Frontier Town Traveller's Haus - Lobby

[Ambyssin]

Nova didn't directly respond to that at first. You didn't just stomp on someone trying to offer an optimistic olive branch. "Yeah." He pawed at the ground. "Took a humble construction job. Figured... if the railroad's finished, there might be a faster way to get more answers from farther places."

Though, now that he thought about it...

"Wait. You're the one who didn't show up with any of the others, aren't you?" He tilted his head slightly. "What happened?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

Jade rubbed the back of her head. "Right, about that... I ended up landing further east. No clue why, it just felt like... almost like I was being pulled that way." She really had no idea if that would sound stupid or not, especially considering that she still had no idea how to even begin getting any answers there.

"I met up with a Luxio, Brisa--one of the Escarpa clan--and she helped me catch a train, but... there were these shady guys following us. We ended up splitting up so she could lead them off."

Jade noticed her tail was lashing back and forth. "Brisa was strong. She should've been able to beat them." But she didn't know for sure.

 

[Ambyssin]

"Shady guys?" Well, that was vague as all get out. It was more info. And Nova could perhaps glean something about the wagon situation, too. "Like what ambushed the wagon? Or... something different?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

"The wagon?" Jade repeated, her heart sinking. "No, no, not like--not like that thing. The guy who attacked us on the train--well, I didn't get a good look at him, he was wearing a cloak. Used a bunch of water-type moves. But, uh, he talked, and didn't go all berserk, so that's two differences."

 

[Ambyssin]

"Different, huh?" Nova said. "And you took the railroad." He resumed tapping a claw on the ground. "Did you come from the Commonwealth?" If Nova had to guess, the assailant was more likely after this Brisa person if Jade just showed up. "You don't suppose they were, like, a gang member or something, do you? Or, dare I say, one of these human supremacists?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

Jade nodded. "Yeah, it was from the Commonwealth." She gripped the edge of the table, feeling tense. "Honestly, from the kinds of things Brisa was asking me... I wouldn't be surprised if he was with that human group. I just... didn't get the chance to learn anything more. He was obviously after Brisa and probably wouldn't have cared about me except that I was with her." Well, and the fact that she'd helped Brisa. That probably had set the tone for things.

 

[Ambyssin]

"I see." That didn't leave Nova with much to go off, but he didn't blame her. Popping up alone and getting dragged into something crazy would make it tough to recall much of anything. "Any chance you got the species? Could report 'em to the Rangers."

 

[Chibi Pika]

Jade shook her head. "Not the leader, anyhow. Oh, I guess he did have a bunch of Croagunk with him. That could be something to go off." Granted, she wasn't sure how much of anything the Sojaveña rangers would have to do with some shady group back in the Commonwealth, but...

Well, maybe if the group managed to impress the rangers on the upcoming Drakesday, they'd get the freedom to look into it themselves.

 

[Ambyssin]

"Well, it's something to watch out for, I suppose." Nova figured if they took the railroad than they either doubled back at some point... or were somewhere out on the frontier. Either way, if they were going to be the "heroes" or whatever, they'd run into those guys at some point, right?

He glanced out a window. "I should get going. Can't be late for work." Nova shuffled forward a bit. "It can help, y'know." He paused. "A regular, physical job. A simple routine. Helps keep the things you'd rather not think about out of your head." Which was not the right mentality to have if he was supposed to be a team player. But what he could do? Let his old mindset creep up in battle? The group would ostracize him for sure.

"Maybe if I ask that board it'll give me a mission to find the tools to break this damn thing." Nova shook himself out. The helmet rattled on his head. "I know someone runs it. A person with teleporting powers. But I haven't pressed it any further."

He sighed. "I should. I gotta get this thing off."

Nova was rambling. "Ah, never mind. Take care of yourself. Sorry for the trouble." He shambled forward, steeling himself for another day of heavy lifting and pulling.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Jade leaned back in her seat. "Yeah, I know what you mean about having a routine. Glad it's... helping." Even if it was just a distraction, it was better than the alternative--she'd learned that all too well.

Maybe she'd eventually be able to settle into a new normal while on Forlas. They were probably going to be here a while...

Jade wasn't too sure if it was the best idea to suddenly spring what she'd learned about the bulletin board runner... not when he was just about to head to work. Instead, she just held a paw up and said, "Good luck getting that thing removed soon." She couldn't imagine having a much better time finding any sort of optimistic outlook if she were stuck with that helmet on 24/7.

