Frontier Town Frontier Town Outskirts

[Inkedust]

The sound of the Wayfarers' voices snapped Houndoom to attention. He looked at them and growled. "Normal passerby don't tend to come all this way this early. Stay out of this, this is our business and our business alone."

He looked at the snivy and replied with a curt nod. "Proudly so and I will go to any length to show that pride." He looked at the rail and back at the group. "If you're with them, I warn that you'll never see the end of the line again if you get in my way. Not that a bunch of sheltered soft-furs can do all that much to me," he added with an amused mutter.

 

[AdamArtDraws]

The houndoom sure did have a sense of pride. Felin could get behind that. Seeing that he didn't respond to her previous remark, she switched lanes briefly.

"We're not here to get in your way. Anyone would be curious when a stranger comes walking in. Wanted to know you weren't trouble and it looks like we're right on the poké," Felin said, and she added a sprinkle of flattery to her next words. "I've heard that the Escarpa are a tribe of the strong and the noble. Gotta say, I'm a big fan."

 

[Shadow Serenity]

Kimiko acknowledged Wes with a light nod. At least she felt she could rely on everyone here so far... even if they weren't quite on speaking terms. Still, she hoped they weren't in for a fight... three of four weak to fire was not a good matchup, even if this houndoom had been down on their level...

"Proudly so and I will go to any length to show that pride."

"You do not need to prove yourself to us," Kimiko noted, following up on Felin's flattery. "Your reputation proceeds you. In fact, I and many of my companions have been seeking you. Your clan. We, uh... we think we can help each other out."

Gods, she wished Jade was here, or even Laura. This would be so much easier with proof, and Kimiko was no diplomat.

 

[Butterfree]

Getting up before dawn was not exactly Dave's idea of a great time, but at Betel's message about someone from the Escarpa coming to blow up the railroad even if it burned down the entire town holy shit, he'd growled to himself and reluctantly asked the Tandemaus to wake him for it.

It was far too early for anything, especially when he hadn't gotten a lot of sleep even before that, but he accompanied the various others to the outskirts of town, running red-eyed on whatever coffee he'd managed to bribe the 'maus into making for him, and squinted into the wind at the aspiring saboteur.

The sound of the Wayfarers' voices snapped Houndoom to attention. He looked at them and growled. "Normal passerby don't tend to come all this way this early. Stay out of this, this is our business and our business alone."

He looked at the snivy and replied with a curt nod. "Proudly so and I will go to any length to show that pride." He looked at the rail and back at the group. "If you're with them, I warn that you'll never see the end of the line again if you get in my way. Not that a bunch of sheltered soft-furs can do all that much to me," he added with an amused mutter.

"Who's 'them'? Feels like there's an awful fucking lot of different them around here. If it's whoever's kidnapping people and making them into zombies, or the Covenant of Fucking Light, then no, we're not with them."

 

[Sinderella]

Not that a bunch of sheltered soft-furs can do all that much to me," he added with an amused mutter.

Odette blinked, swallowing hard. Still, she felt the sarcastic quip rise up in the back of her throat, and she couldn’t stop it before it came out.

“Well, I don’t evolve, so I don’t know who you’re calling a soft-fur,” she muttered.

Why would you do that? Why would you say that out loud, why, why, why? Don’t piss the fucker off!

She took another breath, and she cringed at how shaky it sounded. If she kept it together, she’d be fine. It would be fine.

It’s fine.

“We’re not looking to do anything to anyone if it can be helped. We just want to talk like sane ‘mon, if that’s alright with you. I’m certain we can see eye to eye if we can just start with that.” Now she was rubbing her arm again. Gods, why couldn’t she stop rubbing her arm, this was excruciating.

“Also I’ve come to learn that ‘them’ could mean a few different groups, so if you could be more specific, that would be great.”

Tone down the sass. Tone it down now.

 

[Inkedust]

For a moment, Houndoom seemed elated at the compliments but he quickly wiped the expression off his muzzle in favour of a deep frown.

"The rail workers, of course. Those others mean nothing to me," he snorted. "None of you look the part but who's to say you aren't their employers." He stood straighter, eyes narrowing. "But tell me, now, why are you here? I don't think you being here is blind luck. Are you here to interfere with us?" he then asked with a growl.

 

[Sinderella]

The sound of the houndoom growling sent an intense chill up her spine, one that spread to every crevice of her nervous system and left her wanting to bolt. She hadn’t noticed she’d started to dig the toes of her boots into the sand until she felt some of it start to blow against her ankles.

