Attract Gone Awry

Part 1

Bad Romance


"Watch out! Comin' through! RUN FOR YOUR LIIII- OW!"

The Jolteon smashed into a wall in the gym at a fairly fast speed, looking rather comical in the way he had his arms and legs out flat against the wall. About 20 feet up in the air. He had been practicing the Magnet Rise move, where one repels themselves from the Earth's surface using some form of electromagnetism. With this move, it was possible to soar through the air, avoiding attacks. The downside, though, was that there was a distinct lack of friction with moving around in this way, since the user was no longer on the ground. In this case, it turned the Jolteon into a living pinball, bouncing this way and that, before hitting the wall flat-on. A female Glaceon, in what could be considered quite an unusual sight itself, was following behind him on a small cloud.

"Dashyyyyy! Are you alright?!" The Glaceon asked, as the Jolteon, in another comical situation, slid down the wall a few feet before falling off of it, landing on his back on the floor.

"... Just... 5 more minutes Ma..." Dash said, dazed by the impact.

The Glaceon puffed her cheeks out. "Oh Dashy, wake up!" The cloud she was riding lowered itself down next to Dash, and she hopped off, ran over to the dazed Jolteon, and bopped him on the head.

"Ow!" Dash exclaimed, quickly sitting up and rubbing his head. "What the...?!" He looked around, and remembered what happened. "... Bah... Why can't I get a handle on that move..."

The Glaceon hugged Dash, and said "Don't worry Dashy, you'll get it eventually! I know you will!"

"Thanks, Ming-Ming..." Dash replied, blushing a little at being hugged. Ming-Ming helped him to his feet, and he hobbled over to a bench, where a male Flareon and female Abra were watching the two.

"F for execution, but you get an A for effort!" The Flareon teased.

"Shut up, Mag." Dash muttered, as he plopped himself down next to the Flareon, who was chuckling to himself. "At least I'm able to fly. Sort of..."

"Sort of, is right." Mag said, still chuckling. "Maybe we should try putting padding on the walls of the gym or something..." He joked.

"Now now, he's making good progress, I'd say." Said the Abra girl, smiling warmly at the Jolteon.

"Yeah! Dashy's doing great!" Ming-Ming hopped on the spot happily.

"See? Alex and Ming-Ming think I'm doing good." Dash said to Mag, smirking.

"Alright, so you've made SOME progress." Mag shrugged. "You're still crashing into walls left and right."

"Least I'm not doing it as much as before." Dash said as he put his hands behind his head in a relaxed pose.

"...Crashing less is still crashing..." Mag mumbled.

Dash's ears perked up. "Whazzat?" He asked. "I didn't quite hear that, 'big' brother..." He glared at his twin brother, who was trying to act innocent.

"Oh, nothing, nothing at all..." Mag said, waving his hand dismissively at Dash, which seemed to irritate the Jolteon even more.

As the two started bickering, and the girls tried to get them to stop, a very unusual-looking Lopunny poked her head out around the doorway to the gym. She had been there for a while now, peeking in on the inhabitants, but watching Dash in particular. She would watch the Jolteon and the others, and pull her head back out of sight whenever they seemed to be looking in her direction. What made her so unusual looking was the fact she had on all black clothes. She wore a black bow on each of her long ears, and was wearing a black t-shirt under a black button-up long-sleeved shirt, with a black skirt, and was wearing black socks with black boots. Even her hair was black, although it seemed to be dyed that way.

And if her appearance was strange, her voice and manner of speaking were even stranger, as she pulled her head back, sighed, and said to herself, in quite the valley-girl voice, "Oh Dash McGregor, when will we be together?"

She remembered the time they first met, a few months ago, on the day of the first round of the SECT. She had been walking to the arena to watch the battles, when a Machoke came along and started harassing her, trying to get her to go with him to the arena. He seemed to get the impression she was just another goth girl, a quite attractive one, sure, but she was more than just a goth, she believed. Those mon didn't truly understand what it meant to be blessed by the dark spirits. They acted mopey and pitiful, whining about all sorts of crap. But not her. She figured the dark spirits would be happier with a worshiper who was themselves happy.

