Chapter 16: Begrudging Compliance

Chapter 16: Begrudging Compliance

“Y’all want us to what?!”

Joey couldn’t believe what he was hearing. When he and Mathew had been asked to drop by Dit’s office in Fascamile again for some information about their upcoming trip to Misery Cave, he had presumed that the pidgeon was going to give them pointers. Maybe some advice on how to fight in a dank, dark cave, or how to deal with the geodudes lurking inside the cavern. What the totodile wasn’t expecting was an order — especially not one this intense.

“It’ll be an easy job for youse,” Dit said, casually slouched back, letting his grip on the bar he seemed almost glued to keep him from falling. “That Meowth’s diggin’ himself in some hot wattah — but not hot enough that we gotta bring in da big guns. We just need to rough ‘em up and tell ‘em to back off, and I’d like tah bet that the both of youse are ready to do it.”

Shocked into silence, Joey looked towards his companions, desperate to see their own opinions. Demurke had been quiet since she had helped lead them to the office with David, who was waiting outside, so he could hardly get a read on her. Jermy… Joey couldn’t really figure out what he was thinking. He seemed positive as ever, but something about it just felt forced to the totodile. And Mathew—

“How could we fight Meowth in the middle of work and not get our asses handed to us?” Joey was disconcerted by the fact that Mathew’s question was not accusational, but inquisitive.

Dit wasted no time with his explanation. “I’ve got ya covered. We got one of our teams to take a look-see at this dungeon you’re tryna crawl through. There’s a big split down da middle, leads you far down the cave on different ends. Demoike will lead everyone who don’t gotta be involved to one side, while Jeremy will lead youse and Meowth the otha way to do the deed. Do it right, and he won’t say a peep to ‘em, and it’ll be like it never happened.”

Joey wasn’t really sure how to answer to such a mission. Meowth had made some mistakes and dug his hand too deep into all this OCEAN stuff, sure, but did that warrant assaulting him into compliance? Maybe if he could make them dial things back into confronting him verbally…

“Are y’all sure they won’t think that it’s weird we’re splitting up?” he pointed out. Minichino, Politoed, and Breloom were pretty smart — Joey couldn’t imagine them letting Meowth get physically hurt like that, even if they weren’t super friendly to him.

“…O-Only if we make it w-weird.” That was the first time Demurke had spoken up — and it, too, was in support.

“The bird is right,” ORB said, settled on the floor next to Jermy and Demurke’s chairs. “Due to the abundance of waste in all regions of the dungeon, there is a good reason to warrant splitting up. They might not listen to this dingus if he randomly said to divide and conquer—“ he whacked Jermy with his claw. “But they would probably trust a robot’s intuition.”

“And the cave?” Joey kept pressing. “I reckon a cave makes sound echo more than a mountain goat on a mountaintop.”

“Don’t worry about your gogoats or whosever — we already got one,” Dit remarked, trying to sound cheeky. “Like I said, it’s a big, big cave. They won’t hear da scuffle, and if they do, they might write it off as all those geodudes you’re supposed tah be fighting.” He straightened up and tucked his wings at his sides. “Trust me. I’ve been in da business long enough to know what works. If you do it right, it’ll work. Youse wanna make your employments happen? This is da way to do it.”

So that was it, then. They were all totally, definitely doing this. Mathew, Joey, and Jermy were going to lure Meowth into a secluded part of this cave and…beat him up, then threaten him to make him stop messing with OCEAN. It made Joey feel…weird. The totodile fidgeted with his tail, tucked between his legs as he sat. He knew he needed to support Mathew and get them into the organization, but this was serious.

But what could he say about all this? Without his memories, his grounding to the knowledge he’s retained, he doesn’t exactly have many argumentative points to stand on, other than that gut feeling of ‘it’s wrong’. Still, he was in a whole different world, and the way things worked seemed to be different, too. Nobody else seemed to think this was weird, or cruel. Maybe his gut here was just—

“You know what? This is a really stupid plan.”

It was as if Jermy had dropped a bomb into Dit’s office. Everyone’s gazes were on him in an instant — Dit’s annoyed, Mathew’s confused, Demurke’s terrified.

