R & R

Rex: [Energy: 19 - 5 (Entry) = 14]
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An onix slithered his way around the forest, in search of something in particular—though he wasn't sure what it was yet, he knew he'd know it when he found it. The last time he had been here he was simply causing a ruckus, attacking the locals and causing some minor deforestation via the means of uprooting trees. That was, until a couple of goody-goodies teamed up with the locals and ran him off.

It wasn't that he couldn't handle himself in an asymmetric fight—of course he could, he was Rex. He simply didn't want to bother with such nuisances. This time, however, he wasn't here to simply break things. He was here to cause a whole different kind of trouble. All he needed to do was find the right spot and the right Pokemon.

Never has a day gone by that Rex hadn't felt compelled to cause trouble. Often he could sate this urge by just wrecking the nearest structure or beating up the first unfortunate soul who wandered into his view (and who he was sure he could actually beat up). But other days, such as this day, that simply wasn't enough. No, on days like this, he felt an overwhelming desire for plots and schemes and subterfuge.

Finding a nice, small clearing, the onix curled up in the centre, assuming an appearance that to the unwary eye would appear as nothing more than an oddly place pile of boulders. Now, all he needed was to wait and listen for that thing he sought.

Robin's Energy: 16 - 5 = 11

"Pardon me, ma'am, are you doing alright?"

Go. Go away, go away, go away, go away.

She truly was in terrible shape, if she was cracking so easily that strangers were voicing their concerns. It was almost funny. Almost. Perhaps if she was in a state to laugh about anything at all, she could have managed a self-deprecatory snicker, a flash of her most charming smile. As it was, her smile felt too tense, pulled awkwardly at the edges. "Oh, yes, I'm perfectly fine. But thank you for the concern, sir." She answered effortlessly.

She didn't recognize this pokemon, nor did she care to place his face. Some quadruped who could go home with a clear conscious that he had checked in on this stranger who was stomping into the forest in a huff. He seemed satisfied enough by her answer, staring for a moment longer with a slight tilt of his head. "You do know Pecha Forest is that way? It's not a very dangerous mystery dungeon, but it can catch you off guard if you're unprepared."

Leave me alone leave me alone leave me alone leave mealoneleaveleaveleaveleaveleave

That was how all the world viewed her, wasn't it? Unprepared, ready to bend and break at the slightest hint of resistance. She could play a punching bag or a plushie, whatever one's ego desired more, in that moment. And now she was coming apart at the seams, gritting her teeth below her slight nod. "Don't worry about me, sir. I have escape orbs ready if anything goes wrong. I'll see you around!"

Please don't offer to come with her, she silently pleaded, turning away with a skip in her step. The too-quick turn of her head come be mistaken as a rare burst of shortness - not even rudeness, but it was as close as she could ever come - when she traipsed into the mystery dungeon, humming under her breath for good measure. She cast one last glance behind her, seeing the trees had shifted and covered the entryway behind her. It was only then, when she was sure she was alone, that she sunk to her knees, squeezing her eyes shut.

If only they knew the thoughts that ran through her mind. Kiba, Osiris, Alki... they adored her. And she was too much of a coward to shatter their delusions - she always would be, too hungry to fill a void that most everyone else seemed to have completed on their own. Her laugh was low, dark and humorless as she heaved herself to her feet, icy blue eyes scanning her surroundings.

"... come out, come out, wherever you are." She mused, raising her head as hailstones started to storm down from the sky, tearing their way through leaves and ripping through the canopy as Robin stepped forward, her head held high, her smile tight and her voice lower than usual, a quiet command to the world at her feet. "Don't tell me you're too afraid?"

Soon the feral pokemon would show up, she mused, outraged that she had dared to trespass in their territory. Fine. Let them.

She was done being afraid. She was done being cotton candy blue, for today, puffs of cloud and bundles of snow. She wanted shards of bone and broken glass. When someone hit her, she wanted them to scream. In that single, rage-filled moment, that didn't feel like much to ask.

Rex:[Energy: 14]
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The onix started at the sudden feeling of a piece of ice striking him, followed by another, and another. He looked up and too in the site. Hail. It wasn’t a typical occurrence here in Pecha Forest; it was most likely a Pokemon not native to this place was responsible. Perhaps this was what he had been looking for.