And perhaps they were feeling particularly grateful to her that day, as Dash McGregor just happened to be walking by at that time she was arguing with the Machoke. He told the mon to leave her alone if she didn't want to go with him, and the Machoke attacked him. But with a single Thunderbolt attack right to the chest, he stopped the Machoke right in his tracks. Him and the Lopunny exchanged pleasantries, but Dash had to run, as he was going to be late to watch the first match of the SECT.

She was sure she had just met her guardian fallen angel that day...

From that point, she tried to spy on him now and then, trying to work up the courage to talk to him. But she just couldn't bring herself to introduce herself more properly to him. She would go to talk to him, but then wuss out. "Not today." The Lopunny said to herself, as she stuck her head back out to watch the Jolteon, who now seemed to be giving the silent treatment to the Flareon, while the Abra looked irritated at the two of them.

She recognized the Glaceon as Ming-Ming, who she had met at a recent trip to the mall. Why she was here with Dash and the others, she had no idea. She had heard that the Flareon was his twin brother, and that he was going out with an Abra girl, who must be the same Abra girl seen here.

"Oh dark spirits, like, I've been good lately, readin' up on spirits like you guys and junk..." She whispered. "Just let me talk to him for a little bit, maybe ask him out or something..."

Strangely enough, the little plea she made seemed to work.

"I'm gonna go get a drink." Dash said to the others, and headed towards a different door near where the Lopunny was watching him from.

"Eeeeee!" The Lopunny squealed. "Thank you thank you thank you, dark spirits!" She hopped on the spot a few times, before bounding off after Dash. Eventually, she caught up with him getting a drink from a water bubbler. "Uh... um..." The Lopunny stammered, before finally finding some courage and saying "H-hi. I'm uh, Chrissy, Chrissy Dubani. D'you, like, remember me?"

Dash looked up from the water bubbler, and blinked a bit. "Oh yeah, I remember you. Kinda hard not to remember someone like you... Er, no offense." Dash said, laughing a bit nervously. He walked away from the water bubbler over to Chrissy, and stuck his hands in his pockets. "So, what's up?"

"W-well..." Chrissy began. "I just wanted to like, thank you for helping me a while back. Didn't really get much of a chance to do so then..."

"Hey, don't mention it." Dash said, with a grin. "I was just doing the right thing, that's all."

"A-anyways... I was wondering..." Chrissy said, trying to get up the nerve to say what came next. "D-do you wanna like, do something sometime? Catch a movie, or go out to eat somewhere?" She was on pins and needles, waiting for what seemed like forever for his response. But it wasn't what she was hoping for.

"Oh, you mean... Like a date or something?" Dash asked. "Uh, dunno how to tell you this, but..." He looked a bit sheepish. "I've got a girlfriend already. I actually was just in the gym with her."

"W-what?" Chrissy felt heartbroken. "Wait, you mean you and like, that... that kid? You're... going out with each other?" She sounded quite irritated.

"Heh, yep, me and the 'kid' are an item." Dash said, with a happy little sigh. He noticed the Lopunny looking kind of sullen all of a sudden. "Uh, you alright?" He asked, sounding a bit concerned.

"No, I'm not." Chrissy huffed. "I finally work up the courage to ask you out, and you're already taken! By some... some little kid or some junk!"

"Hey now, she's not a little kid." Dash said, sounding a bit irritated at this point himself. "Although I know a certain Ninetales who would beg to differ..." He said to himself.

"Oooooh!" Chrissy groaned. She turned around and stomped away, muttering to herself, barely noticing Ming-Ming walking past her as she left.

"Was that Miss Bani?" Ming-Ming said to Dash. "She didn't look too happy..."

"She just asked me out." Dash said. "But I told her I'm already going out with you, and she got all angry."

"S-she did?!" Ming-Ming exclaimed, looking back at the way the Lopunny had gone, but she had already gone out of sight. She looked back at Dash and asked "How do you know her, anyways...?"

