The 'Experiment'

Avril's vision had faded to black, she had fallen asleep. However time didn't warp in it's usual manner. Instead the darkness clung to her preventing her from truly falling asleep. The darkness made her unsettled, which was odd considering Avril had always liked the dark.

" -ril"

"Avril"

"Avril! You need to wake up!" A voice echoed in the black.

"Who's there." Avril called out. The voice was familiar to her but she couldn't place her finger on it.

"You've seriously forgotten your best friend already?" The voiced seemed shocked

"Your wrong Thomas, I'm her best friend not you. I'm a girl just like her so we're obviously closer." Another voice, quickly countered.

" Hey That's not fair. Besides gender has nothing to do with who's her best friend."

"Will both of you just do your job please. It is a pain in the ass to keep this up, Move it Squirts." A third voice called

" Crap that's right, Avril you have to wake up right now. Your locked in a dream, and you need to get out, otherwise we'll all be trapped with this thing." Thomas called to her.

" And please do hurry this guy isn't the nicest. He's already got Clover in a bad spot." Lucy added

'My friends, they're alive!' Avril thought to herself excitedly. She could hear them clearly. More clear than ever before, not much made sense right now but then again nothing ever did here recently. She was simply going to try her best for her friends.

" Problem. how am I supposed to wake myself up?" Avril called out

"Wake-up-slap is pretty effective" Thomas replied

" She can't use moves like that idiot, she's human and asleep, it is physically impossible. Just think about how you would escape from your nightmares. Force yourself up." Lucy corrected.

"Escaping from a nightmare. Simple." Avril muttered to herself, even thought she still had no clue what she was doing. Focusing on pushing herself up out of the dream, a growing sense of pain began to emerge in her chest. It hurt but it was also the anchor she needed to escape her Black prison.

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"What is taking so long. According to the tests it should have ended about ten minutes ago." Heather was once again angry at something.

" It should have, had someone not forced me to attempt to integrate a completely foreign Pokémon into the mix. We aren't sure if the human body can even support that much power. Reguardless, it seems that the others are fighting profusely against Darkrai's influence." The professor countered, while not letting his eyes leave contact with the glowing of the Orb of gold floating above Avril.

Avril was currently on a medical table, a narrow cut along her sternum that looks to have already been stitched back together. Above where her heart should be, an orb of yellow held four Trinket like items suspended above her body all evenly spaced around a golden light in the center of the yellow bubble.

" Darkrai should have already taken control of the body by now. What other Pokémon did you say were used in the experiment?" The Mysterious lady asked.

" There was an Eevee, Ralts, and Absol." The professor confirmed

"Quite the diverse set of types, they may have found a way to resist Darkrai's abilities, but the most that can do is buy them time. So long as the girl stays asleep there isn't a chance of Darkrai losing."

"Well it needs to hurry and submit, or win. Her body won't be able to hold out for much longer, her vitals are on the verge of falling. We would have been able to finally have a success had you not needed to interfere."

Avril stirred as her eyes slightly opened, the unusual light forced her eyes closed, but she could pick up on some of the conversation happening around her.

"Sir, She is waking up?!" One of the other doctors called.

"How!? That shouldn't be possible!? This is just perfect things are already going to shit, why not make things even worst!" The Professor shouted.

"Calm yourself professor. Heather." The woman called

"Understood. Hypno, Make sure the girl stays asleep." A yellow marsupial with a stone pendulum came out, and stood in front of Avril. The stone started to swing back and forth as the Hypnos eyes began to subtly glow blue, and Avril was forced back to sleep.

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"I'm sorry everyone, I can't break out. they have a hypno forcing me to sleep, I can't do anything about it." Avril felt horrible that she couldn't help her friends.

" Damn it. That's fine, you tried your best. It's up to us now, to take down ... whatever this thing is." Clover consoled her.

" Is the thing your fighting all black and shadowy?" Avril asked, wondering if it was the darkrai she heard the professor refer to.

