1.2. Soothing Screams

Obviously, the King hadn't had too much outside experience recently, because he looked around Route 117 as if it was the holy land itself, even though its grass and trees weren't any different from any other southern route's grasses and trees. "Take a picture, it will last you longer," Reyes finally told him when he stopped at his sixth Berry bush.

"Oh, right!" Of course, he drew a cellphone from his mane and took several pictures. Reyes folded his arms and tapped his foot impatiently. Was this the same guy who fought like a wild Pokémon the other night, and followed up with attempts to do questionable things to Reyes in his sleep? It was like with every hour of daylight passed, he lost ten brain cells. At least with other rebels Reyes had met, they were unquestionable motivation-wise, which made the King quite the odd one out. Speaking of the King, Reyes would slit his own throat if he had to continue addressing the flippant fuck as such for the rest of their long journey.

"What's your name, anyway?"

"I'm kinda busy. Ya know, takin' photos."

"You're just not going to answer?"

"Nuh."

"…We have to keep moving, Your Majesty."

"Mnn? Right, right—oh, dese are sho shweet!" He was filling his mouth with Cheri Berries. "Oh mah gawd thesh are delishous!"

"Zoroark—"

"And these Oran Berries are sour! Ack!" He stuck his head into the bush and came out with an armful of Berries. "But these Iapapa Berries are bitter, and these Pecha Berries are soft, and these Rawst Berries are crunchy! And I dunno what these are but they're just right!"

"Those are Weedle Eggs, Your Royal Slowness." Reyes was staring to lose what little patience he had. He reacted impassively and continued stuffing his mouth with them. Reyes sighed. "You're going to get Poisoned, and I'm sure you know where that ends." He made an 'X' with his arms for crossbones.

"Ish alwight." He ducked and scavenged within the bush for more. "I've been Poishoned…doshens of timesh in my life… Made me shtronger."

"Or made you crazier." But then again, now that he thought about it, as many rumors which circulated about the King, there wasn't anything on his background. As a matter of fact, Reyes was certain nobody knew what hole he crawled out of to become "the King" in the first place. "And in any case, we should keep moving. Time's a-wastin' and it's very precious."

He whined, standing up and picking leaves and twigs from his fur. "Fine." He started a sluggish trot that would surely get them five feet into nowhere by the next year. Reyes hauled his arm until they were travelling down the path, him doing so grudgingly. Although Reyes was determined to make the journey as quickly and with as few words as possible, something about his petulant attitude brought a sudden question to mind.

"How old are you?" That earned him a glare as the King cocked his head to one side.

"What's it to ya?"

"Sorry, but among us revolutionaries, we have a convention called conversation. Majorly consists of more talking than stabbing and biting." The King muttered something about where Reyes could shove his conventions, then said something even quieter and more jumbled.

"What?"

"Us Zoroark don't mature that fast." Reyes wondered what compelled him to answer; his tone very much indicated he would rather chew broken glass than hold a pleasant conversation. "I'm…preadolescent, okay?" That stopped him short. The King rubbed his arm with a whine when Reyes released it, turning to face him.

"Seriously." Reyes shook his head dubiously. "That can't be right… That would make you several years my junior." The King snorted.

"Yeah, a lot of Pokémon're surprised for some reason. I mean, age has nothin' to do with yer general capability, hence we have child prodigies and such. So I'm young—how does that make me any different from you?"

"…I really can't think of a reason."

"Exactly!" As correct as he was, Reyes was tempted to beat him up anyway. "On the other hand, yer jus' an old dick."

"You—" The King stopped him, abruptly tossing an arm out and coming to a stop. "What is it now?" The King threw him a smirk over his shoulder.

"I know I have a sexy ass, but quit staring."

"What the—"

"I'm telling you to stop focusing on my ass and look around."

"What—" Reyes didn't get it until a moment later, when he sensed a third presence within the area—a strong presence. He stepped away from the King to get a better look around and noticed the shadows were falling oddly heavily for an overcast day. "There's another Pokémon here."

"Way to catch on, Sceptile, although I wouldn't have figured you as the slow type. Hear that? You can come out now." From the bushes came a large Houndoom, tail whipping at the air like a knife. The King's expression was a mix between a grimace and a smile.

"You're saying he's not a rebel?"

"Nope, and from your reaction, he's no revolutionary either." The Houndoom just growled, and in the next second he was charging both.

Reyes had a chance if he didn't take any of his Fire-type attacks, but that was pushing it considering a Houndoom's base Speed. Luckily, he didn't have to think it through too much as the King intercepted his attack, ramming him backwards but knocking himself back into Reyes. Houndoom landed on all fours and shook himself out before discharging a Flamethrower, which the King countered with his own, the flames quelling each other.

