Chapter 22: The Confrontation

Chapter 22: The Confrontation

When Joey had arrived to Misery Cave, there was a tension in the air that none of the Club could shake. The crocodile couldn’t have imagined how much more tense the atmosphere would be now.

A number of big problems hung over the group’s head. Aside from the obvious, Demurke was no longer with them. The moment Politoed told them where they would all have to go now that they had turned the knife on OCEAN, the crow took flight towards Kalmwa’er on her own without another word. Her awkward departure punctuated Poliwrath and Chip’s failure to apprehend the remaining bandits, who had scaled the cliffside with their remaining strength and disappeared into the shade of Pawalmtry Forest. But what sat at the front of Joey’s mind was Mathew. Joey kept passing glances at him, waiting for him to yell, to cry, to give a mad laugh…any kind of reaction to what’s just happened. But he remained ever-stoic and calm in a way that Joey was unfamiliar with.

He still had those goggles, too. The only time he had taken them off was to dip them into the river to clean them. Joey was sure that hypnotizing Mathew would be the last thing on Meowth’s mind right now. How long was he going to keep wearing those?

Fortunately, the buggy had gone untouched throughout this ordeal, so the group still had a ride back to town. It was a tight fit — Meowth and Minichino were squished on the sides of Poliwrath, and Chip was forced to glide along with the vehicle — but they would manage, somehow. Joey was left to the back row with the other humans and ORB. For a moment, they all sat still, listening to the roar of the engine.

“I just don’t get it.” Joey’s hands dug into the seat cushions as he broke the silence. “What were those bandits even doing in that cave?”

Minichino craned her neck back. “You haven’t figured it out already? Those weren’t bandits, dude. Those were OCEAN soldiers, disguised as bandits, coming over to kick our butts.”

“Hah?” OCEAN soldiers? But that didn’t make any sense. This whole plan only involved him, Mathew, Jermy, and Demurke. He looked to the pikachu. “That’s not true…is it?”

Much to the crocodile’s dismay, Jermy nodded. “They’re right. The plan had two parts — you, me, and Mathew would handle Meowth, and Demurke and everyone else would take out the others. If it worked, you guys would’ve never seen who did the dirty work, and we could write it off as the geodudes or a rogue bandit group.”

“It would also serve as a warning to Meowth, on top of whatever Mathew would do,” ORB piped up from Jermy’s lap. “Needless to say, somebody didn’t like that plan. Otherwise, at least three of your corpses would’ve been shipped off for processing.”

“But why?!” Joey exclaimed. “Why would they wanna hurt Minichino, Politoed, and Breloom?”

“Well, probably because they figured out I was totally stabbing them in the back by leaking their stuff to their enemies,” Minichino said in a completely casual tone. “That’d probably do it.”

Meowth was quick to cut in, leaning forward to talk around Poliwrath. “So, what was that about you not being noticed if I did your dirty work for you?”

“We didn’t think they would know! Guess they were ahead of the game or something.”

Joey was left stunned. He got the impression that the other Club members were up to something, trying to sway him and Mathew to leave OCEAN, but he had no idea just how willing the group had been to get their hands dirty. And somehow, they had figured out that all of this was a part of OCEAN’s plan? “How the heck…”

“Joe,” Breloom said, her voice carrying from the driver’s seat. “You remember when I gave Gurd— or, Big Timmy, I guess, that uppercut?”

That moment stuck out pretty strongly in the totodile’s mind. “Yeah. You knocked out a color contact. I reckon he was wearing black ones…”

“Wearing ones that match his species’ natural eye color,” Politoed clarified. “Like how your species’ eyes are usually red, a gurdurr’s are black. Color contacts like those are popular because they help people like us stand out from the rest of our kind…because we all have the same natural eye color.”

“Unless, say, you happened to have been human originally,” Breloom said. “In that case, you keep your eye color from then.”

Meowth’s ears perked up. “I see what you’re getting at.” He peered at Joey. “That explains their weird eyes.”

Mathew idly played with his goggles as they rested over his mask. “So you’re saying that you all knew that they were human the whole time.”

“Wait a darn second!” Joey exclaimed. “If a totodile’s eyes are supposed to be red, and I’ve been moseying around with brown ones, then y’all must’ve already known I was human before I said so!”

“Wait,” Mathew cut in. “You told them we were human?”

