Satori in Kalos
Chapter 23
Memories 4
"Hey sis!"
There was no echo. No audible resonance of her words throughout the radiant chamber, no mental followup of her thoughts. A single, lighthearted phrase that cut through the silence. A silence that Satori usually longed for.
But not now.
She was not majestic. She was not a sight to behold. She was simply there. Someone who you would only glimpse in the corner of your eye as you pass by her on the subway. Someone who would be sitting in the second-to-back row of a lecture hall. Someone who would never register as anyone of any importance.
Komeiji Koishi.
Satori didn't dare look away, but couldn't stop herself from focusing on the Eye. Its tendrils wrapped around Koishi's frame like a prison, tangled in knots, squeezing against her limbs and dragging on the ground. But the Eye... the Eye was closed and sewn shut. A hasty haphazard sealing of her Third Eye.
The bet that never paid off.
"K-Koishi..." Satori spoke softly, but her voice was loud in the emptiness of the chamber. "Is that really you?"
Koishi smiled a bright, wide smile. An innocent smile that held no regard for the questions and implications that were running through Satori's mind. "Of course it is, silly."
"But how?"
How did she end up here? At the top of the highest tower on the highest peak in Kalos, beyond Victory Road and the Elite Four.
"How did you become champion?"
The answer was unknown to her. Satori could read minds, there were no secrets from her. No one could withhold information, no matter how deep or afraid or how badly they wanted that secret kept, Satori was privy to it all.
But not Koishi. Not her sister.
"Aww, sis, you don't remember?"
"Remember?" Satori shuffled her feet.
"That figures, not even my own sister can remember me." Koishi shrugged but held her ever-present grin. Was it said in sarcasm, was it earnest? Satori was denied her insight.
"I—"
"Oh no, no need to feel sorry sis." Koishi clapped her hands. "I'll help you out, that's what siblings are for, right?"
"What do you—"
Satori didn't get the chance to complete her thought before she dropped to her knees.
Because she remembered.
…
"Damn these Lumoise jerks!" Shauna shouted. "They're so freaking pompous, all I wanted to do was to learn about Furfrou, why are they so mean?"
Satori let her vent. After a string of complaints and a large number of very bad words, Shauna finally cooled off. The two girls decided to sit on a bench in the shade of a small tree. They sat in silence for a moment before Shauna perked up.
"Hey, Satori, who is that?" Shauna pointed towards a green-haired girl strolling towards them.
"W-What?" Satori stuttered after seeing the girl. "No way."
"Hey sis!" Koishi exclaimed with an energetic wave. "Imagine meeting you here."
"Koishi?" Satori stood up from the bench. Her sister, here, in Lumiose. "Why...why are you here?"
"Waitwaitwait, you have a sister?" Shauna asked. "How come this is the first time I'm hearing about this?"
Koishi turned towards Shauna and held out her hand to shake. "Nice to meet you, I'm Koishi~" They shook hands. "I've been traveling around the world for awhile now. You live in the same town as sis?"
Shauna nodded. "We're on a pokemon journey now. Are you on a pokemon journey too?"
"Ayup," Koishi pulled out a roster. There were a few pokeballs on it. "I'm not too good though. Hey, you guys want to get out of this city and head over to Camphrier? It's so loud here, I hate it."
"Yeah, I agree," said Shauna. "Screw this city. I want to go. Let's go, Satori."
"What about the others?" Satori asked.
"Let's send them a Holo Cast and tell them they can catch up. If they're not too slow that is," Shauna said before giggling.
Koishi took Shauna and Satori by their hands and led them towards the gatehouse. Satori let herself get swept up in the moment. Seeing her sister brought back a lot of emotions. She wasn't sure exactly what she was feeling.
"Koishi," Satori said slowly. Koishi looked over. "It's nice to see you again."
"You too, sis! It's been too long."
…
Satori, Koishi and Tierno traveled during most of the day. Even with the goggles and bandana around her face the wind and blowing sand still proved to be a major inconvenience. Satori really wanted a shower, but there was no way she could do that until she made it back to Lumiose.
