1.5. Heart Sundae

"Did you lose a screw or something?" Reyes demanded, breaking the silence that had overtaken Dominic. He rolled his eyes a little before looking at Reyes as if coming from the recesses of his addled mind. "Why would you do that?" Dominic didn't respond right away, and Reyes felt his patience snap. He moved closer and seized Dominic by the fur around his neck. "Well? Answer!" Dominic's ears flattened against his head at his volume and he cringed away.

"Stop it…" he whimpered.

"Stop what? You're fucking ridiculous, King." The word brought Dominic's attention back in a hurry, and he regained that familiar confident glint to his eye. He grabbed Reyes' wrist with one hand and shoved away with the other, stumbling a little before regaining his balance.

"…Don't blow a gasket, Sceptile." The illusion immediately dispelled, freeing the now-confused Slateporters. No lasting damage was visible. "There, it's all good."

"My arm begs to differ," he said through his teeth, indicating his still-healing arm. Dominic folded his arms and rolled his eyes. "What the hell is your problem?"

"You mean aside from my usual?"

"Don't—you—care?"

"Why should I? They wouldn't hesitate to kill me if given the chance, so I make the first move. Inspire fear and assert dominance, then they know to leave me alone."

"Look," he said through a tense jaw, tossing aside Dominic's spiel, "I don't know the source of your sudden attitude problem, but fix it." The King sneered.

"Make me." Reyes' eyes narrowed.

"Dominic, if I attack you, I can't guarantee your life, not even for Alakazam."

"I should be telling you that." He started to move forward, claws spread, but Reyes knew his trick by now: he would mislead with his annoying banter and/or theatrics before striking, his speed working with his ruthlessness to get a good finishing shot right from the get-go. He had the obvious skills of a practiced killer, so it would have worked on anybody else, but on the contrary, Reyes was a juggernaut, which made him capable of withstanding Dominic's attacks and sending them right back at him.

Dominic launched himself at Reyes with incredible speed, claws prepared to dig his organs out. Reyes seized his wrists instead, setting his heels in the dirt to hold his position, and twisted Dominic down into the ground, pinning his arms behind his back. Dominic growled and tried to look into Reyes' eyes but he refused his gaze, staring adamantly at Dominic's leg, the one with the limp. There was an old scar his fur had almost grown long enough to cover. Reyes held his leaf blade close enough to Dominic's neck he could feel it slicing through the bandages into the teeth marks, reopening them and causing blood to stain his fur, but he went no further. "Kill me," Dominic demanded.

"Don't thing I won—" Dominic suddenly flipped Reyes, reversing positions, and dug his claws into Reyes' chest, getting globs of chlorophyll in his fur.

"Don't think the King won't kill you without a warning!" he said louder, slicing deep grooves into Reyes' neck that impaired his windpipe. Fortunately, being in the sunlight meant the King's attacks were restrained, and also he could continually heal himself. He pinned Dominic's wrists together with his vines and kicked him away. He flopped onto his back with an angry growl, fur bristling, and rushed Reyes again, claws out and flaming with dark energy. Reyes lurched to his feet and put his arms out. Dominic's claws sunk into his chest and stomach, giving him the biting sensation of dark energy, but he stood his ground, taking Dominic's forearms to slam him to the ground.

The air around them shimmered with extreme heat, and Reyes jumped away a second before Dominic and the area around him burst into large black fire that was far from being illusionary. "Ah, now see what you've made me done?" he said in his King voice, standing up and brushing the dirt from his fur. "Now I have to get my hands dirty, all for a stinking revolutionary." Reyes had only heard of hellfire: from what he'd read, it was the purest manifestation of dark energy in existence, burning away at anything and everything until the master had no negativity left to fuel it, and since it was Dominic he was facing, that sure as hell was a lost cause. "You should know hellfire burns like…well, Hell. It's also impossible to douse, weak only to the pure blood of a Legendary Pokémon, and you know how hard it is to injure one of them."

