Chapter 19: In the Dark

Chapter 19: In the Dark

In the depths of Misery Cave, there was little to comfort Mathew. All he could see was the pile of trash, burning away at papers and plastics and leaving nothing in its wake. All he could smell was the rank, polluted air of the waste around him. All he could hear was the crackle of that fire as it did its work. And, sitting down at a distance from the flame, all he could think about was the fight that had just transpired.

The cubone had gone into this believing he had the support of everyone. Joey and Jermy, despite the latter’s complaints, had been right there with him, seemingly willing to assist with taking Meowth on. OCEAN had supplied him with the weaponry to fulfill this mission, and the Club the battleground. And yet, here he was, with the two he trusted most having run off with Meowth to fight some unexplained threat, suddenly rejecting all of the promises and ambitions that he had been working for.

Mathew idly fiddled with the satchel around his body. At this point, he wasn’t even angry at them — just so, so confused. What the hell did any of this mean anymore? His whole world for the past week or so had revolved around OCEAN. So why—

Maybe Jermy knows more about this than me…

It passed through his head like a thought. It even matched his own inner voice. But whatever that was, it was not Mathew’s mind that had come up with it.

Instantly, he was back on his feet, looking away from the light of the fire in search of a source. “Who’s there?!” he called out. His voice reverberated against the walls of the cavern for several long seconds. Mathew’s mind began to tingle with doubt. Maybe he really had just imagined—

“Huh. I guess I shouldn’t have expected that to work on you.” Just like that, Mathew’s second-guessing vanished. The voice was more foreign and feminine now that she wasn’t trying to imitate him.

“Where the hell are you?” Mathew whirled around, squinting out into the darkness of the cave through his goggles. She seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.

“In your head at the moment. I’ve been watching you and your friends for some time. A few of you seemed like you needed a motivator right now.”

The cubone swiped his snout around, futilely trying to shoo her away. “Well I’ll pass. The last thing I need right now is a second promise from a weird mysterious voice that everything will get better if I just do x, y, and z. I’m not even finished figuring out the first one!”

“Right,” the voice from the dark said, her voice lingering no matter which way he moved. “You mean the promise from…the ‘light’, I’ve heard you call him, which hasn’t come true in the slightest?”

“I haven’t fulfilled the requirements yet!” he exclaimed, stepping back defensively and approaching the dying fire.

“…The trust you put into people is respectable, Mathew.” There was a twinge of disappointment in her voice. “But you really should know when it’s time to give in and realize you’ve been duped.”

“Duped into what?” he asked. Feeling skeptical, he backed up closer to the flames. He might not be able to tell where she was from hearing, but maybe she really was somewhere nearby…

“In the beginning, the ‘light’ told you that you would be able to start again in a world without an apocalypse if you only helped him with a favor,” she reminded him. “He didn’t make it clear to you that you’d be going to war. Then OCEAN pressured you past your breaking point so you’d focus on what’s in front of you and forget that it wasn’t part of the deal.”

Not having any luck, Mathew turned his attention back to the fire. The pile was almost level now, and most of the flammable material had already burned. The light in the cavern started to go out. “…So what do you want to dupe me into doing instead?” Mathew tilted his head, peering behind him.

“I want to dupe you into helping yourself here,” the voice from the dark told him. “Listen, Jermy and ORB didn’t get the chance to explain it, but there’s so much more going on than any of you realize — things you would never believe if I told you now.”

Mathew could only roll his eyes. “Oh, trust me, I know. Minichino already let me in on the whole ‘war on the gods’ thing.”

“…And you’d still go along with it, without knowing the full story?” she questioned.

He fully turned back, looking into the shadows of the cavern. “Anything to get me out of the hellhole that was my old life,” he said, harshly planting his foot against the rock.

“Anything? Anything at all?” she seemed skeptical. “You’d go far enough to even turn against your friends for it?”

He reflexively tugged at the strap holding his goggles to his mask. “Meowth is not my friend.”

“Meowth is not who I’m referring to.”

…Oh. She knew about that, then. Of course she did — she didn’t need any kind of hypnotic power to invade his privacy. “Look,” he started, annoyed, “after all this is over, I’ll convince Joey to…” His angry assertion that he’d fix the problem fizzled out quickly, and he was left with strong feelings, but no words.

