Driftveil Arc: Thrown Out
"Do you think we will meet this Dino fella again at the tournament?" Jacky asked while they were heading back to the Pokémon Center.
"Eh... I don't think so. It's a Junior Tournament. Knowing his attitude, I'm pretty sure he'd consider it to be below his level", Mari replied. Jacky nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense."
Once back at the Pokémon Center, they admitted their exhausted Pokémon to treatment. Then, Jacky went to see Medicham and show the newly obtained badge to it. She rubbed her forehead as she did so, as if she had a headache. "What are you going to do now?" Mari asked.
"I'm going to train", Jacky replied. "A tournament requires training.",
"Alright... I'm going down to the river. I think some bathing would do me good..."
Jacky nodded. "Okay. I'll see you later then.",
"Okidoki!" The two parted ways.
By late evening, Jacky was nowhere to be seen. This made Mari wonder. "Where the heck is she? She should've come back already, she's never staying out unreasonably late... Huh... I'll go look for her... Not that she fell asleep somewhere out in the open..." She ran outside to look for her best friend. It took her a while to find her. Jacky was sitting on a rock on Route 6. "Ah, there you are!" Mari closed in on her.
"Huh?" Jacky raised her eyes. "Hey...",
"What are you doing? Are you meditating?",
"No.",
"What then?",
"Nothing, as you can see.",
"Uh... Weren't you going to... train?",
"I was training... However, I have such a terrible headache right now that I'm afraid my skull is about to burst at the seams. I can't think anymore, my head is booming too much...",
"Then drink something and lie down", Mari said. "You should've come back earlier if you're feeling bad.",
"That's not it..." Jacky muttered. "I don't feel sick. But rather... rather... angry." Her fingernails scratched lightly on the stone.
"Angry?",
"Yes. Like someone's put poison in me. A poison that makes you think no more. And makes you hear voices... It should stop...",
"Uh...",
"They whisper things to me. They say I haven't moved from the spot while you've been getting stronger...",
"Are those... self-doubts? That's not like you.",
"It's getting worse." Jacky stood up. "I have to get out of here...",
"I really have no idea what's going on with you... I just know that that's not exactly like you. But it's not... Hypno again, is it?",
"Hypno..." Jacky remained expressionless and raised her shoulders. "It wouldn't do something like that. W-wouldn't be able to... Ah..." She held her head as she spoke out its name.
"..." Mari's gaze darkened. "...It must be its doing... Who would've thought. My gut feeling wasn't wrong, after all. So it's trying to influence emotions now, huh... Can it really do that...? I haven't heard of something like that before...",
"SHUT UP!" Jacky suddenly yelled at her and Mari flinched. "You ignorant piece of shit dare to doubt him?!",
"Okay, thanks for the confirmation, bitch", the black-haired girl replied when she recovered from her short period of being stunned. "Can't you fight yourself for once? Do others always have to do it for you, you coward?",
"Pffft... haha... I am fighting myself... Or are you scared?" Jacky came closer, slowly and menacingly. "Everything you've seen will get worse. Don't I have something close to your heart?",
"I'll get Maki out of your disgusting fingers, I assure you.",
"Do you really think you can stop me? Me?!" Mari coolly returned Jacky's gaze as she stopped close in front of her, but she took a few steps back because she was uncomfortable with people being inches before her face. "I think so, yes." She nodded and pulled out Gardevoir's Pokéball. Her Pokémon had already been released from treatment. "Absol." Jacky sent out her Pokémon. Mari sighed. Not this garbage again. This felt like a huge déja-vu. "Here we go again."
Absol seemed confused. It also seemed to sense something wasn't quite alright here. Questioningly, it looked at Mari. "Are you fighting for Hypno? If not, then don't do anything. Jacky is not who she seems to be." Absol tilted its head questioningly. "She's under Hypno's control.",
"Don't listen to her, Absol... She's fake", Jacky growled. "Never was she a friend. She was nothing to us, just a burden." Briefly, Jacky held her forehead. "Ngh... she is... responsible for my suffering...!",
"Yeah, right. Sure I am. You can lie like hell, too. What are you trying to achieve, setting her Pokémon off on me?",
"Slash, Absol!" Absol leapt forward and struck at Gardevoir, which went into a defensive mode right away. It turned sidewards and the attack missed. However, that enabled Absol to get close to Mari. "Now... attack her." Absol narrowed its eyes and then lunged for Mari when Gardevoir suddenly teleported in front of her and stood in its way, raising its arms ready to strike it down. Absol paused. It wasn't a secret Gardevoir were protective of their trainers. Always. Even if they'd have to sacrifice themselves to protect them. Gardevoir noticed Absol's short hesitation, but didn't hesitate to attack itself. It set off a Moon Blast at it. Absol destroyed it with a Psycho Cut. "You maggots! Just try to prevent the inevitable. You are a nothing and will beg for the quick death I want to give you!" Jacky yelled. Mari stood next to Gardevoir and fixed Jacky firmly with her eyes, being unimpressed with the death threat she just got. "Tell me something, Hypno. Why haven't you tried to influence me once? Why is it so easy for you to take Jacky into your power, but always pull back when I interfere? Why do you want to kill me instead of trying your oh-so-awesome hypnosis technique?" Jacky's eyelid twitched furiously. "Shut up!",
"I'd be quite interested to know. What exactly is the problem?",
'Jacky is sometimes haunted by negative feelings... By doubts.' Gardevoir looked deep into Mari's friend's mind. 'That makes everything so easy... While within you... none of it is to be found. You are optimistic and never lose your fighting spirit. You have an iron will. Hypno can't influence you so easily because you would resist too much. Children are easy victims because they are mostly quick to fear.',
"Stop looking into my mind, you witch!" Jacky hissed at the Psychic Pokémon. Mari just grinned. "Tch... So that's how it is... I see. Okay. Good to know. You know, I don't plan on letting a Pokémon like you kill me, though."
