Romi

**Romi** is a major character in *Crossed*. She is a female Zoroark who, along with her mate Marshall and their children, forges a bond with Xenia after the latter struggles to cope with the apparent loss of her best friend Rupert. She also makes a smaller appearance in *A Dark Warrior.*

## Relations

### Mother

Unnamed female Zoroark (biological; deceased)Kira (adoptive)

### Father

Unnamed male Zoroark (disowned)Andrew (adoptive)

### Husband(s)

Unnamed male Zoroark (divorced); Marshall (currently)

## **Physical Appearance**

She is a very large Zoroark with thick black and white fur and bright green eyes. Her claws and facial markings are also bright green, and she has a scar over her left eye. Her mane is black with white accents and has a green bangle separating the smaller portion from the larger one. The large ruff of fur covering her upper body is white, with pointed green tips at the shoulders. She has white hands and feet and a white underside reaching her snout. Her ears have bright green insides, and her right arm has scars from when Xenia bit her.

As a Zorua, she was black with a white underside and had green paws and marks above her eyes. Her eyes and ear insides were green, and she had a spiky white ruff of fur around her neck with two green points sticking up. She had a large, green-tipped tuft of fur on her head, and her eyelids were also green. Her pupils were white and she had a white-tipped tail.

## **History**

### **Early Life**

She lived a happy, carefree life as a Zorua until one tragic day, when she and her parents were hunting. She failed to deal the killing blow to the Goodra they were after and accidentally enraged it instead by biting its private parts. This caused it to go on a rampage and her mother was killed as a result. Romi's father, wracked with grief, abandoned her shortly after, blaming her for what had happened. When she tried to follow him and apologize, he angrily denied that she was his daughter, giving her the scar on her face and emotionally scarring her for life. Realizing that he'd never wanted a child, Romi yelled that she hated her father and ran away from him, going deeper into the woods. She initially struggle to survive on her own, but gradually learned some of what her father refused to teach her.

Sometime later, Romi was caught stealing the food of another female Zoroark and subsequently captured. The female, who had a mate and three kits of her own, realized that Romi was alone and asked where her parents were, to which the Zorua bitterly replied they were dead. The Zoroark, whose name was Kira, decided to adopt Romi into her family. Although Romi had trouble fitting in at first, she learned that Kira, her husband Andrew, and foster siblings all wanted her there, and she was able to be happy again. She eventually evolved into a Zoroark and left her foster family to become independent.

She later met a male Zoroark and mated with him, becoming pregnant with his child. After a ten-month gestation period, Romi laid a single egg, which soon hatched and yielded a son, who she named Malcolm. She wanted to show her mate their child, but her mate was quickly caught by a trainer and never seen again. Romi raised Malcolm alone and took another mate, Marshall, soon after his departure. Marshall mated with Romi and impregnated her; she later laid four eggs, of which she was fiercely protective and initially didn't want Marshall to approach them. After they hatched, Romi and Marshall began raising four kits: two sons, Caleb and Stuart, and two daughters, Margerie and Bernice.

## ***Crossed***

### **Chapter 21: On the Run**

While traveling through the woods in her hybrid form to escape Song, Xenia, carrying the fully-recovered Rupert on her back, hears Romi grunting. Crouching down, she peers through some bushes and sees the Zoroark, along with her family, playing with each other. Romi suddenly stops and sniffs before catching the duo's scents. She glares straight at Xenia, who ducks her head. Rupert asks her what's up, but Xenia shushes him as she hears Romi drawing near their hiding place. However, one of Romi's kits calls to her, saying someone's approaching, and Romi decides to investigate, leaving Xenia and Rupert alone. Seeing their chance to sneak off, they do so.

### **Chapter 23: Disaster**

Romi is next seen rushing out of a small hut with Marshall while Xenia leads Rupert to attack the village she and her family are living in. Rupert attacks her daughter Bernice against Xenia's warning that a normal animal can't win a fight against a Pokémon. However, Rupert ignores his comrade's advice and soon suffers the consequences, as Bernice holds her own against him with little effort and Romi soon steps in. Now realizing how dangerous the situation is, Rupert turns and flees while Romi persues him, roaring at him for attacking her daughter. Xenia comes to Rupert's aid and knocks Romi away with Dragon Tail. A grateful Rupert clambers up onto her back and warns her to watch out for Romi, since the Zorua he fought with was her daughter and that neither of them should mess with a mother Pokémon or her offspring. Xenia, noticing Romi glaring at her, agrees, and keeps attacking and killing villagers. Rupert spots Romi persuing Xenia and warns her; however, his warning comes too late, and Xenia feels the Zoroark landing on her back. She looks over her shoulder to see Romi standing over Rupert; she then tries to grab him, but the fox dodges and bites her leg before quickly jumping off Xenia's back and vanishing into the chaos.

Now left to deal with the Zoroark herself, Xenia shifts sideways in an attempt to throw her off, but fails, as an angered Romi holds onto her fur. The Zoroark then roars at Xenia for sending Rupert to attack her kit and digs her claws into her skin, slashing her back. Xenia roars in pain and starts jumping and bucking, but Romi still manages to hold on. Seeing the larger stone houses some distance away from her, Xenia runs through the village toward them while a roaring Romi continues inflicting injuries on her. The other villagers see what the Zoroark is doing and start throwing weapons at Xenia; however, the weapons don't do much to her except aggravate her further. Xenia. reaching the stone houses, lowers her head and charges through the one right in front of her, hoping the impact will hurt Romi enough to throw her off. When she sees that Romi is still holding on after charging through all the stone houses, Xenia jumps up into the air and flips her body so that her back is now facing the ground. She hears Romi gasp as the latter realizes she's about to land on a hill and jumps off her back to avoid being crushed upon impact.

