Profile
Project Basque: the Self-Sufficient Vaporeon
| Name: | Basque | Nickname(s): | N/A |
| Age: | ~28 | Gender: | Male |
| Species: | Vaporeon | Ability: | Water Absorb |
| Nature: | Bold | Held Item: |
Mystic Water  |
| Height: | 3'06" | Markings: | None external; internal throat injury |
| Weight: | 65.4 lbs (when last measured) | Status: | Escaped, wandering |
| Former Home: | Geosenge Forest (Kalos) | Theme: | Broken Vessel |
"And so, we called it 'Project Basque', for it was to be indomitable, the crux of our research... a self-sufficient and reliable avenue to circumventing the natural decay of old bodily cells and functions. Yet... what will be done, should this experiment fail, as the rest did? I do not know. But for the sake of poor Esper, I will sacrifice it all!"
- Percival, leader of the Cosmos
Due to his time in the forests surrouding Geosenge City, Basque openly despises the ideas of weakness and death’s door- as they were adversaries that he commonly had to stare down almost every day of his life. This didn’t change when he evolved into a Vaporeon, and he quickly began to abuse his newfound aquatic prowess to ruthlessly claw his way out of the bottom of the proverbial food chain. In his mind, the world literally was kill or be killed. That was all there was to it. At least, that’s how he operated until taken from his home, transformed into the revolutionary Project Basque, and given knowledge of all the caveats and abilities that came with it. That is… until his “creator” was ruthlessly murdered, and Basque’s instincts took over his life once again with a newfound vigor thanks to the new abilities he’d been given.
Cold, calculating, and introverted, Basque prefers to keep his true thoughts and intentions to himself, and very few know more than just his name and uncanny abilities. He’s not amiable at all, unless he expects that forming a temporary truce will benefit him, and he has no qualms about deceiving someone if it means another day to live. He hates weakness and isn't afraid to point it out if he stands to gain trust from fixing shortcomings of others. To him, an unfixed weakness is the precursor to death. Admitting to your flaws is one thing, but if you can't minimize them… well, maybe he'd actually like that. When it comes time to sever ties with you, permanently, you'd be easy prey, after all.
Deep in the recesses of his mind, though, there is still always that void to fill- that void of a friend like the former Arcadia, plucked from his brief time as a laboratory pet- but he’s grown so numb to the prospect of it that it’s incredibly hard to even approach him and not be thought of as a potential next-best meal. Finding that amiable side- the one that's not actually just a facade- is nearly impossible amongst his primal instincts to survive in any way that he can.
By definition, the Vaporeon is an opportunist- and a quite ruthless one at that. You have to be, to live a life like his. With that comes a silver tongue that's quite good at worming its way into any sort of situation he needs it to. He could come across as your best friend- right up until the point that you're only useful as a meal to him. And by then, if you haven't discovered the truth, well, it might already be too late.
When he’s not enacting Darwin’s last wishes on the world around him or manipulating his way into just about anything he wants, Basque tends to be very sarcastic and sardonic around others- and confidently so. He's a bold, free spirit with all the tools he needs to make his wishes come true- and the gall and sass to back up his claims. Do not piss him off, though- free-spirited or not, he is extremely vengeful and will take grudges straight to the grave. Or his belly. Whichever comes first.
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Fire-Type Pokemon: ...though not because he's amiable or anything, let's be real here.
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A Full Belly: It should come as no surprise to anyone that a full Basque is a happy Basque- beyond just because that means he's living longer. His body's natural reaction to a full belly acts almost like a 'happy drug', eliciting that warm fuzzy feeling you typically get after the perfect meal, except with him it's coupled with enough deep-throated purring to make every single neighboorhood Skitty jealous.
- Control and Dominion: Stemming from the same being done to him in the Geosenge forests, Basque absolutely preys on the fear he and his abilities can instill and takes great pride in his wordsmithing to do so- playing with someone's last strands of hope right up until he severs them. When he's the one in control of a situation, he's going to do his darnedest to keep it just the way he likes it.