The stone serpent snaked his way up around a tree to poked his head above the forest canopy, scanning the sky to locate the extent of the hail, and therefore, the origin. Information acquired, he slithered his way in that direction, interested to know just who it was causing such a disturbance.

Nature was a delicate, balanced thing. An everlasting war between destruction and creation, life and death. Opposing forces trying to match each other on metaphorical scales. He didn’t rate those scales much. He liked to tip them; break them, if he could. But he was only one Pokemon—a massive, powerful Pokemon, but a single Pokemon all the same. Occasionally, he would seek out others like him, or those he thought could or ought to be like him, and would attempt to persuade them to think and act like he did. At least, for a little while.

The hail, still falling down, bothered him. He did not like water, in any form, and it was slowly and relentlessly wearing away at him, bit by bit, little by little. He would use this as self motivation. It was a timer. Every second longer it took him to accomplish this task he had set for himself was another second of suffering. Something he would be sure to payback in double later on to someone else. But not this Pokemon he was seeking out. They were not a victim today.

As he neared the source, he began to circle them, closing in slowly, foot by foot, weaving between trees as the distance between him and the Pokemon—the vulpix—dwindled. He did not know how the tiny fox Pokemon would react to the sight of an onix encircling her; that was part of his test. He was seeking out a negative reaction—he was hoping to make her feel threatened. Sure, it might ost him, in that she might last out with an attack and hurt him, but that was a risk he was prepare to take The more negative the reaction, the more volitile the subject may be, the easier his work will be.

It was just like that that the world shifted and churned around her, rumbling with all the intensity of an earthquake, and Robin had to steady herself to keep from losing her footing. This pokemon was not one that would make it's home in Pecha Forest, where children ran to play explorers when they were feeling especially brave. Nor did feral pokemon usually act like this, not to mention they lacked the gleam of intelligence in this Onix's eyes.

That did nothing to calm her pounding heart as he encircled her, leaving her innately aware of how easy she would be to crush. So who was this? Why hadn't he introduced himself? No friend would introduce himself like this, wordless and stoic, as if he was intending to remind her of how small she was, how frail, how easy to break and bend into any shape someone may have desired.

The thought made a fresh burst of rage pulse deep in the marrow of her bones. She flinched, frightened at first, thought relaxing ever so slightly as she met the giant pokemon's gaze. Perhaps he was no ally, but he didn't seem to be an enemy, either, at least not in the moment. She was not so far gone that she would strike the first blow against a pokemon who wasn't feral. Though she wasn't certain what he wanted.

(She was so, so sick of caving to what everyone wanted. A dark part of her gnashed and hummed that it was time for what she wanted, and she wanted to raise hell, she wanted to give people cause to be afraid.)

Her smile was the frailest possible thing, clinging to her composure by a sliver. "What do you want." It came out much flatter than she had meant, unable to inject the usual spark of life into her voice. It wasn't quite an accusation, perhaps, but it was as close as she had come in a very long while. In the face of someone trying to cow her again, and after such a long while of bowing, she was struggling very, very hard to find the heart to care.

She wanted to be left alone.

Rex:[Energy: 14]
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Rex stopped his encroachment, opting instead to simply circle the vulpix now that she was in hearing distance. He pondered to himself how best to go about this. She seemed tense—angry, almost, like she was so close to striking out at him, but not quite there. She was hesitating.

”Why do you hesitate?” he asked in his deep, low voice. He was looking for an answer, but not necessarily a vocal one. Any sort of reaction would help him in understanding this creature. She was smiling, but he knew it was forced, and weak at that. She was expecting something from him—that was clear by her blunt… question? It was less a question and more a statement, as if she felt compelled to ask but had no intention of following through with anything he responded with.

He continued speaking, leaving no pause for the fox to answer him. ”You expect something from me. A request? A demand? You came here to do something. Something you feel you can’t do elsewhere, not in front of the others." Rex didn’t know who the others were, but he knew there were others. There always are—people always cared about other people in some shape or form; they let the thoughts and opinions of those not themselves dictate them in some way.

This one in particular? She was wearing a facade, and it was breaking before him. This was all too obvious. But why the facade? Who was it for? ”Something is wearing at you, from the inside. You can feel it, can’t you? Like steam building up under the ice, melting it, Rex stopped his encircling of the vulpix and wound himself around a smallish three in front of her, tensing his body until the three began to creak and groan under the stress. ”Cracking it. Any moment now, the ice is going to break. The question is;” the trunk of the tree split and splinted under the strain of the stone serpents strength and weight. He went slack and allowed the tree top to tumble to the forest floor with the sound of shifting leaves and a dull “thunk” of the upper trunk hitting the ground.

