Green eyes watched as the man scrambled to get away, barely noticing that Wurmple had jumped off his shoulder in fear, and that both Rebecca and Zeke just gawked. No, he was to in shock with himself to even turn around immediately.
He’d let Markus live. Even though the man clearly held ideals that had probably cost many, many lives in the process, Hark had let the human escape with his life intact instead of delivering the instant justice he knew himself capable of. He didn’t kill, didn’t even touch. Instead, he’d let Markus escape with a chance to change himself.
A chance Hark found himself hoping Markus would take, strangely enough.
Was he finally getting a grip on himself? Or was the need for revenge, the need to make sure someone knew his pain slowly fading? Seemed like it.
Definitely seemed like it when he turned around and got licked by Zeke, causing him to chuckle before gently grabbing the pokemon’s head to nuzzle it.
He was changing. He was slowly, but finally, gaining what he lacked in all the time he lived, and he couldn’t be more grateful for it.
He crouched as the young Wurmple returned, holding out his hand for it to climb on. And he could only chuckle when it hesitantly did, only to look at the cyan jewel floating near it and grappling onto it, quickly standing atop it with pride which made Hark snort.
“You little show off,” he said while bringing the emerald to his palm before looking at Rebecca and pointing to his shoulders. Her earphones had slipped. Must have been earlier.
Zeke softly growled out a happy noise, gently nudging Hark in return and licking his face again. Rebecca blinked before gently setting Triton down and pulling her headphones back up, sound returning to her world before she promptly sat down so Triton could curl up on her lap.
“How… How did you do that? I’ve never been able to intimidate him lke that…”
“Or rather, never for so long. Teach me your ways.”
The champion was completely serious before realizing something and her face turned bright red, Zeke letting out a noise similar to a huffing laugh.
“…I completely forgot to ask for your name, I’m so sorry.”
Back in the Game 