(Man, now she was really curious as to how the heck Gladion had ended up in the same situation.)

<><><>​

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion still didn’t know how to feel about Laura. He deeply respected her, but also felt like she knew more about his past than he’d want in a friend. Which wasn’t her fault, sure, and it meant it was logical to ask to talk to her in particular about further developments is the saga of Forlas’ unusually high density of species genetically engineered by humans.

None of that rationalization made him feel less nervous asking her about this.

“Hey, Laura. I… honestly didn’t think about how to start this, but I need to sound not insane to someone for a moment because I’ve just recently met an outworlder Mewtwo. Which makes that another ‘compatible’ species. So that’s fun.”

 

[Jackie Cat]

Laura glanced up from her book, and wondered if she should find a more private reading spot. She'd actually been getting into this one – Forlasan literature had a vaguely antiquated vibe to it, perhaps unsurprisingly, but reading books written by members of a dozen species was giving her insights she'd never imagined. That, and this particular novella was entertainingly fucked up.

On the other hand, she'd positioned herself here precisely so she could be found by Wayfarers with news, and news of Mewtwo was enough to make her tail quiver on fucking end.

"Oh, oh, so— Wait, okay—" She swallowed, and tried to find her tongue. "Hang on. First, same page – is Mewtwo multiversal to begin with? RKS clearly are, but is Mewtwo also not a one-off? Does one exist in your world?"

She scrambled for her notepad.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

“Clearly must be. I know of one— unique in my world, and they’re engineered with human genes, so that seems like something that should be an impossibility here. Clearly, though, it isn’t.”

He couldn’t help notice Laura’s tail. Seemed she was better at body language than him. “Shall I infer from your reaction the same applies to your world? Seems like the kind of thing you would know about if that was the case… That, or it’s already public info. Whole project kinda blew up in their face where I’m from. Literally. Mewtwo’s scary strong. What would get an outworlder to become one, I don’t know, but they creep me out. Seems to be obsessed with the idea of power… even if the power in question is, uhh, friendship. Which has something to do with manipulating people? The whole meeting felt like a game of tonal pinball.”

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Nnnnnot public info, no," mumbled Laura. She cleared her throat, and wrapped her tail around her feet. "More like, conspiracy theory with better-than-typical evidence and reasoning behind it. And now that I know they're a multiversal feature, I think that gives me every right to assume one exists in my world. Starting to think 'convergent outcomes' are just a Thing in the multiverse. But, uh, whatever— You met an offworlder Mewtwo. That's still sinking in. Holy shit..."

Was a tiny part of her envious? Maybe. But on the other hand...

"Did you catch what species he was before?" she asked, a little sharply. "Human, or Mewtwo?"

And then there was that power of friendship thing. The first thing that jumped to mind for her was a Mewtwo who'd watched a bunch of fucking shounen anime and decided to emulate it. Which... wasn't impossible. She'd seen enough weirdos in the Wayfarers already...

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion found himself second-guessing his reasoning surrounding the Mewtwo, but he couldn't shake his hunch.

"I'm pretty sure he's human. He's got someone else he knows here— that's a whole other mess of weird circumstances, honestly— who ended up in an unfortunate body. He chalked that not happening to him up to good luck. Maybe that means it's lucky Mewtwo is a compatible species here, but probably it means he was lucky to end up as a Mewtwo, and was therefore probably human."

There was another thought lashing about inside him, first raised when he met Nova, confirmed by Mewtwo... and now pointed to by Laura. He wanted to address it but had to refine the mass of gut reactions into a coherent though.

"He... He did tell Nova and I our species was a recurring design, and I think the same can be said of Mewtwo... Weirds me out to no end given my connections to the project, but it's just a fact at this point. But it just makes me want to know how! I mean, it's got to happen somehow?"

He pulled the emotion back out of his voice. "Sorry, it's not like you could answer that, and I shouldn't bug you with random stuff. Just got off-topic, I guess..." He felt an acute self-awareness wash over him as he found himself needing to fill the silence while having nothing to say in mind.

"Um... You might be able to meet the guy? You'd have to ask Nova, they're planning to do some kind of... friendship-related training? I'm not taking part, as far as people I trust to understand friendship, that Mewtwo is dead— um, second last on the list. Might be able to get an introduction, though I don't think he'd take interest in training anyone who doesn't... Well, we can "evolve" into a functional form with friendship which is why he offered. But you could still try getting a chance to talk to him?"

