NOTE: An old version of this chapter was posted 8 days ago. This new version has significantly changed the scene after the fight scene, as it was bad and I hated it. The rest of the chapter is the same.

NOTE 2 - ELECTRIC BOOGALOO: This chapter is 2,900 words long, as opposed to the usual 1,200 to 2,400 words, as there is a lot happening in the chapter.




Chapter 20
Ralts



Snivy and I crawl through the tunnel after the mind controlled Magby, ready to confront the pokemon behind the disappearances. We near the end of the tunnel, and the Magby ahead of us tries to carefully drop down to the floor without falling. As we wait, we hear an... interesting voice.

It's a high pitched voice, like a little kid. For an instant, I think it might be a victim of the mind controlling pokemon, but... "Hey, you! Get me a berry, I'm starving over here!"

The childish voice is answered by a lower voice that simply says "yes master..."

Finally, the Magby drops down, clumsily falling down and apparently attracting the attention of the voice. "Oh, you're finally back. Well get down here already, stop wasting time on the ceiling! And you, Pinsir, hurry up with that berry!"

From inside the tunnel, we see the Magby float up to the ceiling. Or the floor. We've lost track. Snivy and I crawl to the edge of the tunnel to get a look at our mind controller. We see a large chamber, and look up to see a Ralts, sitting on top of a Wooloo. Off to the side, a Roselia is doing a simple dance, and over by a large bag, a Pinsir is grabbing a handful of berries and bringing them to the Ralts.

This is the mastermind behind the disappearances?

Eventually, the Pinsir brings the berries back to the Ralts. The Ralts stands up and smacks the berries out of Pinsir's hands, scattering them across the floor. "What don't you understand about 'a berry'? As in ONE?! And I want a blue berry, not any of that!"

The Pinsir begins walking back to the bag. Meanwhile, the Ralts turns towards the dancing Roselia. "And you. Do a different dance, I'm bored of that one." The Roselia obeys, changing to a different, simple dance. Satisfied, the Ralts jumps backwards onto their Wooloo seat, causing the Wooloo to give a small cry of pain, which the Ralts ignores.

Magby, Pinsir, Roselia, Wooloo, and the Monferno from earlier makes five pokemon, accounting for all the pokemon missing from Maceria Town. Now we just need to figure out a way to rescue them...

The Pinsir returns to the Ralts, presenting a blue Rawst Berry. The Ralts stands up again and waves their hand, sending a blast of glowing red fire at the Pinsir that launches it across the room. "Oran berry! Get me an Oran Berry! How obvious do I have to be!?"

"no... more... oran..." the battered Pinsir responds.

"Well then go out and find one!"

The Magby we followed walks up to Ralts, presenting an Oran berry. "Oh, I'm sorry," Ralts says, taking the berry from Magby, "did I ask YOU for an Oran berry?" The Magby shakes their head. "Exactly!" Ralts throws the berry to the ground and stomps on it.

Meanwhile, the Pinsir taps a crystal and begins heading towards the tunnel. Snivy and I duck back inside as the Pinsir enters, but they don't seem to care about us, and just walk past us. After the Pinsir leaves, Snivy beckons me deeper into the tunnel.

"What do you think we should do?" Snivy whispers. "That red flame was Wildfire, right? And that Ralts is a little kid! But they seem... really mean. Almost evil, I think. I don't know how we could reason with them. Should we... attack?"

"I... I think so. That mind control power looks really dangerous; if they can catch us with that, we're toast. We can't afford to let our guard down. And you're right, I don't think they'd listen to us. Let's knock them out and bring them back to Maceria town, then we can try talking to them."

"Alright. I think we should wait until they're distracted, then switch gravity and drop onto them from above."

"Sounds good."

We wait near the tunnel exit, just out of sight, and listen. Eventually, we hear Ralts get bored of the Roselia's dancing again, and we quietly drop down and look for a crystal. Finding one just below Roselia and Ralts, Snivy drops down, followed by me. Snivy starts spinning in the air, a whirlwind of leaves gathering around their tail, and with perfect timing, they slam their leaf tornado into Ralts, sending them tumbling away!

I shoot a water gun at Ralts, but they teleport off to the side before they even see my attack. They turn to us with a look of fear, but it quickly turns to anger. "You're the ones who meddled in my recruitment tonight, aren't you! How dare you enter my-"

I interrupt Ralts with a water gun, but they react quickly and teleport backward. With a wave of their hand, a wide blast of red fire comes towards us! Snivy and I brace ourselves as the fire reaches us, but it feels weaker than Krokorok's fire. I guess Wildfire or not, this Ralts is still a little kid. Still, Snivy looks hurt.

I dash toward Ralts while Snivy stays behind to heal with an oran berry. Ralts retreats and taps a crystal, teleporting as they do so. I look upward, and Ralts is standing on the ceiling, smirking. I tap the crystal and jump up to follow them, but while I'm in the air, Ralts hits me with another blast of fire, and I crash land.

