Chapter 17: Journey into Misery
by LukerUpgradezChapter 17: Journey into Misery
For the past weekend, Meowth had been chewing on two things. First, his morning bread; second, the number of discomforting discoveries he had been making recently.
At first, he had been fully on-board with interrogating and investigating his way to the answers he wanted. Mr. Persian, in approaching him after those years of silence, had opened those floodgates for him. As far as he should be concerned, his pursuits were going very well. Meowth had found that there were secrets to be uncovered in almost everyone he was surrounded by. That was supposed to be a good thing. It meant that he was right!
But Meowth hadn’t anticipated how it would feel to uncover that reality. He had snuck into his father’s office and put his livelihood at stake, all for something he now realized he didn’t understand. It was disconcerting.
Meowth had thought the answer was going to be simple and petty — a motivation he could throw in his father’s face and say “I knew it!” But now he was facing a completely new situation. Humans, threat levels, contracts of familial uninvolvement… The nature of Mr. Persian’s superiors still completely eluded him. He still wasn’t even sure where he fit into this picture, much less Minichino, Politoed, or Breloom.
To be frank, all of it had planted a seed of doubt in Meowth’s mind. Should he really be doing this? There was so much more on the line now. This company, SEAS, was clearly more dangerous than he had initially realized. His father had signed something to push him away, but how safe would that really keep him if he took the offensive?
All this had been a driving reason he had been keeping a low profile over the weekend. The most he had done in the wake of this mysterious Misery Cave expedition was try poking at the prospect of bettering his relationship with Mathew.
As Mathew, Joey, and Jermy were talking strategy in the living room and he was standing in the kitchen, Meowth was fairly sure he was going to stay in that position…that was, until he decided to check the mailbox in his front yard to see if there were any deliveries he had missed yesterday. There was some useless junk that had arrived the previous Sunday, as well as some notes regarding his condo’s expenses, but only one had grabbed his attention.
It was addressed from Kalmwa’er Resort.
Instantly, Meowth tore the envelope open and pulled out the paper inside.
Dear Meowth II of Kalmwa’er,
To kick off the fourth week of its operation, the Management Staff of the Pick-it Up Club would like to formally acknowledge and appreciate the Club’s hardest and strongest workers. We are pleased to remind you that you are an exceptional component to the Club’s survival and success!
…Huh? Meowth was already taken aback by this strange letter from…the management staff? That was just his father, wasn’t it? The only other people who fit that bill were Minichino and Demurke, and neither of them would send a letter calling him exceptional. They all knew how little he cared about the work they did here. Curious, he read on.
As part of this acknowledgement, the Management Staff is also pleased to provide commentary on its perspective of work-life balance. The Pick-it Up Club values the well-being of both the environment and of the people who live in it. Thus, our workers are encouraged to take the time needed away from the position to rest and recover, so that they can give it their all when they return.
What time off could Club workers possibly need? This was a part time job. They started early in the morning and were done by noon. Sure, there was the occasional fight to be had, but with the supplies of his medical kit, that was nothing to be concerned about. Meowth would hardly call it ‘high-maintenance’ to the point of needing extra time off.
It should be noted that our employment contract ensures that employees are permitted at least one vacation day each month. You are highly encouraged to take advantage of this day before the end of the month! It would make you feel much happier, and allow you to continue working with us.
We thank you for your time and consideration.
With love,
The Management Staff of the Pick-it Up Club
…Oh.
Meowth wasn’t sure if Mr. Persian could have made this message any more obvious than he did in the back end of this semi-formal letter. Just reading it, he could picture that fake grin his father would’ve putting on while saying it allowed.
Don’t come to work today. That’s what he was telling Meowth, loud and clear.
“Meowth!” Jermy had pulled open the front door and called out to him. He must have noticed that he quietly slipped out. “We’re all about ready to go. How about you?”
Meowth turned towards the pikachu, and, for only a second, paused. He thought about the message in his paw, and what it meant…and suddenly, he felt invigorated all over again. Once more, the scent of a rat came come to his nostrils — there was something his father didn’t want him to see when the rest of the Club went to Misery Cave.
There were dangers to be had, sure. But now Meowth remembered the reason he was here. He couldn’t corner his father like he thought, but he could still discover the motives behind what he was doing. And that was something Meowth refused to pass up.
He lowered the paw holding both the envelope and the letter to his side, carefully pointing the text away from Jermy. “Yeah. Just let me get my kit.”
