"The hero has found out about a secret which their partner kept from them.
How bad is the secret? What are the consequences for finding out? Can their relationship recover?
Amber and Horizon are teammates, and that is known throughout the guild, and in each other's minds. Yet while Horizon opened up to Amber, (which wasn't much granted, with no memories) Amber still hides a large secret from her teammate.
"Blarg, screw this," Horizon snorted glaring at the board for missions, "There's nothing here worth it, only one hundred, two hundred Poké jobs, we'll barely get anything." He huffed, frowning at the board as he regarded another request with narrowed eyes.
Guilds all over were notorious for having a tax on the money rewarded in missions, of course the tax's varied from guild to guild. The infamous Wigglytuff guild had a ninety percent tax, one of the highest in history, set the standard for the bigger guilds.
"Well Strife couldn't be beat by anyone could he?" Horizon thought bitterly. Of course with the highest in history, the ninety-five percent tax from the Onyx Guild. Led by Scissorhands himself, Strife.
"Amber what's the final word?" Horizon asked her, glancing back at his teammate.
Amber wore a sour face as she watched him choose the mission for the day. They had gotten here late, because of Horizon refusing to get up, and now were left with the "low rank scraps" as Horizon called them.
"Outta my way," she snorted pushing Horizon aside gently. As she looked around the board Horizon began to speak again.
"We can just take the day off," He yawned nonchalantly, as he waved his paw, "No big deal."
"We'll do multiple." Amber stated almost instantly before looking back at him.
"Why? We can easily just skip today and get a better job tomorrow?" Horizon replied, raising an eyebrow and shaking his head at her.
"Remember Strife can't tax missions under two hundred, so we get to keep the earnings from all our expeditions combined," Amber replied grabbing three missions from the board, "There's plenty going to burroway bog, grab a few more."
Horizon sighed as she walked away, grabbing four two hundred dollar missions, he rushed after her. He didn't even bother looking at what they were for.
"Of course burroway bog, Why not be burroway bog?". He huffed with an eyeroll, following his partner stomping grumpily.
"So… why are we doing all of these?" Horizon demanded as he followed behind Amber, trudging through another puddle of mud.
"To make… money? Amber replied glancing back at him confused, "Like you wanted right?"
"I woulda preferred no mission at all." Horizon shot back glaring at his brown turned paw, "And of course here, where my fur gets aaaalllll dirty and now I have to go to Furfrou's to get my fur cleaned, and re-done." He whined wiping a muddy paw on her tail.
Amber quickly shook her tail out and glanced back at the whining fox, "Well we're making money," Amber replied with a shrug, "That's all you want right?"
"Why are ya implying that?" Horizon asked her curiously, "I just think we nee-ahem deserve a break, at some point." He relayed emphasis on deserve, hoping to spark some sort of response from his teammate.
Amber just sighed at him, not giving him what he wanted.
Horizon frowned sideways at her. Usually she would respond, it was odd for her to not even humor a reply since she did so with any idiotic thing Horizon let his brain say.
"Well someone else coulda done all these," Horizon pointed out, "Maybe some lower rank team in need of an easy job?"
"Horizon," Amber said sternly, not looking at him, "Shut. your. trap."
"And why?"
"Do I need to say more?"
"Yes an explanation to why would suffice."
Amber just sighed and walked faster.
Horizon narrowed his eyes as her and rushed after her. The next room they entered, had the stairs right by the entrance, and so they went up the moss covered stairs and to the fifth floor of the dungeon.
"We got, two missions on this floor and we're done," Amber said, handing him an orb, "Go look for a pair of… 'Glamorous shades,' and I'll go save Azurill."
"Shouldn't we stick…" Horizon started, looking up as Amber walked away from him. He droned off with a quiet and annoyed, "Together?"
"Fine then," he huffed raising his head, "Damn you too." Horizon turned and walked the other way, glaring at the orb she handed him. A Rollcall orb.
"I don't need this," he huffed angrily, walking down a different hallway, "I am perfectly capable of doing this myself."
As Horizon walked into the next room he heard a loud cry nearby echo through the halls.
"Help!" Please!!" A young voice called, it was quite distant. Horizon ignored it at first, too focused on finding the "Glamorous shades" in the room he was in.
After no luck with finding the glasses, Horizon rolled his eyes and walked in the direction of the voice. Glancing around the hallway he entered his eyes fell on a pair of neon pink and black glasses, submerged in a mud puddle. Yep that was it.
He picked it up holding it away from him disgusted, "Yyyyyuuuck." He groaned looking away, the glasses were covered on mud, there was some… green stuck to it. It made Horizon gag. Yet he had no bag to shove it in. He wiped it off the best he could, getting his paws even more muddy.
