Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Double Edged CLASSIC

by Double Edged Team

Mathew Walker was greeted by a blinding light, commanding him to create a gateway to another world where pokémon live peacefully. With his technological wit, he sets out for this world to locate the source of the light and find the happy life he was promised. But it isn't long until this world's underbelly brings out the worst in Mathew... (2019 VERSION, SEE INTRO)

8. Changing Course

[Originally completed June 11th, 2019. Published August 10th, 2019.]

Chapter 5: Changing Course

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING?!" Mathew yelled. Instantly, the tension in the room peaked. Jermy and Meowth immediately took to the sidelines.

"I - I was tr-trying to make the job better," the totodile stammered, fear wavering in his voice.

"HOW DID ANY OF THAT HELP US? YOU ALMOST KILLED US!"

Joey flinched at the accusation. "N-no I - I- you weren't supposed to be there-! Y'all would've been okay if-"

"But were we?"

"N-no."

"Then none of that actually HELPED, didn't it?"

"I…" Joey paused. "I was only trying to clear out some of the trash in Misery Woods…"

"So you went in alone - no, with a fourteen year old child? To get yourself killed by fucking wolves?!"

"...I didn't know about the-"

"Why did you think it was called Misery Woods? Did you think it's gonna be a safe place?!"

"Minccino made it sound so easy. Just go in, grab some trash, get out…"

"Well, looks like there were a hell of a lot more steps than that, huh? Ever consider those, Joey?"

The totodile tried defusing the conversation. "What are you getting at…"

"I'm getting at the fact that this is the most stupid, idiotic… I can't even believe you'd think that was a good idea!"

"I just…" Joey couldn't keep himself from escalating. "I just was trying to fix the job for you, Mathew!"

"I quit that job for a reason!"

"I wanted to take that reason away! I wanted to make it a happier job for everyone."

"That reason doesn't just go away! You completely misunderstood what the problem was. Even if there was less trash to pick up, I'd still hate it!"

At that moment, something changed in Joey. For a brief moment, he considered the option of the moral high route, keeping things from devolving further… but that wasn't what came out. Instead, Joey let his fury spill.

"You know what? You're right!" Joey pointed angrily at Mathew. "Y'all've gotten angry with pretty much everyone over the last few days for no reason. Of course you'd hate it."

"No — no — NO REASON? If you were in my shoes for even half a second you'd see I have PLENTY of reasons to be pissed off!"

"Then what are those reasons, huh? For someone who talks about them a lot, you sure don't like telling anyone about them!" Joey snapped back. "You need to calm down for once in your life. Maybe none of this would've happened if you just chilled out! Maybe then people would enjoy your company enough to not risk their lives for your ungrateful ass!"

Jermy saw something happen to Mathew, as if something in him had just shattered into millions of pieces all by a few poorly thought out words. Jermy gasped as Mathew drew back his arm and plunged it straight into the totodile's chest.

Joey released a sharp grunt as he doubled over in pain, holding onto his chest as if it was his only chance of survival. Mathew stared at him as he spat the words: "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY SIGHT!"

As soon as the words were uttered, a door slammed shut, and Joey made his way out of the house, head hung low with only a trail of tears even hinting at the idea that he ever stepped foot in the house.

Mathew's eyes started to drown themselves in tears as he used what was left of his fury to toss his bone club at the nearest wall with incredible force. Once he was drained of any positive emotion, he dragged himself towards a far corner of the house, now an echo chamber of shattered hearts and tainted friendships.

Meowth crossed his arms and shook his head. "That was pathetic," he said. Jermy could hear Meowth raising his voice, even if his tonation was the same as ever. "I got over it when you tried to swing at me, but what you just did to Joey was pitiful. I hope you're proud of yourself." Before anybody else could say a word, Meowth shoved his room's door open and shut.

Mathew shouted to ensure that Meowth could hear from across the house. "FUCK YOU! I HAVE FUCKING ISSUES, Y'KNOW?!"

"Ugh..." Jermy grabbed ORB and took a step outside, away from this conflict. The air was refreshing after experiencing the intensity of these poor individuals. He needed a moment to gather himself after such an event. Jermy settled ORB into his lap as he sat down on the edge of the cliffside.

"JERMY, REMEMBER THAT THE GROUND COULD FALL FROM UNDER YOU. IT IS UNSAFE TO BE SO CLOSE TO THE EDGE."

"I know." He looked out into the faded red sky as it descended into the ocean's seam. Being so far away from the light of the Sun, the pikachu found himself back in the darkness where the void lurked. Today, he had found it festered within his fellow human-turned-pokémon. A frustration founded itself in his mind as he stared down the light. In the darkness, the people around him find pain whilst the light only shed blindness in its stead. He's lived in that cycle for as long as he can remember, but how long could they do it?

"YOU SEEM DEEP IN THOUGHT," ORB commented.

"Yeah," Jermy responded. "I've… been thinking, some. Mathew and Joey, and everyone else in the club… They've all been so nice and thoughtful, but today, this has blown up in all the wrong ways. To be frank, I… I don't want to watch this play out anymore."

"YOU WANT TO KEEP THIS FROM GETTING WORSE IN FUTURE CONDITIONS, DESPITE THIS HORRID SCENARIO?"

"Yeah. I know, it's a huge risk, but I just can't sit here anymore." The sky began to dull into black. "We're so far away… We have a chance of pulling something off."

"...IT HAS A RIDICULOUSLY HIGH CHANCE OF FAILURE, BUT I BELIEVE I HAVE A PLAN STRUCTURED. ARE YOU SURE YOU WISH TO DO THIS, DESPITE A LOW PROBABILITY OF SUCCESS?"

"...Uh huh." The sky completed its transformation, leaving Jermy and Kalmwa'er to descend into the darkness.

"THEN LET US BEGIN."

---

Joey made his way through the empty streets of Kalmwa'er as the night began. His pace was swift and his eyes were set at the ground, carrying his tiny sack of coins as if it was a lifeline. If a bystander were to gander at him as he walked, he'd have good reason to show concern. Perhaps he'd mistake him for a thief, or a conman, or a murderer, or some scummy homeless man. Little could that bystander know that Joey believed all of those accusations to be true. He had stolen away the time of his roommates with his nonsensical adventure; he had conned them all into trusting him for no good reason; he came depressingly close to causing everybody he ever cared for to die painfully; and now he proved himself unworthy of a place or people to call home.

Joey paced down a random street aimlessly, missing direction, ambition, or companionship to guide him. His conscience would soon regret that choice.

"Joey? What are you doing here?"

The totodile's head swung up and to the side. Of all of the stupid odds, Joey was unfortunate enough to not be granted the mercy of silent departure. In the yard of one particular house stood Minccino, two empty satchels still strapped around her shoulders. In front of her was Ziggy, lucky enough to have avoided the experience. Both of them were staring at Joey with worry in their eyes.

"I…" Joey returned his glance to the darkened floor, marching onwards as if nothing was wrong.

"TOTO BOY GOING AWAY?!" Ziggy said. Joey heard the zigzagoon gallop towards him and soon he was in front of him, stopping his path.

The crocodile stopped. "Please move out of the way, Ziggy."

"Wait, Joey…" Minccino said, joining Ziggy in the obstruction. "Are you okay? Where's Mathew, Jermy, or Meowth? We've had a busy day, so you should get some rest back at Meowth's place."

Joey couldn't bring himself to raise his eyes to look at her. "Plans changed."

"What… do you mean…?"

"I'm leaving. Meowth's house and probably Kalmwa'er too."

Minccino gasped as she brought her hand to her mouth. "What? Why?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Is this about what happened today? How did they all react to it?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Joey repeated.

"Joey, you're making me really worried. I want to know what's going on." Minccino slowly took a step towards the crocodile.

Joey slowly began to rise his head. Tears filled his eyes as all of his frustration and sadness spilled onto Minccino and Ziggy. "I'm such a terrible person, Minccino… I started this whole thing because I wanted to make everyone happy, but all I did was make everything worse. So many of them got hurt trying to save us, and Mathew, I… I just ruined his life. I don't deserve to live with good people…"

"Woah, woah, wait! Joey, where is all this coming from? Just how bad were their reactions?" Minccino exclaimed at the guilt-ridden totodile.

"I-It was bad. Mathew was so mad, and…" Joey's crying intensified. He used his hands to try wiping at his eyes.

"Oh my gosh, Joey… I'm so sorry. Do you need a new place to stay?"

"You don't have to do that," Joey replied. "You don't have to hide how upset you are with me. I'll take the honesty."

"...I'm not mad."

"You have to be. Anyone would be after that."

"I'm not mad," Minccino repeated. "Look, let me just get you a place to sleep, okay? If you wanna leave by tomorrow night, I guess I won't stop you. Just… stay one more day."

Joey paused for a moment. He wanted away from this place. He was ready to go out and walk until he found somewhere else. However, he couldn't deny that Minccino was right about him needing sleep. Against his wishes, he nodded solemnly.

"Come on," Minccino said as she approached her house. Ziggy followed excitedly while Joey trailed slowly.

"YAY NEW WALL MATE!" the zigzagoon exclaimed.

Minccino stopped. "Oh, right…" She brought a paw to her face. "I totally forgot how hard it was to get one housemate. No way would my parents be up for a second!"

"WAITWAITWAIT!" Ziggy exclaimed. "ANSWER MY POSSESS!" Ziggy suddenly burst ahead of Minccino through the front door.

