1.4.1. Dominic, Part I

The water was like something from Hell, black and boiling and looking to drag anyone and everyone to an eternal death. It slapped and slammed against Ali's boat, tossing it from side to side and knocking away cargo each time. Soon enough, there would be bodies instead of just boxes, and Michaela knew it. She huddled protectively around her cub as Ali paced around in the cabin, hands working his long brown hair into a frenzy. Eventually he went out, slamming the door shut behind him. Michaela stood up, peering through the cabin's porthole. The storm was unrelenting, still battering the ship so badly she could almost see it coming apart, and it wouldn't be long before it completely shattered.

"Oh, Rex," she murmured to her cub, who was tossing and turning in his bed. The sounds outside were making him uncomfortable, and for good reason. She went over to him and nuzzled his cheek with her nose. He mewed softly and calmed, sleeping more peacefully. She rested her claws on his forehead and stayed with him for a few moments, reveling in the soft but persistent sound of his heartbeat, but was instantly on-edge as she heard a loud crack coming from the stern. She went to the door and peered through the window, finding Ali stumbling backwards from someone or something that wasn't there before. She wanted to go help him—he was her owner, the one who raised her and Dominic from cubs—but her son…

"Augh!" Ali stumbled away, shocked, as his pained scream filled the air. Not even a second later, the ship shrieked as it was split right down the middle. The cabin's walls tore away as the ship's innards became visible. Ali's furniture and cargo dropped into the deadly sea as the two halves came apart. The world around them, it seemed, was falling to pieces. Michaela clung to Rex for dear life—it didn't matter at that point if she survived, he just had to. She felt the wood beneath her claws crumble, then she too fell into the water.

It was cold, ice-cold, despite how much like lava it appeared to be, and froze her limbs on contact. It was all she could do to secure Rex inside of her mane, keeping him warm and mostly dry, and use a piece of driftwood to keep afloat. She saw Ali swishing to and fro from within a lifeboat and started paddling towards him. He saw her and tried throwing a rope to her, but the water swallowed it almost immediately. She kicked harder, but the water only seemed to become more furious in response: for every foot forward she moved, it flung her back three. "Michaela! Rex!" he shouted over the sounds of the storm. She opened her mouth to speak, then her ears pricked up as she detected a different sound, one that was very close. She raised her head and looked over just as the tidal wave crashed down on them.

The water pulled both under in a heartbeat, shredding the remains of Ali's boat and lifeboat and separating them. Petrified, Michaela gripped Rex in her arms, keeping him against her chest, but she could see he was losing consciousness from lack of oxygen. She forced him to meet her eyes and created an illusion he was lying in a meadow on the sunny day—if his brain had that image, he wouldn't asphyxiate. She herself held her breath as she pushed to the surface, but almost immediately another wave smashed her back under, addling her mind. She searched for any sort of help but all the Water-types were gone, leaving her and Rex alone. She prayed again he would live even if she didn't and swam up again, only to have her lungs filled with saltwater and slam against a metal plate from the boat. Disoriented, she lost her grip on Rex, and the next wave sliced between them like a knife, pulling them apart.

Rex felt like a sopping mess. Moreover, he couldn't breathe since his lungs were filled with something other than air. He coughed, then he coughed some more, then he started coughing real hard, rolling onto his back in front of the fire—

—fire?

He wiped his sore eyes before cracking them open. He was lying in front of a brick fireplace, a fluffy pink towel draped over his fur. He couldn't smell any danger, just a lot of dirt and rocks. He coughed some more before crawling free, looking around. He was in someone's house, not like that guy's boat but a real house-house. There were framed photos and chairs and tables and the smell of delicious amazing wondrous food was in the air—and it wasn't fish! He raised his head, which was when he noticed a giant Steel Pokémon staring down at him.

He screamed and scrambled to the collection of logs for the fireplace, hiding beneath them. Tears built in his eyes as he tried to make himself as small as possible.

