1.4. A Madman's Transgressions

Reyes kicked away the disjointed thoughts Dominic spent ten minutes scratching in the dirt with his feet. "Don't be so damn creepy," he muttered before returning to his PokéNav. "What do you me—we've been here for five hours. You said it was going to be…what? Alakazam himself asked for…this is why you all need organization. …We're in Rustboro now, and we're trying to meet with Alakazam in Ever Grande. …Slateport? It's possible, but…fine, fine, if it works for him." He hung up and replaced the device in his backpack.

"We hafta go to Slateport?"

"That's what Transportation said."

"I get seasick," he complained.

"Oh, shut up. We're taking a boat."

"I get seasick…"

"Wow, you really think I care about your problems."

"Why can't we take a plane to Ever Grande?" he whined.

"We can't use just any sort of transportation, because then rebels could easily find their way into the city. We have a specialized defense system that naturally keeps them out, but if they're led inside by a revolutionary, we can't do anything to stop them." He refitted the ring over Dominic's mouth, sealing it shut, and pulled him to his feet.

"Mmmffmfm." He made an illusion of fried fish.

"You're hungry?" Dominic nodded. "You better learn photosynthesis, because I'm not taking that off." He whined and made an illusion of skull and crossbones. "You won't die. Don't be so goddamn overdramatic."

Reyes visited a Pokémart briefly and picked up several Full Restores and Burn Heals, making a face when Dominic tried to pick up a bag of barbecued chips. "Mmffmmfmm," he complained when Reyes threw it back.

"Those aren't even healthy. They're full of artificial crap."

Do I look like I care? Dominic wanted to say. Reyes brought the items up to the counter and paid the cashier for them. Dominic looked at him, confused. "Mmffmm?"

"What?" Dominic took a bottle of water and shrugged, gesturing to the door. Reyes took the bottle back, irritated. "Thievery is frowned upon over here, Dominic."

"Mm," Dominic shrugged. Reyes looked at him a long time before he just gave up—amazingly, that hurt Dominic more than his words. He made a couple extra calls before leading Dominic out of the city, down the path to the Petalburg Woods. He saw the cluster of trees long before they reached it, felt the grass become unrulier beneath his feet, and started to get that memory itch—the bad kind too.

I used to be with Lamont here, he thought. Before I killed him. His shoulders slumped at the memory.

"Don't cause any trouble. The woods are a revolutionary area," Reyes said as they crossed into the trees. The last he heard, it was still neutral. Wow, he had really been in Mauville a long time…how long exactly? God, what happened to his brain?

"Mmffmffmn."

"I can't understand you and I honestly don't care to. Your words just ruin my opinion of Pokémonkind."

He saw the little Pokémon of the woods like Weedle and Caterpie shy away at the sight of him, and the larger ones like Breloom and Mightyena growl and bristle as they passed by. He started growling too and Reyes punched his shoulder.

"Be quiet. If you growl at them then they'll be perfectly within their rights to attack you."

He felt something small hit his shoulder, then two more, then something that felt like a big rock ricocheted off his leg, knocking him onto his stomach. He flexed his arms, ripping apart Reyes' leaves, and pulled the ring from his muzzle, growling and snapping at the culprit Linoone. She darted around his legs quick as a whip and started biting him, slithering up his body and pulling away tufts of his fur and drawing blood. He started jumping around and slamming himself into tree trunks, unable to shake her, and so he waited until she climbed over his shoulder and looked into his eyes before biting his nose.

You made a mistake there, darling.

She shrieked in pain and surprise as she fell away from him, landing on the soft grass in a furry heap. She was still screaming as she shook violently, her little claws digging scratches into the dirt and then her own skin as she tried to pull away the nonexistent Ekans. Dominic started laughing, then he shut up when the rest of the forest animals started growling at him too—even the Shroomish. Reyes grabbed his elbow and pulled him along, swearing under his breath the whole time.

"I swear, Dominic."

"Yeah, yer doing a lot of swearin', I've noticed." His voice was annoyingly nasal from the blood filling his nostrils. He drew a handkerchief from his mane and cleared it out. "They started the fight and you saw it!"

"It didn't mean you had to retaliate." At that, Dominic pulled from Reyes' grip, staggering a little before he stopped at the woods' entrance sign.

"What, did you expect me to be the bigger Pokémon? Let it all go? Water under the bridge? Anybody who crosses the King gets what they're asking for."

"It's ridiculous and I know it, but what can you do? As I've said, you're a rebel in revolutionaries' territory. More than being a rebel, you're so easily outnumbered."

"So Alakazam's special summons or whatever you want to call it means some fucking shit to these guys, huh."

"Yes, it means he cares enough about an enemy to come out of his self-imposed meditation."

