[Pokémon] Revolution (Rated T)

"What are you doing?" Reyes asked.

"Catching fish!" Dominic replied, leaning off of the shore to glare into the water.

"The water has too many rapids for—"

"There are fish down there—I feel it in my gut!"

"No, that's the feeling of you being too adamant to eat Berries."

"I'm tellin' ya!" He finally spotted a Remoraid zipping by and dunked his head under; he not only missed, but it bit his nose too. Reyes sat down on a slick flat rock; the small isle was full of Pokémon, but they seemed to be impassive towards those two, which was relieving considering that the rebels and revolutionaries were after them. Dominic had suggested staying there—there were, after all, plenty of caves, trees, and burrows to sleep comfortably in—but Reyes refused on the grounds of their enemies finding them if they remained in any place too long; as a result, they had been skipping across little islets and small out-of-the-way towns for two weeks, and despite keeping their heads under they were still found after less than forty-two hours each time.

"Look, Dominic, the sun is setting and we've got to pick a tree or a burrow or something for the night," Reyes said tiredly, rubbing his face; as he did so, Dominic noticed that the edges of his leaf blades were browning, becoming crispy and breaking away. "Oh, Arceus, this is a pain."

"What, are you expirin' or somethin'?"

"Stress is bad for my system, as I am a plant," he elaborated. "It should wear off in a few hours."

"Should," he repeated.

"Oh, don't worry about it." He started checking the insides of various rocky cliffs while Dominic tried the trees; neither found a vacant space after an hour. When they came together again, Dominic noticed that the sickness was in Reyes' other set of blades too, although he tried to hide it. How did you help a plant anyway? The Pokémon Center wasn't an option considering where they were, and although Dominic had a lot of things tucked away in his mane, plant food wasn't one of them.

"Where do we sleep?" Dominic complained.

"I'm not… Wait, I'm sure I saw a meadow somewhere." He pushed forward through some thick shrubbery, which ended in a row of oaks and pines before leading to a virtual sea of green green grass almost as tall as him.

"Aren't there wild Pokémon in here?" Dominic asked, then he sneezed, and sneezed again.

"No, because that," Reyes answered. "The grass is a species that most flesh and blood is allergic to, and from what I've heard, Ghost-types don't like the feel of it. We'll be safe enough here." He started stepping on the grass, clearing out a flattened bed of it.

"But—" he sneezed again, grabbing his running nose. "I'll die!"

"On the contrary, this isn't deadly."

"No, but… Oh!" He pulled a gas mask from his mane and attacked it to his muzzle. "Better!"

"I'm sure you didn't have that when we entered Ever Grande."

"I'm only borrowin' it; I'll return it when I'm dead." He also removed a bright purple sleeping bag and offered it to Reyes.

"I'm better sleeping on the grass." Dominic shrugged and curled up to sleep, but he couldn't sleep because of how cluttered his mind was. Okay, it usually didn't matter, and in fact it wouldn't have mattered some days ago, but it was different now; he was dragging Reyes into his mess now. That even wouldn't have mattered some days ago—hell, he would've wished he could turn the revolutionaries all helter-skelter—but Reyes was different than just some revolutionaries; even knowing about him, Reyes went all the way with him and even betrayed his friends. For what? For a split-personality, twisted bastard of a Zoroark? There was a time that he thought he was the only one that could hear the voices of Hell; now, Reyes was close to that line too.

"Reyes…can you go?"

"You're conscious of me sleeping with you," he said dubiously; Dominic retreated slightly into his sleeping bag.

"No… I want you to go back and tell Alakazam that you were under my illusion; he's likely to take you back." He heard Reyes roll over to look at the back of his head.

"I don't understand you; why is it that now, now, you seem to have a heart?"

"I have a heart; it's just not as carin' as yours looks," he murmured, remembering the first time he said that. "That's right…it's more carin', believe it or not." He sat up, staring at the sun disappearing from the sky. "I knew what it was like to be loved, but I also knew what it was like to be hated; it's this kind of…curse within Dark-types. There's darkness within us, all of us, and some of us never get over it; some of us are always just that darkness within us. That darkness takes anythin' and everythin' it can from 'round you and it twists it and rots it until there's nothin' left for you to have." He closed his eyes, covering his muzzle with his claws. "I'm a bad guy I'm a bad guy—"

"Do you remember that little girl from Slateport, the one with the Frisbee?" Reyes asked all of a sudden.

"W-Why?" Dominic sniffled.

"You didn't kill her, nor did you break her Frisbee or attack her Mudkip."

"I… You told me to return it…"

"And since when have you ever listened to me?"

"I…dunno…"

"You had a family, Dominic, and you've honestly said that you loved them… Why do you hate humans now?"

"I don't…hate…humans," he murmured. "I hate what I do to them ev'ry. Freakin'. Time." He remembered Ali, then Steven, and even those two guys from Rustboro; every time he dealt with humans they died, and he just didn't think…that the world should lose so much, especially in those times. "The King, he hates humans though; he thinks that they've made him…us weak. He's this big impossible insurmountable monster, because-because how do you beat your own mind? But I've given up at this point; I know I can't be saved, so I'd rather that you save yerself."

"Hah… Maybe you can't be saved, and maybe it's smarter that I save myself, but at this point it's clear that I've abandoned logic." Dominic looked over his shoulder and saw Reyes sitting up, a smirk on his face. "You're an insane, twisted bastard and you kill when I don't want you to and you make stupid choices and you're more likely than not wasting precious oxygen and sustenance with your very presence…but."

"But?" Reyes looked skyward.

"Well… There was once a time that Lilly, my mate, found a beached Wailmer; it was the runt of its litter and so sick that it was dying, but she didn't hesitate to spend hours going on days taking care of him. In the end, he did die, and I asked why she tried to help even though he was surely going to die; she told me something that I've forgotten until I met you—she told me that Arceus does what it does for our sakes, so even though it seemed pointless to take care of the Wailmer, it washed up at our home so she did all she could to help. I used to think it was more of her good nature than something by Arceus, and although I still find divine intervention to be a total load, she was right about the rest: there's a purpose in our meeting, Dominic, you as a rebel killer and me as a revolutionary peacekeeper."

"So…you think there's a good reason for this?"

"What? In complete Hell, no; you've taken me away from all I've known and what I could have been, but you know what? The King can rot in Hell for all I care, but Dominic is a decent kid; if only you could be two people…"

"I can be two people!" he exclaimed. "Hi, I'm Reyes and I'm a total anus!"

"Number one, you're still you; number two, that's not funny."

"Haha…hahaha…" He started laughing, rolling on his back and clenching his stomach. "Haha! Hahahaha!" He was laughing so hard tears were staining his fur and he was rolling all over the grass and getting dirt in his mane and it felt like he was dropping things too—

"What's this?" Reyes asked, taking up a photograph.

"H-hah?" Dominic wiped his eyes. "Oh, yeah, that's my parents—you know, when they were cubs."

"Mm… I remembered you said that your name is Rex."

"Y…Yeah, damn Alakazam." He shuddered. "Yet I've dealt with worse." He wiggled into his sleeping bag and closed his eyes.

——————

He didn't remember until it was too late, the effect he had when sleeping too close to others. He woke up because he heard some noise and turned over to see Reyes' face twisted in a nightmare, tears falling down his face; Dominic sat up, amazed, then annoyed with himself. He always brought out the dark of people's hearts, and being irascible made it bad enough to elicit painful nightmares; he remembered it happening to Steven's Pokémon, and even Ali because of his father. "Sorry," he muttered, taking up his sleeping bag and sifting through the grass to sleep a couple dozen feet away, except he couldn't really get back to sleep because the night had reached its peak.

"I wonder…how Wallace is doing…" he muttered dreamily, staring at the sky. Wallace was the Hoenn Pokémon League Champion after Steven… Back then, when the rebels hadn't caused too much damage overall, people still believed that things could blow over and go back to normal once the Trainers and police force won out; obviously, they never did, and Dominic often wondered what became of the League.

He rolled on his side and noticed a pair of small Zigzagoon sleeping together in the grass; they looked a little cute, and that wasn't a word he threw around too often. He realized that they weren't sleeping a moment later when the female began giggling, then they started romantically sleeping together, and as much as he enjoyed a good show involving quills and the Pokémon equivalent of dirty talk, he had to move away before he threw up in his mouth. He barely even closed his eyes before a voice pierced his thoughts: "What would Blaziken think of all of this?"

"Be quiet, you," Dominic muttered, squeezing his eyes shut tighter; even so, his mind's eye perceived the perfect illusion of himself irritatingly known as the King. The King crossed his arms over his chest, annoyed at Dominic's attitude, and kicked his side; Dominic still refused to respond until the King pushed him hard enough to send him rolling across the dirt, muddying his fur. "Hey!"

"I asked you a question and I expect it to be answered," he said in a tense voice; Dominic exhaled through his nose.

"He'd kill me."

"So you're suddenly unafraid of him? because the last time you defied him, he gave you that pretty hole in your chest." He pointed at the invisible scar on Dominic's chest; years later, his lungs still had burn marks.

"No… I'm takin' this all one step at a time."

"And why!? Just get rid of that guy. Here—" Dominic opened his eyes and saw Reyes lying a dozen feet away; the King smirked as he raked his claws over Reyes' cheek light enough to be unnoticeable. "I can even help."

"No! Don't do that!" Dominic shouted, grabbing his arm; the King pulled away, repulsed.

"You're a killer, Dominic; you're not meant to have friends, nobody except me."

"You're not my friend, you're jus' a huge bully that finds his happiness in takin' 'way mines," he muttered.

"I reiterate, you're a killer; you don't even deserve to be happy. This guy right here is a traitor to my agenda and his own affiliation; hell…" He laid his claws down on Reyes' throat, ears pricked attentively. "His heartbeat, even, is an insult to me."

"Don't! If you do that, then I'll—" The King looked at him, already aware of Dominic's first, second, and third and even thousandth thoughts.

"I wish you would kill yourself, Dominic; I'd just plague you in Hell."

"I'd rather…you were trapped in Hell…than up here."

"Oh, because I'm such a danger, right?" he sneered, releasing Reyes and waving his claws in irritation. "Because I'm the killer? Well, I can remember a lot of times that Dominic killed."

"That's… That's…"

"That's what, different?" he accused. "You're no different from yourself ten years ago! You're just a beast that causes death for those you know and those you don't know. I wish you would kill yourself; the world would rest easy if you did." He came closer and grasped Dominic's neck, his claws digging into the soft skin beneath his fur; blood soaked into his carefully-brushed fluff and ran down his arms.

"You've never let me off that easily."

"Because I don't like people doing their own thing. I am the King; I'm the one that says when to jump, when to speak, when to run." He removed one of his claws to lick it slowly, clearing it of blood, and smiled maliciously. "When you finally want to end it all, ask the King; he will gladly shear this troublesome head from your shoulders."

Dominic opened his eyes, and with a tired breath, he realized that it was only a dream; of course it was, since the King wasn't very real.

He rolled onto his side and got a face full of mud; one sniff confirmed that the dirt was moistened by his own blood, and a lot of it. He wanted to be bothered by it but, hell, he didn't have that much motivation left to live; Dominic just closed his eyes again without even a prayer.

…

"No…I'm a terrible terrible bastard," he decided, sitting up. "I'm just talk…" He felt the grass blades around him but they were too thin; against his better judgement he walked over to Reyes and pulled away one of his leaf blades. He was too fast to wake up and hold his blades to Dominic's throat; Dominic just grunted and pushed him away. "Quit playin', Reyes."

"Wait, what?" he said, perplexed; Dominic ignored that, tying his leaf around his neck to cover the wound. "How did you stop me?"

"I pushed you?"

"No… That was reflex; it's hard to counter reflex that quickly and easily."

"You can't underestimate me," he sighed. "I know I sound like kinda a dumb guy, and maybe I am, but I like playin' around, which the King hates; 'cause of that, I look weaker than I am. Like, for example, Zoroark are known for speed." Without Reyes seeing a thing, Dominic took one of the seed pods from his back. "And especially now, 'cause it's nighttime; at night with a Zoroark, yer pretty much dead. You'd have to be, I dunno, god to stop one of us."

"Too bad I'm just a Reyes."

"Yeah…and too bad I'm jus' a Dominic." He took a bite of Reyes' seed pod; it tasted just as horrible as the first time, but it relieved some of his lightheadedness. "You can go back to sleep."

"It's alright; I don't need that much sleep," he said. "Soldier's thing."

"Ah…I wouldn't know 'bout that—oh wait, I do now 'cause you drag me to all hell durin' daytime, which is when I'm used to snoozin'."

"Don't be a crybaby." They were silent for a long time; there seemed to be a lot of silences between them.

"Where do we go after this?"

"I've no damn clue."

He took another bite even though the seeds were starting to make him physically ill. "I might."

"You might what?"

"I might have a clue…where to go."

"Really? Where?" He sounded half-dubious, but mostly he was curious; Dominic mulled it over.

"Well…"

"…?"

"Okay, um, the guy that taught me how to kill people maybe?" This time, Reyes gave him an eight-second look of Are you damn stupid or what? "Okay, I know it sounds a li'l crazy, but hell, it's somethin'."

"Yeah, it's somethin' stupid," Reyes said. "Let's file that away as Plan Z-1000."

"Okay…what if, um, I knew a Legendary Pokémon?"

"I'd say that even if you weren't totally lying to me at this moment, the Legendaries haven't exactly been helpful these last seven years."

"Oi, you're not a lie detector." He took one more bite before he was too nauseas to stand it anymore and tossed the pod far far away. "Mm, let's see… Can't we go to Sootopolis?"

"I'm not as welcome there as you are; hell, I don't think you're very welcome there in the first place."

"Oi, you're not a mind reader either…but yeah, you're sorta right." He reached into his mane and took out his cellphone; Reyes immediately pulled a face, which he expected at this point.

"Where did you get that anyway?"

"Blaziken," he answered. "It's how we communicate—not that I listen to what he says very often." He checked his messages and grimaced. "I've got twelve alerts about… well, ya know."

"I'm guessing they're pretty pissed off at you."

"What?" Dominic was distracted by a certain text message.

"The rebels; I'm guessing that they're pretty pissed off at you."

"…Oh."

"Oh? What does that mean?"

"It's a sound of surprise—" Reyes beat him with the flat of his hand. "Ouch! I'm sorry… The Elite Four is movin'."

"What?"

"They're, um, four Pokémon from each of the old Elite Four," he explained. "I always thought they were kinda funny; like, five out of six Pokémon are revolution'ries, what happened to those last ones? But, uh, I digress; usually they hang around Sootopolis not really doin' nothin' more than botherin' ol' Pokémon about their ol' troubles, but now they're out…and around…for me."

"Because you're with me?"

"Well, they've been pissed at me for the better part of three years—don't ask why—so for them, this is the perfect excuse to chop mah head off." He turned off his cellphone and curled up on his side.

"Dominic?" Reyes asked; he whinnied in complaint.

"Just… I wanna sleep for a while."

"Are they that great as opponents?"

"N-Nah, it's not that… I'll tell you in the morning…"

"Dominic!"

"I'm sorry, but there are things even I'm uncomfortable with! Goodnight!"

"Damn freak," Reyes muttered.

"Coming from you, that doesn't hurt quite as much…"

2.2. Confirmation to Love​

Of course, Dominic couldn't really sleep through the night, and only when the sun rose could he finally slip into real sleep, however Reyes spurred him back to life to keep moving. "Nooo!" he wailed, waving his claws threateningly.

"Arceus, we don't have time for this Dominic; every second we spend here is getting us closer to capture," he hissed, wrapping his arms around Dominic's chest to pull him up; he shouted and kicked and threw a fit, but Reyes was strong enough to keep hold and smart enough to avoid eye contact.

"W-Wait, lemme go! I hear somethin'!"

"Really?"

"I swear!" Reyes dropped him, causing Dominic to fall on his back; he raised his head and noticed that Reyes' leaf blades hadn't healed at all, and were in fact half-eaten away. "You can't fight with those."

"I don't need to; I have an entire repertoire of tricks up my proverbial sleeve." He said that, but he looked tired too, and not just because he didn't sleep that much. He felt his fur bristle as something big grew near, but he couldn't see anything; maybe it was a Kecleon, or maybe it was some bird flying really high. Or maybe—

The ocean itself quaked, then he saw several blue runes glow vibrantly beneath the surface; the sheer strength and size of the Pokémon had him reeling and he was certain that it hadn't even grown within one hundred feet of them. He grabbed Reyes' arms and dragged him back from the shore, then he put up a camouflaging illusion around the both of them. "What are you doing?" Reyes demanded; he didn't even have the strength to sound angry at Dominic, which meant that the situation was pretty damn dire.

"There's somethin' real big 'n' dangerous down there—"

"What, someone of your family?"

"Hah, but no." His illusion flickered, which he felt before he saw. Aw, damn it, he thought; I don't have any energy left. If only that damn Reyes had given me some meat!

That thing finally surfaced, and the sight of it took Dominic's breath away. It was Kyogre, it had to be; Dominic didn't have a PokéDex memory, but hell, it was the same size, had the same marks—if it looked like a Ducklett, quacked like a Ducklett, smelled like a Ducklett, tasted like a Ducklett, it sure as hell wasn't a Pidgey…mm, he was making himself hungrier with that crap. That Kyogre looked at them with glowing blue eyes, and Dominic damn near pissed himself when he thought that it was all over, then he hated himself for fearing death, but that was more of a reflex and pretty damn unimportant—

That Kyogre's mouth opened, and out came a Gabite; it looked normal, but hell, it couldn't have been…? The Kyogre beached itself, then before their eyes it shifted from a massive behemoth of a Pokémon into a tiny tiny Ditto, then that Ditto shifted again into a Raichu. Dominic couldn't believe it; he had never—not once—heard of a Ditty able to turn into a Legendary Pokémon. The two new Pokémon looked around curiously but Dominic's illusion barely held, masking their energy and scent.

"I thought you sensed them here," the Ditto said to the Gabite; he growled in response.

"I know I did; they must be hiding somewhere. I'm not going to miss that bounty on their heads, Azure."

"Bounty hunters," Dominic said. "We have those too?"

"In this world," Reyes muttered, "anything is possible."

"Wait," Azure said. "Gabriel, I said wait!" The Gabite stopped and turned around; Azure looked around, then he reverted into a Ditto before turning into a Zoroark, which made Dominic doubly nervous. He sniffed the air, taking a few steps away from Dominic and Reyes, giving him a false sense of hope before Azure flashed back and cut right through Dominic's illusion and into his chest; Dominic felt blood build in his windpipe from the injury and kicked Azure away. "They were just hiding," he said, turning back into a Ditto.

"Y-You bastards," Dominic coughed, feeling dizzy from loss of blood; his reflexes had saved him from organ injury, which was great, but Azure damaged an artery and some ribs by the feel of it. "Yer not takin' us…no way no how."

"You're in no condition to protest," Gabriel said, knocking Dominic aside; he fell down on his back and couldn't sit up again with the pain and bleeding in his chest, and the sunlight only made it worse. He stood against Reyes, who was still weakened, and the two sized each other up; Dominic realized how alike they were in terms of aura. "Reyes the Sceptile… How far thou hath fallen," he said derisively. "Not that I care one way or another about this revolution, but the last time I checked, you seemed highly focused on helping the revolutionaries."

"Things change," Reyes said derisively. "I've heard of you too; you're very thorough in beating your bounties within an inch of their life."

"So you want a demonstration?" Gabriel cracked his knuckles; Dominic clenched his fist and went to root through his fur, but Azure turned into a Makuhita and stepped on his wrist.

"Yer real pow'rful for a paint splatt'r," Dominic said to it.

"Oh, haven't heard that one before." And for a paint splatter, Azure was annoyingly chipper.

"Bastard! If ya had eyes—"

"You'd claw them out, then you'd rip off my arms and beat me with them and ruin my reproductive system," it finished in that same bright tone. "Those, I've heard already; I'm not that popular, y'know."

"Hard to believe."

"It is," it agreed sincerely. Okay, that Ditto was a moron…well, ironically, now he knew Reyes' pain. The moral of the story, however, was that the two of them were now in a very tight spot; Dominic was semi-incapacitated and Reyes was freaking wilting. If he could reach the Potion in his mane (that he BORROWED from the revolutionaries—wait, why did he care? They were trying to kill them anyway) he could at least stop the bleeding, which was getting worse with the sun frying the edges of the wound; he couldn't heal naturally like that, even if he used Recover or something.

DOMMY DOM I KNOW WHAT YOU CAN DO

Dominic squeezed his eyes shut, fearing what surely was inevitable; the King could just burn them away with hellfire, but he'd burn Reyes away too, and no matter what, he couldn't let that happen. Okay, okay, time to think… He could use another illusion, but he was too weak to make a strong one; that Gabriel guy didn't look like the type to fall for parlor tricks, and Azure could've just turned back into a Zoroark and break it again. He didn't have much left in the physical department either, what with his lungs oozing out of his ribcage and all; that took a lot from his repertoire, but he still had a mane full of junk. Okay, okay, time to think harder, he thought. What's in my mane?

…

Perfect!

He rolled onto his side and, grimacing internally at what he was about to do, Crunched Azure's leg; it jumped back, startled, and kept jumping and stomping when Dominic didn't let go. His arms were freed, but that wouldn't mean anything if he was crushed under foot like a rogue Bug-type; he grabbed Azure's thick leg and, digging his heel in the dirt, gathered all of the energy he could to push it backwards and down, emitting darkness as he went to strengthen his attack. A Dark-type was at a disadvantage with a Fighting-type, but that old Professor sure as hell wasn't thinking of Dominic when he programmed that into his little DS!

"Buhaaah!" Azure grunted, flopping on his back; unlike the rest of its body, those particular muscles weren't strong, making it look like a beached Wailmer. Dominic almost had a good laugh before the air dispelled behind him; he swerved out of the way as Gabriel's claws came flashing by lightning-quick.

"I hate haircuts," Dominic told him, taking out his cellphone; Gabriel was unamused, baring his claws and lunging forward. Now, Dominic wasn't a genius like Reyes, but when it came to finding weaknesses, his predatory nature made that too easy—well, he was better with a full body of blood, but nitpicks nitpicks. Gabite are Ground-type Pokémon, he thought, dancing just out of Gabriel's reach again; it wasn't nearly as easy as he made it look since even though he was faster than Gabriel naturally, he was still dizzy and starting to see double actually… But Ground-types were highly attuned to sound—more specifically, vibrations of sound; they had to be to move as well as they did beneath the surface. So, a little tweaking, a little more dodging, a little bit of searching his playlist and—

"Yes!" he cried in excitement as a heavy metal rendition of Sleep My Caterpie blasted from his phone. "I love this one!"

Gabriel didn't share his sentiments; the volume and vibrations of the song had him on his knees in pain, struggling to dig beneath the grass; Dominic kicked him down, music still blaring, then gave him a knockout blow on the back of his head. Dominic wanted to celebrate—it had been a long time since he fought and not he-who-shall-not-be-named-nor-even-acknowledged-even-though-he-in-question-was-a-figment-of-Dominic's-Dark--type-psyche—but Reyes was pretty much dying behind him so…

"Need some help?" Dominic grinned, offering his claws.

"Damn you and your help," Reyes grumbled in response, but he took the offer anyway; it didn't look like he could stand up by himself in any case, and even when he did his legs shook slightly as they started browning too.

"How do I fix this?"

"The sun will work," he said almost obstinately.

"Photosynthesis? But you need, like, food 'n' water?" Reyes didn't respond, then he clenched his jaw and pushed Dominic backwards until he fell on his back; half a second later, a big purple blob splattered all over him. Dominic thought that that old paint splatter came back for a second round, then he realized that it was a different color, kind of like a… "Arceus," he swore, jumping backwards; it was a Grimer—and it was seeping poison all over Reyes!

"Gotta admit, you were pretty smart to get me on my back," Azure said, its voice sounding bubbly and disgusting. "I know I'm not too much of a genius—sorta a side effect of my brain cells being all over the place—but I came up with my own idea: pickin' off the weaker guy." Reyes fell over, Azure slopping its goopy body all over his; as a plant, that had to be twice as bad as normal.

"Oi…get offa him," Dominic growled, fur bristling; one of Azure's bubbles popped just slowly enough to be obnoxious. What could get that thing away? …Well, he had an idea, but it was kind of farfetched—actually, that worked perfectly for him. In his state, Dominic did a pretty pathetic Flamethrower, but still, the embers set the noxious gas Azure was releasing on fire; the little blasts connected one after another until it caught on fire. It quickly detached from Reyes, splattering on the ground and killing the grass and flowers instantly; Dominic took a car's antenna (that was also borrowed from the revolutionaries—and yes, he was petty enough to deprive them of their usual jams and radio stars' rants; they turned on Reyes for no reason, so it would have just been criminal of him not to get a little bit of retribution) from his mane and, electrifying it with Hidden Power, stabbed it into Azure's body. It cried weakly before turning back into a Ditto, the shocks surging through its plasmatic body, then it fell limp like a big wad of pink bubblegum; the thought made him a little hungry but mostly sick.

"…Reyes?" he asked tentatively, poking Reyes with the antenna; his green skin was tinted purple from Poisoning and he was sweating chlorophyll. "Okay, you need a Pokémon Center."

"Ya…think?" he said between breaths, pushing himself up with his arms; Dominic tried to touch him but Reyes fended him off. "You'll…you'll get Poisoned too…"

"But I can't help ya otherwise!"

"An…tidote…"

"That's the one thing I didn't steal… I didn't think we'd need it!" he said in response to Reyes' expression. "Yeah, yeah, I know, 'Smart move bastard.'" He offered his claws again. "But I'm not gonna leave you here; we fight together, we stay together, y'know?"

"I appreciate…sentiment, but if you…get Poisoned…chances are…just die here," he said frankly; Dominic winced. "Go…to mainland…get Antidote…'n' come back…"

"I got you!" Dominic started to turn around but stopped, fur bristling. Did Reyes really entrust his life to Dominic, who tried to kill him repeatedly? He couldn't believe it! Then again, a life-or-death situation could make anybody desperate. "No, wait," Dominic told him. "I can't just leave you here like this…" He tried to make another illusion, but his injury still bothered him; he had to regain his energy before he could do anything else. Dominic took a deep breath and left Reyes there to venture further on the islet.

——————

Dominic trudged through a small but thick forest near the center of the islet, his healing accelerated by the large trees blocking sunlight; although that did help one problem, he still needed food and, to a lesser extent, fresh water. Because he was so used to catching his prey he couldn't tell a milkweed from a weed weed, which ruled out eating any plants; there was also a great lack of ripe Berries due to the abundance of foragers in the area. He followed the trees forward until he noticed their roots spreading out less and less; from his limited knowledge of plants, that meant that there was more water nearby. After what felt like eons, he reached a pond in a clearing with little Magikarp and Feebas and Linoone and Poochyena and Arceus was he drooling as much as he thought he was?

