Chapter Text
Scott quickly dodges left as the click of the revolver sounds off into the distance.
“Jimmy, can’t we talk about this?”
Jimmy cycles the chamber to another round, “The time to talk things out is long over. It’s clear now that the law needs to be upheld,” He aims the revolver carefully, “And you are the last thing that puts that at risk.”
He fires, the bullet barely grazing Scott’s arm as he ducks behind a building.
“Listen Jimmy, I know you’re upset that people weren’t respecting you, but don’t you think this is going a bit too far ?!”
Scott squints his eyes, tracing the purple glow off the bullets in the chamber through the walls as he quickly dashes behind a row of buildings.
“People will get hurt if order isn’t upheld Scott, and it’s my job to keep that order.”
Scott watches as the purple glow draws closer.
He didn’t have much time left.
Scott rounds a corner, ducking into the alleyways between buildings, “And people aren’t getting hurt now Jimmy? I mean look at what you’re doing!”
Scott picks up his pace seeing the glow of the gun grow dangerously close.
“I’m only doing what needs to be done Scott,” Jimmy’s voice is cold and remorseless, a far cry from the once kindhearted sheriff.
Scott rounds the corner of the building, breath in a huff, “Well have you considered you’re doing more harm than-“ suddenly Scott stumbles as he trips over a rock and falls to the ground.
He finds himself staring down the barrel of a gun.
“Jimmy wait-“
~Two Weeks Earlier~
It was a quiet day in Tumble Town.
The sun was shining and the gentle breeze gently pushed the occasional tumbleweed across the wide open plains.
Jimmy leans back in his chair. It had been a nice calm day so far, and it had been great to finally get a chance to relax.
The quiet is interrupted by a slow, steady, knock at the door.
Jimmy perks up curiously before pushing back his chair, and slowly walking towards the door. He turns the knob and gently opens it, only to be greeted by Scott standing just outside the door frame.
“Heeyyy Jimmy, so, I’ve been thinking, and, while I absolutely love my current colorful wardrobe it does- stand out a bit more than is needed sometimes. So I got to thinking, and I realized I don’t really have any clothes from the other empires, and it might be a good idea to branch out a little bit in that department. So, if you’re free today would you be interested in going out and doing some shopping? You know, show me around the local fashion trends and the like.”
Jimmy blinks in surprise, but after considering his schedule for a few moments he realizes it’s mostly clear besides a little railroad work he had planned later that day.
“Sure! I mean I should be free all day if you want-“
“Perfect,” Scott says as he grins from ear to ear, “Well, you should know more about the local area then I do, so, lead the way sheriff. ”
A couple hours later they were in a clothing shop near the edge of the empire trying on cotton shirts, leather vests and pants, bandannas, and cowboy boots.
It wasn't the fanciest attire, but they didn't really do fancy in Tumble Town, and Scott had said he wanted something more casual (though Jimmy was still confused as to why he picked Tumble Town of all places). After trying on many articles of clothing, they finally settle on a certain outfit, leaving them to choose only the most important part of any tumble town attire: the hat.
They walk into the final room of the shop, and they’re suddenly hit by the sight of hundreds of hats of different sizes, colors, and styles hanging on racks and hooks. Scott is visibly a bit taken aback by the sight.
“ Well that’s a lot of hats.”
Jimmy smiles, “Yep! They’re our pride and joy here! What style are you looking for?”
Scott blankly stares at the many rows of hat racks.
“ Uh… do they each mean something different here or-” Scott pauses, “ Actually , I have an idea,” a small half smile appears on his face, “How about I try on your hat, y’know to get a baseline to compare them to! I promise I'll give it right back. ”
“Wha-“ Jimmy grabs his hat, “Absolutely not! This is my hat and-“
“ Relax Jimmy, it'll only be for a second. I'll give it right back-“
Jimmy clutches his hat tighter, “No! You are not taking my hat you- hat thief you-“
“Listen Jimmy, tell you what, I'll trade you. You give me your hat, and I'll give you mine. That sound fair? I just want to get a general baseline for how a hat looks. ”
Jimmy's death grip on his hat loosens a bit, as he frowns and considers for a moment.
