Chapter Text
In but a moment, it all fell apart.
First, Lucius and Gibeon passed on. What should have been a bittersweet moment of silence for the Rising Volt Tacklers and their unlikely ally became a desperate scramble for survival as Spinel took control of Laqua, revealing the Laquium Spheres’ true purpose as he forced five of the Six Heroes to go berserk. Amethio left first, escaping on his Corviknight. Liko, Roy, Dot and Friede had to run, the might of these Pokémon of legend shattering the very ground beneath them, reducing this Pokémon paradise to ruin. No time to save the wild Pokémon. Have to run. Have to fly away. No time to think, no time to breathe, no time to grieve.
Against all odds, they make it out of the crater. What now? The drop is too big to simply jump off. Charizard and Kilowattrel are too tired to continue. The earthquakes make climbing down too dangerous. It’s cold, really cold. Dot’s not used to it, Liko’s reminded of her experience in that damned Glaseado cave, even Roy can feel the chill despite his fiery disposition. Friede tells them to look. The Brave Olivine? Can it really make it up there? The pressure is too much. But before their eyes, the ship transforms, revealing a reactor and propellers. It’s taking a lot of damage, but it’s going to make it! Maybe it will be alright, Liko allowed herself to think. He knew they could make it out okay, thought Roy. Dot’s racing heartbeat slowed just a little, thinking the worst of it was done.
The worst of it was not done.
It all happened in a flash. A strong gust of wind. The kids manage to just barely hang on to the ship, but Friede, Charizard and Cap are dragged to the back, the Flame Pokémon grabbing the edge at the very last moment. But he’s exhausted. They all are. He’s not going to make it. Friede can see that.
The kids can’t. Liko desperately reaches out, taking Cap from Friede when he extends his hand to give him away. Dot is hanging on to her waist, giving all the support she can so her girlfriend doesn’t go flying. Roy doesn’t know what to do, feeling like he’s too weak to be of any use. Orla, confused, heads out, expecting to have to yell at Friede to stop messing around and get inside.
Instead, she’s met with the sight of her childhood friend blowing away in the wind, like a leaf about to be torn apart by the elements themselves.
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“ FRIEDE! ”
The cries of Liko’s very soul resounded in her friends’ ears, a painful reminder that this is indeed reality. It didn’t take long for the tragedy to have its effects on Roy and Dot, either. “ AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! ” The former fell to his knees, letting tears stream down his face, screaming his lungs out, not knowing how to take the loss.
“R-Roy…” Orla cursed herself for not being Mollie, who always seemed to know what to say in these situations.
“...Out of the way, Orla.”
“U-Um– right. We should get in–”
“MOVE ALREADY!” Dot, rapidly losing her composure, shoved the mechanic to the side as she rapidly walked in the direction of the navigation room, her trembling legs seemingly not affecting her against all odds.
“...” As for Liko, ever since screaming her mentor’s name, she barely breathed, her eyes lifelessly staring in Laqua’s direction, hoping against hope to see him rise above the clouds on Charizard’s back, a smug look on his face. Her body was on the ship, but her mind was… somewhere else entirely, lost within the pain and the regret.
“Liko… Roy… come on. Let’s get inside.” Orla half-heartedly held back her own tears, taking each child’s hand in hers, and dragging them back inside with little resistance.
There are no words that could describe how pained Roy’s screams were. Even now, ten minutes after the tragedy, he was still screaming as loudly as he was seconds after he saw his idol’s smile fade, and his body vanish into the clouds. Without the sounds of the deafening wind in Liko and Orla’s ears, they felt louder still, but they didn’t have the heart to tell him to stop, or the energy to do much to comfort him. Liko barely had the energy to recognize that he was screaming at all.
But even louder than his desperate pleas for Friede to return were Roy’s thoughts. He wasn’t strong enough. If he’d trained more, done more, paid more attention… he could have stopped it. He could have ordered Crocalor to snatch the Spheres away from Spinel. He could have made Kilowattrel stronger, so he could carry his friends back to the base of the mountain on his own. He could’ve caught up with Friede on its back, preventing him from falling. But he was too weak, too pathetic, too useless to do anything. He was just an annoying kid who only distracted him from keeping himself alive. At least, that’s what he thought, as his throat began to hurt from his expressions of unhindered pain.