"I saw her getting harassed by some moron of a Machoke back on the day of the first round of the SECT. Y'know, when I was gonna meet Regina?" Dash replied. "I took him out, and I guess she got a crush on me for saving her or something."

"R-really?" Ming-Ming looked at the floor and tapped her foot against it. "Well, you're quite a guy, Dashy, so um, of course you'd have another girl with a crush on you..."

Dash laughed, and said "Maybe so, but you're the one I like." He gave her a smile, and then said "C'mon, let's go back to the gym. We've got some more training to do, remember?"

Ming-Ming blushed quite a bit at the remark about how she was the one he liked, and said "O-oh, okay Dashy!" And trotted along with him over to the door to the gym.

***

Chrissy stomped her way back to the girls' dorm, and went into her dorm room. She nearly slammed the door upon entering, and then flopped down in a seat. Her dorm room was almost as strange as she was when it came to appearances. Lots of black furniture, although there were touches of color here and there, most of it from her parents, who figured she could use some colors around where she stayed. She wasn't too fond of the brighter colors, but kept onto them anyways. After all, why bother buying furniture and other stuff when your parents already got you a bunch of it?

Chrissy sighed, and propped her head up on her hands. "That girl..." She muttered to herself. "Taking my guardian fallen angel from me... I'll make him mine. I'll do whatever it takes." She thought about her 4 years at the PCA, and how every time she found a guy she thought was good enough for her, he'd shoot her down, whether it was due to her unusual appearance, or her strange way of talking, or some other stupid reason. But not this time. Not this guy. She wasn't going to let this one get away from her, even if she had to resort to...

"That's it!" Chrissy said, perking up. "It's risky, but like, it's SURE to work!" She hopped up, and started pacing around the room, putting a plan together. "Yeah, I'll get him by himself... Get him to look right at me... And then like, when he's least expecting it... Oh, but it causes so much trouble sometimes... But this is the only way!" She stopped her pacing, walked over to her mirror, and smiled.

She was going to use the techniques bestowed upon her by the dark spirits: her attraction techniques. And she was going to use the most powerful one she had.

Attract.

It was shortly after an accident she had while surfing when she was 9 years old that she discovered them. She had learned Attract on a whim before the accident, but when she used it afterwards, it seemed to have become quite a bit more powerful. Whereas the normal version would just fluster the opponent and make it harder for them to attack the user, it seemed to make the afflicted opponent actually like her a lot more, until it wore off, of course. But even then, it seemed to last longer than a normal Attract. She tried other, similar moves, and found they too had a more powerful effect. No one seemed to know what could have caused this dramatic increase in power of these moves. But it seemed her parents had an idea...

Dark spirits. That was what Chrissy hear them say one night. They tried to deny having said as much when Chrissy confronted them about it, but she knew what they said. And that's when Chrissy made a decision. After all, no one seemed to know what could be causing this, so this theory was as good as any. And somehow, Chrissy kind of liked the idea of dark spirits granting her these powers. So her decision was, if the dark spirits really DID give her these powers, then she'll try to repay them however she can. And so, that was when Chrissy began worshiping them, and dressing in all black. She didn't act all gloomy, though. In fact, she remained her usual cheerful self, although with a bit of a dark twist to it. Her parents seemed very worried about what their daughter had become, but Chrissy assured them that this was the right path she needed to take. It didn't seem to comfort them very much, but they decided to just leave her be, as long as she didn't get too far into this dark spirit thing.

Chrissy decided to put on her favorite clothes for the plan, and so she got undressed, and put on a black long-sleeved shirt, a black corset, a black pleated skirt, black fishnet stockings, and a pair of black boots. She then put on some black eyeliner and black lipstick, and looked at herself in the mirror. She had worn this outfit to the first round of the SECT, where she met Dash, so it was only fitting that she wear it again when she was going to make him hers. She winked at her reflection, and said "Get ready, Dash McGregor, and feel the attraction!" And with that, she left her dorm room and set out to find the Jolteon.

