Work Text:
News broke about an ancient temple discovered amongst the jungle in the Fiore region ; marks resembling the ones bore by all three super-ancient pokémons carved onto its walls. The report said that the structure stood on top of a hill located in the Olive Jungle, north of a town named SummerLand.
Surrounded by the sea.
Hence, that was only natural for Archie to go check this much talked about temple.
Fiore is located inbetween Hoenn and Sinnoh, sitting north from the pirate's home region ; this was just the perfect getaway trip to take a break from Team Magma's shenanigans and the endless pursuit of Kyogre.
Team Magma was especially on his mind lately.
And getting on his nerve.
One would think Archie was the annoying one in the forever fighting duo of teams; that would be false. Maxie's petty personality, always nitpicking on Team Aqua's business...
A week wouldn't go by without Aqua's quarters getting infiltrated by some undercover Magma grunts, when it wasn't their boss himself sneaking into the archives to steal classified documents or artefacts.
Their modus operanti would be the same, everytime : them sneaking in at night from the sky riding Skymories, getting in whilst most of the employees were alseep, avoiding guards, somehow getting caught and setting the alarm on, waking everybody up, then making an escape someway, often leaving poor Magma grunts behind.
Keeping these Magmas was useless since they didn't actually have anything interesting to reveal, and Archie wasn't much about torture; thus, he would just call Maxie and set a rendezvous point ; they'd meet, exchange the grunt against some worthless thing so it wouldn't seem too silly, as well as some threats and both leaders would then part ways.
And this would go on, and on, and on.
Therefore, Archie gladly took the excuse of this newfound temple as a way to take a small vacation, away at sea.
And he was enjoying it fully ; as soon as he arrived, after a long ride on his Sharpedo, he took a stroll around the village, befriending citizens as well as chilling on the beach.
Which eventually led him to the local bar, having already taken a few drinks in.
The mystic temple had been waiting thousands of years for him, it could wait a few more hours...days maybe.
He pushed the door and entered the establishment, his large frame not going unnoticed and earning him a few curious looks which quickly turned away as he approached the counter and ordered an Alolan Punch. He leaned against the counter, scanning the room while waiting for his drink to be made.
At this time of the night, only researchers unwinding after their day of work, along with a few groups of locals drunks, fooling around, were all that was left in the bar.
Archie would usually join these kinds of group, drinking out of reason and making friendships of an evening ; however tonight, he was looking for calm.
He let out a content sigh, alone on this paradise of an island and having the chance to sip on his rhum drink without a care in the world.
He was taken out of his daydreaming about twenty minutes later, hearing commotion in the back of the room. Shouts were coming from there, a group of drunk locals gathered and seemingly quarreling.
Archie walked over there, his glass in hand and looked above the heads of the small crowd to try and see what the fuss was about.
All he could see was a man, seemingly almost too drunk to stand, angrily arguing with an other.
« Screw Pokémon battles, I could take you in a regular fight anytime you want, loser. »
The man shook a trembling finger at his opponent, repeating. « Loser. »
The other laughed at his face and pushed the guy with the palm of his hand, which forced him to barely sit down on a chair.
« Try standing up straight first, ginger. »
The crowd laughed, cheering and wooping at the standing one. « Come on stand up, be a man, keep your word and come fight me ! » He grabbed a bottle and broke it in half against a table, holding it by the neck. He pointed the sharp side at his opponent, galvanized by the mob's cheers.
Archie frowned. He didn't like where this was going.
« Hey c'mon let's keep it friendly lads.», he started as he made his way through the crowd to break up the fight, abandonning his glass on a table.
He may have been the most sober in the room, and his large body was enough to dissuade anyone from going against him. He was getting to the center, ready to defuse the conflict.
« You lot had your fun and drank one too many- »
His eyes stopped on the man he was about to defend, who was stuggling to stand back up and already stuttering more threats.
« Now that I'm standing up, what's your plan f...fucker ? »
Maximilian, leader of Team Magma walked forward to his opponent, pushing his forehead against his.
« ...Fucker. »
Archie couldn't process the scene playing in front of him. Maxie, here in Summerland. Squaring up with some drunkard. And seemingly drunk out of his mind himself.