“Nope, not blind. Just calculated,” she replied. “We know the Escarpa wants to lock down the line. We know it’s because of the shadowy ‘demons.’” Her glasses were fogging, god fucking dammit, her glasses were fucking fogging. She casually reached up and pulled them off her face so she could wipe them on her skirt. She was suddenly so glad she hadn’t started shaking.

“We want to stop those ‘demons’ just as much as you do. But we want to discuss the most ideal ways to do it before anything too drastic happens, you know?” she said, pushing the lenses back over her nose. “Again. No fighting. Never touched a piece of rail material in my life.” Falling on them upon arrival didn’t count. “We legitimately just want to talk, because I’m sure we’re all on the same side here.”

Please dear gods, let’s all be on the same sides here, for the love of fucking Christ.

 

[Inkedust]

There was a momentary pause, and then...

"How?" Houndoom barked. "How do you know? This is the business of Escarpa."

 

[Sinderella]

Odette flinched involuntarily, and she felt her stomach lurch with such force she damn near vomited on the spot. But, she didn’t. Somehow she was better than that.

“We know it is,” she said through a breath. “But murkrow really don’t know how to shut their mouths.”

 

[HelloYellow17]

Shut down the line? Well, that was news to Wes. Scorching hells, the team really needed a better communication system to keep everyone up to speed.

Suddenly it clicked in his head that this had to be the source of the railway problems Jaak had mentioned before their trip to Blaguarro. So much had happened since then, Wes had honestly forgotten about it entirely until this morning.

He met the Houndoom’s gaze and held it unflinchingly. “I’m sorry,” he said evenly, “We don’t mean to alarm you. We’ve been…having trouble with the shadows ourselves, and we’ve heard that you—that the Escarpa clan—have techniques for fending them off. We’re not here to pick a bone with you; we’re asking for your help and insight.”

He watched the proud mon and chose his words carefully, hoping that his diplomatic tone would smooth out the guy’s bristled hackles.

 

[Shadow Serenity]

Whatever issue Odette had with her, Kimiko was content to let the mawile play diplomat in the absence of Jade or Laura. She'd been confident she could pose as one of Nolan's flunkies, so clearly she had the acting chops for it. And while Kimiko didn't doubt her own performance abilities, she did doubt her knowledge of the situation. There was far too much scattered information to keep track of, especially when her own focus was less on... whatever this was about murkrow, and more about getting the Escarpa's aid for Jade's endangered friend... but even so, she realized the potential threat to Frontier Town was a more immediate problem, so she kept her own needs silent for the moment.

But maybe there was a way she could work on repairing whatever rift had formed there while also advancing their goals, too. She moved away from Felin and Wes to stand beside Odette, addressing the houndoom.

"We were hoping to help you... that is to say, work with you, to stop these things. Preferably in a way that doesn't threaten the town in which we're currently living."

She hesitated a beat as Wes spoke, then added, "And those are just a few of the reasons we were looking for you. ...Do you happen to know a member of your clan named Brisa?"

 

[Inkedust]

Houndoom narrowed his eyes. "Knew those bastards were going to be a problem," he muttered. He looked amongst the group and shook his head. "I already said it's not your business. It's for the Escarpa and the Escarpa alone to handle. Stay out of our way and don't test my patience by making me repeat myself."

He padded down the railway before his gaze fell, once again, on the snivy. "Chieftain's daughter," he replied curtly. "Talk of the clan says she's been gone for a while - not that I get much coming my way, they're inner clan matters," he spat, like the words were poison on his tongue.

 

[HelloYellow17]

“Look, we can’t just sit back and let other people handle it.” Diplomacy had never been Wes’s strong suit, and he was already losing patience. He was so gods-damn tired of people telling him to stay out of their way when all he wanted to do was help. “We’re offworlders. We were sent here to help solve the problems in this world, and we can’t go back until we’ve done it. If you help us, we won’t be in your way. We can help each other; we have the same goal.”

He paused and took a breath, trying to keep his tone steady. Then he looked back up at the Houndoom and asked in what he hoped was a friendly tone, “What’s your name, by the way? Sorry to bombard you with questions. I realize that probably wasn’t the, uh…best impression.” He cleared is throat and sat up a little straighter. “Name’s Wes. And I’d really like to get off on the right foot here.”

 

[Chibi Pika]

Jade was late. She'd heard the others planning to meet with an Escarpa scout on the outskirts of town, and her heart had leapt. The Escarpa! This was the lead they'd been waiting for all month. (Then there was something about destroying the rail? What??) She'd been all ready to rush after them.

