"Alright, alright, that's enough! He's out! Stop or I shoot!" a guard yelled.

"Oh, come on," Morai said breathlessly. "If you're going to threaten to shoot me every time, then I should have just stuck to attacking nurses, fighting you, then getting shot. I'd get much more out of it."

"There are rules and you're nearly breaking them every time," he retorted, gun in hand. "No clawing, biting, or otherwise trying to kill your partner."

"There have been none of the first two," Morai argued. "And the matter of whether or not I was trying to kill him is purely subjective."

The two squared off, and the prisoner managed to lunge at the guard and viciously wrestle his gun from his hand before getting taken down by two other guards.

"I think that's enough for now," Sheridan added, looking pointedly at Morai's forehead. "Morai, this is a perverse version of the deal we made. You're going to have to learn to control your violence or do without it completely."

"You see, it's simply impossible to do that, Miss. Sheridan," Morai said from the ground, a pair of handcuffs being fastened around her wrists. "The personification of evil in my dreams tells me so."

Ingo and Emmet had come to visit and had been watching from the sidelines as their former friend had fought through the line of tall, burly prison guards waiting to challenge her.

"I never thought watching people fight recreationally would be so...interesting," Emmet said. "What a world it would be if we all had to fight each other instead of settling most things over Pokémon battles."

"...Do you ever wonder why we're still here?" Ingo abruptly asked. He had taken his hat off and was running the brim through his fingers, something he did when he was bothered.

"What do you mean, brother?" Emmet asked.

"The hope I had for her was nearly snuffed out when I heard that she'd be stuck this way for a while. The more I see of her, the more I believe that the person we know is truly gone. If that is the case, why are we here?"

Emmet leaned back against the brick wall and crossed his arms, letting out a long sigh that gave him time to think.

"Because she's still our friend, I suppose, and we don't simply abandon our friends," he finally said. "As long as there's any small glimmer of hope that the friend we know will return, we'll always be here at the station to welcome her back from whatever dark place she's returning from."

The pair sat in silence for a while, and a stranger entered the room and came to stand beside them. The strange man immediately caught their attention, as he appeared to be as tall as they were, which was a rare occurance. He also carried a cane and was holding a top hat, and his Galarian accent tied it all together when he spoke.

"Well, she's quite interesting, isn't she?" he asked with a smile as Morai protested her detainment in the distance.

"You could say that," Ingo said.

"And there are many other words you could use," Emmet added.

"I'm guessing that you are the doctor that agreed to offer your expertise?" Ingo asked.

"That's me," the doctor replied. "Though, it wasn't a case of who would agree to do this job. Many scientists such as myself would jump at the chance."

"So you were chosen based on your superior knowledge," Emmet said. "I can smile knowing that our friend is in good hands."

"Do you think you can help her return to who she once was?" Ingo asked. The doctor shook his head.

"There's no way of knowing right at this moment, but I have confidence that it's an achievable feat. I suppose I'll be seeing you two gentleman around."

With that, the man headed toward Morai and the guards struggling to blindfold her. When Morai saw him, she stopped and looked up in confusion.

"You must be Morai," he said with a smile. "Like many others here, I'll refrain from giving you my name at the moment, but I'm pleased to make your acquaintance. I'm a doctor, here to ensure your lasting health."

Sheridan eyed Morai with a smile. The prisoner had a habit of cutting anyone possibly weaker than her down, so Sheridan picked a scientist who easily had half a foot on her and was nearly twice her size. Of course, he was a very talented doctor with the skills necessary to achieve Interpol's goals, but his intimidating physique was a bonus.

"You're a doctor?" Morai asked. The man simply nodded and smiled.

"Why don't you come with me to the lab?" he asked. The prisoner figured that she didn't have a choice.

The group, which consisted of Morai, two guards, and the doctor, all headed to a part of the building that she had never been to before. A thick metal door was opened to reveal an entire lab. The sight made Morai's stomach lurch slightly as she was led into the cold room.