“It won’t be easy,” she reminded him. “When push comes to shove, Joey doesn’t want a part in this plan. The only reason he went along with it in the first place is that you haven’t given him what he wants. What will happen when you do?”

Mathew eyed the satchel, still hanging to his waist, that carried the finished version of the gun he and Joey made. Joey had been distracted then, too…no wonder he had been so flaky today. Meanwhile, the one thing Joey was passionate about was fixing the portal, learning more about him…getting his memories back.

What would happen after they fixed the Wormhole Wristlet? If they got the promotion into the science division, would Joey really come with him?

“Right now, Joey’s in danger. Your friends are in danger. And all of them need your help. Maybe you don’t care, but…what about the reasons Joey matters to you in the first place?”

And with that, this voice from the dark had officially crossed the line. “…Get the hell out of my head,” he said coldly, stepping forward ‘toward’ her.

It took a moment for her to reply. “Okay. I told you what I wanted to tell you, anyway. I’ll leave you to think about it.”

Mathew was briefly stunned. “Wait, you’re not actually gonna leave, are you?” he called out.

No reply.

The cubone was surprised that actually worked. He was more than used to people insisting everywhere he went, and suddenly, this voice had just…backed down. Mathew was truly alone.

Now what was he going to do? He could simply return to where he had been seated and pretend that had just never happened, but after a conversation like that, the idea left a sour taste in his mouth. While it made him angry she had probed him like that, he couldn’t deny what she was saying. His friendship with Joey was slipping out of his grasp, and, if Jermy was any indication, there might be something about OCEAN he missed.

Mathew turned his head, and into his vision came the bone club and the Whirlwind Wand he had tossed away during his fight. Meowth had been the correct person to turn these weapons against, right? He had taken the cubone off of his career path by offering his condo, assured that he could help Mathew with his unwieldy state-of-mind, and then used Mathew’s helplessness as a means of wringing out information, making his circumstance even worse. The rest of the Club was right to hate his guts.

And yet…Joey had chosen to protect Meowth over him. And when Mathew remembered the thing that held him together, that meant Joey had chosen that over his own memories. The totodile seemed to hate what they were doing so much that he’d rather reject the group who can get them the only item they need to finish the Wormhole Wristlet than go through with it. To motivate Joey to do that…

That settled it. Mathew’s emotions were so overwhelmed that he couldn’t make sense of it all, but he knew Joey had a strong intuition. If nothing else, it was grounds for him to go out there and find out just what was happening. So, he gathered his club, his Wand, and his gun, and walked into the dark.

Behind him, the light of the fire was fading fast.

---

What the heck was going on?

Joey was left stunned by what he was seeing. Politoed and Breloom had crashed into the riverbank, and now some strange humanoid creature was staring them all down with a mean look in his black, beady eyes. They’d clearly already been fighting for a while, based on the fact that all three of them looked a little roughed up already. The wall blocking them from going past these tunnels earlier had been reduced to rubble on their side of the bank. Not to mention, he could hear more fighting going on deeper in the cave. The crocodile was very lost — weren’t they supposed to be fighting the wild geodudes that had been trashing this cave?

“Jermy,” ORB began, “you should—”

“Fresh meat?!” Jermy exclaimed, not letting the robot finish. “What gives you that idea? Who even are you?” ORB didn’t say anything after Jermy finished — Joey could only assume Jermy had done as he was going to suggest.

The strange man’s confident expression faltered into a confused stare, but after a second, his grin returned. “I’m just some gurdurr here for a good time! Me and my buds back here thought the geodudes in this here cave might be taking treasure with their trash, so we’re giving the place a raid! Of course, that means we’ve got get rid of witnesses like you lot.”

“Not a chance,” Meowth said. Before Joey could even react, a paw was already pushing an Oran Berry into his hand. “Get this to Breloom!” Meowth told him as he sprung to Politoed’s aid.

“Eh?! Of course you got… Rrragh!” Gurdurr raised his weapon and prepared to slam it down on the cat and Politoed, but Jermy got in his way, blocking him with thunder.

“Go, Joey!” he encouraged.

