Tenacinde Modareno Outskirts

[Jackie Cat]

Servine forced her brightest smile.

"I'm, um, j-just uhhh."

Unable to invent a deception, or recall any prepared line, she instead let out the truth (and a sheepish sigh).

"...My name is Isabella. I am the daughter of Don Rodrigo. Please don't send me back."

Looking Isabella up and down, Blue would likely consider this a plausible claim – while the serpent was partly concealed by a modest head covering and dark cloak, beneath these garments she was wearing very fine silks and not a few items of jewellery. Given they fit her unusual shape specifically, she was almost certainly, at the very least, from a rich family.

 

[Phoenixsong]

Don't... send her back? Why would they— wait. Did she think they were real? Should he act like they were real? Would it have killed that god damn zorrogato to explain the entirety of her god damn plan? To literally anybody, apparently?

"Howsabout you tell us what exactly you're doin' in there first," he settled on. Something either an actual guard or a deeply, deeply confused friend of the revolution might say; worked either way. Get some more details out of her and, while she was talking, some time to figure out what the hell was going on.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

The sound of Blue busting someone else tagging along got Lillian's attention. She didn’t sense anything that seemed malicious to her coming from Isabella, and her plight seemed sympathetic. For a moment, she looked up expectantly at Gladius, as if assuming that he would see something of himself in this runaway baron’s child too.

Did they have spare sashes? She decided to check if they might have one that fit Isabella. It wouldn’t do to look like they were smuggling a person across the border if their carriage was inspected, but maybe it would be possible to pass her off as another guard.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Gladius returned Lillian's meaningful look, with a rueful grimace. His dismayed expression would tell her that his sentiments about this development were something like oh, great, this is going to make everything harder, just what we needed.

"What a fun surprise," he muttered under his breath. "Someone skipped the fare, I take it?"

The tone was grouchy, but not hostile. That was something.

Isabella stammered through her brittle smile. "W-well, um. I didn't think— You weren't supposed—" Here she stopped to look around herself, as if there would be some mercy, some script to tell her what to say. "This wasn't how I thought this was going to go..."

The serpent sighed heavily, and slumped in the compartment, the aristocratic agony sloughing off her like shed skin.

"I'm the real 'treasure' being smuggled," she said, her voice dropping a full octave. "I mean, the silver is real, it's not nothing, but Essie's been trying to find a way to get me away from Papa for months, and this is the first plan I agreed to. She promised you were trustworthy, but. I don't know you. And neither does she, from how it sounded. So..."

She trailed off, her face desperate.

 

[Sinderella]

Guzma and Odette plucked their share of uniforms from the proffered pile, with Guzma snickering as he examined his hat and sash.

“Oh,” he snickered. “We’re entering our Zorro cosplay era, huh?”

He put it on anyway. Clearly something about that struck him as cool.

Before Esperanza could completely leave them, Odette held out a hand to stop her.

“Thank you for everything,” she said. “I’ll send word to Sonora that we met. Hopefully you guys can meet before too long.”

As the floragato disappeared into the night, Odette settled back next to a thoughtful looking Guzma. Something about the interaction had settled his gruff exterior, at least until Odette fished her gun out of het garter and loaded it with the last few iron thorns she had in her pouch.

“Do you really need that?” he said in a huff.

She spun the barrel, and when the gun clicked into a lock, she stuffed it back where she found it. “She said they have guns. I have one too.”

The staccato of her delivery let any listening ear know that was all she had to say on the subject.

"I have people I've been working with,"

Odette settled into a silence, listening to the rest of her unwilling companions converse. The only thing she offered to the back-and-forth about the “what’s next’s” was a muffled, barbed scoff.

Yeah, you have people you’ve been working with, she wanted to say. The people who just tried to fucking kill us.

It felt like the opportunity was presenting itself for her to out him right then and there. Not like Lillie would listen to her either way, but Blue seemed skittish enough to not want to adhere to the words of a zoroark who was accused of trying to wipe out another group of ‘mon trying to protect a god. The sprigatito, on the other hand…small and cute, but still hard to say.