Oh great, she thought. Is this where they're going to experiment on me?

"I'll take it from here, gentlemen," the yet unnamed doctor said with a friendly smile. "Oh, and you can remove those handcuffs, too."

The guards looked at the man with confusion.

"That's not a very good idea," one of them said.

"Nonsense!" the doctor replied. "If I'm made to eat my words later, you can blame the entire situation on me."

The guard sighed as he removed Morai's handcuffs from her wrists, giving her forehead a sharp look as he turned away. She returned an even more cutting gaze, but the guard would never see it.

"Why would you do that?" the trainer asked, adjusting herself in the chair she had been directed to. "It's well known around here that I attack when given the smallest chance."

"How would you do it?" the doctor asked, answering the prisoner's question with one of his own.

"Do what?"

"Take me down!" the man replied. "I'm curious, though I can't ask you to demonstrate, of course."

Morai thought for a long moment, then smiled as she had come up with her answer.

"I'd beat you with your own cane," she finally said. "I'm no master at wielding weapons, but I think I'd enjoy it."

The prisoner began to theorize out loud the ways in which she could do the most damage with a cane.

"Well then, I think I'll put this over here," the doctor said, moving his cane to the other side of the large room. He had simply nodded at her answer, not showing a hint of disgust or worry. "Do you remember the person you used to be?" he asked.

"No. Not really," Morai replied. "I know I was much different to who I am now, but whoever I was is simply a faded memory."

"You were very different. Until you took the formula, that is, and it produced the most interesting changes. There are the behavioral differences, of course, but look at the physical differences! You've grown into a...well, a beast of a person!"the doctor exclaimed, looking at an old photo of Morai and comparing it her current self.

"If the serum changed the way I look, why didn't I change again after going off of it?" Morai asked with a bit of a frown.

"Well, that's the question. But your nails are so thick and sharp that they're nearly uncuttable and your eyes have contracted," the doctor explained. "Something else had to have happened. Is it true that you consume blood?"

Morai shifted a little in her seat, a bit flustered by the sudden question.

"Well, when I can get it," she said with a lick of her teeth.

"Yes, I've heard that we're severely understaffed with nurses at the moment. And this came about with the serum, yes? It was never there before?"

"No," Morai replied. "I would've been outed as The Mask Maker long before this had it been there before."

"May I ask you to prove it?" the doctor asked. Before waiting for an answer, he cut his own arm with a blade, letting the blood fall into a small vial and holding it in front of Morai, who quickly took it out of his hand and downed it without thinking. Once the trainer realized the absentmindedness of her action, she blushed a little.

"It's been too long since I've had it last," she said. She noticed the doctor's hat sitting on the counter next to her and took it in her hands, regarding it for a moment.

"I considered wearing a hat like this while out in the streets, but it never would've worked with my mask and would've hindered my fighting," Morai said, changing the subject.

"I see," the man replied. "I have one final question today. What compels you to such violence?"

The Mask Maker thought for a moment, spinning the doctor's hat in her hands. He didn't seem to mind.

"It's simple," she said. "I'm a monster. A beast, as you've said. And such creatures only know violence and bloodlust. I find my thrills in fighting and competition, and holding the fate of others in the palm of my hand. Morai was an angel when she chose to save the Battle Subway from burning to the ground, but her own goodness was burned out of her instead, and her poor wings were burned away, which gave way to such a demon as I."

The doctor considered Morai's words for a while before another word left his mouth.

"I see. I think we've covered enough ground for one day," he finally said. "Before you leave, I want to give you these."

He handed her a couple of journals that Morai remembered to be the old journals she had written in before her change. The doctor also gave her a blank one along with a pen.

"I made sure no one read these, though I admittedly wanted to read the story of your life and its changes through your own written word. No one is going to read that new one either. As you journey through your past and read your old entries, you should continue writing your story."

Silence filled the room for a moment as Morai looked at her old journals. Her thoughts were interrupted by a pounding at the door. A guard announced that Morai's presence was required elsewhere and the doctor assured him that he would escort her out. He turned to grab his cane and found it missing, and when he turned back he found Morai and his hat missing as well.

