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Amethio smiles when he bids the Rising Volt Tacklers farewell, a goodbye for now. He smiles because how can he not when Liko beams with pride, a glimmer of satisfaction. The Six Heroes part ways, all hardened looks of determination ready for the impending fight in Laqua. And he smiles because this is a small victory in the sea of battles of a war and, even if his gut tells him Spinel won't take the loss lightly, it's important to keep morale up.
But he smiles brighter at the way Liko waves him goodbye with a laugh in her voice. He can feel her wishing him well long after the shadow of her figure disappears behind the sifting clouds in the air. That, at least for now, she can bask in their win and she can carry a little more hope that this fight will be worth it in the end. Doubt was always a common color on her expression, he thinks she looks better with optimism.
Zygarde resonates with the east and so Amethio decides on Hoenn being their next stop. And it's by no means a far flight, at least to the point that Zirc makes most of the way without complaining. But it's a strange thing, Amethio finds as they begin their descent into Slateport City, there's a part of him that had hoped Zirc would have complained, if only just to hear the humor of him and Onia barking at each other behind him.
Evening settles on the beachside city with calm waves and a crescent moon in the sky and Zirc makes the declaration for meat skewers for dinner—much to Rhydon's passionate agreement. So they find themselves in a hut on the beach with greasy skewers that dribble bits of spice and flavor down Amethio's wrist. And Onia's panicking because the oil's staining the cuffs of his button up but in all his years of keeping up appearances and presenting himself as worthy of being Gibeon's grandson, there's a relief to have a bit of messiness on himself.
Zirc tunes into the past few weeks of Nidothing videos out loud, now completely out and proud as a stan. And Amethio listens in to the gruff persona Dot puts on and lets himself smile at the way Zirc bursts out into laughter at the silly puns she makes. Onia finds herself enraptured by a flock of Wingull at the shore, chasing them around in an effort to feed them, and the world feels at peace despite the definition always being foreign.
When did life get so complicated? When he started training under Hamber? When he estranged himself from his father in an act of rebellion? When Gibeon looked down at him with eyes hollow and tired and asked him to seek out Terapagos? Why is it that the past four years feel like shuffles of backdrops with only him and Ceruledge at the forefront? Why is it that the two year chase of Terapagos, skin-bristling battles with the Rising Volt Tacklers and revelations of a connection unknown to the very girl he had been hunting make his chest ache in something he can't put a name to?
There's a ping on his Rotom phone of breaking news, and it's no surprise when Spinel's face takes up the front page. Photos of him in an interview wearing faux heartache, eyebrows furrowed, lips in an odd sort of pout that no doubt is meant to seduce more than it is to brood. The headline is damning as it is dramatic:
Video Evidence! Rising Volt Tacklers Accused of Counts of Pokemon Theft and Property Damage! Exceed President Speaks Out!
There's an image of Ult front and center, making a scene and a blurred look of determination from Liko, Roy and Dot behind him. For the briefest of moments, Amethio feels a stab in his gut. There was no attempt to even hide Liko's face, the same Liko currently enrolled in Indigo Academy. No consideration of what a criminal accusation could mean for a girl halfway through her educational career. But the sting ebbs quickly. It's Spinel. Morals are something that does not apply to him.
He thinks to call her, but doesn't. By this hour, she's long past curled up in bed with Meowscarada at her side and Terapagos at her head. He thinks to call her, but he shouldn't. But doubt has always been a common color on her expression, maybe it would do good for her to know someone is on her side.
(What he doesn't think of is the crew she surrounds herself with, the friends that have supported her longer than he has.)
He thinks to call her and his finger hovers over her profile on his contact list. Her picture is a bit outdated, the curls of her bangs having grown out longer than they look in the photo, and the Indigo Academy uniform looking starkly plain compared to her usual attire. She wears a smile, open mouthed and a little sheepish, and he wonders if that girl, the roommate—Ann? if he recalls correctly—was the one who took the picture and uploaded it on her behalf.
Their adventures in the past half year have no doubt left her too busy to update it and it makes him smile to know she's grown even still past this image frozen in time, a time where she left all she knew behind in favor of stagnation.
(Just as he did, he isn't lost on the irony.)