"Um, wait here for a second," Minccino said, following after him. Joey was left alone for a moment to think about everything. Without somebody else to tell him otherwise, his regret began seeping into his thoughts. He hated everything he had done today. Mathew would never forgive such a selfish action that hurt everybody involved. A good totodile would've been wiser. A good totodile wouldn't have betrayed his friends. But he was cursed with the knowledge that, inside, he would never be the person he kept trying to be.

Joey heard the sound of rummaging as Minccino and Ziggy emerged from the house, the two of them carrying some large objects. Minccino threw down the stuff right in front of Joey. He could see what looked to be two large pieces of fabric wrapped around various other pieces of plastic, such as a bunch of tiny poles and what looked to be stakes. They were the parts for raising a tent.

"We can camp out for the night!" Minccino explained. "That way, you'll have a place to stay and we don't have to bother with nagging my parents." She grabbed a piece of fabric and laid it out flatly on the ground. "Care to help, Joey?"

"...Sure."

The whole ordeal took a few minutes. Minccino brought out an owner's manual and explained that they'd need to assemble the tent poles in a certain way. With her as a guide, Joey put the poles together while she inserted them where they needed to go in the tent. Soon, the cone-shaped thing went up, and a covering to protect against the rain was cast over it.

"There we go!" Minccino exclaimed as she stepped away from the covering. "All set! Hope you learned something from that, Joey. It's a good survival skill to know how to make a tent."

Silently, the three of them went inside. Joey felt the warmth of home - well, literally, the interior of the tent was musty and insulated, but for now it was home. None of them bothered to carry a nest outside; they just laid down on the tarp that was the floor.

"Thank you for this. Good night, Minccino. Good night, Ziggy," Joey said to the two of them, clearly ready to end the day.

"Hey, it was no problem," Minccino replied. "We'll talk more about everything tomorrow. Good night…"

---

Jermy awoke at the crack of dawn. He didn't need to check the Sun to know that. The light in the room was dim enough for it to be dawn. The pikachu sighed at the familiarity. He reached over to turn ORB back on again.

"Hey, are you awake?"

Before he could even reach the power button, Jermy was interrupted by the voice of Mathew from across the room. The cubone laid on his side, away from Jermy. No wonder Jermy didn't know he was already awake.

"Yeah. Did I wake you up?"

"No. I barely slept at all."

Or, alternatively, no wonder Jermy didn't know he had always been awake. The only thing he could reply to that with was "Ouch." He wanted to say something better, but he remembered last night. "I'm guessing last night's the reason?"

Mathew rolled over to look at the pikachu. "Yeah."

"The woods or the argument?"

"Both. The woods are self explanatory, but the whole thing last night… I don't know. I needed to call him out, but I - I just went too far."

"Uh, yeah." Jermy's voice was laced with mild aggression. "You know you slugged him directly in the-"

"Yes! Yes. I know." Mathew shuffled to his backside. "...I just want to tell him I'm sorry."

Jermy sat up. "I'm glad you want to… but Lord knows if we can even find the guy. We don't know where he went…"

"Oh, crap, you're right." Mathew stood up. "How are we gonna find him?!"

"I have an idea..." Jermy grabbed his robot companion. "Maybe ORB can help."

ORB sprung to life. "FIVE SHEEP… SIX SHEEP… OH, I'M ACTIVATED?"

"Hey, ORB…" Mathew greeted solemnly. "Can you track Joey for me? I… I need to tell him something important."

"I AM A ROBOT, NOT A MIRACLE WORKER." ORB paused. "BUT… I WILL ATTEMPT. I WILL TRY TO LOCATE HIS AURA READINGS, BUT DO NOT EXPECT ANYTHING."

Jermy beamed. "Gee, thanks ORB. Doing that for Mathew is real ni-"

"SHUT IT. I'M LOCATING HIM."

Jermy's smile fell as he sighed. "Well, it was nice while it lasted."

They waited for a moment until ORB informed them of his results: "JOEY IS NEAR THE CENTER OF TOWN, NOT FAR FROM THE DUMP."

"Oh thank God, we don't have to leave Kalmwa'er," Mathew said. "If we had to chase him down, I don't know what I'd do."

"Wait, hang on a second, Mathew," Jermy said.

"What?"

"I…" Jermy glanced at ORB for a second. "I think we should wait a little longer before we get Joey back. I'm sure he has a lot of feelings he's probably working out, and… Let's just give him a bit more time, so when you guys talk, it'll be easier to work things out."

"CONSIDERING THAT DISPLAY LAST NIGHT, HE CERTAINLY NEEDS THE TIME ALONE. FAR AWAY FROM YOU."

"Excuse me?" Mathew said.

"DON'T PLAY DUMB."

Mathew paused. "You're right. Let's give him some time…"

"Why don't we do something while we wait, Mathew?" Jermy suggested. "Maybe we can do something to brighten your spirit, like shop, or hang out, or play a game, or…"

The pikachu shifted away as their gray landlord stepped into the room. He immediately glanced at Mathew. The cubone looked back nervously.

Meowth spoke three words and three words only before storming out, leaving Mathew, Jermy, and ORB to chase after him: "I'm getting breakfast."

---

Joey was awoken by the sound of a voice. It was Minccino's mother, coming out of her house carrying some delicacies on a pair of plates. Mrs. Cinccino gasped when she realized Joey was also there - she had understood Minccino and Ziggy were mock camping, but didn't know why. She quickly offered to fix some food for the totodile, and even apologized for not having food prepared for him despite her having no way of knowing she'd need to feed him. He waited a few minutes for her to return with another plate just for him. It was delicious… but it didn't make him feel any better about what happened the previous night. He was already thinking of asking Minccino where a library might be, to locate a map or something.

"BIG THONK ARE IS YOU IN!" The zigzagoon said, spitting berry juice across the tent.

"Uh… yeah," Joey replied halfheartedly.

Minccino set down her food. "Dude, you've gotta get your mind off of that whole mess."

"I can't..."

She shook her head and moved on to converse with the other individual in the tent. "Hey, what were you up to while we were gone? You weren't with the rescue team."

"MEDAL CHAMP MIND HELP!" Ziggy exclaimed. "SCARED! CALM! I SCARED! CALM HE!"

"Medicham? That's probably for the best, Ziggy. Word on the street is that he's good for that sort of thing. Mr. Persian's said a few times that Medicham does a lot of favors for him. Did he help you?"

"BIT!"

"Go back to his place. He could help with your whole 'dungeon insanity' thing."

"MAYBE! OKAY!"

"Great…" Joey said. "I just sent Ziggy into therapy, didn't I?"

Minccino gave the totodile a weird look. "You say that like it's a bad thing…"

"Everything else I've done since I got here was a bad thing. This has to be too."

"Okay, now you're just forcing yourself to be sad." She sighed. "You know what? I'm gonna take the two of us over to everyone who had to deal with this mess, and we're gonna say we're sorry, and they'll forgive us, and everybody's gonna be happy again. Can you do that for me?"

"I'll go, but it's not gonna help anything. Everyone's gonna be mad."

"Does Ziggy look mad to you?" Minccino pointed at him for emphasis.

"I don't know! His feelings are hard to read!" Joey flung his arms out in frustration. "I just know everyone is."

"NO MAD EVEN!" Ziggy said.

"See, hear that?" Minccino said. "He's not upset. No way will the others be." She stood up, picking up her plate. "Come on, we're going to talk to Politoed and make this right. Ziggy, demolish this tent."

Ziggy nodded wildly. Minccino stomped out of the tent and waited for him at the edge of the street. Before Joey left the tent to follow her, he grabbed the two finished plates remaining inside from both his meal and Ziggy's. Carrying one in each hand, he crossed the yard to follow her. She seemed to be in a better mood by that point. While the two of them took a couple paces over to the trash can nearby, Joey heard the sounds of Ziggy taking down the tent in the most precise, formal way the zigzagoon could manage - by tackling it down.

An empty-handed Joey and Minccino began their walk through the city streets. Being the weekend (which Joey had come to figure out were known as the days of rest), most people were out in the market or town square, so the pathways were nearly empty. Joey held a smile - You can't be sad if you're smiling, he thought. He hoped that his smiles would be contagious for Politoed and Breloom, and they'd forget the pain he had put them through. He looked at Minccino's face, seeking validation in his hopes. She smiled back.

He quickly regretted looking at his friend instead of what was in front of him.

"S-Sorry!" The totodile stated quickly. He had bumped into another poor pokémon's legs right in front of them. He could have tripped the guy! What was he thinking? He quickly darted to the left so he could safely pass the individual by. Minccino quietly mimicked the action.

"It's nothin'." As the two passed by, Joey took a quick glance at the pokémon he had bumped into. The colors of red and green were the first thing that could be found in the totodile's assessment, followed by the pair of leaves - no, tails attached to his back. Yeah, Joey saw a lot of leaf-like things on the guy - some on his arms and one lengthy one draped over his chest. He glanced up to see that the latter was attached to the top of his head, slipping out from under a small brown hood, and -

He looked away. The grovyle nearly made eye contact with him. He didn't want to make this more awkward. The two of them used their firmer and faster speed to quickly outwalk the stranger's relaxed pace. Joey tried to forget about the transgression - nobody seemed upset about it, this time.

Finally, Minccino indicated for Joey to turn into the yard of a house: Politoed and Breloom's. The two of them walked up to the front door. Minccino bopped the door with her fists exactly three times: knock, knock, knock.

"Hey, thanks for knockin' for me."

Joey and Minccino turned around to see that same grovyle walking up behind them. "Oh, are you friends with Politoed and Breloom?" Minccino asked.

