Frontier Town Traveller's Haus - Lobby

[Jackie Cat]

Yeah, that was true, wasn't it? The Wayfarers had really come into their own since they landed, and no doubt they could more than go toe to toe with the average Lantern goon. Brisa couldn't help but grin.

"Best we get plannin'," she said, with a satisfied growl. "Though... What kinda odds have you been winnin', anyhow?"

She splayed and tensed a paw, flexing her forelimb.

"Feel like I oughta put y'all t'the test somehow... if'n you're up fer it?"

Her muzzle curved into a smirk, relishing the thought of fighting other battlehearts again.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Jade blinked for a second, then held her paws up quickly. "Whoa, I dunno if I'm ready for that," she said in a hurry, although the moment the words were out of her mouth, she realized how silly it was. They'd come out ahead with way worse odds than that. It just hadn't sunk in yet that she could think of herself as being a part of it, not when she was way more used to being a trainer than a fighter.

"Er, that is... yeah, okay I guess we've been winning some pretty big fights," Jade continued, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "But that's only because we're a team, and..." There was no way she was going to get away with not saying what fights.

"Well, we went up again Moltres, and, uh..."—Brisa was staring at her, pupils dilated—"...the Escarpa chief."

Now she definitely had to tell the full story.

<><><>​

 

[Jackie Cat]

Restlessness haunted Jesse better than any ghost ever could. Apparently some poor critter was holed up at his old place, and something kept him from going back there. He took a room in town, and soon wondered why he'd bothered. His mind played tricks on him, telling him he was back in the cell, telling him it wasn't even night. He shifted, rolled, got up, washed his face at the tiny little metal sink, swore at himself under his breath, tried to play his little mental games that had kept him going before...

This was supposed to be home. He was back in Frontier Town. His mission far from over – and feeling strangely abstract, small and far away from this place – his next steps unclear. No Brisa, nor her wildfire of a girlfriend. What had he imagined doing when he came back? Well, he'd expected to be back more than a year ago, with a story to tell, one that would justify his absence. And then he'd always looked forward to finally sticking it to Voclain, of course. He'd made up his mind about that bastard a while back. But no – there was no Voclain. Not even his snotty little brat of a son. Whoever that kid had been had since been replaced with a polite young fellow who'd asked for a clean slate. You and me both, kid.

He found himself out of doors, blinking suspiciously at the gaslamps, disoriented by the newness. Some things were the same, sure, but it wasn't Greasewood at the bar, and nobody he recognised was ordering. He let himself out, mumbling something about looking for someone. Who, though? Come the fuck on, Jesse. There was nobody to go to, and he knew it. Oh he'd had friends, sure, but no blood-brothers, no partners-in-crime. The memory of those folks as he'd ever spent much time with had hardly sustained him this past year, had it? And after all this time, he doubted they wanted him showing up at their doors, all haggard and needy. Goddamnit. He felt like a fucking letter without an address to go to.

Before he knew it, it was fucking dawn, and he'd walked half the fucking town. His paws ached, as did his head, his heart, his stomach. He wanted a drink, and real food, and someone to fucking talk to who wouldn't look at him like he was a half-feral 'mon.

The path of least resistance was one he'd walked down enough times before. This time, it lead him to Dave's door.

"Ambrose," he barked, with a sharp knock. "You awake?"

 

[Butterfree]

Dave woke up to an infernal banging on the door and blinked blearily at the ceiling. The Haus. He was back at the Haus, and the voice at the door was... Jesse Stranger?

More importantly, he realized belatedly, he could sense Betel again. The slight Radiant hum that'd been gone since getting tossed into that dungeon - it was back.

His head jolted upward. Okay, okay. Betel was back. Thank fuck. He could hear light telepathic chatter - no one talking like anyone had died or anything. He should--

"You awake?" came Jesse's voice through the door again. Okay, fine, attend to that first.

"I mean, I wasn't, but thanks for checking," he grumbled, dragging himself out of bed. He opened the door, blinking up at the Delphox. He... looked haggard and haunted and like he hadn't slept a wink. Christ.