Amethio thinks to call her and his finger shakes at the icon on his Rotom phone. He lets his eyes wander toward Zirc and Onia, distracted enough that they haven't caught onto his mental dilemma. But there is nothing to hide, nor is there any reason to over complicate a simple matter. He is simply checking in for the sake of morale and nothing more.
And yet there's a cold sweat that runs down the back of Amethio's neck when he clicks 'call' and his voice dries in his throat.
It trills, once, twice, three times and there's a slow deflation in the way tension eases out. And it makes him feel silly. Of course she wouldn't pick up. He's spent long enough studying her, she wouldn't be up this late, especially with—
"Amethio!?" It's a shout against his ears, and he can't find it in him to react. Liko's voice is loud, a rushed, fumbled yell, "Amethio! Are you alright? Hello?!"
He feels his heart pound and his mouth opens, stutters of sounds unable to become words.
"Amethio! Where's Ceruledge? Are you okay?"
"I-I'm fine," is the only thing he can manage, curt as it is quiet. His Rotom phone shifts out from his ear and right in front of him as he sees the incoming video call on the other end. Amethio looks away, but he shakes when he picks up.
Liko looks small in the full screen of his Rotom phone, framed just so that her eyes and nose is all he can make out, a furrow in her brow. Video call quality is always questionable, especially when a region separates them now, but her pupils are small and shaken. When she notices the palm trees and sand behind him, she retracts like a skittish Skiddo, lips pressed in a firm line.
"Sorry," she stumbles out in a low voice, guilt tinged in the rasp in her throat. He wonders if she had woken up Meowscarada, if someone on the ship had heard her cry out his name. "Y-you've never called before, I thought it was an emergency."
A natural conclusion, one that he wonders why it nags at him. It was selfish of him to call, to bother her in the middle of the night over nonsense.
It was selfish of him to make her worry.
Amethio sighs and moves to make himself scarce from prying ears. He knows Zirc and Onia have no doubt heard Liko's voice on the other end. "I'm alright. I appreciate your concern."
Liko nods and he watches the way her shoulders settle into a slouch, arms resting in the circle where she sits cross-legged in her bed. There's a spot of blue behind her and he watches Terapagos stretch out its neck with a coo before curling back up and disappearing asleep behind her hip. "New intel? Or, what's going on? Are you being followed?"
"No, nothing like that." It's startling how quickly she shifts into their normal business talk, an edge in her voice that feels entirely not Liko. Yet just as startling is the way his own voice shrinks at his next words. "I just saw the news, the story Spinel's spinning. I… wanted to check on you."
"Oh."
That's a sound he hasn't heard before. And he wonders why it makes his heart race. Is she disappointed?
"If I woke you up, I'm sorry." The words fly out of his mouth before he can think. "You can go back to—"
"Thank you," Liko's voice softens and in the low glow of the lamp at her bedside, there's a faint flush on her cheeks. "I'm okay, we had a meeting about it when he had the interview, it's not the first time and it probably won't be the last."
"Still," he presses and he feels the way his gut twists at how okay she is with all of this. He knows the way his heart wanted to claw out of his chest in betrayal when Gibeon exiled him from the Explorers. He knows the way he glared at Spinel, at the catalyst of everything turning to dust in his fingers. But she laughs and it's an airy sound, light and girlish and he looks for her eyes through the screen.
"We're okay—I'm okay," she reassures and in that moment, maybe he's taken too much account of the girl she used to be before everything happened.
Amethio relents with a sigh, "right. I'm sorry."
"You're sweet." It's a simple response, one that rings with the same warmth of a thank you. "How are you doing? Where are you now?"
There's a curiosity in her voice, quiet and tickling with excitement. And he isn't lost on noticing it's the first time she's asked him a question beyond all that's happened in the past year and a half. Simple, conversational, an ask of one's being.
But of course, how are you doing is a hard question to answer. How is he doing? Is that a question he's ever asked himself?
"Hoenn. We make for Sootopolis in the morning." Facts are easy to answer. He knows nothing beyond Zygarde vibrating toward the east and with the legends of the battle between Kyogre and Groudon in that city, it's a reasonable place to start the search.
