[Originally completed March 29th, 2019. Published August 3rd, 2019.]

Chapter 4: Journey into Misery

Joey moved wordlessly down the familiar beach, trailing behind both of his friends coated in the color gray. The three of them had dealt with a relatively easy work day; Minccino and Meowth made short work of a group of woobats and picked up a couple trash articles inside the deeper caverns of Roci Grotto that they had failed to reach yesterday. Joey should've felt joyed by a quick and easy job, but something in his mind just couldn't let go of this feeling of incompleteness, this missing part of a beautiful world that the totodile could see but his absent friend could not.

Once again he looked at the land around him, taking in everything he felt and thought. The breeze of the ocean gently nudged against his back, propelling his journey forward with additive force. His feet pushed through the damp sand, controlling each grain's course through his own desire. Rain droplets appeared upon him now and again from the dissipating drizzle from the heavens. His body was drenched to the core, a sensation that evoked a strange familiarity. If Minccino or Meowth asked him to explain his emotion in that moment, Joey would've called it 'that weird kind of feeling when you remember something you've never seen before'.

But despite all of those vibes, despite all of that emotion, there was a blemish. Well, blemishes, really. Lots of them. Speckles of garbage still filled his eyes. They laid on the ground, settled in the ocean, tried to fill in the green of the trees. When he thought of that, what he was thinking of came alive in his mind. He saw a man who had joy, honesty and goodness inside of him, but the trash took that away. It twisted the man to become spiteful, angry… Joey hated that. Joey really, really hated that.

Don't worry, Mathew. I'll make your life easier if it's the last thing I do.

Joey began his journey by starting to approach his landlord. "Hi, Meowth," he said.

"Hi." Meowth's pace was unstoppable. The gentle noise of objects in his kit of supplies shifting around inside mixed with the noise of his footsteps. Joey had to actively work to keep up.

"Um, I just had a little question. It's about your medkit…"

Joey had caught the cat's interest. Meowth stopped and turned around to look at the person he was speaking with. His bright green eyes had no right to glisten without sunlight, but they did anyway, forcibly highlighting against the gray of his body and complimenting the white of his kit. "Yes?"

Joey stopped as well, mimicking Meowth. "Where do you buy supplies for it? And, actually… What's in it?"

Meowth immediately dropped into a sitting position and set the thick kit in the sand. "Let me show you." Joey joined Meowth on the sandy surface. The cat set the kit between the two of them and opened it.

"Wow, look at all this…!" Joey exclaimed. The interior held two sets of three square compartments separated by thin barriers, with two larger and wider boxes on the left. Their surprisingly tall height allowed multiple objects to snugly fit inside, and fit inside they did. Two compartments held some kind of fruit or berry within, while two others held gigantic looking seeds. One compartment kept a single blue ball made out of a firm, jewel-like material. The last three compartments were left empty. The top half had a net closed by velcro that held a long, thin, brown rope and what looked like white tape.

The totodile pointed at the familiar blue berry in one of the larger compartments. "Those are oran berries. Pretty important, since they healed my injuries-"

"Only flesh wounds," Meowth clarified, still staring at his own possessions. "Bruises, cuts, and scars."

"Oh, okay," Joey responded. "I was just saying that it makes sense that it's in the bigger one." Joey pointed at the giant seeds in the other big compartment. "But what are these? Why put them in the bigger slot?"

"Reviver seeds. They're a body jumpstart. Instant recovery from unconsciousness, comas, and sleep."

"Okay. Where do you buy all of this stuff? Is it in some kind of store?"

"They're extremely common in markets. They're must-haves for a dungeoneer, so everybody is selling them."

"Wow, that's cool! ...What's a dungeoneer?"

Meowth looked up from his kit to make eye contact with Joey. "Dungeoneers are people who go into Mystery Dungeons for a living. It's the most common job to pursue after completing lower education at age thirteen due to lower education's focus on the subject of Mystery Dungeon survival. Rescue missions, treasure excavations, and map-charting expeditions are common events in the life of a dungeoneer. Injuries and fatalities are frequent due to the hostility and desensitivity to death of dungeon pokémon."

"You sure seem to know a lot about all this, Meowth," Joey commented.

"I'm a doctor. My job is to know about the dangers of dungeoneering so I can treat them."

"Oh, that makes sense. Okay, one more question… Do you really graduate at thir-"

"JOEY! MEOWTH!" A familiar female voice shouted from across the beach. "WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING?"

Meowth grabbed his kit, swiftly shut it, and stood back up, looking at Minccino from across the line of sand. "Let's go." Joey stood up and joined Meowth as they commenced their walk. Minccino waited until they were just behind her before starting her walk again. Despite her attempt to remain the sole leader with her powerful stride, Joey approached her more easily than he could Meowth. The view of the town they both called home came into sight as they proceeded.

"So what were you two off doing?" Minccino asked as Joey came to her side.

"Oh, I was just asking about where Meowth got his oran berries and stuff for his kit."

"Any particular reason you had to stop in the middle of the beach to do it…?"

"Sorry. I was focused on something else…"

"It's alright, Joey."

Joey was close enough to begin comparing satchels. On each shoulder was both her own and Meowth's satchel, and both of them were absolutely filled to the brim. Joey's modestly filled satchel paled in comparison.

Minccino glanced at Joey and noticed his attention towards her luggage. "Hey, give me yours," she told him. "I'll take it to the dump for you."

"Um…" Joey saw a good opportunity to make things simpler for himself. "Actually, I'll take my satchel myself. You have plenty already."

"Oh, thanks," she swiftly replied. The three of them quickly made their way to the resort once more. Inside were their coworkers, talking up a storm of meaninglessness inside of the room. Joey's mind didn't bother to consider their conversations - he was too fixated on what was ahead of him. His focus was on asking Jermy to take his bag of poké to their room for him, making sure Minccino was ready, and getting out of there.

Minccino lead the way across several streets, journeying to the back end of the town. The many quaint facilities made by the town's founders masked a hulk of a garbage facility. The disposed items filled within it towered over the security booth in front of the two of them. Joey, baggage on his shoulders, hurried ahead of his gray friend, trying to enter the facility through the open gap to the right of the booth… only to smash his head.

"Ow! What the-" Joey looked up to see what he had hit in his brashness, but there was nothing there. It was as if he had bashed his head against an invisible wall. Joey reached out with his hand. The extent of his hand was abruptly stopped. It was pressed against something without feeling, yet was solid.

….Oh. It was actually an invisible wall.

The totodile noticed that the 'barrier' was aligned with a yellow caution tape. Printed on it was a phrase repeated several times: 'CAUTION: MIME WALL.' Joey looked to his left. Inside of the booth was a humanoid creature bearing resemblance to a clown looking at him while motioning for an implied laughing fit.

Minccino walked up to the front of the booth. "He's with me," she explained. The Mr. Mime diminuated into a smile before glancing back at the totodile. His hand began pushing past the tape as the invisible wall dissipated and became no more. He walked, more cautiously this time, alongside Minccino into the dump.

