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Frontier Town The Wanderin' Zera

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"Oh, uhhh, nope, not a scientist, and I don't know about any mirrors! Just an adventurer!" Grace answered with a nervous chuckle. "Our world just... didn't have the Fairy Type. It was a whole thing with waking up Xerneas and... hah, it's a long story."
 
Figured. Dave downed most of the rest of the glass, grimacing.

"How's that work? Some legendary Pokémon wakes up and boom, a bunch of Pokémon have a type they didn't before?" He raised an eyebrow. "You just realize suddenly that boom, Dragon attacks don't affect you today?"

It sounded like bullshit. Didn't make any fucking sense. As if 'waking Xerneas', which sounded like a euphemism for a spring orgy by hippie neopagans, wasn't bad enough, it was supposed to just magically change the types of unrelated Pokémon? But common sense didn't apply here, or in any of these other universes, so why the fuck not. His brain was going to end up liquifying into a slurry and leaking out of his ears.
 
Gerome gave Grace a skeptical stare, then shook his head. "Alright, well. Thankfully, ain't no stuff like that is gonna happen any time soon, I figure," he said. "You just get to be a Fairy here. Figure if you go to that house everyone else is staying in, maybe you'll get caught up on where to do scouting after that." He shrugged. "Anything you guys want me to keep an ear out for?"
 
"I guess the stuff he already said," Grace said with a nod. "And... thankfully I'm already used to being a Fae. It was certainly strange to suddenly be capable of so many new techniques, but there's no need to worry about me freaking out about it!"

She wiggled to a stand, which didn't really help her height at all. "Thank you for the drink," she said cheerily, bowing to Gerome. "It was very lovely!"
 
"...Right." Gerome's expression gave no hints to how he actually felt. "So." He eyed Dave. "What's the plan now for you guys? Holdin' down the fort, training? Scouting? Still little tykes, so not like standing up to any big threats is on the table..."
 
"Well, uh, about that house everyone's staying in. This Shadow Drapion kind of trashed the place. Thought for a few hot minutes it'd killed all the Tandemaus too, but apparently they were just... out. For some reason." Dave frowned. What was up with that, anyway. "On the plus side, it sounded like some of my fellow travelers had every intention of moving out of there to just sleep anywhere else, so probably some empty rooms." He chuckled, lifting his glass. "As for plans, I guess our main lead right now is the Wolf and all that Blaguarro shit. Whether we can do anything about it right now is another thing entirely."

He downed the rest of the drink, hackles rising along his spine.

"Hey, Gerome," he said. "You mentioned some people came around asking about Jesse Stranger. Who were they? One of them by any chance an Inteleon called Nolan? Way overdressed, cravat and pretentious top hat? Or his buddy Dakota the Monferno? It sounded like Stranger met them. He had this list of people in his cabin, with a bunch of names. Most of them crossed out, except those two, 'Voclain', and... one more that you know."

May as well let him keep his plausible deniability in front of Grace as far as that went.
 
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Gerome's expression changed just slightly like he was scrutinizing Dave on reflex. But then, with a sigh, he relaxed and picked up another glass. Scanned the crowd. Seemed safe.

"Inteleon and Monferno," he confirmed. "I'm real familiar with those guys..."

Another long silence followed, and then...

"They were the ones who tried to get me. They ain't welcome in this bar. That was several years ago. Was livin' a nice, quiet life up until then... Guess every second chance has its fine print."
 
Ooh. More mysteries! More to catch up with. Just what exactly had they been pulled in here to solve? Kidnappings? A missing family? Shadowy 'Mon? Certainly that last one had to be related at least on some level, right...?

"Erm... second chance?" Grace asked quietly. Maybe she should let Dave handle the questions...
 
Dave's ears perked. So they'd been here to recruit Gerome?

"So how'd they take an interest in you?" he asked. "You get summoned to do hero shit, or what?"
 
"If I was," Gerome said, "I wasn't never told to be a hero. One day I just woke up here and felt real awful all over. Larvitar, back then. Felt pretty good after eating sand. ...Yeah, I didn't remember that eating sand ain't normal, but the memories came back later."

His tail swished carefully behind him.

"Nah. I don't think I was summoned. I think I just got lucky. Made a lot of mistakes in my human life... Doubt there's much t'go back to. This..." There was a gravity to his tone. "This is gonna be my home now."
 
Huh. That'd be disconcerting. Just whisked off to a different universe, no explanation or instructions, not even fucking remembering who you are? What species you are?

"So how'd Nolan and Dakota find you? They just figured it out because of your aura or whatever the fuck?"
 
Grace stood quietly as she processed the conversation. That's right, a few people on the team had been hugh-mans, right? Just what was it like to totally change bodies like that, or was it not too dissimilar to evolving? Maybe she was thinking too much about it?

"I'm... sorry that happened to you," Grace murmured, sounding uncertain. "I hope things have at least somewhat been better for you..."
 
"They are," Gerome replied to Grace. "Figured they found me when they realized a Tyranitar who showed up outta nowhere with no history started makin' his rounds. Fucked off west after that one." He harrumphed. "And here I am. Outta their hair, too much trouble to bother with. They know not to mess with my family. Otherwise... well. I've got the power to level their buildings. Mutually assured destruction."
 
"Oh! Well, as fun as that sounds to watch, let's hope it doesn't come down to destroying each other, okay?" It wasn't like she could tell him not to fight back-- if her own family was being threatened, nothing would stop her from fighting back either. "But if it does... then give 'em hell," she said with a light smirk.
 
"...Wouldn't've expected somethin' like that from a Togepi," Gerome commented. "You really are with those nutcases."
 
Dave raised an eyebrow. Pretty fucked up for the world to be full of people who could level buildings if they felt like it, at all.

"They make a pitch to you, then? Trying to get you on board with their shit or helping them?"
 
"Felt like it. One of those 'offer you can't refuse' sort of deals, if I remember right... Or maybe that was just the way I interpreted it." He huffed. "Either way... no deal. I left, and fast. Jesse helped get them off my tail, so I owed him one."
 
Dave shook his head, gaze fixed on his empty glass. "Stranger ever tell you about a voice that spoke to him in his dreams?"
 
Oh, Dave must have been talking about their Voice. That disembodied voice that somehow brought them all here, right? "This Jesse person sounds like a good guy..." she said softly, different to the tone she just had. "I hope we can help them before anything extremely bad happens."
 
Gerome hummed, thoughtful. "...Not real specific on that one I can remember," he admitted. "...I got one, though, sure. Nothin' real important for you guys, though. Just... personal stuff."

This one had the vibe of a firm wall that Gerome would not tear down just yet. But he'd been honest so far--it probably wasn't important to the team... or, he at least thought it wouldn't be.
 
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