"Aggron, don't scare him," a male voice said as the logs parted. Rex skittered to the corner instead, burying his face in his neck fur. A human man came over and picked him up. Rex growled and kicked at him, ripping his sleeves with his little claws. "He's just a cub…" the man continued thoughtfully. He set Rex down on the table, softly touching behind his ear. The gesture calmed him and he sat down, physically and mentally exhausted. "Are you alright?" he asked quietly. "I found you on the shore, you and…a female Zoroark." Rex's ears went up—the man was talking about Michaela, he was sure. "Skarmory, keep an eye on him." He pointed to someone else before going into another room.

"Alright, Steven." Rex looked over and saw a Skarmory standing by the door preening his silver feathers. He yelped, alarmed, and stared sorrowfully at the long drop from the table to the ground. "Oh, calm down," he chastised. "Babies."

"You were once a child too, Skarmory. You ought to have more patience for them," Aggron said in his rough and grating voice. Skarmory huffed with a decisive chirrup.

"Well I don't. I don't think he even understands what we're saying. He was probably still nursing." Aggron reached out towards Rex, who moved away, bristling and trying to make himself look bigger. He backed off and Rex slumped down nearly instantly, too exhausted to keep up the front. Still, everything about his body language screamed on-edge, not that Aggron blamed him.

"He's not that young, but he is defenseless. I don't believe he even knows any moves yet."

"And how did a Zorua end up in Hoenn anyway?"

"No idea… Steven said there was boat shrapnel around them, so maybe they were on a ride and the storm hit them. Whatever the reason, he's alone now."

Steven returned with a small cup of warmed soup, placing it on the table with Rex. He shied away from it at first, then his hunger prevailed and he shoved his nose in, drinking excitedly. While he did so, a Claydol drifted through the door. "Did you bury her?" Steven asked it. It nodded in response. He sighed, watching Rex finish the soup and roll on his side. Steven rubbed his knuckles against Rex's cheek and he mewed softly. "It's sad… He's only a cub and he's already lost his family. Person or Pokémon, nobody should have to live like that."

"He's right," Aggron said to Skarmory, who scowled and rolled his eyes.

"Don't tell me Steven's going to take in the fur-ball. We're already at capacity here with all his rocks."

"Don't be so mean, Skarmory. Have a bit of compassion."

"I'm not mean, I'm logical. What's he good for anyway? He's a cub: it'll take at least five years for him to be battle-ready."

"Not everything is about battling." Aggron scratched Rex's stomach with an odd type of gentleness contrasting his appearance. His claws tickled somewhat, making Rex giggle. "Don't tell me you don't find him a little cute." He snorted, fluffing his feathers in irritation.

"For a Steel-type, you're a damn softie." Aggron smirked, picking Rex up gently to hold him in Skarmory's face. "Ugh, move him. He smells gross," he complained, backing away.

"Skarmory." Aggron's grin widened. Skarmory grunted, annoyed, and gave Rex a little nudge in the stomach with his beak. Astounded, Rex held Skarmory's beak with his little paws and gave him a curious lick. Aggron and Steven laughed as Skarmory pulled away, embarrassed. "He likes you."

"Like I care," he muttered, touching his beak in silent awe. Steven took Rex from Aggron's grip and set him down on a small makeshift bed made of a fluffy pillow and a large wicker basket. He picked at it with his claws until it was marred with streaks and the feathers were everywhere, then he curled up on it, tired. Steven laughed a little, returning his Pokémon before going into another room.

"Come on, I think he's had enough excitement for the day." Meanwhile, Rex began to dream…

While Ali stood in the hallway speaking with Nurse Joy, the two Zoroark remained in the examination room. Dominic was working trenches into the blue and green-speckled tiles, he was pacing so furiously, and Michaela was getting sick of it. "Oh, would you stop already? You're making me dizzy."

He gasped, coming to an immediate stop and turning to her. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't—I don't know how it would affect—god, I wish I still had instincts—Ela, I—oh god oh god—"

"Now you're making my ears dizzy." Dominic groaned, his ears drooping.