The very first thing on Joey's mind was the objective to try to close his nostrils as soon as possible. Already, the disgusting stench of waste was trying to enter his soul and make him turn away from it. "Yuck…!" he murmured, scrunching up his maw while trying to get his hands to his nostrils.

"Yeah, this place is nasty…" Minccino said regretfully. "I gave up trying to blot it out a long time ago." The pokémon stopped walking in front of a mound. Minccino slowly pulled her satchel over her shoulder. Mimicking her, Joey removed his satchel as well, working quickly to spend as little time as possible with his precious nostrils exposed. The trash was dropped from their satchels into a pair of tiny piles. The collected waste blended in perfectly with the rest, as if it had always belonged there.

Joey started to put the satchel back over his head. "Hey, do you mind if I borrow this for the day?"

Minccino turned to look at the totodile as she put the satchel back around her own shoulders. "Of course. What do you need it for?"

"Oh, uh… It ain't anything important. I was just going to store a bunch of stuff I want to buy from the market."

Minccino gave Joey a weird look. "Are you sure that you can't carry it all with your hands? What are you buying?"

"...Uh." The shadow of silence blanketed Joey, pursing his mouth shut.

"You asked Meowth where he bought the stuff in his emergency kit… You want my satchel…" Minccino's bright yellow eyes glanced at Joey with a fascinated curiosity. "You're about to do something preposterous, aren't you?"

"Uh," Joey repeated, scratching the back of his head.

"I think I know what you're about to do, and… I want in."

Mathew heard the slow creak of the front door opening. Immediately, the cubone sprung out of his nest. "Hey!" he said to the first person he saw enter the facility. He turned his body and flung his arms out to the side, presenting the sight behind him. "Ta da~! How's it looking for my first day?"

Behind Mathew was the rest of the room. For the first time, the cleanliness of the house had noticeably improved. Much of the junk lying on the floor had departed from their rest and had been stored elsewhere. Mathew's gigantic bag lay deflated in front of a drawer, its contents safely stored away.

"Wow, Mathew, this looks quite a bit better!" Jermy complimented as he stepped inside.

"I know, right? It feels nice to finally get that stupid backpack unloaded. Took me a while, but hey, I'm unpacked now."

"DO YOU INTEND TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT THOSE STAINS?" ORB said. He was referring to the slight discolorations on the floor where some articles used to sit.

"Yeah, I'll get to that. I just need the right equipment for the job."

"I can get you cleaning utensils," Meowth said.

"Perfect."

"Huh. I can't believe I'm saying this, Mathew, but… It feels a bit weird to see you so chipper," Jermy said. "I'm just so used to seeing a different side of you, if that makes sense."

"I understand," Mathew said in an unusually relaxed tone. "Getting that job out of my life was such a huge weight off of my shoulders. I feel so much better! I can relax, have nice meals, and now I can hang out with you guys and..." Mathew looked at his friends and began to notice something was missing from the picture. "...Hang on. Where's Joey?"

"Oh, he told me that he was going off to the dump with Minccino," Jermy recalled. "He said it might take a little while, so he'd be back soon but not too soon."

"Oh…" Mathew couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. He was really hoping Joey would be here. Out of his little friend circle, he was most anticipating Joey's reaction to his happier attitude. Oh well. He supposed that he'd just have a little delay for that. "Well, Jermy, do you want to play a game while we wait for him to come back?"

"In a bit. I just need to sit down after all that." Jermy said. "That could help me get my mind off of this kinda strenuous day…"

"What happened?"

"Well, it really wasn't me who was having trouble. It was just some messy drama. Politoed and Breloom don't want to go to that dungeon we all went to yesterday, so they had to talk to Medicham and then Mrs. Cinccino and then Mr. Persian and…ugh. I'm just ready to relax some."

"Alright then, anything else?"

"No…" Jermy flopped into his nest on his belly.

"THAT POSITION YOU'RE LAYING IN IS POOR FOR YOUR SPINE AND NECK, JERMY," ORB stated.

"ORB, at least let me lay down the way I want to…" he said, unmoving. "You act like I'm pregnant or something. Need I remind you that I'm a guy? Guys can't get pregnant."

"ACTUALLY, THE SYNGNATHIDAE FAMILY OF FISH, AS WELL AS HUMANS UNDER SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES, ARE CAPABLE OF MALE PREG-"

"You know what? Forget I said anything." Jermy rolled over, crushing the front side of his tail and pressing the rest against the nest. "Ow. Ugh… This stupid tail… Mm..."

"ARE THOSE THE SOUNDS OF LABOR?"

"What the ffff-?!" Mathew exclaimed as he burst into laughter.

"Geez… ORB, these are the times I wish you didn't exist." Jermy removed some of the pressure on his tail. "If male pikachus can actually get pregnant, I'm gonna go up to Arceus and be like, 'Do you find this funny? Is this how you get your sick kicks?'"

"ARCEUS IS A QUADRUPED. KICKING FOR HIM WOULD BE DIFFICULT. HE'D PROBABLY BREAK HIS LEGS."

"God damnit, ORB…"

"I have something important to declare!" Mathew said, propping his club between his hands and the ground.

"What'd that be?" Jermy asked, glancing at the cubone.

"I am now officially a sigma… a singna… a syngnathidae fish!" Mathew shouted proudly.

"Oh my God." Jermy buried his face in his hands. Mathew chuckled at the pikachu's frustration.

"YOU MEAN A FISH IN THE SYNGNATHIDAE FAMILY."

"OMM MY MMOD," he exclaimed past his closed hands. Mathew howled in humor.

"You probably don't want to be a fish." Meowth pointed at Mathew.

"Oh — Oh crap, you're a cat," Mathew said, trying to regain composure. "Guess I'll die to your claws."

"Meow."

Mathew lost it. "H-h-holy shit-! I haven't had this much fun in years-!" Once he had finished his laughing fit, a realization had crossed Mathew's mind - one that needed addressing. "Oh! Jermy, um - I know this is out of nowhere, but… I've been meaning to ask you. Do you know of anyone with the initials 'D.E?'"

The pikachu perked up. "Um… Yes!" Jermy exclaimed. "I recognize the name."

Mathew's eyes shimmered with joy. "You do?!"

"I think that was the name written down on the blueprints I used to build a portal with… If only I had the physical ones, I could show you."

"I HAVE SCREENSHOTS OF THE BLUEPRINTS JERMY IS TALKING ABOUT. I CAN CONFIRM ALL OF THEM HAVE A SIGNATURE INITIALIZED D.E."

"So we're talking about the same guy! And I guess that means you're human too, right…?" Mathew asked hopefully.

"Well… I guess it isn't hard to figure it out from there, huh? Yes, I...was a human at one point."

"Oh, thank God. That's a relief…" Mathew looked at Jermy with a sense of relief in his eyes. "It never told me I'd meet other humans here, but I'm glad you're here too, Jermy. That means I'm not the only one having to deal with this wild goose chase..."

