Mentally, I marked where on her back I would be creating the incision. I couldn't find my permanent markers anywhere. Using my mind was almost a good, though, as I had learned in the past. With the precision of an officially licensed surgeon who had actually been through medical school, I pressed the scalpel into the skin between Cynthia's shoulder blades. I could here the hiss of air through pressed teeth coming from her mouth. The metal slipped right through her skin, but not into the muscle. Blood poured from the open wound, obstructing my view of the surrounding derma. I looked around with an air of calm, despite feeling slightly anxious. As it happened, I hadn't set out any kind of cloth, so I decided to wipe the blood away with the back of my hands.

After a few moments, I was able to set the scalpel aside and pull open the newly cut flaps of skin. This prompted a new rush of thick red blood from the wound. I would have to be faster. With the backs of both my hands covered in still-wet blood, I had to resort to something else: my lab coat. It would be disgusting, but I didn't have much of a choice. With a sigh, I placed the elbow of my left sleeve into the pooling blood.

Cynthia moaned agonisingly, shifting around what muscles she could in pain. It seemed as though she couldn't do much else.

"Stay still!" I hissed.

She obeyed, knowing it would hurt less if she was still. I didn't care about that. I just cared about being able to cut and sew straight. It wouldn't work if the stitches were crooked.

Once the fabric of my lab coat was absorbing more blood than was spilling out, I grabbed my scalpel once more. A small incision in the muscle would cause a fusion of the different tissues. Doing so caused more than a bit of bleeding, but at this point, it didn't matter as much. I was almost done.

Pulling the muscle apart, I was barely able to fit the base muscle tissue of the Vivillion wings inside the cavity. While it was a rather tight fit, it was a fit nonetheless. On Cynthia's neck, I could see the muscles tightened up like rubber bands, meaning she was clenching her jaw as hard as she could.

Pfft. Whatever you have to do to stay still.

Wiping the blood again, I picked up a tool set. Staring at the various instruments, I realised that I really needed to upgrade my selection. There were hardly any materials left for stitches, so it was possible that I would have to cauterise what I couldn't sew. How frustrating. Despite this, I decided to proceed as quickly as possible.

From the kit, I pulled out a cheap electro-cauterisation tool. It was caked with burnt skin and hardened blood, giving off a rather sickening smell. In fact, it was putrid. I covered my nose. By turning on the tool as I did in the next couple of seconds, the acrid smell became even worse. It mixed with the smell of burning flesh, eliciting coughing and hacking from both me and Cynthia. It felt like acid in my throat, and tears ran from my eyes. I pulled the collar of my thick shirt up over my nose and mouth, and the pain subsided.

Cynthia struggled as the tool proceeded to reach its hottest point, no doubt giving off a smell much worse than moments before. The previous filth had fallen off the tool in a small pile on the floor. She was tensing all her muscles, and spit was dripping from the corner of her mouth. She looked, for lack of a better word, frazzled. If I looked just at her face, it was like she had been up all night studying for final exams in college, just much dirtier. I would likely have to clean her up afterwards, and that would be a pain. Another sigh escaped my mouth.

With hands at the ready, I pulled her skin together and traced the tool across both sides of the surgical wound. She trembled and emitted a screech as the bloody edges were united via her own scorched flesh. I made a mental note to invest in some earplugs later on.

Normal human medicine wouldn't be able to heal a wound like this, even with stitches or cauterisation. Thankfully, I had the medicinal chemicals typically used on Pokémon at my disposal. I had... acquired... a Super Potion from the nearest Pokémart. If my calculations were correct, and I assumed they were, albeit risky, pouring it over the burnt and bloody mess I had made of Cynthia's back should be able to push forth recovery. If she were to drink it, however, the wings, being foreign cell tissue, could be rejected in the body's healing process, and that would get nasty.

"Alright, Cynthia," I said to her, "Are you still awake?"

She grunted.

"Barely. I kind of wish I had passed out a while ago."

"Good, good. I'm almost done. As a warning, this last part of the procedure only has about a 2% chance of success, and it may hurt more than the other parts of the procedure."

She laughed.

"Hah, hurt more? Is that even possible? You just sliced through my bare skin with a rusty blade and then burnt it."

Admittedly, I admired her stoic humour and sarcasm. I hardly found myself admiring much of anything outside the realm of science, so I was surprised by my own thoughts. With a shake of the head, I pushed those thoughts out of my mind. This was neither the right time, nor the right person. This was, however, the right time to finish up the experiment, lest the subject perish.

I hope you guys are enjoying this! Sorry about the long gap in between chapters, by the way. I hit a bit of a mental brick wall.