Arc 1, Chapter 28: Bring it in, Guys!

The next morning, Amadeus and especially Haruhi raced through their morning routines to get to the Guild for the day as quickly as possible. Haruhi had barely attempted to hide what the deal was from the other members of the household, but that hardly mattered to either of them. All that mattered to them in the moment was getting to the Guild and figuring out how to start investigating.

 

Of course, that had to start with Tokugawa.

 

“You two are slightly earlier than expected.”

 

“We came here first thing,” Amadeus explained.

 

“Your enthusiasm is noted and appreciated,” Tokugawa replied. “Come over here, I have your new licenses.” Evidently, the Guildmaster was not feeling particularly ceremonial today.

 

The new licenses were, admittedly, not much more than their previous ones—just a bit of added info, and their team name. Amadeus wasn’t quite sure what he was expecting, but it probably wasn’t this. He wasn’t about to start complaining about it, though.

 

“Moving right along,” Tokugawa continued. “You’re being placed in Dumas’ old office for now. Most of what wasn’t a file of some kind has already been removed and is being held as evidence. You, of course, will have full access to said files. There’s also a list of what was taken, so look it over and request to see anything you feel might be important or notable. You can also put in requests for any type of files we might have, so long as you run it past me first. Other than that, feel free to use the space as your own personal office.”

 

Gonna be nice to have somewhere to put those textbooks we were reading, Haruhi pointed out.

 

I don’t know how to feel about using Dumas’ old place, though… Amadeus added.

 

“Also, since you two are part of a team with the Guild, be sure to do jobs from the job boards every now and then. That is, externally, what you’re supposed to be doing. Keeping up appearances is important, too.”

 

“Got it,” Haruhi replied. We should definitely find time for doing standard jobs. That sounds like fun.

 

Oh, totally… Amadeus agreed.

 

“Now then, I do have one thing to spring on you before I send you two on your way. Are you aware of our outpost on the Eyelash Isles?”

 

“I’ve heard of it,” Amadeus said, curious where Tokugawa was headed with this.

 

“Every now and then, the local royal houses there like to host a bit of a feast with the members of the outpost, and expect some members of the Guild proper to show up there. Usually, that’s voluntary for most teams here.”

 

“…Are you asking us to go there?” Amadeus asked.

 

“You’re getting ahead of me,” Tokugawa said, somewhat sternly. “Now then, there’s been some recent rumblings going on there ever since Dumas’ fall. It appears there was a link between Dumas and someone important on the Eyelash Isles, who might be looking for revenge.”

 

“Oh,” Amadeus said, understanding.

“I believe this is a good opportunity to look into a potential link that might be otherwise hard to find,” Tokugawa explained. “So, if you agree to do this, I think it’s a good place to start. I don’t know what you might find there. All I know is that all signs point to an important confidant of Dumas’ being among the aristocracy there, and they might be about to make a move.”

 

“…When’s the feast?” Haruhi asked. “We’d have to leave weeks in advance to make it in time.”

 

“Just under a month away, so you’ll probably be leaving in another five days or so,” Tokugawa answered. “I imagine you’ll be there for no longer than a week. Make the most of that time while you’re there. Something is likely to come of it.”

 

“Understood,” Amadeus replied. “Anything else?”

 

“No. You are dismissed.”

 

With that rather sudden end to the discussion, Amadeus and Haruhi politely left the room, and headed down to check out their new office. It was nearly the same as it looked when Dumas was using it, but somehow even more barebones than it was previously, thanks to anything resembling a personal item being removed completely. The desk in the center looked downright out of place without the clutter normally atop it.

 

“Well,” Haruhi started, “It sure looks like they took everything that wasn’t a file.”

 

“…Your voice is echoing,” Amadeus noted.

 

“Wow, you’re right.” Haruhi walked over to the desk and started opening the handful of drawers present. “Nothing but paperwork in here.”

 

“See if you can find that file listing the personal items he had in here,” Amadeus commented. “Restore some life to this place.”

 

“We probably shouldn’t be doing that,” Haruhi pointed out. She lifted up what looked like a dossier that was a few pages long. “Here it is, though.”

 

“I’ll look through it in a bit,” Amadeus replied. “What’s in the closet?”

 

“Nothing, proba— oh, that’s not nothing.”

 

Amadeus looked at what he previously assumed was a closet, only to realize that it was, in fact, its own separate room. “Well, that’s probably why he was able to hide so much from the other guild members.”

 

“Looks like they cleaned out this place, too…” Haruhi commented as she stepped into the back room. “Just a bunch of shelves with files on them now.”

