Chapter 11: Twin Ploys
Joey sat quietly on the couch in Meowth's home as the evening sun poured into the living room. Even though there were three people in the house, it was dead silent.
Once more, the totodile was flipping idly through the pages of the scrapbook. He had lost track of how many times he had peeked at all these unfamiliar faces, waiting for something, anything to click. It was so habitual at this point that he barely thought about it.
There were times where he wasn't endlessly eyeing the items close to giving clarity to his past. SEAS, stressful as it could be, was sometimes a welcome distraction. And, of course, working and training with Minichino, Politoed, and Breloom always seemed to enlighten him.
But those moments were always fleeting — especially when his housemates always seemed to be finding new excuses to waste the evening away. It was almost a continual cycle with the three of them.
He would ask Mathew:
"Sorry, Joey, but I think I'm gonna pass on video games tonight. I mean, I'm feeling better after taking the day off, but not that much better," he explained. "Besides, I need some time to rest up and figure out what we're going to do with the Wristlet, you know?"
And there went Mathew.
He would ask Meowth:
"If it makes you feel any better, I managed to get somebody to talk this morning," Meowth told him. "There's something between you and Mathew going on involving a 'B.L.'. That's the best you're going to get out of me — I need some time to think. Sorry."
And there went Meowth.
He would ask Jermy:
"Yeah, we could totally hang out later! Buuuuuut I have some meetings to deal with today." Jermy rubbed the back of his neck. "I have to keep being your advocate! And help manage the science division. And scrub the floors. And take out the trash…"
And there went Jermy, and ORB with him, too.
Joey was left without anybody else to talk to for the evening, as it often went. It was just him, his thoughts, and all the memories he didn't have. He felt a little guilty about lacking anything else to do, but how was he ever going to find a hobby? Besides his interest in cowboys, he didn't really know what he liked. What he wanted. What he dreamed of doing. Not even TV could satisfy him — that cartoon Meowth and Demurke had put on certainly hadn't, and no shows, animated or otherwise, the totodile could find made any sense to him. The only thing he really had to do was contemplate new ways he could approach Mathew.
So, contemplate he did. Joey had been mulling things over since yesterday morning's 'game show' or whatever odd event he could call it. He had come to the conclusion that pressing Mathew to make him talk about his past…wasn't working at the moment. In fact, it seemed that putting too much pressure on the cubone brought out a side of him that Joey really didn't want to see again. It was time for the totodile to change his approach. If Joey wanted Mathew to give him answers, he needed to make sure that the cubone's position with SEAS was secure. That would make Mathew happy and comfortable, and the more happy and comfortable he was, the closer he would be to disclosing what seemed to bother him so much.
Joey wasn't really sure what to think of that. He remembered Minichino, Politoed, and Breloom's advice — that he shouldn't be letting the job get to him as he pursues what matters most. If he took this approach, he was going to get as deep into the thick of it as Mathew was. Was that really the right thing to do here?
No… No, that was right. He recalled what Emily had said. If the two of them could prove that they could work together and resolve their differences, he and Mathew would stand the best chance at changing things around. Mathew was doing his part with the Wormhole Wristlet. Now, he needed to do his by keeping the arguments of yesterday from happening again.
Right now, Mathew, Jermy, and Meowth were all unique in their own ways — Mathew with his creativity, Jermy with his knowledge, and Meowth with his cunning. If he could play this role, if he could fulfill what SEAS wanted of him, and through it find answers — surely, he reckoned he could become more like them, too.
Each time Joey joined the rest of the Club for post-work training, he couldn't help but notice more and more just how different life seemed to be for folks living at the bottom of the cliff compared to the top. Meowth and the others at the top got lavish condos, well-trimmed yards, and big, sweeping views of the ocean. Minichino and the others that were close to the cliffs and far from the center of town weren't so lucky. They had to contend with untrodden roads with weeds sprouting up from the dirt everywhere you looked, and homes that were sore on the eyes.
Minichino seemed to get the worst of it. Her house was small, archaic, and awkwardly designed, making an odd star-shape. Joey could almost just tell where one room ended and another began from the outside — it was like seeing the bones poking out of the skin of the house. She wasn't even fortunate enough to have a house with steel roofing that, while way too reflective of the sun for the eyes, could apparently protect from the occasional rockfall. The old, drained color from the outer walls seemed like they could suck the hope out of just about anyone.
