3.2. Hell Is A Fun Place
"Ow. Reyes, I'm not into bondage play."
"Be quiet." Reyes tapped Dominic on the nose with his fist as he dangled helplessly from a thick tree branch, bound and strung up by Reyes' vines. "So you're 'O for five now, am I right?"
"Six…" he corrected petulantly. He squirmed until Reyes finally severed the vines with his leaf blades, causing Dominic to unceremoniously hit the grass.
"Is it just me, or are you out of practice?" He smirked, crossing his arms over his chest. "I thought that this sparring would be just that, but apparently it's just a butt-kicking session. Maybe you should've done more than lie around and watch T.V. for three months."
"Shut up before I prune your leaves," he grumbled, running his claws through his mane to pick out the twigs and leaves. He was still getting used to not having anything in there after so long. "I'm just a little out of practice, okay?"
"A little? Try a lot. Or maybe the last six times were a big fluke?"
"Square up!" He made to claw Reyes' arm off but Reyes grabbed his wrist and flipped him onto his back.
"I've got a question," he said seriously. "Why are you talking like that?"
"Like…what?" he groaned, getting to his knees. Reyes offered a hand to help him up.
"Different."
"I, uh… Because of… I used to…" He sighed. "I didn't want to waste time speaking because I really believed that I wouldn't have the time, so I shortened my words as much as possible."
"Then what's the difference now?"
"I realized I was hyper paranoid," he smiled. "Now, well, there's too much that I want to say."
"For now, at least, we have the time." He looked at Sinclair's house curiously. "How did you meet that man?"
"I didn't meet him so much as he found me," Dominic explained. "In the aftermath of Mossdeep City, I wasn't in any state to get by or even survive. Sinclair was one of the Pokémon there to help repair, and I really needed him to repair me…" He made, as best he could, an image of what it was like when Sinclair found him. It wasn't to a T, but Reyes got the point.
"You were in a horrible state."
"I know. Had it not been for him, I'd be dead." He smiled ruefully. "Or maybe that's not such a bad thing?" His illusion dispelled into a cloud of grey smoke as Reyes grabbed his shoulders.
"Don't say that—ever," he growled. "Your life is valuable no matter what. Never forget that, Dominic."
"Trust me, I don't think I can. Now, my life is attributed to all of the stupid decisions that you make to keep me alive."
"My 'stupidity' is my business. Please, Dominic, no more," he said tiredly, and Dominic relented.
"Sinclair taught me how to fight for my life, but it was the King that turned it into fighting to take others'. I left him when I turned thirteen to…ah…make my own path or some stupid crap like that. And for all of those two years, I got two dozen scars and no headway. Still, these scars served as Pokémon School for me." He dropped his bodily illusion and pointed to three long claw marks on his shoulder. "These taught me never to wake a sleeping Zangoose." He moved his claws to a nearly-faded gouge over his spleen. "This taught me that a hungry Victreebell is nothing to patronize, even on a good day." He took hold of his chewed-off ear. "This taught me that even a Chansey can turn savage with the right provocation." He hesitated before grabbing Reyes' wrist, laying his hand over the scar on his heart. "This taught me that even if I have to subjugate myself and lay down as a common dog, so be it, because Pokémon like Blaziken will completely disintegrate me if I do otherwise."
"…I'm sorry," Reyes said, taking his hand away. "As a Grass-type, I don't have scars to show."
"Yes, you do," he said. "They're on your heart though, and they hurt ten times as much as all of these. Worse still, you can't make an illusion to make yourself feel better."
"I've survived so far," he said in the same contrite tone. "It'll take a lot to end my life now, huh?"
"Maybe not a lot," he smirked right before he tackled Reyes to the ground, pinning his arms to the dirt. "Hah! I got you!"
"So it seems," Reyes smiled. "Perhaps you can be taught." Reyes turned his hands downwards and buried his claws into the dirt, and a second later Dominic felt his ankles get seized by them as they grew under their bodies. "Seven times."
"Seven times," he acknowledged sullenly, standing up. Reyes released his vines and stood up as well, putting them eye-to-eye.
"How is this?" Reyes asked all of a sudden, poking Dominic in his sore chest. It appeared that he was referring to his self-inflicted claw marks.
"They'll heal."
"Yes, but why did you gouge your own chest out?" he demanded.
"You were going to die," he said harshly. "The King was going to burn you up… I had to stop him, and to stop hellfire you either take away the malice or the man—in my case, I had to take away the man." His shoulders slumped as he remembered.
"You…what?" They were distracted as Sinclair poked his head through the open window.
"There's food available if you two lovers are done talking."