To Roy, he was the one to kill Friede with his own weak hands.
—--------------------------------------------------
“Okay, I think we’re out of the worst of it.” Murdock, relieved the ship didn’t fall apart, allowed himself to relax in his seat as he turned on the Brave Olivine’s autopilot. “As soon as we’re out of the mountain range, we’ll find somewhere to land to perform maintenance and then we’ll get ho–”
Suddenly, the door to the navigation room slammed open, startling Mollie and Ludlow, who were trying to calm the smaller Pokémon.
“Turn the ship around.” Dot coldly ordered, her face calm.
“Dot? I-I’m sorry, I can’t do that. It’s way too hectic out there to–”
“TURN THE FUCKING SHIP AROUND!”
Ordinarily, Murdock would scold, maybe even ground his niece for speaking to him in that tone. It certainly wasn’t the first time; especially before she befriended Liko and Roy, she had her bouts of anger, teenage angst beginning to rear its head, he thought. When she did that, he would usually take her Rotom Phone away, or make her eat with the crew instead of in her room like she usually did. He never knew if that was the right thing to do, but he did his best, as her loving uncle. But this time… this time, he stayed silent. It was probably impossible for the other two adults to hear it, but as her caretaker, the crew’s cook could hear something in the back of her tone, meekly hiding behind her unadulterated fury. Just for a fraction of a second, her voice trembled.
“Dot… did something ha–”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Roy’s voice resonated from the other side of the ship, startling everyone but Dot, and confirming Murdock’s concerns. Something happened. Something bad.
“TURN IT AROUND! TURN I-IT… t-turn… around…!” Slowly, the meek Dot came out of hiding, pushing the angry Dot to the side, and moving her body to her uncle’s, falling into his arms and clutching at his shirt, her tears bursting out of her, like a dam that finally broke. “Please…! P-Please, Uncle…! He’s… h-he’s…!”
“He’s… no… Friede…?” Not missing a beat, Murdock looked over at Mollie, who gave him a quiet nod, and made her way out of the room to go check on Liko and Roy.
“Murdock… Uncle…! Wh-Why…? I…! *sob*”
“Shhh… it’s all right, Dot, honey. It’s… all right…”
The cook forced himself to swallow his own grief, as he pulled the former shut-in into a tight hug. Right now, his niece needs him. He would have his time to mourn. But right now… he has to be there. He had never seen her so distraught. He had never heard her call him “Uncle” in that tone before. For his sister, for Dot’s friends, for Dot herself… he would be strong.
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Liko did not sleep that night.
The events of the day were a blur to her. All she could remember after Friede’s dea… disappearance were Roy’s screams, Mollie saying… something to her, taking her to her room to talk, and her distantly nodding occasionally. Try as she might, she could not remember a thing of what she said. Eventually, she left, taking Meowscarada, Hattrem and Pagogo’s Poké Balls to care for them, and leaving her on her own. It must have taken her an hour to move from sitting to lying down in her bed, and another before she felt her conscience slowly returning to her body. When she could finally feel like she was present in the material world again, moving her fingers, then her wrist, then her arm, the first thing she did was cry softly into her pillow. She wanted to scream, to yell like her friends did, but she couldn’t find the strength to do that. So she simply quietly wept, staining her bedding with her tears, but not making a sound, as if she had to hide her pain from the world. Who knows what would happen if she was noticed. Maybe the world would take someone else from her.
Eventually, Mollie returned, dropping off Hattrem and Pagogo’s Poké Balls. The former didn’t get too roughed up, she said. But Liko felt something more in her heart die when she heard that Pagogo refused to come out of its Poké Ball. Great. Another friend she lost. Pushing down her unexpected (and uncomfortable) rise of anger, the young Trainer half-heartedly thanked Mollie, and told her to take care of Meowscarada for her.
As the moon fully rose in the sky, Liko still hadn’t slept a wink. Hattrem came out of its Poké Ball occasionally to check on her, feeling her Trainer’s pain, but the girl would recall her every time, wishing to be alone. She had never felt so… angry before. She didn’t even know what she was angry at. The world, for being cruel? Herself, for bringing everyone on this adventure, only to kill their leader? Pagogo, for not even bothering to check on her? Friede, for… no, she can’t be blaming her loved ones for suffering, too. And yet, the pain made her heart feel just a little more bitter every time she pushed it down.