...And then she abruptly realized that she didn't have her bag with her. The bag that held the Escarpa earring that Brisa had given her, the thing that was supposed to be her 'in' the entire time.

By the time she reached the rails, completely winded and clutching her bag over her shoulder, the others were already talking with the scout--a Houndoom who didn't exactly look too impressed with them.

"W-We're not trying to get in your way!" Jade quickly added, in between gasping breaths. "I-I met her, the chieftain's daughter, Brisa, out east." She held up the blue feather earring with the dungeon gold charm. "She gave me this--she wanted me to meet with her clan."

 

[Inkedust]

"Pyrrin," he replied curtly to Wes. "And not buying it. Puppy tales aren't going to—"

He was cut off by the sudden arrival of a meowth. The earring cut off Pyrrin's train of thought as he approached Jade to inspect it further - trying to see if it was the genuine article and not a shoddy reproduction.

After several long moments, he stepped back and nodded. "So it seems," he said, a low growl lacing his words. "Give it to me. I can take it to the Chieftain and maybe she'll be interested in seeing you. Not that I can promise that she will be." He looked back at the rail and began tapping the iron with a claw. "So what'd ya want? Because if this is one big ploy to stop our plans for the rail, you won't be getting very far, even if you were somehow to convince me."

 

[AdamArtDraws]

"I love extreme gambles as much as the next mon, but couldn't the clan rethink this for just a moment?" Felin asked, seizing her opportunity to speak now that Pyrrin had opened up a little bit.

"Destroying the rail and putting the whole town on lockdown will disrupt the lives of everymon in town." She waved her paw in the direction of Frontier Town itself, but kept eye contact with him all the while. "What makes you so convinced this'll work out? I can think of more cons than my paws have fingers."

 

[Shadow Serenity]

"Chieftain's daughter," he replied curtly. "Talk of the clan says she's been gone for a while - not that I get much coming my way, they're inner clan matters," he spat, like the words were poison on his tongue.

"W-We're not trying to get in your way!" Jade quickly added, in between gasping breaths.

Well, at least he knew who Brisa was. Probably a silly question, but at least it broke the ice. Kimiko hesitated; he hadn't seemed all that thrilled about hearing her name... still, though, this was a member of his clan that was in trouble, and he was their only link to them. They had to at least try, right? But... it was going to be difficult to convince him without the proof... would he be willing to follow them to town?

Her worries were moot, however; Jade finally caught up to them, looking like she'd just sprinted a marathon. But she had the earring in hand! Somehow, Pyrrin still didn't sound very convinced, though.

Kimiko sighed, realizing she never introduced herself, either. Probably not the best first impression, but... well, at least Pyrrin had been cordial with them so far. She gave a small bow. "I'm Kimiko. Honor to meet you, truly. Forgive me, though... I can't help but wonder, why wouldn't the chieftain be interested in meeting us, when we have information about Brisa?" Or... well, at least Jade did. If nothing else, she should get an audience. But that wasn't going to cut it for the rest of them.

"As for what we want... well, as Wes said, we've heard your clan is powerful, and we were hoping to learn from you. Not just how to fight shadows, but that's certainly one reason."

 

[HelloYellow17]

Wes gave a small start at Jade’s sudden appearance—and claiming she had met Brisa. A million questions exploded in his mind—how? When? Where?—but now was not the time. He made a mental note to ask her about it as soon as they were done with this uppity Houndoom.

He barely managed to keep his lip from curling at Pyrrin’s snide remark. If someone calls me a puppy one more scorching time, I swear to stars—

“What’s your endgame here, exactly? What are you hoping to accomplish by shutting down this rail?” He jerked his head to the railroad in question.

 

[Butterfree]

Dave raised an eyebrow. Guy seemed pretty bitter about not being in the inner circle, huh. "Well, this is going to be our business if whatever you're planning is going to wreck a civilian settlement, which is something the Murkrow were apparently babbling about. So are those idiot birds just repeating some of the baseless propaganda, God knows I've read a bunch of presumable bullshit about the Escarpa at the Archives, or are you actually planning to let a fucking town get destroyed?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

Jade instinctively held the earring a bit tighter. “I… I was hoping I could show it to the chief myself. Since…Brisa and I helped each other out, and I wanted to help find her when—”

And then everyone said it outright—the Escarpa were planning the rail—and Jade’s fur bristled.