FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

A pretty normal day was going on for this group of irregulars, with the exception of the fact that this group of irregulars consisted of both humans and Pokémon. Together they were journeying across countrysides meeting new people and Pokémon as well as gaining new experiences battling. A sort of reunion meeting was happening amongst the group, and that included ALL of this human's Pokémon. Amongst them was the Pokémon that was worshipped in some regions as a deity, and it had the ability to manipulate space according to its will. This of course, was initially thought to pose a problem, until it was discovered that space would still exist even without it. "It's been a while since I've seen YOU, Miru. I've been meaning to ask you about a few things but of course you aren't bound by Poké Balls so you arrived at your own leisure partially. What exactly is the extent that you can truly distort space? That alternate space that I was sent to... it must have taken a lot to send me there. Have you tried to recreate that same type of thing with the enhancement of the Orb?" The Trainer said.

"I haven't used it since that one time, but it seems like you are inviting me to do so," it responded. "Well, yes. I'd like to see the extent of the enhancement of your powers." With that statement, Miru floated down to the ground. It didn't speak but instead, opened up a slice of space in which it then entered. After it returned, the Lustrous Orb was in its claws. It then repeated the process again, and when it did it the second time, not only did the gems on is shoulders glow pink, but the orb itself now glew pink. Instead of a normal sized slice, a portal was visible, that showed what looked like another version of the same place, but slightly distorted, like ripples in a pond.

Serena, on the other hand, had been hunting when she saw the claws, and the portal open. She crouched behind a bush thinking to herself about how something like that could have happened. She of course, looked at her own claws and tried to mimic the motion, then upon finding that she couldn't do it, decided to walk to the side of the, unbeknownst to her, separate piece of space, just looking at it. 'Huh, it's like...a reflection in the lake...but, it's in the air.' she didn't dare touch it, not yet anyway. Her eyes examined the edges warily, as if it would expand to swallow her up, but when it didn't, she got more brave, walking out in front of it and peering into it suspiciously. Nothing.

"That's rather odd... it's different than normal. I'm not certain I want to just go and stick my head in there..." He said. The next stage was to obviously find out what was on the other side of it, since it appeared to simply be more than just a regular portal. He reached on the ground, after spotting a nearby large rock that he could roll, and then he stood near the edge, making extra careful not to directly be in front of the portal either, and then he rolled the rock inside. If there was something other side, then it probably would do several things. It could get curious, and roll the rock back, eat it, spit it out if it was large enough to eat it in the first place, or it could destroy the rock in which case he'd be able to probably see the results later.

She jumped back defensively as something came through the portal, what in the world? Her claws were at the ready in a defensive stance. When it didn't do anything after rolling in, she warily walked up to it and poked it with a claw. Nothing. Just a rock. She felt silly, but then, that meant that there was something on the other side. She bent and hefted up the rock, then pushed it back through, if a bit harder than intended to send it perhaps three feet into the air before it would land back on the other side. It didn't belong here, even if it was just a rock. Eventually though, curiosity more than anything got the better of her, and she testingly poked a claw through near the side, and wiggled it around before pulling it back and looking at it. 'Well...it's staying open, whatever it is, so if I did go through, then I could get back...plus there'd probably be more food over on that side, doesn't seem to be damaged, plentiful hunting versus standing here and starving...no contest.'

After seeing the rock forcibly pushed back through the portal, he knew that there definitely was something on the other side. Though he still had no indication of what it was just that it didn't eat or destroy the rock, and instead pushed it back. After a while of waiting to see if anything would come through, he noticed that what appeared to be a claw poking through the portal. "Well that's interesting..." he said quietly. He ventured closer to the portal and felt brave enough to stick his hand in, but as the mystery being did, he quickly withdrew it.