"Who are you looking for?"

Mathew glanced at Jermy confusedly. "You know, D.E. Aren't you looking for him, too?"

"Oh… Huh. I guess it didn't occur to me that you'd be looking for him."

"It's the only reason I came here." Mathew looked at Jermy determinedly.

"SO ARE YOU TWO JUST GOING TO TALK LIKE YOU DIDN'T JUST REVEAL YOUR HUMANITY TO A POKÉMON?"

"Wait — Oh, we did!" Mathew exclaimed, looking at Meowth.

"Yes," he replied simply.

"Ugh, are we going to have to explain what 'hoomans' are and all of the junk that goes with that?" Jermy asked.

"No." Meowth rested his back against the sloped wall beside the window. "I know what humans are."

Jermy rolled back onto his belly, clearly intrigued. "What do you know?"

"They're these tall, bipedal creatures that show up sometimes as a pokémon to stop some problem. They're very popular in fiction."

"Wait, so to you guys, humans are popular fiction figures?" Mathew asked.

Meowth seemed to understand what Mathew was trying to imply: "Let me guess. It's the same for you with us."

"Well, that's kind of wild," Mathew thought aloud. "How the hell did this coincidence happen?"

"SO, Meowth!" Jermy blurted. "Wanna tell us some stories?"

"I don't really pay attention to the fiction versions, but there are a few real humans I've heard of," Meowth said.

"Alright, fire away." Mathew said.

"Some guy named Charles Manderson showed up two hundred or so years ago and saved the Coronian isthmus, or something like that."

"...That's it?"

Meowth glanced at Mathew. "What did you expect, history class? I didn't take much of them."

"I dunno, a plot about the guy befriending the Legendary Pokémon of the week or something? Just something more… glamorous than just saving an isthmus," Mathew said.

"There might've been some involved. I don't remember the details."

"I mean, saving an isthmus isn't exactly far off from saving a small continent like the actual Mystery Dungeon games," Jermy said.

"Fair point, but - Wait. I just realized… Does this mean the side series is more accurate to Solceus than the main series?" Mathew realized.

"The main series?" Meowth inquired.

Mathew paused. "Well, to make a long story short, Pokémon is a brand owned by a few large companies. It's in games, on television, and there's even trading cards of them. The main events are video games called - just Pokémon. Compared to Solceus, the games are quite a bit… different."

"How so?"

"Well, in Pokémon, they are treated more like powerful but tameable beasts on Earth to a society of humans, rather than us living in separate worlds."

"Interesting. I'd like to see it."

"Aw, it'd be cool to play Pokémon with a pokémon!" Jermy said. "If only we had a console with us..."

"Actually, this might be a good time to dig something up. Give me a second…" Mathew walked over and opened a large drawer. He bent down and grabbed a large object he had been prying out of the drawer. The square box was dotted with ports on the front side and split by a line that indicates that the box device could be opened up.

"What's that? A creation of yours?" Jermy asked.

"Why yes, it is," Mathew replied.

"What does it do?" Meowth asked.

"It'll make sense in a moment, I think?" Mathew quickly dived back into his drawer and yanked out a tangled mess of cords ending at a set of standard controllers.

"Oh, a custom video game console!" Jermy exclaimed. "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, like, y'know…Pokémon."

"So an all-purpose console… Nice! That'll fit our needs."

After setting it up safely, Mathew sat down as Jermy scooted beside him and ORB rolled next to him. Meowth plopped down on the cleaned ground on Mathew's other side. The cubone was quick to grab a Pokémon game out of his archive of titles. Recalling just how nightmarish it would be to start a new game and sit through all of the cutscenes, Mathew decided just loading his pre-existing file would suffice for demonstrating the RPG game to Meowth.

In that period of time, everything just felt right. As the little group explained battles, talked to NPCs, and joked about anything they could, the cubone's pain became just a memory. The only thing that mattered now was that Mathew had friends who were with him and safe, playing games and hanging out. Mathew believed that Jermy and Meowth seemed to be enjoying it some, too - he could've sworn Meowth's typical expression looked just a little less neutral than usual.

So they played, so they laughed, and so they smiled. And then something started changing. Mathew began to feel a hint of worry. A thought flashed in his head: Joey sure seems to be taking his time. At first, he just shrugged it off. His totodile friend would be back soon, for sure. And then he didn't come back for another few minutes. And another. That hint of worry started growing into concern. It started showing in the way Mathew was talking and acting. He knew it was obvious; Jermy and Meowth's reactions told him everything about how his emotions were reaching his friends.

When the three of them closed out of the game, finished with their experience for the time being, the feeling became too much for him to bear. "Guys…" Mathew started the conversation they all wanted to have. "Should we be worried about Joey?"

"He said it'd take a while, but I feel like we've been playing for hours…" Jermy said.

"YOU HAVE PLAYED FOR HOURS, ACCORDING TO MY INTERNAL CLOCK: TWO HOURS, TWENTY THREE MINUTES, AND FIFTY SIX SECONDS, TO BE EXACT," ORB said.

"Oh, crap." Mathew took a deep breath. "Do you guys think he's-"

Bang, bang, bang, went the front door. Meowth swiftly stood up to answer it. As the door was pulled only slightly ajar, Ziggy burst into the house.

"MINCCY VISIBLE NO MANY TIME! SHE IS HERE KNOWN?" The zigzagoon boomed as he ran in a zigzagged fashion around the main room of the house.

Mathew curled up in his nest out of worry that the creature would do something brash. "Ziggy, be careful not to make a mess!" he exclaimed. "What are you talking about?!"

"MINCEMEATO GONE!" Ziggy yelled as he continued to dart around in a panic.

"She's also gone?" Jermy said.

"ALSO ALSO? WHOM MISS FROM DEN OF CAT?"

"Joey hasn't come back since he left with Minccino for the dump," the pikachu explained.

"THE TOTODILE HAS NOT BEEN INSIDE THE PREMISES FOR APPROXIMATELY TWO HOURS," ORB added.

"NOT CORKEY WELL!" the Zigzagoon exclaimed, frustrated at the vanishing act of a second individual, as obviously portrayed by his statement.

"Wait," Mathew said. "Does that mean they've both gone somewhere?!"

"That seems about right, considering both of them went to the dump…" Jermy said, glancing at ORB. "Crap, that's a problem no matter which way we look at it."

Mathew sat down, all of his vanished emotions coming back to haunt him once more. "Oh God. what if something happens to them? What if they're dead? What if-"

Ziggy stopped, pivoted to face Mathew, and screeched in a fit of rejection to that thought he had inserted into his head. "NO! NONONONONO! FINE! MUST BE! FINE! FINE! FINE! FINE!"

"We need to look for them," Meowth said.

"YES! SMART CAT SAID DO PLEASE!"

"How on Earth do you expect to find them?" Mathew asked them all.

"Well, our best lead is probably other members of the Club," Jermy said. "They probably aren't out of the local area. One of them could know where they would go."