But not Minichino, nor the rest of the Club, it seemed. Her spirit in each training session never seemed to waver, no matter the weather, or the frustrating conversations with Meowth, or the dullness of their day job. It was almost infectious, Joey found — it was hard not to give it his all when she was doing the same to help him.
"Woah!" Politoed exclaimed as he stumbled from the strength of his Water Gun attack. "Felt more power in that one than any of the others."
Joey was quick to follow up by sinking a precise bite into the frog's arm. Judging by the wince in pain, followed by his grin, Politoed clearly thought well of the other attack he had been practicing, too. "Thmmphs!" Joey answered before letting go.
"Both you are…really starting…to get with it," Breloom conceded, knocking away swing after swing from Mathew, but she wasn't able to hold him back when he used his skull mask to bash her chest in.
"Woooo! Yeah!" Minichino gleefully cheered, refereeing their practice with the eagerness that they all found so encouraging. She was close to throwing her arms up in the air, but she stopped short. In her paw was a mug full of coffee that she had been drinking on and off as they worked.
I reckon I've figured out where all the energy comes from…
As the lot of them wrapped up for the last workday and off-work practice of the week, it was clear that almost everyone was in high spirits. That's when an idea came to Joey. He had to find a way to help Mathew with his new plan to grab their attention, right? And what better way could he do that than keep up the positive energy and get everybody in on it?
"Hey, y'all!" Joey exclaimed, grabbing the attention of everyone before they had the chance to disperse. "Mathew and I are gonna go looking for a psychic type stone over yonder in the market after practice. Anybody wanna come help us?"
The question was met with positive, though skeptical reactions.
"I don't really have anything better to do until this evening, so…why not?" Minichino remarked.
"J-Jermy and I were…g-gonna help anyway," Demurke said.
"Seems like a real challenge," Politoed said. "Aren't psychic type stones pretty rare?"
However, of all of them, it was only Breloom who asked a cutting question Joey failed to consider. "What do you need a psychic type stone for?"
Crap.
It had slipped from Joey's mind that he and Mathew were supposed to be sworn to secrecy about their SEAS affairs. How the heck was he supposed to explain this? 'Oh, Mathew and I are building a portal device to take me back to the human world that I've told y'all about so we can eventually fix my memories and save ourselves from the military complex'? His SEAS knowledge would be leakier than an old faucet on a rainy day! "Uh… Um… It's for a contraption SEAS is making," he said, hoping the vagueness would get them off his case.
"Huh, you're helping them with a product already?" Breloom remarked. "That's pretty cool. What kind of product? A TV? A vacuum cleaner? Air conditioning? Something else?"
…SEAS makes TVs and vacuums cleaners and air conditioners?! How did Joey know so little about this dang company?! He had no idea how to answer this! And if he just said 'I'm barred by an NDA', that'd probably look weird, too! Desperately, he looked to Jermy and Demurke.
Fortunately for the totodile, Jermy seemed to be on top of it. "...Huh? What the— ORB? Hellooooooooo?"
"What's up with ORB?" Minichino asked.
"He just…randomly turned off. I think he's broken." Jermy looked to him, Mathew, and Demurke. "Mathew! Joey! Demurke! I'm gonna need your help on this!" Jermy almost grabbed Joey by the arm to lead him towards Minichino's house. "Hey, can we work on him in your place real quick?"
"Uh, yeah, sure! Key's under the welcome mat."
With haste, Jermy unlocked the door and led them all into the house, promptly shutting the door behind them. The four of them were in a small foyer with a rug, a couch, a small TV, some drawers, and pretty much nothing else. To Joey's left and right were two doors on each wall — two open doors gave him the impression that there were three bedrooms and one restroom, fit for a family that didn't seem to be there. In front of them was what looked like a small kitchen.
The house seemed pretty cheap, but Joey could tell Minichino was making it work. It was incredibly clean and well-kept, even the restroom. In fact, the floors were so sleek, the totodile could see himself reflected in it. The kitchen didn't look too shabby at first glance, either — it seemed even nicer than Meowth's.
Jermy promptly set ORB down on the kitchen table. With minor complaints, he snatched the club out of Mathew's hands and used it as a screwdriver, opening ORB up from the back. Dozens of wires were exposed, as was the weighted computer that allowed him to operate. Joey couldn't help but notice that most of the heavy material was stuffed into the left side of ORB, opposite of the arcade claw that extended from his spherical core. "Okay, that should make it look like we're actually working on ORB," he remarked.
