Morai managed to make it to Lusamine's mansion without detection. She had made Lillie walk the entire way over there as she watched from the shadows. There was a close call when an Aether Foundation employee tried to strike up a conversation, but Lillie simply asked to be excused so she could go sleep.
This place is huge, Morai thought. She managed to make her way up to what she hoped was Lillie's bedroom from the outside and climbed in through the window. Lillie simply got into bed, skipping any sort of routine she may have had. Morai let go of control, and she seemed to be too drowsy to get up. The Mask Maker turned to leave, but Lillie grabbed her wrist with a sense of urgency and hesitant gentleness at the same time.
"Where...where is she?" Lillie asked. Her voice was soft, shaky, and barely audible. Morai stood there in silence as the gentle Alolan breeze swept into the room through the window, and she felt Lillie's fear. She figured it must be frightening to be so drained you can barely move, with a red-eyed silhouette looming over you. Even still, Lillie had reached out to try and grab a final answer before it was too late.
"She's gone, Lillie," Morai whispered.
Lillie's tired face contorted into disbelief and sadness at the same time.
"What happened?" she tearfully asked. "What did you do?"
"You'll forget this conversation soon enough. Don't torture yourself while you still remember."
"What did you do?" she asked again with an even greater sense of urgency that was tinted with anger. She was still holding onto Morai's wrist. "I have to know...so that I can honor her properly. I can't live with her story unfinished in my memories."
"This is a memory better left in the fog," Morai said, removing her hand from Lillie's grasp and taking control of her again. She rifled through the picture album that she had moved to her pocket, and found a picture of her old self and Lillie at the Battle Tree. They both had an arm around each other and were winking for the camera. She left it on the trainer's bedside.
Why? Her inner voice seemed to ask. Just to break her heart again?
When Morai returned to the lab, she found Colress sitting calmly in a chair and writing. He looked up to see her and a male Aether Foundation employee that was standing in an eerie stupor, his eyes staring blankly ahead. His neck was dripping with blood, and Morai lifted her mask to reveal a face that confirmed his suspicion.
"Don't get it on the lab contents, Morai," Colress pleaded.
"You didn't start on the serum?" Morai asked, ignoring his request.
"No. Like I said, that wasn't our deal."
"You're not even a medical doctor," Morai argued.
"No, but I've worked with countless Pokémon, pushing them to their limits and trying to draw out their greatest power," Colress said. "I had to make sure they remained in stable condition, and to do that I had to have some medical knowledge. I at least know the markers of a human in decent health, and I can tell you're missing quite a few of them just from looking at you."
Morai shook her head, her eyes glowing red behind her mask. "You've left me with one option, Colress," she said.
"Yes, and that is to sit down and cooperate," Colress said with an air of self-satisfaction. "I haven't looked at you in the eyes at all since you've returned."
Time is beginning to run out again. I guess I've got no choice.
The Mask Maker once again sat on the table and let Colress check her vitals and perform some tests.
"I'm guessing you get hit in the head a lot as a fighter?" he asked.
"It's not the goal, but it happens," Morai answered. "Why?"
"What you're doing, Morai, is harming your brain. On top of flooding it with chemicals that are inhibiting many of its functions, you're letting yourself get cracked in the head on a regular basis. In fact, your entire body is struggling to keep up with the abuse you're putting it through."
"I'll die before I give up fighing," Morai said.
"I figured so. Stand up."
Morai stood up and stumbled a little. Her heart began to beat faster, and she felt lightheaded. She straightened herself up as soon as she could, but Colress saw what had happened.
"Your nervous system isn't functioning properly. You don't think about the possible consequences of your actions, you don't exhibit a healthy amount of fear when it comes to keeping yourself out of harm's way, and you're becoming more and more detached from regular human emotion. Not to mention your new habits," he said, nodding toward the Aether Foundation employee still under Morai's control.
"You got all that from a small physical exam?" she asked.
"I got it from observing you as someone who knew you before. Look at yourself," Colress replied, directing her to a mirror. "You've grown paler since I last saw you, and the areas under your eyes are darker. Your wounds are taking longer to heal. You're more forgetful. Shall I go on?"
Morai looked at herself for a long time. "This is my only choice," she finally said.
"It's not," Colress replied. "I can help you. I can make the process minimally painful and help you—"
Morai turned and raked him across the face, sending his glasses flying across the room. His Metagross jumped out in front of him, and he pointed his open palm toward her after inputting a sequence onto the electronic pad on his wrist. The Mask Maker stared at him with her teeth bared, her chest rapidly rising and falling. Then her gaze softened.
