To be honest, I really forgot about updating this story for a while. Luckily I still have all the story typed out and just needed to be edited through and through. Still, sorry for the delay guys! XD I'm here again with another chapter of Promise Me, which I'm sure some of you are happy to read again! Also, since my eyes suck from time to time, don't be afraid to tell me if there are any errors in the story. I like to improve!

Oh and I'm rethinking the battle scenes after the story. I don't think a full battle between King and Lance is all that interesting. Not only that, but King vs Zapdos doesn't sound too appealing. I'll leave it to you guys to vote in the comments if you want to see some matches after the story is done. 15 positive messages about either Lance, Zapdos or Future-Iris, I'll do them. 15 for each though.

(Also, I'd still highly appreciate it if people create fanart of King for me XD Like I said before, just picture Mega Charizard X's body and colors mixed with Y's ragged wings and spiked tail! If someone makes some fanart, I'll link it on my page for everyone to see!)

Now let's get down to it!

"So, this is it then?" - Human Speech

'Wow, I expected something... more.' - Human Thoughts

"Ready for the worst mistake of your life?" - Pokémon Speech

'I'm itching for a fight you little shit!' - Pokémon Thoughts

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, except my Mega OC!

Chapter 7: Guilty Conscience

Once again, King was pulled from his slumber the second his ears picked up the sound of crunching rocks.

He half-expected Sophia to be in front of him. She was literally the only one who would waltz in like this. But then he remembered that it was still nighttime. And there was no way she'd travel alone in the middle of the night, at least not without someone else accompanying her. And by the sounds, it was more of a single creature within his cave.

Growling, he pulled himself from Iris' hold and started to stand up. tail burning hotter.

"Whoa, whoa! Easy there, hot-head!" A scratchy voice rushed out. "It's just me!"

If he wasn't so disoriented from being asleep a few moments ago, King's alert posture would've slumped into one of minor annoyance.

With a hint of sleepy anger.

King had already acknowledged who the voice belonged to.

Having encountered him plenty of times, it was hard to forget. Especially when he's the only Pokémon who'd dare call him by that nickname instead of Pyro…

Nevertheless, King's red eyes squinted as his vision finally adjusted to the dark, the fire he set up having already went out during their slumber. It only took a few seconds before he could make out the features of his 'guest'.

It was a Pokémon all right, that much could be said from anyone else.

He was a quadrupedal Pokémon, at a height of 2"7", with pitch black fur covering his neck and head; the fur concealing everything from his mouth. There was an 'explosion' of fur that surrounded his neck with six purple spots encircling it, almost resembling bruises if inspected incorrectly. There was a spike atop of his head, made from fur or bone was unknown, but it definitely resembled a horn if anything else. And underneath his fur was dark blue skin.

King would've sighed in exasperation and face-'clawed' if he wasn't still tired from being awoken.

Instead, he opted for a simple growl and narrowed eyes that demanded answers. "What the hell are you doing here Deino?"

The Dark/Dragon type fearlessly continued his trek towards the grumpy Fire type. "Is that any way to greet your best friend?" Another growl, this time as a more aggressive warning. "Ok, ok! So for the past few weeks, I've been out traveling to visit a cousin of mine and the second I come back, I hear rumors about 'the Forest Pyro adopting a human child'?" The smaller Pokémon snickered.

King shuffled enough to give Deino a quick glance of the sleeping Iris beneath his wing, knowing his hair covered eyes were keen enough to see in the dark. "As you can see, the rumors are true."

He stopped and there was a lengthy silent pause from Deino as he stared at Iris, something that gave King a sense of curiosity. The prankster was never quiet, nevertheless easily caught off guard by anything before. He would always play things off with a smile…

It was a few seconds until Deino was brought back to his senses and King saw a grin return on his face. "It seems they are." It looked a bit forced.

However, King wasn't one to take jokes so lightly after recently being woken from his sleep. "Deino, if you don't tell me why you're in my cave in the middle of the Arceus-damn night," The flames flickering between King's fangs picked up heat and flared in tiny bursts. "I will personally see to it that you return to the forest with less hair and broken legs."