Mathew proceeded to immediately slam his face into Minichino's kitchen table. "Joooooooeyyy… Whyyyyyy…" He groaned. "This is the last thing we fucking needed right now…"
"I'm sorry! I was just trying to help out!" Joey said.
"It's fine," Jermy mumbled, tugging at his long ears. "It's fine. We're not in hot water yet. We'll deal with it."
Demurke looked to the door. "We p-probably have about five minutes u-until our excuse…doesn't sound s-so convincing."
"...Does SEAS make normal stuff that doesn't have anything to do with this crazy war stuff?" Joey asked Jermy and Demurke.
"Yeah, we do. When we're not working on supplying that, we're sending stuff to the business division," Jermy explained.
Demurke nodded. "My m-mom does all the planning and PR, and David…makes the p-products."
"So what you're saying is that you two are the second most qualified people to bail us out of this," Mathew remarked.
"S-Sure!" Demurke said, looking almost flattered. "We'll…g-give it a try."
The four of them wasted no time getting into an intense discussion to determine what lie they could tell the others that would most easily make the three of them think nothing of what they were doing behind closed doors. Joey tried to contribute where he could, but the other three thought fast and spoke faster, so he didn't get to add very much. Fair, since he was the one who caused all this, he reckoned. Most of the time, he just let Mathew handle the plan with the others, since that seemed to be what he was better at.
Why is Mathew so focused and helpful sometimes, then other times he's thornier than a rosebush in summertime…?
Disregarding that thought, the totodile couldn't help but see some comedy in the situation. They needed to build all these walls to hide their humanity from the rest of the Club, but thanks to him, everybody in the Club already knew that at least he and Mathew used to be human. It wasn't really something to be proud of, but it made this all seem so silly. He was sure the four of them were chuckling about it outside, not worrying about it at…
…Huh. When Joey peered out one of the windows to get a look outside, he was met with a scene he wasn't expecting. Yes, Minichino, Politoed, and Breloom were all talking, but even at a distance, he could tell that it wasn't really a fun chat. They all had serious expressions on their faces, muttering things so quietly that not even the faintest of sounds made it through the glass. Were they all scheming, too?
None of the three noticed Joey eyeing them at all. Only one person in the yard did — the one nobody could seem to keep a secret from. He and Meowth shared a glance of acknowledgement as he stayed far away from the others, leaning against the brittle wooden fence on the sides of Minichino's hadn't pressed him for anything more than what he told him yesterday — not only did none of his friends seem to like him crossing the invisible red tape on even the simplest of things, but he noticed that Meowth seemed particularly serious when he told Joey about what he had somehow learned. The totodile wasn't sure how he got wind of this 'B.L.', but whatever happened seem to make him want to keep his distance for now, if him being a wallflower while the others were plotting was a sign of anything.
That, or Meowth just really didn't like Minichino and the others. Joey reckoned that was equally possible.
"...Okay, th-that should probably be convincing enough," Demurke murmured. "Are we all…?"
"Yeah, let's hop to it!" Jermy exclaimed. He took Mathew's club to close up ORB, then led them to the door eagerly, but nonchalantly. Joey tried not to make his conspiratorial side look too obvious as the four of them stepped outside.
Minichino, Politoed, and Breloom, in stark contrast to what he saw earlier, were in a much more casual position — spread out, slouched over, and generally looking like they were having a nice chat about the weather. "You guys patch ORB up?" Politoed asked.
"Nope!" Jermy exclaimed, holding up the limp robot. "We tried our best, but it looks like ORB's just dead. I'm gonna have to fix this with better equipment later."
"My condolences," Minichino said with a bow.
"Yeah. Anyways…" Breloom sprung to her feet. As if on-cue, Politoed joined her and the two closed the distance between one another. "What was all this type stone stuff about, again?"
"Oh!" Joey said. "Yeah! You were right. We're actually helping SEAS with a big project!"
"Really? Dang." Politoed looked to Jermy. "You sure Joey can just come out and say that?"
"He sure can!" Jermy took two steps closer to Politoed to speak with him better. "It's totally cool!"
"W-Well, technically it's a secret…" Demurke added, promptly planting herself next to Jermy to clarify the details of their story. "B-But you guys have been g-great friends, so…we can tell you!"
"Heh, I'm flattered." Breloom, keeping a spring in her step, took two steps backwards. "Don't tell me you're sharing because it's for some music-related thing!"
Politoed immediately proceeded to also move back to match Breloom. "Music's great, but it's not our everything to keep up with the latest tech for that kind of stuff."