"BIG BUBBLE FROG MAN HAND SUCK WOMAN START GOOD!" Ziggy exclaimed.

"I can't believe I know exactly who you're talking about," Mathew commented as he picked up his club. "Lead the way to their houses."

Ziggy and Meowth, the two individuals out of them familiar enough with the town's actual structure, led the way. The walk took several minutes. The two newer citizens understood this after Meowth pointed to their house positioned on a slope all the way across town, at the southern end. They walked past the market, Kalmwa'er Resort, and what Mathew figured might've been town square. All the while, the cubone was tending to his emotions. He forced himself to stay calm as they walked. In. Out. In. Out. Joey is going to be okay. You need to keep doing well, like you already have been. In. Out.

Eventually, they stopped at what seemed to be the home of either Politoed or Breloom. It was a quaint, block-shaped, two floor home, recognizably similar to the houses around it aside from an ever so slightly darker shade of green being its painted hue. For a moment, Mathew was reminded of his own hom- no, he wasn't. He's not thinking about that. Not at all. Only happy thoughts. Funny thoughts! Pleasant thoughts! Mathew convinced himself to smile behind the cracked mask, trying to think about all of the fun things he can do once Joey safely returns after getting just a little lost in the streets with Minccino...

Meowth knocked on the front door of the home. Several seconds later, it was opened, and there stood Politoed. Mathew was a bit surprised when he saw his former coworker; a black tint, a shadow against the green, was spread under both of his eyes.

"Good afternoon," Meowth flatly told him.

"Afternoon to you, Meowth." Politoed looked at the rest of the cast the cat had brought with him. "What brings everybody here?"

"It's a problematic situation," Mathew said. "Would Breloom happen to be here as well?"

"Yeah, she lives here with me," Politoed said. The green frog leaned back into his house. "Hey Breloom!" he called. "We have some visitors that want to see both of us!" He brought his attention back to Meowth and the others. "She'll be down in a moment."

"Alright then," Jermy said. "While we wait, I, um, have a bit of a question."

"Yes?" Politoed said.

"Um, well… Actually, nevermind, I-"

"JUST SPIT OUT THE QUESTION," ORB commanded.

"Right, sorry. W-What's with the eyeshadow?"

"Oh, this?" Politoed pressed his finger up against the bottom of his eye. "Some mood-setter for when we practice for Brace Yourselves. Right now, we're taking a break from each other for a bit, but Breloom and I keep doing singing practices, so…"

"Wait, what does eyeshadow have to do with your band?" Mathew asked.

"Part of the aesthetic."

Meowth crossed his arms. "So you're a goth band."

"Um, yeah, basically." Politoed rubbed the back of his head.

Breloom then emerged at the front door, wearing the same eyeshadow as Politoed. "Okay, Politoed, I'm - Oh, hi, everyone!" she exclaimed. "...What's with the funny looks?"

"RUBBER BAND IS DOING HURTY HURT BRAIN THINK!" Ziggy said.

"Wha…?"

"I would never have expected a chipper woman like you to be in a goth band, Breloom," Jermy commented.

"You've been talking about Brace Yourselves, huh? It's sort of a dynamic contrast, actually. We do some… edgy works, but ultimately we have a narrative with a positive outlook. A graceful voice fighting the shadow of evil, you know?"

"That's actually a really neat concept," Mathew thought aloud.

"Thanks, but it wasn't our idea," Politoed said. "That credit would belong to our bandmate, Groov. If you're interested in seeing what he's come up with, feel free to come on over when we have our debut in a few months. Anyways, let's get back on topic. What are you all here for?"

Mathew chose to get straight to the point. "Have either of you seen Joey or Minccino since we ended the workday?"

"No, we haven't…" Breloom said. "Are you looking for them?"

"Neither of them have been seen by any of us since they left for the dump this morning," Jermy added.

Politoed gasped. "They're missing?"

"YESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYES!" Ziggy shouted at a mile a minute.

"Yes," Meowth added to this clearly unclarified point.

"Oh dear," Breloom said worryingly. "What can we do about this?"

"We haven't asked Medicham yet," Meowth said.

"Oh, yes! Medicham!" Politoed exclaimed. "Bet he could help us, what with his Aura abilities and all."

"THEN GO GO GO! TO THE CHAMP!" Ziggy exclaimed.

"I hope you guys happen to know where Medicham lives," Mathew said. "Because I certainly don't."

"Afraid I don't know," Politoed replied.

"I'm sorry, but I've never quite been to Medicham's home before…" Breloom said.

"MY VISION SPHERES ARE OF NO USE!" Ziggy exclaimed.

Mathew glanced at Meowth pleadingly. Meowth glanced back. "No."

"Damn it," Mathew said, kicking the dirt in frustration. "Two people gone, we don't know where to get help - why does this keep happening?!" Mathew groaned. "I just wanted to relax for one day, but nope! I can't have one day without anything going wrong!"

"Uh, guys?"

Mathew looked to his pikachu friend. Jermy's extended finger was pointing out into the town. Their uphill position allowed a view not too unlike the one Meowth received from his cliffside abode, one from which they could see the rooftops of the quaint homes of - wait. Who was that?

Mathew had spotted a silhouette of somebody on a rooftop. The cubone quickly realized that this was no mere flat roof. The home's top was shaped like a cone, with a tiny little plastic spire topping it off. Upon this shadow of a pillar, there was the image of Medicham's back. His right foot rested on the thin, flat set piece, while his left foot was tucked in the air. His hands were pressed against his chest, so he could not see them. Mathew waited to see him fall or at least sway, but he did not. His balance rivaled that of gods.

"LOOK AT THE MEDIC HAM GO!" Ziggy exclaimed, clearly impressed. "WHAT A LAD!"

"THAT IS INDEED THE SAME MEDICHAM WE HAVE INTERACTED WITH IN THE PICK-IT UP CLUB," ORB said.

"Wait…" Politoed looked confused. "The same Medicham?"

"I didn't even realize we had finally met him!" Breloom exclaimed. "I've seen him on that top every once in a while for as long as I can remember."

The cubone turned to look at the gray cat, the green frog, and the green shroom-capped kangaroo. "Have you seen him normally do this?"

"He started doing this when we were five," Meowth stated, watching Medicham intently. Mathew couldn't tell if he was impressed by his feat or not, as his face, as usual, sure didn't show it.

"Are you sure?" Breloom asked the cat. "It's been fourteen years since we all were five. You could be a little mixed up on the dates."

"I know," Meowth affirmed. "He became friends with my father the same year he arrived."

"HAVE YOU FORGOT THE BIG BAD SCARY TURN DILE AND CAPPUCCINO?" Ziggy asked.

Mathew shook his head. "Uh, you're gonna have to say that again."

"JOEY AND MINCCY! HURRY! FAST! SONIC BOOM! WE MUST GO!"

