Victory Lap [Pokémon]

[redspah]

Twenty six years ago, he'd suddenly found himself in a world unlike his own.

Twenty six years ago, he was given a Pokémon for his protection.

Twenty six years ago, he had gained a daughter.

Today, she pays him yet another visit.

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Victory Lap​

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"Charles, you have a visitor."

I wait anxiously as the worker passes on the news of my presence. There usually aren't any problems at this step, not... not yet at least. I know there eventually will be, and then they'll stop, together with everything else.

He mumbles something, his tattered emotions still clear enough to make out. Surprise, uncertainty, hesitation. Eventually, curiosity and acceptance. Who could it be visiting him in here, after all?

Who indeed.

"Come on in, Bailey."

I pass the woman a nod as she heads elsewhere before taking a deep breath and rehearsing a couple lines in my head. The clothes chafe a bit- not quite the right cut. Hard to make a skirt and shirt work with a Lucario body type, especially ones obviously tailored for a human. Strings in the back keeping them in place. Worth the discomfort.

They're "person" clothes, after all.

The TV is broadcasting a rerun of one of his favorite soap operas. He liked it once, no wonder he liked it again.

"^Hello, dad.^"

He snaps to reality with a couple blinks, shaking hand reaching up to mute the TV. It takes him a couple moments to remember what to do next, his expression slack as he looks over at me from his armchair.

I know all too well what'll happen next.

His eyes go wide, head reels back. I try to brace for it, but it stings all the same, never hurts any less. I've seen him tens of thousands of times, it's his first time seeing me. Sometimes, if I'm lucky, one of the episodes he'd recently seen has a Lucario in it. Helps dull the shock, even if it doesn't fully abate it.

I look outlandish to him, just like I used to twenty six years ago.

"Wow, eh... one of them, uh... furries?"

"^Yeah, pretty much. Wanna chat?^"

There's no use in trying to correct him, I've learned my lesson dozens of visits ago. Have to stick to what he knew so long ago, before he knew me, before he knew of this world. For the longest time, I thought it was just one of his tall tales, silly stories he'd make up to entertain me when I was younger.

Lies are easy to sense, but only if truth would be coherent.

It was only recently in the grand scheme that the truth about where he'd come from really hit me. Spent most of his life in a world where all non-human creatures lacked sapience, suddenly found himself here. Had to take me in for equal parts my own and his protection.

"Sure! Your name, uh... what was his face..."

"^Anubis?^"

"Right!"

The name is meaningless to me. Some sort of cultural figure in his previous world, coincidentally similar in appearance. No real point in even bringing it up in the first place, but... it makes him happy. To be right. To remember. To at least have one of his hunches verified.

"^No, no, I'm Bailey.^"

Telepathy's handy for this. Have to focus to put on the right voice, come as close to projecting something human sounding as possible. Thankfully, it's enough. This time.

"Bailey, huh? I used to... I... I have a daughter named Bailey."

He remembers Bailey, but he doesn't remember me.

"^Fun coincidence, huh?^"

"No kidding! So uh... how's- how've you been, Hailey?"

It's easy to smile. It's so much harder for that smile to remain unsodden by tears.

"^I've been doing really well. College's been rough at times, but I'm progressing, and it feels great.^"

"Hope ya don't study with that costume on."

"^It's... really comfortable, actually.^"

"Pfft, sure, can't- can't imagine the... teach- no, right, lecturers to be too happy with it."

"^They're growing more and more understanding about it.^"

And so did he, once.

"Oh. Guess people just wanna do and be whatever these days."

"^I don't think that's the case, actually. People's always been different, just not as many cared or accepted it.^"

Disdain in his thoughts, at least in the ones still remaining. Mind's like a tapestry, each experience a splash of color, coming together to create a person. Each time I visit, it's just that bit more frayed. Missing thread here, a small puncture there. Being torn in slow motion, on a scale of years.

And then, one day, it will come undone.

"Hmph. Sure... ugh. That costume of yours, Kaileigh. What's it... what's it made out of?"

"^Fur, leather.^"

"Mighty well done, really... professional. Those... things on your wrists-"

"^Plastic.^"

I remember when he came up with the idea of using these to pop bottle caps open, shortly after I'd evolved. It was a fun party trick.

A great distraction from the chaos outside.

"Look metal, coulda fooled me. Hmm... I should- I should call Bailey sometimes, I think. I haven't spoken to her in so long."

"^She understands.^"

"I know- I know... I think she does. She's... strong. Busy at school, I think. We've... we've been though a lot, she's so strong."

Multiple definitions, and he means them all.

I remember carrying him around when I was little. He'd ask me to put him down and I'd just laugh. It used to scare him, long time back. Someone so small being able to lift and punch so much, mighty enough to maim if not kill with one strike. My strength scared him, his fright scared me. I grew, he grew, we both understood each other more. We both understood this world more. It was natural,

For as long as we both remembered it.

I couldn't have been older than six or seven when all the scary news began to break. Old League leadership, dead at sea, terrorist attack likely. Growing chaos on the streets, nobody had any idea who the trainers even answered to anymore. Some answered to the governments. Some answered to themselves. Some answered to the masses. Some yet answered to their mons,

And the latter group won, in time.

"^She told me, actually. She even told me how you marched on the streets with her.^"

"Yeah, I... we did. I think she sat on my shoulders, and we all shouted, shouted... good things. Them gubment rats were doin' something vile and- and we shouted at them. Yeah."

One demonstration of mon personhood, another- and without the League to sabotage the efforts, they began to work. Hard to keep thinking of mons as mindless when they're having a casual discussion with you- those who can at least.

Even after the laws changed, even after he'd went from owning me to being my parent, communication always remained the big, still unsolved issue. Not with me, but with others, those with no psychics nor aura. A single, universal solution never came, never could- but a language of sign and gesture seemed to work well enough, in time.

Some of him still remembers it, even. I tried using it a few visits ago- he started responding in kind without even thinking, and then stopped when he had no idea what his arms were even doing.

"^She's made quite a life for herself.^"

"Course she did! She's my Bailey, through thick or... yeah. Hope she pays her old man a visit sometime."

"^She's planning on it.^"

"Good! Y'know, all I ever... ever wanted was for her to be happy. She's had a rough... childhood. I hope she's happy."

"^She is.^"

I love him.

He loves what remains of me, less and less each time.

Eventually, the last thread inside him will tear, turning a person into a still-warm carcass. An inevitability, the repeated realization testing the limits of my self control. I want to leap in, I want him to hold me tight, to stroke my head like he used to.

I'm not sure he still remembers any of it.

I reach into my pocket and pull a cassette player out, the device just old enough to still be mostly recognizable. He raises one eyebrow, just like when I did my antics back in the day.

"^There's been this cool new country rock album, wanna give it a listen?^"

"Damn right."

It's his favourite, after all.

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Also check out my main fics, From the Vast and Another Way!​