Frontier Town The Wanderin' Zera

[Tetra]

“If there’s someone who might have info on fighting shadow bullshit it’d be her.”

He glanced at Gladion. "... Would the Covenant help?" Koa wasn't in a hurry to trust them, but from he'd gathered maybe there was some of them who wanted to do good. And yet it was hard to discount what he'd heard from Brisa. The implications of what she'd said and what it meant... Still, building up a relationship would help if they needed to get intel from them, right?

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion sighed. He could probably ask Articuno and get something useful out if it. But also… If that chat made him become the de facto wayfarer liaison for that Coven— Covenant faction he was gonna put his head through a brick wall.

Still. He’d do whatever it took to unfuck this shadow stuff. He’d made a promise to Powehi, and he’d understand he had to do it even if he hadn’t.

“I can ask Articuno about it. Doubt we’ll get too much on fighting shadows, more likely we get something about the logistics of even getting to Erebus in the first place. Coven’s gotta know a thing or two about getting around.”

 

[Butterfree]

"Jesus," Dave muttered. Help from the fucking Covenant. He supposed it checked out; Nolan had been all for rooting out the fucking Shadow problem. So long as they weren't empowering the bastards.

"So we're talking Nova tries to get something out of Dayle, me and Koa interrogate Ein and maybe the other Cipher admins. Mhynt suggested getting some Saints to attack his territories; I can have a word with Moltres on that one. The Covenant has some people like, uh, the fucking Chesnaught who was at the exhibition? Is there anyone who'd be down to try to get through to Owen? You said Grace made some progress?"

 

[Namohysip]

Mhynt nodded. "Grace might be our best bet there. I'll contact her later," she said to Dave. "As for myself... I want to scout out Twilight Quarry again, if nobody else wants to do that. I'd appreciate backup, but I'll ask later. there might still be information to gather now that he isn't directly occupying that space. Also... I heard that the town elections are underway. You may want to look into a few of those candidates. One of the front runners doesn't seem as keen to help us directly for political reasons."

 

[Ambyssin]

"I think a bunch of the people who supported the Cipher plant jumped ship to... Dayle." Nova tilted his head so the left side rested on the table. "Maybe if I tell him the psychic war's bigger than Frontier Town I can convince him to pull out."

 

[JFought]

Isidora occupied herself taking notes. The idea of bringing in the Covenant had her hesitant, but she didn't speak up. The stakes were too high to squabble over petty ideology at this point, and they needed all the help they could get.

"I'll see what I can find out on the Ranger side of things, even it isn't much," she pitched in. Then pressed her chin into her pen. "One thing I'm worried about is how Cipher will fit into all this. If Alexander is heading straight for where Terminal One is, then they're gonna make a move." She made a gesture with her head towards Koa. "Could be worth asking Ein about."

 

[Namohysip]

"Good idea. We could use their scouting, at the very least," Mhynt said to Isidora. "As for Dayle... That's another good idea, yes. Don't want him siphoning votes if it's this close..."

The fact that Dayle was actually relevant to speak with for the elections shriveled up her leaves. What had the world come to?

 

[Tetra]

Koa nodded in acknowledgement to Isidora. He'd been surprised to see but in a way, he was glad. "Yeah good idea," he murmured. "Even Ein will probably not want to lose all their precious Cipher resources to Alex."

He cast a glance at her. "Rangers is a good idea... maybe Sinopa might have information about rifts too, more than we can learn from locals." The scope of the threat felt so huge, maybe more than what they were used to but maybe they'd be able to still help.

At least Nova was taking on the burden of talking to Dayle.

 

[Namohysip]

"Right." Mhynt nodded firmly. "If that's the case, I think we have ample options now. Let's not wait. A day we delay is a day Alexander gains on us." She sighed heavily. "I hope those we speak to can also recognize the urgency behind this. We have enough to worry about... best to nip this one before it can start.

"Good luck, everyone. Let's check in here once most of us are done."

<><><>​

 

[Inkedust]

Since defeating her at Blaguarro, Moltres had taken residence at the Wandering Zera under the watchful eye of Gerome the barkeep. Most of the time, she had perched herself on the roof, quickly becoming an unusually uninteresting sight for the people of Frontier Town, it was just a hotspot for Saints, they probably reasoned.

And Moltres was so boooooooored.

Today, was attempting to stick her beak into the hole on the roof, trying to fit her whole head in there in order to holler at the drunkards from above after messing with murkrow who kept croaking out the same old gossip grew too stale. It was a work in progress, only being able to fit it halfway through but she was managing something. Just a little longer and then she would have her whole beak inside.

She was so preoccupied with this, in fact, that she did not notice anyone approaching from below...

 

[Chibi Pika]

Jade held her cloak tight around her shoulders with one paw while her other paw held steady on her bike's handlebars. Afternoon deliveries had stopped being as nice once the weather had gotten colder. Even if the Soja' wasn't that bad (just try not to think about going back to Malantau). But there was something kind of nice about the mundane-ness of riding around town, dropping things off. Something normal in the face of all the weirdness.

She didn't usually stop inside the Zera—it was more of a bar bar than a place like Nina's—but it was hard to miss Moltres perched on top of the roof, currently focused very intently on... something. Jade wasn't too sure if there was any point trying to strike up a conversation with the firebird, but felt compelled to at least try.

"Hey, um... you busy with anything there?"

 

[Butterfree]

Dave was going to go in and have a drink at the Zera while he talked to Moltres. Plenty to drink about these days, after all. Instead, when he approached the bar, he found Moltres bent over on the roof, seemingly sticking her head into a hole. Jade was there too, cautiously asking if she was busy.