The grovyle nodded, coupling it with a "Yep." Joey had a chance to get a more thorough look at him. He realized that he had missed the strangely-shaped case in his right hand, the violet-colored bracelet around said hand, and what looked like some kind of eyeshadow around his yellow eyes with violet pupils.

"Hey, that's a Brace Yourselves bracelet!" Minccino said. "You're a member?"

"Oh, so you know about our little shindig," the grovyle said. Joey couldn't tell if he was surprised or amused by the recognition.

"Yeah. Politoed and Breloom have been wearing those bracelets ever since they got them three days ago."

The grovyle propped his case on the ground and rested his arm against it. "Well, you'd be right. I'm in Brace Yourselves." He tilted his head slightly towards the case. "I'll give ya three guesses as to what I do. First two don't count."

"I'm guessing that's an electric guitar," Minccino said. "Your bandmates don't seem like the kind of guys to use acoustic."

"You catch on fast. Just Minccino, I'm guessing?"

"Yeah." Minccino turned around to face the door again.

"And the quiet one's Totodile?"

"It's… It's Joey."

The grovyle didn't respond to his answer; he looked back at Minccino as she gently pressed against the door another three times. "Now hold on a second." He stepped up to the door. "They're heavy sleepers. Ya never gonna wake 'em with that."

Joey watched as the grovyle banged his hand against the door. The rhythm was sensible, clearly planned, but the totodile couldn't recognize it. However, it seemed to do the job; there were some footsteps, and then Politoed appeared at the front door, rubbing his eyes. "Morning, Groov," he said to the grovyle. "Good to see you… Oh."

Joey's heart sank instantly. The look on Politoed's face upon seeing the two mischief-makers already told him the tone of this conversation.

"Good morning, Politoed," Minccino said.

"...Morning." Politoed turned to look at Groov. "You know our talk last night, Groov? These are some coworkers."

Groov got another look at the pair. His face showed understanding. "I'll let you three talk." He took a couple steps into the middle of Politoed's yard, sat down, and began fiddling with his case.

"...Howdy," Joey said meekly.

"Hey," Minccino added.

"Hello." Joey could feel the repressed anger in Politoed's voice.

"We came to say sorry," the totodile explained.

The green frog held a deep sigh. "That apology… something that's hard to accept."

Joey's eyes favored the ground over Politoed. "I know."

"I can imagine how you feel after that epidemic…" Minccino said.

"Mm hmm."

"So... We apologized," Minccino said. "Now we're good, right?"

He shook his head. "Absolutely not. You nearly killed us. Isn't something you can wave away with a simple, 'sorry.' It's a much deeper issue than that and the consequences last longer than you two may think."

Joey didn't say anything.

"Oh, hello, you two…" Breloom came to the doorstep.

"We wanted to say sorry." Minccino's face was blank. This clearly wasn't what she was expecting.

"Oh. Well, Politoed and I… We'd been talking about how bad those injuries were from those monsters in Misery Woods, and…"

Breloom stopped. Joey was already walking away from them, tears in his eyes. "Bye, everyone," he whimpered. He had confirmed he was no longer wanted. He was ready to leave this place.

And that was when the stranger Joey had met stood up again. His guitar wasn't out of his case. "Okay, I said wasn't gonna intervene or whatever, but… Poli, Bre, that wasn't cool."

"What do you mean, Groov?" Politoed asked.

"I mean, what was that just now? It isn't like you two to let a kid run away cryin'."

Politoed grimaced. "Well, that's his fault. Both of theirs'."

Groov sighed. "Look, I get that you guys nearly died trying to save them and it was over something kinda unimportant, but it's over. Why are ya beating 'em when they're down?"

"Just trying to show Joey these kinds of things have consequences, Groov!"

"I think he's had the message for a while now." Joey, already at the street, looked up and saw the grovyle pointing at him. "That kid's been real quiet all morning, and I think I've figured out why. He already felt bad, so he came to apologize, and then you shoved him when he's down! So now he has bad vibes, you two have bad vibes, and everything sucks for all of you."

"Oh, no…" Breloom put her hand to mouth and glanced at her partner. "Politoed, we did make him feel that way, didn't we?"

"So what are you two gonna do now?" Groov asked. "Wallow in your bad vibes, or go and apologize fairly to that kid like adults?"

Politoed looked at Groov thoughtfully, seemingly gauging his own feelings at that moment. Then he sighed. "Got it figured out before us like always, Groov…" The green frog made his way to his smaller, blue acquaintance. He bowed, tipping the piece of rock atop his head forward a little. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too!" Breloom ran over and bowed quickly. "I never, ever meant to make you feel horrible like that. We all need to get our minds in better places, and that includes you and Minccino."

"I'm sorry for messing everything up." Joey, too, bowed.

"...Do we all forgive each other?" Breloom asked.

The totodile nodded to confirm.

Politoed let out a sigh of relief. "Well, glad that's over and done with."

"Like water under a bridge!" Minccino exclaimed.

"Yeah, what she said," Groov quipped.

"Okay, now that that's settled…" Politoed turned to look at Groov. "You know what I wanna do?"

Joey could barely tell that Groov was looking at them under his hood. "What?"

"Buy a whole bunch of reviver seeds. Was thinking about it since we got home, and I feel like it was kind of a mistake to just act like Meowth's kit alone will solve all of our problems. Maybe we should get some more kits, or something…?"

"I bet they sell some somewhere in the market," Minccino said as she approved Joey, Politoed, and Breloom's little circle.

"Sounds like a smart idea to me, getting some spares for emergencies like that," Breloom stated.

Groov closed in on the gathering as well. "Is this a shopping trip I'm hearin'?"

"I think so!" Minccino turned to Joey. "Are you coming, Joey?"

"I dunno… What about Medicham? Weren't we gonna go apologize to him?" Joey asked.

"Eh, I wouldn't worry about him," Minccino said. "We can talk to him later if you want, but I honestly doubt he's too upset, especially since he didn't even go into the woods himself."

"Good point… I'll go."

"Sweet! We'll stop at my house to grab our money and then get on the way!" And as Minccino foretold, they traveled towards her house to get her and Joey's money and then get on the way. As they walked, Joey listened as she began slipping into conversation with her new friend.

"Thanks for being so nice to us, Groov," Minccino said.

"It's nothin'," Groov replied. "Any friend of my 'mates is a friend of mine." He waited a moment before he continued. "...Do you feel the same way your friend does? About going to those woods?"

Minccino sipped air through her teeth. "I know Joey really got the rough end of the stick on this, but even if I was in that position… No, not really. When I was working in Misery Woods, I felt a rush of adrenaline. I was on an adventure, and I was gonna HELP people! It was just… such a great feeling. I don't regret trying."

Groov tilted his head. Joey thought he looked like he was judging her; he wondered if Minccino realized that he was. "...But at the same time, do you feel bad about getting your friends hurt?"

"Of course I do!" she exclaimed. "I guess if I'd change anything, I should've told somebody. Ziggy, probably."

Groov nodded as he spoke: "Good. You learned from your mistake. That's good."

After watching Minccino talk with Groov, Joey decided that perhaps now would be a good time to strike up a conversation with one of Brace Yourselves' members. Not that he wanted to start anything like the previous interaction - he was just looking to talk. He thought Politoed would be a good place to start, as they had talked the most out of the pair.

"So…" The totodile clamored for a subject. "What's with the…uh...the weird rock on your head?" Joey instantly wanted to take it back; crap crap crap he's gonna take it as an insult-

"Oh, this thing?" Politoed tapped his rock of a hat with his finger.

"...Yeah." Joey figured Politoed didn't seem to be mad. So far, so good…

"This is my King's Rock. A family heirloom, given to the firstborn of each generation. It allows me to evolve into a Politoed in the first place."

"Evolve?"

"Don't even know about evolution, Joey…?" Politoed gave him a look of something like pity.

"Sorry. I was…very sheltered…" Joey could feel the red embarrassment flooding his cheeks. He was frustrated that he had to rely on Politoed so much.

"Naw, it's okay," Politoed said, waving it off both textually and literally with his hand. "I'll just teach ya. Basically, when something important happens to you, your form grows into a new size and shape."

"Something important?"

"Could be a lot of things. Think something like, coming to understand the meaning of life, or finally figuring out who you are after an identity crisis, or finding yourself happy with the girl of your dreams…" Politoed glanced at Breloom.

"Is that how you evolved?" Joey asked.

"Oh, It was! Started as a little poliwag, then evolved into a poliwhirl when Breloom and I became a couple. That was the same moment she went from being a tiny, limbless shroomish with a heart of gold into the breloom you see now."

"Aww, that's so sweet!" Joey exclaimed.

"...It was lovely." Politoed paused for a second, just glancing at Breloom. She looked back at him and smiled.

"Wait, but isn't your name Politoed, not Poliwag?"

"Oh!" Politoed was pulled back into the conversation. "I had a little more ways to go. Only became this green frog when I turned eighteen and got the King's Rock from my parents."

"Neat… Do you know what I will evolve into?"

"Feraligatr, I think."

"Huh..." With that, Joey was finished drilling his frog adversary. And right on time, too - they finally made it back to Minccino's place, where they quickly grabbed their sacks of allowance and made their way down to the market. They found themselves at a booth, and all of a sudden Politoed had already put emergency kits into Breloom and Groov's hands.

"Are you sure you can pay for all that, Politoed?" Minccino asked. "I'd be happy to give you some of my poké if you can't."

"Oh, trust me, I can," Politoed simply replied.

