#iconic and meaningful of friede to be the first person to acknowledge amethio onscreen

[amelikos]

Something about the way Gibeon said he doesn't want to look at Amethio anymore and the way Crave avoids Amethio's gaze (refusal and avoidance) adding salt to Amethio's wound and highlighting his need for validation and to be seen.. which, in turn, also reframes Amethio's interactions with Friede in the first chapter in quite an interesting way since Amethio asking Friede to not look away from him is one of the first things he actually screamed at him.

Looking back at their battle in HZ005, Amethio brought up a variation of "where are you looking/don't look away from me" three times (which is quite a lot).

This was the first time. (Friede looking away briefly because Roy managed to get some help for the ship and his crew, and Amethio immediately reacting to it by asking where he is looking.)

This was the second time. (Friede looking away from the battle once again because he was concerned about Roy being in trouble.. Amethio getting irritated and pulling the "don't look away from me" line.)

And this was the third time at the end of the episode. (Every time Friede looked away from the battle, it was because he was concerned about Liko, Roy, or his crew.. people he has the duty to protect. They were in trouble because of your subordinates, Amethio-)

However, even though Friede was distracted during the battle because of outside reasons, he was actually paying attention and these scenes connect to a later episode (specifically HZ022).

This was during the episode in which Galar Fire first appeared. Liko and Roy got separated from Friede, Amethio came across Friede in the mines and they engaged in a battle. At some point during their battle, they heard a cry (which was Galar Fire's cry) and they were both distracted by it.

Amethio quickly focused back on the battle, and Friede did so as well by specifically making a callback to the line Amethio told him 17 episodes ago at the time. (And both episode 5 and episode 22 were written by the same writer btw, so the reference to this line was intentional.) Friede focusing back on the battle and saying "I won't look away."

Quick tangent on their battle, but Friede's behavior stood out to me in this episode at the time because.. usually his confrontations with Amethio were more about creating a distraction or buying time and he wasn't exactly engaging in a battle with the intention to "finish" it. Their battle at the mine was the first time I felt like Friede was partaking in the battle with the intention to see it through the end. Liko and Roy were both separated from him in the episode too. Friede heard a strange cry from a Pokemon which could spell trouble for them. Friede really could have ran away from the battle to look for them, but he didn't. Even though he knew something was happening in the mine, at that moment, he decided to prioritize his battle with Amethio and said he wasn't going to look away from him. Which felt meaningful at the time, because he remembered what Amethio said to him (despite everything that was going on, and Rayquaza's first appearance later on which surprised everyone) and used his own line back at him. It felt like Friede was acknowledging their previous encounter at Roy's island, and wanted to continue where they had left off. Being able to continue that battle meant a lot for both of them.

And now, this specific exchange also feels even more significant with the additional knowledge about Amethio's family situation and the fact that Gibeon (his grandfather) currently refuses to look at him and that Crave (his father) avoids looking at him. (I'd be curious to know how Amethio felt when Friede used his line back at him in HZ022. I wonder if he heard him say that he wouldn't look away.)

In general, I think Amethio's "don't look away from me" feels more "heavy" now. It's pretty interesting to think that he looked at Friede and decided to project his issues on him. Like, his cries of frustration got to be expressed through Friede and he had the opportunity to put into words things that he might not usually say. (I think Amethio seeks validation from adults he might perceive as an authority figure, or who aren't below him in the hierarchy. Which is why this specific attitude wouldn't have worked with characters like Hamber or Zir, because they serve a different role and function in his story. It had to be Friede, and he was the only one who could pull out these sides out of him.)

Amethio was transferring that need for validation and to be seen onto Friede. Friede gave him that too, since he actually properly looked at him during their battles. Which, to me, also gains additional layers to it now, since we know Crave was Friede's former superior and someone who helped him become the person he is currently.. Crave seemingly doesn't approve of Amethio being involved in the Explorers (he doesn't want him to get involved with the Rakurium), and Friede stood as a "wall" in front of Amethio in the first chapter and stopped him from going too far and doing irreparable things while keeping an eye on him.. Unknowingly, Friede was looking at Amethio while Crave couldn't. Just like how Lucca entrusted Liko to him.