***

"Whew, I'm beat..." Dash said to the others, as they sat down in the quad. Him and Mag had just finished their training for the day, which involved more crashing into walls on his part, as well as practicing stuff like Quick Attack maneuvers.

"I dunno about you, but I'm feelin' pretty good." Mag said, leaning back in his seat. Although, to be fair, he DID have the easier stuff he wanted to work on, like Flamethrower, such as adjusting the width and length of the flames to reach wide-range areas and long-range targets.

"Hey, you didn't end up careening around the room, crashing into stuff." Dash said to his brother, sticking his tongue out at him.

"Are you two really gonna argue about this again?" Alex sighed. They had argued a few times during the training, especially at one point when Dash almost went flying right into a Flamethrower attack Mag was using at the time.

"Yeah, you two shouldn't fight!" Ming-Ming said, kicking her feet back and forth in her seat. "You should get along!"

"Well, they ARE brothers, though..." Alex mused. "And brothers often fight."

"But Dashy and Maggie should still TRY to get along..." Ming-Ming said, crossing her arms and nodding.

"Hey now, we get along... Sometimes." The brothers said in unison, and they both looked at each other in mock surprise, before they started laughing.

Around the corner of a wall, Chrissy was hiding, watching the four, waiting for Dash to be left by himself. "C'mon... c'mon... Leave already, you guys..." She muttered to herself as she watched the four talk for a little while about random subjects. Eventually, she got her break... Sort of. The girls got up and said goodbye to the twin brothers, before leaving to go to the girls' dorm, which made Chrissy hop back and hide behind a bush as they passed by. Once they were out of sight, Chrissy went back to her spot around the corner and observed the situation. Mag and Dash were the only ones in the quad, so if she was gonna strike, now would be a good chance, she figured. So she walked out into view, and over to where Mag and Dash were sitting.

"Like, hello there, Dash." Chrissy said, making her voice sound a bit more alluring than usual.

Dash turned to look at who was speaking to him, and saw Chrissy. "Uh, hey." He said, sounding a little cautious. After all, the last time he saw her, she was stomping away after being told he was taken already.

Mag turned to look at who was talking too, and looked rather confused by this goth-outfit-wearing Lopunny's appearance. "Uh, who's this?" He asked Dash.

"Oh, this is Chrissy." Dash replied. "She's the one I told you about after the first round of the SECT, the one I saved from the Machoke. And the one who just told me earlier how she has a crush on me or something."

"So wait, you've got another girl with a crush on you?" Mag asked, sounding a little surprised. "And I only have the one girl who's interested in me, my own girlfriend." He laughed a bit.

"Look, I'll give you one more chance." Chrissy said to Dash. "Ditch the little kid, and I'll show you what a more mature girl is capable of." She gave the Jolteon a seductive wink.

Dash, however, didn't seem to be too amused by this, as he got up from his seat and started to walk away. "Hey, that's my girlfriend you're talking about." He said, sounding a bit irritated as he turned around to face the Lopunny. "She may not always act like the most mature girl, but that's one of the things I like about her. She's always able to cheer you up, no matter what. Now if you excuse me, I'm gonna go. C'mon, Mag."

Mag got up, looked between Dash and Chrissy, and said "Eh, alright, I'm comin'..." And the two began walking away.

"HEY!" Chrissy yelled, causing the brothers to stop in their tracks and turn around. "I'm gonna make you mine no matter WHAT!"

"What the hell is your problem, lady?!" Dash yelled back. He was pretty fed up with her antics at this point. But he certainly wasn't prepared for what she did next.

Chrissy closed her eyes, leaned forward a bit, and ran her hands up her legs, her body, and then her chest, and as she did so, a dark red glow began to appear around her. She raised her hands above her head, and then opened her eyes and gave a smirk. Then she quickly made a gun shape with her right hand and aimed it at Dash, and all of a sudden a dark red beam shot out of her finger. Before he could even react, Dash was hit with the beam and stumbled back a little.

