Chapter 13: Twin Ploys

Chapter 13: Twin Ploys

Each time Joey joined the rest of the Club for post-work training, he couldn’t help but notice how different life seemed to be for folks living at the bottom of the cliff compared to the top. Meowth and the others at the top got lavish condos, well-trimmed yards, and big, sweeping views of the ocean. Minichino and the others that were close to the cliffs and far from the center of town weren’t so lucky. They had to contend with untrodden roads with weeds sprouting up from the dirt everywhere you looked, and homes that were sore on the eyes.

Minichino’s place demonstrated the worst of it. The walls were so thin that Joey could tell where one room ended and another began from the outside — it was like seeing the bones poking out of the skin of the house. Joey was told that the other houses had steel roofing because they protected against any rockfall. The designers of her home couldn’t even afford that protection. The old, drained color from the outer walls seemed like they could suck the hope out of just about anyone.

But not Minichino, nor the rest of the Club, it seemed. Her spirit in each training session never seemed to waver. It was almost infectious, Joey found — it was hard not to give it his all when she was doing the same.

“Woah!” Politoed exclaimed as he stumbled from the strength of his Water Gun attack. “Felt more power in that one than any of the others.”

Joey was quick to follow up by sinking a precise bite into the frog’s arm. Judging by the wince in pain, followed by his grin, Politoed clearly thought well of his form.

“Both you are…really starting…to get with it,” Breloom conceded, knocking away swing after swing from Mathew. She wasn’t able to hold him back when he used his skull mask to bash her chest in.

“Woooo! Yeah!” Minichino gleefully cheered, refereeing their practice with the eagerness that she brought to every event. She was close to throwing her arms up in the air, but she stopped short. In one paw was a mug full of coffee — the other, a berry smoothie she brewed.

Today was the last workday before a two-day weekend, a routine Solceus shared with Earth. Everyone was in high spirits, and all of them were about to have at least slightly more free-time.

That’s when an idea came to Joey. He had to find a way to help Mathew with his new plan to grab their attention, right? And what better way could he do that than keep up the positive energy and get everybody in on it?

“Hey, y’all!” Joey exclaimed, grabbing the attention of everyone before they had the chance to disperse. “Mathew and I are gonna go looking for a psychic type stone over yonder in the market after practice. Anybody wanna come help us?”

“I don’t really have anything better to do until this evening, so…why not?” Minichino remarked.

“J-Jermy and I were…g-gonna help anyway,” Demurke said.

“Seems like a real challenge,” Politoed said. “Aren’t psychic type stones pretty rare?”

However, of all of them, it was only Breloom who asked a cutting question Joey failed to consider. “What do you need a psychic type stone for?”

Shoot.

It had slipped from Joey’s mind that he and Mathew were sworn to secrecy about their SEAS affairs. How the heck was he supposed to explain this? “Oh, Mathew and I are building a portal device to take me back to Earth so we can fix my memories and save ourselves from the military complex”? His SEAS knowledge would be leakier than an old faucet on a rainy day! “Uh… Um… It’s for a contraption SEAS is making,” he said, hoping the vagueness would get them off his case.

“Huh, you’re helping them with a product already?” Breloom remarked. “That’s pretty cool. What kind of product? A TV? A vacuum cleaner? Air conditioning? Something else?”

…SEAS makes TVs and vacuums cleaners and air conditioners?! How did Joey know so little about this dang company?! He had no idea how to answer this! And if he just said “We’re not supposed to talk about that,” that’d probably look weird, too! Desperately, he looked to Jermy and Demurke.

Fortunately for the totodile, Jermy seemed to be on top of it. “…Huh? What the — ORB? Hellooooooooo?”

“What’s up with ORB?” Minichino asked.

“He just…randomly turned off. I think he’s broken.” Jermy looked to him, Mathew, and Demurke. “Mathew! Joey! Demurke! I’m gonna need your help on this!” Jermy almost grabbed Joey by the arm to lead him towards Minichino’s house. “Hey, can we work on him in your place real quick?”

“Uh, yeah, sure! Key’s under the welcome mat.”

