Sapphire POV

I watched as the two Eons walked over to the stream, the Vaporeon watching the water carefully as the Flareon watched her with interest. Dragonair glanced at them indifferently before gently placing his head on me. I wrapped my tail around him gently. "You're feeling better?" I asked him and he grunted in reply. I turned to face him, tilting my head at him questioningly. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said miserably. I raised an eye scale at him.

"You know I'll just flirt with you until you tell me."

"Is that incentive to withhold it or tell it?" he asked, a weak smirk appearing on his face.

"I'll flirt either way, so it's up to you," I answered with a giggle. He's really cute sometimes.

"Good point."

"What about those two Rockets upset you to that extreme?" I prompted. Dragonair shifted uncomfortably, whether at the memory of what upset him, or the memory of how upset he had been.

"I'm sorry about that..." he said quietly."I don't know what was wrong with me..."

"It's okay," I assured him. "But the problem will repeat if you keep it bottled up." Dragonair closed his eyes, as if trying to block out the memories. I moved up against him comfortingly, using my tail to stroke his own.

"They whipped me. They were trying to break me for their amusement. I left them because the organization abused Pokémon...and I myself felt the effects of their breaking techniques. I wasn't powerful enough to beat them. I was weakened, and in the weakness I was caught. If I had been stronger, I would never have been caught," he said in a strained whisper.

"You can't blame yourself for that," I said reasonably. He didn't reply immediately, but when he did, his tone was darker and laced with venom.

"Those two deserved to feel the same pain I did. To taste the fear of death. To struggle to breathe after each lash of a whip. The terror that you'll never be truly alive once again," he hissed.

"Calm down...anger doesn't help, it makes things worse," I told him, nuzzling against him, trying to comfort him. After a few seconds, he slowly relaxed, breathing hard, averting his gaze. I preferred him calm, because his comments were a little frightening to hear.

"I hate myself for this...but I wanted to hurt you when you stopped me. I was so angry...I wasn't thinking clearly. I don't know what I was thinking..." he said miserably. "I swore to never hurt you and I still almost did. You probably hate me now..."

"No, of course I don't hate you. I like you more than ever," I replied seriously. He glanced up at me in shock.

"But...I just told you that I had an urge to hurt you," he protested. "Surely that's got to worry you."

"Honestly, it doesn't bother me at all. Firstly, you truly regret the desire, secondly you didn't act on the impulse, thirdly you told me about it, and lastly, you were under extreme emotional distress. You had no malicious intent towards me; just the situation caused the impulse," I explained gently.

"So...you don't hold anything against me?" he asked me hopefully.

"No. I think you need to work on your anger for a bit, but there was no harm done, and I forgive you," I replied, kissing his cheek gently.

"But...what if I had hurt you?" he asked sadly. I considered it for a moment, looking at him thoughtfully.

"The important thing is that you didn't. I knew when I moved into the firing line that there was the chance that I could get hurt, and I was prepared to counterattack. I think the real problem would be that you wouldn't forgive yourself if I got hurt," I said soothingly. "Don't worry about it so much."

"Thank you," he said, a little more cheerfully. Then he suddenly narrowed his eyes at me. "What's bothering you, then?"

"Hm?" I asked, startled by the sudden shift in conversation. What made him think something was bothering me?

"Something's bothering you, too. I noticed you got all nervous when I threatened Blaze for checking you out. It may have had nothing to do with the situation at the time, but something is also bothering you, but you haven't told me yet. So fill me in," he said, wrapping his tail around me. I took a deep breath.

"Well, I didn't want to tell you until you were calmed down because you're going to be pissed," I told him and he raised an eye scale at me.

"Estimate how pissed I'll be and at who."

"I have a good idea what your exact reaction will be. Might as well start from the beginning. It was a few days ago, and I was doing my normal routine. It was nearing sunset and I was taking a drink when this weird Quilava came over to me and asked if I was a mirage," I began, not wanting to stall this uncomfortable story further. Dragonair blinked.

"A mirage?"

"Yes. I told him I wasn't and he seemed confused and a bit disoriented. He introduced himself as Narcissus, and I asked if he was native to the forest area," I continued. "He said no, and asked me the same question, along with a flirting comment. Now wait...he could not have known that I was taken," I said sharply as Dragonair's eye twitched angrily. Considering this reaction, I was somewhat hesitant to continue.