 

Amadeus walked over to the window near the side of the room. “…I smell Fudo.”

 

“Really? You think he was in here?”

 

“Definitely. They clearly cleaned the room at some point between Dumas dying and now, but I can still smell him on the window.” Amadeus threw open the window with some effort and looked down. “That’s a pretty big drop. No wonder he’s so good at levitating himself.”

 

“I’d hope he was if he was going from here to there on the daily,” Haruhi added. “Holy hell, I think this is pretty close to where Dumas lived, too.”

 

“You think this is how he got to work every day?” Amadeus asked.

 

“How the hell would he climb this high as a quadruped?”

 

“Uh… Not easily?”

 

“No shit…” Haruhi commented, closing the window. She then started going through the desk to see if she could find anything, but this time, it was completely barren. “Well, at least this makes a good place to put those books we had. Amadeus?”

 

“Oh, right, that…” Amadeus fumbled around the bag for a while, until he managed to get all of the books inside onto the desk, with a little help from Haruhi. “We do have to return these in a month, right?”

 

“Yeah, I think so,” Haruhi replied. “We’ve definitely got a lot of reading through files ahead of us.”

 

“I think that’s what our job is going to be here for the most part,” Amadeus replied.

 

“Not that exciting, honestly…” Haruhi griped. “Oh well. At least we have the freedom to go explore so long as we can give a reason for it.”

 

“Yeah,” Amadeus replied. “That’s what’s been on my mind the most.” We both know what we’re gonna be look out for the most, though.

 

Yeah. Not gonna be too much room for fun when we’re still worried about Calamity.

 

Honestly? I think we’ll still be able to find time for stuff that interests us.

 

I hope you’re right, Haruhi responded. That’s the kind of stuff I’ve spent a long time dreaming about doing.

 

Well, it probably won’t be terrible so long as we’re doing it together, right?

 

Right. Haruhi absentmindedly looked around the room. “Can we try taking a job? I don’t think we have much better to do today.”

 

“I’m down,” Amadeus replied. Hopefully the flight there isn’t nearly as rough as last time. That was awful.

 

Eh… probably not, right?

 

Ugh… The sheer force of what it was like to fly on that Dragonite brought back some not-so-pleasant memories, for a variety of reasons, but mostly the terror. “I think I’ll need to mentally prepare before we take off.”

 

“You, uh, do that while we head over and I pick out a mission. I’ll try to get one that’s not too far.”

 

Unfortunately, it was not significantly nicer the second time. Amadeus would have to get used to this.

 

 

---

 

 

The following day, the duo were in the back room of their new office, looking over something they’d placed on the desk.

 

“I can’t believe Dumas actually made one of these,” Amadeus commented, shocked.

 

Evidently, anything created by Dumas’ Medallion would stick around until the user specifically tried to get rid of it. That meant that anything Dumas was hiding in his office that he didn’t bother getting rid of was found by the people responsible for going through it.

 

A handful of the objects Amadeus saw on the dossier caught Amadeus’ eye, but none were more intriguing than the supposed ‘magical glass which lit up and displayed text’. It had clearly confounded everyone who had taken a look at it previously, but Amadeus had a funny feeling he knew exactly what he would be looking at.

 

He was right.

 

“What is this?” Haruhi asked, tapping it gingerly. “Just a hunk of glass and metal?”

 

You know how Dumas could make anything he wanted? Check this shit out, Amadeus began, clicking the power button. The tablet flared to life, showing a lock screen with an image identical to Amadeus’ old one.

 

“What the hell is that?” Haruhi exclaimed, jumping backwards in surprise. “Is this—”

 

“Something I used to have in the future, yeah,” Amadeus replied, not even waiting for Haruhi to finish speaking. “It’s called a smart tablet. It does… well, a lot, but I think we’re gonna find stuff on here that we wouldn’t otherwise.”

 

“…Can it think?”

 

“Well, no, but—”

 

“Then it’s not smart.”

 

“It’s a bit of a misnomer.”

 

“They shouldn’t call it that.”

 

“I didn’t decide what it was called.”

 

“Fair enough. You think Dumas would’ve put stuff on here he didn’t want anyone else seeing?”

 

“Oh, absolutely,” Amadeus replied. He fiddled around with the tablet for a moment, re-learning how to use one with his paws. I used these things daily. I’m pretty sure that one of these was among the stuff that got destroyed the first night I came here. He managed to get past the password prompt after a few tries of cycling through his old ones, and scanned over the apps on the home screen. For some reason, there were a handful of emulators.

 

Man, seeing video games again is tempting.

 

…Is that like a board game, but on one of these?

