Fabian dove behind a truck, shielding himself just seconds before a beam of concentrated ice could hit him. The cool chill that bit at his skin just from being near it was enough to send a shiver down his spine. Lydia floated far too high in their air for him to retaliate, so all he could do was hold onto her attention and hope that Melker could find an opening to strike.
Unfortunately, although the way Melker deftly weaved his way around the shards of ice that littered the sky was a spectacle to watch, he could never get within striking range. It was understandable that he'd want to be cautious around the cold, given his typing, but they weren't going to win like this.
"Hey, kid!" Melker barked, swooping down at Fabian and snatching him up by the neck against his will. "How do you think you'd handle a few hits from her?"
Hanging from the air, Fabian shrugged. "Pretty well, I guess. I'm great at getting beat up. Why-"
"Glad to hear it!" Melker shouted. Without warning, he hurled Fabian directly at Lydia. "Try to bite her or something!"
The frigid wind rushing past Fabian's face was almost the loudest thing he heard in that moment, second only to his own screams. Lydia turned around, her eyes widening as she saw Fabian hurtling towards her. Shards of ice shot towards Fabian, one of which lodged itself into his shoulder, but they weren't enough to stop him from crashing into her.
As soon as their bodies collided, Fabian clamped his teeth down into Lydia's arm, and the blood he tasted was so cold that he lost feeling in his mouth on the spot. Still, he relentlessly held his mouth shut until an ice-cloaked punch to the jaw forced him to release. Luckily, Melker caught him on his back before he could fall too far.
Fabian ripped the icy stake out of his shoulder, knowing all too well that it was going to be agonizingly painful once it thawed enough to regain feeling. "Why didn't you give me a warning or something?" Fabian complained.
"You'll walk it off!" Melker said in between his mocking laughter. "And what are you complaining for? We did a real number on her!"
Clutching her bleeding arm, Lydia descended to the ground, apparently unable to maintain flight while injured. Whether he liked it or not, this was working, so Fabian grunted and prepared himself to be thrown again.
Fabian was more prepared this time, but unfortunately, so was Lydia. She readied a full-force Ice Beam aimed directly at him, and all Fabian could do was shut his eyes in anticipation. It pierced his chest, and he had to swallow back vomit that tasted like blood, but he was still on course to attack her again. He chomped down on her other arm, but the bitter cold spreading through his body sapped his strength, and he found himself unable to hold onto her for long.
His vision grew hazy, and he almost certainly would've passed out if Melker didn't slap him. He didn't even register that he was back in the sky with Melker until the Flygon started speaking. "Stay with me, kid! You did fine, got it? Don't worry anymore, I'll stash you somewhere safe and wrap this up myself!"
Fabian reached for the layer of frost that coated his chest. He couldn't find a heartbeat through the ice, so he decided to ignore the pain and hope that it was still beating. "Not yet," he groaned, pulling himself up. "I told you I'm great at taking hits, right? I know I don't look great, but I can keep going, I swear!" This wasn't exactly honest— he probably didn't even look half as bad as he felt— but he wasn't going to be helpless again. All he could think about was how powerless he was in the Guild's basement, and on the rooftop, and in the Ferrumark warehouse. He was done with being the weakest person in the room.
Melker shrugged. "If you say so."
Lydia was shaking, and both of her arms were limp and leaking blood. One more throw was all it was gonna take, but as Melker did it, something felt off to Fabian. Despite her almost certainly being on to their plan, Lydia didn't even glance at Fabian. Sure, she had been brutally maimed, but not to the point where she'd be losing consciousness, so her behavior made no sense.
A second too late, Fabian realized what she was up to. She was staring right at Melker, and the bud of an Ice Beam was forming before her eyes. Just before Fabian could collide with her, she suddenly fell completely flat on the ground. Fabian flew right over her as she released her Ice Beam at Melker, and although she barely grazed a wing, it was enough to cut off his flight completely, and he crashed into the ground.
A vision filled Fabian's mind.
