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.