 

Basically, yeah.

 

That sounds boring. How much could you possibly do with a screen?

 

You’d be surprised, but we’re getting sidetracked. Amadeus clicked on the file explorer app. Let’s see what this bad boy is hiding.

 

After averting his eyes from some of the more obviously embarrassing files, namely, the images, Amadeus found a folder simply titled ‘documents’. Clicking on it revealed a cavalcade of subfolders, each of which had a downright juicy title such as ‘Greed’s requests’ and ‘Holy League of Heavenly Kings key contacts aside from Sloth’. Most interesting of all, however, was the folder simply titled ‘Members of Calamity’.

 

Oh yeah, it’s all coming together… Amadeus immediately opened the folder, revealing seven files: Me.docx, sloth.docx, wrath.docx, gluttony.docx, lust.docx, greed.docx, and pride.docx. Amadeus, almost absentmindedly, opened sloth.docx up, excited at the possibility that he could learn a treasure trove of information about a member of Calamity.

 

Sloth: Steven Snorlax

 

-Leads Holy League of Heavenly Kings on Eyelash Isles

-Likes pie

 

Amadeus probably should’ve known better going in. Knowing the name and occupation of the member was nice, but this was barebones. I probably should’ve known Dumas would prefer to commit most things to memory…

 

Hey, we know who it is now. That’s still way better than we were doing previously.

 

You’re right, we shouldn’t be complaining about getting that info for free. Just frustrating to see something that barebones.

 

Frustrating as hell, Haruhi agreed. She then pulled out a piece of paper. We’d better write these down.

 

…Why?

 

Because I know damn well you’re the only person alive who knows how to work that thing.

 

Amadeus chuckled. True…

 

The other files were similarly barebones. Still, getting to know exactly who the other members of Calamity were was a boon. There was, of course, the Raichu named Dexter, Jack, and the confirmation that the gang leader they’d looked into was indeed a member. Far more interesting were Sloth, Gluttony, and Greed.

 

Steven Snorlax was, apparently, the leader of the largest Religious group on the Eyelash Isles. That meant dealing with him would probably be a pain inherently, but that also meant that he was probably the member that they’d run into next.

 

Gluttony was Veux Togekiss, who was, apparently, a prince somewhere in the western kingdoms. That also made him a pain to remove.

 

Greed, however?

 

Audrey Luxio.

 

His other sister.

 

“She came back too?” Amadeus exclaimed, out loud. He’d practically forgotten about her, given how little of an impact she’d had on his life, so to see her here at all was a shock. She, too, seemed to be in a position of power, being one of the highest ranking members of the Nữ Tu Sĩ Republic, but that hardly mattered to Amadeus. What mattered was the fact that a piece of his past could come back like this, as an enemy. He had a thousand questions, and he wanted way more answers than the barebones document could provide.

 

“That’s your sister too, right?” Haruhi replied. “Do you think she might’ve joined to look after Dumas, or…?”

 

“That’s not possible,” Amadeus replied. “She wasn’t nearly close enough to me to care if I left. So why in the world is she even here?” By all accounts, it didn’t make a lick of sense. What could possibly be her motivation for coming? She didn’t get duped into doing it, did she?

 

I know the answer to this is probably no, but do you even know why she might join a group like Calamity?

 

No clue. Maybe Dexter found her at her lowest or something?

 

…There’s gotta be more that we can find somewhere on this tablet. Surely Dumas had something detailed on here!

 

Amadeus, hesitantly, powered off the tablet. “…We should probably report what little we did find before we go digging for more. The tablet by itself is a lot to explain.”

 

Haruhi took in a deep breath. “…Man, that thing was bright. How did your eyes stand looking at that all day?” We need a change of topic…

 

“I don’t know.” Admittedly, Amadeus was finding himself a little overstimulated by the tablet as well. I’ve been away from this stuff for too long…

 

You say that like it’s a bad thing.

 

There’s a part of me that thinks it is. The other part of me thinks it’s for the best.

 

“I wonder if that’s why you need glasses.”

 

“Probably not…” Amadeus muttered, pushing up his glasses. “In any case, let’s explain what we found. It’s bound to lead somewhere.”

 

The Guildmaster, needless to say, was extremely curious to know what exactly they found when they briefed him on it later that night, especially given his gaps in knowledge of the situation.

 

“You know how to use the object?” Tokugawa asked. “And you got information from it?”

 

“Yes,” Amadeus explained. “The tablet contained information that Dumas was clearly trying to hide from prying eyes.”

 

“…How much?”