He snorted, backing away as the flames spread. They were fast, almost as fast as Dominic, and he had no chance of winning if he had to split his focus between the two of them. But that wasn't the main issue: If left untamed, they would burn out of control and take the city along with its inhabitants. He needed Dominic to stop them, but that required "Dominic" within his right mind. "Go away, King. I want to see Dominic, the real one."

He pulled back and lobbed a fireball at Reyes. He dodged with no small amount of effort, and a physical attack followed the projectile nearly impossibly fast. Reyes felt more than saw a chunk get sheared away from his shoulder, then he grabbed Dominic's wrist and flung him forwards. He hit the ground skidding and dug his claws into the cobblestone to gain traction, then he took a deep breath and used Flamethrower. Reyes used Agility to jump out of the flames' path, coming to a stop right behind Dominic, and when turned Reyes delivered a chop right to his neck. He doubled over to catch his breath and Reyes slammed his knee into his abdomen as hard as he could. Dominic gagged a spray of red blood that splattered across the stone at his feet before collapsing to his knees, and Reyes grabbed a fistful of his mane and smashed his face into the ground. His ears fell against his head, and a second later the hellfire around them sputtered out. Reyes sighed, releasing him and sitting next to his prone form.

"I told you I didn't want to do this." His left ear twitched, proving he was conscious, but he didn't respond, instead remaining face-down in the growing puddle of his blood. "You think it's fun for me to beat down a kid this way?"

Dominic growled and finally turned his head, giving Reyes a sharp look with one eye. "Kill me."

"Is that what you want? To die?" Dominic looked into Reyes' eyes, but Reyes wasn't scared.

"You won. You proved your point. Finish the job."

"I changed my mind. You should be familiar with the concept."

"Kill me," he insisted. Reyes didn't move, and he growled until he realized Reyes wouldn't do any more. Dominic's furious expression dissolved into dissent.

"…Don't feel sorry for me," he muttered, dropping his head to the ground.

"I can't help but feel sorry for you. Being alone did things to your mind."

"Shut up. I love being alone."

"No, you don't. You're afraid the loneliness will make you think, and you hate where your thoughts lead you. You're not as much insane as paranoid."

"Get off me! You're not my psychologist!"

"There's danger about you, sure, but you're more likely to hurt yourself than others." Dominic squinted a little at the remark but Reyes ignored him. "You have to make an effort to clear up whatever is going on in your brain, because the way you are now—"

"—I won't make friends, I won't have a family, I won't be loved," he sneered. "Oh, yeah, I've heard it all before. Maybe I don't want all of that."

"Maybe you don't want it," Reyes agreed. "But, Dominic, you really do need it." Dominic got to his feet, muttering some nasty things under his breath as he slunk away. Reyes kept his guard up, but the guy was so pitiful he didn't see a point in doing so: his neck was still leaking blood, his eyes crossed a little from vertigo (most likely from the blood loss), and apparently his muscles were affected too, because he was walking like a skeleton on strings.

"Telling me what I do and don't need," he muttered, followed by something Reyes couldn't understand at all, he said it so low.

"You're going to help the marketgoers and clean up the vendors' stalls, and you won't make a single complaint or else I'll personally have your head," he added, his voice dropping in warning. "It won't be a change, but it will be a start."

"And if I don't?"

"I'm not your parent," Reyes said plainly. "I'm not going to force you to do anything you don't want to. You have to choose to change yourself." He growled, his fur standing on end, but he only managed to look daunting for a few seconds before breaking into a coughing fit. After that, his eyes were narrow but acquiescent. Dominic, the King, whatever he chose to call himself, believed in power and dominance: Reyes won, so he had some measure of control over him, at least for the time being.

"Fuck you, you sound like a damn Christmas movie or something," he muttered under his breath, but Reyes held his eyes until he shuffled back to the booths. Maybe Dominic had potential to change after all.

Reyes watched Louis dock his boat on the pier, hopping onto the slick wood with a little difficulty. "You took your time in arriving," Reyes noted wryly. Louis laughed a little in embarrassment, scratching behind his ear.

