Arc 1, Chapter 16: By Your Side

“Hey, Fudo, did you—” Amadeus began as he finished brushing his teeth for the morning.

 

And then it was interrupted by a buzzing sound from within his bag.

 

“…Again? Seriously?” Amadeus wondered aloud.

 

“Hey, you got another job,” Fudo pointed out with a shrug. “I wouldn’t complain if I was you.”

 

“It’s so soon after the last one…” Amadeus said, almost exasperated. “Hey, Haruhi?” He yelled. “We got another job!”

 

“Alright!” Haruhi yelled back, somewhere between that and a yawn. Presumably, she was just rolling out of bed herself.

 

One hectic trip to the Guild later, Amadeus and Haruhi were staring down Shin again, Teru now by their side.

 

“Today’s assignment will be a little bit different than last time. Your first mission was meant to get you used to the idea of performing missions regularly. Get your feet wet, so to speak. Today will be a little different. Now that you’ve had some time to know each other a small bit better, you will be given a minor performance evaluation. We want to know how you perform as a group so that we can know which areas need to improve, and what types of missions you are best suited to in the future.”

 

“This seems a little early…” Teru commented. “We’re still getting to know each other.”

 

“By all means, do not feel too pressured. This is largely for your own benefit. Think of it as a teambuilding exercise.” Shin paused briefly before continuing. “You will complete what we consider a relatively difficult dungeon for your skill level under the supervision of one of our combat instructors. Speaking of…”

 

Dumas strolled right up next to Shin, looking imposing as ever.

 

“Dumas will be the one to evaluate you today. I presume, given the circumstances, you have met him already?”

 

“We have,” Haruhi confirmed, turning to Dumas. “We’ll be sure to impress you, sir!”

 

Since when does Haruhi call anyone ‘sir’?  “In any case,” Amadeus said, wanting to know a little more, “How exactly are we being evaluated?”

 

“I want to see how well you handle yourselves both while in a fight and while exploring, as well as your team dynamic and how well you function as a cohesive unit,” Dumas answered relatively vaguely. “Nothing more, nothing less. Any questions?”

 

“Uh, no, none at all!” Teru replied.

 

Maybe I should ask where we’re going? Nah, that’s a little out of line, and it’s not like I’m super knowledgeable about mystery dungeons on Teardrop Island anyway. I’ll find out when we get there.

 

“Excellent,” Dumas said in turn. “Come with me…”

 

Dumas guided the trio towards a room adjacent to the job room, which appeared to be similar to one of the flyer and teleportation stations Amadeus had gotten used to getting around the city with, but just a little bit more drab.

 

“Welcome to the reason trainees can’t come back here without permission. Our long-distance flyers. You’d normally just teleport, but since you’re with me… You get to experience this. I suppose it won’t be your last time, since Amadeus will evolve eventually, but this isn’t something most of us do. Brace yourselves.”

 

Dumas chatted a bit with a Dragonite for a bit before turning back to the trio. “Now strap in,” he said, gesturing to the Dragonite.

 

One very awkward stretch of time where the Dragonite attempted to figure out how the hell to carry all four of them at once later, the Dragonite wordlessly prepared to take off. A brief ‘hold on’ was all the warning that Amadeus got before they positively launched into the air. Amadeus felt like his entire body was being compressed as the sheer speed of the Dragonite got them in the air so quickly that it felt almost instantaneous. It made his initial flight with Mayumi  and Haruhi seem to go at a snail’s pace in comparison.

 

If he could open his eyes, he’d notice they’d left the massive city in under a minute.

 

By the time they’d touched down less than a hour later, he was shaking.

 

“O-o-one… minute… p-please… I beg…” At least when I rode on a shuttle, I got warning and protective clothing! Arceus!

 

“That was rad as hell!” Haruhi exclaimed. “Are we gonna be doing that all the time once he evolves?” She asked Dumas.

 

“Technically, you could do that whenever you go out…” Dumas more or less confirmed.

 

“Please no,” Amadeus said quietly.

 

Haruhi’s excitement seemed to be dampered by the sudden realization of how Amadeus was taking this. Awkwardly, she looked around for an out, when she noticed Teru being set down by the Dragonite, unconscious. The Dragonite then took off no less forcefully.

