"That's a good amount of time, it'll-"

He stopped, his expression unreadable. The conversation of sacrifice and Pelipper was lost in the wind, even as she wrapped her hand in his. He squeezed it tight, but Rex's expression didn't change as he turned to her.

Had she...?

"What did you say?"

---

keiko mori

He was a passable swimmer, but he pursued physical activities with a perverse sense of fervor. He suspected that she would have better form, and form was important when contesting the shore.

"You've spent this entire time looking after me. You've planned for me. You've cared for me. Do you think I'd be half as useful if you got hurt?" He was quiet for a spell, though that was because he refused to dig deep enough to answer his own question. "I want to help you. All I have is my name, my body, and my Pokémon."

Eventually, the trail widened. Sharp cuts in the trees guided their way, and Rex felt them as he passed. A reminder that like the Pokémon that made the marks, that he was a sword that coveted victory.

Even if, sometimes, that victory didn't need to be for him. It could be for the courier by his side.

"And besides," his voice trembled slightly. " I don't want you to be alone here."

Even if she deserved to trod upon the land, she would eventually have to return to the sky.

---

keiko mori

She was so competitive. Even as they requisitioned their clothes from where the various alcoves they were perched at, it was the trait that shined the most. Maybe that was why he felt a twinge of sadness when her hair was knotted into buns for the sake of efficiency.

She looked liberated with her hair down. When it fluttered in the wind, he couldn't help but stare.

"Nah. No storms since we ended up here, and not a cloud in the sky. More likely he's just meandering." Rex tugged on his shirt and tried to flatten his hair. A lost cause, he was beginning to accept. His little dance with Keiko had messed it up further. "Probably doesn't realize that things are a little dire."

He attempted to downplay their circumstances, lest Keiko burst a blood vessel.

When their clothes were on, Rex clucked his tongue at the path they had taken to reach this point. The trail was still clear in the moonlight, so he led Keiko down it. Absentmindedly, he popped a Pinap into his mouth and chewed, before swallowing.

"If he doesn't get back soon, I want you to take Togepi. It's a risk, but he might be able to teleport you to Dewford. Just make sure you don't forget to come get me."

His voice was casual, but his expression was serious. It was his attempt to protect her.

---

keiko mori

"Now? Whatever we want. There's nothing stopping us from simply... being."

There were no eyes on this island. As far as the world knew, Keiko and Rex did not exist. They were simply two names that had disappeared into the uncaring maw of Hoenn, and the region had simply refused to spit them out. Instead, it had swallowed them up.

And now they were here. Animalistic and uncaring.

"But." Somewhere in his heart, he knew that Keiko would want to return to the real world. He would, as well. "First things first, we should get back to camp and get some sleep. It's been a long day."

His grin grew sly as he basked in her brilliance.

"Assuming..." He nudged her with a teasing expression on his face. "...that you're not too weak to stand, courier~."

---

keiko mori

His words cause the young man to pause.

"Is it a crime to be home?" He had not chosen Littleroot to seek glory. He had simply been chosen by circumstance to be born into a small town that had suffered the rage of Dialga. "Lotta people like me. Change on the dollar, man. Same as you."

He wiped his lip, the sarcasm unnoted, unappreciated, and misinterpreted in the seriousness of the moment.

"Don't worry, dead people are even cheaper. Filthy fuckin' Rocket. I'll kick your a-"

Rex had been raised on traditional battles. He had watched them on television, fought them in tournaments, and had observed enough Gym Leaders and their exhibition matches to interpret his own version of Pokemon battles. Yet that had almost blinded him to his experiences in Littleroot.

Almost. Not quite.

Rex twitched, attempting to dodge the knife as it flew within centimeters of his chest. Instead of finding a heart, it finds an arm. In exchange, Gallade marches against a Pokémon cloaked in shadow to wet the sand with its blood, sending a Psycho Cut towards the ape's chest.

---

Hitoshi Inoue
CATCHA ALAKAZAM

There was no need for moral qualms. Not for Rex. Keiko struggled with her heart's desire, with whatever need drove her to this region beyond the simple desire to help. Keiko Mori was an anomaly. Rex could try to understand her. He wanted to. Yet ultimately he wanted to instill order through slaughter.

If she saw that in him, she would hate him. Rex knew it in his soul, even as he wanted to continue to stretch this series of moments into infinity. Maybe he was broken. Maybe she was broken. Maybe they were both defective.

"It's like you're a Growlithe chasing cars." He teased her as she prodded his hand. "I don't think you know what you'd do with one if you actually caught one."

They were words without malice, for he was describing himself as much as he was describing her.

"Someone," he laughed as he nuzzled her shoulder like an overfriendly dog, "needs to put you on a leash so you don't get stuck in the clouds. You're entitled to the act of treading upon the earth. It feels wrong to banish you to the ever-spiraling heavens."

There was a moment of melancholy between them as he just... held her.

---

keiko mori

The blade cleaved through shadow and found nothing but darkness. Umbral chains shackle the knight and force him to bleed. It's a frustrating feeling, a sensation of darkness incapable of being grasped.

"Maybe." Rex sneered at the sword as a splatter of blood coated his face, sticky and wet from Gallade's phantom-struck wound. "But I was baptized by it as people died around me. Ever see your friends get snapped out of existence with the blink of an eye?"

His eyes lingered on the sword, dripping with prospective gore that had yet to redden the blade. A blood virgin, yes. Yet desensitization was a common effect on a civilian after years of this region burning for nothing more than factional greed.

