"I have a lot of questions."

"I bet you do."

I rubbed my face and tried to collect my thoughts. "First off," I asked while trying to stay calm, "does your "chosen warrior" have to be a teenage girl?"

The cat...fox...creature shuffled around a bit before replying, "Well, no, but-".

"Then WHY HER?!"

"BECAUSE I HAD NO OTHER CHOICE, DAMMIT!"

"YOU HAD NO OTHER CHOICE BUT A TEENAGER?!"

The two of us stared daggers at each other for what felt like forever until it finally spoke up again. "Normally, we would gather the greatest warriors from across the land and put them through various trials to see who among them were worthy to receive our blessings. But that was centuries ago, and now..."

"Welcome to the modern world," I fired back.

The creature seemed to ignore my remark and continued. "Between the urgency of the situation and my unfamiliarity with the 'modern world' as you put it, I was at a loss - where would I even begin my search for a champion, much less find one so quickly?"

"So you just picked some random person off the street?"

The beast leapt onto a nearby table and stared me down. "Do you know how your daughter and I first met?" he replied. "She came to rescue me from thugs possessed by the dark powers I've sworn to fight against. Well, tried to, at least.

"I didn't want to choose her, truly - too young, too reckless, too eager to use underhanded tactics. But she was a damn sight more noble and worthy than those men and women that claim to be 'defenders of the peace'."

"You mean the police?" I asked. "Cause yeah, they're a mixed bag at best."

The creature jumped down and paced around. "So there's your answer," it concluded. "She was my only option given the circumstances."

As if on cue, the front door option and Jessica walked in, looking so exhausted that she was ready to collapse at any moment. She muttered something under her breath when she caught sight of us and stopped. "I'm in trouble, aren't I?" she weakly asked.

"No, but we need to talk."