Archive of Our Own ^beta

  Spinel pushed his glasses further up his nose as he stepped along the sidewalk, Umbreon padding closely behind him through the busy streets of Levincia, as to not get lost in the crowd. He went through his mental to-do list; for his day off, the two of them decided on a small outing through the city for whatever they could think of. Which, for the two of them, meant two things: sweets for Umbreon, which they just bought, Spinel carrying it in a little paper bag printed with the shop’s pastel-colored logo, and coffee for Spinel. The plan was to sit and eat (or, in Spinel’s case, drink) once they made it to Spinel’s favorite coffeeshop—he checked the map on his phone—about a 5 minute walk away.

   The two continued on their stroll, Umbreon moving to walk in front of Spinel, impatient to finally rest and snack. He couldn’t particularly blame her; the sun glared down at them, and the streets seemed far more crowded than usual. His brows furrowed. While not necessarily awful, it was still irritating. He put his phone back in his pocket as they neared eyeshot of the shop, scanning around to find the ochre-colored sign.

   Yet before he caught sight of it, an annoyingly loud, grating voice broke out over loud speakers, terrible quality in its attempts to broadcast as far as possible.

   “Ello, ‘ello, hola! Ciao and bonjour!”

   Spinel grimaced, unimpressed, at the billboard now lit up with shades of yellow, pink, and blue as the city’s favorite streamer rattled on about whatever new “challenge” she’d come up with. I suppose that’s why everywhere is so busy today. He looked away from the billboard, his eyes now thankfully free of its egregious blaring. Umbreon caught sight of the coffeeshop’s sign first, and took of towards it, Spinel sighing fondly before moving to follow her, when—

—a massive crowd sprinted past him, one catching him on their elbow and knocking him to the ground, running off without even a glance.

   This, this is why he couldn’t stand that streamer. Her fans were maniacs, and that was coming from him of all people.

  As the crowd made their course, leaving him behind in a cloud of dust, he dragged himself back to his feet and dusted himself off. He looked down, and there before him sat Umbreon’s paw picked sweets, crushed and strewn across the concrete; besides that, a pit of dread settled in his stomach. Umbreon was absolutely nowhere to be seen, and where she once stood, there was instead a…Pikachu. Shaking its head back and forth like a rattle to rid itself of dust. Not only was Umbreon missing, but of all Pokemon, a Pikachu? Though this one had no hat, just seeing one brought conflicting thoughts.

   Spinel truly did not believe in luck. It was a fool’s game, a way to discredit work and effort and a way to brush aside one’s own failures.

   Yet in this moment, Spinel thought to himself, maybe luck truly is a thing, only I have the worst of it. 

—

   Friede glanced down at his shopping list, moving his head to the side as Cap peeked over his shoulder to help plot out their route, to get what they were still missing. The Brave Asagi parked near Levincia for a supply run; they weren’t dangerously low, but it never hurt to restock. Plus, everyone had earned a fun day out, even if he was sacked by the actual supply running. Mollie and Orla were off on the other side of town buying medicine and mechanics respectively, and Murdock took all the kids out for some sightseeing and sweets. Which left Friede to be the productive one, but really, it wasn’t so bad.

   The weather was amazing, for one; he’d forgone his jacket for the day, instead tying it around his waist with the beautifully warm weather. Plus, being in charge meant he could grab some extra goodies, little surprise gifts for the crew. It was worth spending that long convincing them that no, he wouldn’t forget anything, he had a shopping list, it would be fine. 

   He adjusted his goggles atop his head, bringing his hand up to block the sun from his eyes as he searched for his next destination; Liko had mentioned some matcha treat Floragato wanted to try, which was apparently sold in Levincia. As he looked around, he saw one of the backlit billboard screens switch to a familiar face, before her iconic greeting rang out. “'Ello, 'ello, hola, ciao and bonjour!”

   He’d personally never been super into streamers and the like, but he knew the girl meant a lot to Dot, like a big sister almost. He gave a fond smile, and looked back towards the sidewalk to continue on his way.

