"What is this for, exactly?"
Morai was standing at the edge of a forest in the dream realm, the one where her two counterparts often trained. Light Morai was tying a piece of cloth around her eyes.
"You will become more proficient in using the Mind's Eye if you have no choice but to use it," Light Morai explained. "This is an excellent way to learn how to orient yourself properly while moving through an area with many natural obstacles...I think there are other things to be learned here, as well."
She glanced briefly at Shadow Morai, and was shot a cutting glare.
"And what's she doing here?" Morai asked, nodding toward her shadow counterpart.
"What's the matter? Goody Two Shoes here didn't tell you that you'd be pursued, and by me?" Shadow Morai said with a grin.
"Wait, so I have to make it through this forest without my eyesight and outrun someone with rage problems who really wants to do me harm?" Morai asked.
"Pfft, I don't have rage problems. I just don't like you, and I have a habit of beating up the people I don't like," Shadow Morai sneered.
Morai shrugged her shoulders.
"Yeah, so...rage problems."
Shadow Morai walked up beside her and put hand on her shoulder, whispering in her ear.
"Look, it's not a matter of if I catch you, it's a matter of when. Therefore, I would be very careful of what I say if I were you," she hissed. Morai crossed her arms. Light Morai only shook her head.
Morai noticed that her shadow counterpart had wrapped both of her hands and wrists in black cloth, which is a common practice among martial artists. She was either being more cautious about her hands, which was unlikely, or she wanted to do more damage without completely breaking herself.
Morai was nervous. Not so much about making it through the forest, but about what would be chasing her through it. Shadow Morai was right. Her counterpart was likely going to catch her because of her decreased vision and speed. When she did, it was a matter of how well Morai could defend herself without her own eyesight and how cruel her opponent was feeling. What made the trainer even more nervous was that Shadow Morai seemed...different. She attempted to appear calm and in control, but she seemed restless, like a wild Pokémon trapped in a small cage.
"Alright," Light Morai said. "Your blindfold is on tight, so it shouldn't come off as easily should you fall. Usually, Shadow Morai and I have rules set to guide our training. This time, however, it is no holds barred. Morai, you must make it to the waterfall, and you, Shadow Morai, must stop her."
Shadow Morai narrowed her eyes and smiled.
"Are you ready, Morai?" Light Morai asked.
Morai sighed, "As ready as I'll ever be, I suppose."
"And you, Shadow Morai?"
The trainer's smile widened into an insidious grin.
"I've been ready."
"Alright then," Light Morai said. "Morai—Shadow Morai, I mean—please give your opponent a 30-second head start so that she can become oriented to her surroundings."
Her counterpart nodded in agreement, surprisingly.
"Morai, your time starts now."
Morai burst into a run, but immediately slowed down. She had to find the sight of a Pokémon nearby, preferably one in the trees above, and orient herself.
This was going to be much harder than she thought.
After a few minutes, Morai was running at a steady pace, albeit with some trips and stumbling along the way. Suddenly, she heard footsteps far behind her. She instinctively turned her head but saw nothing, of course. The sound kept getting closer and closer, until...
Something swung under Morai's leg and sent her falling to the ground. She managed to roll forward to keep from hitting the ground face first, and she quickly stood back up. She kept switching perspectives, but they didn't enable her to see everything around her, giving her several dangerous blind spots.
The trainer's heart began to beat faster and a sinking sense of dread formed in her stomach. She stood, ready to fight, but nothing attacked. There was nothing but silence. Slowly and hesitantly, Morai began to move at a light pace. It wasn't long until she was tripped up again. She jumped up, preparing yet again for an attack of some kind, but it never came. Again, all was silent save for the wind rustling through the trees.
Part of Morai didn't want to move. She could defend herself under normal circumstances, but her ability to see was greatly impaired. She was a sitting Psyduck and she was being toyed with.
Again, Morai began to move forward, this time even more hesitantly, more unsure. She was almost walking, giving herself enough time to try and see more of her surroundings, but there were some places around her that she just couldn't see. The sound of footsteps crushing leaves behind her made her jump a little and break out into a run. Morai ran as fast as she could, not caring about sight anymore, but moving forward, hoping that the other side of the forest would appear sooner. She nearly fell over the roots of a tree that jutted out of the ground and she constantly held her hand out to avoid smacking directly into a tree.
The sounds behind her became louder and louder until finally Morai felt a swoosh right by her. Fed up, she ripped her blindfold off and looked to her side. She was just in time to see Shadow Morai's knee right before it hit her directly in the face.
The trainer was thrown violently backward. She was too stunned to try and stop herself from falling hard to the ground. Everything went black for a few moments until she opened her eyes to see a blurry yet smiling version of her.
Shadow Morai was laughing, the big vulpine smile of hers nearly reaching the corners of her eyes.
"I wish you could have seen your face!" she said as she leaned back in laughter. "You were so surprised!"