Jermy led them all into the house with urgency. He set ORB down on the kitchen table, snatched the club out of Mathew’s hands, and used the sharp edge as a screwdriver, opening ORB up from the back. Dozens of wires were exposed, as was the weighted computer that allowed him to operate. The computer was stuffed into the left side of ORB, counter-balancing the weight of the lone claw.

“Okay, that should make it look like we’re actually working on ORB,” he remarked.

Mathew proceeded to immediately slam his face into Minichino’s couch. The robe draped over it dropped and covered his masked muzzle. “Damn it, Joey…” He groaned. “This is the last thing we needed right now!”

“I’m sorry! I was just trying to help!” Joey said.

“Pipe down, you two,” Jermy whispered, tugging at his long ears. “We’re not boiling in hot water just yet, but we might be if they hear us through these walls.”

Demurke looked to the door. “We p-probably have about five minutes u-until our excuse…doesn’t sound s-so convincing.”

Mathew sighed. “Right.” He rolled off of the couch. “Thanks for the quick thinking, at least.”

Jermy smiled awkwardly, tapping his fingers. “It was actually ORB’s idea…”

“Does SEAS make machines that ain’t got to do with this crazy war stuff?” Joey asked the recruiters.

“Yeah. We make products for the business division to sell, too,” Jermy explained. Demurke nodded in agreement.

“So what you’re saying is that you two are the second most qualified people to bail us out of this,” Mathew remarked.

“S-Sure!” Demurke said, looking almost flattered. “We’ll…g-give it a try.”

The four of them started crafting a lie that would most easily make the other Clubs members brush off their curiosity. Joey tried to contribute where he could, but the other three thought fast and spoke faster, so he didn’t get to add very much. It was fair, considering he was the one who caused all this.

Still, he worried about how it made him look. Was that camera that Dit got a photo from still here…?

The totodile couldn’t help but see some comedy in the situation. They needed to do everything they could to hide their humanity from the rest of the Club, but thanks to him, they already knew. He was sure they were chuckling about it outside, not worrying about it at…

…Huh. When Joey peered out one of the windows to get a look outside, he was met with a scene he wasn’t expecting. Yes, Minichino, Politoed, and Breloom were all talking, but even at a distance, he could tell that it wasn’t really a fun chat. They all had serious expressions on their faces, muttering things so quietly that not even the faintest of sounds made it through the glass. None of the three noticed Joey eyeing them at all. Were they all scheming, too?

“Okay, th-that should probably be convincing enough,” Demurke murmured. “Are we all…?”

“Yeah, let’s hop to it!” Jermy exclaimed. He closed up ORB, then led them back outside. Joey tried to keep a poker face.

Minichino, Politoed, and Breloom, in stark contrast to what he saw a second ago, were in a much more casual position — spread out, slouched over, and generally looking like they were having a nice chat about the weather. “You guys patch ORB up?” Politoed asked.

“Nope!” Jermy exclaimed, holding up the limp robot. “We tried our best, but it looks like ORB’s just dead. I’m gonna have to fix this with better equipment later.”

“My condolences,” Minichino said with a bow.

“Yeah. Anyways…” Breloom sprung to her feet. As if on-cue, Politoed joined her and the two closed the distance between one another. “What was all this type stone stuff about, again?”

“Oh!” Joey said. “Yeah! You were right. We’re actually helping SEAS with a big project!”

“Really? Dang.” Politoed looked to Jermy. “You sure Joey can just come out and say that?”

“He sure can!” Jermy took two steps closer to Politoed to speak with him better. “It’s totally cool!”

“W-Well, technically it’s a secret…” Demurke added, promptly planting herself next to Jermy to clarify the details of their story. “B-But you guys have been g-great friends, so…we can tell you!”

“Heh, I’m flattered.” Breloom, keeping a spring in her step, took two steps backwards. “Don’t tell me you’re sharing because it’s for some music-related thing!”

Politoed moved back, matching Breloom. “Music’s great, but it’s not our everything to keep up with the latest tech for that kind of stuff.”

Jermy followed suit, moving forward. “No, no! SEAS is radical, but not that radical. We’re not into the music-making business.”

