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The rain came down heavily, quickly soaking through clothes. The team leader grinned, watching his plan unfold. The rain continued to pour down, mercilessly pelting the Earth.
“It’s glorious.” Archie breathed, his grin not dropping. “The power of Kyogre!”
The rain poured harshly, and with nowhere to go, it began flooding. Archie hadn’t noticed the water tugging at his ankles, he was oblivious to the slight panicking of the other leader, and he didn’t notice the way the water continued to rise and be pushed around by the wind, creating waves that thrashed strongly. He didn’t notice until the water was making its way up his calf.
“I should’ve figured this would be one of the places the ocean would expand at.” He mumbled. The water continued to rise, quickly consuming his lower thighs. “It’s faster than I thought.”
He was beginning to get the feeling that his success was actually a very bad thing. The water was beginning to shove at his chest, as the rain poured down faster and harder. He looked around, noting that Shelly and Matt had already escaped, though he was somewhat stung that they hadn’t said anything to him first. He was about to find his way to shore, or somewhere where he wouldn’t be pulled under by Kyogre’s storm when he heard someone’s voice, yelling.
He turned towards the other team leader’s voice, remembering Maxie wasn’t as strong as he was, and most likely incapable of swimming. He saw red a little off in the distance, being dragged by what he came to realize was Maxie’s Mightyena and Crobat. Immediately, he swam towards them, hoping to help save his rival. As he swam closer to them, he began to hear what Maxie was yelling about.
“No! You have to go back for Camerupt! Camerupt can’t swim, you have to go back! Camerupt can’t survive with all this water, go back!” Maxie screamed, thrashing, trying to pull away from the pokémon trying to save his life. Archie could hear Camerupt’s distressed calling, realising what he had to do.
“Oi!” He shouted, hoping Maxie’s pokemon would notice. It worked, and in the midst of their desperate pulling, they looked over. Maxie did too, confusion and despair obvious on his face.
“I’ll get your Camerupt, let your pokémon get you somewhere safe!”
Maxie blinked in confusion. “Archie, I-”
“Save it! You two, get your rock-loving master outta here!” The pokemon seemed to understand the order, and resumed attempting to drag the leader of Team Magma to wherever he wouldn’t be swept away.
Team Aqua’s leader immediately began to swim after the Camerupt, preparing himself to drag the large pokemon. The task began to seem a little daunting, but it didn’t deter him in the slightest. He would save that pokémon, if it was the last thing he did.
Meanwhile, Maxie stopped his thrashing for a moment and stared at the sight of his rival attempting to carry away his Camerupt, obviously struggling to. Team Magma’s leader watched this with wide eyes full of fear, anguish, and despair. He watched helplessly as Archie’s head barely bobbed above the violent water, desperately holding on to the Camerupt. Maxie could feel his heart dropping at the sight of Archie with Camerupt, barely coming up for breaths. Once his pokémon finally managed to drag Maxie onto land, he anxiously waited for Archie and Camerupt to make it.
He whipped around to face his pokemon. “Do something!” He shouted, unable to bear watching Archie and Camerupt in such a hopeless state. “Do something, or I will!” He was completely ready to go after the two, if it only meant that they’d be safe. He knew he was generally useless in water, it being a weakness to him as it was to his Camerupt, but he was just so willing to risk it at the moment.
Though his vision was obscured by the rain pelting his glasses, Maxie managed to keep an eye on Archie, and as such, Camerupt, anxiously hoping for their safety. He didn’t realize he had been moving towards the water until he felt a tugging on his collar. He turned to see Crobat desperately trying to communicate some sort of message, obviously not wanting Maxie to enter the thrashing mass of water.
“He needs help!” Maxie protested. Mightyena seemed to bark out a distressed response, snarling at the idea of Maxie entering the potential watery grave.
“I told you that if neither of you would go help, I would, and I meant it!”
Both pokemon responded in obviously upset tones. They seemed to argue that Maxie would be useless in the water and that they had to watch him and that they just wanted him safe and they hadn’t seen him so concerned for Archie since they worked together. He could feel that their pleading, if they spoke English, would likely blur together due to desperation. Still, he felt that all of their desperation at the moment could never amount to the emotion he was feeling, that they would never understand how terrible everything felt. They would never understand this level of despair.