Today was the day, and Mathew could hardly wait.
The Club had gathered early in the morning in the Resort lobby, waiting for Mr. Persian and Demurke to arrive. Since their trip today was supposed to be higher stakes and very relevant to their performance, David had apparently canceled their Waregle training for the day. Mathew would’ve more than appreciated the warmup, but at this point, he felt ready enough that he didn’t mind too much.
The wait for them was almost agonizing. The cubone was nervous, yes, but there was so much to be excited for! This incredibly busy week was about to pay off in spades. If he did this, succeeded, and then finished the Wormhole Wristlet, they were completely set. Mathew would get the comfier OCEAN position; Joey would get his memories back without him having to say a word; and Meowth would get the hell out of his life.
It was perfect. He was so close to getting everything he wanted.
Soon enough, a certain murkrow wandered into the lobby, carrying eight satchels in her wings…but no cream-colored cat.
Politoed was the first to point it out. “Where’s Mr. Persian?” He sprung up from the beanbag chair.
“Um… Mr. Persian i-isn’t gonna make it today,” Demurke explained. “He needed some…time away this m-morning. So he told me to share the p-plans!”
“Of course he isn’t,” Meowth mumbled, because, Mathew figured, he had nothing else productive to say.
Minichino, on the other hand, looked more concerned as she rose. “Oh… Okay.” She approached Demurke, reaching for the satchels, but the murkrow stopped her.
“I-I got it!” she declared, getting her to back away. The Murkrow promptly turned to Mathew and offered him one of the satchels. “H-Here,” she said gently. When Mathew took it, it was heavier than usual. Mathew could tell there were two things hidden inside. The first was a pair of dark-type goggles that would prevent Hypnosis from affecting him. David had issued for some to be sent to him after their meeting with Dit. The second…
The gun.
One by one, Demurke handed out each satchel to the rest, trying to make the handoff look innocuous. Joey and Jermy were next, of course, since both of them were also receiving a pair of goggles, but Demurke had no set order for the ones receiving empty satchels. However, when she made it to Politoed and Breloom, she paused, peering down at another brown bag next to Breloom’s chair. “What’s in that b-bag?” she asked.
“Oh yeah, we were gonna show these off after Per got here,” Breloom remarked. She reached down into a bag and pulled out a rolled up piece of parchment. “Poli and I grabbed a few things to help us out, like this map of the cave.”
“W-woah, that’s…really useful!” Demurke jumped up onto one of the chairs and peered over Breloom’s shoulder, getting a look at the map in her claws.
“Not the only thing we brought with us!” Politoed reached in and grabbed three more objects: a pair of strange-looking sticks and a red glass ball with yellow spots and the symbol of a white, spiked snowflake in its center. Two wands and a wonder orb, if Mathew’s memory of Jermy and Demurke’s lecture on them was right. “First come, first serve. Whoever takes one’s responsible for using them to help everyone else.”
Minichino’s eyes lit up. “A Tunnel Wand! Politoed, you’re a genius!” She reached for a stick shaped like a pickaxe with only one sharp end.
“Don’t thank me,” he said as he passed it off to her. “Thank the Kalmwa’er Service Guild. Got some family that works for them, so I could call in a favor.”
“So you came up to them, asked them for help…and they just handed you their map of the dungeon and a set of items?” Meowth asked, still primed to bite the hand that fed him like the brat he was.
Politoed shrugged. “Guess they were in a good mood yesterday.” He raised up the remaining wand and orb. “Gonna hand off one of these and keep the other for myself. Any takers?”
Mathew examined both objects, but only one of them really caught Mathew’s eye. It was a bright blue stick whose shape was jagged and uneven. Two strange, azure-colored leaves sprouted from its side. Its end pointed straight forward, and the part in Politoed’s hand was round and easy to grip. “What’s that?” Mathew inquired.
“Whirlwind Wand,” Politoed explained. “Wave it at somebody and it’ll send a gust of wind that launches them way back. Would be good for keeping distance.”
Distance might be just what he needed against Meowth. “Dibs,” Mathew said promptly. He raised the hand clutching his club and loosened his grip so he could take the other weapon.
“You got it.” Politoed tossed the wand Mathew’s way. It met with his hand, but he failed to clutch it, causing it to hit the carpet below.
