"HEY, HIT M-"

He was hit. Something folded in his chest. A bone, maybe. An organ, more likely. Something was definitely breaking in his body, and his body was making that well known with screams of protest and begging for Althus Rex to disengage and find somewhere to recover. Those signals were disregarded.

It was better to say that they had never been necessary to begin with.

He fell backwards, a lung deflated and struggling to breathe. Not because of the punch, though that was the major reason. No, the reason that Rex couldn't breathe was because he was having too much fun. He kept himself from laughing in delight as he forced himself to his feet.

"You're a pretty strong guy, Fisher." The youth's eyes sparkled. "I love that! You gotta teach me that move! But first..."

He spat out a globule, leaving Azumarill to struggle within the Disable until Alba decided to free the poor aquatic Pokémon. Disregarded, Rex threw down another Pokeball, his Gallade coming out in all of his glory. Even with a discarded name, the knight stood proud, before Rex pulled out a locket.

A Key Stone shined.

"I'm getting better, even now. You're not as strong as you used to be, I can tell! When you hit me, it was like we had a connection! You're old, or maybe that wasn't your everything!" His Gallade was surrounded in energy, before transforming. His cape fluttered and shined as a new blade formed on his hand. "Give me your best! If we can't beat you at your best..."

Behind the Mega Scizor, Gallade's Psycho Cut swung down on its head.

Die.

"THEN WHAT'S EVEN THE POINT!?"

---

keiko mori Alba Evovae Grigori Sokolov
+50 (posts)
+50 (thread flashback)
+50 (show throwing style)
+50 (get hurt by a pokemon)
+50 (importance of Pokeballs)
+50 (character strength)
+50 (character weakness)
+50 (highlight another character's strength)
+50 (respect another character)
+10 (mega)

A ninja would be nice. Rex could do a lot of cool things with a ninja. Something about shinobi meaning 'one who serves' or something like that. Rex wasn't one to fight behind another's back, but it was best to employ as many different tools as possible on the battlefield.

"If I named you something, it'd be Hattori! You'd make a fine counter to that sheriff's Greninja, with those bug moves and whatnot."

Rex shouted as Gallade appeared behind the Accelgor, predicting its movements with a fine eye. His blade flashed like a shining emerald, before leaving the insect collapsed on the floor. It attempted to flee, but Rex simply grinned, his eyes burning maliciously. The Accelgor lunged towards him, and Rex chuckled as Gallade crushed it into the floor.

"Not bad! I like your spunk!" The Pokeball landed on the insect's head.

---

LAST REX POKEBALL GO

"Even if we do encounter them, we'll make good time because I'll beat their asses!" Rex spoke up, his Togepi waddling along next to him through this line between life and death. "We're gonna be victorious, right? Doesn't that mean we have fate and destiny and all that backing us up?"

Compared to Head Professor who could teleport through space to acquire an infinite amount of macaroni and cheese, Lilycove's Gym Leader, and a genuine psychic, Rex's greatest accomplishment was being one number off from Caleb Harcourt in the phone book.

Him being here was a freak accident, but they would've had to lock him in a safe and toss him into an undersea trench to actually stop him from following this expedition. It'd give him something to brag about on Trainer's Eye when this was all over.

"So you're telling me that Victini is inside that rock? Sweet! And if we just... glue it all together, it'll just come back to life?" Rex scratched his chin. "That's pretty convenient!"

Bold words for someone who didn't know about angelo vestri 's transatlantic voyage to chase soul wisps.

---

robin coello lam logan illeana reyes

"That's assault, my friend. I appreciate the compliment, but I must bathe and return to my spry form posthaste." Snorlax grabbed the Marshstomp by the neck and placed him back in the mud pit. "There we go."

With all the Woopers and Clodsires displaced, Snorlax had created quite the mess. Picking up various Pokémon, he tossed them into the mud pit where they could return to a moment of bliss. The poor person in charge of cleaning this up would likely curse his name, but that was simply how it went.

"I must now find a bath, so I can instill justice everywhere in this daycare before my trainer picks me up. I wish you the best, odd Marshstomp."

Like a bolt of lightning, Snorlax lunged off into the distance to go ruin some other Pokémon's life.

"Farewell!"