He snaked his way toward the vulpix, slow and methodical, head bobbing left and right rhythmically. ”What is under the ice?”

Why do you hesitate?

Why, indeed. Because she was clinging to her scraps of composure, she supposed, a deep set urge in her chest that she could barely name. Because good people did not simply hurt others without rhyme or reason, and she was trying, still trying to be good? She stood perfectly, uncannily still, in that moment, her eyes trailed on the Onix. She paused because this wasn't what people were supposed to do, storm and rage until there was nothing left under her skin but a hollow pit of emptiness.

His sudden comment about others... it made her eyes noticeably widen, inhaling a sharp breath through her teeth. He couldn't know just how deep the blow struck, she reminded herself, though her heart said otherwise, thrashing in the confines of her ribcage. She could only watch in muted shock, a deep frown creasing her features, flinching as the tree snapped and broke under the strain. "Those are bold assumptions."

She managed numbly, forcing herself forward. Bold, but very, very far from inaccurate. Seeing as he wasn't going to hurt her for the immediate moment, she found the courage - or perhaps just the lack of fear - to step towards him, as if in silent defiance to not just stand and stare while he snaked his way towards her, however she was dwarfed by his size. She was not afraid. She was not afraid, and that alone was reason to be.

"And what if you were right? I'd say that means you should leave before the ice cracks." She added, moving to step past him. If she could parry well enough to keep him from feeling accomplished, but not well enough to intrigue him, maybe he would leave her be. If she was flat and boring, then maybe she would lose his interest. Or, maybe he would just crush her to dust.

Hard to say.

And still, the words escaped her, sounding much too tired, much too numb for the facade of a smile, splintering deeper with each word. "I don't think you would like what you'd find." Damn it, no, wrong. That was meant to be a joke, but it came out a bit too honest, a bit too wry. He had dodged her question, but it remained nevertheless: what did he want? To play games with her mind, perhaps? If this was concern, it was an odd way to go about it.

"If I'm due to break, like you say, maybe you should really leave me be." No, he would not like what he found, whatever he may have been looking for. She would swear that if you cut her open in that moment, you would only find an ink-black void under her skin. She knew that saying such a thing would only spark more intrigued and concern, and that was the last thing she wanted, in that moment, but she couldn't think of how to make him leave her alone.

She was due to break, perhaps, but she could hold herself together until she was alone. Regardless of whether she could, she had to.

Rex:[Energy: 14]
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Everything he was trying to do was working. The vulpix had all but confirmed what he had suspected. He grinned at the reaction he got from her in response to his words and the breaking of the tree. His grin only grew when she acted so brave before him. He had to admire her strength. She had certainly come here to release, to vent, but despite being so close to the edge—so near to breaking—she maintained her composure. Mostly.

”You are,” the onix replied. ”But I will not run. I will stay and savour every last moment of it. I can see the potential in you, little hailstorm. I have no doubt that you could—provided I didn’t simply squish you here and now—easily overwhelm me with you ice. You could destroy swaths of this forest.” He lifted his massive, horned head up, gesturing to the sky from which the hail continued to rain down.

”I sense a similarity between you and I. But you deceive yourself. You wear a mask. Why? For their sake? What did they ever do for you? You hide yourself—your true self—from them, don’t you?” The fake smile, the faltered attempt at politeness. Rex studied others, he understood what attitudes and personalities people would emulate when interacting with others. What he never understood was why?

The rock snake slithered past her, turning his head to look at her from behind as his tail and long body curled behind him. He wasn’t sure how far he had pushed her at this point, or quite how close she was to the edge, but he was certain he was making progress. He had to wonder if he was making himself a target of her inevitable outburst; if she would recent his comparison of her to him, but then again, what did she really know about him?
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Badger carried out 10 launched of one Pecha Forest :

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Rex Craves Violence:

She didn't understand. She couldn't wrap her mind around how this stranger seemed to know her on this level, pierce through to the very heart was what she was. Hailstones rumbled down, collapsing in a scattered layer of ice at her feet, and Robin finally broke eye contact, staring into the woods as if searching for something. So he knew. What was the use in denying it, then? It would only be an embarrassment the both of them.

