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, wind-milling his arms as he tried to ground himself.

"God, we don't have time for this Dominic. We're risking being found." He wrapped his arms around Dominic's chest to pull him up. Dominic shouted and kicked and threw a fit, but Reyes was strong enough to keep hold and smart enough to avoid eye contact.

"This is abuse!"

"So? It's not like you actually possess any rights." His ear twitched at the insult, then twitched again when he picked up an odd sound.

"W-Wait, lemme go! I hear something!"

"Really?" he said, so obviously unconvinced.

"I swear!" Reyes dropped him, causing Dominic to fall on his back. "Ouch."

"Is it a single Pokémon or multiple?"

"Can't tell…" 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 a collection of tricks." He said that, but he looked tired too, and not just because he didn't sleep that much. Dominic doubted his ability to effectively defend himself but there was no time left for arguing. 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 high. Or maybe his paranoia was growing to incredible levels and he imagined hearing anything at all.

The ocean itself quaked, then he saw several red 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 hauled 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 damn dire.

"There's something real big and dangerous down there—"

"What, someone of your family?"

"Not time for jokes!" His illusion flickered, which he felt before he saw. He was running out of energy—not good.

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. 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 Ditto, then that Ditto shifted again into a Raichu. Dominic couldn't believe it—he had never not once heard of a Ditto 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 they were here," the Ditto said to the Gabite. He snarled in response.

"They are."

"Maybe Alakazam was—" Alakazam. Of course.

"You can say he's wrong to his face—I'm going to look."

"Wait. Hey, wait!" Azure looked around, then it reverted into a Ditto before turning into a Zoroark, which made Dominic doubly nervous. It 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 jumped backwards reflexively but the damage had already been dealt, warm blood soaking into his fur. "They were just hiding," it said, turning back into a Ditto.

Dominic coughed, feeling dizzy from loss of blood, not that he had much to spare to begin with. 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 marched past his friend to knock Dominic aside. He fell on his back and couldn't sit up again, his one attempt making him cringe and whine and curl up pitifully. Gabriel stood against Reyes, who was still weakened, and the two sized each other up. Dominic realized how alike they were in terms of aura. "How far thou hath fallen," he said derisively. "Last time I checked, you seemed highly focused on helping the revolutionaries."

"Things change," Reyes said scathingly. "Alakazam has changed, you know."

"No, I don't know. And you're a terrible liar." He breathed a wild stream of fire that went wide across the field. Reyes dodged to the side and Dominic started to roll away, then Azure's big Makuhita hand clapped down on him, pinning him.

"Yer real powerful for a paint splatter," Dominic said to it.

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

"Bastard! If you had eyes—"

"You'd claw them out, then you'd rip off my arms and beat me with them," 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 revolutiona—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. Dominic squeezed his eyes shut, fearing what surely was inevitable.

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 just turn 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. What's in my mane? I got board games, pinecones, might have a Pineco, my cell—

Perfect!

He rolled onto his side and, grimacing internally at what he was about to do, crunched on 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. He grabbed Azure's thick leg and, digging his heel in the dirt, gathered all the energy he could to push it backwards and down, emitting darkness as he went to strengthen his attack.

Azure grunted and flopped onto its 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 shifted behind him. He swerved out of the way as Gabriel's claws came flashing by as fast as lightning.

"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, I'd be better with a full body of blood, but nitpicks, nitpicks, 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 lightheaded 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 himself fought and not he-who-shall-not-be-named-nor-even-acknowledged-even-though-he-in-question-was-a-figment-of-Dominic's-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 and 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… "Grimer. Goddamn," he swore, jumping backwards.

"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.

Dominic growled, fur bristling. He couldn't grab it obviously, but he couldn't let it stay on Reyes either. 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) 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.

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

"You…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 you 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." Dominic winced. "Go…deeper…search plants…find antidote…come back…fast…"

Dominic started to turn around but stopped, fur bristling. "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.

He 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 god 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 ugly scar tissue (more rocks on a mountain at this point), and he used the emptied bottles and 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 was pushing the boundary. 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.

"Reyes, you can't be giving up. You can't." Reyes started to speak but seemingly lost the energy for it, his eyes closing.

My fault— 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.

Azure groaned. Dominic had no idea 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 Dragon-type energy and lashed at Dominic, but he repelled Gabriel's claws easily with his Dark-type energy and pushed him away, then 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 life force, which was the nasty tendency with Ghost-type attacks.

"Azure!" Gabriel shouted, furiously trying to hit Dominic. He tossed Azure's emptied body away and dodged, backing away as Gabriel swung with furious tears in the corners of his eyes. "Why—can't—I—touch you—say—some—thing—al—ready—!" Dominic seized 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 dread, his breath quickening at the thought of the inevitable. For the first time since Rustboro, the flurry of voices in his mind ceased.

He left the remains somewhere out of plain sight and returned to Reyes. He was barely conscious now, eyes closed. Dominic used his bloody claws to pull Reyes' mouth open and forced him to swallow some water and a few Berries. He started gagging, nearly choking, but they made the way down. He rolled onto his side as the holes where his pods were started blooming with little flowers. He choked before pulling himself up to his knees and gagging a stream of purplish-green chlorophyll and poison.

"Ugh…thanks a lot…" he said once he was done, his voice ragged. His complexion had improved but he still had an unhealthy pallor. Dominic closed Reyes' mouth and nodded. 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—but they could make it to Mossdeep with a little luck, trauma be damned. He rested Reyes carefully in the boat and climbed in front of the engine. The sound of it was maddening in the silence.

"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. "Dominic…"

"I don't know how we'll pull this off," Dominic muttered. "B…But we'll do it—yeah, we'll do it, cuz 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 you."

"Doesn't matter."

"I mean, well, I poured my heart out 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." Reyes' speech was getting slower and more slurred; Dominic's turned agitated.

"What? You were like me?"

"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. He suddenly doubled over with a coughing fit, and when he straightened up Dominic could see more chlorophyll and poison staining his hands. "Things…are different now, though."

"How so?"

"Even if…they hate me now, I still… I still have things to live for—" 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 their security. Although he hadn't given Blaziken a piece of his mind like Reyes did, bringing a revolutionary into their home base would bring him down to that level of hate. Besides that, when Alakazam acted upon his plans and went for the rebels, using information that only a rebel could know to get to them, Dominic would absolutely be on their hit-list then.

"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. Reyes still didn't wake up. "Wake up! Wake up up 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 affected as a Grass-type, the poison had burned away the fur and skin on his hands, causing them to bleed out and certainly 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 mean to… And if you…you ever see…Lilly…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!"

"A while ago…I wouldn't have…" His voice trailed away as his head lolled to the side.

"Reyes… Reyes!" 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 paws bloody and 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?

"AGAAH!" he shouted to the sky, pulling his ears hard enough to bring white spots to his vision. He continued screaming his frustrations until his lungs and ribs ached like hell and his throat felt like it would explode in a bloody mess. Whatever, he felt a tiny bit better. But Reyes didn't, which made him feel shitty all over again. A stupid boat in the middle of nowhere, the whole of the revolutionaries on his ass, was not how Reyes was supposed to die. Yet there he was, dying, and Dominic couldn't do a damn thing about it.

He froze, shoulders tensed, and looked at Reyes again. "…Maybe there's something," he muttered, standing. He felt woozy, but it was still child's play for him to smash the boat apart.