"Yeah?" he said warily, the Wayfarers momentarily forgotten. "What's up?"

 

[Jackie Cat]

Jesse shrugged, glancing at Dave, then behind him, then down the hall. Fidgety.

"Not enough," he said, then cleared his throat. "You got shit y'were gonna do today? I need a distraction, or somethin'. Clear my head. Tabula rasa. Or if'n you're spinnin' yer wheels, we could—" get a drink, like alcoholics "—get breakfast or whatever. I just..."

He clicked his tongue, searching for a way to articulate the need without coming off like some clingy vagrant.

"Gotta wag my jaw with someone who won't look at me like I'm relayin' a peyote dream. Y'know?"

Someone he already knew, who wasn't crazy, whose company he could stand.

 

[Butterfree]

Dave looked at him, still blinking sleep out of his eyes. Huh. This wasn't really what he'd expected from Jesse Stranger the amazing world-saving hero who'd driven his adult daughter up a tree with his insistence that he knew better, the guy whose name still sparked some maddening little itch of irritation he couldn't place in his brain. Really, the former sheriff of this town, big fucking human world-saviour, had nobody better to talk to than him, guy he'd just met in a dungeon? God.

"Well, it sounds like my summoner's back online, so I'll have to try and get an update on where everyone is and what's going on," he ventured after a second. "But sure, breakfast. There's a dining hall downstairs."

He waved towards the stairs and led the way down, brain still only half functional. He heard voices down there and put together only as he got a look through the door of the dining hall that some were familiar - apparently some Wayfarers had gotten back overnight, eating as if nothing were more natural. And other people he didn't recognize, too, speaking with them at their tables.

There was a small Vulpix with a flower in her curls and a couple of locks of fur hanging down the sides of her face, eagerly chattering away with her mouth full, in an eerily familiar voice.

He stopped, staring. The world zoomed in and out.

"Jean?" he blurted out before he could think.

She looked up at the sound of her name, ears perked, turning a bright, questioning gaze towards him. Familiar.

"Jean, what the fuck?"

She broke into a delighted grin. "Dad?!"

He stood there, frozen, as the Vulpix bounced out of her seat with a squeal. "You're here too! You're a Mightyena! Ooh, that's so cool! Can you use moves too? I already helped drive off some bad guys! I'm going to be a hero!"

This could not be happening. The phantom sensation of thick rope wrapped around his neck, suffocating. Jean did not belong here, anywhere close to this world or the type of shit that happened in it.

She latched onto his leg in an awkward pseudo-hug, tails wagging in his face. He slowly lifted his other front paw to wrap it around the back of her neck, frozen in place. Betel. Betel, what the fuck is going on.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Hello, Dave. Good morning! I perceive that you have met Jean. Please be advised I did not intentionally summon her, or indeed any of the numerous new Wayfarers on Forlas beyond the first. My apologies for this unexpected change in circumstances!

Jesse rubbed his face and squinted at the excited kid. This was, uh. Dave's daughter? Gods alive. Why.

"Uh... Howdy, li'l miss," he managed, still processing this. A smirk worked its way hesitantly onto his face at Dave's own stunned reaction. "I'm Jesse, I'm, ah... Friend of yer pa's. Fer like the past day, anyhow." Felt like longer. "What's that you were sayin' 'bout fightin' baddies? Nothin' too dangerous, I hope?"

The kid was probably already stronger than the average schmuck walking Forlasan earth, but Dave sure wouldn't see it that way. (Jesse hadn't.)

 

[Butterfree]

Not intentionally? Betel, she's ten fucking years old. She shouldn't be here.

Jesse was awkwardly introducing himself to Jean, and she bounced right up to him. "Ooh, Dad has friends! You look just like the cowboys in the movies! So cool! Are you a hero, too? I met a bunch of heroes in a really pretty dungeon and solved a riddle and then we met this Buizel who was dealing with these criminals breaking her fishing traps and helped to chase them away!"

Okay. Okay, that sounded pretty lowkey for Forlas, at least.