“Y-Yet! I’m sure w-we could convince them.” Two steps forward.

“Well, anyways, we’re getting off topic. If you two want to share all those juicy details with us, go right ahead.” Two steps backward.

“We’re on it!” Two steps forward. “So, the scientists over at SEAS thought…”

All of a sudden, Joey and Mathew were separated from their recruiters. Jermy and Demurke were too busy chatting it up with the power couple to notice him.

“Hey, guys.” The two of them were halted by Minichino. Her voice, for some reason, was rather quiet. “Are you two doing okay?”

Mathew cocked his head. “What? Of course we’re doing okay,” he said, confused.

“I dunno. If you ask me, you both seemed way too panicked when Breloom asked you about the stone — especially you.” She gestured to Joey.

“W-Well, I was put on the spot…” Joey said defensively.

“You were! But still, this all seems like a little bit much over such a basic question, you know?” Minichino’s voice became more sincere, and a bit less light. “You’re sure things over at SEAS are good?”

Mathew shook his head fiercely, with an intense expression on his face. Joey was about to do the same, but…she was right, wasn’t she? With such high stakes going on, SEAS’ recruitment was getting very worrisome, even when the totodile was trying to not let it get to him. He had already trusted Minichino with information way more severe than his state of mind. Was it really worth it to lie about how he felt?

To his indecision, Minichino intensified further. “Look. Later this evening, after we’re done with this type stone search, I wanna talk to you guys about stuff. We can’t do it here though.” She patted the side of her house. “There’s a big building a couple streets down from the Higher Education campus — trust me, you can’t miss it. I want you two to meet me in there. Just you two. Don’t take anybody else.”

Joey was flabbergasted. He and Minichino had had private conversations before, but nothing like this. At the same time as Mathew, he looked back to Jermy, Demurke, Politoed, and Breloom. None of them were listening in on this. What was going on here…?

“Minichino, what the hell are you talking about?” Mathew seemed to feel the same confusion. “I’m not interested in any crazy plans to—”

“It’s nothing crazy!” Minichino said. “I’m not gonna hypnotize you like Meowth or anything. I couldn’t do that if I tried!” She squinted at Mathew, to no avail. “Just…I need to tell you some things that you need—well, deserve to know.”

“Wow, Jer!” Breloom’s loud proclamation reached all three of them. “This sounds pretty cool. You can count Poli and me in!”

They had about ten seconds before this moment of privacy vanished. “I promise, I just want to help,” she pleaded one last time.

Joey looked to Mathew. He seemed concerned, skeptical, almost fearful. The last thing either of them needed was more trouble to make Dit wary about. But Minichino was somebody both of them respected. If she was asking them to speak with her because she knew something important…

As the moment broke away, neither of them objected to Minichino’s offer, and that seemed to serve as a sufficient answer.

---

Emily had suggested Mathew take it easy yesterday morning. Unfortunately, ‘catching a break’ was not in Mathew’s vocabulary these days. As long as there was a possibility that their main plan could fail, he couldn’t afford to rest.

Until Joey intervened, Mathew had expected to contribute to the hunt for the stone on his own. Now, the entire Club was stumbling through town, searching through every store they could find along the way. Mathew scoured every cabinet and shelf, then turned to the cashier and asked “Excuse me, you wouldn’t happen to have a psychic type stone, would you?” Each time, Mathew was met with shaking heads and scowls.

He probably shouldn’t have expected much from the Solcean equivalent of a tourist trap.

The other Club members didn’t have any better luck. Even if somebody in Kalmwa’er did have a psychic type stone, it’d probably be too expensive for them to afford, with how rare it seemed.

It was a futile effort. But what else was Mathew supposed to do? Find a stone mine himself? He had to help their chances somehow. It’s not like he had a real backup plan yet.

He could try to finish the Wormhole Wristlet without a type stone, but he didn’t nearly have the time and wisdom to do that in eight days. He could try staging another event to show off, but that would be too transparent. He could try to…actually tell Joey…nope, that’s not happening.