But now wasn’t the time. They couldn’t very well get out of this predicament alive if they were all pointing fingers at each other.

Guzma listened to her sound off with a raised furry brow before sliding a slow, cautious glance to Gladius. What the fuck was the animosity there? What was he coming into?

And then there was a stowaway. Not at all what any of them were expecting. Because of course, plans like this never went exactly as intended.

“Awh, fuck,” Guzma whined, throwing up his claws. “I knew this shit was gonna go tits up in some capacity, but not so damn quick.”

"I mean, the silver is real, it's not nothing, but Essie's been trying to find a way to get me away from Papa for months

While the rest of the party scrambled to figure out how to handle this evidently terrified servine, the outer layers of Odette’s focus peeled away, allowing her to zero in solely on this unexpected passenger. Something about her fear, her insistence they not send her back…

She was the smuggled goods. Not anything in the cabin, but this poor girl, desperate to get away from her father.

Guzma, having caught on, brought his claws up to rub his nose as defeat settled over him. “Y’know…it might’a been super damn helpful if El Esperorro or whatever the fuck her name was mentioned we were dealing with a—“

Odette sprung up and jabbed a finger at Gladius. Not one of accusation; one of genuine concern.

“You,” she said, breathless. Something unsaid had lit a fire under her ass. Her eyes were wide with a want—no, a need—to figure this out. “Zoroark in my world can sometimes be trained to take on disguises with clothing items on. Can you stretch your abilities to change into a form that’s wearing this uniform—“she tugged her own sash for good measure—“so we can give her the one you’re wearing now?”

Before he could answer, she turned back to Guzma and snapped at him. “Give her your glasses.”

He squinted at at her. “Huh?”

“Give. Her. Your glasses. They’ll cover her face. Just a hat and a sash aren’t going to do shit for a disguise, but if her eyes are covered, she’ll be better off.”

It took him a second, but he seemed to ultimately agree. He rose to his four feet and scurried across the carriage to Isabella, presenting her with the only thing he’d taken with him off his human form.

“Here,” he said. “Not sure how well they’re gonna fit your, uh…” He slitted his eyes at her snakey snout. “…nose. But it’s better than nothing. Just don’t break them.”

 

[Phoenixsong]

"She promised you were trustworthy, but. I don't know you. And neither does she, from how it sounded. So..."

"Not remotely." Blue snorted humorlessly. "According to her 'it was revealed to me in a dream' is reason enough to heap all this on a bunch of guys who don't even go here. But not reason enough to bother telling us what we're really supposed to be doing, apparently." ('Wasn't supposed to go like this,' yeah, sure. She'd said they could bribe the border guards if they needed to; had it not occurred to her they'd have to open the compartment to do that?) He rolled his eyes and ran a paw down his face, then blew out a sigh.

"Look. I dunno the first thing about your dad. Never heard of 'im until yesterday. Only reason we're even here is because Esperanza said he'd hit the ceiling if some 'foreigners' waltzed in unannounced, so we needed another way through. I have no idea what's happening in your town, or anywhere else, and frankly I don't want to know, because it has nothing to do with me. I just want to find my friend and go home."

She looked absolutely miserable. Whatever horror story was behind that was not his problem. An annoying little twinge in the left side of his chest insisted that didn't mean leaving her that way.

"But if harassing lost people who're just trying to figure out where they even are is his idea of a welcoming committee, then he can go to hell. I sure ain't got any reason to send anyone back who doesn't wanna be there."

He watched for a couple seconds as the others hurried to bundle her into her own sash and hat, then sighed again and went to shift some of the bars in the compartment aside.

"I'm guessing fancy jewelry's not standard uniform for your dad's guards—" those ridiculous shades sure as hell weren't, but that didn't seem worth arguing about right now "—so maybe ditch all that while you're at it. Hide it under the silver or something."

 

[Jackie Cat]

“Zoroark in my world can sometimes be trained to take on disguises with clothing items on. Can you stretch your abilities to change into a form that’s wearing this uniform—“she tugged her own sash for good measure—“so we can give her the one you’re wearing now?”

