It had been another peaceful day. Saint is at his favorite fishing spot as usual, living out life as a faux-NPC. His feet dangled over the water, shoes and bag placed beside him. He chuckles, playing a game with Gumball where he tries to save his bobber from the popplio’s flappy flippers.

Gumball stops, turning to him with a curious honk.

“Tired already?” Saint hums, tugging the bobber away, but Gumball keeps honking at him, increasingly frantic as he tries to paddle to shore. “Just what is going on with y—”

Something smashes into his back, sending Saint toppling forward, off the bank and into the lake with a loud SPLASH! He opens his eyes under water, bubbles streaming out of his mouth as he panics for a moment, only to realize he isn’t choking. The water isn’t flooding his lungs. He stops thrashing and breathes, thanking whoever invented the Swimmer class and pulls himself out.

When he breaks the surface, he sees a familiar pest rummaging through his stuff.

“What the hell, Finn!” Saint hisses. Gumball paddles behind him, grabbing the back of his jacket as the trainer hurries to the shore.

When he steps out, feet squishing the muddy bank, he glowers down at argent. He is completely dry, but still monumentally pissed.

“I’d say ‘welcome home’, but you’re being an asshat. What are you doing with my stuff?” Panic lines his voice. The bag contains everything, and he doesn't understand why the guy is suddenly mugging him when he's spent this long staying away.

Gumball pokes his head over Saint's shoulder, cheeks round with water and drooling as he prepares to gun down the silly man who still didn't know how to play properly.

Saint scowls as Argent snaps at him, his hands curling into the fabric of his jacket as his belongings are carelessly tossed on the dirt. The spark of relief he feels seeing Argent dismiss Taiyaki’s pokeball — and of course he does, because he’s a moron playing a game he knows jack shit about out of spite — is overwritten by the sheer frustration he feels.

Gumball eyes the two trainers, his cheeks still puffed up, a little panicked. The Water Gun is ready, but he doesn’t want to douse his trainer’s things. Some of those things are his friends! He smacks Saint’s shoulder frantically, trying to get his trainer to do something.

But he doesn’t. He stands, as he always has, allowing others to tread over him, to make a mockery of him. It’s the same in the classroom, it’s the same at work, and now at home and in the one escape he has.

When the trade window pops up, Saint has to forcefully unclench his jaw.

“If all you wanted was a trade, you could have asked.” And he wants the Shinx and the Litleo? He could have them. Saint had been intending to trade them away in the first place, and the Audino is a very welcome addition to his healer team.

OFFERING SHINX AND LITLEO FOR TRADE

He confirms the trade, and the pokeballs in question glow for a minute, before swapping into their new inventories. A window:

TRADE ACCEPTED!

“Pleasure doing business with you,” he says, dryly. “Fire, Gumball.”

And then Gumball power-washes Argent.