“Excuse me?” Dit remarked, sounding offended.

“Jermy, you need to pick your next words very carefully,” ORB advised.

“Thanks, I hear you,” Jermy said dismissively, lifting up from his chair with some force. “Forget the logistics for a moment — they are incredibly flawed, but forget them. Why are we putting Mathew and Joey up to this job, exactly?!” Jermy asked aggressively. “They just got here, while Meowth’s a graduate. Even if he’s outnumbered three to one, that doesn’t mean he’d outmatch us! What if he won, and left the cave not scared enough to be silenced? We’d be toast!”

Joey looked at the pikachu in awe. Yeah… Yeah, he was right. Neither Mathew nor Joey could beat any of the Club if they were truly fighting for their lives. They only made it this far with the help of the entire Club, including Meowth!

Dit didn’t seem so receptive. “Are you suggestin’ that I don’t give this mission to da newbies? Because that means they won’t be helping, and I don’t like workers who don’t help around da place.” Joey could clearly see the implication there.

“I’m not saying we shouldn’t give them a mission of some kind!” Jermy retaliated. “But this one is so asinine and risky, I’d hardly give it to you, much less anybody lower than—“

In a flash, the door to Dit’s office swung open. The decidueye outside had clearly been listening. “Jermy, that’s enough!” David briskly approached the pikachu.

“I’m not done here!” Jermy exclaimed.

“Yes, we are.” With his large digits, David easily picked him up.

“Hey! Rrrgh! Put me down right now, David!” Jermy’s protests became quieter as David walked out of the office with him in tow. ORB silently trailed them, nudging the door so it would close behind them.

A wave of silence flooded the room. Joey, Mathew, Demurke, and Dit were all submerged in a tense feeling, each at their own depths. Joey tightened his maw — he didn’t want to waste his breath.

“Sorry about dat.” Dit was the first to break the silence. “The humans we have around here…dey don’t always get how we do things here on Solceus. We can get our wings dirtier than ‘em.” The pidgeot loosened up. “Anywho, are dere any other objections we need to flatten out?”

Joey answered simply. “…No.”

To his side, the cubone shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know what the hell’s gotten into Jermy,” Mathew said. “Personally, I’m down for this.”

“Oh?” Dit seemed interested to hear his reasoning.

“I mean, Meowth’s an asshole to everyone, even to people who are nice to him. Somebody needs to go and straighten him out. Someone who fucks with their own patients is someone who deserves his legs broken.”

Dit seemed to take interest in the remark. “Breaking da legs, eh? You’d hafta do some careful framing to do that and get away with it. Geodudes got big fists though, so if you took that club and whacked ‘em with enough force…”

“Yeah, right,” Mathew leaned back, looking more relaxed. “How hard would I have to swing for that?”

“Harder than ya would on Earth, dat’s for sure, but it’s doable. If you really wanna give Meowth something to think about, breaking a bone might be da best you could do, short of killing him. Not that we can…”

Mathew nodded along. “Oran Berries wouldn’t heal that, wouldn’t they?”

“Dey only seal up fur, skin, and scales, and bones are none of the above.”

Every single word out of the two’s mouths sunk a pit deeper into Joey’s chest. He had been acquaintances with Meowth, trying to work together to get what both wanted. Heck, Joey really wanted to call him a friend, too. But helping Mathew and OCEAN was the only shot he had at getting his memories. With the Wormhole Wristlet left to finish, he had to stay by Mathew’s side and help him get what he wanted.

He took a deep breath. He hated this, but he had to do it. So, he said nothing at all.

“Though, I think you could do a lot bettah than that,” Dit continued. The pidgeot fell back and fiddled with something beneath him. “I got a gadget just for this occasion that could mess up Meowth in a whole ‘notha way. Now dat you’re all in…” When he rose, there was something spinning on the tip of his right wing. It slowed, and slowed, and…

“Holy shit,” Mathew muttered. Dit placed it down on the desk and slid it towards the cubone. There, in front of them, was a professionally-made gun, but it lacked any chamber to store bullets. When Mathew picked it up, Joey could tell how lightweight the gun was. “This fires poisonous fumes, doesn’t it?”

