NOTE: Heavy Christian content.
Chapter 66: Pomp and Circumstance
"I can't believe that we're divvying up Gary's stuff amongst the four of us," Ash sighed. "I mean…"
"I know, Ash…I can't believe that he would've done something like turn to the other side," Brock agreed.
"Why would he do something like that?" Misty asked. "He's hurting other people! That's wrong!"
"Apparently, he stopped caring that it was wrong," Tracy cut in.
"How can a person do that?"
"He just did…all he cared about was himself, and what he could get out of kissing up to Linonian generals."
Misty was absolutely dumbfounded that someone could turn that evil: evil enough for him to want to exploit her. She took up her shift on orphanage duty to replace Tina, but, even though the children were counting on her to be cheerful and to up the general morale, she couldn't bring herself to smile. All she could think about was how and why Gary had turned so bad…
She frowned and sighed so much that one of the other children started to cry. This was for almost no reason, but children crying for no reason wasn't an uncommon occurrence in the orphanage. Misty tried her best to get the child to stop crying, but it was no use…
After her shift was done in the orphanage, Misty sat down on her bunk. She felt all alone in this sea of wondering that was in her head. She let out a long, heavy sigh.
"What's the matter?" Sora asked. Sora was her roommate, but she had startled Misty, a little: Misty hadn't seen her when she first walked in.
Misty looked up at her. "Oh…nothing…"
"Doesn't sound like 'nothing' to me," Sora said, sticking her head over the side of her bunk. "What's gotten into you?"
"I…" Misty shook her head. "It's nothing, okay?"
"Listen…this planet is a nasty place. It wasn't always like this…but…" There was silence for a moment while Sora decided how she should phrase what she was going to say next. "I learned this lesson the hard way: you keep all your hurts to yourself, and you'll only get more hurt. You tell somebody else, and the feelings are more likely to go away."
"But…but…"
"It doesn't have to be me you tell…it just has to be somebody."
More silence answered Sora. Sora couldn't help but wonder what was going through Misty's mind: was she weighing the options, was she making excuses not to tell anyone, was she…?
"Listen…you can tell Cody."
"Cody? The priest? Why?"
"He's legally required to keep what you tell him in the confessional booth a secret."
"There is no legal system, anymore!"
"Cody values the order of the Catholic Church a lot. In fact, he's been doing all he can to preserve it. He'll still follow the church's rules about confessions."
Misty swallowed hard. "Anything I ought to know before I start?"
"Usually people start out by saying, 'bless me Father, for I have sinned,' and then they say when the last time they confessed was."
"I've never done this before."
"Then say that it's the first time you've confessed."
Misty was really unsure about this, but she felt the urge to go to Cody and let it all out. She got up off her bunk and began for Cody's "chapel".
She looked around at the interior of the chapel. It had several burning candles in ornamented candelabras, and it had a single baptismal fount, but, other than this, there was no indication that this was a church building.
"How can I help you?" Cody asked. His quiet voice scared Misty for a moment, but her fears stifled themselves. "...Bless me, Father, for I have sinned…this is my first confession."
Cody motioned for her to join him. They went into a closet and left only a crack in the door behind them. The scent of dust was in the air, and it was too dark to see. Cody asked, "Tell me what you have done."
"I…I…I'm not sure what it is that I've done…"
"But you feel guilty?"
"Yeah, I do…"
"…Perhaps you haven't done anything. Guilt is an emotional reaction to bad things happening, and there's been a lot of bad things happening in this world."
There was a silence for a short while. Misty broke it: "I made a girl cry in the orphanage."
"…Is that your problem?"
"No…she cried because I can't seem to bring myself to smile, or to have any fun…"
"That isn't good."
"…Cody…did you hear about what Gary did?"
"I was there. I saw that he wanted to take advantage of you."
"It's that…I can't believe that anybody could become that evil that quickly!"
"…Misty, we don't like to say this, but people are basically evil creatures."
"What?! How can that be if we're helping other people?"