"So... you met the other Wayfarers in this dungeon?" he asked cautiously.

"Yes! They told me about -- ooh, are you one of them?" Her voice rose to a delighted, high-pitched squeal. "This is the best day ever! I can be on the superhero team with you!"

"Jean, Jean, hang on. Don't you remember the last time you went out playing hero? You're not a superhero in a story, remember? Just because you're a full Pokémon now, it doesn't mean..."

He trailed off at her confused, questioning gaze, an awful sinking weight settling in his stomach. "Jean, what's the last thing you remember before you came here?"

"Hmm." She raised a contemplative paw to her chin, wobbling a little on her feet but keeping her balance. "I think I was sleeping over at Will's? He was purring in his sleep. It was so cute!"

Dave stared at her. She didn't remember. Summoned heroes were usually amnesiacs, weren't they? Clearly this summoning was still weird, clearly she remembered who she was and everything, but at least that whole awful day of the kidnapping and everything that'd happened after - just not there. She didn't remember Will was dead, or Mia, or that she'd touched a Fire Stone and evolved, or that she'd been mostly confined to their apartment ever since, uncharacteristically quiet between the moments where she'd act almost like nothing'd happened at all.

He wasn't sure if that was better or worse.

He cleared his throat. "Yeah, uh... That's my daughter Jean, apparently. Jean, this is Jesse Stranger." Instantly he realized that it would make her fucking day if he told her they'd broken him out of jail or that he'd saved the world back in the day. It was downright grotesque, putting her in a world where this guy's actual fucking torture and imprisonment just sounded like something out of one of her exciting adventure stories.

"...He, uh, we were going to have some breakfast." He looked up at Jesse, questioning. Well, if he just needed a distraction, then letting Jean join them at the table would sure distract him from getting a normal thought in. If he'd rather talk later, he could make an excuse.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Jesse scratched his head, figuring his way through the branches of this unanticipated new entanglement.

"Uh, kinda," he replied, not that it'd get heard in the whirlwind of hyperactive questions and informative statements from the girl. He suppressed a chuckle. She was a cute kid, this was all kinda charming, really. Brisa'd never quite had this type of energy.

He got the feeling he should probably adopt the same sort of attitude, though. Last thing a superpowered kid needed was the idea planted in her head that hero-work was aspirational funtime runabout whatever. Best not sanitise it. (Might be too late on that count, though.) And then there was this complicating factor of fuzzy memory. Now wasn't that a fun piece of grit in the spokes.

He nodded his thanks to Dave for introducing him, and tried to make an accounting of himself accordingly.

"I'm from someplace else, like you and yer pa," he explained. "I used to be the sheriff of this town some years back, but I've been away. Only just got back last night. This trip a' mine – I figured it'd be an adventure, but y'see, I got stuck someplace scary. All on my own. 'Couldn't get out fer a long time."

He thought it'd be easy to give a pared-down version of the story in such a way as to get the li'l fox to take it serious, but something twisted inside his chest as he said someplace scary, all on my own. Fuck. He shook his head and swallowed hard.

Then Jesse had about half a second to decide whether he was gonna bail on this situation and lose access to Dave for an indefinite period after waiting up all night only to decide he could only talk to the fucking guy, or try to play nice with the kid for a bit and eat some actual fucking victuals. It wasn't a tough choice.

"Starvin'," he replied. "You got an appetite, kid?"

 

[Butterfree]

Jean lowered her ears a little as Jesse described getting stuck someplace scary all alone for a long time while out on an adventure, even though he was a grown-up and the sheriff of the town. Her dad was reacting weirdly, too. Weren't they supposed to be heroes like in Mystery Dungeon?

But then he suggested food. "Yeah!" she said, perking up again. "I didn't get to order anything yet but I want... I want... blueberry pancakes!"

"Sure. Let's get you pancakes." Dave glanced up at Jesse. "Sorry about that, I didn't expect her to be here either." He considered saying something about Betel's bit about not summoning her intentionally, but he didn't want to have to handle Jean's reaction to that right here, right now. "What do you want? My treat."

