My Happiness

The outcome was cause for joy.

But the process had been grueling.

After all, the barriers in one's own mind could be walls many people could never scale.

Once a person got trapped in their own thoughts, ordinary logic became hard to follow.

Things that seemed unworthy of a second thought to others could drag at that person's feet like a curse.

Baimu knew this well.

Until Chansey found its own resolve, there was little he could do as its Trainer to help it overcome its inner weakness, no matter how many ideas he had.

So when Chansey said it wanted to try attacking, he was too happy to speak.

The experiment began that very day.

He had yet to teach Chansey Psychic, and he made no demands. It could use a move or not.

It only needed to launch one successful attack.

Chansey could already poison an opponent, but its subconscious drew a sharp distinction between direct harm and indirect harm.

It could fool others, but not itself.

As it stood before Aggron and raised its hand, ready to bring it down, memories of being struck and berated surged into its mind.

In an instant, it seemed to be back in the past. Voices that sounded neither quite male nor female filled its ears, ordering it to strike, to attack.

Their vicious words sent stinging pain through its body.

Like brands, they lay buried deep in Chansey's memory, waiting for it to tear them open and lay its pain bare before everyone.

Now,

what tormented Chansey was no longer the guilt it felt at hurting other Pokémon. It was the hellish memories others had created because it could not hurt them.

Its hand froze in midair.

No matter how it tried, it could not bring it down.

Chansey knew