"I'm sorry, I can't help it! This is—this is a surprise, to say the least."

"It shouldn't be, you beast." She gave him a coy smirk, causing him to look away with an embarrassed whine.

"I wish you weren't so blunt, Ela."

"I wish you weren't so prude, Dom." She slid off the examination table and grasped his forearms, licking his cheek. "You're going to be a daddy."

"And you'll be a momma." He pressed his nose to hers, a giddy smile on his face. "Gee, I wonder if he's gonna be like me."

"Then he'd be a total pain." Her grin widened. "And why a boy? Why can't our cub be a girl?" He groaned.

"Because then she would be like you, so beautiful and so perfect, and there'd be hell to pay during mating season."

"No worries. You'll scare every potential mate away."

"Damn right."

She laughed, biting his ear softly. "You're so cute." He wrapped his arms around her in response, nuzzling her neck.

"Wow, what will we name him? Alex? Frank? Billy? Oh, oh, what about Dominic Jr.?" She laughed.

"Jessica? Marisol? Hadley?"

"Those are weird boy names."

"I told you, Dom, it could be a girl too."

"I wanna boy…" She smirked.

"Don't worry, if it's a girl, we just try again." His face instantly lit up, then a devilish grin crossed it. Ali and Nurse Joy came back in. Nurse Joy smiled.

"They're so cute."

"Yeah, unless you clean up after them," Ali said under his breath. Dominic grinned at him.

"Ali," Nurse Joy set a hand on his shoulder, "most Pokémon-owners don't keep more than two. If you want to give the cub for adoption, I have some suggest—" Dominic cut her off, growling and snarling with his fur bristling.

"Dom—" Michaela tried, but he wouldn't stop.

"I don't think Dominic would like that." Ali gave a laugh and shrugged. "I'll keep their cub. I don't have any problem with another Zoroark in the house, really." Dominic's mood did an instant one-eighty.

"This will be great!" Michaela laughed, even more elated, as she held her stomach.

"Aggron, take the brat." Skarmory glowered as Rex pawed his talons. Every time he moved away Rex followed him, putting little scratches in his steel exterior.

"I don't believe I'll be surprised if you're still stag in the coming future, what with how unpleasantly you play the role of family man." Metagross planted itself in the grass to watch Steven battle a pair of newbie Trainers. The park was expansive but quiet considering the rest of the Elite Four were in the city doing a presentation on becoming a Trainer, so Steven and his Pokémon were practically alone with all the green grass and trees and the little blue pond.

"Shut up. Nobody asked for your input." Skarmory kicked Rex away, not hard at all but forcefully enough that he flopped onto his back into a mud puddle. Rex immediately began whining loudly, licking his fur in exasperation. Aggron sighed, picking Rex up and placing him on his large head. Rex touched his horns, amazed, and barked excitedly.

"He's still a cub, Skarmory. Cut him some slack, will you? Why don't you take him for a fly?"

"Me?" He squawked, appalled. "Do I look like an airplane to you?"

"Steven still hasn't gotten rid of him after a week, so assume he's here to stay and you'll be Daddy Skarmory for a long while to come." He picked Rex up and set him on Skarmory's back. "Which also makes you an airplane."

"But—"

"Come on, Skarmory," Metagross said. Skarmory groaned, pecking at his feathers. "Da-ddy, Da-ddy," it continued in a chant.

"N-O no."

Rex barked. "D…Daddy!" Skarmory's feathers ruffled.

"I'm not your dad!"

"Aww, he talked." Aggron laughed.

"And he thinks Skarmory's his dad," Metagross said, it and Aggron sharing a good laugh at Skarmory's expense.

"Shut up, both of you!" Forgetting Rex was on his back, he took off, going straight up into the sky. Rex's claws weren't strong enough to keep a grip and he tumbled off Skarmory's back and started cartwheeling through the air. Aggron raced forward, Metagross attempting to grab him psychically.

"He's a Dark-type, I can't get a hold!" it shouted.