She really didn’t understand anything about herself.
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Eventually, the sun rose, and Dot tried her best to rouse from her slumber. She wouldn’t have slept, hell, she didn’t want to, but Murdock insisted on giving her some melatonin so she could rest and calm down. As much as she was loath to admit it, she did feel calmer now that she had some time to relax… she wondered if Liko and Roy managed to sleep, as well, as she quickly put on some clothes, determined to do her best to find Friede today. She had to try. If she tried her best, maybe they would get him back. And if she couldn’t… well, maybe burying herself in the search could keep her mind off the pain.
As she made her way to the living room, she noticed the ship was heartbreakingly quiet. There were no sounds of Roy training first thing in the morning coming from the deck. She couldn’t hear Murdock’s singing from the kitchen. While she surmised Orla was, indeed, in the engine room, her usual cheery encouragement of Carkol and Slugma was gone, replaced with sounds of a shovel hitting coal at about twice the rate. And, most importantly… she noticed Liko hadn’t come to check on her and wish her a good morning. It was pretty late in the morning, though, and she was always up before her… gathering her courage, she knocked on her door, hoping to be able to give her girlfriend her usual good morning kiss.
“Liko? Are you awake?”
“...”
“I… I was hoping we could hold a meeting with the others. You know, to talk about… everything. There has to be something we can do…”
“...”
“And… I miss you…”
“...”
No matter what she said, all Dot got in return was silence. That is, until she felt her Rotom Phone vibrate in her pocket. It was a message from… Liko? She quickly opened it, hoping she was texting her because she was elsewhere on the ship and none the wiser that the streamer was trying to reach out to her.
“Please leave me alone.”
Dot felt a sting through her heart, like a poisoned arrow was shot directly at it. She felt upset, but she buried it deep inside, not wanting to make this any harder on her beloved.
“Okay… I’ll come get you when we head out to look for him. You can rest for now.”
“...”
“...I love you…”
“...”
Defeated, Dot left her partner alone, and went to check on the other members. Surely, they wouldn’t be as hard on her…
…Right?
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“Thank you all for coming.”
Roy tried his best to sit up straight as Dot began to talk to the… remaining Rising Volt Tacklers. Everyone surprisingly managed to come, with the notable exception of Liko. The streamer was worried that other people were going to be too buried in their grief to attend, but they all made the effort, even those who looked like they hadn’t slept a wink, which was… most of them. Seeing this, she decided to take the lead on the rescue operation. Plus, being so responsible for the search left her unable to think about… other things.
Roy couldn’t help but be impressed by Dot’s composure. She really had grown so much since him and Liko had to drag her out of her room. Now, she was the crew’s bona fide strategist, coming up with plans and putting them into action. Meanwhile, what was he doing? He was the ship’s resident meathead, always talking about battling and training… and for what? The Black Rayquaza didn’t come with him. Laqua fell. Liko won’t come out of her room. Friede is… gone. He was too weak to save him. Too pathetic to make a difference. He had to get stronger. Stronger and stronger and stronger and–
“Roy?”
“Ah–” Snapping out of his spiral, Roy noticed everyone was looking at him, a concerned look on their faces. He felt something wet roll down his cheek. Had he been… crying? “Um– sorry, I-I–”
“It’s all right, Roy,” Mollie interrupted. “I understand. We all do. Do you need some time?”
“N-No!” he replied, though it came out more… loudly than he expected or intended. “I’m fine. Please, continue.”
“Okay. So, as I was saying, I know this is a difficult time, to put it lightly… but the more we allow ourselves to grieve, the less likely we are to be able to find Friede. We know him. He’s not the type to die on us so easily. I… I have to believe he’s still alive.”
“...Yeah.” Orla half-heartedly responded. Roy could tell no one in the room fully believed her, not even Dot herself, but they all wanted to believe it, and so they hoped against hope.
“So… I’d like us to split into two teams. One will explore Pericarp Mountain on foot, trying to find any signs of him. That team will be composed of our strongest battlers. So Roy, Orla, and myself. I think Cap should come with us too.”
Roy felt the urge to deny that he was anywhere close to a “strong battler”, given his results, but he kept it to himself, not wanting to derail the conversation. Instead, he decided to add to the meeting. “What about Liko?”