"I'm guessing fancy jewelry's not standard uniform for your dad's guards—" those ridiculous shades sure as hell weren't, but that didn't seem worth arguing about right now "—so maybe ditch all that while you're at it. Hide it under the silver or something."

Gladius frowned for a second, then nodded. "Sure. I can do that."

It wasn't like it was hard. Maybe for some, but he'd mastered the skill a while back. And this idea wasn't half bad, actually.

He pulled off his garb and tossed it over, shifting as he did so to a familiar form: Lucario Iridium, smartly attired as a Modareno guardsmon.

Isabella recoiled a little at the hastily-improvised plan, but relented, shedding her jewels and donning the uniform. It more or less fit her, even if she looked completely ill-at-ease in it.

"I, um. I guess this is okay," she said, stroking her own cheek with her tailtip. "I'm not very good at sounding... 'tough', though. I think."

 

[Sinderella]

She sighed in relief when Gladius’ form switched, nodding in agreement—both for the disguise and Blue’s suggestion.

"I, um. I guess this is okay," she said, stroking her own cheek with her tailtip. "I'm not very good at sounding... 'tough', though. I think."

“Then as of this moment, you’re mute,” Odette said. She spoke like a whip, quick and stinging. Yet her demeanor was nothing short of careful, especially as she knelt in front of Isabella.

“You’re not going to say a word. If you’re spoken to, you’re going to nod or shake your head, or say ‘yes sir’ or ‘ma’am’ if you absolutely have to. If anybody asks, you’re a trainee. You don’t know shit and are just following instructions. You’re going to stick to the back, and gods willing, there will be no incident. Are you following?”

 

[Jackie Cat]

Isabella nodded fervently, her scaled cheeks flushing slightly.

"Y-yes, ma'am."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Lillian was worried for a moment about Isabella, that Odette was being too harsh and was going to make things worse. That wasn’t how she would want to be treated while feeling anxious, after all. But that didn’t seem to be Isabella’s reaction.

If there was a way to disable her emotion sense, Lillian wasn’t aware of it, but she did Isabella the small courtesy of pretending not to have one. If Forlas had cultural standards on how to handle nonstandard senses like Ralts had, she didn’t know of them, but if she’d only been able to see the flush on Isabella’s face she’d have ignored that so it seemed like the right thing to do.

“Try to think of it like playing a character. Even if you’re not a tough person, you know what it looks it. It’s just…” (‘cosplay’ probably wasn’t a word here.) “Theater. You can even give your guard persona a name, if it helps separate it from you,” Lillian advised.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Isabella's gaze snapped to Lillian, and for a moment, it was unclear if any of the Ralts' advice had actually made it into the Servine's head. Then she snapped to attention, one vine saluting.

"Yes'm. Guardia Vedette, on duty, ma'am."

Gladius blew a percussive breath of amusement. "How many 'mon have you killed in the service of your liege, Vedette?"

"Three, sir!" came the reply, instantly, 'Vedette' not so much as blinking.

Gladius smirked. "Okay. I think we're good. We run into any trouble at the border, Vedette here will just sort 'em out for us. No problem."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

“That’s the spirit!”

Did… did Isabella know Odette’s name? They weren’t introduced yet, right? Lillian sure hoped that was a coincidence. Whatever. It was just for a little while.

She cleared her throat very deliberately and let her voice slip into a colder, smoother tone. “I mean, ‘course you have. I’d expect nothing less of you, Vedette.”

 

[Phoenixsong]

Blue snorted again, a little less humorlessly this time. "Between that and the gangster shades, I sure wouldn't mess with you. Stone cold." He shut the compartment once all Isabella's stuff was inside, then hopped up onto the seat. His paw strayed to the chain around his own neck for a second before he buried it under his fur. Not that Daisy's necklace stood out at all next to that mountain of bling—and "not standing out" was probably a lost cause anyway, because, again, those clown glasses—but better safe than sorry. (And he felt better knowing it was safe. It was the only thing that was actually his here.)