   Huh. That massive crowd of people wasn’t there a few seconds ago. His face twisted from a smile to comical alarm as the crowd approached at breakneck speeds. Him and Cap shared a horrified glance before the crowd descended upon them, borderline trampling the two.

   Once the dust cleared, Friede sat up, rubbing the back of his head and wincing at both the pain of eating shit on the concrete and from the dust in his eyes. As he raised his hand, he realized; his shopping list was completely gone. His head whipped around scanning for his partner. “Shit, Cap, do you know where the—?” 

   He cut himself off, his worried expression switching for one of confusion as his eyes focused. Sitting beside him now was a Pokemon, but most definitely not Cap. Instead sat an Umbreon, who for some reason looked annoyed at him. What did he even do?!

— 

   This was ridiculous. This was absurd. Spinel paced back and forth along the sidewalk, his eyes boring into his phone; he’d sent both Beeheeyem and Magneton out immediately to scout for Umbreon, and thus here he watched their attached cameras for any sign of black fur or glowing rings. This continued for a good few minutes, as Spinel tried to calm himself and break out of his cold sweat.

   (In the corner of his eye, he saw the Pikachu tilting its head with a puzzled look.)

   He cursed under his breath, turning his phone off and shoving it back into his pocket. He didn’t want to move too far away from where they’d last seen each other, in case Umbreon managed to make her way back, but sitting here panicking wouldn’t do anything good either. He took a moment to compose himself; losing Umbreon and losing composure in a public street, his day truly couldn’t get worse.

   He glanced down at the ruined sweets at his feet. He may as well go and buy new ones while waiting for news from Beeheeyem; it’d give him something to do, at the very least. He turned around to retrace his steps, yet a few steps in he noticed another pair (quad?) following him. He glanced behind him to see the Pikachu trailing close behind, with a look of what he thought was suspicion.

   He narrowed his eyes into a glare. “What?” He did not have the willpower left in him to fake-nice. Looking at the Pikachu brought back thoughts of his failure to best the professor; even if he got something interesting to obsess over and pick apart from it, the loss still stung his pride.

   The Pikachu in question crossed its arms and let out an indignant “Pika!” It glared at him like he’d done something wrong—which of course, he has many times, but what would this rat know? Spinel scowled in annoyance before speed walking back towards the sweet shop, only for the Pikachu to continue following him, like a menacing baby Ducklett. Honestly, its persistence almost reminded him of that professor, who…unfortunately kept coming up in his thoughts. Were Umbreon here, she’d have given him an exasperated look right about now. He bit his lip as a nervous tick, before shaking himself out of it. He needed some sort of distraction until Beeheeyem and Magneton brought news.

   …Well, if this Pikachu refused to leave him alone, it could stand to listen to some of his ramblings. Every time he looked at it, he was reminded of Friede, bringing every begrudging admiration and every deserved annoyance he held toward the man to the front of his mind. Maybe if it got annoyed enough, it’d run back to wherever it crawled out of. Besides, he doubted the little thing was anywhere near smart enough to comprehend anything he said. He gave it another glare before continuing on his way, this time expecting the taps of steps behind him.

…

   “His problem solving is annoyingly competent, yet that’s part of what makes him so…intriguing. Everything I’ve tried against him somehow fails… and that stupid smirk he gets when he figures something out…” Spinel continued his rant about the professor as the two approached their destination of the sweet shop. He’d opted to pretend the little annoyance didn’t exist, at this point, not even looking at it. Thus he missed the look of absolute bafflement on the Pikachu’s face at every word he uttered, then a look of contemplation as it seemed to come to some sort of conclusion.

   The two had nearly reached the shop when—

   Cap continued trekking behind Spinel, taking note of everything he said in case it was useful for taking down the Explorers; yet, at this point, all he could figure out was that Spinel had some weird creepy crush on Friede—he thought he was done with it just from Friede’s end, why’d it have to be mutual? Though that would be a problem to deal with another day, as when Cap scanned around, he caught sight of some of the other crew; Mollie and Orla, across the street, lost in conversation. Cap’s gaze shot up to the man he’d been tailing, who thankfully hadn’t noticed anything yet, too caught up in his complements? Insults? Of his trainer.

