The Mask Maker

Morai's Last Fall

Morai grabbed another red vial and downed it. The cloudy skies had finally begun to produce a soft rain, coating everything with a soft, cold mist.  "I feel perfectly fine. In fact, I've never felt more alive and aware. That feeling that comes when I'm at someone's throat, about to—"

"Okay, you can stop it there," Emma said. She slowly stepped toward Morai and reached for her hand. Morai narrowed her eyes, but she didn't move, and she let Emma take her hand. 

"Don't you remember what it was like to solve mysteries with Looker? After he left the bureau to me I had a lot on my plate, but you'd stop by and help me investigate and battle, and we'd go to cafés and pretend to be International Police agents on a secret mission. One time we spent at least half an hour cracking up over a lady's Furfrou and it's ridiculous haircut," Emma said. She lowered her gaze to meet Morai's, knowingly taking a big risk. 

"If you stop now, and let us help you, you might remember what it was like to really be alive. To go on adventures with friends and bring light into the lives of the people around you, instead of lurking around in the cold darkness all alone. Even if you truly don't remember or care, there are always new memories to be made. Just accept the help of old friends and make them."

Morai stood there, a look of conviction and something like desperation written across her face. But then, the corner of her mouth turned up in a smile, and she pulled Emma in again and punched her, then choke slammed her against the brick wall. 

"I'm sick of everyone telling me about a past that doesn't matter!" she growled. "That person is dead and gone, and only I remain in her place. If you want a rightful ending to her story, then have her funeral, say your proper goodbyes and let me live my own way."

Emma grabbed Morai's face. She had lost all reservations. "She's not dead, you idiot! She's you! People change, and that's okay! You just happened to change a lot, but that doesn't mean we can't be friends. Don't you want companionship? People to love?"

"No!" Morai yelled back. "I'm incapable of love," she said in a softer voice. Tears had formed in Emma's eyes. 

"That doesn't mean that people can't love you! That doesn't mean that you can never experience human connection again! That doesn't mean that—"

Morai knocked her helmet off and clawed her across the jaw. 

"This is all there is," she said through gritted teeth, backing away and gesturing to herself. "There's nothing to love. There is no warmth or light, and I don't even remember what that feels like. Darkness is all that remains, and that's all that will ever be until I die."

Morai took control of Emma. She grabbed another red vial, but this time she looked at it to make sure it was the serum. She put it in a syringe from her coat and injected it into her neck, letting it take effect. Emma awoke with her kneeling on the floor as the last several searing seconds of pain fade away. 

"It doesn't have to be like that," Emma said softly. Her Espurr had come to rest on her shoulder. Morai stood up and turned to her with a devilish look in her eye. 

"Maybe," she said in soft, low voice, a concerning smile on her face,"if everyone I knew faded away along with my past, I would finally have peace from your endless insistence upon my salvation. I could finally forget it all, and live life as it was truly meant for me." 

Morai stalked toward Emma with a terrible look on her face. The trainer took a stance to defend herself, but she knew that if she was hypnotized, there would be no fight unless Morai wanted one for the fun of it. Morai grabbed her neck and pressed her against the wall. She grabbed a Pokéball and was about to throw it out, but was interrupted by a flash of white and a crackle of electricity that left Morai on the ground. The Subway Bosses had appeared.