Beginning Arc: Out of Control
The next morning, Mari was already on the route when Jacky came running. "Good grief, what took you so long, you lame Slowpoke? You're ten minutes late! Ten minutes! I've been waiting here for what feels like an eternity!",
"Whoa, whoa, don't get so upset..." Jacky yawned softly and walked over to her, "I'm not an early riser, you know that... You look pretty pissed, what's wrong?",
"Nothing. Mom's Gogoat just stole the lettuce off my bun and I'm not too happy about it", Mari grumbled.
"Haha..." Jacky laughed softly and looked around. "Ready for a battle to wake us up?",
"Sure! Always!" Mari took Ralts' Poké Ball in her hand. "Okay, let's go Ralts! We're going to do our best!" She threw the Poké Ball and a white beam shot out. Ralts appeared in front of her and spread his arms. "All right, Absol! Get ready for round two!" Jacky threw her Poké Ball forward as well, and Absol appeared in front of her.
"Okay, go ahead, Ralts! You go first. The loser always starts. Let's do this, Magical Leaf!" Ralts let loose the magical leaves on Absol. "Scratch!" Jacky commanded. Absol dodged the leaves and dashed toward Ralts. "Teleport!" Mari shouted, and Ralts disappeared right under Absol's nose. It kept popping up in different places and disappearing again when Absol lunged to attack. "Magical Leaf!" Ralts appeared in the air and the leaves, catching Absol off guard, inflicted the first damage. Ralts floated to the ground. "Scrape sand into his face!" Jacky ordered. Absol turned around and whirled sand into Ralts' face with its hind legs. The psychic-type Pokémon backed away. "Now Scratch!" Absol dashed toward Ralts, but it was obviously aware of the attack because it teleported away. Absol, however, whirled around and when Ralts reappeared, it grabbed the petite Pokémon with its teeth and hurled it to the ground. Ralts hit it hard and skidded across the sand before it could get back up. It swept the sand from its eyes with its hands. "Ralts, are you okay?" Ralts nodded, but then it seemed rigid for a moment. It looked toward the forest that surrounded Aspertia and was momentarily distracted. Absol took advantage of this and dashed forward with Scratch. "Dodge!" Mari shouted, and Ralts narrowly escaped the dark-type Pokémon's sharp claws. "Now, Magical Leaf!" But suddenly, Ralts ignored the command and teleported to another spot, raising its arms as it did so and its eyes lit up. They seemed different somehow.
Withered leaves that had fallen and accumulated on the ground throughout the last autumn were suddenly lifted into the air in a ghostly manner and flew toward Absol. It whirled around and jumped into the air to avoid the leaves. Ralts appeared right in front of it the next moment and shot Magical Leaves at it. The attack hit Absol and it slammed down on the ground quite ungently. "What was that all about?" Jacky asked, looking puzzled at Mari. "Didn't you just say Magical Leaf and not Confusion, or whatever that just was?",
"I don't know!" Mari looked at Ralts, surprised. "Ralts, what are you doing?" Ralts ignored Mari again and attacked with Magical Leaf without a command. Absol rolled around and the leaves hit the spot where it had been lying a moment ago. It stood up and lashed out at Ralts with its paw. The Psychic-type Pokémon was hit and floated back. "Ralts must be angry that it got sand in its eyes..." Jacky speculated. Ralts attacked again with Magical Leaf. Absol dodged and the leaves hit a tree. The impact caused some twigs to fall down. "Magical Leaf, again!" But Ralts again didn't do what Mari wanted, but lifted the twigs with its psychic powers and hurled them at Absol. It got hit and backed away, growling. "No, that can't be the reason!" Mari exclaimed. "Ralts wouldn't suddenly ignore me otherwise! Also, they don't usually get angry, they are rather calm and shy Pokémon! Did you forget?",
"Absol, stop Ralts!" Jacky shouted. Absol nodded and reared up in front of the smaller psychic-type Pokémon, growling. Ralts raised its arms and unleashed more Magical Leaves at Absol. "Deflect them with Scratch!" Jacky shouted. Absol raised its claws and tore the leaves apart in the air. "Ralts, damn it, stop that!" Mari yelled.
"Push Ralts down to the ground! It needs to calm down!" Absol bristled its fur and pinned Ralts to the ground with Scratch so that it could not move. Ralts furiously tried to fight its way free, but it couldn't break through Absol's power. Then, suddenly, it teleported away and attacked from behind. Absol growled as the leaves hit it. "You'd better withdraw Ralts now, or it's going to get worse!" Jacky shouted over to Mari. "Ralts! Stop acting crazy!" Mari extended her arm with the Poké Ball in Ralts' direction and a red beam shot toward the Pokémon, but it teleported away and the beam went into nowhere. "Shoot!" Ralts again set off an attack. "STOP IT!" Mari screamed in exasperation, and Ralts paused. Absol growled. "Scratch!" Jacky shouted, and Absol threw the psychic-type Pokémon back with a swipe. Ralts crashed to the ground, but straightened up yet again. "Ralts, come here..." Mari demanded. Ralts turned to her and looked confused for a moment. But then, it started moving and came to Mari. "Ra?" Mari held out her arms to her partner and Ralts let Mari lift it up. It suddenly seemed normal again. "What the frick was that just now, Ralts?",
"Ra?" Ralts tilted its head to the side in confusion, as if it didn't know what Mari was talking about. Mari sighed and put it back on the ground. "I think it has gotten itself together now", she announced.