To keep up with them, Jermy followed suit, moving forward. "No, no! SEAS is cool, but not that cool. We're not into the music-making business."
"Y-Yet! I'm sure w-we could convince them." Two steps forward.
"Well, anyways, we're getting off topic. If you two want to share all those juicy details with us, go right ahead." Two steps backward.
"We're on it!" Two steps forward. "So, the scientists over at SEAS thought…"
All of a sudden, Joey found him and Mathew a fair distance away from their superiors. Jermy and Demurke were now at the far side of the yard, chatting it up with the power couple. Wanting to fix that, the totodile put one foot forward and—
"Hey, guys." The two of them were halted by Minichino. Her voice, for some reason, was rather quiet. "Are you two doing okay?"
Mathew cocked his head. "What? Of course we're doing okay," he said, confused.
"I dunno. If you ask me, you both seemed way too panicked when Breloom asked you about the stone — especially you." She gestured to Joey.
"W-Well, I was put on the spot…" Joey said defensively.
"You were! But still, this all seems like a little bit much over such a basic question, you know?" Minichino's voice became more sincere, and a bit less light. "You're sure things over at SEAS haven't gotten too worrisome?"
Mathew shook his head fiercely, with an intense expression on his face. Joey was about to do the same, but… She was right, wasn't she? With such high stakes going on, SEAS' recruitment was getting very worrisome, even when the totodile was trying to not let it get to him. He had already trusted Minichino with information way more severe than his state of mind. Was it really worth it to lie about how he felt?
To his indecision, Minichino intensified further. "Listen. Later this evening, after we're done with this type stone search, I wanna talk to you guys about stuff. We can't do it here though." She patted the side of her house. "There's a big building a couple streets down from the Higher Education campus — trust me, you can't miss it. I want you two to meet me in there. Just you two. Don't take anybody else."
Joey was flabbergasted. He and Minichino had had private conversations before, but nothing like this. At the same time as Mathew, he looked back to Jermy, Demurke, Politoed, and Breloom. None of them were listening in on this. What was going on here…?
"Minichino, what the hell are you talking about?" Mathew seemed to feel the same confusion. "I'm not interested in any crazy plans to—"
"It's nothing crazy!" Minichino said. "I'm not like Meowth. I'm not gonna hypnotize you or anything. I couldn't do that if I tried!" She squinted at Mathew, to no avail. "Just…I need to tell you some things that you need—well, deserve to know."
"Wow, Jer!" Breloom's loud proclamation reached all three of them. "This sounds pretty cool. You can count Poli and me in!"
They had about ten seconds before this moment of privacy vanished. "I promise, I just want to help," she pleaded one last time.
Joey's attention flew to two faces. First, still to the side, forgotten in the crowd, Meowth's. He was there, watching Minichino hatching this scheme or whatever, offering to speak with them in total privacy…and he said nothing? Not only that, but he responded by giving the totodile a mere wave, a sort-of 'go ahead' gesture. This was not the involved sleuth Joey had previously seen him as. What had changed?
Then, Joey looked to Mathew. He seemed concerned, skeptical, almost fearful. The last thing either of them needed was more trouble and more disobedience to convince their superiors that they weren't worth more than loyal soldiers to send into the battlefield. But Minichino was somebody both of them respected. If she was asking them to speak with her because she knew something important…
As the moment broke away, neither of them objected to Minichino's offer, and that seemed to serve as a sufficient answer.
When Emily had given Mathew the rest of the previous day off, the intent had been to allow him to rest up, Mathew figured. Unfortunately, 'catching a break' was not in Mathew's vocabulary these days. While it was true that the cubone could very well save his and Joey's jobs by finishing the Wormhole Wristlet, they were on a time limit, and there always lingered a possibility that their plan could fail. So, Mathew had been spending more time to himself, resting and recovering so he can put his all into their work with the Club.
Until Joey's poorly thought out but well-intentioned idea, that was all the help Mathew thought he was going to get. Now, the eight of them were each stumbling through town, in search of any and every store they could find along the way. Mathew couldn't speak for the dedication for the rest of his coworkers, but each time he had the chance, he would scour every cabinet and shelf, then turn to the cashier and ask 'Excuse me, you wouldn't happen to be carrying one of those elusive psychic stones?' Each and every time, Mathew was met with shaking heads and scowls as he became nothing more than a window shopper.
When he passed by another Club member and asked how they were faring, they gave him the same response: "No luck yet." Mathew's faith in any stone cropping up dropped with each similar interaction. Even if they did have one, Mathew figured, he would probably have to sell his soul for it, with how rare it was.
