Frontier Town Traveller's Haus - Guest Rooms

[Jackie Cat]

Thank you, Jade. Your words offer significant comfort.

While I cannot clearly remember the incident which prompted me to summon the Wayfarers, I am now certain that you are correct – it was Starr that asked for help. I have been... negligently reluctant in connecting the available evidence in my memory, but a feeling I can only describe as 'dread' has kept me from closely examining these memories.

For you see, Starr's message to me was not 'conversational'. I did not see her face to face, of course, and as I was not her summoner, we had no connection.

No... In actuality, Starr's message was plaintext, entered into a computer terminal:​

A strange sensation crept into Jade's mind as something travelled across the telepathic link...

Hello?

Can anyone hear me?

I don’t have much time, so listen up. I don’t know who you are or where you’re from. Supposedly, this message is being broadcast to a dozen or more worlds, but it’s not like I have any control over which ones.

I’ll get right to it—this world is screwed unless we get help. I can’t save it on my own. I don’t know how the hell anyone thought I could. We need reinforcements.

I’m supposed to ask for a ‘hero’s soul,’ whatever the hell that means. Well, if you can send one our way, that’d be real freaking swell. They’ll be sent back home as soon as it’s done, like nothing ever happened, so you don’t have to worry about—

…Shit, they found me.

There’s not much time. ███████ can explain more, they should be able to—

[Transmission end.]

Usually the mental network was like a conversation in her head, not so different from her connection with Lugia. But this felt like she'd read an email without seeing it with her eyes. Just... directly into her brain. Weird.

Faintly, her gut would tell her that this was the very message she'd answered when she agreed to come to Forlas...

That was the message I received. I broadcasted it... unedited... save for that name.​

 

[Chibi Pika]

So that was the message that had been sent out to a few dozen—or even more—worlds. She'd already known that Betel and Starr didn't get much time to chat before the call for help was sent out. But if she'd been under pursuit at the time, then it must have only been for a few minutes at most, probably. Jade found her mind filling with a flood of questions, but it didn't seem right to overwhelm Betel while they were still reeling.

"For what it's worth... I know what it's like to have memories that are hard to think back on," she began carefully. Like the memories were some diseased thing that had to be cut out. But Betel was already thinking about it now, so...

"Did Starr know your name, then? Or, I guess, a thing you'd been called?" Before Betel was Betel they'd been... a Beacon? A Lighthouse?

 

[Jackie Cat]

Lately, I feel increasingly sure that most thinking beings have such memories, Jade...

Starr must have had some word in mind to refer to me. If only by my supposed function, or by my... appearance? I have never been quite sure whether I actually have a physical appearance. My working hypothesis for now is that I do have a physical form, but that I have been somehow severed from it. I do not know if this circumstance is reversible, or... if I should want it amended. I am... useful like this.
​

That wasn't quite an answer to the question Jade had asked. Of course, Betel might not know what Starr called them, if anything, but it sure felt like they'd dodged the question.

███████ can explain more,

There had been a blankness at the end of Starr's message. She'd typed something (or recorded on speech-to-text? maybe?) that just wouldn't resolve into a word in Jade's mind. In context, it seemed like a name... for a 'they' who might know more. Had she meant Betel?

 

[Chibi Pika]

Jade's ears flicked forward, curious. "A physical form...? I wonder if if we could, like... find it, somehow." Somewhere, in the heart of the Covenant's operations, maybe... "Maybe... maybe being able to walk around and interact with the rest of us could, like, help you feel more like a Pokemon, I guess. It wouldn't have to mean losing access to the Spirit Nexus, right? I mean, Powehi is like some kinda Shadow Beacon, and he's still got a physical form. Maybe the natural Beacon's got one too."

She tapped her paws together hesitantly. "...Maybe we'll find Starr in the same place we find you."

 

[Jackie Cat]

I... suppose! I am not aware of any reason that my interface with the Astral Plains should be in any way curtailed by reunion with my physical form. If I do indeed have one.

Finding Starr, however... I feel that this is a critically important objective. More than anything else we have done so far, that would be a fundamental response to the mandate I had to send for help to begin with. The help, after all, was meant for her.

I hope we find her soon, Jade.​

 

[Chibi Pika]

The help, after all, was meant for her. Jade being here, in a roundabout way, was to help Starr. More than anyone else, her being called to Forlas felt... personal.

"Well, we're heading east soon. We'll finally get our chance. We'll find her... and we'll find you too."

And maybe now, Jade could finally let herself believe it.

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[Tetra]

Exhaustion made sleep come easy, but with peace came strange dreams....

The ground blurred beneath Koa’s feet paws, his legs thrumming with energy. A streak of orange raced ahead, leaving sparks in its wake. The Roaming Cyclone. He was keeping pace with him, racing across grasslands and scrubby deserts, practically flying. He was easily as fast as the Saint, maybe faster.