"Oh dear," he sighed. The man rushed out of the open doorway to find Morai battling the guards with his cane in her hand and his hat on her head. From the wide grin on her face, it looked like she was enjoying it, too.

"En garde!" the prisoner yelled before charging a guard, ducking under his outstretched arm and striking him from behind, continuing to hit him until she was finally overpowered as more people joined the fray. She looked up from the ground to see Sheridan standing in front of her.

"Miss Sheridan!" she greeted with a smile. "I'm afraid you just missed the action."

"No, I saw it all, unfortunately" the woman replied with a deep frown, her arms crossed. "This is where the line is drawn. From now on, you are not to fight anyone, and no one is going to fight you. The second you step out of the line you will be shot, skipping the 'action,' as you put it. Do you understand, Morai?"

"Yeah, sure," the prisoner replied with a slightly lessened smile.

"Now, you'd better get yourself straightened up. You've got somewhere important to be in an hour," Sheridan said. She took the hat off of Morai's head and went to hand it to the doctor, but he put a hand up.

"I have a personal rule," he said with a slight grin, "against wearing bloodied hats. She can keep that one."

Sheridan shrugged and handed it off to a guard before walking off.

What in the world could possibly be important in this place? Morai thought. And what does it have to do with me?

The doctor had gone back to his lab, standing at his tables and swirling a newly-produced red liquid around in its glass vial. The formula had been given to him as part of his research.

"So this is what made the angel fall," he whispered. He often talked to himself while he was alone at his work. It helped him think.

"And I've been tasked with pulling her out of the abyss to which she fell. It's such an astounding opportunity for research that would otherwise be prohibited! I could sew her wings back on...but is that truly the right choice? She seems to have such a vigor for life, even here. I can sew wings back onto a demon, but that would only make it a rather unhappy false angel. I would have to turn back the clock and truly change her mind and soul."

Morai reluctantly prepared herself for whatever she was being made to attend. Her new hat had been placed on her bedside table along with her journals.

"You ready?" a guard asked.

"I guess I don't have a choice," Morai answered. "It would be nice if someone would just tell me what I'm being led into."

"No can do," the young man replied. "But I will remind you that Sheridan's new rule is in full effect. It looks like we won't be getting into any more scraps."

"Lucky for you," the prisoner said with a smile. She was handcuffed again and taken to another part of the building she hadn't been to before. The cold brick walls of the cathedral made for a chilling atmosphere, and the rain pattering on the stained glass windows made Morai yawn. Sheridan was waiting for her at a door, along with what looked like another Interpol agent.

"Are you sure this is the best idea?" he asked.

"She must confront her past at some point," Sheridan answered flatly. "We can't sit around and wait for her to come around."

"You didn't specify the formality of the occasion, so I went for prison casual," Morai said as they approached. "I've got a whole suit somewhere, unless you got rid of it, of course. Speaking of which, where's my mask?"

"You'll never need it within these walls, so it isn't here," Sheridan replied. "Both it and your old clothes are outside, and nothing outside is of any concern to you right now. However, it is time you confront what's inside your own head. Old memories that have been buried with time and poison, and friends that have long been forgotten."

Morai stepped back with a frown at Sheridan's last words.

"What do you mean?" she asked. Her muscles grew tense, and her hands began to form fists behind her back.

"Why don't you find out?"

The door was opened and Morai was practically pushed into the room. Before she could even get a good look at it, someone rushed forward and wrapped her arms tightly around her.

It was Lillie. She called out Morai's old name and buried her face in her shoulder. Everyone else in the room objected to her actions, but Lillie ignored it. Morai nearly instinctively went on the offensive and attacked, but she stopped herself. She could see the raised guns of the guards in the corner of her eye. It's not like she could have done much anyway, with her hands behind her back and Lillie's arms pinning hers to her sides.