- Purpose: You might not think it from looking at how he seems to devote himself to the dogma of 'survival of the fittest', but Basque always has his eyes on the future. Now, I wouldn't call it curiosity, but being driven is something that's been instilled in him since day one. For now, his purpose remains to survive- to preserve the wishes of the late Arcadia that wanted him to experience what life as a Pokemon was really meant to be and live on. So, until he finds what that wish really means, he's going to keep right on living. And nothing is going to stop him.
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Knives and Blood: Basque has a very chronic fear of both knives and blood due to his gruesome time dealing with both of them. The former killed the only thing that mattered in the world to him, and the latter heralded that departure. There's a good reason he much enjoys his newfound abilities, after all- there's no mess to clean up when he finds a victim, after all. (And nothing sharp involved, either!) He may temporarily try to hide this Achilles’ Heel with the guises of raw anger (and sometimes adrenaline simply helps to keep it at bay), but if he were to watch a Pokemon be brutally cut up, he’d silently have those images haunting him for weeks.
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Death (by being eaten): Despite the great prejudice he takes to strike fear into the hearts of anyone with his assimilation abilities, the cannibalistic Vaporeon fears the idea of actually being eaten, himself. Largely, though, Basque absolutely fears death, and if you can manage to make him believe he is in mortal danger, his impenetrable iron will crumples like tin foil.
- Awry or Awkward Situations: Not because he isn't a "ladies' 'Mon" or something to that effect. As Basque lives his daily life on borrowed time, situations not playing according to plan can have painful or quite literally lethal consequences. For instance, if those unforeseen circumstances happens to involve being robbed of a potential meal, he's not getting any less hungry after wasting all that time!
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Devious and Brilliant: His long time in the forests of Geosenge served him well. A dominant hunting instinct coupled with a very strong sense of awareness would make him a dangerous predator to some Pokemon, even without his status as an experiment. Combined with a phenomenal way to incorporate his surroundings in Water Absorb, Basque is very cunning and strategic and will not hesitate to press any advantage he has over another Pokemon.
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A Created Monster: Project Basque was manipulated to be a self-sufficient Pokemon- and self-sufficient is exactly what he was capable of being, provided the requisite astronomical energy costs were properly attended to. His ability to envelop other Pokemon became his sole source of enjoyment- almost a crutch- and for good reason. While he’s limited in what he can attempt to “capture,” there are a lot of Pokemon that he’s been able to ensnare over the years.
- Heightened Regeneration: Due to the way that his body handles latent energy, the regeneration factor of Rest is magnified, allowing him, after a few days of a good day’s and night’s meals, to restore many (if not all) of his cells should they be damaged. There are some things that cannot be restored, such as his throat injury (due to mental traumas and blocks overriding even his own systems), though, but he in theory can shrug off entire limbs and organs being blown to bits. If you don't finish the job, he just comes back. And now, he knows your strategies.
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Limitless Potential, Limitless Input: His own strength is quite possibly also his fatal flaw. Basque’s body’s abilities require an enormous input of energy to be sustained, and like an actual machine, he breaks down without this requirement being met. This means that he either needs to find a whole lot of little things that he can take down or settle for a massive prize that could hold him over for a day with latent energy- and sometimes, that might not be so easy.
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Water is Wet: While he can effortlessly switch between being a Vaporeon and water, he can’t use Moves or even his senses when he moves as water. Thus, when he is ready to strike, he can’t actually see what that mass of water is “lunging” at until his body has done its job, which could mean he’s not trying to encapsulate what he thinks he is. Both this “transformation” and his Moves also take a very large amount of energy, so he must be careful and deliberate about when to use and not use his arsenal of tricks. Even a single wrong use of a Move could put him in a dangerous spot.
- Water Conducts Electricity: Electricity, while already advantageous to use against a Vaporeon, is doubly as crippling to Basque. Not only does it cut right through his main defense- Acid Armor- the paralyzing after-effects of current leave his cells in a state of disillusionment. If he’s shocked strongly enough in either “form,” he can’t actually use his ability to become water for at least a couple minutes and is forced to reform into a Vaporeon again, which can be a massive problem if he’s hungry and hunting or trying to get away from someone or something.