"Well…" Minccino tightened her grip on the sack of money she held in her other hand. "I guess I should use this on something else in the market while I'm here."

Groov shrugged. "I probably could get a spare guitar pick or two."

"Did you even grab money before we-?"

Minccino stopped speaking when Politoed tossed Groov a sack. "Here," he said.

"Thanks," Groov said. "I'll pay you back later."

"Do we want to meet back here at this booth when we're done?" Breloom asked.

"Sounds good! See you all then!" And with Minccino's exclamation, everyone began to break away from the booth - well, everyone except poor Joey. Unlike everyone else, he was too unfamiliar with Kalmwa'er's market to be able to easily navigate it and, to tell the truth, he didn't feel comfortable just walking around the place all alone. Very fortunately for him, there was somebody still looking out for the totodile.

"Hey, you okay?" Minccino asked, noticing Joey's stillness.

Joey spoke honestly: "I just don't know where to go."

"Come along with me. We'll browse until we find something we're both interested in."

Joey agreed to follow Minccino. The totodile began to wonder if he looked weird, tailing someone almost half his size. He tried his best to ignore those feelings, relax, and just window shop. They passed by a couple booths of varying quality, trying to find something that piqued their interest. After a minute or so, Joey noticed a booth that prompted him to point out what caught his eye to Minccino: "Catchy title."

Minccino looked over at the one Joey was pointing to. The booth, much like any other, was fronted by a tall lemonade-stand styled desk, with two small poles holding up the booth's title on a sign. What stood out, however, was the backdrop behind the booth. Half a dozen shelves, all holding a variety of strange objects, stood in perfect position to fill the room between the desk and the sign with eye-catching products. The name on the sign? Emporium for Extraordinary Adventurers' Extras. She couldn't help but agree that the alliteration was at least fanciful. The only thing missing from this picture was the most glaring component: where was the pokémon running the booth?

The pair walked up to the booth. "Hello? Is anyone — AH!" Joey yelped when a gigantic black creature resembling a giant mouth burst out from under the booth!

"Oh my goodness!" A voice exclaimed. The beast quickly whirled around and revealed itself to be an inanimate component of a smaller, nicer-looking yellow creature. "I'm so sorry!" the mawile exclaimed. "You don't know how many times I've scared off customers with this giant maw of mine."

"Definitely not the best side to show for your first impression…" Minccino commented.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I had my back turned because I was shuffling some stuff below on the bottom rows. You know, the ones out of sight, where I put all of my duplicates that aren't needed for display."

"Huh. How much stuff do you have down there instead of up here?" Minccino asked.

"Honestly, not that much right now," she stated. "I normally have tons of my best-selling product down there, but I'm fresh out of it."

"What's your best product?" Joey asked.

"Silly Stringshot. It's Stringshot…" The mawile set one hand on the booth and another in the air, demonstrating the product's size and shape. "...but in a can."

"Cool!" Minccino exclaimed.

"Yeah. If you hook me up with an address, I can totally come over to let you know this is back in stock before it goes out of stock again."

"It goes out that fast…?" Joey asked.

The mawile shrugged. "What can I say? I have a dedicated customer."

"Hmm…" Joey set his hand at the bottom of his maw while pondering his options. "I just don't think it's what I'm looking for."

"Alright then. Let me show you some stuff I do have in stock." She turned around and grabbed a can off the shelf and presented it atop the desk. "This is a Com-Gust-ible Can. It's a loaded can of pressurized flying type power. Wanna have fun and push some leaves around? Just press the top button." She set a finger on the button to visually demonstrate, carefully avoiding actually using it before the customer has a chance to. "Got someone crawling on top of you and you have a friend with sharp claws? Rip open the side and watch your enemies literally fly through the air!" She tapped the can's side. Then, she picked it up and waved it around. "Noxious gas? Get that out of your face, nice and easy!" Finally, she shoved it forward, up close to Joey and Minccino. "And maybe, in the case of a nuclear apocalypse, you could even make a profit by literally selling fresh air!" The mawile set the can down. "Only problem is that it runs out quick, so you'll need a bunch. But hey, depending on how well that apocalypse pays, that could be a win-win."

Minccino gave the mawile a stare meant to tell her just how bizarre this presentation was. "You really like putting stuff in cans, don't you?"

The mawile nodded confidently. "It's my specialty: if I can do it, I can do it."

Joey missed the pun entirely and got straight to the point: "Do you have anything that's not in a can?"

"Oh, of course I do. I called it Adventurers' Extras, not Adventurers' Extras in a Can." The mawile grabbed something else off of the shelves and set it on the desk. It looked like some kind of green rope with leaves sprouting out of the sides.

"What's this…" Joey said. Enamorment filled his voice.

"I call it the Grasso. It's made up of the four willing vines from deceased bulbasaurs." The mawile spoke dramatically; she could tell Joey was hooked. "Let me show you what it does. Any willing volunteers?"

"Oh! Me!" Joey exclaimed. Minccino stepped out of the way.

"Take a couple steps back," the mawile said. Joey did so. "Now, watch this!" She took one end of the rope-like thing and swung forward, letting the other end fly through the air over Joey. Suddenly, the end of the contraption opened up into a hoop, then fell around the totodile. Just as it reached his chest, the thing suddenly tightened around him, binding his arms to his sides.

"This old thing bends to the will of the person owning it, so it knows exactly what, when, and how to wrap around whatever you want it to. No knots, no setup, just… Grasso. And take a look at this! Watch out, by the way." The mawile pulled her arm back. Joey grunted as he was yanked forward, but stayed on his feet. She then presented them with the view of her hand. "See? When I reeled you back in, the Grasso automatically pulled its vines down my hand and tightened around my wrist. You won't even have to worry about keeping your grip."

"Oh my gosh, I love it!" Joey exclaimed with glee, shoving away the vines around his arms. The mawile had released the tool from her wrist and hand, letting him free as it dropped overtop of the desk.

"It looks cool! Are you gonna get it?" Minccino asked.

"I want to, but…" Joey's expression turned from joy to sadness. He already imagined tossing it over Minccino and it suddenly wrapping around her neck. "...I don't think I can use it without messing everything up."

"Dude, if you want the thing, get it! Who cares if you don't have enough experience with it yet? Isn't that what practice is for?"

"The girl's right," the mawile said.

"...You know what? You're right. I'm gonna get it." Joey glanced at the mawile. "How much?"

"One hundred seventy five poké."

Joey happily paid the price. He took the Grasso by the end and flung it forward like a whip. When the thing hit its apex, it made a resounding crack in the air - the most satisfying sound you could imagine grass making. At that moment, a realization flashed through Joey's mind. After talking to Minccino and Ziggy, meeting Groov, apologizing to Politoed and Breloom, and getting this amazing thing… Joey no longer wanted to leave Kalmwa'er.

And he was okay with that.

---

Jermy finished the doughnut with a resounding chomp. "You know, I'm surprised you didn't say anything about diets when we decided to get sweets as a pity meal."

"MATHEW AND MEOWTH EARNED IT AFTER YESTERDAY," Jermy's companion replied.

Jermy stared at his housemates from across the street as they ate on the bench. With some finagling about checking some of ORB's parts, Jermy managed to get himself away from the pair for a short moment. He was no liar; he was definitely checking with ORB.

"DO YOU HAVE A PLAN?" ORB asked.

"Yeah, I know what I've gotta do," Jermy said while nodding. "Don't try to help me, it'll look weird." The pikachu stood up from his bench and began to approach Mathew and Meowth's bench. "Hey Mathew?"

Mathew looked up from his meal. "Hm? What's up?"

"I was thinking… There's probably something going on in town we could see or do before we talk to Joey."

"Jermy, could you quit it with the whole 'Give him some space' thing?" Mathew asked. "I don't want to wait anymore. He has to know I regret all this."

Jermy clenched his grip around ORB. "I won't stop you, but that might be a bad idea."

"I don't care what you think about my apology." Mathew aimed his eyes at the robot in his arms. "ORB, can you scan for him again?"

The pikachu begrudgingly set down ORB. He spun around on his wheel slowly, then faced Mathew. "HE'S NEARBY."

Mathew set his empty plate aside before getting to his feet. "You sure?"

"YES. EAST END OF THE MARKET."

"I'll be back soon." The cubone grabbed his club and walked away from the group, leaving his litter behind.

Jermy watched him go, ignoring the remnant he left on the bench. "I have a bad feeling about that. Should I really have let him go?"

"WE'LL FIND OUT SOON ENOUGH," ORB replied.

"ORB's right."

"Uh, yep, yeah!" The pikachu stammered in reply to the interjection by Meowth. He had completely forgotten to factor in the gray cat remaining on the bench. Jermy couldn't see any way to work him out of the equation. As calmly as he could, he glanced around the marketplace looking for something, anything to work with. It was then that something just so happened to cross his sight. It wasn't a particularly special booth; in fact, it was rather boring. It didn't even have a special sign. Instead, one word was hastily drawn on the front of the booth: BAGS.

And then Jermy got an idea.

"Is there a problem?" Meowth asked the pikachu, who seemed to be awkwardly standing there, drifting off.

"I THOUGHT YOU WOULD HAVE FIGURED OUT BY NOW THAT THIS IDIOT DRIFTS OFF A LOT."

"Hey, I'll have you know I was trying to figure out how to be nice to somebody!" Jermy told ORB.

"What do you mean?" Meowth asked.

"See, I…" Jermy rubbed the back of his head. "I wanted to get you a gift, for being so willing to keep us around."