Mathew poked a pebble along with his club. If only a so-called ‘therapist’ had actually helped me, maybe that last part could’ve still worked, he thought. His anger was still fizzing within, but there was little he could do about that when his position in SEAS was occupying so much of his attention.

As the Club all split apart for the evening, sharing their “We tried our best”s and “Thank you for the help”s as they parted ways, that lack of hope continued to linger. Mathew was still stewing on it while he and Joey were doubling back away from the gondola. Who knows how much worse it could get if Minichino tried something like Meowth’s stunt?

With the evening sun shining down on them, he and Joey weaved their way through the streets. Mathew peered through the window of each building that passed them by, wondering if this was the place Minichino. Assuming she wasn’t leading them to some back alley, it had to be some kind of public building, right?

That was when the sound of chatter reached their ears. There seemed to be some hubbub a few streets over.

“I wonder what that’s all about,” Joey remarked.

“Maybe it’s some kind of party?” Leading Joey along, Mathew rounded a corner and headed in the direction of the chatter. It wasn’t hard to find the source.

Standing on the side of the street was a tall and wide building built from worn brick. Emblazoned on its front was a yellow circle with lines jutting out in an X shape towards two arcs. Stairs rose up from the dirt to meet the building at the center of the circle, forming a very fancy entryway to a pair of tall open doors.

It was there, at the base of those stairs, where the pokémon were gathered.

“The latest and greatest!” a voice shouted. A small crowd was gathered in front of the building, carrying around stacks of newspapers. Each pokémon was garbed in robes of a strikingly gold color.

“Big announcement from Rayquaza! New development on Solceus’ hottest topic!” another voice said.

“The Scolton Gateway’s biggest publication yet!” a third voice exclaimed.

Joey squinted at the building and the crowd beneath it. “What kinda rodeo’s going on here?”

“It looks like a weird cross between a church and a printing press.” The cubone studied all those robes. Strange. Had he seen one like those somewhere before?

This certainly wasn’t the kind of building that was easy to miss. Was this what Minichino meant?

“Hey, this is a bigger hunch than a hunchback in Notre Dame, but I think we should go in.” Joey had the same idea.

“Right.” Mathew pushed his way through the crowd, repeating a polite “Thanks, but no thanks” to each pokémon they passed. Joey fell a bit behind, and when he caught up, there were four copies clutched in his hands.

“You took four of them?” Mathew remarked, peering back at the totodile.

“Look, they were really nice folks,” he said. “And besides, I like crossword puzzles.”

“But they’re all the same crossword?”

“It’ll be a good time-waster!”

The cubone wasn’t ready for how majestic the interior would be. It was an expansive mall of a space, with wooden floors lined by red carpet. A walkway surrounded lines of seats forming a shape similar to a basketball court. Instead of hoops, there was a raised platform with a microphone mounted for use at the center.

What grabbed Mathew’s attention more, however, were the brass statues. They lined the walkway in their own displays, as if it were an art gallery. Some statues were alone, while others were in groups. Mathew slowly walked around, studying each one. Joey followed, but had his attention divided by the newspaper.

As they took a lap around, the figures slowly became familiar to Mathew. That’s…what’s his name…Xerneas, isn’t it? Yveltal… The little blue one… That one guy from Pokémon Go… Are those two supposed to look like planes? Not all of them he could put a name to, but he could get the pattern recognition. These were the Legendary Pokémon, all represented here in miniature form.

There was one particular set that prompted Mathew to stop walking. All four of them were avians, mostly, with three in the front and one propped up behind them. One had fluffy-looking plumage on its neck and a graceful streamer-like tail. One had fierce, angular wings and a lengthy beak. One was coated in flames, from the tail to the wings to the head. The one in the back had massive wings close in shape to hands, a wide stomach, and plates running along its back.

Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, and Lugia. These were, as he knew them, the Legendary Birds.

Mathew had noticed some bouquets and other small objects rested on the floor in front of some statues, but these four were showered in commemorative flowers and petals. These offers clearly celebrated some kind of high honor. But what…?