Morai struggled to her hands and knees. She couldn't feel the ground beneath her. All she could feel was the pain radiating through her jaw, her head, and down to her neck.
"What is wrong with you?!" she yelled. Her counterpart just chuckled and walked toward her, kneeling down to just above her level, looking at her bleeding nose.
"What, I can't be violent just for the sake of it? It's not everyday I get to give someone a flying knee to the face. If the opportunity presents itself, I'm going to take it," Shadow Morai said.
Morai gritted her teeth and stumbled to her feet. Adrenaline had kicked in, dulling her pain, and her anger gave her energy. Still, she couldn't think straight, and the small amount of clarity the adrenaline offered didn't help. She swung at her counterpart but the trainer simply stepped backward, not even bothering to put her hands up, and chuckled.
"Oh, that's cute. Would you like to try again?"
Morai yelled as she stepped forward and swung again, but Shadow Morai only smiled, grabbed her outstretched hand, and struck her in the face again, letting go of her arm as she stumbled backward to the ground.
Shadow Morai kneeled over her real world counterpart, looking at her with an almost crazed expression. Morai tried to hypnotize her but the weak attempt was quickly crushed by the trainer's own hypnotic power.
"What's the matter?" she mockingly asked. "Have you decided that I'm just too morally repulsive again? As soon as you do that, the abilities you share with me diminish. I guess I can scare you out of them anytime I want!"
Morai attempted to push her counterpart away, but as soon as she did Shadow Morai grabbed her throat. Morai had been taught how to combat this, but she couldn't remember what to do. She couldn't remember or think of anything, really. She just grabbed her counterpart's wrists, trying to loosen her grip. Shadow Morai's nails were digging into the skin of her throat and making the pain worse.
"I-I'm going to wake up!" Morai choked out through tiny gasps of air.
"What's worse, do you think?" Shadow Morai asked, loosening her grip a little to allow time for her to speak. "This, or waking up and realizing that you walked right into the hands of the International Police and that you will be held on a tight leash for the years to come? You should've showed my side just a little and it would've handled the situation, and you would be free. But you choose to remain weak, and your maladies there are infecting me here."
"I-I can't believe that y-you exist," Morai whispered, "and t-that you're a part of me".
Tears began to well in her eyes, both from being choked and because she was again appalled at what was staring her in the face. Someone so cruel, so violent. She was staring at herself. Her shadow self only looked back at her with bared teeth, no shred of sympathy in her eyes, but rage and hatred instead. Not only for Morai, perhaps, but for the cage she found herself trapped in. A world of dreams and imaginary situations could only hold her energy for so long before cracking a little, and letting some of that violence out into the real world in the form of the actions Morai took then regretted later.
Morai felt an increasing pressure in her head, and everything began to fade. Her counterpart was right. She would wake up in a prison of a house, only to be sent off to do whatever justice commanded. But she felt that it was necessary. A price she had to pay for having this monster in her head in the first place. A monster that was only becoming more violent and dangerous as time passed.
Suddenly, before she could register what was happening, her counterpart's grip was ripped away. Shadow Morai was sent flying to the side, and Light Morai appeared before her.
"Morai! You're still dreaming, aren't you? When you come to, I need your help," Light Morai said. She turned to face her shadow counterpart just in time to dodge an attack.
Morai could see them exchange a few moves in the corner of her eye. The trainer rose to her feet and leaned against a tree, waiting for some semblance of clarity, watching as the two fought much like her mind did every waking day. Both of them had their masks hanging at their side, Shadow Morai's with an obvious crack from being hit by the Ursaring she had fought.
Morai realized that Light Morai was struggling against her counterpart, who was behaving even more wildly than before. With bared teeth and wide eyes, Shadow Morai landed a kick so hard that it sent her counterpart stumbling sideways into a tree. She punched at Light Morai's head and narrowly missed, her punch turning into a deep scratch that left marks on the bark.
"Morai, please don't—"
Light Morai ducked under another punch that cracked the bark where her head had been. She was used to calling her counterpart by that name, and it was hard to break the habit when the real Morai was around. Light Morai held her arm for a moment. It seemed broken, or at least she couldn't use it.
"Oh, I'm beyond reason, Morai," her counterpart rasped, keeping the same name-calling habit. She feigned a kick to close distance, then went in for a punch and landed it. "I don't know how you stand it. How you don't have the urge to crush everything in your path. How you don't have an ounce of bloodlust in you."