"I don't know about you, but I'm in the mood to eat," Dominic said, effectively ending that conversation as he went inside. Sinclair's living room had become a mess of blood, used bandages, and stray leaves, and no matter how often they cleaned it the same thing happened again and again. Dominic had the nasty feeling that he would be forced to atone one way or another, but for the moment he was focused on their dinner. He went into the little kitchen and stopped cold. "I forgot," he muttered dejectedly, for he had forgotten that unlike himself, Sinclair was a vegetarian. It was one of the few things he remembered hating about living with him.
"I had a feeling you did, otherwise you wouldn't have been so ecstatic," Sinclair smiled, sliding the dreaded bowl of Berries over to Dominic. He blew a raspberry as he sunk to the ground.
"I haven't had meat in so long… Look, my canines are going dull. I'm supposed to be a predator, you guys."
"You don't even have enough teeth to eat meat anymore. And technically, you're killing these plants," Sinclair said, taking up a large Oran Berry. "Just imagine that the juice is their blood."
"I'm not eight anymore," he complained, stuffing his mouth full of Berries.
"And we'll be leaving in the morning, so be sure to sleep as well as you can," Sinclair told them.
"To where?" Reyes asked.
"We're going to find some friends of mine. It'll be better than going in as we are."
"Have I met these friends?" Dominic asked, swallowing.
"You've met Jay and AB," Sinclair said. "And there are others."
"Jay, sure, but AB? I'll take my chances with Alakazam."
"Who is AB?" Reyes asked. Sinclair laughed while Dominic filled his mouth with as many sour Berries as possible to match his mood.
"AB is Abdullah, this Haunter that used to play the dumbest pranks on me… He didn't even talk to me when we first met, just haunted me for three days until I damn near went psycho—no comments on that!"
"It was good-natured fun between children," Sinclair chuckled. Dominic exhaled through his nose but didn't argue further. "And that was almost eight years ago. My friends are rebels and revolutionaries now."
"Neither of which are very fond of us at the moment," Reyes pointed out.
"Yes, but as long as I ask them for the favor, they'll help. Dominic is not the only one that I've saved from the revolution. There were very many pieces to pick up afterwards and not nearly enough people and Pokémon to do it, however I've tried my hardest. Still, I could not save all that I tried to…" His expression grew dark as he remembered, and Dominic did too. Sinclair's house didn't just have him in the beginning—it was him and a Cascoon and a wingless Venomoth and a Houndour with a broken leg. None of them had the strength to live through the first week except Dominic, and those were just the first batch. "But you can't save them all, I suppose," he sighed, getting back to reality.
"I used to be a revolutionary soldier," Reyes said hesitantly. "I know that more than anybody."
"I can tell. There's a profound sadness in your eyes, Reyes. It's curious, really, how much sadness coexists with kindness inside of you. One cannot be born without the other, maybe," he thought aloud. "But what would I know?"
"I don't know if you're being sarcastic or not, but you're quite knowledgeable."
"I've never considered myself as much, I just pay attention to the little things." He peeled a Tamato Berry carefully before taking a bite. "You'd be amazed how much you can learn simply from watching others. You, for instance, had a Trainer that you've loved and lost, as well as a mate and…a son? No, a daughter," he corrected, but it didn't affect Reyes' shocked expression. "Little nuances can mean the world."
"It's…hard to keep secrets around Sinclair, and that's putting it mildly," Dominic muttered, pushing the remainder of his Berries away. "I'm going to sleep."
"Don't," Sinclair warned him. "You should finish your Berries—they'll help you heal faster. In your state you still have a chance of going critical, Dominic."
"I'll be fine." He went to the corner and laid down, curling into a ball. "Just need a nap and I'll be perfectly fine."
"Or you'll go into shock and never wake up."
"That would be nice…" At the look that they gave him, he returned a jocular grin. "I'm kidding around." But really, he was thinking: Is this really what it felt like back then…being around people that love you? In the end he did go into shock, and when he got out of it Reyes tied him down so that Sinclair could force Berries down his throat for the second time in his life, but he was smiling through it. They cared, as stupid and irresponsible and ridiculous as it was, and he wouldn't trade that for anything in any world.
3.3. Turn Back To Revolution
"Let's go," Sinclair said from his position on Dominic's head. Dominic was so blasé about it that Reyes got the feeling he used to do it very frequently.
"Won't you miss this place?" Reyes asked, looking at his home.
"It's just a house, Reyes, and lately it's felt like less than that with just myself living there."
"Aww, did you miss me?" Dominic asked.
"I miss being like a father," Sinclair agreed. That statement threw Dominic off and he stared resolutely into the distance. "Although I don't miss how broken you were those years ago. I enjoy seeing you now as a young adult, crazier and kinder than I thought you could be."
"Kind? Me?" he sputtered, shocked.
"You'd be surprised. But we're burning daylight, you two."
"Right you are." Reyes hiked his new backpack higher on his shoulders and looked out into the trees with determination. "We've got some trash to take out."
