The Mask Maker

Morai's Last Fall

Emma was wearing her Essentia suit, which greatly enhanced her physical capabilities. She held onto Morai's wrist with a tight grip. Morai reached into her coat with her free hand and grabbed another red vial. She held it up to the light once again to make sure it wasn't the serum, and removed the top with her teeth. She went to drink it, but Emma took hold of her other hand. 

"What is that?" she asked. 

"I had to curb my thirst long enough to fight you properly," Morai said. Her eyes turned red and she tried to take control of Emma to get her to let go, but nothing happened. 

"I can't believe it really is true," Emma said, ignoring Morai's attempt to hypnotize her. 

"I know you've looked me in the eye through that helmet of yours," Morai said. 

"Not directly," Emma answered. "Colress altered the screen so that I'm looking at you through cameras that make sure my eyes don't meet yours."

"Well, we'll have to do something about that then, won't we?" Morai said with a smile. She head-butted the screen of Emma's helmet several times, causing her to let go of one her hands. Morai yanked the wrist Emma was still holding toward herself, causing Emma to fall into a knee strike that made her let go lurch forward in pain. The Mask Maker took the opportunity to kick her helmet with her metal rimmed boots, which was the final blow it took to break the screen.

"You've sorely disappointed me," Morai said. "You can do better than that."

"I don't want to injure you," Emma said. Her face had been cut by some of the broken glass, causing blood to dribble down her cheek. Morai licked her teeth at the sight, drinking the contents of the vial that were still in her hand and downing another one. It took a few seconds for her to laugh at what Emma had said.

"Why, because we used to be friends? Such caring gives you a weakness I don't have," she said. "And if you were without your suit, I could crush you. Doesn't that make your skin crawl? Why do you let it give you a false sense of power, when without it you have nothing?"

"Isn't that the case with your serum?" Emma asked. She rose to her feet, clearing all of the broken glass out of her helmet and putting it back on. Morai was taller than her by about 6 inches and had more muscle mass, making her claim true. The only thing stopping her was Emma's suit and her Pokémon. 

"No. I'm set free by the willingness to commit acts that everyone else pretends are heinous, and that wouldn't change no matter what I was wearing. Everyone has the same desire deep inside of them, but they are forced to wear masks of false moral integrity. That is what keeps society running, and people unafraid to break those chains provide the necessary balance to such order."

"Does it really set you free? It looks to me like it's weakening your body, even if it changes your wills," Emma argued. She set her gaze at the spot right above the space between Morai's eyes. "And not everyone is as morally corrupted as you."

"Everyone has evil inside them that's dying to show itself. Everyone has the potential to be either much better or worse than they are. Aren't I proof of that?" Morai said. 

"You've been taking a substance that's changing your brain. Your morals have been corrupted and your values have been skewed, but I don't believe you're a monster. I think the person I know is still in their somewhere, in your heart."

"Well let's find out, shall we? All of this talking is getting boring." 

Emma shook her head. 

"I heard about what Olympia said," she said. "I think this is the day. Why not just...rest, finally? Take a better, healthier path and let people show you that there's a better life than this."