Maxie was going to argue further with the pokemon until he swore he heard Archie gasping for breath. He turned around quickly, frantically, seeing the distorted shapes of Archie and Camerupt approaching shore. He rushed in their direction as the taller man managed to drag the even taller pokemon to shore. He fell on his knees next to Archie, quickly grabbing hold of him.
"Archie! Archie, are you alright?" He blurted. At first, Archie didn't respond, but he soon began to cough out sea water. Maxie panicked at the sight, unsure of how to handle the situation.
"Oh God, what do I do, what do I do...?" He muttered, scanning Archie. The first thing that came to his mind was CPR, a practice he never perfected, or really began to learn for that matter. Still, he decided it was worth a shot.
“Maxie.” Archie weakly coughed out. Archie’s voice surprised Maxie, as he didn’t think Archie could talk in his current state. He felt his heart sink hearing the usually booming and excited voice so small, so quiet, and so weak.
“Archie.” Concern was too obvious in his voice, though at the moment, he didn’t care.
“Is your Camerupt okay?”
“Camerupt is fine, but Archie, what about you?”
"I'll be fine, it's just a little water. Nothing to someone like me."
“But Archie, this isn’t a little bit of water, this is a lot of water. You need help, now.”
“Nah, I’ll be fine. You’re okay, your Camerupt is okay… Nothing else should matter to you right now.”
Maxie felt as if Archie had stabbed him. How could he say that? That nothing else should matter? Maxie realized that after their falling out all those years ago, that Archie was right, nothing else should matter to him.
But Archie did.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I’d rather be drowning than have you die right now.” Maxie mumbled.
“Maxie-” Archie was cut off by a coughing fit, his body trying to expel the water from his lungs.
“Archie!”
Archie gave a weak smile, looking as if he was going to say something, but then passed out. Mental alarms rang loudly in Maxie’s head, panicking on the inside.
“Calm, calm, I must remain calm.” He repeated to himself.
Maxie only had what he had seen in movies to go on, but he knew what he had to do. He began to attempt CPR. He felt his attempts were pathetic, clumsy, and useless. The point was, it got him no where. He cursed himself mentally, hating the feeling of being useless. Why did he have to be the one saved, when his rival could’ve been saved instead?
He stood and turned to look at his pokemon, namely, Crobat and Mightyena.
"This is your fault! If you had just saved Camerupt like I told you to in the first place, none of this would've happened! Archie wouldn't be-" He was cut off by his own sobbing, and because he didn't want to say that word. He didn't want to allow himself to believe that Archie could be dying.
Logically, he knew Archie may not live, but he was filled with overwhelming emotion that made him want to believe that Archie would be okay.
"Why didn't you just do what I told you to? He could've been safe, but you decided to not listen!" He sobbed.
His pokémon looked at him slightly guiltily, but mostly their gazes were full of concern. They hadn't seen Maxie worry for Archie so much, especially not after the two became enemies or rivals, the pokémon weren't sure which.
The looks on the faces of his Mightyena and Crobat send guilt shooting through the team leader, worsened by a noise of disapproval and sadness from Camerupt. He turned to glance at Archie, hoping for some comfort, however, Archie was still cold and seemingly lifeless. A sob racked through Maxie’s body.
“You’re right… I’m the only one to blame, this is my fault.” Maxie mumbled, sinking to his knees. Camerupt butted his shoulder lightly, trying to offer some form of comfort, but Maxie gently pushed the pokémon’s head away. In all his despair, Maxie felt as if he was the drowning one, never to see light again, as without Archie’s bright smile to illuminate the world, the only thing that could ever be was darkness.
As soon as the thought flickered through his mind, the rain stopped, and the sun began to shine. The water level was lowering, and though he heard many exclaims about the sun’s warmth, he could still only feel the cold of loneliness and grief.
The following events went by quickly, and Maxie didn’t quite understand anything. Somehow or another, Courtney, Matt, Shelly, and Tabitha had managed to get him to go to get Archie and the pokémon medical attention. In his daze and melancholy, he didn’t notice that he was dry again until he was seated in a chair nearby the hospital bed where Archie lay. He didn’t dwell on it, however, and continued to wrap himself in anguish.
He currently dragged himself down remembering the last thing that happened before they broke up that day from so many years ago, when they had been grunts on the same team.