Lydia placed her less-damaged arm on Melker's stomach, and ice rapidly spread across his entire body, sparing only his head.
"Melker, look out!" Fabian yelled. He limped at Lydia to try and stop her, but stumbled over himself one too many times, and was unable to reach her.
Lydia placed her less-damaged arm on Melker's stomach, and ice rapidly spread across his entire body, sparing only his head. She shook her head wistfully. "I truly am sorry about this. You'll have to be disposed of, but I promise I'll do what I can to spare the majority of your employees."
"Go to hell!" Melker roared, thrashing his head to no avail. "As if 'the majority of them' is good enough! None of you monsters are laying a claw on Toño, and that's final!" The ice slowly started creeping up Melker's neck.
The world was too blurry for Fabian to see. He couldn't feel anything, and he wasn't really able to hear anything in that moment, either. The smell and taste of blood was the only thing he could perceive.
In general, Fabian went out of his way to avoid killing people. Sure, he wasn't above maiming some limbs if his opponent deserved it, but as far as he could remember, the only person he had ever seriously tried to harm lethally was Dell.
It was for this reason that Fabian was surprised to find that he had crunched down on Lydia's neck, as hard as he could. He remembered failing to act on the vision that heralded Melker's severe injury, but everything in between those two events was as black as night.
Lydia wasn't dead, if only because Fabian, in his hypothermia-induced fugue state, lacked the jaw strength to make that happen. However, she wasn't conscious anymore, and she wasn't going to be for a very long time.
Melker said something, but Fabian couldn't hear it. He collapsed on top of Lydia's body, unable to move even his eyelids to fall asleep.
Wings flapped in the distance. An orange bird hovered above him. He faintly recognized it as a Talonflame, but doing so expended the last of the energy he had.
Fabian passed out.
Melker knew it was useless to struggle against the ice, but when he saw Quincy's hideous smirk, he couldn't help but try. "The hell do you think you're doing, Quincy?" he shouted. "We had a deal!"
"Don't take that tone with me, outlaw," Quincy responded, preening his feathers with a smug grin plastered on his beak.
"What do you mean, 'outlaw?' For what crime?"
"Isn't it obvious? You've been harboring Toño without the Guild's knowledge for five years, knowing full well what he truly is. Not to mention how you tried to bribe a Guild worker to keep it under wraps! Despicable!"
"You're the one I bribed!" Melker roared. "You've known about him for years and you've done nothing! What makes you any better than me?"
Quincy glowered at Melker. "What a ridiculous question. Of course I'm better than you, I'm the Vice Guildmaster! Head Guildmaster Atlas personally appointed me because I am destined to lead this world to greatness! And once I bring Toño and the Vanadis kid to justice, I'll finally have fulfilled that destiny!"
"You're crazy," Melker spat. "What, was the fancy mansion you built with my bribe money a part of your 'destiny,' too?"
"I can't stand people like you," Quincy said while tying Fabian up. "I'm the hero that vanquished Dialga's Successor and helped Toño save the Head Guildmaster, all in one fell swoop! Who cares whether it took me a few hours or a few years? Why shouldn't I make some extra money in the process? Do good people not deserve nice things every once in a while?"
Melker snarled. "What you deserve is for me to rip your wings off and beat you to death with them! Yeah, of course you'd send Lydia after me! I'd kick your ass in a fair fight and you know it!"
"It's a good thing we'll never have to find out, isn't it?" Quincy said, making an exaggerated brow-wiping motion. "But now that you mention it, you two did manage to wear Lydia out much more than I thought you could. Annoying, but I got everything I needed from her. You know what's funny? Besides you, she was probably the only person in the city who had a real chance of defeating me."
Melker was too reckless, fighting Lydia like that. It was obvious to anyone that a fight against a Froslass was destined to go poorly for a Flygon like him, but he was cocky enough to think that he was strong enough to make the difference. Yet, even with the help of Dorrie's brat, the best he could do was pull a draw. He was as good as dead at this point, and since neither of his claws were free, he couldn't use his secret weapon. All he could hope to do now was find a way to posthumously wipe that smirk off Quincy's face. "Whatever, just go ahead and kill me already."
