Catharsis Series: Losing

Premise:
'Catharsis', written by 122 Generation, is a series focusing on the reformed life of former Team Galactic Commander Mars.

The sequel to 'Catharsis' comes in the form of the one-shot book 'Losing', which focuses on the relationship Mars had with Jupiter and Saturn, and the relationship Mars has after 'Catharsis'.

 

For best results, listen to 'Losing' by Tenth Avenue North.

April 27
Floaroma Town
If anything, Mars wanted to forget her own shameful experiences back in her days as a leader for Team Galactic. True, they were reformed as an official energy company, but still...
Sitting on a park bench in the Floaroma Meadow, Mars looked up to the skies... and thought about her fellow former commanders. Indeed, running into Cyrus during the inception mission was unexpected, but that didn't matter.
Jupiter... Saturn... Mars thought. What were you guys thinking when you joined Team Galactic? Was it because of Cyrus? Hmph.
So Mars took her time to reflect on her former organization, and thought about how they treated her as a Commander.

It happened on Stark Mountain.
By the time Mars found that she was defeated at the hands of Dawn Platinum and Lucas Diamond, she knew that there was something wrong with what she was doing now. Even though Cyrus was gone, Mars felt that their actions were somewhat wrong.
Why are we even here?! In a volcano! Mars screamed in her mind. There's no purpose!
She was on her knees, and on the look of Mars' face was a sign of defeated purpose.
Jupiter, who stood right behind her, was speechless at the actions she saw in front of her.
"...Mars, you really are weak. Pitifully so. You make me embarrassed to be a Commander like you," Jupiter said mockingly.
Mars turned her head and tried to do her natural glare at the other Commander, but her eyes were full of tears and instead bowed her head down. Anger filled her mind, and treating Jupiter as a 'fellow' was no option for her.
In her heart, Mars would have said, "What do you know?" But that wasn't the case, and especially when she had suffered the loss to Dawn and Lucas, after all.

Back at the Team Galactic headquarters in Veilstone, Mars paced left to right thinking about future plans for Team Galactic to do. She wondered when she could act next.
"Listen, Commander Mars!" a Team Galactic grunt shouted, his voice shaken. "We've done it! Team Galactic has successfully gained access to the Lake Valor cave!"
Mars looked at him quickly. "Say what? Oh, was that what the explosion was about?"
"Yes, ma'am, the explosion has literally blasted the water away from the lake. All that's left now is to extract the legendary Pokémon that resides there."
Mars shook her head. "Tell me, grunt. Who authorised the use of that bomb? Or on whose authority was that bomb used? Tell me!"
"It was given the all-clear by Commander Saturn, ma'am."
Mars let out a frustrated exhale and turned around to walk away.
I TOLD them it would be smarter to send a diving team. Why, I might have been the only one who voted against using that bomb! Why can't these people keep things quiet? A diving team would have been much quieter, and safer, come to think of it.
And just like the words she formed in her head, Mars kept these thoughts quiet to herself. However, she knew that whatever things were steering in: it was downright inhumane.

Perhaps after those very two events, Mars was fed up with the two. And clearly, she had enough. Gone were the days when she had to act like Jupiter was all-superior over her, when clearly Cyrus was supposed to be the one in charge.
Also, with Cyrus in mind, Mars had to be angry with him. Why did he choose Saturn to make the attack on Lake Valor? Personally, Mars thought she could have been the smarter of the two to carry out the mission. But no, Cyrus assigned her to Lake Verity instead, and granted Saturn the use of the bomb to annihilate Lake Valor.
"I'm the one worthy enough to contain its awesome power," Saturn remarked with a smirk, saying that as he left. "You should have seen it."
Mars was silent, but it was hard to tell if she was angry or sad. In her eyes showed no betrayal of... hate?

It wasn't fair.
Mars knew that... whatever Cyrus or Team Galactic had made her into, she was distinctively a little different than that of Jupiter and Saturn.
Yet, because of that, Jupiter in particular could manage a few put-downs on her head. Furthermore... Jupiter could take advantage of Mars' humiliated silence to treat her as if she weren't a Commander, but simply nobody.
The thing was, Mars simply had a good nature that she didn't want to abuse.

And instead, Mars tried to cover up her vengeful thoughts with ones that didn't even suit her. She would feel angry, and yet she knew that would do nothing to help.
Even worse was the fact that when the anger showed up, it would take even longer for it to leave her. In short, it made her feel really bad.
It was almost as if she wanted to take action against her fellow commanders. But, ultimately, that wouldn't solve much. That fact that neither Jupiter nor Saturn had treated her well... how could she repay them without letting getting rid of her anger?
In her heart, it felt heavy and quite empty.
In addition, the acts she did for Team Galactic... it didn't make her feel that good as well. Even though it was to be Cyrus' intentions... there was always some room for resentment.
Why am I even doing this?

