[Originally completed November 17th, 2018. Published July 13th, 2019. The prologue and chapter 1 originally shared the same entry in order to make the chapter number and entry number the same. This no longer matters, so it has been separated for your reading convenience.]
Chapter 1: Solceus
The treetops of the forest blotted out the bright blue sky, protecting its ground floor from the harm of the sun's bright rays. Upon this floor, the forest flourished with plant life, seemingly untouched by civilization. Amongst the trees and the plants, there was a pond within a clearing. With no trees around, the sun could expose the floor, the pond, and those that dwelt within both. The pond proposed the sun to actually be under its surface, but this was merely a lie made by the pond's waters. The sun could see all, not the other way around.
However, one creature seemed to believe the pond's words: a blue creature no more than two feet tall. When he looked into the pond, the creature could see himself. Dark brown eyes gazed past his long, crocodilian maw while locked on to the other side, who was outputting the same emotion. Under watchful eyes, this despair began a metamorphosis into anger.
This ain't fair! The creature wanted to shout at his other. Instead, he swiped at his reflection, causing ripples to cloud it. Before these ripples could even hope to clear, he began to walk away so he could no longer see it. One of his feet touched a large rock as he moved backwards. He picked it up and thought for a moment. The crocodile couldn't decide whether boredom or distraction was his motivation, but he decided to try to skip it across the tiny pond. It didn't bounce once. Instead, it sank into its depths and settled. There was no one there to praise him for trying or criticize him for failing; for all the world knew, there had never been a rock thrown into that pond.
The totodile knew there was nothing left for him there. He decided to go back to where he came from; a dirt pathway leading who-knows-where. There was only one thing left to do: see where it-
Wait, no. There was something new to this picture. A new creature was lying unconscious on the path. It was a brown creature with stubby legs and slim arms. His head was covered with what looked like a giant skull with a crack in its right side, and a long bone laid beside his right hand. The other creature was completely shocked to see such a sight. He took no hesitation in approaching him and shaking him awake.
"...Nng...Mh? AHH!" the creature screamed, realizing that a beast was atop him. He hurriedly reached for the nearest object he could grab, the bone, and swung.
"Woah!" The totodile stumbled backwards and onto his tail in order to dodge the lengthy arc of the club of a bone. The brown creature let the momentum of the bone send it rolling across the pathway after it slipped out of his flimsy grip. He tried turning around and making a break for it, but kept stumbling as he tried to stand, nearly smashing his skull against the ground each time.
"Where are you going?!" the totodile exclaimed.
"Get away, you creep!" the cubone said as he tried one last time to stand. With a grunt, he gave out, resting his head against the embrace of dirt in defeat.
The totodile walked in front of the brown creature's matching colored eyes. He outstretched his arm and opened the palm of his hand. "Need some help?"
"...Yes," he confessed. The man let the totodile pull him up to his feet. "Sorry for freaking out like that. I should've-"
"No, no, it's okay," the totodile said. "I should've given you more space. I just wanted to see if you were okay, out on the ground like that…" he turned around and picked up the bone. "Is this yours?"
"Uh… Maybe?" he said, taking the object into his hands. "Wait. Shit. Where…?!" The man began looking around frantically. Suddenly, he and the totodile spotted a large blue backpack lying beside the nearby brush. "Oh, there it is."
"I guess that's yours?" the totodile asked.
"Mmhmm. I brought it with me through the…" The man trailed off as he realized that the backpack, laying on its side, was now only slightly taller than he was. "Why am I so short…? Oh, yeah," he said as he got a look at his cubone body.
"That bag of yours looks huge. What's in it?"
"Uh, personal stuff." The cubone shrugged off the question and began to take in his surroundings. The two pokémon were surrounded by dense forest. Tropical flora dotted the trees and bushes around the pair. "Hey, sorry about this, but you… wouldn't happen to know the way out of here, would you?" the cubone asked.
"Are you lost?"
"Uh… I guess you could say that," he replied.
"Oh. I'm afraid I am, too…" the totodile confessed.
"Well shit. Well shit! Well fuck! What are we supposed to do?!" The man exclaimed.
The totodile gazed at the cubone, somewhat in awe at how quickly he had escalated. "...Hey, at least we ain't alone," he said, trying to comfort his fears. "It's a forest. Can't go out endlessly. If we just keep walking on this dirt path, surely we'll find a way out. Maybe we'll even find a nice guy who could help us, too."
The cubone sighed. "I guess you're right, but that doesn't make me any less frustrated. Let's get moving." He proceeded to walk over to his backpack. He decided to set his bone club inside, then attempted to yank it across the natural walkway. The creature struggled as the bag stubbornly held its ground, its weight overwhelming him. Seeing this, the totodile walked over, tightly grabbed the remaining strap, and tried holding the bag up.
The cubone looked up from his moving attempts. "H-Hey, let go of that!" The cubone scolded the blue crocodile intruding on his personal belongings. "What do you think you're doing?!"
The crocodile innocently cocked his head. "I'm trying to help. This backpack seemed a bit too heavy for you to carry alone. We'll get out of here faster if you can keep up."
The cubone's tone suppressed itself. "I guess that's fine. Just... just ask me before you touch anything. There's some fragile stuff in there that I just don't want touched, you know?"
"O-okay. I'll keep that in mind…" the totodile said. He took his hands off the bag and held his palms open. "Would you like me to help you carry your bag?"
"Yeah, yeah, ask like that, that's perfect. Yes, you can help with the bag. But grab this front strap; it'll be easier than that tiny rung."
The totodile grabbed the strap he was asked to and the two began moving. As they walked, the totodile glanced over to see the cubone pressing onwards on his two feet. He felt a need to break the silence the woods was drowning them in with the sounds of rustling trees.
"So…uh…what's your name?" The totodile asked.
"My name? Well, my name's Mathew. What's yours?"
"My name's Joey."
"Ah. Nice name… So what brings you to the middle of this forest?"
"Oh, well, I've been, uh… traveling. Seeing the world and stuff. I took a break to grab a sip from a pond and came back and then you were on the dirt path. How about you?"
Mathew took a few seconds to reply. "I-It's complicated."
"Complicated? Why?"
"It just is, okay?!" Mathew snapped.
Joey stopped his train of thought. "Oh… I'm sorry for pressuring you."
The two newly acquainted pokémon kept a sluggish but steady pace along the dirt trails of the large forest. Through the laborious tugging of the backpack, the duo was able to take in the scenic forest, viewable from every side. The small stature of Joey and the even smaller stature of Mathew made the already humongous trees even larger, seemingly enhancing the atmosphere.
As they walked, a thud sound began to reach their ears. Soon, the sound became the clear shaking of a tree as it was struck. Then, they could hear the sound of some kind of creature attacking the tree.
"...Sounds like something alive," Mathew commented.
"Yeah," Joey agreed.
Beside the trail was a rat-like creature with dark, ruffled fur with moustache-like extensions under its nose and above its buck teeth. The rattata was striking at the tree with one of its claws.
"A rattata…?" Mathew said.
Suddenly, the rattata snapped its attention away from the tree and onto the cubone. Immediately, it then changed to the bag lying on the path. "FOOD!" it exclaimed, charging at breakneck speed towards Mathew's gear.
"OH WHAT THE-"
The creature began rapidly circling around him. "FOOD! FOOD! YOU HAVE IT! GIVE! THERE! THAT BAG! GIVE! NOW!"
"What? No, I-I don't have any food… Unless I'm food. But I'm not food! Leave us alone!" Mathew exclaimed.