Quincy shook his head. "You know, I've done my research on you, Melker, and I've spent a lot of time taking note of the company you keep. You've got quite the past, what with all the guildmasters, infamous terrorists, rogue princes, and… ahem, former Successors you've spent time with."
"He knows?" Melker wondered, his eyes widening at the thought. "Impossible! Even Dorrie doesn't know about that!"
"I'd say it's best if we leave it at that, wouldn't you agree?" Quincy asked. "No, I won't be killing you. You'll be executed at Renegade's Edge, just like anyone who would interfere with my destiny." He placed Fabian onto his back and hopped over to an edge. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be taking this outlaw into custody. You're a little big for me to carry, so just sit tight there for a moment, alright?"
"You- Get back here!" Melker yelled, to no avail. Quincy took off, carrying Fabian off to Arceus-knew-where. But even if he could follow him, it was no use. His whole body was so numb that, even if he could melt the ice off him somehow, he'd still be useless.
"I'm sorry, Toño. I promise, I don't mean to keep failing you. Look after yourself. You're strong and you're smart, and I know you can pull through this.
"Just like you always did before."
5 Years Ago
The dim lantern in Melker's claw was his only light and source of warmth in the perpetual blizzards of North Sedolark's highest peaks. It was morning, but the sun never shone in Sedolark, so it was hard to tell without a pocket watch. The black cloak he wore, despite being thicker than a dictionary, still failed to shield him from the cold as much as he'd have liked it to. Why anyone would ask a Flygon to come up this high was beyond him.
"Are you sure you're up to this?" Kate asked, her ordinarily-slimy skin cracking and flaking off.
"I've been colder," Melker responded, lying. "I won't hold it against you if you wanna stay at camp with Fitz, though."
The Sliggoo grimaced. "Sorry, not what I meant. I'm talking about this job you took. I've never known you as the assassin type."
Melker sighed. He was trying not to think about it. "This is… different. If I do this right, then we'll be able to keep Head Guildmaster Atlas kneecapped forever. And besides, I owe the Director a favor."
"Who are they?" Kate asked, rubbing an Aspear Berry on her particularly torn-up neck. "The target, I mean."
"We don't have a name," Melker said, scanning the landscape for any signs of life. It was in moments like these that he was grateful for the protective shielding he had over his eyes. "But they're gonna be a Pachirisu. Apparently, they're the only one in the world who'll be able to repair Atlas's malfunctions, and if that happens, Giratina's sacrifice will have all been for nothing. The plan's to nip it in the bud before that can become a problem."
Kate groaned. "Man, I don't even know half the stuff you're talking about. Why do we even care what Atlas is up to? I mean, I know you're Giratina's-"
"Cram it!" Melker yelled, cutting her off just in time. "How many times do I have to tell you not to say that out loud! I don't care if you think we're alone, if anyone hears about that, I'm as good as dead!" She bowed her head in apology, and they kept moving.
An hour passed, and not even a wild Pokémon appeared to break the silence. "Maybe they already croaked," he began to think. "Wouldn't be a shocker. Even the Ice-types can't take it up here for too long-"
His wishful thinking was interrupted by a subtle blue stripe in the snow. He would've thought nothing of it, if not for the smoldering pile of waterlogged wood beside it that just barely caught his eye. He shook his head. "Here goes nothing. Don't make this harder than it has to be."
As if to spite him, the Pachirisu's head tilted upward, and they met eyes. "Wh-What the hell are you?" he asked, his whole body shivering. "Where am I? How did I get here?" He stood up and immediately fell backwards.
Kate nudged Melker. "Is this our guy? He can't even walk on his own! Are you really gonna..?"