Hand, hand hand hand! She jumped back and scratched at it, but it had gone before her claws could even make contact. Something was over there, something was alive, as it could move...she hesitated, then decided to risk it. She ran at the portal full force, but at an opposite angle of where the hand had come out, hoping to avoid being caught as she passed through. The portal felt just like it looked, if a bit more elastic, but when the fabric of the portal tore, she found herself among quite a few Pokémon that were bigger than her, and immediately made for the bushes--or the closest source of cover. What had she gotten herself into?!

Did he just imagine that? For a second there it seemed like there was something out of the corner of his eye, and then it quickly moved out of focus. "Did you see that? I mean I really hope that I wasn't imagining that." He moved closer to the portal, and then tried to follow the line of sight in which he saw the foreign object move. "No, you definitely didn't imagine it... there was something that emerged from the portal, and if you look closely, you can still see the evidence of it being disturbed." Tensa said, pointing at it with a claw.

What WAS that thing? She knew what the Pokémon were, she would have been a fool not to, but the peach thing, that walked on two legs, had no tail or any sort of counter balance, and still it could move around just fine, it wasn't logical, not to her Pokémon mind. She crawled through the underbrush, thankfully she had enough of her hunter's instinct left to not make too many noises, but still she was forced to come to a complete stop when her scarf got caught amongst the branches. She pulled at it, her folly, as it caused the bush to rustle, but she wasn't leaving without her scarf.

"I do see the evidence..." As soon as he finished that sentence he heard a rustling in the bushes. He turned around to try and find the source of the rustling that he knew had to have been caused by whatever came through the portal. "Actually, I think there is an easier way to see if this happens to be a Pokémon or not." Kyn whipped out his Pokédex and scanned the area by moving it around near the bushes, until it found something. It recited out the entry for Bagon, and then he put it away. "A Bagon? A Bagon is what came from the other side? How... intriguing..." he said to no one in particular.

The rustling in the bushes came to a stop with the snap of a branch, and a growl. A hooked claw in her scarf loosened it back to comfortable standards, her eyes darting as her instinctual mind ordered her to hide, somewhere, anywhere...yet her eyes only fell upon the tree, and to do so would mean exposing herself, if only for a split second. She knelt there in battle with her hunter skills, and her civilized skills, curse Marlow for ever teaching her about them! They weren't going to save her now.

Kyn decided directly address the Bagon to see whether or not he would be able to even get a response. "Excuse me, but why don't you come out here? I can obviously tell that you've got SOME level of instinct, but you're still curious enough to have come here. Besides, there's really not point in trying to go back the way you came now anyway," he said, moving back near the way that led back to the portal. He didn't even knew if he would be understood, but it'd be worth a try anyway just to see.

Her eyes blinked, shocked, did the creature just speak her language? it hadn't been before, she was sure of that, still with so many Pokémon gathered around, outside of a town, how could it be safe? He didn't sound like he wanted to hurt her, but her instincts read it as a trap. Deep breath, they weren't chasing after her, she was safe...and soon her hunter instinct had died enough to where she could think rationally. Group of Pokémon, not fighting, strange creature that could speak her language, not being hurt by Pokémon, all were sentient...? Another deep breath, and she forced herself away from the tree, finding a break between the two bushes, still very defensive, not exactly sure if she was safe, but her blue muzzle peeked from the bushes, along with the start of her headplate, and her green eyes focused on the male who had spoken--his scent told her that much. Finally her brain ran over the last bit of information, and his movement, that was her way HOME! "Is that a threat?" She didn't sound scared, adrenaline had long been pumping, and while the voice was clearly female, it wasn't meek, nor shy.

As he saw the muzzle poke out he was at least glad to see that the Pokédex had at least identified it correctly, but then he saw something that didn't quite line up with what he saw. Was that... a GOLDEN headplate? That would be rather interesting to see. Then he heard a voice, a voice that he was at least glad responded to him, showing not only a sign of intelligence but a sign of understanding. It took a while before he realised the actual tone in which the sentence was said. "Oh. Wait... I'm not... what I mean to say is... No, it isn't..." He was tripping over his thoughts again.