——————
It took two hours' worth of walking, but they were deep within Petalburg Woods, darkness and the smell of damp moss settling over them. Sinclair left Dominic's head to skitter up a tree and onto a branch, raising his ears to the noises of the forest.
"Oh, he's here," he said after a while. He raised his tail and ears as sparks flared off of them, setting nearby leaves aflame, and he glanced at Dominic and Reyes upon remembering their presence. "I suggest that you two ground yourselves now…otherwise you'll be in extreme pain."
"I suggest that we take his suggestion," Dominic said, grabbing Reyes' arm and pulling him to the ground before digging his claws into the dirt. Seeing that they were prepared, Sinclair braced himself before releasing a wave of electricity that severely blackened the trunks of nearby trees and sent every living being in the woods scattering with pain. Reyes felt the power prickle over his skin, giving it an uncomfortable tingle, but obviously it could've been worse. Dominic appeared fine, although his mane was standing entirely on end. Reyes waited until the last of the electricity dissipated before raising his head.
"Done gave me one hell of a wakeup call, Sinclair," a grouchy voice said in the distance. Reyes' head was knocked back down as something jumped on it. "And I was having a great nap…"
"You've been napping as long as I've known you," Sinclair smirked. "It's nice to see you out of hibernation, Jacob."
"Jacob?" The thing finally left Reyes' head and hit the ground. He looked through the dirt to see a Pichu, although something about its coloring was odd. He couldn't see well within the dark woods but it appeared to be Pikachu-colored.
"That's Jay to you," the Pichu said, turning to look at Reyes. He scowled as Dominic raised his head. "And Dominic…how long it's been."
"Yeah, that," Dominic muttered, smoothing his fur down. "You used to turn me into a fur-ball every time you came over."
"It was funny," he grinned. "Still is, matter of fact." Sinclair jumped to the ground and ran over to touch tails with Jay. They raised their ears and laughed at the contact.
"How old is he?" Reyes asked Dominic. He shrugged in response.
"Hell if I know. He may be two hundred."
"You know what? I think I've seen those two before," Reyes said, staring at them playing together.
"Must've been a video game event or something. And I hope that we don't have other business in these woods—they're giving me bad memories." Dominic shuddered, finally catching Sinclair's attention.
"Right, right. We do have places to be." Sinclair ran up Dominic's body to nest in his mane, followed by his friend Jay. Dominic jumped as it frizzed out again from their voltage, then Sinclair's head poked out.
"Next, Rustboro," he said before disappearing inside again. Dominic and Reyes exchanged a look.
"Things are looking bright so far," Reyes said sarcastically.
"Better than before," he replied, looking through the trees. Still, he seemed uneasy.
"What's the matter?"
"Oh, nothing." Reyes grabbed Dominic's shoulder as he attempted to walk away.
"Dominic, don't shake me off. We've been through too much together for you to do that." He spun Dominic around so that he was forced to make eye contact.
"Jeez, don't be such a worrywart. You should look out for yourself more." He wasn't good at dodging a subject but he looked genuinely uncomfortable.
"You're lucky that we're pressed for time." Reyes released him. "But I want the truth."
"You'll get it," he mumbled, turning his back. "Eventually."
——————
Being in Rustboro should have made Dominic as apprehensive as Petalburg Woods, yet he only seemed deep in thought. His expression changed when they reached a certain spot within the city. "Police tape," he commented, tugging on the remnants of it around the house.
"What did you expect?"
"It not to still be here? I don't know. It's been months, hasn't it?" He scratched his neck, visibly uncomfortable, before forcibly drawing his attention away.
"What exactly did you do?" Jay questioned.
"I, uh, broke in and ate their breakfast cereal," Dominic said. "My love of variety packs is downright sinful."
"Oi, that ain't funny."
"Well? Who are we looking for?" Sinclair crawled to the apex of his head.
"You don't know her."
"Her?" he repeated.
"Yes, she's a female, hence the
her." He sniffed the air before pointing towards the Pokémon Trainer's School. "She's over there. Hurry up."
"Jeez," Dominic complained, shuddering as Sinclair began sparking again. Reyes looked around and couldn't help but notice the marks of desolation growing on the city. It wasn't too obvious at first glance, but there were freshly-built parts of buildings, some being entire floors, and lingering scorch marks on the dirt. Moreover, the streets of the large city were almost completely deserted with only a few stragglers. He remembered something that Dominic had said before, that the revolution was escalating again, and he could see the signs in front of him. On top of that, it had to be worse in other cities, not just the little scuff marks he was seeing in Rustboro. "Reyes?" Dominic asked, nudging his arm. "Earth to Reyes?"
