Chapter 6 Manipulation Pokemon researchers often say that creativity is the most important form of intelligence. Clearly Pikachu could resist her charm, but before May interfered he didn’t want to. So Ivey formulated another elaborate scheme to use this to her advantage. Since she was still very close to Ash she convinced him to lend her his Knoct-owl (the one he caught in his Johto days). She claimed that she wanted to do an experiment with its hypnotic powers. Which was actually true. That night May came to Ivey’s lab. The girl was no naïve that all Ivey had to do was ask her to help with an experiment. She cheerfully entered. May’s eyes were full of innocence, like she had never been betrayed in her life. Ivey told May she just wanted to see how deep a hypnotic state knoct-owl could put her into. Soon May was in a deep trance and Ivey began her work. Ivey: “What is your name?” May: “May” Ivey: “Who is your favourite person?” May: “Ash” Ivey: “Does Ash like you?” May: “?” Ivey: “Does Ash like you?” May: “I don’t know.” Ivey: “When did you start to like Ash.” May: “The Day I met him. When I saw him sitting at his sick Pikachus bedside.” Ivey liked this answer. If she liked Ash before hearing jigglypuffs song then Ivey could continue to delude herself into thinking the song didn’t effect her. Ivey: “How do you feel about Ivey?” May: “She’s smart and pretty.” The scientist was startled at this answer. She thought May would secretly dislike her. They were rivals after all. Still it was one less thing to change about the girls thinking. Ivey: “Do you want to be friends with Ivey?” May: “Yes” Ivey: “Why?” May: “Ash likes Ivey.” Ivey: “Do you like the other girls?” May: “No. I try to, but no.” Ivey: Ivey wondered, “Why not?” May: “Ash likes to be with them but he doesn’t love them. I think (pause) he loves Ivey. They want to make themselves happy, not Ash.” This answer shocked Ivey. Ivey: “Is Ash happy with you?” May: “?” Ivey: “Are you with Ash to make yourself happy?” May: “Sometimes.” May was crying now. Ivey: “Do you like yourself?” May: “No.” Now both her and Ivey were in tears. Ivey had been prepared to alter her mind. She wanted to rip away these pure feelings that defined her. Worse she had won Ash through trickery while this girl had bared her heart and soul to him. Ivey collapsed in tears of shame. At that instant, May smiled a devilish grin and rose above the whimpering woman. She thought to herself, could Ivey’s plan have been anymore obvious. Apparently Ash hadn’t told Ivey that he had let May use Knoct- owl in some of her pokemon contests. The birds unique size and feather coloration had won her first place every time. More importantly, she and the bird were close friends and Knoct-owl had never really hypnotised her. It was all a ruse, and much of what she said had been a lie. As soon as Ivey lifted her head, from her crying, the sight of Knoct-owls true hypnotic eyes greeted her. May: “Now dear, first I want to know your secrets, then were going to make some changes. WHA HAHAHAAH” The next morning May sat down for breakfast and admired her new seashell necklace. Pikachu cuddled up to her with affection usually reserved for Ivey. Thanks to some memory manipulation Ivey no longer remembered the devices special powers or any other trick she had used. She thought it was just a tacky trinket, and was eager to give it away since her friend liked it. May had allowed Ivey to continue loving Ash. In fact she couldn’t remove or alter those emotions. To her surprise Jigglypuff was more powerful than Knoct-owl. May did however find other ways. First she stripped Ivey of her capacity for deceit. Next Ivey lost all knowledge, gestures, and mannerisms she gained in a lifetime of dealing with the opposite sex. May was certain she would no longer have the sex appeal of a more mature woman, since her level of romantic experience was down to zero. Just then Ash and Ivey walked in. To Mays disbelief they were holding hands and making groggily eyes at one another. Apparently Ash had always seen Ivey as cynical and a bit jaded towards men. In the past she came off as stuck up and arrogant. All of a sudden she was like a schoolgirl on her first crush. She was trusting, naïve, sweet, humble, easily excited, her voice had more expression and she blushed at the smallest things. She also wore less makeup, and opted for clothes that were cute rather than revealing. Ash was concerned by her change in behaviour, but still he found this all adorable, and after the last couple of days he was used to sudden personality changes. Ivey smiled at May. It was the cheerful smile of a friend rather than a rival. She seemed genuinely happy to see May wearing the necklace she had given her. May smiled back though inside she fumed with rage. How dare she adopt the sweet and innocent act. That was May’s act. May would show her, she would be the most sweet and innocent thing in the history of sweet and innocent.