"no, you absolutely will not, because he's mine," knox says proudly. mine, mine, mine. my sam. and he thinks back, not to how they left things with that door between them, but to their sheets, to that warmth. and then he remembers why he's here and why he's pissed at her. 

but then an alakazam has hold of his arm and the world is blipping away from them. he wheels after their teleportation, grabbing his stomach, muttering obscenities. 

boats knock gently against the docks. a watchman stands at the end of one of them, flashlight in hand, but he's three away and hasn't seen or heard them yet. so knox clamps his mouth shut and traipses back over to summer and says, "shhhhh." 

and then he points to one of them. "found it. a shit-bag's boat." the words bikini inspector mark the namesake of the ostentatious yacht. 

Summer Atreides

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"that's probably for the best, sis," he whispers. he snorts because she is absolutely not shhh, especially with all her retching. between the two of them, this dude's bound to notice them eventually. so knox drops a couple of pokeballs at his feet. blue and rai emerge and twine between his legs. before they can start a ruckus amongst themselves, knox snaps his fingers lowly.

attention granted, they go about their usual duties of untying a boat from a dock. knox hops in, holds a hand out for summer, and then steps over empty beer cans, quite a few discarded bikini tops and bottoms, and makes his way to the hull.

"rai," he hisses. the jolteon abandons blue to finish the job and scampers up to knox. he points at the ignition and her fur stands on end, sparking. a couple of bolts sizzle through the air and strike the key, sparking the wires inside and kickstarting the motor. 

"h-hey, you there! what are you doing?!"

summer's always been the better driver so he sweeps his hands out and offers the wheel to her.

samuel carter

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she was always the better driver. except, of course, when she's a bottle in and knox is only pilled up. her reflexes are lacking while his are sharper than ever. and so he realizes his mistake quickly when she throttles the gas and the yacht lurches forward, sending him tumbling. 

there's a loud crack as she slams into one of the adjacent docks and knocks swears before he's thrown off balance again. rai scuttles to his side and cowers under his arm, but that only makes him more tense and off-balance. 

because she and captain can do some fucking damage if they're not careful. 

swearing, boat rocking, he manages to recall her before she can discharge from fright. and then they're in the marina, and summer is somehow dodging buoys and ramping up speed. 

knox gets to his feet and looks behind them. they pass a sign that very clearly states LEAVE NO WAKES, of which gets slapped by a rolling wave that summer leaves behind. the rest of the yachts still docked are being battered and slapped around and knox starts wheezing. 

he goes back to summer and takes a seat beside her. "fucking hell, red. we prob'ly left thousands in damages behind us." and then he bursts out laughing again. 

Summer Atreides

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"yes, y'did good," he says, still winded. he feels like maybe his body is still a mile behind them, caught in the whiplash, lagging while it tries to catch up. but that's probably the drugs. yeah, that's probably the drugs. 

so he tries to get his head on straight by blinking a couple of times. "red," he says and his voice is like an echo. there's a shadow on the water and he says, oh that's the drugs, too and then thinks i meant to ask her something. 

addled, rattled, he stands and holds his arms up and smells the salt spray and says, "what got ya so fucked up, mm?"

Summer Atreides

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the wall. the ball. the hall. the fall. her silvery hair fluttering to the ground as she dropped like a sack of bricks. and he, some of himself splattered over the tile, red on white. he's trying to kill you. no, he can't be. he can't be because he's safe with sam. he's safe with sam and everything's going to be okay. sam won't let him get hurt. 

sam, with his gold pupils and black irises, promising gently it's time to go. 

knox spins. the water ripples. he says, "yeah, well, maybe i deserve it, y'know?" and the words are unbidden, but they feel right. so pleased, he smiles, and the water rocks below them. or is that the yacht? 

the quiet before the storm comes. knox takes in a breath. 

and a monster bursts forth from the sea.

Summer Atreides

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oh-ho-ho, well, that's not good. he'd meant what he'd said to sam. the murders would be a declaration of war. it was only a matter of time. only a matter of time. only a matter of t i m e. before the monster comes forth with his teeth like knives and his long, scaled body, and knox's body is splitting in two. 

his father's doing. 

no, wait, not yet. inverse sam isn't waiting for him. he's still on the boat and he still has to tell summer that marcus is sleeping with the fishes. sleeping in a glalie. 

he drops a pokeball instinctively and rai makes a terrified yipping sound as she sizes up the gyarados that has made itself known. it roars again and thrashes. waves rock the yacht and knox spins wildly, hands reaching out for something to stabilize him. 

"maybe you won't have to," he says. electricity thrums in his brain. the gyarados could eat him. he could get munched, crunched, swallowed just like marcus had. forget it all, forget it alllllllll the way down. 

bits and pieces and demons coming his way. oh, oh. angles and demons and he's on three (or is it four?) different pills now and reality is warping and everything isn't making sense, and that's the best sort of sense it's supposed to be. his throat itches and he craves snow and rai is gathering herself, body sparking. 

she expels a shockwave of electricity alongside captain and the poor water-dragon shudders, splashing back down into the water. 

and everything is quiet and knox breaks it with his laughter, saying, "oh, i gotta tell sam. he's gonna kill me, summer. he's gonna killlll me. or you could. fu-fuckin' just, HA, finish what i started!" he cackles and twirls, fingers flying over a screen (are they?) and then the boat gets jostled.

"round two, babes!"

Summer Atreides

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all the way down 'cause he's emptiness, baby. an empty pit. void. black hole. shining so brilliant 'cause he's not a star himself. he's just sucking them all in, drowning and smothering them and choking the life out of them - he can't breathe. he can't breathe because summer/his father's going to kill him. and because he slips and he hits his head hard. 

the world is unsteady beneath him and he's rolling around. when the gyarados comes back up, it's with a spew of water. and he's drenched and cackling because now he can breathe. 

rai and captain leap in front of him, limbs flipping as they gain as much distance from the boat as they can and surge another powerful wave of electricity at the beast. it crashes down, against the boat, and then it's gone. 

captain, having fumbled it into a ball, stores it in knox's waistband while he gathers himself. he totters, rubs the welt at the back of his head, and then collapses against summer's back. 

"c'mon, red," he says and tugs her hair. "y'always said ya would when we were kids, yeah? 'n then in hospital, said you'd do it 'fore i could do it myself." he barks a laugh. 

her way of saying i love you, you idiot, but now's not the moment. 

"but don't worry 'bout it. evil doesn't die, right? thas what they say? fuuuuck, red. 'member that club south mauville? the one you like 'cause it's like greek shit. the lo-lota-lotaph." he makes a face and gives up. 

Summer Atreides

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