It was an entirely futile effort. But what else was Mathew supposed to do? Find a stone mine himself? Besides this, there was no other way the Club to improve his chance of a psychic type stone turning up. And if that doesn't happen… No, when that doesn't happen. Banking his future on a random chance that was out of his control was a bad idea. He should assume the worst and spend more of his time on his backup plan.
…The backup plan he couldn't think of between yesterday and now.
As Mathew trudged through the streets on the upper end of Kalmwa'er, he continued to cycle through his alternate options. He could try to finish the Wormhole Wristlet without a type stone, but he didn't nearly have the time and wisdom to do that in eight days. He could try staging another event to show off, but that would be too transparent. He could try to…actually tell Joey…nope, that's not happening.
Idly, he poked a pebble along using his club. Hmm, if only a so-called 'therapist' had actually helped me, maybe that last part could've still worked, he internally grumbled. That circumstance still pissed him off… But there was little he could do about that when his position in SEAS was occupying so much of his attention. He needed a second plan, but he was rapidly running out of ideas. Simply put, it felt like a hopeless endeavor.
As the Club all split apart for the evening, sharing their "We tried our best"s and "Thank you for the help"s as they parted ways, and as Joey got the cubone to double back once they were alone and out of Jermy's sight, that lack of hope continued to linger. Who knows how much worse it could get if Minichino tried something like Meowth's stunt?
With the evening sun shining down on them, he and Joey weaved their way through the streets. Joey had walked him past the Higher Education campus, but aside from that, this was a part of Kalmwa'er neither were particularly familiar with. Mathew peered through the window of any and every building that passed them by, wondering if this happened to be the place Minichino had told them to meet. Assuming she wasn't leading them to some back alley, it had to be some kind of public building or something they were going to find her at, right?
That was when the sound of chatter reached their ears. Though the dirt pathway both of them found themselves on was devoid of civilians besides themselves, there seemed to be some hubbub a few streets over.
"I wonder what that's all about…" Joey remarked.
"We should probably go check it out." Leading Joey along, Mathew rounded a corner and headed in the direction of the chatter. When he did so, it became evident where it was all coming from.
Standing on the side of the street closer to the core of the town was a tall building made of brick clearly worn by time. Emblazoned on its front was a yellow circle with lines jutting out in an X shape towards two arcs. To Mathew, it heavily resembled the shape of the gate drawn on the ground to imbue objects. Stairs rose up from the dirt to meet the building at the center of the circle, forming a very fancy entryway to a pair of tall open doors.
It was there, at the base of those stairs, where the hubbub originated.
"The latest and greatest!" a voice shouted. A small crowd was gathered in front of the building, carrying around stacks of newspapers. Each pokémon was garbed in robes of a strikingly gold color.
"Big announcement from Rayquaza! New development on Solceus' hottest topic!" another voice said.
"The Scolton Gateway's biggest publication yet!" a third voice exclaimed.
Joey squinted at the building and the crowd beneath it. "I reckon I…have no idea what this is."
"If you ask me, it looks like a weird cross between a church and a printing press..." The cubone studied all those robes. "With a little more respect to the former."
A thought occurred to him. This was awfully close to where Minichino had described. And, well, a building like this was definitely hard to miss… Was this…?
"Hey, this is a bigger hunch than a hunchback in Notre Dame, but I think we should go in." Joey had the same idea.
"Right." Mathew pushed his way through the crowd, giving the most polite "Thanks, but no thanks"es and "I already caught up on the news this morning"s he could muster, then climbed the stairs. Joey fell a bit behind, and when he caught up, there were four copies clutched in his hands.
"You took four of them?" Mathew remarked, peering back at the totodile.
"Look, they were really nice folks," he said. "And besides, I like crossword puzzles."
"...But they're all the same crossword."
"Well, I ain't got anything better to do with your console all cooped up in your room!"
"I already told you, I don't want Earth stuff out in the open anymore — you know what, we'll talk about it later," he mumbled as he turned around and stumbled through the entrance.
The cubone wasn't sure what he was expecting when he made his way through those doors, but whatever he had pictured in his head certainly wasn't as fancy as this. The interior was a expansive mall of a space lined with red carpet that was dirtied by time but still felt nice against the soles. He stood atop a walkway surrounding the lowered interior of the room, connected by eight sets of stairs in all compass directions. At the bottom of those stairs was an open amphitheater-like space.
