Oscar carefully pulled the Milcery from its cage and put it inside the pokepod chamber. With the subject locked in, Oscar strode to his control panel (now fortified with tempered glass). In one motion he would pick up his recorder, raise it to his mouth, and tuen it on to begin his notes.

"Pokepod preliminary trial two, testing of the Pokepod three point oh. Experiment conducted by agent skull. Date? Don't matter. Time? Don't matter. Place? Up yours. After a turbulent development period I think I finally have a working rendition of the pokepod. The extractors have been heavily altered to allow a more control suction. Metal blades have been installed to act as a sort of filtration system. If everything is installed correctly, which it fucking should be, they should arrange themselves based on how I turn the control dial. Speaking of..."

Oscar took a moment to catch his breath, sitting down in the swivel chair he stole from declan walsh's office (I mean, he never uses it). He began the start up process for the pokepod, continuing his notes as the machine warmed up. "Subject is a Milcery of good health and average size. My aim for today's first trial is to make sure the minimum and maximum settings work. From there I can find the happy medium I desire. Anyway, cross your fingers."

Oscar ended the recording and flipped a toggle next to the dial. The machine suddenly became quite loud, making a racket that resembled a giant vacuum. The Milcery, knocked out up until now, awoke with a panic. Oscar paid its distress no mind, instead turning his control dial to the number 1--the lowest setting.

Nothing seemed to be happening, but the energy reader on his console did show very slight activity. The extractors were pulling a minimum amount of Infinity Energy, though not enough to be noticable by the Milcery or light up the large bulb at the top of the machine. In other words, it was working as intended. Oscar smirked before taking a deep breath and turning the dial to the number 10--the highest setting.

The machine roared, creating a hellish cacophony worthy of its dramatic power. The Milcery in the pop let out a brief shriek before drying up entirely, falling to the floor and bursting into milky dust. The readings on Oscar's console were massive, and the bulb was glowing unnaturally bright. After a few seconds had passed the bulb would dim, the Infinity Energy all used up. At this point Oscar would turn down the machine and record his thoughts.

"Experiment was successful. Both the minimum and maximum settings do what they're supposed to. I find it important to note that the Infinity Energy taken from the maximum setting's pull was incredibly powerful, but only lasted briefly. While my goal is to find a way to use pokemon as a prolonged source of energy, this reaction may be useful in the future. Anyway, on to the second test. Subject is a..."

"...Luxray, average size and in good health. I have to say it's an impressive specimen, it would be a shame to lose it should this experiment fail--I should have more faith in myself. I believe that here and now, I will find the the middle point I seek."

Oscar paused his recording and walked over to carry the Luxray into the chamber. It was not as difficult as the Dragonite from the first round of tests, but the beast was still pretty heavy. Oscar managed to toss it in and seal the creature up, paving the way for his final experiment.

Oscar returned to his control station, and while he reached for the dial without hesitation he would find himself reluctant to turn it. His mind was flodding with insecurities, the infinite what-ifs of failure began to weigh him down. Oscar took a deep breath, clearing his cluttered mind. He was prepared for any result, let failure come if it must--it shall only delay his inevitable victory.

Oscar turned the dial to six. The machine came to life, and the Luxray awoke with a start. It screeched with pain, it life source being rapidly absorbed by the machine. Oscar was unphased by the subject's discomfort, but knew that if it could feel the extraction then the power was too high.

He lowered it to four. The Luxray stopped screaming, heavily breathing with relief. Yet even if the extraction was lessened, the machine would continue to pull out its lifeforce nevertheless. The beast eventually could not stay awake, collapsing from exhaustion.

Oscar began to print the energy readings, reading over them carefully as they extended forward. The results were promising, but he needed just a bit more. Oscar turned the dial between four and five. The energy was slightly better, and the Luxray did not stir from its sleep. He turned it to five and six. The Luxray began to writhe, but once again did not awaken fully. Oscar groaned, "Please be joking..."

He turned the dial to five. The Luxray's slumber calmed, and the energy reading was just shy of exceeding Oscar's expectation. He had found the perfect extraction level. Even so, Oscar groaned. "The numbers were arbitrary, it's my fuckin' lucky that the middle ground was in the middle the whole time. Whatever, only I will know."

Oscar's embarrassment shifted into excitement, and all other tasks faded into the background as he began to feverishly record data. He did not even remember to finish his recording.

Once he was satisfied with his findings, Oscar would commemorate his victory by catching the surviving Luxray.