left in the surface of the rubber. Lucca was delighted to see this and other small pokeballs being expelled from the containment capsule, one after another.

A total of four pokeballs, all the same green and grey color scheme, were phased out of the larger pod where Flint was still floating about. Similarly, the green sticky mess that once held down Rapidash in a gruesome capture was now replaced by another green and grey pokeball. “Now all of the pokemon you brought are safely contained,” Lucca mused as she leaned on the translucent viewing portion of Flint’s capsule.

“Now for my favorite part~”

Flint felt his shrunken body being jostled about by the shifting of the gelatinous pod that swallowed him up. Flurries of bubbles clouded his vision as any view of the outside world was blocked out by the opaque section of the capsule stretching up to surround his entire body, the dwindling size and volume of the pod threatening to strangle his delicate bunny body. The walls were tightening and closing in. The now soft and pliable rubber was squeezing his body forward until his face pressed against the surface. Flint felt his breath leaving his body; the pressure around him squeezing further and tighter until...

*schlippp ...ssssssshlorp ...shlick*

Flint felt the surface of the rubber become moist and slick as it opened up to release his freshly furred face to the outside world. It clung to his face with a sticky and tacky texture, yet it felt warm and pleasing rather than gross as one might expect. The gelatinous grey rubber hugged the various curves of his head, neck and body as the gentle pressure eased him forth, sliding further and further out of the pod.

*squilsh ...ssssshlipp*

The moist noises continued to emanate from the wet surface as Flint continued to crawl his way out. He peered his eyes open now that he wasn’t surrounded by strange green fluid anymore; he was met by the warm and motherly gaze of the grey and green Cinderace towering above him. He was taken aback; just minutes ago this battle-hungry pokemon was hurling projectiles at him, but her face and smile seemed so inviting now. Still, he was scared of what fate awaited him now that he was a puny pokemon. What if it was all a trick? What if she had horrible plans for him? Flint wanted desperately to curl back in and hide within the gooey glob that was threatening to push him out.

Flint fought and struggled against the current-like pressure that continued to squeeze him against the stretchy rubber surface. He attempted to paw at the squishy walls that surrounded his body, but the wet rubber gave way to his desperate swipes. His paw split open the moist web of goo with an unsettling squelch. Flint desperately wanted to recoil his paw in horror and disgust, unable to truly control his body as he failed to flail about.

It was a labor to breathe; Flint grew more and more exhausted by the second. The sticky membrane sucking and slurping on his hapless body turned his stomach and crushed his vigor. When he could manage to see out of the haze of struggle and frustration, Flint saw the ever-patient tender face of the motherly Cinderace looking down upon him. His thoughts drifted to his own mother far away in Sinnoh. Oh, what he would give to be back home at this very moment: safe from danger and panic. Free to embrace his loving mother one more time...

“Please!” Flint was on the verge of tears. His form an exhausted mess of fluff and fur propped up by the artificial womb that suckled on his bunny body. “Please help me...”

Lucca reached out her own paw, offering it to Flint’s desperate plea. “That’s it, my dear! You can do it!” she sang praise to the breaching bunny pokemon as he called out to her motherly figure. She reached out with her other paw to gently pet his soft furred head, comforting and encouraging him to keep going.

After a suffocating struggle, Flint managed to reach his paw out to grip the kind offer from the rubberized rabbit. The touch of her paw: it was soft beyond measure. It didn’t feel artificial at all! There was warmth coursing through her touch, as if a real and true beating heart sat inside that lava-lamp torso of hers. And her grip was tender and accepting; not forceful at all. Supportive and caring: just like the touch from a mother would feel.

“Mom...” the tears welled up in Flint’s eyes as the warm grasp of Lucca’s paw filled his rapidly beating heart with hope. All he could think about now were memories of his own mother helping him when he was frightened or hurt. The sinking slog of dread washed from his body as his form continued to inch forward little by little from the sticky slime pod that still gripped him tight.

“That’s right, you can come out. Mama’s got you,” Lucca continued to coo and soothe her pride and joy as he wriggled his tiny legs out of the gooey rubber that gripped him. The once oppressive sticky grip of the gel membrane slurping off one last hug of his body as it molded back into its whole, rotund shape. Once completely free, Lucca cradled the freshly hatched Scorbunny in her arms as he settled into the warmth of her bosom.

Rocking the small and harmless Scorbunny within her arms, Lucca couldn’t help but beam with joy at the wonderful work she had done tonight. With a quick flick of her wrist, she recalled all six grey and green pokeballs that were scattered about the floor to situate around her waist, much like a trainer holstering pokeballs to their belt. The Scorbunny that was formerly Flint felt compelled to cry at a sinking feeling he felt in his tiny body.

“Mmmma. Mama!” Flint could only sob into her chest. He no longer knew anything of what he was or what he did in the past. All he knew was safe and sound with Mama. “Mama...”

“There, there little one,” Lucca hummed to calm her upset progeny. “Let’s go inside where it’s warm. Mama will take care of you there~”