Meowth wasn't convinced. "Surely you have a better reason than that."

Jermy sighed. "Meowth... Are you really going to refuse someone's hospitality because their reason wasn't good enough for you?"

Meowth paused. "Fine. Show me." The cat stood up.

"Perfect. I just picked what booth I wanted to get you something from. Come on!" Jermy led Meowth and ORB to the booth. Awaiting them was a humanoid figure made of a gray cloth. Their face was lined with a crooked smile made out of a zipper and pink eyes that seemed to never sit still.

"Welcome to my booth~," the strange pokémon spoke without even moving their mouth. "Must I explain what we sell here?"

Jermy was slightly confused. "Uhh… It's on the front? The whole purpose we came here?"

"Then you must be aware of our product. Our size ranges from kids' size to the infinite void for the banished!~"

"Wow," Meowth said.

Jermy had to commemorate his colleague for keeping such a firm expression even in such bizarre conditions. Even he could feel the uneasiness in his voice as he spoke again: "Um… Explain."

"Instead of filling the bag," the banette gleefully began, "you'll be filling a gateway directly into a secret pocket in the Distortion World! As such, the bag will never get weighted and your storage is effectively infinite!~"

"You're leading into a scam. How would one even open a gateway?" Meowth asked.

"Yeah. Isn't that only possible for Legendary pokémon to do?" Jermy asked.

"Very wise of you to ask, dark meowth, wise rat~. I wouldn't trust myself either, but no other booth will possess an item quite like mine!" the banette laughed. "It's a secret technique the voices taught me~."

"Oh, yeah, the voices! ...Yeah…" Jermy hoped he couldn't notice the shiver that just ran down his spine.
"I like you, so the only cost we will ask for is a mere one hundred poké. Though, if you lack the funds, we can simply hand it over for the low, low price of a binding curse!~"

"A curse? A curse!" Jermy exclaimed, turning to look at the cat beside him. "Oh, no, Meowth! Curses are awful! What if it turns you into a rock? Or makes you see things that aren't really there? Or even ERASES YOUR MEMORIES?!"

"...The curse is that we shall steal sustenance from your stomach! Five meals from now on to keep yourself alive!"

"Oh, no! Meowth, one of us will starve!" Jermy frantically explained.

"You're overreacting," Meowth replied bluntly. "You can just pay the money."

"WHAT?! Oh, yeah." Jermy quickly handed over a prepared sack. "Here, take the poké. It's for him, though."

"Ahahaha~! Good, very good~! Thank you for your poké, resourceful rat~! And now… our gift!" Suddenly, the banette summoned two sharp spools. He assembled dozens of strings of burlap together atop the table with his strange powers. The spools quickly strung the threads together to form a green bag. Inside, a deep blackness emerged. When the assembly was complete, he gave the bag to Meowth. "Here you go~!"

Meowth glanced at him sternly. "How did you know green was my favorite color?"

"Oh, just a guess on the wind. You know what they say: the eyes are the window to the soul~!"

"You guessed it based on my color contacts."

The banette proceeded to ignore him. "Now, I presume you know not how to use this newfound power."

"Please explain."

The banette grabbed one of his spools and handed it to Meowth. "Drop this into the void." Meowth did so. "Now, reach in…" Meowth did so. "Call it to your hand with your heart. Yearn for it like nothing before…"

"Meowth, wait-!" Jermy stopped his exclamation when the cat pulled the spool out with no problems. He sighed with relief; the spool hadn't stabbed him or anything.

"Excellent~!" The thing shouted with glee. "You have mastered the power!"

"Give me another moment. I'd like to try something." Meowth dropped the spool back in. "Jermy, can you give me something else to place inside?"

Jermy looked around for something to give the cat. Suddenly, an idea came to his head. "Hey, ORB, you haven't talked in a while…"

"I HAVEN'T NEEDED TO… WAIT, WHAT DO YOU INTEND TO-"And down he went! Jermy had picked up his robotic companion and dropped him inside. The pikachu considered this a test of faith; if it was a trustworthy piece of equipment, then ORB would surely tell him so.

Meowth flipped the bag on its head and shook it. Nothing came out. Then, he placed his paw on the inner side of the bag. Just like that, both the spool and ORB hit the ground harmlessly.

"WARNING! WARNING! OXYGEN LEVELS DEPLETED INSTANTLY! IMPOSSIBILITY TO BREATHE! DEATH IMMINE- NEVER MIND, CONDITIONS ARE NORMAL."

"Ah, truly resourceful of you, rat~! And to the dark meowth, too!" The banette exclaimed. "You have discovered the nuanced functions of this power, such as the ability to dump a variety of things. And now you know you can't breathe in there, so no storing anyone inside… Unless you want to take away their air~. Now, please return the spool." Meowth did so.

"Hey, Meowth, here's an idea!" Jermy said. "You could make good use of this bag and replace it as your emergency kit! You could put anything you want in there without worry for space."

"That sounds helpful," Meowth responded.

"So… let's buy some more stuff! Berries, seeds, wands, whatever you want!"

The grey cat nodded.

"Ah, so you are leaving, then?" The banette said. "What a shame. We really enjoyed your time here~."

"Yeah, okay, thanks, buh bye, let's go Meowth." The pikachu hurried off, leading his friend and his robot away from the both quickly, but slow enough that the banette wouldn't get any ideas. Jermy sighed as they put a gap between them. What a creep.

Changing tasks, Jermy sped down the aisles of booths, searching for a good place to purchase items one would find in a dungeon. Along the way, he spotted a few novelties that he tried to ignore, but one specific thing suddenly caught his eye. A bright orange round shield, shining from the sun's beautiful rays, hung atop a display behind a fine-looking booth. The light enamored the pikachu, and thus he decided it would be alright if he distracted himself for a moment. "Excuse me." Jermy stopped both himself and Meowth in front of the booth runner. "I couldn't help but notice this nice-looking shield you have back there."

The statement caught the attention of the pokémon standing on a stool behind the booth. Their large curvy antenna and red body shifted to face Jermy. "Hello, my good sir! I see you are perusing my fine collection of musical weaponry!" chirped the small pokémon.

"Is that thing over there for sale?" Jermy pointed at the object.

"Why, yes, that shield is the finest of my collection!' the kricketot said. "The Whole Rest!"

"Ooh, it looks cool! How much for it?"

"Nine hundred twenty two poké," he delivered proudly.

"What the heck kind of price is that?!" Jermy exclaimed angrily. "That much for a piece of plastic?"

"Plastic? My good sir, do you realize the power of this masterwork? It doubles as a magical instrument! It plays music with each hit placed upon it! I had to go on a great venture to meet with the wonderful Meloetta just to have my wares enchanted in this way!"

"That sounds like a waste of her resources," Meowth said.
The kricketot was appalled. "Good sir! I take high offense to you two mocking my life's work with your insolence!"
"You know what?" Jermy slammed his hands on the table. "I wanna make a bet."

"A bet?"

"I'll come back to this place, and I'll have the most kick-butt shield Kalmwa'er's ever seen. Way better than that dinky thing!"

"Oh, you're on. I highly doubt your craftsmanship is that up-to-snuff."

"Try me." With that, Jermy pivoted on his heels and stomped away towards another booth, seemingly getting back to the task at hand. Meowth trailed behind him, as well as ORB.

"WELL THAT WAS THE STUPIDEST IQ-MEASURING CONTEST I THINK I'VE EVER SEEN ORGANIZED," ORB said. Meowth nodded in agreement.

---

Mathew power-walked his way down the market's aisles. Come on, come on… A blue crocodile can't exactly hide well in a crowd.

Suddenly, a hard crack sound burst into the air somewhere in the maze. The cubone was attracted to the noise, hoping Joey would be around it as well. He crossed another aisle and there he was. He was holding some kind of green rope in his hand, which was strung along the ground. He was smiling.

"Joey! Hey!"

At the sound of his voice, the totodile's smile disappeared.

"Oh… Hi," Minccino, who was nearby, said. "It's…good to see you…?"

Wordlessly, Joey took a couple steps away from Mathew and towards Minccino, dragging his rope with him.

"Oh, geez, I…" Mathew's head hung low. He didn't expect him to be this upset with him. "Joey...I came here to do something I should've done as soon as I burst out like that."

Joey mouthed something that the cubone couldn't hear.

"...What was that?"

Minccino had heard what Joey said. "He thinks you're here to finish the job."

Mathew gasped. "Oh my God. He's that upset?"

Minccino nodded angrily. "He's been like this all day. What did you even say to him?"

"It's probably not what I said, it's-"

"Wait. You did more than just scold him?"

Mathew couldn't reply to that.

"...No wonder he's been that upset!" Minccino exclaimed. "How could you do that to him?!"

A shopkeeper next to them spoke out. "Um, I appreciate the purchase, but-"

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to make a scene out of this!" Mathew said. "I was going to ask to take this back to Meowth's house so we could talk in private."

"Oh, no. No way you're gonna just walk back with a guy you-"

"Woah, woah, woah!" Mathew thanked heaven for the intervention as Jermy and Meowth stormed into the conversation. "I can hear your shouting halfway across the market. What is the problem?" The pikachu asked.

Minccino burst into an accusation. "This guy over here thinks he can stand here and ask to take Joey alone when he-"

Jermy pointed angrily at Minccino. "Minccino, do me a favor and shut your trap. This isn't your argument. I've tried to be nice about this and stay mostly out of the way, but I'm tired of this." The pikachu stomped past the stunned chinchilla. "Joey, what is the problem?"