"I didn't...I lost control," she said. "I shouldn't have—"
The heavy metal door swung open with such force that the sound of it swinging back and hitting the wall sounded like a gunshot.
"International Police! Put your hands up!"
Morai, you idiot. You should've known.
"Hydreigon! Go!" Morai commanded, sending the Pokémon out in front of her.
"You're trapped, Morai. There's nowhere to go," Colress said. "Olympia has never been wrong."
Morai took control of and hoisted herself over Colress's Metagross. She managed to take him to the ground before he could do much to fight back. She held him there, and everything came to a standstill. About ten Interpol agents had filed into the room along with their Pokémon, which were mostly Arcanine and Machamp. Looker and Anabel arrived last, stepping in front of the entire group. The Aether Foundation employee was slumped against the wall, drained of energy.
"Hi, Morai," Anabel said with a slight smile as she gazed at Morai's forehead. "I'd introduce myself, but we already know each other, in a way."
Morai stood there silently, not moving a muscle.
"This is it," Looker said. "Not to be cliché, but we can do this the easy way or the hard way. The outcome will be the same either way."
Morai was strangely calm.
This isn't it. I can tell. I can feel it.
"No, this isn't it," she flatly said, causing both of the agents to frown at her decision to do things the hard way. "This is not the end. Not yet, anyway. You'll get the outcome you want, but it's not today."
"How are you so sure?" Anabel asked.
"Olympia told me so. My fate is sealed, but it's not quite time for that yet. You're still going to try and catch me today, as you should, but you will fail."
I just have to figure out how I succeed.
"Hydreigon, use flamethrower!"
While her opponents dove from the path of Hydreigon's attack, Morai had Metagross use Meteor Mash to break through the ceiling above. Colress scrambled to stop her, but she used his own Pokémon to take her up to the main level above. She still found herself surrounded by Interpol agents, but she had open grounds to escape. Hydreigon followed her out of the commotion in the labs, and they made their escape attempt with Morai still kneeling atop Metagross.
The Aether Foundation had come to the International Police's aid in trying to stop her, but Morai was managing her escape quite well from the air. She had switched to flying on top of Hydreigon and using Metagross as a heavy duty shield and weapon, and had called out Zoroark to create confusing false targets.
"Well, that was easy," she said to no one in particular as she flew away from the artificial island. She sent Metagross back to its true trainer and headed toward the Team Rocket HQ. She started to feel the same fiery stabbing pains as before, and she knew she was running out of time.
If they don't have it there, I won't make it, Morai thought.
Breaking in wasn't particularly difficult. The International Police agents Morai had just escaped from were diligent in not looking her in the eyes, but it was much easier said than done for most of the population. She snuck around in the shadows, and if anyone happened to see her, she simply fought them off or added them to her collection of pawns and used them to trick their unassuming teammates. This made getting to the lab easy, at least until she got to the door and realized it wasn't accessible to any of the grunts she had captured.
Morai was feeling it to see if it was possible to break it down with the combined effort of her and her Rocket drones when another sharp pain travelled throughout her body, temporarily paralyzing her where she stood. She struggled to remain silent, and in the process she lost her hold on the 4 grunts she had collected. They all stumbled faintly in the darkness, and her newest victim managed to grasp what was happening.
"You!" he shouted, pointing a finger at her and covering his eyes.
"You idiot," Morai said. "You all make the same mistake of looking me in the eyes before realizing who I am. Where's the doctor?"
"Why should I tell you?" he argued. Morai regained her composure and grabbed him by the collar, staring at him with glaring red eyes.
"Because if you don't, I'm going to—"
"Two Face!...Or should I say 'One Really Mean Face!"
Morai turned to see Proton standing in the newly lit hallway. She walked up to him, grabbed his collar and went to claw him. When he blocked her, she kneed him in the floating ribs then carried out her original move.
"How could you," Morai asked, putting her boot on his arm as he lay on the floor, "Ever think that I would treat you with any sort of camaraderie after what you and Team Rocket did to me?"
No one tried to stop her.
"I-I"m sorry," he stammered.
"My memory may be terrible, but I think you've said that before. Even my word means something," she answered, digging her metal-rimmed boot into his bicep.
The Mask Maker knelt down and took his keycard, using it to open the lab door. She shut and locked it behind her. Morai couldn't find the lights, but she didn't have to. The glowing red vials stood out among the darkness. She urgently grabbed one of them and considered it in her trembling hand. It seemed just a little brighter than she remembered, but time was running out and her judgement was clouded by desperation.