So that was what he was after? He simply wanted to watch her break? She wasn't certain if she wanted to laugh or cry in the face of that, and so she simply settled on a dull tremble. "I don't know how you know me so well." She answered at long last, quiet and numb. Little hailstorm, indeed. She was the very thing she brought; shards of ice that tumbled from the sky, chilling and beating all that dared to approach it. To stand beside was to doom oneself to being battered and bruised, ever worse the longer they insisted on staying. What a fitting metaphor.

"... it must be that we are the same, aren't we?" There was a flicker of what could have been amusement, was it not dwarfed by sorrow and frustration, a tension clear in her voice as she approached him. He would not hurt her. No, that was not what he was after at all, and so she had no reason to fear. And oh, she was so, so sick of being afraid.

Even now, she was bowing to what other people wanted. How pathetic. She could destroy vast swaths of this forest, he said. Not only that, she wanted to. Wasn't that precisely what she had come here to do? He must have heard her singing into the forest, low and dark, for once, finally, playing the role of the hunter instead of the prey. That must have been it. He had discovered that part of her that no one must know.

How to keep him silent? Pleading would do her no good, from her impression of this pokemon. Bargaining only opened herself up for a fall. But he had told her, in more or less words, what he wanted. That was some piece of leverage. Perhaps it was enough to strike a deal.

"... you can stay and watch the show, so long as you never speak of this again."

That, to her, seemed like a fair bargain.

Venusian carried out 10 launched of one Pecha Forest :

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Rex:[Energy: 14 - 50 = 0]
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Rex was satisfied. He didn’t get any big, sudden outburst, but that wasn’t exactly what he was after, anyway. The vulpix had come here to do the very thing he had intended to get her to do anyway. In truth, he didn’t even need to be here for this—this was inevitable. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t serve some purpose here. No, he could always make things better—or worse. His better was most people’s worse.

”How could I ever tell anyone? I do not know your name. I know you only as the little hailstorm that will batter Pecha Forest. I do not wish to know as anything else. The person you present yourself as to the others? That is not you. The Pokemon who dwell in the towns all have masks they wear, but underneath? They’re no better than you, or I, or those Pokemon who dwell in the wilds such as these—the ferrals some call them,.

He leaned his head low, just barely above touching the floor, and spoke in what to him was a whisper, but to others was something just under a normal speaking volume. ”We all have the potential to wreak havoc with the powers we possess—my strength, your ice. Why leave it inside to wither?”

He lifted his head quickly and suddenly, as his tail slammed hard into a tree behind him. The top of the tree split form the rooted bottom half and flew briefly forward, landing a short distance in front of the vulpix. Out of it stirred two panicked, furious hoothoot, ready to retaliate for the destruction of their home.

”Go on, little hailstorm. Let the ice break.”
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Are you tired of being nice?:

And just like that, the pact was sealed. Robin paused for a long moment, unable to completely shake the feeling that she was about to make a horrible mistake. But this was what she wanted, wasn't it? Everyone went exploring into mystery dungeons. Everyone cleaved a path of havoc behind them in search of glory, of treasure, of a way to grip the very secrets of the world between their hands. Was it truly so terrible if she happened to enjoy it? Intent didn't change the damage done, and if this was deemed acceptable by the world at large, who was she to think she knew better?

No, that wasn't right. She shouldn't have any urge to hurt people. It was sick, and revealing of the truth of her nature, to have such thoughts. And yet, the way the towering snake described all of this, it was almost as if there was a strange sense of glory to it. It was such a tempting narrative to buy into, one she nearly lost herself in, for a moment. Just them, two forces of nature, a blizzard and an earthquake set the raze the forest before them.

So he wanted to see the real her? He wanted to see what lived under the puffs of clouds and wisps of snow, under the demure smiles and endlessly ways to say 'yes'? The two of them must be one and same, for there is no other way that someone could understand her this deeply without even knowing her name. The being that the world knew as Robin didn't even exist. She was nothing more than a mask to be discarded, now, and the nameless being that stood before the Onix raised her head, the wind picking up around her body, blanketing her in snow.

Let the ice break.

And oh, something in her broke, something so thin and frail she had barely realized it had existed at all.

The cry that ripped it's way from her maw was downright feral, the wind picking up and wrapping around the hoothoot, bits of frost weighing down their feathers until they could no longer fly. She only continued to move forward when the pair had finally fallen unconscious. But she was not satisfied, not yet, that dark, angry thing in her chest was not sated. Seeing the trip ripped from it's roots was satisfying, as were striking down the pair of hoothoot, but she was not yet finished.

