Chapter Text
He let out an exhausted sigh as he leaned back, barely managing to hold himself up as the bird’s angry rumbling got farther and farther away. He felt weary, and he tilted his head downward to stare at the floor. He couldn’t help but flinch as he heard more rocks falling, and he cringed slightly, but couldn’t manage to bring himself to care that much about it.
Meanwhile, he heard Friede breathe out a heavy sigh and clap his hands together. His Charizard landed on the ground, flapping its wings and growling lowly in what he guessed was some sort of final threat to the bird.
Then, as if whatever God was out there hated him, Friede turned and approached him somewhat quickly and knelt down in front of him.
“We have to go. The cave is collapsing.” His voice was urgent yet oddly quiet and serious, which wasn’t something that he heard frequently if at all. In a way, this whole situation felt sort of coddling.
Despite that, he couldn’t muster up any quick response of retaliation, so he just wordlessly nodded and heaved himself upwards with a lot more effort than it normally would’ve taken to stand up. He had already felt like there was a weighted blanket over him, but it felt like another five had been dropped onto him the moment he was on his feet and he stumbled a little. Friede reached out and caught him by putting a hand firmly on his shoulder and holding him steady.
The contact was most certainly unwelcome, causing him to tense up, but Amethio recognized that he definitely would not be able to stand on his own at that point. I have to choose between standing with help or collapsing and not being able to walk. Outstanding situation I’m in.
With a lot of begrudging hesitation, he tilted his head away and sighed as he forced himself to relax and allowed Friede to slip an arm under his shoulder to hold him up. He scrunched his nose up in distaste as the other flashed a grin before ambling them towards the exit that had rocks collapsed over it.
“Charizard, break us out!” He ordered, and his Charizard immediately took to using Air Slash to destroy the rocks that were in the way of their escape. They crumbled away into dust and tiny pebbles, revealing the way out— or, what they could only assume was the way out. The tunnel only let into more darkness, but it also wasn’t crumbling into pieces, so it was their only option at this point.
Amethio curled his mouth into a scowl as Friede began walking them through. He hated this already.
The walk was agonizingly slow— or maybe it was the lack of anything happening or the general awkwardness of the situation, or that it was generally difficult to have to be pulled along because the exhaustion was still heavily weighing in.
The silence was loud, unbearably so. The feeling of Friede holding him up was getting increasingly discomforting, and it was a dimly lit tunnel that felt like it was taking forever to get through.
He hadn’t looked back up at Friede, keeping his stare focused straight ahead or on the ground below him (the latter was more often considering how he couldn’t hold his head up for that long) . He wasn’t used to being held up like this, let alone by someone who was an enemy— it was uncomfortable for the both of them.
He was going to say something to break the silence, but Friede beat him there.
“How old are you?”
The question threw him off, so much so that he paused dragging his feet only to be pulled along anyway like it was nothing. He scowled a little and twisted his head a little to glance at the other from the corner of his eye. “Why do you want to know?”
“You look a lot younger when you aren’t glaring at everything.” He answered casually, still not looking at him and instead looking ahead. “You’re also pretty short for what an adult should be.”
Amethio wasn’t sure if it was the fatigue making him delirious or if it was something else, but he just narrowed his eyes as he responded with an answer to the first question. “I’m 16.”
“How come you’re part of The Explorers, then? Shouldn’t you be worrying about education or something?”
He scowled further. “I graduated early.”
“16 is still a really early age to graduate.”
“I don’t think this matters.”
The only acknowledgment Friede gave to that was a simple hum before the two lapsed into silence again. After a few seconds, he cursed himself in his head for spilling information he’d rather not have shared. He wished the stupid exhaustion would wear off soon.
The quiet lasted for a much shorter period of time— mostly because one question was starting to force itself into his mind more and more the longer this dreadful experience went on for. He couldn’t help but ask.
“Why are you helping me?”