It was at times like these she wished she had a water pokemon.
"Might as well pitch the tent here," Tierno offered. "Nowhere else will be suitable."
"Just five more minutes," Koishi said. "There's a nice little spot right over there."
Sunset rolled by quickly enough, and Satori unpacked the tent. They couldn't really find a good place to pitch it despite Koishi's "nice spot," but if they dug the nails in deep enough the wind wouldn't blow it over.
...
"I... I..." Satori didn't know what to say. "I think I have to go..."
"What?" shouted more than one person. Cirno followed up. "You're completely crazy if you want to go out there."
"Yeah, sis, please don't go out there!"
Satori shook her head back and fourth. Yveltal's thoughts were still drowning out the majority of her own, its presence that loud. Was there anything she could say to explain? Would they believe her?
"I'm sorry," she said after a minute. "If...if I survive, I'll explain everything."
Koishi ran up and grasped Satori in a strong hug. "No no no, please don't, sis, please don't go out there!"
Satori pushed her sister away. Tierno tried to stop her, but Satori swiftly backed away towards the door of the factory, and pulled it open. Her Pokemon chased after her, and Tierno too. But Satori closed the door in his face and whispered "I'm sorry" one last time.
She couldn't let Koishi get caught up in it. Satori was the older sister, and she would protect Koishi. Even if it meant running right into the maw of the beast.
…
Rin smiled and pulled out her camera to snap a photo of the city. They could actually make out the sundial from where they were, although it was little more than a speck.
"Wait," said Satori. Calem was anxious since he wanted to see the sundial, but Satori had a bad feeling. "Does something seem off?"
"Uhh, not really."
Satori turned behind her. It was just her, Calem and Rin. No one else.
No one else at all.
"S-Sorry, I guess I'm just on edge for some reason."
…
Satori gasped for air. How could she have forgotten? How had she forgotten her sister's presence, all this time? It felt so... so wrong. So wrong that so many intimate moments had been forgotten. Talking long into the night, planning against the gym leaders, comparing their pokemon against each other, even battling. Memories that Koishi all brought back.
Had her entire journey really been a lie? Did her travels with Calem, Tierno, Trevor, and Shauna have a sixth member? And later, when Rin joined, had Koishi been with them then?
Of course she had.
Satori remembered it.
That was Koishi's ability. Her sister, Satori's precious sister, was so haunted by the ability of the satori she tried to stitch shut her Third Eye. She denied her very nature, and it backfired horribly. She lost her consciousness.
And no one ever remembered the subconscious girl. The non-person. Not unless she forced them to.
"Well?" Koishi asked. "Do you remember?"
"We," Satori caught her breath. "We met in Lumiose. You traveled with us since then. T-The entire time..."
"Yeah! And it was super fun, sis. I really had fun."
They had met in Lumiose. Shortly after Satori's meeting with the professor, and Koishi had stayed with them since then. Koishi had been there in Ambrette. Shalour. She was in the power plant with Tierno and Satori, captured by Team Flare. And during the Yveltal attack.
But she peeled off before they reached Anistar. Just walked away, and with her the memories Satori had of her.
"Why did you leave?" Satori asked. "Why did you make me forget?"
"Ah," Koishi averted her eyes. "That's..."
"Wait..."
Satori didn't want to. She didn't want to start putting the pieces together. Pieces she desperately tried to ignore were now falling into place and she couldn't do anything to stop it. Memories were connected to other memories. Restore some, and a lot more come to light in their wake.
Komeiji Koishi, the girl with no consciousness. For that simple reason she was unreadable to Satori. She could read the stream of consciousness of all around her, but her sister had no such thoughts. None at all.
Just like someone else Satori had met.
And that just opened up too many questions. Questions that Satori could not ignore, as much as she wanted to. "Koishi, did you..." Satori didn't know how to get the words out. "Did you do something to Lysandre?"