"I'm fine." Dominic narrowed his eyes in his old King manner. It made Reyes wonder about the King; he helped Reyes earlier in Lilycove but Reyes hadn't seen ear nor ponytail of the guy since then. It didn't seem right to ask Dominic to subjugate himself for the King either, so he had been waiting for him to make an expected domination, yet he hadn't in all of the twelve weeks they spent at Sinclair's house. Dominic hadn't brought it up at all though, so he didn't see too much cause to worry.
"Don't lie."
"You're one to talk. You've had that expression on your face since we got here."
"What expression?"
"The expression one makes when they think of something horrible."
"I'm always thinking of something horrible—you have to be a little more specific." He wasn't exactly being smart-mouthed but it was the Dominic equivalent of it. Dominic saw Reyes' expression and led out a heavy breath. "Thinking about what the revolution is doing to others?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Me too," he responded, and they became silent.
The Pokémon Trainer's School was in the midst of a lesson on self-defense when they entered. Gym Leader Roxanne was teaching alongside a young man with a white cap over dark hair, but the class halted when the students and teachers caught sight of the three (or rather, four) of them. Roxanne's Pokémon, expectedly a Geodude, took a little while to notice them, but the man's Blaziken was too quick in recognizing their presence. Reyes stared at the Blaziken for several seconds before recognition clicked and his jaw dropped.
"Who's the goof with the bike shorts?" Dominic asked Reyes obliviously. Even Sinclair let out a disappointed sigh, and inside his mane Jay complained profanely.
"Goof with bike shorts," Asterisk, undoubtedly one of the most well-known Pokémon in the regions and even more certainly the most well-known Blaziken in Hoenn alongside
the Blaziken, repeated hesitantly, seemingly doubting her hearing. "…I hope you have a will written already, saying those words."
"I'm sorry, I'm not used to my dinner speaking back to me—what did you say?" Dominic's fur was standing on end, his claws out, and Reyes grabbed his shoulder before he could make mincemeat and a nice pelt out of himself.
"Dominic, that—that young man right there is the one who beat Steven years ago, Pokémon Trainer Brendan—
the Brendan—and that's his Blaziken, Asterisk."
"Brendan?" he repeated, perplexed. "But Brendan was a little boy right?"
"There's a thing called 'the passage of time', Dominic…"
"That's one genius that you're paired up with, Sceptile," Asterisk commented deprecatingly, glancing at her Trainer before returning her piercing gaze to them. She eyed Reyes from top to bottom, making him feel exposed, before doing the same to Dominic, who got a weird dazed expression on his face as she did so. Her eyes finally landed on Sinclair and a little smile crossed her beak.
"…Am I missing something here?" Brendan asked, grabbing her shoulder. She looked at him obediently and returned to his side as Roxanne took control of the class.
"Okay, um… Class dismissed early!" she said, clapping her hands together. The students eyed Dominic and Reyes like a floor show as they shuffled past with their Pokémon. They waited until the building had completely emptied before they faced off against each other.
"Are they rebels?" Brendan asked Asterisk seriously.
"No," Reyes answered.
"Well, not anymore," Dominic said somewhat bitterly.
"What do
you think?" Sinclair and Jay asked.
"I think that you've always been inclined to take in anybody regardless of transgressions," Asterisk said to Sinclair, pointing her talon at him. "For all I know, they're serial killers."
"Well—" Dominic started before Reyes grabbed his muzzle.
"And haven't I seen your faces before?" she continued in a more vehement voice, eyes narrowed at the two of them. "From the destruction of Lilycove City three months ago. And you—" She gripped Dominic's face tightly, angling it this way and that. "…You're the King, aren't you?" Her wrists flared up and Dominic unsuccessfully tried to pry her talons off as his fur singed.
"Risky, can you please let him go?" Sinclair asked. Asterisk gritted her beak as her grip tightened. She was clenching his muzzle so hard that Dominic's feet cleared the floor a few inches and started flailing, his eyes wild. Brendan looked from him to her and to Sinclair, who was still sitting comfortably on Dominic's head, and frowned.
"Are you following what's going on?" Roxanne asked him, taking her Geodude into her arms. Brendan sighed and made to shake his head before stopping.
"Somewhat. I don't understand why they've come here—obviously it's not to attack us."
"It doesn't matter," Asterisk growled. "They're enemies."
"Lady I am public enemy number-arceusdamn-
two at the moment! Change your arceusdamn priorities!" Dominic hissed. It sure as hell wasn't helping his cause and Asterisk was still in the perfect position to squeeze his eyeballs out of his thick skull.
"Risky," Sinclair chided. "Let him go." Reyes didn't think that he could get away with speaking to Asterisk as if she was a child like that, but to his jaw-dropping amazement she let Dominic hit the ground. Dominic scrambled to his feet so fast that he almost fell on his face. Sinclair jumped from his head to Reyes' shoulder, getting eye-level with Asterisk. "Now, I know that these aren't the most ideal of allies," he started, giving a not-so-subtle head shake in their direction, "but their hearts are in the right place."