Light Morai just frowned, her nose bleeding. She acted before she could take another devastating hit, going for a classic takedown, though with only one arm. Her counterpart only sneered and push-kicked her hard, then closed distance and grabbed the back of Light Morai's head, pressing her forearms hard onto her opposite's collarbones and keeping her elbows in. Light Morai struggled to fight back with one arm. Her counterpart forced her head down, causing her to break posture, and kneed her in the ribs. Shadow Morai let go knowing what she had just done. Light Morai fell to ground, groaning in pain and holding her side with one arm. She had been hit in the liver, and it was excruciatingly painful. Many matches had been won or slowed to a halt by such a hit, as even the toughest fighter's body can't help but react when getting hit in such a vulnerable place. Light Morai tried to stand up, but her body wouldn't allow it this quickly. Instead, she managed to scramble backward as she tried to recover.
Shadow Morai could feel it. The pulsing of energy that her fast-beating heart carried through her veins. That dryness in the back of her throat. The urge to just lunge forward and attack with reckless abandon. She grinned as she walked toward her opponent, who was still on the ground. She kept a slow pace, almost savoring the sight of someone who dared to oppose her facing the consequences of such an action.
Morai's shadow self grabbed the lapels of Light Moria's robe, holding her upper body above the ground. She dragged the still disoriented Light Morai up to a tree and propped her up against it. Before she could deliver a final attack, however, Morai came up behind her and hooked her arm around her neck, pulling backwards. Shadow Morai raised her shoulders and tucked her chin to keep the pressure off of her neck. She grabbed and clawed at Morai's arm, leaving an array of scratches, but Morai kept a firm hold.
Morai's counterpart stepped backward and beside her at an angle, getting low and sticking her leg behind both of Morai's legs, causing Morai to fall and bring Shadow Morai with her. The two grappled on the ground and Morai was struggling until Light Morai finally came to her aid. They both managed to pin their opponent down, Morai trapping her arm behind her back in a painful joint lock. This didn't stop Shadow Morai from fighting back, however, and she began to laugh.
"You think I let pain stop me?" the trainer asked, breathing heavily. "It's all in the mind. You'll have to keep going until something breaks."
Morai held the lock there, waiting as Light Morai moved to face her struggling opposite. She pressed a finger to Shadow Morai's forehead, using her Espurr for sight, and her counterpart held the Pokémon in a sharp glare, eyes aglow, as if to say "Don't you dare." Light Morai only looked down and frowned, putting her counterpart into a deep slumber. Shadow Morai's face softened, and her body relaxed. The remaining Morais both sighed in relief.
"Are you alright, Morai?" Light Morai asked. Morai rubbed her throat and examined her arm, then shrugged her shoulders.
"Better than you," she responded. "It looks like she broke your arm, your ribs, and made your nose bleed."
Light Morai bowed her head.
"You might become angry with me, but I did this on purpose. I wanted to show you how...violent...she's gotten."
"I knew she was violent, of course, although I didn't know it was this bad," Morai responded. "You don't see eye to eye with each other on everything, but you had her respect. Today it was like she didn't even know either of us. She was intent on finishing the fight."
"It's only getting worse," Light Morai said softly but matter-of-factly, looking down at the sleeping trainer. "I have a theory as to why. Both of us exist only in your mind and dreams. We are representations and personifications of your psyche. I think we also encompass parts of your very brain, however. Whichever parts are involved in your psychic power..."
Morai cocked her head.
"Alright, go on," she said.
"Well, it's no secret that you've either hit your head or have been hit in combat on several occasions. It's potentially what gave you and us these powers. Getting hit so much obviously causes damage to the brain, and if we are personifications of your brain, then—"
"She's a part of the injury," Morai responded, cutting her counterpart off. Light Morai nodded solemnly.
"It's been over two years," Morai said. "My brain has probably been permanently changed, and she is likely permanent, too."
"Yes, I suppose so," Light Morai responded, "but that doesn't mean there is no help. I believe she is suffering. It is in her nature to be this way, and that is how it's meant to be, but I think other things are disturbing her. She has fits of mindless violence, yes, but she is also very insightful and philosophic. She has reason, but she is losing it. Please, consider looking into it. For the sake of your own mind."
Morai nodded, studying her counterpart on the ground. She bent down and raised the corners of Shadow Morai's mouth, revealing sharp teeth. She picked up her wrist and looked at her sharpened black nails.
She's always been a monster, Morai thought. Just like me.
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot throughout Morai's head and she woke up in a cold sweat. It was early in the morning judging from the faint light seeping in through the curtains. It often took some time for Morai to reorient herself, as her dreams were just as vivid and real as her waking life, and it was a shock to suddenly jump from one to another.
Morai, who still had her mask on, got up and crept to the doorway, peering around the corner. There was no one there. She slowly strode out, walking on the balls of her feet, looking for her guards. There was no sign of life anywhere.
Is this another dream? she thought. But it couldn't be. She crept up to the door, turning the handle out of hopeful curiosity.
It was unlocked.
The trainer opened the door with sweaty palms. Her heart was pounding. What was going on? She opened the door just enough to see someone looking back at her. The sight caused her to jump and stumble backward.
"Alola! Remember me, kid?"
It was officer Nanu.