The darkest Orreian Tale yet, detailing more of the backstory of Kajex and Kaja and some of it's... crueler light.

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It was a quiet, average day for Kajex and Kaja. They were currently rummaging through the room where Kajex stored their stuff to make room for Kaja’s stuff so it could be used as her bedroom. It was a tiring procedure, but they were determined to finish this no matter what.

“Geez we kept this around?” Kaja panted as she pulled an old box that was painted inside. “Guess it got mixed in with our stuff when we first moved out,” Kajex huffed as he tossed a torn shirt into a trash bag.

They had been going at it for at least an hour nonstop. They were clearly exhausted, but they clearly needed an extra set of hands to help. Fortunately after another ten or so minutes, the doorbell was rung much to their surprise.

“I’ll get it,” Kaja huffed as she stumbled out of the room.

Kaja fumbled to the front door before opening it to meet an unusual sight. It was Thorya, their hood up to hide their face looking at Kaja with a sort of guilty look on their face over the sudden visit.

“Hello Kaja,” Thorya awkwardly chuckled, “Sorry for the sudden arrival, but you and Kajex wouldn’t reply to my messages.” “O-Oh!” Kaja replied, “We’re cleaning up so we had our phones off! Come on in!”

Thorya stepped in and closed the door behind them, tossing off their hoodie and putting it on the couch before turning back towards Kaja, a calm expression now strewn across their face.

“Would you mind if I lend a hand?” they asked as Kaja headed back for the room. “We could honestly use it,” Kaja panted, “We have so much junk from back when we were kids.”

Thorya followed Kaja to the room where they bumped into Kajex, who was instantly as shocked as Kaja was before they got to work much to his utter confusion.

“Long story short, we shouldn’t have turned our phones off,” Kaja remarked as Thorya grabbed an old book. “O-Oh I see…” Kajex replied, “St-Still crazy to see royalty help clean house.” “Don’t think of it like that,” Thorya said with a soft smile, “Think of it as a friend helping out.”

They awkwardly continued to clean up for some time like nothing was wrong. It was just tossing out garbage and moving small boxes of stuff to Kajex’s room. However, Thorya soon came across something that would spark their interest like nothing before.

“Is this a photo of you two back when you were little?” they asked as they held the photo out for the twins.

They instantly recognized the photo and it made their hearts sink. It was them being a soulless riolu in Leah’s arms, clearly looking defeated and that everything was over. The looks in their eyes were filled with dread.

“Y-Yeah it is…” Kajex shakily stated. “F-From when mom first took us out of that hellscape once and for all…” Kaja continued.

Thorya looked at them concerned about their state. They were visibly shaking and sweating from whatever it was they were remembering and Thorya knew that they had to make sure they were okay.

“I-I’m sorry I stirred some bad memories,” they began as they set the photo aside, “But if you don’t mind me asking… what exactly happened to you two? I-If you don’t want to tell me it’s okay.”

They both took a deep breath and looked at each other. They didn’t like talking about their past, but they knew that they’d have to push past at least some of the trauma sooner or later and they knew they could trust Thorya after everything they’ve done for them already.

“Alright,” Kaja said as they took a deep breath. “We’ll give you the basics for now,” Kajex continued as they braced themselves mentally…

Seventeen years ago…

The room was dimly lit, the walls, floor, and ceiling were covered in some sort of rubber and the once visible glimpse of the outside world was a small window on the far wall with a group of scientists at a sort of terminal. Their expressions were stern and cruel towards the single , small riolu who was mounted to a strange device on the opposing side of the room. The child was clearly in pain and hardly breathing.

“Project K-4J3X, test number 97, Dynamax Energy generation response stimuli,” one of the scientists stated as another began to mess with a dial. “Starting the voltage at 30%,” another stated as the terminal was prepped.

The riolu simply sat there, battered and scarred as his eyes flickered between purple and pink. He felt no hope, no future, and no emotion as he stared blankly at the scientists. He was so used to this.

“Go… ahead…” the child thought as if there were two voices in their head who felt the same way, “End… this…”

Without any warning, the riolu was ZAPPED with a Dynamax red charge of electricity, hardly fazed as he took it like it was just getting poked with a bunch of fingers all at once.

“Increase the voltage to 50%,” the first scientist said as the dial was cranked up.

The bolts of electricity grew bigger and brighter, making the riolu wince in pain as he clutched his body to hold back the urge to cry. His heart felt weak from the stream of volts flooding into his body.

“Kick it up to 80%,” a third scientist stated as the dial was cranked up further.

The riolu was soon SCREAMING in pain now, bawling his eyes out as he writhed in pain, his body giving off a faint, dynamax red glow as he subconsciously tried to break out of the torture chamber himself.

“Go up to 95%,” the final scientist stated as the dial was cranked one last time.

The riolu was crying now, dynamax energy flooding through their body as they tried desperately to break free, a subconscious reaction all people have. The voltage was cut instantly and the pup was dropped onto the floor, body smoking and motionless except for the cries he kept howling.

“Looks like this experiment type is starting to become numbing to him,” the third scientist remarked as they pushed a button on the side. “He’s barely 3 years old and able to take a lot of punishment,” the first one said, “Clearly all that dynamax energy he keeps making is healing him faster and faster.”

A door on the side of the room opened up, a much younger Leah, still 14ft tall and a lot slimmer emerged from it rushing towards the riolu and scooping him into her arms, both crying as she embraced him.

“M-Mommy!” the riolu cried into her chest as he remained there. “It’s okay Kajex,” Leah cried as she squeezed him tightly, “Mommy’s finally here…”

Leah turned towards the scientists, rage in her eyes as she held her son, letting him cry into her raggedy clothes.