“I… would like her to come with us, but… I’m not sure she will. Actually, I’d like you to go check on her before we leave. Maybe you could convince her to come out of her room.”
“I can try.”
“As for the second team… Murdock, Mollie and Ludlow will go into Pericarp Town, and talk to the locals. Maybe one of them rescued Friede, and is nursing him back to health… or something. I thought of searching from the skies, but the ship is in bad shape, and it’s not like we could get much higher than we already are without outright destroying it anyway.”
“You can count on us.” replied Ludlow, a determined glint in his eye.
“Alright. Thank you, everyone. I’m glad we can still work together, even at a time like this.” Satisfied with the meeting, Dot began the Rising Volt Tacklers’s signature handshake, everyone else joining in as well, and the crew parted ways, getting ready for their search.
“Roy?”
“Hm?” The young boy turned around to see Mollie, two Poké Balls in her hand.
“Here. These are Crocalor and Meowscarada’s Poké Balls. They’ve had time to rest overnight, and I’d like you to return her to Liko while you’re at it.”
“Got it. I’ll make sure she’s back with her.”
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Liko felt so, so tired.
Her sleepless night, compounded with the struggle in Laqua, started to really leave their mark on her energy levels, and she found herself almost dozing off even despite her pain. And yet, she refused to let herself sleep. Every time she felt her head drop, she would open her window and let in the cold mountain air, swiftly waking her up. She didn’t really know why she was doing it, but she felt like it had something to do with her not feeling like she deserves to rest. She’s already being selfish and shutting herself in, not even letting her girlfriend in. She’s caused enough trouble. She needs some sort of punishment, she thought, not even bothering to tell herself that it’s wrong to think this way.
Right as she was about to doze off again, she was startled by a knock on her door, one distinctly different from Dot’s.
“Liko? It’s me, Roy.”
Oh. So she got someone else to go see her. Did she not care about her at all anymore?
“We’re about to head out and look for Friede… we’d really like it if you came.”
And do what? Bother him and everyone else with her pathetic self?
“...I have Meowscarada here with me. Could I hand her Poké Ball over to you?”
She’d probably be happier back at Marnya’s house, playing with the other cat Pokémon.
“...okay. I understand. It’s… hard for everyone right now. I’ll just let her out of her Poké Ball. Can you at least open the door for her?”
“Meow.”
“...” Defeated, Liko unlocked her door, then laid back down.
“...Thank you. Take care of yourself, okay? We’ll be back soon.”
After a minute or so, she heard the door open, and a familiar feline figure entered the room, sitting on the bed next to her.
“...I’m so worthless.”
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“...Any news?”
The sun was now setting on another painful day for the Rising Volt Tacklers. Dot and Roy sat quietly on a fallen tree as Orla called Mollie, hoping to get some sort of good news, which the exploration group was sorely lacking in.
“Unfortunately, no. We went and asked the locals, and no one had anything to say about Friede. Hell, all most of them did was give us the silent treatment and some bad looks… there was one kid who was eager to talk to us, though. That was helpful.”
Roy perked up for just a moment at the mention of who he assumed was his newest friend, but even that ray of light was quickly swallowed up by the clouds as he remembered that the nurse’s answer was a negative one.
“...I see. Same here, unfortunately… going back up to Laqua is just not a good idea, given the Explorers are definitely still stationed there.”
“...Do you think they might have him?” asked the Chansey Trainer, almost reluctantly.
“...I don’t know. That line of thinking won’t get us anywhere anyway.”
“I didn’t consider that!” Surprised by the sudden reaction, all three of the other Volt Tacklers directed their attention to a shaken Dot, who seemed almost possessed by an impulse to take on the world. “If they might have him, we need to take the fight to them again! We had time to rest, we can do this! Let’s just–”
“Out of the question!” Orla snapped back, almost angrily. “We are nowhere near back at full power. We’re split up into three groups, and even if we had everyone here, without Pagogo being able to help, them having the Six Heroes, and Liko’s mood being in the state it is… all we’d be doing is risking another casualty–”
“DON’T CALL IT THAT!” Dot exploded, before quickly covering her mouth with her hands, immediately regretting her choice of tone. “N-No, I mean– uh–”
Orla had tried to put on a brave facade around her crewmates. She had forced herself to stay determined. She knew Friede best, after all; they had been friends for so long. She also knew better than anyone that he wasn’t the type to die easy, but… she saw the fall firsthand. No one could have survived that. And yet… she wanted to hope. She wanted to staunchly deny the possibility of her best friend, her bickering and adventuring partner, one of the most important people in her life, being dead, but… how much of that was hope and how much was blind, foolish denial? Was she acting like a little girl, clinging on to her dolly through a nightmare? She had no room to be so pathetic.