He was looking for his boyfriend, somewhat concerned Archie may have gone off and gotten into trouble. He hadn’t been able to find the taller young man in the building, and so Maxie had concluded that if he wanted to find the water type specialist, he’d have to visit the nearby beach. Maxie cut off his memory for a second to wonder why everything went wrong with the ocean nearby.
He remembered making his way down the beach, glancing around while tying his hair into a short ponyta-tail, then stopping dead in his tracks. Archie was hugging that Shelly girl, who clung to him like some love struck idiot. Maxie felt a stabbing pain, even now that he was older. It stung more than he currently thought it should, but he blamed it on the distance Archie seemed to have put between them. They had been spending less and less time together since Shelly arrived, and it made Maxie’s blood boil. He tried to distract himself, hanging out with his sister-in-law. Well, not the one his brother married, rather, her sister, Courtney.
She recently came into the area, a little after Shelly did. Maxie wasn’t quite sure why Shelly came along, but he did know that Courtney was slightly younger than him, and at the time she had finally gotten enough money to rent an apartment near his previous team’s base.
He remembered the cold shock that had stunned him when he saw Archie embracing the girl with the blue streak in her hair. Maxie had loathed the color blue for years, until Numel evolved and something good with the color blue had appeared.
After the sudden cold came the hot anger and betrayal. It was much like the way that he had gotten into the hospital, a whirlwind of emotions and a foggy memory. He knew the basics of what happened though. He turned around and ran, as fast as he could, back to the apartment he shared with Archie. He burned the tickets to the movie that he planned to take Archie to, a movie Archie wanted to see. Maxie had hoped that the movie would bring them closer again, and that the feeling of loneliness would end. Afterwards, he called his boss, and resigned, emotionally unable to work in the same team as Archie. Archie, the back-stabbing lowlife who had made every sweet nothing he’d ever said actually nothing. The aquatic scum whose name was beginning to make Maxie sick. The traitor.
Overwhelmed with all of the anger and despair- Maxie stopped to wonder why Archie was synonymous with the word- and not wanting to spend anymore time in the apartment he shared with the Magikarp of a boyfriend, he stormed out of the apartment to lurk in the library and reevaluate things, but nearly crashed into Tabitha.
“Maxie, are you okay? I saw you running to your apartment, and I- Are you crying, what happened are you okay?”
At the time, and every time he played through that memory, Maxie was surprised to find that he had been crying. Everytime he told his past self that Archie was not worth tears, and that’s what he told himself at the time too.
“I’m fine, Tabitha, I’m going to the library.” He had replied snappishly. Tabitha seemed to shrink at the answer, but at the time, Maxie didn’t care.
Once at the library, he snatched as many books about geology as he could carry, and isolated himself in a corner, not wanting to sit a table in case someone sat with him. It was then that Maxie had gotten the idea to start his own team, and it was there he began to formulate his plan to expand the land.
When he got back to the apartment that was no longer going to be his home, he was greeted by Archie, who had a somewhat solemn expression.
“Maxie, we need to talk.” It was his rare, silent, serious voice. One that Maxie currently much preferred to the weak croak that had tried to console him when water was filling his lungs.
“No need Archie, we’re through, I’m leaving.” Maxie growled, pushing his way past his muscular ex-boyfriend.
Archie blinked in shock. “Through?”
“Yes, through, if you can’t process even that, I suggest you buy yourself a dictionary.”
The shocked expression on Archie’s face was eradicated, and anger took over. “Fine! I was just going to tell you that our relationship sunk anyway, and that I wanted you out of my apartment!”
“I didn’t want to stay here anyway! I always hated the ocean, and how close it was!”
They went on, bickering, with Maxie constantly trying to make himself taller, though he hadn’t noticed at the time.
Maxie currently cringed, hating himself for not asking Archie about Shelly earlier, for not trying to talk. A small part of him raged, saying Archie shouldn’t have been so close to Shelly all those years ago, and that the pirate was just going to dump him anyway. Maxie chose to ignore that voice, and continued to wallow in his suffering, thinking of all the things he should’ve said.
Though he believed he’d be in this state forever, he was pulled out of his tunnel of misery by a determined, tugging sense of hope as Archie began to stir. He perked up, watching Archie carefully, a flurry of joy and varying sorts of happiness rushing through his entire being.
“Archie, I-!” Maxie cut himself off before he could go shouting out declarations of love. He forced himself to look calm, as he glanced at Archie’s hands. A small part of him had dreaded the idea that Archie had already married Shelly, and now that he realized that maybe his younger self had been too hasty in his assumptions, he had to be sure.
