"Beast." A curious word. So many of the words in the language spoken here taste odd on his tongue. He finds he enjoys this one. It seems a fitting word for the man before whom he kneels in all but fact.[break][break]
"Got somethin' to say to you. I'll try t'be quick." Recognizing an apex predator for what it is, the dog doesn't waste any time. The woman to whom he has sworn his life pledged them to dangerous creatures.[break][break]
"I fucked up on that mission. Killin' that girl wasn't the right play." Stupid as he is, he refuses to patronize the beast by specifying which one. "And I wanna do better. For Rocket. For me. Those trials you guys put us through were for somethin' called Spectra, right? Special training for grunts? What happened to that?"

When the answer comes, he stands up straighter. His hand rests upon the hilt of his sword. Amber eyes are filled with resolve that borders on human. He looks less a hunched creature and more a samurai.[break]
"I made a promise to the one whom my soul is bound." He says in the language of Johto and Kanto. He says it in that language so there can be no misunderstanding or words lost in translation. "She made me promise not to die, and if we're gonna be fightin' the people on that island again, I gotta get better. Need somebody who'll tell me if I fuck up." Standing there, he wonders if that's good enough. Beneath the sudden dignity in the amber lies hunger - a desire to be better after a lifetime of lazy talent.

"I gotta use my brain. Even if it's hard. You had her under control. If I'd just thought about what you meant..." Voice trailing off, he considers all the things that girl would never get to do. He'd denied her the right to grow up.[break]
"Killing people we're not supposed to's sloppy. It's one thing if they're tryin' to kill us. At that point, they're idiots, but a kid? Nah. Bad call. Swinging a blade just to swing it's not the play." There's a clarity to his words, his mind working, growing pains. It's like a dog is trying to walk on two legs.

This question is a minefield. Much like a miscalculation on the battlefield, a wrong word spells his doom. Thinking back to that day, he remembers the many failures that resulted in the decimation of his Pokemon team.[break][break]
"I fought one of the Elite 4. The red-headed one." That's as close to naming MATIAS SILPH as he's likely to get. "I wasn't aggressive enough. I let him play by his rules. While he was killing my Pokemon, I could have had a Kartana sneak around. I could've killed him if I'd thought a little outside the box." And what a mighty prize that would've been, to kill Groudon's avatar.[break][break]
"The champion, too. Daryl Martinez." He names kyle lopez without realizing what he's doing. His words betray no mockery. The name his said with his whole chest and ample sincerity. "Couldda went for the throat. Got him to pull out Entei. Use that tera crystal to turn one of my Pokemon into a water-type. Go for its throat."[break][break]
On and on, until, at last...[break][break]
"I gotta play to my strengths. Build a good team. I went in half-cocked with whatever Pokemon I grabbed from my box. Any good assassin studies his target. Learns his patterns. Goes in with a plan. Knows how to adapt when the plan doesn't work. What I did on that island was...not even sloppy. Dumb." Human words, spoken through gritted teeth. He lives not by his own merit, but by the mercy of his enemies.

"Uh," Scratching at his head, his next word carries some shame, "no." Just the thought of playing chess, shogi, go, or even some of the board games he's seen grunts play in the mess hall gives him a headache. It's all rules, rules, rules.[break][break]
"Closest I get's stuff like poker or blackjack. Guess that's not really the same thing, but uh...what's that saying?" Sayings somehow stick more than names.[break][break]
"Gotta know when to fold 'em."