Chapter 8: Impending Judgment

As Mathew followed Jermy towards Kalmwa'er Resort, he couldn't help but feel a bit of guilt. Of course, he was still upset that Joey had betrayed his trust the way he did, but arguing with him wasn't fun in the slightest.

Mathew wasn't going out of his way to be selfish — he knew that Joey deserved to know about himself, his family, and his connection to him — but it was still all too much to sift through. Even just hearing what Joey had said earlier brought back…memories. All he could do right now was take deep breaths to calm down and hope that Joey would be willing to forgive him for taking as long as he was.

As the cubone met with Demurke in the Resort lobby, he was stuck ruminating in those thoughts, life passing him by in a blur. However, the newfound atmosphere in the Waregle was enough to bring Mathew back to attention. The 'Wet Willy' had been moved from its post, and in its place was a number of opened cardboard boxes that were placed in the center of a decently-sized circle marked multiple times over with chalk. On top of that, there seemed to be a small crowd gathering around the central area.

"Mathew! Joey! Just the people I was looking for!" With a wingbeat, David sprung from that crowd and landed in front of them.

"Uh, hi," Mathew said. "The hell's going on with the Waregle?"

"Oh, this?" David said. "We've been making some...preparations for today's event. It's an ambitious idea!"

"But f-first!" Demurke's cut in was so immediate that Mathew couldn't ask a follow-up question. "We're actually going to...pay a visit to Fascamile Town Hall!"

Mathew looked towards the line of portals. He reread the message on one's rim: 'Fascamile Town Hall — NO ENTRY WITHOUT PERMISSION. ENDPOINT GUARDED 24/7.' Such an intimidating message… Was that really where they were going?

"Okay…?" Joey seemed equally confused and mildly concerned.

"Here, lemme turn it on!" Jermy approached it, leapt up, and smacked the button on the side. Just as Mathew's portal had, something resembling electricity ran along the ends until a rip was formed. However, instead of pure darkness, the other end was—

Mathew gasped and reflexively brandished his club. Past the portal was a small wooden room with a pair of beanbag chairs settled across from them. Standing in front of the left chair was a yellow, cat-like pokemon with slitted eyes — an abra — carrying a strange-looking spear with a crystal of ice on its end. In front of the right, a goat-like pokemon with a green, leafy mane and long, curved horns that Mathew couldn't figure the name of. Both of them were readied in an attacking position.

"H-hey, no need to get so aggressive!" Demurke swiftly exclaimed, putting her wings up in defense. "It's just me, David, a-and some others!"

Both guards dropped their stances. Almost immediately, their aggressive expressions subsided into incredibly bored ones. They almost seemed upset that there was no threat. "Alright, go on ahead," the abra said before letting them step through the portal and out the door.

If Mathew had to put a word to Fascamile Town Hall, he would call it 'odd,' to put it nicely. It was clear that it was a Ship of Theseus of a facility, having its more historied walls built over with new ones. What was strange was how it had been done — some parts of these tight hallways were made of the original wood, while other segments had been remodeled into drywall. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to its arrangement, with decorated walls, undecorated walls, walls that were wood on one side and drywall on the other...there were so many different combinations, it almost looked easier to guide people to specific halls over the numerous rooms they passed by.

The obtuseness of it all almost made the cubone shudder. If you didn't keep track of everything, you could easily get lost in this kind of place, especially with its size and complete absence of windows. Lack of time to fully design and renovate the place, or just a bizarre creative decision? Mathew really didn't know what the answer was.

"So, you live in this big 'ol place, Demurke?" Joey asked as the murkrow led the group down a staircase.

"Y-yeah!" Demurke said. "I live down on...the bottom floor. I-it's not far from where my m-mom and d-dad work!" Just as they reached the lower floor the staircase led them to, she suddenly made a turn for a door. "Speaking o-of—"

David put a wing in front of Demurke. "I'll take it from here," he said gently. Seeming to understand, she backed off. Balling up his wing-fingers into a wing-fist, he knocked at the door. "Dit! It's me. We brought them here. Are you ready?"

From behind the door came an answer. "I'm readys as I'll ever be. Youse can just let the boys in."

The office that the lot of them stepped into seemed much more in-order than the rest of the facility. Lining the basic, pale-blue walls were wooden drawers and cabinets that you could find in any other office. Strewn about were sets of both beanbag chairs and, interestingly, regular Earth-style chairs, fronting a simple desk. All in all, it was a rather generic space, which contrasted strongly with the pokemon sitting before them.