“Uh, right!” Without thinking, Joey jumped into the water, trying to get to the other side of the bank where Breloom laid. He winced — his knee scraped against the shallow end as he splashed in. Luckily, his crocodilian body moved fast, and in no time at all, he was at Breloom’s side. Joey put the wet Oran up to her mouth and… He froze. Breloom seemed half-conscious, and hardly in the state to have something shoved down her throat. How was he supposed to—

“Mmmh…” Breloom’s eyelid slid open ever so slightly, and their eyes locked. Just then, something impulsive activated in Joey. He put the Oran into her mouth with one hand and helped her chew with the other, gently moving the lower part of her jaw. By the time he was done, Breloom was aware enough to swallow on her own. “There we go…” she stumbled to her feet. “Thanks for the save, Joe.”

By the time she had returned to her senses, Politoed was already up and holding back the bandit with Jermy and Meowth, firing a stream of bubbles towards him with little effort. Gurdurr bulked himself up, keeping to his feet. “You guys get away from here!” Politoed ordered the three of them. “Breloom and I can take care of this!”

“What?!” Joey exclaimed, standing right at the edge of the river. “But ain’t Minichino and Demurke in there?! We can’t leave without ‘em!”

Jermy was quick to add, “Not to mention those Service Guild guys!”

Breloom nudged him as she took a moment to remove her cape and wring it out. “If you wanna help Min,” she whispered to him, “You’ll all have to get past him.”

“Get past…” Joey looked ahead to the tunnel breaking off from the bank in front of him — where Minichino certainly was now — then to the happenings on the other side of the river. Like a fly in a horse stable, Politoed hovered around his opponent, caught in a routine of firing his bubbles and leaping away to keep just out of reach from the girder. Jermy and Meowth were in a routine all their own, scurrying away and dodging sweeping swings by the ends of their tails. Still, with the bandit bolstering himself, he reckoned that the five of them wouldn’t be able to just walk by. If one of them were to stumble for even a second…

Joey had to get them past Gurdurr, and fast, but trying to cross again would do them no good, nor would getting Jermy and Meowth to swim his way to him — especially with ORB in the picture. All those options were too slow — enough for this bandit to land a clean shot with that long weapon of his. If only Joey could just pull them here…!

Or maybe…somebody could ‘push’ them here instead?

He had only one hope at this point. “Politoed!” Joey shouted, his voice ricocheting across the cave. “How good’s your throwing arm?!”

“Huh?” Gurdurr spared him a confused glance as his girder blazed through the air, the swing sailing just above the frog’s head. “What’s this chucklehead talking ab—?”

Politoed, on the other hand, wasted no time as he dived straight towards the mouse and cat. “If you two really aren’t gonna leave…!” He tucked the smaller Meowth into his arms.

Meowth gasped in surprise, but seemed to understand quickly. “Just do it,” he insisted.

Without time for an apology, Politoed reared back…and promptly chucked Meowth across the cave with a seismic toss. The cat was flung through the dry air, clutching his satchel and kit for dear life as he almost slammed into the wall a couple paces in front of Joey.

“Huh?!” The baffled bandit cried. Before he could react, Jermy and ORB were given the same treatment, bringing them from Politoed’s bank to Joey’s. Somehow, the one-wheeled robot was the only one to make a clean landing.

“Yes!” Joey cheered, immediately following it up with frantic waving and a “Go, go, go!” Getting the memo, Jermy, Meowth, and ORB charged ahead, making it to the tunnel leading to Minichino and the others in no time at all. Joey chased behind them and…

…was immediately cut off. With a mighty leap, Gurdurr jumped from one bank to another, walling Joey off from the rodent and the cat. “And where do ya think you’re going?” The bandit looked down sinisterly as he leaned against the cavern wall, blocking off the rest of the path with his girder.

“Uuuuh…” This was the first time Joey had gotten a proper look at the attacker. This gurdurr was large, wide, and extremely well-toned — everything the average dungeon pokémon and even the low-level OCEAN soldiers wished they could be. Gurdurr made the sandygast of Asulaguah Beach look like a joke, and he almost lost to one! Futilely, Joey revved his water pipe up and…barely reached his chest with the arc of his Water Gun.