Sure enough, no ring.
“Ngh… Hey, Maxie, didn’t expect to see you here… You wanna brag about how my plan was a bust, or talk about how great it is to see me fall? Go on, I deserve it.” Archie sighed, rubbing his forehead a little.
Maxie had missed his voice, though he wished it was it was the regular loud excited one. Still, Archie talking was better than him being silent.
“Not even in the slightest.” He tried to contain the emotions within him, but he could hear the slightest of his desperation to apologize and try to get the story straight in his voice.
Archie noticed too.
The now awoken man quirked an eyebrow, and looked over at Maxie. “Oh? What do you want that’s got you so worked up, huh?” His voice was beginning to regain its teasingness and its loudness, facts that brought joy to Maxie.
“I have had a lot of time to think, since the incident with the flood.” Maxie began tentatively. Though he was extremely excited, and his heart wanted him to just outright admit all that he had been thinking, Maxie’s mind told him to keep it slow, and so he did. That, and the butterfrees in his stomach made him a little too nervous to come out and say things immediately. Of course, stalling would only get him so far.
Archie felt nervous but excited, wondering what Maxie could possibly have to say, and his eyes widened in surprise. "Think? About what?"
"About... what happened between us." Maxie wasn’t sure how to go about this, especially since he realized he might have to be gentle, since Archie just woke up. He tugged at his sleeve as he began to think about his wording.
"What about it?" Archie could feel his heartbeat increasing slightly, and Maxie heard the heart rate monitor’s beeping speed up a little. The currently hospitalised man glared at the machine, frustrated that it would so blatantly display his emotions. Though, it was mostly only blatant to someone who knew Archie the way Maxie did.
“Well… I was thinking about how it all happened, and I began to realize that maybe we were a little too hasty about it. Maybe we should have talked more, instead of just blowing up.” He stayed silent for a little. “I was too hasty, I should’ve talked instead of blowing up.” He quickly amended.
After years of frustration over their break up, and general mixed emotions towards Maxie, hearing these words set something inside of Archie off.
“No. I’m the one who so stupidly threw us away before thinking it through. I shouldn’t have let us become so far away from each other. Spending all these years apart has taught me that. I...I missed you more than you can imagine.” Archie balled the hospital sheets in his fists.
While Archie had been going through his mini-speech, neither of them noticed their admins creeping in. They had been sitting outside the room, and were alerted by their leaders talking.
“No, Archie, it was my fault! I saw you with Shelly by the beach, and you kept spending so much time with her, and I didn’t think it through at all. I should’ve talked to you instead of just leaving like that, I over-exaggerated, and now I’ve gone years missing you, but it took you nearly drowning to make me realize what a fool I’ve been. I’m so sorry about what I’ve done because of some petty jealousy. I just… Archie, I need you in my life again!”
Archie’s eyes widened in shock at the Magma leader’s response. “You…you what?” He asked, still trying to process his words. “You mean, you feel that way too?” He slowly sat up, watching Maxie in shock.
Maxie felt his face grow red, and though he so desperately wanted to look away, feeling like he did the first time he confessed his feelings to Archie, he focused his gaze on the man in the hospital bed.
“Well… Yes. I do. Like I said, I spent a lot of time thinking about it, and, like I said, I realise now that I don’t want to live without you anymore.” His words came out slowly, tentatively, as he cautiously looked for the best way to word things without looking like an idiot. He felt odd, putting out all of his heart’s thoughts on the table that way, but a part of him was relieved. He felt as if breathing was becoming easier all of the sudden, though he hadn’t noticed an issue earlier, and it was as if some weight had been lifted from him.
“Maxie…” Archie tried to come up with the right words to say. He was never the best with explaining how he felt. “Maxie, every day since we broke up, I kept telling myself that I would make things alright between us.” He bore his eyes into Maxie’s, hoping he could still read his eyes the way he could those years ago. “I spent the years trying to make that true.” He gently took hold of Maxie’s hand, keeping his eyes fixed on Maxie’s. “I loved you. I’ve loved you all along, all these years. I just wish I had the courage to say it sooner.” His eyes were almost pleading for redamancy. “Please. Please tell me I’m not the only one. Honest to god, I couldn't bear to hear you say no. when I look at you, I still feel that rush of adrenaline the time I first saw you. When I hear you talk, it's like I'm falling for you all over again. I love you, Maxie. I just want you to feel the same way."