It took Joey bumping into him, wide eyes buried on the page, to usher Mathew forward again. He continued along, eyes peeled for Minichino. He didn’t mind that she hadn’t showed up yet — there was a certain statue he was looking for now that he wanted to see first…

Yep, this is the one. To Mathew’s surprise, it was only marginally taller than all of the others, giving it relatively little majesty. He told Joey to wait just in time to avoid another collision.

The statue resembled the likeness of a goat, with a long neck and equally long legs. Its head was almost incomparable to any animal — Mathew could best compare the shape of its face to a helmet or a mask, with a conic appendage stretched out from the back. The statue’s firm eyes almost met his gaze.

Around the statue’s abdomen was a ring of sorts. From that ring, four tiny spires jutted out from it in that same X-shape, linked together by those same two arcs.

This statue was in the likeness of Arceus.

Mathew knew very little about the Arceus of the games on Earth. It felt like he knew even less here. Was this a church for Solcean worship of Arceus? Surely if his symbol was emblazoned on the entrance, it had to belong to him. But in this line-up, he seemed no more significant than the rest of the pantheon.

Huh. Now that he thought about it, wasn’t this the same symbol he was supposed to draw to imbue type stones?

He shook his head. The truth was that he simply didn’t know anything about religion on Solceus. But, while he was here, he…may as well respect the culture of the world he’s stepped into, right? Besides, Mathew was desperate.

Hey, uh, Arceus, is it? He spoke internally, lowering his gaze. I don’t know if you, like, listen to people or anything, but if you do… I could really use some help. If I f—screw up this shot I have, I’m not gonna get the life that I want, and everything I’ve done up to now won’t mean anything. Please, could you like, beam me a backup plan into my head? Or if you’re feeling super generous, could you send a psychic type stone my way? It doesn’t matter how you do it — you could hide it next to a bush I run into, strike me in the head, I don’t care. I just really need this. If you do it, I promise I’ll…be an advocate for your cool religion or something. Please… Uh, a-amen?

“Hey. Super glad you two made it.”

Mathew snapped out of his awkward prayer and looked to his side. There she was — Minichino, standing before them with a gentle smile on her face. To his surprise, Politoed and Breloom were with her, standing a couple paces back and keeping an eye on the door to the church. Those two stood in the shadow of the statues next to Arceus — a legendary Mathew didn’t recognize with gems substituting for hair and taking up space on her chest as jewelry.

But more than anything, Mathew was drawn towards Minichino’s attire. On top of the tattered scarf and Robin Hood-style hat, she was garbed in golden robes, just like the other pokémon around the building.

Now he remembered. That robe she was wearing had been sitting on her couch this whole time, right in front of them. If it was supposed to be a uniform for this church, then…

“Minichino,” Mathew said, surprised. “Are you a priest here?”

She raised her arms. “Surprise?”

---

Joey’s attention was splintered between Mathew, Minichino, Politoed and Breloom, the strange statues towering over them, and the words in his hands. He had so many questions…but he reckoned he knew which one they had brought them here to answer.

“Did y’all bring us here to talk about this?” He turned the front page of the paper towards the priest and the other Club members. “About the war?”

Mathew looked to Joey in surprise. Before the totodile could act, he snatched one of his spare copies out of his grip and started looking at it himself. “The ‘Great Legendary War’…?” he read aloud.

Politoed was the one to answer. “Been going on for over ten years now.”

“We kinda got the impression you’re pretty sheltered over in Cosaline,” Breloom remarked. “So we thought we’d tell you a bit about it.”

Joey gulped. He knew why they really thought that. He was thankful none of them were giving away their knowledge to Mathew.

“I think I heard people talking about it at some point,” the cubone said, acting bashfully, “but I don’t know much.”

“That’s exactly why we brought you here!” Minichino turned, gesturing for all of them to follow. “You both gotta know what’s going on here.”

Joey passed Mathew a worried look before following her, leaving the two statues behind.

“All of the statues you see here are stand-ins for the Legendary Court — the overseers of Solceus. They’ve been squabbling over how much or little they should get involved with our lives before Solceus even existed. There’s been a big spike in new members to the Court recently, too, which causes even more head-butting!” she explained. “But the structure stays the same. The secondary Courts of Land, Sea, Sky, Life, Death, and Order…and at the center of it all is the Arcean Court, where Arceus is trusted with the final say.”

