The Trial of Dreams and Memories (TMM 2)

Detox

If this were a movie, there'd be an aerial view of the giant building Morai was being kept in, slowly panning out to reveal that it was surrounded by a vast ocean of natural landscape with no other sign of life in sight. It was a fitting coincidence that Morai had found herself here at the latter end of the winter season, where things die and are reborn in the coming months. The tricky thing with humans, however, is that they have to change voluntarily. 

"Let me explain the situation to you," Agent Layton said. Morai had just woken up from her return to the Realm of Dreams, and had found herself tied down to a hospital bed. Pain was surging throughout her body as the serum started to wear off, and everyone was watching with curious eyes to see if it would produce any change in her "unfortunate behavior". 

"You are the sole prisoner here at M23. You've done great harm to society, but as everyone now knows, you have also wrenched it from the cold, dead hands of oblivion numerous times. The International Police sees it fit that it should try and return the favor," the agent explained. He was sitting in a bedside chair with his eyes pointedly gazing at the wall instead of Morai. 

"There are few Pokémon here, and the ones that are have been trained specifically not to look you in the eye, as has the entire staff. After that serum wears off, we'll have several means of controlling you and your power, so I'd keep that in mind while considering my escape plan."

"Oh, stop it," Morai weakly chuckled. "You're exciting me too much." 

The trainer wiggled her wrists and and ankles as best as she could, trying to stretch. She was admittedly as curious as everyone else to see what the lack of serum would do to her, but in the current moment she felt the same way she had ever since she first took it, if not in pain. 

"I'm awfully thirsty," she said. When Agent Layton returned with a glass of water, he had to hold it to her lips so she could drink it. 

"I was hoping for one of two things that are both red. This isn't either one of them," Morai said with a sly smile as she licked her teeth.

"I'm afraid you won't find a drop of either here," the agent replied with an unamused frown, and Morai matched it with her own. 

A nurse walked in, and Morai's smile returned. The young woman was small and had brown hair like her own, and Morai could see in her furtive blue-eyed gaze that she had been extensively warned about the dangers of not looking her in the eye. 

If I can play this right, I can catch her unaware. 

"I need to draw blood," she said tersely. "To test the serum levels over time."

Morai laughed.

"Yeah, like that'll happen. That's my jo—ooh!"

Morai jumped a little at how suddenly the needle went into her arm. She bared her teeth at the nurse, then shook her head and closed her eyes, leaning back into her uncomfortable pillow. She let out a noticeable sigh, trying to draw the eyes of her potential victim up to her face. The trainer opened one eye just enough to see if the police agent was paying attention and saw that he was attending to something on his phone. 

Neglectful fool, Morai thought with a grateful smile. 

The prisoner waited a few more seconds, then popped her eyes open to see the nurse jump and quickly avert her gaze, but it was too late. Morai caught herself before yelling "Gotcha!". A big self-satisfied grin on her face sufficed instead. 

The woman silently finished bandaging her mental captor's arm before taking another needle and putting it in her own, filling a vial and undoing the strap holding Morai's arm down. She handed it to Morai, who took the vial and lifted it above her mouth, and Layton looked up just in time to see her finish it off.