"Dash!" Mag yelled out as he ran to his brother, who seemed a little dazed by whatever it was Chrissy hit him with. "What did you do to him?!" He yelled at the Lopunny, who was now laughing quite loudly.

"Simple, I just like, used my Attract on him!" She said, grinning deviously. "Now he's mine!"

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Mag snapped. "It's just Attract, he's only gonna be a little flustered by you!"

"Oh really?" Chrissy asked sweetly. "Why don't you try to snap him out of it yourself?"

Mag turned to look at his brother to do just that, when he noticed Dash wasn't looking flustered, so much as he looked... awestruck. He was swaying a little on the spot, just staring at Chrissy like she was the most beautiful sight he'd ever seen.

"So... beautiful..." Dash murmured. "I... love... her..." He sounded like he was in a trance.

"Alright, lover boy, snap out of i-" Mag began, as he shook the Jolteon a little, but was blindsided when Dash suddenly turned towards him and hit him with a near-point-blank Thunderbolt, knocking the Flareon off of his feet and landing on his back about 10 feet away. "W-what the..." Mag was completely taken by surprise by this, and could barely move due to the paralysis effect of the Thunderbolt. "D-Dash, what the f-fuck are... are you d-doing?" He could barely talk due to the paralysis, and could only watch as Dash turned back towards Chrissy, took a few steps towards her, and then ran up to her and embraced her, not just in a normal hug, but like he had just been returned to the love of his life after not seeing her in forever.

"Heeheehee!" Chrissy giggled as she was hugged by Dash, squeezing him tightly. "C'mon, Dash, let's go back to my place and get acquainted!" She gave him another wink, which this time made him smile widely, as he nodded in agreement.

"D-DASH!" Mag yelled as best he could, as his brother left the quad with the Lopunny. "G-G-GET B-BACK HERE!" But it was no use, Dash and Chrissy left, without giving so much as a glance at him, laying on the ground. He could barely move, so chasing after the two of them was out of the question. But he had to do SOMETHING, but what? First things first, he had to get rid of the paralysis. 'If only I had a few Cheri berries on me...' Mag thought. But he didn't carry a whole lot of berries with him, especially since he didn't think his own brother would hit him with an attack that would paralyze him outside of training or sparring. 'My cellphone... I've gotta get it out and call someone...' He thought, and so he tried to move his hand to his pocket, but it kept wanting to just lay there by his side. 'Alright, gotta try harder... 1, 2, 3!' He put all his effort into getting his hand into his pocket, and after a few seconds, it wavered and moved slowly to his pocket, and he grabbed out his cellphone. It took a few minutes of trying, but he managed to hit enough buttons to auto-dial Alex's number. 'Please don't be sleeping...' He thought, and he mentally cheered when he faintly heard her voice greet him, as he wasn't able to bring the phone to his ear, so he had to try and talk to her with his phone near his side.

"Hi Mag, what's up?" He could hear Alex say. "Miss me already?" She said with a laugh.

"H-help..." Mag managed to say as loud as he could. "Dash... w-went nuts... paralyzed me..."

"What's that?" Alex asked. "I can barely hear you."

"D-Dash paralyzed me!" Mag said, even louder than before. "C-come to the... the quad..."

"Dash did what?!" The Abra said, sounding surprised. "... Hang on, I'll be right there!" Her phone then beeped off. After a few seconds, Mag heard a sound like a 'pop!' and saw from where he was lying down that Alex had Teleported into the quad, holding a Paralyze Heal. She ran over to him, and lifted his head up a bit. "Oh Mag, are you alright?" She asked, sounding worried. She even had her eyes open, if only a little, to directly look at him to see if he was hurt.

"I'm fine..." Mag said, as she applied the Paralyze Heal. "Just got caught off guard, is all... Not every day your brother gets hit by Attract and attacks you..."

"Attract? That doesn't make you attack mon, though, just makes you all uncomfortable and kinda lovey-dovey towards the user..." Alex said. "There." She finished applying the Paralyze Heal. "How do you feel now?"

"Fine." Mag said, although he sounded a bit sullen. "Confused as hell, but fine."