What grabbed Mathew's attention more, however, were the statues. Dozens of the brass things were placed about around the walkway. Mathew slowly took a lap around the room through the walkway, studying each one. When he looked back, Joey was following, but had his attention split between the world around him and the apparently very riveting news story he was reading.
As they took a lap around, the figures slowly became familiar to Mathew. That's…what's his name…Xerneas, isn't it? Yveltal… Manaphy… That one guy from Pokémon Go… Is this one supposed to be Latios or Latias? Not all of them he could put a name to, but he could get the pattern recognition. These were the Legendary Pokemon, all represented here in miniature form.
Mathew kept moving, simply taking in each one, but there was one particular set he did pause for. All four of them were avians, mostly, with three in the front and one propped up behind them. One had fluffy-looking plumage on its neck, a short beak, and a graceful streamer-like tail. One had fierce, angular wings and a lengthy beak. One had a similarly long beak, as well as wings and a head coated in what looked like flames. The one highest up had massive wings close in shape to hands, a wide stomach, and plates running along its back.
Articuno… Zapdos… Moltres… Lugia. As he knew them, the Legendary Birds.
Mathew had noticed some flowers and other small objects around a couple of statues, but these were different. They were showered in commemorative flowers and petals, and entire bushes had been placed at each of their feet, as if they were laid before gravestones. But why…?
It was Joey, staring wide-eyed into his newspaper, nearly bumping into the cubone that prompted him to disregard that for now and keep moving. "Hey!" Mathew exclaimed.
"Sorry!" Joey replied. "I can see both pages at once with these new eyes and… Holy cow…"
As Mathew continued along, another kept going until he found…
Yep, this is the one. To his surprise, it was only marginally taller than all of the others, making it barely stick out, but this was who he was looking for. This time, they both stopped together.
The statue resembled the likeness of a goat, with a long neck and equally long legs that ended in thin nubs. Its head was almost incomparable to any animal — Mathew could best compare the shape of its face to a helmet or a mask, with a conic appendage stretched out from the back. The statue's firm eyes almost met his gaze.
Most importantly, around the statue's abdomen was a ring of sorts. From that ring, four tiny spires jutted out from it in that same X-shape, linked together by those same two arcs.
This statue was in the likeness of Arceus.
Mathew knew very little about the Arceus of the games on Earth. It felt like he knew even less here. If the shape of the entryway was any indication, was this a…church of Arceus? Surely if his symbol was emblazoned on the entrance, it had to belong to him. But, wait… Wasn't this the same shape he was supposed to draw to imbue type stones? What did that say about that process?
He shook his head. The truth was that he simply didn't know anything about the religions of Solceus. But, while he was here, he…may as well respect the culture of the world he's stepped into, right? Besides, Mathew was desperate.
Hey, uh, Arceus, is it? He spoke internally, lowering his gaze. I don't know if you, like, listen to people or anything, but if you do… I could really use some help. If I f—screw up this shot I have, I'm not gonna get the life that I want, and everything I've done up to now won't mean anything. Please, could you like, beam me a backup plan into my head? Or if you're feeling super generous, could you send a psychic type stone my way? It doesn't matter how you do it — you could hide it next to a bush I run into, strike me in the head, I don't care. I just really need this. If you do it, I promise I'll…be an advocate for your cool religion or something. Please… Uh, a-amen?
"Well, isn't this perfect?"
"Minichino?!" Joey looked up from the newspaper at the sound of her voice.
Sure enough, there she was, approaching them slowly. She seemed totally different — on top of the tattered scarf and Robin Hood-style hat, she was also wearing a somewhat clashing set of robes just like some of the other pokémon he had seen. It made her look weirdly…important? Joey wasn't sure how to phrase it.
"Nice robes," Mathew remarked, returning his attention to them after having drifted off, for one reason or another.
Minichino smirked, acknowledging the compliment, but continued. "I knew you'd probably pass me by and get a look in here before I got the chance to say hi. But of all the statues I could've noticed you under, it was right under Arceus'. It's kinda ironic."
Joey wasn't really sure what she meant by that, but he didn't have the brain space to think about it. There were burning questions he needed to have answered, and if she was wearing robes like the folks handing these papers out, surely she had to know a thing or two. "Minichino…" He turned the newspaper towards her. "What's all this about a 'Great Legendary War'?!"
Mathew looked to Joey incredulously. "I'm sorry, a what?"