Mathew could easily recognize Dit's species as that of a mighty pidgeot, but his color palette was drastically different from its typical appearance. His feathers were all coated in deep blue shades, save for the now-accentuated red highlights on the outer feathers on his head crest and his tail. It somewhat reminded him of Demurke's own repainted feathers… Wait. Did that mean-?

"H-hi, Dad…" she muttered.

"Demoike! David! Jeremy! New guys! You bettah find some seats and get comfy." He firmly planted his wings on the desk. Upon it was a little nameplate that read 'Dit, Pidgeot XV of Fascamile: Lead Forces Director'. "It's gonna be a while."

Two steps into his office and this pidgeot was already intimidating him. Mathew had worked in business long enough to know what this sudden tension meant. "Alright, you can just tell us what we fu-screwed up." The cubone slid himself onto one of the Earthen chairs. Joey, similarly concerned, took the one beside him.

Dit seemed impressed by that remark. "You got some good eyes if ya already caught that we got some big matters to discuss."

That was all it took for Mathew to piece it together. You're kidding…

"See, here ins Fascamile, we dig ourselves into some...funny business. The sort where, if word spreads around, it'll be real ugly for everyone involved." Dit's expression contorted into a smug smile, more wrathful than joyful. "We don't take well to blabberers."

This was ridiculous. Was he really just going to ignore the fact that he 'blabbered' entirely against his will? Mathew wanted to protest, but he wasn't stupid — he knew that calling him out would only hurt his chances of securing this job. The key to dealing with shitty bosses, from his experience, was to avoid making them mad. "What did you hear?" he asked flatly. Maybe he just wasn't aware of the full context?

"Jeremy's contraption over there got some not-so-pretty clips." Dit gestured to the back of the room, where ORB was standing next to the pikachu, who seemed pretty miffed by Dit's inaccurate name. "Some rando's been using youse as a pond to fish from. There's some bickering on there, too. Not signs of a good helper, that's for shoire."

"We tried to warn you," ORB chastised. It took all of Mathew's power not to get up and shake him right then and there.

"Okay, so Mathew's been making some blunders," Joey remarked. From his tone, he seemed just as annoyed with all this as Mathew was. "I ain't seeing why we had to have this whole big meeting for this."

"Funny you mention dat," Dit said. "Here's something that matters for the both of youse: I've been checking the reports of your recruit trainin', and the results aren't looking up to snuff."

"What?!" That was enough to get Mathew to talk back. "It's been four days! How the hell can you say that already?"

"Four days can say a whole lot more about how a 'cruit will do than you think. The guys here at OCEAN are good at that kind of thing, thanks to da boss."

"First off: what the hell is OCEAN? I signed up to join SEAS. Second off: you aren't the leader either?! Am I ever going to meet the CEO of this goddamn organization?" Mathew's tongue lashed out faster than he could think to stop it. "You guys are making it very hard to believe that this 'peaceful future' I was promised is even re—"

"Mathews." Dit smacked his desk. "If it's peace you're lookin' for, that temper of yours is only making it go farther away." He stared the angered cubone down. "If I didn't want to waste the effort, I'd have you and your totodile buddy outta here already. But let's say I's got a better idea…"

Dit's eyes leaped over Mathew, towards the back of the room. David, Jermy, and Demurke had been silent all meeting. David was staring down at the floor, letting the hood cover his face. Jermy just seemed annoyed, as if all that mattered to him was getting the meeting over with. And Demurke...she met his eyes with shame.

None of them had even tried to come to his and Joey's defense. Strangely, Mathew felt kind of hurt by that.

Dit continued. "You three. Got an idea of how to get these two stragglers in ship-shape?"

The decidueye nodded. "We're working on it."

"Good. Then I believe we's all done here. I hope to see better things from you two soon." Dit sat expectantly, presuming nothing more needed to be said to usher them all out of the room. As they did, he added, "Oh, and Demoike?"

"Y-yes…?" She came up to his desk, and he whispered to her something that Mathew couldn't hear. "...Okay. I'll...I'll t-try." When Demurke rejoined them, she kept brushing her wing across the rim of her hat, like if she didn't check for it, it would fly off and leave her bare.

"So!" David slammed the office door shut. "Now you see why we were setting things up in the Waregle."

"Uh, yeah," Joey remarked. "That went about as good as a gear in a gutter."

Mathew could only grimace beneath his mask. Already he was feeling a twinge of regret for losing control of his anger in front of his bosses so easily. "...Crap. How are we going to deal with this?"

"Well, I have good news and bad news." David led them all back the way they came. "The good news is that I have a plan for how Jermy, Demurke, and I can accelerate your development as recruits and save this dip in your reputations at the same time!"

"And the bad news?" the totodile asked.

"Well… You're gonna have to fight for it."