It took maybe two minutes for him to eat his fill, and when his stomach was nearly full he drank the clean water until he was sure he wouldn't need to eat for the next week or so. He dug around in his mane for a little until he found a couple of Potions; they healed his wounds into ruddy scar tissue, and he could use the empty containers to hold water! He gathered as much water and close-to-ripe Berries as he could before jogging back the way he came, working not to trip over any roots even though he was spilling water with every step he took.

It took him less time to make it back to the shore, but Reyes looked like he had not very much life left; his seed pods had fallen off and shriveled and he was barely breathing. Dominic tried to get him to eat and drink but he refused, his unfocused gaze landing on the sparkling ocean. "I can…barely…talk…swallow…no…" he whispered.

My fault, Dominic thought, dropping on his knees. It's my fault all over again. Reyes was the first guy to care about me…the first guy to care about me in years…and because of that he'll die as an enemy of the world.

"Guh," Azure groaned; Dominic had no idea that it was still alive. It gathered itself back into that stupidly resilient blob form and spat a wad of red plasma onto the grass. "That sure hurt…" It looked at Dominic and blinked its tiny black eyes. "That face you're making is—" It didn't get to finish before Dominic grabbed hold of it; it tried to squirm free, but every time Dominic grabbed hold again. "Dude, just chill," it said; Dominic released it then and, walking over to its friend Gabriel, grabbed hold of his dorsal fin and ripped it off in one move. Gabriel groaned in pain, crimson stains appearing beneath his tough hide, but Dominic tore it away as easily as if it was grass…like Reyes. "No! Gabriel!" it cried, Transforming; Dominic pulled away from Gabriel at record speed, even by Zoroark standards, and grabbed Azure's still-forming arm.

"Ack! Leggo!" Azure yelled, unable to revert the arm as long as Dominic held onto it; he clenched his claws, tearing away the soft pink skin and small feathers that it was forming and causing its thick blood to stain the ground too. He heard Gabriel staggering behind him and swept to the side in time to avoid his heavy claws; without his fin he lacked balance, making his attacks rely on dumb luck and too much strength. He exerted his powerful Dragon-type energy and lashed at Dominic; he repelled Gabriel's claws easily with his Dark-type energy and pushed him away, then he coated his own claws in Ghost-type energy and stabbed them into Azure, whose partial Flying-type made it vulnerable. The energy coated its body and stole away its very life force.

"Azure!" Gabriel shouted, trying with even more fury to hit Dominic. "Why—can't—I—touch you—say—some—thing—al—ready—!" Dominic grabbed Gabriel's left claws, then his right when he attacked again, and leaned in close enough that he could count his scales; he watched the defiant look in Gabriel's eyes slowly morph into fear, his breath quickening at the thought of the inevitable. For the first time since Rustboro, the maelstrom of voices in his mind ceased; Dominic slowly reached up and took out his earplugs, letting him hear the full extent of Gabite's shouts.

He left the remains somewhere out of plain sight and returned to Reyes; he was barely conscious now, eyes closed. Dominic used his scale-covered claws to pull Reyes' mouth open and forced him to swallow some water and a few Berries; he started gagging, nearly choking, but it made the way down. He rolled onto his side as the holes where his pods were started blooming with little flowers; they opened up to the sun and his skin lightened a few shades. "Ugh…thank…" he croaked tiredly; Dominic closed Reyes' mouth and nodded silently. He took Reyes' arm and slung him over his back, then he started trudging to their boat; the closest city was Sootopolis—not that Dominic could go there after all of that hoo-hah—but they could make it to Mossdeep with a little luck. He rested Reyes carefully in the boat and climbed in front of the engine; the sound of it was maddening.

"You're so…all of a sudden…" Reyes was muttering, adjusting himself so that his back was propped up against the bench. "So quiet…when I finally…want you to talk…"

"…" He just looked at the water as the boat cut through it.

"Domi…nic…"

He hadn't felt like that in what felt like eons; the closest he came to that kind of anger was in…Rustboro… "…I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Ev'rythin'." Reyes didn't respond, just focused on his breathing and the fish swimming beneath the water's surface. Dominic hadn't realized it before, but Reyes was a pretty damn good guy—better than somebody like Dominic deserved anyway. It took him a while, but Dominic managed to voice his sentiment, then, "I've been bouncin' around cities for the longest time; jus' Mauville, I was there fer maybe two months, and even if you hadn't shown up I would'a left 'nyway. Now, this's what happens when I finally find a place to be… But you don't think so, huh."

"…"

"Those Elite Four guys, they're serious business," he continued. "I'm not a killer, they're killers, each of 'em, and each of them are twice as strong as me. If those guys're serious, they'll get us in an interdimensional second."

"Ah…"

"I dunno how we'll pull this off," Dominic muttered. "B…But we'll do it; yeah, we'll do it, 'cause together, we're…"

"Enemies of…the world," he finished.

"Yeah, but the good kind." Reyes made a derisive sound. "What? I mean, we are." Again, there was silence. "I don't know much about ya."

"Doesn't…matter…"

"I mean, well, I poured my heart out to ya before." Reyes' head rolled to the side but it was entirely voluntary.

"It's not…not a good…story… I wa…was once…like…you."

"What? You were like me?" Reyes closed his eyes.

"Didn't give a damn…about my life…" Dominic looked at the sky; the sun was still hot enough to make his skin tingle, so it should've been making Reyes better, at least gradually. Dominic tried to get him to drink some more water but Reyes just choked on it; that alone put the Berries out of the equation. He suddenly doubled over with a coughing fit, and when he straightened up Dominic could see bright green chlorophyll laced with purple in his hands; he doubled over again over the side of the boat, this time to throw up. Dominic quickly sat down next to the engine, gunning it; the dark spread of water of Sootopolis City was right next to them, but Dominic wasn't going to risk his life sneaking past The Gate.

The Gate was sort of like the psychic barrier around Ever Grande City, but worse. Instead of Psychic-types, the thing was maintained by Dark-type energy; just stepping next to it would put you in your own Hell of each and every fear that's haunted you since infancy. The first time he went there he couldn't really tell the darkness from any old patch of black; he walked right through it and was completely bedridden for three days reliving the same exact nightmare. Hah, Arceus forbid he take his chances again! Dominic may have been slow to the point, but he wasn't dumb enough to do that, not for all of the meat in the world.

"We'll make it, we will," Dominic muttered, more to himself than Reyes, who was pretty much dying before his eyes. Dominic took a flyswatter from his mane and slapped Reyes with it. "Wake up! Wake up up up!" Reyes still didn't wake up. Dominic ditched the swatter and grabbed his shoulders, ignoring the burning sensation of poison on his skin. "WAKE UP!" he shouted, shaking him hard enough that his head flipped back and forth. He eventually hissed and withdrew his claws; although he wasn't as severely effected as a Grass-type, the poison had burned away the fur and skin on his hands, causing them to bleed out and most likely giving him more than a few infections.

"…nic…" Dominic aimed his ears forward, trying to catch Reyes' quiet voice. "T…Tell Aza…I'm sorry…I didn't me…to… And if you…you ever see…Lil'…I'm sorry too…"

"No…no…" Dominic hadn't felt sadness in a long time, so the weird caving-in feeling in his chest confused him. "You'll tell 'em yourself, Reyes! Trust me!"

"Funny…" he coughed. "A while ago…I wouldn't have…"

"Reyes… Reyes!" Dominic started growling, fur bristling as he clenched his fists; he hated to do it but he decked Reyes in the face, watching his head go from side to side with no response. He stopped after what seemed like forever, his bloody and completely burnt; Reyes wasn't moving at all. Physically and mentally numb to pain, Dominic looked out to the horizon; he could see the Mossdeep Space Center, which meant that they were close, but what good would that do them now? He slumped over the side of the both, feeling defeated; it took him maybe three seconds to notice the glowing red eye beneath the surface.

"Sur…prise," Sharpedo said before it leapt on him.

Everything was hazy, but Reyes remembered what he did see well enough. They were attacked on one of the islands near Sootopolis City by the two bounty hunters, that Ditto and Gabite, and he was Poisoned… Dominic tried to save him too, which was very surprising; Reyes had no idea that Dominic had the capacity to care since he had shown little to none of that, but he soon realized that Dominic could more than care…he could cry too.

He drifted in and out of consciousness, the poison making quick work of his plant-like system; he most likely would've died faster had Dominic not tried as hard as he did. Dominic's eyes went wide and glassy as his mind faded back to the past; it reminded Reyes that Dominic hadn't only seen him in that condition, but dozens and maybe hundreds of other Pokémon and humans, most likely caused by his own claws. Then the situation fully struck Dominic, and…well, Reyes meant it when he said that he wouldn't kill a kid, but to him, the worse thing in the world was seeing that sort of profound sadness on any kid, even if that kid was a killer.

He was startled by the sound of Dominic's shouts and the boat rocking hard from side to side, but he couldn't move or even open his eyes; he had to gather information by listening instead. Dominic was being attacked, although it didn't sound like the two from the island; there was the sound of flesh ripping, then a loud splashing sound. The boat rocked again as Dominic clambered over Reyes' body, knocking the breath from his lungs, and then something large and wet and heavy slammed into both of them; the boat overturned right after, dumping them into the water.

He gasped, feeling water fill his lungs instead of air; he couldn't even cough with his muscles being numb and paralyzed, and so he just sunk. He felt the water around him displace in rapid intervals as the Pokémon and Dominic went by, but it never touched him, not once. He felt the world slipping away from him again, but this time there was a familiar face watching him go down…

——————

"Ugh, that beepin'…pissin' me off…"

Reyes could feel his body again, but that didn't mean he could move it; it was a really big shame too, because there was an annoying beeping sound that was giving him the mother of all migraines… He gasped and opened his eyes in a rush, remembering everything that happened; aside from a lingering soreness in every movable part of his body, he was okay—more than that, he was still alive. He turned his head as best he could and saw that he was in a Pokémon Center room—if he had to guess, in Mossdeep; he was lying on a bed with water being transferred intravenously into his wrist, and the beeping noise was coming from a heart monitor. Honestly, it was pissing him off—

Wait, didn't somebody else say that?

A Chansey bustled through the door, startling him slightly; she looked unfamiliar, but then again most of them preferred not to express their individuality. He followed her with his eyes as she methodically adjusted things here and there, checked readings, tidied this and that, and it was when she was refilling the water supply that her eyes met his; she gasped in surprise as he grimaced. "I've never thought myself as so hard to notice," he said.

"I apologize," she said in a timid voice, nearly dropping the bottle of water she was using for the water supply. "How do you feel?"

"Hurts," he said through his teeth. "Everywhere."

"Well, you did just recover from bad Poisoning alongside other injuries," she pointed out as she set a wooden bowl of some sort of soup on the nightstand. "This will help with the pain, but please only drink it when you're sure you have the strength to."

"You could've just…you know…" He weakly pointed to the IV bag.

"This is better when eaten." She finished checking up on things and started to leave.

"Wait. Did you find another Pokémon with me?"

"Another Pokémon?" she repeated, confused. "No? You just washed up on the shore; you were alone unless you want to count the remains of a boat. Did you have somebody with you?"

"No, I was just wondering," he sighed, closing his eyes as the door shut. Dominic was gone; the issue was whether that was good or bad. Good, he had saved himself and went off to sulk somewhere; bad, he didn't. With the condition he was in, he didn't have much room to worry about others; and besides, even if Dominic had somehow died, Hell would send him back in an instant for fear of his contagious stupidity. Still, he worried, as per his nature; and even if he didn't worry about Dominic, there was the fact that he was back in a revolutionary-controlled city.

He never thought about it when he was under Alakazam, but the revolutionaries monopolized just as much as the rebels; they asked for a lot of cities in exchange for protection from the rebels including top-rate potential revolutionaries, the best food, and seventy percent of shipments that were supposed to head to the Pokémon Mart. Considering that non-revolutionary/rebels lived within those cities as well with their own Pokémon that also required Potions, Restores, et cetera, it seemed demanding, but with the way Reyes had his head down licking shoes, he never noticed.

It took him a while, but finally he found the strength to sit up; his arms were bandaged where his leaf blades used to be, meaning that they had completely fallen off, and judging by the feel of his back, his seed pods were gone too. No matter, as he was a plant; he would grow them back in a short while. He reached over and took the bowl that Chansey had left into his hands; it was pleasantly warm and smelled sweet, like cinnamon, but was a very thick and pale white. He took a small sip, amazed by the thin texture; it tasted like egg, better than it smelled, and it didn't take long for him to finish it. True to her word, the pain in his muscles faded to near nothingness, but he was still exhausted in more ways than one; he left the bowl on the nightstand and laid back down. Dominic, he decided, would be fine; he lasted as long as he did on his own, so what would a little bit more time matter…?

——————

Reyes was knocked onto his back yet again by Deidrick; he grinned as Reyes spat out a wad of fertilized soil. "Aw, now you're full of crap too," Deidrick joked. He was the only child among Brendan's Pokémon; if Reyes remembered correctly, he was nine in Pokémon years, making him seven years younger than Reyes. "Hey, ya know why the Ducklett crossed the road?"

"Shaddup," Reyes muttered, smoothing his head leaf out between his claws. Deidrick was Brendon's Manectric, always full of energy and of pesky cereal box jokes; even so, he was the one that always managed to lighten the mood. He offered a paw, bringing Reyes to his feet.

"You used to your body yet?"

"It's a work in progress," he replied. "It's still weird…like, one day, I was a Treecko, and now…"

"Well, it's a big deal to evolve," he said. "More so whenRIIIIIP

Reyes jolted awake as he heard a ripping noise; he rolled over groggily and spotted a dark shadow tearing at the window's curtains. "Dominic, just as I thought," Reyes said into the darkness.

"…" There was another rip, then bright red eyes looked back at him; Reyes was instantly on edge.

"You're not Dominic."

"Banette," it said in a raspy but muffled voice; it punctuated the word with another rip on the curtains. "Ban."

Reyes sat up, becoming more aware of his missing leaf blades; he wasn't going to grow them back in the middle of the night even using Synthesis. Although he did have a large pool for moves, they were weakened by the lack of sunlight; that Banette couldn't have picked a worse time to sneak up on him. "You're…one of the bad guys."

"Banette, ban," it muttered with another rip. It released the curtain and started to move; by the movements of its glowing eyes, it looked like it was walking, yet Reyes couldn't hear any sounds. Then he shivered as it grew closer, and then it was against his ear, voice clear and loud: "YOU'RE GOING TO DIE."

Reyes threw himself to the side as a distortion hit the bed, warping it inwards and twisting the metal frame into coils; he stood up and pressed himself against the wall as those red eyes appeared a couple of feet below the ceiling. He gritted his teeth and, hoisting the window open, jumped through; he was on the second floor, but he had healed enough to absorb the impact. Banette floated through the window into the moonlight's path; it gave Reyes a ghastly grin before distorting the grass at his feet. He ran to the side to avoid it and scrambled up a light post to even out their heights and released Razor Leaf; they just passed through Banette's body like air. Ghost-type, he thought, working his jaw; had he still had his blades, he could've used Night Slash or Pursuit, but without them…

"Ban!" it cried as it gathered its Ghost-type energy into a large purple ball; Reyes dodged out of the way as it struck the light post, reducing the steel to smoldering remains, and again as it melted the parking lot's asphalt. He watched Banette make a third and made a move to go backwards before he tripped over something; Reyes fell flat on his back with a whump and the Shadow Ball hit him head-on. The damage was not crippling, but Ghost-type attacks had the nasty side-effect of siphoning the victim's life energy; already, he could feel himself losing power. He pressed his hands to the ground and created vines just below Banette; again, they passed through its body easily. "Ban, ban," it chuckled.

"Damn it," he growled, taking up a rock and throwing it; amazingly, it hit Banette in the head, causing it to bob in the air like an apple in water. "Fling," Reyes realized, then he took up a rock in each hand and lobbed both of them; Banette reacted quickly this time, repelling them with distortions. Reyes needed something to attack it with, but everything he threw it just distorted, and even its attacks distorted things; the grass and the light post were burnt to crisps— Wait, that made no sense; Ghost-types corroded things, not burned them. Reyes moved behind another light post as it released another Shadow Ball; the steel heated below his claws, burning his skin, and he jumped away. Whether it was doing it on purpose or not, the Banette was superheating things; he could use that to his advantage.

"Banette?" it said in confusion as Reyes started coughing into his hands; it took a while, but he managed to expel three large seeds. He cocked his arm and tossed them at Banette with all of his strength; it giggled as it distorted them, but it waited a little too long and they ended up inches from its body.

"Seed Bomb," Reyes told it as the seeds exploded from the heat; they still would have blown up naturally, but if the Banette did it itself, it wouldn't have been expecting it. It was knocked from the air and hit the ground with a light poof; Reyes slid across the dirt to hold it down with his claws. "Are you one of the rebels?"

"Ban!" It gave Reyes the finger; Reyes used his vines to bind its limbs to the ground.

"Are you one of the Elite Four!"

"Banette!" It turned its head defiantly.

"…Where is Dominic."

This time, its zipper pulled back, revealing a blue light within its mouth that was surely its life force. "SHARPEDO TORE THAT BASTARD TO BITS BY NO—" Reyes thrusted his hand into its mouth, causing it to choke and sputter, and grabbed hold of its life; its zipper and teeth closed around his wrist in an attempt to zip shut, tearing away the skin of his arm and hand, but he pulled its life free and it fell limp. He released it to the sky and watched it disappear into the night like a Volbeat; it was sort of pretty in a way.

Still, the Banette's words stuck with him; he hadn't seen any evidence of Dominic so far, and considering how joined at the hip he had been… It was something of a hard reality to face, but he had really started to care for Dominic as a friend; if he had died, well, Reyes would be…sad. Wow, that hurt more than he thought it would. He looked at the Pokémon Center's glowing PokeBall and decided against returning; if that Pokémon found him, then he wasn't safe there. Even if he wanted to hang back to look for Dominic, he had to move; the question was where he could go.

He walked down Mossdeep's streets in the dark night, the pavement cold beneath his feet; he stripped away the bandages to free the sprouts of leaf blades, and he could feel the flowers on his back slowly growing into seed pods. It would take a while, but if he could find a good resting spot by daytime, the process would go by quicker; one of the upsides of being a plant, while the cons of poison, frost, and anatomy still existed. He watched the street lights dwindle until he was passing through a quiet residential area; the houses lights were off save for one, and although he couldn't hear any words inside he could hear laughter. It made him homesick for Ever Grande; after Brendan, they were all he had in regards to family. Now, he just had Dominic; the thought made him an entirely different sort of sick, but in a sort of endearing way.

"What'cha readin'?" Brendan asked, sitting next to Reyes on his bed; Reyes angled the picture book so that Brendan could see it. "Hm… A grocery store?"

"They're eating plants!" he cried, appalled; although Brendan couldn't really understand his words, he could understand Reyes.

"You mean the vegetables? That's normal," he laughed; Reyes pouted, crossing his arms over his chest. "Aw, c'mon, what's the problem? Think they'll eat you or something? Treecko doesn't taste very good, you know."

"Chht," he muttered, chagrined and dismayed; Brendan nudged his shoulder.

"Really, Rey, it's just the circle of life; people eat plants, then when the people die their bodies help feed the plants."

"Really?" Reyes asked, astounded; he didn't know much of the world yet.

"Yeah, that's how it is," he grinned. "Life's learned to work itself out even without us humans messin' things up. But anyway, let's go; Mom's made salad tonight!"

That, Reyes thought, rubbing his temples, will get annoying.

2.4. ZOMBIE​

"Reyes."

Reyes yawned, pushing away a crate to crawl out of his hiding place; luckily nobody on the ferry spotted him, so he managed five full hours of sleep. He listened closely for footsteps outside of the storage room, and when he was sure that it was clear he pushed through the door into the wooden hallway; a lone human couple was walking the end giggling and holding hands. He retreated back into the room, the sight making him sick with memories; as he thought, those flashbacks were becoming annoying. Maybe it was because after so long, he was finally alone with his thoughts; consequently, they took his mind whenever possible with old memories unimportant to the situation.

"Wait, did I just hear my name?" he wondered aloud, looking around the hallway again; the couple had left and so it was completely empty. "It sounded sort of like…" He ran down the hall and checked both corners, then he peeked onto the deck; although they were plenty of people and Pokémon, there were no Zoroark. "He would be in the shade," he realized, and started checking the many dark corridors and corners of the boat; still, he couldn't find Dominic. He realized that he was making himself frantic and pounded the wall with his fist, trying to channel out his frustration; Dominic was a lot of things, but not telepathic, so if he was hearing Dominic's voice and he couldn't see Dominic, then something was wrong.

"I'm losing focus," he muttered, pressing his fist into his cheek. "I just have to lay low on the boat until we reach Lilycove, then I can find a real hiding spot; it doesn't matter if worrying is my nature, I can't worry about—"

"Hey look at this!" Dominic said, pointing at Bug-type Pokémon scurrying across a tree branch. "There's Spinarak, Masquerain, Metapod, and Vivillon!"

"That's impressive to you?"

"Well…yeah; I enjoy the world and everything on it," he admitted; Reyes could've maybe figured that from his overzealousness at seeing rocks and dirt. "It's just…the Legendary Pokémon've been doin' sorta a crappy job maintaining crap, so I take what I can get, and what I can get is either some jacked-up rebel city or this kind of nature." He sat down on a flat rock and pulled his legs to his chest. "So I try to enjoy everythin', 'cause you know what they say: you don't 'preciate somethin' 'til it's gone."

"Ain't that right," Reyes agreed, sitting with him and watching the Bug Pokémon.

"—him—"

"Reyes, c'mon!" Lilly laughed, splashing around in the small tide pool, bringing up little Staryu and Clamperl and Luvdisc as she went; Sunny was learning how to swim in the shallow depths, but as with a lot of things, she was quickly becoming an expert. Reyes remained firmly planted on an overgrowth of bright coral nearby, but at Lilly's urging he dipped one foot in the cool, sandy water.

"There, I'm technically in the water." He saw her laugh in response, Sunny mimicking her and flapping her little flippers. The beach was filled with people and Trainers and Pokémon all enjoying the crisp summer day, Frisbees flying and grills roasting and balls bouncing and towels snapping and battles firing; a cool breeze slowly wafted down the shore, bringing with it the tang of ocean salt and the smell of contentment.

"Oh, don't be such a stick."

"Actually, I'm a leaf, in case you've forgotten."

"Daddy," Sunny pleaded, widening her large eyes at him endearingly; he tried to steel himself, but when she put on the charm, it was all over.

"Fine," he grumbled, dropping to the sand; it crunched wetly beneath his feet as he made his way into the deeper end of the tide pool, reaching just below his shoulders. Sunny plowed into his chest with a torrent of giggles, slapping her flippers against his skin in a weak attempt of a hug; he chuckled and put his arms around her, holding her tightly against him. "Are you having fun?"

"Yeah, lots!" she said with a wide smile. "The beach is so fun, Daddy!"

"Really? But the sand…and the smell of meat is everywhere…"

"Too late," Lilly smiled. "She'll be asking to come back here all the time, and you know you can't refuse your little girl."

"Hah… I can't refuse you either, Lil," he grinned, setting Sunny on Lilly's shell to bend over into the water. "I think I saw some nice shells down here…"

"—anymore—"

"WHY?"

"Why what?" Reyes asked tiredly, rolling onto his side on the eye-catching picnic blanket. "And why are you here?" The cliff at the edge of Ever Grande, hidden away by a thicket of trees just in front of Victory Road, was his private spot; it was quiet and gave a great view of the Hoenn region which, with a bird's-eye view, almost looked like it did eight years ago. Tex buzzed to a stop next to him, looking quite calm despite its frequent glitches; rumor had it that antivirus programs cowered in the face of its extensive problems.

"WHY-WHY ARE YOU SO—beep transmitting error 20489—AF-RAID OF BEING AL-ONE?"

"What in Arceus' name are you talking about, Tex?"

"I'VE GOT A COMPUTER-TER BRAIN, REMEMBER? I SEE-SEE AND—click—FILE AWAY THINGS MOST PEOPLE/POKÉMON DON'T 39842 NOTICE." For a moment, its dartboard eyes cleared. "I JUST WANNA—WANT TO KNOW WHY."

"It's…personal." He shifted uncomfortably.

"IT'S OKAY-KAY, YOU DON'T HAVE TO TELL ME—beep beep—EVERY DETAIL; I'M JUST A LITTLE CURIOUS-US."

"Ah… I've had a lot taken from me, Tex." He rolled onto his back and watched the clouds lazily shift across the sky; no matter how much the world changed, they didn't. "My wife, my daughter… Now I have a new family, and the thought of one day losing you all shakes me to my core; being alone means having no one and nothing with you, nothing but the shadows on your back and the burdens on your shoulders. Friends, at least, can help you bear them."

"…DEEP," Tex commented. "HOWEVER I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE EMOTIONS OF FLESH AND BLOOD."

"Then why even claim to be curious?"

"I DO NOT UNDERSTAND," he repeated. "BUT I AM PROGRAMMED TO FEEL THEM…IT'S A STRANGE THING, REALLY."

"Yeah…must be."

His shoulder hit the wall, then he slumped down to the ground, head in his hands. "No…I can't stop caring, and that's the problem…"

——————

Reyes was shocked by a sudden tremor in the boat's skeleton; he lurched to his feet and, wiping his face on his claws, started running in its direction. He heard and felt the sound a second time when he was halfway down, almost causing him to topple down the metal stairway; it sounded like something was trying to puncture the ship's hull. He tried to move faster, sprinting down a long corridor leading to the boiler room; to his amazement, one of the portholes peeking out into the water burst in a shower of thick fiber glass, throwing him against the wall with a sudden geyser of water. He hit the ground a moment later, sputtering and coughing, and another tremor hit the boat; the rest of the portholes along the corridor broke, quickly submerging it, and a klaxon began ringing throughout the ship.

"Damn it," he swore, taking a deep breath before the hall was completely filled with water; he was a decent enough swimmer thanks to Lilly and Sunny, but he couldn't hold his breath forever, and even though he could take in carbon dioxide from the water, he still needed sunlight to preform photosynthesis.

A blue and grey blur raced at him from down the hall; he didn't have time to move before it collided with him and knocked him aside, bruising his ribs and stomach. He had to clench his jaw to hold in his air, and he didn't even have time to recover before it came back; this time, he gasped, his breath escaping him a flurry of bubbles tinted green from chlorophyll. It had to be a Water-type with that kind of fluidity, but that made it harder for Reyes; if he couldn't catch up to or even see it, then he was all twelve types of damned.