"That's what I've been reading about!" Joey said. "It's been going on for a whole ten years, and that's why they're calling it 'Great'. Some folk named Rayquaza's getting all mad because the 'Triple A' is stalling…"
Joey saw something click in Mathew's head. "Wait. Then, are all the flowers supposed to be…?"
"You really don't know what's going on in the world at all, huh." Minichino's tone was more solemn than Joey expected it would be after hearing how oblivious they both were.
"Listen, I'd love to know more about whatever war is happening here," Mathew declared. "Seems like nobody ever wants to tell me shit until it's convenient for them."
Minichino nodded. "That's exactly why I brought you here! You both have to know what's going on here." Joey looked to her pleadingly to continue, and she complied. "The Legendary Court calls it a war, but it's not really the kind of war us normal pokémon have. It's basically just a bunch of small duels to see which side has the stronger conviction for their perspective on the subject the fights revolve around," she said. "They're super rare, and usually they're super formal, too. Not to mention, after everything is said and done, all of the Legendary Pokémon get revived."
"You can bring people back to life here?!" Mathew exclaimed.
Joey thought to add, "Y'all revive everyone?"
"Yeah. It's super easy because normal people aren't allowed to participate in Legendary Wars. The Legendary Court is pretty strict on that — the wars are all about policy stuff that we're not supposed to get too involved in physically. Besides, only Legendary Pokémon are able to be revived, anyway."
"Oh…" Mathew deflated at that comment, before returning in full force. "Well, cool. But none of this has to do with what they're fighting over."
Suddenly, Minichino's light mood began to decay. "Well… Come with me real quick." She led the two of them down the walkway. "Recently, there's been a couple pokémon following a…different school of thought. They want to make some really, really big changes to how the Legendary Court is managed."
Minichino brought Mathew and Joey to a different statue. This draconic pokémon did not look quite as graceful as the others. His eyes were devoid of pupils, shielded by a pair of misshapen horns. His wings, too, were misshapen; the wing to Joey's left looked as if most of it had been slashed right off. At the back, he had a tail that Mathew likened to a turbine under his breath.
"They all work together with this guy, Kyurem, as the Anti-Arceus Alliance," Minichino said.
Mathew had to do a double take. "Anti-Arceus?"
"Yep." She spoke with dead seriousness. "He and all these other guys think that the way Arceus is running things isn't good for the world. So, they're trying to take down each of the Legendary Pokémon supporting him so they can get a chance to off him themselves."
"You guys can kill God here? And it won't like, blow up the world?" Mathew asked, taken aback by this.
"...God?" Minichino seemed wholly unfamiliar with the word.
"Legendaries, Arceus, whatever."
She shrugged. "I guess you can?"
"Okay. Second off… why do they want to overthrow Arceus."
The minccino shrugged. "I dunno the full details — I'm not on their side! But from what I can tell, they think he doesn't do enough for us and the environment." She exaggeratedly gestured around the entire space surrounding the three of them. "I'm not sure where the news publications, community space, and direct access to agents of the Courts fits into that 'not doing enough' thing, but whatever."
To Joey's surprise, Mathew didn't seem to react very strongly to that answer. "...Got it," he simply said.
"This is all handy to know, but…" Joey commented. "What about this makes our work stress so darn important? Why'd you have to get Mathew and me to come all this way on our own?"
Mathew seemed to appreciate the question. "Yeah, I'm with Joey here. Thank you for explaining all this war stuff, but if you made this whole thing just to tell us something that has nothing to do with us—"
"Don't worry. This has everything to do with your work." Minichino intensified, trying to look as serious as she could. "Have they told you yet?"
Joey shared a glance with Mathew. "Uh, I reckon that could be referring to a lot of things."
"Oh, duh, uh—" She softened a bit before regaining her composure. "Have they told you what the name of their organization means?"
It took Joey longer than it should've to recall what SEAS was an acronym for. "The Scientific Engagement and Activity Society?"
"Yeah. That's their public name," she affirmed. Before she continued, she took a quick sweep of the large room — checking to make sure nobody was paying attention to them, Joey figured.. "The one they put on all their contracts and deals, like with the Club. But OCEAN's an acronym too, you know?"
Now that gave them both pause. "Why do they even have two names, anyway?" Joey asked.
"Easy," Minichino said. "Because if people found out what the internal name meant, they wouldn't be getting a lot of business deals, that's for sure."
From his expression, Mathew didn't seem to like where this was going. "What is it, then?"