“Woah!” Minichino leapt to his aid, as if to rescue him. She picked up the Whirlwind Wand and properly offered it to him. “Be careful with this. You don’t want it to break.”
“Alright,” Mathew said. Seeing that he couldn’t carry both at once, he took the wand and gently set it in his satchel for now. Now, not only did he have three weapons to use, but the wand staying in his satchel would hide the gun even better.
“And that leaves me with the All Power-Up Orb,” Politoed said as he added the Wonder Orb to his own satchel. “Dunno if we really need it, but I’ll keep it if we’re in a pinch.”
“It’s really great that y-you brought all this!” Demurke said, leaping down from the chair. “We m-might need these, since n-not all of us…will have Meowth’s kit s-so close.”
“What’s that mean?” Meowth asked in an accusatory tone.
Demurke turned to Meowth. “It’s b-because of…the plan Mr. P-Persian has. Could I have the m-map? That’ll…help.” Breloom gave it to her, and she planted it down on the floor. As if they were in a war meeting, they all gathered closely around her. Her wing fell on the cave entrance. “When we get there, we’re gonna l-leave the buggy as close to the entrance as we can. Mr. Persian and I p-put a bunch of extra satchels in the floor, so once we g-get a couple filled, we can come back to the buggy to leave them there and get f-fresh ones. We should start out as…deep as we can m-make it into the cave so we won’t…have to walk as much later on.”
ORB studied the map. “Misery Cave has two levels and two floors. Even with dozens of satchels, the area you will all need to cover is vast.”
Demurke quickly sprung off of him. “That’s why Mr. Persian wants us to…divide and conquer.” She moved her wing to the first floor. “Mathew, Joey, Jermy, and Meowth need to make their way through the lower level.” Then, it went to the second. “Minichino, Politoed, and Breloom, and I will…work on the upper level.”
“Interesting spread,” Politoed said. “Mr. Persian got a reason for those choices?”
Demurke nodded. “Mhm. Mr. Persian wanted Mathew and Joey to stick with Jermy for business reasons, and Meowth so they c-could get to his…medical kit easily. E-everyone else needs to go on the upper floor because th-that’s where the…geodudes are supposed to be.” Her expression became more intense. “Mr. Persian said that it was really important that we stick with our groups. If those guys catch us by surprise, somebody…might get hurt.”
“We hear you loud and clear!” Minichino exclaimed. “We’ll stay safe out there, no problem.”
“Good!” she exclaimed. “In that case, are we…g-good to go?” The question was aimed at everyone, but she was looking to two people in particular. “Jermy? Joey?”
Jermy was despondent, until ORB nudged him. “Yeah! Yeah, I’m ready. Let’s frolick in this filth!” he exclaimed. Mathew knew why Jermy was acting so odd — it seemed like he didn’t think they could do it. Mathew could prove him wrong, he was sure of it.
Joey, though…he had been quiet since their meeting with Dit. He wasn’t really sure why. It was probably the pressure getting to him, if Mathew had to guess. The totodile got to his feet. “I reckon we’re ready.”
“Yeah, sounds like it, Joe.” Breloom made for the front door. “Dem, pass me the keys. I’ll drive.”
Mathew had no objections.
As the buggy cruised down Asulaguah Beach, the air around them was tense. Joey wasn’t sure if all of them had noticed, chatting away casually like nothing was wrong, but he certainly did. Right now, in this buggy, half of the people here were preparing to jump Meowth. The other half was completely oblivious.
Joey’s feet shuffled around, pushing the empty satchels on the floor of the buggy. He was settled in the back row, on the left end. To his right was Meowth, and past him, Demurke. The cat was flanked on both sides. Mathew was right in front of him. It was probably for the best that the cubone was on a different row; it made it real tough for Meowth to see what was inside his satchel. Joey, of course, already knew.
On its left, the buggy approached a cracked rock that was more than familiar.
“You guys don’t happen to see our old friends over there, do you?” Breloom asked them all. Unlike the incident that cracked that rock six days ago, she was driving slow enough for the whole group to hear. Everyone’s eyes were on the rock as it passed by.
“Nope. No sign of that barbaracle,” Jermy, in the center of the buggy, remarked. Joey couldn’t make anything out, either.
“Really, we should be thankful,” Minichino commented. “The last thing we need is another dungeon pokémon on our backs!”
