August Tasks ch 1- A Mission-ary

        Within the village of Tao is a missionary. It was there that the Pokemon of Tao were asked for assistance by an Archeops named Gabriel. The place of interest was the center of the religion supported by the missionary, the Cathedral Drop. Of the tasks asked of the villagers, the Merchants were asked to collect tithes and the Rogues were, amusingly enough, asked to confess their sins. Remington and Amelia weren't too surprised by these requests; this was a standard church, as far as they knew. What was asked of the Rescuers, on the other hand, quite intrigued the team. Stories were Remington's passion, and he had plenty to tell. Especially intriguing to Remington was the request of a story about their morals. Remington and Amelia lived by a single, powerful quote. The story they were going to tell would revolve around this very saying.

         The first thing they ended up doing was having a bit of a debate with Gabriel. It was interesting, how his way of thinking was so similar to Remington’s and Amelia’s ways of thinking. It was almost like their religions were different interpretations of the same ideals. There was one, key difference however. “The darkness that plagues this world is not supposed to be.” Gabriel insisted. “It must not be, and it is our job to destroy it.”

         “That may be true,” Remington replied “but if you eliminated all of the evil in the world, how then could you tell what was evil and what was good? It is impossible to eliminate good or evil because Pokemon have consciousnesses that guide them, telling them what is right or wrong. You can teach a Pokemon how to think, but there will always be the opposite element within them.”

         “You have to admit, the dino-bird has a point.” Amelia said. “If Pokemon don’t try</i> to resist evil, they will succumb to it.”

         “I’m not saying that there’s no point in trying.” Remington insisted, feeling them both staring at him. “I’m saying that you cannot eliminate the darkness that exists in this world. One cannot exist without the other.” Remington decided to use an example he had learned when he was in his first years of schooling. “Say that the sun goes out, but life goes on. How would you know what day was if it didn’t exist anymore? Or what if the sun was always in the sky? We wouldn’t know what night was. If we could become pure light, we could still be corrupted because we would have to face the temptations of darkness in order to stay pure. Or if we were a completely corrupt race, eventually we would want to be somewhat safe, so we would agree to not hurt each other for the condition that nobody would hurt each other.” Remington stopped himself before he gave another example, realizing that he was rambling on now. “I think you get the picture. One cannot exist without the other.”

         “Suit yourself.” Gabriel said, using a tone of disagreement even though he personally thought that the little Munchlax had a point. “Now, if you two want to help us, you can go to the Cathedral Drop and we could tell your story to the kids.” A pause, and then “Try not to corrupt their minds with the idea that they need to be evil in order to be good. That’s the last thing we need.”

         Remington sighed. “Yes, yes. Never.” He insisted.

         With those words said, Remington and Amelia were, once again, taken by balloon to Almomola city, more specifically to the south of it. There stood a sheer cliff, within which was built a grand cathedral. The most obvious entrance was on the cliff itself. Adorned there was a huge stained-glass window, behind which was a large hallway. At the base of the window was a tall opening with a curved top. Extending out from the window itself was a balcony with ornate railing, likely made of marble. At the entrance, Remington and Amelia were allowed to dismount the balloon basket. Explaining that they were Rescuers to the Pokemon who met them at the doorway, they were taken inside and into a room where a bunch of children were sitting, socializing in their own little ways. The children’s room was radically different from the rest of the cathedral. The walls were painted with all sorts of vibrant red, blue, yellow, and green colors in scenes like rolling hills, tall mountains, desert sunsets; really it was a whole work of art. Similar paintings could be found on the ceiling. There was lots of toys and play mats on the floor and positive-message posters on the walls. There was a little corner of the room with chairs where a bunch of adults were sitting. Really, it was almost like a classroom of some sort. The first question that Remington and Amelia asked themselves was “Who should tell a story to them?”

         “No offence, Amelia, but I don’t think your adventures are really suitable for moral storytelling.” Remington explained to her.

         Amelia had to laugh, even though he had a point; it was for good justice, but her past was clouded in darkness and mystery. Her work with the Shadowsayer vigilantes was nothing to be shared with children. She’d do better to help out around the cathedral, as someone at the front gate had mentioned was needed. Amelia agreed and allowed Remy to be the one to tell the younglings stories.

         Remy waved goodbye as Amelia departed from the children’s room, then he found a chair, sat down, and grabbed the children’s attention. “So, a little Pidgy told me that you all wanted to hear a neat story.” All of the children cheered in excitement. “Well, what I’m going to tell you all is something that changed my life.” the younglings went silent. “My master once told me something, and it has always guided me. It’s helped me see things in the perspective that they should be in. It’s helped me consider both the good and the bad sides of things, of places, and most importantly of other Pokemon. This is something that my master once told me. He told me that in a world of freedom, nobody’s really free.”

         The children were silent. They clearly did not understand what he was trying to say. One of them, a Mudkip, raised their paw and said “but we are free. We live here and we’re not slaves.”

         “Does Prosphora not have rules within his citadel? Rules that you have to follow, less you be found of a guilty conscience and removed from this place?”

         Again, the children were rather silent. The quiet lasted for a few moments before one of the parents spoke up, saying “There are rules the children have to follow, yes.”

         “There are rules to these places, yes.” Remington replied, nodding his head and pointing at the Swampert who had stood up. “The reason this is the case is that, if there were no rules, you children would not know right from wrong. Let me ask you something; is it wrong to kill?” The children unanimously agreed. “Is it wrong to steal?” Again, agreement throughout the group. “Good. You children are good of heart, but it is sad to say that not all Pokemon are like you. Not every Pokemon believes that stealing and killing are wrong. That is why we have to have rules like we do. In our world of freedom, we are not really free.”

         Remington paused for a moment to let his words sink in. The kids murmured to themselves about what they just heard, as did the parents. It was a pretty odd thing to say to a child, at least until Remington. “Now, there is a bright side to this. I only told you the first half of the quote. The entire saying goes “In a world of freedom, nobody is really free. However, if we all work together, and accept each other for who we are, then we can come remarkably close.” He paused again. “Do you children think you can be accepting of others?” The children started nodding. “Do you think you can help others accept you?” There was hesitation, but then the children agreed. “Good. You kids are very smart. When we all learn to trust each other without hesitation, we will truly live in a world of freedom, and that will be because we know we won’t hurt each other, that we won’t steal from each other; the world won’t have a written set of rules because it won’t need</i> a written set of rules. This is an impossible dream, but there is nothing that can stop us from trying.” The children all mumbled agreements to each other. “Now, I will tell you a story about an adventure I went on. It was one of my first adventures, and it involved a dark race known as the Crawlers.”