Yet this man was strong. Youth made Rex bold.

"I took a swing at you, now it's your turn to swing at me." Rex smirked in self-confidence. "That's how fights are meant to go."

---

Hitoshi Inoue
CATCHING ESPURR

They circle each other like predators toeing the line for territory to see how far they can push it.

Yet as the strange man with the stench of death on him offers a way back from the underworld, a chance to be ferried by Charon from this purgatory back into the world of the living, all Rex can do is smile.

The man is honest.

How commendable.

It's a rarity in this world. It's something that Keiko said that Rex lacked, and she was correct. It was where he was at his most defective. In part, it's why Pokeballs are flung in spite of the danger. Additional weapons are not to be abandoned.

"You think I'd run from this? Hell no, man." Gallade silently groaned. He was a warrior. He could sense the strength in this man, even as they circled each other in this masquerade of equality. "I need this. Haven't had a good fight in ages. Been bored."

There's a wildness to his smile as his Gallade lunged forward with a Psycho Cut intent on sending Hitoshi's head flying into the air.

"And I gotta kill you first."

---

Hitoshi Inoue
CATCHA DA LINOONE

The fire scalded his cheek. In another life, that would be the end of Rex's story. Fire would melt his flesh like candlewax and he'd collapse to the ground a husk of cooked meat. Yet that life is not this one. This life is meant to continue.

For to continue is to deny the outrage of nonexistence that this barking dog plans to put him under. There are plenty of men like him, soldiers fighting for a cause that nobody particularly cared for. There were plenty of people like Rex, nameless men wandering the region in an attempt to survive war.

That normally includes bleating and begging. Instead...

"Nice! That was pretty good, actually. Good form!" A Pokémon is saved from the flames, and the fox is stuffed into Rex's belt. "I felt that!"

He tapped his cuff to beat out a stray flame. His grin is a cocky one in the face of death.

"I'm living my life, and you're out here starting shit?" Rex snorted as he and the man circled each other on this empty road. "You Rocket?"

There was a smell to this man. He could smell the stench of death on him that accompanied war.

---

Hitoshi Inoue
CATCHING EEVEE

keiko mori owed too many packages. Petalburg was gone and mail needed to be sent, so who was Rex to deny her when she threw a stack of packages at him and demanded that he actually be productive and deliver them?

Ignoring that he was meant to be training to fight Hyakkaryōran Tsubaki and finally claim her badge, at least. Dewford's Gym Leader was a surprisingly tough cookie, Rex had decided after seeing the sparks of Dynamax in the sky during one of her challenges.

With that in mind, he trekked down the road. The packages were delivered, which meant it was time to cross the region again to get back home.

His Gallade walks alongside him, a knight dedicated to the defense of his lord regardless of what happened. There was hardly a more loyal Pokémon, Rex decided.

There was hardly one of a keener sense, either. Gallade's eyes narrowed as he regarded the treeline.

And it's with that precognition that Rex was pushed aside as the cleave of a sword cut through the air, narrowly missing the young trainer by inches.

---

Hitoshi Inoue

Rex turned to face Eris. Already, his skin was covered in soot from the abhorrent working conditions of this great industrial engine. If the children yearned for the mines, then the adolescents yearned to lose their arm in a clockwork monstrosity.

"The fuck's a Gemsly?" Rex seemed appalled that anyone would name their Pokémon Gemsly of all things. It was probably for the best. If Rex had the choice between between naming his Pokémon Gemsly and giving up on his dreams, he would probably kill himself right then and there.

"These are Carbink!"

"CARBINK CARBINK CARBINK CARBINK-"

He isn't blessed with the divine knowledge to translate Carbink-speak. That's a power reserved only for the mentally unwell and for special protagonists.

"What're they even doing here?"

---

Eris Halla

Noah and Cian were both Gym Leaders, which meant that Rex would have to kick their asses eventually if he wanted to become the champion of Hoenn.

"I can't beat them yet. That's why I'm practicing." He mimed throwing a few mock punches through the air, making whishing sounds with his mouth as he did so. It was remarkably good form, in spite of the sound effects. Noah would've given it a 10000/10 if Rex had to guess. "And Cian was the Vital City champion! He's gotta be super strong!"

And definitely not jumping people on benches to strangle a few vitals out of them. CIAN MAHER would never do such a thing.

"But you got it, Ollie. I've got another... twenty assignments lined up. Gotta do my part, yeah? Hoenn patriotism and all that." He could send a letter, and keiko mori was a courier. Maybe he could ask her. "I'll make sure to tone it down. Especially now that Togepi is back."

The Togepi was scooped into Rex's arms.

"Again, thanks for your help. Next time, though..." He winked. "I've got 'em."

---

ollie morales

They hadn't met personally. Rex was not some Ollie Morales superfan that went to all of his speeches and public appearances. Ever Grande was too far away, and Rex hadn't gotten all of the badges yet to challenge the Pokémon League.

Emphasis on 'yet'.

"No, you're the guy who gave the speech with the white-haired council chick!" Rex scratched his chin thoughtfully. It was certainly one way to describe freya morningstar. "Can you tell her to repeal the Pokémon licensing thing? It's really inconvenient!"

An understatement, but besides the point.

"Rex. It's short for Rex." The young man pouted as he regarded the dozing Empoleons. "Pity. I was having a blast. Guess I'll have to find something else to throw hands with to pass the time."

---

ollie morales