He supposed it was nice to get some form of revenge for the surprise about the age question by seeing Friede look surprised for a moment, but it didn’t last as his face split into some sort of grin.
“I can’t be responsible for losing a kid, now, can I?”
That response was enough to make Amethio shut up out of frustration for the rest of the walk.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity and a half, the pair of them came across the true exit to the cave. The light was almost blinding, but welcomingly so paired with the fresh air that came with it.
The short moment of enjoyment, however, was interrupted as Friede spoke again. “Still got that fatigue?”
He narrowed his eyes, noting that it was definitely still there. It felt a little better, though, and having been upright for a while gave him enough trust in himself to get out of this situation still standing (both figuratively and literally) . So, he broke away from the other. Doing so was a challenge in itself as he didn’t have the support to remain up, but he managed to stand firmly and keep himself from falling to the floor. His head spun a little, but he wasn’t on the floor.
Then, with a deep inhale, he lied through his teeth. “No. It’s gone.”
He turned back to him, standing up straight and crossing his arms over his chest. Despite the confident calmness that the stance would typically bring, he could tell that he didn’t look like he was being honest at all. so he just had to silently pray to whatever God was out there that he believed him and they could go home never to speak of this experience ever again.
Tragically, whatever God was out there did not answer his prayers, and Friede merely raised an eyebrow and looked over him with a skeptical look. “You’re shaking pretty bad for that to be the case.”
Amethio frowned as he glanced down at himself, trying to ignore the rush of dizziness that came with moving his head too fast, and discovered that he was actually shaking. His legs looked like they were struggling to hold his weight, and his hands were unsteady as he uncrossed his arms to look at them. Then, he scowled and lifted his head back up with much more effort than it should’ve taken to perform a simple action.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It kinda does. Can you call one of your people to come get you?”
He reached into a pocket and pulled out his phone, about to give an answer, but pressed his mouth into a thin line as he thought twice.
Both Zirc and Onia had left their Skarmory back at the base, considering it was easier to hold onto one Poké Ball compared to two. Alongside that, he had absolutely no idea where they were or if they were even out of the cave, and their phones were likely on silent anyways as all of theirs were for when they were on missions. It wasn’t like he could just fly on Corviknight to get out of this either— the thing had gotten pretty injured dealing with the weird bird, not to mention that it was also hit with the energy-draining light so it wouldn’t be in good condition to fly anyway.
Walking wouldn’t do much for him, with or without directions. His legs felt like they were going to give up soon, and he wasn’t going to drag himself through the dirt until he reached the civilization that he was vaguely aware was just down the route. Regardless, he wouldn’t exactly want to hit civilization anyway. He just wanted to get back to the base and get everything that had happened onto paper for future reference and in case he ever had to deal with that bird again.
His frustration grew with each passing second that he didn’t have an answer. He could theoretically call Hamber to come and pick him up, but he knew that he would be pissed if he had to come and rescue him from a situation he got himself into by disobeying direct orders from Gibeon. As much as Hamber acted as a sort of mentor-like advisor to him, he knew where his loyalties really were, and it most certainly was not with him.
“I’ll take your silence as a no, then.” Friede said flatly, his grating voice reminding him that he was still there and still waiting for a response. “In that case, your best bet is to probably come with me.”
The horror that spiked through Amethio upon hearing that was enough to make him look up sharply (and wince as dizziness made itself known once more) at the other. “You cannot be serious.”
He shrugged a little, looking off to the side in what was assumedly the direction of the ship. “I mean, I could leave you here.” He then looked back at him, a smirk curling on his face. “You’d be kinda stuck, though, wouldn’t you?”
“Why do you want me around?”
“I don’t.”
The more this conversation carried on, the more Amethio wished he would’ve called Hamber, even with the overhanging threat of Gibeon. Being scolded and reprimanded for not following orders was better than having to interact with this absolute bozo of a person. “Then stop trying to keep me around.”
“I’m not! I just don’t really trust you to get anywhere like
this.”