 

“We haven’t gone through much just yet, but we did find a list of the other members of Calamity,” Haruhi explained, holding out the sheet of paper she’d written on previously. “It listed their names and occupations, so in the very least, who know who they are.”

 

Tokugawa took the sheet of paper from Haruhi, and studied it for a moment. “…Could you get this in print next time? Your handwriting is atrocious.” He paused. “Make it a memo. In any case, keep looking through it. Summarize the important points, if possible.” The Guildmaster studied the sheet of paper some more. “…If this Greed is Audrey Luxio, then we have a problem. We’ve been brokering grain and energy deals with the Nữ Tu Sĩ Republic through her as our point of contact. Dumas was the one building relations, if memory serves.”

 

“Actually, there might be a reason for that,” Amadeus began. This is gonna be a pain to explain…

 

“The reason is that they were colluding, right?” Tokugawa asked. “Unless you can think of another one.”

 

Amadeus took in a deep breath. “Audrey is my sister,” Amadeus said.

 

He very briefly regretted saying it out loud when the Guildmaster tensed up suddenly. “…Explain. Now.”

 

“In my old life, I had two siblings, Samantha Sylveon, and Audrey Luxio. This is just my best guess, but it would seem that Audrey came looking for me after my disappearance, got into contact with Dumas, and joined Calamity.” Lots of holes in that theory, but we’ve gotta give something.

 

Tokugawa rubbed his forehead a moment, considering this. “What did I hear about your origins again? That you were from the future?”

 

“That’s correct.”

 

Tokugawa was silent for a long time. “…Are you saying that this will impact your decision making when the time comes?”

 

“I’m unsure, sir.”

 

Tokugawa walked back to his throne and sat down. “In any case, it looks like this will complicate matters. Be sure to keep looking through the tablet, and make a note of everything important you can before the trip to the Eyelash Isles. I… need to work out how to handle this situation. For the time being, you are dismissed.” Tokugawa addressed them with a dismissive wave. Clearly, he wasn’t taking this news well.

 

“I understand, sir.” Amadeus replied.

 

The duo returned home for the night, more than a little uneasy. That unease would continue into the next day, unfortunately.

 

 

---

 

 

The next day, Amadeus and Haruhi were sitting down somewhere else in the Guild, waiting for a phone to ring. Amadeus found the style of phone to be something better suited to a museum, but he wasn’t about to say it out loud.

 

The Audrey situation had gotten even more tense today, as she’d personally called them up and demanded to speak with the new Seer over telecommunications, and Amadeus had a pretty good idea of what she expected to hear. In any case, this was more than a little bit unsettling to hear so soon after Amadeus discovered what she was doing.

 

Amadeus looked at Haruhi. What are we even going to say? They’d been sitting in an empty room with a single window somewhere in the many halls of the Guild, presumably because Tokugawa anticipated sensitive information would be relayed.

 

We’re just gonna have to ad-lib it. And by ‘we’, I mostly mean you, because she definitely wanted to talk to you one-on-one. Don’t worry, I’ll help.

 

Uh, thanks. Having Haruhi to help was a small advantage, but a welcome one.

 

Finally, the phone rang. The clacking noise it made startled Amadeus, who wasn’t used phones making that type of noise, but he quickly picked up the receiver.

 

“…Hello?” he nervously began.

 

A few painful seconds of silence later, he got an answer.

 

“I’m speaking to the new Seer, correct?” Her voice was full of power. Part of Amadeus felt he’d lost control of the conversation already. He didn’t know if this sounded like the Audrey he remembered, mostly because he could barely remember Audrey to begin with, but she sounded commanding. “I just wanted to know that the deal I struck with your predecessor is still going strong. Nothing more.”

 

Cut to the chase, Haruhi urged Amadeus. We need to know.

 

Amadeus sighed, which hopefully didn’t come through the receiver. “How did you even get here, Audrey?”

 

There was a long pause. “…Wow. Cutting right to the chase, are we? And here I was thinking I’d have to play along with you. You got some intel, didn’t you?” Audrey chuckled. “For the record, I never gave a shit about you. I was worried about Sammy, so I used the old creep working on the time machine to get me inside. Ugh, that guy… Imagine my surprise when I learned you killed the poor Sylveon. Well, not you you, but you get the idea.”

 

The casual way Audrey said all of this sent a shiver down Amadeus’ spine. She sure doesn’t sound like she cared about Samantha…

 

Did she just call Samantha ‘Sammy’? Isn’t that a guy’s nickname? I thought your Dad was the one pushing for her to be raised a man.

 

I don’t know. Maybe Audrey was on my Dad’s side. Anyway… “What is Calamity planning?” Dumas said something odd about it ‘not being about his solutions anymore.’ Maybe she’ll talk.