 

[Jackie Cat]

Laura absorbed all this while her whiskers practically vibrated off her face. She concentrated hard enough that she overshot and began blinking and breathing manually. Fuckssake.

"Someone else he knows? An Archie-Tarahn situation, or from his actual world? Who is this we're talking about?"

She shook her head.

"Hang on. Why do you want me to talk to him?"

She'd take any chance or excuse to talk to a mewtwo. But a human guy in a mewtwo body? That felt... different. Especially 'friendship training'. Genuinely what the fuck. Teamwork exercises, partner bonding, sure. Friendship training sounded like a fucking cult. Howls afar.

As for the whole 'recurring artificial species across the multiverse thing', she'd like answers to that as much as Gladion. But it wasn't like there was any way to investigate. Maybe ask Betel?

Oh. Maybe they should ask Betel.

"Oh, and, have you asked Betel about the mewtwo/RKS thing...?"

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion laughed. "I don't have any particular reason to want you to talk to Mewtwo. Just thought you might be interested for your own reasons, and... Gonna say I think I was right on that one. I'm not sure what an Archie-Tarahn situation is, honestly, but they seem to... know versions of each other. Didn't get a name, though, the other human didn't talk or anything. I'm sorry, I can't remember if the phrasing suggested it was before or after they arrived here, but... it also sounded like they'd worked with each other directly before, after already having known their own world's counterparts."

Gladion's voice grew colder. Not in a harsh way, rather with a certain degree of emotional distance. "Some people seem to be convergent throughlines across worlds, as it turns out."

Hey, Beetle?

"I did ask, but back when we didn't have as strong of a connection. Figured I had the most I could expect of an answer, but I suppose it's worth a shot..."

He cleared his throat. "Beetle, you read me? Ground Control to Major Ursa."

Uh. Is there anything you can tell me about why all these human-engineered species keep cropping up "compatibly" here?

 

[Jackie Cat]

Laura nodded, scribbling down a few notes. "Got it. That's so weird, though..."

She glanced up as Gladion mentioned convergent people. Was he talking about anyone in particular? Maybe someone he knew who'd been involved with the RKS project in his world? How disturbing would it be, to learn that certain terrible things were inevitable? That the universe had some element of fate?

As she considered this, the telepathic chirp of Betel's gentle voice arrived in their minds.

Hello, Gladion and Laura!

I am not sure how best to say this, but this species you mentioned, 'mewtwo', is not in fact found on Forlas, nor has it ever been present in this world, to the best of my knowledge. ​

If there were a 'mewtwo' soul anywhere in this reality, I am sure I would know of the species.

However, I do not.​

This is the first time I have ever heard of 'mewtwo'.​

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"Yeah. Longer I think about it, the weirder it gets..."

He didn't have time to linger on the subject of convergent people before Betel replied. A mercy, really. Though at the same time, their reply presented a new problem in its own right.

What? No, that can't be true, I just... I just met... Fuck. Could a human who knew of another world's Mewtwo use Transform to become one? Or, failing that, I imagine a Zoroark's illusion could do the trick... Can you reach Nova right now? Someone should warn him...

He forced himself to take a deep breath in hopes it would calm his nerves. It didn't, but it at least brought them to more manageable levels. "I guess I owe you an apology for getting your hopes up, Laura. It seems I've been deceived."

On the other hand, I also have to ask...

He felt anticipation, tinged with small amounts dread and hope in equal measure, wash over him as he finished his question.

...does that mean the opposite is true of Type: Null? Has there been one here before... or is there another right now?

 

[Jackie Cat]

Laura blinked, and squinted at Gladion as she tried to follow the telepathic conversation while only receiving Betel's half of the replies.

Yes, I believe at least one graydian does exist or has existed on Forlas. I am not able to precisely locate individual souls that are not part of my personal network, however...

The genetic information and aura signature of a graydian are known to me, just as with all other Wayfarer species. I was not able to give Tarahn the correct body, and had to supply him with a body of the closest possible species – another electric-and-poison-type pokémon. 'Mewtwo', however, is unfamiliar.

I am sorry, but I can not explain your encounter with an apparent Mewtwo, Gladion. I only know that every Wayfarer is accounted for, and I did not summon the individual you spoke with. Therefore, I also cannot precisely locate and examine them...

What is it I should warn Nova of, Gladion...?

Laura swallowed. They still knew so little about who and what Betel even was...

More and more mysteries by the fucking week, huh.