"Banette, the Marionette Pokémon. Strong feelings of hatred turned a puppet into a Pokémon. If it opens its mouth, its cursed energy escapes." – Pokédex entry for Banette.
"For someone like Miss Saitou, a Banette is an odd choice of Pokémon." Reina commented, referring to Kumiko's childhood friend and current Elite Four member Aoi. "I never expected someone as friendly as her to have a Pokémon frequently considered as 'frightening'. Do you know how she got her Banette?"
"If I remember what Aoi told me correctly, it was her Banette that approached her back when it was still a Shuppet." Kumiko recounted. "According to Aoi, it was trying to scare her, but it failed miserably every time. She then took pity on it and decided to teach it how to scare people better, so she eventually caught it."
"I see." Reina noted. "From what you told me about her, Miss Saitou doesn't seem like the type of person to push herself that much. Training her Banette was what possibly instilled a sense of drive in her to do the best for her Pokémon. Other than that, I can't imagine how someone ordinary like her could have wound up being an Elite Four member.
"Yeah, learning that Aoi became part of the Elite Four also caught me off-guard as well." Kumiko could still recall her complete disbelief upon seeing that Aoi had improved that much. "The next time I see her, I've really got to ask her about what changed her mentality so much."