"You and me both..." Alex said, sitting beside him.

***

Chrissy and Dash walk together to Chrissy's dorm, all the while Dash is practically latched onto her, sighing happily. They walked inside and Chrissy pulled up a chair for Dash to sit in across from the one she herself took a seat on. She watched Dash with interest, as he swayed a little in his seat, still staring at Chrissy with that grin on his face, like he's the luckiest mon in the world. 'And as well he should.' Chrissy thought. 'I like to think I'm quite a catch!' She smiled back at the Jolteon, as she thought of what they should do now. 'I guess I should test my control over him...' She thought, and so she said "Alright, Dash, can you like... stand on your head?" She couldn't think of much for him to do, but sure enough, the Jolteon nodded enthusiastically, and hopped out of his chair to try and stand on his head. He didn't do too well, but Chrissy was satisfied by the effort.

"Is there anything you want me to do next?" Dash said, sounding quite happy.

'Is this the right thing to do, I wonder?' Chrissy thought, as she continued to watch the Jolteon, who seemed ready to spring into action at the first sign of a command. 'He's kinda not REALLY into me this way... But... The dark spirits gave me these powers, and they led us together. They've never steered me wrong before. They must want us to be together, by any means necessary.' That's when Chrissy got the idea for her next test of Dash's loyalty. "Dash... kiss me." She said, wondering if he'd go through with it.

"Gladly!" Dash exclaimed, and he sprung forward, held Chrissy close, and kissed her right on the lips. It was exactly as Chrissy hoped it would be: passionate, loving, caring, as if he was truly in love with her. She reached up and wrapped her arms around him, tilting her head to the side slightly as they continued to kiss. Dash moved his head down and began nuzzling her neck, as he moved his hands along her body.

"Oh Dash..." Chrissy gasped, relishing the feeling he was giving her. She moaned lightly as he moved his hands to try and go up her shirt. But then Chrissy remembered how Dash had said he was taken, and that Ming-Ming was his girlfriend. Chrissy frowned a little. 'Why am I thinking about that runt?!' Chrissy thought, irritated at how this was ruining her mood. 'Wait... She'll obviously wonder where Dash is, and when she finds out what happened, she'll try to take Dash from me! I can't let that happen!'

Dash seemed to notice she was irritated, because he pulled back and asked "Is.. something wrong?"

Chrissy got an idea for the ultimate test of Dash's loyalty at that moment. "Say, you love me, don't you?" She asked Dash sweetly.

"Of... of course I do!" Dash said, swaying a bit on the spot, but still looking quite happy.

"I want you to go find Ming-Ming." Chrissy said. "... And tell her it's over between you two. Tell her you've found a much better girlfriend than her."

Dash sways a bit more on the spot, and looks a bit drowsy, but then shakes his head and goes back to looking happy again, and says "Yes, my love!"

"If you do this, I'll give you a BIG reward!" Chrissy says, giving the Jolteon a wink as she runs a hand up his leg.

"You can count on... on me!" Dash replies, and takes off, going out the door and down the hall, searching for the Glaceon.

"I should like... go follow him." Chrissy says to no one in particular. But before she goes, she says "Thank you again, dark spirits! He's so cool!" And then she takes off after Dash, bounding along.

***

"So... Dashy's been hit with Attract... by Miss Bani?" Ming-Ming asked Mag and Alex, who had tracked down the Glaceon in the lounge and told her what had happened earlier. "But... But Miss Bani is nice! I mean..." She puffed out her cheeks a bit. "She DOES think I'm just a little kid, but she wouldn't do something like that to Dashy, and Dashy wouldn't just attack Maggie like that! ... Right?" Her voice was almost pleading at this point, like she wanted it to just be one big joke.

"I'm sorry, Ming-Ming, but that's what happened..." Mag said, sounding sullen. He didn't want to have to tell her this, but it was important that she know.

"But... Attract doesn't make you act like that, right?" Ming-Ming asked the two. "I haven't seen anyone act like that when hit with Attract, and I watch a LOT of battles!"