Jean'd already excused herself to whoever she'd been talking to and jumped up on a chair next to an empty table.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Everything. A giant steak dinner. A dozen helpings of eggs and bacon. A mixed barbecue with trimmings. And a bottle of something strong.

"Feels like it's been years since I had a cooked breakfast," he deadpanned, with a dry smirk. "Or a good coffee."

He gave Dave a friendly, grateful thump on the shoulder, and took a seat with the kid. She'd reacted about how he'd expected, really. Poor thing. He didn't want to rain on her parade, but he'd surely get an earful from her pa if he went and told her to run the gauntlet of desperado bastards and natural disasters in this world. Even if she'd probably pull it off.

"You're Jean, right?" he asked, hastily constructing a smile. Unfamiliar goddamn expression. "Pleased t'make yer acquaintance." He flicked one ear up and down. "So, how d'you like bein' a fox, li'l miss?"

 

[Butterfree]

Jesus. Jesse really hadn't had any decent food in years until the last twenty-four hours, had he. He turned to make an order with the maus.

"It's so great to be a proper Vulpix!" Jean said, stars in her eyes. "Back home I'm half Vulpix, but I can't even use any moves. Now I can use Ember! And Tail Whip, and a few other things, I think!"

Dave froze mid-order, a chill crawling up his spine. Jean, Jean, what the fuck.

 

[Jackie Cat]

"Half Vulpix, huh?"

Jesse grinned amiably. Internally, it took a second to register what that meant. Not 'half' like Brisa, 'half' as in a new kind of living thing. He imagined a tall biped with arms splayed wide, covered in russet fur, and wondered if other humans would be measured and reasonable about such a being among them. Just 'cause the kid was a bundle of sunshine didn't mean her society matched.

"That must feel excitin', gettin' to spit fire an' all," he said, raising a brow. "You rememberin' to stay safe? Yer pa teach ya 'bout fire hazards?"

 

[Butterfree]

Well, Jesse wasn't reacting badly. Just playing along with a grin and a raised eyebrow. Who knew what was going on in his head, maybe he thought Dave'd just somehow fucked a Ninetales and produced a kid, but at least it wasn't immediate outrage. He picked up his scrambled brain to finish the breakfast order, listening warily.

Jean grinned broadly back, energized by Jesse's casual answer. "Yeah! I can't torch anything yet back home. I've got a fire sac but it's not ready yet. But my dad's always saying if I feel any funny heat in the back of my throat I should go outside and stay back from everyone and call him right away and he'll pick me up. Then they're going to want to run some experiments on it!"

Jean, deformed, blonde, crying that she'd breathed fire and burned the inside of her mouth; seeing doctors who looked at her that way, inspecting her new elongated oral cavity as she sniffled, trying to make herself smaller. Dave slid quickly back into his seat, heart racing uncomfortably. "Yeah, uh, this might all sound pretty fucking odd out of context."

"My dad's a scientist!" Jean explained. "He's a really, really smart scientist. He made us with the other people at his lab."

That explains fucking nothing, Jean. For a fleeting moment he wondered whether there was any chance of playing the whole thing off as some dumb game Jean liked to play, but no, there was no point trying to stuff that cat back in the bag. If nothing else, Gerome already knew, and surely Jesse'd be speaking to him at some point, since they were friendly.

Dave took a deep breath. "What she means to say is ten years ago I discovered a method to make Pokémon and human DNA work together. Proof of concept was some hybrid embryos. Legal shit happened, we ended up raising eight kids with Pokémon features. By 'experiments' she means we try to figure out how their bodies work so they can live a decent life. That's all."

"And you publish scientific papers about it too!"

He sighed. "Yeah, sometimes there are papers."

And then two of them had gotten fucking murdered, and Jean had evolved nightmarishly. Couldn't say a word about that.

 

[Jackie Cat]

Even without skimming Dave's thoughts, Jesse could read his face well enough. So, there was more to this. Fine – he knew better than to press the subject in front of the kid.