Minichino took a breath, as if she had to muster the strength to repeat it herself. "The Organized Committee for the Erasure of Arceus' Negligence."
"...What?" Joey took a step back. "Erasure of Arceus' Negligence? Does that mean they—?"
"They're trying to play a role in the war." Mathew was quicker to reach the implied conclusion than Joey was. "That's why you're telling us all this for, right?"
She nodded. "If they're really building armies like I've heard, then they're breaking hundreds of thousands of years of traditions. Obviously, anybody who wants to work there should know that, right?"
Joey was left in stunned silence for a moment. This whole war thing seemed very serious, and it sounded like SEAS, or OCEAN, wanted in on it, for one reason or another. Even if it meant breaking some rules…
…Did that…change much? Yes, it was important to know what they were fighting for, and it was a shame that Minichino had to be the one to tell them that. But he and Mathew both had known for a long time that OCEAN owned an army for one reason or another. For that matter, neither of them really knew anything about Arceus. Maybe he really is a bad god. Then again, he could just as easily reckon that he was a good god that way. It'd be hard to get clarity either way — Minichino would obviously tell him Arceus is good, Jermy or Demurke or David would obviously tell him Arceus is bad, and asking strangers would probably just get him weird looks.
So, even though it seemed like Minichino had intended this to make him rethink, Joey was in the same place: he would follow wherever Mathew wanted to go, so the two of them could finish the Wristlet together while Joey picked at the cubone's brain. Expectantly, Joey looked to the cubone, who seemed deep in thought.
"...You know, Minichino," Mathew began. "I don't think I want what you're selling here."
"Huh?" the Minccino seemed confused.
"You want us to think about leaving SEAS or OCEAN or whatever. I'm not interested."
Joey could tell Minichino was trying to hide how disheartened she was. "Why not?" she simply asked.
"Let's be honest, half the time I barely understand what I'm doing here. Neither of us…" Mathew paused, seemingly to let Joey excuse himself from that inclusion. Joey didn't want to. "Neither of us know how to survive on our own. Playing their game is a pain in the ass, but OCEAN is our best chance at survival. If we just give up on that, then we're screwed."
So that was it, then. It seemed like he and Joey were staying the course. It took Minichino a moment to process how to respond to that. "...Alright. I've only got one more thing to tell you, then. I'll admit, this one might be a little mean." She looked up, past Mathew and Joey. "Politoed! Breloom! Can you come over here?"
"What?!" Mathew's head snapped behind them, prompting Joey to do the same. Sure enough, there the two of them were, just sitting against the base of one of the statues. Breloom's cape was draped against a rock body half-covering what looked like a diamond. The pokémon the pair was beneath seemed to be defined by diamonds, substituting for hair and taking up space on her chest as jewelry. "I thought this was supposed to be private!"
"Hey, if it makes you feel better, it was our job to make sure everything stays private," Breloom said as she hopped to her feet and came up to them. "Luckily, nobody seems to be paying us any mind."
"Just the five of us know about this chat," Politoed added, trailing her. "Shouldn't be any problems. We can keep a secret."
Mathew looked like he was too steps from fuming, but just couldn't seem to tip over the edge. "Fine," he said with a sigh. "Whatever."
"I ain't happy about this either," Joey commented. "But…I do trust y'all."
"Well, good, because that's the reason I called them over!" Minichino said. "Me, Politoed, Breloom… Whatever is going on in your corner of the world, the three of us are here to listen and help. If there's anything we can do to make your promotion easier, we're all ears." She brushed a paw through one of her gigantic ears. "Well, I'm at least ten percent ears."
"If you're only ten percent ears, we're done for." Breloom brought her claws up to her nonexistent ears, then gestured to the side of Politoed's head.
Joey reached up to the side of his head with his free hand and felt around. When he brought it back down, he was poker-faced. "I don't have ears…" But he could hear. Were they just really small?
"Enough about everyone's ears!" Mathew exclaimed, leaving whatever ears were beneath his skull mask a mystery. "You're really serious about the whole 'help with the promotions' thing?"
"Sure are," Politoed said. "Doesn't matter whether you walk one path or the other. No skin off our backs either way, so we can chip in."
"...And you're not going to pull any fast ones?"
"Not a chance," Breloom assured him.
Mathew stalled for a few seconds. "...Alright, fine. Joey and I are already trying to put something together, but it's not guaranteed to work, so we need a backup plan. Some shit that proves we can break our backs and break some heads doing some work."
"Tough, but cool work?" Minichino smirked. "I think I might have an idea."