TEEN: - Ongoing Such Great Heights

[beasttrash]

Such Great Heights​

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Content Warning (Will be updated as we go along): Z-A Endgame spoilers, Strong Language, Mild Violence, Substance Usage/References (Tobacco, Alcohol)

Hello everyone! This is my first attempt at an ongoing fic (that isn't already prewritten in its entirety) in a very long time.

This is a "Hey what if we got other protags/rivals/friends to compete in the Z-A Royale?" fic set in my After Epochs universe. I was really inspired by how open the Royale and I kind of want to see everyone get together PokéSpe style lol. (Although, to lower expectations, please don't expect everyone here. I'm gonna be super bias to my faves lol.)

For folks with ship landmines, here is a list of pairings that will be referenced (and this list will be updated as we go along.) However, this is a Gen Fic at its core and romance is not my overall priority here!!

Spoiler: Pairings

Red/Green Oak
Ethan/Silver
Selene/Lillie

Thank you all for reading!! Hope you all enjoy this as much as I've enjoyed writing it so far!!

 

[beasttrash]

1. Save your best face for the fish-eye lens please.​

CW: Strong Language, Mild Violence

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If someone asked Paxton what his primary motivation for participating in the Infinite Royale was, they would probably assume it had to do with the incident at Prism Tower three months ago. That he was in the trenches of the Battle Zones every night so he could protect people and Pokémon, to create a place where both can thrive together.

And while he’d admit there was some truth to that: he’d also be lying if he didn’t say that the other reason why he competed was so he could make money to buy new clothes.

It was expensive looking this good! Especially if he wanted to buy anything around Galerie de la Lune. 100,000 Poké Dollars for a pair of shoes? No problem!

Well, until he wants to buy a latte and he only has 100 Poké Dollars in his wallet.

Paxton could’ve listened to his mom when she told him to send his money home to her. But he knew she’d just spend it on nonsense like him.

What else was there to do but spend his hard earned cash on new outfits and balayage? Treat himself to new jeans and satchels? He was truly his mother’s son, spending his earnings recklessly and impulsively.

Luckily, his budgeting woes were quelled by the fact that he’s really frickin’ good at Pokémon battles.

So once again, Paxton finds himself in hiding in the middle of one of Lumiose’s three rotating Battle Zones. He crouches down behind some bushes. He’s eyeing a courier with a Talonflame who has made the poor decision to turn his back in a park filled to the brim with lush greenery.

Peeking out slightly above the bush, he signals to his Ampharos to use Thunderbolt on the courier’s Talonflame. Ampharos slinks out from under the cover, approaching the Talonflame quietly before sending down a wave of electricity directly on it.

Talonflame is instantly knocked out and Paxton jumps out from the bushes, gleefully pumping his fist in the air as the Talonflame is kicked back to his trainer’s Poké Ball.

The courier sends out a Delibird as Paxton commands Ampharos to use Power Gem. Ampharos starts charging the move as Delibird rushes in talons first and slashes an Aerial Ace across Light Pokémon’s belly.

Paxton sucks his teeth as his Pokémon winces from the direct hit. While Ampharos could definitely tank a Flying-type move, the issue was that Power Gem took too long charge.

Fortunately for him and Ampharos, Delibird has no time to move out of the way of Power Gem’s path and it takes a beam of concentrated light right to the face, KOing the Flying-type on the spot.

“Yes!” Paxton shouts as he snaps his fingers. The courier rolled his eyes and groaned at his defeat. Ampharos raises his arms and squeals victoriously, with bits of static fluffing up his shiny pink coat.

His Rotom Phone popped out of his satchel to show him how many prize medals he had just won. He earned extra for hitting an unexpecting trainer with an Electric-type move three times in a row. Great! Everything was going smoothly, if he defeats one more trainer, he’d be making three times the amount of money from prize awards.

He had no time to lose, it was time to find his next target. From the park, The best place to go would be the rooftops, that's where the strongest trainers hung out in his experience.

Paxton crouches back down, moving slowly so as to not be noticed by other trainers. Ampharos stood close by, following his every move as they snuck out of the bushes and towards a ladder.

It was simple enough. He’s done it enough times in this Battle Zone before.

But as Paxton approaches the ladder, he feels like something was off.

And that’s when he feels the ground rumble below him. He spins around and sees Ampharos caught up in an Earthquake, the Electric-type falls over and escapes to his Poké Ball.