The other replied with a vague gesture towards him, sounding more amused than anything else. “Can’t leave my
‘rival’
here to die, after all.”
“I’m going to cause problems if you force me on your ship.”
“I’m sure you will.”
“I’m not your rival, either.”
“Sure.”
He gave a sigh of frustration. “What makes you think the others on the ship are going to want me on there?” He questioned, trying to keep his stance firm on this. “They don’t trust me.”
“It’s not like we’re going to keep you for longer than needed.” Then, as if it was absolutely nothing, he began to dial a number and put the phone to his ear. “Besides, they can deal with it. You’re an injured teenager, anyway.”
“I wish you’d stop mentioning my age.”
“Try not being a part of a villain organization as a teenager and then I’ll let it go.”
Absolutely insufferable. He thought, sighing and letting his hands clench into fists at his sides. His fate had practically been decided for him, which was annoying considering how he had things to do and people to report back to. He’d have to report over the phone at this point, which would raise questions, which would lead to a whole spiraling case about safety and whatnot. That was almost as insufferable as Friede, which said a lot.
“Hey, Liko,” The other’s voice got more serious and somber. “Where are you two? Are you safe?”
He couldn’t hear the response, but judging by how he breathed out a relieved sigh, he could assume things were probably fine on the other end.
“Okay… yeah, I’m okay… yeah… Amethio is— well, he’s not doing that great.” They momentarily made eye contact as he said his name, though it was broken after the phone call continued. “… Yes, he’s alive, Roy— I— don’t ‘awww’ that!”
Only being able to hear one part of the conversation wasn’t great, but Amethio could assume Roy (the boy who had the Rayquaza in that strange Pokéball, he noted) had asked if he was alive and then got disappointed upon hearing that he was. Truthfully, he sort of agreed with that right now. Death would be much kinder to him than being forced to deal with these people for longer than necessary.
“He got hit with that exhaustion thing, and his Pokémon are injured. Can’t really get picked up, either.” Friede continued, acting as though the person he was talking about wasn’t standing just to his left. “He can’t really do much right now, so…”
“If you force me on your ship, I’m taking the pendant and running.” He muttered with a lack of any genuine threat in his tone, shifting his weight from foot to foot as he gave a last half-hearted attempt to get to be able to leave. “I can still do that. ”
“Sure you will. Not like you’d be instantly surrounded and stopped or anything.” The other replied sarcastically, shaking his head and chuckling in what felt like a condescending manner. “Anyway, yeah. I think I have to bring him on the ship so he doesn’t die or something. He won’t be there for long, and neither of you will have to go near him. Is that fine? I’ll keep an eye on him the entire time.”
There was another few seconds of silence before he nodded which was kind of pointless considering how neither of the people on the other end of the phone couldn’t see him. “Okay. I’ll be there soon.”
Amethio sighed. Yet another outstanding situation today. Great.
Arriving at the ship made him uncomfortable, in a way. The last time he had seen it, he had been following them in order to get the pendant again— and then almost lost his job due to another failure and the Rayquaza that no one believed was real.
He’d definitely lose his job if this was discovered.
Friede had to put a hand on his back to keep him steady as they went up the stairs that had been deployed down for them to get in. It was humiliating and he immediately opted to lean on a wall as they reached the platform. Despite the exhaustion having mostly worn off, he still felt that faint glint of tiredness and stress that came whenever he was sleep-deprived that suggested that he still wasn’t entirely alright quite yet.
Another woman with brownish hair that faded into orange— someone whose name he wasn’t sure of— had evidently been waiting for them, her arms crossed as she looked at them both expectantly.
“The kids told me you’d be bringing him on the ship.” Her tone was stern as she looked between the two of them disapprovingly. “You’re lucky you’re the co-captain, Friede.”
“Hello to you too, Orla.” The man gave her a grin, unbothered by how she didn’t like any of this in the slightest. It’s a wonder how these people manage with him around.