Melker pulled the Pachirisu out of the snow and got a good look at him. He was sopping wet and his tail sagged like it was a sack of bricks. If Melker had to guess his age, he wouldn't say anything older than fifteen, though he'd err on him being even younger. "There's no way this is the guy the Director wants dead! He's a child!" He took a deep breath to compose himself. This could be a mistake, after all. "You got a name?"
"It's…" He looked lost in thought for a while, before heaving a heavy sigh. "Camila."
Melker raised an eyebrow. "Camila? That's kind of a weird name for a guy."
"A guy? What are you…" The Pachirisu felt around their chest area for a moment, and their eyes widened. Their frightened expression quickly changed into one of pure elation, and they cleared their throat. "N-Nevermind, it's Antonio! My name's Antonio!"
Melker shrugged. "Whatever you say. How'd you even get up here, anyhow?"
"I- I don't-" he stammered, his teeth chattering so hard that he was hard to understand. Melker tucked him under his cloak to try and ease the shivering. "Wh-What are you? What am I? I'm supposed to be a human!"
Melker grimaced. There were around a half-dozen Pokémon in the world who even knew the word "human," so it wasn't likely that this Pachirisu was kidding. If Melker didn't act, if he allowed him to repair Atlas, the entire world would be damned forever. Putting an end to his life now was his only choice, for the greater good.
But at the same time, Melker couldn't do it.
Countless voices from his past incessantly rang in his head. The voices of orphanage caretakers telling him that he'd never amount to anything, guild workers calling him a parasite, his own mother saying he was better off dead. The thought of them alone made him curl up his fist.
His mind then drifted to the day when everything changed, the start of the all too brief period of his life when he was truly happy. "Damnit Melker, I don't care what you did!" Director Hubert had said to him, long, long ago. "For the thousandth time, there's no such thing as a kid who deserves to die!"
Things had changed in the forty years since then, but Melker still lived by those words, even if the man who said them took it back.
Melker sighed. "Sorry kid, there aren't any humans here. Far as I know, there's only ever been one, and he's long dead." His eyes shifted around, as if the Director could be lurking around any corner. "You'll be dead too, if you let anyone know you're human."
Antonio's mouth hung open. "I… I don't…" Tears ran down his eyes. "What do I do?"
Ever since he was a kid himself, Melker's first instinct upon seeing a despondent child was usually to take them under his wing, until they either found a better place to stay or grew up (this habit made him the subject of endless mockery back in his Team Fortune days). Not as a family– the last man he called "family" deserved to rot in hell, and he wasn't going to make that mistake again– but as an apprentice. It wasn't an ideal lifestyle for a little kid, and Arceus knew that Fitz, Hunter, and Kate all deserved better than anything Melker could give them, but even he was better than nothing. Disastrously, as Antonio's crying turned into sobbing, that instinct was hitting Melker with all its might.
Kate, who had traveled with Melker longer than anyone, must've recognized this. "Boss, you aren't thinking of…" she started. "No way! Hubert's gonna kill you!"
"Hubert doesn't have to know!" Melker snapped, before clearing his throat. "Toño, you got a place to stay?"
He squinted at Melker. "T-Toño?" he asked.
"What, do humans not have nicknames?" Melker asked. "Antonio's a mouthful. Just answer the damn question."
Toño shook his head. "N-No, I don't have anything," he whimpered. "I just… I didn't think things could get worse for me. Even if I could go back home, I- I couldn't…" He trailed off, and Melker certainly wasn't going to make him continue.
Melker knew what he had to do. Toño didn't even do anything wrong, besides being in the mother of all wrong places at the mother of all wrong times. "How about you work for me?" Melker said. "I'd be lying if I said I paid well, and the job's about as miserable as it gets, but money's money, and the food's free. Besides, I do most of the hard stuff."
"R-Really?" Toño squeaked, as if the part about merc work being awful slipped right past his ears. "Are you sure?"
"No going back now." Melker nodded. "Just keep the human stuff under wraps, got it? You don't tell anyone about it, not even your new co-workers! It's both our asses on the line!"
"Got it!" Toño said. "What's the job, anyway?"