"If it has an annoying ability to hide in the ground or in shadows whenever your about to hit it. That's the one." Thomas said.

"Kind of reminds me of you a little, the hair at least. I will never understand why you always cover one of your eyes Avril?" Lucy said

" Says the one who has both eyes covered almost all the time." Avril retorted

" She got you there." Thomas snorted.

" Son of a Bi-" Clover suddenly yelped

"Clover watch you language, think about Noah, remember." Lucy interrupted.

"Shut up! Now's not the time, that being said, It would be great if you two would actually help." Clover yelled at them

" We don't have anything that would effect him though we would just be getting in the way." Thomas said.

"Yeah, All I've got left is Aura sphere and that doesn't effect ghost types, and Thomas only has sand attack and wake-up-slap left too, Thanks to you keeping us safe, we'll only be a bother."

" Damn, That's fine just need to figure something out." then she growled "Ugh, Why won't this thing just die."

" Darkrai isn't a ghost type it's pure dark." Avril commented

"Really?" Thomas seemed shocked "Why didn't wake-up-slap not work them?"

"It may have dodged." Avril said after a moment of thought.

" That would explain a lot." Lucy said realization dawning on her.

" What does that have to do with anything, what the hell are you talking about?." Clover asked through pants

"Clover are you alright?" Avril asked

" Yes, I'm fine. We managed to lose it for now. You seem to know something about this Pokémon. Do you have anything useful?"

" It's a dark type so it should be weak to bug, fairy and fighting type moves. If you can use those it should be effective. Other than that I've got nothing." Avril said

" Guys it's coming, we need to hurry." Lucy seemed to be getting nervous

" What are you talking about Bug, Fairy, Fighting, Dark, Ghost? Is there a point to any of it." Clover asked.

" Have you ever noticed that some moves work better then others against certain Pokémon, or that your moves some moves seem stronger than usual when you use them? Thats due to type match-ups, immunities, resistances and weaknesses. It is a really big topic I would love to explain but I don't think now is the best time for you." Avril said

" How, thoughtful of you. Since you know so much, any idea how to beat it?" Clover was getting impatient.

Avril hesitated for a moment then asked " Thomas can you still use sand attack."

"Yes, but it keeps dodging, every time I try I end up blinding either clover or Lucy." Thomas said.

"Don't worry about it Thomas, Clover can you use megahorn?"

" Megahorn? That ... that does sound vaguely familiar, I think I can, but it is a little hard to control, and it isn't all that strong. How is it supposed to help?"

" You typically fight rock, and flying types in the cave, so of course you may find it less then impressive, however just trust me on this it will work."

" Thomas use sand attack and try to blind Darkrai. Lucy, use Aura sphere and try to keep it from hurting Thomas or running, Clover while Darkrai is busy, try and circle behind him and use Megahorn, point blank so you won't miss." Avril was clear and confident in their orders despite the fact she couldn't see them. She could envision them fighting in her mind and it gave her hope and pride. She was real Pokémon trainer now. The thought made her a little giddy, even in the situation.

Silence fell on Avril's dark prison, and if felt like an eternity of silence as she waited in growing anticipation to hear the results of the fight. Suddenly a Shriek caught Avril off guard and made her heart flip.

" Thomas!" Lucy cried

" I'm alright Lucy." Thomas replied sounding less than alright.

" This isn't working, We need to get out of here and think of another solution. We can't do anything to that thing, Clover is the only one who can really hurt it, We just aren't fast enough. Clover! Get over here I can only use teleport one more time and I am going to use it to buy us some more time" Lucy called

" That sounds great but there is the small issue of the angry not so ghost, that is trying to kill me." Clover yelled back as she seemed to be exhausted, suddenly a roar resounded that even Avril could hear.

" I shall kill you all, ye mortal nuisances." The Darkrai roared in the most cringeworthy of fashions.

" Hah take that, look it's running away! Coward!" Clover screamed at the Darkrai

"Clover it's charging an attack." Lucy yelled

" Shit, I'm not going to make it. Lucy take Thomas and get out of here! I can handle myself alright."