 

“Oh, that’s not good,” Amadeus noticed.

 

“I’m more surprised that Teru’s doing that and not you, but regardless…” Dumas walked over and shook Teru violently. “Come on, now, back to the land of the living.”

 

Teru slowly came to. “Arceus…”

 

Dumas sighed and fidgeted with his medallion a little. “I suppose that’s a problem right off the bat, and we haven’t even started…”

 

“I—” Teru started.

 

“If you’re about to apologize, don’t,” Dumas said assertively. “It’s nobody’s fault, it’s just a matter of compatibility… This is likely to become your main mode of transportation in the future, and if one can’t take it, it’s likely to cause a problem in the future.”

 

Amadeus fidgeted with his glasses, which by some miracle, had stayed on. I am not looking forward to doing that again…

 

Dumas looked around at the trio. “Alright. I’ll have to consider this in the overall evaluation, but for now, proceed to the dungeon. You’re looking for a simple cave entrance. Begin.”

 

“Alright then…” Haruhi said, taking the initiative, and scanning the area around them. They’d landed in a relatively rocky area, around a cliffside somewhere. There were several cave entrances. “Which one is it?”

 

“That’s part of the test,” Dumas plainly answered.

 

Teru, now a little less dazed than before, stating looking around as well, before stopping in front of one of the cave entrances. “I think it’s this one, there’s a bit of a path here!” He called out.

 

“Let’s go with that, then.” Amadeus followed Teru down the path, as did Haruhi, and eventually Dumas, who was wordlessly trailing behind them.

 

The mystery dungeon itself was quickly proving to be messier than the last one in terms of layout. The trio ran into several branching paths on the first floor alone. Which inevitably led to debate.

 

“Shouldn’t we see the path we’re already going down to it’s end?” Teru asked. “That’s what we did for the first few splits, and that’s what we did for the whole thing last time, too!”

 

“It looks like there’s a big hub room down there,” Haruhi said, pointing into a poorly-illuminated hall which looked to have a room at the end. “There’s more paths, so we should check it out first.”

 

“I’m with Haruhi,” Amadeus said in an effort to settle the debate.

 

“Couldn’t the next floor be down this way too?” Teru pointed out.

 

“It could also be in there!” Haruhi said back. “We’re wasting too much time on this, let’s go.”

 

“Alright, alright…” Teru said.

 

Then it was time for combat. Dumas, of course, did not help.

 

“Drill!”

 

A Drilbur leaped out from around a corner, right at Teru. Immediately, he tried to swagger it, and used Double team to make himself harder to hit. The Drilbur ran around wildly for a moment, slashing at itself, before charging at Amadeus.

 

“Ah!” Amadeus tried his best to prepare a Bite, but the Drilbur was approaching fast. It tackled him, and he tried and failed to throw it off of him. After a few seconds of flailing to get the ground type off of him, Haruhi rescued him with a Flamethrower, which barely grazed him and smoked the Drilbur. Amadeus got up quickly.

 

“You okay?” Haruhi asked.

“Yeah, thanks…” It doesn’t feel like that ended up burning me. No Guts for me, I guess… “Let’s keep going.”

 

“It’s a little hard to see in here…” Haruhi commented before setting up a sunny day. “I probably should’ve been doing this from the beginning.”

 

It ultimately turned out that the initial path that Teru wanted to go down was the correct one, which ended with Teru being very smug.

 

“I told you guys this one was the right one,” Teru said with a shrug.

 

“You had no way of knowing that…” Haruhi rebutted with some disappointment.

 

A handful of floors later, the trio would run into a much greater challenge.

 

“Garoooou!”

 

A feral Gabite blocked their path with a roar and fired a Dragon Pulse right at them. Amadeus almost instinctively threw up a protect for himself, and Haruhi followed suit, while Teru opted to get up to the cave ceiling. After managing to crack the protects slghtly, the Gabite then burrowed into the ground, and popped out right next to Teru, who decided to Encore it.

 

FWOOOM!

 

Haruhi tried her best to scorch the Gabite with a flamethrower, but it got right back up, and dove into the ground after her. Haruhi desperately tried to run as the Gabite tore after her, before Teru finally managed to regain the Dragon-type’s attention with rock blast. Amadeus got an idea.