- Internal Clock: Telekinetics disrupt his body’s natural rhythm and operations quite handily, as well. A strong enough Psychic force would slow his organs from reforming while Resting, stop a watery charge before it gets too far, or even prevent his own moves from being used.
Acid Armor
Strength:
A defensive Move that coats the Vaporeon's body in a thin layer of caustic substances that harden to form an acidic coat. The coat protects against (and most importantly, harms) potential attackers that come into contact with it.
Rest
Strength:
While not meant to inflict wounds, Basque's ability to Rest and heal himself is perhaps the cornerstone of his survivability. When Resting, the waters within his stomach seep out from his skin and form a "protective" puddle around the sleeping Vaporeon. And, the enzymes from his gut are still there, waiting to ensnare and tear apart whatever unfortunate soul happens to get close enough to ahem, test the waters.
Muddy Water
Strength:
The hallmark of Basque's offense. Due to his ability to seamlessly melt into water, he can use any wave he makes defensively as a buffer against foes that are too close for comfort, offensively as a way to batter the other, or just to close distances. Muddy Water's true danger comes from its unpredictability, however. That wave of discolorated water might contain just more than the Move, itself. Basque may very well be waiting inside to ensnare you as it passes by.
Ice Beam
Strength:
An beam of frigid energy that can be acutely aimed at will- at foes, at a general area, or even at the floor to freeze it. Since Basque is well accustomed to this style of fighting, freezing the ground typically throws off his foes more than it does himself- but chilling prey to the bone normally gets the job done well enough.
For as long as he can remember, Basque was always forced to live on the edge of his “comfort zone”- never really safe for one reason or another. Growing up in the unforgiving Geosenge forests as just a little Eevee was, well, inhospitable. A tiny little fox-like Pokemon amongst a whole host of arachnids, avians, and everything else under the moon that would like nothing more than to turn fourteen pounds of fur into fourteen pounds of prime meals wasn't exactly his idea of a great time. Even if he could avoid much of the danger by staying hidden- one of the few benefits of being small- that luck wouldn't last forever. Like all Eevee, he needed to adapt, sooner rather than later, and that adaptation came in the form of the nearby lakes and streams. It seemed that many of these predators did not particularly want to come close to the shimmering water’s edge, where he would have to flee to after scrounging up a single Berry or two that would have to hold him over for the day…
It wasn’t until a dozen or so years of this that the Eevee had finally found something that would allow him to turn the tides of this infinite struggle- quite literally. Though he didn’t know it, a nearby rocky cave that he had taken shelter in for the night led deep enough into the ground and to salvation. Nestled in the back of the cave was a large object (to him, at least) brimming with energy: a blue stone that reflected the dim light of the cave just like the water did outside. Fascinated, he scoots the object along somewhere he could store it safely, feeling a little bit of a tingling sensation in the process until it glows faintly and disappears. Basque didn’t really think anything of it, eventually dismissing the whole thing as a dream and resting his head on a rock… That is, until morning came, and he stepped outside to the lake, again... He was no mere Eevee anymore- tripled in height and weight and bestowed a new stature that could potentially hold its own against the horrors of the forest.
Bewildered, the new Vaporeon experiments with the extra appendages, organs, and abilities that he’d been blessed with by that stone, before realizing the lake he'd stuck near for so long actually held the key to survival. The water was positively teeming with fish, Pokemon that he could now actively hunt with this newfound ability to melt into the surrounding water and reappear right when he was about to strike with a hungry set of jaws ready to embrace some unsuspecting aquatic Pokemon. This went on for quite a while, but... he still felt empty. What else was out there? It might be high time to find out, and, fortunately for him, he didn’t have to wait for long...
Waking up a day later in what most definitely was not the forests of Geosenge, the Vaporeon opens his eyes to be greeted by probably the most traumatic thing possible to any Pokemon- containment in some metal contraption of sorts at the hands of some humans. He’d heard mixed stories of creatures like this from various hoots and caws in the night of the forest, but being in the company of one was completely different. But, he wasn’t sad about at. In fact, he was more happy about it than anything. Life with humans, even if it was unbearable, was still better than the constant threats of the Geosenge forests. So, he would just play nice. Might as well, right?