"I'll take care of him," Reyes said, pushing the Zoroark away to lunge forward, leaf blades extended. "I got it!" the King said concurrently, leaping ahead, and the result was they tripped over each other and landed in a tangle of limbs on the dirt path.

"You're stabbing my ass!" the King cried.

"It's not any better on this end, believe me!"

The Houndoom snorted, regarding them with disgusted eyes. "This is the King of the rebels? This is what the great revolutionaries amount to?"

"The King is way greater than the damn revolutionaries!" he declared, jumping to his feet. "I'll tell you what—" Suddenly he stopped, falling to the ground and curling into a furry red ball.

"You idi—" Reyes was cut off as Houndoom lashed at him with his claws, leaving streaks of orange fire in his wake. Reyes barely dodged it before dealing a Power-Up Punch to his belly, launching him into the air. He followed it up with a powerful X-Scissor to the Houndoom's side. He hit the ground before Reyes, rolling to his feet and biting down on Reyes' left blades before he could strike again. Instead, Reyes kicked him in his face, causing his neck to crack but not undoing his grip at all. He spun around, flinging Reyes away. Reyes skidded across the dirt before coming to a rolling stop, his blades completely torn away.

He moved to his knees just as the Houndoom came bounding back, jaws wide and fire building in his maw. Reyes grabbed a fistful of dirt and tossed it in his eyes, blinding and slowing him, and he drew the leaves from the nearby trees to swirl like miniature blades around him. Houndoom couldn't move any closer, but he wised up and instead focused on the King's prone form. Reyes dispelled his attack in time to see him race towards the Zoroark, flames heated to melting point. Reyes gritted his teeth and dropped to his knees, and with glowing claws he struck the earth with his fists hard enough to cause it to shake and tremble beneath the Houndoom's paws, throwing him off-balance and giving Reyes enough time to completely repel him using Dual Chop. He then took the King's arm, exasperated—he really chose that moment to take a nap?

"Wake up already, you royal pain."

"'m…awake…"

"Then do something already." He groaned.

"I ca…m' stomach… Po…Poison…"

"I warned you, didn't I? Now both of our asses are in trouble." He plucked one of the seed pods from his back and shoved it into the King's claws. "Eat this. You'll feel better."

"Can't eat…hurts…" Reyes grabbed the pod and shoved it into his face hole.

"There, problem solved." He turned to see the Houndoom getting back on his feet, angrier than before if such a thing was possible. "Feeling better?"

"Uguu." Reyes' pod crunched loudly between his teeth. "What the hell's in this…?" He took one step forward and collapsed again, except this time he was shaking very badly. "Ugugugu…."

Houndoom charged again, but this time Reyes was ready. However, instead of attacking Reyes directly, he shoved his flaming maw down into the ground. It rumbled briefly before a torrent of flames rose from beneath Reyes' feet, completely frying him. He heard Houndoom laugh as he bit down on Reyes' right leg, and with a small amount of force he tore it away from Reyes' body. It hurt, but he was a Grass-type, he could grow it back easily—the burns were the only real problem.

"This isn't…over yet," Reyes warned, opening his pods to the moonlight.

"I think it is," he replied, turning his attention to the King, who had begun whimpering in addition to shaking. He bit down on his neck, bringing him up and squeezing, creating deep teeth marks and causing blood to spill down the King's fur. Reyes didn't have very much strength to spare, but he hadn't failed Alakazam on a mission yet, and he wasn't planning to. He put all his energy into his remaining leaf blades, extending them until they were as long as real swords, and put them to Houndoom's neck. In a single movement, his head was sent rolling, his body collapsing in a bleeding heap. The King was released to the ground, shaking faintly.

"Zoro…" Reyes' blades dispelled and separated into grass right before he hit the ground.

He wasn't sure how long he spent doing so, but Reyes realized he was staring at the sky. It seemed he had been unconscious for some hours, as the sun was just beginning to set. He rolled onto his back to inspect himself: his extremities had grown back, and his skin was still a decent work-in-progress. He gradually rose to his feet, finding himself a bit woozy, but that would pass in due time. He looked around and found the world scant one Zoroark. Though the prospect of living the rest of his life without his royal irritation was too perfect to pass up, he had to finish his mission.