"Oh! Friede's in Rustboro right now!" And at that, Amethio can't help the raise in his brow. Curiosity has always gotten the better of him of what happened to the Captain of the Rising Volt Tacklers after the battle in Laqua. Liko had mentioned him missing when they reunited and it was always a strange thing to see the group lack their hotheaded leader. And Liko, no doubt, has noticed the twinge of confusion on his expression and laughs. "It's a long story."
"Knowing him, I'm sure." He indulges in a chuckle and she smiles in earnest.
"How are you?" The question comes again and his tongue clicks in his teeth.
"I'm okay, I suppose."
And she laughs again, in that way that feels like a prod at his ribs, playful as it is suffocating. "You suppose? What does that mean?"
Amethio scoffs, "it means, I suppose I'm okay. What else is it meant to mean?"
Liko's lips press together in a mumble, "you're not tired from your flight?" And she trails off, thinking, a hum rumbling in her throat before she continues. "Exhausted from the fight? Frustrated with Spinel? Something?"
"You're awfully prodding today," he says with a narrow in his eyes but there's a lilt of a tease that comes at the corner of his lips.
Her shoulders shrink in and her hands fumble in her lap. He watches the way she bites at her lips in a quick rhythm. "You've never called before." She says that hushed, almost a secret she's never admitted aloud. "I guess… I've just wanted to talk to you about something other than Laquium or the Explorers."
"Oh." Arceus' sake he can't figure out why his heart is thrumming in his chest.
"I know you're always busy, I'm sorry if I'm intruding."
Amethio sighs, "I'm the one who called you."
He watches her tug at a smile, light and subtle, and he echoes the sentiment. Amethio thinks how to answer the question. How is he? By this hour, he would have found their lodging for the night and tuckered out in a bed, stacking both pillows on top of each other for optimal comfort. Perhaps he is a little tired. But there is a gnawing feeling in his stomach, a curiosity that intrigues him, a wonder of why Liko looks so soft in the filtered glow of moonlight, of why her ask to talk to him made his heart skip.
Though simpler enough is the wonder why she wanted to talk to him at all. There wasn't anything particularly interesting about him, he would say.
"I am a little tired," the admission feels strange on his tongue, a hint of weakness. Liko's eyes soften in attention, nodding as he continues, "we did take off not long after the battle was over, but the flight went well. Corviknight was happy to stretch its wings."
"I'm glad you got there okay," she smiles, "and Zirc and Onia?"
"Zirc's been catching up on Nidothing videos since we landed." He shifts the camera over to the hut in the distance and the figure of Zirc hunched over his Rotom phone kicking his feet makes Liko laugh.
"A true fan!" She gives firm nod. "I know Dot's been struggling to keep up with her normal upload schedule with everything going on, I'll let her know her efforts aren't going to waste!"
Amethio lets himself chuckle. "And Onia—" Moving to find her, she's still chasing Wingull, but she's closer, a touch closer than Amethio would prefer, a poor attempt to eavesdrop. But there's less annoyance at the thought, more quiet warmth. There's a flash of wonder if his mother, had she been here, would be the same way, lingering over her son talking to a girl for the first time.
"You know, I think Meowscarada still looks for her treats sometimes." Liko tilts her own camera, angling it just so that the ball of fluff of her beloved partner is in view. It lets out a mewl of a yawn, drowsily grooming at the fur at its chest before drifting back to sleep. "You'll have to ask her to send me the brand to surprise it with."
An affectionate eye roll, one that begs a smile to follow. "I think you spoil it enough."
"I think it would disagree," Liko grins, girlish and wide. "I mean, you don't give Ceruledge little treats now and then?"
It's at that he pauses and his gaze shifts to the Pokeball at his hip. The knight ever at his side, all Ceruledge has known is praise from its trainer and battles for its honor. He feeds it well, both health conscious for adequate performance and also understanding of its own unique preferences. But treats? It isn't a little Litleo or Fidough wagging its tail for attention. "I don't think I have, no."
And Liko's mouth falls open in a dramatic gape, eyebrows narrowed. She lets out a disappointed sound, is she pouting? At him? "I thought you better than that, Amethio!"