"Let's move and get to Medicham's home, then," Mathew said. Politoed and Breloom quickly locked the doors to their abode, and then they were off. It would only take a few minutes to cross a couple streets, but Mathew decided that some small talk could keep everyone from going off the fear-mongering deep end before there was too much reason to panic.

He approached Breloom as they walked. "So you three are all nineteen?" Mathew asked.

"Oh? Yes, that's right," Breloom said. "We attended the same lower and higher education schools. Though, after we became teenagers and went to higher education, we didn't see Meowth much."

"How come?"

"Well, there's two reasons for that. One, we have very different majors." Breloom looked at Meowth, who was leading the way through a road cutting between two streets. "Meowth went into the medical field first thing and it was basically all he did, aside from working a bit for a dungeoneering minor. Politoed and I spent a lot of time in music classes and clubs and minored speech for songwriting. There isn't exactly much overlap in that."

"Wait, hang on," Mathew said, realizing something in Breloom's story. "You were picking majors as teens?"

The kangaroo glanced at Mathew quizzically. "You did not?"

"No. Where I come from, college comes after you're old enough to make your own decisions and only lasts about four years."

Breloom took a second to calculate this. "So you graduated higher education at sixteen? That's still in your teens."

"Okay, now I'm just confused," Mathew said. "It's acceptable here for thirteen year-olds to make choices such as living alone, going to college or higher education or whatever, and joining the workforce?"

"That's the typical standard by city laws, yes," Breloom responded. "Did you not know Minccino and Ziggy are fourteen?"

"What the hell?!" Mathew exclaimed. "That doesn't make any sense. They've barely passed elementary school by that point!"

Breloom gave Mathew a smile, barely even trying to hide her are you stupid? face. "What do school systems have to do with the periodic table…?"

Mathew facepalmed. "Oh my God, forget it. Just state the second thing you were going to say."

"Yeah, let's do that," Breloom said as they turned a corner that led them onto the same street as the building with a cone roof. "Well, the second reason… Meowth wasn't exactly friends with Politoed and I. We were just classmates, really."

"Oh, I get what you mean," Mathew said. "You just sort of knew each other? Didn't really interact?"

"Well, there was one time we really talked when we were eight. Meowth was a quiet classmate, kind of a teacher's pet. He convinced one of our teachers, Hitmonchan, to not give the class an assignment over the summer, and we thought that was really nice of him, so we got him this cute little black tie with green stripes as a gift… I never saw him wear it, but we gave it to him." As the group finally reached Medicham's abode, Breloom glanced at Meowth one more time. "I wonder if he cared enough to keep it," she thought aloud.

The conversation drifted away as Mathew got a look at Medicham's strange house. It was only one story tall, but the spire atop the house more than made up the distance to cover two or even three stories' worth of height. His disciplined stillness was even more clear now that they were closer to him, now capable of seeing his golden robes blow ever so slightly in the wind.

"Hey, Medicham!" Politoed shouted up the building's side. Medicham's head tilted down slightly, indicating that he had heard the call. The group watched in surprise as Medicham hopped off of the thin needle. He slid down the slick cone structure on his side, planted his feet at the small margin between the cone spire and the block-shaped first floor, and jumped. His feet firmly joined the hard soil straight in front of Politoed, who jumped at his sudden arrival.

"Good afternoon, Politoed," he spoke as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.

"Woah!" The frog exclaimed. "How'd you learn how to do that?"

"It's actually quite a simple technique, if you dedicate the next decade to mastering it as I have." Medicham let out a hardy laugh.

"THAT WASN'T FUNNY," ORB commented.

"I always thought you used a ladder or something to get down…" Breloom said.

"Ah, yes, the 'easy way.' No harm in using that - it's simply my preference to handle it the hard way." Medicham then turned his attention to Mathew. "I know the reason you have come here - I could sense your unrest from a fair distance away during my meditation session. You are troubled by something, yes?"

Mathew fidgeted with the bone club in his hands, a little uncomfortable that Medicham already knew all of this. "Y-Yes."

"We're looking for Joey and Minccino. None of us have seen them since the end of the workday!" Jermy explained.

"I see. I'm sorry to say I have not seen them in the flesh, either."

"Fucking-"

"Don't get riled yet, Mathew," Medicham interjected. "We still have an alternative solution to this predicament."

"We… we do?" Mathew asked.

"Meditation," Meowth said.

"That is a correct assumption!" Medicham took a step back and gestured everybody to gather in front of him. He spoke again once they did so. "Do you all recall when I explained that I am capable of tuning my mind to connect with Solceus' Aura?"

"I remember!" Breloom exclaimed.

"How you knew where to take us each day, right?" Politoed asked.

"Indeed. It is also possible for me to use that connection to link to the Auras of nearby Solcean inhabitants, such as your friends, Joey and Minccino."

"Can you use your powers to tell them that we're really worried and that they need to come back?" Mathew asked.

Medicham's eyes shut and his face expressed frustration. "If only one of you happened to be psychic type or Aura-attuned like myself, you could give me enough strength to not only locate them, but speak to them. I could inform them to return home, or if they needed to, provide directions." Medicham opened his eyes and scanned the group. "I have reasonable doubt that none of you are capable of filling those parameters for the time being."

"Yeah, looks like it," Jermy agreed. "At least we can figure out where Joey and Minccino went."

"Indeed. You will need to give me some space, as well as some silence, in order for me to locate their Auras." The five of them obeyed the command. They each took several steps back, giving the pokémon as much space as they could. Ziggy overcorrected and left the yard entirely to compensate for his… behavior issues.

Medicham set his right knee and his palms upon the hard dirt. He shut his eyes and began to take deep breaths. They went silent for a series of agonizing seconds. Mathew prayed to himself quietly.

"I'm in touch with them…" he said. The group stared silently in anticipation. "Two bright souls, pale and white, tread a place built of shadows. The great, screaming agony in the essence of their location has lessened in the smallest of margin. A hopeful conscience has brought light to this place… but they are not alone. Blackened hearts stalk the false night, threatening to devour."

Breloom put a hand to her mouth and leaned closer to Politoed. She whispered something to him that Mathew could barely make out: "Could… talking about…?"

Medicham stood from his brief moment of connection. "I believe I know where they are."

"I have a guess…" Breloom said solemnly. "Misery Woods."

Medicham returned Breloom's look. "Yes."

"Something tells me that that's bad…" Jermy said.

After having assumed he had taken the correct precautions to make sure Medicham could successfully meditate, Ziggy hurried back over to the group. "HEY HEY, WHERE ARE CORKEY AND NAPKINO?"

Politoed turned to the Zigzagoon and repeated the name: "Misery Woods, Ziggy."

Ziggy stopped in his tracks. Mathew had never seen him so still, not even in the instance when Joey shouted at him. "...Misery Woods?" Fear muffled the zigzagoon's normally ecstatic voice. Suddenly, he picked up speed again, even faster than he was running previously, and circled tightly around Politoed's legs.