Maxie stared in shock, his heart racing, feeling like it was going to beat out of his chest. For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out how to articulate something that Archie deserved. Instead, he pulled his hands away from Archie's, and pulled him into a tight embrace. "You dolt." He mumbled. "Of course I love you too. I'd rather the world flood than be without you."
Archie felt a wave of relief wash over him, relieved to hear him speak those words. He returned the embrace, hugging harder. “And I would let the world burn than go without you any longer.” The Aqua leader allowed a tear to escape his eye.
The two held onto each other, content with each other’s warmth, and the very feeling of being together. The sound of someone clearing their throat caused them to jump, and Maxie turned around, ready to be very defensive.
There behind them were their admins. Matt and Tabitha seemed to be beaming, filled with joy due to seeing their leaders together again, though Shelly and Courtney looked a bit confused.
“Hey, Maxie. You said you saw Archie and I on the beach the day you two broke up, but what exactly did you see? We were never dating.” Shelly asked, staring questioningly and, in Maxie’s opinion, a little threateningly.
“W-well, I… I saw you two… embracing each other, so, I just thought… You were never actually dating?” Maxie looked away from both Aqua members. He heard Matt and even Tabitha attempting to hold back giggles, and he felt slight betrayal, but mostly confusion.
Archie stared at Maxie in confusion. Once he realized Maxie’s train of thought, he began to laugh. His big booming laugh that had scared Maxie when they first met. If Maxie didn’t feel like he was being laughed at, he would’ve appreciated hearing it.
“W-what’s so funny?!” Maxie turned to look at Archie, feeling defensive, and a little embarrassed. Was there something he didn’t know about?
“Aw, Maxie!” Archie chuckled. “She’s my cousin!” He flashed a toothy grin, and began laughing again, still not over Maxie’s assumptions.
Maxie stared at Archie, then at Shelly. “Cousins…?” He asked in disbelief. “I… All this, because of your cousin…?” The more he thought about it, they did look a bit alike.
“But why were you two hanging out so much? What changed?” He asked, a little frustrated. He had, after all, been left to books and Courtney while Archie was off with Shelly. Not that books and Courtney were bad, but Maxie had enjoyed his boyfriend’s presence.
“Because she had barely moved in, ya silly!” He let out a boisterous laugh. “I was helping her around the town!” He kept a big toothy smile plastered on his face.
“Besides, she and Courtney have been dating a little longer than that.” Tabitha chimed in, while Matt nodded.
“Wait-” Archie paused, smile faded. “You mean Maxie wasn’t dating Courtney?” He turned to Maxie with a raised eyebrow.
Maxie looked at Archie in shock. “What made you think I was dating her? She’s my sister in law. I’d never even consider dating her.”
“Besides, she was dating Shelly!” Matt piped up.
“Yes, that too, apparently.” Maxie amended, casting a glance at Courtney, who only gave him a slight shrug in response.
The two men stopped to process it all, realizing that their big show of seeming to hate each other was all because of a very twisted misunderstanding. There was a reason people said to be patient and understanding.
“I’m sorry I ever thought you would cheat on me.” Maxie said quietly, facing Archie, though his gaze looked slightly away. He was ashamed of himself, and regret seemed to flood him.
"I'm sorry too. I guess we should have talked things out first." Archie scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"Are you going to kiss yet?" Courtney asked, sounding somewhat impatient.
Archie froze, then turned to Maxie with a smirk. Maxie noticed Archie's expression, and froze, getting a little red.
"A-Archie..."
The smirking man leaned in, and gave the red one a kiss. The kiss seemed to cause Maxie to loosen up, and he was left smiling softly when Archie pulled away.
"Sir, since you're dating Archie again, are you in any way offended that Matt and I have been dating?" Tabitha asked quietly.
Maxie shrugged. "It's fine. Our teams are null and void now anyway. If they weren't, we could always unite them."
Archie continued to grin and then nodded. He turned to Maxie. "Love ya, Rock Nerd." He gave another kiss.
"I love you too, Ocean Brute." With that, Maxie gave Archie a kiss.
After getting confirmation that Archie was fine from the hospital, the two ex-rivals left, their hands interlocked.