…Maybe he should’ve thought first before he spoke. “Uh, sorry, Mathew…”

“Don’t get too upset with him,” Politoed advised. “Breloom, Minichino, and I peer-pressured him into it a little. Wanted him to have our trust.”

Suddenly, Meowth spoke up. “So how long are you guys going to dance around explaining yourselves? Whatever you three have been trying to do nearly got us all killed, and you still haven’t told us what it was.”

“It seemed crystal clear to me!” Jermy said. “You guys are trying to fight back against OCEAN, right?”

“More to the story than that, obviously,” Politoed said. “You see, Breloom and I are a part of this little group. Minichino technically isn’t because we hadn’t met until joining the Club, but with how big of a help she’s been, she basically is now.” Politoed smiled in response to Minichino beaming at him.

Breloom followed him up. “We know that OCEAN has been manipulating the Great Legendary War from the sidelines and is preparing to get involved. Moreover, they’ve been secretly abducting dozens of hapless humans, rendering them amnesiacs, and training them to be a part of their fighting force.” She raked one of her claws against the wheel idly. “Our job is to protect as many lives as we can by busting that operation.”

“So you were never here for the trash, then…” Joey was beginning to realize just how little he actually knew about Politoed, Breloom, and Minichino’s lives. What else had they been keeping a secret?

“Are you kidding, dude?!” Minichino sounded offended. “Of course I was here for the trash! At least, when I wasn’t helping with Politoed’s stuff. Heck, I’m the reason the non-recruitment part of your day was all about cleaning dungeons! Even with OCEAN breathing down my neck, I’m not gonna let them take away my ability to make the world a better place!”

“And to be clear,” Breloom added, “Meowth helped us get all the information we need to make a case. The reason we stuck around longer really was to help you.”

The crocodile sighed in relief. At least it wasn’t all a lie…

“Was becoming my roommates in Higher Ed part of getting on their good side?” Meowth asked.

“Nah, just a heck of a coincidence. Breloom and I didn’t know about OCEAN when we first enrolled, much less knew they had their roots in Kalmwa’er.” Politoed shook his head. “Not everything is a conspiracy…”

“HA!” Poliwrath, who had previously seemed content to let the former Club members talk around him, gave a guffaw. “Based on everything I’m hearing from you lot, that’s pretty rich! All this junk about OCEAN and ASHES and the Legendary War and—”

“Wait.” It was Jermy who interrupted him. “ASHES?”

Poliwrath pointed a finger at the passenger’s seat. “That’s the name for this piece of work’s ‘group’.”

“Means ‘Association for Stopping Humans from Ending Solceus’. Pretty corny, but the name’s not our call,” Politoed explained.

“…Why does that name sound so much like—?”

“Hey, Jermy, hold that thought.” Breloom slammed on the brakes, making everyone in the buggy lurch. They had made it to the edge of town. “Mathew, let’s switch out.”

Before leaving, all of them had agreed to divide and conquer. It was almost certain at this point that they were going to have to vacate Kalmwa’er to get as far away from OCEAN as possible. However, they still needed to pack their belongings, as the journey to a safer location could be lengthy. Since OCEAN knew that was where the humans lived, it was most likely that they would go to Meowth’s condo first after they found out what transpired in Misery Cave. Thus, Mathew, Joey, and Meowth would have to go there and throw the group’s possessions into the buggy as quickly as they could, with one of the Service Guild members accompanying them for protection.

As for the others, they would all walk to Kalmwa’er Town Hall, the base of operations for the Service Guild. Politoed explained that coordinating an escape from OCEAN would require the help of its guildmaster. Ideally, by the time the four of them returned, they would have a plan in mind. Jermy and Demurke were also supposed to come with them to prove their trustworthiness as former recruiters… They could only hope Demurke had flown off to get there first.

“Meet us at Town Hall in ninety minutes. If you’re late, we’ll go looking for you.” Breloom dangled the keys to the buggy in her claw, then tossed them to Mathew. She gestured to a long, sloping path that led to the top half of town. “Try not to crash again, okay?”

“I wasn’t planning on it.” Mathew hopped into the buggy, then patted the passenger’s seat. “Come on. You don’t have to stay in the back, Joey.”

“…You’re sure?” Joey was a little surprised. He needed a little nod from the cubone to affirm what he was saying. After all that talk about traitors in the past, Mathew hardly seemed bothered by Joey intervening in his attack on Meowth earlier. Just what was going on here…?