“Orla– honey…” As a tear fell from her eye against her will, Orla wished she was alone in the ship’s engine room, checking the coal stocks for the fifteenth time today, like she had been the day before. Mollie’s pet names couldn’t even fully reach her now. Not knowing what to say to her kindness, Orla shot her a tearful look, and hung up, drying her eyes as best she could before turning back the way she came, motioning for Cap to follow her.
“Let’s… g-go back. Come on, kids.”
The walk back to the ship was nothing short of dreadful for Dot. She felt so many emotions fighting within her at once ever since Friede vanished among the clouds. She felt determined to find him and bring him back, she wanted to laugh at the very idea of him being dead, she wanted to cry because she knew that he probably was. But most of all, she felt angry. An all-consuming, soul-devouring anger that she just could not shake. All those complicated feelings of hers were morphed and absorbed by that anger. Now, instead, she wanted to rip Spinel’s heart out of his ribcage. She wanted to slap Orla for daring to suggest their leader would fall so easily. She wanted to do things to herself that she hadn’t considered doing in months for putting them in this situation in the first place, and failing to get them out of it once it happened. All she could feel was hate and fury. Her body felt like it was on fire.
She knew it wasn’t healthy, but she also felt anger towards Liko. Everyone’s hurting. Why the hell isn’t she doing her part? They’re all working their asses off, even the old man, and she gets to lounge around in bed? No. Not so fast. She needed to get this anger out somehow.
As the exploration team returned to the Brave Olivine, a force that quieted the meek Dot’s protests brought her to Liko’s door, not even bothering to tell Orla and Roy why she was going there. Her weak, pathetic self had her turn.
Now, the angry Dot gets to have her say.
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The buzzing in Liko’s head would not stop.
Ever since Meowscarada had returned, and everyone else left to look for Friede, she felt a quiet buzz, almost like static, in the back of her head. No matter what she did, be it putting on music, opening the window to listen to the wild Pokémon outside and the soft breeze, or strictly nothing at all, it refused to go away. She could only assume it was either her insomnia really catching up with her, or her guilt for not helping peeking its head in despite her burying her feelings under several layers of dissociation. No matter what, she could not bother to move her body beyond going to her window and back. She could feel her weariness catching up with her, as well as her nerves. She was upset, she was devastated, she was starving, and yet she felt nothing, refused to show emotion, and could not bother to get anything her Pokémon brought her into her mouth. Her body was screaming at her, do something, cry, shout, punch something, gorge yourself, anything , but she simply could not muster up any energy.
And thus, as she won her hourly battle against her body’s impulses, she laid back down on her bed, resigned to stay here until she fell unconscious, be it from exhaustion or starvation. That is, until–
SLAM
Liko jolted up, her dissociation abruptly cut short by the sound of steel hitting the wall hard. Suddenly, her body was on high alert, and her lack of energy caused her to stumble backward, her head resting against the wall behind her bed as it spun. Meowscarada also stood up instantly, preparing to attack whoever was entering to protect her Trainer from harm. Once the girl’s vision settled again, however, she noticed that there in the doorframe stood Dot. Usually, when Dot stood there, she would shyly knock, as if she tried not to be noticed by anyone else, and then had a warm smile on her face as she asked to be let in. Perhaps she would even blush, having ideas as to what she wanted to do together with her beloved girlfriend. But this time… this time was different. Dot had not made herself known with a polite knock. She had thrown the door wide open, making a sound loud enough that it shook the very walls of her bedroom and undoubtedly notified anyone else on the aircraft at the moment that something was happening. Instead of flushed cheeks and a small smile, Dot gritted her teeth, seemingly beyond upset. Liko would have felt scared or apologetic, but yet again, her emotions settled into the cold fuzz of dissociation, as she was faced with opposition at a time of weakness.
