"Togepi?" Rex gaped at her desperate gambit for a strategy. "He's a baby!"

A baby that had leveled a forest, blown up a Blaziken, destroyed much of Sea Mauville, and was capable of dictating the whims of fate. Okay, it was admittedly a pretty special Togepi, but that didn't mean that he was some sea-splitting god, born from the loins of Kyogre!

Still, Keiko looked desperate, and he felt a smidge bad for sleeping next to her.

"Fine. We'll try." Rex sighed and tapped at his belt. Togepi appeared in a flash, before being scooped up Rex as he regarded the courier. If anything, at least her clipboard would be safe regardless of what happened. Keiko seemingly put more weight on the survival of mail than her own life.

Sinnoh's guilds must be as tough as nails.

After a quick wander back to the beach, Rex's eyes followed the sun, quickly dictating east from west. After nudging the surf with his foot, Rex put Togepi down.

"Alright, Togepi. Go!" Rex snapped his fingers as Togepi waggled his hands in a Metronome. Instead of splitting the ocean in two, various knickknacks appeared on the beach nearby. A groan escaped his lips as he turned to face the pile of merchandise. "What...?"

Card games. Banana peels. Rope. Empty cans of Charjacola.

Rex turned to Togepi. "Seriously?"

'toge?'

---

keiko mori

They had been on the island for about a day and they had already littered and left a human presence on the island. Whether this was a triumph for mankind or the greatest criticism on the human urge to corrupt and poison was up in the air. For Rex, it was simply another thing for Keiko to throttle him over, as if there weren't enough of those already.

He could feel it coming. Togepi could sense it, too. Yet Keiko's gaze had turned from furious to excited as she found something in the pile. Taking advantage of the moment, Togepi was placed in his Pokeball to save him from the courier's wrath.

"What's this?" Rex peered at the box set in her hands. He brushed a few stands of hair behind his ear so he could read the title.

"Yun-gi-oh?" A stylized Yungoos appeared on the corner of the box, and the expansion seemed to revolve around Sinnoh. Rex raised an eyebrow at it, but he shrugged. "I haven't seen these since I was a kid. We could never afford them."

He wanted to refuse, but Keiko actually seemed excited. Who would've thought that she was a card game fan?

"Sure, but I don't really know how to play." He locked eyes with her. "You fine with teaching me?"

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keiko mori

His kneejerk reaction was that Keiko Mori was an utter nerd. There must have been a hundred different cards available to them both, but she rattled off their effects and interactions with remarkable ease. Years of thrashing kids around Celestic Town had turned her into a remarkable threat.

If Rex could figure out how to play the game, at least. He was still trying to figure out what the fuck a 'Special Summon' was. She had explained it a few times, but it still made him frown.

It didn't help that a handful of her explanations simply boiled down to 'trust me, I played this game way back when'.

"I... see. Keiko..." He muttered, distracted by her shuffling through his hand. Proximity, which hadn't seemed strange when he had fallen asleep beside her in the tent, now seemed strange as her head fit perfectly on his shoulder to coach him. "But if I do that, I'll risk losing a lot of life. Lemme think."

It was strange, hearing her so close to his ear. He tried to keep himself from flushing, hoping that the courier's commitment to the game would distract Keiko from looking at him.

Yet two turns had quickly become five.

"How're you doing that?" He grumbled as she destroyed his Wooloo tokens, leaving only his Dynamaxed Dubwool card on the field. "You know every move I even make it!"

Her gaze was sly and clever, yet the key to victory was in his hand. As long as he lasted through her turn, the win would be his. Behind Rex, Gogoat eyed the game with interest.

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keiko mori

"You don't have to look so pleased." Even in her serene grace, he could tell that the courier was proud of herself. Rex saw how her eyes gleamed when she drew something good, before quickly tamping it down to avoid giving her position away. The way her lips twitched upward before she hid them behind her cards, challenging him to beat her.

Rex wanted to beat her. He wanted the challenge, and he wanted to see her serenity melt away into competitive spirit. How would she react? How would she look then?

He was staring. She was staring. Shock was etched into her face. It quickly turned into rage.

Uh oh.

"Keiko, I'm sorry. You just-" Rex looked down at his cards, only to notice that many were gone. In their place were several chewed up wads of card stock and a very innocent Gogoat, munching happily on his new meal. "Oh."

As she rose, Rex rose with her. If she didn't compose herself, Mr. Gogoat would be lost. Their staunchest ally on this deserted island would abandon them, and he was also their best lookout. Rex was even concerned for the poor Pokemon. If Keiko got her hands on him, Rex wasn't sure that the Gogoat would actually survive the encounter.

"Keiko, stop! He's innocent! Gogoat'll do what Gogoat needs to do! We can still play, even if there's a few cards missing."

He blocked the way between the courier and her new mortal enemy, arms spread wide.

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keiko mori

He caught.

Tried to, anyway. Rex moved swiftly with the expectation to catch the courier before she struck Gogoat down. This was a ridiculous fight, quite literally over nothing when compared to the trauma of yesterday, yet Keiko fought with the ferocity if a thousand suns.

"Calling me Althus... He grunted. Nobody called him that. Rex was easier on the tongue, in his opinion. "How brazen."

He fell backwards, gasping slightly, before grabbing her shoulders and rolling over. Still, she fought with remarkable fervor. They rolled again.

Top, then bottom, then top, then bottom. After another moment of struggle, he ended back on top, hair disheveled.

"Leave Gogoat alone! I'll get you new cards, I swear." He took a deep breath, sucking in air. "Don't make me grab your arms."

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keiko mori

The enemy. What a childish one it was. Just a minor foe in a world that wanted buried.

"We're on the same team, but I can't help but wonder..." Her breath tickled his face, her eyes bore into Rex as she tried to discern the true nature of his allegiance. The truth was that he just liked feats of arms. Conflict. Proof that his will still worked and that his heart still beat. "...if I would've seen this side of you if I had won."

This struggle was proof that they were both alive. It was so meaningless, and yet he didn't pull away as she dragged him closer.

Instead, his eyes blazed within the kiln of this prospective battle.

"You can trust me." A deep breath. He hated Keiko's Almighty Sinnoh and her commitment to fate. Althus Rex should have hated Keiko Mori, and yet...

...he leaned in close and whispered in her ear.

"Because I trust you."

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keiko mori