"Mercenary work," Melker said. "All the good jobs are taken by the Guild, so I spend my days sifting through gutters for jewelry and crawling through feral dens for pocket change." Toño opened his mouth to say something, but Melker, fearing that the Pachirisu was about to ask his least favorite question, cut him off. "Don't even think about asking why I'm not with the Guilds."
Toño raised his paws up. "S-Sorry, I guess. But then, why do that kind of stuff at all? Couldn't you just, like, work in retail or something?"
"You think I never tried that?" Melker asked. "Everything that's worth selling is getting sold already, by someone who's way better at selling stuff. Business is a rich mon's game, nobody new's getting a paw in the door at this day and age."
"Hmm…" Toño stroked his chin. "I wonder… How advanced is the technology here?" he asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Like, do you guys have cars here?" Toño asked.
Melker squinted at him. "The hell is a 'car'?"
Cars were the most wonderful, beautiful, flawless invention ever produced, and Melker believed that with his whole heart. The pollution thing Toño warned him about was probably an issue, but how could anyone care about that? He was never going to have to do real work again!
"You're a genius, kid!" Melker said, upon seeing Toño's finished product. After just one month, he produced a glorious vessel made of steel and dreams on four charming, steadfast wheels, all powered by an engine that could only have been forged by making a wish to Jirachi himself. In this mechanical marvel, Melker saw a future where public transport was a thing of the past, one where the slowest of Slakoths could cross the continent in a week, one where he was filthy rich! Dorrie and Claude were both going to look like jokes!
Toño bashfully rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, my whole family worked as car mechanics, back when… Well, y'know. But, the materials you've got in this world are something else! I couldn't believe how easy it was to get the engine to run on electricity!"
"What else would it run on?" Fitz asked, the Rockruff pawing at the wheel curiously. To Melker's chagrin, Toño accidentally revealed his secret to him mere minutes after their first meeting, and naturally, that meant Hunter had to be in the know about it, too.
"Don't worry about it," Toño replied. "Trust me, it'd probably be for the best if you guys never figure oil refining out."
Melker cleared his throat, and their conversation stopped. The Ferrumark alleyway they chose to hide out in was secluded, sure, but it couldn't hurt to be careful. "Remind me, what did you say these things were called?" he asked.
"It's a car," Toño plainly said.
"Kinda boring," Melker noted. "We've got a crazy new invention that nobody else in the world would've even been able to dream up for decades! We gotta call it something cooler than that, right? Y'know, something exotic and mechanical-sounding!"
Toño blinked. "I… don't really know what you want from me. It's just a car. You wanna call it an automobile or something?"
"That's perfect!" Melker declared, gently stroking the automobile like it was an infant child's head. "It's mobile, and it goes automatically! You're a marketing genius!"
Hunter hesitantly poked her bone at the automobile's frame, the flame only slightly melting the door. "This sure is something. But how do we mass produce them? I mean, it took Toño a full month to build just one."
Melker waved a claw dismissively. "That was including material gathering time. Once we've got a solid blueprint and a supply chain up and running, things'll be moving way faster! Though, we probably should set up shop somewhere. Fitz, you got any of your rich kid money left?"
He nodded. "At least, what's left of it after you blew half of it at the casino. Does this mean we finally get a home to sleep in?"
"First off, I didn't 'blow it,' I invested it," Melker explained. "Not every investment pays off, any businessmon worth half their salt could tell you that! And secondly, it's not gonna be a 'home,' it'll be a workplace. I told you, you're just my employees, nothing more." Both Hunter and Fitz faced away from him, failing to hide their disappointment. It was hard to watch, but Melker had no choice but to draw the line and hold it in place. Melker knew better than anyone that, if he let any of those kids see him as a family, he'd only be hurting them in the long run. Someday, they'd all understand that this was what's best for them.
"Anyways!" Toño said, wearing a forced smile. "We should get going on this venture, yeah? No time to waste!"