"That's not what the general populace says," Asterisk argued.
"They don't know the truth." He held out his paws defenselessly. "I don't see morals in saving children's lives, which you're not the first to berate me for, but when it comes to
thousands of lives, I choose the side of justice—these two, as hard as it is to believe, would be that side." Asterisk narrowed her eyes, still skeptical. "And we want you on this side as well."
"For what, precisely?" Asterisk demanded.
"We're fighting Alakazam."
"I hope you're speaking of a different Alakazam than in my imaginings."
"No, the very same."
"Then you must have gone senile. I will not fight that man and I've no idea on Earth why you would want to," she said bolshily. Sinclair sighed, although not with impatience. Obviously he expected her response.
"Risky, these two have good reason for the idiotic task they've taken up."
"Yes, thank you," Reyes said sardonically. "Alakazam is becoming crooked, and he's getting even more so by the day. He's harming innocents and we won't stand for it." She held out her talons.
"Proof?" They exchanged a look.
"I, uh, he tried to kill me?" Dominic said.
"That's not proof. I am very certain that many Pokémon wish to kill you at the moment."
"Damn! Am I really that transparent?"
"Shut up, Dominic? Asterisk, we really do have good reason—"
"Not as far as I can see," she interrupted.
"Then you must be farsighted," Jay said. She spotted him and glared with all the ferocity of a predator to prey, causing Jay to take his immediate leave from her field of vision and retreat back into Dominic's mane.
"Please, Asterisk, for the sake of humankind and pokémonkind," Reyes pleaded. She set her jaw and remained in pace; comically, Brendan emulated the gesture.
"No," she repeated with steel in her voice. "My final answer is no."
"Aster—"
"Wait, let me handle this," Dominic said, cutting him off as he leaned in close to her. He whispered in her ear and Reyes was briefly reminded of when he did the same to Azalea. Sans the initial shock of pain and grief, he remembered that it didn't end well for him, but suddenly Asterisk was…blushing? He leaned back and she suddenly grabbed his forearms, startling him and Brendan still.
"Were you…serious?" she asked enthusiastically.
"…Yes," he said, quickly recovering. "One hundred percent."
"Brendan," she said to her Trainer. "This will only take a few days' worth of my absence." Brendan was still looking between them, perplexed.
"Uh, Asterisk—" Roxanne put her hand on his arm, shaking her head at him.
"If I were you, I wouldn't get in this," she warned in response to Asterisk's fervent expression. "Asterisk is strong—she can survive anything. Besides, your team is already perfect without her."
"Mm… For now," Brendan conceded, hiking his travelling pack higher on his shoulders. "I have to go visit Mom anyway and make sure she's all right. Asterisk, be safe—don't lose your virtue or anything," he said, but for all the response he got, he was wasting his breath. Roxanne herded him away before he had time to protest.
"Wow," was all Reyes could say.
"It seems Dominic has a hidden repertoire of skills," Sinclair smirked. Jay's grumbles caused Dominic's mane to vibrate.
"You think?"
"Uh…" Dominic said warily as she kept their intense eye-contact. Her blush slowly faded as she released him, sweeping past him.
"Onto the next city, I guess," Sinclair said. They turned towards the door, but as Dominic passed by Asterisk she suddenly grabbed his arm, pulling him flush against her much taller body, and shoved her beak against his muzzle none too gracefully. She released him a couple of seconds later and continued as if nothing had happened, but Dominic's bad leg suddenly buckled and Reyes had to catch him.
"Hello? Dominic?" He had a goofy grin on his face and his eyes were crossed.
"I'm here, I'm here."
"Are you sure?"
"No, not really." He managed to stand but kept that ridiculous look on his face, and even when he clapped his claws against his cheeks the expression stayed. "I didn't know I could get a Champion Pokémon."
"Call it Arceus' pity on a soul doomed to be alone and let's hurry up." The goofy grin finally left his face and he was sullen for the rest of the trip.
——————
They had to camp out just outside of Rusturf Tunnel as the sun set. Dominic of course was still ready to go, but the other non-nocturnal creatures weren't. He sulked under a tree as they prepared to go to sleep. "Take watch for us," Reyes told him. "In case Alakazam or Blaziken try something else."
"I'm already awake," he said. "So I guess I'm already watching." Reyes didn't reply, mainly because he knew Dominic would be bored and lonely just sitting around with nowhere to go. He laid down to sleep but was woken maybe fifteen minutes later by two things: Jay's obnoxiously loud snoring and Sinclair and Dominic's more muted conversation. It was, however, a better thing to focus on than snoring.
"It's nice to know that your brain hasn't completely rotted in all of your lethargy," Sinclair commented. Dominic snorted through his nose.