Reyes tried to pump forward but he was cut off by that Pokémon again, tearing a gash in his leg and ripping some leaves from his tail; he tried to back towards the stairs but that Pokémon returned, bashing him in the head so hard that he tumbled head over heels to the ground. He couldn't go anywhere, which was becoming a bigger problem by the second, as he was running out of air; if he couldn't surface soon, he would drown. He put his hands together and put his remaining air into extending and thickening his leaf blades until they reached the corners of the narrow hall; the Pokémon slammed into them instead of him, finally coming to a stop.

"Good job," the Sharpedo said derisively, teeth bared in his ever-present scowl. "Ya stopped me." Reyes tried to talk before he remembered that he was underwater. "Don't forget, yer in my territory now, Sceptile." He growled before spreading his jaws, revealing three rows of needle-like teeth, and rushed Reyes; he put his arm out reflexively as Sharpedo's jaws clamped down, pulling his arm away from the elbow-down but cutting into the soft skin of his mouth and cheek with Reyes' leaf blades. He gagged into the water, a stream of crimson blood running out, and smashed his tail into the wall angrily; the steel dented with a heavy groan before it split into a huge crack, the water rushing through. He slipped past Sharpedo into the opening and fell into a large storage room; although it was empty to begin with, the water was quickly swelling within, but at least he could breathe for another two minutes. That Sharpedo landed in the shallow water, giving him about a foot of swimming space.

"You can't hit me as long as I'm not in water." Reyes pulled the seaweed floating outside of the ship, forcing it through the hull and around the room like the cords of an Ariados' web; he hated to puncture the boat even more, but it restricted the Sharpedo's movements further.

"I won't let ya reach the surface!" Sharpedo attempted to run through the seaweed but Reyes was smart enough to coil them together, thickening them; he worked his leaf blades into the ceiling as the room filled with water and felt them cut into the thick steel. He felt the water displace beneath him and raised his legs in time to avoid Sharpedo's ripping jaws; he slowed to turn around, then latched firmly onto Reyes' tail, shredding his leaves and then the trunk. The Sharpedo was close enough to take a chunk out of Reyes' leg when he finally sliced through the ceiling; he punched the circle of steel loose and pitched forward to let it fall on Sharpedo, knocking him loose and causing him to spiral through the water. Reyes lifted himself into a higher-leveled room; it was halfway filled with water, giving him enough air to breathe, but it was quickly filling from water draining in through the halls and from the holes he made. He barely got his feet on the ground before the boat gave a great and heavy groan and started tilting to the left; he lost his balance and fell through the water and against the wall, jarring his brain.

Sharpedo leapt through the hole into the air, and while Reyes was still stunned he opened his mouth and fired a beam of icy cold; Reyes' leg was practically melded to the wall with ice, then his remaining arm, trapping him under. Then the Sharpedo rushed him again, jaws dripping purple mist into the water; having learned his lesson already about poison, Reyes used his vines to break the ice on his arm and, quickly weaving a net with them, stopped Sharpedo inches from his body. He released the net, watching Sharpedo tangle his own jaws in it, and smashed the remaining ice with his fist; he pushed back to hit one of the room's portholes, but he couldn't smash the glass on his own. Sharpedo recovered, shaking out his thick head, and rushed Reyes again; he took a head butt right in his chest, knocking his breath out of his lungs, and Sharpedo slammed his tail into Reyes, slamming his back into the porthole.

Reyes grabbed Sharpedo's dorsal fin and directed him down; he made a growling noise deep in his throat as it smacked Reyes in the face with his tailfin. A few seconds later, Reyes realized that Sharpedo himself wasn't growling, but the water; in the next moment Reyes felt an immense pressure on his back as Sharpedo fired a pressurized jet of water that launched both of them into the ceiling. The pain in his back added up to his lightheadedness and pain in his emptied lungs, and right when he thought he would pass out from it all the steel gave another groan as it started to bend.

He lowered his body to use his feet and vines to attack the steel, and a few moments later it finally gave, the water pushing them through a room filled with vehicles being transported across the water; again he hit a ceiling, but this time the steel was thin enough that he went through with minimal pain, and finally they were in the open air, the sun beating down on his back. He released Sharpedo as he felt his seed pods bloat and open up to the sunlight, then sprouts and vines rapidly grew from the stubs of his arm and tail; Sharpedo gave a mad barking sound that was more Manectric than Sharpedo as it launched at Reyes, teeth freezing over; Reyes pushed off of his back and, looping his vines in Sharpedo's mouth like reigns, pulled him in a loop and slammed him down into the wooden deck, scaring the passengers that were rushing to lifeboats.

"Everybody, this is the one that's attacking the ship!" Reyes shouted as Sharpedo landed on the desk, hopping in a mad attempt to reach the ocean; the humans couldn't understand but their Pokémon—blissfully factionless Pokémon—did, and they started ganging up on Sharpedo. Reyes used the opportunity to retreat away from immediate danger, letting his arm and tail grow back and the rest of his injuries heal; he was close to done when he heard an awfully familiar voice, although it was so poor that he almost believed he imagined it. Almost. Reyes looked up at the two dozen or so Pokémon firing attacks at Sharpedo, preventing it from reaching the water and finally damaging it, and spotted the one he was looking for; a Unova Pokémon in Hoenn was pretty easy to find, after all, even if said Pokémon looked like he was hit by a truck, put through a can opener, and doused in gasoline to be set on fire.

"DOMINIC!"

"Reyes?" Dominic replied, turning to look at him; that was all he got out before Sharpedo's jaws latched onto him and the both of them landed in the ocean. Reyes swore to himself as he ran to the protective railing, spotting the blood painting the surface; now that he thought about it, it had to have been Sharpedo that attacked their boat. Did that mean that Dominic had been fighting him the whole time? Considering that Reyes could barely dent his defense, it seemed plausible; that also explained Dominic's ruined appearance. Reyes still had questions, like how could Dominic fight him in any way when he couldn't swim, but there was another issue: in that condition the saltwater alone was deadly, which made Sharpedo a plain stupid goal. Reyes took a deep breath before leaping over the railing and into the water.

Sharpedo was trying to drag Dominic to the bottom, but he was having a hard time swimming past the debris left by the boat while keeping hold of Dominic—not that that was a real effort with how battered he was. Reyes used the seaweed again, pulling it from the sand and knotting them together to net Sharpedo; he shredded it easily with his fins and tails and continued unhindered. Reyes swam after him, but he could feel the water pressure increase by the moment; for Dominic, it had to be unbearable, and his eyes were bugging as he tried to hold his breath in even as his nose started bleeding.

"Reyes!" It sounded like Dominic, but his mouth wasn't moving; it was most likely an illusion of his voice, similar to the Pokémon Center and even earlier that day when he thought he was hearing his name. Reyes kept trying with the seaweed but it wasn't working; he used his vines too but all that did was pull some skin from his arms and hands. Most of his moves were useless underwater; he was running out of options. He hated to do it, but he came to a stop, watching Sharpedo move faster into the depths before swimming to the surface, pumping his tail for extra speed; Dominic's bewildered expression was priceless, but the trust that was within it conversely bewildered Reyes. That pretty much sealed the fact that from then on, Reyes would screw himself over and bust his behind several times to save Dominic's.

He put his blades together and, gathering as much strength in his legs as he could, dove back down; the blades extended and hardened exponentially, cutting through the water for him so that he met almost zero resistance, streamlining his body almost as much as a real Water-type. The water pressure still hurt, forcing chlorophyll from his nose and eyes, and the speed tore leaves from his tail, but he was out-speeding even Sharpedo; he looked up in surprise as Reyes came close with a flurry of bubbles and nearby Water-types scattering. Dominic used the last of his strength to throw up an illusion, forcing his jaws open and his torpedo body to finally hold still, and sunk below as Reyes slashed into his thick hide; it tore into shreds with Reyes' speed and strength, and…well, Reyes hated to mull over what he did to Sharpedo, but there wasn't much left but blood and enough food for any nearby shark Pokémon for a couple of weeks.

"Bahaah!" Dominic choked, blood and air rushing out of his mouth and up to the surface; Reyes grabbed his arms and backpedaled, trying not to move too fast. Dominic felt just as wrecked as he looked, shredded and bashed and enough to bring tears to the eyes of any humane being. It gave Reyes an answer as to why he was so scared of the Elite Four rebels: they were just as, if not more, gruesome than he was. It took too long for him to reach the surface, but he found that the boat had completely sunk and that the lifeboats were filled. He couldn't swim either; the saltwater was visibly hurting Dominic and Lilycove's shore was three dozen feet away, too many if Reyes had to be careful with his body. He swam in circles for a long time before he detected another Pokémon nearby; before he could react, something surfaced beneath them, catching both of them on a slippery serpentine body.

"I didn't think we'd meet again in this way, Reyes," the Milotic said.

"Wilma… Thank you… No, really, I can't even thank you enough," Reyes sighed to Lilly's girl friend; she didn't respond for a while, silently swimming towards the shore. Dominic eased up a bit, being out of water, but he still looked like he was dying, blood barely trickling out of his wounds.

"H…Hey, Reyes…" he coughed, then grinned, showing that he was missing more than a few teeth.

"Your canines are gone…I guess you'll have to eat Berries from now on." He sounded calm, but in actuality, he was fighting hard to keep memories at bay, memories of watching more comrades falling in front of him and even passing in his own arms; Dominic would just be another tick on that list. He was sweating, and he had to swallow repeatedly to both ease his dry throat and repel the bile rising up from his stomach; Dominic noticed, but it looked like it hurt him even more to point it out.

"Haha…I'd sooner die…than sink that low…" He meant that literally.

"Dominic, you're going to live."

"Reyes…face facts," he said almost derisively before breaking into a coughing fit, more blood trickling out of his mouth. "Sharpedo w-wrecked me… Too fast 'n' too heavy… Couldn't lay a claw…nah…couldn't get more than two…knocks on 'is…fat 'ead… I sucked at that…huh?"

"Your help was invaluable," Reyes countered, grabbing his shoulder; it was nearly painful considering that only a day earlier, their positions were reversed. "If not for you, Sharpedo would have simply dodged, and both of us would have…perished."

"I'm no…hero…"

"Maybe not, but nonetheless," he persisted. "We don't have too long until we reach the Pokémon Center—Wilma, can you hurry?"

"If I go any faster, he'll fall off," she said defensively. "Anyway, you're just lucky that I was out here; I was invited for a swim by the most handsome Kingdra—"

"No, I'm lucky that you crawled out of whatever hibernation you were in to finally help."

"Hey, take my help or leave it; I wasted a perfectly good date because I heard your screams!" Then her voice dropped a little. "I recognized them too easily."

"I apologize… I really am thankful for your presence, Wilma."

"Hmph."

He dropped his hand to hold Dominic's claws, ignoring the feel of dried blood on his hands. "You held off that Sharpedo for an entire day, Dominic! Considering how strong it was, I don't know what's greater than that!"

"I…" He started coughing again and his eyes closed. "The world…ain't losin' much…"

"Au contraire."

"I don' speak wha'ev'r the hell…" He tried to smile but failed, his face contorting in pain. "Ouch…"

"What hurts?" In hindsight, that was a damn stupid question; again, Dominic ignored that.

"Everythin'…then again, nothin', if that…makes sense…" It did, and Reyes hated what it meant.

"Dominic, don't die; a kid like you, that'd be a damn shame."

"You've been sayin'…that, but…know what?" Dominic was the grimmest Reyes had ever seen him, his eyes sad. "I stopped… I stopped bein' that…when I first…laid my claws on…someone else…" He gasped, then his head fell back; for a moment, he wasn't breathing at all, then he started again with a rattle that even Wilma could hear. "I'm not…gonna…" Reyes looked up; Lilycove was practically a hop and skip away, and there were already doctors and Nurse Joys on the shore receiving people for care. He didn't dare hit Dominic like Dominic had done to him; it looked like the wind alone could kill him.

"It doesn't matter… Look, none of it matters," he said breathlessly, struggling to keep his eyes on Dominic's. "Just… Just keep talking, alright? Talk about Steven or Ali or whatever you want!"

"I… I used your…your tail to…bl-blow my nose." Reyes didn't even have the energy to be irritated, but he sure as hell tried.

"Dominic you bastard."

"Heh… I know." His laugh was just as rattling as his breathing; it made his chest sound like a can of spray paint. "Rey… Go tah Steve's grave fa meh… 'n' give 'im daisies…daisies 'n' some pr'ty rocks…from Shoal Cave… In lovin' mem'ry…of Dom…"

"Don't talk about any of that."

"You said…keep talkin'…so's I's talkin'…"

"I meant… Oh, Dominic, just don't talk about dying. You'll get to the Pokémon Center and you'll be perfectly fine. We'll keep running and you'll keep being a pain and I'll keep attacking you for it. Everything will be fine and just the same, alright?"

"I believe you," he said clearly, although he wasn't looking Reyes in the eyes. Lilycove was so close he could practically touch it; Reyes stopped Ethan and, carefully hoisting Dominic onto his back, leapt from Wilma's body; her skin was slick, however, and Reyes slipped when he jumped, causing him to hit the sand bodily and roll across it; when he opened his eyes Dominic was sitting a few feet away cringing at the sensation of sand in his wounds.

"Help!" he called to the Nurse Joys; a Chansey was the first to notice him, tapping her Nurse before waddling over in concern. Two more Chansey and another Joy joined them as they huddled around Dominic, who had fallen still. Reyes felt the memories almost literally pricking at his skull and fell over onto his hands, panting and gasping for breath. It hurt…it hurt on all new levels of hurt… The battlefield, covered in blood and bodies and combat nurses… Pain… Trying to pick who was alive and who was a corpse—pain—trying to salvage belongings from razed homes—pain pain—trying to gain friends from wary enemies—pain pain painpainpain—

"Him too!" a distant voice said; it almost sounded underwater, and it was so distorted he couldn't get the gender. There were hands and paws going on him; he pushed them all away, eyes wide, and stumbled away, the pain in his head intensifying. He finally collapsed on the boardwalk, his heart racing and head pounding; he looked through his claws at the pandemonium on the beach, the people and Pokémon talking to authorities and trying to figure out what had happened, injured getting medical help. He couldn't go on like that, but he didn't think he'd be in any decent shape for a while, not if he stayed in that place; he used a street light's pole to pull himself to his feet and headed towards the city.

Despite the perils on the beach, Lilycove itself remained the same, even compared to when he had last visited; it made him feel strange that while he had changed, the world ultimately hadn't. He felt the pain reach his body as well and cringed; if he stressed any further, his leaves would start dying again. He was still dazed as he made his way around the city, the Pokémon around him barely giving him a second glance; it helped that he was just an unforgettable Sceptile, making it harder for anybody to recognize him. He passed by the Cove Lily Motel, the same one that he had stayed at for several weeks, and then the Lilycove Museum, which he visited several times for the art pieces within; he passed the Pokémon Fan Club, in which the owner frequently asked him for an autograph and he politely refused, the Pokémon Contest Hall, which he religiously avoided, and then the Memory Girl's house, which he also religiously avoided after one particular run-in…

He reached the Pokémon Center but couldn't find an opening to enter with the Nurse Joys and Trainers and Pokémon rushing in and out; he bit his tongue trying to keep his patience, which was already as thin as an onion's skin, and finally he just lost it and shoved a Chansey out of the way, where said Chansey huffed and waddled away angrily. The waiting room was packed with Trainers and their friends waiting anxiously; the air even smelled tense, if that made sense. Reyes went up to the counter where the Nurse Joy receptionist and her Chansey were trying to placate a young man and woman asking about an injured Pidgeotto; he could barely get a word in edgewise, but he tried anyway.

"T-There was a Zoroark—" As he expected, they didn't answer; he didn't even have the energy to try and just walked past them to the recovery rooms. In a city like Lilycove, the Pokémon Center was big enough to have dozens of them, but apparently Reyes had decent guessing skills; it took him less than a handful of tries to find Dominic's room. He was strung up with bandages and had three different medications going into him; he was curled into a furry ball on the bed so that he couldn't look around, but thankfully he was still breathing, albeit faintly. Reyes sat on a chair next to the bed, his head still sore and his body shaking, and he sighed into his hands; Dominic's ears went up at the sound but he didn't say anything.

"This place…it hurts," Reyes muttered under his breath; again, Dominic didn't reply. "This has to be a little funny to you, seeing me like this… Just admit it."

"Shorta," he slurred in response. "Dunno. Tired…"

"What did Nurse Joy say?"

"Can…live…" It sounded like he said "can't," but Reyes could understand from his tone of voice.

"That's good… Arceus, I thought you really wouldn't make it."

"I shought…too…" he muttered. "Haha… I shtill…keep talkin'?"

"No…" He gave a sigh and looked up; Dominic had his head angled so that he could look at Reyes with one blurred eye. "I think that I'll do the talking now."

Author's Note - I'm adding two chapters because I was supposed to give the last one the week before, however I've been on a school trip to New York/Washington D.C. and it's harder to get things done on my laptop, so I apologize. In other news, this trip is so arceusdamn amazing I can't even ^^

2.4.1. Reyes, Part I​

"This is Adam Castello reporting live from Sootopolis City," said a wild-eyed brown haired reporter as noises and explosions raged in the background. "The fight between Pokémon and humans is still going on strong; they have yet to recoil, changing our minds about what we previously thought was a temporary thing. The casualties are in the hundreds area on both sides as Gym Leader Wallace alongside Gym Leaders Tate and Liza of Mossdeep City work to quell fighting in both their areas; the Elite Four, also, is coming to aid us. Is the final straw for Trainer-owned Pokémon? Is this the last of the relationship between us? Find out next time on—no, don't come any closer—don't—AGAAH!"

Brendan and his Pokémon watched, stunned silent, as the broadcast ended and the T.V. went to fuzz; Deidrick was the first to cry out in outrage, where Azalea tried to calm him, and Brendan's twin Zangoose Kim and Leroy started arguing about Adam Castello's last words. "Guys, guys!" Brendan said, trying to quiet them all; the three of them were getting frustrated and messing up his furniture. "Guys!"

"That's enough from all of you!" Reyes shouted, instantly silencing all of them. "Brendan, we're going to help them, right?"

"Help them?" Brendan fell silent for a bit, bringing back the commotion; Reyes silenced them again as Brendan walked around his parents' living room, mussing up his already messy dark hair and wiping his hands on his Pokémon Academy hoodie. Reyes realized how unreasonable the request was; Brendan was just fourteen, still a kid, and he was talking about a rebellion, which nobody seemed brave enough to call it. "Don't get me wrong, I'm scared for all the people getting attacked, but…"

"We can handle it!" Deidrick said with a hyped bark, his fur sparking.

"Yeah, we can!" Kim and Leroy cried, slapping claws together.

"Brendan, we can't just sit back and watch them suffer," Azalea said, touching his arm; he swallowed, then he looked at Reyes.

"Please," Reyes told him; Brendan scanned his face before nodding.

"Going from eating nachos and watching old movies to savin' the world," he muttered in disbelief, grabbing his backpack and filling it with money, snacks, PokeBalls, Full Restores, and extra Berries. "What a jump!"

It was a long trip from Verdanturf, but they didn't even have to reach Mossdeep; the rebellion had spread in a short time to Lilycove. As Brendan walked through the city they became aware of noise on the shore; he and Reyes took off and found a squad of Officer Jennys and their Pokémon holding back a larger army of Pokémon coming out from boats and from swimming and from flying.

"Reyes, help them!" Brendan said as he started rooting through his bag for his PokeBalls; Reyes nodded and ran into the fray, leaf blades ready. He tackled a Houndoom from the get-go, knocking her to the ground; she got up and shook her head out angrily before launching a Flamethrower at him. He ducked beneath it and cut into the Houndoom's ankles; she toppled and couldn't get up again. A Swellow swept above him and latched onto his head's leaf with its claws; he was nearly dragged into the air before he rooted his vines in the ground, then he entangled its wings with his vines and brought it down into the water. He felt some Pokémon jump on his back, then a much larger one followed; that continued until his feet sunk into the sand and he fell over on his stomach, immobilized.

"Get offa him!" Deidrick yelled before the smell of sulfur filled the air; the Pokémon leapt from his back as the air around them supercharged. Reyes pushed himself to his feet as Deidrick grinned triumphantly at him, bouncing back and forth on his paws.

"Yeah, good boy," Reyes said, patting his head; Deidrick laughed excitedly, leaning into his hand. Reyes saw an Exploud coming up behind him and pulled Deidrick out of the way, giving it a punch in the gut; it stumbled back, startled, then he kicked it down.

"You don't use your leaves much," Deidrick noticed, electricity still sparking across his fur.

"I'm a Physical attacker by nature." He backed away as a group of Pokémon began closing in on them from all angles. "Deidrick, I need you to—"

A sharp cry pierced the air as Kim and Leroy came spinning with Fury Swipes, giving several Pokémon bloody haircuts, and then Azalea pushed them away psychically; she started fretting over Deidrick and Reyes almost immediately. "Oh, I hope you two are alright…"

"Yes mom," Deidrick said, his tongue coming out as she scratched behind his ear.

"You, Deidrick, and I can remain here; Kim, Leroy, you two help protect the city's borders," Reyes ordered; Kim and Leroy saluted him before turning back and running across the sand. At the city's borders, leaning against the protective barricade put up by the Jennys, Brendan was looking out at them with concern, eyes wide; Reyes raised his fist, trying to assure him that everything would be okay, even though he himself couldn't be any less sure of the answer.

——————

It felt like thirty minutes, but then again it also felt like three hours; Reyes wasn't sure how long they had been fighting, but there were now much less Pokémon defending the city than there were attacking it. Bodies littered the ground, human and Pokémon alike; most of them were just unconscious. He was tired, although he wouldn't admit it, and Azalea was supporting him more much than he'd like, even though she wasn't much of a fighter; Deidrick was at his wits' end as well, as he was quick to burn himself out when it came to emitting electricity. Reyes felt something gnawing on his leaves and threw his arm forward; a Carvahna flew from his arm into the water, but it had already consumed his leaf blades, and he couldn't focus long enough to preform Photosynthesis.

"We're not going to win," Reyes finally admitted, falling on the sand; Azalea created a psychic barrier around them, keeping the other Pokémon at bay. Her psychic powers had never been very physical due to her pacifistic and loving nature; at most, she could stay on the sides of any battle, speak of the opponent's next move at times, or rarely avoid a big predicament, but big battles like that were a big weakness for her when she could, at best, defend.

"Reyes—"

"He's right," Deidrick said tiredly. "It's, like, three on thirty." The other Trainers were doing a decent job of keeping the rebelling Pokémon's attention, but still, it was obvious that the domestic Pokémon's side was failing. The Pokémon were getting closer to the barricade, which the Jennys consequently had to push back; Brendan was arguing with one of them trying to stay there, which Reyes couldn't help being hyperaware of. His heart started racing as he watched the Pokémon get closer and closer, then it nearly stopped when he saw a Flying-type sweep down with talons out; Brendan and several other kids were in its direct path.

"Lea, let me go!" Reyes told her, running forward; she dropped the barrier and he pushed off from the ground, using the taller Pokémon's heads like tree branches to move above them, then he gave one final jump off of a Tangela, using its springiness to launch himself into the air. He grabbed the Fearow's legs, causing it to veer away from the people and towards the buildings; it squawked angrily and pumped higher into the sky until the battle was far below them. Reyes lost his grip on one of its talons and it lashed at his face, cutting deep grooves and impairing his left eye; he pulled himself up with his other hand and sat on its back, lacing his vines around its neck like a noose. He pulled on the vines, forcing the Fearow to start diving; it squawked in dissent, then it pulled its wings in and started falling.

"Damn Trainer-owned dog," the Fearow said derisively as the ground swelled closer; Reyes realized that it seriously had no intent of stopping. He waited a moment to gain his balance before jumping from the Fearow's back (he also saw that it could pull itself back in the air three inches from the ground, to his dismay) and nearly fell on top of the crowd; as he expected, Azalea grabbed hold of him, slowing his descent until he hit the ground lightly. He saw the Fearow come back again and used Razor Wind; the sudden gust threw it off-course back to the main battle. The Fearow quickly spun around with a war cry, returning to the people, and this time it brought more than a few friends; Deidrick and Azalea tried to turn but the lot of them were still occupied by the Pokémon stuck on the ground. Reyes tried coiling his vines like an Ariados' web around the outer buildings, but the birds still easily cut them away; they didn't care much for his leaves either, and he couldn't get them with Solar Beam as long as they were moving.

"Pelipper, use Ice Beam!" a female commanded from somewhere within the crowd; a Pelipper hobbled into the air lazily, but the strength of its Ice Beam made up for that tenfold, encasing all two dozen or so Flying-types in a thick coat of it. "Now, Skarmory, Aerial Ace!" A metallic blur raced between all of the Flying-types too fast for even Reyes to track, then they shattered into a shower of ice cubes, falling to the asphalt. The crowd cheered as the Flying-types landed and turned in the direction of their Trainer, a tall woman dressed for a flight; Reyes recognized her as the last Gym Leader Brendan fought, Winona of Fortree City.

"Everyone, get to safety!" Winona commanded, her Pokémon helping to push the crowd back. "You'll get injured staying here!" The Jennys worked to move the crowds while Reyes searched for Brendan; he found Brendan still at the barricade watching the battle ahead.

"Reyes…" he said sadly, his eyes roving across the lifeless bodies.

"We can't do anything about them," Reyes muttered, looking away. He saw Brendan take out their PokeBalls but didn't have the energy to argue; any longer out there anyway and they would die of exhaustion…or worse. Brendan shifted the PokeBalls around in his hands, trying to figure out which one belonged to who, while Reyes was distracted by a peculiar noise that grated his instincts; it went against all fibers of his being, but eventually he did turn to see the source, and it was one of the few things he monumentally regretted in his life, because that sound was a skull cracking. "DEIDRICK!" Reyes shouted, turning to him; Deidrick was wide-eyed and whimpering in pain as the Aggron gripped his head, and Azalea was being held back by two Sableye as she tried to run towards him, and Leroy was on the ground with Kim wailing for him as he tried to get up. Reyes ran back onto the beach, but it felt as if he was being dragged by Arceus itself, getting nowhere as the Aggron's grip tightened, Deidrick's cries intensifying—he couldn't look, he just couldn't—Arceus kept his eyes focused—Deidrick was wailing now—Aggron laughed—

CRACK!

…

Brendan's team is down to four.

Reyes blinked repeatedly but that image was and forever would be scratched into his eyelids with the roughest of blades; it hurt too, almost as if it was literally scratched into his eyelids. He felt Brendan's arms go around him and became vaguely aware of PokeBalls activating, then they were moving, Brendan practically dragging him along; Reyes' legs moved automatically, but he still had no sense of what was around him. "He's just a kid," he whispered hoarsely. "He was a kid; he didn't deserve that…"

Brendan made a strangled sound as he tried to hold his cries back. "Reyes, this is scary…" He didn't sound like the Trainer who had travelled most of Hoenn on his own, but instead like a scared child, which he was; Reyes was wrong to have dragged him out to a battlefield like that, but it was too late.