---

Grigori Sokolov

The ground shook. Why had Muddy cursed the world with such an implication? Now it was definitely going to happen.

In Munchlax's final moments, he grasped the meaning of evolution. It had taken a near-death experience, but he had finally cracked the code on breaking through his limits and reaching for the next step. Food was a distant memory, but Munchlax would glut himself later on. Besides, the day care lacked the food required to feed a Snorlax, after all.

Yet evolution was a high unlike any other.

Massive paws gripped at the sides of the mud pit and heaved, displacing dozens of Clodsire with the manuever. Both them and Woopers were sent squealing out of the way as a giant bear-like entity rose from the muck.

"Good heavens, that was remarkably poor of me." Snorlax's deep voice rumbled with a voice box few living Pokemon could replicate. "Sorry about that, gentlemen. I was famished, I say. Quite famished indeed..."

He climbed out of the mud pit, covered in the stuff. Snorlax shook violently, sending large globules of mud everywhere.

"I'm not me when I'm hungry."

---

Grigori Sokolov

As if blessed by divine providence itself, Muddy escaped a voracious fate by ascending to the next stage of evolution. Good for him. Bad for Munchlax.

"WHAT THE...?" Munchlax's eyes opened in shock, bulging at the sight of the evolved Mudkip. "FOOD GET BIGGER???"

Munchlax tried to gnaw on Muddy's arm, yet he was ultimately ineffective. He was tossed into the mud pit's shallow depths, where he began to sink due to his weight. The shaggy fur bristled as Munchlax began to vibrate intensely as he attempted to flee this muddy prison. Yet no matter what he did, escape seemed impossible.

"HEY BIG FOOD!!!" Munchlax yapped before he submerged completely. "HOW YOU BECOME BIG FOOD???"

Munchlax had never seen food get larger before. It was a useful trick.

---

Grigori Sokolov

The Wooper was sent flying, unhurt by the Water Pulse due to the fish's Water Absorb. Yet it left Munchlax's hands empty as he reached towards his mouth to feast, before chomping down on his hand.

Nom.

"HMMMMM THIS FOOD TASTES GOOD WHAT IS IT???" Munchlax pulled its hand out and inspected it, noting the rapidly swelling with all the speed of a glacier slowly cutting through a mountain. "WAIT THAT'S NOT FOOD THAT'S ME!!!"

What an educated fellow. This Munchlax sat at the pinnacle of truly wise gluttons, capable of indulging and feasting and, at the end of it all, realizing that they were actually out of food. To rectify that issue, a Munchlax should start to look for new sources of nutrients.

The truly wise ate mud.

"FOOD???" Munchlax turned towards Muddy and began running forward. "YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!"

---

Grigori Sokolov

Muddy was in his lane, flourishing. There was nothing in this world that could disturb him from his slumber. He was relaxing. There was enough mud to go around, and all of Muddy's muddy buddies could share with him, if they so wished.

However, there was someone nearby. Not a muddy buddy, but a muddy threat.

A muddy devil.

"ME EAT MUD YES VERY GOOD DELICIOUS MMMMM YUMMY YUMMY!" A Munchlax stood at the edge of the pit, shoveling handfuls of wet dirt into his mouth and chewing obnoxiously. "DELICIOUS YUM YUM!"

One of his hands scooped up a Wooper, unaware of the plight he was about to cause. The Munchlax pulled the Wooper towards his mouth. Its cute little eyes looked at Muddy, large and pleading.

"SAVE ME, MUDDY!" They seemed to say.

---

Grigori Sokolov

Nobody knew he was here. Nobody cared. There was no meaning to any of the fights Rex engaged in after the first. Everything after Grigori Sokolov and Alba Evovae was nothing more than a meaningless skirmish. There, he had been fighting to protect someone. Now, he was simply sating his own ego.

Fighting Tempest Quinn had been meaningless, too. People had died, but that was par for the course. It was expected. There was nothing strange about fighting that man, even if the fight had been a meaningless struggle.

So when he saw the man from Sea Mauville, Rex broke out into a wide grin, waving a hand slick with blood. His mouth frothed with poison.

"HEY!" He shouted at Gaius. "HEY!"

He trudged forward on a twisted leg, his eyes alight with fervent passion as he trudged forward. His lungs threatened to burst, but he wouldn't deny the man he knew was a battle junkie his pound of flesh. Especially if it meant that he carve his own pound as well.