"I'm not the best with anything nautical. I don't know why Jamal sent me. Who in their right mind sends a Fire-type to do this stuff? So, where's the enemy?" Reyes pointed at him still helping the vendors clean up. "He's actually helping humans?"

"Yes, and more or less of his own volition," Reyes replied. "He has the mind of a child and the fickle tendencies of the weather, but apparently he has some semblance of goodwill in him too."

"That's weird. I thought all rebels only cared about themselves."

"The rebels are like us in that they care about each other and they care about their cause, and so they care about anything that benefits their cause and will use any means necessary to attain their goals." He figured most of that on his own, but he'd be damned if he had to admit some facts came from the King as well. "Even we do the same, you know." He sighed and shook his head. "Even so, the King does have his good points."

"Like…?"

"Not that I've seen them yet, but I'm confident they're in there somewhere." He looked over and noticed a pair of dark-haired children playing with a piece of broken glass, using it to reflect red-colored light on the cobblestones. Dominic was completely entranced by the trick, pouncing on the light and chasing after it like a common house pet.

"Maybe he's too stupid to really be a threat?"

"That's more good news than a good point. He does have the power to slaughter all of us…if his I.Q. wasn't in the negative regions." Dominic finally dropped on his back with exhaustion and the little girl came over and scratched his stomach. He arched his torso into her fingers, laying back on the ground and letting his tongue loll out. "But he's also a child. Maybe because of that, I can't really hate him."

"You're just too nice, Reyes."

He sighed. "And don't I know it. Dominic!" Dominic raised his head and sunk into another growl but stood up, pushing the child away (not at all roughly, Reyes noticed) and stalked over.

"I did your damn work what else do ya want from me," he muttered in one breath.

"We're leaving." His ears perked up.

"Really? Finally?" Then his attention was drawn to Louis and he cocked his head to the side. "Who's the monkey?"

"Louis, meet the King. Idiot, meet Louis." He gestured to Louis, an amazingly naïve Monferno specimen.

"Bastard," Dominic said to him. "You took your damn sweet time getting here, didn't you?"

Louis started. "Uh…"

"Ignore him," Reyes said, punching Dominic in the side. "Dominic's mouth has yet to catch up with his brain."

"Dominic?" Louis repeated. "That's your name?"

"Don't wear it out." At times like that, it was hard to discern "who" was doing the talking.

"Where did you come from?"

"I dunno, the water?"

"You mean a boat? Where did the boat come from?"

"I dunno…the water?"

"Yeah, boats are on the water, but where was it docked for you to get aboard?"

"Can I kill him?" he asked Reyes instead.

"Let's go already." Fortunately, Louis had brought along a boat decent enough to hold cabins, which was great considering Ever Grande would be an overnight trip, but conversely horrible, because that would mean sleeping within ten feet of "the King." "Louis, do the cabins have reinforced doors?" he asked Louis.

"Um…yeah."

"Great…" He may find a way though. I'm confident in his resourcefulness, he thought sourly. Killing is the only thing he's good at, really. He boarded the blue-painted boat and looked over his shoulder. Dominic was still standing on the dock staring at it with an abject look on his face. "Dominic." He groaned and jumped the short distance between the pier and the boat. His weight made the bow dip several inches initially. "Why are you so heavy?"

"It's my fur with all the weight," he said, somewhat offended. It was quite amazing weight-based jokes hurt his feelings more than being called monster or psychopathic.

"You need to take everything out. If you fell in the water, you'd drown in a second," Louis explained. Dominic groaned and stomped his feet, but regardless he undid his ponytail and shook his fur out. Eighteen objects of various origin fell out, ranging obnoxiously from a stereo boom box to a framed painting that looked like it was stolen from a museum.

"Motherfu— Are you a pawn shop?" Reyes asked.

"Oh, wait, there's more." He combed his fingers through his fur and three fish Pokémon hit the ground: two Magikarp and a live Octillery. "Shit," he commented, kicking the Octillery back into the water. He let out a hard breath and turned back to the two with folded arms and a dry expression. "Is that it, or is there a pat-down next?"