 

“Haruhi! Burn me!”

 

“What?”

 

“Just do it! We need more power!”

 

Haruhi paused for a second, before reluctantly obliging with a much weaker flame on his paws. Amadeus felt the sharp, stinging pain graze him, and then charged at the Gabite with a Façade, knocking it back significantly. Two more, and the Gabite finally went down. Minutes later, they were out of the dungeon.

 

Dumas sighed. “So, a few things. First of all, I would like to say that Haruhi was correct to prioritize the route with more branching paths.”

 

“But it ended up being down the initial path we chose, right?” Teru asked.

 

“That was blind luck,” Dumas contended. “The probability of that happening was low, and you should understand that. Is that clear?”

 

“…Yes.”

 

“Good. Secondly, you made some… strange choices in combat, Teru. Encoring that Gabite and Swaggering that Drilbur likely put your teammates in more danger than they needed to be. You definitely have a deep bag of tricks, but I don’t know if you’re using it very well.”

 

Teru gave the ground a hard stare. “I understand.”

 

“Alright. Thirdly, Haruhi and Amadeus. While you’re good at working together, you don’t seem to be doing much other than hitting hard. Your use of tactics is lacking. Not every opponent is going to fold to brute force, so I think you two could probably stand to learn to fight a little bit smarter. Understand?”

 

“Yes,” Haruhi and Amadeus said in unison.

 

“To Amadeus in particular…” Dumas continued. “I don’t disagree with you making use of your ability to give yourself an edge, but relying on something that is clearly distressing to your teammates and directly harms you, even if you have a heal scarf is… troubling?”

 

Amadeus was silent for a moment. “…You weren’t that opposed to doing that, right Haruhi?”

 

Haruhi looked… uncomfortable, in a word. “I-I’d rather you not ask me to do that to you…”

 

Amadeus suddenly felt deeply guilty. “I— Alright, I won’t ask that of you from now on.”

 

“Promise?” Haruhi asked.

 

“Promise,” Amadeus replied.

 

Dumas sighed. Again. “Alright, are we clear on the areas we need to improve now?”

 

“Yes!” The trio replied in unison.

 

“Then let’s head back. You may consider yourselves dismissed.”

 

The travel back was largely uneventful. Dumas allowed the trio to take a teleporter back, which meant they got to leave quickly. Teru seemed to be lingering for some reason, though. Amadeus was now feeling a little curious.

 

“Hey, uh, you got somewhere to be?”

 

“Oh, no. I just… wanted to talk to Dumas.”

 

“Why didn’t you ask while he was following us though the dungeon?” Haruhi asked. “By all accounts, he probably would’ve listened.”

 

“…It didn’t seem appropriate? We were being examined, after all.” Teru paused. “…Did you want to hang out?”

 

“…Not really,” Amadeus responded, fiddling with his pin. “Not like there’s many places we could hang out, anyway. We’re a little tight on cash right now.”

 

“Alright…” Teru replied, looking a little defeated.

 

Haruhi leaned in to whisper in Amadeus’ ear. “C’mon, man. Humor him a little.”

 

“Where would we even go other than home?” Amadeus whispered back.

 

“What do you mean, ‘where would we go’? It’s the third largest city on the continent, there’s lot’s of things to do and see!”

 

“We’re dirt broke!”

 

“I can hear and see you guys, you know,” Teru interjected.

 

A long pause followed that.

 

Teru sighed. “Look, it’s fine. Dumas himself called the three of us being a team into question himself. You guys go on ahead. I’ll see if I can ask what I wanted, and that’ll be that.”

 

Not really knowing what else to do after that, Amadeus and Haruhi left for home. That night, they were sitting down on the balcony again.

 

“Don’t you think we’re giving him too much of a cold shoulder? He knows your secret now.”

 

“I know, I know… it’s just not that easy.”

 

“Clearly not…” Haruhi sighed, before spitting out a small stream of fire. “Do you not trust him?”

 

“I have no idea.”

 

Haruhi stared at him for a bit. Something about the pressure of her eyes on him was… unnerving. He fidgeted in place for a second. “…Is there something you’re not telling me?”