After sighing quickly, Melker nodded. "Good point. Faster we go house-hunting, the faster we get things started!"
And just like that, a new chapter began in Melker's life. Two years passed, and in that time, nothing could've brought their spirits down. Business was booming, the reputation of Melker Motors was sky-high, and Melker could afford to provide each of his employees with lavish lifestyles. Sure, a few opportunistic dumbasses tried to kidnap Toño, but decades of grueling merc work left Melker in better shape than any of them could dream of being, and beating them up was as easy as it was satisfying.
All was well, until a fateful visit from Director Hubert.
"You've gotta be kidding me, Melker!" Hubert said, slamming his paws on Melker's creaky wooden office desk. The Floatzel, who was old even compared to Melker, was only ever lively when he had something to complain about these days. "I gave you one job! I know it wasn't an easy one, but you know the stakes here!"
"You aren't touching him, Hubert," Melker snarled. "Not unless you kill me first."
"Idiot!" Hubert shouted. "Atlas knew everything about Toño before the kid even showed up in this world! If one person ever even mentions a Pachirisu mechanic to him in passing one day, the whole world's doomed forever! You agreed with me when I told you he had to die!"
"Who's the one who said that there's no such thing as a kid who deserves to die!" Melker snapped. "I don't care if you decided to become a pathetic asshole, but I've still got self respect! I won't kill a child, and I won't let you kill one, either!"
Hubert took a deep breath. "Look, I never said he deserved to die, just that he had to. It doesn't have to be painful-"
"He's not dying," Melker asserted, folding his arms. "If you wanna fight me, you're welcome to try, but unless I'm dead, I'm not budging here."
His expression hardening, Hubert grabbed Melker by the neck and pulled him closer. "I'm sorry, in what world are you ever beating me in a fight? How could one man possibly get so stupid so quickly?"
"I could say the same thing." Melker matched Hubert's scowl. "We haven't sparred in forty years, old man!" He ripped Hubert's paw off his neck and backed away until he hit a wall. He had a technique, and though he wasn't looking forward to using it, he was more than willing to. He held a fist in front of the wall, as if to smash it at any moment, and smirked. "And this time, I've got Xavier's parting gift on my side."
Hubert's eyes widened. "You're bluffing! You know as well as I do that every Guild worker on the planet'll be after you if you do that! What about your kids? What if they end up getting caught in the crossfire?"
"Oh, so now you care?"
"Do you think I'm enjoying this?" Hubert asked. "Do you really think I only came here because I needed my fix of child murdering?"
"I don't care if you have a good reason to murder a child, that still makes you a child murderer!"
"Toño has to die!" Hubert yelled. "He just has to! Get that through your thick skull! Each day his name is spoken brings it one step closer to reaching Atlas! The only reason that an entire army hasn't come knocking at your doorstep yet is because of pure luck! Fitz and Hunter will both die if you keep him around! Do you want that?"
Melker slowly lowered his arm. That argument probably made perfect sense to a soulless husk like Hubert; objectively speaking, two lives were worth more than one. But to Melker, the prospect of attributing any sort of value to the lives of his employees was inconceivable. But he had seen the might of Hubert's Ice Beam firsthand before, and he had to acknowledge that the Floatzel was undeniably right when he pointed out how unfeasible the ace up his sleeve was. To save all of them, he'd have to play dirty. "You… I just… Fine. I'll kill him. You happy? Just… Please, just let me handle it alone. And promise never to speak to me again."
"Thank you," Hubert said. "And sorry. I'll… see myself out."
Melker didn't look up as the door swung shut, leaving him alone in his office. Toño wasn't going to die, that fact hadn't changed. But if everyone thought he had, then there wouldn't be any more issues.
He had no idea how he was going to be able to bring himself to break the news to Toño.
"Fake my death?" Toño asked, his whole body turning deathly cold. Were it not for the oppressively solemn look in Melker's eyes, he would've assumed it was a joke. He had been told the true reason why Melker was climbing those Sedolarkan peaks long ago, but even knowing that there was someone out there who had paid his boss to kill him, this still felt unreal to him, somehow even more unrealistic than being transformed into an electric squirrel.