The rattata froze as if time stopped. It reanimated itself with a deadly glare and a tiny growl. "LIAR…GIVE IT TO ME, NOW!"
Joey forced himself in the way between the fearful cubone and the malicious rattata. He towered over the tiny beast as a beast of his own. "He ain't lying. Lay off of him."
"ANGRY! ANGRY! GO AWAY! GO AWAY! DESTROY! DESTROY!"
"I'm not giving in to a jerk like you."
"RRRAGH!" The rattata screamed as he dived into Joey's chest. Because of the miserably sloppy attempt to pin the totodile down, Joey was able to easily throw the creature off of his chest, giving him enough time to get back on his feet. Stubbornly, the rattata charged at him again. This time, Joey was able to evade the rat like an oncoming bull.
Mathew grabbed the bone club out of the bag. "Ngh!" he grunted as he tried to throw his bone club at the rattata. It took notice of the oncoming object and was able to quickly evade. The bone rolled along the dirt harmlessly as the creature focused its attention on him.
Joey, seeing his acquaintance attempting to run away, darted over and tackled the rattata. The creature was pushed to the ground. It darted away from the totodile as it returned to its feet, panting and clearly tired from wasting away his energy. "BOSS MAD! REGRET! REGRET!" he said, running away.
"What a tryhard, picking a fight and then running away from it," Mathew commented. "I guess you could call him… a frat boy?"
"Huh?" Joey asked. "What do you mean?"
"Really? Frat boy? Rat boy?"
"I… don't know what that means..."
"Oh…" Mathew lamented.
"Sorry, I…" Joey stumbled to let out his words, shifting slightly away from the cubone.
"No, no, it's okay. We were all uninitiated at one point."
"Um… anyway," Joey said, followed by a sigh. "We need to find somebody who can nicely take us out of this forest. We need to keep going."
"Yeah, yeah, you're right," Mathew agreed. The two reached for the bag's straps so they could begin carrying the heavy object throughout the forest once again.
"Hey, here's another!" The mostly grayscale chinchilla-like creature nearby exclaimed. She darted ahead to pick up the white, crumpled up piece of paper she had found. In his mind, the sprints she would perform were meant more for a running track than some piece of trash, but her athletic abilities were being burned away at nearly every task they had come across since they had first met each other. She turned around, looking at her partner with a great smile… only for it to fade away. "Are you serious?" she lightly complained as she rushed over behind him, once again wasting her breath in front of him.
"Hm?" the gray cat that was her partner sounded in response as she passed by, not even bothering to turn around to watch. A white kit with a silhouette of a certain pokémon, what should've been a symbol of hospitality and health, swung back and forth in the cat's right hand.
Behind him, he could hear the sounds of shuffling as she picked something up. "Meowth, did you not see that you walked right past this bottle?" she asked.
"I saw," Meowth said with his dull, unremarkable voice.
"If you saw it, why didn't you pick it up and put it in your satchel?!" she exclaimed with great emotion, speaking of the thing carried upon his shoulder next to the medical kit.
Meowth heard her shove the bottle into her own satchel, then the soundscapes of footsteps. "We reached the other end of the forest, Minccino," he answered. "We don't have to worry about trash on the return trip."
"Who cares?!" Minccino exclaimed as the sounds of footsteps were brought closer to him. "It's literally our job to clean this up."
Meowth turned his head ever so slightly, only barely putting an eye in the view of Minccino. "I'm not gonna work overtime if I'm not getting more poké for it."
"Uggggh…" Minccino finally got the upper hand, pressing a soft hand on Meowth's stomach to stop him. He obeyed the wordless command. She removed her hand, then stared at him angrily with eyes colored yellow like a lit candle. Meowth's eyes, despite their brilliant green coloring, remained unmoved and unemotional, making Minccino, her comments, and the world mean nothing in their wake.
Minccino shook her head, her tall, round ears twisting as the pink interior changed angles with each action. "You're insufferable sometimes, you know that, Meowth?" she said, turning around and forging ahead.
"At least I'm not always out of breath like you make yourself with all those runs," Meowth said as he began walking behind her. "You think you're really going to make things better when you're like that all the time?"
Minccino stopped and turned around, her slurred movements showing readiness to end this conversation. "Good things take lots of time and lots of effort," she said sternly.
Meowth paused as well. "Good things can't happen if everything else is working against them."
Minccino sighed. "You just have to be such a Dewott downer…" The two of them unpaused their walk, unable to fix the other's attitude.
Suddenly, the quiet ambiance of the forest was interrupted by a piercing scream.
"SOMEBODY, PLEASE! HELP ME!" the unknown voice cried.
Meowth's companion's large ears seemed to cringe due to the loud noise as her head swerved in the direction it arrived from. "Woah, sounds like a traveler's in trouble!"
"Not our problem," Meowth remarked.
Minccino spun around. "You know what? It is my problem, and now it's yours too. I'm gonna help this guy, and since you'll get in trouble for not coming to town with me, you have to come help me too. So HA!" she declared, pointing at him with confidence.
Meowth halted in his stride and replied with a simple "Okay."
The two of them stood around for a few brief seconds. Minccino slowly retracted her hand and her stance.
"Ididn'tmeanthatyoudon'thavetohelpIjustwishyouweremoreofanicepokémOKAY, let's go help him." Minccino said as she chased after the direction of the voice.
She's going to burn out eventually, Meowth thought as he followed after her the best he could. They traveled for several paces along the path before Minccino stopped and faced the woods.
"Hear those sounds? That's wingull cries," she said. "They must've flown in from Asulaguah. The sound's coming from off of the trail." She then directed her travel companion through the unprojected and unprotected path through the forest.
Minccino pushed past the foliage separating her and the source of the desperate scream. After a few seconds of pushing through forest shrubbery, the two arrived at the clearing in which the sound occured. They saw a pedestrian pokémon surrounded by a group of wingulls, which circled him like a triad of sharks.
Meowth placed the kit in the grass where it would be safe, then pointed at the grounded individual. "That guy's attire," Meowth said. "Is he from that traveling circus? It's near the time it usually shows up in the market."
"What? No! Why would you say that?!" Minccino said.
The pokémon Meowth was pointing at in particular was a yellow mouse with a pink bandana bearing a white floral pattern, as well as a pair of brown goggles. The creature's red cheeks surged with energy before releasing a lightning bolt into the air, just narrowly missing one of the gliding wingulls. Meowth then noticed a strange green spherical object laying beside the pikachu. Three objects protruded out of the mechanical thing. One was an arm-like metal claw; one was a straight rod attached to a rubber wheel; and one was a coil with a red ball at the top. The creature seemed to be defending the lifeless entity.
"Did somebody here call for help?" a voice asked. Their attention was drawn to yet another duo who was entering the clearing: a cubone and a totodile. It was the cubone who had just spoken. Already realizing that the current environment was hostile, he leaned in towards his water type companion. "A-Are you sure we should approach this? We might get-"
"Yeah, that'd be me!" the pikachu said. "I kind of bit off more than I can chew, and now these dungeon pokémon want to take this thing of mine. Can you give me a quick fighting hand?"
"We're here to help!" the totodile said.
"Wait, what? I'd rather not! I'm not a fighter!" the cubone said.
Before the two of them could start bickering and completely fail the stranger's plea, the duo across from the clearing finally made their presence known. "The two of us can cover for him!" Minccino said, approaching the trio. Meowth followed suit.