 

Amadeus had no idea how to respond to that. Was it something I said? Does she not trust me? Does she—

 

“You’re breathing heavily.”

 

Amadeus was. What the hell are you so nervous about? “One, ten, one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand, one million…”

 

“Amadeus…”

 

A while of counting later, Amadeus finally found the words to respond. “It’s just… my life is changing so fast and so often. I thought maybe things were going steady after the chaos that ensued after I arrived, but then Teru happened, and now we’re doing more in the Guild, and now there’s the whole flyer thing to worry about, and… I feel a little taken for a ride.”

 

“Do you… not want to be a part of the Guild?”

 

“It’s not that, Haruhi. I want to help you. This is your dream, right?”

 

“…Thanks.”

 

“You don’t have to thank me.”

 

Haruhi paused. “You’re doing a lot you don’t have to for me, dude.”

 

The two were silent for a while. Eventually, Amadeus felt compelled to ask a different question.

 

“Did me asking you to burn me really make you feel that uncomfortable?”

 

“Yes.”

Haruhi’s rather frank answer caught Amadeus off guard for a moment. After it passed, he asked a follow-up question. “Do you mind telling me why? You seem fine showing off your fire skills otherwise.”

 

“Expressing myself and showing off with fire isn’t the same as hurting someone with it. If I do that, then it’d be the same as—” Haruhi paused. “I-I can’t.”

 

“…Alright,” Amadeus said after yet another long pause. I guess she’s got her own things she’d rather not say… Uh, new topic. “Hey. If you had to pick one place to explore, where would you pick?”

 

“Oooh,” Haruhi’s mood seemed to pick up a bit at the change in subject. “Definitely the ruins of Háo de Xiǎo. Y’know, with the tragedy that happened there and all? Maybe I’d find a clue. Although I’ve heard there’s practically nothing left of the place, though…”

 

Neither Amadeus nor Haruhi knew just how soon that wish would be granted.

 

 

---

 

 

Two days later, in fact.

 

Again? Seriously? They’re coming in way faster than I would’ve thought… Haruhi stared at the buzzing badge, and then at Amadeus, who was eating toast as this was happening. “Can you believe this?”

 

Amadeus swallowed. “Seems like a lot to me…” he then turned to Fudo. “Is this normal?”

 

“Yeah, that’s a pretty standard pace,” Fudo confirmed. “They want to break you in quick.”

 

It almost feels too quick… I wonder if that’s part of what Amadeus mentioned the other night… Haruhi hopped down from the breakfast table, having already finished hers. “Welp, time to roll! Let’s do this!”

 

“O-one minute…” Amadeus replied, mouth full.

 

Soon after, they were being briefed by Shin with Teru by their side once again. It was starting to feel a little bit more like a routine to Haruhi, although she didn’t voice it. Mostly because the sheer coincidence of what came next caught her off guard.

 

“You will be headed to the Jīnxīng mystery dungeon nearby the ruins of Háo de Xiǎo.”

 

“Wait, a mission on the mainland?” Haruhi asked. “Already?”

 

“Missions are assigned based on difficulty, not distance,” Shin explained. “We’ve ended up sending new recruits halfway across the continent before. It’s not particularly unusual. But if I might get onto what you are meant to be doing, the client is requesting you obtain some of the gemstones that can be found near the end of the dungeon. It’s a relatively simple task. Just be careful, the walls are known to collapse if the gems aren’t extracted with care.”

 

“Well, if you say it’s simple…” Teru commented.

 

“Any questions?” Shin asked.

 

“Did the client specify what kind of gemstones we’re looking for?” Amadeus asked.

 

“The ones that can only be found near the end of the dungeon. There’s a large formation of gems near the end that replenishes regularly. Can’t miss it. Anything else?”

 

“Sounds like everything!” Haruhi proclaimed. “Let’s go, boys!”

 

They arrived in what looked like an open grassland.

 

“This is supposed to be the ruins of Háo de Xiǎo, right?” Teru asked. “Where the heck are we? Isn’t it supposed to be a city?”

“Maybe we’re on the outskirts…” Amadeus reasoned.

 

After walking for a while, the trio came across a mural. A handful of offerings lay at its base.

 

To any who come to this place

 

If this side was facing you as you approached, that means you are headed towards the Jīnxīng mystery dungeon.