There was absolutely no way that she could ever forgive them. It would literally take some kind of miracle to even consider letting them go from her thoughts. To forgive them once, twice, or even a third time would make it feel like some sort of dare.

Common sense stood by itself saying that it would be best to show Jupiter and Saturn what was right. Seriously, she could have done that right now as she stood at the Spear Pillar and waiting for what Cyrus had in store.
In his hands was a red chain.
"Check it out, this is what we've been waiting for," Jupiter told Mars in secret.
Come on, Mars! This is evil! Mars' conscience said. Stop him!
But she couldn't.
Fortunately, it was at this point did a certain Dawn, Lucas, and Barry appear in the distance.

On Stark Mountain, that's where everything crashed. Saturn had been left as an employee of the Galactic Energy Company whereas Jupiter and Mars had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Dawn and Lucas once more. Of course by that time Cyrus had left as well, and Mars couldn't help but feel a little envious that Cyrus and Saturn could just slip away like that.
And afterwards, Jupiter and Mars were on the run. From what she heard from those in the know, Jupiter had been arrested. And now Mars found herself sulking on Route 213.
All was well for Mars, as she no longer needed to worry about her former co-workers.
Really?

Mars finally got up from the park bench she had been sitting on, as she had been reflecting on her former friends. No, no, no, they weren't her friends. They were just acquaintances.
In the end, she decided to make the walk back to her house.
She still harboured the thoughts of Jupiter and Saturn still. Mainly because that after what they've all been through with Team Galactic, Mars started to feel sorry them.

Come to that, Mars felt that she needed to show she was fine with them. She knew that Jupiter and Saturn might have resented her presence, but Mars figured she was fine with that. As much as how badly they treated her, Mars decided she would be fine with that.
Saturn had already made up for his crimes by taking over the company.
And Jupiter...
Mars made up her mind. She would bail her out with a message beside it, and maybe send a small gift to Saturn too.

As she went back to Floaroma Town, Mars accepted the fact that she really couldn't live with the kind of thoughts she had about Jupiter and Saturn. Sure, one option would be to bury the thoughts in the first place, but eventually she would much rather wage a vendetta against them.
However, this was against her friendly nature.
And she intended to keep it that way.

It was true that whatever Jupiter and Saturn had done did some damage to Mars, and that they definitely should have given Mars an apology, whether casual or formal. The most preposterous thing was that she was going to give something to them in spite of what they did to her in the first place.
Another important factor was that it would finally eradicate the vengeful thoughts that lingered around. That was more than enough for her.
The first thing on her agenda was to write a cheque to the police and pay for Jupiter's release from prison. As she went over to the post office in Floaroma Town to send the money, she also chose to purchase a local specialty and send it over to Veilstone City.
I sure hope you guys will understand, she thought.
Naturally, they were in their own ways enemies. Mars could only imagine the looks on their faces once they received her 'gifts'. She, of all people, would be contacting them once more, and maybe for one last time.

The building of Galactic Energy Limited in Veilstone, owned by Cyrus and operated by Saturn, had been making thriving breakthroughs in the discovery of renewable energies. However, with such new discovery it was unknown if it would ever be stable, so they couldn't use it yet.
Saturn ended up overseeing the duties at the front desk when a Galactic Energy Company worker came to him with a package.
"Sir, this was delivered to our front step. It's addressed directly to you," he said.
The former took the package and brought it to a waiting table. Saturn, striking it as odd that he never received mail for at least two months, stared at the thing for a good ten minutes.
"Are you ever going to open that?" a deep voice spoke from behind.
Saturn glanced behind to see Cyrus.
"You've been looking at that for a while," Cyrus said.
"You never know," Saturn replied.
Before Saturn could even say another word, Cyrus took the package and unwrapped it for Saturn ("Hey!" he protested), and handed over the object to Saturn. Saturn looked at it in his hands.
Mars, he thought. That's very kind of you.

At a distant jail, Jupiter ended up being released just half an hour ago.
"Some kind soul decided to bail you out of jail," the officer said.
"Oh really?" Jupiter replied, skeptical.
"It's true. You're free to go, as this kind person sent the police a small cheque to pay for your release. He or she decided to attach a message with it, come to that," the officer added, half-amused.
So he led Jupiter to the front entrance of the jail and passed the little note he found attached to the cheque earlier. After Jupiter had taken it, the officer was on his way.
Jupiter read the message, and she smiled.
Mars... you really are that different from us, Jupiter thought.

After all that, Mars definitely felt a lot better. After all that thinking and contemplating of her co-workers in the Floaroma Meadow, and to finally giving back a little to them like bailing Jupiter out, she had a sense of relief. It didn't matter how they would react or repay, but rather accept.
It was a feeling that she finally could let them go from her thoughts.
Walking back to her house, Mars could only look back at those thoughts with a wide grin, because she now didn't need to feel guilty of them anymore.