Ralts runs over to another crystal, tapping it and teleporting back to the floor; I think I'm starting to understand their game plan. They keep blasting fire at Snivy, but Snivy manages to mostly dodge it. Snivy closes in, and as Ralts runs away to another crystal, I run to the area directly below (or maybe above) the crystal.

Sure enough, Ralts teleports right in front of me, and I see a look of panic on their face before I tackle into them, sending them tumbling! I follow up with a water gun, and it's a direct hit! I run forward to keep attacking, but a wall of flame suddenly erupts between me and Ralts. Ralts dives for a crystal, and teleports away the moment they touch it.

Snivy saw what I did, and I look up to see them waiting just above the crystal Ralts used, but Ralts doesn't appear there. Instead, they appear closer to the center of the room, looking kinda off balance. Snivy runs towards them, but they wave their hand at Snivy and use a strange attack. It doesn't look like fire, but more like a glowing red wave of energy. Snivy braces themself, but it seems to pass through them harmlessly.

I run towards the area under Ralts and shoot a water gun at them, but the distance from the floor to the ceiling means that by the time it hits, it's about as effective as a squirt gun; annoying, but nothing more.

Ralts staggers backward in surprise, then wipes the water from their face. "Cut it out already! Can't you see you've lost?!"

"What?" I see Ralts smirk before they look away from me and turn to- "Snivy?!"

Snivy is standing there, staring blankly ahead with a faint red glow in their eyes. Ralts walks up to Snivy. "Sit down," Ralts commands. Snivy obeys, sitting on the ground. "Tell your friend who your master is."

Snivy down at me from the ceiling, an empty expression on their face. "my master... is ralts..."

Ralts bursts into laughter. "Oh, this is just hilarious! You two though you were so strong, you though you could just come in here and take down me. ME! You two are a joke. Hey slave, tell me a joke."

"... why did the chicken..."

"A GOOD joke."

"...... knock knock..."

"Never mind. Hey, stand on one foot." Snivy obeys, and Ralts starts pushing them around, forcing Snivy to desperately hop on one foot to stay balanced. As Ralts starts to mess around with Snivy, I quietly walk over to a crystal.

I tap the crystal and try to land as softly as I can. Ralts is just standing there, their back to me, watching Snivy. I slowly inch closer and closer, and once I'm in range, I shoot a water gun at Ralts!

Just before it hits, I see the familiar sight of Ralts teleporting; they predicted my attack. I look around, turning behind me just in time to see a glowing red wave of energy hit me head on!

I start to feel my body go limp, and I'm suddenly feeling tired... No! Snivy was caught off-guard, but I can resist it... maybe...

I see the Ralts walk up to me. "Huh? Oh wow, I guess you were ready for it. C'mon, stop resisting! Aren't you feeling sooo tiiiired~?"

I close my eyes and try to ignore them, but their words mess with my head; suddenly, I want to stop resisting, and I really am feeling so... tired... No, I need to resist... but why... why would I want to resist... What do I want... I want... To get back home! I have to resist because I want to go home! I want to go back to my world and sleep in my room and eat human food! With my teeth, and my fingers, and my human body!! I NEED TO GET BACK HOME!!!

Suddenly, I can move my body again! Ralts' influence is fading from my head, and I open my eyes to see Ralts taking fearful steps backward.

"H-hey, what's going on?! How are you doing that?!?"

I lunge forward with renewed strength, and Ralts just barely teleports out of the way in time to dodge. I turn to see them next to a crystal, tapping it and starting to float. I dash over, tapping the crystal before leaping after Ralts, catching them in the air and making them crash land a few meters away. I open my mouth to blast them-

And a stream of glowing red fire hits Ralts dead-on.

My surprise is interrupted by Ralts' cry of pain. I have the Wildfire. Perfect, that should make this easy. Ralts gets up and runs towards a crystal, but I'm faster now, and I dash ahead of them and land a tackle, knocking them away from the crystal. I run up to them and prepare to use another flame thrower... and I hesitate.

It takes me a moment to realize why, but then I hear Ralts' voice. "Wait! Please! I give up! You win, okay, j-just please don't hurt me!"

I didn't consciously notice Ralts' expression, but now I see it; since the moment I broke out of their control, their face has been pure terror and panic, and tears have started rolling down their cheeks. I take a moment so shake myself out of my rage and calm down.

Ralts continues begging, their tough, confident act completely gone. "I'll, I'll release your friend, and I can make the others do whatever you want, okay? Whatever you want, I'll do it!"

I take a deep breath and consider what to do. "... Okay, let's go and release Snivy. Then we'll... then we'll talk.

We switch gravity and head over to Snivy. Ralts places a hand on their head, and after a second, the red glow vanishes from Snivy's eyes, and Ralts steps back, still afraid.

As Snivy regains control, they lose their balance and almost fall over. They steady themself and rub their head, groaning, before noticing me and Ralts. "Ugh... Huh? Mudkip? What happened? Did... did we win?"