"NONONONONONOBADBADBADBADBAD! MUST GET OUT! STAY OUT! NEVEREVEREVEREVER GO BACK EVER! NONONONONO!" The frenzied creature panicked as he revolved around the green frog.

Mathew looked on in fear. He could tell something was dreadfully wrong.

"We'll find them and get them out before we lose them," Breloom determinedly told Medicham.

"Sounds like an acceptable plan," Medicham responded.

"What will you do, Medicham?" Politoed asked, Ziggy still around his legs.

"Ziggy may need to remain behind, considering his reactions are already causing him to lose some control of himself." Medicham glanced down at the uncontrollable zigzagoon, then back up at Politoed. "I will stay with him and issue a request for a Rescue Team if you do not return."

"Hold on a second," Mathew interrupted. "What is Misery Woods?"

Medicham turned to Mathew to explain. "It's a deeper Mystery Dungeon within Pawalmtry Forest, and it is very dangerous. The insanity caused by the conflation between dimensional planes is exponentially more severe compared to the locations you have been sent to during your time as an employee. The feral pokémon that live there are monstrous."

The realization began to bleed into Mathew's once-happy soul. "...Joey and Minccino could die, couldn't they?"

Medicham nodded silently.

In that moment, everything in Mathew's mind came crashing down. What had once been a lovely day he had spent with his friends had become another of his needles in a cycle of pain. "...Fuck. Fuck." Mathew swung at the air with his club. "FUCK!"

It didn't take very long after first noticing the environment of Pawalmtry Forest was changing that Mathew could tell that Misery Woods was a nightmare come to life. The trees' foreignly dense leaves consumed most of the light that could possibly shine through, casting a giant shadow over the pokémon who enter. The wooden titans loomed over the group as if they were judging them silently, leading them astray from the light they covered above. Trash littered the landscape; every shrub that may have lacked leaves gained manmade imposters. Plastic nothings filled the ground and bags covered the wind as if the life that once inhabited this hellscape was replaced with its disgusting counterpart.

A chill ran up Mathew's spine. I can see how this place got its name, Mathew thought as he played with his bone club in his hands. Crap… There's no way Joey and Minccino will be okay. He did not speak his thoughts, in hopes that they will be proven wrong. They put their trust in Politoed and Breloom to lead the way into the deafening silence without a word on anybody's end.

Meowth, the only one of them who properly matched the color pallette of this dark land, broke the silence. "We're not going to find Joey and Minccino like this."

"...Damn right we aren't!" Mathew burst.

Just in front of him, Jermy jumped in shock, whirling around to look at him just like Politoed and Breloom in the front of the pack. "Mathew! Sh- shhh!" he whispered.

"Joey and Minccino are both and danger and don't know we're here to rescue them!" Mathew retorted. "We need to shout some or we will never find them!"

"IT IS MORE LIKELY YOU WILL JUST ATTRACT TROUBLE," ORB said.

"I don't care! Meowth has the emergency kit, you three have the experience, I have the map. We'll be fine if we get attacked, lost, whatever. All they have is about half a dozen Oran Berries and maybe some other junk. We're only going to find a pair of corpses if we don't make this quick!"

"Mathew, I don't think you understand," Breloom whispered. "This isn't a Club job. Feral pokémon aren't like dungeon pokémon. They are very, very ba-"

The suffocating silence ended swiftly as the sound of rustling cut through it nearby. It was followed a low hum of a sound that forced dread into the air: a growl.

"UNREGISTERED AURAL SIGNAL DETECTED," ORB said. "ANALYZING…"

Mathew's heart skipped a beat as he turned around and drew his bone club, clinging to with his shaky hands as tightly as he thought possible. "…Joey?" Mathew whispered in denial, taking a small step away from the source of the noise. The rest of the lot readied themselves, aware of the kind of creature that could be disguised in the rustling shrubbery. Meowth set down his kit on the ground, where it was safe.

"SCAN COMPLETE," ORB spoke. "NUMBER OF ENEMY TARGETS: ONE. SPECIES IDENTIFIED…"

The dreadful growl pinnacled at the moment the creature stepped out of the shrubbery. The black and orange colored beast towered over Mathew, Jermy, and Meowth, like a single-headed Cerberus come to life. As if to mock him, the beast itself kept a simple skull-shaped piece of ivory atop his head. As Mathew stared at the beast, speaking nothing but thinking every fear, he could see something he had never seen in this before. Its eyes did not shine like his friends' contacts or his own natural pupils. They exposed the dark, unending void of a black, unabashed by the commonality of masking that part of every pokémon with tiny tinted pieces of glass. The lack of color coupled itself with the expression and feelings within the creature. Mathew found not the compassion and friendliness of the people of Kalmwa'er, nor the irrational, prideful declarations of the average dungeon pokémon. He found, inside of those inhumane eyes, the desire to hunt...

"HOUNDOUR."

…The desire to kill.

Mathew's heart stopped as the houndour leapt for its meal. Had it not been for the Bubble Beam from behind him, the creature, double his height, would've killed him in seconds. Instead, it was nudged and then pushed away by the stream, buying Mathew a second to sprint into a tighter form with the rest of his team. His heart picked up again at record-breaking rates, pulsating his life through the dreadful scenario. Mathew watched as the green frog came to his defense as the houndour jumped for another attack. Politoed shoved the creature off just as its hind legs came to his stomach, forcing it to dirty its furry coat against the dirt.

"ORB, what do we do about this guy?!" Jermy exclaimed behind Mathew as Breloom passed the cubone by.

"JERMY, RECALL THAT YOUR ATTACKS CAN STUN OR PARALYZE," ORB said while a loud howl from the houndour shook the whole group to its core. "USE THIS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE."

"I'm on it!" Without wasting a second, Jermy released a bright jolt of electricity from his red cheeks, jaggedly thrusting through the air towards the rising animal. The houndour tensed up as the the bolt coarsed through its body. Breloom rushed past Politoed and quickly attached her claws to the houndour's back, draining away as fast as she could to put the houndour out of its misery. The wild dog grew weary as its body gave out and collapsed to the forest floor.

"Phew…" Jermy sighed, happy to see the thing go down.

"Don't let your guard down," Meowth said, his claws still drawn. "That houndour should have its pack right behind it."

As if on cue, three more aggressors lunged from the shadows as Meowth predicted. Two of them looked identical to their fallen brethren, but the third was far taller, even more so than Politoed and Breloom. On its back, ankles, and neck were thick bone structures that provided an intimidating defense where weak spots would normally exist on most creatures. Adorning the head of the great dog were large, curving horns that looked like they could impale a chest with how sharp they were. The attackers gave the group little time to breathe as the taller dog closed the distance between itself and Jermy within seconds. Jermy let out a small scream as the giant beast pinned him to the ground. The assault immediately escalated as the two smaller houndours attempted to surround Mathew and Meowth.