"Uuuuuugggg," Horizon whined placing the glasses atop his own head, tucked behind his ears, "Furfrou is gonna hate me." He moaned feeling the leftover muck drip onto his head.
He sighed, deciding to deal with Furfrou at a later date, and rushed after the sound of the voice. As he made his way through the corridor he stopped, just outside a room where he saw Amber already helping the Azurill up.
"Thank You!!" The kid squealed shivering, "I-I was trying to be brave, b-but I…" The Blue Pokémon looked down, not finishing their explanation.
"It's okay Azurill," Amber said soothingly, trying to calm the child, "I was a lot like you, trying to be brave, and explore all the time," Amber said smiling, "My parents, when they were… still around, always told me to explore at my own risk, and to be careful at all times."
The little blue ball nodded up at her, hearing her tale.
"They were famous explorers at one point, and taught me everything they could," Amber explained, smiling back, she shook her head, "And well look at where I am now."
"I'm here!" Horizon called interrupting them, deciding hed had enough of the mud around, "Got the gross shades, let's get outta here."
Amber nodded at him, lifting her badge to the sky. The badge first eminated a golden light, then a blue beam shot up, from the badge and into the sky. A moment later, they were surrounded by a blue glow and a similar blue light and were gone moments later.
After receiving their awards and then handing ninety-five percent of their earnings to Strife's assistant, a Gliscor, they skulked away, after a quick "thanks" from Gliscor.
"So." Horizon starter glancing at her, breaking to silence between them.
"Yeah?"
Horizon sighed and turned to her, "Iiii'mmm… sorry." He finally let out, deflating his chest.
Amber blinked at him, "For what? I was the jerk wasn't I?"
"It... was warranted," Horizon replied glaring at the floor pitifully. He looked back up at her, "So I'm sorry, for making you go against… whatever moral compass you have." Horizon sighed shaking his head.
"You overheard my conversation with Azurill didn't you?" Amber sighed looking at him, her face unreadable.
"Yeah, I'm a bloody eavesdropper," Horizon muttered rolling his eyes. He shrugged at her, "Sue me."
"I plan on it," Amber giggled smiling at him, "So my parents," she started as they begun to walk again, "Were famous explorers, they taught me the ins and outs of exploring." Amber explained looking away slightly.
Horizon nodded at her, much like the Azurill. He almost immediately kicked himself for that.
"But years ago, they … disappeared, no one I know, knows where they went, or why." Amber said sadly her face turned to a frown, "But I knew one thing, that they would never leave a job that was open to them behind, no matter the pay or reward." Amber explained earning a frown from Horizon.
"And I… showed I wanted good pay, over actually helping others." Horizon realized, his face contorted and he looked down ashamed.
Amber nodded, "While it doesn't urk me, a lot, it pained me to see you say, "let's take a break," over helping some innocent Pokemon," Amber explained. now shaking her head, "It made me worry you were just another explorer in it for cash, ones my parents hated," she continued glancing up at him, she placed a paw to her chest, "My parents disappeared and I plan on keeping their memories alive, by continuing with their morals and codes that they had for exploring," Amber explained smiling staring at him with sparkles in her eyes, "So their memory can live on, and so I can remember them, for all that they did!"
Horizon smiled back at her, "Yeah … Yurei kinda spoiled some of that."
"What!" Amber gasped deflated, her eyes immediately fell, realizing her thunder was stolen.
"All she did, was tell me the reason you were here was because of your parents," Horizon explained, not completely throwing Yurei under the proverbial bus, "But I see that it's … a lot deeper."
Amber nodded smiling at him. Her eyes had teared up, explaining her reasoning and her… parents. It still hurt like a fresh wound along her chest.
"Well … if that's the way you want to do things… then count me in."
Amber blinked at him surprised, she half expected him to shrug it off and tell her to grow up and move on like he usually did.
He winked, seeing her reaction, "I'm human remember? I'm supposed to support the good in the world!" He said smiling at her, "Even if I'm not fit for the role," He added quietly, before picking his tone back up "Tomorrow, we choose any mission on the board."
Amber smiled back at him, her partner, the best choice for her, in her opinion, someone she could learn from, and for him, he was with someone who could improve his character.
"After, of course, I go fix my fur in Furfrou's lavish fur salon."
Amber sighed at him rolling her eyes, as he turned and walked away, his gold fur covered in mud.
"I'll see you back at our room then!" Amber called taking a step forward, towards the bedrooms. Then she hesitated, regarding her mud covered self with a pause she turned back around, "Scratch that, I'm joining you, Burroway Bog sucks."
Amber reached his side and the two smiled at each other. Horizon smirked and snorted, "Well, at least we agree on something."