"Ugugugu… I didn't ask fer him to give a damn about me. I'm perfectly fine bein' the only one who gives a damn 'bout Dominic."

"The point is he does, for whatever reason. And you and I both have to deal with it our ways."

"I don't deal, I just kill whatever bothers me."

"Well that won't work here and especially around me." Dominic and his ass already had a pretty good idea of that rule. "You see, I've already lost too many comrades during your guys' attacks, and so I won't take losing any now, especially for asinine reasons, King."

"Well that won't work here and especially around me," he mocked. He moved closer and shoved Reyes backwards by the chest. "You see, I had a place to be, but guess what? Shit hit the fan. I had to leave, and next time we met we were on opposite sides of the revolution."

"Dominic." Reyes' tone was cautionary, his eyes blazing. Dominic smirked.

"You and I, we had different upbringings. I'm guessing you were born in a cozy Pokémon Laboratory and coddled in some nursery or incubator until a snot-nosed ten-year-old decided to make you his bitch for the rest of your life. Some of us weren't so lucky." He punctuated the word with a sneer. "Some of us grew up without a family, unable to take any love."

"Maybe my upbringing wasn't nearly as emotional as yours," Reyes' face was bland, brow raised, "but these last seven years were adequately soul-crushing. In the beginning, humans were hard to protect. They couldn't believe some of us were still good, that some of us were still human inside. We were shot at, burned, frozen, poisoned, attacked, killed," he added with a look that could cut steel. "And it took an entire year of it all for them to realize that while you rebels were trying to kill them, us revolutionaries still have hearts." He grimaced at his own words.

"What?"

"In our…line of work…be it rebel or revolutionary, you can't afford to care."

"But obviously, you care very much." Reyes sighed, not denying it but keeping his hard look. "And you care about me, too. I know I'm annoying and Pokémon can't stand me, but you still stayed with me. You really like being a revolutionary that much?"

"No, I don't. I could've been the leader of the free world, but if it meant being with you, I'd have sooner taken suicide."

"No offense taken."

"But," he added, crossing his arms over his chest, "it'd be a terrible thing on my conscious to kill a child." He turned away. "I've already seen that happen more times than I enjoy."

"That's your only reason?"

"Yes, because killing you would also mean putting some use to your body through natural decomposition and therefore make you infinitely more useful than you are now."

"…Anyway," Dominic pushed the topic of conversation to less aggravating waters, "where's the person that's gonna give us a ride?"

Reyes looked past him and down the route. At the end of it, to the opposite way of the city, was a pier and boathouse with a little Flying-type circling it. Reyes put his fingers in his mouth and set out a shrieking whistle. The bird halted and looked at them before flapping over. "Reyes!" the Wingull said excitedly, plowing into his chest. She smelled like a she.

"Good afternoon, Peeko." Reyes politely pushed her away. Reyes has a fangirl?

"This is the king of the rebels?" She flapped around him excitedly, amazingly annoying for something so tiny. "He looks so nonthreatening…and he's so young too!" Dominic snorted.

"Where's Mr. Briney?" Reyes asked. Peeko calmed down, landing on his outstretched arm.

"He's on a trip to see some family. Why?"

"We needed him to give us a ride to Slateport."

"Oh, you can just use his boat! He knows you already, so it's fine!"

"Really? His boat is his life… I'd hate to borrow his property like that."

"He trusts you," Peeko said. "But the, ah, King…"

"You can trust me to keep an eye on Dom…the King. He wouldn't wreck Mr. Briney's boat unless it actually spoke to him."

"Ouch, jeez, my soul," Dominic said.

"It should only take until evening, then I'll find a revolutionary to return it," Reyes told Peeko.

"No problem!" Peeko led them to Mr. Briney's boat, a small thing painted white and run by a shiny-looking motor. Reyes tossed his backpack at Dominic, who caught it with a grimace, and dropped onto the bench in front of the motor, starting it with a low buzz. Dominic groaned, sliding on the other bench, and Peeko waved a wing at them as they started across the water. He leaned over the bow, amazed at the crystal blue color of it all and by how far it seemed to stretch. More so, the Water-types that skipped and jumped and swam through it, the Magikarp and Goldeen and Feebas just within reach of his claws, and the Swellow and Swablu and Noctowl that soared over the water's surface.

"Cool…" He let out a little surprised noise when he dipped his claws in the water. It was cold but not uncomfortably so, and it sliced around his claws to form glittering facets of foam. He felt like he hadn't seen it in a long time, and maybe he hadn't. "So cool…" He felt Reyes' gaze on him, but it wasn't as antagonistic as before.

"You like the water?"