“Anyway, Mollie is already set up to take his Pokémon.” ‘Orla’ addressed Friede, pointedly ignoring Amethio like she was trying to pretend he didn’t exist at all. “She’s especially not happy, though.”
“She’ll get over it.” He waved a hand dismissively, seemingly unbothered by how no one— at least the adults— was happy with him at the minute. “Besides, we’re not keeping him. It’ll be fine! He’ll be off the ship by tomorrow anyway.”
“Yeah, okay.” Orla gave him a frown, before gesturing vaguely behind her. “She’s in her room.”
“Alright. Thanks, Orla!”
“Mhm.”
Amethio frowned. Somehow, he felt even more unwelcome now than the time he had intruded on the ship to get the pendant.
The room he had been led into was what appeared to be a DIY healing station. He could make a guess that this was for when they were sailing over water and had to heal their Pokémon for whatever reason, and he supposed that made more sense than it would if they didn’t have one.
Inside, a woman with pink hair was sitting in a chair with both her legs and arms crossed and giving them both a deadpan stare as they went in. This was probably Mollie, all things considered.
“Give me your Pokémon.” Mollie didn’t bother speaking to Friede, instead directly addressing Amethio in stark contrast to how Orla acted. It was nice to be acknowledged, at least— even if it wasn’t in a particularly positive way.
He did hesitate, though. Giving an enemy his Pokémon wasn’t something he was just going to be exactly comfortable with, especially when they were injured. He pressed his mouth into a thin line, observing her tensely as he had an internal debate on whether or not to trust this stranger, this enemy with his Pokémon.
She did seem to notice his unease, and she heaved a slightly irritated sigh before leaning back in her chair a little more. “Just let them out of their Pokéballs if it makes you that unhappy.”
He gave her a flat look, before slowly taking out Ceruledge’s Pokéball and letting it out.
His Ceruledge looked tired and unsteady, still weary from everything that had happened in the cave. However, upon realizing where it was and who was around it, it shot straight up with an alarmed creak and very quickly glanced around until it saw Amethio. He sighed quietly and closed his eyes for a moment, sharing his Pokémon’s discomfort, before shaking himself and placing a hand on its shoulder as some means of comfort— for both the pain of the injuries it sustained and the unease of this situation.
“Come here.” Mollie spoke sharply to interrupt the short little moment as she made a gesture with her hand for them to come closer. He made a slight face before slowly walking toward her while bringing Ceruledge along until they got to stand directly in front of her. She stared at the two of them for a moment before standing up and beginning to grab medical supplies. “Friede, you leave. As for you,” She paused to gesture at Amethio. “go sit elsewhere in here. If your Corviknight is injured, get that one out too.”
He glanced over his shoulder as Friede laughed somewhat nervously and slipped out of the room with only a little bit of hesitation. The room felt awfully silent after that, but he ended up retreating to a corner and sitting down on the floor while keeping an eye on his Ceruledge. Then, he sank to the floor as he let out his Corviknight, who was a little less worn out than his other Pokémon, but still injured nonetheless. It chirped quietly in slight confusion at what was going on, but it seemed to relax after a few seconds and settled down by his side.
Absently, he began to run a hand through its feathers, letting his stare rest on the floor in front of him as he stiffly leaned back against the wall. He inhaled deeply, trying to force himself to relax, but the tension in his shoulders didn’t leave. In fact, it probably got worse, considering how he felt more anxiety build up in his chest as he started to recognize that this was happening and not some strange fever dream. He was in the enemy base, their home , and his Pokémon were being treated and healed up by someone who most definitely hated him. It was stressful, to say the very least.
