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"I still can't believe we made it out in one piece!"
"Mal! Malamar!"
Amity enters her friend Luna's house with her Malamar after a long day of exploring Lavender Town, which had to be cut short after they were ambushed by ghosts. Her partner may have powerful psychic moves and the type advantage, but even it knows that it's time to retreat when they're being swarmed by dozens of wild spirits at the same time. The two collapse on the couch, relieved to have found safety.
Amity replays the event in her head. Gastlies, Haunters and Gengars were everywhere, and she would've had a harder time escaping them if it weren't for Malamar's hypnosis. She wonders what is it like to be able to control minds. To bend people and Pokémon to her will. To dominate over them. Heck, if Malamar wasn't her partner, it would've definitely hypnotized her by now. An idea sparked in her head: lately, she had been listening to self-hypnosis videos to help her sleep, which soon turned into sometimes using other forms of hypnosis as entertainment during the day. Because of this, she has a general knowledge of what should a hypnotist say to guide someone into a trance, so she wants to test it out on her Malamar. After all, it would be a fun idea to hypnotize a Pokémon known for its mind control.
"Hey, Malamar, I want to test something."
"Mal?"
"I want to see if I can hypnotize you."
There was a moment of silence between them before Malamar starts laughing hysterically. Its trainer? Hypnotizing it? What's next, making a Primeape happy? Finding a shiny Mewtwo? Look under every truck in hopes of catching a Mythical Pokémon? However, upon seeing its trainer's serious face, it quiets down, realizing that she meant it. Maybe it could entertain her idea and let her do it: it has been doing a lot of hypnotizing, so this could be its chance to see what is it like to be the one under someone else's control.
"Malamar!"
"Thanks for accepting. I'm really looking forward into this."
Amity concentrates while Malamar looks at her eagerly. This is bound to be interesting.
"First off, I want you to take slow deep breaths. In," she inhales, "and out," she exhales. Malamar copies her. Ok, this is a good start.
"Next, I want you to picture in your head a marionette with five strings, one for each part of the body." Going straight for the image already? How bold of her.
"This marionette, like any other, is controlled by strings. You are the holder of those strings. You are in control of its body and all parts of it: its legs, its arms and its head." Malamar can see it clearly. The puppet is within its grasp, obeying its every command.
"This marionette is your mind. You have a strong hold on your mind." Well, isn't that obvious? Of course, Malamar would have a strong grip on its own mind. "Let's test its strength. Every part of its body is connected to your own, so let's demonstrate by lifting its right arm." Malamar does so and gets surprised when its own right tentacle is lifting on its own. "As you can see, when you lift the marionette's arm, your tentacle does the same. Try lifting its other arm." Now Malamar's left tentacle is being lifted as well. Did its trainer really got the whole hypnosis thing down?
"Now that we've tested the marionette, let's try lifting both arms at the same time. See how far they can reach. Higher, higher, like it's trying to reach for the sky". At this point, Malamar is stretching its tentacles upwards. What is going on? "At the same time, the strings on the legs are pulled downwards, like gravity itself has become stronger. Your whole body feels heavy, yet your tentacles are still reaching up." Now this is ridiculous. Malamar is weighted down by this invisible force while its tentacles are floating. It hates to admit this, but this is extremely exhausting. Hopefully, Amity would move along so that-
"Drop."
She snaps her fingers, Malamar's tentacle now falling back. Relief. "Let's try that again, only this time, the strings on the legs will pull harder, making you ten times heavier than before." Against Malamar's protest, its tentacles were lifted again, though not as high as before. The marionette, meanwhile, is having some difficulty too, sharing its owner's exhaustion.
"Drop."
The tentacles dropped fast. "Let's try this one more time. The leg strings will pull harder, so try your best to keep the arms up." At this point, Malamar is too tired to wonder how is she able to put it in that state, its remaining energy focused on lifting its tentacles. "On the count of three, I will tell you 'sleep', allowing the marionette's arms to drop. Afterwards, you will fall into a deep trance, ready to be open for any and all of my suggestions."
"One." Malamar's tentacles tremble, waiting for that drop.
"Two." The marionette is looking very unsteady.
"Three." She snaps her fingers a third time. "Sleep."
"Maaaaal..." Malamar sighs in relief as its tentacles fall beside it, closing its eyes. If it could still think, it would've been proud of Amity's successful hypnosis. After checking to see if its tentacles are nice and limp, Amity continues. "The marionette, just like you, is tired. It requires its strings to be cut, with each cut string sending you deeper into trance." It makes sense. If the strings are its link to the puppet, than cutting them would seperate the two. Malamar is fine with that as it's too tired to be the puppet's master.
"Starting with the left leg, its string no longer linked to it..." Snip! The sensation of relaxation grows deeper. "Now the right leg, its string cut as well..." Snip! Amity's voice seems more distant. "Left arm..." Snip! Another part that Malamar doesn't have to control. "Right arm..." Snip! Everything feels more hazy. "And finally, the head, your remaining control over the marionette, all gone with one more..."
SNIP!
The imaginary marionette collapses to the ground, just like how Malamar sank deeper into trance. Amity couldn't believe this, but she actually managed to hypnotized her Malamar. The question is what to do with it? Making it act like a Torchic seems way overdone in media featuring hypnosis and there's no way she'll make it her servant, so what now? She finally came to a decision.
"Now, remember how I said that marionettes need strings to move? Well, in order for yours to move, we'll need to give it new strings, but you're too deep into trance to control it, do you?" Malamar nods slightly. "Well, how about you allow me to be its puppeteer, letting me to control your mind? Don't worry, I promise I will take good care of it." It nods again. "Good. I will count up to five, and with each number, a new string will appear, giving me more control over you."
"One." One string appears, yet Malamar still feels blissfully empty.
"Two." Another one appears, Amity's hold on Malamar growing stonger.
"Three." Malamar lets it happen. She's its trainer. It can trust her.
"Four." Pokémon listen to their trainers. That's what they all do.
"Five. Wake up as I have full control of your mind."
Malamar opens its eyes, awake yet unfocused. It looks at Amity expectenly.
"You have been a wonderful Malamar. I'm so glad to be your puppet master." Malamar let out a cheerful "Mal" before drifting to her side. "First order of business, how about we do something cheeky, like getting back at Luna for suggesting us to go to that haunted town by pranking her?" Normally, Malamar would be against the idea of pranks, but now, it finds it makes perfect sense. Luna should've known that Amity isn't as much of a fan of ghosts as she is, so a lightheart prank would even the score. "Mal! Malamar!"
"Perfect. Lets go find some aluminum foil so we can cover everything in it."