He sat up and looked out the window, further down the road. The checkpoint oughta be coming up soon, and he didn't feel like getting caught off-guard hearing about it from anybody else.

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Thank you!! Um, ma'am." 'Vedette' choked down a pleased smile and kept her very serious guardsmon face as she assumed a spot in the carriage's passenger compartment.

For a little while on, Isabella indulged in a little light conversation with her new 'comrades' – mostly small talk about Modareno, with a smattering of clues that she really was a caged bird of sorts. A spoilt princess from one perspective, a long-suffering prisoner from another. Apparently, she'd met Esperanza at church (one of the few places where she was neither closely chaperoned nor totally isolated) where the Floragato was a volunteer aide to the acolytes of Virizion, and remained entirely clueless for the better part of two months that her charming, outrageously cheeky new friend was secretly moonlighting as a masked vigilante.

"The Thorn is something of a folk hero," she explained, in a hushed voice. "There have been, I think, two other wearers of the mask? The original, when the town was scarcely a village, who humiliated the Viceroy when he dared challenge El Espino. And... One of my father's generation, who he... Well. That one is no longer with us."

From what they'd heard of Don Rodrigo, the Wayfarers might readily assume the previous Thorn had simply been executed.

Further elaboration would have to wait, however. The road ahead became a bridge where a nearby river crossed under it, and it was here that a roadblock of large caltrops would prevent their crossing. There were guards, too. From a distance, one was recogniseable as a Golisopod, and another as a Samurott. Strangely familiar ones...?

"Halt, and identify yourself!" shouted Samurott, once they came within her communication distance. "What is your business in the Commonwealth?"

(Hmm. Oddly Tsainanese accent for a border guard on the east coast...)

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Lillian was less nervous than usual participating in smalltalk on account of the way she felt like Isabella was probably in the same boat as her. She was also willing to indirectly indicate that she got it, even if she didn't want to talk about her own past in such detail as to reveal that she was human. And, oh, how she would've loved to have someone like Isabella in her mother's circles. It would have been much less lonely that way.

Any sense of relative bravado she got from talking to and even being able to help someone like her evaporated the second she saw the caravan approached by two figures who were several times her size. Nerves threatening to show, she gestured to Isabella to keep up the rear of the wagon with her, though she doubted the suggestion was necessary. It was probably best to leave the talking to Gladius, Odette, and Blue. (Who despite also being confined to a small, unevolved form, could make up for it by outputting a remarkable quantity of wraith per cubic centimetre.)

 

[Phoenixsong]

Always the huge knifey murder hulks with this place. Don Rodrigo couldn't've just press-ganged a metapod with bad allergies or something, could he.

Okay. The "plan". Options. There weren't supposed to be guards. But if there had to be guards, they were supposed to be in on it. But there was a chance they might not be in on it, hence the bribery and whatever. (No heads-up on what the "guards who were in on it" looked like. Thanks for that.) Had to assume it was the last one until proven otherwise.

So. Sound tough. Sound authoritative. Didn't matter how big they were if he had every right to be here. All the junior trainers back at the gym were older than him, but they still did what he said if they knew what was good for 'em because he was the expert, he was the boss.

(They were also not huge knifey murder hulks. Just pretend it was Salma getting uppity about how she was too good to waste her time teaching little kids how to trick room. Sitting through all her mouthy comebacks sure felt like getting stabbed, sometimes.)

"Fortnightly delivery to Battery. Don Rodrigo's orders." Blue tossed in a disappointed little sneer, like they were just whining about having to man the challenge floor. "You tellin' me the guards still ain't keeping up with the schedule out here?"

 

[Sinderella]

Vedette. That’s what she went with. Odette’s nose scrunched, clearly startled by the abrupt selection. Had she just…had that on hand? Ready to go?

She didn’t have time to question it. She nodded again, happy with the little show, and settled back to indulge in the small talk while she tried her best to settle her heart.

Something about getting a caged bird away from her power-hungry father hit a little too close to home.

There were guards, too. From a distance, one was recogniseable as a Golisopod, and another as a Samurott. Strangely familiar ones...?