They were chasing something... Someone...? High above, he saw a brilliant prism of light and color carving a path through the skies, slicing the clouds. Ho-Oh.

Impossibly high up, so high even the clouds seemed unable to reach its majestic form. With a howl, he collected all his energy, focusing... and leaped-! Higher, he could go higher, so high he was flying. Punching through clouds, soaring with the wind, simply willing it and the sky responding in turn.

Crimson and rainbow feathers flashed into his vision, and he reached out, touching Ho-Oh’s wingtips, its massive form filling his vision. For blissful moments of time, he soared alongside the legendary. Eventually he glided back down to the ground, landing lightly on three paws and clutching a feather in the fourth, feeling light as air. Free.

Koa licked his lips. He needed... a drink... Yes, he was thirsty. With the feather tucked behind his ear, he trotted to the lake nearby. Leaning down, he lapped up several mouthfuls of water, though oddly it felt as if he were drinking nothing at all. Not even air. Just nothing.

The oddness slid away and instead he found himself staring down at his own reflection, expecting - a human boy - a shiny blue Electrike wearing a Ho-Oh feather. A Manectric stared back at him. He tipped his head. The reflection tipped its head. Oh right, he’d evolved... When...? Of course. Must have just evolved recently... Right. Yes. During the battle maybe.

He was a Manectric now, but shiny. Darker blue almost black fur, familiar spiky fluffy hair and amber blue eyes... Blue..? But... He blinked and leaned closer. His reflection moved closer. Blue, not brown, eyes stared back at him. Blue, just like-

Recoiling, he bared his teeth in a snarl. The Manectric in the reflection snarled back at him, blue eyed and cold and unfeeling. Koa lashed out, blindingly fast, at himself the water, dashing the reflection. The water rippled and distorted, the image vanishing into a blob of color. He stared, and stared, as eventually it resettled.

A blue-eyed Manectric stared back at him. He reared up, slammed both paws into the water as hard as he could, feeling a rush of satisfaction- A blur of blue-black and yellow exploded toward him, something sinking into his neck and pulling him in-

Koa’s yelp was cut short as black water closed over his head. He thrashed in the grip of the Manectric, flailing awkwardly, trying fruitlessly to shock him to no avail. He smashed Manectric across the head with a glowing golden paw, his grip loosened and he wrenched himself free.

He hung in an endless expanse of black water, no sign of up or down and no sign of Manectric. Alone. He could see by a faint light emanating from his own body, except the only thing visible was darkness. Water pressed on all sides and every breath was like breathing through a straw.

Out he needed out he needed more air and solid ground. He began to kick, swimming... swimming... Up? was that light? The surface? His limbs brushed against something in the void-like blackness.

Kicking away, he pushed upward. His paws jerked abruptly to a halt. Blinking in confusion, he looked at his limbs. Thick black manacles connected to chains wrapped around his legs and neck. He jerked and fought, but they only grew more taut. That wasn’t right... Twisting around, he looked down, following the chains ever downward...

Lightning blue eyes sparked in the shadows. He stared down at them, at the form gripping the red chains. Yellow and black fur, lightning black stripes and a feline face twisted into a furious glare. Zeraora.

With a gurgled yelp, he began to kick and lunge and thrash in a wild frenzy. It did nothing. The Red Chains drew him inexorably downward, closer to the furious legendary, further and further into thick shadowy darkness. He could barely see his own paws anymore, only the ever closer form of Zeraora...

Too slow... why was it so hard... He made one last feeble attempt to get free, slashing at the chains, but his limbs felt like lead and he couldn’t muster any force behind the movement. It was getting so hard to breathe down here, was the water getting heavier?

Some people can’t be saved...

His thrashing ceased. He saw himself, watched the Manectric dragged down until he could see nothing but black-

Koa lurched, then kicked out, his mind in an addled daze as he thrust his blanket off himself and sucked in a breath of air, then another. He blinked blearily, looking around his darkened room. His tangled sheets lay in a heap on the floor, and his mind slowly connected the dots. Just a dream. He must have pulled the blanket over himself. Something like that was in his dream, wasn't it? Watching, drowning in dark water. He’d been dreaming of...

A hazy image of red chains and a blue-eyed Manectric flashed through his thoughts, along with a foggy recollection of... flying? With a Ho-Oh? What a ridiculous dream. He shuddered, then glanced out the window. Early dawn light peeked through the curtains.

Good. Good, it was almost dawn, he could stick to his old routine. Well, mostly, he’d go for a nice walk and skip the training so he could give his aching limbs a break. He glanced down at himself. Still an Elektrike...

Suppressing another shiver that he attributed to the changing seasons, he hurried through his morning routine, put on his jacket, and headed for the door.

Without stopping to look, he turned the small mirror on the dresser facedown and continued out the door.

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