The pikachu was taken by surprise. "A-Another group? Gee, I didn't think I'd get so much help. Thanks to both of-"
Suddenly, the three wingulls finally decided they were ready to resume attacking. With a screech, they dived in towards the gathered enemies, forming a destructive oncoming barrage. The cubone screamed and held up his club in a desperate attempt at protection. The first wingull aimed high and knocked the club out of his hands, causing it to cascade across the forest and hit a tree. The second aimed low, sweeping the totodile and the pikachu off of their feet and onto their sides. The third aimed for the heads of the newest fighters, just barely missing Minccino as she frightfully ducked under its left wing.
Meowth brandished his long, sharp claws. "I hope you have a plan, Minccino."
"I've got this!" Minccino ran towards the wingulls, who were now reforming their circle after recovering from the dive. She kept her eyes on the one that had just flown over her and reached into her satchel. "PLASTIC BOTTLE ATTACK!" Minccino exclaimed, throwing the satchel's most recent resident at the wingull. Somehow, the bottle landed right between the wingull's eyes.
"SCREEE?!" it shouted, immediately forgetting about the spherical prize it wanted and set its sights upon a new one. It once again dived in, this time aiming for Minccino's chest. Feeling a cue coming on, Meowth charged in and intersected the wingull's flight path. He reeled back his right arm and swung, striking it on the top half of its left wing. The attack caused its angle to become inefficient for flight and nearly grounded him. Meowth finished the job, pinning it to the ground with his front paws on its right wing and his hind paws on its left.
"Nice work, Meowth," Minccino said as she began to approach the two.
"WATCH OUT!"
Minccino quickly stepped back as the totodile barreled through the gap between Minccino and Meowth, cradling the green treasure in his arms. A wingull followed shortly behind him. Meowth's eyes followed him as the chase ensued. The wingull dived in to attack the totodile. He only barely dodged the attack, skidding on his back in the dirt while clutching the green sphere over his chest. "How am I supposed to hit this thing?!" he shouted after returning to his feet. The wingull circled back and the chase continued.
Meowth's attention was drawn back to the wingull, trying to break free.
"Joey! Make an arc around me!" he heard the cubone command. Meowth kept his hold onto the creature and then looked towards the sound. The cubone was holding up his bone club, which he had only just picked up off of the forest floor.
"What's an arc?!" Joey asked.
"Ugh, just circle around me!"
Meowth's attention was then drawn to the pikachu. The yellow stranger was fighting off his own wingull and seemingly having a much better fight. The wingull was clearly beaten and exhausted, looking as if it was about to give in and stop flying. One last electric shock felled the creature from the skies.
"Come on!" the cubone shouted in frustration; he had missed. However, Meowth was more interested in seeing how the pikachu would send the wingull into unconsciousness. He gave a long look at the creature, who still showed fight in his open eyes.
"That should be enough," he said, turning to face Meowth… or the young pokémon behind him.
"Meowth! What are you waiting for?!" Minccino shouted. This caused the wingull to protest once again. In retaliation, Meowth pulled back his left leg and swung at the side of its face. It went out like a light.
Meowth stood overtop of his adversary as he watched the cubone's second attempt at prodding the creature out of the sky. As the totodile ran around him, he shoved the sharp back end of his bone club into the air… only for the wingull to turn its body into a vertical line, flying around the obstacle. The cubone growled in rage. The pikachu approached the creature and shocked it. It lost balance in surprise, causing it to hang low. Minccino charged in and shoved the wingull, sending its head towards the trunk of a tree. It smacked against it and stopped moving.
Joey skidded to a stop and began panting profusely. "Are… are we done?" he asked.
"That was the last of them, yeah," the pikachu said.
"Geez, that was a hustle…" Past his exhaustion, Joey noticed the cubone staring at the soil, deep in thought. "Hey, are you okay?"
"I-it's nothing," he said, snapping out of his trance. "I just think I could've done a bit more there."
"You're fine, Mathew. There's no point worrying about it now," Joey said.
"Okay, so we're all good?" Minccino asked. "In that case… Meowth, what was that? Did you get distracted in the middle of pinning a struggling pokémon?!"
"Yes."
"How is it possible to even do-" Minccino took a deep breath. "You know what? I'm just glad you helped... and you didn't let go in the end."
"Are you satisfied now?" he asked.
"I wish you were being genuine, but yeah."
"Coworkers?" the pikachu asked.
"Did the bickering give it away?" Meowth said, walking over and picking up his medical supplies while speaking.
"Yeah, I'm kind of used to coworker conflicts. That's how the job always seems to turn out…"
"Anyway, now that we have time, I guess we should introduce ourselves," Minccino said. "Hi, I'm Minccino."
"My name's Jermy. Nice to meet you!"
"Um, you can call me Joey. And…"
"My name's Mathew. And thanks for the help back there."
"Meowth," he concluded the introduction swiftly as he reentered the loose circle they formed, stuffing his kit into his satchel.
"So, what brings you all here?" Minccino asked. "Usually we don't see many pokémon hanging around this far into the forest, especially off of the beaten path."
"Well, Mathew and I are kinda lost," Joey said. "We've been looking for someone to take us to a town or someplace safe."
"Yeah, I've also been looking for a certain town in search of a… Well, I'm looking for a job there," Jermy added. "Do you know where Kalmwa'er is?"
"Kalmwa'er is where Meowth and I live. We can take you three there!"
"Oh, thank God! We're finally getting out of this mess!" Mathew exclaimed with relief.
"Hm?" Meowth grunted.
"Wait, what? What's 'God?'" Minccino said.
"Really? You don't know who… Well, don't worry yourselves about it," Mathew said. "It's an expression from where I come from."
"Anywhere specific?"
"A-Albany," he said as a knee-jerk reaction.
"Oh," was all Minccino had to say. Jermy, on the other hand, was having trouble trying to contain a laugh.
"You okay?" Meowth asked.
"Oh - pfft - yeah, yeah I'm fine. Just the way he said that - I found it funny."
"Okay. While I'm talking... Question. What is the robot you're carrying around?"
Jermy's laughter subsided. "W-What? What robot?"
"The one we were protecting for the past two minutes."
"Oh, yeah… I really should've made it harder to tell," he muttered.
"Meowth, do you really need to know that right now?" Minccino asked. "Two of them are lost and all of us are pretty tired. We should ask them after they get some rest."
"No, it's fine," Jermy said. "Nothing wrong with a little curiosity! You did protect him, after all."
"Him?" Meowth reiterated.
"Oh, yeah. Um… Well, I guess I'll start with the fact that I'm an engineer. Techie, some people call it. I've done a couple personal projects, and this is one of them."
Mathew perked up at the news. "Hm, that's neat. I used to be one of those myself."
"Oh. Oh! That's cool! Then that means you're gonna like what you see. Gentlémon, I present… ORB!"
With the press of a button previously unseen by anybody but his creator, the device sprung to life. "ACTIVATING HYPER CAMERA… UNREGISTERED AURAL SIGNALS DETECTED. ANALYZING…" it immediately announced.
"Uh, what is that thing do-" Minccino was cut off by the robot.
"SCAN COMPLETE. SPECIES IDENTIFIED: CUBONE, TOTODILE, MEOWTH (ALOLA FORM), MINCCINO. DIM-"
"Okay, I think they got it, buddy," Jermy said, setting him down.
ORB wheeled around to aim his eye back at his creator. "SHUT UP, JERMY, I HAVEN'T FINISHED PRETENDING TO PERFORM DIAGNOSTICS."
Mathew was taken aback. "I-Is he always like that?"