"FIGHT ME! You're a trainer, right! Our eyes are about to meet." He spouted off stereotypical nonsense like it was dogma. "You know what that means, right? Right!?"

---

+10 (post)
+50 (tag another)
+50 (remember a past thread)

It wasn't about the stakes. Not really. Rex simply wanted every trainer in Hoenn to be the strongest version of themselves. Whether or not they could protect themselves was irrelevant. Althus Rex just really wanted a good fight. If that meant that every trainer had to claw tooth and nail towards their own personal summit, Rex would help them.

That made it even more satisfying when he pushed them aside and kept going.

It was a selfish wish. There was little benevolence in it. Yet in a region where the strength of the average trainer was constantly increasing as they reached towards their own zenith, Rex considered this region to be paradise even as it burned to the ground.

Yet before he could explain his thoughts, he shelved them. It was a path not worth verbalizing.

"It makes sense that you did cheer. I'd even say it's obvious." He blinked at her and grinned. "You're cheering me up right now."

He wilted slightly.

"Even if you had to remind me that I don't have any badges. That wasn't very cheerleader of you. Your coach would've failed you."

---

keiko mori

"I'll teach you! Any Pokémon can fight, if you put your faith in them and train them well. Dewford's sheriff has this really strong Greninja that's super puny, but I've heard that he can throw hands."

The tales of Navy and Hattori were far flung. Every member of the Gym Challenge had their own Hattori story, from stolen Pokeballs to insane feats of strength to getting their strongest attack rebounded by a particularly powerful Substitute. Rex wanted to fight that frog, some day.

Until then, though, Rex would climb out of caves with Keiko.

"I really think you could do it! I'm serious!" He started yapping about battle strategies and type combinations and a dozen other aspects of battling as the light above slowly grew in intensity. It was after a few more cycles before Rex finally processed what the courier had said. "Wait."

He looked at her.

"You did cheer? That... makes sense, actually."

---

keiko mori

Mitsuru Kagami had seen better days. Yet those better days were hidden behind months and years and likely a dozen bottles of wine. Her face was quickly hidden by a cardboard box that Rex was now forced to hold. Likely for the best, given how utterly defeated her expression was.

"Mrs. Kagami...?" He couldn't drop the box. It was full of incredibly important and likely overpriced equipment. Crystal balls and Spell Tags filled the box, including what looked to be several more wine bottles. Wherever the medium was going, it was a one way trip. "Wait!"

For a brief moment, he considered dropping the box and running after her. For another, he considered keeping the box and waiting for her. Rather than stand around and let her load his arms up with more and more boxes, Rex decided to take the easy route and rush into the medium's closed business.

Running into the belly of the beast would likely net him with more boxes to carry, but the bus ticket to reach Slateport had cost a pretty penny.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Kagami! Where are you?" Rex bumped into a wall, before almost slipping on some stray Spell Tags. "What's with the sign? Don't tell me that you're closing down!"

---

Mitsuru Kagami

Hitoshi Inoue had warned him of men like this, beasts in human skin that pretended that they were living, breathing people that did more than feast on the corpses of the slain. The swordsman had warned of beasts and demons and those who would expedite Rex's journey to the underworld.

Yet in this moment, all Rex can do is feel relief. Relief in the fact that there are other people like him who revel in this uncouth slaughter. There is proof of the fact that this man is exactly like him. All it took was one look for trainers to battle.

It only took one look to know their soul.

"That's what I'm talking about. Fight me with everything. COME ON!" Rex roared as his Mega Locket shined with energy, coating his Gallade in a shining beacon of light that transformed Rex's ace into a proper knight. "LET'S DO IT!"

Maybe this time, he'll feel something beyond mindless exhilaration and joy.

The Sygna Suit places the Rocket Beast squarely above Rex, but that's good. It means that the fight will be hard, and that it'll be an upward struggle. There's no meaning in fights that end in a stomp. There's a world where victory tastes like sawdust because nobody can compete. That is not today.

A Psycho Cut threatens to split Compass's head from her neck.

---

Tempest Quinn
+20 post
+50 Pokemon KO
+50 (rock bottom)
+50 (respect
+50 (Mega Evolution)