“Shit, shit shit” Paxton mutters to himself as he looks around desperately for the trainer and Pokémon who knocked out his Pokémon.

Out of the corner of his right eye, Paxton sees a Mega Tyranitar roaring proudly. The Armor Pokémon stomps its foot and glares at him.

This wasn’t an ordinary Tyranitar. No. Its body language extrudes a kind of confidence that Paxton has only seen at the highest rankings.

Then he hears a cackle coming from the roof.

Paxton whips his head upwards and sees a trainer with spiky brown hair and eyes. He looked too old to be an Ace Trainer but far too young to be a Veteran.

He was wearing a nice brown trenchcoat, black leather gloves from BRAVELY and a beige cable-knit turtleneck. The man had pretty sophisticated taste, Paxton recognized an outfit from Boutique Couture when he saw one. The trainer wore his Mega Stone as a pendant around his neck. Paxton thought it was an odd choice, but not terribly out of place.

Paxton grits his teeth as the well-dressed man continues to laugh. “Hey! I saw you destroy that courier just now, thought I might join in on the fun!” He laughs, crossing his arms with a smirk.

Paxton grits his teeth. Oh, he could tell this dude was going to be a thorn in his side from the jump.

Fine, he’ll try to end this quickly.

He sends out Venasaur, who quietly grumbles and shakes his leaves out. Paxton he narrows his eyes and stares at the trainer. “Let's go, you bastard!” He shouts before tapping his Mega Ring.

Venusaur is encapsulated in a bright rainbow light, becoming larger and bulkier. Mega Venusaur roars loudly as Paxton commands the Grass-type Pokémon to use Power Whip.

Mega Tyranitar lunges at Venusaur bearing its fangs, taking a bite out of the Seed Pokémon with a well-placed Crunch. Venusaur in return, slaps Tyranitar with his vines. He launches the Pokémon into a nearby signpost and knocks it out.

Tyranitar is sent back to its trainer. The douchey young man jumps down from the roof and begins clapping obnoxiously.

“Not bad, not bad.” The trainer coos as he pulls out a Poké Ball from his coat pocket. He tosses the ball and a Charizard pops out. It roars loudly, flapping its wings and hovering above its trainer.

“Let’s hope you don’t see her Mega Evolve.” He cackles again.

And Paxton realizes he’s in for a bad time.

**

Paxton is laying his head down on the table in the Strategy Room, hiding his face in shame as Lida begins to tear into him.

“What do you mean you lost last night? How?” She shouts right in his ear.

“Ssssh do you want the entire city to know?” Paxton raises his head and attempts to shush her.

“Mmm.” Taunie mumbles to herself as she scrolls through her phone. Paxton isn’t quite sure she’s paying attention to the conversation. Ever since she took over the role as CEO of Quasartico Inc. and as general manager of Hotel Z, she’s been really busy. He's surprised to see her at the strategy meeting today.

Although, with the Rogue Mega threat suppressed… the only thing Team MZ is really strategizing about these days was how to maximize their profits from the Infinite Royale.

“It's okay, it happens to the best of us.” Naveen chimes in casually, while leaning back in his chair. “You win some and you lose some.”

“Yeah! But it doesn’t happen to Paxton that often!” Lida retorts, slapping the table. She bites her lip and looks at Paxton with a concerned look on her face. “Who is this jerkwad anyway?”

Paxton lifts his head from the table with a whimper. “He had a bunch of Flying-types. Charizard, Aerodactyl, Gyarados and Pidgeot. But he used a Tyranitar to take out my Ampharos.” He answered bitterly, leaning his face into his hand and gesturing to the ceiling with his other hand.

Taunie nodded, mumbling “Charizard” to herself as she continued to scroll through her phone.

“Oh, you are paying attention.” Naveen said, narrowing his eyes at Taunie.

“Yep!” Taunie answered, looking up from her Rotom Phone. The Rotom Phone expanded to tablet size and turned on its side. It flipped around to face the rest of Team MZ as Taunie pointed to the screen. “Was this the dude who beat your ass last night?”

“Why’d you have to say it like that?” Paxton whines as he dramatically slumps down in his seat and whips his head up toward the ceiling.

“Gary.” Naveen said softly before looking up at Paxton. “You got wrecked by a dude named Gary.” he chuckles as he leans back in his seat, takes out his own Rotom Phone and begins typing something on it.

“He probably got a ton of points off of you.” Taunie teases. She is giggling as Paxton stuck out his tongue at her and looked at the screen.