Mathew gripped his bone a small distance in front of his body, acting as a way to establish a comfortable distance between him and the ravenous predator. Out of the corner of his eye, Mathew spotted Breloom and Politoed, both of which were making their way towards the larger dog that had currently immobilized Jermy. Within the blink of an eye, Mathew felt a searing, burning feeling in his arm. He snapped his attention towards the spot… Holy crap, the dog's sharp teeth had pierced his flesh! Mathew could only scream and attempt to force his way out of the dog's bear trap jaws. Luckily, the scream was a cue for Breloom to diverge her attention from the larger beast towards the wailing cubone.

Jermy let out another shrill shriek as the monster on top of him completed his preparations for dining on him. Noticing the critical danger the pikachu was in, Politoed fired bubbles into the massive beast's side, knocking the monster off Jermy's chest. "I've got you!" Politoed shouted as he grabbed Jermy and dragged him a short distance away from the recovering beast. "O-ORB..." coughed out Jermy as he pointed at his attacker.

ORB understood and began to scan the dog. "SCANNING…. SCANNING COMPLETE. SPECIES IDENTIFIED: HOUNDOOM. EVEN MORE DANGEROUS THAN A HOUNDOUR. ATTACK ONLY AT LONG DISTANCES."

Meowth dived away from an oncoming slash from the houndour. The erratic beast was wearing his stamina thin very quickly. He stepped forwards to take a firm swing at the houndour, but his drained strength made him swing loosely, giving it time to dodge. The dog slid out of the way and sank its claws into Meowth's back, dragging and digging its way out of Meowth's pulsating red painted flesh and fur. The pain left Meowth staggering. "Ouch-!" Meowth thought aloud as he positioned himself properly again. Meowth knew that he couldn't fight for much longer like this, so he quickly dived out of the fight and escaped to his kit.
Mathew wailed and pleaded, but the houndour's grip never seemed to lessen. The cubone could feel his senses dulling as red spread on his arm. The end seemed nearer than ever for the cubone, yet as hope began to fade, a green fist came swinging in from behind the houndour. As the hound fell to the dirt, Mathew used the opportunity to scramble for his bone club. Snatching it from the ground, he quickly regrouped with his savior. "B-Breloom...!" Mathew exclaimed gratefully.

"Don't get distracted!" Breloom warned. "The one behind you is fighting Jermy and Meowth!"

"How am I supposed to fight with a-"

"Just help them!"

Mathew quickly obeyed, moving his bone club to his left hand. He saw Jermy, slightly scratched up from when the houndoom was upon him, firing another of his lightning strikes at the houndour that had put Meowth shortly out of commission. However, Meowth seemed fine, now confronting it once more after using an oran berry, Mathew assumed.

Mathew took heavy breaths, trying to hold on past his shivering fear as he waited for the right second to strike. Meowth swiped at the beast, causing it to reel its head away, then glanced at the cubone. He could tell it was his cue. With all of the strength he could, Mathew swung at it. The cubone internally praised the lord after watching the nightmare drop and stay down.

"AAAHH!"

Unfortunately, that praising could not last.

Mathew watched in horror as the houndour he had assumed Breloom had struck down begin to claw and bite at the wounded pokémon. Scratch after bite, poor Breloom began to stagger with each new red puncture at her legs.

Before the foul dog could wear Breloom thin enough to fall and be feasted upon, a beam of bubbles struck its side. Mathew traced the beam to Politoed, rushing away from the beaten and unconscious body of the houndoom he had been fighting a second ago. "OFF! NOW!" Politoed bellowed before slamming his open palms into the houndour's skull. It yelped in pain as it was knocked away from the weakened Breloom. Again Politoed rushed at it with another smack, finishing the Double Slap. The hound's skull was devastated enough to make it collapse, swiftly bringing the fight to a close.

Politoed ran as fast as could to Breloom's aid. He grabbed her and put her into his arms, keeping her off of her injured legs. "Meowth! We need oran berries over here!" he cried. Politoed gently carried Breloom over to the approaching Meowth. The cat hastily opened his emergency kit and fed her an oran berry. Politoed brought her to her feet as she wiped away the thin lines of blood left on her skin from her injuries. Meowth then handed Politoed one for his own injuries.

Meowth then turned his attention to his housemates. "You need some too," he said.

"Geez..." Jermy said. "That was rough. Those oran berries sure did the trick, though." He turned to Meowth. "Thanks for that."

Meowth looked at the pikachu, his natural expression returning to his face. "Don't be thankful for too long," said Meowth as he opened his kit for the rest of them to see. The compartment that held his oran berries had been emptied.

Mathew looked into the empty slot with despair. "No. Nonononononono..." he mumbled to himself. The cubone pressed his hands to his mask. "We're going to die. Joey's going to die. We're all gonna fucking die!"

Jermy placed a stubby hand on Mathew's shoulder. "Joey and Minccino are great fighters. You've seen them during the job. I think they have a chance to come out alive. We just need to… find them quick, okay?"

Mathew took a deep breath. "...Fine. Let's move."

The small group, stressed and fearful, once more crept through the dense shadows that looked like night, leaving behind the bodies of the beasts. The looming fear of more hiding away in the void snapped everybody back into a silent state. The alien little team of rescuers had found their courage crushed, their only hope left in the chance of survival of their two friends. The overwhelming sense of dread and dismay was hardest on Mathew; while for a brief moment he had censored his memories with the danger at hand, now there was room for it to flood back ever so slightly. Mathew tried his hardest to quietly suck up his tears so he could see straight.

Onwards they trudged through the rough terrain as garbage and darkness filled every inch of their vision. Out in the distance stood a barren hill, one that looked about as devoid of life as the area it was surrounded by. This hill, pitiful as it may appear, filled an idea into Mathew's mind. "Guys," he whispered. The group's attention immediately snapped to him with wide eyes. "We should climb that hill over there," Mathew continued, using his mitten like hand to give the group a direction to move towards.

"What do you want to climb that hill for, Mathew?" Jermy questioned, as quiet as a mouse.

"I SEE THE ADVANTAGE," ORB said. "IT WOULD ALLOW US TO GET A BETTER VIEW OF THE PERIMETER, AND THUS MORE LIKELY TO SPOT Joey AND MINCCINO."

Politoed nodded. "Head for the hill, then."

The group continued their walk, focusing on making it to the hill that may hold the answers to their friends' fate. As they arrived at the hill's top, they noticed that the hill had two objects placed into its dirt. Two sticks, each with its own set of sloppily written words etched into the ground below it. Mathew approached the sticks and read the markings. Below the one on the left was the word Mom. Below the one on the right, Dad.

"Oh my God…" Mathew muttered, horrified from his discovery after he realized what the words meant. "Graves...?"

The lot shared solemn looks at each other in pity for whomever had laid these sticks here. Mathew's knees trembled. His mind was pounded by images of his totodile friend and his gray partner being brutally mauled by whatever lurked in the shadows of this hellish place. Mathew let his tears run free this time as the darkness of the woods slowly ate away at his psyche, forcing him to remember Minccino… Remember Joey… Remember L-

An earth shaking howl erupted from the somewhere just beyond the hill. The group tensed at the noise. They stumbled closer together as they readied themselves for what demon could be hiding inside the secretive shadows that consumed the land.