As they drove off, the last thing Joey could hear from the other party was the sound of Jermy crying out “She’s alive?!” He had no idea what that meant.

It didn’t take long for Joey to miss the distractive noise of their other friends’ chatter. It had momentarily drowned out the nightmare that they had all been drawn into. Now that it was just him, Mathew, Meowth, and that parrot Chip, the tension was all they had. Joey was desperate to broach the subject on something, anything — but he was still so hesitant. How in the world do you even start a conversation like this?

Aside from the occasional yell to get pokémon to move out of the way of the buggy, none of the them shared a word until they finally arrived in front of Meowth’s condo. “I’ll stay out here and make sure nobody’s coming our way,” Chip informed them as Mathew parked. “If you need any help with the luggage, say the word.”

“We’ll probably be fine,” Meowth asserted as he hopped out of the buggy and crossed the yard. He was probably right — Joey and Jermy hadn’t brought in anything besides themselves into the condo, so Mathew’s backpack and Meowth’s belongings were all they would need to carry.

The moment the three of them stepped through the front door, Joey felt his whole body decompress. It was as if all of the adrenaline that had sustained him through the past hour or so had spilled out of him like a busted bag. There was something about the strange but pleasant scent that permeated the condo that made the crocodile feel at-ease.

He tried not to think about the fact that this might be the last time they would be here for a long time.

“I’m going to box up some things from my room,” Meowth declared, already drifting for the door. “Joey, can you stay out here in the living room while I pack up? I might need some help carrying it after it’s in boxes.”

Joey thought about asking Mathew if he needed help before accepting…but that idea didn’t really sound good right now. “Yeah, of course.”

“Give me a bit, lemme get my shit…” Mathew was already in the middle of picking up his box-shaped game console and carrying it upstairs.

While he waited for Meowth and Mathew, Joey collapsed onto the couch with a long sigh. He was so tired of fighting. It wasn’t just those bandits or stopping Mathew or Meowth — he was always fighting. Fighting his own weaknesses, trying to become a better battler… Fighting the conflicts between the Club members, trying to help them get along… Fighting himself, trying to decide what path he was on. Everything about his week on Solceus had been exhausting.

That was when he remembered what he had slid underneath the couch he was laying on. Mathew would be real unhappy with himself if we didn’t take this with us… Joey pulled it out from the couch, patted the dust off, and before he could tell himself to resist the urge, he was already flipping pages, searching for the truth behind a life he didn’t know. There was nothing new, of course — he was just desperate.

All that is to say, good or bad…you’re pretty special.

You should take things one step at a time. Maybe you could focus more on cracking that noggin, if you can. Not having memories is a pretty big deal.

Whatever is going on in your corner of the world, the three of us are here to listen and help.

It was all so obvious, now. Minichino, Politoed, and Breloom all knew exactly what OCEAN was trying to make them become. They had done everything they could from their position to give the two of them an out. They were saving them — saving him. But all he ended up doing was resigning himself to the hope that OCEAN’s promises would be enough to bring Mathew back to his senses. What a stupid plan that was! Look what he had happened when he twiddled his thumbs and let the world crash down around—

…What?

Joey had put his fingers down the sleeve of a photo of himself and Mathew’s unmentioned child without thinking, but when he did that, he felt something weird. He raked his finger against the edges to prove he wasn’t imagining it, and he could clearly feel it. There were two photos inside this sleeve, one blocking the other. Joey couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed it until now — the back photo was a bit bigger, so he could see its white margins even while the front photo was blocking it.

Joey pried it out without hesitation. What he found was a photo of a half-dozen people standing together. There was Mathew, his mother, and his father, as well as three more people. There were two of them he didn’t recognize — an older man with graying blond hair and a woman wearing a formal jacket. The third was that red-haired woman he’d seen earlier. Even here, she looked like she was having more fun than anybody else with that mad-looking grin of hers. Joey had to wonder if that rabbit plushie with the cute tophat and bowtie was what made her smile that way.

Why did Mathew hide this photo? Him and his parents being here felt…important in some way Joey couldn’t understand. If Jermy or Meowth or David or Dit or Emily hadn’t distracted the two of them for so long, maybe Joey would have already known the answer.

He was so tired. He had to lay this to rest.