   He knew he had to make sure Spinel wouldn’t notice them. Thinking fast, he dug his claws into Spinel’s pant leg, climbing the man and—

   —The little rat climbed up him and tugged his bangs over his eyes. Spinel nearly lost his balance with the unexpected extra weight, nearly stumbling with a yelp before reaching both hands at the yellow nightmare. He tugged it off with a glare, his scalp stinging, and held it up by the scruff at eye’s level—when he noticed a passerby giving him a concerned look. He reluctantly moved to hold the Pikachu normally, plastering a fake smile on his face so as to remedy the situation. The passerby continued on their way, and Spinel looked down at the Pikachu in his arms (who, he noted, looked just as displeased being held by him as he felt holding it). His smile stayed, but didn’t reach his eyes as he glared down. “Pull another stunt like that and you will regret it.” The little bastard looked almost smug at his anger.

   He resisted the urge to just drop it, instead lowering to set it on the ground so as to not cause a scene. The rat following him must’ve made it look like his own Pokemon, he unfortunately noted. He’d have to tone himself down to not look bad. He took in a deep breath, then breathed out, as he continued toward the sweet shop, only a few feet away now. Of course, footsteps continued behind him. If only he could punt the thing without getting arrested or electrocuted.

   The two walked into the shop, the bell above the door chiming in welcome. He walked up to the counter, where the employee attempted small talk. With a bright smile, she said, “Oh, getting a treat for your Pikachu? You must be close!” His eye twitched; he stopped himself before he could correct her, instead smiling and nodding. He ordered Umbreon’s favorites, seeing the Pikachu grimacing in disgust at the choices. The employee noticed, a questioning hint now on her perfect customer service smile. “Ah, he doesn’t quite seem to..?” She trailed off. 

   “Oh, they’re its–his favorites, actually.” He went to order another apology treat for Umbreon, for losing the original ones, when he noticed the Pikachu plastering its face against the glass, staring at one of the Pokemon pastries on display. He looked back at the employee. “That’ll be all.”

   She looked at the Pikachu, now glaring at Spinel with disappointment. “Are you sure? Your Pikachu looks like he’s found his pick.” He begrudgingly looked back down at the Pikachu, before internally sighing and reaching into his wallet. “I’ll take one of those, too.” Maybe he could use it to bribe the thing to go away. Beside him, the Pikachu gave its most smug look it’d had on their unfortunate escapade. Spinel felt somehow scammed.

   The two finally left the shop, Pikachu enjoying its swindled sweets. The door’s bell chimed them a goodbye. Though as soon as they stepped out, a black blur leapt at Spinel, knocking both of them over. Along the impact came a familiar shout of, “You—?!”

—

   Friede’s face twisted as he gave a dramatic sigh. Cap would be fine, he knew. He could easily handle himself, and years of flying the sky together gave the both of them flawless senses of direction, so finding each other would be a walk in the park (hopefully, a more peaceful walk than this one). 

   But that raised the question: what should he do about this random Umbreon?

  He crouched down to be at eye level and took a second look at the critter. The annoyance was definitely still present in its narrowed eyes, though when he looked a little closer he could see its tail swishing back and forth in what he guessed was anxiety. Its fur was noticeably clean, and—he reached out to pet down its head, stifling a laugh at how offended it looked after—very soft; so, clearly it had a trainer. He obviously couldn’t leave the poor thing alone. The question then was, where could this mysterious trainer be? 

   He got up from his crouch, resting his hands on his hips as he looked down at the Umbreon, who would not let up on staring at him. “Alright, I’m guessing you lost your trainer in that rampage… we can look for them while I look for my own partner.” He gave what he hoped was a comforting smile to the agitated Umbreon. “Two Pidgeys with one stone, how does that sound?”

   The Umbreon met him with a suspicious stare and gave him a snooty huff, but seemed to agree with his suggested alliance. The Umbreon's prissy attitude brought an unfortunate face to mind, one who just so happened to have an Umbreon. …This one couldn’t be his, could it? He shook the thought, but kept it in the back of his mind just in case. He’d be surprised seeing that guy out and about, honestly; he’d never seen him outside of a dark room.