" Clover where are you going?" Lucy cried

" I'm going to kill that thing. I've always had Luck on my side lets see if I can make it out of this one." Clover didn't sound too confident

"Lucy we have to stop her." Thomas said

"Lucy, What are you doing?"

"I'm doing what I was told, We have to trust her otherwise we will all get killed!" Lucy shouted in a desperate, tearfilled voice.

Avril wasn't able to keep up with the actions and started to panic. " What's going on, Lucy Thomas what's happening?"

" Lucy just teleported us away from clover now she is stuck over there. She was having a hard enough time without the two of us, and now we don't even know what happened to her. "Thomas was infuriated.

" I'm sorry I didn't have any other options. We all would have died there." Lucy snapped back tears in her voice.

"How do you know that, you don't even know what that attack even does. Now Clover is going to die now and we'll die here having run away from our friend." Thomas was mad.

" Calm down Thomas. Things seem pretty bad but we still have Avril remember, she can probably still talk to Clover for us." Lucy tried to console Thomas. "Avril Can you hear us"

"Yes, What's going on? I heard a lot of yelling, what happened to Clover?" Avril seemed concerned.

" We don't know but we need to save her. Do you have any Ideas." Lucy asked, she seemed desperate for an answer.

" I don't know. Umm, Clover can you hear me?" Avril had no clue what to do in this situation. She didn't understand what she was supposed to do. She couldn't see what was going on, and her imagination was coming up with so many possible situations she couldn't tell which was accurate if anything.

"..."

" Clover?" Avril asked again after no response

" She's mine now." A dark and dreary voice responded to Avril's calls, sending a chill up her spine.

" How's clover?" Thomas's voice echoed since Avril had yet to get back to them.

"Lets not worry about that right now. All I know is she isn't in the best spot so lets think of solutions." Avril tired to be optimistic.

"We've tried everything. There isn't a way to beat it now that Clovers gone." Thomas's voice was hoarse, he was crying but didn't want to sound like it.

"No, Clovers not dead. We just have to stay positive. Everything will work out in the end right?" Lucy was starting to get delirious.

"No Lucy it's not like the power of friendship can magically make things better. We've exhausted every idea we could come up with, we barely have the energy to use many more of our own moves, there is nothing else we can do." Thomas said with obvious irritation in his voice. He was never one to back down from a fight, still he wasn't an idiot.

" THAT'S IT!" Lucy squealed "The power of friendship!"

"Lucy have you lost your mind?" Thomas was concerned for his friends mental wellbeing.

" No you idiot. Friendship! Your a Eevee, who has already been on the verge of evolving. There are no special stones or conditions at the lab meaning you can evolve due to the bond between you and Avril. You want to save her right?" Lucy asked

" Yes I want to save her!" Thomas exclaimed

" You want to save clover right!" Lucy cried, attempting to hype up Thomas

"I want to save Clover too! Thomas yelled being hyped up by Lucy

" Then give me the best puppy dog eyes and let me hear you roar!" Lucy encouraged

" Roa~ wait what? Puppy dog eyes?" Thomas was confused.

"Never mind, you ruined it anyways. It was going to be super dramatic but whatever this works better anyways." Lucy let her head hang. " We do need to hurry now though, I think he may have heard all the yelling."

" Ok, but how do we plan on evolving me?" Thomas asked.

" Think of it kind of like a move, you remember the feeling when you were about to evolve? Try and replicate that ... While giving me the puppy dog eyes." Lucy told him

" What's with you and this puppy dog eye thing?" Thomas was still confused.

" Fine, I'm tying to get you to evolve into Sylveon." Lucy said.

"You mean the pink one with the ribbons and bows? Not happening." Thomas refused

"Come on you have to. It's the only one that can stand up against this thing. From what I remember it can learn Light screen, Reflect, and Moonblast. If you can figure out how to use any of those then we will be able to last a little longer, not only that, fairy resists dark, you'll be able to contend with that thing now."