"Yeah, he's just being funny. Anyway, this is-"
"I AM CAPABLE OF INTRODUCING MYSELF. I AM THE OBSERVATIONAL RECOVERY BUDDY, ABBREVIATED ORB, VERSION 7.8, CAPABLE OF PERFORMING FUNCTIONS INCLUDING IDENTIFICATION VERIFICATION, DATA AND SOCIAL ANALYSIS, COMBAT ASSISTANCE…"
"Well that's pretty-" Minccino attempted to say.
"INSULT SUCCESS PROBABILITY CHECKS, KEEPING TRACK OF FORGOTTEN INFORMATION, POKÉMON COMBAT MATCHUP COMPARISONS…"
"Okay we-"
"POKÉMON ROMANTIC MATCHUP COMPARISONS…"
"OKAY WE GET IT!" Minccino shouted.
ORB stopped speaking.
Minccino turned her attention to Jermy. "Personality aside, that's really, really, cool! I've never seen anything like it!"
"Yes!" Mathew exclaimed. "Amazing that you could put so much processing power into such a tiny object!"
"Yeah! ORB is really ahead of his time," Jermy said. "...Though maybe a little too far ahead."
"Nice to meet him!" Joey said.
"BEFORE WE PROCEED, ALLOW ME TO HANDLE PRONOUNS. THREE MALES, ONE FEMALE. I PRESUME SOME OF YOU DO NOT GO BY SPECIES NAME?"
"Yes," Mathew said. "I'm named Mathew, and my friend here goes by Joey."
"TWO OF YOU… MATHEW AND JOEY… I SEE. I WILL UPDATE MY PRONOUN-TO-IMAGE LIST TO ACCOMMODATE YOUR SUGGESTED IDENTITIES."
"Alright, good to get that out of the way," Jermy said. "Anyway, we probably should get going now. I kinda don't like taking ORB around active all the time, it feels like I'm trying to show off or something. Should I shut him off?"
"Nah, we've got a few more of our coworkers we'll probably meet," Minccino said. "May as well have him around."
"Hang on a second," Mathew said. "I have a giant bag with some important stuff I've been carrying around. Give us just a moment." Mathew walked over to a bush just outside of the clearing, Joey just behind, and walked around it. With a count of one, two, three! and a heave, the bag rose in their arms.
"That thing's far too big for the two of you," Meowth said.
"You think we don't know that?!" Mathew retorted. "Please, let's just get going before these arms of mine tucker out."
The rest of the group did as Mathew suggested. Minccino led them and soon they returned to the path Minccino and Meowth came from. "If we walk this way, we'll get back to town," Minccino said, pointing southwest.
"Awesome…" Joey said.
"Ngh…" Mathew grunted. "I'm getting really tired of carrying this thing."
"You get used to it, like how I got used to - WAIT!" Suddenly, Minccino turned and started running back.
Mathew was taken by surprise. "W-What's happening?!"
"THE BOTTLE! I FORGOT TO PICK IT UUUUUUUUPPP!"
Meowth brought his paw to his face.
Mathew strolled along the forest pathway, bag tightly in hand. He and Joey had slowly become more adept at the task, but it couldn't stop their grips from burning. "How close do you think we are?" Mathew called to Minccino leading the way.
"Just a bit longer…!" Minccino said. Shortly after, the trees began to give way. Mathew, Joey, and Jermy viewed the town of Kalmwa'er in awe. Past the trail that slid up and down the small hill was a quaint town. The serene homes filling the area triggered a faint hint of nostalgia in their minds for a very different time. Busy pokémon filled the dirt pathways between each facility. Past them was a world of pale grains. These sands were quickly overcome by the rushing waves of the ocean. They were tucked only slightly beneath the water, for a time, until the sand dropped into the darker abyss of nothingness at the continent's edge. As he and his friends slowly traveled over the hill, Mathew's eyes wandered to the shoreline. It mesmerized him, comforted him…
"Is this the first time you've seen a beach?" Meowth asked.
Mathew snapped out of his daze. "Oh, no, I've seen beaches before. It's just… just the first time I've seen one in a very long time."
"I don't think I've ever seen one before," Joey said.
"What? Really?" Minccino said, bewildered.
"Yeah… But I'm glad I'm getting to see this."
"Hey, what's that building over there?" Jermy pointed to the six-story building just across the beach from the water that towered anything else in the town.
"That's Kalmwa'er Resort," Minccino explained.
"Oh," Jermy said in a dull tone. ORB made a whirring sound as he trailed behind on his singular wheel.
"It's a hotel?" Mathew said. "They really should make a sign if they want to attract tourists there…"
"There's a sign, but honestly, if I was in Mr. Persian's paws, I wouldn't want to use that to advertise my business," Minccino said, pointing towards an extremely faded sign that melded into the backdrop. Now that Mathew could make it out, he could tell the design reeked of the decade prior.
"Persian?" Mathew said, realization flashing in his eyes. "That's the evolved form of Meowth. Are you related to him?"
"Mmhmm," Meowth sounded nonchalantly.
"He's the hotel manager, Meowth's dad - and our boss," Minccino said.
"Your boss…" Jermy said, processing the information.
"WHAT IS YOUR JOB'S FUNCTION?" ORB asked.
"Oh, we work in a service called the Pick-it Up Club," Minccino said. "We go around and pick up trash, then bring it to the landfill in town. Then the dump managers pay Mr. Persian for doing their job for them, and some of that goes to us!"
"A SECONDARY EXTENSION TO HIS SERVICES. HIGHLY IMPROBABLE THAT YOU KNOW THE INNER SYSTEMS OF HOTEL MANAGEMENT."
"Nope! Well, Meowth might know something, but I don't."
"No," Meowth confirmed. "I studied health and psychology, not management."
"I SEE."
"That's pretty cool to know. Thanks for asking them, ORB!" Jermy said.
"DON'T PRETEND THAT YOU WERE INTENDING TO ASK THEM, JERMY."
"Speaking of work… I think I'm gonna go ahead and dump the satchels in the landfill," Minccino said. "Meowth, be a gentlémon and show these guys around town, okay?"
Meowth simply removed the kit from his satchel and tossed the trash-filled thing at Minccino.
"...Alright, good talk," she said, catching it. "Let's meet back up in front of the hotel!" Minccino paced herself to fierceful levels, scurrying along the winding trail. Now only the strangers remained in Meowth's presence.
"So… How many of you work for the club?" Mathew asked.
"Seven, not counting my father," Meowth said. "You want me to take you somewhere?"
"Well… I'm kind of hungry. Maybe we could get some food," Jermy proposed.
"I like the sound of that!" Joey said.
"Agreed," Mathew said.
Meowth directed them in the direction opposite of Minccino, moving them away from Kalmwa'er Resort. They were brought to a fairly populated area in town with booths advertising a myriad of things for sale. "Town market," Meowth explained simply.
"Wow, lots of options here," Jermy commented as Mathew and Joey set down their bag to save their failing arms.
"DIETARY ANALYSIS: JUDGING BY YOUR PREVIOUS MEALS, JERMY, IT WOULD BE HEALTHIEST TO LOCATE A NATURALLY CREATED FOOD SUCH AS FRUITS OR VEGETABLES."
"H-Honestly, I kind of don't want to eat naturally," Mathew said.
Joey rubbed his stomach. "I'm kind of starving, to be honest. Some sweets would be best."
"You want sweets? Okay," Meowth said.
"FINE, IGNORE MY ANALYSIS. SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU'RE FAT, DRUNK, AND DYING ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD."