Her own grief over the situation would have to wait. As they neared the bridge, the silhouette of a familiar Pokemon had Guzma up on his feet.

“Oh! Oh shit!” he gasped. “I didn’t realize there would be any golisopods around here!”

Odette scrunched her face, trying to get a better look at who was blocking their path. Familiarity tickled her senses, and at first, she assumed it was just Guzma’s over-eagerness for the golisopod species. But even the samurott wasn’t foreign to her, and she knew she didn’t know any personally.

However, based on the Tsaianese lilt in the samurott’s command, she knew immediately they were indeed foreign to this area.

Before anybody else could say anything more damning, she sprung to the front of the carriage.

“Actually, I’ll stop you there and ask you the same thing,” she said kindly, settling her left hand on a popped hip. “I reckon you’re a little far from home, aren’t you?”

Behind her, Guzma gaped at nothing in particular, mouthing the word ‘reckon’ like he was shocked she even had the word in her vocabulary.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Odette had just levelled an accusation which would make it difficult to save face. The Samurott blanched at this, and put a paw on the hilt of a shell-sword.

"What is the meaning of this?" she asked, keeping her voice steady. Unoffended, but unwilling to mess around.

Behind her, the Golisopod chuckled to himself.

"Yes, we are officers of the Commonwealth," he said, in a slightly playful tone. "Why would you think otherwise?"

Gladius snorted. "'Cause of the thick Tsainanese accents?" he offered. He had no idea what was up with these guys, or what Odette was playing at, but he recognised that things weren't as they seemed.

"The Commonwealth is a nation of many peoples," retorted Samurott. "Maybe we came from Tsainan, what of it? Why should we not have settled here?"

There was a sound of clinking metal plates and heavy footfall, as a Kingambit rose from his position of rest and contemplation across the bridge, and made his way to its arc. He stood, hands on hips, and gazed at the carriage with a stern and humourless face.

"We are expecting a carriage to pass through today," he said, carefully. "Is everything in order? Or is something amiss?"

He stared down Odette, presumably recognising her, at least. Whether his little group of samurai were the correct border guards, or how they would handle the group if so, was unclear...

 

[Phoenixsong]

And then there was a guy who just literally had a giant knife on his head, because of course there was.

Blue ducked his head back into the carriage and stared at Odette, desperation pricking at the edges of his bravado. "I don't care where they're from. I care about not getting perforated. Do you know these guys or not?" he hissed. "If I'm not s'posed to be telling 'em to go take a long walk off a short pier, it'd be nice to know that now."

He turned back to Edward Scissorhead, frowning. "Yeah, exactly." He tried to keep his tone measured—not 'go take a long walk off a short pier', not yet, not rolling over either, just even, halfway reasonable, until someone decided to actually explain literally anything useful. "You were expecting a delivery to pass through. Here we are, as expected. It's not that hard. Now, unless your little reunion or whatever's related to that, if you could step aside so we could stay on schedule, that'd be great."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Lillian sensed no particular hostile intent from the border guards. Plus, hey, didn't Esperanza tell them that the border guards at this time would be in on it and want to see the baron fall? If that was true, then they should be on the same side. That theory was dangerous to overtly confirm for either side, though. If the guards expressed thoughts treacherous to the barony and their lot were loyalists, they'd be in trouble. Likewise, it was dangerous for them to tell the guards their plan in case they idea of having such border guards had failed. Some sort of subtle litmus test was needed: If they actually convinced the guards that they were Baron loyalists, that might make them more likely to be harassed, but they also couldn't completely drop their guards.

Gladius could probably navigate that position fine if he remembered Esperanza saying that, but she didn't know if he did. She didn't quite trust Odette or Blue to have the required penchant for subtlety regardless of what they remembered. Maybe... Maybe she would make things better if the tried to help. Staying hidden and waiting to see if disaster struck certainly wasn't helping lessen her nerves, so she steeled herself decided to go for it.

"Our passage through here has been planned for some time now, and we were expecting to see some border guards. If you were expecting a carriage, that’s us. It seems to me like everything is going as we both want so far, no?"