Just then, he heard footsteps slowly stomp down the stairs. Once he reached the bottom, Mathew laid his backpack down. “Phew…” Mathew panted, looking to Joey. “Hey Joey, can you help me carry this? It’s no lighter than it used to be.”

“Mathew.” Joey put the photo back in the scrapbook and set it down on the table before standing up. “Are we really gonna keep acting like nothing happened in there? That we didn’t have that fight?”

Mathew seemed stunned, then deflated a little. “I didn’t know if learning what OCEAN was doing had changed your mind.” He moved away from the backpack, coming towards him.

“We shouldn’t have run off and tried to fight Meowth,” he asserted, looking Mathew as firmly in the eyes as those goggles could allow. “We shouldn’t have gotten all roped up in any of this. I was real stupid for not speaking up until it was almost too late.”

Mathew reached out to touch his shoulder. “Joey—”

The memory of him looking so fierce flashed in his mind, and reflexively, Joey swatted his arm away. “Don’t you come here comforting me like you weren’t the one going all in on this!” he exclaimed. “If you hadn’t pushed us on this job so hard — if we’d gotten out when Minichino handed it to us on a silver platter — none of this would have happened! And you had me strung along the whole time because you just can’t treat any of this like it’s real!”

“Joey, I get it, I—”

“I really don’t reckon you do.” Joey couldn’t stop himself at this point — all of the feelings he had left pent up were coming undone now. “You sure didn’t think much when you were talking with Dit about all the ways you could snap Meowth’s bones. How about when you beat up that fish in front of a huge crowd? Or when the others had to reign you in after you started chasing after those sand castle guys? Heck, on our first day, you drove the buggy through the middle of town and barely even had a care in the world!” Joey picked up the open scrapbook in one hand. “But any time we ever try to deal with our problems, suddenly you get all clammy. Like when we talk about my parents, or our jobs, or Meowth, or this.” Joey put it straight in Mathew’s face, forcing him to see the photo of him and these mysterious people.

Mathew clasped the top of the book and pushed it down to meet his firm gaze. “Joey, listen. Later, when Meowth and Chip aren’t around—”

“It’s always later with you!” Joey dropped the scrapbook back onto the table. “After we found out we could use that machine of yours to get my memories back, I really thought things were gonna get better for you and me. But now look. You…” His voice withered. “You killed somebody, Mathew. And you hardly even look bothered about it.”

Mathew seemed hesitant, standing there silently for a few seconds. Then, the wrath Joey was more familiar with finally spilled forth. “If you were worried about me killing someone, Joey, you’re about two years too fucking late,” he spat.

Too late…? “What?”

“You wanna find out how I knew your parents, huh?” He slammed his hand down on the scrapbook. “Two years ago, I met your dad. When I called the police that night, he was the one who answered.” He pulled out the photo, then put it in Joey’s face, imitating his own motion. “A couple months later, I started working with him and Catherine in this group right here. We were all there to do the same thing — to bring some sanity back to the world and take care of people like Big Timmy. I came up with and built all sorts of machines to be used all over the Western States to apprehend…and to eliminate, if needed.”

The crocodile gasped. His mother and father were a part of a group so violent? “Why would you ever join something like that?”

“You don’t know what pieces of shit like them are capable of, Joey!” he yelled. “If it gives them even the slightest leg up in the world, they will take and take and take. They took from everyone… They took from my friends… They took from me.”

“…From you?” Something clicked for Joey just then. Mathew’s wife, and his kid…he had always wondered why they weren’t here with them on Solceus.

“YES!” he screamed, throwing his arms out. “Why the hell do you think I came here instead of staying on Earth? There’s nothing LEFT for me!” he slammed a fist on the table. “NOTHING. Nothing at…fucking all.”

Joey was about to cut in, but he was stopped by the waver in Mathew’s voice — and the tears swelling up in his eyes.

“I think about Laura every day, Joey…how she looked when she died…the way it felt when Greg told me they couldn’t find that monster…and it makes me so upset, and angry—” Mathew collapsed onto the couch. That flicker of fury faded into a deep despair. “I thought they or OCEAN or Meowth could help me, could make it stop. But it just keeps getting worse.” Mathew pulled his goggles away to wipe at his eyes. “Why am I doing any of this, Joey? I don’t even know anymore… I just don’t know…”

Joey was silenced by Mathew’s tears. Here it was — the truth that he had wanted for so long. Now he knew the kind of people his parents were, and what they meant to Mathew. He should be happy, shouldn’t he? Learning this is what had kept him by the cubone’s side all this time.