"I'm not fast enough!" Aggron yelled as Rex grew closer to the ground. From his angle of descent, he was going to hit the pavement near the playground. Skarmory wheeled around and, spotting Rex, folded his wings back for a dive, but even he wouldn't be fast enough. Steven ended his battle and shook the children's hands, turning in time to see Rex's little body collide with the pavement. He and his Pokémon raced over, finding him shrouded in a small bubble of translucent blue energy—Protect. When that faded, his left hind leg was sticking out at a strange angle and a pool of bright red blood was steadily building beneath him.

"Michaela…" Ali said as a small whine filled the room. Michaela raised her head sleepily when he laid her cub next to her. She smiled and rolled over, allowing him to stumble the three inches to her on his tiny paws to nurse. "Where's Dominic?" She shrugged a shoulder. He looked out of the window where a heavy storm had formed in Lilycove, thunder slamming down to rock buildings to their core and lightning skipping over the ocean's surface. "Oh, no," he said with a swear before grabbing his poncho and umbrella and racing through the door, slamming it behind him. Michaela stared after him worriedly.

"Dominic," she whispered, lowering her head to the wooden floor and letting a silent tear run down her face. As much as she wanted to look for Dominic as well, even though his scent would easily have been lost in the rain, she couldn't. Her newborn baby—their newborn baby was there and needed her attention. Thinking about him, he'd just get mad if she left the little guy alone anyway. She smiled sadly at the thought, licking her cub's cheek. "You're a he," she said to him, nuzzling him with her nose. "Daddy will be proud to see you. If only I could think of a name…"

Ali returned a while later. The digital clock was out of sorts from a power surge, but it felt like hours had passed. He dropped the umbrella and poncho next to the doormat, kicking his rain boots aside and slumping down on the couch, head in his hands. "I'm sorry, Michaela." His voice was rough, damn near shredded to pieces against the cage of his teeth. "The neighbors said they saw him out on the shore—I guess he was trying to catch fish for you two to eat, instincts maybe. No matter how much they called him, he wouldn't come back in until he caught something, and you know how terrible his hunting skills are. He would've been out there all day, except… There were a lot of wild Pokémon out there, and it looked like the lightning and thunder…drove them crazy, although no one has any idea why. They found him, Dominic, and they…" His voice crackled a little as thunder rumbled very close by.

"Dominic…" She held her cub close, the living remnant of Dominic, and licked his face. He just wiggled his nose, not really understanding, and she wished she could enjoy his painlessness too, but she couldn't. Dominic was gone and it would always hurt, not just for her but for everybody who knew him. She felt a little tickle and realized her cub was licking her tears. She let out a small laugh, releasing him and staring back into his wide blue eyes. "I'm okay… I'm okay…"

Ali stood up, surreptitiously wiping his eyes on his coat's sleeve before turning to her, lifting her cub to examine him. "Rex," he decided. "If that's alright with you." It was alright with Michaela, and her cub stuck his little tongue out at Ali. He was adorable, and Michaela just hoped that he could live long enough to know how amazing he was.

"Have you seen Skarmory?" Metagross asked. Steven was using Claydol and Cradily to battle a rookie Trainer a few feet away. Rex was playing quietly in the children's sandbox, making little mountains and houses out of rocks before knocking them down. Bandages still ringed his head and leg since his stitches still tended to bleed every now and again, but otherwise he was fine.

"No, not since morning," Aggron answered, keeping an eye on Rex. Armaldo had joined him, creating mud and hardening it to make a tough castle, which Rex attempted to knock down.

"Where could he have gone?"

"Heck if I know… I'm not his keeper." Rex made one feeble attempt to tap pinchers with Armaldo before turning away in disinterest. He yawned and started kicking his houses over, stepping on his mountains and crushing them. "Why would you do that?" Rex didn't respond right away, but when Metagross offered an arm, he crawled up willingly, settling in the nook of its elbow. "Rex?"

"Castaway," Rex said before huddling into himself.