"Thank you, Absol." Jacky said. She withdrew her Absol. "But Mari, this can't happen from one moment to the next, not in, like, a split second. If you ask me, maybe Ralts didn't mean to...",
"What do you mean?" Then, something suddenly occurred to her. "Earlier, when it went haywire, I caught a glimpse of Ralts' eyes. They seemed cold and dull... I've never seen that strange coldness in them before." Ralts looked at Mari and Mari looked directly into his pink eyes. They seemed bright and sparkling with joy again.
"Huh... Weird." Jacky didn't have a good feeling. She looked around. "Maybe it's better that we stop the fight. Something's fishy here."
Mari nodded. "Yeah, maybe you're right about that." She withdrew Ralts.
"What's that...?" Jacky suddenly looked toward the forest and narrowed her eyes when she saw something yellow flash. Mari looked to her. "Huh? What is what?",
"I thought I just saw... a yellow figure between the trees. Just for a moment...",
"Wait. In the forest?" Mari also looked in that direction. "Ralts was looking in that direction earlier, too...",
"Then, there definitely was something when it started going nuts. I bet it was that figure.",
"Was that a Pokémon?" Mari looked at Jacky, perplexed. "Jacky?",
"Nothing else would come to mind..." Jacky muttered. "If it really was that Pokémon that made Ralts go so crazy... Then it must have extraordinary powers.",
"It's possible... But it's gone now, isn't it? You said it was yellow?",
"Yes, I'm sure of it." Jacky nodded. "And it had a shape that looked quite humanoid, as far as I could tell." She pulled out her Pokédex and started typing. "A yellow Pokémon that can control others...",
"Control? You mean it manipulated Ralts?"
Jacky nodded quietly.
"Huh... Wasn't there a story like that?" Mari began to think. "In the school library books, I read a story once... A yellow Pokémon is said to hypnotize other Pokémon and children with a pendulum it carries. But what kind of Pokémon could it be?",
"Hypno", Jacky replied shortly.
"Hypno...?" Mari looked at her, puzzled.
"Look here." Jacky showed her the entry that lit up on her Pokédex's display. "Hypno can hypnotize people and Pokémon and put them to sleep even when they're not tired at all." She clicked a button and the image of the associated Pokémon popped up. "This is it. As you can see, it's yellow and has a human-like shape. It has a pendulum in its hand, just like in the story." Mari looked at the picture. "You mean that thing was there in the forest? Do you think Ralts noticed it and when it looked in Hypno's direction, this Pokémon manipulated it?",
"I'm absolutely sure", Jacky replied. "Absol should be safe. Psychic-type moves have no effect on it. I'll go look for it.",
"I don't think Hypno is using its psychic powers to do that", Mari said. "Hypno can control all Pokémon, I think... You can't just run after that Pokémon, it's too dangerous!",
"We'll be fine," Jacky insisted. "Come on, let's go, Mari!",
"Wait." Mari slowed Jacky down. "Absol and Ralts are weakened, and if we're looking for Hypno, they need to be at full strength. We need to get them to the Pokémon Center. If you're already going to jump into this danger, I hate to leave you alone." Jacky looked at Mari. "I've got some more Oran Berries with me, that should be enough, too.",
"You're right. Ralts, come out." Mari released her Ralts again and Jacky also freed Absol from its Poké Ball. The blonde-haired girl gave both Pokémon an Oran Berry and they quickly recovered from their injuries.
"Good, since Ralts is a psychic-type Pokémon, I think it can sense other Pokémon using psychic powers", Mari assumed. "Maybe we'll find Hypno faster that way. And Absol definitely has a good sense of smell and could track Hypno.",
"But you saw for yourself what happened to Ralts. Maybe, psychic-type Pokémon are also the most susceptible to this because they are so sensitive and have cognitive powers. You two should be extra careful."
Mari nodded. "You heard us, Ralts."
It nodded with eyes narrowed in determination. Then, it closed them and seemed to concentrate. Its eyes briefly glowed blue as it opened them and it levitated ahead into the forest. Mari, Jacky and Absol followed it. "We'll stop this Hypno before it does worse things," Jacky decided.
"I totally agree."
They walked around in the forest for a while, following Ralts, but it kept stopping and looking around, closing its eyes and concentrating, opening them again and moving on. "Did you find anything yet, Jacky?" Mari asked after a while. Jacky searched the bushes and shook her head. "No, nothing. Do you have a clue, Absol?" Absol looked down from a tree, standing on its strong branches, and shook its head too.
"Dammit... Ralts, what about you?" Ralts looked at her and shook its head. It seemed to have lost track. But then, suddenly, it flinched and backed away as the leaves of the bushes rustled and a low growl came out of them. It hid behind Mari's leg and clang to it. Absol jumped from the tree and landed silently next to Jacky. The leaves in the bushes moved. "Wait, that's not a Hypno... That is..."