Joey repeated those seven names to himself. Life and death, land and sea and sky… What was that sixth one? He shook his head. Not important, he reckoned. “How long’s it been that way?”

“Since the beginning,” Politoed chimed in. “But, in our lifetime, that might change.”

They stopped Mathew and Joey at a different statue. This draconic pokémon did not look quite as graceful as the others. His eyes were devoid of pupils, shielded by a pair of misshapen horns. His wings, too, were misshapen. the wing to Joey’s left looked as if most of it had been slashed right off. At the back, he had a tail that Mathew likened to a turbine under his breath.

“Recently, there’s been a couple Legendary Pokémon thinking differently. They say that we’ve been doing it all wrong, and that us mortal pokémon aren’t getting the treatment we deserve. They think that Arceus is to blame, and he needs to go.” Minichino pointed to the draconic statue. “That’s their leader. His name’s Kyurem, and he only joined the Court of Death about two hundred years ago. He came up with the name ‘Anti-Arceus Alliance’, or the Triple A for short.”

Joey took this in with amazement. A full-scale war between gods? He couldn’t really fathom it.

Mathew seemed less surprised and more curious. “Not the treatment you deserve? In what ways?” He gave a sweeping look at their coworkers. “…And do you think that they’re right?”

“Well, it depends on who you ask! A lot of them think Legendary Pokémon are too uninvolved, and that lets things like plastic get made and muck up the dungeons.”

This world’s doomsday clock is ticking. Emily had told Joey that when she came to visit Mathew in the hospital. He already understood pollution was bad…would inaction count as ticking, too?

“About your last question, though?” Breloom piped up. “I don’t give the Court more attention than I have to. But, I dunno. Pollution and danger aside, I think we have it pretty good with Arceus.”

Politoed nodded. “Not crazy about the idea of killing him.”

Joey gawked. “Wait, that’s what y’all meant by ‘he’s gotta go’?!”

“You guys can kill God here? It wouldn’t blow up the world or anything?” Mathew asked, surprised.

“…God?” Minichino seemed wholly unfamiliar with the word.

“Legendaries, Arceus, whatever you call them.”

“When somebody becomes a Legendary Pokémon, their soul becomes tethered to Solceus,” Politoed explained. “Been told that, when one dies, it’s easy for Xerneas and Yveltal to find that soul and bring it back to life. Not the case for us ordinary Pokémon.”

“That’s why the Court wages war by dueling each other to the death until one side remains,” Breloom added. “It’s still their jobs to protect mortals. Regular pokémon with lives to lose fighting on behalf of the immortal Court’s something they call unacceptable. So unless you happen to not actually be Solcean, you’ve gotta watch on the sidelines.”

“Bring people back to life, huh…” Mathew went quiet for a moment, looking away from them all.

Joey was still mulling this all over. It was a lot take in — enough to leave him feeling overwhelmed. He thought this was gonna be all about their mindset with the job, and here he was, getting lectured on the gods. “This is all handy to know, but why’d you rope us in all this way instead of just yammering on at your house?”

Minichino gripped the side of her robe with her paw. The three of them closed the gap between Mathew and Joey, lowering her voice. “Because SEAS’ got two names. Everyone gets that they’re the Scientific Engagement and Activity Society on the outside…but what they actually call themselves on the inside is OCEAN.”

OCEAN…Joey thought he might have heard soldiers referencing an ‘ocean’ in the Waregle before. “What does it mean?”

Minichino took a breath, as if she had to muster the strength to repeat it herself. “The Organized Committee for the Erasure of Arceus’ Negligence.”

“Hah?” Joey took a step back. “Erasure of Arceus’ Negligence? Does that mean they—?”

“They’re trying to play a role in the war.” Mathew was quicker to reach the implied conclusion than Joey was. “That’s why you’re telling us all this for, right?”