Taunie has pulled up a database of trainers who were taking part in the Infinite Royale. Trainers competing in the Royale did not have access to the database, but Taunie being Quasartico’s new CEO did.

Paxton wasn’t sure how he felt about her using this new power to do a background check on a participant. However, he’s not above snooping in on the competition, call him curious.

He did recognize the spiky hair douchebag who fought him last night. His trainer card was a photo of him with his Charizard having a coffee and a croissant at Cafe Kizuna. He’s from the Kanto region, as he thought.

Specifically, the trainer was from Pallet Town.

“Ah fuck.” Paxton sighs.

“What is it?” Lida asked, looking even more concerned.

Paxton took a deep breath. Because he knew this guy, vaguely. “Right so Gary is-”

“A former Pokémon League Champion and Gym Leader.” Naveen interrupted Paxton, reading from his phone. “He was also boss of Alola’s Battle Tree for a bit before returning to his position as Gym Leader of Viridian City in the Kanto Region." He continued before pointing to a Gurupedia article opened on his phone.

Paxton scowls at Naveen, then nods. “Yeah. Him.” he replied.

Naveen shrugs his shoulders and goes back to reading the article on his phone. “Also says he goes by Green.”

Paxton nods again. “About a decade ago, some of the younger Pokémon champions were referred to by pseudonyms to protect their identity.” He explained, leaning forwards on the table and folding his arms. “Red, Green, Leaf… when my brother won the Indigo League Championship, he went by the name Gold.”

“Hey! You never mentioned having a brother!!” Lida pouts, puffing out her cheeks. “I told you about mine… a little bit.” She bemoans quietly, while pinching her fingers together.

Paxton bit his lip, looking away from her. “He’s several years older than me, we aren’t that close.” he answered quietly with a with a lackadaisical shrug.

“He didn’t teach you anything about training Pokémon?” Naveen inquires, locking his phone and putting it down on the table. “He doesn't have a Gurupedia article, ‘Gold’ just shows up on a list of Pokémon champions.” he adds with a huff.

Paxton shakes his head. The only thing his brother taught him about training Pokémon is that Umbreon are highly toxic, and one time said brother ended up in the hospital after trying to get some Sleep Powder out of his Umberon’s eyes. He had to stay up all night in the ER with Mom while his brother had to be administered some kind of specialized antidote made only in Cianwood.

“Hmm, maybe it's just genetic.” Lida said, her head swinging from side to side.“My big bro is also pretty good at training Pokémon.”

“Hey Paxton, is this your older brother?” Taunie interrupts them, turning her Rotom Phone screen back around to him.

Paxton peers at the screen confused. It was an entry for a Z-A Royale participant named Ethan. No photo yet, just a placeholder image where his trainer card should have been. His account, like Green’s, was only registered yesterday.

“Says the trainer’s from New Bark Town, Johto.” Taunie added, “Just like you.”

Paxton feels his heart drop to his feet. Ethan is here? In Lumiose?

He knows his brother’s been asked by the Indigo League several times over the years to join them as a Gym Leader, and he’s declined them every time. Why show up in a completely different region for a tournament now?

Why didn't brother tell him he was coming?

This couldn’t be a coincidence.

He pushes Taunie’s Rotom Phone slowly down from his face and narrows his eyes at her. “Taunie, what are you not telling us?” he grumbles.

Taunie just continued to smile.

“Taunie…” Paxton started to repeat.

“Actually, Paxton, do you mind coming to Quasartico with me?” She says, continuing to smile unnervingly.

Paxton stares at Taunie disapprovingly for a second or two before yelling “Fine!” then crossing his arms and slumping down in his seat.

**

The Lumi Cab ride over to Quasartico was eerily quiet. Paxton guessed that Taunie didn’t want to spill company secrets regarding the Royale in front of a potential participant. But their driver was Zach, so he couldn’t have guessed why the Le Eternal Z would have any need for this information.

“So, are you going out later?” Taunie piped up in order to dispel the uneasy atmosphere. “I hear they’re opening some new stores in Jaune District.”

Paxton doesn’t acknowledge Taunie’s awkward attempt at small talk. He stares out the window as Zach circled around Centrico Plaza towards Magenta District. He gazes upwards at the remnant of Ange, the weapon that formed the structure of Prism Tower, as it tilted over weakly. A pathetic shell of its past life.

It's not like anyone could have done anything about the weapon Prism Tower was built around. Except of course the man who created it, AZ. But that was his sin, and he'd made it very clear it wasn’t anyone else's to inherit. However, it was simply not something the old man could atone for alone.