"ORB, maybe that's a bit too harsh for our new friends," Jermy said.
"YOU'RE JERMY SHOCK. EVERY MOMENT SPENT WITH YOU IS TOO HARSH."
"You know what, you're going off for a bit. I'm not gonna let them feel bad for eating what they want… not after what they've been through today."
"OH OF COUR-" Jermy reached down and pressed the power button, draining the life out of the robot. He quickly moved and set him down beside a nearby trash can, then returned.
"Thanks, Jermy," Mathew said.
"Do you want to eat or not?" Meowth asked them, already walking off to one of the booths.
"Geez, be a little patient," Mathew muttered as the three walked over to the booth. Suspended above the booth between two wooden poles was a banner: "Slurpuff's Poképuffs and Other Irrelevant Sweets."
"Ah, hello," the pink creature said to the approaching group, an air of despair filling her voice. "What kind of Poképuff will it be?"
"Black," Meowth said.
Mathew gazed over to the menu taped to the wooden desk. "Uh… Yeah that sounds good, I'm kind of craving one," he thought aloud quietly. "Can I get an éclair?"
"Wait. What did you just say?"
"An éclair, miss."
"Oh. Oh!" The slurpuff immediately changed her tune. "You're getting something other than a Poképuff?"
"Is that not normal for your business?" Joey asked.
"Not at all! I always fix two of everything on the menu in advance, but nobody ever cares to try them. I stopped trying to advertise anything other than Poképuffs a long time ago…"
"Well, what uncommon food are you most proud of?"
"...I suppose that'd be my doughnut recipe."
"Then a doughnut, please."
"I'll take one too, as long as it's not a chocolate doughnut!" Jermy said.
"Oh, goodness. You three are too kind… Let me get your orders." The slurpuff ducked under the desk.
Mathew turned to talk to Jermy. "Really? You don't like chocolate?"
"No…? What's wrong with that?"
The slurpuff set a plastic plate on the table. "Black Poképuff…"
"Nothing, just… Who doesn't like chocolate?"
"I don't like chocolate! Why is that a problem?!"
Another plate was set. "Éclair…"
"Guys, guys," Joey interjected. "Let's not bash each other's tastes."
"I'm not, though!" Mathew responded. "I'm sorry if it sounded like I was, that wasn't what I meant."
The slurpuff set two final plates on the table. "And two doughnuts! That'll be 230 poké, please."
Meowth pulled five small sacks out of his satchel. "50 poké each. Keep the extra 20, it's your tip."
"Perfect! Thank you!" she said as each group member took their respective plates, stepped away from the booth, and began chowing down. Despite the slurpuff's looming sadness for Poképuffs being her only product, she was still excellent at her craft. Looking at his tourists proved that she was no one-hit wonder - they all seemed to be enjoying their food. Meowth consumed his Poképuff ate with a patience, letting each bite be pleasurable and filling. Jermy ate with a more hasty appetite as if hurrying onto the next thing. Joey, however, quickly slipped slipped it into his gigantic mouth and ate it whole. He sat down quietly while the others ate.
"So," the pikachu began. "What's your job like?"
"Fine," Meowth spat out.
"...Could you elaborate?"
"It's not hard. The pokémon around here aren't obstacles at all. There's never any injuries for me to treat."
"So the job ain't too bad?" Joey asked.
"If you can handle those wingulls, you can handle my job, I'd say."
"Well that job certainly isn't for me, then," Mathew muttered, ending the eating session. "Is it fun, at least?"
Meowth didn't respond.
"Welp. I guess I'll have to find something else."
"You should worry about shelter first," Meowth said.
"Worry about both," Joey suggested. "They're both important."
"Yeah, that's fair. I know we only just met, but… I think we'd make for a fine little trio of roommates," Jermy said.
"I dunno," Mathew said. "People can be different when you're always around them compared to when you only see them sometimes."
"I know, I know! But you really haven't been giving me bad vibes, and we're all sort of in the same situation. We probably should stick together."
"I think that's a great idea," Joey said.
"Ehh… If you say so," Mathew finally agreed. "Do we want to rent out a room in Kalmwa'er Resort?"
"Yeah, that's perfect! Great idea!" Jermy exclaimed.
"We probably should be going," Meowth reminded them.
"Oh yeah, we have to talk to Minccino again," Mathew said. "If everyone's finished, let's go."
"We should throw away our plates," Joey said as he took each individual's plastic plate. He walked over to a nearby bin and disposed of them. Thoughtfully, Joey picked up the extinguished ORB and carried him back. "I expected for that bin to be full," he commented while walking back to the group.
"Trust me, it's never full," Meowth said. After Jermy received permission from Mathew, he directed Joey to set ORB inside the backpack. After that preparation was complete, the four began making their way back across town, walking through wide streets as they approached the tallest building. The four of them finally found themselves at the front side of Kalmwa'er Resort - not that you could tell much of a difference other than that one side faced the ocean. Outside of the front doors, the group saw Minccino. However, with her now was another, similar-looking pokémon who now carried the empty satchels: an evolved cinccino, covered in graceful white fluffs wrapping around their backsides.
Minccino caught sight of the group, smiled, and started waving. "Hey!" she exclaimed. The three approached the oncoming group. "This is my mother." She indicated to the cinccino.
"Hello there, darlings! Minccino told me all about you three," the cinccino said.
"Good evening, miss!" Joey said.
"These three are looking into getting a room in the resort," Meowth stated.
"Oh, I'm picking up what you're putting down," Mrs. Cinccino said. "After we complete this shift, I'd be happy to help you find a lovely place to stay here."
"Hey, wait!" Joey said. "I want to come in as well. I've been thinking of… of a job position."
"And - I'm interested, too," Jermy said.
"Well… I'll listen to a job description," Mathew agreed.
"You want to be coworkers?" Minccino said, somewhat surprised. "That's cool!"
"We're always up to have some more cuties here in the team!" Mrs. Cinccino exclaimed. "Come on, Mr. Persian will set you all up." After setting down the bag once more, the three followed them inside. The doors to the facility slid open as the group approached and entered. They were greeted to a quaint-looking lobby. Blue mats were spread across the floor outside of the tile walkway, waiting for somebody to curl up atop it and rest. Somewhere, Mathew could hear the noise of steaming grills as food was cooked. The arrival of them broke up the conversation of a long, quadruped yellow cat wearing a violet bowtie and a strange gray human-like creature wearing golden robes.
"Ah, welcome Mrs. Cinccino, Minccino, Meowth," Mr. Persian said. "Have you finished today's shift?"
"Indeed we have, Mr. Persian!" Minccino said. "And hey Medicham!"
Medicham waved. "Greetings, young Minccino."
"These little boys are interested in a job in the Pick-it Up Club," Mrs. Cinccino said, beginning to walk towards a hallway out of the lobby. "While you handle that, gimme a second while I handle payment and put up these bags."
"I see." Mr. Persian got a long look at the three that had accompanied his employees as Minccino's parent departed from the room. Mathew noticed him nearly thoughtlessly reach up with his left paw and rubbed his eye. After that, Mathew began to notice the bags beneath his eyes. "Are you aware of what we do here?" he asked.
"Yeah, but we wanted to hear a bit more about what work we have to put into it before we applied," Joey said.
"And we're interested in a room, too," Jermy added.
"Ah! I see. Well, residing here would certainly make it easy to attend to this job if you do accept, so I suppose it's no foolish idea."
"Allow me to explain some of what the job entails," Medicham told Mr. Persian.
"Very well," he replied.