Brendan took him to the Pokémon Center; it was twice the size of most others considering Lilycove's size, but it was packed with Pokémon going in and out from the battle on the outskirts on top of the usual flow of Trainers. He sat in the lobby, tears still running down his face; Reyes knelt at his side and rested his head on Brendan's lap the same way he had been doing since he was a Treecko, but not as recently since Deidrick had occupied the position. "What happens now?" Brendan muttered, working his hair into knots with his fingers. Reyes couldn't tell if he meant Deidrick or the rebellion in general, but it didn't matter since either way, they were damned.

The rebellion in Lilycove was much like the common cold: it was severe at first, but was short-lived, as the rebelling Pokémon hadn't organized themselves well enough to continue; still, the disease was running across waterborne cities with greater strength due to their isolation, and with the rebels gaining strength like a hurricane, it was just a matter of time before they hit Lilycove again with too much force to handle.

There was a memorial ceremony for everybody that perished protecting the city; since Lilycove didn't have a Gym Leader of its own, it was held by Winona, who had managed to get there the fastest to quell the fighting. Deidrick was buried in some nameless cemetery with nameless others—no, they weren't nameless; their names had been carved onto a great stone in the center of the city, forever to be remembered as heroes, but Brendan and his Pokémon would just think of Deidrick as a pointless casualty in a pointless fight.

Brendan did attend, his Pokémon out, but he was one of the people mourning a loss, and like them he was quick to escape when the ceremony was over; he retreated into a local park with his Pokémon following, his fists clenched so tightly they were bloodless. "Brendan," Azalea said worriedly, touching his arm; he yanked it back almost immediately.

"You can't heal this pain, Azalea," he said despairingly, then he removed his backpack and turned it over, dumping their PokeBalls onto a paved square; he took out a ball-peen hammer and, before anybody could intervene, smashed Azalea, Kim, Leroy, and Reyes' PokeBalls into bits.

"Brendan!" Reyes exclaimed; he couldn't have been giving them up, could he? Brendan gave a furious groan and tossed the hammer as hard as he could; it landed in a stone birdbath, breaking the Taillow figure spitting the water. He sunk on his knees, his jeans getting mud and grass bits all over them, and started to cry. Deidrick's PokeBall rolled across the pavement and tapped against Reyes' foot. Reyes walked over and put his hands on Brendan's shoulders, with him on his knees, they were finally an equal height. Brendan sniffled, eyes wide and watery, and Reyes pulled him into a hug; Brendan gripped him back so tightly that it almost hurt. Reyes would've told him that things would be okay, but he had never lied to Brendan; just the thought of it made his tongue feel like it was rotting.

"Things can't stay this way forever," Azalea whispered. "…Can they?" Kim and Leroy exchanged looks.

"I don't have high hopes," Kim said.

"Me neither," Leroy added. "Sad, but true." Azalea knelt down to take up the remnants of her PokeBall, then she picked up Deidrick's and held both to her chest.

"I pray to Arceus that both of you are proven wrong."

"Oi, you guys," Reyes interrupted. "Just…be quiet."

"I…I'm okay," Brendan sniffled. "I am…Reyes." That was the first time Brendan ever lied to him, and Reyes hated it; he punched Brendan on the crown of his head somewhat hard, and when he raised his face Reyes pinched his nose. "Hey! Ow ow ow!"

"Don't do that again," Reyes warned him; Brendan rubbed his nose and nodded warily. "…I'm sorry that I couldn't protect Deidrick."

"Reyes, no, it was far from your fault," Azalea protested. "If anything, I should have seen this coming."

"Me and Leroy were playing around too much," Kim admitted.

"Maybe if we really put our heads in the game," Leroy said thoughtfully.

"You guys," Brendan whispered, understanding the basis of their conversation. "There was nothing any of us could've done… It's my fault as his Trainer; I shouldn't had put him out there because he was still so inexperienced. I…" Tears started running down his face again; heartbroken by the sight, Azalea knelt in front of him and clasped her hands to her chest in front of her extended heart. A soft pink aura appeared around her body, then it slowly moved to Brendan's, surrounding him and emitting the soft sound of tin bells; his facial expression changed as Azalea gave a gasp and fell over.

"Lea!" Reyes caught her before she hit the ground, her skin feeling warm beneath his touch.

"That's what…I can do," she whispered. "The rest is…for you…as his best friend."

"Lea, you're not—"

"No," she laughed softly, her eyes shutting. "Tired… Only tired. My wish for…for Brendan to heal…was a lot…I'm weak, remember?"

"We're kind of useless now," Kim said sheepishly; Leroy patted Reyes' shoulder.

"Like A' said, it's all up to you now. None of us can affect Brendan like you can, Rey."

"I…understand," Reyes said. "I understand."

Reyes later found out what the PokeBalls meant: Brendan was taking that rebellion far more seriously than they expected him too. It wasn't because he was young; rather, they didn't believe he could think that deeply about anything, and having been his Pokémon since the beginning, it wasn't just an assumption. Still, he surprised all of them by constantly tuning into the news channel, watching any reports that he could, and writing half-baked counterattack ideas in his notebook when he had time; those made him constantly distracted, which worried Reyes.

At the end of that week, Reyes was woken by a loud argument in the living room; he rolled over in his sleeping bag trying to get back to sleep, but the voices persisted. Finally, he crept from Brendan's room and into the hallway, peeking into the room; Brendan was arguing with his mother as she held up the notebook he had been writing in for the last week. "You're not going out there and that's final!" she said.

"Mom, I have to do something! People are dying—Pokémon are dying—"

"And you want to die too?" she interrupted bitterly; he tried to snatch his notebook back but she held it out of reach. She was usually such a nice and easygoing person, essentially the female version of Brendan down to appearance; seeing her like that was scary.

"I can travel all of Hoenn but I can't do this?"

"Hoenn was never explicitly dangerous before this! Pokémon killing people and people killing Pokémon… It's just madness, Brendan!"

"That's why I have to stop it—I have to!" he said furiously; her expression changed.

"I miss Deidrick too," she murmured, "but although the ceremony didn't handle it all very well, he did die a hero."

"It's got nothing to do with Deidrick," he said quietly. "I'm just… I want to help." She held his face forward and kissed his forehead.

"I know you do, but just not like this, alright? because if you die…" For a moment, Reyes could see a severe sadness in her eyes that he hadn't seen since Brendan's dad passed years ago; Brendan made a small sound in the back of his throat as he took her hands in his, holding them to his chest.

"I promise I won't, Mom." He started back towards his room and bumped into Reyes, who was pressed against the doorway; he stared in surprise as Reyes stared back at him. "You've been listening this whole time?"

"…Grovyle." That was all Brendan heard anyway, and the fact was that Reyes' actual response wasn't any more articulate.

"Reyes," he sighed, but he didn't sound as pitiful as before, so Reyes easily let him slide to his room; he almost went too before he was stopped by Brendan's mother.

"Reyes, I know he's your best friend, so do me a big favor," she whispered, holding his gaze. "Make sure that he doesn't do anything reckless, okay?" Reyes nodded. "Please," she urged. "You never defy him because you love him so much, but please, just this once…?"

"I promise," he told her; relieved, she retreated back to her bedroom, shutting the light off. Reyes passed by the bathroom and noticed that Brendan had left his pajamas in there; he took them up (Brendan didn't like to sleep in his clothes, and he didn't sleep naked because Azalea and Kim counted as girls to him) and started to give them to Brendan, then he noticed the room was empty and the window was open—second story window.

"Damn you," Reyes muttered, setting his clothes on his bed neatly and hopping onto the windowsill; Brendan had used their big Berry tree to climb down to the lawn and was sprinting down the sidewalk with the others right behind him. Reyes wanted to tell his mother, but it would take too much time; instead, he removed one of Brendon's myosotis flowers (courtesy of his mom and her effort to beautify his teenage boy room) and used the tree to reach the lawn. He looked up at Brendan's window and planted the pink flower in sight of it; from that, he was sure she would understand. He felt tears stream down his cheeks and wiped his face; he wasn't going to be gone long…he would just bring Brendan back, yeah. He wasn't going to let Brendan go out on some mindless hero's voyage and nearly kill himself or anybody else, and he wasn't going to let down Brendan's mother, who took just as good care of him as Brendan had. Nope, he wasn't going to do it.

"Brendan!" Reyes called, chasing after him. That was six and a half years ago.

2.4.2. Reyes, Part II​

"My Gardevoir! My Gardevoir, is she okay?" sixteen-year-old Brendan shouted, pushing past the other Trainers to stand up to the receptionist Nurse Joy; she flinched back at his presence and so Reyes pulled him back. "Tell me!"

"Let me get your Trainer I.D.?" Nurse Joy replied, recovering from the shock; her Chansey, however, was giving Brendan the mother of all dirty looks, but he remained undaunted.

"I.D. #38005," he said breathlessly. "Now—?"

"…Recovery room number thirteen," she said in a clipped tone; Brendan exhaled and started down the hall, Reyes keeping position at his heel.

"Damn Fortree damn people…"

"Could be worse," Reyes muttered as they reached room thirteen; Azalea looked almost like a doll as she laid motionless on the bed, her arms and face bandaged. Reyes had repelled the Mawile before it had done too much damage, and by then the rest of the rebels had been successfully purged from Fortree, however there were still dozens of Pokémon bedridden, some with the grim outlook of never waking up; Reyes couldn't lie about wishing that he instead was on one of those beds, his eyes never to see again, but Brendan wouldn't have liked it if he admitted it.

"Too slow," Brendan muttered almost too low for Reyes to hear; he took Azalea's hand, holding it so tightly his knuckles turned white. "'m always too damn slow… Damn it all." Reyes could only watch, not knowing what to say; before, he never had that problem, especially with Brendan.

The last two years were…original, really; he didn't hate helping people and Pokémon, not at all, but it was almost impossible to constantly stay on top of his game with the rebels seemingly creeping from every crevice at every opportunity. Together, the people had freed up Ever Grande City, Lilycove City, Fortree City, Pacifidlog Town, and Rustboro; everything else was either teetering in a war or just out of the question entirely. It was hard work, and had he not been a plant he would have had many scars to show it; on the other hand, Azalea, Kim, Leroy, and even Brendan did. They had been roaming Hoenn (still to Brendan's mother's dismay, who made every effort to call him and only ever reached Reyes) and fighting for the entire time, and it showed not only on them, but on the rest of humanity and the Pokémon on their side; they weren't really losing, not yet, but they weren't winning anything either. Reyes believed that that war would continue long into his life, and of course he had to be right on that one aspect of his life; then again, had that war not continued, he wouldn't have met a lot of his new friends including Dominic.

Brendan had changed in all of that time, not that anybody else hadn't; he'd become sharper with his tongue and just blunter in nature. He had developed a bad habit of going off on his own several times during day and night; most of the time Reyes believed it was to sulk, but other times there was evidence of worse things going on. He dropped Azalea's hand and raised his head to take a deep breath, eyes closed; Reyes nearly spoke before Brendan gave a heavy exhale. "Sorry, Reyes," he said, sitting at the foot of his bed and hanging his head. "There are lots'a things I could've done differently, but I really should've just stayed near you guys…"

Reyes sat with him and ruffled Brendan's hair; when he was smaller, that was a lot easier. "It's okay," Reyes said, and he finally learned how to mean it. He learned a lot in his time as a revolutionary, but one of the biggest things he learned was how to not feel guilty at every event that still couldn't have been stopped by anybody; people and Pokémon both had that vice, but he overcame it by thinking that there were people with a great deal more guilt than him, such as Brendan over Deidrick.

"Heh heh," Brendan chuckled, pushing him away. "Stop it, I'm not a kid anymore." Reyes ruffled his hair more incessantly and Brendan broke out laughing. "Stop it already, Rey! Gettin' my cut all messed up…"

"You two…are so cute," Azalea commented; both Reyes and Brendan turned to her, surprised to see that she had removed the bandages from half of her face on her own.

"You're not supposed to do that," Reyes said to her; she laughed again—well, at least that part of her face was intact.

"I feel fine…if a little drugged." She sat up and finished unwinding the bandages from her head, opening her eyes and smiling at the both of them. "See?" Then she slowly put her arms around Brendan's neck, hugging him. "Thank you for caring so much, Brendan."

"I-It's okay," he stammered, turning red; that made Reyes break out laughing. "'m gonna get food from the cafeteria," he muttered dismissively, standing up and quickly leaving with his hands in his pockets.

"He's still such a cute boy," Azalea commented in a musing tone, staring at the window. Reyes had a certain nagging thought that wouldn't let him go; he didn't want to believe it, but he had to see if it was true. "Yes," she answered before he could even open his mouth; he had forgotten she could see the future at times.

"Lea…"

"It's fine, truly," she said dismissively. "I'm a Psychic-type; eyes are dispensable to me."

"But not to me," he whispered, touching her face; she held his hand with hers and closed her sightless eyes. "I remember when Brendan caught you, you were a frail little Kirlia, I a sheltered Treecko."

"You were so cute, the way you followed him so much," she chuckled. "You two would sit together for hours and hours stuffing your faces with junk food even as his mother complained and watch endless DVDs of movies, and afterwards even when you were sick to your stomachs you two would still be smiling together. I'm much less important to Brendan compared to you and your wellbeing, Reyes."

"That's… That's so untrue…"

"Deidrick, rest his soul, changed Brendan in a lot of ways," she continued. "What if you got injured or worse? What do you think would happen to Brendan then?"

"This isn't about me…" She laughed a little.

"You're right as always, but just think about it." Brendan returned with a couple of trays of cafeteria food; he passed the tray with a salad and a cup of Berries over and saved himself a chocolate milkshake—well, at least some habits never let up.

"Probably head down to Mauville after this," he said after a big gulp, his breath coming out frosty. "Oof, cold. I heard there's some "king" Pokémon down there that's staring to, like, monopolize Hoenn."

"Sounds like a psycho," Reyes muttered through a mouthful of Sitrus Berries.

"But anyway, I got us some overnight rooms, Rey," he said. "So we can stay here and move out in the morning."

"Er…" Brendan looked at Reyes as he swallowed.

"Huh? You don't like the plan?" Reyes shook his head quickly.

"No, I like it; we're good to go." Brendan looked dubious but nodded nevertheless.

"You're acting weird…"

"Ack," he complained, tipping Brendan's cup when he took another drink, causing him to snort ice cream from his nose.

"Agh! Brain freeze! You dick!" Brendan yelled, but he was laughing at the same time; when he was in middle school Reyes used to do that trick with anything, including soda so carbonated it made his eyes fizz. Yup, some things don't change, Reyes thought, sated, but he still had another "issue" to deal with before they left…

——————

"What? You're leaving?" she cried; Reyes almost slipped down the soaked rocks as he rushed to cover her mouth.

"Please speak quieter, Lilly; I don't want all of Fortree in my matters."

"Or you just don't want them to see you and I," she complained, backpedaling a few feet in the dark ocean, the moonlight refracting off of her moist blue skin. It was a thankful thankful thing that Fortree was on the shore, even if it had rocks and bushes in lieu of a sandy beach; still, there was too much distance between him and her all of the time.

"You know that's not it, but remember, just talking to me makes you a prime target for rebels."

"I don't care about them."

"That's what worries me…" She swam closer, bumping her head against his; he ran his hand down the curve of her neck, her skin wet but soft. "Oh, you don't know how scared I am for your life—scared enough for the both of us and then some."

"All you do is worry," she said, "yet never quite about yourself. I am a very capable Pokémon, Rey; I can handle myself. You, on the other hand, look exhausted—your leaves are dying too. Have you been eating and sleeping properly?"

"Trying," he grunted, somewhat frustrated. "I'm sorry that we can't stay together at the moment, but you can bet all of my leaves that I will singlehandedly build a home for us that we will inhabit in the near future, close enough to the shore that we can visit each other any moment of the day."

"Also, you're betting a lot that you'll be able to just stop what you're doing to come back to me. You're such an altruist I doubt that you could ever stop helping people."

"I didn't say that I would… You know, if you're okay with the idea. I'd still be running around Hoenn trying to save one more human from slaughter, and I'm not guaranteeing that I can see you all of the time, but I swear on Arceus' name that I'll make my best effort to."

"I believe you," she said honestly, closing her eyes. "…What was it again? Six months ago that we met?"

"Six months and three weeks," he corrected. "Don't underestimate my memory…"

Sootopolis was, at the time, still a safe place to be in; both the rebels and revolutionaries had yet to establish home bases, and so people could still freely enter and exit both Sootopolis and Ever Grande. Brendan was with Kim and Leroy in Petalburg, and so he was alone with Azalea for a bit of reprieve. She basked in the cool pools of water gratefully, sighing in enjoyment, "Finally, a chance to relax."

"I don't like it," Reyes grumbled, sitting on the shore. "I should be helping Brendan with the fighting, but no, he says I've been working too hard and need a break."

"You do." Azalea gently grasped his hand, turning it so that his worn and browning leaf blades were visible; he pulled his arm from her grip with a groan. "You're not a god; even you need breaks sometimes, whether you like it or not."

"Just know that I really don't like it." Azalea laughed and smacked the water with her hand, dousing him. "Azalea!" he exclaimed, irritated.

"A little water won't hurt, Rey."

"Damn it," he muttered, rising to his feet. "I'm going to take a walk." He went off before Azalea could interrupt, hiking up Sootopolis' stony ledges to its collection of caves and burrows; they were made out of an interesting type of rock found only underwater, and the waters were so clear that Water-types of any species and region could swim in them. He checked the plants that grew along some cliffs, the various species that could only grow in Sootopolis' unique ecosystem, and started wandering further from the shore without even noticing; he was so enraptured by the environment that he was almost too late to notice voices coming up from a series of out-of-the-way tide pools.

"—and he had these adorable brown eyes—"

"Marla, you're colorblind."

"I mean, like, they looked pretty brown—"

"Marla, Wilma already said it: you're colorblind. You're missing out on the good stuff. Now, there was this lovely Swanna who offered me one of his Magikarp—"

"Yes, after you begged him for it, I bet."

"Lilly, please, he was smiling—"

"Probably had some other fish's scales on your face—again."

"Lilly, quit embarrassing Emmi already."

Reyes came to a stop on the mossy cliff that over looked the tide pool; it contained a Gorebyss, Milotic, Corsola, and the most beautiful Lapras he had ever seen. If he went by their voices, they were all female, and they were talking about guys—well, females were females. He didn't want to intrude, and he learned at a young age that eavesdropping was a severe invasion of privacy—especially when eavesdropping on females—but that Lapras was just so…

"Okay, Lilly, what's your story?" the Milotic asked the Lapras, narrowing her eyes as she reclined in the icy-blue water. Lilly…what a sweet name.

"No stories here," Lilly replied, smiling bashfully.

"C'mon, a Pokémon as gorgeous as you?" the Gorebyss scoffed dubiously. "Quit being coy and just tell us!"

"I'm telling you guys the truth," she said, laughing a little. "Trust me, when I find a guy, my best friends will be first to know."

Reyes lost his grip on the wet moss and started slipping down the cliff's incline; he tried to root himself with his vines, but he couldn't get them inside of the rock, and he fell from the cliff and landed in the tide pool with an enormous splash. The next fifteen seconds were a huge blank as he was choked and battered by the Water-types in a confused panic, then he was finally brought back to land by Lilly; a loud argument ensued between her friends, but she calmed them down. "Are you alright?" she asked him.

"Y…Yeah," he muttered, dazed and nauseous from all of the water he swallowed. "Sorry to interrupt you guys'…chat."

"You better be," the Corsola grumbled.

"Marla, be a little nicer; he's pretty cute after all," the Milotic said. "Hi there, I'm Wilma."

"I'm Emmi; sorry for, y'know, almost strangling you and all," the Gorebyss said.

"I like your friends," Reyes said bitterly. "Polite."

"We have our faults," Lilly smiled, grateful that he wasn't mad. "So, uh, where did you drop in from?"

"I was actually just…enjoying the city." And now, I feel that I'll enjoy it a lot more, he thought.

"How are those three doing anyway?" Reyes asked Lilly.

"Still searching for their own mates," she answered with a little giggle. "They just reached that point in their lives, I guess."

"And you hadn't?"

"It wasn't that I didn't," she said, somewhat timid. "Just… Well…"

"You were waiting for a guy like me, huh? The kind that makes you feel like you're swimming through the sky and up in space at the same time?"

"You and your words," she laughed.

"I try. Anyway, it's late; I have to get back before Brendan notices that I'm gone."

"You could just tell him, then he could make me part of his team and we could stay together," she suggested; Reyes sighed and shook his head.

"You need water, which we're not always near; I'd rather you're healthy."

"You too," she said in a similar tone; he grimaced.

"Also, thank your friends; if not for them serving as messengers, it wouldn't be so easy for me to call you."

"I always do." She pressed her cheek against his. "Bye for now, Reyes." He hugged her neck for a long time.

"Bye…" He practically ran before he was compelled to stay with her.

Brendan was asleep with the pillow over his head when Reyes returned; thanking Arceus, he shut the window and crawled into the other bed, just about to let his guard down before Brendan spoke up: "Had a nice time?"

"…Arceus," Reyes sighed, sitting up; Brendan did too, the moonlight making his eyes look grey rather than their usual blue.

"So? Where'd'ya go?" Reyes nodded towards the ocean. "Huh? Why?"

"Don'wannatalk'boutit," Reyes murmured into his pillow, drawing the sheets over his head to hide the blush creeping over his skin.

"What? C'mon Reyes, what is it?"

"Nothing…"

"Okay," he said, turning away for a moment before looking back at him. "Hey, if it was serious, you'd tell me right?"

"Uh-huh." He heard Brendan lie down again and sighed in relief.

"She's really something, huh?"

"What?" Reyes practically jumped out of his skin as Brendan laughed.

"Dude, you've snuck outta bed in every city we've been in; I've followed you the last three, but you were head-over-heels you didn't even notice me!"

"I—I—"

"Look, you don't have to sneak around with it," he said, then he sobered. "And if you…y'know…wanna stay with her…"

"I couldn't, not for a long time to come," Reyes said, kicking the sheets away. "Not as long as I can be by your side."

"Heh…thanks; you're a real bud 'til the end." Brendan sat up again, his hands mussing his hair as they always did when he was nervous. "And I should apologize for just being so…in my feelings these last two years, 'specially when you and Azalea and Kim and Leroy are still fine."

"I don't blame you, you're still young," Reyes said easily; he walked over to Brendan and grasped his hand. "And I'll always be here too, as long as you'll have me as your best friend." Brendan grinned like he hadn't in years.

"Always!"

REYES! BRENDAN! Reyes clenched his head as Azalea's voice rang through it, and Brendan imitated the gesture as she spoke to him too. MOVE!

Not a second later, an explosion rocked the floor beneath their feet, then there was a sickly shift in Reyes' center as the tree the Pokémon Center was based on started to fall. He instinctively reached for Brendan, who was wide-eyed with panic, but another explosion came, blowing the western wall in and throwing him onto his face; he was disoriented and felt a surge of pain run through his body as the tree hit the ground.

——————

"Reyes… Reyes, wake up!" he heard Leroy say, his claws digging into Reyes' shoulder. He was awake, but his eyes wouldn't open and his throat was too backed up with chlorophyll to let him speak or even breathe; his left leg was gone, his head leaf had been torn, and there were weird weights on some parts of his body. Leroy was still shaking him and saying his name, and he was starting to get tired of it…

"Leroy, move!" Reyes felt a warm breeze cross his face right before a much more powerful one raked over his body, stinging his skin but clearing the weights from him and allowing him to move; he felt a hand on his face, then his chest heaved and he was throwing up his own blood, his eyes tearing up from the pain and pressure. "Reyes, talk," Azalea urged, bringing his eyes to hers.

"W-What…?"

"The rebels," she said in a clipped tone, instantly silencing him. He looked around; the Pokémon Center was reduced to a collection of rubble just as the tree it was once standing on, and there were still more buildings falling. "I had a vision, b-but it didn't come fast enough…"

"I'll go help the fight, you get Brendan," Leroy told Azalea before taking off towards the main battle; his words sobered Reyes up.

"Where is Brendan?" He tried to stand before Azalea pushed him down; he didn't even have a leg to stand on anyway…literally.

"Reyes, please, you're hurt—"

"WHERE IS HE?" He started coughing again, more chlorophyll and little bits of his organs coming out. "AZALEA I SWEAR TO ARCEUS—" Suddenly his voice wasn't there anymore no matter how hard he tried to speak; his eyes bugged as he stared at her hurt expression.

"Not you too, just not you too Reyes," she whispered, tears streaming down her dirty face. "Look, I tried to… I tried, but it…it's just…" She covered her face for a moment, sobs muffled by her palms; Reyes was struck by a numbing cold so deep it reached the very core of his being. Slowly, his voice returned to him.

"Let me see…" he croaked. She sniffled and nodded, standing and taking his hands. The world slowed to abysmal proportions, seconds stretching into hours and hours stretching into weeks; he was vaguely aware of every sound subconsciously, of every scent vicariously, of every sight marginally as his blood loss gave him tunnel vision. After days, Azalea slowed to a stop, her hand over his; there was a pile of wall plaster and insulation and the big PokeBall logo, and there was half a body sticking out from all of that.

"Ugh… Reyes?" Brendan groaned, wiping his eyes with his one good hand; Reyes fell to his knees, the world becoming brighter on top of slower. Azalea kept her hand on his, maybe to keep him from going away—he really had no idea what was going on anymore. "Damn… That hurt," Brendan said with a broken laugh, his dirt-streaked face twisting a little in pain.

"B…"

"At least you're mostly okay," he continued, half-smiling as he grabbed Reyes' free hand. "That's great… A girl can't love a dead guy, 'm I right?"

"Bren…"

"Hey, don't talk, you'll hurt yourself," he interrupted, his expression concerned; Reyes found that so funny he had to laugh, but he sounded manic and hollow. "Look, let's face facts."

"I don't…I can't…" Azalea squeezed his hand reassuringly as Brendan groaned again, a bit of blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

"I've endangered myself time 'n' time again… Mom hates it and I knew it, yet that day two years ago, I made the wrong choice…and again and again after that I made more wrong choices… I think Deidrick's turnin' in his grave at this. But this isn't about me…" He tightened his grip on Reyes' hand, his eyes bright and alert. "Tell Mom that I'm so so sorry, and tell the guys that too, that I couldn't be the kind a Trainer that—"

"No, just stop," Reyes interrupted, his hand shaking within Brendan's. "D-Don't talk anymore…"

"Face reality," he said a little harshly. "C'mon Reyes, smell the smoke in the air." He turned a little to look down at the rubble obscuring his legs. "Can't feel them anymore… Gone by now."