"Always the grumpy one, aren't you?" Deino teased again, but it sounded a little hesitant. Nervous. Nonetheless, Deino didn't stop walking until he was 2 feet away from King and began to settle down on a patch of soft dirt. The grin dropped. "Alright, I'll cut to the chase."

The way Deino tilted his head gave King the impression that they were staring each other in the eyes.

"I want to join the kid's team."

…

….

…

"You've got to be kidding me." King deadpanned. "If this is another one of your pranks-"

"Nope. In fact, I'm quite serious." Judging by Deino's voice, King detected no trace of lying. But there was a hint of something else, like there was something more… "I've always wanted to travel, and you know this because I told you before. And the second I come back, I hear more rumors about the kid building up a Pokémon team, I thought to myself 'This could be a perfect chance to finally see the world'."

It was almost unnerving for King to see the grin leave Deino's face.

Never before had he seen such a serious expression on the Dark type's face. It was always a smile, smirk or a grin. He always thought things to be funny, seeing a joke in nearly everything that happens in the forest. And with each time King had encountered Deino in his cave, reluctantly, he always remembered Deino's words to be peppy and humorous whenever he spoke.

But now…?

King shook his head to rid himself of the confused thoughts running around his head. "Absolutely not."

"What?" If Deino was surprised, his voice didn't convey it.

"I said no." Finding his anger returning, King's head lifted higher in an attempt to look down at Deino with an intimidating gaze. "If you think I'm letting you near Iris, you got another thing coming."

"Why the sudden hate? I did nothing wrong-"

"Let me stop you right there." King quickly interrupted. Jutting out a claw, he poked Deino's snout. "You did do something wrong, something I find very hard to forgive and forget."

Deino's head reeled back in slight discomfort. "If you're talking about my pranks with the villager's stuff…?"

"No, not them. I'm talking about Iris here." He lifted his wing and gestured to the sleeping girl before them. "I'm sure you didn't hear how we met right?" Deino slowly shook his head. "Well guess what? I found her beaten and unconscious during that storm a few weeks back, getting attacked by a Serperior. And you know what I heard from Iris when she woke up?" Deino felt a tiny amount of sweat trickle down his hidden forehead once he found King's red eyes just a few inches away from his. "I heard that she got lost in the forest, chasing after you."

"….. Oh boy." There was a gulp.

King angrily flashed his teeth. "'Oh boy'? Is that all you got to say for yourself after ditching a little girl in a forest?"

Deino was sputtering trying to find the right words before he found himself on the receiving end of King's infamous Flamethrower. Or worse, Dragon Claw… "Look, that night wasn't exactly… what you heard. I was forced to leave her behind."

"… You have a full minute." King said coldly, sensing some form of truth behind Deino's words. "I'm counting."

'Thank Arceus.' The Dark type mentally sighed in relief. As friendly as he was to King, being the only one to typically annoy him on a day-by-day basis and come out unscathed, he knew just as much as everyone else how dangerous it was to mess with an angry Charizard. Especially when the subject of King's anger was sleeping right next to him.

Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves and make sure to keep a level head, Deino started his explanation with a tiny cough. "To start things off, it is true that I led the kid around the forest in a wild-goose chase. But I honestly meant no harm. I was going to let her 'catch' me and escort her back to the village when we were done. But while we were running, we accidentally stumbled into Beartic's territory."

"The one with an apple tree with 3 claw marks on the trunk?"

Deino nodded.

"I was so busy letting her chase me around that I didn't notice until it was too late." Deino continued with a dejected sigh. "But you have to believe me when I say I didn't want to leave the kid behind. By the time I noticed where we were, Beartic woke up and immediately attacked me. He thought I was trying to steal his apples again."

'Of course that stingy asshole would think that.' King growled to himself. The minute-long time limit was forgotten at this point. "What happened next?"