"You know, it's very likely you'll be joining them in the water with that attitude."

"Bite me," he said with a growl. Reyes held his gaze until he eventually turned away with a huff, then focused on Louis. "I've done as you asked."

"That's it, isn't it?" Reyes asked Louis. He nodded his head.

"We're already stocked up, so we can leave right away." He untied the rope locking the boat to the pier and went inside of the main cabin. The engine started up seconds later, then Slateport was quickly shrinking behind them as they moved across the sea. Dominic stumbled slightly at the sudden movement, then he practically threw himself against the railing, his muscles tensing as he gripped it for dear life. Reyes really didn't understand why he was freaking out so much considering they had just ridden a boat—surely he couldn't have gotten hydrophobic that quickly. Then again, it was hard to understand anything with him. Against his better judgment and severely limited trust, he slowly approached Dominic from behind and placed a hand on his shoulder. Dominic didn't tense, which was good, but it wouldn't have made a difference anyway—he was already as tightly strung as a rope.

"Please, no pity or therapy or psychology or—"

"No, I just have a general question for you."

"—Huh?"

Reyes moved forward so he could stare out at the world too. "Does this look as beautiful to you as it does to me?"

He took a couple of deep breaths that did nothing to relax his stance. "You don't want to know what I see."

"Try me." He didn't expect Dominic to grab his wrist, and doubly didn't expect the image that overtook his eyes: He saw a sky clouded by grey plumes that poured shattering shards of rain like knives, stabbing at his skin and pounding furiously on the boat. Below, the sea was black as lead and rolled as thunder, slapping and slamming against the hull and tossing them to and fro. He looked over at Dominic, who licked his chops before carefully moving his claws back to the railing. Instantly, he was staring at the calm blue water once more. "What was that?"

"Memories." He lowered himself until he could drop his chin on the railing. "Dominic uses me to hide his pain. I see this, and he sees nothing but fucking rainbows. Heh, well, mostly."

"This whole time, you were the King, huh? Why is it you never tried to kill me?"

"I don't have the energy," he said after a moment, rubbing his injured neck. It had stopped bleeding for the most part, and his fur was starting to grow around the punctures and hide them from view. "And the King doesn't like chlorophyll—it's sticky and ugly and smells too sweet."

"That didn't stop you any other time."

"The King finds you terribly annoying."

"Yes, well, do you want to know how I find you?" A growl built low in his throat.

"You don't know me."

"Maybe, but nothing's stopping me from taking shots in the dark." The King blinked twice before his eyes narrowed with suspicion. Reyes took the silence as an invitation to go on. "I'm starting to understand you two a little better. You're the same coin, but opposite sides." He frowned at the sea before returning his eyes to Reyes. There was none of that manic energy about him anymore; in fact, if Reyes didn't know any better, he would have thought he was talking to Dominic.

"Dominic can and will kill, not just when he has to. He seems innocent and easy-going, but don't be fooled. The one that killed those kids back in Rustboro was him, since he's the one that cares enough about factionless strays to avenge them or whatever."

"I'm not saying killing is ever good, but Dominic at least has more reason than you."

"Bah, reason. Killing is killing whether it's done with good taste or no taste. But you don't understand that yet: you still believe a justified killing is straight. When your hands are bloodied it doesn't matter why."

"So, why do you exist in the first place? No offense—actually, I don't care if I'm offending you. You have no purpose if you only kill at Dominic's inconvenience."

"Dominic has a lot of fears," he said after a stretch of pensive silence. He looked oddly contrite, and again Reyes thought he was talking to the other. "He has a lot, but I think the strongest he has is the fear of death. As a little cub facing the world going to shit, what else could he have done? What else could I have done? It's kill or be killed, and he knew where he stood."

"Yes, well, I don't think anyone chooses to be killed."

It was comical to see the King gaping, but that quickly stopped when he threw his head back and laughed. "Oh, you naïve little sapling. You still have much to learn." That statement officially ticked Reyes off.

"You may be smart-mouthed, but I'm still your senior. I've seen more than you have, stupid kid."