"I feel weaker. Also, if I take one hit in this leg, I'm done." He sighed. "We wasted so much time. Do you know how many lives could've been lost?"
"No," he admitted. "But I know that had you two gone out there in that condition, then you would've become casualties as well." Reyes swallowed. "Is that what you want? To go out there and die fighting? It is noble in a way, I'll admit, but to just give up on everything—"
"
I don't want to die," he interrupted angrily before he lost his steam. "…I just don't want to be bad luck for everyone that I meet anymore. I'm always ruining people's lives…"
"You didn't ruin my life," he pointed out.
"Reyes…"
"I don't think you ruined his life either." He did, in fact, Reyes thought. But now, I don't mind quite as much.
"How about every other living being I've come in contact with?" he muttered. "Arceus… I'm just like poison to people." He let out a bitter laugh and then a weak moan. "But I'm just kicking a dead Rapidash right?"
"I don't believe I get the analogy."
"I don't think I got it right anyway." He moaned again, making Reyes think that he was crying. "You can't change my mind, you know. I'll always believe that I can't do anything except hurt people. It's been that way for seven years."
"Oh, I know how stubborn you are with a thought," Sinclair said. "But even if you're a walking nuclear bomb or Absol in disguise, I'll still love you."
"I don't… I can't understand why." But his tone said that he did. Sinclair laughed anyway.
"We may not be blood related, but you and I, we're like father and son." Dominic took a deep breath as if it physically pained him to speak.
"Don't you know the story of Oedipus?" Reyes forced himself to go to sleep then, because Dominic's reply was very unsettling.
——————
The last that Reyes heard of Verdanturf, it was the territory of a Sableye rebel, but the town looked majorly unchanged, if not a little scruffy, as they entered from the Rusturf Tunnel. Nostalgia hit him like a sledgehammer as the sweet, clean wind whistled through his ears as some forgotten song, the scent of spring flowers filling his nose as he saw the usual manicured neighborhoods, which had grown larger but remained otherwise just as he remembered. Pikachu Park was still the best place for a game of basketball, baseball, and/or hockey; the Neills had the best lawn out of all southern houses; Goose was still selling homemade and half-burnt popcorn at the corner, chili and salt and antacid optional; Brendan's house, even, was still there, but any hopes Reyes had were crushed when a different family walked through the door and to the car.
"Do you…need a minute?" Dominic muttered, looking at Reyes from the corner of his eye. Compared to Verdanturf, Dominic was another kind of familiar, not particularly bad but different. Different, yeah.
"I'm…fine. This place just caught me off guard, that's all." Sinclair eyed him but didn't say anything on the matter.
"AB said that he's working in the Pokémon Center."
"For what?" Dominic asked. "Do they pay him with pizza or something?"
"Come on, we're burning time." Reyes was behind as the group headed towards the Pokémon Center. Everything down to the dirt pathway beneath his feet was so achingly familiar… He kept thinking that Brendan was going to walk out of the PokéMart with a pair of triple-cheese nachos and extra-large Oran-Rawst slushies along with two crappy DVD movies just for them, but it never happened. Moreover, he thought he would see Azalea sitting under her favorite tree next to the Contest Hall, the one that bloomed purple and orange—her favorite colors—three times a season, and Reyes would sit with her and enjoy the smell and the sight of the children playing after a long day of school and—
He felt Dominic's claws nick his face a little, then he caught himself and was dragging his fuzzy palms down Reyes' cheeks, alerting him to the fact that he was crying. "You should have just stayed in the tunnel," Dominic told him, his expression pitiful. "I knew this would be too painful for you."
"Don't worry about me," he protested, pushing Dominic away. He looked slightly hurt as Reyes continued, "These memories will always be painful for me—that won't change. But I believe I'm strong enough to continue despite that, and that's what's important." Dominic smiled a little.
"Good boy."
"I'm not a dog, you moron."
"Good boy," he repeated with a grin. He dodged Reyes' blades when he swung at him and laughed. "Now who's slow, huh?"
"Still you, you bastard." Dominic received a fist on the back of his head, and despite the extreme density of his skull he cried out in pain before falling out on his face. The attacker sighed from behind him, a Haunter, before turning his attention to Reyes. He stared at Reyes for a long time before snickering. "You wanna know what it feels like to be possessed?"
"No thank you." AB snickered again.
"AB, not everybody appreciates your…humor," Jay said matter-of-factly, skittering in their direction. Asterisk was behind him, Sinclair riding on her shoulder, but she hurried to lift Dominic to his feet when she saw he was down.
"Uh, thanks," he said awkwardly as she went on to brush dirt and stray leaves from his fur. "And AB, you can go ahead and suck my—"
"Excuse me," Sinclair interrupted, slapping his cheek. "That's not how you talk to family."
"Family?" Reyes repeated, perplexed. Sinclair nodded.