"You already know that once Beartic finds anyone who trespasses on his territory, he doesn't stop until he 'teaches them a lesson'." Deino's body shuffled in place in a horrified shiver. If King didn't know any better, he would've guessed Deino was reliving a flashback of his own. "It was Ice-Beam, one after another, and I was forced to run for my life, King. Beartic gave me no chance to help the kid get home."

"Okay, let's say I believe you," King started off slowly, not ready to believe everything so easily. "Why didn't you come find me to ask for help looking for her?"

"King," The Dark/Dragon type deadpanned. "Beartic broke one of my legs hunting me down." Deino grimly informed, his left hind leg twitching in imaginary pain. "And he broke several of my ribs. I couldn't move around even if I wanted to." The Dark type sighed and turned his head towards the sleeping Iris. "Besides, it took me nearly a week to heal up enough to travel. And during that time, I figured the villagers found her before anything bad happened."

"Deino, Iris has been living with me for months." King reminded with a flat glare. "You mean to tell me that you didn't try, at least once, to contact me about Iris being lost?"

"I wanted to. I really wanted to, but I was scared." Deino made an audible gulp. "I went to the village first to see if she made it back." The Dark/Dragon type dipped his head down and his voice took a quitter turn. "But when I didn't find her, I thought… you know. And I didn't want to tell you because I knew you'd be mad. I thought whatever didn't involve you wouldn't be a problem in the future."

King only stared at Deino's lowered head with a silent and inspecting gaze.

It was well past the minute time limit King had promised and so far, King found himself start to believe everything Deino just revealed to him. As much a prankster Deino was known to be, King and everyone else knew that he was no liar when it came to stuff as serious as this.

He may joke about it, but lie he did not.

"Deino, I'm only going to ask once." King finally said, seeing the Dragon type lift his head back up. The bigger Pokémon felt his anger leave his body along with a breath of air. He continued to speak in an even, calm tone of voice. "Was everything you said true? It would be very, very unlucky for you if I found out all of this was a lie."

"I swear I'm not lying King!" Deino exclaimed as he frantically jumped on all fours. "I would never willingly endanger a child like that!"

"Shush or you'll wake up Iris." King scolded lightly, putting a claw over his muzzle before gesturing a claw for him to lower his voice and sit down. Deino, hesitating, complied to King's demands and slowly sat himself back down, allowing his tense muscles to relax.

King felt movement under his wing and looked down to check up on Iris. The young girl wasn't show signs of waking up. Instead she was trying to find a better position to sleep. And as King looked at her, he couldn't stop the image of a bruised and battered Iris from the night he found her.

Even to this day, King thanked the heavens that he was given a chance to rescue her before Serperior finished her off. He would never forget the way she looked; shaking from the cold, drenched from the rain and twitching in her sleep each time her wounds brushed against a rock or leaf.

He'd never forgive himself if he knew Iris was in danger and failed to rescue her…

King closed his eyes and sighed from his nostrils, unconsciously letting out puffs of smoke. "Look Deino, as much as I hate to admit it, you're not the type to lie. And there's nothing giving me the idea that this was all a sick joke." His red eyes gazed upon Deino once again, but instead of an enraged glare, there was more of an understanding look in them. "But there's still the fact that you willingly allowed Iris to chase after you in the dead of night in the first place."

"I know," Deino sadly mumbled. "And I regretted it each day. I just…" He paused to let out an agitated huff of air and stomped a foot in the dirt. "I just wished Beartic wasn't such a prick and attacked me! I could've saved her if I escaped quick enough!"

"… You're a good kid, Deino." King said. "I can tell you've been stressed about this for a long time. That means you felt guilty about your actions. And for that," King reached out and laid a hand on Deino's head. He gave the smaller Pokémon a small, warm smile. "I forgive you."

"What? F-For real?"

"Yeah." King nodded.

Deino felt his legs go numb and he was sure that he'd have fallen if he was standing. His body felt lighter, more relaxed as if a heavy burden had been dropped from his shoulders. "W-Wow…" He didn't know what else to say. Now that he got it all off his chest, Deino was sure King would be understanding enough to accept his explanation and even forgive his actions.

But he expected a punishment of some kind to 'correct his mistakes'.