"The only way you'll ever be safe is if you're in hiding." Melker shut his eyes and bowed his head. "I'm sorry. I've already filled Fitz and Hunter in, and we all agreed we'd do whatever we can to keep you company as much as possible."
With his shaky palms and the horrible pit in his stomach, the sensation that Toño experienced was nearly identical to a nightmare. The only difference was that he wouldn't be waking up from this one. "I don't…"
"For what it's worth, you won't have to do a thing," Melker said in monotone. "I already went out and killed a feral Pachirisu. We're gonna put him in a car and blow it up. I'm… I just…" Without warning, he wrapped his arm around Toño. "I'm so, so sorry!"
Toño didn't know what to say. He couldn't even move his arms to return the hug, as much as he wanted to.
The next days blurred together. Against Melker's advice, he asked Fitz to bring him a copy of the newspaper article depicting his death, and he read it, and he re-read it, and he re-read it again countless times until the words on the page became illegible scribbles.
It was morning, apparently, or at least, that's what the clock in his room told him. He couldn't be quite sure. After all, he had already seen the sun for the last time in his life, though he didn't know it at the time.
He had taken to wandering the basement floor in his free time, something he recently found himself in great supply. Although he still technically had a job to do, none of his coworkers were as willing to make fun of him for his lacking work ethic as they used to be. On one of these wandering trips, he overheard an unfamiliar voice, so he ducked into the nearest closet he could find.
"Get the hell out of my factory," growled Melker's voice.
"Careful with your tone there," said the other voice. "After all, you wouldn't want to upset one of Vanadis's most accomplished Vice Guildmasters in history! Don't worry, the only reason I'm here is to make sure there wasn't any foul play regarding your employee's recent death. After all, with all the info that's come to light about that kid's… heritage, the Head Guildmaster is practically fuming to learn what happened to him!"
Toño froze up.
"Foul play?" roared Melker. "Are you accusing me of murdering my employee?" His acting skills were better than Toño could've imagined.
"If you have nothing to hide, then I don't see why you wouldn't consent to a search of your factory. Don't make this take any longer than it has to, I have no idea why Guildmaster Dorinel decided to assign me to a task this far beneath me."
"I'm not letting you ransack my property!"
"Your hesitation is enough reason for me to have you formally indicted for murder, you know." The Vice Guildmaster chuckled mirthlessly. "Not that I necessarily need a reason, of course."
The ground quivered slightly, and Toño gasped. "Is the Boss going to kill him? No! If he does that, all four of us are gonna be wanted criminals!" Toño was very familiar with the way his Boss's temper worked. He was as easy to wind up as he was to calm down, but from the sound of things, nobody was around to keep him in check. Left to his own devices, it wasn't hard to imagine Melker doing something he'd regret.
"I haven't killed anyone, yet," Melker snarled. "But when people like you try to invade me and my employees' privacy, that's gonna change."
Toño prayed to every god he knew of in this world, desperately hoping Hunter or Fitz would pop up out of nowhere and tell Melker to calm down. But nobody came.
"A threat, huh?" the Vice Guildmaster said, sick joy creeping into his voice. "My work here is done, then! I can't wait to hear what Guildmaster Dorinel has to say about this! You're certainly going to die, but I'll see what I can do to make sure your employees don't get left out. Oh, maybe I could tell him that you were all trying to attack me!"
"Hey- Get back here! I'll-"
Toño's body moved on its own. He yelled "Stop!" as loud as he could, and as soon as he did, all eyes were on him. A Flygon's horrified thousand-yard stare and a Talonflame's wide grin, as if he had just won the lottery. "You can have me, just leave my family alone!" Toño shouted, the words coming out of his mouth faster than he could think them.