It was sad seeing a historic site and cultural icon in ruins like this. Paxton remembers seeing Prism Tower on bags and shirts growing up. Cute graphics with Kalosian girls in berets walking their Furfous and eating macarons all with Prism Tower as the focal point.

Paxton wanted that for himself, that’s part of the reason why he decided to come here.

He didn’t really expect to be dragged into Team MZ, the Royale, and all the other shenanigans around the city. But that happened, he’s here now.

There are no regrets. He can’t have any.

“If you’re wondering, I want to talk about Prism Tower.” Taunie drops the pretense entirely. Paxton looks over to her and notices that she picked up on his irritation with her. Her eyebrows were furrowed with concern. She pursed her lips with a shy smile.

“Is it not something we can talk about with the rest of the team?” He asks contemptuously, raising an eyebrow.

Taunie shakes her head. “No, but it concerns you mostly. I figured it’s best to let you know first before talking to Naveen and Lida about it.” She answers with a shrug of her shoulders.
Paxton sighs halfheartedly as Zach pulls up to Quasartico HQ. They jump out of the car and Taunie pays the fare and tip.

“Whatever this is, it has to do with inviting top tier trainers to Lumiose and pitting them against each other in the Royale.” Paxton mutters as they walk past the Dedenne guards and into the building. “And being one of the top-ranked trainers in the Royale, that would concern me.” He adds, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his jacket and looking up at the pristine, sterile ceiling of Quasartico’s lobby.

Taunie nods, “That’s about half of it.” she acknowledges with a chuckle. “Good inference, have you ever thought about becoming a detective?”

Paxton whistles, “And encroach on Emma’s turf? No thanks.” he answered playfully, with the tension in the air easing slightly.

Taunie had a real way of cutting through someone’s anxiety and concern with a well timed joke or teasing comment. In that way, she’s the perfect charmer. A skill that would definitely help her as a CEO. However, other parts of the business, especially those concerning money, were definitely not.

And that’s why Taunie has Vinnie to run the day to day operations of the company.

“I still don’t know what this has to do with Prism Tower.” Paxton says, tilting his head to the side and narrowing his eyes at Taunie.

“I’ll explain, but first-” Taunie points towards the end of the main lobby, where Vinnie is standing and speaking with two people near the front desk.

The first person was a tall dude with tousled brown hair and glasses. He’s wearing a button up with a tie and a loose pair of slacks that were being held up by suspenders. The man’s sleeves were rolled up to the elbow, and Paxton noticed a really nice gold watch on his wrist with a key stone serving as the face. An Espeon sits next to him, its tail twitching side to side as it looks up diligently to Vinnie.

The second person was a considerably smaller, slight girl with two-toned red and blue hair. She wore big ol’ round glasses and a cute backpack that looked like an Eevee. A bit of a mismatch with the blazer and the LASS skirt she was wearing. But the hoodie under the blazer was an interesting choice, Paxton had to admit. A Flareon is curled up next to her foot and is taking a nap.

“Hiya Vinnie!” Taunie interrupts the conversation between her assistant and the two nerds he’s speaking to. She grabs Paxton by his wrist tightly and skips over to them, dragging him across the room.

“Are these the guys working on the battle simulator?” She asks with a big ol’ grin, letting go of Paxton. He begins rubbing his aching wrist and wincing slightly from the pain. Taunie's grip was impeccable.

Vinnie, being ever so unflappable, nods at his boss’ complete lack of self-awareness. “Yes they are.” He gestures to Paxton, asking him to come closer to the group so he can introduce him.

“Taunie, Paxton. I’d like you to meet Jack and Penny– Jack and Penny, this is Taunie, the CEO of Quasartico Inc and Paxton, is one of the top ranking trainers of the Infinite Royale.” Vinnie explains gesturing to Paxton and Taunie. Taunie is smiling along as usual as Jack quietly dips his head forward then holds out his hand to Taunie to shake it.

The Espeon sitting next to Jack stands up and tiptoes over to Paxton and begins rubbing its head along Paxton’s leg. It's a really cute Eeveelution, although his favorite is Leafeon. He kneels down and begins petting its head. Espeon leans into his touch and purrs gently into his hand.

“Its a pleasure to meet you Jack, although I know you’re only here as a favor.” Taunie says cheerfully, as Jack nods.