Joey supposed Minichino was right. Still, for a brief moment, he wished that that dungeon pokémon was there, that it had gotten in the buggy’s way and maybe even prevented them from reaching Misery Cave entirely. Then maybe he would stop feeling so miserable, going along with this.
He wished that there had been some landmark around where he had first woken up on this beach seven days ago, or where he had found Mathew in Pawalmtry Forest just next door. If he had known then that awakening Mathew would lead to this endless cycle of investigating him and appeasing him…that it would lead to this chaotic, messy double-life that was difficult to keep up with…that it would lead to this…would he have still woken him up?
“Joey. Are you okay?”
The crocodile lurched in his seat. “Yeah, I’m right as rain,” he remarked, trying to cover himself. It amazed him how Meowth could read his contemplation so easily off of his face. “What about you?”
For a second, Meowth looked off. “I’ve been thinking about this mission a lot.” He didn’t make it clear, but from his tone, Joey could just tell — Meowth could feel the tension, too.
Joey could tell him where the tension was coming from. It’d only take a couple words to — no, no! He couldn’t do that! There were a dozen reasons he couldn’t. Joey had to keep building trust. He had to keep working for OCEAN. It was the only path to his memories. Meowth knew all about that from their ride on the gondola. He would understand, right?
No, that wasn’t what he should be asking. Meowth…would forgive him, right?
That was the question that was swirling in Joey’s head when they arrived at the entrance to Misery Cave.
The first thing that caught the totodile off-guard was the sheer height of the cave. As Pawalmtry Forest came to an end and opened into a grassy field, a weathered rock wall grew taller and taller, and the sand bumpier and bumper, until a massive opening made itself known. From it came the mouth of a river — Arbor River, according to Politoed and Breloom’s map — spilling out into the ocean like drool from the mouth of a beast. As the buggy came closer, Joey could get a better look at the interior. The ceiling was hollowed out, with openings to the plains above allowing light to flood into the part of the cave protecting the river.
Given how erosion caused by rain and river water slowly displaces rock and dirt over time, giving shape to new landscapes and altering the kind of life that can thrive in it, Joey figured that Misery Cave would one day become Misery Canyon.
…Joey blinked. Where had that come from? Another highly specific piece of knowledge he had nothing with which to ground… Did this have to do with that monologue that came to mind, right as he first came to? Why was it that this was what he could recite?
He wondered if, after the dust settled here, Joey would finally have an answer.
Breloom could only get so close to the cave with the buggy — the ground was becoming more rock than sand, and the more time they spent on it, the greater the chance they’d drive over one sharp enough to puncture tires. “Is this good enough?” she asked Demurke as she parked it.
“Yeah…th-that should be fine!” Demurke responded.
“Uh, now that we got here, question,” Mathew said, rolling his club in his hands. “All of the other dungeons have had these really funky names. Why is this one so…normal?”
“Think this one was probably named before Kalmwa’er was founded,” Politoed explained, twisting his head from the shotgun seat to look at Mathew. “Arbor River was mapped out more than two thousand years ago, while Kalmwa’er’s not that old. Probably had a different name before it was translated into the speech we use today.”
“Enough with the chit-chat, guys!” Minichino said, leaping from her seat without a second thought. “Let’s get this party started.”
Politoed and Breloom, at the front of the buggy, were quick to follow her, but the five in the back, not so much. Him, Mathew, Meowth, Jermy, Demurke…it was like there was a weight holding all of them down. Eventually, Demurke flew forward to lead Minichino, Politoed, and Breloom, and then it was just the four of them, padding their way through the rocks towards the cave.
Joey took one last look at the ocean before they went in. It wasn’t as comforting as he wished it was. Then, he forged ahead with the others.
He just wanted to get this over with.
As Jermy led Meowth and the humans who would soon fight him down Misery Cave, following along the river whose flow roared against the cavern walls, a mixture of feelings swirled through the pikachu’s head. On one end, the image of him yesterday, facing down David and trying to match him on equal footing, was still giving Jermy an incredible rush. He had long since suppressed those abilities because of their source, but the way flashing them had made David rethink…the catharsis would linger in his head for a long, long time.