 

That means you are leaving what is left of Háo de Xiǎo.

 

There was a city there.

 

Now it is gone.

 

I know not who will read this.

 

I only ask that you stop and give your respects for those who lost their lives that day.

 

– Shu Smeargle

 

“Wow…” Haruhi said, looking back. It was impossible to tell in her mind. There was absolutely nothing remaining of the city. But she didn’t give herself much time to dwell on it. “Well, let’s check out this mystery dungeon, then.”

 

Amadeus was careful inspecting the ground below them. On closer inspection, it appeared to be what was left of a road. “Honestly, I want to explore a little bit more.”

 

“So do I, but who knows how long this mystery dungeon is?” Haruhi pointed out. “We didn’t come here to go sightseeing. That can wait until we have more freedom in the jobs we take.”

 

“Man, you guys are insensitive…” Teru commented.

 

Why do you care so much? “Shut up, Teru,” Haruhi shot back.

 

“Yeesh, just pointing it out,” Teru said in turn.

 

The trio kept walking for quite a while until, quite suddenly, their surroundings changed behind them. Haruhi looked back and saw what could only be described as what she initially expected when she heard ruins: a lot of destroyed and run-down buildings off in the distance.

 

“Wait, we’re in the mystery dungeon already?” she wondered out loud. “I would’ve thought, since it’s a mine and all…”

 

“I guess Arceus disagrees,” Amadeus commented.

 

The first floor was largely uneventful, until they got to the stairs. Which descended into the floor. On the next floor down, the mystery dungeon became a full-blown cave with gems lining the walls.

 

“Oh wow…” Amadeus said, walking up to the walls to get a closer look. “No wonder this place is a mine.”

 

“No time to get distracted,” Haruhi pointed out. “We’re making a beedrilline for the end. Let’s go.”

 

The dungeon proved to be remarkably short and easy to get through. In fact, the trio didn’t even see a feral the entire time, which led them to filling the time with conversation.

 

“So, Teru,” Amadeus started. “Did you get to talk to Dumas yesterday? How’d that go?”

 

“Nope!” Teru exclaimed, almost frustrated. “Got completely stonewalled. He just ‘didn’t have time’.”

 

“That sounds like your fault for not trying to talk to him while he was with us,” Haruhi commented.

 

“You’re very helpful,” Teru responded sarcastically.

 

“What were you even going to talk to him about?” Amadeus asked. “I forgot to ask you that yesterday.”

 

“Funny you should mention that,” Teru started. “Because it was about The Light That Burned the Sky. I had a theory about it, and I wanted to share it with him.”

 

“Why don’t you share it with us?” Haruhi asked.

 

Teru was silent for a moment, scratching his chin, before nodding. “Alright, I’ll spill.” he then pulled a beige crystal out from his own bag. “See, I’ve got this crystal here, and when I plug it into an electrical circuit, it explodes. And since—”

 

“A Z crystal,” Amadeus said, interrupting him.

 

“What?”

 

“That’s a Z crystal,” Amadeus repeated. “You have a Z crystal. A huge one. Hey, Haruhi, set up a Sunny Day real quick, I need to get a closer look at this thing.”

 

“O-ok…” Haruhi said, caught off guard by Amadeus’ sudden reaction. “You mean the thing we were talking about the other night?”

 

“Yes, that.” Amadeus quickly got right up next to the crystal. “I… this one is huge, I’m pretty sure. They’re not supposed to come this big.”

 

“Really?” Teru asked, shocked. “Also, what in the world is a Z crystal?”

 

“Powerful gemstones that future civilizations will use to create incredible technologies.”

 

“Ah.”

 

Amadeus paused. “…I’ve completely sidetracked you. Continue.”

 

“Right, anyway, I was thinking that maybe The Light That Burned the Sky could’ve been caused by a crystal like this one?”

 

“It’d have to be one of the more powerful ones, like maybe the ultra one… Wait, that’s the rarest and most powerful kind you have there,” Amadeus rambled. “That’s crazy you even have that.”

 

Teru looked down at the crystal in his paws. “I was thinking that it had to be caused someone from the Guild that used to be here. They practically had a monopoly on this place, you know?”