"I can't believe it!" Lillie cried. "You're alive! I thought you were gone! Oh, I'm so happy you're alive!"

Morai stood there for a moment, her body tense and her heart pounding.

"Let go, Lillie," she finally whispered.

"Aren't you happy to see me?" Lillie asked, removing her arms but standing too close for comfort. She had tears in her eyes. "You left that picture of us on my nightstand that night. I thought it meant you still cared."

Morai looked back at Sheridan with a scowl.

"What were you thinking?" she snarled. "What would this accomplish?"

Sheridan only looked at her without saying a word.

"Let me out of here," Morai said.

No one moved.

"You're forcing my hand," she warned, her eyes taking on their threatening glow of red.

"I will do whatever is necessary for you to sit here and listen to the stories of your past, even if it takes blindfolding you and chaining you to that table," Sheridan finally replied. "You can't cheat your way out of it by getting yourself put to sleep."

"Perhaps not," Lillie replied. She had looked Morai straight in the eyes after she had embraced her, and Morai had taken control of her. "But if there's no one to tell those stories, what will you do? I could have her ramble on for hours about nothing in particular."

"Miss Lillie isn't the only one here to remind you of your past," Sheridan said with a slight smile. "In fact, she shouldn't be here until much later, but she insisted that she see you now. We have to start with the beginnings of your faded memory."

The woman instructed the guards to bring some people in, but Morai didn't know who, as she had only referred to them as "them." Sheridan also told the guards to remind them to be wary of looking her in the eye.

"I've decided, Miss Sheridan," Morai said, "I really don't like you. I can't wait to taste your blood on my tongue and savor the look of terror you give when you see me burn every shred of safety you thought you had."

Sheridan remained stone-faced.

"We'll see who changes the other first," she simply said. "So, please let go of the girl, have a seat, and listen. That's all that's being asked of you."

The guards returned with a small group of trainers, and Morai instantly knew what Sheridan had planned. She was going in the chronological order of Morai's past, starting from her beginnings as a trainer.

"Calem, Shauna, Tierno, and Trevor," Morai whispered. "I wasn't expecting you."

"You do remember us!" Shauna replied, clasping her hands in front of her chest. She also ignored the rule about looking Morai in the eyes, despite the assumed warning. "You look...different!"

Morai shut her eyes tight and let go of Lillie. Her heart was beginning to race and she was beginning to feel sick.

"You all...are simply faded memories," she muttered. "You stopped existing to me months—perhaps even years—ago. Yet here you are...ghosts of my past..."

"We're your old friends!" Tierno said. "We wouldn't just leave you hangin'!"

Stop it! Morai silently yelled into the empty void of her mind. You've got to stop it!

Sweat had formed on the prisoner's brow as she looked at her reflection in the glass covering of a painting on the wall. She could barely make out the details of her face, but she thought it might be enough to execute the idea she had just created. She stared herself in the eyes, trying to force her own hypnotic power upon herself.

Just slip away, Morai thought. Let your mind be taken away, like so many of your victims.

"Morai?" Sheridan asked with a hint of concern in her voice. She walked up to the trainer, but Morai didn't move. She simply stood there with a blank expression as if she was frozen in time, red eyes staring into those of her reflection's, her head cocked to the side and her mouth slightly hung open.

"Morai?" the woman called again, waving a hand in front of her face. She went on to poke the prisoner in the shoulder, but there was no response. Morai stared out into the abyss, trapped in a loop of unconsciousness that she had locked herself in.

"I think...I think she hypnotized herself somehow," Sheridan finally said, turning to face the reflection that Morai was staring into. When she did, she herself fell into a hypnotic state, but there was no puppet master to control her mind, leaving her to stare limply and soullessly at Morai's reflection. A couple of Morai's former friends had been trapped in the same fate, as had a couple of guards.

"My god," the doctor whispered when he was shown into the silent room. It had been deserted save for those trapped under Morai's vacant hypnosis, all of them staring at her silent reflection.