Relieved at managing to throw off her enemy, Xenia switches to her normal fox form and starts looking for Rupert, realizing that the attack was a bad idea. She finds him fleeing from Romi and Marshall, and attacks the former by biting her rear end to buy him time to escape. Romi roars in agony and Xenia lets go before following Rupert. However, Romi catches them both, but before she can do anything to them, they all hear rumbling. When a scout cries that a flash flood is approaching, Romi drops the foxes and calls for her kits, who run to her and jump into her mane for protection. She then flees with the other villagers while Rupert and Xenia take the chance to run for it themselves. The refugees then watch in horror as the village is quickly flooded and those who fail to reach higher ground in time are washed away. Knowing that her family is safe, Romi returns her attention to Rupert and Xenia. She chases them away from the other villagers and is about to catch them again when the ground underneath Rupert suddenly gives way. Both she and Xenia then watch in horror as Rupert falls into the floodwater and is swept away.

Romi looks on as a horrified Xenia screeches Rupert's name. When there is no answer, Xenia tries to jump into the water to save him, but Romi quickly grabs her and shakes her head, believing that Rupert died. Xenia, refusing to believe so, struggles in the Zoroark's grip and snarls at her to let her go. Romi, still upset with her for endangering her kits, ignores the fox's anguished screams and silences her by tightly gripping her neck. Xenia realizes that the Zoroark is threatening to choke her if she doesn't stop screaming and goes limp. Romi holds her by the neck and brings her up to her eye level, causing the fox to shudder under her glare. The Zoroark growls at her to be quiet and brings her back to the group of villagers. Marshall runs up to Romi, while their kits jump out of their mother's mane. Romi's mate hugs her lovingly before seeing Xenia. He holds out his hand to grab her and Romi gives her to him. Marshall, greatly angered, strangles Xenia for what she did while Romi takes up a sleeping pill she made out of herbs. She approaches her mate, who positions Xenia, and holds up the pill to force feed it to her. Realizing what's about to happen, Xenia resists, but Marshall forces her mouth open, allowing Romi to insert the pill. Once it's inside, Romi withdraws her hand while Marshall closes Xenia's mouth again and tilts her head so she'll swallow it. When Xenia manages to resist, Romi gently massages Xenia's throat to force her swallow. Xenia has no choice but to comply, and sees Romi, Marshall, their children, and some other villagers glaring down at her before she soon falls asleep.

### **Chapter 24: Enslaved**

Romi enters the hut in which Xenia is imprisoned sometime after the latter wakes up and removes the chain from around the fox's neck. She then takes Xenia outside into the villagers' new camp and puts her to work performing menial tasks to help build the camp as punishment for the attack. Xenia, knowing her captor is watching her every move, has no choice but to do as she's told. The fox switches to her hybrid form and starts helping the villagers build huts under Romi's supervision. When break time arrives, Romi and Marshall walk up to Xenia to inform her they won't let her rest until she's earned it, forcing her to build the huts in the villagers' place. Romi decides to go on break, leaving Marshall to supervise their prisoner.

After break time is over, Romi goes back on supervision before noticing the immense number of huts Xenia built while she was gone. She gives the prisoner an approving grunt before once again directing Xenia where to go and what to do every minute. Xenia, while working, notices her holding a trumpet, which she thinks as Romi's method of keeping her under control. She does as Romi instructs her so as not to anger her, thinking on when Song played her trumpet loudly in her ears to get her to obey. Romi then starts playing a fast-paced tune, prompting Xenia to work faster. When the day ends, Romi and the other villagers scrutinize Xenia's work and are impressed by how much she managed to accomplish in one day. Romi orders Xenia to go rest under the large Oran berry tree next to the river. When Xenia tries to ask about food, Romi again points to the tree, not inviting any objection. Xenia complies. Under the tree, she watches Romi and Marshall playing with their kits and some other young villagers.

Hungry now, Xenia looks to see that Romi is still occupied with the villagers. Seeing her chance, she eats a few Oran berries off the tree and looks again to see Romi still occupied. Xenia sighs in relief and eats all the fermented berries lying on the ground around the tree, causing her to become heavily inebriated. She accidentally bumps into the tree and knocks down several berries, with some falling on her and staining her fur blue. The noise attracts Romi's attention, and Xenia sees the Zoroark running toward her, yelling in disbelief. Romi stops right under the tree, and a few berries fall on her, prompting Xenia to lick them off. While she does that, Romi yells in disgust at the feel of Xenia's saliva touching her and pushes her head away. Xenia winces in pain as Romi blows the trumpet in her ear and yells at her to admonish her for her behavior, causing her to revert to her fox form. When Marshall and a few other villagers arrive to ask what's going on, Romi tells them what Xenia did. She agrees with the villagers when they say she took their food, and Marshall scolds Xenia, telling her they're all disappointed in her. Romi then punishes Xenia by taking her into her family's hut and spanking her. The pain causes some of Xenia's senses to return, prompting her to fight back. She wriggles out of Romi's grip and bites her leg, causing the Zoroark to yell in pain. However, the hut's door has been locked on the outside, trapping Xenia in with her captor. Due to being drunk, Romi quickly catches Xenia and resumes spanking her before whipping her rear end with a long, stiff reed, causing Xenia to scream in pain. After the punishment ends, Romi chains her up again and confines her to bed to sleep off her drunkenness.