 

“It’s an interesting theory,” Haruhi commented. “But who would even do something like that?”

 

“It could’ve been an accident,” Teru countered. “Someone drops a crystal like this on an exposed power line, and… bang. There goes the city. My gut does say it was on purpose, though.”

 

“On what evidence?” Amadeus asked.

 

“Like I said, a feeling,” Teru defensively responded.

 

“Guys, we’re here,” Haruhi said, interrupting them. At least they’re talking with each other now…

 

They’d arrived at a huge, open area, with gems glittering significantly more brilliantly than before. Haruhi estimated that this part was maybe as big as the foyer in the guild, but she couldn’t tell for sure. All she knew was that this place was pretty. “Yeah, this is definitely what we came here for.”

 

“Question. How do we get one of these gems out of the wall without destroying it?” Amadeus asked.

 

“Like this?” Teru responded, summoning a handful of rocks. “Good ol’ rock blast should do the trick.” Teru then started bashing the wall with the rocks, cracking a handful of the gems in the process. Eventually, one broke free in decent enough condition. “See? Easy.”

 

“if you say so…” Amadeus took the crystal from him and stuffed it in his own bag. “Let’s bounce before—”

 

CRRRAAACK!

 

Amadeus was cut off by a loud noise, as a part of the wall collapsed, landing directly on him.

 

“Shit! Amadeus, are you okay?” Haruhi shouted out.

 

He was out cold.

 

“Crap, crap…” Haruhi desperately dragged him out from under the rubble  and scanned his body over. He was covered in scrapes now. And a few deeper wounds. She whipped around to Teru. “Dammit, this is your fault!”

 

“W-What did I do?”

 

“If you didn’t remove it so carelessly— Ah, shit, shit…” Haruhi rummaged through the bag, and found the badge. Hastily, she clicked the button and shouted into it. “This is Haruhi! I’m near the end of  Jīnxīng mystery dungeon with Teru and Amadeus, and Amadeus is out cold after a wall collapsed on him! He’s injured badly!”

 

A brief wait. “Hang tight, we’re sending someone to your position.”

 

And then the static cut, leaving another painful silence behind.

 

“He’s gonna be okay, Haruhi, just calm down…” Teru said, trying to reassure her. It did not work.

 

“For fuck’s sake, Teru! He’s out cold and bleeding because you fucking knocked the wall down! Do not tell me to stay calm!” her breath started smoking as she turned back to the unconscious Amadeus. “Please, please hold on, okay? Please please please…” She didn’t realize it in the moment, but some strange stars started to come off of her and fall onto Amadeus, closing his wounds ever so slightly.

 

After what seemed like forever, a Hypno showed up, Chansey in tow. The Chansey took one look at Amadeus, muttered something under her breath about ‘why they shouldn’t just let trainees learn the hard way’ and got to work. After while, she loaded Amadeus onto a stretcher and stood up. “He’ll hold out, but he’ll need at least a few days to recover. Maybe won’t come to until tomorrow. For now, let’s get everyone home.”

 

The trip back was stressful, to say the least. Haruhi tried to follow Amadeus, but she was stopped. Which only left returning to Shin.

 

“Can you explain what happened?” He asked the now duo.

 

“Teru knocked the wall down trying to get a crystal out of it.”

 

“I was being careful!”

 

“You were not!”

 

“I understand this was an unexpectedly stressful experience, but do not start bickering. It will not solve anything.” he sighed before continuing. “How exactly?”

 

“He used Rock blast to do it.”

 

“Rock blast?”

 

“…That’s correct,” Teru admitted.

 

“In the future, please use something less destructive. That is all. Not that I’m expecting it in light of what happened, but did you at least manage to get a gem out of this as requested?”

 

“We did, actually…” Haruhi said, pulling out the gemstone. Shin took it and inspected it.

 

“Hand it to the client, a Persian, and bring the reward back here, as usual. I hope this day was not too stressful on you.”

 

Haruhi sighed in exasperation. This is going to stress me out for longer than just today…

 

 

---

 

 

Amadeus groaned, and woke up groggily. And then felt a flash of pain as he stretched.