“He’s just a child you monsters!” Leah exclaimed, “Don’t you have all the data you’d ever need by now?!” “Ms Aura,” the last scientist began, “We always need more data.” “And you call us the monsters when you hold a freak of nature in your arms?” the second one calmly stated.

Kajex was bawling his eyes out at the sentence. He could hardly move after being pumped full of seemingly thousands of volts of electricity. All he could do was let his mother take him into the next room.

“I-I’m not a monster!” Kajex bawled out. “You’ll never be a monster sweetie,” Leah sniffled as they stepped in the doorway, “Not while I’m here…”

The door closed behind them, leaving the scientists to comb through their data like what they were doing was the right thing.

Two years later…

Kajex and Leah were standing outside of a large facility, both wearing much more… normal clothes as Kajex now wore glasses. Leah felt free once again but Kajex still had a defeatist look lingering in his eyes.

“I’m never sending you back to that hell sweetie,” Leah assured him with a soft smile.

Kajex merely nodded as Leah picked him up and set him on her shoulders as she happily carried on with taking them who knows where. Kajex had never seen the outside world before and yet, it didn’t excite him at all.

“We’re going to our real home,” Leah assured him with a playful smile, “You’ll have a real bed and be able to play with other kids your age! It’ll be a new life for you!”

But Kajex or Kaja inside him wouldn’t react at all. He was like a living corpse after all the mental trauma he had gone through and it wasn’t going to heal up like the physical scars from the testing…

A few months later…

It was Kajex’s first day of school. He was standing in front of his new class, hood on his head and motionless as he gazed at the rest of his peers. A kind, young, female lopunny for a teacher standing beside him.

“Settle down class,” the lopunny stated, “Meet your new classmate Kajex. His mother was home schooling him for the first quarter of the year due to some unusual circumstances, but he’ll be joining you all for the rest of the year! Say hi Kajex.”

Kajex didn’t speak though. He simply nodded as he clung to the bottom of the hoodie he wore, making his teacher awkwardly chuckle at him.

“Seems like you’re extra shy,” she chuckled, “Why don't you go sit beside Rhys back there on the far right.” “Okay…” he mumbled as he walked to the desk.

He sat beside a male rockruff, who looked at Kajex in confusion much like the rest of the class as he took a seat. He simply stared at the front of the classroom like he was a robot or something.

“H-hey I’m Rhys!” the rockruff said with a calm smile and he held out his hand, “Hope we can be friends!” “... maybe,” Kajex mumbled as he stared at the front.

Rhys awkwardly chuckled as he pulled his hand away and looked towards the front, where the teacher began the current lesson.

Later that day…

It was recess time and while all the kids were goofing around on the playground, Kajex sat on the sidelines, staring off into space with thoughts bouncing between him and Kaja. Rhys soon took notice and decided to check on him.

“Hey you okay Kajex?” he asked him as he stood beside the riolu. “Never have been…” Kajex replied.

This kind of behavior was unheard of to Rhys. He’d never seen anyone so… down in the dumps like Kajex has. He took a seat beside Kajex and tried to get a look at his face under the hood.

“What’s wrong?” he asked curiously. “I… can’t talk about it…” Kajex replied coldly.

As the two sat there, a female mienfoo with a green ribbon on her ear and a goomy in a wheelchair and a broken leg noticed them. The mienfoo pushed the goomy’s wheelchair towards them out of curiosity and stood in front of them.

“Hey, are you new here?” the mienfoo asked curiously. “Yeah he is,” Rhys sighed, “And he’s about as cold as northern Sinnoh.” “H-How so?” the goomy asked as she leaned a bit closer towards Kajex.

Thoughts were coursing through his head. He was unable to process the sudden gathering properly as he sat there, clenching his knees.

“Why are you all so interested in something as horrible as me?” he coldly asked. “Don’t say that about yourself!” the mienfoo exclaimed as she kneeled in front of Kajex.

The two made eye contact, the mienfoo reaching her hand out towards the riolu with a calm smile on her face.

“Look, if you can’t talk about it right now, then maybe you can in the future,” Rhys exclaimed. “No need to push people away who just want to help,” the mienfoo continued as she held her hand closer to him, “What’s your name at least? I’m Naomi and that’s Jade over there.”

Kajex was hesitant at first, thinking he shouldn’t take her hand, but he then shakily reached out and took Naomi’s hand, eyes flickering with the dynamax energy he had to keep locked up.

“... Kajex,” he said as Naomi pulled him to his feet. “Pleasure to meet you Kajex,” Jade smiled, “Hopefully we’ll be good friends!”

Present day…

Kajex, Kaja, and Thorya were all now in the living room after hours of cleaning. Thorya was in shock about just the vague descriptions of the events that transpired, know just who was the man who endorsed all of it.

“That’s… that’s awful,” Thorya remarked, “The way your mother was treated too… right after losing her husband to be…”

The twins took a deep breath as they looked at Thorya. Their hearts felt partially lifted with getting some of what happened, but their minds were racing with those thoughts on an endless loop.

“But we’re far past that now,” Kaja assured, “We’ve grown past that phase with yours and Cherry’s help alone.” “And we can’t thank you enough for it,” Kajex continued.

Thorya simply gave a soft chuckle as they grabbed their hoodie and slid it back on, standing up and heading back for the door.

“Well I’m glad you two were able to tell me everything,” Thorya remarked as they began to turn the doorknob, “And gives me all the more determination to put this bleaker part of Orrei’s history in the past.” “If you say so,” Kaja said with a soft smirk, “Just get home safely.”

Thorya left the apartment, leaving the twins alone as they sorted through their feelings as the sun fell beyond the window.

“Do you think we’ll be able to tell anyone else about that anytime soon?” Kaja asked. “Not for a while,” Kajex remarked, “Remembering those shocks just reminds me how the burns felt…”