Mathew, Joey, and Jermy turned their attention to Medicham. "I have spent the vast majority of my life learning the sensitivities of the energy that holds Solceus together. The essence within every living entity and even the planet itself… It is known as Aura. Through meditation, I can tap into Aura and hear the voices of many things."
"Voices? What kind of things do they say?" Joey asked.
"Fearworthy words," Medicham said. "Yelps of pain, cries for help… All muffled by a layer of filth. That is what the regions of Kalmwa'er tell me."
"Is our job to clean up that filth?" Jermy asked.
"Yes, that is the purpose of this small organization. Mrs. Cinccino, along with assistance from Mr. Golduck, dedicate their efforts to the errors of this town, while the remainder of you cover Mystery Dungeons in the surrounding regions."
"What's a Mystery Dungeon?" Everyone in the lobby stared at Joey in a surprised shock… Except for Meowth, who stared at him with his usual unreadable expression.
"...Did he say something wrong?" Mathew asked, surprised by how quickly the tension in the room had spiked.
"...Um…" Minccino struggled to break the news. "Where… have you been… all… your, uh... life?"
"I-I… Uh," Joey stammered.
"How are you unaware of the unavoidable Mystery Dungeons that force themselves between where society should be flourishing?" Mr. Persian asked.
"W-Well, I've just… Never really encountered them before? I don't leave home… I was homeschooled… I think they called it something else, but I've heard of something like that."
"Okay, that makes sense," Minccino said. "I guess everyone grows up calling something a different name. I just can't imagine a place on Solceus that doesn't call them Mystery Dungeons…"
"If you're not familiar with the outside world like you describe," Mr. Persian interjected, "perhaps you could join the club to learn about Mystery Dungeons? The wild pokémon in the nearby regions are not incredibly threatening. They'd be excellent to hone combat training against."
"Yeah. Yeah, that's great!" Jermy exclaimed. "The three of us tourists could stick together at the same job. We could all learn a lot from that!"
"I… I'm still not sure," Mathew said.
"Hey, Mathew," Joey said, trying to grab his attention. "I know learning how to fight makes you not feel okay - it ain't making me the happiest, too - but maybe it'd be a good idea. If Mystery Dungeons are so important, well… No use in not learning about them from practice."
"...Okay. I'll give this job a try…"
"Excellent," Mr. Persian said. "Now then, you needed rooms?"
"Uh, yeah!" Jermy said.
"Alright then. It's 250 poké per night in order to fund the superior services provided for each and every gues-"
"I'll lend you a place in my house for 60 poké."
Mr. Persian stopped, stunned by the sudden interruption.
"Per week," Meowth added.
"Wha- why would- I-I-I don't understand…" Minccino said. "Why are you renting them a place while they're clearly looking at something else?"
Meowth seemingly didn't want to respond. Mathew thought he heard the sound of a passing breath from somebody in the room; he presumed it was Mr. Persian. "I mean… That's definitely cheaper," Mathew said.
"I dunno, I'm not sold yet," Jermy said. "Why should we take this offer over a room here?"
"Well, you'll be on the outskirts of town and away from the beach, for one thing," Meowth began, "so you won't have to deal with much noise outside. I've been in a room here - I know my house is bigger than one. No noisy neighbors - just me to deal with. The only thing you'd have to worry about is some cleaning-related stuff and longer walks to the beach and the job."
"Hey, maybe having a fourth guy around would be fun!" Joey said. "I think we're all in need of a teacher."
"I wouldn't exactly say Meowth is much of a teacher," Minccino said.
"Oh…" Joey said, disappointed. "Well, still, it'd be nice."
"I think I'll trust Joey's judgement on this," Mathew said. "We'll take the offer, Meowth."
"...I still think we're closing our options too fast… But it's fine. I'll make it work." Jermy turned his attention to Mr. Persian. "Sorry about all this."
"It's no problem. It's my job to handle these kinds of problems. The room offer is always on the table, of course. Now then… I have to depart from this conversation for a moment. I need to locate the registration forms I printed recently. Medicham, you have business to attend to, correct?"
"Yes," he replied. "I must return home for my next meditation session."
"In that case, you're free to leave for the day. Thank you for your efforts today."
"Thank you for employing. It allows me to use my passions for the betterment of the world. May Arceus see your tempered souls," he said as a farewell to all of them before making his way out of the building.
"Bye, Medicham!" Minccino exclaimed.
"Ah, he always ends his shifts with that line. What formality… Now then, if you'll excuse me." With that, Mr. Persian made their way to the resort's elevator. With the press of a button, the doors slid shut and he ascended into the grand views of the town of the higher floors. Minccino, Meowth, and the unofficial newest employees were now all who remained in the lobby, save for proper employees getting a look at them between their busy hours.
"Howdy, Minccino," Joey began. "You said there were more workers than just you and Meowth, right?"
"Yeah," Minccino said. "There's Politoed and Breloom - they're fun - and then there's Ziggy. He's my friend… Well, I see all of us as friends, but he's the one I hang out with when I'm working at home."
"Wait, you have a job here and work at home, too?" Mathew asked.
"That really shouldn't be a surprise to you. We clean the region, we clean the town… the house's gotta get clean, too!"
"Do you even take breaks?"
"I mean, if I get fed and get to talk with my friends while I work, isn't that kind of the point of breaks? So why do I need them?"
"Huh…" Jermy said. "Sounds like you're a pretty smart woman. Motivated, creative, friendly… Pretty chatty… All good traits, kinda. You remind me a lot of some of the people I've worked with over the years."
"Oh, cool!" Minccino responded.
"It's been a long time since I've had proper coworkers," Mathew said. "It's just been me for the last couple years..."
Mathew's words drifted out of mind as he and his friends' attention was drawn towards the opening of the front door. From outside came a pair of green pokémon. The first to enter was a bright green frog-like creature with a long blue cord-like hair that coiled into itself, forming a shape reminiscent of the green spiral also emblazoned on his yellow chest. At the top of his head was a golden, jagged stone resembling a crown that Mathew recognized as the King's Rock. He was followed by a bipedal, kangaroo-like creature with long legs and claws. Her head was shaped like the cap of a mushroom, with beige as the stem and green as the head. She donned a short, bright green scarf around her lengthy neck.
"Hi Politoed! Hi Breloom!" Minccino said with a bow.
The green frog thoroughly bowed back. "Evening, Minccino," he said calmly.
I guess they bow instead of shaking hands…? Mathew realized.
"Oh, hi!" the slightly taller creature spoke up behind her amphibian partner to greet the small pokémon. She too bowed with the same thoroughness that the frog provided.
The sound of something dropping to the floor drew everyone's attention towards one of the hallways leading out of the lobby. "Ah, Politoed and Breloom, fantastic timing," Mr. Persian said, standing over a clipboard. "Please welcome our soon-to-be newest employees." Mr. Persian leaned down and grabbed the clipboard with his mouth. He began approaching Mathew slowly.
Gradually, discomfort began to rise in Mathew's mind. Mr. Persian's mannerisms felt unfriendly… intimidating, even. He began emitting a small noise through his lips as he stepped back slightly.
"What are you waiting for?" Jermy asked. "He can't hold that thing forever."
"O-Oh, he's giving it to me," he realized aloud. Mathew set down his bone club, stepped up and grabbed the clipboard out of his mouth. Huh, no saliva, but the clipboard has some deep dents, he noticed. He must've been holding it by the teeth… that's probably what made him look so intimidating.