One the other end, though he had won a small battle with David, Dit had utterly crushed him. His voice had fallen on deaf ears, in favor of perpetuating a boneheaded plan for the sake of ‘loyalty building.’ Jermy had no competence in the skill of developing such relationships, and even he could see into the pidgeot’s blind spot. Not that anybody noticed or cared — he was just David’s assistant, having a fit. Blast, that was demeaning…
Still, it wasn’t like Jermy could just run off from his position. The level of chaos such a thing would cause OCEAN was indeed immaculate, as David had pointed out. And besides, if he did try to bail from the organization, where would he go? The portals back to Earth were well-monitored and maintained, so escaping back there would be impossible.
Meanwhile, besides OCEAN’s mission, Jermy had no place in this world. He was merely a passing Earthling in a distant land, only familiar with it through study and distant observation. He hardly ever got time outside of OCEAN property — Kalmwa’er had really been his first glimpse into what normal living was like for these people.
Jermy was stuck. And so, for now, he would continue to follow along, as much as it miffed him.
At Jermy and Demurke’s lead, the Club approached the fork in the road. The ceiling of the cave hung low to the river’s surface, so low that it’d be unsafe to crawl into the water and follow it directly. Instead, two small openings, likely burrowed by cave dwellers ages ago, split off from the river on each end. The one on the left veered off as a straight side path, while the one on the right inclined upwards.
“Here…w-we are,” Demurke said. “We sh-should be going over here.” She gestured to Minichino, Politoed, and Breloom, before leaping up and gliding to the other side, careful not to bump her head. The three had no problem following her across the river. Politoed, as a water type, had a natural affinity for swimming; Breloom had clearly learned from the best; and Minichino knew how to put the effort in, taking full advantage where it was shallow enough to stand and pushing hard where it wasn’t. Soon enough, the water had made its rift.
Jermy exchanged one last knowing look to the murkrow. “Alright, guys, this way!” The two of them began to lead each party to its fate.
The tightly cramped side path strayed from the holes in the roof of the cave, bringing them away from the sun’s light. It would have been deathly dark…if it weren’t for a line of torches adorning the walls. Jermy found this quite peculiar. Who on Solceus came all the way out here and lit these? Surely it wasn’t the dungeon pokémon. Regardless, it gave Jermy an idea.
“Hey, Mathew.” Jermy stopped the group to point at one of the torches. “You should snatch some light off of one of these!” The pikachu’s voice reverberated off of the close walls.
The cubone paused, looking between the pikachu and the torch. “What?”
Jermy lightly smacked himself. “Right, we didn’t make it to that part of the lectures… Depending on what evolution you end up taking, that club of yours might be able to hold on to fire without any burn marks! I was gonna get you to try it in private, but hey, this works too. Just hold it up — can’t bust up that club much either way.”
Mathew tested it, reaching up and dipping the blunt end of his club into the torch, and sure enough, the fire clung to it, turning it into a makeshift torch itself. “Huh…” Mathew seemed surprised and impressed.
“Interesting,” Meowth remarked. “I didn’t know that about cubone.”
Joey looked up towards the ceiling. “Ain’t all these torches supposed to be creating more smoke than a cigar in a cartoon in here?”
“Not how it works,” Jermy mumbled, just ignoring Meowth’s confused expression. “Hold that torch close to the floor, Mathew — we’re supposed to wait to grab trash until the end, but hey, all the surveying we get helps, right?”
With that, the four of them moved along, their steps against the hard rock floor echoing throughout the cavern path. Indeed, there were several pieces of trash here and there — paper wrapping was crumpled up and stuffed into a corner, while tiny bowls and bottles lay around, too dirty to properly use. From time to time, Joey would pick something up, prompting the others to do the same out of courtesy. But they had a plan to stick to: get to the end first.
Get to the right place to bludgeon Meowth first.
Their destination came upon them soon enough. The burrow opened up into a wide area filled with the mighty roar of Arbor River flowing above them. There was only darkness here — besides the glow of their eyes, ORB’s frontal glass, the fire along the walls, and the light of Mathew’s club, inky blackness awaited on all sides. A walkway had been formed by past spelunkers to guide them, where the rock was smooth and easy to follow. When Mathew put his torch up to the sides of the path, he could see sharp stalagmites shooting up from the ground, walling them off.
“Jesus, no wonder we’ve never tried cleaning this place…” Mathew mumbled, planting his free hand against a rock wall. There was a fork in the road, divided by this wall. The side of the wall towards the left path had a sconce filled with a torch; the sconce towards the right was completely empty.
“I reckon we should probably go left.” Joey squatted down and squinted at the ground. When he came back up, he had found a plastic fork.