He sighs, “ Fine. But you better give it right back- or else the sheriff will be after you!”
Scott smiles, “ Yes , I am well aware.”
And, with another sigh (this one more elongated for emphasis), Jimmy takes off his hat and hands it to Scott. In turn, Scott takes off his own and hands it to Jimmy. They both walk over to the mirror.
“Oo, you look cute with a pop of color!”
Jimmy blushes a bit, “And you look good in a cowboy hat. Now give it back.”
Scott gives a small laugh, “Alright, alright, a deal’s a deal,” he takes off the hat and hands it to Jimmy, and in turn, Jimmy does the same, “Now, it's time for me to find a hat of my own.”
After a couple more hours of shopping, they finally settle on a small and short black hat.
Scott has a dead look in his eyes, as if a part of his soul has left his body, “ That took forever. ”
Jimmy smiles warmly, “There's a lot that goes into a good hat! Each hat is a symbol of a person, an expression of their personality and soul!”
Scott pinches the bridge of his nose, “Please no, no more talking about hats Jimmy. It’s been two hours.”
Jimmy smile lessons a bit, “Alright, I get that the hat selection process can be a bit much for outsiders.”
Scott lets out a sigh, “No, it's alright; it's a part of your culture. I’m fine. ”
Jimmy gives an unsure look, “You sure?”
“Yes.”
Jimmy sighs, “Well alright, if you're sure. Sorry if that ruined the day for you or-“
He's interrupted by Scott chuckling, “No, no, it's fine, I had a wonderful day today. In fact, if you're free tomorrow I wouldn't mind having you over in Chromia.”
“Really?” a smile reappears and Jimmy's face, “I mean, I think I'm free-“
“Great! See you in Chromia tomorrow then?”
“I mean I guess, sure! See you tomorrow.”
Scotts smile grows wider, “Yep, see you then. ”
And with that the sound of rockets are heard as the colorful man spreads his patchwork wings and flies off into the distance.
Jimmy looks out over the horizon.
Today had been a fun, relaxing, and uneventful day. He hopes to himself that tomorrow will be as well.
Jimmy's eyes slowly open as the sun of the newfound sunrise hits his eyes. He slowly stretches as he gets up and out of bed.
He looks out at his empire through the window. It was a peaceful land of law and order, and a thriving one at that.
He slowly gets changed out of his cowboy pajamas, and into his normal sheriff clothing, cowboy hat and all, before heading down and making some breakfast. It was a good start to a hopefully good day.
And after a few hours of working on the railroad he admires his work, before grabbing his rockets and soaring into the air.
He had an appointment in Chromia to keep after all.
After only a few minutes the bright colors of Chromia come into view. It was a beautiful kingdom, full of beautiful colors, and fields of bright flowers.
It was chaotic, sure, more chaotic than Jimmy would ever want for his own town, but somehow that just added to the charm. It was one big chaotic band of misfits and outcasts reveling in the joy of playful chaos, and hiding all their faults under the bright hues that filled every aspect of life.
It wasn't too unlike a circus in that way.
When he lands, he's surprised to see Scott waiting for him. The man sits cross-legged on the porch with a book in hand that he quickly closes.
“Jimmy! Glad you made it! ”
Jimmy’s brow knits together in confusion, “Scott, how long have you been waiting-“
“Not important. I have a little game for you Jimmy!”
Jimmy’s confusion only grows as he takes another step closer, “A game?”
“Yeah! A game! I figured yesterday I got to know a bit about your culture, and it might be fun for you to learn a bit about ours! So, I made a scavenger hunt!”
Scott gives jazz hands for emphasis.
“A scavenger hunt? What do I need to find?”
“Oh just some general things scattered about Chromia,” Scott responds, swinging his feet from his perch on the porch, “Shouldn’t take you too long, I just figured it’d be a good way for you to get to know the local area.”