"Yeah, uh, I also wanted to talk. Do you think there's a chance you could help the Wayfarers out with something?"

 

[Inkedust]

At the sound of voices below, Moltres pulled her beak from the hole only to look on the small pokémon below. "Oh, it's you," she said, shaking her wings out and letting magenta embers fall onto the rooftop. "Other than being bored out of my mind, I haven't been busy with much and I guess this can wait," she added with a small glance and harrumph at the hole.

"So what is it? How desperate have you become to come to me for help?"

 

[Butterfree]

"Well, apparently the world is literally ending, so there's that," Dave deadpanned. "We need to take down Alexander before it's too late, and one of the main strategic ideas is to try to get some Saints to strike at some of the dungeons he's used to distract him and stretch him thinner. So do you think you might want to be one of them?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

"So what is it? How desperate have you become to come to me for help?"

Jade suspected that that was about as friendly a greeting as she could have hoped for. "Well, I mostly just wanted to see how you were doing..." she said, stepping off from her bike and leaning it against a fence post. Seemed like Dave had more practical concerns, though.

"But yeah, there's been some dungeons getting corrupted with Shadow. Y'know... the same stuff that was causing all the 'demon' problems around Blaguarro." Jade hoped that connecting it to something Moltres knew, was familiar with, would help make it feel more real.

She wasn't entirely sure how to word the next bit, and wanted to avoid going too far. "How has... um. How's it been with handling the shadow side of things, for you?" Moltres didn't exactly strike her as the meditative type.

 

[Inkedust]

"Well, you've seen me and I've said how I'm doing so I hope that has been enlightening for you," she said to Jade, picking at a stuck-out nail on the roof. She seemed to shrug at the news of the shadow dungeons. "So what?" she asked, "Alexander is a piece of work, so I've heard, but it doesn't sound like anything out of your league. Why do you need my help for it? Anyway, the shadows have been fine. It's always been fine as long as I ignore it."

However, Dave's explanation left the Saint highly skeptical. The Wayfarers were well aware of how Moltres felt about getting Saints to do all the work for mortals but there was something deeper there that seemed to bother her, something that overpowered her respect for the offworlders. Narrowing her eyes at the mightyena she asked, "What kind of Saints?"

 

[Chibi Pika]

Anyway, the shadows have been fine. It's always been fine as long as I ignore it."

Jade couldn't help being... somewhat skeptical of this, but she bit her tongue and didn't comment on it.

"Look... I get that maybe you don't have any reason to be a part of the main party facing him directly or anything... but if a bunch of other dungeons across the continent get corrupted, that'd be bad, yeah? And, well... you're really strong, so you could probably guard a whole dungeon no sweat." Jade wasn't exactly sure if flattery was the right call with Moltres, but whatever, it was worth a shot.

 

[Butterfree]

"Whoever's available and up for it, really." Was she going to raise a stink about it if they should recruit Saints she didn't like for not-tearing-apart-the-planet purposes? Really? Priorities. "The basic idea is Alexander's in Eremus Rift. We, the Wayfarers, are going to go face him head-on there, where the main fight is. Meanwhile, he's been extending his reach into some other dungeons through the Voidlands connecting them, but we can't be in multiple places at once. Hence, it'd be great if some powerful people who can hold their own could try to attack him from there, too, while we handle the main line of attack. Chance to step up and do something to make the world better and not worse, et cetera."

 

[Sinderella]

Odette wasn't sure what had taken her into the Zera that day. Probably just a need for a change of scenery, or just a different drink menu. Upon walking through the door, however, she was greeted with the sight of Dave and that other meowth, Jade, talking to Moltres. An unshakeable desire to butt in overtook her, but she took a deep breath and approached the counter to order her usual tea. Not her problem right now.

Of course, until she "involuntarily" eavesdropped on what they were discussing. Looping Moltres into the fight. She didn't sound keen on it--because why would she be?--but that didn't stop the fact that they needed her. If they were going to fight off the end of the fucking world against a dumbass fucking hydreigon, that is.

Huffing, she grabbed her teacup and sauntered over to where the other three were. If there was anyone else who would likely be decent at appealing to the whims of a Wrath Bird, it was her.

"Hi," she said as she sat. "Sorry to butt in; I was definitely not eavesdropping," she added, lending a chunk of her sarcasm to the comment. She took a sip of her tea before setting the cup and saucer back on the counter.

"What they said," she began, gesturing to Dave and Jade. "But to chime in, also, aren't you fucking bored in here? What do you do all day?" The question was clearly rhetorical, because she didn't give Moltres a moment to answer. "Don't you want an excuse to go nuts on something like Alexander and his piece of shit world-ending nonsense? You're probably not going to get another chance as big and obvious as this."

 

[Inkedust]

To Jade, Moltres let out a snort. "Of course I am, but I won't do it if I don't have a good reason to. If you already have a bunch of other Saints on standby, what do you need me for?" she asked, glancing at Dave with a frown. It definitely seemed that his reasoning stuck something within her but she was still not entirely convinced.

However, Moltres' question would not need answering as once Odette showed up to say her piece, Moltres eyed the three carefully; her initial skeptical expression shifting to one of genuine consideration. Despite the three sharing the same goal of convincing the bird, Odette's framing of the situation was by far the most effective: Moltres was very bored and the idea of spreading her wings again to stick it to a high-off-his-own-ego bastard like Alexander did sound promising. It was no wonder that Odette had indirectly received the Saint's blessing after their initial meeting.

"Well, when you put it like that..." she hummed, beginning to sound excited.

Moltres turned back to Dave. "I guess I can work with that if they stay out of my way and I better see some action on the frontlines too. Playing babysitter for a dungeon sounds just as fun as being stuck here."