"What does that mean?" Metagross asked, but he got no response from the cub. "Hey, Aggron?" Aggron just shrugged. "I don't understand why he's been so peculiar since then. Nurse Joy said he didn't sustain any brain damage."

"Maybe it's got nothing to do with his brain, I don't know. Maybe he just started thinking."

"About what? He's three years old."

"He's smart for a three-year-old and you know it." Metagross looked towards Steven, watching him command his team as he had been doing for a long time before Rex. Not for the first time, it wondered Steven's plans with the little guy. It wouldn't mind keeping him around, as a companion or teammate, but for now, all something as small and fragile as he could manage was getting hurt.

"Now you're thinking," Aggron said, stepping closer. Rex peeked up at him before returning to his tight little ball. "Worried about the brat?"

"I'm more worried for whose spot he'll take," it said lightly. "Hopefully Skarmory's."

Rex started whining and squeezed his eyes shut in pain. Aggron tried to lift him but he refused to be touched, running away to the swing set. "What's wrong?"

"Wa'er." Aggron looked up and took note of the dark storm clouds gathering above them.

"He's right. It's about to rain."

"Isn't Skarmory still out there?" Metagross asked.

"He'll be fine. He won't rust from a little rain." Aggron looked up again as a drop of rain fell on his nose, then several more joined it. Steven looked up and told the Trainer to go home before returning Cradily and Claydol.

"What about—oh, there." He picked Rex up and he immediately began barking and growling, clawing at Steven's shirt and arms. "What's wrong?" Rex didn't respond, but he soon tired out and buried his face in Steven's lapels with a low, consistent whine. "Maybe I should take him back to the Pokémon Center…"

He didn't have time to consider it, however, as the rain immediately began pouring, lightning flashing in the sky and thunder rolling nearby. The sights and sounds made Rex sick to his stomach, although he couldn't tell why. Steven returned Aggron and Metagross and bundled Rex in his coat so he could run down the sidewalk, headed back to his house. It wasn't that long of a travel at all, but the rain made the ground slippery and reduced visibility to nearly zero. Somehow, he made it back, slamming the door shut behind him. He set Rex down on the table, his fur soaked through and hanging on him like a weight. He turned the heat up and went to the bathroom to change. Rex whined softly and shook his fur dry, then he tried to settle again. Steven returned to towel him off, then set him by the fireplace where he began to doze. The rain still bothered him, but he'd forgotten why. A peck on the window stirred him, then Steven's rapid footsteps heading to open the latch.

"Skarmory," he said with a frown. Skarmory flew through the window and landed on the ground, completely soaked and with a piece of paper in his beak. He set it down next to Rex before sitting next to the fireplace. Steven picked it up and unfolded it, staring at it with an odd expression. "This is…him?" he asked, setting the paper down. Skarmory nodded. "Where did you find this?" Skarmory turned in the direction of the beach. Steven raised his eyebrows. "You looked through the wreckage to find this for him? Really?"

"I'm making an effort," Skarmory muttered even though Steven couldn't understand him. Rex looked over at the paper. It was a photograph of two baby Zorua, one male and one female (although Steven surely couldn't tell the difference). They were rolling on the dirt wrestling each other. A man's legs were in the background, and with the person holding the camera that meant two—two humans. He started sniffing the photo but Steven picked it up, inspecting the back of it.

"'Dad, I'm sorry I couldn't become a Trainer like you, but I'm happier just being with Pokémon than battling with them—maybe I'll be breeder or something, I don't know.'" He was reading the writing on the back, writing that smelled sort of familiar. "'But I have two Zorua now: the female's from a nursery—I named her after Mom, God rest her soul—and the male is a stray. He's wild and funny and cunning and really the perfect match for little Michaela—maybe they'll pair up someday, who knows. I've named him Dominic. —Ali.'" Steven looked once more at Rex before setting the photograph on the fireplace's mantle.

"I guess that makes you Dominic," he said.

"Dominic," he repeated drowsily, absently shuffling closer to Skarmory's warming exterior. "Dominic…"