"... is that so? It's our turn to be scary?" Saying 'our' shared the responsibility, shared the burden, shared the blame. She half sang, her voice low and dark. Her eyes fluttered shut and she looked, in that moment, almost serene. "Let's go, then."

Frost was beginning to collect on the nearby tree branches, hailstones battering through the canopy and tearing holes in the treeline. Her will was clear as ice and just as sharp. She bent to what everyone else wanted, but her? She wanted to find everyone here who would dare to lay a hand on her and strike them down where they stood. She wanted to be the force of nature that this stranger, this odd echo of herself, clearly thought she was capable of being. (She was, in equal parts, horrified and flattered.) "I want to leave no one standing."

Robin's energy: 0

Rex:[Energy: 0]
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The onix braced himself against the cold that the fox summoned forth with the use of Harden. If he wanted to enjoy the vulpix’s outrage, he’d have to endure the small storm that she created. And oh, did he intend to enjoy it.

Rex moved ahead of her, slamming his body hard into threes as he passed them. Some toppled, most cracked or bent. The ruckus he was creating was summoning up Pokemon of all kinds—some falling from the very trees he assaulted. A particularly upset exeggcute bounced off his head, but not before leaving him poisoned with Toxic. Rex returned the favour by slapping the bunch away with his tail. He did not see where they landed, and he did not care.

The stone snake did not let the poison slow him. It was Pecha Forest, after all. Poison, even a bad poison like this, was of little concern to him. A pair of nidoran saw what was happening and tried to flee, but Rex would not have it. It slammed his tail in to one tree, then the next, and the text. Every direction the two poison pin Pokemon tried to run, Rex blocked their way with either his body or a fallen tree.

He did not attack them, though. No, these two were for his protege. ”These two would have you poisoned, given the opportunity. Will you give them such a chance?” The two nidoran—a male and a female_ stepped back away from the vulpix, only to bump into the large body of the onix surrounding them. If they could have run, they would have, but that option had been taken from them. The female, slightly larger, took a defensive position. The smaller male hesitated, but tried to mimic her. They both brandished their poisonous horns, aimed right at the icy fox.

The crack and groaning of trees, it was endlessly satisfying, a path of carnage that Robin couldn't have dreamed of cleaving on her own. Still, a particularly sharp snap made the hint of a smile flickering across her face. Her smiles usually lacked warmth, that was far from unusual; but the faintest trace of cruelty was novel indeed. She brushed aside an especially bold Ledyba with a grin, striking it down with a fresh burst of frozen wind. It's cry of pain gave her pause, almost, for just a heartbeat. She let it scamper off in fear, still struggling to fly.

It did not last before the mysterious Onix raised his voice, snapping Robin to attention. Perhaps, on most other days, this was when she would have been satisfied. This was usually where she may have stopped and slunk home, guilty and drained. And yet, his words sparked a flame of rage in her, a low, hot smolder deep in her chest. It was the perfect thing to say, to spur her, in the moment. She moved past Rex into the makeshift ring, completely at ease.

"Is that so?" It was a hum, almost singsong. It gave her far more satisfaction than it should have, to see the male tremble. The female growled and snarled, rearing in place and swiping her paw across the soil, tearing up grass. "Bold, thinking you could hurt me. Let's see how long before you regret it."

With each step forward, the grass below her feet thickened with frost, an awful gust racing through the hailstorm and buffeting the two. Instantly they began to shiver and tremble, the smaller of the two falling to his knees while the female charged forward at Robin, who sidestepped her blind charge with an easy fluidity.

The wind changed course, ripping towards the female with a renewed vigor to match Robin's cold rage. She gathered herself to charge again, despite her shivering. It was almost impressive. It would make bringing her to her knees that much more rewarding. Snow was beginning to collect on their battlefield, weighing down both of the little pokemon, while the Vulpix traipsed through unencumbered.

"Still feeling brave." She mused, stepping forward to strike a finishing blow, when- the male had charged into her and knocked her off her feet, sending her sprawling awkwardly through the snow. The jab in her side oozed with a purple liquid that burned at the touch of an exposed wound. Robin heaved herself back up silently, glancing at the Onix.