"That's the thing, it's very strange." Alex said. "I've never heard of someone reacting to Attract that way either."

"Yeah... Dash has been Attracted before, during battles, and he didn't turn around and start attacking the wrong mon or anything." Mag said, crossing his arms. It seemed they all were stumped as to what had happened back there.

"Ooh, ooh! I know!" Ming-Ming said, perking up and hopping on the spot a few times excitedly. "Let's do some investigating! We'll find out more about Miss Bani and hopefully find out what happened!"

"Well, it's worth a shot..." Mag said, shrugging. "Someone around here is bound to know more about her."

"Then we should split up and ask around." Alex said. "We'll meet back here once we've gotten some info on her, and then we'll try to figure out what happened and how we can reverse it."

Mag smiled at his girlfriend. "Sound good to me, hon." He then turned to Ming-Ming and asked "Does that sound good to you?"

"Yep!" Ming-Ming saluted the two, and a cloud swirled into existence next to her, which she hopped onto. "C'mon Cirrus, we've got work to do!" She cheered to the cloud, which raised her up into the air and out the doorway.

Mag watched her fly out the doorway, and sighed. "Wish I had a cool mode of transportation like that."

Alex giggled, and patted him on the back. "There there, walking is good for you, right?"

Mag sighed again, and said "Hey, you can Teleport, you don't have to walk either unless you want to." Mag and Alex then left the room too, with Alex still giggling.

As Ming-Ming soon found out, it WAS pretty hard for mons to not notice the goth Lopunny in the past. She was able to gather some information about her pretty quick, and it wasn't long before she was heading back to the lounge. And it wasn't much longer after that that Mag came in, and then Alex arrived too. "Okay! So get this!" Ming-Ming said, as she hopped onto a couch. "A bunch of students say she's been into the dark spirits and stuff for as long as they can remember, and the weird part, is that it might be true! She's been able to do all kinds of unusual tricks in battle!" She then puffed out her cheeks and muttered "Wish I could get cool dark spirit powers or something..."

"Yeah, I heard something about that." Mag said. "Although she apparently has a strange battle record. She's been known to kick the asses of fellow Senior students, and yet sometimes she'll lose against a Freshman. Maybe it has to do with that Attract ability. After all, it won't work on same-gender opponents, so that's a move you can't use against them."

"Well, I found out something that makes me kinda nervous..." Alex said, her expression one of worry. "According to some students, when she was a Freshman, she was in a 1 on 1 battle against a student who had his team sitting on a nearby bench in the arena. She used Attract on him, and he went crazy all of a sudden when his teammates cheered him on to get him to defeat her. He actually took out one of his teammates and was about to do the same to a second one before he was subdued..."

"Holy crap..." Mag said, sounding amazed. "She can do that to guys?"

"Miss Bani sounds like she can make boys go all loopy..." Ming-Ming said, looking at her hands as she poked her fingers together.

"This is bad..." Mag said. "We need to find Dash, and get him back to normal, before he hurts anyone..."

***

Dash rushed through the hallways, looking high and low for any sign of the Glaceon he was told to find. 'I must find her... I must find her... She told me to find her... I must find her...' His thoughts droned on and on in his head, with the occasional small thought that sounded like it said something about 'resisting her hold'... Whatever that meant. The important thing was that he had to find the Glaceon, and he had to tell her he was through with her. Then he'd get a BIG reward from the one he loved... But wasn't there someone else he loved? ... No, of course not, there was only Chrissy.

Chrissy trailed behind him, barely able to keep up with the Jolteon. "Man, he's really fast and junk..." She said to herself as she saw him push past other students in his way.

Finally, Dash seemed to stop at the entrance to the gym and was looking through the doorway. It seemed Ming-Ming was in there, along with Mag and Alex. 'That's right, go let her have it.' Chrissy thought with a smirk as she watched Dash go into the gym, and she hid behind the door to see what would happen.

"Ming-Ming." Dash said, as he approached the group. He swayed on the spot a little, and looked almost like he was in a trance.