Mathew's eyes locked onto the beast. Towering above all animal life in these woods stood the wretch. With ivory armor and horns vastly superior to even the houndoom before, and his right eye removed and replaced with a luminescent rock with a DNA-esque symbol serving as a makeshift pupil, the colossal hound proved to be an alpha above all alphas. The bones around the creature's body were marked with spots of dirt, scratches and blood, proving that the creature was more than just excited to murder like the houndours and houndooms; he was a murderer.

Immediately, Politoed and Breloom stepped in front of the smaller members. "Don't let that… thing come any close to you, or you're dead meat!" Politoed commanded.

"But what about you?!" Jermy's worries were ignored in favor of the threat snarling at them, bearing its stained assortment of teeth.

Mustering all of their bravery, Politoed and Breloom rushed at the mega houndoom. The ferocious beast snapped at Politoed. The flaming, sharp jaws only barely missed the frog's flesh, allowing him to counter by striking his hand twicefold at the houndoom's exposed face. In the second he had to follow up, Politoed performed the deepest inhale Mathew had ever seen a man perform. However, before the building pressure could release as an attack, the Houndoom rammed into him with extreme force. Politoed stumbled back, gasping for air as the water was lodged into the wrong pipeline.

Breloom knelt down to the fallen frog, and desperately attempted to dislodge the hefty supply of water from his throat. Just as the water began to escape the frog's mouth, the Houndoom's mouth grew bright with flames. Breloom only got a brief glance before the flames lunged out and consumed the two lovers.

Without even a scream or yelp of pain, Breloom fell to the floor. After the botched attack dispersed into the air, Politoed attempted to pick himself up, steam foaming out of his mouth. He got to one knee before the houndoom closed in. Politoed shielded himself with his arm, and braced himself for impact. In mere moments, the beast chomped down at Politoed's arm. He cried out in a final aria of agony before the extreme shock of the pain forced a final bow.

The sight of the bodies lying motionless under the large figure of the houndoom caused unwanted emotions to generate within Mathew. Repressed memories breaking through the dam of his mind, drowning him in a past he'd rather forget. His eyes began to water as his body solidified, completely mortified by the experience.

"Somebody needs to distract it!" Meowth proclaimed. In his hand was a pair of reviver seeds to give a hint of an encore for Politoed and Breloom.

The cubone burst out of his hallucinations by gazing at the two saplings of hope, ready to fight to save their lives. Mathew tried his hardest not to fumble as he twisted around his club to the sharper side in hopes of adding just a bit more power to his arsenal. Rationality was laid aside as Mathew brazenly charged at the beast who may have taken the lives of his friends. The houndoom's mouth began to heat up before biting down at the charging cubone. The beast snapped its flaming jaws shut too early, causing it to elude Mathew's scaly flesh. In retaliation, the cubone swung at the mad dog's face, causing it to reel back. In that vulnerable moment. Mathew winded up and stabbed the houndoom directly into its foot. It howled in pain. Mathew pried his club back out and jabbed the blunt end at the houndoom's oncoming face.

The beast reared its face up beyond the meager reach of the cubone's tiny weapon. It looked down at the puny lizard and let out an ear-piercing roar. The soundwaves were immense enough in decibels to slam the cubone backwards, knocking the morsel to the ground, where it would be vulnerable enough to easily tenderize.

The attack caught Mathew off guard. His bone slipped out of grasp as he was flung downwards. The ensuing panic and anxiety caused a disturbance in the cubone's perception. It all happened so fast. Mathew could barely remember it. The houndoom. Red light emitting from in front of it. A yellow interference. Quick and protecting. Heat. Yes, heat was a major presence. A scream. Jermy's voice? He was in the air now. More screams. Getting colder. Colder. Cold. "Jermy?"

The pikachu fell over, nearly landing on top of Mathew. The cubone hurriedly checked Jermy's body. He was charred all over his face and stomach, his eyes shut as if he was dead. "Jermy? Jermy!" Mathew exclaimed desperately. He looked up at the houndoom. Meowth, with a clearly defined face of fury that contradicted his former lack of emotiveness, was still tending to the rising Politoed and Breloom, unable to stop the beast before it could devour both of them.

"HEY!"

A familiar voice from above cut into the fight. Politoed, Breloom, Meowth, and Mathew gazed up a tree to see the source of the voice: Minccino.

"Get away from my friends!"

Minccino hopped off of the branch she had been resting upon. She landed firmly on the dirt next to a pair of familiar bags. Her blue friend, however, had a harder landing from another branch, slamming onto his chest. "I-I'm okay…" he stammered, getting back to his feet.

"Fucking. What?!" Mathew said. "Why the hell are you doing a fancy-ass intro while we're quite literally about to die?!"

"That wasn't-" Joey was quickly interrupted by the firm growl of the mega houndoom as it saw yet another set of meat it had to feast on. Its attention was drawn on them, staring them down like daggers.

"I'm not afraid of you…!" Minccino exclaimed, grabbing the bags full of what looked to be garbage. "We'll take you down eas-"

The fight was once more interrupted. A searing light beamed through the grave-marked arena as Meowth held something in his hand. There was a flash of white, then black.

Mathew awoke. He pushed himself off of the gentle grass and stood. He looked out into the area around him and realized where he is: the hill in front of Kalmwa'er. Around him, he saw some of his friends. Jermy, ORB, Meowth… Politoed, Breloom… Joey, Minccino. Everyone made it home, somehow. He heaved a sigh of relief. Thank God.

Soon, the rest of the group came to and gathered around the hill. Meowth used one last reviver seed to bring Jermy back. He seemed shaken, but okay, in Mathew's eyes. Everybody was quiet even outside of the woods, just plain uninterested in chatter after such an event. Before they broke up, all that was said was confirmation that Meowth had just used something like an "Escape Orb" and Minccino was okay with getting Ziggy and bringing him home. They concluded with quiet but firm glares at the crocodile and the chinchilla that had been returned to safety before they departed for rest after the nightmare.

The four pokémon scrambled up the winding cliffside paths to behold the dome-shaped salvation of Meowth's unkempt abode. The three of the search party grounded up a bittersweet releasing of stress as the flickering ceiling lights were enabled; only dumbfoundedness flooded through the renegade who thought it swell to go beyond their simple little work adventures. While their safety was now ensured, the waves of emotion would soon be at the mercy of the group's suppressed frustration.

Silence filled the room. Not a soul said a word. But they could all feel it. They could all see it. The twitching. The tight, almost shaking grip. The slamming of the club against the hard floor. The bags full of trash, left with the girl they belonged to, had spoken for themselves; Joey and Minccino's entire escapade - the perpetrator of the near-deaths of Politoed, Breloom, and Jermy Shock, had all been over an attempt to clean an obviously uncleanable place. And Mathew was furious.

"Hey, Joey. Why don't we have a little talk?"