Not flat out forgiveness with no strings attached!

"Now I need to ask you one more thing Deino. And I want you to really think about your answer." King let the Dark/Dragon type recollect himself before he continued. For his next question, he wanted to make sure Deino was in the right state of mind to answer him. Leaning forward and maintaining a level that would assume to be direct eye-contact, King spoke in a clear tone. "What is your real reason for wanting to join Iris' team."

"I-I wanted to protect her." Deino answered slowly, but he sounded sure of himself. King listened closely to his words. "Day by day, I never stopped worrying about her. Then I hear that she wants to become a Dragon Master… after what I did, I feel like it's my job to help her. It is the only way I can make it up to her."

"Is that the truth?" Deino nodded. "Then I'm perfectly fine with you traveling with Iris. But my consent doesn't mean anything if she doesn't agree with me. When Iris wakes up in the morning, I will talk to her about everything that happened here and then I'll leave it up to her to come up with a decision."

"Thank you, King." Deino stood back up and bowed his head before the bigger dragon. "You don't know how much this means to me. As long as she thinks it over, that'll be enough for me. I'll accept whatever choice she makes."

"Good." King said. He arched a scaly brow when he saw Deino nod once before turning around and start walking away. "Hey, where do you think you're going?"

"Uh, home?"

"Not now, you aren't." King declared, much to Deino's confusion. The Mega Charizard pointed to the spot Deino recently sat upon and grinned. "You're staying here until Iris wakes up. Now come over here and get comfy."

"Are, are you sure that's a good idea?" Deino slowly walked back to his spot. "Won't Iris be mad when she sees me?"

"Nope. Never had Iris expressed any hate about you ditching her in the middle of the forest." Deino flinched at King's blunt choice of words. "Although, she might be confused and maybe even a little upset when she wakes up. But I'll handle that when the time comes."

"If you say so…" Deino took his spot on the ground and found King laying his head back down, letting himself relax once more.

"If you'll excuse me, I'm going back to sleep." King closed his eyes and let out a yawn. "And I better find you when I wake up." He warned with a small puff of fire from his nose.

"O-Okay…" When King heard the sound of shuffling, he cracked open an eye to see Deino moving back a few more feet until he was laying down next to the walls. King watched as the smaller Pokémon moved around to find a comfortable position. Then he saw the Deino finally lay down with his back facing him and Iris.

He waited a few moments before he could hear the soft breathing from Deino.

King sighed again and closed his eye. 'He's a good kid, that's for sure. I just hope Iris accepts his apology. She'll need a loyal partner to protect her when she leaves…'

Now that King was finally able to return to his sleep, he allowed his mind to go over everything that just happened. And so far, he could honestly see Iris allowing Deino to join her team for the future. But the more he thought about Iris, the more he thought back to their previous discussion.

'… Can I call you dad?'

The phrase repeated in his head and made King inwardly groan to himself.

The upcoming morning was bound to be an eventful one, that much could be said. But now King was troubled with two things: convincing Iris to accept Deino's apology and… expecting Iris to start calling him papa from now on.

'Arceus, I'll deal with it when we wake up.' King thought to himself, shaking his head. 'I just hope Iris isn't doing something she'll regret.' He paused for a moment. 'If I'm lucky, maybe she'll forget this night ever happened and pass it off as a dream…?'

King slowly drifted off to sleep.

If only he knew…

How was that guys? So we finally got to see Deino fess up to his crimes, interesting no? Anyway, I'll try to update a little quicker next time so don't worry your little heads XD And remember my note above, about the battles after the story? 15 messages or reviews from people who want to see King vs Lance, Zapdos, or better yet Future-Iris!

I'll leave it there guys!

REVIEW OR PRIVATE MESSAGE me any questions regarding the story!

But still, seriously. REVIEW PLEASE!

And remember, if anybody has found or made any type of fanart of King, please don't be afraid to tell me! I'd love to see it! (Mega Charizard X's black/blue colors and body mixed with Y's ragged wings and spiked tail!)

Stay tuned for more!

REVIEW PLEASE! XD