But there wasn’t anything fun about this.

Joey sat down on the other end of the couch, waiting. Mathew needed several long, painful minutes before his weeping subsided enough for him to speak. “Whenever your family came over so that your — your parents and I could talk, you’d…spend all your time with Mark.” he said between sniffles.

Mark… MW. “I was friends with your kid,” Joey thought aloud.

He nodded slowly. “Mark was pretty bright. About as good as…you could get in a life of balancing homeschooling with — with online school. He — He — He meant the world to me.” Mathew took a few fast breaths. “But after we lost Laura, he and I had — we had different outlooks on what to do next. So he’d always…pull you along to the other side of the house instead of — of sticking around with the adults. I have no idea what you two did with all that time, but you two…you were always smiling, so…” Mathew buried his skull mask in his arms, and he got worked up all over again.

Joey took off his hat and held it in front of his face. Don’t forget. It was a message from Mark to him that Joey had lost the meaning to. If only he was here to tell him… “What happened to him?”

“Things at home…they only got worse after your family moved a state over. Mark — he helped me work on the portal technology, but — but I know he never really was on-board. I still remember when — when I woke him up after getting those blueprints. He gave me this look and told me…he told me I was crazy. He was probably right.” Mathew laughed weakly. “Two or three months ago, we — we had this argument about that, and I thought things calmed down, but the next morning he was just…gone.” He slumped over, another well of tears quietly streaming down his face. “I never saw him again.”

Joey hung his head. “So he ran off.”

“He was…so sad when he found out you were moving. That hat you’re wearing, he — he gave it to you on his own birthday. He wanted you to have it as a reminder of…something. He — He never told me what. So, when he left, my first thought was — I thought he ran away to see you. I…” Mathew sounded so frail. “I don’t think he made it.”

Mark…a friend he had lost that he didn’t even know. Before Joey had come to this world, did he know about any of this? Did his parents keep all this about their ‘group’ a secret from him? Had he mistakenly assumed Mark was still alive? There was a lot he didn’t know, but that spark that motivated him to seek that knowledge was dying out. At this point, Joey just wished things were better.

“Joey.” Mathew sounded a bit more controlled now. “As soon as this is over, and we have a chance…I’m gonna find that psychic type stone the Wristlet needs, and I’m gonna get you your memories back. And, after that, if you wanna go find your parents and never see me again…that’d be okay with me.” He shook his head, looking shameful. “Dammit. I should have just told you all this from the beginning. You’re too young for all of the shit I’ve been throwing on you… I’m so sorry.”

Joey pondered this for a moment. If there was a chance to turn around and leave Mathew…would he take it? Should he take it? He didn’t even know at this point. “…Let’s just take a few minutes,” he muttered. “We need it.”

“Yeah… Yeah, you’re right.” Mathew leaned back, and they both just sat there, on that couch, for a few minutes. Mathew’s breathing grew less and less erratic, and soon enough, his distress began to fade.

That was when the door to Meowth’s room slowly creaked open. Out he came, carrying several boxes sealed shut and stacked atop each other. Joey rose to help, but was quickly stopped.

“Just stay there,” Meowth calmly insisted. “I can move this on my own. We’ll only leave when you’re both ready.”

Meowth had been listening to their conversation the whole time, hadn’t he? He must have been waiting for a good time to leave that room of his. Joey looked to Mathew, anticipating a fierce, snappy—

“Okay.” That was all Mathew said. It was raspy, and a little firm, but there was no malice behind his voice. It was almost relieving to see him so calm towards Meowth. Joey wondered how long it would last.

Meowth kicked the door open and starting speaking to Chip outside, but whatever they said was muted by it shutting. The two were left alone for a bit longer.

As the tension between them subsided, and as Mathew stood up and said he was ready to keep moving, and as the two of them carried his backpack out of the condo and into the buggy, and as the four of them uneasily drove away, Joey wondered what awaited them on the path ahead. He was hopeful that the others would bring some brightness back into this terrible situation — he was almost eager for it. But it wouldn’t change how today had brought out the worst of the both of them.

Could it get any worse than this?