“So? Did you have fun with your kitty while we were gone?” Dot started, venom in her voice.
“Mrrrrowr!”
“Meowscarada, return.” Liko, reaching out for her partner’s Poké Ball, did not even give the Magician Pokémon the chance to do anything. She looked back in surprise, as the red light enveloped her and she vanished into its resting place. “What do you mean…?”
“You know what I mean! We were all out looking for him and you stayed there!”
“...”
“Do you even care !? He might be… hurt, and you’re just locking yourself in! Do you have any idea how it makes us feel, too? Roy’s a mess! Orla won’t stop working, and Mollie won’t say a word! Do you just not care about helping them?”
“...That’s not it.”
“Then what is it!? Are you pissed? Because we couldn’t save him? Because it’s not like you did shit, either!” Dot’s voice momentarily shook, as she felt tears of anger well up, and the meekness inside her flashed to the surface, making her wonder why she was doing this. It wasn’t long before she buried it deep again, though, and Liko did not notice at all, her gaze firmly pointed at her own hands.
“That’s not it either.”
“You don’t even look sad! Do you have any feelings at all!?”
“...” Liko was almost inclined to agree, but she slowly felt one specific emotion rise out of the pool of nothingness that had become her conscience. She tried to push it down, however, knowing that speaking her mind would not–
“I hate you.”
“...What?”
Suddenly, the dam broke once again, and Dot poured her heart out against her own will. “I hate you! I’m falling apart and all you’re doing is sitting there and doing nothing! You won’t even talk to me! It’s not that easy for the rest of us, you know…!” Despite tears now flowing down her face, Dot’s voice shook even more, and she tried her best to hide her grief behind a quickly-crumbling mask of anger and resentment. Scrambling for any opportunity to appear angry rather than devastated, Dot searched her brain, her very soul for something, anything mean to say. “I– I’m sure he would hate you if he knew you weren’t searching for him, you selfish jerk!”
Liko heard a snap within her own head, as the cold fuzz dropped with her stomach, leaving only a flame in its wake. A small flame, that had grown more and more with every minute of Liko burying her pain deep within, and had now fully consumed her. She stood up quickly, her eyes failing her momentarily but nonetheless meeting Dot’s gaze, and she walked slowly to Dot, keeping her voice terrifyingly steady. “Dot. Did you come here solely because you wanted to take your anger out on me?”
“...” Dot kept quiet, guilt overtaking her.
“Answer me.” Liko hardly felt like herself, talking in a manner more reminiscent of a certain man she’d rather not admit whispers dark things in her mind to this day.
“I– well– I’m sorr–”
“I don’t want your excuses!” Dot shuddered as a look unlike anything she’d ever seen took over Liko’s face. Her pupils, usually so bright and sunny, narrowed and lost their warmth, and her teeth were pressed together so tightly she worried they might shatter. And yet, in a moment, the look vanished, and she returned to looking terrifyingly calm, even putting on a smile that felt horrifyingly fake. “Now, do you think that is any way to treat your girlfriend?”
“U-Um– no? I–”
“That’s right! Good job!” Now, she was beaming, though her eyes drowned in that darkness once again, making her usually beautiful smile send shivers down Dot’s spine. “What do you think we should do about that, then?”
Suddenly noticing where the blue-haired girl was headed, Dot felt a pit form in her stomach. Realizing what she’d done, she desperately tried to take back her words, lowering her gaze and bowing as if she was talking to her superior. “N-No, wait, I’m sorry! I didn’t know what I was saying, I–”
“That’s right.” Liko’s smile faded.
She could tell she wasn’t acting like herself. Such an outburst from her was unheard of. But the pain was simply too much to bear. Her mentor, her idol, hell, her other father had just died. Her best friend was broken inside. One of her Pokémon refused to come out. And now, her girlfriend, the one she cherishes most, the only thing that she even now believed could drag her out of her pain, was yelling at her, using her as an emotional punching bag. Enough. If she was doomed to suffer, she would burn everything away. She would make sure no one would ever come close to her again. And once the ground was properly salted, then…
“We’re done here, Dot. Get out of my room and never come back.”
…then, her next life would begin. In one way or another.