"Dashy!" Ming-Ming ran a few steps towards him, before coming to a stop, remembering what had happened to him. "Dashy, are you... okay?" She asked, sounding concerned.

Mag and Alex watched the two, tensed up and ready to spring into action in case anything went wrong. "Careful, Ming-Ming, he's... not himself at the moment." Mag warned.

"Ming-Ming..." Dash said again. "... It's over between us. I'm with Chrissy now. I love her, and only her." His voice was almost monotone, like a robot.

Ming-Ming took a step back, a look of shock on her face. "Dashy... that's... that's..." She said, almost in a whisper. But then she shut her eyes tight and stamped her foot. "That's not true!" Now she was yelling, saying "You're under Miss Bani's control or something! You have to fight it, Dashy! Fight it!" She runs up to Dash and actually starts banging on his chest with her fists. "Please Dashy, fight it! Fight it!"

"Ming-Ming, be careful!" Mag yelled to the Glaceon as he and Alex ran over to the two, and tried to separate them.

But then Dash started to look irritated and a little confused. "Ngh... I... I..." He stammered, until he suddenly roared "THAT'S ENOUGH!" as electricity crackled all over his body, and was released outward in an electric shockwave, sending Ming-Ming, Mag, and Alex all flying backwards and crashing to the floor. "Me and... Chrissy are together now!" Dash said, swaying where he stood again. "I won't let... you interfere with us!"

Ming-Ming struggled to get up, but the Discharge attack's paralysis effect had already taken hold, rendering her barely able to move. "D-Dashy..." Ming-Ming managed to say. "I... I won't give up! I'll... I'll get y-you back to normal!"

Laughter ran out in the gym, as Chrissy walked through the door and over to Dash, wrapping her arms around his waist and looking at the group of paralyzed mon on the floor over his shoulder. "It's useless!" She bragged. "You can't like, undo my Attract just by TALKING to him and junk!"

Alex struggled to sit up, but slumped back down again. "You... You're just m-manipulating him! He doesn't really l-love you!"

"Shut up!" Chrissy yelled, stamping her foot. "I'll keep him under my Attract until he loves me all on his own!" She patted Dash on the head and squeezed him a bit around the waist. "Heeheehee, we'll have so much fun together!" She said with a devious grin.

Mag managed to flip himself over and looked at Dash in the eyes. "C'mon, 'little' brother, wake up! Can't you see she's tricking you?!" He pleaded. But Dash still seemed to be in a trance, smiling dumbly as Chrissy nuzzled his neck.

Ming-Ming couldn't bear to watch the scene, and tried to turn away from it, with tears starting to form in her eyes. "I... I can't watch you like this, Dashy... What would Reggie think if she saw you like this, huh?!"

Suddenly, Dash's goofy smile was replaced with a look of realization. "Regina... She'll try to separate me and my love too... I must... eliminate the competition... for my love!"

"Eh?" Chrissy said, letting Dash go and giving him a puzzled look. "Who the what now? Who's Regina?"

"Don't worry, my love!" Dash said as he turned around to face her. "I'll make sure she won't bother us, and then we'll be together in peace!" And with that, he sprinted out of the gym, and out of sight.

"W-wait for meeeee!" Chrissy yelled after him. "Who the heck is Regina, anyways? And why did he like, decide on his own to take care of her and junk?" Chrissy thought aloud. She began to worry that perhaps she didn't have as much control of him as she thought...

"Damn!" Mag said, as he struggled to get up and follow Chrissy, who took off out the same door Dash went through. "I... grr... I can't get up!" He said, collapsing back onto the floor. Being in such close proximity to Dash's Discharge attack, and not having time to brace against it, seemed to cause the paralysis to take effect much faster on Mag than it would normally. It seemed the same way for Alex and Ming-Ming as well, since they too were struggling to get up.

"I hope Reggie will be okay..." Ming-Ming said quietly. "If Dashy can do this to all of us on his own, then him and Miss Bani could..." She couldn't bring herself to say it, or even think it. Regina could be in serious trouble...

TO BE CONTINUED