"J-Just…hospital, okay…" Brendan shook his head.

"Had a good run…two of us." He smiled, squeezing Reyes' hand one more time.

"I'm not going to leave you here to die!" Reyes pulled from Azalea's grip to push away the large chunks of concrete from Brendan's body, but he wasn't making progress with his one arm and one leg. Brendan frowned at him, shaking his head. He pushed harder and harder, his frustration growing each abysmal second; he wasn't going to leave Brendan to die, not now and not ever…

A warm sensation filled his body, something akin to hot chocolate in the wintertime; he felt the warmth grow within him, filling his useless limbs and restoring them and making them stronger even. He felt his two tail leaves merge together into one large stem, and from them came many more leaves that itched as they grew in; his body ached as it grew suddenly without sunlight, and his joints throbbed as his limbs extended as well. His leaf blades hardened and grew strong again, and although his head leaf fell away he could feel new growths surging on his back, seed pods that itched just as badly as his tail as they pushed through his skin. He kept pushing through all of that, and finally the largest of the rubble moved; vigor renewed, he cleared more of the waste as the warmth slowly faded, feeling much stronger than ever. Tears ran down his face as he pushed away the last of the debris and saw blood completely soaking Brendan's pants and the dirt beneath them; still, Brendan smiled at him.

"Sceptile… I've got a Sceptile now," he whispered.

"Reyes," Azalea said quietly, grabbing his arms; he fought against her grip, his new muscles working twice as well as his old ones.

"No! I won't go!"

"I… I'm so sorry," she whispered, pushing him away; he stumbled towards Brendan, but a nearby noise startled them away. Reyes watched an indistinct Pokémon hide in the shadows as it crept on Brendan; he looked a little scared, but otherwise accepting. Azalea covered his mouth when he tried to shout, then she covered his eyes; he was completely still for a long time, then he pushed her away, sick to his stomach. She looked horrified and there were tears streaming down her cheeks that she couldn't wipe away. "Rey—"

"No," he said hoarsely, disgusted with himself. "Just…I have to go." He ran from her before she could stop him, pushing through the trees surrounding Fortree; he was slapped in the face by more branches he could count and tripped over by several coils of vines and roots, but still he continued until he reached the rocks overlooking the shore, then he fell to the ground and started crying until his eyes hurt and his lungs were burning.

"Can't believe I missed one," a rough voice said behind him before he detected the smell of smoke; Reyes pitched forward into the water just as a flaming fist crashed into the stone where he was seconds ago, smashing it into dust. A Blaziken was standing there in all of his flaming glory, wrists and ankles alight as he balanced agilely on one foot. "Lemme guess… You're the same Sceptile I just saw with that half-dead human?"

"That was you," Reyes said flatly.

"'Course. It felt great to see a human like that, and even better to sink my claws into 'im. Wanna know what it felt like?" He jumped forward without a warning, leg out for a kick; Reyes dove under as he sunk beneath the surface, great plumes of bubbles rising from his intense heat. If Reyes expected him to be weakened by the water at all, he wasn't, and may even have been faster as he swam towards him; Reyes swerved out of his fists' path as he raced towards the surface, pulling himself onto the stone and running down the edge of the city. "You're not goin' ta outrun me, Sceptile!"

I know I won't, Reyes thought, running even as he felt the Blaziken's heat searing his tail. But maybe I don't want to…

A sudden psychic pressure rippled through the air, quadruple times as strong as anything Azalea could've produced; it passed by Reyes harmlessly but tossed that Blaziken dozens of yards backwards until he slammed into the water at about eighty miles-per-hour. Reyes looked forward and saw an old Alakazam floating in a meditative state, eyes open and spoons twirling lazily in the air. "Are you alright?" he asked, then he answered himself, "No, you're not; you've lost your Trainer."

"Hey. Who the hell are you." It wasn't a question because Reyes neither wanted nor cared for an answer, yet he answered anyway.

"I'm just another revolutionary like you, my friend; I'm trying to bring us all together, because an organized force is better than a disorganized one." He was right, but Reyes didn't feel like fighting anymore. "It's a sad thing to lose one you're so close to," he said, and Reyes could see the same sadness in Alakazam's eyes that he himself felt. "I want to help stop that from happening to anybody else—do you?"

"O… I do, of course I damn well do," he said. "I just…my mind…I can't…"

The Alakazam's feet hit the ground as he raised one of his fists, his spoon facing upwards; Reyes looked over his shoulder and saw the Blaziken freeze mid-jump, eyes blazing. "Nice surprise attack, old fart," Blaziken said, struggling in Alakazam's psychic grip.

"And I say the same to you," Alakazam said calmly before returning to Reyes. "I will give you time to escape, then; if you should change your mind, come to Ever Grande City."

Reyes didn't know what to say and just returned to the city, watching the rebels finally falling back in the face of the revolutionaries; Kim and Leroy were heading the battle and Azalea was helping tend to the wounded even as her psychic abilities wore thin. He worked his jaw, staring at his teammates, then he turned and fell silently into the shadows. He would return to them, and he would help put the world back in order, but…not that day, not until he got over himself. That was four years ago.

2.4.3. Reyes, Part III​

Reyes made a face into the cracked hand mirror, touching the purple marks beneath his eyes; he was losing sleep again to the damn nightmares. He didn't know why they disappeared and reappeared, nor did he knew why they persisted for uneven amounts of time, but he did know that he had to hide the evidence before she noticed; easier said than done, as she noticed the smallest things. He dropped the mirror onto the sand before backing out of his little shelter; he had built it out of the occasional piece of driftwood and palm tree leaves, which aptly protected it from rain and wind, and a tightly-fitted door gave him all of the private thinking time that he needed—not that he thought of anything good, not even three years after that damn pandemonium.

"Reyes, what are you doing?" Lilly called from the water.

"Just…wondering." He turned towards the ocean and saw her almost pacing within the water, Sunny still asleep on her shell. He smiled at the sight, finally feeling his mind ease as he trotted down the wet sand to her.

"You haven't been sleeping again," she said almost immediately, frowning at him.

"You don't miss a thing, do you?"

"Of course not; it's a girl thing. Tell me about it."

"Nightmares," he said bitterly. "They were different, but I kept seeing Brendan's face…his last face…" He choked a little and Lilly lowered her head to the crook of his neck. "'m sorry, bad stuff doesn't belong here."

"I don't want you to be sad though, so talk."

"No, no, I'm fine, really…" She raised her head to narrow her eyes at him; he traced his fingers over his heart. "Swear." Luckily she didn't have enough time to protest, because Sunny stirred.

"Mornin'?" she slurred tiredly, blinking her wide eyes against the sunlight. "Hi, Momma, Daddy."

"Hey, Sunshine." Reyes put his hands under her flippers to lift her up; she was just about two feet tall, but then again she had yet to hit a growth spurt. "Sleeping late?"

"Mm," she yawned. "Daddy I'm hungry, can I get fish?"

"Berries, Sunshine, Berries."

"No! Fish!" she pouted, flapping her flippers in frustration.

"It's just fish, Reyes; you and your vegan thing," Lilly said, wrinkling her nose but still smiling. "It's the natural order of things."

"Doesn't mean I like it. What's wrong with my Berries?"

"Yucky!" she proclaimed.

"You know how she is when she gets like this," Lilly said. "I'll get some fish, alright?"

"…Fine," he grumbled, setting her down on the sand; she cheered triumphantly, practically flopping around on the sand. He kept her away from the water, knowing that he couldn't catch up to her if she started swimming, and entertained her with his seed pods; he removed two and made them blossom into large sunflowers, which she made him tie to one of the knobs on her shell. He tried getting her to eat Berries again, but at that age, if she didn't like it she wasn't going to anytime soon; he learned that the hard way with a lot of things. On that note, the only thing she could read and write was her own name; she didn't bother to learn Reyes or Lilly, but and since it was her, it was still endearing.

"Daddy you look tired," Sunny said as he used his mirror to play sunlight across the sand.

"No, I don't; what are you talking about?"

"Nah! Can't fool me! I'm a jeeneeus!" she exclaimed. "Momma says so!"

"She's one to talk," he grumbled, tossing the mirror.

"Why, Daddy?"

"It's…well…I've been having bad dreams—a lot of them."

"Ask Momma!" Sunny suggested, resting her flippers on his leg. "She always makes the bad dreams go away!"

"Not these dreams, Sunshine; trust me."

"You wanna hug, Daddy?" she asked in response to the sadness in his voice.

"I don't…" She tried to anyway, her flippers not quite able to bend around his body; he caved and hugged her to his chest. "Thanks, Sunshine." He looked up and saw Lilly returning, two fish on her shell; he released Sunny to chase after her as he heard his PokeNav ring. "I'm sorry," he told Lilly as she passed the fish onto Sunny.

"It's okay, I'm used to it," Lilly smiled. "Go help save the world again."

"Never the world, sweetheart; that's just wishful thinking." He went back to his little shelter to open up his rucksack and answer his PokeNav.

"I know that I'm not interrupting, so I won't apologize for it," she said immediately.

"Still funny, Lea, and you kind of are interrupting, but enough banter." Azalea laughed on the other end.

"There's a disturbance that's suspiciously rebel-ish in Dewford, and you're the next revolutionary that's oversea."

"Well, about fifty miles from Dewford oversea, but why nitpick, right? And why not Kim and Leroy? They're overzealous when it comes to fighting."

"Those two are fighting in Sinnoh right now… C'mon, Rey, you won't be spending too much time away from her; for you, this should be a piece of cake."

"Even a little bit of time away from either of them is too much for me." He glanced up when he heard Lilly coo appreciatively, Sunny giggling as well, and he pulled a face. "And thanks for making me admit that; I'll never hear the end of it now." Azalea started laughing.

"You're so cute in love, Reyes; it makes me wistful."

"…I hope you're joking; you have too many admirers for your own good."

"But I digress; can you get there with your boat?"

"It would probably be stretching, but yes, I suppose."

"Then we're good to go; also, Tex says beep-beep-beep-hi." Reyes just hung up before he busted a vein at Tex's name. He went to Lilly and put his arms around her neck; she hummed against his cheek in disappointment.

"Really, it won't be long."

"Be safe," she told him as he pulled away. "Sunny, Daddy's going away for a little bit."

"What?" Sunny exclaimed through a mouthful of Magikarp. "Daddy's always going away…"

"Saving the world isn't easy to do." He crouched down to get eye level with her. "I'll be back before sunset, I promise."

"…Okay," she finally said. "Don't sleep late, and if you see strange Pokémon then come straight back!"

"Hah… Promise." He hugged her for a long while, relishing the feel of her heart against his chest; the first time he felt it—or more specifically, the first time he ever held Sunny—he was scared with thoughts of another life in his hands, but slowly he became used to it. He released her to the sand and she instantly clung to Lilly's flipper, which was the same size as her little body; Lilly smiled at him as he went to the pier and untied his boat.

"Remember how, three years ago, I promised that we would someday live this life?" he called to her as he started the engine. "I'm making another promise: I will be able to stay with you and Sunny, and we can sit and enjoy sunsets and night swimming and everything else you want!"

"And have ten more kids," she called back. It had been a long time since she could make Reyes flush in embarrassment, but her power was just as strong as ever.

"We'll talk about that later!"

——————
Reyes wasn't in the best condition when Lilly found him—hell, he was scarred for life, to put it lightly; he very nearly sleepwalked his way to Lilycove and its shore just to get as far from Fortree and its nightmares as possible, and even then he still didn't feel far enough. She had been on her way back to Pacifidlog when she spotted him, and they spent the rest of the night just sitting there since Reyes couldn't bring himself to move any farther. Then, as dawn broke across the sky, she coerced him onto her shell and took him to Pacifidlog, where she had been staying since the rebels had taken up residence in Sootopolis City; her friends were there too, Marla and Wilma and Emmi, and they took care of him for a few weeks as he tried to wrap his mind around what had happened.

Lilly was way, way nicer than he deserved, and he thanked Arceus every day that he could have her; she was patient through his worst days, days when he would retreat to the docks and curl up and refuse to be moved and days when he was shouting through series of nightmares. He had seen too much, seen his friends get gutted and ripped apart and trampled and eviscerated and burned and frozen and electrocuted, but Brendan was like the whisper that started the avalanche, and all of a sudden it was too much for him to take; he tried to…he wasn't proud of it, but he tried to take his life once just to free himself from it all.

It was Pacifidlog; the easiest thing was for him to try to drown himself, and that was what he did when he was out of Lilly and her friends' view. Still, she found him, and to that day she claimed that Arceus itself led her to him; she dragged him from the water and put him on land, and it was the first time she ever yelled at him, the first time she ever cried in front of him. He was stunned by the experience, and it had forever stained his mind from then on; he couldn't give up, not yet. He apologized to her and, well, to put things censoriously, Sunny was the peaceful resolution of that.

After that event, Reyes started searching for Alakazam; instead, Alakazam found him, being psychic and all, and accepted Reyes' request to join his group, the group which had officially become the revolutionaries. He spent a lot of time going in and out of Pacifidlog after that, visiting several cities in Hoenn and trying to push back the rebels; the revolutionaries didn't succeed, obviously, but the rebels weren't overthrowing any more cities, which gave the humans enough places to sit and catch their breath. Speaking of catching one's breath, Reyes had to do that for a good few minutes after one return to Pacifidlog when Lilly mentioned something a damn lot more casually than she ought to have; he started making a lot more stays in Pacifidlog after that.

Marla, Wilma, and Emmi practically feasted on Reyes, asking him what were his plans, how was he going to take care of Lilly and their Egg, things like that; he had to wimp out then, because honest to Arceus he had no damn idea. Reyes had always been the type of Pokémon that would even pencil in tying shoes on a daily planner, so not knowing what to do was an amazing first for him, which those three preyed on like hungry Sharpedo; Lilly was the only one that kept them at bay, to which he was very grateful for, but she asked him the same questions albeit less furiously. She was a little anxious to discover he had no clue, but still remained as patient with him as ever, and he realized how truly he loved that woman.

She laid her Egg four weeks after that, and Reyes quickly learned the feeling of a panic attack; the Egg was six inches tall and covered in a thin teal shell that he was too scared to even breathe on. A local was kind enough to take their Egg to a Pokémon Center for a checkup, as Lilly couldn't walk with her flippers and Reyes still didn't want to hurt the Egg, and the resident Nurse Joy told them that kept properly hydrated, the Egg would hatch in another four weeks; he left that to Lilly since she was always in the water, and even though he still had to pass in and out of Pacifidlog, he passed a PokeNav onto the three girls with a promise that they would give him consistent updates. He forgot that they were, after all, girls, and they spammed him with their admittedly-dull encounters with males, but the occasional piece of good information he got kept him going.

The reason why they called her Sunny was funny to everybody except Reyes, who found it a bit embarrassing. When he was still a Grovyle and was getting a visit from Lilly while in a small oversea town, they started talking about the weather; she loved sunny days because warm water felt so good to swim in, but Reyes conversely enjoyed rainy days because plants could flourish because of the extra water and also because of his gloomy attitude. She, at one point, joked that if he ever had a kid, he would name it Rain because of how hotly he protested the economic value of a rainy day; in the same spirit, he said that she would name her kid Sunshine. He wasn't too far off in the end; when she hatched from the Egg, no bigger than Reyes' hands and pale greyish-blue like a lightly-clouded sky and curious and a little giggly, Lilly revisited their conversation and decided that the name was very perfect for her. They officially named her Sunny that day, and from that day on they were a family.

He saw the disturbance in Dewford before he even docked there; it was a bunch of batty rebels, coincidentally in the Zubat family, led by a belligerent Slaking that made short work of Crasher Wake's Pokémon. The species was slow and lazy—well, except for Vigoroth—but when they were motivated enough to move, they could tear down with their high reserves of strength; Reyes held back a bit as he moored his boat, then he hit the shore and started running. The Slaking was a snore away from taking down somebody's house with his fists before Reyes tangled his wrists with vines, binding them to the sand; he gave an angry grunt as his eyes set on Reyes coming up on the beach.

"Revolutionary?" he slurred, saying it like any words further than "Lemme sleep" were an effort to get past his lips.

"Who else?" Reyes bound the Slaking's other wrist as well, tying it down against a light post. "Look, I absolutely do not have time for this at the moment, so if you could just so kindly lay down and die I'd like to be back on my way to Pacifidlog's shore forthwith." Reyes was too pretentious for his own good; half of his multi-syllable words flew right over the Slaking's head in his state. He tightened the vines to ensure that he couldn't break through even on one of his better days and began to dial the police's number on his PokeNav; the nearest Jenny was in Petalburg, which meant that she could take a boat to Dewford. He himself liked using Mr. Briney's boat; he was a nice old fellow, and his Pelipper alongside her baby Peeko were nice company. (He was also slightly embarrassed to admit that Peeko's mother turned him into one of those parents that showed off pictures of their children; he didn't mind showing pictures of Sunny, not at all, but he had always been a "cool" guy, at least in his opinion.)

Suddenly his PokeNav went flying from his hands into the water and he was flat on his back with a purple rat sucking the chlorophyll from his shoulder; he swatted the Zubat away only to get three more in its place, and they were covering a lot of ground considering their size. He didn't have any leaves to work with since they were on an island of majority sand and rocks, and he could only produce vines from bare skin, which he was very much lacking with three Bat Pokémon getting their fill of him. He had to wonder how they didn't get sick—blood was a lot different from chlorophyll after all—but then another thought occurred to him: for photosensitive Zubat to be in direct sunlight, they had to have been domestically trained, but surely not by that somnolent Slaking. He bent his head backwards to look at the water, and he put all of his energy into dragging it forward; a small bit of it hit the sand about three inches further than the rest. He continued pulling it mentally, his brain hurting from the effort, and eventually the water was touching his skin; with one final groan he swept the Zubat away with it, dragging them under so that their wings were held down by the water's weight and letting them be swept out to sea.

"Nice trick," a Crobat said, the only Crobat in the bunch; it stood out from the pair of Golbat and the other handful of pesky Zubat. "You're a Grass-type though."

"It doesn't matter; every type as an affinity for all moves, but it becomes harder the farther the difference between your type and the move's. To be honest, that has drained me alongside your pets."

"I haven't had my fill yet, so don't keel over."

"It will take a lot more than you all to send me to Hell, I can tell you that." Reyes moved to tangle the Crobat in his vines, but it was a lot faster than him, especially when he was so exhausted, and considering that the real fight hadn't even started yet, he was damned. He wanted to call Azalea but his PokeNav was probably confusing the hell out of some bottom-feeder Pokémon at the moment, and her telepathy was nowhere near strong enough to reach him all the way across Hoenn; on that note, Alakazam's telepathy probably wasn't that strong either…probably. Just in case, he made sure that his thoughts were extra frantic, even if he kept his poker face while the Crobat darted around him, fangs leaving little pinpricks in Reyes' skin as it nipped him repeatedly.

Reyes focused the sunlight down into his body, then he redirected it at the Crobat; the issue with that was that it was moving much too quickly for him to catch and much too wildly for him to guess with. He brought the sunlight down and fried the foundation of the light post holding the Slaking in place, then he grabbed the severed vines and pulled as hard as he could; he probably permanently damaged his arms with the weight and force, but he slammed the tower down away from any houses to fill the air with sand. The bats panicked, blinded, and started shrieking to detect his location; he jumped from the ground and braced himself against the wall of a rocky ledge before propelling himself forward onto a house's tiled roof, then he pushed off again to grab onto the disoriented Crobat, tying its wings together with his vines. He hit the wall of the Pokémon Gym hard enough to crack it, then he strung his vines around the Gym logo before jumping forward again with the vines trailing behind him; he managed to catch the frantic Zubat within the net, but the Golbat and Slaking were still free.

"Graaah, damn revolutionary!" the Slaking roared as the air cleared; he brought his fist down on the Gym to smash it to bits, then swung his other hand in the same move to swat Reyes from the air like a bug, slamming him down into the ocean hard enough to leave bruises. The good part was that the Slaking hurt his subordinate; the bad part was that he hurt all parts of Reyes bad. He dragged himself back to the shore, opening his seed pods to the sunlight; still, it wouldn't work fast enough when he had to keep moving. He rolled out of the way as the Slaking roared past, then Reyes sliced his blades down in between the Slaking's shoulder blades; crimson blood spurted over his skin, staining it a nasty shade of pink-purple as the Slaking started running, swatting down his cohorts in his frenzy. He started to stray closer to the homes and Reyes, thinking on his feet, dug his right blade in deeper, paralyzing the Slaking's right arm.

"Stop and back away from the people," Reyes warned. "Do that or you might just leave with one less arm than you came with." Of course, he was bluffing; even at full power, his leaf blades couldn't cut through thick and solid bone and muscle like that. He realized that the Slaking had stopped moving and chalked it up to blood loss, sliding from his back to the sand; he started rifling through his rucksack for a cellphone—there was actually a good chance he'd over-packed, as he was that meticulous at times—but found that he was really stuck. The Dewford dwellers were still shell-shocked from the attack despite its minor scale; he did hear from Crasher Wake's Pokémon that somebody had already called the authorities, however, and that they were well on their way. He focused on tying up the Slaking when he noticed that the Crobat's goonies were gone from his vines; a few Zubat on their own weren't too much trouble, maybe a few dead Mareep or something similar would mark their presence, but those guys seemed a little smarter than the usual brainless followers. He felt the Slaking stir beneath him a second before he gave a huge roar and rose to his feet, throwing Reyes back against the rocky cliffs hard enough to smash his seed pods; he fell on his face in the hot sand, his mind and vision blurring.

"What'd you say before? Ya had to be at Mossdeep or somewhere? Well, doesn't matter if I don't remember; Batty does, fa sure." Reyes could barely understand him through the blood rushing in his ears, but he understood the implications well enough: he had, as he expected, put his family in danger. And it was his fault. His fault… He was losing the people important to him yet again because of his own carelessness, his own fault, his own stupidity…

——————

Reyes was startled awake by something licking his face; he opened his eyes and saw a police Manectric standing beside an Officer Jenny. Dewford was full of police herding away the rebel Pokémon and Nurse Joys and repair Pokémon and—

"Pacifidlog!" he shouted when he finally regained his wits, pushing Jenny and her Pokémon away to stand up; the action made him see stars from how fragile his body was to begin with. "I have—to get—to Pacifidlog!"

"Dude, chill out!" the Manectric said, sparking defensively; Reyes could've cared less if he was deep fried.

"I have to get to Pacifidlog…" He looked at the sky and saw the sun was setting whereas it was noon before; he had lost too much time already. He went past them, moving fast despite the bad limp he had in one of his legs, and found that his boat was still there, albeit crowded by several police boats; he also could've cared less that he scratched all of them on the way out, as his mind was focused on one thing, as hard as that was with the pain warring for priority.

The ride back to Pacifidlog felt doubly long, and that sense of time stretching to infinitesimal proportions was so much like that day three years ago that he almost had a breakdown right there in the middle of the ocean, but he pushed forward; he finally saw Pacifidlog miles before he reached it, and he was probably ruining the boat's engine gunning it so hard. He reached the end of the beach and hopped onto the sand before the boat even stopped, nor caring to dock it properly; he moved as quickly as he could, his heart racing like it hadn't in a long time, and reached the telltale marks of the part of the shore that they called home. He slowed, then he stopped.

"Arceus, Lilly…"

His shelter had been tugged apart, the meager belongings he kept inside tossed all over the beach. Maybe it was Arceus, but he found his hand mirror first; he picked it up and saw his despair looking just as severe as it felt. He moved farther and found more: Sunny's first shed skin; old wishbones; a knob from Lilly's shell; sunflowers… He felt something under his foot and realized that it was buried within the sand; he bent over to dust it clean and—

Reyes bolted from his spot, his head spinning and his stomach clenching; he threw up somewhere, then he threw up again out of sheer panic. Sunny, was all he could think. Arceus, why be so damn cruel!?

...If Sunny's…there…then where's Lilly…?

Do I even want to know?

He slumped down on the sand, unsure, but no tears would fall; it seemed like he had finally run out. He crouched there for a long while, refusing to blank out again, refusing to crack; he still had a job to do, and even if he had to duct tape his very soul together to do it, then he would. People and Pokémon counted on him to "save the world" … Lilly and Sunny counted on him… Azalea and Kim and Leroy and Deidrick counted on him… Sunny and Brendan were counting on him…

He found his PokéNav—well, a spare—buried a few feet away; he cleaned the sand from it enough for it to work, and he dialed the number. "BZZT BZZT—SECRET—beep—CODE PLEZZZ?"

"Tex… Tex it's me…"

"REYES-REYES? WHY DO YOU SOUND-ND SO…?"

"It doesn't matter; just bring a bag to this location… A little one." Tex was quiet as it processed that; it didn't understand emotions like sadness or despair, but it could understand pain to a certain degree.

"YEAH—bzzt autocorrect 'YES'—YES, I WILL-ILL DO IT; DO—emphasize 'YOU'—YOU NEED ANYTHING?"

"I…

"…"

"HN?"

"Time, Tex, just time." He hung up and let the Pokénav hit the sand with a heavy breath, and Reyes sat back to watch the sun set. "And a lot of it." That happened just one year before he was given his fated task to meet Dominic.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"The hell is that…?" Dominic muttered, turning his ears away from the repetitive noise. Still, it persisted, and he would've killed somebody if it meant stopping it. Finally, he gave in and cracked his eyes open, but instead he found himself out of the Pokémon Center and lying on a coastline somewhere. The sky and sea were both dark, and by the smell of salt in his fur despite being far into the sand, it was a high-tide day. "…Where am I?" he wondered aloud. Aside from sea salt and a bit of metal, the air was tasteless. For all he knew he could've been on another planet, since all he could see in any direction was sand or ocean.

Suddenly the wind began to pick up, his mane blowing away from his face as dark thunderclouds rolled in and swirled around the sky. His heart ached a little bit as if he'd seen it all before, yet it was completely unfamiliar to him, but still something deep inside of him felt pained. He tried to push himself onto his feet but found that he was lacking a lot of strength at the moment, and although he hated acting so primal he had to walk on all fours. He heard a noise and raised his ears, staring hard at the blurred horizon. Though his eyesight was hampered by the extreme darkness (huh, that was new) he thought he could see a boat in the distance.

"Hurts," he groaned, covering his head and falling onto his stomach. "Everythin' hurts like all Hell…" There was that and that beeping that still raged in the back of his mind, although it was quickly picking up speed to match his racing heart. "Hurts… I hate pain… Hate-hate-hate-hate it…"

"Then just die," the King said, grabbing a fistful of Dominic's hair and bringing his head up. His eyes were like flashlights cutting through the darkness as he looked towards the ocean, mouth curled into a snarl. "Then the pain will be gone and so will you, and I won't have to hear your pathetic whining."

