This one’s for @subzer0girl!
I gotta admit, this was a challenge for me to write. I’ve always thought of these two as tragic figures, like things could have turned out so much better for them if life had just gone a little differently. I tried to channel the melancholy that sort of circumstance creates into this piece…
Well, anyway I hope you like it.
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It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It never used to be like this.
Christmas Eve, Team Aqua base. Archie poured over sea chart after sea chart, searching for an entrance he knew had to be there. He was trying not to think about something– a common pastime of his.
Miserably elusive cave entrance, where is it? Archie scanned his documents for patterns in the current, as he had been doing for the past several hours. He had to finish this, reach a conclusion, find what he was looking for. So much of his plan hinged on being able to find the treasure he was seeking. He’d looked at his calendar, he knew what day it was. Sentimentality will only get in the way of my plan, he thought to himself. My plan, my dream, everything that I am. I cannot forsake those, even for a day, for some paltry manner like a holiday. By now he’d become unfocused, just staring at his page without thinking. Even if that holiday once meant so much to me.
Christmas Eve, Maxie’s Secret Base. Maxie studied a topographical map of a certain volcano. He was also trying not to think about something.
Ah, I see now where the magma is forced to flow. His studies were bearing fruit on this night especially, and he took a moment to gloat to himself. Soon he would be able to put his plan into motion and make his dream a reality. All he needed now was the legendary Pokémon he had been so inspired by for all these years. From him, Maxie’s perfect world would finally be born.
A single, intrusive thought crept into Maxie’s head. I just wish I were able to share that moment of triumph.
Christmas Eve, 30 years ago. Maxie and Archie, mere children, sat together on a couch as their families opened presents together. Archie opened his present from Maxie’s family: one of those introduction to science kits for kids. Maxie opened his present right after: the same exact thing.
Everyone laughed at how silly the mix-up was.
Christmas Eve, 25 years ago. Maxie beamed as he opened his present from Archie– a Numel plush, just like his first Pokémon. Archie grinned in turn as he revealed Maxie’s present to him– a Carvanha plush, just like his first Pokémon.
They’d been getting each other similar or identical gifts for years. It was a tradition now.
Christmas Eve, 22 years ago. The both of them were off exploring the Hoenn region on their own, so neither was home for Christmas. They each sent postcards to the Pokémon Center their friend was closest to.
Maxie’s was a shot of the Cable Car running up towards Mt. Chimney. Archie’s was a view of the beach at Lilycove.
Christmas Eve, 16 years ago. Maxie and Archie stared at each other in anger. They had both been complaining to their parents about the state of Pokémon conservation efforts, a product of the environmental classes they were taking at college. When asked how they would solve the lack of space needed to help these Pokémon, Archie reasoned the oceans needed to be larger while Maxie thought land Pokémon were severely disadvantaged.
It was the first time they’d had a real fight about it.
Christmas Eve, 15 years ago. The first time their families spent Christmas apart.
Archie’s room, back in the present. Fed up with his sea charts, he swept them to the floor and groaned into his hands. He remembered when things were simpler. When he and his best friend had both taken an early interest in science. When they both saw the problems in the world and decided to do something about them. Before they realized their solutions were fundamentally opposed.
It was such an easy world. He thought they could go to school, learn how to make the world a better place, and then just. Do it. Team up with his best friend and create a positive force for change. He was still moving towards that goal even now, but this time he was alone. Sure, he had his team. Loyal followers who believed in him as much as he believed in their cause. But they weren’t what he needed.
Archie picked up his Pokénav and dialed a number.
Maxie’s Secret Base. He’d shifted from his maps to his dossier of Team Magma recruits, staring at the paragraphs of information he had amassed on each and every one of them. This was his team, his tools. This was his counter to the growing forces of Team Aqua. This was how he would win.
He did not necessarily want to win. But he had no choice. No matter how many fond memories he had, no matter what that man might have meant to him so long ago. Sacrifices had to be made for the sake of his dream, and this was a sacrifice he’d steeled himself for.
Few people had that number. Very few. He knew who it was. He knew what talking to him would mean.
The voice on the other end of the line did not speak for several seconds. When he did he sounded tired, disgruntled. “Merry Christmas” was all that was said at first, a grumble. Maxie did not respond. Then, somehow, in a much more certain voice: “…I miss you.”
Maxie had to take a moment to calm himself, his shock almost audible. He’d expected something, but that? That was too much. Sufficiently calm now, he sighed. “Yeah, I… suppose I miss you too.” They had at once nothing and everything to say to each other. Each struggled to find any sort of words. It was Archie, finally, who broke. “…Maxie.” It was a statement, the “to” line on his message. “Let’s…” and despite his determination, he trailed off. It was too much to say, too much to ask right now. No, maybe it wasn’t. He tried again, and this time succeeded. “Let’s just talk to each other for a bit. A truce, just for today.”
Maxie stared straight ahead with a frown, looking at his bland cave wall for any sort of inspiration. None was to come. “…Yes, alright,” he finally answered. “Just for Christmas. We’ll talk about the past, just this once.”
They talked about Christmases come and gone until early in the morning. They never touched anything less than 17 Christmases ago– neither wanted to push that button. The conversation was stilted, full of half-said thoughts and dulled words. Still, it was a conversation. It was a reminder of how things were, at least a little. It didn’t change anything between them, not really, and they knew that. But for that night? For that night, it was enough.