“It isn’t my program, but I know enough about it to conduct its maintenance.” He replies in a low, soft-spoken voice. “Cybersecurity is more my specialty, along with Penny here. We work for the Pokémon League, usually.” Jack’s voice begins to trail off as Penny snaps up straight.

“Wait hold on–” She says in a squeaky voice and narrows her eyes at Taunie. “She’s my age, and the CEO of the company?”

“Well, I kind of inherited it from my grandmother?” Taunie replies, slightly surprised and caught off guard by Penny’s questioning.

“Oh. Ok, right.” Penny rolls her eyes before whispering “so you’re a nepo baby.” audibly under her breath.

Jack stares at Penny irritably before looking at Taunie. “Sorry about that, she runs her mouth quite a bit.” He apologizes, shaking his head as Penny pouts at him.

“That’s ok.” Taunie says with a smile, pulling out a Poké Ball from her pocket. Tossing it up and down in front of Penny. “She can say what she wants, as long as she can back those words up in the Battle Zone.” Taunie catches the ball in her hand and holds it out to Penny, shooting the other girl one of her iconic, disarming smiles.

Penny visibly recoils, before putting her hands in her blazer pockets. “Yeah, I don’t do Mega Evolution…” she mumbles, rubbing her arm and looking down at her Flareon who just yawns and stretches its left paw out. It starts non-chanalantly making biscuits in the air.

Taunie smirks. “That’s a shame then, I thought you were on the invitation list– Vinnie?”

Vinnie nods in understanding. He pulls out his Rotom Phone and expands it into a tablet, opening what Paxton assumes is the same database that Taunie showed him and Team MZ earlier. “Congrats, Ms. Penny R. of Wyndon, Galar. Welcome to the World Royale.” Vinnie says, locking his Rotom Phone. “

“What?” Penny protested, stomping her foot down. “You can’t just force me to compete!”

“World Royale?” Paxton whispers to himself. He stands up and shoves his hands in his pants pockets. That had to be the thing about inviting top tier trainers to Lumiose that Taunie corroborated earlier.

The Espeon he was petting turns around and slowly meanders its way back to its trainer, It walks behind Jack and twisting its tail around its trainer’s legs.

Penny continued to rant: “I’ve heard rumors of the Battle Zone in Lumiose, you’re setting me up here!!” she snapped at Taunie, visibly upset.

“Well…” Jack spoke up again, and everyone turned their gazes to him. The guy had a weirdly commanding voice for some mild mannered egghead. “You work for the Pokémon League whether you like it or not. Battling is kind of in the contract.” he says sternly.

Penny stared at him, narrowing her eyes at him once more. “I’m not here on my own volition.” she pouts.

Jack’s eyes turn dark, he tilts his head sideways and lifts his eyebrows. “Then don’t get caught mining for cryptocurrency on your teacher’s computer then,” he mutters in a venomous tone.

That finally shut her up. Penny steps back, flinching from Jack’s menacing stare. She grits her teeth and clenches her fists. “Fine.” she grumbles.

Sweat is forming at Paxton's brow as he turns silently to Taunie, who’s wide-eyed stare was signaling that she was feeling just as intimidated as him.

“So…” Jack mumbles as he stands up straight and tightens his tie. “The upgrade is gonna take a few days, We'll be back tomorrow to check on it.” He explains, looking to Vinnie and then to Taunie. His demeanor and voice returning to how he originally presented himself.

“Sounds good!” Taunie chirped up, after being caught off guard by the man's sudden mood swing. “Thanks again for coming in, and take care!”

Jack shoots her a small smile and waves as he turns around and leaves the building with his Espeon, with Penny picking up her Flareon and sulking out behind him.

Paxton watches them leave the building. He couldn’t exactly put his finger on it, but that Jack guy was familiar. He’s not sure where he knows him from though, but considering everything he’d said during their conversation, the fact that he’s in Lumiose at this very moment and has a Mega Stone…

Paxton’s thoughts are interrupted by Vinnie clearing his throat. He and Taunie turn around to see her executive assistant crossing his arms behind his back ready to explain more about that conversation they had gleefully interrupted.

“Normally, they can perform maintenance on the battle sim remotely. However, the creator is in town and they like to be a bit more hands-on with the tech when possible.” Vinnie clarifies with a nod.

“And they are in town for the… World Royale, correct?” Paxton asked flatly, raising an eyebrow.

“Riiiiight let me explain.” Taunie interrupts, ushering Paxton and Vinnie over to the comfy couches near the entrance of the lobby.