"Yeah. You noticed that, huh?" Koishi scratched her neck. "I figured you would put that together, you were always the smart one."
"But what did you do? How?"
Between the two satori, memory was a fickle thing. But Satori knew her sister. Knew what she was capable of, and nothing Satori knew of suggested Koishi could control others so directly. Not like puppets. She could manipulate the subconscious and manipulate desires, but that was it.
"Ahaha, well, I had a little help." Koishi reached into the pocket of her skirt and pulled out a pokeball. She held it out for Satori to see. It was purple with a white 'M' engraved on the top.
A masterball.
—"the single one we had in reserve was stolen"
She tossed it casually out in front of her, and it split open. The summoned Pokemon was cat-like, but had such alien features Satori was unsure whether it was a Pokemon at all. She pulled out her Pokedex and hesitantly aimed it at the creature.
"Mewtwo."
—"A cute little kitty of mine was stolen"
Satori lowered the Pokedex. The Mewtwo's thoughts were similarly blank to Satori, but they were blank in a different way. It was as if a force was preventing Satori from seeing further, a wall in front of the pokemon's mind. Psychic abilities.
"Mewtwo here helped me out with lots a' stuff," Koishi exclaimed. "We're like two peas in a pod!"
"I'm sure." Satori said under her breath. Those pieces she didn't want to put together were forming a terrifying picture. A picture Satori knew she didn't want to see. A picture that painted Koishi and Mewtwo taking over Lysandre's mind and controlling Team Flare.
"Yeah! Mewtwo can get the people to stop thinking, it's super powerful you know. Then I can manipulate them around subconsciously. It's great. Like playing with a doll."
"Oh Koishi..."
Satori had known. She had known since the very beginning, since the decades and centuries earlier when Koishi first sealed her eye. She had known but ignored it. Clung to hope that she was wrong. But that hope had fallen apart and only brutal certainty remained in Satori's mind.
"Hmm? Why are you so sad, sis?"
"..."
"Sis, why—"
"Stop. Just, stop." Satori interrupted. Her hands started to shake as she pulled out her ultra ball. "I'm sorry, but I can't let you continue on like this."
"Huh? But don't you want to know why I did it? Why I controlled Lysandre, why I tried to reactivate the ultimate wea—"
"I know why," Satori said. "I know why."
Silence. It was deafening. Satori hated herself for coming here. She wished she could just go back home, never having gone on her journey. She could be sitting in her living room right now watching television with Rin's head in her lap. But instead she was here.
Facing her trauma.
"To make the voices stop, right?" Satori asked, shaking.
Koishi nodded. "Don't you agree though, sis? The—"
"Shut up!" Satori yelled. "Stop it, stop it, stop calling me that. I am not your sister, Koishi is dead! You're not conscious, you are an automation, a shadow of who my sister was in her final moments."
"..."
Satori brandished her ultra ball. "My sister was gone the moment she sealed her eye. You are nothing but an ugly reminder of what I've lost."
"..."
With a thrust of her arm, Satori summoned Yveltal into the chamber. His dark aura filled the entire arena with an inky blackness. Yveltal turned his head to get a look at the scene, and his eyes locked onto Koishi.
And so we meet again, satori.
—"I'm going to kill you satori"
Koishi looked up at the form of Yveltal, Mewtwo edging in closer. After a minute, Koishi turned her gaze back down towards her sister.
"You can't beat me, sis." Koishi pointed towards her head. "But you're determined... okay, then we can battle."
Satori backed towards the wall to give Yveltal some room while Koishi trotted over to the other side. Although neither of them explicitly laid down the rules, it was clear what this battle would be. A battle of legendary pokemon.
But it wasn't about the championship, or glory, or fame. Satori's sister was dangerous, and Mewtwo made her even more so. She was responsible for her—Satori was responsible. Team Flare, the ultimate weapon, Lysandre. Everyone who was hurt by Yveltal and even by Flandre Scarlet. Trevor, Viola, Tenshi.