There was silence for a while, only the occasional mumble of disdain from Mollie as she treated Ceruledge breaking through it, and he was starting to consider going to sleep right here. A lot of strange things had already happened today, so what was one more to add to the mix? Besides, it would make the time go by faster, which meant he could get out of this hellscape and return to normal sooner rather than later…
Then, he heard his Rotomphone ringing and saw it fly out of his pocket a second later to hover in front of him as it cut through his thoughts. He furrowed his eyebrows, almost expecting it to be Zirc or Onia, but that thought quickly faded away as he read Master Gibeon as the contact name and his heart sank in his chest. Almost as if every ‘coincidence’ that could happen had been pitted against him, he had forgotten to turn off Do Not Disturb, where the only calls that would reach him and make sound would be if Gibeon called him for whatever reason— which never happened unless he was considered ‘missing’ amongst the group, in which Gibeon would call him and reprimand him like he was a clueless child.
Then again, that’s all he’ll ever think of me as, He thought with some bitterness, but he shook himself and hesitantly pressed the ‘accept’ option on the screen and put the phone to his ear.
“Hello—”
“Where are you?”
The harsh voice getting straight to the point made him wince a little, and he sat up a little straighter even if he couldn’t see him.
“I’m in Galar.”
“You know what I mean, Amethio.” Gibeon snapped in response, almost spitting out the words with a heavy layer of disappointment. “Why aren’t you with your grunts?”
“Zirc and Onia were separated from me in a cave.” He lied, forcing his voice to remain flat and calm as he spoke. The one thing allowing him to do that was the fact that he knew the pair of them would back him up on anything Gibeon asked, even if he wasn’t in the room. “I got out and we haven’t found each other yet.”
“Then go back to the base. They’re already there.”
He frowned a little, and he glanced over at Ceruledge who was still being treated by Mollie— which, speaking of, was definitely listening in on this judging by her normally cold expression replaced by one that held the slightest bit of interest. He didn’t like that very much, but he couldn’t exactly tell Gibeon to save this call for later or hang up out of nowhere. It wasn’t like he could get up and walk out or be left alone in here, either.
He felt like he was being put into a corner more times today than he would’ve liked.
“I… can’t.” He muttered, trying to rack his brain for some sort of justification that would be acceptable. “I’m caught up in something right now.”
“Caught up in what, exactly?”
“Nothing major, but I’ll get there soon. I promise.”
“Amethio. Answer me.”
He tensed up a little, curling his mouth into a frown as he felt the anxiety from before increase more. Out of all the times to get yelled at, this one was at the very bottom of the list. “Just somewhat lost. Again, it’s nothing major, I—”
“Save it. Just get back to the base.” There was a beat of silence, before Gibeon spoke again. “Why are you in Galar?”
That was something he also hadn’t come up with a good response to yet, which was definitely going to be a problem now. He had been disobeying orders, and that was not going to end well in the slightest. “I was following the Rayquaza.”
“Hmph. Following the Rayquaza that you claimed you saw.” The other scoffed, clearly not believing him. For a brief moment, he wished Spinel hadn’t been so quick to border on calling him a liar over seeing it which furthered everyone else into not believing him. “Conveniently to the region where the pendant is originally from, hm?”
“You told me I was removed from that mission.” Amethio bit back, unable to stabilize his voice well enough to hide how it shook ever so slightly as he fixed his stare straight ahead. “I follow orders.”
“Then have you found anything for this Rayquaza you’re following?”
“No, but—”
“Stop searching for it, then.” Gibeon cut him off before he could finish. “Return back to the main headquarters. You are hereby not to go on any more missions until I say so.”
He bit his tongue slightly for a second, trying and failing to hold back the rising feelings of resentment upon hearing those words. While he wasn’t technically on any mission at the moment, he now wasn’t allowed to do anything.
“Dad—”
“It’s Master Gibeon to you, young man.”
He took a deep breath, the exhale fluttering a little bit as he was painfully reminded of how bad of a familial relationship this was and how he felt more like a random employee than a son. “… Master Gibeon. Right.” He mumbled, pointedly ignoring how he could see Mollie throw him an odd look from his peripheral vision. “I’ll return when I… as soon as possible.”
“You mean you will be back by tomorrow.”
