Chapter Text
Once Rick got a taste of Morty-battling, he was hooked. And really… Morty didn’t mind much. He could take his anger out on weaker Mortys and laugh about it with Rick afterwards. They won lots of money and met a lot of interesting people. One minor downside would be the time Rick asked him to shove one of those multi-colored mega fruit seeds up his ass, but other than that, everything was pretty good.
That was, until they started catching stronger Mortys to add to their party. Some of them were actually kind of cool; Flannel Morty turned out to be a real bro. But the true problem came about when Morty found he was struggling to keep up with the team. He was the lead of the party; Rick’s #1. Usually, he would beat up the first guy and then switch off with another Morty, but he began to find that harder and harder to accomplish.
At some point, another Morty began fronting. He was left for last and he found that whether he managed to stay upright or not would dictate whether Rick would praise him or degrade him. Most times, he ended up degrading him.
“I can’t take this anymore, Morty.”
“H-huh? What?” he’s still groggy from waking up at the healing centre again.
“Listen, Morty—I-I feel like you’re not taking this seriously anymore. Y-You’re really—you’re really dropping the ball, man.”
“Rick, w-w-what are you talking about?”
“Morty, Morty I’m talking about—I’m talking about how much you suck. Y-You can’t hold your own in battle anymore, Morty. It’s br—URRP—inging us all down.”
Morty gapes at him in disbelief.
“B-Bringing us all down? Rick, this is about me and you. Don’t you remember? Just Rick and Morty, battling? Us against the world?”
Rick goes quiet. He chews his gum, thinking. Morty crosses his arms.
“I’ll give you two options,” he says, voice low.
“What?”
“I can drop you off at the daycare,” he gestures towards the Morty Daycare, “Or I can release you, and you’re free to do what you want.”
Morty’s stomach drops to his feet.
“Rick, no, Rick—” Morty reaches out to grab his sleeve, but Rick pulls away.
“Choose, Morty. Or I will.”
“Rick, please.” Hot tears prick at the corners of his eyes.
Rick hides his gaze behind the visor of his hat.
“I-I-I don’t wanna leave you, Rick. W-W—Why don’t we just go home? You—you’re getting way too intense about this battling thing. Please.”
“Sorry, Morty,” Rick says mournfully. “But this is my life now.”
Morty’s lip trembles.
“I’ll do anything, Rick. Please.”
Rick pulls his visor down further. The four other Mortys stand behind him awkwardly, fidgeting their hands and staring at their feet. Not a single one of them speaks up to defend him, to plead for Rick not to be so cruel to him—his Morty. Maybe it’s payback for all the ones he’s watched go, or be left at the daycare, never to be seen again.
“We can… I can take more of th-those Mega Seeds, Rick. I’ll train extra hard, Rick. I’ll be good.”
“Not good enough.”
Morty stumbles back as if he’d been burned. The words scorch their way into his heart and turn it to ash.
“Y-Y’know what? Fine. I’ll go find a better Rick. One that—that puts care and, and effort into training his Mortys. One that doesn’t g-give up.”
“Okay.” Rick’s voice is monotone. “Good luck, Morty.”
“Fuck you.”
Rick turns around silently and ushers his party away. He leaves Morty alone, crying by himself in the citadel.