He let his arms drop to his sides, staring in disbelief.
The other man laughed, also pushing his head against Maxie's. « I'll fuck you up ginger. »
His friends cheered, tension escaladating.
This wasn't going to end well. He had to break out of his shock.
He walked towards the duo.
« Hey guys, leave him be- » A punch hit Archie's face.
The crowd suddenly went silent.
Someone wooped in the back.
Archibald lifted his head up, looking at Maxie's face crumbling upon realizing who he just hit.
« Damn ginger, and what did this one do to you ? » laughed the other guy.
Maxie stuttered, taking two steps back. « Arch...Archibald what... »
Archie chose to assume the Magma leader had hit him by mistake.
« You need to go home Max. »
Maxie broke out of his astonishment.
« Are you following me, lo...loser ? » He regained composure. « And fuck off. I'm not taking order from you. Loser. » He turned back to his opponent. « And fu...fuck you. » Lifted a finger in the air, turning round. « Fuck all of you ! Broke losers. » He burst out in laughter.
Archie was speechless. It seemed his forever ennemy had lost his mind. And his will to live.
The crowd came to life again, closing onto Maxie and seemingly looking to teach him a lesson.
Archie had to put his beliefs aside and act fast.
He grabbed Maxie's forearm and pushed violently through the mob, acting as a large human shield for the redhead protesting and trying to break out of his grasp.
They got out of the bar, and Maxie stopped thrashing against Archie, following his lead. They kept running for a while, until they arrived next to an upside down boat abandonned on the sand.
It had gotten really late, the bright shine of the moon was the only light they had. Luckily the sky was clear and the stars shone beautifully this far away from light pollution. But now was not the time to admire them.
Maxie was gasping for air.
« Fuck all this damn sand. »
Archie had heard enough ''fucks'' from him for the night.
« What the hell was that about ? Yer tryin' to die or somethin' ? » He sighed, remembering their relationship. He crossed his arms, sticking out his chest and looking down at him. « And what are ya even doing out here ? »
Maxie took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, still panting.
« That...That is none of Team Aqua's business. None of your business. » He cleared his throat, putting his glasses back on. « I am here on work reasons. »
« Oh you can't give me that crap and expect me to believe it after what I've just seen. »
Maxie took off his coat, folded it and put it under his arm, using that as a way to avoid Archie's eyes on him.
It seemed the run had sobered him up ; however, his face was getting redder than ever.
He dug his hands in his pockets, turning back from Archie.
« Well now Archie, I am going to get back to my hotel. Let's forget this all happened, I won't speak a word about tonight. »
« What about how I saved yer ungrateful and drunken ass ? »
« I didn't ask for you help Archibald. »
« Oh that's rich, even coming from ya.» He stomped towards Maxie, grabbing his shoulder and forcing him to face him. « I got ya out of serious trouble tonight. putting our... issues aside and yer just gonna walk away like nothin' happened ? »
Maxie kept on dodging his glance, muttering.
« What do you want me to do, bend over in gratitude to my knight in shining armour, the great Archibald ? » He finally looked at Archie. He realized Maxie's stare was still blurred, his lips shaking as well. « Leave me alone, I'm perfectly able to care for myself without you... Your help. Understood ? »
He held his gaze, awaiting an answer.
Archie was out of words. Silence surrounded them, the sound of the waves and the wind crashing against the jungle's trees filling it.
He gazed at Maxie.
His hair was out of place, his cheeks reddened by the cold breeze and the situation. His eyes were intensely fixated on him, expecting a reply. His lips...
« I understand. » Archie said calmy. « Get back safely Maxie. »
« ...Thank you. »
He turned and started walking back towards the town, his hands still in his pockets in an effort to look unbothered. Then stopped.
«...Did you worry about me ? »
« Uh ? »
« Did you save me out of worry? »
The large man was caught off guard.
« Yes, Maxie. You could've gotten hurt. Badly. »
He heard a scoff, and the sound of steps in the sand resumed.
« See you Archie. »
The leader turned to the sea, gazing at it lost in thoughts.
It seemed Team Aqua's shenanigans wouldn't get out of his mind that easily after all.