"We have been caused by God not to want to do evil things. Nothing evil exists that wasn't good at some point, and human beings are no exception. While we were still good, God put safeguards against evil in the human mind when He designed us, like people's consciences and the desire to do what everyone else is doing…even though those can go bad, too."
"If there are those safeguards, then why did Gary do that?"
"We can resist those safeguards…too easily. Gary had something that you don't have."
"What's that?"
"Extreme pride. He thought he didn't need God, or anybody else, for that matter. Do you know what rules are really for?"
"…What are they really for?"
"God invented rules because He loves everyone. He doesn't just love you, and He doesn't just love me. He loves everyone, and He wants us to coexist. Rules were made to tell us how to coexist. And Gary was so proud, he didn't respect those rules."
"What rules didn't he like?"
"'Thou shalt not murder' comes to mind," Cody answered, "As does 'Thou shalt not commit adultery.' He would've done those things if Joey hadn't taken the chance away from him. But one of the most important things that he refused to do was love other people."
"How can a person be in love with everyone else?"
"You don't really understand what love is, do you?"
"…Maybe not…"
"Love is the giving of oneself. You do things to other people's advantage, not always thinking about yourself. That's what love is. Gary refused to do that; he threw justice and everything else in the garbage can."
"…Where is he now?"
"I don't like talking about this kind of thing, Misty."
That answered Misty's question. "But…why?! Why does it have to be him that gets eternity there?!"
"Misty…you think it's not fair?"
"It isn't! He was one of us, Cody! What if Ash, or Ghenki, or...or me, what if I'm next?!"
"If you saw Ash was down, what would you do?"
"…I'd help him…"
"You have love, Misty. This is a gift from God."
"How can there be a God who allows this kind of thing to happen?!"
"Misty…do you know about how Human Rights organizations have really big pushes for their political say?"
"Yeah…"
"Sometimes, I think they're right about human rights. God gave human beings the right to choose…that means we have the ability to make the wrong choices. And with the right to choose comes the danger of making that wrong choice, and God values human rights to the point where He doesn't stop us, even though some of us make the wrong choices…all of us do more than once in our lives. And God is just; He has to punish people who make the wrong choices."
"How can I avoid making the wrong choice?" Misty asked.
Cody smiled. "Have you seen Tina heal?"
"Once, she got a nasty paper cut, and it healed in about five days when it should've taken ten---"
"I meant, 'have you ever seen Tina heal someone else'?"
"…Yeah…I was in the orphanage once, and she put her hands on a kid with a hurt arm, prayed for him, and the pain stopped."
"This same power can keep you from making the wrong choices."
"Is it some kind of force?"
"Not really, no. 'It' isn't even the right word; 'He' is a better choice."
"You mean this power is your God?"
"There is something difficult to understand about God. He is One, and yet He is Three, too. He is One God in Three Persons, and the Third Person is this power."
"…How can I get Him to help me?"
"Do you remember the Easter pageant?"
"Yeah, vividly."
"And you remember what Jesus had to do?"
"He…He had to die to bring us to God, somehow…"
"God is loving, but He is also just. Even the smallest sin means that we are counted as evil, and He has to destroy evil. We don't think that way; since we're evil, we have bent standards about how bad it really is to do something. But God is that just: even for shoplifting a 5¢ piece of candy, we should be punished.
"But the story doesn't end there by any means: since He loved us, too, He sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins. Since human beings committed the crimes, a human being has to pay for it. And He did…all you have to do is accept His promise for a pardon."
"And…what if I make another wrong choice?"
"Your future crimes are also paid for."
"How is that possible?"
"It just is."
"I…I'm scared that I'll make the wrong choice…" There was silence for a long time after this. As Cody's eyes adjusted more to the darkness, he saw that she had her hands folded, and a single tear was falling down her cheek. She opened her eyes. "There…I accepted it. …Now what?"
"Your penance."
Misty gulped. "What is it?"
"Help Kari make Oyarsa. Imperialdramon is leaving to help Omegamon, soon. Cleaver says that we shouldn't have taken very long, down here…we're in that kind of time field, right now."