They settle in as the receptionist brings over coffee. Taunie leans back in her seat, with Vinnie at her side. She crosses her legs and takes a deep breath. “As you may know, Prism Tower is in a pretty bad state right now.”

Paxton nods silently.

“And a bunch of rich people around the world are apparently really upset about this.” She explains, rolling her eyes to the ceiling. “They see the tower as a cultural touchstone for the Kalos region, and they wanna help restore it.”

Vinnie nods in agreement with what Taunie had just stated, and picks up his cup of coffee. “Not just that, The Infinite Royale is making global headlines, and many trainers around the world want to take part in the competition.” he adds before taking a sip of his drink.

“What better way to raise money for the restoration of the tower than to host a battle competition with some of the world’s greatest trainers?” Taunie exclaims, her eyes sparkling as she clasps her hands together.

Paxton continues to nod along, picking up his own cup of coffee and taking a large swig of it. The Royale had really done a number on his sleep schedule. He’s rarely up before noon anymore, and he’s still barely functional by two in the afternoon.

“70- now 71 trainers sponsored by various private and public enterprises, all competing to reach Infinite Rank first.” Vinnie continues, putting his coffee back down on the table and pointing to Paxton. “And you Paxton, are the ultimate Promotion Match.”

Paxton stares at Vinnie as he drops his coffee, it spills out all over the pristine white floor of the lobby.

“What do you mean?” He gasps, his heart leaping out of his chest.

“I know.” Taunie whines, slumping forward in her seat. “I wish it were me, but I’m kind of the CEO of the company, It’d be a conflict of interest.”

“And besides, as the most powerful trainer in Lumiose, you are the perfect representation for us” Vinnie corroborates, quite chirpy all of a sudden. “We’re hosting the event and we need a headliner.”

Taunie sits back up properly, she folds her hands and smiles. “You’re our champion so to speak.”

Paxton is speechless. Taunie, somewhat oblivious to Paxton’s reaction, gets up and walks over to the receptionist to get a towel for the mess.

“You continue to participate in the Infinite Royale as normal.” Vinnie explains, “Win or lose, your ranking does not matter here. However, these 71 trainers will be fighting for Challenger Tickets and competing in promotion matches, moving through the ranks until they get to you.”

“This includes those who were already competing in the Infinite Royale beforehand– although because of their experience they may be called upon to serve as promotion matches for our guests.” Taunie adds, walking back from the desk, bending down with the towel to clean up the spill “We’re basically integrating new competitors into the Infinite Royale while giving them the Z-A Royale experience.”

Paxton sat there dumbfounded by all of this. Whatever they were telling him became like a slush in his head. Beginning and ending with Taunie proclaiming him to be… the champion?

When he came to Lumiose, he never expected to be in the position of a Pokémon Trainer. Nor did he really expect to make it this far. He just wanted to spend his gap year shopping, traveling around Kalos, enjoying city life as he had never experienced before. He was just a guy from the boonies looking for the finer things in life.

He slumps over in his seat, and holds his face in his hands.

Did he actually want to be the face of something? He already felt seen by the whole Z-A Royale and the Ange ordeal. He did what he needed to do then, but it was something he had to do. But being the champion of some kind of tournament you'd read about in a shonen manga? That has no sense of duty to it.

Instead, it felt like he had 71 targets on his back.

“Paxton, are you ok?” Taunie asks worryingly, She stands up and throws the towel over her shoulder, she reaches over and gently touches his shoulder. “You’ve gotten really quiet all of a sudden.”

Paxton is nauseous, he ran his hands down his face trying to think of a response and failing.

“Uneasy lies the head who wears a crown.” Vinnie sighs, leaning back in his seat. “Paxton, if you don’t want to do this, you can let us know and we’ll find another person-”

“No.” Paxton snaps. He shoots up from his seat and scowls at Vinnie. “I’ll do it.”

Perhaps it's a knee-jerk reaction to being replaced for a job he didn’t even realize he had. How dare they take the position away from him already. He balls his right hand into a fist and grits his teeth. “I’ll be your champion.” he growls, poking his chest with his thumb.

He turns around and begins to leave Quasartico HQ. “I’ll see you back at the hotel, Taunie.” He mutters, speeding towards the exit. He hears Taunie shout something like “Wait, Paxton!” but he’s too overwhelmed to process it.

Paxton takes out his phone and opens the Falinks app. He texts Lida:

paxton, today 14:12: hey. can you meet me in the sewers?
lida, today 14:12: HUHH​