"AB was a Gastly when I rescued him from one of the rebel-infested cities in southern Hoenn—it's been a good few years since then. He still has the sense of humor of a hatchling, however."
"What can I say?" AB cackled, waving his hands as he dissolved into formless purple mist. "Boo."
"Anyhow, the last Pokémon we're going to get is in Lavaridge. It's a long way out from here, so we'll only take a brief break here to eat before setting out." He pulled out a bag of Berries from…what, hammer space? They sat in the shade of a brick house to eat, Dominic complaining as per usual about the lack of meat. AB, already being dead, didn't need to eat, yet he still did a strange disappearing act with a couple of Cheri Berries.
"…I think I'll take a walk," Reyes said, standing. Sinclair just shrugged it off and Dominic was still busy throwing a fit. It didn't matter anyway; he felt fine and he was confident that there wasn't anything to set him off. He just wanted a stroll down memory lane…while he still had the chance.
Parts of the town were just as he remembered, like the neighborhood he used to live in with the odd abundance of Oddish and the elementary school/daycare just down the street, meaning a copious amount of children's giggles and screeches as they played outside with the wild Pokémon. On the other hand, the ice cream shop Brendan used to always go to afterschool, Helena's Rainbows, was gone and replaced by a video game store, and the old oak tree that the middle school kids used to climb near the park had been cut down into an uneven stump. He sat on it for a while to think, watching the wisps of his old life fade away to make room for new kids and new Pokémon and new memories.
He realized how much time he had wasted just sitting there and stood up, heading back towards the group, when a clawed paw clamped around his mouth and another around his forehead. He blindly flailed his leaf blades behind him but couldn't make contact with his assailant as he was dragged backwards, away from the town and away from any possible rescuers. He stumbled a little as the polished grass and smooth walkway under his feet changed to rough and stony dirt, then he tried to find his footing as the dirt became looser beneath his feet. Finally, he collapsed all together as he was pulled to a burrow, slipping down the dark tunnel and landing flat on his back to stare at the small circle of light above.
"Reyes?" Two faces appeared to him from the darkness. He stared, blinking wildly until his eyes could adjust, and he sucked in a breath.
"Kim… Leroy… Don't tell me you're here to…" His chest constricted as if an Arbok was wrapped around it and his breath shortened.
"No, never!" they cried in unison, raising their paws. Reyes blinked at them, realizing that although he
had felt them, they were tied down with thick gloves.
"We really just want to talk!" Leroy continued. "But we thought that if we showed up, you'd run!"
"So you took me…" They exchanged an anxious look.
"Trust me, it was easier," Kim said. "Reyes, we know about Azalea."
"Azalea…" He swallowed, feeling the constriction grow even more painful. "And what are you going to do about that?" he asked hesitantly, sitting up.
"I told you we're not gonna fight," Leroy muttered. "We really just want to talk. Maybe it's because we weren't here to see your D-day or whatever, but we just don't understand
why you would turn against the revolutionaries! And even though we're probably totally in the dark about it all, we believed that Azalea was in the wrong for doing what she did—crying to Alakazam and taking his dirty power, in case you didn't know. We knew it'd be dangerous for her—
she knew it'd be dangerous—but she still went out against you, and…" He lowered his eyes to the ground. "The price was high, but honestly we can't blame you. We missed a lot, not being in Hoenn, but when we came back to Ever Grande a few weeks ago, everything had changed."
"What do you mean?"
"There was a natural beauty there from the harmony and the innocence, but it's gone now," Kim explained. "Humans kind of shrink away when we walk by and Pokémon are all training and learning how to fight. We went to Alakazam, asked him what's wrong, and he told us, 'We're preparing for a war.' We thought it was on the rebels, but we were wrong. 'On Reyes and the King.'"
"It was ridiculous!" Leroy continued. "A war for just two Pokémon, and
you of all people! And more than that—"
"—the bigger number of revolutionaries in the streets meant bigger numbers of fights with rebels, like a catalyst," Kim said, waving her gloved claws for emphasis. "So Alakazam, while going after you two, was causing all of these extra fights, damage, and casualties—"
"—and we couldn't stand for that—"
"—no way no how!" Reyes looked between them.
"This, I already know," he said solemnly. "So why tell me?"
"We want to help you," Kim and Leroy said.
"Help…me? I'm… We're fighting against Alakazam directly. There's a huge chance that we'll die trying. Besides, why would you turn against him with all that he's done for you?"
"We could ask you the same thing," Leroy pointed out. "And if you left him because of your beliefs, then we trust your judgement."
"You put a lot of trust in me for what I've done." He dragged his claws down the hard-packed dirt of the "wall," pulling chunks of it free and baring a few scraggly roots in the process. "I can't believe it."
"Why not?" Their reply startled him a little and he raised his head. "You've never done bad before, so why now?"