"Wha's… Wha's goin' on? Where are we?"

"Exactly where we last were," he answered. "Just as every other time your psychotic mind sees me, it's an illusion. You're still drugged like a wild animal in the Pokémon Center and I'm still trapped there with you, unable to move and barely able to speak."

"I'm what?" He heard that beeping pick up again and dug his claws into the sand with irritation. "Arceus can that damn sound stop already?"

"It could, but then you'd die," he said flippantly. "And anyhow, I need to have a word with you."

"R-Really? What about?" King didn't answer him directly, but he released Dominic to fall back into the sand.

"About that horrible show you had with that Sharpedo." He suddenly reared back and kicked Dominic in the stomach, sending him rolling across the sand until he came to a stop on his side. "I am the King; I don't get knocked around like a ragdoll," he growled, fur bristling as the wind picked up. Dominic blinked through the pain and saw the beginning of a torrent soaking into the sand. "You're weak, Dominic. You're my inferior and I can't for the life of me understand why you're dominant."

"'Cause… 'Cause I know restraint," he coughed, rubbing his abdomen as he shifted to his elbows. "'Cause I know not to kill ev'ry-damn-body I run into…unlike you."

"Those who are weak deserve to die and that includes you." King struck his claws together, creating sparks that quickly died in the downpour. "This is an illusion and so I can do whatever I want to you." He suddenly leapt forward with the speed of lightning, which was completely unnecessary with Dominic's already-dulled reflexes. He buried his claws to the hilt in Dominic's chest, and it was maybe three seconds before blood spurted around them like cracks in a dam. He opened his mouth to gasp but more blood came out instead, causing him to break into a coughing fit as he tried to clear his throat to breathe. The King smirked as he pulled his claws free, the blood flow increasing, then he slowly began to tear and peel as one would with an orange, picking away Dominic's fur to bare his skin which quickly joined his fur on the ground. "And it will still feel so real to you."

"S-Stop," Dominic begged, nearly choking on blood and bile. "P-Please…"

"Not until my claws are buried to the hilt in your innards." Dominic was stunned; he never remembered the King being so forceful. It was his fault for his moment of weakness, he figured, as had he not been so incapacitated by that Sharpedo, it wouldn't have been so easy for King to take control. The rain fell even harder over them and Dominic could feel the waves lapping at his side on top of that, worsening the pain in his chest.

"K-Kin'…" He could barely hold his eyes open anymore as he watched the last of his blood leak into the sand. He saw the King laugh as he gripped Dominic's snout, shaking his head from side to side.

"I hope you're not going to sleep already, Dom, because my fun isn't over yet. Look, this right here will kill you right away." He tapped a claw on the center of Dominic's throat before dragging it down to the base of his neck. "This will paralyze you." He finally set his hand to rest just a few inches from the edge of Dominic's torn chest. "And this will make you suffocate. And guess what? I've learned all of that from watching you. Let's see how long I can stretch this out." He pulled his claw back far enough that the rain quickly washed the blood from his fur. Dominic stared at the blurred image wearily, wanting to sleep but knowing that he had a chance of not waking up again.

Have to…have to stay awake…

Can't join Mom and Dad yet…

Need to fight for…need to fight for Reyes… Need to fight for me…

I need to LIVE.

Everything came to a complete stop. The rain, the waves, the King… They all froze in their movement as if somebody had pushed "pause" on that fake world. He sat up, his expression calm as he laid his eyes on the King's claws, suspended just an inch from the fur of his snout. "I'm dom'nant, right?" he asked, not waiting for an answer before he continued, "So this 's my illusion to control." He stood up, his body feeling in one hundred percent condition rather than the drugged state he was actually in, and grabbed the King's wrist, startling him back into animation.

"But—I'm—stronger!" he protested, trying and failing to pull from Dominic's grip.

"No, we're equal," he corrected. "It's 'cause of that that ya haven't beaten me yet, and it will always be 'cause of that that ya won't ev'r win, King." For a moment his own illusion dropped, revealing the scarred body he always hid from the world. The permanent bruises from the jabs and kicks of Fighting-types; the burn scars from the scorching punches of Fire-types; the stitches were ingrained Leech Seeds of Grass-types had to be surgically removed; the missing part of his ear from a particularly irate Arcanine; and one couldn't forget the hole in his chest that nearly killed him, the one created by the overgrown piece of fried chicken whose talons he had been kissing until Reyes came along. None of that included the scars that he made himself, wanting to get free from the nightmares and The Nightmare himself. "If none a these could take me out, you sure as hell can't."

"So the Dominic has grown a spine now," he muttered with an almost disgusted tone, still twisting his arm around. "I wonder how long that's going to last." Dominic released him with a smirk.

"Or we can wonder how long you'll last, King."

——————

Dominic could barely open his eyes they felt so heavy. He couldn't move either aside from breathing—actually, he wasn't even breathing, damn it, it was a damn tube in his damn throat making him breathe and damn it was so itchy he wanted to rip it out. Rip it out… Ooh, now he remembered.

"You're awake," a tired voice said. Dominic turned his head as much as he could to look at Reyes, who was sitting in a visitor's chair next to his bed. He looked downright exhausted like he hadn't slept in days, arms crossed over his chest and posture slumped. It was the weakest Dominic had ever seen Reyes and he hated the part of himself that found it funny.

"Mph," he mumbled, his tongue feeling too dry to manipulate. Reyes rolled his head around a little, waking himself up, then he picked up a glass of water from the nightstand and lifted Dominic's head with his other hand before putting it to his mouth. He got more water in his fur than in his throat, but it was enough to get rid of that sawdust feeling. "Shanks." Apparently it wasn't enough to fix his slur.

"You're welcome." He set the glass down and all but fell back in the chair with a sigh.

"Ya look tired."

"I am tired," he replied, holding his eyes wide open with his claws for a moment. "Do you remember how we're being hunted by the rebels and the revolutionaries?" Arceus, how could he forget? "No matter how big of a city we're in, some are bound to find us."

"And ya…ya fought 'em back…alone?" He didn't like the idea that Reyes was risking himself for him, and apparently it showed on his face to because Reyes grunted in dissent.

"It's honestly not such a big deal… Don't work yourself into a frenzy over it. I'm a guardian by nature."

"N…No," he protested, struggling and straining to lift his arm past the pain and the medication. Reyes watched with a displeased expression as Dominic grabbed the breathing tube shoved into his nostrils and started tugging.

"Dominic, what in hell are you doing to yourself?" he demanded.

"'m…'m gonna fight…fer mahself…so ya don'…hafta…" He continued tugging, creating a gross sensation in his throat, until the damned thing finally came out, whereupon he rediscovered just how injured his lungs were and how incapable they were of properly respiring at the moment. He tried not to panic, keeping his expression blank, but his body quickly became desperate for more air. He was on the edge of passing out before it suddenly became way easier to breath.

"You can't do everything by yourself—nobody can," Reyes said, pointing at his back. Dominic saw that his seed pods had sprouted into large sunflowers, the photosynthesis making more oxygen in the room. "Alakazam tried to help pokémonkind and humankind but failed, hence the revolutionaries. Blaziken wanted to combat humankind but failed, hence the rebels. And you can't get yourself out of these dilemmas on your own, hence myself."

"…" He was getting that feeling again, the same feeling that preceded the demise of his parents (he believed) and Skarmory and Steven. And those voices too…those arceusdamn voices…jeez, who in hell took out his earplugs? "People that help me…end up dead…"

"Guess what?"

"H…Huh?"

"Despite how many times you've tried so far…" Reyes extended his arms with a smug smile. "I'm not dead yet."

He isn't. He isn't dead. The realization felt like a lightning strike on his head. Reyes wasn't dead, was he? And the King tried—oh, how the hard the King tried!—but in every instance Reyes bounced back. Nobody in Dominic's life had ever survived him so long, not one person… Not one person except Reyes. Maybe Dominic did have a chance after all. The thought brought on a feeling so strange that he didn't know what to do. It felt like something had used Bubblebeam in his stomach, except it made him want to giggle rather than cry out in pain. He started laughing, his every muscle protesting as he became louder, clenching his stomach and kicking his legs as he went practically rolling.

"I must've missed the joke," Reyes said blandly.

"No joke," he laughed. "'m… 'm jus' so damn happy." He fell back onto the bed, extremely sore but unable to get over himself. "Happy… Ya know how long it's been…?" He let his eyes close with a sigh, exhausted.

"I thought you were always happy or at least optimistic." Dominic shrugged a shoulder.

"I…I thought so too…but turns out…I was foolin' mahself…"

Reyes' eyes widened a little as the door opened, allowing a Nurse Joy and her Chansey inside. Nurse Joy checked Dominic's monitors and medication while her Chansey checked on the man himself. He remembered how, nearly a century ago, Reyes took him to the Pokémon Center in Rustboro and that Chansey made him so uncomfortable. Now he felt so relaxed he was practically asleep. "You're recovering nicely," the Chansey commented. "Another few days and you'll be good as new!"

"You'll find I heal quick," he replied with a grin. She tutted disapprovingly before her eyes landed on Reyes.

"Hello Marjorie," he greeted.

"And you, Mr. Reyes, should leave," she said, although it was less annoyed and more Do-I-have-to-say-this-every-day? It really clinched the fact that Reyes had spent a long time just watching him, and it made Dominic feel like a total wipeout to have lost so badly just to get Reyes watching over him like a nanny when he clearly wasn't and especially when they couldn't afford to stay in a single place at any time, what with the rebels and revolutionaries and all. "He needs his rest."

"Me too," he muttered, "but I can't leave just yet. I have to watch him."

"There are doctors and nurses here for that!"

"Yes, and no offense to their skills, but I don't care. If a friend is down, I won't remove myself from his or her sight until they can rise again," he said hotly.

Reyes is a good Pokémon, Dominic thought.

Then, He deserves a lot better than a twisted freak like me. Damn it…

"He needs to be alone," that Chansey persisted. "Unless you want him to stay in this condition?" Reyes clenched his jaw and looked so close to grinding his teeth.

"Go," he whispered to Reyes. He looked like he wanted to protest, but at the same time it sounded like the command he'd been waiting for, like a soldier that just had to keep fighting until his general told him to stop.

"I'll be back," he said in a low voice, getting up and nearly falling over before regaining his balance, yet he still managed a somewhat good exit. Nurse Joy looked at her Chansey, who nodded and handed her a small plastic-wrapped package. She opened it up to reveal a syringe that immediately shot Dominic's nerves. That damned Chansey told him not to worry among other things, which made him worried and therefore made the King worried. He was already pissed enough with being drugged all the time considering how slow-minded it made him, and Dominic didn't need another near-death experience.

"N-No," he protested, his arms feeling too heavy to move. "Don't…"

"Don't worry, we're only trying to help you," that Chansey said as Nurse Joy injected the contents into an I.V. bag.

"Sh-Shleep," he croaked. "Don' wan'…shleep…"

"It'll help you heal."

"N-No…don'…undershta…" He sighed as his eyes closed and sort of consigned himself to whatever came next.

——————

Dominic wasn't in that weird beach anymore, but instead he was somewhere he recognized a lot better: the shore outside of Steven's house. He sat on the front steps, which were a little damp with ocean spray, and stared at the sunrise until his eyes started to hurt. There was darkness in him, which was something Dominic always knew, but as soon as he realized it had a potential of—of killing those important to him, he made a point of being a vagrant and even staying in Mauville City, where his (or more specifically, the King) had gained a reputation strong enough for him to be steered clear of. He had peace of mind and peace of soul until Reyes came along and gave him something to care about again, and if he had to be honest, he hated him for that.

"Hate is good," the King said, sitting next to him. "Hate is like Berries to me."

"Yer…not gonna kill me."

"Can't." He crossed his arms over his chest, which looked to be much more effort than it was. "You're the one calling shots, remember?" he asked bitterly.

"Yes…this is my body," he remembered. "It jus' gets jacked so damn much I forget. I'm the one in charge, ain't I? I'm Dominic—"

"And I'm Rex," he interrupted in the same tone. "I may not be what you are, but I am what you were supposed to be." He gave Dominic a pointed look before staring at the water, which was clear compared to its steely color earlier. Dominic realized that it was the first civilized conversation he ever had with that guy, and if it had to be caused by enough drugs in his body to take down a Pokémon army, so be it, because as the King said, Dominic possessed his own body, but most of his mind and soul was King's, as most of his mind and soul were comprised of darkness. It was so bad that even his darker memories belonged to the King, which put those annoying holes in his mind that made remembering the simplest things so arceusdamn difficult.

"I'm not s'posed to be anythin'," he muttered. "I'm s'posed to be alive…but not even that. But I'm not s'posed to be you and that's for sure. I'm better than that—Reyes believes that and so I believe it too."

"Reyes," he repeated hotly. "What does he know? Was he there? Was he ever there? No! I was."

"It don't matter if he was or wasn't there."

"It makes all the difference," he persisted. "Look, Dominic, when it all comes down to it, I'm your only friend." Dominic snorted. "Snort all you want but it's true. I'm the only one to know every dark crevice of you and not go away."

"Because you've committed half those crimes in my name!"

"A guy needs to sharpen his claws every once in a while—that's Pokémon nature. That's dark-type nature," he continued heatedly. "We steal, attack, fornicate, and even kill, but it all comes down to what Arceus itself wanted for us. If we were supposed to be all goody-goody two leaves like your BFF over there, then we would've been fairy-types or something, but guess what? We're not. We're not good guys and we won't ever be. We were born to be antagonists, born to be that insurmountable Yang of the world, and even if you try to forget and ignore it, even if you believe that Professor What's-his-face's bull-crap about finding your way into the light, I can promise you that there will always be something that will drag you back down to the deepest pits of Hell where we wait."

"…No," Dominic said, but he hesitated, which the King picked up on immediately.

"You may think you're immune to my spiel, but you believe it already—I can feel it. Don't ever forget what you are beneath that happy-go-lucky veneer, because things have a way of blowing up in your face when you least expect them to. Reyes doesn't quite hate you now, but he will when he realizes what you're really capable of. Or should I say the King," he laughed.

"You wouldn't," Dominic growled.

"You know me," he replied cryptically, licking his sharp teeth and claws. They were the teeth and claws of a predator, able to tear through skin and muscle like paper to reach their prize. He had used those teeth and claws many times throughout his life to reach an end, using them as survival tools and bargaining pieces and backscratchers, anything he pleased. His illusions were also methods, turning any pleasant dream into a sickening nightmare that ended with that one's death. He was just built to kill, unlike Reyes who had seed pods to revive others and powers to regrow flora. It didn't make sense to fight those urges of his, the innate need to destroy everything that he touched.

"Maybe you and I…aren't that different," Dominic admitted quietly. The King practically beamed at that.

"I knew you'd see the light," he said before cackling at his own joke.

"Although not in the way that you think," he added. The King just sighed and covered Dominic's eyes with his claws.

"You still want to be so difficult… Let me show you how alike we are."

Author's Note - This is probably my favorite chapter because of what happens to Dominic. Or not exactly Dominic... I suggest, my readers, that you pay attention to his name. Also I'm so happy I've gotten back into the drawing habit...hence the chapter pictures

King had never been "awake" per say despite his immense strength, and that was only because at the end of the day, he was just a sub-personality. However, the effort to keep him restrained was too much to comprehend, and just "letting go" made Dominic feel like he lost two tons of weight.

He opened his eyes and grimaced, though it wasn't exactly him doing the grimacing. He squinted a little at the room's bright lights, shielding his eyes with his claws and making a disapproving noise in the back of his throat. He made to sit up but found that his muscles were severely weakened by the medication on top of their original injuries, however it took him but a moment to get used to the feeling and tear the I.V. needle from his wrist. Blood spurted out in a thin stream for a moment before he covered it with a small roll of bandages. He cracked his neck and shoulders, trying to reacquaint himself with that peculiar corporeal feeling, just as the door opened and that irritating Chansey bustled in with a tray of food.

"Oh!" she gasped, seeing him rising to his feet. "You shouldn't be—"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," he interrupted, waving his claws in her face. "Nobody tells the King what to do or what not to do." He grabbed her head, startling her and causing her to drop the tray to the linoleum with a clatter. He didn't even need to do an attack, he just growled at her and she fainted. Well, it helped that he had the growl of a wild beast. He bent down to salvage what remained of the Luvdisc and Jell-O, as he wasn't getting anywhere on an empty stomach, and found that they didn't taste too bad for hospital food. He combed his claws through his hair, grimacing in annoyance when he found it tangled, and shook it loose, inadvertently dropping Dominic's precious collection. "Well, it's not exactly my problem at the moment," he decided, leaving them scattered across the ground—well, he did take up a photo of him as a young Zorua with Steven. That, he felt a need to keep. Dominic did have a beating heart after all.

He heard a phone buzzing and rooted through Dominic's possessions to find the rebels' cellphone. Without even checking it, he crushed it between his claws. It didn't matter anyway, as the King served himself only, not some overgrown and undercooked fried chicken with an attitude problem—well, that was the pot calling the kettle black, but still. He glanced at the window and found that it was unlocked and that that area of Lilycove City was amazingly scarce. It must be my lucky day, he thought with a smirk.

He jumped through the window and remembered just in time that he was on the second floor. He grabbed his legs and rolled into a ball, using his voluminous mane to catch himself as he hit the sandy ground. It was a good thing that his mane was empty, as otherwise most of Dominic's possessions would have speared him like a spit. He got to his feet lightly and dusted himself off, shaking his hair free of bits of sand before cracking his joints for good measure.

"…Oh?" he smirked, detecting a certain scent in the air. It wasn't Reyes, but Dominic would have to thank him anyway. He started walking and maybe made three steps before the pain brought him down to his knees. Oh, the limitations of Dominic's body were quite annoying. He just didn't train enough—physically anyway—because if he had, that paltry amount of pain caused by that recalcitrant Sharpedo wouldn't have meant a Rattata's behind. Still, beggars couldn't be choosers, and so if the King had to roam about on all fours like some sort of untrained beast because he could barely stand upright, then so be it.

Dominic was surprised; aside from a few "Is that a Unova Pokémon?" comments, he went more or less unnoticed within Lilycove. Then again, he didn't run into too many Pokémon that weren't Trainer-owned, as the wild ones had a better chance of being rebels/revolutionaries. Nevertheless, he made a point of sticking within the shadows of the city, even if the shadows were scarcely to be found with the bright light of day filling every nook and cranny. Honestly, the sheer sunlight in that area was giving him a horrible skin rash, not to mention the proximity of the usual tourist crowds and the irritation of losing that scent within the humans' mass one. He snorted in distaste, wishing for just one second to bathe his claws in—

"Damn you," the King muttered, feeling his body momentarily stiffen. He would always be just a side character to Dominic's story, after all, even if it was his dream to be the protagonist. He backed into an alley to clear his personal space and his mind as he took a deep breath. There it was again: street vendors, human sweat, sex, drugs, and…that guy. The King let his eyes rise to the Lilycove Museum. Just above it, a distant figure circled restlessly in the air. His nostrils flared as he breathed in the sweet scent of scales and dragon blood, and he allowed himself a smirk as he started scaling the building closest to him, using his claws to dig into the weak plaster of the wall. He climbed onto the roof of the building and scaled the small weathervane on it for extra height, nearly catching that guy's eye. He had to laugh at the thrill of a new hunt, stopping for a few seconds to catch his breath through the raging pain in his lungs and ribcage. It really sucked having such a weak body to work with.

He pushed off from the weathervane and landed at the edge of the roof, staring down into the alley between the buildings until he jumped again to land on the higher one. It seemed that he was atop the Lilycove Department Store, as there was a nice patio on the room with fake plants and benches to rest on. He stared at the people up there, people and Pokémon alike, and felt a low growl building in the back of his throat. A little Caterpie with a grown Butterfree approached him then, eyes wide and curious, and it took all of his strength not to tear them down right then and there. "The hell are you all looking at?" he growled. They scattered like leaves in the wind, and in time as well.

"It's you!" Salamence screeched from his position above the Lilycove Museum. His great wings blew up a storm as he flapped over, startling the easygoing residents from their rest and back into the safety of the store as he landed. Just as Dominic remembered, the Salamence still had a big scar on his left hind leg and a missing right wing—not that it slowed him down in any wing. That remaining wing of his had the power of five, as that was the strength of an ex-Elite Four, and his raw emotion doubled that power.

"Maybe not the me you're looking for," the King tried, smirking, but Salamence wasn't going to hear any of that as he released an incomprehensible Flamethrower. Just the heat of it burned Dominic's skin like weeks standing in the sun, melting away the plastic and fabric of the seats around them and burning the faux rubber plants. He put up his own fire as the torrent of flames enveloped him, feeling his skin prick and itch from the intense eat as his hellfire barely held up. The Flamethrower ended just in time for King's flames to scatter, severely weakened, and he watched Salamence rear up on him, great maw open and needle teeth glinting in the sunlight.

The King braced himself before pushing backwards, using the charred remains of a planter to launch himself in the air and out of Salamence's path. He crashed into the mangled bits of a swing-set instead and recovered with a growl, tail bashing the blackened metal into filings as he started knocking them out towards the King. He gritted his teeth and slashed his claws together before putting them out, letting them cut through the weak metal and plastic with a shower of spark and ash. He dragged his claws on the metal-tiled ground, digging up a few squares before launching them at Salamence. His Mankey-wrench jaw and mallet teeth chewed them into paper balls.

"You should see an orthodontist about that," the King said very seriously. Salamence didn't take the advice seriously, however, and backed up slightly to flap his remaining wing, creating a whirlwind of powerful gales that knocked King off of his feet and sent him rolling to the edge, where the barrier between the roof and the street before stopped him from falling over. He shook his fur out as he regained his balance and he grinned at Salamence.

"I was just waiting for Blaziken's order to take you out, me and the rest of 'em," Salamence growled. "We're all sick of you and the way you'll take out anybody regardless of alignment. Among us, you're the real monster."

"…Me?" the King said. "A monster?" he smirked, which turned into full-blown laughter that he just couldn't control. "Oh, I'm greater than a simple monster. I am the King," he said in a low voice. He met Salamence's eyes and relished the tormented expression he made as he dropped down on two legs, face contorted in pain. Even Dominic wasn't too sure of what the Salamence was seeing, but he did know that it had been dragged forward from the deepest pits of his psyche. He just wasn't feeling artsy enough to make his own illusion, but anything sufficed when his playing deck was limited. He straightened up, absently rubbing the bandages over his chest as his muscles ached dully from the stress he placed on them. Hopefully his illusion held long enough for him to run, as considering that he could barely breathe, he wasn't going to win a full-on fight with an ex-Elite Four. "Well, this has been fun—"

"Hah," Salamence laughed, cutting the King out of his reverie as he rose to his feet, his wing lifting him off of the ground slightly. "White Herb. I ate it before I came here," he said to his dumbfounded expression. "You'd have to be a lot wiser to take me down, King." He opened his jaws and released another powerful Flamethrower, razing the remains of the store as the flames surged towards him. He put his arms up defensively, drawing the debris around him to protect his body as Rock Tomb. The fire still leaked through the cracks in his makeshift shield however, singeing his fur and polluting his already injured lungs with heavy smoke. He was forced to release the rocks just as Salamence ended the attack, however he didn't take a break before he returned with Shadow Claw, striking Dominic in the face and most definitely leaving some more scars.

"Agaah!" he cried out in pain. He was stunned by the sensation; as far as he could remember, he always won battles without taking a single hit. Salamence reared back a few feet, giving King a bit of a reprieve before swinging his tail forward, slamming it into his small skull, blurring his vision with huge stars and then darkness. The King blinked, dazed, and only snapped out of it when a horrible pain surged in his arm. Salamence's jaw was clamped around it with no intention of letting go, but that wasn't the bad part. Darkness poured from the holes in his skin, swarming him like Combee—like the oh-so-familiar memory of that Sableye from seemingly long ago.

"I've nothing to be afraid of," the King said confidently. "I rule the darkness." Then it hit him like a brick, and it hit him seconds before the darkness actually started to hurt.

I rule the darkness…Dominic does not. It will eat us alive because of his fears.

He shouted and screamed despite himself as he felt his skin prick with a thousand times the pain the sun could cause, then he kicked and bit Salamence as he felt his skin blister beneath his fur. Salamence released him, his blood running down his teeth, and pumped his wing to soar just out of reach. Rex fell to his knees, the pain hurting much, much more as the darkness dragged Dominic's deepest, darkest memories from his core, turning them into white-hot agony.

The water pulled both of them under in a heartbeat, shredding the remains of Ali's boat and lifeboat and separating them. Terrified, Michaela gripped Rex in her arms, keeping him against her chest, but she could see that he was losing consciousness from lack of oxygen; she forced him to meet her eyes and created an illusion that he was lying in a meadow on the sunny day—as long as his brain had that image, he wouldn't asphyxiate. She herself held her breath as she pushed to the surface, but almost immediately another wave smashed her back under, addling her mind. She searched for any sort of help but all of the Water-types were gone, leaving her and Rex alone; she prayed to Arceus again that he would live, even if she didn't, and swam up again, only to have her lungs filled with saltwater and slam against a metal plate from the boat. Disoriented, she lost her grip on Rex, and the next wave sliced between them like a knife, pulling them apart.

…

WHY CAN'T Iwhy cant iBE A PART OFstop thisALL OF THIS I WAarcuespleasehelpmeNT TO FIGHT I WANT TO FIarceusplease whereareyouHURT THEM I WANT TO TO KILL THEM

…

Dominic curled up in the middle of the hellfire—it wasn't like it was going to hurt him anyway—and he cried without a sound; for what, he didn't know, but something left a great gaping hole in his chest that was so painful it was almost physical. He felt his tears instantly burn away from the hellfire's heat, but it didn't matter; with each tear that evaporated, thrice took its place until he was finally and completely beaten.

…

"We'll make it, we will," Dominic muttered, more to himself than Reyes, who was pretty much dying before his eyes. Dominic took a flyswatter from his mane and slapped Reyes with it. "Wake up! Wake up up up!" Reyes still didn't wake up. Dominic ditched the swatter and grabbed his shoulders, ignoring the burning sensation of poison on his skin. "WAKE UP!" he shouted, shaking him hard enough that his head flipped back and forth. He eventually hissed and withdrew his claws; although he wasn't as severely effected as a Grass-type, the poison had burned away the fur and skin on his hands, causing them to bleed out and most likely giving him more than a few infections.

…

"Then just die," the King said, grabbing a fistful of Dominic's hair and bringing his head up. His eyes were like flashlights cutting through the darkness as he looked towards the ocean, mouth curled into a snarl. "Then the pain will be gone and so will you."