"If you'd do me a favor... let them be mine." It was a request she knew would be honored. She could do this. She must. The boiling in her veins demanded nothing less.

As the male Nidoran crouched over his companion's shivering form, the hail rained down with renewed vigor, pelting the two hard enough to leave a mess of welts and bruises. Robin stepped forward, still a bit shaky, though her prowl was that of a predator, her lip curled back in something between a smile and snarl. Whatever it was, it was nothing but teeth, and it seemed ill-fitting on her tiny form, all clouds and snow.

The hail and snow pounded down on them, even more intensely as the female charged and clawed at her, her movements growing sluggish and weak. The male was already stuck in place and shivering, half buried in snow, climbing ever higher to cover his body. The last of his strength given way from that earlier charge, perhaps.

Robin found, with a slight hint of surprise, that she couldn't find an ounce of sympathy. (That concerned her, just a touch, but the moment passed quietly, shoved to the back of her mind.)

The Vulpix intercepted her charge with one final dodge, gripped her by the throat, and exhaled. Pinpricks of poison dug near her mouth, and she winced as she pushed past the pain, blasting the little poison type's throat with frozen cold air. Robin didn't put her down for what felt like minutes, not until she heard the Nidoran gasping desperately for air. The flailing finally cut out, her claws weakening their strikes on Robin's chest -

... ah, how long had it been clawing her? It took Robin a long moment to realize that the drops of scarlet leaking onto the snow were hers.

Robin placed her back on the ground with a ginger tenderness, watching the two pokemon that would have hurt her forced to their knees. It was almost enough to make her laugh - but she settled on a wry smile instead, as the Nidoran finally broke eye contact, looking down at her injuries as she wheezed for breath in a grim imitation of a bow.

"There." Robin cooed. "That suits you much better."

It was only then that she moved to leave, exhaustion finally catching up to her. The cold anger had been replaced with hot anger and adrenaline, and once that was gone, she only felt numb. A rather foolish Pienco had crumpled to the ground, knocked from it's branch in the impromptu storm, and Robin merely stared at it, making no move to strike nor help.

She had vented before, yes, but it wasn't usually like... that. It was never like that, and now that her mind was catching up to her body, it was leaving her with a dawning sense of dread she couldn't place. As if she had just made a horrible mistake.

Rex:[Energy: 0]
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His test—his experiment—had gone far better than he had ever anticipated. Granted, the subject he had been blessed with was, so it seemed, particularly well suited for it. The viciousness of the vulpix; it was all far more than anyone would likely expect out of a Pokemon so small, so cute, so innocent looking. She was an excellent specimen.

To others, this aggressive, violent behaviour would likely be troubling and considered a flaw. To Rex, it was quite the opposite. This was what he was looking for in other Pokemon. Violence. Destruction. To him, to pursue these things were something akin to virtuous—though that word was so ill-fitting. The onix displayed what could potentially be described as a grin. He found in himself a feeling of pride in the vulpix.

”Excellent. Brilliant.” His voice, deep and low as ever, remained at his closest approximation of a whisper. ”You did very well, little hailstorm.” Praise was not something he gave frequently.

He could feel the sensation of the poison that the exeggcute had infected him with spreading slowly through his body. He felt the bite of every hailstone that impacted his body. He was in a state of slow decline. Each second that passed, the poison spread further, weakening him. Each chunk of ice that battered him was another inch closer to exhaustion. There was a pecha berry in site. He could cure the poison at any time. Just as well, he could bury himself under ground to avoid the hail. But he relished in the pain—to him, nothing was a greater reminder of life than suffering.

”Do not feel for the weak. To sympathise with them is to let them weaken you. Their failure is your success. Their defeat, your victory. With each creature you fell, you grow stronger. The greater your strength, the greater your potential.” The stone serpent stared down at the vulpix, his expression was practically emotionless. His tone of voice was stern, yet something else as well; reverent.

”Do not let them tarnish that potential. It will come to fruition, in time. You have a purpose, little one. One far greater than those for which you wear your mask could ever know.” Rex had an ideology, and he saw its fundamentals in Robin. ”That mask—you feign cavility. Others, too, wear that same mask. It is unnatural. This world,” the rock snake looked up at the sky—now easily visible thanks to his uprooting of the nearby trees. Hailstones struck his stone body, some shattering into dozens of tiny shards.

”This world, too, wears a mask. It feigns order. It is unnatural.”