"Maybe, but I've done more. And there's something about burying your claws to the hilt in your own kind, knowing your hesitation would've put you on the receiving end, that throws a few decades on you. Maybe I'm a stupid kid, but you're a naïve adult, you all are."

"Dominic," Reyes said, his voice low in warning. His brows furrowed and an ear flicked.

"I'm not Dominic. Get your brain outta your ass." Yet his expression did not match his tone.

"I don't know about that. You both say the same stupid things."

"I'm not Dominic," he repeated. "And you'd do well to remember. I would've peeled you like a banana a long time ago; Dominic is the only reason you're still standing."

Reyes didn't know what woke him up, but at least it wasn't him lying in a pool of his own blood. He sat up in bed rubbing his jaw, glancing groggily at the wall clock. "Just past three, damn it," he mumbled, sliding to the ground. The boat rocked steadily beneath his feet, not sickeningly but still noticeably. He raised his head as the sound came again: a hurried knock on the door.

I bet I know who it is.

He opened the door and saw Dominic standing in the hallway, one arm holding his pillow to his chest and the other waving frantically in the air—obviously, that was Dominic. "Can I sleep over?" he asked, smiling hopefully.

"No." Reyes shut the door in his face.

"Plea—"

"No." Dominic was quiet, then there was a thump as he sat down on the other side of the door.

"Do you…hate me?" His voice was small.

"Do you really care for the answer?"

"I wouldn't ask if I didn't," he started angrily, then sighed. "I…yer the first person I…talked to in a l…and yer not a figme I just wanna know…"

"I thought I did," Reyes said long after Dominic went silent. "But…and I may be jumping the gun here, trying to add logic and reason where none exists…but I don't think you wanted to be like this. I didn't want to be living like this."

"I didn't wanna be a big killer and tyrant, ya mean," he muttered. "Ya don't have to be nice about it. I'm a bad…no, terrible person. It's fine."

Reyes didn't want to get involved. Why should he have? His only job was to take the King from point A to point B—there was no talking or coddling required. The King certainly didn't need coddling, with enough skills to take down a Sableye in under a minute and almost fight Reyes to a standstill. But he was slowly learning to make the distinction between the King, an iron-hearted killer, and Dominic, the unlucky child. Neither of them he was particularly fond of being around, but if he had to make an honest choice…

"Do you regret any of it?"

"Regret…hmm." That was the King. "I wouldn't go so far as to say that, Sceptile."

"So?"

"I feel accomplished. I feel I did what I wanted for everything I've done."

"So, you're proud of making a murderer of yourself. Of both of yourselves."

"I wouldn't say that."

"Then what do you say to help yourself sleep at night, huh?"

"You shut up!" he yelled. "You think you can read me like a stupid book, but you're wrong."

"Then why don't you tell me what I'm wrong about?" He was yelling now too.

"Me! How things work! Everything!" Dominic banged on the door. "You're wrong! Wrong wrong wrong!"

"And you're—"

"Stop trying to get me! There's nothing to get! Just tell me to screw off and call it a damn day for yourself, you stupid Sceptile!"

As ridiculous as Dominic—or should he say the King—could get, Reyes always thought himself a step ahead. Because, as ridiculous as he could be, Reyes had more world experience. "You want me to hate you," he said quietly.

"…You should." His voice was hoarse. "Everyone does. I thought you did, and things were fine and dandy then, but…you should hate me, Sceptile."

"I hate to break it to you, Dominic—"

"I'm not."

"—but I'm not inclined to do anything you want. So, I won't hate you."

"Reyes," he began, then dissolved into badly muffled laughter. Reyes hesitated for a second before pulling the door open. Dominic fell onto his back with a broad grin on his face, and his eyes locked with Reyes'. "Yer the worst."

"Takes one to know one, right?" His smile faded and he closed his eyes, heaving a heavy sigh. Reyes could almost feel the weight of his burden.