"Thank you," Mr. Persian said in a relieved tone. "Now then. I have a set of four contracts being held by a clipboard: three for you and an extra for good measure. If you agree to the terms of the employment, sign at the bottom. Read carefully; you never know if something you didn't want to agree to is in the fine print somewhere." Following Mr. Persian's advice, Joey and Jermy gathered around Mathew to read the contract. There was little notable outside of the obvious necessities of a job contract. The only crucial detail was to avoid disrespecting the employees and managers of the local landfill, a completely reasonable task.
"All this looks good," Mathew said. He grabbed the pen held at the top of the clipboard and wrote out his signature.
He then moved his sheet of paper to the bottom of the tiny stack and handed the clipboard to the totodile. As Mathew picked his bone up, Joey placed the clipboard right on top of his maw, studied it, slowly sketched out a name, and then placed it under Mathew's sheet. Finally, the clipboard was sent to Jermy. He swiftly wrote a name, placed his and the empty sheet at the bottom, and handed it back to Mr. Persian.
"Excellent. To verify, as well as use this as a moment of introduction…" He pulled out the sheet on top with his paw. "Mathew Walker?"
"Uh, yes, that's me." The cubone turned around and raised his hand in a habitual attempt to shake hands with the much taller frog standing a small distance away.
The green frog approached the cubone and, to Mathew's surprise, bowed his upper body forward in front of him. "Name's Politoed. Can't wait to work with you!"
"O-Oh, yeah, I'm excited as well," Mathew said, realizing his mistake and retracting his hand before sloppily bowing back.
"Now then. Joey?"
"Yep, that's me!" Joey exclaimed, giving off a friendly smile.
"Curious… you've written your name in print, not in a signature."
"O-oh, I'm sorry. I don't know how to write a signature, so…"
"Ah, that's unfortunate. It's a shame that there are so many communities and families not so gifted with the ability to teach concepts such as signatures," Mr. Persian said.
"It's alright, Joey!" Minccino said. "When I first moved here from Vahle Village, I didn't know how to write a signature either. I'll teach you about it if you ever want to." She bowed.
"T-Thank you." Joey gently bowed as well.
"I'll accept print," Mr. Persian said. "Now then… Jermy Shock?"
"Oh?" Jermy's head snapped back to glance at Mr. Persian. He then lightly shook his head and then turned back to face the group. "Yep, that's me. I'm Jermy." He bowed at the older members of his new job.
"Nice to meet you, Jermy," Breloom chipped in, "And both of you as well. I'm a bit surprised, though. I didn't expect two of you to have surnames."
"Wait…" Mathew began upon a epiphany. "Do any of you have surnames?"
"...No," Minccino said. "It's really rare for pokémon here to have last names. All of us here in Kalmwa'er just go by species name or a nickname at most. Man, you three come from really weird communities…"
"Huh…" Mathew said, glancing at Jermy. The pikachu glanced back and smiled.
"Sorry to break the fun, but… have either of you seen Ziggy?" Minccino asked Politoed and Breloom. "Shouldn't he be with you?"
"Yeah, he's just outside," Politoed said. "Said he needed some time out there after being in that dungeon for so long."
"Oh, that makes sense," Minccino said. "Maybe I should go out and-"
Just before she could finish her sentence, a raccoon-like creature with alternating black and white layers of fur running through his four-legged body bolted through the doors. "HELLO FRIENDOS! EXIST HERE NOW I DO!" It dashed around in a zig-zagged fashion before planting itself in a sitting position right next to Minccino, clearly showing their shared eye color behind his star-shaped highlights. "HEY HEY MINCCY! WHO ARE THESE GUYS?! NEW FRIENDS?! NEW COWORKERS?! NEW FRIENDWORKERS?! NEW WORKERFRIENDS?!" The zigzagoon bombarded Minccino with hundreds of questions, his body still vibrating ever so slightly.
"What in the world…?!" Jermy muttered.
"Hey, Ziggy!" Minccino said happily as if nothing was wrong. "These guys just joined the Club! That's Mathew, this is Joey, and he's Jermy."
"Uh… Hi," Mathew said.
Jermy gave a small smile, not completely sure how to handle the situation.
Joey breathed a small, inaudible "Howdy?"
"HEYA HIYA HOWDY! I'M ZIGGY! NEW FRIEND! I PICK UP TRASH WITH FRIENDS, NOW I CAN PICK UP TRASH WITH YOU!" the zigzagoon shouted at the already confused trio.
"G-Gee, that's great. Uh, it'll be fun working with you in the near future," Jermy replied, clearly uncomfortable.
"GREAT GREAT! I CAN'T WAIT TO PICK UP TRASH! IF I WAIT I MIGHT EXPLODE!"
"I'm back~!" Mrs. Cinccino reentered the room carrying several sacks, preventing any of the new employees to make a comment about Ziggy's incapability to take any second of his existence calmly. "Sorry for taking so long," she continued. "The room with the funds prepared was crowded."
"Thank you for waiting for the staff to finish," Mr. Persian said. "The work they do is important."
The two parents then passed out the money each of them had earned for the work that day. Meowth took no time in pressuring the trio of newcomers to depart after returning the satchel he had been carrying to Minccino. All of them interested in a place to rest, the four of them quickly departed, carrying the bag of Mathew's things for the last time and the sacks of Meowth's payment for the first time.
Meowth led Mathew and his friends to a steep cliffside with a sharp winding path upward. A hint of unease founded itself in the lack of safety from falling to the ground, but as the small journey up the cliff continued, the unease was washed away by anticipation. Surely, the top of this cliff hosted something wonderful…!
Finally, the four reached the top. "Here we are," Meowth said. The three stood in bewildered awe taking in their new home. The majesty of the white dome left comparatively smaller to the average Kalmwa'er house; the beautiful quaintness of two small windows adorned on each side only filled with a cross of wood; the perfection of a dull brown front door with no front mattress; the grandiose senses as the cliffs surrounding the house stood even taller than the facility's roof. Truly, a masterpiece of its time.
Oh God, this exterior looks hideous, Mathew thought while staring at the beautiful home belonging to the dull gray cat.
"Well… I suppose this looks good for a place with a 60 Poké price tag," Jermy said.
Meowth led his housemates into the small building silently. The interior was just as enchanting as the exterior. It was clear that the front half of the home, separated perfectly by a flat wall, had not been used much at all. A handful of drawers lined the back wall, split apart by another basic door in the core of the house, and only a single mirror was hung upon the barren brown walls. Random objects were strewn on the floor and on the drawers.
"Let me get some backup nests I have stored in my room," Meowth said, going through the door into the back room that could only be his bedroom.
"Wait, what? We're sleeping in nests?!" Mathew said, bewildered.
"Oh, you don't know about those yet," Jermy said. "We sleep in nests here."
"...Are they nice nests?" Joey asked.
"Ah, depends on the nest."
The door creaked open as Meowth pushed it with his back. He carried three solidly packed objects made of sticks stacked atop each other into the room, then set them down in arbitrary placements, careless about their organization. "Here," he said. "Let me know if you need anything." With that, Meowth recluded to his own personal space.
"...Well, they don't look like a bed of thorns or anything," Mathew commented.
"Yeah, it ain't looking too bad," Joey agreed.
Mathew opened his oversized backpack and removed ORB. "Here you are, Mr. - Shock, was it?"
"Yeah, that's me," Jermy replied.
[The following scene was cut September 15th, 2019, due to criticisms accurately pointing out its wastefulness in bloating an already-oversized chapter. For archival purposes, the scene has been re-added.]