"King? Where are you?" he called, searching the nearby vegetation and burrows. Although he found plenty of Diglett and Sandshrew, he didn't find the King. He looked down at the ground and noticed a familiar set of three-toed footprints in the mud leading to the forest's pathway. The dirt was too hard to retain any sort of footprints, so the trail ended there, although it did land him a few paces away from the Rusturf Tunnel. He couldn't assume he travelled ahead on his own, because if Reyes went all the way to Rustboro just to find the pain wasn't there, he would have wasted too much time and said pain could've gotten far on his own. Maybe he went back to Mauville—good riddance, in that case. Then Reyes remembered the injury that Houndoom gave him—if the King attempted any sort of travel in that condition, he would've bled out and died quickly.

"King? King!" He finally gave up after fifteen minutes. At that point, he had searched a good circumference around the tunnel, more than enough space for a Grass-type to cover faster than a Dark-type, and if Reyes was to assume the King had woken up before him, well, he was long gone. He resigned himself to a heavy chewing-out and headed into Rusturf Tunnel. He walked maybe seven paces into the shaft when the light from the mouth suddenly disappeared—no, not disappeared, darkness consumed it. There was another Dark-type in his midst, and not any friendlier than the Houndoom or the King. A high, reedy voice cackled.

"Did you honestly think my friend came alone?" The cavern's walls made it sound so omnipresent Reyes couldn't pinpoint the Pokémon's location.

"What, the Houndoom? If it's him you're talking about, I see why you came as a pair—strength in numbers and all."

"Fair enough." There was a tiny thud, then a swift scuttling sound behind him. He swept out of the way just as a ring of sparks flew where claws collided with rock, illuminating the devious face of a Sableye. He vanished into the darkness as the light died out, then Reyes heard its laugh ricocheting off the stone walls. "But with him having weakened you, you're a great target."

Not good, Reyes thought, itching the ring of still-healing skin between his leg and body. I can't fight like this, and especially in the dark.

A pair of glacial eyes appeared behind the Sableye.

Gee, I wonder who that is.

"Who are you two anyway?" Reyes prompted when silence befell them, pushing for extra time so the King could do—whatever. He watched the King's eyes close, then they opened again a few feet to the right.

That Sableye hissed, gemstones briefly catching the light and reflecting his visage. That light was the only thing that made Reyes able to dodge the invisible attack that went his way. "You think I'd tell you?" He slid to the left, which was when the tiny but pesky Pokémon latched onto his throat, putting him in a choke hold. He tripped into a stone column, gasping for air while the Sableye laughed.

"G-God, you-you're annoying, you a-a-and that damn K-King." He tried smashing his back into the wall, but each time that damn Sableye leapt to the top of his head, causing him to damage his shoulder blades and tail instead. He spun around, banging Sableye against a gemstone-filled column. There was a loud chomping sound on his head, which he took to mean it did not affect him. He attempted to grab Sableye with his vines, but he just tied them in knots. He also tried his leaf blades, but it appeared he ate them—luckily, he could grow those back too.

Sableye, with his dual rows of needle-like teeth, started eating away at Reyes' skin. Had he had real flesh, it could have been slightly more difficult, but as it was, his flesh was made up of grass with a syrupy taste, as he'd been told. He snapped the vines apart leg as Sableye shimmied down to his neck again, squeezing it while simultaneously digging his claws in. Chlorophyll burst from the resulting wound, filling Reyes' esophagus and preventing him from breathing. He had to slit his own throat a bit to give his blood a way of escape. Apparently, the smell was really appealing to Sableye, because he leapt free from him to the ground to lick it up. Reyes kicked him away, feeling his throat and head sting.

"Are you going to do something already?" The King laughed into the darkness.

"What? I thought you were doing a fine enough job of getting your ass kicked already."

The Sableye growled. "I thought you were finished." Reyes saw sparks fly as their claws collided.

"As you can see, you thought wrong." Some of the darkness abruptly vanished, clearing up an odd ellipse around the King and Reyes. His expression was cool, detached if Reyes had to be specific. He put his claws together and snapped them apart. The darkness converged around him like some sort of magnet, then it scattered in reddish-black waves, passing through inanimate objects like stones and stalagmites and smashing them into bits. The dark waves passed through Reyes' body, and although he felt a severe chill, that was the worst of it. That Sableye screeched as the darkness hovered around him like a horde of angry black bees, pulling and biting and creating bleeding welts on his violet skin. Sableye swore loudly while he batted at the darkness. If anything, that made it worse, and it started corroding his gemstone eyes.

"Y-You…! What is this?"

"Night Daze." His back straightened and his eyes made even Reyes feel half his size.

"I—" If possible, his voice had gone even reedier. The King chuckled at that, a sound worse than the Sableye's that resounded like the Devil's laughs.