 

“Oh please, there’s no plan. If there was, Pride would’ve intervened on Dumas’ behalf when you were trying to kill his sorry ass.”

 

“That… can’t be true.”

 

“It is. Dexter’s just waiting for the lot of us to rack up a high enough body count, and then he’ll do his thing, which he’s keeping a surprise from the rest of us. It’s all a game to him.”

 

“A game? All of that death and destruction is a game?” Amadeus found himself getting unusually angry.

 

“To him. I couldn’t care less. By the way, before you get any ideas of unseating me, try to keep in mind that most of Teardrop Island’s food and energy is being produced here. Just a little reminder. It’d be a shame if tons of people started starving over winter.”

 

“You’re going to blackmail us so we don’t do anything?”

 

“To me,” Audrey clarified. “Do whatever you want to those other freaks, I don’t care. Anyways, did you have any other catching up you wanted to do?”

 

“…No.” Holy hell, I feel sick just talking to her. I’m gonna hang up if she doesn’t.

 

You alright?

 

Not exactly.

 

Haruhi patted him on the back. We’ll deal with this bitch last.

 

“Wow, you really didn’t want to have this conversation, did you? Alright, goodbye.” The sound of static resumed as Audrey hung up on the other side.

 

“I don’t know if that’s even a choice we’re going to have,” Amadeus said, distressed. “There’s a ton of unknowns right now.”

 

“We’ll figure it out. Besides, we’ve got other things to deal with right now,” Haruhi said reassuringly.

 

“That’s true,” Amadeus replied. “I’m not too sure how to feel about all of this just yet, though…”

 

“In any case…” Haruhi started with a stretch, “We’ve got a voyage to plan and pack for in a couple of days. Let’s worry about that for now.”

 

“Good point,” Amadeus replied. I can count on you to keep me on task, that’s for sure.

 

Where would you be without me? Haruhi joked.

 

Dead of exhaustion outside of your hometown, probably.

 

…Holy hell, you might be right about that. That’s kinda scary!

 

Uh, sorry.

 

Apology accepted.

 

The rest of that day was spent looking into the Eyelash Isles to get as much intel as they could ahead of the trip. As far as they could tell, the situation over there in recent weeks had gotten… messy.

 

 It seems like the League this Steven guy’s been running has been in a bit of hot water as of late… Amadeus observed.

 

Apparently, an entire section of the organization had mysteriously disappeared sometime over the past week. But that wasn’t all that was happening. About a month earlier, the previous monarch of the Neoh Crown, the monarchy that controlled most of the Eyelash Isles, had died suddenly, causing political chaos in the region.

 

That’s one hell of a shit show we’re about to jump into, Haruhi noted.

 

That’s an understatement… and the feast is gonna go on ahead despite all of this?

 

I guess this isn’t totally out of the ordinary for the region? Haruhi wondered, reading through what seemed to be a list of coup attempts in recent memory. It seems like it was stabilizing a bit over the last decade, though…

 

…Do you think Calamity could be to blame?

 

Probably. This Steven guy probably likes it that way…

 

We should ask Ryo about how his sister is doing over there, Amadeus realized.

 

…Huh. Can’t believe we didn’t think of that sooner.

 

Let’s ask him after dinner. He’d probably be most open to talking then, Amadeus reasoned.

 

“Or we could just ask him without worrying about when the best time is,” Haruhi suggested.

 

“Yes, we could do that too,” Amadeus agreed.

 

As it turned out, Ryo was rather open to talking about it.

 

“I usually only get a letter once every two months from. Her. Rumor has it that things have gone south recently, which worries me. Why?”

 

“The Guildmaster is sending us over there for the big feast thing,” Haruhi explained. “We were hoping to get some travel advice.”

 

“Wow, that’s pretty crazy,” Ryo commented in a hushed tone. “That’s because you guys got made Seer, yeah?”

 

“…Maybe,” Amadeus replied.

 

“Hah. I’d bet good money that everyone already knows that you’re the Seer.”

 

“I don’t think we could do much to hide it…” Haruhi said, annoyed. “It’d be obvious no matter what we did.”

 

“That’s probably true,” Ryo admitted. “Anyway, as for travel advice? Honestly, I hear Chimney Mountain is beautiful, and that you should make time to visit it. Hm… don’t go out at night in any of the bigger cities? I’d have to ask Tadame myself for any other details…”

 

“…Can you at least say what she said when she last wrote?” Amsdeus asked.

 

“She said that her side gig tutoring young members of the nobility was going well,” Ryo mentioned. “And that’s about it. She doesn’t get much free time, I think.”