Satori was responsible.
So she had to make it right. As right as such things could possibly become, she had to try. And so she had to stop her sister from harming anyone else.
"Attack," Satori said curtly.
Yveltal screeched and fired a beam from its maw. The alien-like form of Mewtwo did not attempt to dodge, but simply held its ground and extended its arm. The beam bent in mid-air and harmlessly passed over Mewtwo and Koishi's heads crashing into the wall behind.
The wall held, although Satori spied a small crack. Calem had mentioned at some point that the walls of the elite four chambers were incredibly resistant. It made sense, the most powerful pokemon battles in the entire region have happened in this chamber.
Mewtwo retaliated with a flurry of purple bullets, some type of psychic attack. If it wasn't for Yveltal's large frame he could have dodged, but the size of the chamber limited his maneuverability. The attack hit and Yveltal growled at the pain before launching another attack of his own.
Lasers and bullets quickly filled the arena to the point Satori and Koishi themselves had to dodge them. It wasn't too hard, but it did keep them on their toes.
"Why are you trying to stop me, sis?" Koishi asked. She had to yell to overcome the sound of Yveltal and Mewtwo's battle.
Satori couldn't answer immediately since Yveltal screeched and threw Mewtwo against the wall. The crash shook the entire chamber and definitive cracks appeared around the impact. Mewtwo didn't look any worse for wear and simply kept up its assault.
"Because you're trying to kill everyone!" Satori shouted back.
She felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness. Yveltal and Mewtwo were going at it, but all Satori could hear were Yveltal and her own thoughts. It was different than any pokemon battle she had ever faced—not because it was between legendaries. Because her edge was taken from her. Her Eye.
"But the voices," Koishi exclaimed. "You can hear them too, sis, I know you can. It hurts, doesn't it? They're so loud."
Mewtwo flung Yveltal up into the ceiling of the chamber. He tried to slow his momentum by spreading his wings, but he was thrown too fast for it to be of any use. The chamber shook again as the massive destruction pokemon rammed into the ceiling. Bits and pieces rained down.
However sturdily this chamber was constructed, it wasn't enough.
"You are broken," Satori shouted. "All you thought about is how to stop the voices, enough to seal your own eye. But it didn't work, did it? You hear them even worse now."
"I can make them go away," Koishi shouted. "The ultimate—"
"You can't kill everyone." Satori caught her breath. "The fact you don't realize that just proves you are an automation. A runaway process that should have been erased long ago."
That's what she was. A manifestation of Komeiji Koishi's final thought—a desperate plea to stop the voices. Her final thought before she stopped thinking forever.
Before she died.
That was the inevitable conclusion that Satori came to. The person that stood before her now was not her sister, it was a shadow. A representation of her sister, but not her sister. Her cute little sister who liked playing with cats. Who enjoyed the taste of ice cream. Who's thoughts were upbeat and lighthearted and who liked it when Satori combed her hair.
That Komeiji Koishi was gone.
This Komeiji Koishi was a robot. A monster who only had one directive: stop the voices.
"Come now, sis." Koishi smiled. "You know that you can never beat me."
BUT I WILL
One of Yveltal's beams spilled down from above. Yveltal had perched himself on the ceiling by digging his claws into the wall, but Mewtwo used its psychic abilities to bend the attack away. Satori desperately wished she could help. Give Yveltal some directive, tell him what Mewtwo was going to do next.
But she had no idea.
I'm going to take revenge on you little satori. DIE DIE DIE
Maybe if she was a better trainer she would be able to beat Mewtwo. See the flow of battle, understand the tells pokemon gave in their body language, gauge what move would be ideal and prepare a defense for it on the fly. But Satori hadn't needed to train these skills, the answers were written out for her as clear as day.
She had cheated her way to the radiant chamber at the top of the highest peak in Kalos. And now she was paying for it.
