Hey guys! Isabelle here. Yes, Lilo and I are still alive and kicking. We've been busy finishing high school, though, so that's why this account hasn't had anything new appear. Consider that issue fixed!

See, every summer, our mother has us do this challenge. Five pages a week, culminating into one story. This year, my project will be the very thing you're looking at right now. Hope you like it!

First, a disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. That's Nintendo's creation. I also don't own the girl in this chapter - I would like to thank Grim Helm from TV Tropes for letting me borrow her. Also, I'd like to thank Lucent Zinogre for allowing me to borrow Nox, who will show up later in the story.

And with that, let the story begin!

Prologue: The Weapon takes form

Carol wasn't worried about the Gyarados currently in front of her. No, that fish was child's play. She could beat it in her sleep. This was the latest in the long line of battles the scientists – what she thought was the name of the creatures holding her – were subjecting her to, but this was the second time they had sent out a Gyarados. Why were they sending this thing out? She already proved that she was more than capable of fighting this overrated fish. So why on earth were they making her fight it now?

"Come on, is that the best you guys got?" Carol said. She wasn't talking to the fish that was her opponent, though. Her question was aimed at the creatures standing there. There was the older one with glasses (at least, that's what she was sure they were called), who almost always came to watch her fight. She and her sisters called him the Shadow Man, due to his tendency to come in without a sound, almost like a shadow. However, joining Shadow Man today was a female that Carol had never seen before (His friend, maybe? Or his prey, like the Fearow in the cage next to Alice's who was given a new Caterpie each day?), who was pushing her long yellow fur away from her face as she switched between jotting down stuff and watching the whole thing.

Neither scientist answered, of course. Shadow Man just watched the arena without showing any expression (then again, when had he shown emotion?), and the new girl just continued jotting down stuff. It wasn't a surprise to Carol. That was the scientists' usual reaction to her talking. No one here spoke her language. Not a single one. It would have been a whole lot better for her if they did – maybe they wouldn't place her and her sisters into tight cages and give her disgusting food and run them through painful tests. Or even give them lame opponents they've encountered before.

"What are you waiting for, you dumb Terrakion?" taunted the fish. "Are you scared?"

"As if," she rebuffed, a smirk on her face. "If anything, I'm hungry. I wonder how tasty you'd be."

The Gyrados roared out of anger and attempted to tackle her. She wasn't surprised by that, though, and dodged. This one wasn't even the first one to act that way – the other Gyarados started with that exact same move. Did the Gyarados even realize that they were going through the same moves? Or were they just going through hoops like the scientists want them to do? Sure, it was kind of hypocritical considering she was doing the same, but at least she was aware of what she was doing. And she was only doing it so because she didn't like seeing Beth get hurt. She was the youngest of her and her sisters, and to see Beth get hurt—

In that moment of thought, she didn't realize the Gyarados was going to bite her until its teeth were in her forelimb, sending pain through her.

"Ow!" She stomped her free paw on him, in an attempt to get his mouth off of her. The dumb fish still kept on tight.

"Getting sloppy there, Gamma-Three," Shadow Man muttered, calling her by her experiment number as the yellow-furred girl continued jotting down more stuff. But what? Were they planning more experiments on her? Or were they going to hurt Beth again? Darn it, if they harmed a single inch of her fur—

The Shadow Man pulled out a little black item, and placed one of the growths on his paw on it. Immediately, an opening appeared on the wall, and out poured some sort of cloud. No, a gas, like the one that was around a Weezing, except this was blue.

What is that stuff?

"Come on, did you forget where we were?" mocked the Gyarados, letting go of her forearm in the process. Big mistake.

"You're the one getting sloppy!" she yelled. She slammed the ground, sending the Gyarados back – as well as causing the two scientists to lose his balance. The girl even landed on her rear.

Heh. Idiots—

Carol stumbled as she felt a wave of dizziness came over her. What the heck?! She turned to glare at her opponent – only to notice that the overgrown fish was watching her, a slack-jawed look to its face like she had just gone shiny and sprouted wings.