 

“That must be rough,” Haruhi said, expressing concern. “Didn’t you say she had to take jobs on top of paperwork? And she’s got a side gig?”

 

“I really hope she gets to move somewhere less demanding soon,” Ryo sighed. “She sounds exhausted whenever she writes to me. In any case, tell her that I said hello when you get there. Assuming she even knows about you. I think I might’ve written to her between when we first met and now.”

 

“We’ll be sure to do that,” Amadeus promised. Haruhi, don’t let me forget.

 

Way ahead of you, Haruhi replied. “We’ll give her a big ‘ol hug on your behalf.”

 

“You don’t need to go that far,” Ryo chuckled.

 

“We’re overachievers,” Haruhi replied back with a wink.

 

I mean, you are… Amadeus pointed out.

 

Close enough, Haruhi replied.

 

Amadeus and Haruhi resumed looking into the Eyelash Isles later that night, and the more they looked, the weirder the situation became.

 

“Who is this Prince Maxie guy and why does his name keep cropping up?” Haruhi grumbled.

 

“A connection to Steven?” Amadeus suggested. “I think it’s hard to say for sure.”

 

“That seems like the obvious answer, but…” Haruhi pointed to a part of the page saying that said prince got into a public dispute with Steven very recently. “How do you explain this?”

 

“Infighting? Maybe he’s an ally? Maybe he knows something?”

 

“All those sound like they could be true…” Haruhi complained.

 

“Just spit-balling ideas here…” Amadeus was, admittedly, just as confused himself. “We’re probably going to have to improvise once we get there.”

 

“You’re probably right about that. Doesn’t make it any easier to swallow.”

 

“Yeah…” Amadeus could feel a slight anxiety forming inside of him. “One, ten, one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand…” he started to mumbled.

 

Haruhi put her arm around him. “Let’s hope for the best, yeah?”

 

“Yeah,” Amadeus agreed.

 

 

---

 

 

Days later, Amadeus nervously walked around the Guild building the next day, looking for a certain someone. He had a favor to do before he left. He double-checked that the letter he had was correct, and nodded once he was satisfied. This has been a long time coming…

 

I sure hope he likes this, Haruhi replied from within the office.

 

I’d be surprised if he doesn’t, Amadeus said in kind. But I’ve been wrong before.

 

We spent precious time doing this for him, Haruhi pointed out. He’d better.

 

No kidding… Amadeus pushed open the door to the training room, and looked around until he spotted who he was looking for. He’s gotta be around here somewhere this time of day… Eventually, Amadeus spotted Fudo, hanging out with his friends, chatting about something mundane.

 

“Hey! Fudo!” Amadeus said, running over.

 

“Oh! What’s up?” Fudo said, noticing Amadeus. “I was just talking with Yogi and Daisuke about what happened.”

 

Right, those are their names… Amadeus thought to himself.

 

“Is it true that you kicked his ass?” the Machoke asked.

 

“Haruhi kicked his ass,” Amadeus corrected. “I ran off as a distraction.”

 

“So you lost to your own pre-evolution?” the Medicham teased. “Really, dude? That’s even worse!”

 

“She was stronger than I thought, okay?” Fudo said, defending himself.

 

“I can vouch that she’s shockingly strong when she needs to be,” Amadeus said, backing Fudo up. “I, uh, did have something to actually tell you, Fudo. Give you, rather.”

 

“Really?” Fudo asked, curious. “What’s up?”

 

“Before I give you this, I need you to promise that you don’t tell anyone you got it from me.” Amadeus pulled out a letter with a very special message on it.

 

As it happened, it was Fudo’s birthday, but that wasn’t what was contained in the letter.

 

Fudo took the letter from Amadeus and started reading it out loud. “Dear Fudo Braixen, this letter is to inform you that you… have been selected for examination to become an official team member for the Guild of Honor!” Fudo stared at it for a second. “…You will be examined with… yada yada yada… come here at this time… blah blah blah… Arceus, it’s happening!”

 

“Uh, happy birthday.”

 

“…You did this?” Fudo asked.

 

“Yeah. Again, don’t ask why,” Amadeus replied.

 

Fudo chuckled. “Dude, thank you so much. You must’ve had to pull a lot of strings for this!”

 

“It was less than you’d expect,” Amadeus replied. “You guys have been in contention for this for a while now, if the records were any indication. If anything, it was Dumas who was stopping you.”

 

“…Haha, wow,” Fudo replied. “Man, how am I gonna repay you for this?”