I flinch at Snivy calling me 'Mudkip'. I'm about to respond, but Ralts beats me to it. "Yes! You win, so we're done fighting, right?" Ralts looks to me with a nervous smile.

I turn to Snivy. "Um, you got mind controlled, and then, uh, I won." I decide to wait to tell them about my Wildfire until later.

"Uh, are you sure Ralts won't just mind control us again?" Snivy asks.

"Yeah, that won't be a problem. Anyways," I say, turning to Ralts, "we need to talk. Why did you mind control these people?"

"Huh? Um... because it's fun?"

"But it's not fair!" Snivy says.

"What? Yes it is; I'm stronger than them, so I can do whatever I want to them."

"What? No! Why in the world would you think that?!"

Ralts takes a step back, their expression showing their fear. I turn to Snivy. "Calm down!" I should take my own advice, though; I'm also having trouble keeping calm.

Snivy sees Ralts' fear, and realizes their mistake. "Right, sorry... Um, Ralts, why are you in this cave? Are you from Maceria Town?"

"Um, no, I'm not. I ran away from home, and I took shelter in this cave and found out I could use my powers to control people, so I started getting people from the town to come here.

Ran away from home? That doesn't sound good... "Why did you run away?" I ask. "Did something bad happen to your home?"

"Uh, no. My family kicked me out when they found out about my fire powers. They called me a monster, and told me to go away..."

Snivy and I exchange glances. "How did you get your powers?" Snivy asks.

"Well..." Ralts slows down, seemingly thinking about how to explain it. "My... Back home, I lived with my parents and my two older siblings. My siblings would always bully me; stealing my stuff and breaking it, making fun of me, and forcing me do their chores and stuff. And whenever I went to my parents, they'd always just ignore it, and I'd get in trouble for whining. But one day, I heard that there was a genie visiting town, and they were gonna grant people's wishes!"

"Wait a sec," Snivy says, "a genie?"

"Y-yeah! You know, the things that, um, grant wishes..."

"What? No way, genies aren't real."

Ralts looks down in shame and falls silent. They seem used to being shot down. I turn to Snivy. "Snivy, stop interrupting."

"Oh, right, sorry..."

"So Ralts," I say, "what happened with the genie?"

"Um, well, I went to the genie, and I wished to be strong, strong enough that my siblings couldn't boss me around! The genie gave me these fire powers, and I finally stood up to my siblings! But when everyone found out about my new powers, they all hated me, and wanted me to go away..."

I take a moment to think about Ralts' story. "... Ralts, it was mean for your siblings to boss you around and stuff, right?"

"Huh? Y-yeah, of course it was!"

"So then, aren't you being mean by bossing all these other pokemon around?"

"What? N-no, that's not true! I got bossed around a ton, so now it's only fair that I get to have a turn! I deserve this!"

"Ralts, you-" I start to raise my voice, and stop. I take a deep breath. "... These people are suffering. It's not fair to them for you to-"

"Oh yeah? Well LIFE isn't fair! I had to suffer too, so why shouldn't they?!"

"Because you-!"

As I start to yell, Snivy puts a hand on my shoulder. I look back to Ralts; their expression is angry, and their Wildfire is starting to flare up, but... despite all that, their eyes are starting to tear up again. I once again take a deep breath. "It wasn't fair that your siblings made you suffer; it was cruel and awful, and you deserve to be happy after what you've been through. But these other pokemon deserve to be happy, too. Making them suffer doesn't make anything better for you, it only makes everything worse."

"No... no! I'm- I'm nothing like my siblings! I'm not like them, I-" Ralts looks around at the pokemon in the room, their gaze finally falling on the burned and battered Pinsir. "I... I'm worse. They were right, weren't they? I really am a monster. They were right-"

"No." Ralts is interrupted by Snivy. "They're the monsters, not you. They're the ones who were cruel, who hurt you just because they could. They're the ones who taught you to take advantage of people weaker than you. You were hurt, and scared, and you were shown over and over, by your siblings and by your parents, that the strong get to rule the weak. They're the monsters." Snivy takes a step forward, their anger fading. "But you don't have to be like them. You can be kind. You can help people who are hurting! You can make sure no one has to suffer like you did! You don't need to be like your family, you can just... leave them behind, and go your own way. You don't have to hurt people."

Ralts looks up at Snivy, blinking the tears from their eyes. "I... no, I can't," they say, looking away. "It's too late now; I already hurt all these people. Everyone's gonna hate me again..." Ralts starts to sniffle and sob.

I try to think of how to fix this situation... and I remember Croagunk. "Wait, Ralts! You took the townspeople here by controlling them from a distance and making them walk here, right?"

Between sniffles, Ralts answers, "Y-yeah?"

"And Snivy," I say, "do you remember anything at all from while you were controlled?"

"Um, no, I don't..." Snivy thinks, and seems to connect the same dots I did. "Oh, I see!"

I smile. "Ralts, we have a plan."




Thanks for reading! Comments, questions, and criticisms are appreciated!