He soon learned one of those humans- those scientits- could even speak to him in his native tongue. This man was named Arcadia, the understudy to someone named Percival- the leader of some project that quickly abandoned the group shortly after for his own selfish reasons. The project, likely, was him. And, indeed, it was revealed to him that his DNA had been altered in an attempt to create a self-sufficient Pokemon, one that could renew itself forever… but nature decided to take its foul revenge on the humans who thought they could play god. Now cursed with a metabolism that could kill him in under a day, things weren’t looking pretty if he were ever to be returned to the wild. Fortunately, a few blessings in disguise came from the efforts of Project Basque. His cellular structure had been tampered with, now allowing far quicker and seamless transitions using the natural ability of a Vaporeon as well as a fair bit more flexibility when it came to skirting corners and terrain while walking. Finally, his body could no longer produce fluids in his stomach, but he soon learned there was a suitable replacement in its place- an enzyme that only seemed to be able to react with the proteins found in meat.
The repercussions of this new skill-set were explored by the two, as Basque gradually became more and more confident in what he could and couldn't do through a whole host of testing environments and simulations provided by Arcadia- until he one day attempted to take a bite of a Magikarp and felt something quite sharp poke into the back of his throat. He had, without knowing, jammed a fishing hook that the fish had swallowed through his throat- and the process of pulling the object out caused more damage than would be imaginable. It was this moment that sparked his insatiable fear of blood, especially his own. What's worse- how was he supposed to be eat, without the ability to swallow anything?
But, Arcadia was undeterred, and after some quick testing, eventually figured out how to coax Basque's flexible cellular structure into literally enveloping a Pokemon, whole, forcing them to where his stomach would be, and liquefying them with the enzyme found in his stomach after he reformed around it. Quite the process, but it worked. And it felt good to have food in his belly like that. He almost forgot about the pain of having a hook ripped out of his throat. Almost.
With that solved, it was almost like Basque had bonded with someone. This Arcadia… he was the greatest thing to happen to him, hands and paws down…
But that all changed when the time came for the original scope of Project Basque to finish several months later. Arcadia was murdered in cold blood by none other than his former colleague, Percival. That moment flipped a switch in the predator of a Water-Type, watching Arcadia's body quiver with a knife stuck in it, until it stopped forever.
Arcadia's last wish for Basque was for him to live on, to live the happy life that he had envisioned for the Vaporeon, but Basque’s previous contempt for the inhospitable wilds he came from and grudge towards the world that took the only thing he cared about away from him turned him into a nomad. He would survive, all right, going from place to place- wherever he could fill his belly the easiest- and anyone who stood in the way of his honoring of Arcadia's wishes would be ruthlessly stamped out. He owed it to the man who gave him everything he could ever want to show the whole world just what kind of Pokemon that Project Basque really was.
Arcade: An oblivious young Vaporeon who Basque met and, fortunately, has not yet turned on. Arcade's naivety serves as the baseplate of their 'friendship', and he aspires to be "just as good at hunting" as Basque, completely disregarding the grey moral area that he tends to walk to feed himself.
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● He doesn’t follow time by the sun's and moon's movements, but instead he uses the nourishment that he’s taken in during the day. If he's full, he can sleep. If he's not full, he's not sleeping until he is. Constant months and years of this pursuit affected his circadian rhythm, and this is why he doesn’t really seem to care about whether it’s “day” or “night,” only whether he needs to eat and Rest or not.
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● Due to his throat injury, his voice is guttural and scratchy, which makes him sound far older than he actually is. Don't let that fool you, though!
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● Arcadia's patience granted him a basic understanding of some English words, but it is unlikely that he could easily vocalize them.
- ● While not possessing a traditional "palette" of sorts, Basque is able to very readily feel (as opposed to taste) the difference between, say, a Pidgey and a Growlithe when he eats. He thinks himself a connossieur of this abnormal measurement of "taste", though it isn't exactly easy to replicate- as nobody else has that unique "skillset" to verify his claims. Also, what, are you really going to argue with the cannibal that can assimilate around Pokemon at will? Let him have his fun.
profile html base by Hukiolukio, edited by Me