"Not exactly the best first impression it seems," Tensa commented with a chuckle.

Her muzzle disappeared back into the brush. "If you intend to keep me from going home you're sadly mistaken." There was that Rogue resolve, to get it done in the least amount of trouble possible, but it was she who had gotten herself into this, and it made her hesitate, she didn't even know if her abilities would FUNCTION in this world, and this indecision made her resort to a bluff that may or may not even have been an actual bluff, she didn't know for sure. She was glad for the loam of the soil which muffled her claw clicking steps, but now she really wished that she knew how to fly, it would make escaping from this predicament a lot easier.

"Whoa, hold on! Why would I keep you from going back there? Although I walked in front of the portal, that doesn't mean that you couldn't just simply walk around me. I just wanted to see you. Besides, you're a Pokémon. You could just go right through me if you wanted to, probably." He said, stepping slightly to the side, but still partially in the path that would essentially force her to have to cross his line of sight.

"Lots of 'mon around, with a full grown Sceptile chummy with you, sure, I could have 'just gone around' " She snorted, much too much like a dragon for perhaps her own good. She didn't sound reassured, and she knew she was nothing in comparison to the Sceptile, or any of the other Pokémon that were there. But he said he just wanted to see her...had he been LOOKING into her world for a Bagon? Why her? there were several other Bagon in the rogues other than her, but they were all likely still helping out with the dump mission. She resigned to stepping out into the open, claws changing from the normal steps to clicking as she emerged properly from the bushes in what was clearly a defensive stance. She hated having to be on the defense, her body wasn't made for it, and still her mind screamed at her to either find a way to be on the offense, or to run away.

"What about Tensa? I suppose it would look rather counter-intuitive. Oh, and there's one more thing... the Bagon that I've seen... don't have headplates like you. That's something I noticed right away. I hope I don't sound rude though." His tone of voice was absolutely calm and curious, despite the current situation, and her understandable cautiousness. He failed to really notice that she actually emerged from the bushes has he was stroking his facial hair and practically staring off into space.

He wasn't paying attention to her now, she could have easily slipped by him, but with the Sceptile...Tensa was his name? Standing there, she didn't dare. "Idiot." she muttered, under her breath. "Pointing out the differences in how someone looks, it would be like me pointing out that you've been shaved." Of course, she wouldn't know that he hadn't really, but it was a good assumption since he had hair in some places, but not even short fur in others.

"That's an interesting way of looking at it actually. I suppose from your perspective it would look like that. You must not have very many humans in that world. But, I've got more questions for you, that is if you don't mind. Oh, that reminds me, interdimensional travel usually makes me hungry. Are YOU hungry?" He probably was beginning to ramble, but at least it was a simple one, and not one that would seem absolutely idiotic with no end in sight.

Her stomach rumbled in the way that showed that she was indeed hungry; but she wasn't weak enough to -not- hunt on her own, at least, she didn't think she was. "Are all Pokémon here sentient?" She asked, with a slight bit of contempt in her voice. It was the whole reason that she had ventured through the portal after all, to see if she could find prey, as is she looked at her claws to assure that she could charge them with the shadow energy, and once they showed the first signs, dropped it. So they DID work here.

"No, not all of them are. However, a good portion of them are. I'm certain that if you go to areas that aren't touched by humans you'll find more that aren't." There was no way he'd not heard her stomach. The possible reason that she'd ask this circled around in his head, and then after a while he though of something judging from her responses earlier. "Am I the first human you've ever seen?" For him, it was pretty odd question, but if it was true that he was the first human, than what could that world on the other side possibly have been like?

There was that word again, humans, and apparently they were the dominant species here, not Pokémon, if they'd been forced away from their 'natural, wild tendencies' in large areas. She scratched just beneath her headplate. "I don't even know what those are." She admitted. "We have no...hue mans where I come from. There are a few Pokémon who claim to have been taught by things called trainers, but they were released and ended up with us. They're among the crazy population, usually get turned into food because it's kinder to them than to let them keep being delusional."