His heart stutters and for once, in all his calculated battle techniques and strategies, he feels utterly taken aback. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"It's always fighting so hard for you! It deserves a little treat every once and a while!" It's almost bossy the way she says that, and while her voice is still a quiet volume, there's a hitch of attitude there that tickles at his chest. Liko is bold when it comes to her want to protect her friends and Terapagos, but here she is with a touch of audacity over Pokemon treats that makes him want to break out into laughter.
And he does before he realizes it. Pure, unfiltered laughter. Loud and deep, a thumping in his chest that reverberates out in stuttered chuckles and cackles. He feels Onia pause in her hunt, feels Zirc pause the video on his phone to glance over. But Liko joins in his laughing fit and he feels light and free and he doesn't care who happens to hear.
"I didn't know you had a mean streak in you, Liko."
"Not mean, attentive," she corrects with a huff of pride before it softens into something entirely Liko. Her eyes are still creased, wet with humor, and her lips wear a smile too bright for the moonlight that illuminates her. Tracing lines from both her eyes, to the curve of her nose and the curl of her lips, he takes in the pixilated sight of her in front of him. And there's a gnawing feeling sitting in the depth of his stomach, a want that shouldn't be there, not when there's a mission to complete, and eventually, a world to save.
Amethio wants to see her again.
Liko suddenly softens, voice small, "next time we meet, please don't rush off so soon." There's a beat where he wonders if she's caught onto the entrendre, but her lips purse and she's muttering to herself. "I'm making sure Ceruledge has a nice green tea cake from Meowscarada's favorite bakery."
There's a flush at his ears he's desperate to ignore. "It has a favorite bakery?"
And it's a safe cover, because Liko perks back up again and she goes on about Katy's bakery in Cortondo, how Murdock learned a lot from his time working with her but Meowscarada likes the way the bitter taste of the green tea blends into the soft sweetness of the cake. And suddenly, it's less him talking and more him listening, but he prefers it that way. It gives ample time to watch her in all her girlish movement, the way her face twists with silly expressions as she tells stories and wiggles her fingers in dramatics. Amethio's studied her for a long time now, but in all he knows about her steadfast strength and courage, he thinks she looks best when she's at her silliest.
"How are you feeling now?" Liko asks in a lull in the conversation, head tilted slightly, innocently.
"Still tired," he admits but there's a smile in his voice, "but I'm happy to have spoken with you tonight."
Liko pushes her arms into her lap and grins, a giggle sifting through open lips. "I'm glad."
Amethio watches the way her eyes close and she yawns quietly. Guilt eats at his stomach, a fumbling mumble under his breath. "I'm sorry, I'm not the best at conversation."
"We should do this again then," and that's when she catches on, a display of her true desires, fumbling to add, "I mean, it doesn't have to be with me, anyone would do. I could share your number with Roy and Dot or Ult and you could talk to them too."
"I'd like it…if we could do this again." It's soft the way that comes out, honest. And while his heart feels like an earthquake in his chest, it's the most vulnerable he's felt in a long, long time.
And they both fall silent, a flush seeping into their cheeks and Amethio sucks in his bottom lip to redirect the blood anywhere else. But Liko looks up at him, shy and sweet, and he vows to himself at least that he won't look away until she's gone off to bed. The next time they meet in person, it's in battle, and the look he sees on her face now won't be the same as it will be then. To savor Liko in her lightest moment he's seen yet, no embarrassment is worth the desire to be in the moment until it ends.
"You.. could text me."
He says it like an oath. "I will. I can't promise I'll be good at it but I will."
"Great," and the word tickles like a thank you. "Then, talk to you tomorrow?"
"Yes. Talk to you tomorrow."
Liko leans forward slightly, and the softness of her smile aches at his chest. "Goodnight Amethio."
"Sleep well, Liko."
Amethio lingers as he watches her end the call with a wave and he's left alone to the crashing waves on the beach. A loud sigh heaves from his chest and it's here where he feels the absolute mantra of his heartbeat, violently pounding against his ribs. He begins to pant, catching his breath in an effort to calm down, but it breaks into a broken laugh. It feels juvenile, to have his heart racing like schoolboy, but there's a boyish excitement that rumbles in his veins.
Tomorrow, he sets out for Sootopolis. Tomorrow, he follows Zygarde's lead.
Tomorrow, he gets to talk to Liko again.