dominic liked this route primarily for practical reasons - it was situated close the middle of the region, with easy access to a handful of major cities.

it was also a decent place to let his pokemon run wild without destroying property or eating any pets; they needed to get the energy and aggression out somehow and he didn't need the attention if he were to attempt to do it in a more populous place.

however, as dominic headed toward his favourite bench, it wasn't a houndoom or one of his handful of dragons that accompanied him on the outing. scrolling through the messages on his phone, he would stop every few steps to kick at a creamy, speckled egg.

piiiii, the togepi would coo, and dominic would kick it again, sending it onward at a vicious velocity. if he read something unpleasant, dominic would kick the pokemon harder, briefly rendering it airborne. here and there, vein-like cracks web out across the togepi's shell, but it didn't exactly protest enough for dominic to take note let alone stop.

eventually he turned the corner to where his bench should be waiting for him, having already kicked the togepi in that general direction. only then does he glance up to see it already occupied. dominic took a moment to stare at the woman, glancing her up and down briefly, and thought she jogged a memory but it wasn't enough to draw concern.

clearing his throat, he would approach close enough to extend a leg and pull the togepi back with the athleticism of a soccer player.

"sorry," he said, sounding pretty much everything except apologetic.

Bailey Cooper

dominic rolled the togepi back until her little legs were underneath her and she could stand upright. the pokemon lifted her nub arms and looked at him expectantly with a politely demanding expression.

"she’s a girl," dominic corrected slowly, giving a vague hand gesture and a half-shrug in lieu of an explanation for their “training regime”. it was the next part of what she said that gave him pause. dominic felt a tension in his shoulders but soothed himself with the fact that she didn’t sound accusatory. unease made his fingers itch for the capsules at his belt regardless.

"probably. i was a ranger," dominic said, recalling the post-invasion months he spent living with the identity of a dead man and wearing his vermillion uniform. "we patrol all inter-city routes." if pressed, he wouldn’t be able to give much more detail than that without relying on a combination of guesswork and pure fiction.

exasperated that her trainer wasn’t paying attention, the togepi had turned to the woman but its gaze was quickly drawn to her pokemon - or rather, to its frozen dessert. with as much SERENE GRACE as it could muster, the togepi focused all her energy to summon an ANCIENT POWER that would result in pebbles rising from the ground before being flung out to pelt the spoink.

Bailey Cooper

he only has time to raise a shoulder in a second, half-hearted and noncommittal shrug. ranger salary being shit explains how they could funnel people and resources into hoenn undetected for months before the invasion proper.

he doesn't have time to react before the spoink's attack ripples out. dominic recoils at the PSYSHOCK as though he had been physically struck. his face is angled away from the woman, and he counts to three before he allows himself to look up again. he can’t hide the way his hand flies to his belt, but at least he managed to stop himself before he emptied the pokemon capsules in her face.

"hey," dominic says slowly, and with great exertion, ostensibly trying to wrangle his voice into something resembling calm. "maybe you should consider keeping your unhinged pokemon in its ball."

dominic moves toward his togepi as if intending to simply pick it up but halts in his steps. it happens quickly but it feels like it plays out in slow motion; the togepi wags a finger in the air in a METRONOME and then begins to spin with its nub arms outstretched.

"fuck," dominic mutters under his breath as the togepi begins to close the distance between it and the spoink - airborne, hurtling, rotating like a top, both its fists aglow with red. the togepi screams in the throes of its DARKEST LARIAT as it seeks to pummel the enemy.

dominic can only grimace.

Bailey Cooper

dominic stretches his arms out in a theatrically over-exaggerated shrug, his hands raised and fingers spread out in an expression of his exasperation. his ears ring and he can barely make out her words, so he resorts to gestures. he doesn’t express rage only because the absurdity of it makes the scene feel surreal.

he takes out the togepi’s pokeball and points first at it, and then at the cursed spoink.

"do you know what a fucking pokeball is?" dominic yells, even though he knows she won’t hear him. he doesn’t stop there - the deluge of abuse continues, words lost in the aftermath of the PSYSHOCK.

distracted, dominic doesn’t notice that the spoink is preparing for a second attack. the second PSYSHOCK sends the togepi flying into the air. dominic cuts himself short to watch, lips parted and brow furrowed, as the togepi ascends to the sky accompanied with a high-pitched piiiiiiiiiiiiii.

sure, he has pokemon that would likely lash out at the slightest provocation - which is why he kept them in their fucking balls.

as the togepi drops, dominic sees the tell-tale glimmer of another METRONOME. the pokemon, he realises, is aiming to drop directly on the spoink, and the scream is now enraged. its fists are glowing again - the pokemon is aiming with pin-point accuracy for the jugular. dominic recognises a THROAT CHOP triggered by pure SUPER LUCK and finds himself holding his breath.

his wishes align with the togepi’s, it seems. they just want the screaming to fucking stop.

Bailey Cooper

it only takes one pebble striking the togepi directly between the eyes to render it unconscious. as it is, the last attack was a result of the togepi summoning the absolute last dregs of her strength - it’s a miracle she was hanging on at all. dominic’s lips part in awe at his pokemon’s resilience.

the togepi drops to the ground, falling backwards as though in slow motion. it strikes the earth, rolling side to side weakly as a result of its momentum, but is otherwise totally still. everything is momentarily quiet and dominic’s silent rage finally boils over.

"what the fuck?!" he bellows at the retreating trainer, springing forward to finally return his unconscious pokemon to its capsule.

"what is wrong with you?"

dominic sets his sights on that little spoink and vows to ensure that little beast never draw breath again.

Bailey Cooper