With no objections, they drifted that direction. Although, as they moved, Jermy couldn’t help but ponder why only one path had alight torches. Surely the dungeon pokémon wouldn’t mind them…had somebody come and snuffed them out?
That was when he heard it. Past their footsteps and the rushing water, there was another sound bounding through the cavern. Some kind of…shuffling?
Jermy put himself in front and, with a gesture, got the others to line up behind him. If this was some kind of threat to their goals here, it would be his job to get it out of the way. With Mathew and ORB’s guidance, Jermy prowled forward like a mouse hunting its cheese. Steady…steady…around the bend…and—
“Grooooar!”
“Waaaah!” Jermy stumbled back in panic as he almost smacked face-to-face into the pokémon turning the sharp corner. “Back! Back!” he shouted, just short of firing off an electric attack when he realized they had jumped back as well. The pokémon’s own torch clattered to the ground, slipping out of their…wing? No, Jermy realized, this one wasn’t able to growl at all — merely imitate it.
Behind him, Jermy heard Meowth’s recognition. “…Chip?”
A blue-ish blob, made muddy by the deep shadows, tended to the headphone-carrying chatot. “Chip! Ya good?!”
“I’m fine, sire…” Chip mumbled, getting to his feet… then promptly giving the…whoever this was a pat on the back. “But thanks for making sure,” he added sincerely.
Meowth pushed up in line, joining Jermy. “What are you two doing here?”
“I think we could say the same to you,” he remarked, giving Meowth and Jermy a stern glare as he picked up his torch. “Misery Cave’s not the kind of place you should just walk into! If we weren’t here lighting the place, you wouldn’t be able to even see your paws!”
“Yeah!” the figure, which Jermy was going to take a shot in the dark and call a poliwhirl, chimed in. “These here stalagmites could come down and crush any one of ya! Or worse, block the exits!”
“Aren’t they stalactites?” Jermy pointed out.
“They’re stalactites, Poliwrath,” Meowth agreed. “The ones next to us are stalagmites.”
The poliwhirl tensed his fists, wrapped with some kind of orange sports tape. “Potayto, potahto! Who’s got time to keep track of them names anyway?!”
“Well,” Chip chimed in. “There was the little phrase from Dungeoneering class. ‘C’ for ceiling—”
“—’G’ for ground,” Meowth finished.
Chip turned to him, impressed. “So you at least remember that…”
“Point still stands!” Poliwrath remarked. “If ya didn’t tell anyone where yer going, ya’d start running into real problems real fast! We’d hafta get the rest of the ol’ Service Guild to come and help save you, and that’s assuming we notice ya missing.”
Jermy took a moment to glance behind him. Mathew and Joey had taken a step or two back. Mathew had a distraught glare, and Joey… That wasn’t an expression of relief, was it?
Regardless, it seemed like they were catching on to the problem he was seeing, too — there was no way they could fulfill the plan with these two Service Guild members out and about. How were they supposed to make sure that the officers not only left without suspicion, but stayed away far enough that they wouldn’t notice when things get dicey? Mathew and Joey needed to fight Meowth…
…but he didn’t.
The thought was ironic. Before, he was voicing that the three of them together lacked the experience to do this, and now the two of them were going to have to do this without him. The pikachu would have to misdirect Poliwrath and Chip.
“You know, there actually are a couple of people you could check up on to make sure you don’t have to save them,” Jermy said. “A couple of our buddies are on the other side of the cave, going around and cleaning up!”
“Cleaning up…” Recollection filled Chip’s eyes as he looked to Jermy, then Meowth. “Oh, you’re with the Club! Sire, that means…”
“Eh, ain’t that surprising he’d go along with some crazy ol’ stunt like this.” Poliwrath crossed his arms, playing with one of the loosened straps on his left wrist. “Sure, I could go pay Politoed a visit.”
“Cool! I could show you how to get to them, if you wanted.”
Meowth raised a brow. “Are you sure?” he seemed both curious and a tad confused.
ORB came to Jermy’s rescue. “If there’s anybody in this cave who’s expendable enough to join late to the cleanup, it’s Jermy,” he advised.
Chip shrugged. “Why don’t you lead the way then, uh…?”
Jermy offered a hand to shake, as if nothing was wrong. “Jermy!”
“Alright, let’s make this quick!” Poliwrath pointed at the other three. “If y’all are set on going down there, well…try not to get your heads chopped off.” He eyed Meowth, then Mathew. “Or chop off each other’s heads! Heheheh!”