"That's interesting... In that world, it means that there is the possibility that humans may have existed there but something happened to them. You mentioned the word trainer, that's what they call us... humans like me. Pokémon Trainers." He probably would be a complete oddity in that world, and so he rethought his decision to want to go there. If there was remnants of them, it would seem that they were practically fictitious.

"It's going to be a bit difficult to explain the concepts involved though," Tensa added.

'Then, they're not crazy....' her nose twitched. "Well, it seems I can't hunt here in good conscience, not if they're sentient...pity, with the sudden weather shift most of the prey have moved on to healthier places than Tao..." It wasn't like he could ever visit, so naming places didn't have any consequences. "A lot of people have left since Sorbet went back into hibernation." this was a common practice to her, since she was a dragon.

"You could still hunt, but I suppose you won't. Heji stiill hunts for us and himself on occasion." "He's the Luxray," Kyn hurriedly said. Obviously these names and places had absolutely no meaning to him, but he figured that they must hold some significance, but he didn't know if now was the right time to ask about them. "Tensa... remind me to ask about those names... if you would. A little knowledge about that world wouldn't hurt, since I probably can't go there without being... oh, what's the word I heard someone use... the equivalent of gang banged, but with Pokémon." Tensa shook his head, not being able to remember either. Suddenly though, out of nowhere, Miru addressed the group. "Everyone... this portal appears to be still open, and it has me a little concerned. I can open it again, but if it doesn't close soon that might cause a few problems."

Her green eyes shifted around the Pokémon, then back to the human male before her. "Gang...banged...no, you'd probably be killed, unless you were lucky enough to take refuge with the rescuers, who would only trust you 'cause you can talk like us--" but then her eyes drifted to the big one and her pupils contracted to look up so high, and into the light. "No one goes in the woods if they can help it, at least, unless they live there..." Almost as she spoke a Rattata crossed through the barrier, and she leapt after it, bringing it down within a few leaping steps, then went back to where she had been standing, the now corpse in her mouth. "There's only Rattata, Pidgey, Pidgeotto and Sandshrew around where it opened up anyway." she spoke, unconsciously ripping off one of the creature's legs and chewing on it. "Most of the Sneasel moved out of the creeping forest ages ago."

"Well... I don't go anywhere without Tensa, so he'd be with me, but what about the rest of my Pokémon? Obviously I know nothing about your world so, what are the Rescuers?" The idea of even a slight possibility of finding some form of refuge did appeal to him, though he was still hesitant about entering that world, though he wouldn't let her know that. "Oh, how rude of me. I forgot to introduce myself properly." He bowed. "My name is Kynexn."

"The rescuers are a bunch of goodie-two-shoes that think that everything has to be done one way and only one way." she licked her claws then went back to eating, at least until he spoke his name. "Serena...As for your other Pokémon..well, there are a lot of you, but I don't think that you'd be able to take on even the merchants and survive, even with your escort." She clammed up as her mind bade her to this time, knowing that she was getting dangerously close to giving him information that might allow him to take some of the Pokémon away.

"Now you're really giving me supporting evidence that going there wouldn't be the best decision for me. This might be one time where I will have to sate my curiosity sated by meeting a being from that world and keeping it at that. Though I just don't know." His voice trailed off at those last few words, but he didn't completely lose his thoughts and instead simply dropped the previous ones. "Hm, you called this group an escort. You're actually the second... well, being to do that."

"That's what it is...a protective group that surrounds you and ensures your safety, either by way of money, or trust." when she had finished with the Rattata there had been little left aside from bones, which she promptly began digging a hole for, and swept the bones inside before covering them up again, wiping her mouth with her arm, then licking the blood off of her arm. "if you want a look at my world you just need a rather brave Psychic type." She was now fiddling with the end of the scarf that had gotten caught in the bushes, and picked at a frayed string at the end.