   The similarities were uncanny, though, from the snotty behavior to the clearly-groomed appearance. For a guy who spent so much time as a shut-in, he really didn’t slack with his appearance, especially his hair…

   Friede grimaced as he realized where his train of thought was going. He really needed to get over this whole…he wasn’t even going to name it. What really mattered now was getting this Umbreon back to its hopefully not particularly shy trainer. In his defense, finding someone who pushed him to think like that was a rarity; he could even call it fun were the stakes not so high. The Explorer being easy on the eyes was just an unfortunate bonus.

   Friede turned his attention back to the Umbreon, who seemed to raise a metaphorical eyebrow at Friede’s contemplation. Once it realized it had his attention again, it turned and started walking away, seemingly expecting him to follow. “Woah, woah hold on! This is a team effort!” Friede trailed behind the Umbreon, who looked back once to make sure he followed, and continued on.

   How he managed to get on the Pokemon’s bad side, he had no idea; though after a little brainstorming, he came to a possible solution.

  “Hey, come back here for a second, want a snack?” He had a couple of Murdock’s homemade Pokemon treats in his bag, for Cap to snack on throughout the day, which he now dug from him bag and held out for the Umbreon. Maybe he could use them to convince this little guy to at least somewhat cooperate. Plus, even if it acted tough, he could tell it was still on edge from being separated from its trainer; its tail hadn’t stopped rapidly swishing back and forth, and its rush only confirmed his suspicions. 

   The Umbreon stopped and turned back to face him, clearly intrigued by the promise of food. It padded back over to him to nibble the pastry out of his hand; once finished it looked back up at him with what he wanted to think was approval. This time, instead of just taking off without him, it tugged at the sleeve of his jacket, still wrapped around his waist, with its teeth to lead him off with it. He let out a chuckle and obliged, feeling awfully proud of himself. “You really do remind me of someone…” he mumbled mostly to himself, though he could tell Umbreon heard it.

  Now, if only it could be this easy to get Mr. Awfully Shy off his high horse, and to act reasonable…even if the unhinged-ness made him all the more satisfying to best…

…

   Checking the map on his Rotom phone, it looked like the Umbreon was dragging him to the same shop he’d been planning to buy the special matcha pastries from for Floragato. Two Pidgeys with one stone was right, he thought to himself. When he looked up from his phone, his eyes widened at the sight of the Captain hat now in Umbreon's jaws. Looks like this was the right direction anyways; plus, reconvening at where they were heading was his initial plan anyways. Maybe the Umbreon and its trainer were on their way to the same cafe, he thought.

   He crouched down to Umbreon’s level again, reaching his hand out for it to bring him the cap. “Thanks for grabbing that, could you—” yet before he could ask it to hand him the hat, the Umbreon looked him dead in the eyes, brought a paw to hook inside the cap, and tugged the cloth away from its face with its teeth still ingrained, tearing a massive hole in the fabric.

   It then dropped the cap in his hand with a self-satisfied look on its face.

   “You…I thought we were making progress!” 

   He stared, flabbergasted, at the evil glee in the feline’s face; it seems that bribing it wasn’t enough to make up for whatever he could’ve possibly done to piss it off in the first place. This wouldn’t be the first time he’d have to repair the hat after so many years with Cap, but still!

   He shook his head with exasperation. The Umbreon just kept reminding him of that Explorer, with every new haughty action it took. Really, he started rethinking his dismissal of the Umbreon really being his. It moved back over to tug his sleeve again, dragging him back on their way. Friede let out an exasperated yet somewhat fond sigh as he followed. He couldn’t bring himself to be that mad.

   The two finally approached the cafe, the bell chiming to announce somebody leaving when Umbreon shot by in a blur of black fur, catapulting both it and whoever it ran into to the ground. Friede jumped back a bit in shock, realizing at the blur of blue hair that went along with it (That had to hurt, he quipped to himself) that his suspicions were, in fact, correct.

