The Mask Maker

Aftereffects

Morai awoke to find that she was in a familiar place, but it wasn't the cave. Beneath her was the cool stone tiles engraved with eyes that she had seen only once before. 

One of these again? she thought. Actually, I haven't seen either of my counterparts since they fought. I'd like to see how the one in this world is doing. I'd rather forget about the other one.

The trainer looked down to find that she was in the same garments that appeared at the end of her last dream, but something was off about these. The lines between black and white were blurred and distorted, and the mask that had brought tears to her eyes when she had first seen it was hanging from her neck, split in half. With a pit in her stomach, she stood up and rushed along the path to where she first met her calm counterpart and found her sitting like she was when they first met. 

"You were asleep for a while. I was wondering if you were going to wake up in the real world without passing by this one first. I wasn't expecting you to be back so early, after all," this world's Morai said. 

"Neither was I!" the real Morai replied. "I've improved on the ability you taught me, but everything else...Do you know why I might be here?"

"I have an idea," her counterpart said with a solemn face.

Dream Morai turned her head to face the other side of the garden. Far off in the distance, an enormous piece of land looked as if was decaying. Morai realized what her counterpart was doing and used a Pokémon closer to the atrocity to get a better look. The tile had cracked into a million pieces, the plant life had died away, and the Pokémon had cleared the area. The sky looked as if someone had spilled dark watercolors across the canvas. In the middle of it all was a figure so filled with rage Morai recognized her immediately. She was aggressively attacking trees as if she were trying to take them down. 

"I don't understand," Morai said, her stomach twisting into a knot. "What is she doing here?" 

"After our fight, I brought her here. Her half of the garden was adorned with the tile you saw in her world and the soil only produced black flowers, while mine produced white, the same rivers flowing between them. It was beautiful. We lived in he just recently flew into a rage. I had no effect on her, so I assumed that it was not my place to stop her. I think that task belongs to you."

"Me?" Morai asked. The pit in her stomach was getting deeper. "The last time we fought, she nearly destroyed me until you showed up."

"Perhaps fighting isn't the answer," dream Morai said. 

"I'm assuming there's some lesson in here somewhere, since I almost lost control again. I guess the only thing I can do is go over there."

"I suppose you're right...oh, and Morai?" 

"Yes?"

"I hope you succeed in whatever you are meant to do. I do miss the meals I used to share with my other half. Perhaps we could all have one together." 

"I'll do my best," Morai said. She wasn't exactly confident in her ability to handle the situation.

Morai made her way towards her other counterpart. When she reached the border between the two halves of garden, the flowers that lined it were half black and half white. Most of them had been destroyed. As soon as the other Morai saw her, she charged and tackled her faster than she cared to dodge. 

"You!"

They both landed with a thud and slid across the reflective broken tile. Morai's evil counterpart pinned her strongly down to the ground, her sharp nails digging into her skin. 

"Ouch! Geez, you look as vile as ever," Morai said. "I really need different names for you two, because it's getting confusing calling everyone Morai. I mean, we're all one in the same, but it might be strange to start assigning different names to different parts of myself..."