He closed his eyes, slumping back a little bit as he felt defeat cave in on him. “Yes. By tomorrow.”
“Good. You are to report to my office when you arrive.”
Then, the sound of the call ending played in his ear, and he dropped his phone down into his lap and gave an agitated sigh. He had to get out of here as soon as he could, and he’d definitely have to call Zirc or Onia soon.
“Your boss is your father?” Mollie’s voice made him look up at her, and he scowled a little as she mentioned what she probably pieced together in the form of a question.
“It doesn’t matter.” He muttered, reaching a hand up and rubbing his eyes with it. Then, with some difficulty, he rose to his feet and sighed. “I have to go.”
“I’m not done treating your Pokémon. Sit back down.” She responded bluntly, not looking up as she carefully worked her way with treating Ceruledge’s arms. “Your boss can wait a little bit.”
“I can’t, I—”
“Sit back down.”
The tone of her voice left no room for argument, and he slumped downwards back against the wall and back down onto the floor.
The thought of getting fired was a growing concern in the back of his mind.
He just prayed he could find an excuse to get Gibeon off his back about it.
The rest of the time was pretty quiet, and he could tell it was about dusk by the time Mollie has finished healing up his Pokémon to the extent of her abilities.
“Now, you need to let them rest.” She said in a matter-of-fact tone, crossing her arms as she watched him return the two to their Pokéballs. “I’ll check on them in the morning and see if you’re clear to go.”
“ ‘Morning’ ?” He echoed, twisting his head around to look at her as confusion bubbled up. “I have to leave.”
“Nope. You’re staying here.” She said as if she were the one to give him orders like she was his boss. “I don’t want you here as much as you don’t want to be here, but your Pokémon’s health comes first.”
“I feel like you’re trapping me here because you know my boss told me to be somewhere by tomorrow.” He said flatly, crossing his arms as a mirrored version of her. She stared back, clearly unimpressed. Then, she began to speak again, completely ignoring that statement.
“You’ll be staying in here. There’s a bed right there, obviously.” She gestured off to another corner of the room where a somewhat uncomfortable-looking bed was. “You shouldn’t leave this room. We’ll have someone watching just in case anyway, so I wouldn’t recommend doing it anyway.”
I thought this was your room. He thought, his eye twitching a little as she brushed him off, but he sighed and went over to the bed to sit down on it. It appeared his observations were correct— this was a very uncomfortable bed.
Mollie then huffed and went towards the door, only pausing for a couple of seconds to look back at him with a measured look before exiting the room while calling back one word. “Later.”
With that, he was left alone in an unfamiliar room, his boss pissed at him, his subordinates having no idea where he was, and his Pokémon possibly still unwell from dealing with the strange bird from before. Tomorrow (or whenever he got back to the headquarters, he duly noted) was going to be absolutely horrible to deal with, he could already tell. Explaining everything to Gibeon was going to be even worse.
The thought of him made him feel upset. He had already failed to grab the pendant and got kicked off the mission for failing too many times. Yet, now, he was in the prime position to get it and bring it back, but then he would be reprimanded for disobeying orders. He had also claimed to be chasing after the Rayquaza, so what good would it do? Sure, it’d be great for the organization as a whole, but he had to consider what would happen to him.
Getting demoted? Fired entirely?
It wasn’t like Gibeon cared about him that much.
At the very least, he could say that that feeling was mutual.
He leaned back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling as the exhaustion from the day finally settled in once again, smothering all the anger and settling in. The only other feelings that remained were the faint simmer of anxiety buzzing in his fingertips and the tiniest bit of tension that never left no matter what he did.
He felt like his head was spinning, and he felt a twinge of hunger in his stomach. He sighed a little, shutting his eyes as he tried to ignore everything he was feeling and the entirety of the day’s events, all the way from getting to the cave to find the Rayquaza down to being stuck with the Rising Volttacklers until tomorrow at the very least.
Yet another outstanding situation.
He fell asleep.