"Yeah! Can't swim though, but it's real pretty to look at on days like this." He also had the sense that many good memories of the ocean existed in his mind, but his memory wasn't the best most days. Even so, his heart felt a lot lighter with his arms drifting through the water. "Don't you?" Reyes suddenly went silent, but it wasn't an angry silence. His claws caught on something solid and he dragged out an empty Shellder's shell. He drained it before holding it to his ear, and gentle moans greeted him. "I hear the ocean! Hey, Reyes, this is really cool—ya wanna try?" He twisted around to hand it over, a wide grin on his face, but Reyes wasn't waiting for it. He was staring at Dominic while lost in his thoughts. Dominic slipped the shell into his mane and moved closer to Reyes, but he was well and truly distracted. Grinning, he went to pinch Reyes nose. "Earth to Reyes, yoo-hoo."

To his utter shock, Reyes only made a face and batted his claws away. "Stop that."

"Stop that?" he repeated with wide eyes. "I don't get a death threat, no passive-aggression, no nothing…?" Reyes turned his head away, and he looked older than he was. "Hey, Reyes…?" He didn't respond, his eyes focused on the water. The silence made Dominic fidget uncomfortably and he too looked at the water. "Sorry if that annoyed ya or somethin'…"

"Lilly."

"What?" He looked back at Reyes.

"You said, with all the questions I've asked you, I've never told you anything about myself, and so I'm telling you I have a mate named Lilly."

"Oh, wow." A mate? Him? Dominic thought. This guy might really be Romeo. "She a Sceptile too?"

He shook his head. "She's a Lapras, the most beautiful one to ever grace Hoenn's waters."

"You two crazy lovers had kids?"

"…A daughter," he answered after an unusual pause. "She was beautiful like her mother, but much too smart, like me. It made her so hard to keep an eye on."

Dominic realized what was wrong with his story. "Was?"

"She died two years ago."

"Huh. Well." Dominic rested his head on the ship's edge, swirling his claws around in the water. "And your mate?"

"No idea what became of her." Still, he was looking at the water.

"Hmm." Reyes had a loving family from the sound of it, and Dominic hadn't been loved in a long time, so he couldn't relate. He let his claws hover in the water until a small Magikarp swam around them, intrigued. He waited until it bit down before raising his arm, pulling it from the water and dropping it inside of the boat.

"Put it back," Reyes said almost immediately, still not looking.

"Stupid—how did you see that?"

"I can sense your idiocy now." Dominic snorted through his nose as he kicked the Magikarp away. It fell back into the water with a loud plunk. For some weird reason, he felt shame at being chastised.

"How come you're not looking for her?"

"Because even when we were together, I was a revolutionary. She knows my job is to protect the people and the Pokémon, that I just don't have time to search the world, but also not a day goes by I don't think about her and how much I love her." He closed his eyes for a moment before sighing again. "But you don't understand all that, do you?"

"No, I really don't, but…"

"But what?"

Dominic leaned his back against the stern, looking back at Reyes. "I wanna." They were silent as the boat buzzed along. Dominic watched the sun move across the sky, feeling his energy level increase fractionally as it began to set. "How much farther?"

"Look." Dominic tore his eyes away from the sky and saw a large waterside city looming on the horizon. He'd never seen Slateport before, but he heard of its bustling market, and even from his distance he could smell the people over there—god, people. "Get from the edge," Reyes warned when Dominic leaned over the front. He pulled away as Reyes slowed to a stop at one of the empty piers. There were about fifteen other piers with medium to large trading ships parked there, and that side of the dock ended in a blurred boundary towards the people's beach. Reyes shut off the motor and tied the boat to one of the pier's stumps as Dominic walked onto the sand, getting the curious feeling of it sinking under his claws. He noticed colorful glints beneath the sand and dug out a huge clump of red, green, and purple sea glass.

"This is so cool," he said, saving them within his mane. Reyes looked on curiously.

"You keep everything in there?"

"Not everythin', jus' nice things." He found another armful, this time gold and tan brown, and leapt to his feet to show them off. "Ya know sea glass comes from broken bottles that end up in the ocean? Weathered by the salt and waves until they turn round and frosted like this. They're sea glass, and the ones from freshwater lakes are beach glass—not as frosty and clean cuz the water's calmer." Reyes looked like he wanted to shrug him off at first, then raised a brow.

"You know a lot about this." Dominic's excitement washed away with the next tide. The sea glass tumbled back to the sand as his arms went limp.

"I do, don't I…?" He was stunned at first, then he clenched his fists and his mane stood on end. Reyes raised his arms automatically, but Dominic's anger was directed inwards at that damned other part of himself. "Pointless," he muttered, and calmed down with a deep breath. Reyes looked at him oddly, still in a defensive stance. "I'm not gonna hurt ya." Dominic waved off the notion and didn't even wait for Reyes to relax. He looked on and saw, further down the sand, beachgoers with their colorful blankets and umbrellas and little children and little Pokémon. He bristled and Reyes put a hand on his shoulder.