Mewtwo launched another attack that hit Yveltal square in the chest. The pokemon flailed around wildly in pain. He was losing, and both he and Satori knew it. Before Mewtwo's follow-up attack hit Yveltal jumped into the air, the psychic bullets ramming into the wall. The chamber was taking a real beating. Bits of metal and stone fell from the ceiling.
"Wouldn't the world be better without the voices?" Koishi danced around the stage, trying to keep her distance from the two legendary pokemon. "It would be so easy, and everything would be quiet."
"Stop trying to convince me, it's not going to work."
"But doesn't it pain you? To hear everyone's thoughts, their trauma, their deepest darkest feelings?"
Satori stayed silent.
"Well? It does, doesn't it? Doesn't it? Doesn't—"
"Of course it does!" Satori shouted. "Of course it hurts."
Yveltal's body flew over her head, crashing into the floor and wall behind her. The chamber rumbled at the impact yet again and this time both girls were knocked off their feet. Cracks ran up the wall and the sounds of screeching metal echoed throughout the arena. The building was on its last limbs.
But that wasn't important. Satori lifted herself off the ground and met her sister's eyes.
"If..." Koishi coughed and pushed herself up. "If it hurts, why—"
"Because we can help people."
Satori dropped back down to her knees.
"Koishi... we can help people. They're too afraid to look into their own hearts, into their trauma. But we can. We can help them."
"But it hurts..."
"Yes it hurts," Satori said. "But we... our ability, it lets us do good. Help people. Save people. We can do that. Only we can do that."
In defiance of Satori's words, Mewtwo raised its hand and slammed Yveltal down onto the ground. The tiled floor broke apart and dust kicked up around the fallen pokemon of destruction. Satori could hear him. Yveltal's thoughts and trauma.
I don't want to die... Satori...
Yveltal, the pokemon of destruction. Whose trauma was the fear of death. A completely natural fear that it fought so hard against. Despite the universe itself working against him, Yveltal wanted to avoid death.
And despite the universe working against her, Koishi wanted to avoid the voices.
Satori didn't know what was the right choice. Maybe they had a point. Maybe if you don't like something, you can change it. No matter how unlikely or how dangerous it is, maybe Koishi and Yveltal are in the right here. Right to put all their cards on the table and make the bet.
I'm sorry.
Satori pulled out the ultra ball and recalled Yveltal. Satori didn't resent her ability. She was fine with her nature, despite the pain it caused. She would work with it. Use it. That was her choice. She could use her ability to help people. People who were afraid of themselves. People who were limited and scarred by their own pasts. She could save them like she saved Flandre Scarlet.
"But sis..." Koishi said softly.
Satori looked up.
"You didn't save me."
She had no response.
The trauma of Komeiji Satori was that of letting her sister die. There was no response she could give.
"I'm... I'm going to go now sis." Koishi recalled Mewtwo and put the master ball in her pocket. "I love you."
Koishi turned on her heels and shuffled towards the exit. The bounce in her step was gone and her heavy steps echoed throughout the chamber. Sunlight poured in through the cracks in the ceiling as Yveltal's darkness dissipated, casting long shadows throughout the chamber.
Satori didn't know what to do.
But her sister was getting farther away. Satori couldn't help it. She pushed herself up to her feet and ran after her sister. She had to catch up.
Before she forgot.
Koishi only just had enough time to turn around before Satori crashed into her, embracing her in a tight hug.
"I'm so sorry." Satori sobbed. "Don't go."
"But I'm not real. An automation."
"I'm sorry." Satori pulled her tighter. She would never let go, she wouldn't let herself. Not now. It didn't matter. The reasons or logic or rationale, it didn't matter. She just wanted to hug her sister.
"But the voices... they're so loud..."
"I know. I'm sorry."
"Sis, can you make the voices go away?"
Satori shook her head. "I'm sorry. I'll fix you somehow, Koishi. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Please, there has to be something. Some way to bring you back. Please let me help you. Please give me another chance."
"..."
"I'm sorry..."
"But sis... the voices..."
"..."
"...they're so loud..."