“Oh, um, okay. Will you be joining me or-“
“Ah, you see, I was actually a bit more busy today than I thought I was, I had some meetings I wasn't aware of, but you should be able to do this on your own, right?”
“I guess? I mean it shouldn't be too hard right?”
Scott grins, “Now that’s the spirit! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some important things to attend to, bye~ ”
And with those words Scott hands him the book and rockets off.
“Um, bye then.”
This wasn't what Jimmy had been expecting.
After many, many, many hours Jimmy had finally found most of the items on the list (he still had no idea what a henway was, let alone where to find one though. He figured it must be a local thing he didn't understand because anytime he went up to ask one of the citizens they burst out in laughter. He’d have to ask Scott later).
It took forever, much longer than he expected considering the relatively short list, but he had finally found everything he could.
He had a sneaking suspicion this was revenge for the hat incident yesterday.
He lets out a long sigh, placing the (mostly) filled out book and quill on the porch Scott had been sitting on, with the objects he had collected placed on top.
He wrote a little note saying, “Hey Scott, found everything I could, though quick question, what’s a henway? -Jimmy”
And with that, he leaves the note, and rockets into the air. The scavenger hunt had been… fun , but he had many things to get to work on in his own empire.
The first thing he noticed was the ginormous railroad track missing.
The second thing he noticed was the sign sitting next to it.
“Hey Jimmy, I heard your track would be an amazing gift for my beautiful princess Katherine so I'm permanently borrowing it please and thank you. Okay byyeeee. -Joey”
Jimmy stares in dumbfounded shock for a few minutes.
He looks at the empty space where the track should be, then back at the sign.
Then back at the empty space.
How did he even-
Needless to say Jimmy wasn't in the best mood by the time he made it into the empire.
Little did he know that was just the beginning.
As he makes his way through the tunnel, he sees pandemonium as he comes to the exit.
People were arguing in the streets, fights were breaking out left and right, a random lake was on fire in the background, and… cat ears?
Sure enough, as he made his way through the empire, a little over half of his citizens were wearing shimmering pairs of cat ears.
Jimmy tilts his head in confusion, before he starts to walk towards a couple of young boys in a heated argument. One wears a shimmering set of orange cat ears, while the other’s head is bare, with a cheeky smile on his face.
“I’m telling mom!”
“Nu-uh”
“Uh-huh”
“She’ll probably laugh at you for being a literal puss-“
Jimmy steps between the two children, “Hey language! And don’t speak to other children that way, that's not nice-“
The kid with orange cat ears interrupts him, “ Sheriff! George put a magic pair of cat ears on me and now I can't get them off! You should put him in jail! ”
“Nu-uh”
“Uh-huh”
“Nu-uh”
“Uh-huh”
“Nu-uh times a million!”
“Uh-huh times a million and one!”
“Okay, okay, I get it!” Jimmy shouts, turning towards the cat-eared boy once again, “Here, let me try to get those off-“
Jimmy pulls at the base of the cat ears, the boy shouting out a string of ow ow ows, but surely enough no matter how hard he pulled they refused to come off.
It was then that he noticed the purple enchanting glow radiating off of the cat ears.
His eyes widen in horror.
He crouches down next to the second boy, his voice now stern, “George, where did you get these?”
The boy pouts, “ Nowhere.”
Jimmy’s voice becomes more stern, “ George, where did you get these ears? This is important, and if you tell me I promise you won't get into any trouble-“
“I said I didn't get them, mind your own business!”
Something in Jimmy became hard and cold, knowing well the potential danger hidden under this seemingly harmless prank.
Jimmy’s voice comes out cold and dangerous before he's able to stop himself, “ Young man, you're going to tell me where you got those ears right now or you're going to have a lot more problems than just a scolding. ”
The boy flinches back, panic filling his eyes.
“I- I- got them from this w-weird pink haired lady. She t-told me to put them on someone, a-as a prank. I d-didn't know they wouldn't come off, I swear!”
Jimmy is filled with instant regret at the fear, knowing he overdid it. His face softens as he moves to comfort the boy, “Oh my gosh, I’m so, so sorry. I don't know what just came over me I- this lady, did she say anything else to you?”