Mathew's curiosity was piqued, then suppressed as he began to dig around for something; his entire body pushed itself deeper within the darkness. After a couple of moments, he removed himself along with a gray, box-shaped device from the bag's zipper-locked prison, then set it upon the ground. The object was dotted with ports on side, and split by a line that indicates that the box device could be opened up. Mathew realized that the size of the object was much closer to the miniscule size of his current form. He internally thanked God for such a convenience.
"What's that? A creation of yours?" Jermy asked.
"Why yes, it is," Mathew replied.
"What does it do?" Joey asked.
"It'll make I sense in a moment, I think?" Mathew quickly dived back into his backpack and yanked out a tangled mess of cords ending at a set of standard controllers.
"Oh, a video game console!" Jermy exclaimed. "I haven't touched a video game in a good while. What console does it emulate?"
"Consoles," Mathew corrected. "I downloaded a bunch of emulators and loaded as many games as I could onto it, just in case I got an itch to play something."
"So an all-purpose console… Nice!"
Mathew began sifting through the library of archived works from across the generations. He moved to the binder sorting games starting with the letter S and got the invisible cursor to highlight a title. Joey and Jermy read it: Super Smash Bros. Tussle.
"Oh, hey, Smash!" Jermy exclaimed.
"You recognize this…?" Mathew said, a realization settling in.
"Yeah! It's been a while since I've seen this particular title. Love the series, but to be perfectly honest, I prefer the older games."
Mathew felt the incredible need to comment on this knowledge, but he decided there'd be a better time for it later. He diverted the subject towards the game alone. "I used to love it when I was a teen, way back in the Smash Neo days. Tried to get into the competitive scene, but I had to go hours out for any kind of local tournament. It just wasn't fun enough to warrant that drive."
"What is it?" Joey asked.
"Oh, you don't know about this," Mathew said. "Basically, it's a game where you fight against each other using icons from the company's history. This one in particular is the third most recent game… The last good one out of a tragic decline, I'd say."
"A decline?"
"Yeah. It sort of started after the original creator retired. The company kept trying to recreate the series' success without him, but they started losing sight of the magic for the money. Thus, you end up with… this roster."
The game opened up to a great wall of endless characters emblazoned in front of a beautiful white fire. "Okay, so ground rules, no Ness, that's it," Mathew quickly established. "You can play everyone else."
"But what about Sans?" Jermy asked.
"...He's fine."
"Woah, that's a lot," Joey said.
"Looks like it, right? Two hundred fifty six individual slots. But it's just a trick; only one hundred twenty seven of these are original fighters. Every single character has a duplicate called an Echo Fighter. Marth and Roy…" Mathew tried pointing to them, but couldn't track them in such a massive block. "Well, those two have two Echo Fighters, upping it to the number you see here. They used to not count them as their own fighters, but after they realized counting them made the content sound bigger… well, they never went back."
"So they're scamming their customers?! Whoever suggested that's a horrible person."
Mathew was taken aback for a second by Joey's suddenly hostile statement. "W-Well, yeah, that is kind of a dick thing to do. But the company does need the money from it, so I get why they're trying."
"Oh… Dang it, I shouldn't have said that. That was really mean of me. Why did I say that?"
"Hey, I'd be upset if I thought I was being scammed too, Joey," Mathew said. "I get what you're feeling."
"I guess so, but…" Joey didn't continue the thought.
"Oh, man, glad these guys survived a couple titles," Jermy said. His indicator moved to a trio of characters; two pokémon, colored green and pink, filled one slot, while a gray pokémon filled another. As the cursor aligned with each, a portrait of them appeared at the bottom alongside their names. The duo was named "Grovyle and Celebi"; the single pokémon was named "Dusknoir."
"Oh yeah," Mathew said. "Never got why they advertised those remakes with that many characters. I get Grovyle, but Dusknoir on top of Wigglytuff as a Jigglypuff echo?"
"Well, that's advertisement for you," Jermy said.
"Still a bit excessive. Barely anybody even played the remakes, from what I heard. Did you?"
"It was always on my radar, but I never got to them… I was always too busy." A voice repeated the listed name as Jermy selected Dusknoir.
Wordlessly, Mathew selected his character of choice: "Isaac," the game explained as Mathew chose a pale boy with blue lines of tears running down their face. "I played this guy's home series, Binding of Isaac, and well… Once he was in the game, I never wanted to main anybody else."
This left only Joey with a choice to make. Slowly, he moved over each character, reading their names and studying their portrait. None seemed satisfying to him until he reached a man that caught his eye. Blonde hair… Nice, red sword… Good pose, too. Joey accepted the choice of Shulk.
The games began shortly after their choices. Mathew, Joey, and Jermy found themselves in a frenetic battle. They were tasked with wiping each other's lives until only one player remained, all while dealing with randomly appearing items and the hazards their stage choice brought along with it. They played the game, learned the rules, and enjoyed the match. Then, they played again, with different rules and characters and items. Then they played once more, over and over, each time more fun than the last. Eventually, Meowth came out of his room and was roped into the game as well. Hours passed until anybody left the game.
Then after one match, Meowth said simply, "Thanks for the games," stood up, and returned to the door to his room. "Good night," he spoke just as it was shut.
"Well, it's looking late out there," Jermy said, and it became clear that it was time to stop. He reached over and turned off the system.
[End cut scene]
Mathew moved his eyes to his open backpack and realized that now might be a good time to actually unpack his belongings. He moved closer to unpack the rest of his things. As he did, a chill climbed down his spine. He stumbled backwards, and gazed into the dark confines of his luggage blankly, as though he couldn't even see the world outside of the zipper.
"Mathew? Are you okay?"
Mathew was ripped out of his fearful fantasy by Joey's words. "I-I need some time outside," he told the totodile.
"O-Oh, okay," Joey said.
Mathew reached into his bag and pulled something out, then departed. After a few paces, he sat down on the cliffside that held Meowth's house atop the small houses of Kalmwa'er. In the distance, the bright encompassing sun stood tall over him and the shining water. He set the binder he had brought with him into his lap and opened it. As he flipped through it, he began to think. He had created the portal because of the hope he held for his future, that this light would bring him to a world of endless joy and comfort. Now, however, all he could feel was discomfort, fear, and doubt. Despite his best efforts, Mathew would never be able to suppress the memories- no, the scars left on his soul from the hell that he once belonged to.
His eyes moved back to the initials on each and every work. D.E… D.E… He had met no one near this kind of identification. Mathew let the question fill his mind as thoughts both hopeful and hopeless took form. One side prayed that D.E. was a smart and kind person. The other predicted a sinking thought that he is instead a vile and twisted person who wants to torment him ceaselessly. The stark duality of his mind nearly drew himself to madness.
Mathew took a glance at the sun, purging the dark from the town, the cliff, the forest, and the face of the world. "I should get ready to start searching," Mathew muttered to himself. He closed the binder and made his way back to the magnificent, glorious, and - forget this - extremely poorly handled inside of Meowth's house. Mathew walked through the door and immediately set the binder back inside of his bag with the rest of his untouched luggage.
When the sun set upon them, the roommates soon dropped to slumber one after another. All found easy rest except Mathew, who lie awake staring at the ceiling. His mind twisted with insecurity and doubt stemming from his feelings towards this place. Each morsel of thought was another piece of trash atop the pile plaguing his head. United, these thoughts made a simple necessity often taken for granted a difficult task.
The mass of thoughts subsided after an amount of time that he could not identify. As they cleared in full, Mathew's restlessness came to a halt abruptly as he fell into a wretched slumber.