“Sure.” Meowth met him with a glare made ominous by the flickering light.
The two of them quickly split up — Mathew, Joey, and Meowth continued down the path, while Jermy, ORB, Poliwrath, and Chip turned back. As the pikachu led them along, that miffed feeling returned to him. This was going to end badly, that he was certain of…but stopping this madness was out of the picture.
When Jermy got to the fork, he pointed towards the path that was unlit. “They went this way,” he lied.
“They went into the dark?!” Chip seemed shocked and concerned all at once. He pushed to the front, illuminating the way down the side path.
Poliwrath simply rolled his arm. “I swear, that boldness’ gonna be the end of ‘em one of these days.”
And so they pushed further into the dark, far away from anybody else.
It was just the three of them, now.
In the shadows, Joey hoped that the sunkenness of his expression was hidden from Mathew and Meowth. The moment they were anticipating was close — the crocodile could feel it, especially now that they had arrived at what seemed to be the back of the path. It had opened up into a flat, wide space, with the occasional sharp rock here and there to prod at their soles. Piles and piles of trash had been built up all around them — the handiwork of those geodudes — illuminated by the torches those two had hung up along the walls. It’d be easy for them to follow along the torches, but the center of the room was only lit by Mathew’s club.
“Alright,” the reptile said. “While we wait for Jermy to get back, we should probably handle what we can.” Mathew pointed towards a particularly large pile towards the middle of the room. “That one’s probably gonna take two of us to even make a dent in.”
Joey wasn’t really sure why Mathew had drawn attention to that pile, until he gave him a glare that said a thousand words. They needed a distraction — something to keep Meowth busy so he wouldn’t notice them preparing to strike. “I reckon I could help with that,” he remarked. “What about you, Meowth?”
Meowth looked to Joey, almost studying him…then shrugged. “Sure.”
“I’ll start us on that one over there.” Mathew gestured to the smaller pile just to the right. “We should make this quick — there’s so much garbage here, it smells. Goddamn…”
In response, Joey took a deeper whiff of the air and instantly regretted it. He wasn’t sure if he should be more worried by the smell itself, or the fact that his mind was so preoccupied that he didn’t notice it until Mathew pointed it out.
He and Meowth both sat down at the base of the pile, idly raking in trash and stuffing it into their satchels. Joey couldn’t help but notice that the cat had left his emergency kit at the bottom of his. In a few seconds’ time, it was buried beneath.
Joey peered to his right, past Meowth. He couldn’t see Mathew — only the edges of the light his torch of a club was illuminating. On the other side of this pile, he must be readying himself. As the one next to Meowth, it was Joey’s job to make an opening for him.
The crocodile took a deep breath. “How are you now?”
A bit stunned, Meowth looked to him. “Huh?”
“You said you were thinking a whole lot about all this. Now that you’re here…is it any better?”
“Oh.” Meowth relaxed, scooping up another part of the pile while staying fixated on Joey. “Not really. There’s something about all this that’s weird. I’m trying to figure it out.”
Everything in Joey’s body focused on keeping eye contact with the cat. Behind him, Mathew was there now, tiptoeing, saying nothing. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see him carrying the poison gun. He was wearing the goggles now, obscuring his eyes. Even carrying the light, Mathew’s expression was covered in layers of darkness. Joey could picture Meowth’s unnerved expression, if he turned around and saw this. “I reckon…it’s nothing,” he suggested calmly.
“Maybe.” Meowth closed his eyes and brought his head down a bit. Mathew flinched and leaned back…but the cat’s expression returned to Joey. “What about you? It seemed like something was distracting you.”
Mathew took one step. Another. He was close to Meowth now. Any closer and Meowth would notice the torchlight — his next move would have to come in one swift motion.
“Yeah…” he mumbled. “I’m just thinking about…” Joey imagined Meowth laying in front of him, passed out, face scratched from hitting the rocks too hard—
And that was when his conscience kicked in.
What were they doing?! Everything about this situation was ridiculous and cruel! Meowth didn’t deserve any of this! So why had he been…why was he just going along with it, wasting his time feeling all mopey?!
No. He couldn’t let this happen. He wouldn’t.
Behind Meowth, Mathew sprung forward and swung down.
Joey cried out.
“Meowth, behind you!”
SMACK.
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