“Hehehaha! Was that supposed to scare me or something?” Gurdurr was clearly not impressed. He answered by swinging his free arm down like a hammer, smashing Joey against the ground. The crocodile’s maw stung with pain as he lay against the damp ground, pressed between his fist and the rock. He could feel his own heart pounding.

Thump… Thump… Thump…

A sickening guffaw rose from the Gurdurr. “What’s the matter? Jumped outta the frying pan and right into the fire?” Joey looked up and watched as his hand retreated, just in time for the girder to come down and—

It wouldn’t meet Joey. Just in time, Breloom leapt in front of him, catching the weapon with both of her claws. Gurdurr tried to push it down further, but she refused to back down. “New plan! Joe, you’re…sticking with us!”

“O-Okay!” Joey crawled out of the way, then got to his feet and scurried away. Behind him, he could hear the slam of the girder in the rock, and the galloping as Breloom got away from it.

Politoed was waiting for them, rummaging through his satchel as they kept their foe busy. “Think it’s about time we pull out our secret weapons, Breloom,” he advised, tossing paper and plastic left and right until he finally pulled out the red Wonder Orb.

“…Wait. What do y’all mean, secret—?!” Joey flinched at the sound of shattered glass — in Politoed’s hand, it suddenly burst, breaking off into harmless shards that faded to white and dissolved. Joey felt a foreign force flow through him, one that made him feel fresh, as if he had just stepped into a warm shower.

“Yeah, there we go…” Breloom testingly flexed an arm. “You feel that, Joe?”

“I reckon I could run a mile like this!” Joey exclaimed. He wasn’t exaggerating — the exhaustion from running around trying to get past this gurdurr was fading away.

“Only lasts about three minutes, so we have to make it count,” Politoed suggested, before fully turning his attention to Breloom. “Ready to save the day?”

Breloom nodded. “Let’s do it.”

Suddenly, the two of them sprung to life, leaping towards the gurdurr. In reply, he gave a hearty chuckle. “You two really think that dinky little orb’s gonna help? Trust me, it won’t!” Without a second thought, Gurdurr whirled around and laid his weapon down flat, blocking the pair’s path. Politoed and Breloom refused to stop.

“Hang on! What are y’all doing?!” Joey tried to call out from afar, but that was when he noticed something. The dead air of the cave…it was moving.

In a split-second, Breloom planted a foot, and a massive gust of wind picked up beneath her cape. She jumped up…up…up…way beyond what should’ve been possible…and landed a punch to Gurdurr’s face, sailing right over his girder. “Urk—!”

Without a second thought, Breloom kicked off of his chest, pushing herself backwards as she descended slowly, rushing air cushioning her fall. “Come on, don’t tell me you’ve never seen a weapon made out of type stones before?”

A weapon…? Joey didn’t understand what she meant until light glinted off of the purple gemstone holding her cape together. Hah?! Has she been hiding that in plain sight the whole time? And she ain’t used it until now?!

Gurdurr grimaced, looking at the gliding kangaroo in disbelief. “What—!” He, of course, missed the big green frog still barreling his way, jumping up to, then from the girder and meeting him with one, two slaps to the face. In retaliation, he concentrated his power and slugged Politoed right out of the air.

The frog was launched back again, but this time stuck the landing, diving into the river quite smoothly. Joey could only watch in awe as he gracefully stroked along, fighting the current with ease. He was actually going to pass the bandit by…!

Gurdurr tried to pick up his weapon and swing down on Politoed again, but Breloom was already coming to his rescue, leaping to the bandit’s side and blowing his arm back with the swipe of her cape. The wind slammed his arm back into the wall of the cave, dislodging rubble and leaving a small mess on the cave floor.

Joey watched as Gurdurr studied this…and grinned with inspiration. “Let’s make some catastrophe salad out of you, mushroom!” Just as Breloom moved in for what was surely a Drain Punch, Gurdurr took hold of his tool with both arms and swung upward, into the ceiling above her.

“Breloom!” Joey cried. She was frozen in panic, watching the rocks descend down on her. On reflex, the totodile pulled back and gave the absolute best Water Gun both his own power and the Wonder Orb could give — a high-arcing stream. It wasn’t powerful, but it did intercept the rubble, knocking the largest and most dangerous rocks off-course.

“What the heck?!” Gurdurr’s head whipped towards the totodile, bewildered.