 

“What? No, it’s your birthday, just take it.” Amadeus cleared his throat. “You should probably consider that you still have to pass, you know.”

“Oh, believe me, he knows,” the Machoke said, rather harshly.

 

“No kidding…” Fudo replied. “I’ll keep the fact that you gave me this under wraps,” he said with a thumbs-up.”

 

“You do that, I have some final preparations to take care of in the meantime. Gonna be one hell of a trip for me and Haruhi.”

 

“Oh yeah, the Eyelash Isles, right?” Fudo asked. “Say hi to my aunt for me while you’re there. Uh, on my other Dad’s side.”

 

“Imagine having parents that are present in your life,” Amadeus joked. “Couldn’t be me. Alright, see you around!”

 

It sounds like the gift went down well, Haruhi observed.

 

It did, Amadeus thought back. They’d gotten better at intentionally listening to each other’s thoughts as of late. Amadeus figured they should probably find out how to do the opposite before they were always functionally in the same room. Were you able to hear it?

 

Almost everything you were thinking, Haruhi replied. It was a little scary.

 

We’ll get a better handle on this eventually, Amadeus replied as he made his way back to their office. It’s probably not great to always be in each other’s heads…

 

Once he was back with her, Amadeus stared at the desk in front of them, which Haruhi had sat down at, and pulled up a chair to sit down next to her. As far as they could tell, the place they’d be staying at was totally within Guild of Honor control, but still relatively close to a town where a royal house lived. It had apparently caused an incident when it came into existence, but that was a long time ago.

 

A large gathering of nobles were indeed set to appear there. A prime opportunity for anyone looking to make connections or deals in a formal setting, and for fostering communication.

 

Equally so for anyone intent on causing chaos by, say, assassinating someone important. Or several someones, for that matter.

 

Steven was notably absent from those who had already stated their intentions to attend, but that was liable to change by the time they arrived, given how long the voyage would be.

 

“I still don’t think he’s going to show up in person if he wants to try something,” Amadeus noted. “That would expose himself to a whole lot of risk that doesn’t seem to be all that needed.”

 

“But his associates?” Haruhi pointed out. “Plenty of those are coming. We’d better avoid them like hell.”

 

“And, if we don’t want this trip to be wasted, we’ll have to try and get some intel while we’re there. Arceus…”

 

“We’ll figure something out,” Haruhi reassured him. “We’re not there for long either way. We can definitely afford to play it safe.”

 

“Learning nothing would definitely be a bit frustrating at this point, though…”

 

“Yeah,” Haruhi agreed. “Not dying is definitely more important, though.”

 

Amadeus looked through the list of known attendees. “Maxie… there’s that name again. He keeps showing up.”

 

“We gotta look into him at some point,” Haruhi urged. “There’s too much surrounding him to ignore.”

 

“The thing that bothers me is how much he seemed to have public drama going back about one or two weeks ago. That would be right around the time when Dumas first landed in hot water. It’s also not long after the previous king died, and right around when the mysterious disappearance happened. No way all of that’s a coincidence.”

 

“Then he’s trying to stir the pot?” Haruhi guessed.

 

“It seems like it. The real question is whose side he’s on.”

 

“Then we’ll meet with him. Fastest way to get answers, right?” Haruhi proposed.

 

“…That does scare me a little.”

 

“We do have to decide how we’re gonna gather info, though. We know that Steven uses the Sloth Medallion, so how dangerous could Maxie really be?”

 

“That’s a fair point,” Amadeus admitted. “I guess we need to find a way to meet him on our own terms, then. That’d probably go a long way to minimizing the risk.”

 

“It sounds like we need to start coming up with a plan in general,” Haruhi observed. “I’m starting to appreciate the fact that the voyage will take almost three weeks now.”

 

“No kidding,” Amadeus said. “Speaking of, what do think of going on the boat? We were only on that one boat for what, a few days?”

 

“I think I might’ve been a little woozy when we stepped off. I don’t remember any seasickness, though…”

 

“That’s good,” Amadeus replied. “The trip would be hell otherwise.”

 

“I definitely think it’s gonna get boring real quick,” Haruhi commented. “Having nowhere to go for all of that time is gonna be hell.

 

“We’ll have to make up for it my doing some sightseeing once we’re there,” Amadeus replied.

 

“Hah, I feel like we need to find a balance between being tourists and doing our job,” Haruhi replied. “It’s making me feel all sorts of conflicted.”

 

“Same here,” Amadeus replied. This is gonna be the farthest we’ve been from the Guild so far. The Eyelash Isles are bound to feel way different than Hakken no Machi.