The fine line between them blurred as the King felt more of Dominic than he ever had before. Sure, the King held Dominic's memories, but those meant nearly nothing, as what made Dominic so Dominic-ish was his experiences. Those emotions, the King had no chance of understanding, as he was just as mass of darkness incarnated after all, and no matter whose body he possessed or how many people or pokémon that he killed, that wasn't ever going to change. The King would always just be a stagehand for Dominic's show as well as every other half-conceived bit of darkness in every other sentient being on the planet, because however much he despised a beating heart, he needed to have one before he could ever roam freely. Without that, he would forever be confined to the shadows.

He heard Salamence give a screech and raised his head. His wing was tied down to his legs and he was wildly spewing flames trying to burn the restraints away—vines, Rex realized, vines were holding him in place. He blinked repeatedly as his vision blurred, and somewhere inside of him he again felt that line between him and Dominic blur. While Dominic was an open book to him, he kept his own thoughts sealed tightly. Why? He wasn't too sure. Maybe he was like Dominic in that aspect, always keeping his "soul" boxed up, but whereas Dominic did it to protect others, King did it to protect himself. Not a commendable effort in anybody's eyes, but he was, after all, "a sum of his parts."

"You're… You're defending the wrong guy, Sceptile," he sighed, clenching his chest as his heart raced out of his control. Reyes braced his heels on the ground as he embedded the vines into the concrete, holding them in place, and glanced over his shoulder at him.

"Maybe not," he said with an almost pitying expression. "Even if you are the King, the look in your eyes belongs to Dominic."

"Damn you." He gave a shaky exhale as he dropped his claws to the ground, watching them blur before his eyes. He was very aware, however, of the blood that began to pool around them, and when he didn't have much blood to spare in the first place, he was really worried.

I DON'T WANT TO DIE I don't want DON'T WANT TO to die i don't want DIE

He blinked and felt his jaw drop a little. Were they really having the same thoughts? Was he really that far gone? "…Help," he whispered to Reyes. Yes, he was that far gone after all. Reyes froze for a moment, seemingly surprised, then he put his arm out and gave Dominic a thumbs-up. Dominic wasn't relieved, however, because he knew Reyes enough to know that he wouldn't be able to focus properly on the battle if he knew Dominic was in critical condition behind him. It was a miracle that his PTSD wasn't acting up right then, but maybe he was just hiding it. "Somebody…help," he croaked, covering his face as he started shaking. He was feeling cold despite the sunlight. "Somebody…"

Reyes' vines finally snapped under Salamence's strength as he roared in anger, stomping his feet with fire blowing wildly from his mouth. Reyes shook his hands out as he gritted his teeth, ready to fight, but Rex knew that he couldn't fight that guy alone, it was impossible. His head fell and hit the ground and he could feel himself losing his breath—well, he had a long run, it wasn't good but it was long, although he wished he could've gotten to visit Kalos once before he went, he heard it was a cool place—

…I smell a Gardevoir.

Dominic blinked a few times, thinking he was imaging things on the verge of death, but when he brought himself to his feet he saw that he wasn't imagining things. There was another Pokémon behind Salamence, and although Reyes didn't notice her initially, his vines snapped apart when he finally laid eyes on her. Salamence roared in indignation and made to charge them before he was grabbed psychically, spittle flying from his maw as he struggled against the ethereal grip.

"I'll take care of this," Azalea said, her voice quiet yet carrying across to them. Reyes was shell-shocked, every muscle in his body frozen as she stepped forward, her scarred and blind eyes aglow with pink light. She looked at Reyes with an expression of such pain and betrayal that even Dominic felt it deep in his soul, then she wiped her face clean of emotion and put out her hands. "I'll take care of you, Reyes."

Author's Note - Hate to say it, Bay, but Azalea's the farthest thing from an ally right now. It's always been known that Reyes would have to combat the revolutionaries. Also two chapters here because this part turned out longer than I thought it would


Reyes knew Azalea since she was just a pretty little Kirlia, and never once in his life had he seen her truly upset, but the look she gave him could only be described as such, and it paralyzed him until Dominic pulled him out of the way, letting a powerful Psywave smash into the concrete where he was standing and uproot it like dirt.

"Ow!" Dominic cried as Reyes landed on top of him. Reyes rolled off of him, still stunned as Azalea stood in her spot, breath heaving from exertion. "You have…you have to fight her," Dominic panted.

"I won't—I can't!" he responded. Dominic's eyes were already narrowed in pain but they narrowed even more as he rolled onto his stomach, his claws going into his mane.

"Don't… Don't make me have to…'cause it won't…it won't be pretty…"

"You're not going to touch her," he growled as Dominic took out a Super Potion. He hissed in pain as he sprayed it over his injuries, and although it didn't give him a full recovery, he was able to stand upright and toss it away. Azalea interrupted before he could speak, releasing another Psywave that split them apart.

"Doesn't look like she has the same inhibitions!" Dominic said sharply. "I know that that's your best friend, but when she's trying to kill us—!"

"Dominic! Just shut up!" he interrupted, frustrated and still trying to swallow the whole situation. He tried to mentally break it down, make it easier to comprehend. He first wondered how Azalea could have so much psychic power all of a sudden—it just wasn't possible by any safe or humane method. He also wondered why she would be chasing after them after so long on the run, as a Psychic-type able to "read" him like the back of her hand. She didn't give him time to think before the ground underneath his feet flooded with pink light. He braced himself before jumping away, the concrete exploding into a shower that pierced his back and ripped away two of his seed pods. She was again left vulnerable after the attack, which Dominic tried to take advantage of by rushing her. Reyes threw his arm out and coiled his vines around Dominic's midsection, holding him in place.

"Reyes! If you don't let go of me I'll slice you down with her!" He tried and failed to slice through the vines, his expression becoming desperate as Azalea slowly recovered, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"You won't hit me… Why do you still act like a hero?" she whispered. "You turned against us…against all of us, and you joined the enemy… You've always hated the rebels and what they stand for, so why…? Why, Reyes!?" she suddenly wailed, throwing Reyes so hard that he cleared the barrier of the roof, Dominic falling with him because of the vines until they tumbled down to the asphalt of the street. Reyes felt the impact deep in his skeleton, giving him a bodily ache and a lingering blackness in his peripheral that made it hard to see Dominic until he landed on his stomach. He felt some of his chloroplasts go from the impact, losing his breath in a grunt as Dominic seemingly lost consciousness.

"Wake up, you bastard, I can't drag you around here," Reyes hissed, releasing the vines from his palms as he pushed Dominic to the ground with his free hand. Dominic groaned as he revived, digging his claws into his chest before he growled in annoyance and started slicing his bandages away.

"I wish you'd make up your mind," he muttered, letting the last of the bloodied cloth fall in a heap on the ground. He gestured to the citywide distortion around them in disgust. "Do you want to live, or do you want to die by your side girlfriend's hands?"

"I don't—neither," he snarled. "I can't focus—"

"Getting thrown around will do that to you," he said dryly. "Don't think that I don't understand your relationship—I do, after all, have memories of such love, in case you've forgotten—but in this situation when you've already decided that you'll be dancing in Hell with me," he smirked, pointing at himself, "then you had to have known you'll be signing a contract to go against those you've already aligned yourself. Fighting back against Alakazam wasn't so hard, so why her?"

"She's been there… She's been there since forever…" He felt memories rising like the bile in his throat and choked it all down, trying not to have a breakdown then and there. "I just… I just can't fight her, okay?"

"Then let me do it." He was eerily calm as he looked Reyes in the eyes, his being full of an unusual ice, and as Reyes stared, he realized that he had seen that expression before—he saw it several times before, actually, every time he looked at himself after Brendan was gone.

"You would…make a mess of things," he said in a more subdued voice, unsure if he was being metaphorical or literal. Dominic's look softened a little. "I'll…fight her."

"That's the ticket, Sceptile."

"Why are you helping me, King?" He shrugged a shoulder.

"It turns out Dominic and I are more alike than we thought." He grimaced as if eating something repulsive. "…I'm sad to admit." His ears pricked up and his head snapped towards the store's roof as Azalea reached the edge. Reyes stood up, aware of the slowly-forming crowd around them and the danger that could arise for them from the two of them. On top of that, the Salamence was still in fighting condition, staying afloat just next to her with his single wing. Reyes and Dominic exchanged a look instead of words, yet they understood each other perfectly as the two opponents descended on them.

Salamence crashed into Dominic with his claws out, however he was prepared and blocked the attack with his dark energy. Still, he was pushed back, giving Salamence enough time to attack again with Dragonbreath. Reyes was distracted from them as a car, previously parked on the curb, came barreling towards him. He raised his arms and extended his blades, stopping it in its tracks and shattering the windshield. He heard a thud and backed up to see that Azalea had landed on the roof of the car, eyes still hidden with the light of her energy as she thrusted her hands forward. Waves of pink exploded from her arms and body, spinning like boomerangs through the air until they reached Reyes. He turned and ran, feeling them raze his tail as they came within centimeters of slicing him into vines, and started pushing through the crowd as they jerked in surprise. As angry as Azalea was, he knew that she would never hurt humans.

"Don't try to run from what you've reaped, Reyes!" he heard her shout. He turned and looked over his shoulder in time to see a ball of ghostly energy zooming towards him and, consequently, the innocent humans and Pokémon gathered there. He gritted his teeth as he used an Amoongus as a footstool, bouncing off of its head and into the air to take the attack in his chest. The Shadow Ball ripped his energy away from his body forcefully, making him feel as if he just ran ten miles as he hit the ground shakily.

"Pikachu, use Thundershock!" somebody in the crowd cried, setting off a chain of attacks that headed for Azalea. Reyes swallowed the impulse to protect her, watching a series of attacks from Flamethrower to Earth Power fly towards her. Waving her hands, she created a psychic barrier that not only protected herself but sent the attacks back to their senders. Pokémon scattered to protect their masters as the attacks hit, creating an ensuing panic that escalated to the entire neighborhood as Azalea and Salamence's attacks destroyed homes and other property and caused several injuries. As Reyes watched, a Shadow Ball created by Dominic was dodged by Salamence and instead hit the Lilycove Department Store, ruining the first level and finally causing the building to give out. It seemed to fall down in slow motion, topmost level collapsing in on the one below it with an ear-shattering boom! every time until the last one was wrecked, a rolling tsunami of debris and smoke ensuring after the crash that reduced visibility to zero.

"Damn it," he muttered, backing away from the site to try to find one clear spot. He saw her silhouette appear just in front of him and raised his hands instinctively, firing a series of leaves sharpened to kill. He immediately cursed himself afterwards, however the attack didn't even hit her. The leaves stilled, a pink aura surrounding them as they darkened in color to nearly black, and he raised his arms just before they spun back towards him, ripping his skin and creating thin streams of chlorophyll running down his arms. He saw another dark silhouette appear at ten o'clock, then two more appeared a few inches away until he was surrounded by them. "Why don't you just show yourself, huh?" he demanded. "Why are you afraid to face me now?"

"I don't think you're one to talk about being afraid of facing anybody," she said in a quiet voice. The shape at his left corner opened its eyes a second before he was blown back with a gust of pure Psychic. He skidded backwards on the street, unable to catch himself, and his back slammed into the door of an SUV, freezing him in place with the pain. He forced his eyes open and saw Azalea rushing him, her dress flapping wildly from her speed as she hovered a few inches above the ground. At that distance and in his state, she could kill him. She would kill him.

"I'll hate myself for this…"

He raised his arm and felt the dark energy coursing through his skin and leaf blades, feeling it surround them and lengthen them. It felt like drinking the best wine, downing cup after cup to enjoy the taste and lightheadedness even though it would leave you blasted drunk, but damn the consequences. He realized that Dominic, as a Dark-type, constantly had that taste for the beauty of danger and death, how hard it must have been for him and all else of his type to refuse it.

He heard Azalea scream as his Night Slash cut deep into her chest.

Reyes watched her stumble back in alarm and surprise as she clenched her heart, blood running down her smooth skin from the laceration. It wasn't very deep at all, however the dark energy within was hurting her. She looked at him with such pain that he wanted to take it all back, but in all honestly, he knew what he was getting himself into as soon as he chose to get on that boat with Dominic. They were enemies as long as she stayed with the revolutionaries, and whether she was doing the right thing or not by staying with them he had no idea, but their current standing was clear as crystal to him.

"D-Don't…attack… If you…me again…I'll have to…kill you," he whispered, the words hurting him like nothing else. She still stared at him, seemingly in shock, then her face became devoid of all emotions. She didn't say a word to him and he was happy; he didn't think he could take a response anyway. He had to throw his mind into the fight or else she would kill him, and so he had to fight with the intent to kill her as well.

He felt an invisible pressure weigh heavily on his body, holding him back against the car and sealing all of his limbs in place. It would've been easy to break out of in normal circumstances, but there was a strange pain pulsing in his chest, something with nothing to do with his emotions. He pondered the feeling for a moment before meeting Azalea's eyes, seeing her sweating from exerting so much energy and the pain in her chest but still fighting. He slowly realized that it was her Synchronize, and as if they were still young ones, the connection it had with him was thicker than blood.

Salamence used his tail as a heavy weapon, slamming it down hard enough to uproot the asphalt of the street as Dominic sped out of its path. He panted from the effort, still in no condition to fight and the strain showing as he slowed with every movement. It seems that he didn't even have the energy to put up an illusion or he would've done it by then. Instead he was making movements that put him decimeters from an attack and caused him to lose a few hairs each time Salamence swung his tail or claws or made for a bite, decimeters that shrunk each time from his exhaustion. The next time Salamence swung his tail in Dominic's vicinity he grabbed it and sunk his claws into his tough hide before opening his mouth and blowing a torrent of flames into his face. On top of being a Dragon-type, Salamence apparently had the skin of a boulder, causing him to not even blink before swinging his tail and tossing Dominic like a pesky Bug-type.

"Dominic!" Reyes didn't have much energy to spare but he focused enough to create a vine in Dominic's path, winding it with several others until they were thick enough to catch him midflight. They merely stopped him in his path, not providing a soft impact, evident in his pained groan as he gripped the vines like a tree with his claws. "Are you all right?"

"You can see that I'm not," he replied in a terse voice, sticking his tongue out. Obviously, he was fine.

Azalea recovered and threw her arms up into the air. A deep rumble sounded from the thin clouds above before they suddenly congregated and dropped a bolt of lightning down to earth. Reyes didn't have enough space to move and was hit, but being a Grass-type the damage could have been a lot worse. He jumped backwards onto the car's roof, then he moved back further onto a street lamp. She stared up at him before her eyes were again consumed with light and the lamp began creaking. He teetered while trying to maintain his balance before toppling, but he didn't have much time to fall before the metal whipped around and coiled about his waist like an Arbok, holding him a few feet above ground. She attempted to draw closer and he started spitting, repelling her with Bullet Seed. She simply brushed them away with a psychic gust before drawing as close to him as physically possible without touching him, close enough that he could see his full reflection in her crimson eyes.

"I used to think that I knew you," she whispered, slowly dragging her hand down his cheek. He relaxed despite himself, her touch still feeling familiar after so many years. It was with those hands that she healed the worst of his injuries, physical and otherwise, before Brendan's demise and long after. Those hands, he believed, were made to help, not hurt; that was quickly proven wrong when she slapped him hard enough to cause his cheek to swell slightly. "But the Reyes that I've known is long gone," she continued in a sharper tone, gripping his face tight enough to hurt, and without warning she pressed her lips to his. It felt wrong and almost sickening as if he was kissing his mother, and more than that he could feel his energy draining even further the longer she stayed attached to him. He fought to pull from her grip but the steel lamppost held him firmly in place, binding everything down to his neck. He hated what he had to do, but he kissed her back, harder.

She stumbled in surprise, yet she still didn't break contact even as he felt her skin heat beneath his. Then, sure that he had her in place, he started passing his seeds through his mouth and into hers. She swallowed reflexively before pulling away, hands over her mouth in alarm as he fought the urge to vomit at the strangeness of the situation. She clenched her stomach next, eyes wide and tearing up in pain as she bit down on her lower lip hard enough to draw blood. "W-What did y-you—?" She didn't get to finish before a coughing fit seized her, forcing her down onto her knees in pain. She started spitting up, desperately trying to rid herself of the foreign entities, but Reyes could tell that it was too late from the surge of energy rushing through him. It felt like liquid fire running through his veins, it was so potent; he couldn't imagine that she had the same feeling however many times over.

"Leech Seed," he explained in a quiet voice. "Although it usually doesn't get passed on orally…as that would cause extreme pain."

She tried to speak but was cut off by a sudden rush of bile running down her chin. She covered her mouth, horrified, as a tiny sprout peeked through her fingers. She was forced to drop her hands as two more stalks inched their way out of her mouth like fingers from within, turning her snowy complexion a slight green like mint to match her hair as she paled from the pain. He couldn't forget why he was doing that: something was immoral about Alakazam, evident in how he chased Dominic when he was (more or less) innocent, but as he couldn't prove it, he couldn't get Azalea to stop fighting him.

"It won't hurt for long," he told her, hating every second he heard her pained moans. "You'll quickly run out of energy and—…" He remembered her power boost and, consequently, the burning pain of it in his veins, and tried to imagine how she had gotten so much damn power all of a sudden. He wiggled wildly, trying to free his arms, but came up short and gave up, instead pulling his upper body so violently that both arms tore away. Thankfully, being in the sunlight, he could regrow them fairly quickly. Using his leaf blades, he sliced deep scores into the steel, weakening it but still not coming close to breaking free. He sighed in defeat, instead focusing on growing his vines through the exposed patches of dirt in the broken asphalt and letting them worm in between his body and his restraints.

Dominic was nearly dragging along, his movements were so sluggish. He was taking more hits than he was dodging and blood was soaking through his fur from his reopened chest wound as he panted, fatigued and at his wits' end. Salamence opened his maw, which was alight with flames, and bit down on Dominic's left leg as he attempted to run. He fell flat on his face as the smell of burning fur filled the air yet Salamence clung with the tenacity of that Sharpedo from what felt like eons ago. Reyes raised his head to the sun, feeling the heat pierce his skin and fill every bit of his insides, giving it a slight glow before he redirected the energy outwards. Of course that damn Salamence dodged his Solar Beam, but Reyes did manage to extricate his person from Dominic, although the burning hunk known as his leg would be useless for the remainder of their fight.

"Ugh… Uguu…" he groaned, pushing his torso up with his arms and shaking his head to clear it. He seemed only half cognizant as he inspected the damage to his leg. He dragged it forward a few inches to test it, which seemed too much as his eyes widened with pain. Nevertheless, Dominic persisted, pushing himself up until he was standing on his two feet, managing for maybe five seconds before he regressed into a sorry three-legged limp. Salamence whirled around, making a severe U-turn in the air before coming back with energy streaming off of his body like water. Dominic backed away slowly before fully realizing the situation and turning to run—except he ran in Reyes' direction.

"Dominic—!" Reyes didn't even have the time to protect anybody but himself—as a matter of fact he didn't even have the time to protect himself. Rather, his vines automatically covered him like a net, bearing the brunt of Salamence's Aerial Ace but not protecting himself or Dominic and Azalea from the wind that he carried, which cut through like solid blades. The lamp finally gave way and toppled to the ground, yet its grip on him remained as he was stuck on his back. Salamence smirked at him, chuckles reverberating from his long neck as he pressed his hind foot down on Reyes' neck.

"If only you could see how stupid you look," he laughed. "There will be no honor in this death." He made to take a bite out of Reyes' face at which Reyes spit several large seeds into Salamence's open mouth. He choked, surprised, as Reyes continued until his entire airway was blocked. He flew backwards, wild-eyed from asphyxiation, which was when Reyes noticed Azalea looming in his field of vision. He strained and struggled against the coiled street lamp, but although it creaked and groaned it refused to give out. Damn Lilycove's stable architecture. The pink glow around her returned on a greater scale, brightening until he had to squint to look at her properly. Her dress fluttered in a self-created breeze as the very ground rumbled, little pink sparks flying from the cracks in the asphalt and concrete.

"Alakazam granted my wish to show you the light," she told him, her voice echoing endlessly into the sky—or so it seemed. The sprouts peeking out of her mouth withered from the intensity of the energy surrounding her and broke away in the wind until they were just protons and electrons. She put a hand to her bleeding and broken heart, open for all the world to see, and closed her eyes. "He gave me the strength I needed because I would've been too weak otherwise, physically and emotionally… Now that I've warmed up, I can show you the full extent of the power that he has given me—the power of justice granted for me to deal with the wicked." Her eyes snapped open at "wicked," bight like miniature suns trapped in her skull.

That was when Hell broke loose in Lilycove City.

Azalea wasn't lying about the boost in her power level—that was the best understatement that Reyes could come up with.

Buildings, trees, humans, and Pokémon were all tossed into the air as if gravity suddenly meant nothing, giving everybody a strange sensation of weightlessness for maybe three seconds before they started descending. All of the Pokémon in the area, regardless of status, banded together, Psychic-types nullifying gravity a bit to slow their fall and Grass-types forming a soft bed of moss below. Suffice it to say that it still hurt when they kissed the ground, and Reyes could tell right off the bat that there were casualties, however there was a much higher percent of injuries and Nurse Joys to help with those. He landed on a huge, malodorous flower most likely formed by a Vileplume, not really feeling any pain but getting the huge numb sensation of his body giving up. He tried not to look at the scene ahead of him but it was all he could see, and he felt an attack coming on again. His heart raced, his stomach clenched, and his mind went all sorts of places.

"N…Not again," he groaned. It became worse when a troublesome Pokémon landed on his stomach. "You've got to stop doing that already, Dominic."

"Okay, I'll give that message to gravity the next time she's tossing me around like a piece of meat," he retorted, but he made no moves to get off of him.

"Dominic."

"I literally can't move. My body just won't listen to me."

"Mine either." They laid like that in the chaos for a while, Reyes trying to figure out why Azalea wasn't plucking his stem at the moment and Dominic with Salamence. Pokémon and people still scattered as wildly as Bug-types in the sunlight around them, bloody trails following them as they searched for help or just a quiet place to lay down and die. If for nothing else, Reyes enjoyed speaking to Dominic to keep his mind off of the world and therefore sane. "I've been wondering… If you're the King, you would've eviscerated that Salamence by now…damn the consequences…so I don't understand why you're letting yourself get thrown around like a ragdoll."

"First and foremost, why would I let myself be thrown around? It's this damn body that Dominic let go to ruin," he growled, digging his claws into his abdomen as hard as possible without breaking the skin, even though there was already plenty of blood seeping into his thick fur. "And, well, maybe I don't want to eviscerate him— Maybe I can't," he corrected himself. "Because Dominic is such a—"

"I thought you were the higher power and not Dominic." He snorted at the notion.

"I can only wish." He paused, eyes narrowed, then he sighed. "And lately, it feels as if I'm becoming less of a power by the moment. Perhaps Dominic doesn't need my protection anymore and he's just taking back what's his. I can't read his mind, nor can I tell him what to do. If he really, truly doesn't want me here, then I'll go. I have to."

"It can't be that easy," he replied.

"Oh yes, it is. Because now he has somebody to lead him into the metaphorical light." He gave Reyes a very odd look then, one that seemed somewhat familiar. "Thanks to you, Reyes, I've become irrelevant." Reyes couldn't understand the inflection behind his words, if he was upset by it or…grateful?

Reyes sighed, trying to take in as much sunlight as possible but finding it hampered by two things: the dust in the air and Dominic's body covering most of his. He could even feel the sprouts of new seed pods forming on his back as he tried to absorb the light, but so far all he was absorbing was Dominic's blood, giving his skin a pink tinge on top of the green. "Won't absorbing my blood hurt you?" he asked. Reyes shook his head.

"I don't have a blood type of my own. In fact, it's healthier for me to absorb blood over water because it already contains nutrients that I, as a semi-mammalian organism, utilize. It's just, you know, gross for me to do so." More of his skin turned pink, making it look as if he received a splash of paint on his front. Feeling more energized than before, he slowly sat up and pushed Dominic onto his knees as he went. Then Reyes formed a seed and held it out. "This will… This will give enough strength for you to run," he said, taking a breath to steady his ravaged body and mind. "As this is now my problem, I don't want or need you interfering."

"Me? Interfering?" He made to slap away the seed but missed, a combination of blood loss and apparently failing vision.

"You're strong, a fact of which I am painfully aware of after spending so long with you," he said, his words tasting almost as bitter as the dust in the air. "But this is something I need to handle a-lone. I won't get closure otherwise."

He stared at Reyes, eyes hard, as he snatched the seed up, gripping it so hard that his claws almost turned it into shredded skin. He shoved it into his mouth and swallowed without chewing it, the corners of his mouth turning down in distaste. He stood up, a grave expression on his face as he turned his back to Reyes, slashing his claws experimentally. He took a few steps forward, stopped, and turned back to Reyes, that familiarly mad grin on his face. "How about this," he said, his voice stronger than before. "If I have the strength to run, I have the strength to stand and cheer you on. You're not opposed to that, are you?"

He thought about it for a few seconds before snickering. "What has happened to you, King?"

"You," he answered plainly. "And your side girlfriend."

Reyes didn't even protest, turning to the side to acknowledge Azalea's silhouette slowly forming within the dust. Her arm was out and he quickly realized why: she had Salamence pinned in a psychic chokehold so strong that his wing was stretching and contorting in a repeated, pained pattern. She looked like she was about to pass out, still greening from Reyes' Leech Seed and her chest heaving with labored breaths, and when he looked closer he saw what seemed to be hairline cracks in her skin as if she was a porcelain doll somebody had dropped. He stood up slowly, hands up to deter her from attacking, and spoke deliberately: "Azalea, this can't be good for you. This amount of power isn't something that your body is used to—"

"I'll tell you what her body is used to," Dominic snorted.

"—and it just might—no, it will kill you if you continue," he tried, but her expression was as hard as ever. "Please, Azalea, don't kill yourself over me… I'll surrender to Alakazam if it means you'll stop, if for nothing else than your sake and the sakes of everybody in the city." He didn't need to gesture to the extensive damage of Lilycove; it spoke for itself. Besides that, there were Pokémon and Trainers rising from the ashes of their city to fight back, and whether Azalea would be the one to fall or them, he didn't want to see it happen.

"I," she said loudly, her voice clear for all to hear.

"Don't—

"CARE!

"What I care about is the legacy of our Trainer, the one that has raised us from such a young age with tender love and care, that you are besmirching as we speak!" she shouted, fists clenched. "And I care for the noble cause that Alakazam started that you've stood against for what? For a psychopath that wants nothing more than to have sex and bathe his claws in blood?" Dominic grunted in dissent.

"Listen here, you, before I slice away your ears, which are being awfully useless at the moment—"

"Dominic you're not helping," Reyes interrupted.