"You're nothing." That Sableye screeched and screamed as his eyes liquefied into pools of silver, then his skin started disintegrating in the same manner, exposing his small skeleton as if he were some sort of Halloween decoration. Reyes grabbed the King's wrist.

"I'm sick of your brutalizing methods."

He hissed, freeing his arm and slashing Reyes' face. Chlorophyll dripped down his chest and his left eye went dark. Reyes pulled away from him and he melted into the darkness.

"Did you forget why you're with me to begin with?"

"I haven't forgotten, I just lost interest. It happens more often than you think." Reyes sensed more than saw him move further away. "And when the King loses interest, he tends to…break his toys." He would have to deal with the King if he was going to be like that. Somewhere along the way, while the King was trying to become "friends" with a female Manectric, he managed to buzz Jamal and have him run a scan on Zoroark. Among that information was a certain trick that Reyes could use to incapacitate him. The problem was finding him in the darkness, and with him being a Dark-type, that was about as plausible as catching Reyes in the forest.

The darkness converged again, baring the King's form. Reyes raced towards him in the two seconds of light that he had, blades crossed, and tackled him to the ground. "Don't make me do this again," he muttered before digging his claws into the King's temples. Reyes jumped off and watched him try to stand, fall, try again, then crawl around pathetically with his eyes crossed. "Don't even try. I know your balance receptors are in your temples, and with the pressure I put on them you won't be standing…or walking…or moving in a straight line for a while."

"Ugugu, that hurt…" Reyes grabbed him by his scruff, thoroughly pissed off by his fickle personality, and pulled him up. He had to enjoy the guy tremble on his feet like a newborn for his own sanity. "It's not funny…"

"It very much is. I hope this is enough to keep you in line, or I'll be happy to declaw you instead."

"I'm faiiiine," he said, even though he couldn't look directly at Reyes or stand without trembling.

"That wasn't an agreement. I want to know you won't do this again, or else." He grimaced, then smoothed his expression out.

"Swear."

"What?"

"I swear not to attack you again!" His tone was loud and exasperated. Not that his word was highly valid, but Reyes felt he asserted dominance well enough. Reyes pulled him towards the exit, where sunshine broke through the cave's gloom.

"Also, you never answered my question."

"Whaaat?"

"What is your name?"

He rubbed his temples with his claws, probably trying to sort himself out. "Depends."

"On what, on whether you're psychopathic or not?"

"Well…yeah," he mumbled. "Why do you care? No one cares about my name, just title."

"And there you go again." He scanned Reyes' face in confusion.

"There I go…what?"

"That innocent child act. You're doing it again."

"You're callin' it an act." The corners of his mouth twitched. "Huh. Okay. Well, that's fine." He paused for a second, then grinned. "Dominic."

"Dominic? And that isn't a fake name or anything?"

"I'm not that inventive, Sceptile." Reyes released him and Dominic stumbled wildly before regaining somewhat of his balance. Suddenly, it occurred to Reyes the King wasn't in the best state physically. It was harder to tell within the murkiness of Mauville, but he was scrawny, and he was certainly hiding a lot of scars under his thick fur.

"Likewise, Reyes."

"Reyes… Oh, that name bites."

"Bites? What, pray tell, does that mean?"

"Nothin'…" He smirked wickedly, although that lost most of its appeal when he fell flat on his face.

Dominic… 'Of the Lord.' How-freaking-ironic.

"How did you get to Hoenn anyway?" And then there's how you came to be the King, followed by why you would be crazy enough to be the King in the first place—

"You sure do ask a lotta questions, Sceptile." His voice was muffled as he spoke into the stone. "I was taught it ain't nice to go pryin' in people's business if ya don't want yer business pried into."

Reyes was familiar with the concept, yes, but hadn't needed to apply it in a while. Most if not all revolutionaries were candid with each other, so there was no need for an information exchange. He folded his arms as Dominic rolled onto his back and stared dejectedly at the cave's ceiling. Doing that, he looked like a kid throwing a tantru—and there Reyes went again, likening a cold-blooded killer to a child. Because he is a child, a child that, like me and everyone else I know, was forced to grow up too fast and do the unthinkable. In his case, extremely unthinkable.

He felt claws pinching his nose and lashed out automatically. Dominic leapt back out of his reach and raised his arms in surrender. "Ya stopped insultin' me so I wanted to make sure ya didn't spontaneously die—or have an aneurism or somethin'." Well, Reyes was starting to see the distinction at least: Dominic was the child, and the King was the monster. "But ya should know, curiosity killed the cat, or the Reyes in this case."

"Reyes might kill Reyes if he hangs out with you any longer," Reyes muttered. Dominic beamed before turning to the cave's exit.