Morai woke up to find herself, as she often did again, in the Realm of Dreams.

Or so she thought.

When the trainer looked around, she wasn't in the garden where her counterparts often dwelt. This place felt the same, but as she looked around she began to consider the possibility that she was in a separate dream entirely. Morai was surrounded by trees that had been touched by the beginnings of spring, and she could smell the mist of a light rain that had seemingly just passed. This forest was different from the one she had been in before. The rustling of branches and leaves snapped the dreamer out of her wondering and a figure jumped out to tackle her.

"There you are!" Shadow Morai cheerfully greeted, sitting atop her counterpart. "It's good to see you again. You've come at the perfect time."

Morai wrestled with Shadow Morai as they both fought to get to their feet. Morai pinned her counterpart against a tree for a moment until Shadow Morai wrestled herself free. She tripped her opponent up, but Morai took her counterpart with her, causing them both to end up on the ground again.

"Oh, it's so fun to fight," Shadow Morai breathlessly said, wiping the dirt from her face.

"Especially now that Sheridan has outlawed it," her counterpart added. "At least I've got you."

"Don't start with that woman!" Shadow Morai growled. "We've got to come up with a plan to get to her as soon as possible...but first, it's time for breakfast! You've got to get out of that terrible outfit, too."

Morai's shadow counterpart led her out of the forest, which revealed a large lake stretching out as far as she could see. The mountains that lied on the other side were reflected perfectly in the crystal clear blue water.

"I don't remember ever seeing this place in the real world," Morai said. "And if I did, it didn't smell like pancakes."

"That's because you haven't," Morai explained. "Like that other forest, this one is exclusive to your dreams."

A table had been set up a small ways away in a clearing beside the lake and Light Morai was sitting quietly in one of the chairs. As Morai got closer she saw that black, white, and red plates had been laid out on a black tablecloth. A large stack of pancakes sat in the middle, surrounded by bowls of various toppings.

"Before you eat, you'd better change out of that mess," Shadow Morai said, pointing to a set of clothes waiting for Morai on the table. The trainer went amongst the trees to change, and when she emerged, Light Morai's blurry Mind's Eye vision couldn't distinguish between her and Shadow Morai.

"What's all this for, anyway?" Morai asked.

"The celebration of your return to the Dream Realm!" Shadow Morai exclaimed, pouring syrup all over her pancaked.

"So," she continued, putting a large forkful of pancake into her mouth, "What's the plan for Sheridan?"

"I'll have to play along with her little game long enough to be let out that stupid room without being blindfolded," Morai said, doing the same. "Then I'm going to go after a smaller target that will lead me to her."

"Arthur?" Shadow Morai asked with a grin. "I'd love a fight with that one. I'd give him a nice couple of scars to match the ones he's already got. Make sure you make a real example out of him."

"Of course," Morai said. "I'll give him those scars, courtesy of you."

Light Morai silently watched through the hazy vision of her Espurr, unsure of which Morai was which. Even though she and her psychic powers had gotten very weak, she seemed perfectly content. Her face didn't show a smile or a frown, just...acceptance. Her counterparts' talk of brutal violence that Morai planned to commit in the real world made her deeply sad, but no expression appeared on her face. As they laughed together like a couple of Mightyena, she remained silent. She had tried to reason with the both of them and they hadn't cared to consider her words.

If only...she thought. I could do something to change our unknown but ominous fate. But I suppose I simply have to let it mark our cards.

The sound of growls and grunts of exertion snapped Light Morai out of her thoughts. She looked up to see the two blurs of her counterparts on the thin dock out on the lake. They were both fighting to throw the other in the water. Espurr pointed out who was who, and the dream trainer was disappointed to see what looked like lackluster sparring from both sides.

I taught Morai better than that. It seems she's forgotten everything I've taught her, psychic abilities included. Perhaps I should have done a better job. Maybe if I were more insistent, or had fought better against her shadow self...

The dream being was once again snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of splashing water. Both blurs had fallen into the lake.

Is it my fault?