 

Hopefully we don’t look too much like tourists, Haruhi replied. And avoid the tourist traps. We’ve got a lot to do once we’re there, and so little time to do it all.

 

At the time, Amadeus and Haruhi could be forgiven for thinking that this would be a short journey. They were sadly mistaken.

 

 

---

 

 

The crowds down by the docks were as thick as ever.

 

“Hey!”

 

“S-sorry!”

 

“Watch it, asshole!”

 

“I’m walkin’ here!”

 

“That’s my tail! Hands off!”

 

So, so very crowded. Fortunately, that was confined to the streets—the docks themselves we easy enough for the duo to navigate. The ship they were boarding seemed relatively modest in comparison to some of the others docked at Hakken no Machi, but it was still large compared to the ship they’d ridden previously.

 

“You think we’re gonna get a good view from our room?” Amadeus asked.

 

“If you want a view, you gotta go on the upper decks,” Haruhi pointed out. “There’s no point relying on your cabin for that. The cabin’s for relaxing.”

 

“You’ve got me there…” Amadeus admitted. Fortunately, they wouldn’t have to transfer ships at any point, as the ship they were taking sailed continuously in a circuit around the continent, and was relatively fast to boot. Conveniently, it stopped off at nearly every major Guild of Honor outpost around the continent. Probably because it’s owned by the Guild…

 

The Guild has one hell of a fleet, Haruhi observed.

 

Probably comes from being on the coast… Amadeus looked down at the water below as he boarded. Don’t fall in.

 

Relax, I can do this just fine, Haruhi scoffed. You focus on leading the way.

 

Their cabin ended up being almost identical to the one they’d traveled in with Mayumi. The only difference was that the two smaller beds were replaced by one much larger bed. Well, that’s just perfect.

 

Haruhi lay down on the bed. Amadeus, come over here. It’s crazy soft.

 

Amadeus lay down right next to Haruhi. The bed was, indeed, crazy soft. If it wasn’t still relatively early in the morning, Amadeus would’ve been partial to conking out then and there. Amadeus looked over at Haruhi, who was stretching.

 

“Can’t get it?”

 

“I swear, I’ve been having back problems ever since I evolved. I never needed to stretch this much as a Fennekin.”

 

“Maybe your body is still adjusting?”

 

“My body should’ve just done that part for me…” Haruhi groaned. “The muscle memory came free.”

 

“I… don’t have an answer to that.”

 

“I wasn’t looking for one.” Haruhi sat up, and patted Amadeus on the back. “Have you been feeling anything like that?”

“Uh, no?”

 

“Damn.” Haruhi looked at the radio, which was turned off. “When’s the safety presentation we have to go to again?”

 

“Ten minutes before we leave,” Amadeus answered.

 

“…Didn’t we arrive early specifically so we’d go to that? Why the hell did we do that?”

 

“We screwed up,” Amadeus concluded.

 

One very long safety presentation later, Amadeus and Haruhi were up on the top deck, looking out over the water as the ship pulled away from the docks. The ocean breeze was a smell Amadeus would have to get used to over the next few weeks, but there was something oddly inspiring about having the wind in his face as the ship sailed into the open ocean.

 

Hey, Amadeus? Haruhi asked.

 

Yeah?

 

Isn’t there something uplifting about this?

 

…What do you mean?

 

We’re going for a really serious reason, but… Look at us. We’re headed to some far-flung land, which holds secrets to uncover, looking out over the water with the wind in our faces… It might be wrong of me, but I can’t help but feel an amazing sense of adventure. What about you?

 

Amadeus paused. Honestly, I agree. There is a certain whimsy to all of this. Amadeus looked to the horizon. The sun was reflected in the water, and it looked gorgeous. This is kinda what you had in mind when you wanted to become an explorer, yeah?

 

Absolutely, Haruhi replied. If only Kentaro could see me now…

 

I’m sure he’s proud of his big sister, Amadeus replied.

 

I feel like I could do anything right now! Haruhi replied. We’re gonna take down Steven easily. I can feel it.

 

Don’t jinx us!

 

Haruhi looked him dead in the eye. This Maxie guy is gonna be a huge ally, and we’re gonna take down Steven while we’re there.

 

Now you’ve definitely jinxed us.

 

No I didn’t, Haruhi teased with a wink. I mean, surely we’re not the only idiots who have ever tried to take on Calamity, right?

 

Haruhi was more right about that than she knew. For now, though, the duo looked out into the horizon, with some not-misplaced hope.

 

 

ALL I WANT PART ONE: SELF ESTEEM

END

 

 

---

 

 

Somewhere, a long time ago, in an apartment far, far away, a monitor turned on.