"I came from here, except my parents were from Unova," he started. "My mom was adopted from a Pokémon Breeder and my dad was a stray picked up by the same guy. My name, also, wasn't always Dominic—that's my dad's name. My real name is Rex, and it means king." He didn't say any more than that, but it was still a lot of unfamiliar information about him.

"That doesn't sound that bad." Then again, he could sense there was more to come. Dominic opened his mouth, closed it again, then looked off to the side.

"…I hafta let him talk now. He knows what I don't." He sighed again and threw his arm over his eyes.

"The human, Ali, was a seaman. He loved travelling and going to unexplored places, but not to battle, which his dad didn't like. On the night I was born, it was storming horribly. My dad, he went out instead of staying with my mom, and nobody knows why, but he went out to the beach. He was attacked and killed by some wild Pokémon. My mom and Ali, they were killed during a storm at sea. I washed up, the only one still alive because my mother sacrificed herself to save me, and Steven Stone found me."

"…Well?" Reyes prompted when he went silent.

"When the revolution began, Dominic took his kindness and repaid it by killing him and his Pokémon in cold blood. That's where it started. That's where I was 'born.'" He pushed himself into a sitting-up position with his back to Reyes. "You can use your imagination and picture the worse that a person can do, and worse things than that are what I've reveled in. And I don't regret it, Mr. Psychologist. It's because of everything I've done that I survived as long as I have: people fear me, therefore they stay away from me."

"They can't hurt you," he finished. Dominic moved so suddenly Reyes had no time to respond. He was tackled to the ground and Dominic's claws were digging into his wrists, pinning him down.

"Fuckin' a-right they can't hurt me," he said in a low voice. "And people like you stop trying to play these pointless ass mind games with me." He slammed Reyes' arms down hard enough to hurt. One of Dominic's knees dug into his lower stomach, most definitely bruising.

"You're a real friendly fuck, aren't you?" He raised his leg and kicked Dominic in the stomach, sending him flying backwards until his back hit the farthest wall. He was back on his feet by the time Dominic recovered and charged him again. He went for a slash with his claws and Reyes simply knocked his paw away. He kept trying, though, striking at his face and neck and stomach, but Reyes always blocked, never returned.

"Why aren't you hitting back?" he eventually shouted, flames swelling in the back of his throat. Reyes lurched forward and grabbed his neck and nose. He flailed for a moment before gripping Reyes' arms, trying to pull him away even as his eyes rolled back from suffocation. Reyes released him and he landed hard on the ground, gasping for air with smoke trailing out from between his teeth. Reyes sighed with annoyance and exhaustion.

"Give it a rest already, Dominic."

"I'm not!" He growled and attempted to stand, but it seemed he'd reached his limit for the day, because he couldn't rise higher than his elbows.

"You could've been a revolutionary," Reyes thought aloud. "If all you wanted to do was survive, you could've been a revolutionary. You would have been fighting for good." Dominic laughed weakly.

"There's no good and bad, Sceptile, not anymore. And even if there was, think about it: why wouldn't everyone be a revolutionary? Your Alakazam is so strong, he could turn anyone he pleased to your side, whether by force or—whatever. But he doesn't. He picks and chooses the same way Blaziken does, and guess what?" Reyes crouched down and met his eyes. They were narrow with hate. "He didn't fuckin' choose me. So, I chose. And if I chose wrong, it's on his ass." Then, as Reyes held his gaze, they abruptly filled with tears. "I'm sorry. Sorry, Reyes…" He shut his eyes tightly, then they snapped open again when Reyes rested a hand on his head between his ears.

"I don't hate you…and sadly, I don't think I can. I wonder why."

"Yer probably an idiot like me," he muttered. Reyes smirked ruefully.

"Probably, yeah." Dominic smiled, then a particularly large wave struck the hull. His ears snapped close to his head and he curled in on himself with a low whine. Knowing what he now did about Dominic, he reaction made more sense. Reyes, though, couldn't understand his own reaction: he shut his door with Dominic still inside and sat next to him on the floor, still with his hand on Dominic's head.' Reyes let out a long breath and closed his eyes.

I really am too soft.