She nodded. “If they’re really building armies like I’ve heard, then they’re breaking millions of years’ worth of tradition. Obviously, anybody who wants to work there should know that, right?”

Joey was left in stunned silence for a moment. This whole war thing seemed to have cascading consequences, and it sounded like SEAS, or OCEAN, wanted in on it, for one reason or another. Even if it meant breaking some rules…

…Did that…change much? Yes, it was important to know what they were fighting for, and it was a shame that it took Minichino for that truth to come out. But he and Mathew already knew that OCEAN owned an army and sought a greater mission.

For that matter, neither of them really knew anything about Arceus. Maybe he really was a bad god. Then again, he could just as easily reckon that he was a good god. It’d be hard to get clarity either way — these three would tell him Arceus is good, their recruiters would tell him Arceus is bad, and strangers would probably just give him weird looks.

Although it seemed like the three of them had intended this to make him rethink, Joey was stuck in the same place as before: he would follow Mathew into OCEAN so the two of them could finish the Wristlet together.

Expectantly, Joey looked to the cubone. Did he feel the same way?

“You know, Minichino,” Mathew began. There was some tension in his gaze. “I don’t think I want what you’re selling here.”

“Huh?” the minccino seemed confused.

“I told you before that I wasn’t interested in any crazy plans.” Mathew straightened up, looking serious. “You told me not to worry, and now look! You three are trying to put a wedge in my and Joey’s livelihood while everything we have is on the line.” He pointed the blunt end of the Club at Minichino. “You’re acting just like he did!”

This was the first time Joey had seen any of these three panicked. Minichino backed up a little, her bushy tail straightening. Politoed scratched at his crown. Breloom tilted her head forward, looking uneasily at Politoed. Even he could see how unprepared they were for their grip on this conversation to slip.

“Not what we were going for at all!” Politoed exclaimed breathily. “Didn’t bring you out here to ask you to quit.”

“Then what’s all this then?” Mathew insisted. “You brought us out here to tell us about the war, and then how OCEAN might be breaking laws about it.”

“Doesn’t mean you have to quit. Just that you have to be aware.”

“Yeah, Politoed’s right!” Minichino said. “It’s still your choice at the end of the day. We’re not gonna take that away from you. All we wanna do is help you out by making sure you’re aware of what’s going on.”

Mathew stepped closer to Minichino. “You’re sure this is all for our sake?”

Minichino was unfazed by the approach. “Totally. Whatever is going on in your corner of the world, the three of us are here for you.”

He squinted. “Even if that means helping me get recruited into OCEAN?”

“Yep! If there’s anything we can do to make your job easier, we’re all ears.” She brushed a paw through one of her gigantic ears. “Well, I’m at least ten percent ears.”

“If you’re only ten percent ears, we’re done for.” Breloom brought her claws up to her nonexistent ears, then gestured to the side of Politoed’s head.

Joey reached up to the side of his head with his free hand and felt around. “I don’t have ears…”

Mathew stood there for a moment, tension wavering. The ear jokes seemed to be enough to make him break away. “Oh, thank God.” He stumbled back, hand on his mask. “You guys are the real deals after all.”

“Of course we are, Math,” Breloom said, her gentle smirk cutting through any remaining awkwardness between the humans and the Solceans. “The Club’s got some power — we’ll figure something out.”

He sighed in relief. “Good. I…I really didn’t want this to be Meowth all over again.”

Minichino gave a snappy nod. “Neither did we!”

Joey was just glad they didn’t have to worry about this anymore. It felt like a weirdly long time since so many of his friends were on the same page.

They were giving him permission to stick to his guns with OCEAN. That’s the best he could ask for from them.

“Been a hard day for all of us, I think,” Politoed remarked, stretching his back. “Met this slurpuff who sold some delicious sweets while we were out in the market. Why don’t we all get some dessert while we figure out the game plan? My treat.”

“Heck yeah!” Minichino pumped her fists, leading the charge out of the church.

“Weren’t you downing a smoothie just an hour ago?” Breloom asked her.

“Hey, Arceus tells us not to be afraid to treat yourself sometimes!”

Joey was happy to follow along. Things were better this way.