Breloom grunted as a rock or two smacked her mushroom cap, but otherwise she leapt away from Gurdurr without too much injury. “That was incredible!” she called out. “Second time you’ve saved me today!”

“Y-You’re welcome?!” Joey said in response.

The totodile didn’t hear any praise coming from Politoed — just a splash as he jumped back onto the bank, now behind Gurdurr. The frog let another stream of bubbles spill from his mouth, pelting the now off-guard bandit. He yelped angrily as he was battered, leaving him helpless to avoid Breloom sinking her claws into his exposed leg.

“Gyaaaaah…!” Gurdurr yelled and groaned as Breloom sapped away. Her ability to drain him worked efficiently and effectively, and the slouching of the bandit’s posture made the results obvious. He tried to go for another slam of his girder, but his now tuckered-out form was so sloppy and slow, even Joey could tell what was wrong with it. She watched…and watched…and just as Joey worried she’d be crushed, she slipped away from his leg, ran in a half circle to get the wind under her cape, and then leapt for an aerial uppercut right to the chin.

SMACK.

The firmness of the strike made Breloom’s last hit to the head look like a joke. It was clean, it sent Gurdurr tumbling to the floor…and it sent something small flying through the air, landing on a small rock right by Joey. The totodile crouched down, taking a closer look. It was a small, circular piece of…glass?

Its purpose was clear once Gurdurr began to clamor back to his feet, using his weapon as a crutch. There was a change in his eyes — one was the same black as before, but the other was a clear brown. That’s real weird, Joey thought. Why the heck was he wearing black color contacts…?

Politoed and Breloom seemed to find it much more than weird. For a moment, the two dropped their combative stances, sharing an expression Joey couldn’t seem to get a read on. “Seems like our suspicions were right…” Politoed remarked.

Gurdurr panted, head swiveling from the frog behind him to the kangaroo in front of him. “Grrrrgh… I’ll admit, this is not how this was supposed to go…” he said breathily. He set his sights on Joey, making the crocodile tense up, but Gurdurr didn’t try another attack on him. “But if I’m going down… those two…” Without warning, he whirled towards the interior of the cave, somehow finding renewed vigor even now. “Are going down with us!!”

“Don’t think you’re going anywhere when—” Before Politoed could finish, the frog was tackled from the side, knocking him down. A purple and yellow cat with a curvy, sickle-like tail pinned him down with two paws.

“Big T—Gurdurr!” she exclaimed. “Go on ahead! I’ve got this one.”

The frog kicked her off, but it was too late — Gurdurr was charging into the cave as fast as his tired body would let him. The cat leapt back, making a point of putting herself between them and him.

“Breloom!” Joey called out. Gurdurr was pretty tall, but this cat was about the couple’s height. Surely they could get past her…

“Already on it!” She galloped down the cave’s riverbank like it was a runway, jumped — and was promptly shot out of the air by a pulse of black energy casted by the cat. Panicked, Joey spread his arms out to try catching the tumbling kangaroo. The force of her fall almost helped Joey’s head meet solid rock, but as he teetered on a heel, he pushed back with all of his strength and set Breloom down with both of his feet on the ground.

“That’s not gonna work on me so easily, sweaty.”

Breloom gave Joey a nod of acknowledgement, then looked to the cat, confused. “Don’t you mean ‘sweetie’?”

“Oh no, I mean sweaty, from how much you three have been working up one over here.” She stared the three down with her blue eyes, strikingly contrasting the pink mask-like part of her muzzle. “You were the ones who popped that Wonder Orb earlier, right? It’s made things much tougher for my friends…but I’m pretty sure that’s running out.” She gave a devilish grin, not unlike Gurdurr’s.

“Don’t need any fancy tricks to take on somebody who’s not used to walking on four legs—” Politoed lowered his stance again. “and I don’t mean when you were a Purrloin.”

“Hah?” Joey scrunched his maw, confused. What the heck did he mean by that?

The cat seemed to get the memo, though, her malice turning into something a little more sly. “Oh, so you know our little secret, huh? Well, bad news for you — I’m a liepard heart and soul.” Shink — her claws scraped the stone beneath her. “But once we’re through with you, you won’t know the difference.”

Joey readied himself once more. How much more of this could they take…?