Morai felt around for a syringe and hastily injected herself with the serum. The feeling spreading throughout her body made her drop to her knees. She couldn't even scream in pain. Whatever this was was much more potent than she remembered. She tore her mask off and sat wide-eyed on the floor. She felt like she was suffocating, and her breaths were shallow. The dark room made it seem like she was about to be swallowed whole by death itself, but a stream of light appeared and illuminated her pitiful figure.
"Morai!" the doctor yelled. He ran in and grabbed a vial of the blue serum she had seen before and tried to give it to her, but she grabbed his wrist with the strength of an Ursaring.
"What are you doing?" he asked. "I haven't tested this yet. It could kill you."
"What's the time limit for that?" she coughed. Her voice was so raspy the doctor had to lean in close to hear her.
"If you make it five minutes, you should be alright."
"Then give it five minutes," she said, pushing him away. She closed her eyes, and momentarily found herself in a different place. It seemed cold and desolate, almost like the Plasma Frigate, but it was different. It was like the place she had found herself in before, but this time it was devoid of sound in addition to sight. She could only feel it, and it made her feel terribly uneasy.
"Morai?" the doctor asked, shining a light in her eyes. Morai squeezed them shut and smacked his hand away.
"It's been over five minutes. You were staring off into space, and I thought something had gone wrong," he explained.
"Five minutes already?" she said. A smile crept across her face, and she laughed. The pain had died away and left a feeling of euphoria. "There's no way. I was only there for a second!"
"Where?" he asked.
"Never mind it," she said. "Where's Giovanni?"
"I don't think now is the time to—"
"I didn't ask for an argument," Morai said. She gripped his throat with crushing intensity. "I asked where he was."
"I-In his office," the doctor choked. She smiled and let him go after nicking him with one of her claws and tasting the drop of blood that fell from the wound. He managed to choke out a warning into his intercom after she left.
No assembly of grunts or their Pokémon could stop Morai, and Giovanni knew it. He stood and waited patiently with his hands gently resting on the desk in his lavishly decorated office. When her monstrous silhouette appeared in the door, he smiled.
"Hello, Morai," he said.
"I hope you didn't care for this one too much. She'll be out of the job for a while," Morai replied. She had her arm around Ariana the executive, who was staring blankly into space. She was terribly injured, and it was clear that the blood dripping from Morai's face was hers. For a split second, the smile across Giovanni's face faltered, but he regained his composure.
"No?" Morai questioned. She let Ariana regain consciousness before digging her claws into her side. The executive let out a scream of pain, and Morai watched Giovanni's expression closely as she crumpled to the ground. It remained unchanged.
"Impressive," she said with a smile. "Your mask is still intact. Will it crack when you're the one in pain? I want to see it shatter."
The Mask Maker leapt toward him, swiftly jumping onto his desk and propelling herself into him. Before she reached Giovanni, however, something stopped her, and she felt herself being flung back. Morai hit the ground and managed to roll backward and leap to her feet again. Mewtwo stood at Giovanni's side.
Mora smiled again. "Ah, I see," she said. "I'll never turn down a good challenge, especially if it ends with my claws at your throat."
She ignored the option of using her own Pokémon, instead opting to battle Mewtwo with her own psychic power and physical prowess. She had taken and kept control of many Team Rocket grunts on her way to the office, and she used them to distract and confuse Mewtwo. Again and again, she created openings for herself to reach the legendary Pokémon and strike. Her claws couldn't break its hard skin, so she used the other weapons in her arsenal: punches, kicks, knees, and elbows. Morai was thrown back many times and slammed against the wall, but it didn't deter her. Giovanni watched silently from the corner with his arms folded behind his back, giving occasional snaps of command.
Finally, after delivering a flying knee in the previous opening she was given, Morai grabbed onto the Pokémon and put a hand to its forehead, gritting her teeth as she forced all of her energy and malice through her limb and into its brain. It writhed and tried to stop her, but found that its psychic power was weak.
Wait, Mewtwo muttered telepathically.
I...remember when we spoke, long ago, it said. I told you that not all monsters are evil, and you were relieved. Then, you had been so afraid of what you had become. Now, you have become her greatest fear and transformed into something she could have never dreamed of. What does it feel like?
Morai considered the marvel of science for a moment.
"I feel nothing," she finally said, finishing off her move and pushing into Mewtwo until it fainted. It fell to the ground, and Morai stood beside it.
"I've defeated your false god," she said. "How badly do you wish you could've controlled me now?"