" Your fairy, why weren't you doing anything to help before if fairy is so strong against it? Besides Fighting is good against dark too. I could become a cool fighting type Eevee." Thomas tried to counter Lucy.

" Come on. First you know that I am far to weak to fight it head on. Even being fairy I am still part psychic, not to mention I am still at the first stage of evolution. You aren't the only one who will be trying to evolve." Lucy told Thomas " Besides, do you plan on becoming the first fighting type eeveelution ever, in the few minutes before we ultimately have to face that thing for the last time."

Thomas wanted to retort but he had nothing to say. Lucy had a point. He was positive he wasn't the first eevee to ever want to be a fighting type. It just wasn't possible given the situation.

"Fine, but I am only doing this for Avril, alright." Thomas huffed.

"Speaking of, I haven't heard from her in a while." Lucy pointed out.

"You don't think she ..." Thomas's face went dark. "I'm going to kill that fucker."

"Thomas. Watch it." Lucy berated him

"Sorry, Clover is rubbing off on me." Thomas apologized, then closed his eyes. Lucy followed in suit.

Thomas closed his eyes and focused. Memories of all the time he spent playing and spending time with Avril, all the time he spend comforting her after she was injured and pained physically or mentally, and all the times she was there for him. Thomas's eyes shot open with a newfound resolve as her began to glow. His ears grew puffier an his tail began to shrink. He grew in size, his body becoming slightly slimmer. Once the Size change had finished, two white ribbons jumped out from his glowing body spinning around him before then latched on tying themselves into two bows on around his neck and the other around his left ear. The ends of the ribbons extended until the white light shattered, leaving behind a new pink, and white Pokémon.

After a moment Thomas opened his eyes, and did his best to look at himself. " I feel so pretty. I hate this."

" Aww, you look so cute Thomas." Lucy jabbed knowing Thomas hated being called cute.

Lucy was then slapped in the back of the head by Thomas's ribbon. "Ow what was that for?"

"Heh, this might not be so bad after all." Thomas joked to himself.

" Now can you get any new moves?" Lucy asked

" Light screen, and ... No way in hell am I using that." Thomas shouted

" What, it can't be that bad."it is that bad." Thomas confirmed

" Whatever, how do you feel, super strong I'm sure." Lucy said with a slight hint of jelousy

" Actually I feel kind of drained. I don't know why though." Thomas told her

" Weird, but I can sense anger from that direction and it's approaching fast, I am surprised it took him this long to get here."

" You going to evolve too and help me?"

"I'm trying, alright just buy me a few more minutes." Lucy said.

"Alright, I'll see what I can do"

~Meanwhile~

" Professor, her vitals are dropping fast we need to intervene, somehow." One of the assistants tasked with keeping a close eye on her vitals called out.

" Damn it, we can't stop the process, there's nothing we can do. We'll just have to wait it out." The Professor said through gritted teeth.

" So professor I was wondering how exactly does this little project of yours work exactly?" The Mysterious lady asked

" That is not something I want to get into right now." The professor deflected

" Now now, It's not like you can keep it from me. This is just my way to help keep your mind off of things while fate runs it's course. You said it yourself there is nothing more we can do but hope." The woman said patiently

" Professor, you might want to come look at this." The same assistant from before spoke up interrupting the two.

" I know, everything is going wrong. Why would I want to watch." The professor snipped back at her.

Suddenly The orb above Avril's body began to glow white and the brown tale began to morph. Into a pink and white bow. Shortly after it started to glow golden like the core of the bubble.

"Sir, Her vitals are leveling. She is still falling but not nearly as fast anymore." The assistant sounded amazed.

" It's synchronized. What could have caused this? Evolution? You know what. I don't care. I doubt I would be able to get decent data out of this experiment anyways to many inconsistencies. It may as well just be invalid." The professor said and walked over to Avril.

Holding her hand he whispered to himself. "After this is all over I hope that you can forgive me. Stay strong Avril."

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