   “You—?!”

—

   Spinel slowly sat up as Umbreon rubbed her face against his as a greeting. He immediately shot up to check her for anything wrong, patting along her sides and letting out a sigh of relief when he could see no issues. He cupped her face in his hands and pet her cheeks. “You had me worried sick, not even Beeheeyem could find you, what on Earth were you doing?”  She looked at him with a smug expression, pointing her head towards the guest she’d brought along.

  Oh. Oh, of all the people who could’ve just witnessed that—

   Staring at him with a bemused face, the little rat now with a cap—albeit a ripped one— perched on his shoulder, stood the Volt Tackler’s professor, staring down at him and Umbreon in an admittedly mortifying display. Spinel jolted up to his feet (though ensuring Umbreon wasn’t jostled, instead setting her down gently on the ground) and plastered yet another fake smirk onto his face. “ Ah, Professor Friede, it’s a shock to see you here.” If only that little rat hadn’t bounced off to the other man as soon as he caught sight of him, he could’ve used it as leverage. He yet again cursed his luck.

   Which, now that he thought about it…that Pikachu heard nearly every little thought he had about the professor; while he thankfully didn’t divulge any actual plots, what he did say…He struggled to keep his face from warming out of embarrassment. On what was supposed to be a day off, all he’d managed to do was give this damn Professor more and more angles to use against him—

   Though taking another look at the professor’s expression, rather than looking smug at his newfound upper hand, he looked…almost fond? “You see something new every day, huh, Cap? Didn’t expect you to have such a soft…ish side.” The rat gave a nod of agreement.

   “...What.”

   “I mean, your Umbreon practically catapulted into you. Plus, Cap says thanks for the treat.” Friede added the last bit with a mocking smirk, and Spinel balked; no wonder that little bastard looked so smug earlier, he really had been scammed. "It's unexpected seeing you act like a somewhat normal human being.”

   “Excuse me?” The two easily fell into their bickering; even outside of battle, they were at odds. “How I act in the workplace has no bearing on how I act outside of it.” His eyes narrowed as he glared at the other man. In his peripheral vision, he saw their partner Pokemon engaged in a glaring match as well, the Pikachu holding its hat with a baffled and offended look in its eye. Friede barked a laugh. “Are you ever off the clock? Do you think I haven’t noticed your Beeheeyem and Magneton tailing me at least once a week?”

    Spinel paused, causing Friede to let out another laugh at his expense. "That is a personal matter." His eye twitched; this professor truly never failed to get under his skin. Before he could make another retort, he felt a tug at his pant leg, looking down to see Umbreon eyeing the replacement snacks he’d bought her. Friede raised an eyebrow, which Spinel scowled at before beckoning Umbreon to follow him away from the sweets shop. “We can sit down once we get back to the—”

   “Woah, woah, where do you think you’re going?” A hand tapped on his shoulder, and he whipped around with a threatening smile on his face. “We will be off to finish our errands. Despite how much you want to flatter yourself, I have priorities to deal with, and they are not you.” Perhaps he was still a little salty at being called out like that.

   “And just leave you running off? I don’t think so.” His words were those of a warning, but his tone was anything but. He’s making fun of me, isn’t he. “Who’s to say you aren’t plotting anything as we speak? It’s best to keep an eye on you.” Friede flashed him a grin, finishing off with, “plus, we both have errands to run. Might as well have company, huh?”

   Before Spinel could open his mouth to shut him down, absolutely not, Friede continued. “I can get your Umbreon another treat while I’m at it, I have stuff to pick up here anyways.”

   This was how Friede was planning to use Umbreon against him? Really?!

   He looked back down at his partner, and sure enough, she stared right back at him with pleading eyes. After he just bought her treats. Friede must’ve bribed her. Yet, as always, he…unfortunately could not say no.

   Spinel deadpanned at Friede, who only smirked wider, knowing his little plot was a success. He turned back into the shop without a word, hearing Friede follow him. “Hey, wait up–!” As the door shut behind them as they re-entered, Friede mumbled something under his breath. “They really are similar..”