"What on earth do you find so surprising…" Carol's head went blank as, in a wave of nausea, her forelimbs gave way. She collapsed forward, and then rolled to the side.

The last thing she heard before she lost consciousness was the new girl yelling "Shouldn't we do something?!"

The first thing Carol noticed when she came to was that she was in a room she didn't recognize. For starters, the room was well-lit. Most of the rooms she remembered had the lights that were always buzzing and flickering – what did the scientists call them? Flow-in-scent? And for another thing, she was lying on a table in the middle of the room.

On a table… Bright room… Oh god, are they going to open me up?! She attempted to stand up, only to wince in pain as she put weight on one of her forelimbs. Right, the stupid fish bit me in the stupid arm. The scientists must have healed me up. But why take me to a new room just to do something like that—

Her thoughts froze as she looked down at her limbs. No, they weren't her limbs. Sure, there was a bandage on them in the exact same spot where the Gyarados bit her, and they had scars where she had gotten them from earlier battles, but they didn't look like her limbs. These were small and thin, and they had long yet tiny growths on the ends of her paws.

Growths that looked like the ones on the scientists' paws.

Panicking, she looked around and spotted a mirror. At any other moment, she would wonder why there was a mirror there in the first place, but right now, she was too busy staring at it.

Her gold eyes was staring back at her, all right, but they weren't in her body. It was in a young creature, a girl much like the yellow-furred one she had seen earlier. However, this one's fur was long and dark, and the body looked sturdier than the twig-like blonde one. But it wasn't by much – she still felt tiny and vulnerable. A feeling she hated.

"Ah, Gamma-Three, you're awake."

Carol let out an involuntary gasp as she recognized the familiar flat voice coming from behind her. The Shadow Man.

"What do you want?" Carol attempted to roar, only to cover her mouth out of shock. Her voice sounded higher in pitch now.

"So you can speak," he said, a bit of a smirk on his face. "Good. Several of the workers here were absolutely sure you wouldn't say a word, just roar like the primitive animal you were."

He understood me?!

Carol curled up the growths on her paws. "What do you want?" she repeated, trying to make her voice sound menacing.

"Cooperation," the Shadow Man responded. He took a seat in one of the chairs.

"With what?" Carol said baring her teeth in an attempt to look menacing – hard to do in her current state. "You forcefully placed me in this weak Scientist body against my will—"

A chuckle escaped the Shadow Man.

"What's so funny?" she said, tensing up.

"I might have been the one to overlook your training," the Shadow Man said as he readjusted his glasses, "But other than releasing the activating agent during the battle, I had no hand in the altering of your form. You, along with Alpha-One and Beta-Two, were designed to be able to shift."

Carol froze as he said that. What? Does that mean… Alice and Beth…

"Your fellow experiments are currently going through the same thing you are," the Shadow Man said, almost as if he could read her mind. "They'll join you here once it is done."

"Why are you doing this?" she said in a low tone, almost a Serviper-like hiss.

"I wish to say that this is another experiment," he said, a grin appearing on your face. "Though, not one on how you can fight. You've already proved yourselves with that."

"Then what are you testing?" Carol asked.

"How well you can act human. In six months, we plan on having you and the others go… eliminate someone. But in order to do that, you need to blend in."

"Why should I go through with this?" Carol narrowed her eyes.

He leaned towards Carol. "This was what you were designed to do. If you can't go through with this, then we have no use for you."

Carol's eyes widened. Wasn't that what he said about Delta-Four? Before he…

"I certainly hope you keep that in mind, Gamma-Three," he said. And with that, he turned and walked away, leaving Carol with her own thoughts.

And with that, the stage is set. Don't worry, this isn't the last time you'll be seeing either of these characters. But next chapter, you'll be meeting the main protagonist. I hope you like him - and the story, for that matter!

Oh, and don't forget to review - I 'm always open to likes and constructive criticism!

Isabelle out.