Giovanni's gaze remained on his fallen Pokémon. He finally lifted his eyes up to hers.
"Very much so," he said. Morai lunged at him again, and he took a pistol out of his coat and aimed it at her. He pulled the trigger right as she took control of his mind and moved his arm aside. The shot fired into the wall, and Morai threw his gun aside before laying into him with punches. She hit as hard as she could, but stopped. It simply didn't matter to her anymore. She had gotten her small taste of revenge, and something else drew her curiosity.
When she left the room, Archer was was on his way in to stop her.
"Morai," he greeted. The executive put a hand on her shoulder and she violently shrugged it off.
"I would worry about my boss and colleague if I were you," she said, nodding to the room where Giovanni, Ariana, and Mewtwo all lay unconscious. "I just want one more thing."
Archer peered into the room and gasped.
"You—!"
"What did you expect?" Morai growled, raising her voice to cut him off before he could say anything else. "You let this happen when you let your organization use me as a science project. Now, I want one more thing. Tell me where my old belongings are."
Morai stood in the doorway of her room once again. The door had never been repaired from when she had busted it down the night she first took the serum. She rifled through her things once more and found her dream journal, old phone, and the clothes she had changed out of that night. The trainer moved her clothes aside and stopped. A folded piece of paper had fallen out. She held it up in the light from the window and saw one hastily written word on the front.
Morai
Morai considered the paper. It was definitely her handwriting, but she didn't remember writing such a thing.
It's from her.
The trainer tucked it into her vest. Why she didn't open and read it, she didn't know. She took her journal and phone and left. On her way out of the building, no one tried to stop her, even though she had taken the rest of the new serum.
"I recently discovered an entire world hidden within my mind," Morai read, except that this wasn't the real Morai. It was Zoroark's illusion of the old Morai, which the current Morai had requested. She was staying in a random hotel room in hopes that the International Police wouldn't be able to find her. She laid with her hands behind her head on the bed while the old Morai read from her journal in a chair.
"And in it are two personifications of my psyche. We thought calling each other 'Morai' was confusing, but we had trouble finding any other names. We are all Morai, after all, so we agreed on Light and Shadow Morai (even though Shadow Morai initially protested).
Light Morai is kind and wise, and her appearance reflects it. She has long hair, like mine, but she leaves it unbraided. It often has flower petals in it from her work in the gardens, and she sits so still while meditating that blossoms from the nearby trees will land all over her. I always see her in a robe with loose pants underneath. Her kindness and peacefulness shouldn't be mistaken for harmlessness, however, as she possesses great martial arts skills, particularly in the form of grappling. Her psychic powers are on a different level, and they include the ability to see even though she can't see with her eyes. It took a lot of work for her to develop such a skill, and I'm grateful she taught it to me. She wears the full version of the left side of my mask."
"Shadow Morai, on the other hand, is violent and cruel, and she wears the full version of the right side of my mask. Her hair is curly and wild, and her eyes can turn red, which mine have never really done. She seems to be more masculine in nature and wears a suit, a bit like I did when I first started, but hers is black and maroon. She's a little bigger than I am, too, and honestly scares me sometimes when she flies into a bloodthirsty rage. Her smile and sharp nails don't help either. Her chosen martial art is one that uses deadly striking, and her psychic powers are meant to induce pain and suffering. She doesn't like me and thinks I'm weak, and in all honesty, I don't like her either. In fact, I think I might even hate her."
Morai stared up at the ceiling. "I don't understand," she finally said. "I basically turned into a version of myself that I don't remember from a place I don't remember. Is that where I've been transported on the brink of unconsciousness?"
She looked at the past version of herself, who shrugged.
"You're not much help," she said. Morai took her old phone out and hoped that the facial recognition feature would recognize her. It didn't, at least until Morai saw the reflection of her red eyes in the screen and let them fade to their normal color. The lockscreen, which had her and several of her old friends at a pancake shop in Alola, faded away to reveal a barrage of messages, all left by people she knew before. Some were simply updates left by friends in regions she hadn't visited in a while, urging her to come visit sometime, and others were messages of concern left by friends who couldn't find her anywhere. She scrolled through her camera role for at least an hour.
"All of these people," she whispered, looking at Zoroark's illusion. "What will they do when they find out that their dear friend has been replaced by someone else? Perhaps I should tell them that I truly am the reason for her demise. They'll hate me, just like everyone else in the world, but at least their memory of her won't be tainted by the knowledge that she was secretly a monster all along."
She rolled over. "Oh, what do I care?" she asked, her voice muffled by the pillows.