The boy flinches back as Jimmy moves towards him, “N-not really, she just kept insisting that she was h-human I think?”
Lizzie.
Jimmy lets out a sigh, “Alright, do you know where I could find another pair of those cat ears?”
The boy nods, pulling out another headband, this time with black cat ears, “I got a second pair, but I didn't use them after what h-happened to Anthony.”
Jimmy takes the headband, nodding, “Thank you, and,” his voice grows more embarrassed, “And again, sorry for scaring you, I didn't mean to.”
The boy nods, “O-okay, you won't tell my mom will you?”
Jimmy smiles a bit, “My lips are sealed.”
And with that he walks away, hearing a small “ Yes! ” muttered under the boy's breath, much to the other kid’s distain.
He’d take the headband to Shubble later to identify it, but he had a feeling he already knew what enchantment, or rather curse, was on it.
As well as having a pretty good feeling of who the culprit was.
This act wouldn't go unpunished, it was possible his citizens would never be able to get the headbands off if the curse was what he thought it was.
For now however, he felt the need to relax after snapping only a few minutes earlier. Going about this while stressed would do more harm than good, for now he needs to take a few minutes to calm down and think things out.
Maybe he’ll visit the royal stables, his horses always make him feel better.
That was when Jimmy learned of the third thing that went wrong in his empire while he was away.
“What do you mean my horses are missing!”
The stablehand sighs, hand on the back of his neck, “M’ sorry Sheriff, but they disappeared in the chaos, nobody knows where they went or who took them.”
“Took them?!” Jimmy’s fury only grew, “You mean they were stolen?!”
“Not f’r sure,” the stablehand continues, a sad look in his eyes, “But in the search we did find someone who claimed to see a person in a black cowboy hat riding away with a couple of horses that fit the description-“
“Do we have any clues as to the identity of the person? Did the witness give any description of their appearance?”
The stablehand shakes their head, “Nothing besides the hat, them wearing fairly standard local clothing, and them wearing a colorful scarf tied around their face to conceal their identity. We tried to ask more follow up questions, but the witness proceeded to spot ‘that bastard Jonathan who put these damned cat ears on her’ to which she proceeded to pick up a nearby table, and throw it at a man passing by. We figured that was as good a time as ever to leave.”
Jimmy sighs, “So, the witness was Jill I assume?”
She was well known in town for exactly that type of… behavior .
She’s landed herself in a cell more than a couple of times for it too.
The stablehand nods, “Afraid so, I'd wait before talking to her, you know what she's like when she's mad.”
Jimmy lets out another, even bigger sigh, “Yeah, I'll talk to her tomorrow when hopefully she's calm down.”
“Wou’d prob’ly be for the best.”
There’s a moment of silence.
There were tons of people in Tumble Town that could fit that description, and if what Jill had said was true the suspect is already likely long gone.
Jimmy’s heart drops into his stomach.
His railroad had been stolen, his empire was in chaos, and his precious horses were gone.
He’d never been this humiliated in all his life, and he doesn't know how this day could get any worse.
He turns to leave with a sullen expression.
“Jimmy-“ the stablehand calls out to him.
“Yeah?” Jimmy responds, turning back for only a moment.
“I’m sorry that all this happened, and I hope your day gets better from here.”
A small half smile appears on the sheriff’s face.
“Thank you” he says, as he walks out of the stable, his mood not quite as bad as it had been a couple seconds ago.
He needed to lie down after all that happened.
It was all too much for one day, he needed time to lie down, and calm down, and think things through. He could deal with this mess later when he was more calm.
He makes his way back to his house, trying to ignore the chaos and shouting behind him as he makes his way to the door and turns the knob. He steps inside the small wooden shack, walking over to his bed.
But before he has a chance to collapse into the covers he sees a small wooden sign:
“Hey toy, if you ever want to see your precious cat again go to 1135, -15, -1050 at high noon.”
Jimmy looks over at the desk where Norman usually sits.
He’s nowhere to be found, and Jimmy’s face finally burns with rage.