“Dat’s right,” Dit said. “I figured the gun’d help you, especially if you made ‘em do something like bargain his silence for a Pecha before he snuffs out. I got a team over in da science division to redo it with bettah stuff, but the type stone is the same one ya picked out.”

“That’s amazing!” Mathew said, fiddling with the weapon in his hands while avoiding the trigger for now. “I bet I could hide this in the Club satchel.”

“And with the rest of dat Club gearing you up, youse should be more than ready to kick some tail. Or, at least a tail that curls at the end,” he said jokingly, waving a wing.

Eagerly, Mathew looked to Joey. “This is perfect, Joey! The Wormhole Wristlet, overclocking it in the Club, and this? We’re going to have a hell of a resume.”

“Uh, yeah,” Joey said. He truly hoped Mathew was right.

---

“Hey! Rrrgh! Put me down right now, David!”

David wasted no time in carrying Jermy straight out of Dit’s office. As soon as he did, Jermy sprung from his grip and leapt to the floor. When he turned around, he was quickly reminded of his own tiny size — David looked over him, an enraged expression on his face.

“Are you trying to sabotage us, Jermy?!” he exclaimed after the door shut behind them. “Dit just handed us the key to getting Mathew and Joey in!”

Maybe that was true, but Jermy was tired of pretending to be invested in this. “I don’t really care about the recruitment at this point. Do you not see what we’re doing, David? Making big threats, putting our members in situations way out of their league, recruiting way more than we should in the first place… This is exactly what happened last time!”

David buried his face in his wings, letting out a heave, and then brought his wings down firmly. “Jermy, you’re forgetting another part of ‘what happened last time’.”

“I’m forgetting?” Jermy had lived through the whole ordeal. What could Jermy have possibly forgotten about it?

“‘Last time’, two of our own betrayed us and tried to destroy everything we’ve been working for,” David reminded him. “If we want to stand even a chance at toppling a god, we have to have unity. Getting at each other’s throats is our free ticket to losing that.”

“I don’t want to repeat the past,” Jermy argued. “I don’t want to abandon OCEAN, and I don’t want to abandon my apprenticeship with you. But I’m tired of sitting here and twiddling my mousey thumbs, acting like everything is okay. If we don’t clean up our act, we’re not even gonna make it to Arceus!”

“Jermy, please.” At that, Jermy witnessed something that the decidueye showed only on the worst of occasions. Out of the grass-type, electricity surged, forming into a ball in David’s hands, ready to be fired from him with the might of a cannon. Though he knew David was merely demonstrating and wouldn’t actually lob it, it was hard to disregard a charge so intense that it could birth a thunderstorm. “Don’t forget what we all trusted each other with. We can’t afford to lose any more of us. Not after Jane, and especially not after General Goodman.”

Jermy stalled for a moment. Anger boiled within him, but David was right — he was needed here, badly. If he pushed any further, OCEAN was going to crack and split once more, and that was the last thing anybody needed. He looked to ORB, standing at the side, seeking his perspective.

“I’ve calculated the odds,” ORB said. “This is a fight you can’t win, Jermy.”

Jermy sighed. “Fine. I’ll go along with this.” Right as David’s electricity dissipated, his spunk came back to him. “But!”

He paused for a second, wondering if he should do this…then promptly decided it was worth it. Jermy tapped into something deep within himself, a gift that he had let remain dormant for much of his time wielding it. After a second, he brought it forth, and summoned grass-type energy — energy so immense Jermy knew he could make a flowerbed bloom in a matter of seconds. If he unleashed it, a flare of energy would burst forth, wrecking everything in its path.

He never liked demonstrating that he possessed it, but, after spending so long as a meek little pikachu, he could feel an overwhelming sense of power. “Don’t forget that you’re not the only one who can show off like that.”

David gasped at the display…but something in his demeanor changed. Rather than hem and haw about Jermy’s divisiveness, he closed his eyes, brought a wing-hand to his beak, and hummed. “Fair enough, Jermy. Fair enough.”