Absol looked at Gardevoir suspiciously. "What's the meaning of this, Gardevoir...? What's all this about?",
"Hypno is controlling Jacky's mind and trying to get Mari out of the way because she's an obstacle to it. It wants to get rid of her and use Jacky and you for this because she has the weaker mind." Absol narrowed his eyes and eyed Gardevoir. A twinge in his heart made him feel remorse. After all, he had tried to hurt her... Then, he turned to Jacky. "I know you would never lie to me, Gardevoir... But sometimes, we have to do things we don't want to do in order to win...",
"Attacking you won't do any good. Still, if you insist on picking a fight with me, I'll make sure I'll take you down." Gardevoir's glare of absolute resolution made her words more powerful. She was ready... ready to discard their friendship if Absol dared even trying to do the wrong thing. And this time, things would be different. This time, she would definitely be able to take him down. Absol lowered his head. "You won't back down.",
"I sure won't.",
"So, what are we gonna do?",
"The same thing as last time... Let Mari handle this. You have to place your trust in her. If you decide not to and will resist... Then, it's your choice. I made mine. I won't go back on it. Suffer the consequences then." Absol stepped aside. He didn't want to pick a fight with someone as powerful as Gardevoir, at least not in a situation like this. So he decided to back off and nodded barely noticeably.
"What are you doing, Absol? Are you going against your own trainer?" Jacky scolded it. Mari scrutinized "Jacky". "It's not falling for your stupid trick, Hypno.",
"Hah... Big mouth, but what's behind it? A weakling. A little rat-cat that calls herself a trainer! You just get in everyone's way, whether it's your family, your friends, or even that bunch you call partners.",
"Are you done talking?" Mari asked. "Because I'm done listening." And with that, she pulled out an Awakening- she had to buy a new one- and sprayed a huge blast into Jacky's face. At that moment, Hypno was thrown out of her body and she landed on her butt as she woke up. "Ouch!",
"Are you alright?",
"Ugh... Oww... Everything great..." She smiled. "I think I fell asleep there for a sec.",
"Eh... Yeah, no, actually, Hypno was here again.",
"Again? Jeez... Thanks for helping out then... Man, that explains the giant headache I had...",
"That's what friends do." Mari helped her up. "Hypno is really a sly bastard.",
"Tell me something new... At least my headache is gone now. What a relief. Honestly, I really couldn't take it anymore. I thought someone was slamming a basketball against my head.",
"I can imagine. Headaches are like torture.",
"I couldn't agree more." She brushed back a strand of hair. "Little asshole... I got tired during my training session and it decided that'd be a great opportunity to strike.",
"Well, to be fair, you knew this could happen.",
"Are you gonna tell me it was irresponsible of me to stay out so late?",
"Not quite so bluntly, but yes.",
"I mean... yeah, you have a point... Thinking about the tournament got me a bit too motivated.",
"You can never be too motivated, but... anyway... I think we'll be strong enough to punch Hypno in the face soon enough. What do you think?",
"I think so too.",
"I've had enough of its stupid tricks.",
"Oh, you're far from the only one here..." Jacky scoffed. "I want to get stronger... Even if that means facing my fear of heights. Ugh...",
"Good start.",
"This will be a piece of cake...",
"Are you highly sure about that?",
"Uh... No.",
"How could you, with your fear of heights?" Mari said the last couple of words provocatively slowly.
"My fear of heights", Jacky mimicked her, "won't stop me.",
"I want to see that.",
"I'll show you! I'll get over it, and then, we'll have a flying competition!",
"You're talking big all of a sudden!",
"Pah! Just watch out, I'll get you DONE!",
"Challenge accepted." Mari winked at her.
"Say... I don't mean to pry." Mari escorted Jacky back to the Pokémon Center, just to be sure. "But... uhm... Gardevoir has disclosed something to me she filtered out of your mind.",
"Oh? And what was that?",
"It said you partly struggle with self-doubts and negativity. Is that true?",
"..." Jacky looked at her shoes. "...No", she then replied. "I'm fine, really. It's just a phase. I just came to realize that I lack some foundation on things when I battled Clay. And when I saw your Pokémon totally obliterating his, I asked myself: Why can't I do that? What am I doing differently from her? Why does everything she does look so easy?",
"Well..." Mari gave it a thought. "That... probably comes from the fact that you tend to be very self-critical and reflective. You just didn't see the Horn Drill coming, okay. It happens to the best of us. Absol's difficulties against Exadrill were probably due to the fact that its attacks were not the most effective and physical. But for that, it held up pretty well.",
"But it was no different with you... Still, you kicked his ass.",
"Clay has more experience than most gym leaders and you could see that in the fight. Honestly, if I hadn't pulled so many tricks in the fight, it could have ended very differently. Don't make too much of what you see from me.",
"You really had him on the edge of his seat with your tricks.",
"Well, I had my fun with it.",
"I mean, you're right. I shouldn't always compare myself so much to others... Everyone is different, after all. In the end, I got the badge, that's what matters.",
"Exactly. And you did extremely well, he said that himself. Even getting past the fifth gym leader seems to be a challenge in itself. So, you can be proud of yourself.",
"Hehe..." She blushed a bit. "Yeah... That's true."