The Trial of Dreams and Memories (TMM 2)

The Avalanche

"Oh, that's cute," she said with a smile, but her expression changed as Pollie walked toward her.

"If there's one thing I know about you," she said with a determined smirk, "it's that no matter how hard you try, you can't control your taste for blood. It's potentially your greatest curse."

Morai laughed again, but this time she didn't have anything to argue. She kept Pollie's gaze, but the guard moved her arm closer in front of her face.

"Look at it," she said, smiling even more as Morai began to take steps back as she approached. "It's irresistible."

Something seemed to switch in The Mask Maker's brain, causing everything in her body to urge her to go after it. It was as if she was fighting every fibre of muscle in her body to keep from lunging forward, and the result was that some of her muscles were twitching involuntarily. If she closed her eyes, she would both make herself vulnerable to attack and give herself away. If she did nothing, her eyes would eventually glow red. She was trapped, backing up until she reached the edge of the platform. Pollie caught up to her, continuing until she was right in front of her. She could, of course, attack, but that would give her away also and pit everyone in the room against her. Still, she wanted to crush the guard under her hands right about now. 

"I was right," Pollie said with a self-satisfied smile. Morai took it to mean that she had lost. Sheridan looked at her prisoner and nodded, no real expression gracing her face. 

I can't believe it. That was my main job, and I failed. She was within inches of my daughter with every ounce of her power. How could I have failed to protect Yvette again? 

"Now that we're already in Alola, the only solution is to administer the correct version," she said matter-of-factly, with no discernible surprise or shock. She nodded at Pollie, who took handcuffs from her belt in one hand and a gun in the other.

"These were kept separate from the stuff in Colress's lab," she said with a smirk, pulling out a small dart filled with black liquid and inserting it into her gun. "It's the real stuff, and if I were you I would—"

Morai stepped backward and off the platform, hoping that the distance to the floor wasn't a technological illusion. She called Noivern from its ball, having chosen it specifically because it was fast. 

"Close the doors!" Sheridan yelled. Pollie, determined not to let her chance at promotion get away, sprinted to the other side of the platform. She mustered every bit of muscle in her lower body to leap of the edge, managing to catch the end of Noivern's tail and trying not to hurt herself on its barbs. The sky had begun to darken outside, giving the Pokémon an advantage—if it could make it there. 

"She's flying!" Sheridan called into her radio, running out of the league. "Ready the nets and stop her! Evacuate everyone and initiate a lockdown of the island!"

Noivern's earsplitting ultrasonic waves were enough to keep everyone from acting fast enough to close the doors before she could get through. 

"Woohoo! That's what I'm talking about!" Morai called as the icy fresh Alolan air hit her before clipping her mask on. "Now, lose the chump." 

Noivern began several loops and death rolls in the air, whipping its tail wildly bag and forth. Finally, it swung it upward, sending Pollie flying up in front of it. Thinking quick on her ungrounded feet, she aimed her gun in the air and fired. Morai leaned dramatically to the side at the last second, narrowly dodging the dart and watching as Pollie began to plummet to her death from the mountainside. 

Surely she has a Flying-type...

Pollie screamed as she plummeted toward the ground. 

"Oh, you've got to be—Marshadow!" Morai called, throwing her ball into the air. "You know what to do...and save that one. I want a fight with her one day."