"T-Toño?" Melker stammered, his face pale. "What are you- But- No-"
The Vice Guildmaster began to cackle hysterically. "I… Arceus, I can't believe my luck! Can you even begin to understand how life-changing this will be for me? Imagine! Even after the Head Guildmaster himself had lost all hope, the stalwart Vice Guildmaster Quincy still managed to uncover the human in the eleventh hour!"
Melker glared at Quincy. "Move a step closer to him and you're dead."
"Ah, but I don't have to! I've got an entire army at my beck and call, and if you aren't gonna kill him on your own, then I have all the time in the world!"
"How much do you want?" Melker demanded, pulling his wallet out.
"I'm interested in fame, not fortune," Quincy said flippantly. "But… If you just so happen to be interested in making a few donations to Vanadis Guild's cause, then I might be compelled to forget about this incident. How does five million Poké per month sound?"
"We'd be lucky if we made half that!" Melker shouted. "Where do you think we're gonna come up with five million every month?"
Quincy rolled his eyes. "It doesn't matter if you can pay it or not, I get something either way. I don't care how you come up with the money, just do it every month, and we won't have a problem!" He took off then and there, leaving no chance to argue.
Prices went up from that day on. And from what Toño read in the papers, his boss was making more of an effort to crack down on competition.
He never thought he could get sick of designing cars. For his whole life, it had been a form of artistic expression to him, the blueprint his canvas and the drafting pencil his paintbrush. But now, he couldn't stand them. There was nothing fulfilling about his work anymore. They had figured out what worked and what didn't work long ago, so there was no more room for experimentation and no more room for risk-taking. It was all so mind-numbingly safe.
Even though he wasn't close to being emotionally ready to get back to work, it was his fault that any of this was happening to the people who saved him in the first place, and he wasn't going to sit around and let things get even worse. The pencil was heavier than lead, but he lifted it nonetheless. Sometimes, he wouldn't sleep, and sometimes, he'd sleep for entire days. His body moved on its own for a while, and he would often need to be reminded to eat.
One day, something broke. Toño couldn't quite say what, or when, but he just couldn't do it anymore. Getting out of bed was impossible, and the thought that he was letting everyone down only made things worse. While he always had the understanding that his presence in the lives of his friends only put them in danger, he was reckoning with the possibility that all of them might be happier without him for the first time. He even truly considered doing the unthinkable, once or twice.
He could only thank Arceus that Vark was around by the time this happened; the kid's boundless energy might've been the only thing in the world that could've kept him going.
"We're friends," Vark told him. "OK? Always. Even when sad."
"Th-Thanks."
"And work less! Not healthy."
There was no way Vark could understand how much it meant to him, just being there. It wasn't like Toño blamed the others for visiting less often– they were only busy because of him, after all– but the two years he spent in almost total isolation left scars, and they weren't just going to suddenly vanish one day.
When Fabian called Toño a prisoner, he couldn't have been more right. A mix of obligation and self-loathing kept him tied up in there more securely than any number of chains. But now, whether he liked it or not, he was never going to be able to go back there again.
Toño couldn't quite recognize the emotion he felt when he spotted a Talonflame soaring away from Melker Motors in the distance, but it felt so impossibly real that every other emotion he had experienced up to that point felt shallow. There he was, the man who ruined his life, who threatened to take away everything from him out of nothing but greed, who never once missed an opportunity to proclaim the righteousness behind his horrible actions.
It was rage that he felt. Unbridled fury at that despicable monster.
"You feeling alright, Toño?" Hunter asked. "I know it's been a while since you've been outdoors."
He didn't know how, but Toño was going to make sure that Vice Guildmaster Quincy would die here, and he'd do everything in his power to make it happen. Only then, could he finally be free again.
"Never better," Toño answered.
AN 7/26/24: I'm back, and with around 6k words, this is far and away the longest chapter I've written for Trailblazers! The fight scene against Lydia was supposed to go at the end of the last chapter (and if I ever do a rewrite, I'll probably move it there), but I didn't have the time, so it's here now! Posting will return to the normal schedule until the end of this arc.