"We have to keep moving, Dominic."

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled, following Reyes past the people and their Pokémon. At one point, a Frisbee collided with his head before falling to the ground. He picked it up and saw a little auburn-haired girl and her Mudkip run up to him.

"Fwisbee?" she asked, sticking her hands out. Dominic passed it back to her and she gave him a lopsided smile before taking off.

"Why wasn't she scared of me?" Dominic asked Reyes.

"Little kids can't really understand what they see on the news."

"How come? Are they stupid?"

"Human children are different from hatchlings and cubs, Dominic."

"Stupider, apparently." Dominic passed by the stupid humans to the tiled steps leading up to the paved ground of Slateport. There, he was assaulted by a barrage of sights and sounds and smells. The marketplace was filled with booths of all colors and kinds selling everything imaginable. He could smell chocolate and fried fish and silk and fake gold and sweet potato stew and grass whistles and backscratchers and cheap cellphones and even awesomeness if that was possible. His ears fell flat against his head and he was stone still for the better part of three seconds.

"Dominic, don't even—"

He took off, dropping onto all fours to sniff a batch of flowers originating from a Floaroma Town booth and then snatching Barboach from a barbecue grill and then chewing on some sugar cane and then tearing up a cluster of fancy hand-woven dresses hanging on racks and skidding around the legs of excited tourists and digging up buried treasures and stealing Revival Herbs and—

"Lassie, calm down already!" Reyes grabbed Dominic's ponytail and pulled him back. He was sweaty and breathless from trying to keep up. "Shit, do you have an off switch?"

"No!" he whined, stretching his claws towards the market he was being pulled away from. "I wanna explore some more."

"I think you've had enough for the day." He gestured to the mess Dominic made of the booths. Vendors were collecting or trashing their wares and tourists were in heaps on the ground. "You're like a tornado. What kind of creature made you?"

"A nice one," Dominic answered. "A cool one. Like me."

"In what universe are you nice?"

"Mines!"

He snorted through his nose, pulling Dominic away from the market and to the boating museum. He checked his PokéNav and sighed in relief. "There should be a boat coming within the hour. Can you not destroy anything until then?"

"Gee, that's a lot to ask." Dominic started sniffing the air again, turning to the water. "The sea smells real salty."

"Really?" Reyes elbowed him hard. "And I hate to leave you alone, but I have to help those vendors clean up, and I don't think you'd be quite welcome." But Dominic wasn't listening. He padded over to the pier, smelling the water closely. He dropped to his stomach, feeling the pier's damp wood grate against his belly. He still wanted to explore…jeez, Reyes was such a stiff-necked bastard.

"Seriously, if I want to have fun, why would he stop me? Reyes isn't my dad…" He got to his feet and started creeping around the boat museum. He noticed three workers and a Machamp carrying a big old boat's skeleton inside, swearing and struggling at its weight. The hull was mostly skinned, but it was made of rusted iron and had a name printed on the side that was faded with age, but it seemed familiar.

"Al…Alas…" He couldn't read English very well, but he had a feeling he remembered it. "A list… A… Ali Stuart—Boat Ali Stuart." Ali Stuart's boat? Who was that again? Goddamn it, his time in Mauville really messed with his—

"We know who that is. Well, I know."

Dominic growled and pulled his ears until pain radiated through his skull. No! My mind. My mind and my memories. Stop takin' from me.

"I never take unless you offer. You don't want to remember, so I hold the memories for you—I'm what keeps Dominic as Dominic. I keep you sane, and for that, I only ask for the reins once in a while, like now…"

He looked back at the marketplace, which was getting back into its earlier swing, and clenched his claws. Damn humans. Why did he have to let them be? Pokémon were doing just fine before them and would do even better without them. He cupped his claws around his mouth before releasing a powerful Flamethrower. The flames lit the booths like dry wheat struck by lightning, sending the pitiful humans scattering and the Water-types running.

"Dominic!" He could literally smell Reyes coming, and he was tired of Reyes too, all pro-human and pro-life and pro-pro-pro—damn him and his pro-ness. His fur bristled, and when Reyes came within distance he lashed out and sliced his right arm away. It fell to the ground like a twig, chlorophyll dripping from the wound he left.

"The King." He shook his claws clean. "I am the King."

Reyes opened his pods to the sunlight, taking his arm up and pressing it to his stump. Vines grew from the point of contact like stitches, linking it together. He didn't open his mouth once, but his eyes spoke volumes. Behind him, the market was still burning, the blaze getting bigger despite the Pokémon trying to put it out, people burning too. It was chaos at its best, and if there was one thing the King loved, it was mass, uncontrollable, mortal chaos.