Joey took a moment to speak. "...Mathew's gonna mess me up. Are… Are you here to watch?"

"Hold up. So you're just going to pull the victim card and assume that everyone that isn't Minccino is out to get you? I get that what happened was terrible, but you need to take at least a bit of responsibility for your actions. If anybody in this situation can play the victim card, it's me, Politoed, and Breloom, who actually got hurt and went unconscious." Jermy spun around to address Mathew. "Mathew, what is the problem?"

"...I came here to apologize and everything's gone to shit," Mathew confessed.

"And for good reason. Again, what happened was terrible and I feel bad for everybody involved, but you've taken it absolutely too far and you never explain why you do that. You have zero justification for physically assaulting Joey."

"...Yikes," the mawile said. "This is really heavy."

Jermy sighed. "Listen, all of you. We need to relax. It's been a whole day since it happened, and it's time for all of us to start moving on. That includes both of you, that includes me, that includes Minccino, that includes everyone else. If you two…" Jermy pointed at Mathew and Joey. "If you two want to settle this, do it in private. If Joey has a problem with talking to you, you need to work through it or respect his space." Jermy turned his head to address Joey. "Do you still want to talk to Mathew?"

Joey paused for a moment. To Mathew's surprise, he nodded.

Jermy sighed. "Okay, I see the problem. You do want to talk to him, but you don't want to approach him right now. Okay then. We need to deal with this. Both of you need to find something to do where you can both hang around each other without feeling like you're going to accidentally murder each other. That way we can accept what happened and finally move on."

"Well, this is one heck of a show."

Jermy's righteous spheal was suddenly interrupted by the voice of a hooded grovyle.

"You KNOW these people?!" the mawile exclaimed.

"I literally met them today." Groov approached Jermy. "Ya said they needed a distraction from this?"

"What, are you butting in to give a suggestion?" Jermy asked.

"Well, whenever the lot of us are depressed on a Saturday, we go over to watch a Mystery Play."

"What is that?"

"It's a type of improv. It's funny."

Jermy glanced over at both individuals. "Would you be interested in that?"

Both of them nodded quietly.

"Alright…" Jermy took a deep breath. "There. Rant over. I feel much better about all this."

Minccino spoke meekly. "Can I talk now…?"

"Huh? Yes, yes, you can. Now let's all go watch this and have fun."

"I'll grab Politoed and Breloom and meet ya in town square." Groov departed from the scene. "Name's Groov, by the way."

"Meowth, lead the way!" Jermy explained. Mathew released his held breath - Jermy was back to his normal self. His angry side was truly intimidating… But almost as intimidating was how straight-faced Meowth was after everything. He just walked quietly up to Joey and showed off his new tool by giving him a space to store his piece of rope, acting like nothing happened. He then led the way for the group.

Next to him, Mathew heard ORB mumble, "THAT'S MY PAPA. HE MAKES ME PROUD TO BE HIS CREATION."

It didn't take much time for them to arrive at the quaint building that held the theater or even purchase their tickets. However, what would take time was waiting for the doors to even open. They joined the crowd gathering around its front who also desired to wait. Soon, their Brace Yourselves acquaintances arrived as well.

Mathew took the moment to gather his emotions. He reminded himself that the goal today was to make Joey start feeling comfortable so they can talk again. He needed to loosen up and be happy.

The doors opened. As they stepped inside, Mathew had never felt more nervous watching something because of the audience he was watching it with.

The pokémon settled themselves in front of a large wooden stage. Blue curtains prevented anyone from seeing what lies beyond them and multiple rows of maroon seats faced the stage in anticipation for the event.

"Hope things go better for all of you." That was Jermy's last words to the cubone before breaking off to sit away from him. Mathew found himself sitting in what may have been the worst possible place at the time: Joey to his left, Minccino to his right. Thankfully, the latter seemed to be smiling as usual. The former, on the other hand…

In his peripherals, Mathew saw Joey lean over to Meowth right next to him, his playbook wide open. "Is this written right?" he asked.

Meowth glanced at it. "Yes," he said simply. Curious, Mathew flipped through his own playbook until his page matched Joey's. He seemed to understand - two individuals, named Abis and Zell, were listed as a couple, and both of their bios labeled them as "he."

Suddenly the lights began to dim, two spotlights snapped on and made their way towards the center of the stage.

Out strutted a purple rat, its tail bouncing up and down as it made its way on stage. Once it had reached the center of the wooden stage it turned to face the audience. "Good morning, everyone! Welcome to today's Mystery Play! We've got a lot of cards and a lot of laughs ready for everyone."

Suddenly, an audience member yelled: "WHAT'S THE MORAL GONNA BE THIS TIME?!"

"Well, I can assure you it isn't going to be 'Your mother will be a terrible person forever' again," he quipped.

While a quaint laughter filled the audience, Joey remained confused. "Why did that audience member speak out like that? That's rude."

"Oh, that? That's normal here," Minccino replied.

"The audience can contribute? That's cool," Mathew said. "It's like Greece or some shit."

"Alright, folks! It's time! Summon your props! If you've got one, raise a hand!" up shot a couple of hands from a few pokémon. "That's one..." the ratatta said, pointing at a hand. A ketchup packet was sent flying towards the stage. "That's two, and…" Another point, another prop, this time being what looked like a mock hamburger made out of styrofoam. One more point came from the violet creature… This time straight towards the group. Mathew leaned over to see who it was right when a loud clatter was heard. "Oh, nice throw, grovyle!" he said, picking up a can. He could see the name on it clearly: Silly Stringshot.

"I'm a bit surprised you tossed your Silly Stringshot in, Groov." Breloom stated, glancing over at her green friend. Mathew focused on the grovyle.

Groov shrugged at her remark. "Nobody here will judge for it, so why not?"

Minccino paused, eyeing the grovyle with slight curiosity. "Wait. There wasn't any time for you to buy that before we came here..."

"I have it on me all the time."

"...And why do you have it around?" Minccino asked, her hand tapping her chin in thought.

Groov slowly reached down into his case. "I think the real question here is… Why do I have two?" the grovyle quickly shot up his arm from and proceeded to spray Minccino with another container.

Minccino threw her hands in front of her face in a feeble attempt to block the silly string's onslaught on her face. "AGH! Oh my gosh!" She exclaimed, giggling happily. Mathew was pleased to confirm she was back to normal as she swiped off the material. "Is that a No-Stick Hood?"

Groov nodded. "It makes cleaning easier when I use it for fun."

"Well, now that we have our props, let's get this thing started!" There was an applause as the curtains raised, exposing a vivid bright blue background and a black desk with what looked to be a deck of cards in the corner. The rattata tossed the props aside and settled on the desk. Then, he pulled out a card from the top of the deck. "First card of the day iiiiiiiis… praise!"

A few seconds passed. Then, the floatzel from the playbook, Zell, emerged from the side of the stage. He dropped the ketchup packet on the floor, then went to his knees and proceeded to worship it. "All hail the ketchup! The beloved red sauce!" The first joke of the night had a modest laugh from the audience.

The rattata, still on the desk, pulled another card out of the pile. "Next: pilgrim!"

Out from behind the blue curtains' shadow appeared a small fox, black and red fur covering its body. Mathew recognized it as a zorua right on time - had he not, the illusion that appeared next would have scared the daylights out of him. In the thin air of the stage appeared a flat graphic of a gigantic gray beast with yellow protrusions jutting out of its neck, head, and legs. Its spiky black wings, tattered and wavy like a worn rag, hung frozen in place. A few audience members gasped at the beast's sudden appearance. However, the zorua deescalated any fears quickly when speaking for the creature by using the least fitting words possible: "Hey, you nerd."

Zell looked up with a convincing face of horror. "What the - Oh my gosh! W-who are you?"

"They call me many names. But now, I am… Giratina, The Great Condiment."

"Wait. How can you be a condiment when you are a pokém-"

The sound of lightning roared through the room. "SILENCE, BOTTOM BUNK!"

"Ah!" Zell guarded his head with his hands, but once the beast seemed to be waiting for his cue, he stood up calmly.

"I need you to go on a pilgrimage right now."

"And that's all the time you have!" the rattata exclaimed. "Now you have to get back to the cards. It's… top."

"Will this pilgrimage bring me from the bottom bunk to the top bunk, finally?" Zell asked, eyes filled with hope.

"No, the top is taken by the other guy who's gonna help you," the zorua and/or Giratina and/or The Great Condiment replied.

"HEYOOOOOO!" The sound came from behind the curtains. Out rushed Abis, a tall, yellow pokémon, both his large black striped tail and his ears bobbing slightly as he made his way on stage.

A sigh escaped Zell's mouth. "Of course." It was clear he was trying to look annoyed, but the floatzel couldn't hide his smile.

The rattata rested his head against the desk. "What even is this in-joke anymore." The audience laughed. He lazily slid a card off of the top with his buck teeth, then flipped it with his snout. "Mastery."

"Okay, so there's a ketchup packet here," the file (Mathew liked to think of it as a computer file being put onto a screen) explained. "Take it to the hamburger of enlightenment. Only the masters of both bunks can succeed at this vital adventure."

"Yeah!" The ampharos shouted, flinging his tiny yellow stub arms into the sky for extra emphasis. "Come on, Zell! Let's use our double bunk power!"

And the audience continued to laugh and have fun. Mathew found himself laughing a lot more than he expected to after what happened before. He was well aware that he was letting himself laugh more easily - it's just a part of experiencing a comedy, or a group of comedians. It helped that he thought the team of improvisers was actually pretty funny, for what it was worth. On top of that, as it progressed, they got the hang of it and it became even funnier. It was like they were easing the audience into their own in-jokes, and he really enjoyed that.