"…Hehe," he chuckled bitterly. "I'm not the same guy as some months ago—far from it. I'm not even totally sure what I'm doing is right, to be honest. After Azalea… It's hard not to doubt everything that I've been doing," he admitted miserably. "I'd rather that you two get out of Hoenn again, go somewhere safer."
"No! We'll fight with you!" they protested, just as he expected. He sighed, dragging his hands down his face.
"You two are the last that's left of the old team. If you get hurt or killed because of me, I won't be able to recover. Please, just go with that in mind." They looked at each other and shrugged.
"We'll leave—" Kim started.
"—but we won't take our eyes off of you, and believe it!" Leroy poked Reyes in the forehead. "Alright? You can't make us leave, not ever. You're our best friend, Reyes, and nothing will change that."
"Not even Azalea?" He hated to kick a dead Rapidash, but he had to.
"It hurts," Kim admitted.
"But not as much as it would hurt to see you go too," Leroy added. "So don't die no matter what!" Leroy ascended the burrow using the roots in the wall, climbing into the sunlight and putting his arm down. Kim grabbed his claws and took Reyes' hand, then Leroy pulled both of them up. He had to cover his eyes for a moment to let them adjust, and when he opened them Kim and Leroy were gone. Dominic was waiting with his arms crossed as he went back into the town, Reyes' backpack on his shoulders.
"What were you doing, wasting so much time? And why do you smell like Zangoose?"
"Nothing important, Dominic," he said, feeling somewhat lighter. "At least, to you."
——————
Going to Lavaridge meant travelling back through the Rusturf Tunnel and then through a small cavern outside of it leading to western Hoenn. They did have to camp the first night in a small meadow, but this time there were no excess conversations, maybe because they realized that their leisure time was coming up short. Dominic and Reyes sat back to back while the others slept, Dominic being his usual night Noctowl self and Reyes just suffering from insomnia, and the night stretched alongside their silence.
"A is for apples," Dominic said all of a sudden.
"What are you talking about?"
"I can tell you can't sleep, so why don't we play the Alphabet Game? I have nothing better to do."
"…B is for Briney."
"C is for castles."
"D is for danger." He didn't know why he said it but he couldn't take it back.
"Then E is for expecting to live," Dominic said in the same tone.
"F is for feeling like the world is against you."
"G is for getting through despite that."
"H is for having a friend to help you through." Dominic snickered.
"I is for I really don't think I count as any sort of
friend to help you through."
"J is for just believe in yourself and what you do."
"K is for killing—that's all I'm good for, by the way."
"L is for loving, which you're also capable of."
"M is for making too many arceusdamn mistakes." It was followed by a loud swear.
"N is for never giving up."
"O is for options."
"P is for punching you in the face because what the hell kind of options are you talking about?"
"Q is for q…q… Q-maybe there are some, is what I'm saying."
"S is for shut up because you obviously don't know how to spell."
"T is for think about it, alright? We can still turn back."
"U is for you can't be serious."
"V is for very good job cheating the game there. I mean, it's different to just be putting myself in danger—to be putting ourselves in danger, but there's Sinclair and Jay and Asterisk and AB and some other sixth guy now too."
"Y is for your concern for others is very touching, and I mean that, but as much as you don't like it, they decided to help of their own accord, and you can't change their minds. The one thing left for you to do is accept that some Pokémon do have the same beliefs as you and are willing to fight with their lives for them just as you are." He reached back and tugged Dominic's ear lightly enough to be endearing. "So it's just something you've to learn to deal with, although you're doing a poor job of that."
"Aha," he muttered bitterly, swatting Reyes' hand away as his ears drooped listlessly. "Alas, I only have my eyes to look through, and my vision's pretty narrow."
"Z?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Z is for…for goodnight…" It sounded like he snorted, then Reyes realized he had just fallen asleep. It was a pretty rare sight to see a Dark-type sleeping at night, but he figured that Dominic deserved it and went to find another place to sleep before AB put his hand in a mud pit again.
——————
He wasn't sure if he was dreaming or not. He was in that odd state where his eyes worked but his mind was too tired to really process anything. He felt Sinclair shake his shoulders and tried to open his eyes but they wouldn't go all the way, and it was hard to see already since he wasn't made to see in the dark. There were tears streaming down Sinclair's face and Reyes struggled to wake himself up.
"When it comes down to that last moment, anything goes to spare the world's safety," he whispered, his voice sounding far away. "That's a lesson I learned a long time ago."
"Sin…what're ya…"
"Remember it." Sinclair's ears twitched uneasily as a moan sounded a few feet away. Reyes thought of the disjointed dreams he had been having, little snippets of Azalea and Brendan and the revolution. He remembered that usually, Dominic was the cause of them. "Okay? Remember it."
"O…kay…" He closed his eyes and forgot all about it by morning.