"Helping what, exactly? Your sweet little heart-to-heart?" he said mockingly, snapping his claws together like pinchers. "Talking is useless; talking has been useless, yet you're too full of yourself to see it. How about I talk to her huh, just to show you how useless it really is? Oi, Azalea, if you don't stop destroying the city, I'll rip you apart and turn you inside out and let you meet your Trainer the painful way."

"—Don't talk about Brendan," she practically growled at him, startling Reyes. "You don't have the right."

"Oh, okay, I need to earn the right," he said, unfazed as he straightened his posture and raised his nose. "How exactly do I earn that right? Attacking defenseless humans who've not even a comprehension of what they've done to deserve all of this? And if that is, in fact, the case, then I think I had the right since my conception."

"Dominic!" Reyes snapped.

"What we need is real, heartfelt action, and if that's what I have to do to save both of our lives—"

Their attention was stolen away from each other as a Mightyena leapt upon Azalea, jaw open to bite down on her leg. She cried out in pain from the pressure and even more so as darkness swirled around the injury. More Mightyena began approaching then, seemingly from a pack and biting at her from all angles, leaving nasty bloody marks in her previously puritanical figure. "Azalea!" he shouted as more Pokémon surged onto her, burying her within a mound of fur and leaves and tentacles. She gave another shrill cry before falling completely still under her living restraints. Dominic grabbed Reyes' shoulders, alerting him to how he was leaning forward, and clicked his tongue.

"It's what's good for her," he said, trying his hardest not to sound smug when he said it. "Just let it happen and leave your hands clean."

"…They're already dirty," he replied, his mouth feeling dry.

"It's a different kind of dirty," Dominic amended. "Not good, but different. If you killed her, it would be a permanent stain on your hands that you can never wash away. Something that you feel constantly like…like a scar…" He trailed off, seemingly lost in his thoughts, before he clicked his tongue again. "And that's not something that you, of all people, should have." His ear twitched and his expression became unsettled. "…Reyes, I'm sorry," he said suddenly.

"Sorry for—?" The Pokémon around Azalea went flying, and from there things happened in such a short breath that Reyes didn't think that he saw it properly. In the same instant that she burst free, dress flying wildly as a sheet in the wind, her arms up to release the full extent of her upgraded psychic abilities, Dominic's mane rose on end as if it was some other entity entirely—maybe an agitated Pineco would've been a better metaphor, or a Zigzagoon—and a circle of hellfire erupted all around her, startling her still until little licks of flames landed on the material of her dress. That was when they started to burn.

"You BASTARD!" Reyes roared, fully intent on shredding Dominic, and while Dominic looked very ready for the consequences, head bowed submissively, Reyes had more pressing matters. He tossed the broken pieces of asphalt and debris at her, hoping to staunch the flames, but they simple passed around the rocks and worked their way up her slender body. Pokémon scattered from her wildly, instincts warning them of the danger, yet a handful of slower ones still perished as hellfire razed their skin and burned it to the bone, and after that was bleached then there was nothing left but a tiny wisp of smoke. It sickened him to think that the same thing would happen to her—no, to be seeing the same thing happening before his eyes. He watched her dress burn away from the hem up, her eyes tearing in pain as she cried and whimpered, her skin blistering before it melted altogether and red splotches covering the intact parts for the moment. Reyes tackled her and put his arms around her, pulling the flames from her body and onto his much more flammable one.

"Don't," she choked out through her tears. "Don't—don't try to—get my—forgiveness."

"I'm not," he replied, gritting his teeth through the pain. "But I won't forgive myself if I see you burn away like this."

"…" She closed her eyes and pushed her face into his chest, gripping his arms tightly as she tried not to have a fit from the burning agony. Reyes was beginning to get used to the burn in some sick way, but the sensation of his skin curling into peels from the heat was new. He never intended to die, however as far as ways of doing so went, that could've been worse. Just as he was resigning himself to the idea, the flames abruptly vanished. He held onto Azalea dumbly, not quite processing it, until he heard a loud and feral cry behind him.

"Not another, King!" Dominic growled, his claws buried to the hilt in his chest. Darkness streamed out of the injury alongside his blood but he ignored it, eyes wide and focused on something either very close or very distant. He staggered in his spot as if wrestling with another entity as tears streamed down his cheeks and mixed with his blood. "I won't let another friend die in my fire… I won't…" Again, Reyes didn't really process it for a while. He looked around and, sure enough, there were several burned patches of asphalt but no hellfire. He glanced worriedly at Azalea, who was still slumped against him, and then assessed the damage to his body. His skin was severely burnt, almost completely black in some places, but he could regrow it given enough sunlight and time. Azalea, on the other hand, couldn't. She felt broken too, her chest barely moving against his. "I'm sorry, it was—it was a reflex," he blubbered, highly upset. "'Cause I know she's important to ya, I wouldn't have done it if I had a choice, but she was givin' so much power that my instincts kicked in an'…" He swallowed, dropping his head. "I'm not comin' up with 'ny excuses. I know I almost killed her and ya told me not to intahfere and she's yer friend…"

Reyes didn't respond, his mind too tumultuous to focus on Dominic's words. He expected another curse or the like from her mouth, but instead what caught his attention were her glowing eyes. A pink glow surrounded his body, freezing everything except for his arms. He watched as his leaf blades were forcefully elongated into swords, then in slow and jerky movements the flats of his blades were against his neck. Small ticking sounds filled the silence as more cracks broke across her smooth skin, making it appear as if her head was going to split in two. He looked at Azalea, whose expression was clear, and realized just how far she had fallen, and although it went against all that he had stood for in twenty-one years of life, he realized what he finally had to do.

"I love you, Lea," he whispered, expecting her responding silence. He didn't want reciprocation, just wanted to give her something to take with her. He could sense his seeds still inside of her, giving him small bits of strength while preventing her from fully ripping him apart. He focused on those seeds, forcing them to grow into her chest cavity. She gasped, her body going rigid, then her chest fell still as her diaphragm was grasped so tightly it couldn't move. She stared at Reyes as her face turned a faint shade of blue, her mouth moving silently and forming so many words that he couldn't understand. Her eyelids fluttered after a minute, her body getting weaker and weaker until she finally fell, like a doll, into his arms.

"At the very least…" Dominic whispered, his voice hoarse. It might have been the King for all Reyes knew. "At the very least, I owe her something…" Her eyes were just slits, barely taking in the world around them, but then a peaceful expression settled on her face as she smiled. Brendan, she mouthed before her eyes finally closed. He picked her up, barely noticing her weight and Dominic's vague questions in the background as he carried her past pokémon getting medical attention and humans lamenting over their destroyed city, and to a field of soft grass grown by the Grass-types. He laid her down, marveling over how serene she looked, and closed his eyes.

"Alakazam knew…he knew that she could die…would die, and yet he…" He choked out a breath, eyes wide open, and stared at the city. Suddenly it seemed ten times more ominous than before, some sort of sick phantasmagoria dragged out from the bowls of his mind. He could feel himself about to break down—he wanted to break down—but his logic still stood unobstructed. There would be plenty of time to cry and weep and lament, but for now him and Dominic had to get the hell out of Dodge.

"I killed the King."

Dominic didn't think he would ever say those words, much less to Sinclair, but he said them, and for once in his life he wasn't lying. With Reyes somewhere between comatose and unconscious in his arms and his foot aching so badly that he had twice—not once, but twice—attempted to cut it off altogether, he was in his worst state in a very long time, and the last thing he wanted was a fight, revenge, or anything of that sort. And for once, Dominic got what he wanted; once the rebels heard that he had "singlehandedly" taken out three of the best, they had finally given him the space he wanted—not that he needed space at the moment. Everything that had breath was skittering out his pathway just like how things used to be, except he was dying and Reyes was dying and nobody wanted to help.

That brought him to Sinclair.

"You killed yourself," Sinclair said slowly, his ears drooping as he tried to understand. He was balancing a small Japanese tea mug in his smaller paws just as Dominic remembered him. He took a closer look at Dominic and his friend and frowned. "Come inside and explain everything."

Dominic stared at the tea inside of his mug sorrowfully. It smelled like something foreign but he couldn't pin it down, and he knew a lot of teas so finding something knew would've been a curious thing had his mind not been so full. Sinclair returned from his little kitchen and set a second mug in front of Reyes, who was so silent and so still, but he took it anyway. Then Sinclair sat on the little dining table and held up a paw. "Okay, begin explaining," he said, looking between them.

"It's…a lot to go over," Dominic said, glancing at Reyes. He took a small sip of tea and grimaced. "It's hot. It's always hot." He drank it anyway, and maybe the temperature wasn't even the problem. Dominic looked at Sinclair before dropping his eyes again. "Do you want to start?"

"You start, I'll finish."

Dominic told Sinclair the first portion of their story, of how they met and went to Petalburg. He spoke about the two kids that he killed before they took Briney's boat to Slateport, where Dominic attacked Reyes and finally started to get a little of an attitude change. He mentioned Louis and their brief stint on the revolutionaries' boat where he told Reyes his sad story, slightly modified by the King (to Reyes' surprise.) He finished with them landing in Ever Grande City, becoming enemies of Alakazam, and fleeing with their tails between their legs.

Reyes continued as they hid away on the Secret Islets and met Gabriel and Azure, who gravely injured him. He talked about their narrow escape before they were flagged down by Sharpedo, the first of the rebels' Elite Four. He caught Dominic and separated him from Reyes, who ended up in the Pokémon Center of Lilycove, where he met the next of the Elite Four: Banette. He beat Banette with some difficulty before travelling onto a ferry, where Sharpedo made his return with Dominic still chasing after him. Together they beat him, but Dominic was dying as they reached the shore. It was while Dominic was on his deathbed that Reyes told his own story. He more or less gave Sinclair the abridged version of it, omitting several personal details, but he did convey the gist of his twisted past.

"Seems like you two have had quite the adventure," Sinclair said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"That's not all," Dominic said. "We were caught by Salamence, and he turned our darkness against me. It was just horrible… Every nightmare I've ever had came back like the strongest poison, and we honestly thought that we would die. That guy and I became like this, we were so intertwined. Reyes tried to bail us out, but even he couldn't match up to that strength. That is, until we…"

"We were interrupted," he said quietly. "By an old friend. She tried to kill me."

"And he killed her," he added. "Reluctantly, but it had to be done." Sinclair sighed.

"Now, is that it?"

"Reyes and I ran for our lives, but now wherever we go they know our faces. They fear us, they don't want us near them." He covered his face with his claws for a moment, running them through his fur. "And it was hard, but we came to Petalburg looking for…you, Sinclair, looking for you. You were the only one that treated me like a humane being in so long, and you're my only friend aside from Reyes… I thought you could help us."

"Help you do what, exactly?" he asked.

"Confront Alakazam," Reyes said in a hard voice. "And this time, we won't run." The malice in his voice scared Dominic.

"Bold moves on your parts, but can you do it?"

"Probably not," Dominic admitted. "But this time, we won't die running."

"Hm…" Sinclair pondered that for a moment, scratching his ear. Reyes suddenly blinked in realization, the corners of his mouth turning down into a deeper frown.

"I didn't ask," he said in a gruffer voice, "but how are you and Dominic related?" Dominic grasped the cup as best he could with his claws.

"Remember the guy that taught me how to kill? Reyes, meet Sinclair, the deadliest Pichu in all of Hoenn."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance," Sinclair greeted, offering a paw. Dominic grabbed Reyes' wrist as he attempted to shake it.

"If you value your hand, I suggest that you don't," he warned. "Sinclair doesn't have the best control of his voltage."

"He's right," Sinclair conceded with a small smile. "So let's just pretend that we've shaken paws, hugged, the works, all right?" He was still as levelheaded as Dominic remembered. When he was a Zorua, it used to annoy him so, so damn much that whatever he did to him, whether it was wrecking his house or cursing his name or anything else, Sinclair just took it without a complaint. Dominic still had yet to find out what kind of past gave him such patience. "You two need medical attention," he said as Dominic drank the scalding tea. "The Pokémon Center?"

"We wouldn't be welcome," he said, back in a bitter mood. He took a long gulp of tea as he watched Reyes out of the corner of his eye. He was just nursing it, either deep in thought or just resolute, his eyes focused on nothing at all. His skin was still a horrible black color and would remain that way until it was pruned, and since there was no one else there to do it… "Can you help us then, Sinclair?"

"Favors yet again," he muttered, not at all unkindly. "You've always been fond of asking me for favors, Dominic."

"Well, if all goes to plan, then this will be the last one." He stood up from Sinclair's table, watching the Pichu's expression go from calm to surprised as Dominic went down on his knees and bowed his head to the ground. "Please, please help the two of us. For our own reasons we stand against Alakazam, one of the two most powerful Pokémon in Hoenn and most certainly in the Pokémon world, but as you can tell, we're no match for those two, and they have been very soundly kicking our asses."

"And you think that I can give you two a chance?" Sinclair asked, looking at Reyes. He was still silent; it was miraculous that they managed to get as many words out of him as they did.

"A better chance, at least," Dominic muttered into the floorboards. "Don't misunderstand—I'm going in prepared to die, because even I know that this is going to be a longshot. Still, I don't want to… I don't want to die anymore." He blinked repeatedly as he felt tears prick his eyes and clenched his claws, feeling them shake. "Not anymore…" He raised his head to rest his muzzle on the ground, staring up at Sinclair. Even when he was a Zorua he never had to look up at Sinclair. "I don't want Reyes to die, and I don't want any other innocent lives to be lost because of us. Those two tasks will be damn near impossible to accomplish with just the two of us."

"And similarly, with the three of us," Sinclair told him. "What you need is your own attack force."

"I am not popular."

"I'm very aware of that. I can provide the force—" He raised his tail as a particularly wild spark raced off of it. "As long as you can lead it."

"Me?" he gasped.

"You're the King after all, right?"

"I…" He lost his train of thought.

"But we've wasted a lot of time speaking anyway." Sinclair finished his tea and jumped to the ground, rooting through a low shelf for a moment before coming up with a first-aid kit. "You two need to be taken care of first, because if you get any more blood on my clean floor Dominic, I may get angry." He went into his closet and pulled out a large sheet, laying it down over the clean part of the floor. "Lie down you two." He did, and expecting the scalpel on his leg did nothing to reduce the pain.

"Ow…" he moaned. His burnt fur practically crumpled against the blade, however his skin was patchier and therefore hurt a lot more as Sinclair tried to peel away the dead parts. "You're hurting…you're hurting me…" But he was used to it, was used to pain in all forms. And as long as Reyes could be fine, he was happy.

——————

"I'm guessing you didn't sleep again," Sinclair noticed, sliding a small bowl of Berries over to Dominic. He was too tired to even feign liking them and just turned away, sitting back hard on his haunches. "More nightmares?"

"…The King doesn't want to talk about it," he muttered, lowering his head to the ground. "He's fine." Sinclair frowned as he walked around his table to Dominic's side.

"See, you've already told that to me yesterday, the day before, and the rest of the week that you've been living under this roof, and frankly I'm sick of it." Sinclair patted Dominic's head hard enough to give him a few hair-raising sparks, but he barely had any reaction. He knew that he looked terrible; the stress was causing his once-thick fur to fall out in patches and he lost a lot of weight because he couldn't focus enough to eat. It made him small even by Zorua standards and constantly cold to the touch and he was always tired and irritable and just plain pitiful. "You're not fine—you're sorry."

"I know," he murmured, his ears flattening against his head. "I look sorry, I am sorry…"

"Don't feel bad about it. You've gone through a lot." Sinclair backed away as his sparks increased. "I'd say that if I hadn't found you back in Mossdeep, you would've slowly drained yourself and met a quiet but painful end."

"…"

"However, you're with me now, and I've vowed to never watch another child pass before his time. You, my friend, have not reached that time yet." He clapped his paws on Dominic's cheeks, giving him a little wake-up shock. "So I want you to try as hard as you can."

"…Try…?" he whispered. Sinclair nodded gravely.

"Try. To Live. As long as you have the strength to try, I won't ever give up on you, Dominic."

"I'll…try." Sinclair smiled, obviously relieved, yet he was none too gentle as he forced Dominic to eat his Berries even as he felt like throwing up just looking at them, but eventually he did get all of them in his stomach. Dominic went outside as night fell and saw the young Skarmory and Lairon, similarly freeloading Sinclair's kindness, sleeping on the grass under the stars. He thought it would be a little better than sleeping in the attic and laid between them, closing his eyes. He jerked awake a second later as he realized how familiar things felt. Even if the world around him didn't smell like sea salt and quartz rock and spicy meat dinner, it still felt so familiar, and he hadn't had any good memories of Steven in so long… Still thinking about him, Dominic drifted off, and this time he had no nightmares.

…

"No! Try harder!" Dominic was knocked flat on his back with stars bursting in his vision as the last of Sinclair's electricity dissipated from his body. He thought that the Earth Plates tied to his sides would help, however Sinclair's voltage was much too high to be deterred that way. AB, the local prankster Ghost-type, was laughing so hard every time he was knocked down.

"I'm trying…hard as I…can…" he wheezed, rolling onto his stomach. Sinclair crossed his arms over his chest.

"You can try much harder than that."

"You're putting…too much faith…"

"Not; in fact, I believe I'm putting too little." The notion startled Dominic, then it invigorated him as he raced forward, only to be put down by another Thunderbolt. He was sent on his side and stared at the ground as his body completely refused him. "Get up, Dominic!" He repeated those words in his head over and over, forcing his body to move, forcing it to do something… Warmth filled his still limbs, and unlike his electrocution it was a pleasant type of warm, like Steven's fireplace on a rainy night. He stared at his paws as they grew longer, forming larger claws able to tear skin (he loathed to think of what else they could tear) and watched his fur poof out under his neck like a floatation device. He kicked his legs out as they grew, feeling his joints crack as they reversed and adjusted, then he wiggled his nose as it grew into a full muzzle. He planted his legs on the ground and felt them shake and tremble, but he pushed himself onto all fours.

"I…evolved," he whispered, staring hard at his new long claws as they dug into the dirt. Sinclair laughed.

"That, you did." Dominic fell on his stomach, his legs not used to his new weight but instead of crying out he burst into laughter, silencing even AB.

"I evolved… I evolved!"

——————

Weeks passed. Dominic couldn't be too sure how, as doing nothing for days on end numbed his brain more than a little, but it felt like they were spending too much time doing nothing. Yet every time he tried to leave, Sinclair persuaded him otherwise, "You and Reyes are too injured to go around fighting anybody," and although he was more than right, he still couldn't stand sitting around and knowing that he was dragging the rebels and revolutionaries to Petalburg just by being there. "I'm telling you it's fine," Sinclair would also say, but it still didn't help. There were two large problems with their staying in his home:

Dominic had literally nothing better to do than to watch Sinclair's small T.V. (well, everything in the house was Pichu-sized, but he was used to it) or sit outside in the sun on the occupied porch, and considering that he was not a sunbathing type of creature, he chose T.V. Flipping through channels wasn't much better for his sanity than just laying around, especially when he stumbled upon the news networks: all of them were talking about the escalating revolution. Apparently, it had been building up over the last few weeks (Gee, I wonder why, he thought sourly), and what happened—or rather, what they had caused in Lilycove City—was a catalyst for the fighting to resume. Video clips of brawls between rebels and revolutionaries poisoned his mind as he searched for anything else to watch, but still, every time he closed his eyes he was reminded of that day in Mossdeep City where he first witnessed the revolution. Now, it was worsening all over again… And it was his fault. Their fault. His fault.

"You're beating yourself up," Sinclair told him. Dominic realized that he was staring at nothing; Sinclair had turned off the T.V. a while ago. How long ago? He tried to get up from the floor (Sinclair's couch was too small for him to comfortably lie down upon) but his chest and abdomen gave a loud protest of pain and he curled in on himself. Sinclair grabbed his ear, giving him a shock so strong that he jerked upright involuntarily. "You can't shut down either. You've already done that too many times in your life, and I can tell you that it doesn't work."

"Then…what does that leave me with?" he demanded. "I can't bear the pain…of knowing what I'm doing…to everybody else…by just being here…"

"Yes, your existence causes a lot of pain," Sinclair agreed.

"And…Reyes would've been better…if he'd never followed me away from Ever Grande…"

"Yes, that's also correct. He would still be with his best friend, who would be alive, safe in the city."

"And…and…a selfish brat like me…wouldn't have to ruin anybody else's life…" he whispered.

"That, I must argue with," Sinclair said, catching him by surprise. "You're a lot of things, but selfish isn't one of them. A selfish man would never think so much about everybody that he's bumped into along the way, nor would he have forced himself into exile to avoiding taking further lives. You're worried about Reyes and many others that you've hurt, and you're willing to stake your life by running away in this condition to protect him and future Pokémon… How is that selfish, Dominic?" He couldn't answer. "The only thing I can call selfish right now is you trying to take yourself away from the people that care for you."

"B…But why…?" He wanted to cry but the tears wouldn't come.

"Why do we care? or why are you trying to take yourself away?" He sighed and shook his head. "You're not a stupid guy, Dominic. You want to take yourself away because for the first time in a while, this—," he pointed at Dominic's heart, "is thinking for you, rather than these," he said, gesturing to his claws. "And to answer your first question…"

——————

The second problem was Reyes. He had, for all intents and purposes, shut himself down to the world, sitting around in a meditative state and refusing any attempts of interaction. He was like a Darmanitan in Zen Mode, he was just so—impossible. Dominic wasn't used to stubbornness outside of himself, and so it was refreshingly annoying when every day Reyes stayed outside to watch the sun move without saying an arceusdamn word, come in to eat maybe half a meal out of the three, then go back outside until he was painfully persuaded to go inside and sleep for three hours. The cycle restarted in a quotidian manner, and in a sick way Dominic was grateful for Reyes' pain; it kept him from completely losing a sense of time and therefore grounded. Still, it was annoying even as Dominic understood why Reyes was like that, seeing his self-destructive nature growing by the day, and he tried to snap him out of it every time they met, which quickly became Dominic petulantly talking to himself as Reyes stayed silent.

"He needs to snap out of it," Sinclair agreed one day. "What he did was bad enough the first time, but now he's reliving it over and over like his personal Hell. If he keeps doing that, he'll break into little pieces that he can't regrow."

"How do I help? I'm not the best when it comes to touchy-feely goo."

"Maybe, but you can sympathize, can't you?"

"…"

Reyes was sitting outside of Sinclair's house and facing the trees outside of the city. He was so still that he could've been dead—actually, Dominic thought that he was dead until Reyes gave a tired sigh. Dominic sat next to him and took the awkward silence like an old friend. Behind them, the other old houses of Petalburg's Pokémon community flickered with bright yellow light as the sun disappeared down the horizon.

"I like this place," Dominic said to break the silence. "I used to fear it, you know, because Pokémon and humans living within feet of each other felt so unnatural. Now, I wish that every city would be like this." He frowned to himself at the thought, then he barked out a curt laugh as he clapped his claws against his forehead. "I never used to think like this before… What the hell's wrong with me? Is this maybe Capgras delusion, or was I grown in a seed pod?" He expected a joke or something from Reyes, but he still remained silent. "…You're making me nervous, silent as you are," he said with a nervous laugh. He sobered up a second later, lowering his eyes to the ground.

"…When I met you, I thought you were just a pain, your way of thinking even more so," Dominic continued. "But… Come to find out you're more refreshing than you appear. I was… I still am, in fact, a selfish brat that harms others and pushes them away to protect myself, but because of you I realized that I can be better than that, that I can help and not just hurt…" He blinked and rubbed at his eyes furiously, however his tears still stained his fur. He dropped his claws to clench his forearms so tightly that they nearly dug through his bandages. "But I was hurting myself and I didn't realize it. All those years I spent trying to isolate myself so everybody else would be fine, I was carving a hole in my heart so big that it couldn't be filled. And yet, what you've shown me and what you've said to me has begun to seal that chasm.

"Reyes, what I want to say is that you're a good guy, damn near pure. There aren't many pure people or Pokémon in this world anymore, not since the revolution. It even started because of corruption with the Legendary Pokémon, which we saw as the original paragon of purity. You're pure enough to stand against everything that you've stood for for years just to save a guy like me, and even when I didn't want you next to me, you still…you still stayed…" He hated the way his sobbing sounded, like he was a cub again, but he couldn't help it. "A-And you fought…with me…and you're…you're really a hero, Rey… What happened to Azalea was…it was certain…because you c-chose to be with a monster like me…and you probably h-hate me for it…but…"

Dominic was cut off as Reyes' arms went around him, but he wasn't trying to shut him up. He sat there, stunned still, his claws in the air so that he wouldn't accidently prick him, but Reyes was really hugging him. He heard Reyes choke down a moan and he couldn't believe it, he couldn't even wrap his head around the idea that Reyes could be so—so—vulnerable. "My choice," he said, his voice cracking, "is my choice. I've made it in good conscience; Azalea…didn't. She didn't know the truth. She didn't deserve to die—without knowing the truth—" He couldn't choke down his next sob, his body shaking. "Sunny…didn't deserve to die… Brendan…didn't… James… Amar… Lenny… Omar… Pops… Jean… I had to watch, had to feel the life leave them… Had to end them myself to shorten their suffering… And the pain, i-it never goes… Just coils and knots until—"

"Reyes. Just shut up." Dominic vaguely wondered how many tears Reyes had shed over his friends. He had plenty of them, being a revolutionary, but he also had to watch all of them fall down and die in front of him—even had to kill them himself at times, he said. Dominic had long since shut himself off to that pain, but Reyes obviously didn't have the same luxury. He was emotional, which both of them knew, and in the times of the revolution it was both a blessing and a curse.

"T…The people…I care about…keep going away… I can't stand it!" he continued regardless.

"You can't stop them from dying… That's out of your power."

"I wish it wasn't… Do you know the pain of seeing the mutilated body of your daughter, your own flesh and blood?" He was shaking now, like a bomb about to blow.

"No, I don't. I also don't know the pain of watching your Trainer die or having to kill your best friend in cold blood." And he really thought about it, and no, he didn't. He never once felt guilt for what he had done. "I'm a killer, remember, Reyes? There's no heart to be spoken of at all." That, on the other hand, was a lie. I have a heart, it's just not as carin' as yours looks. That's right…it's more carin', believe it or not. "…I could never feel the amount of pain that you do, because you care too much. But there's nothing wrong with feeling pain—it means that you're still humane."

"It makes me wish…I wasn't."

"Don't say that! Being able to feel…to feel and care…is a great thing. I wish that I…but I never could, never can. So be grateful for that gift." He squeezed Reyes' arms. "Alright?"

"And to answer your first question… You're a broken guy. Pity attracts others to you, then they realize that maybe you're not so broken after all."

"We're both two broken guys," Dominic muttered. "This is just another hurdle, and we'll both get through. Okay?" He shook Reyes a little to stop his moaning. "Okay?"

"O…kay," he complied, a little of the huskiness leaving his voice as vague humor took its place. And they stayed like that for a long time.