Joey, however, seemed to be a different story. Whenever Mathew would glance over at the totodile, he didn't really seem to be laughing at much of any of the jokes. Slowly, thoughts would start to creep in about how it's all his fault and… Well, before that could get any further, he'd just redirect himself to the play.

The remaining cast had already arrived on the scene - a bidoof who became "Lord Bidoof" because he was summoned on a monarchy card, and a vanillite who was his chancellor. Another audience member exclaimed that vanillite was technically more powerful than him. Mathew took advantage of this newfound power: "SCREW POLITICS, WE HAVE ICE CREAM, DAMMIT!" The audience laughed, and even some of the actors chuckled onstage. Mathew laughed with the rest of them - until he looked at Joey. He was wide-eyed, scared. His shout had caught him off guard. Mathew stopped laughing. He knew what he was afraid of.

"Now, now," the rattata said. "I know that's funny, but let's follow the rules about etiquette here. We aren't any sort of fiery tournament."

"Yeah, you should probably read those rules in the playbook if you're gonna say something," Minccino quietly murmured to the cubone.

"Y-Yeah," Mathew murmured. He decided to shut himself up for the rest of the play - he didn't want to do that to Joey again.

The conflict in the play escalated from there. Lord Bidoof had the hamburger of enlightenment with him, but he wanted its power for himself. To emphasize, Bidoof pulled the Silly Stringshot on them.

"HE'S GOT A GUN!" Zell shouted, and he and Abis dropped. Groov howled with laughter nearby.

The tension and comedy built and built, until...

"Next up: Delicious meal."

All of the cast members paused. They could glance at their food and condiment all they wanted, but at this point they were too important to the plot to eat. Nobody knew what to do for this card - a first in a while.

"Somebody's gotta make a move!" the rattata added.

And then, a plan started to form. Mathew could see it right on his face. He looked at the styrofoam food next to him. Then, he glanced at his chancellor subordinate. Then, the hamburger. Then, Chancelor Vanillite.

"FOR THE HAMBURGER! HAAAAAAAA!"

"NNNOOOOOOOOO-"

Instantly the audience started howling, before Lord Bidoof even finished pouncing on Chancellor Vanillite, who just so happened to look like ice cream. Mathew didn't see the slurp, but he didn't need to get his sides into orbit.

"Oh my gosh — ah ha ha — how could you do that?" the rattata asked.

Lord Bidoof stepped away from his comrade. "I'm sorry, Chancellor Vanillite, but it must be done. The delicious meal will appease The Great Condiment!"

The zorua reformed the dark apparition form before. "What the actual heck." The audience kept laughing. It was after that was said when Mathew realized that Joey, too, was laughing. Mathew smiled even more.

"Next card: Sport!"

Chancellor Vanillite kept it going. "Bloodsport! I will slay you for insulting my culture with your incessant licking!"

"Re-demp-tion! Re-demp-tion!" Abis chanted.

"No. Nuh uh," The zorua said. "I will not allow Lord Bidoof's sick germs to be a part of my pilgrimage." The audience laughed.

"Well, you know what!" The bidoof exclaimed. "Your… Your house sucks! It's purple!"

Zell facepalmed. "Of all the dumb things about the Distortion World… the color?"

"DANGIT ZELL, JUST GIVE ME THE KETCHUP!"

"NO!" Abis and Zell simultaneously shouted at Bidoof.

"Next card: Cold shoulder!"

Zell pondered for a short second before shooting back up to his feet. "Chancellor Vanillite, lend me your chill!" Zell reeled back before spraying water on both of his arms, teaming up with Vanillite in order to freeze into ice.

The audience watched on as Zell made his way towards Lord Bidoof. Step, step, step. As he inched closer and closer, his arms got ever so wider. A step, once more another step, accompanied by wider arms. Once Zell had reached Lord Bidoof, his arms were as far apart as they could go. Zell screamed, "THIS IS FOR YOUR CRIMES AGAINST VANILLITE!" Rapidly, his arms closed around Bidoof's head until-

SMASH! The ice was broken by the force of the impact between Zell's arms and Bidoof's head. "Oof!" he shouted.

A collective gasp was heard by all of the onlookers, followed by a "Oh my gosh!" from Abis.

Zell stood triumphantly, arms crossed. "There, his shoulders are cold now."

Mathew nodded, impressed by Zell. The way he had weaved the card that, at a glance, seemed unrelated to anything, into the narrative with a clever attack captivated him. In his eyes, Zell had become the best of the actors.

"How's that hypothermia feel, Zell?!" Somebody in the audience shouted.

Zell swung his arms around. "I'm slowly going numb in my elbows, thanks for asking!"

Mathew laughed with the rest of them. He was naturally funny, too. The cubone leaned over and whispered to the totodile beside of him. "Hey, what do you think of Zell?"

Joey looked at him, calmly now. "Uh… He's okay, I guess. I wasn't really looking too closely into it."

Mathew sighed, relieved that Joey was willing to talk to him now. "I like the way he's done things. The ketchup packet, the cold shoulder… He's creative."

"…Now that you say that, he did do both of those things."

"And that's all the time we have today, folks!" the rattata said, stopping their conversation. The audience applauded and the actors bowed. "Prop people, we'll have them for you right outside the front door. Feel free to say hi to us, we don't bite!" The curtain began to fall slowly.

"And before anyone asks, today's moral is to never give idiots pilgrimages!" the zorua exclaimed.

Abis waved Groov's Silly Stringshot under the curtain as it began to complete its drop. "Today's message was brought to you by SEAS' latest invention: hecking guns!" With one last laugh, the play was over, and Mathew's group, along with the rest of the audience, made their way out of the theater.

As the large group exited the building, Mathew took sight of the group of actors. Just as they promised, they were waiting outside to meet, greet, and return props. The cubone noticed that Abis had his arm wrapped around Zell's back; it was the only indicator that he had seen so far that proved the two of them were a couple. Groov paused to take back the prop he had been elected to provide.

"Is this the guy?" the zorua asked the rattata next to her.

The rattata nodded. "Yup! I'd recognize that hood anywhere. You're a regular, aren't you? I've seen that hood in the audience a couple times."

"Yeah," Groov replied. "My 'mates and I like comin' around here." He offered a bow to the benched pokémon. "Name's Groov."

"Sorry we couldn't make your Silly Stringshot a religious artifact," the bidoof said as he stood on the bench and bowed back.

"Aw, the gun's funnier," Groov replied. Zell handed him back his Silly Stringshot. He took a step back to get out his case and store it away.

"Hey, hold on a second…" Abis suddenly removed his arm from Zell, stood up, and waded into the back of Mathew's group - where Meowth happened to be standing. "Is that you, Meowth?"

Meowth nodded silently.

"Wow, it feels like it's been forever. You look super snazzy with that bag! Matches with the eyes."

"Do you know Meowth?" Jermy asked.

The ampharos nodded. "Yeah, I know him. He was Zell's roommate back when we were in higher education. We haven't seen you since graduation! Thanks for coming to our show!"

"It was nice seeing you." That was all Meowth said before walking away from the conversation entirely.

Abis' smile dwindled. "Aw, Meowth. I was really hoping you weren't still like this."

Zell stood up and approached Abis so his voice wouldn't be drowned out by the nice conversation the bidoof was beginning with the pokémon who provided the ketchup packet. "Abis, did you really think Meowth was gonna be different now?"

"I don't know. He at least came to one of our shows for once. I thought maybe he was gonna be a bit better now…" the ampharos spoke solemnly.

"I'm sorry to butt in, but what do you mean by that?" Mathew asked.

Abis cocked his head. "Do you know Meowth?"

"I do. My name's Mathew. He's my landlord and I clean his house."

"Nice to meet ya!" Abis bowed. "Well, I bet you know all about the way he acts, all rough and tough?"

"I'd call it more unemotive than anything, but I get what you mean."

"Would you believe me if I told you he was just like this when he was thirteen? He hasn't changed a day, and it's starting to worry me…"

"Abis, dude, for the millionth time, it's really not our problem," Zell said. "Meowth's just like that. We can't just butt in on his life and force him to be someone else."

"But he was your roommate…"

"Not every roommate has to be friends with each other. It's just a housing circumstance..."

"Tell that to Diou!" Abis pointed at the bidoof.

"You got lucky, dude! You two got the same majors and the same dorm. Meowth and I didn't have anything in common."

Mathew pushed past his guilt about being so disruptive and butted in a second time. "Hey, Abis?"

"Huh?"

"If it makes you feel any better, I think I've been seeing Meowth come out of his shell a little. We've been playing video games at his house, and I swear to you I've seen him smile somewhat."

Mathew was surprised when Abis actually seemed saddened by this. "Oh. He's been better since he's left rooming with Zell, huh…"

"I told you, he'll be better off with us out of his life," Zell said. "He's got better things to do than talk with some busy roommate he has nothing in common with."

Abis sighed. "He seems to care about personal space, and I don't want to weird him out… I just wanna help him." He turned to address Mathew. "Oh, sorry to hit off on such a sour note, Mathew. Anyways, you should probably chase after Meowth while you still can. Looks like your group's already doing it."

Mathew whipped his head side to side and realized his group was now behind him, going away from the theater. "Shit, you're right! I've gotta go. Thanks for the talk!" The cubone turned around to start running off.

