The rest of the day was a blur. I only followed orders. I didn't think about what I was doing, I just did. Mix these two substances? Done. Figure out this equation? Done. Fill this syringe with this weird blue liquid? Sure, done. I only really broke from my trance when Professor Conifer said, "Alright, we are ready to bring in the specimen. Everyone, secure your masks and gloves."

The staff of about three other scientists, Professor Conifer, and myself, all switched out our gloves and pulled a simple face mask over our nose and mouth. Then another scientist wheeled in a bulbasaur strapped with leather restraints to a stainless steel table. It was still awake and looked very frightened.

After the one scientist had wheeled it into position, Professor Conifer reached up to the bright light above the table and turned it on. "Alright, we are ready to begin. Jess, please inject this into the base of its bulb." She wheeled over a tray containing a multitude of tools, including the syringe with the blue liquid I had prepared earlier. Obediently I lifted it and held it up to the light, flicking it gently to get any air bubbles out. Then I bent near the pokemon and gently inserted the needle right at the tender base of the bulb. The bulbasaur cried out in pain.

"Shh sh sh…" I hushed, stroking the pokemon under its jaw. "It's going to be alright, you are going to be just fine."

"Jess, do not talk to the specimen." Professor Conifer chided. "Benjamin, please begin the procedure."

A young man with dark skin and eyes lifted a scalpel from the tray and after a short period of gently prodding around the bulbasaur's bulb, he pressed the blade down on the crease and made a long slice.

The pokemon made a horrible cry. It pierced into my lungs and immediately broke me out of the dazed stupor I'd been in for the whole morning. I pushed Benjamin away from the pokemon. "Stop it! You're hurting it!"

"Jess, stop it, this instant!" Professor Conifer ordered.

"What is your problem?!" The man named Benjamin asked, pushing me back. "I have a job to do, here!"

"You can't wait for the anesthetic to set in or something?!" I snapped back.

"Uh, What anesthetic…?" Another girl across the table asked.

I looked over at her confused, then dropped my gaze to the empty syringe lying on the tray.

"That wasn't anesthetic." An Asian man said in a matter-of-fact dismissive tone. "That was something to neutralize the pokemon's Vine Whip attack. It was a low-grade herbicide."

I felt all the blood drain from my face. I was horrified. I stood frozen as the rest of the team stepped up to the table again.

"We have to do this biopsy quickly, before the rest of the bulb is damaged."

"Apply pressure to the fold, it should help staunch the blood-flow until the procedure is complete."

Benjamin pressed the sharp blade to the pokemon's bulb again, slicing easily through the soft leaf-like tissue. The bulbasaur let out another horrible scream.

I lost it. I darted back over to the table and shoved Benjamin away from the Pokemon on the table. He stumbled back and fell, losing grip of the scalpel. The blade flew from his hand and hit the girl. It sliced through her lab coat and cut into her arm. She screamed and grabbed her arm as the white fabric started to turn red. Professor Conifer ran over to the girl, who was now sobbing. I grabbed a pair of medical scissors lying on the tray and began cutting the bulbasaur's restraints.

"Get her to the infirmary, Now!" Professor Conifer yelled to the Asian man who had scolded me earlier, as she pulled the crying girl up to her feet. The man took the girl and helped her run out while I had just finished cutting one of Bulbasaur's legs free. I started working on the other one as quickly as I could when Professor Conifer stood up yanked me away from the table and smacked me across the face.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" She screamed at me. "Do you realize what you have done?! The experiment you just destroyed was the culmination of thousands of dollars and three months of research!"

"This is wrong!" I screamed back. "You can't just treat Pokemon like machines to be taken apart and tested! They are living, feeling creatures, and you have to treat them with compassion!"

"Get this idea of Pokemon medicine out of your head! You are not in medical school anymore!" Professor Conifer snapped. "We are people of science! We are not here to help pokemon! We are not here to befriend the pokemon! We are here to study them, and that is all!"

"You're going about it all wrong!" I cried. "Pokemon aren't just plants or fibers to be studied under a microscope! They think, and feel, and have a way of life!" I swallowed hard. "They are living creatures and you have to treat them as such!"

Professor Conifer grimaced at me. "I think you need to have a long hard think about what you are doing with your life." She ripped off the key-card from around my neck shoving it into her pocket. Then she turned away from me. "Get out of my sight. I need to speak with Giovani about what will be done with you, but you are finished here." She turned her attention to the remaining scientists. "Take this bulbasaur back, it's useless now. The bulb will be practically dead in half an hour."

My blood burned. I stormed out of the room and stalked down the hallway, ripping my lab coat off my shoulders as I did so. I dropped it on the ground leaving it in a crumpled heap as I left the building.