 

O-ow…

 

Amadeus slowly stretched a little more, trying to feel out his injuries. It’s all over… He tried to stand, but the pain flared up higher, so he relented and got back down. After aimlessly pawing for his glasses for a minute and putting them on, he opened his eyes and looked around the room. It appeared to be… some kind of hospital? How badly did I injure myself? The last thing I remember was a loud cracking sound, and…

 

Did the cave collapse on us?

 

Oh, Arceus, where are Haruhi and Teru?

 

If they were in the hospital, it wasn’t in this wing. The only other occupant in the room was a Druddigon sleeping on a bed on it’s opposite side. Amadeus felt… helpless.

 

Crap, are they okay? If they aren’t, then… what’s going to happen to me? Will Akihiro and Ryo blame me? Oh no… I-I’m sorry… I…

 

After an agonizingly long wait, a Tangrowth he didn’t recognize walked though the door to the room.

 

“Ah, good, you’re awake. Amadeus, yes?” the Tangrowth said warmly.

 

“T-That’s me…”

 

“Right.” The Tangrowth grabbed a clipboard and started flipping though it. “Right… How much do you remember?”

 

“There was a cracking noise while we were in a mystery dungeon, and I think something fell on me?”

 

“hm… Doesn’t sound like you had a concussion, somehow…” the Tangrowth sighed. “Alright. You sustained a number of injuries after part of a dungeon wall collapsed on you, so you’re probably not going to fully recover for a few more days. You’ve already been out for the better part of one. Here…” The Tangrowth walked over and force-fed Amadeus some kind of berry mixture, while healing him with… Some kind of grass type move. After it was done, Amadeus felt a little better, but not much.

 

Getting some serious déjà vu right now… “Would you believe me if I said that this isn’t the first time I’ve been in this situation in the past two months?”

 

“I would be concerned.”

 

Amadeus’ mind turned back to his worries from earlier. “Where are my teammates? Are they alright?”

 

“They are doing just fine. They escaped just fine, in fact. It seems you got the short end of the stick.”

 

“That’s… good,” Amadeus sighed, relieved. “I’m realizing I forgot to ask where I am.”

 

“You’re in the Guild infirmary. I don’t exactly pay much attention to what goes on in the training area, but I believe your teammates would be wrapping up their day right about now. I can send for them now if you like.”

 

“You don’t have to bring them here, just let them know I’m okay. I don’t want to bother them too much…”

 

“Alright.” The Tangrowth nodded and left the room, leaving Amadeus alone again. At least, as alone as he could be with the Druddigon. Who was now snoring.

 

This is gonna be a long couple of days, isn’t it? Amadeus glanced at the clock on the wall. Right around the time I’d normally be leaving the Guild with Haruhi, by the look of it. I wonder if she’ll drop by. …She’d probably say hi to make sure I’m okay, right? Maybe give me a little motivating pep-talk. She—

 

Sprinted into the room.

 

“Amadeus!” Haruhi shouted, dashing right up to his bed, which happened to be low to the ground. “Oh, Arceus, you’re awake, ohmyarceusIwassoworriedaboutyouyouhavenoIDEAI—” She paused to take a deep breath. “You have no idea how scary that was, I thought I was going to lose you!”

 

“I… You were that concerned about me?”

 

“Of course I was! I… I mean… Look, I care about you, okay?”

 

“A-Alright…”

 

Haruhi then tried to give Amadeus a hug, which ended up hurting.

 

“O-ow-ow!”

 

“Sorry!” Haruhi immediately drew back. The look on her face was riddled with panic and worry. “I promise I won’t let that happen to you again, okay?”

 

Amadeus didn’t really know what to think of this situation. “…Do you really care about me that much?”

“Amadeus, look at me.”

 

“…I’m looking.”

 

“You mean more to me that anyone in the world right now, okay?”

 

“…What?”

 

“I mean it! You’re my best friend in the whole world, and I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you! You’re all I have!”

 

Amadeus was taken aback. He wasn’t used to being shown this level of care for him. It almost seemed to  border on infatuation. He simply had no idea how to handle this situation at all. He couldn’t say anything. Do I… feel the same way? He couldn’t answer that.

 

After a long silence, Haruhi sighed and turned around. “I’m gonna go home. I’ll be back tomorrow. Hang tight for me, okay?”

 

“…Okay.”