"See ya! Thanks for coming!" As he moved away, Mathew swore he heard Abis say something else under his breath… something about making someone happier than they did.

Once the lot had caught up to Meowth, some mild conversation about splitting up for the day ran through some of the pokémon of the group. Mathew wasted no time - he approached the totodile and split them away from the rest of the group.

"Did you enjoy that?" the cubone asked.

Joey paused for a second, then nodded his head. "It was nice."

"...Are you ready now?"

"Maybe. Just…don't...don't hurt me this time."

The cubone looked away. "Fuck, man. I… Let's talk about it in the room." So, once everybody began to say their goodbyes, Joey went with Mathew, Jermy, and Meowth. They scaled the cliffside and finally returned to where this all began. Meowth did not retreat into his room this time; instead, he sat in front of his door quietly. They all settled into the nests and braced themselves.

There was a silence.

"So," Mathew said.

Joey replied softly. "So."

Jermy quietly set down ORB next to him.

"Listen…" Mathew continued. "I am so sorry about what I did to you last night. I-I never meant to harm you, Joey. I-I have these issues, you see, and you just brushed over them in the wrong way, and it caused me to lose it. But it's not your fault... There are things I should've told you all earlier."

Joey couldn't make eye contact with Mathew. "You shouldn't take all the blame. You were angry because of what I did. It's my fault…"

"That's not true!" Mathew exclaimed. Joey slid ever so slightly back in his nest. Mathew immediately toned down his voice. "I meant to say… Nothing that you did or ever will do will be responsible for my outbursts." He waited a little. "I have a question about why you went to Misery Woods."

"Ask…"

"Joey, did you do all this because I quit the day before?"

"Uh huh…" Joey glanced at the cubone's face. "You were so sad when you were doing the stuff for the Pick-it-Up Club, and..." he took a breath. "I just wanted to make it easier for you. I went with Minccino to clear out the source of the trash. You could afford to skip a few pieces if there was less to worry about every day. Then you could come back and have a job again and be happy like you were before."

"Oh, Joey…" the cubone said softly. "I have a job cleaning the house now, and I like it. Saving the environment, as noble as it is, just isn't for me. I'm just - not the kind of person who can deal with the things that job entails. Do you understand?"

Joey hoped he wouldn't regret asking this question. "Mathew, what do you hate about picking up trash for the Pick-it-Up Club?"

"It was never the trash. It's… It's the fighting."

"Oh… Oh." Joey sighed. "Leave it to me to completely misunderstand and ruin everything…"

"Not at all, Joey!" Mathew said. "I never told anyone; it's completely understandable as to why you thought that."

"I guess so..." Joey took a second to decide what to say next. "Why? What makes it so bad? Maybe we could help if you talked about it."

"Look, I… I just can't. There are things that happened about a year ago, and these fights get me to think about it sometimes. And, when I do think about it, I..." Mathew began to tear up. "I-I'm sorry… I just can't say i-it. The m-memories… t-they're just so hard to relive! I can't… I can't…"

Joey looked at Mathew pitifully. "Hey, I heard Medicham…" he murmured softly, but drifted off. Mathew knew Joey could try, but he wouldn't be able to do anything to change him for the better. Nobody could.

However, in Joey's brief pause, Meowth… Meowth did the unexpected. Instead of standing idly by, he stood and began walking towards the masked man. Meowth was about to alter this situation for the better by making a simple statement:

"I think you need help."

The cubone looked up at the cat curiously.

"I'm tired of seeing you like this. I want you to know that a part of my profession is the act of physical and mental therapy."

"...Therapy? You're a therapist?" Mathew said past his sniffling.

"I want to schedule something with you. You need a safe space to release whatever memory is causing you to act this way, and I would like to offer a place where you may do so."

Mathew seemed confused. "Why now?"

"Will my hospitality be rejected for not having a strong reason?"

"N-no, but…" Mathew took a moment to ponder this. "I'm just… I don't know if I can accept this..."

"Why not?" Meowth asked.

"I already said that it's hard for me to deal with this. You've seen me get violent before. Whatever treatment you have for me, it won't work out. It's too late now. I'm just going to make everything worse for everyone…"

"You can't know that, Mathew!"

Mathew was surprised by Joey's sudden statement. "Huh?"

"You haven't tried it yet. What if Meowth helps you get better? What if you don't have to worry about your outbursts after you tell us what happened?"

Mathew paused.

"You know what?" Joey stood up. Mathew noticed that he seemed to be much more firm now. It was as if his sorrow had been overwritten with hope after Meowth's intervention. "I'm gonna prove that telling the truth is gonna do more good than bad. I'm gonna tell a truth I've been quiet about right here, right now."

Mathew's eyes widened. "You've been keeping a secret…?"

"Yeah, I have. Mathew, Jermy, Meowth…" Joey took a deep breath. "I am actually a human."

"REALLY? THAT'S YOUR SECRET?" ORB said.

"Wha…?"

"I WAS AWARE OF THIS FROM THE MOMENT WE MET. JERMY DEVELOPED A PROGRAM THAT ALLOWS ME TO SCAN AND ANALYZE AN AURA THOROUGHLY. I AM ABLE TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AURAS OF SOLCEAN ORIGIN AND OF EARTHEN ORIGIN. I SCANNED YOU, MATHEW, MEOWTH, AND MINCCINO AND DETERMINED THE FORMER WERE TWO EARTHLINGS AND THE LATTER WERE TWO SOLCEANS."

"So… it wasn't a secret," Joey said solemnly.

"MORE LIKE AN UNSPOKEN FACT ABOUT YOURSELF," ORB said. "IT'D BE MORE OF A SECRET IF YOU ACTUALLY TRIED TO HIDE YOUR IDENTITY. EVEN A DUMB NICKNAME LIKE 'TOTORO' WOULD AT LEAST MASK IT SLIGHTLY."

"Hey, on the bright side, it is nice to get confirmation on this, even if I had my suspicions," Jermy said.

"So you received blueprints from DE, too?!" Mathew said excitedly.

Joey closed his eyes tightly. "Uh. Yes…? No…? I don't know, I… I can't remember."

"You don't have your memories?" Jermy asked.

Mathew looked at Jermy judgingly. "Well that's kind of out of the blue-"

"No." Joey averted his eyes to the floor. "I can't remember who I was before waking up on that forest trail. I tried to make it look like I did because I didn't want Mathew to worry, but…"

Mathew was taken aback. "How the hell did you guess he had amnesia?"

"Um, it's a Mystery Dungeon thing. Like, the games. I took a shot in the dark."

"THE PROBABILITY BETWEEN AMNESIA AND FORGETFULNESS WAS PRACTICALLY THAT OF A COMPLETED 'HEADS OR TAILS.'"

"Oh…" Joey spoke again. "Well, it's not like memories would probably help all that much. I still would've coaxed myself into taking a kid younger than me into the woods, memories or not…"

"Wait, waitwaitwait." In Joey's sad comment, Mathew picked up on something about Joey that he wanted to ask about. "Joey, how old are you?"

"Uh, fifteen. I remember that, at least… Are you okay?" Mathew's glare at Joey was unnerving, as if he was about to burst into an explosive catharsis.

"Last name? Do you remember your last name?"

"Yes… My full name is Joey Johdaile."

"Oh my God…" Mathew brought his hand to his mouth.

"What?"

"Joey, I know who you are."

"Well, of course you—"

"No, no. I KNOW you - as a human."

"You do?"

"Yeah, you were…" Mathew eyes widened as he stopped. "Uh, it ties back into those memories… Sorry." Mathew suddenly had an idea. "Wait! Lemme…" The cubone stood up and moved over to the dresser. He grabbed something inside. He held his hand still. He didn't want to look at the object - it brought too much to mind. He shut his eyes and took it out. "Here! This has the answers to how I know you." He slid it across the floor, where it stopped beside the totodile.

"Oh?" Joey picked up the book. "What is it?" He asked as he opened it and-

"DON'T OPEN THAT!"

Joey slammed it shut in fear.

"I-I mean, not in front of me!" Mathew stammered. "I don't want to be there. Do it when you're alone."

"O-okay…" Joey settled the book on the edge of his nest. "Well, anyways, thanks for the book. Maybe now I can learn if I was any better in the past…" The totodile suddenly remembered what this whole event was for. "Oh! See? I told the truth, and now it actually got me somewhere. Maybe… Maybe it'll be the same for you."

Mathew thought for a moment. Then he slowly turned to Meowth.

"...I'll take your offer, Meowth," Mathew said. "How much will it be?"

Meowth held up his paw and shook his head. "I'm not going to make you pay for this."

Mathew did a double take. "Really? I mean - I appreciate the kindness, but I can't just-"

"It's fine."

"Well, does that settle everything?" Jermy asked.

"It seems so." Mathew responded. "So Meowth, when are we going to start?"

"Whenever you're ready."

"Okay… How is tomorrow?"

"Sounds fair."

"Alright then. Thank you, Meowth."

The cat nodded back.

---

Things went back to normal after that. The four of them relaxed, ate meals, and played video games once again. Jermy was relieved to not have any more drama amongst his housemates to deal with. Mathew seemed happy, Joey seemed happy, Meowth seemed - actually, that one was harder to figure out, but the pikachu presumed he was happy, too.

Everything was fine…and that allowed Jermy to start feeling guilty. Instead of being out like a light at sundown, Jermy struggled to sleep. He worried about what he talked about with ORB and what he had done during the day. What was about to happen would be hard for everyone to handle; he could only hope that it wouldn't end in travesty.