"Well...fine. Go on," he said, calming down. I took another deep breath.

"I told him that I had a mate and...I believe his exact words were 'You're in Hoenn now and should have a bit of fun'. Wait...that wasn't the worst of it, and if you get upset every few seconds, it makes it harder to continue."

"There's more?" Dragonair said with a slight scowl. I nodded.

"His next comment was asking me how many ways I could use my body, and that he could think of a few," I continued. Dragonair's reaction was actually quite comical, as it was first a small snort of laughter followed by an angry growl. "Wait...what's funny?" I asked, shocked by this reaction.

"Er, nothing. Continue," he said, giving me a slight hint on what he found funny.

"I snapped at him for that and he suddenly moved extremely close to me, on the verge of rubbing against me. I once again emphasized my lack of interest and resolved to chase him off if he didn't back off," I said. "His response to being told I wasn't interested was...something about him being physically appealing, and whether I ever wondered 'what it's like with something with limbs'. At that point, I chased him off with a raincloud."

Dragonair was silent for a few seconds, and then his self control broke. "I'LL KILL HIM!"

"Exactly the reaction expected," I interrupted before Dragonair could continue his rant. He blinked at me. "I say let it go. Besides, it's not like you'll ever meet him. Don't go hunting for him either. It's not worth it."

"Fine, but he deserves death. A long, drawn out, painful death. Or the inability to have offspring."

"I wasn't looking at her!" Blaze yelled to us worriedly and I turned to him, confused.

"What?" I asked.

"Oh...you aren't talking about me? Thank Mew," the Flareon continued whatever he had been doing, which appeared to be cooking fish. Dragonair smirked and picked a large red berry from the nearby bush and lobbed it in front of Blaze's Flamethrower. There was a sudden explosion and Blaze cried out in shock. Aura hurriedly sent a burst of water to extinguish the flames. I shook my head in mild amusement.

"What the hell was that?" Ember yelled irritably, waking up from her nap.

"Cheri berry exploding," Dragonair replied. Ember growled at him in annoyance. "Jeez, control your hormones," he muttered. Ember's eyes blazed with anger. I groaned slightly at Dragonair's comment.

"You shut your damn mouth!" she shrieked.

"Kit nearby, don't swear," he said promptly and the Charmander spat a fireball at him, which he blocked with ease.

"You shut up! I don't have to put up with this!" Ember shouted, getting to her feet and storming away from the clearing. Dragonair didn't seem troubled by this at all. I smacked him with my tail and he flinched.

"What was that for?" he demanded.

"What do you think?" I retorted.

"Oh, I tease her all the time. This time she just got more upset," he said indifferently. I smacked him again. "Ow, stop that," he said. I hit him again and he let out a low growl. "Stop it."

"Notice you get more annoyed the more I do it," I said, hitting him again to demonstrate my point. Dragonair tackled me in retaliation, but I knocked him off me, now thoroughly pissed off. "Don't ever tackle me unless we're playing!" I snapped and Dragonair flinched. "Notice you didn't call me hormonal when I got annoyed at you."

"I know better than that," Dragonair said, eyeing me warily. I glared at him, dimly aware that everyone was staring at us.

"Why do you pick on her?" I demanded. "You know it bothers her, so why don't you stop?" Dragonair hesitated. "You don't know, do you? Go after her and apologize."

"What?" Dragonair asked, staring at me like I was insane. "I don't apologize to anyone."

"Apologize for that remark!" I ordered.

"Sorry, Sapphire," Dragonair said. I raised an eye scale at him. "You are so whipped. Oh shut up! Make me dumb snake. Oh just wait until I get a hold of you, I'll tear you apart. Haha, whipped! You're dead now!"

"Er...are you arguing with yourself?" I asked, bewildered by his sudden eccentricity. Dragonair continued his strange behavior, which now seemed to be an "Am Not/Are Too" argument.

"He did seem to do that randomly at the base." Blaze said thoughtfully.

"Am not! Are too! Am not! Are too! Am not! Are too! Am not! Am not! Am too! HAHA, YOU ADMITTED IT!" Dragonair shouted.

"I'll go after Ember, then. Uh...someone knock out Dragonair before he hurts himself," I said. Venomoth floated over to the agitated dragon Pokémon and glowed with psychic energy. I shook my head slightly as I followed the path Ember had taken.