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“ AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! ”
Roy felt his very soul shatter as Dot’s pained voice shook the ground beneath his feet. He had just planned to check on Liko, but when he approached, he heard… yelling? Liko and Dot were having an argument, and he knew he had to help however he could. But as he approached, and the scream threatened to shatter his eardrums, he knew he was too late. Before he could even process what just happened, he saw Dot, tears streaming down her face, run past him and shut herself in her room, getting naught but a single tear on his outstretched hand as he tried to reach out to her.
“D-Dot… what just–”
“Hat! HATTREM!!”
The young adventurer jumped as Hattrem’s voice cried out in pain, louder than he had ever heard. Soon enough, she hopped past him too, running away from her Trainer and towards the infirmary, likely to feel some sort of comfort in a quiet corner of the ship. No matter what it was that happened, it got so heated that the Serene Pokémon couldn’t handle it anymore, Roy thought. He was now being pulled in three directions, wanting to help his friends and their Pokémon as best as he could, but right as he decided to focus on Liko first–
SLAM
Once again, the door shook the walls of the ship as it was forcefully shoved back into its frame, a clear sign that she wanted to be alone.
Put simply, Roy was at a loss. Once again, he felt like he failed to help those who matter to him. The Black Rayquaza lost its Trainer and its allies. Cap lost his Trainer as well, who himself might have lost his life. And now… even he could tell that Liko and Dot’s friendship would not recover from this. Was he really so weak? So pathetic that nothing he could do could save anyone or anything? Feeling his body go limp, Roy shuffled away, his legs directing him back in the direction of his room, a single thought in his mind.
He had to get stronger. Stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger–
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Finally, after everything, Liko at last managed to fall asleep.
It might have been due to her mental state shattering beneath her feet, but she finally managed to actually get some rest, which let her emotions somewhat return to normal. When her eyes opened again, the first thing she felt was guilt. Painful, unimaginable guilt. What had she just said to Dot? To her partner, to her friend, to her crewmate, to her peer? She wanted to reach into the fabric of time itself and rewind everything, so she could take Dot’s anger and give love in return. Instead, she let her pain and grief consume her whole, and she made an irreversible mistake.
Meanwhile, it was Dot’s turn to feel empty. She had used Liko for her own selfish gain, and she had responded with what felt like an appropriate amount of force. And yet, she felt angry. Didn’t she know how hurt she was? Couldn’t she have allowed her this one moment of weakness? Were either of their actions justifiable? She had no answer to that last question. All she knew was that hurt was the only thing she could feel now, and not even Quaxwell and Tinkatuff’s insistence could convince her to get out of her bed, let alone her room.
Later that day, the Rising Volt Tacklers (save for Dot) reunited once again, and they all faced the fact that Friede was gone. Somehow, this did not come as a shock to anybody. Everyone seemed to have come to terms with that, at least well enough that they were not showing it beyond broken looks and a painfully heavy silence. With their leader gone, they all agreed that they had no reason to keep going, and parted ways, officially disbanding.
Liko was the first to leave the ship. Laqua had turned out to be relatively close to Paldea, and thus it made the most sense to start with dropping her off at her and her parents’ house. As she stood there, her back to the entrance, she looked over all her surviving ex-crewmates, and when she noticed Dot was also absent, her Pokémon there in her place, she felt a great wave of… something wash over her.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t… that everything… I’m sorry.” Murdock stumbled over his words, not sure what exactly to say.
“Take care of yourself, Liko.” Mollie, hoping not to share her friend’s awkwardness, kept it simple, though she did her best to force a smile.
“Though the sun sets, leaving room for the dark of night, be certain that it will rise again.” Philosophical as ever, Ludlow’s parting words hoped to carry meaning beyond his departure.
“...” Orla seemed to be battling with herself, as if she wanted to say five different sentences, but could not squeak out a single one. So she avoided the girl’s eyes, staring down and away from her.
Finally, Liko turned to Roy, the both of them silent as well. Liko flashed a sad smile at him, and he felt tears well up in his eyes again. Silently cursing his weakness once again, he hid them with his arm, and left it at that.
“...Thank you, everyone. It… was fun while it lasted. Take care of yourselves.”
Still wearing her smile, which was feeling faker by the minute, Liko finally turned away, and entered her house, leaving her home behind.