The onix didn’t elaborate further, leaving the statement to hang in the air, cryptically. He turned back toward the ground, suddenly slamming the fallen trees out of the way to make the path easier for the tiny fox. It was a kindness—something he seldom ever provided. He slitered his was forward, expecting the vulpix to follow regardless of her injuries.

Excellent. Brilliant.

Was she really? The words coursed through her, infecting her with a burst of energy no duller than that of a drug. Had she truly done well? Looking over the half-frozen pair of nidoran, over the pienco pulled from it's perch, had she truly done well? Her eyes flickered shut, deep in thought, only letting the onix's voice rush over her. Some part of her knew that this was twisted, ill-suited to anyone who may be worth knowing, and yet. However violent he may be, the creature before her was no mere brute. His words sounded wise, and more dangerously still, they made her feel important. Special.

She had been entrusted with a secret. This was wrong, she knew that, she knew, but the reasons why were slowly beginning to slip from her. It was wrong to cause pain, and she was wrong for doing it. Nothing could change that simple, immutable fact, even though she could no longer reason just why it was so vitally important. It had felt incredible, to be powerful, for once. To be the one in control, to cow others instead of the other way around. It was intoxicating. It always had been.

Later, she would remember why the mask was so important. But with the mysterious stranger, in that moment, she merely dipped her head and listened. So he believed that order was unnatural, and chaos was merely the way of the world? She could understand that logic, she supposed, even if she did not agree with it. She hadn't the courage to voice a direct disagreement, but she could afford herself a question. That was just being a good conversational partner, after all-

... ah. There she went again. It was kind, in some strange way, to imply that she had the potential to be something more, but she doubted that, in the end. No, she was far too cowardly for that.

"How did you learn these things?" She managed, trailing along after him, her voice high and piping through the air. "... I don't understand why the unnatural is bad yet." She confessed, voicing a quiet concern only in a vain attempt to live up to the image this stranger clearly saw her as. Such high praise was dizzying. "You won't find a brick in nature, but they make better building materials than raw stone. Do you really think it would be for the best, to be reduced to our base instincts...?"

Worded like that, her clarity of mind was beginning to slip back, a curiosity that weaved it's way through the persistent feeling of numbness. A world where the strong devoured the weak, and violence was the rule of the land... sounded like a nightmare. She wouldn't survive in such a world for a day. She furrowed her brow, focusing past the pain in her side, quietly waiting for clarification.

Rex:[Energy: 0]
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Rex made a sound—something like a hum, but given his sort of voice, it sounded almost like low thunder. ”I understand that the first impression most have of me is that of an ignorant brute. I understand how they may come to this conclusion. But I am so much more. However, very few would ever come to know of my intellect, as I rarely spare time for the weak.”

“There is a story, a very old story,” Rex stopped suddenly. He turned to face the vulpix again. ”It tells of the origins of the world—before us, before the gods; before time itself. The story begins, ‘In the beginning, there was only a churning turmoil of chaos.’ This was the original state of the world—the world at its most natural. Violent, with no structure, nor law. A perfect example of disorder.”

Rex began to circle the tiny fox, as he continued. ”I heard that story when I was very young, and have dedicated my life to it. That story tells the truth that certain Pokemon and even gods themselves wish to keep from you.” The stone serpent looked up toward the sky. It was cloudy—äs always. ”Have you ever watched the clouds? Have you ever seen shapes within them? Perhaps one cloud in a million looks something like something you recognize. But most of the time, they are unstructured, formless things. That is nature. The simple fact is, little hailstorm, that this world was born from the Turmoil, and one day it shall return to it.”

Rex stopped circling the vulpix. The tip of his tail moved around the forest floor, seeking until it found a particularly large hailstone lying on the ground. ”Your idea of nature is wrong. The rocks, the streams, the woods—this is not natural. None of this” he gestured toward their surroundings with his head. ”is natural. True nature is the Turmoil. In time, buildings will crumble. bricks will break.” He had been applying pressure little by little since he had found the hailstone, and it suddenly shattered, emphasizing his statement.

After a brief pause to let everything he had said sink in, he continued. ”But, so too will rocks. Even mountains will crumble eventually. But not Pokemon like us.” Rex leaned in very close to the vulpix. ”I know a way to not only survive the coming Turmoil, but to thrive in it. You have the potential within you, I can see it. But you must grow stronger if you wish to reach your full potential.”