"Scientist, huh?" he said, looking at the Mightyena in a new light. "I mean, I knew you were sharp, but I didn't take you for the type. Hell of a research subject, I'll say that."

So, Jean was an experiment. Dave probably caught a lot of flak over that, but the kid seemed remarkably well adjusted, and obviously adored her pa. Whether or not it started out as such, this sure seemed a loving father-daughter relationship right here and now. Jesse's heart twinged in his chest.

"Well, far be it from me to judge a fella for bein' a mite queer," he said, with an ironic grin at Dave. (He'd heard enough of the same himself for being strange, weird, different. Civilised society was a pit of snakes at its worst, and that was the truth.) "I'm strange enough myself as I've go no real claim to normality."

He snorted in amusement, and casually pointed a paw at Jean. "Y'know, it weren't an experiment or nothin', but I got a kid kinda like you myself. My girl's a lot older'n you now, but she's part-human after a fashion." He tapped his own chest. "Used to be a human kid 'fore I came here. Not everyone here can get their head around that, but it's just how things are."

 

[Butterfree]

God, Dave still wasn't entirely used to the cowboy times language. At least Jesse remembered enough of modern humanity to have followed the explanation, it seemed, even if living in Forlas for decades had shifted his vocabulary back to the 1800s. (It had occurred to him only belatedly that modern humanity probably wasn't a given. No reason a human from actual cowboy times or equivalent couldn't land here, was there.)

What was more, he seemed remarkably open-minded about it. Maybe his world had laxer laws on human experimentation.

Jean, for her parts, didn't seem to question it very hard. She lit up at Jesse's mention of his own daughter. "Oooohh! What's her name? What's she like? Can I see her? Does she have superpowers too?"

 

[Jackie Cat]

Jesse almost laughed. It was fuckin' weird, hearing someone talk like this about his kid. Gods alive. It was... kinda nice.

"She's called Brisa," he answered, an easy smile on his face. "Means breeze. Gal can sure move like the wind, I'll tell ya. She's, ah, well. I ain't seen her none too often these past years, on account of bein' trapped an' all... but I'm hopin' to see her real soon. The way I remember her, she was fierce, smart as a tack, afraid of nothin'. She's what folks 'round here call a 'battleheart'. Bein' a fighter like that with, uh, 'super powers' – that's a hell of a responsibility."

His grin slanted as he raised a paw and snapped his digits. A flame flowered there in an instant, with a whoosh of air and magic.

"I've gotta be real careful doin' this kinda trick," he said, in a hushed tone. Performative, for the kid. "If I don't concentrate, I could really hurt someone. Not everyone's a Fire-type, after all. Y'know that's the most important part of bein' a hero, don'tcha, Jean? Watchin' out fer other folks, mindin' that you don't do them any harm."

Then he put the flame out with his mouth. Because it was funny.

 

[Butterfree]

Jean's eyes practically sparkled with joy at Jesse's description of Brisa. A real superhero, brave and strong and fierce!

She watched with huge, round eyes as Jesse produced a flame with a snap of his fingers, then clapped her front paws eagerly as he blew it out again. "I wanna do that! Can you teach me?"

"Jean, you don't have opposable thumbs. I'm not sure how snapping your fingers is going to work."

He grinned anyway. It was nice to see Jesse take such a shine to her instantly, no judgment or staring or awkwardness, just doing a cool fire trick and teaching her lessons about heroing. There was still that strange niggling prick in the back of his brain, about how he'd treated Brisa, how he'd left her behind, but it was beginning to feel a lot more detached.

Jean frowned as she looked at her paws. "Hmmm." She gave a sage nod to Jesse, though. "Maybe you can teach me other fire tricks instead."

"Don't forget the safety part," Dave said. "Making sure you don't hurt anyone accidentally. Remember?"

She nodded. "Right! A good hero always protects the innocent!"

Bless her. Maybe if Jesse was amenable he could teach her some tricks with enough flair and give her weighty talks about heroic responsibilities, and that'd be enough to satisfy her superhero dreams without putting her in mortal danger somewhere in a murder dungeon.