"When you put it that way yes, but they're not always around me. As for the Psychic type... there is Lacu... but he's pretty much the only one NOT here right now. Also, I was going to ask you if you were a carnivore or an herbivore but.... that would be pointless now. But are you a pure carnivore?"

"Mostly. I eat some herbs and vegetables if my stomach gets upset, and minerals from the rocks from my cave if my body says I need them. Berries are common when I -have- to eat but can't find prey." she paused at the admission that some of them weren't here, raising her eyebrow ridge. "Well, apparently...I have time. Marlow might be expecting me back, but since I can't exactly encase souls in a jar to take back to him, I'm sure he'll be fine."

"Ah what the hell. I've done dangerous things before. I might just risk it. I'll just need to go get Lacu. So, how would Lacu er... enhance my chances of staying alive?" He had already thought of all the reason why what he was about to do would make people say, "What the hell were you thinking, sticking your hand into something like that?" but of course it didn't matter now. He was going to do it, since there was a pretty good chance that he'd be able to get back anyway via Miru.

"Psychic Pokémon can disrupt the flow of energy to make people see what they want to see...In this case...well, depending on your psychic's ability actually...worst case scenario would be that he wouldn't be able to render a different version of yourself...probably would be best to go with a Sceptile appearance since you 'smell' like one...you'll have to leave pretty much everything behind though, if you're to pass for a newcomer." What was she doing?! she wasn't even sure.

"There are some things... that I absolutely need, though there are a lot that I don't. Though I'm not to confident in what might happen if the change isn't able to be maintained. I'm just hoping that these Rescuers will be lenient and such. Now... if I do go... do you have any idea what I would have to leave behind here?" He didn't exactly have very many things really, but there was pretty much the possibility of being able to return to his own world, if things got to rough to handle there.

"Well...on the premise that you're just going there to be shown how well things are being rebuilt, and not forming a team to go on missions, you wont be limited to one accessory, but you can only have four Pokémon in a group at most, including yourself, so with Tensa and Lacu that leaves you space for one more." She pointed at Miru. "And you...probably shouldn't be seen...There's a Ho-oh and a Lugia around and while I'm sure they would love to meet you...it probably wouldn't be wise, as there's only one family of each where I come from."

"That probably means that there is another version of me there too," The Reshiram finally said, after pretty much observing the whole situation in silence.

"Well... couldn't they just... come through later, and do the same thing that we might be doing? Splitting up into groups of four I mean. I really don't want to leave them behind... as for Miru... well, the other one has probably noticed the severe distortion as well by now. I don't yet know if it'll be able to do the same thing though." Kyn said, walking closer to the portal.

"Sorbet said his other selves were still sleeping in their stones...in fact that's where he's sleeping now, apparently he was awoken too early." She shrugged a little. "And they COULD, I guess, but I wouldn't be available to guide them to the town since I'd be with you...I guess I could see if Marlow would be willing but..." now it was her turn to stop in mid sentence. Of course, Marlow! There was a psychic Pokémon that might be willing to assist him with his memories...which meant that he'd leave sooner; but she'd promised to help him, and so she would, regardless of the outcome.

"That might cause a problem if I do show up then. Oh well, I guess I'll just enjoy myself flying again. I do so love flying at high speeds. Especially at higher altitudes."

"Well, it was just a random chance that the portal managed to land near where you were. I'm pretty sure that with practice, it can be moved closer to the village, but not close enough to well, y'know arouse suspicion. Also... who is this Marlow that you speak of?" Kyn was close enough to the portal to actually clearly see through it, now that the distortions had settled. "So similar yet... apparently that side is pretty much completely different," he muttered.

At the mention of flying, she looked up at the Reshiram. "I wish I could...waiting is annoying." She paused. "Marlow...is my partner, he's a rather unusual Duskull." As she spoke, she moved towards the portal. "You can actually see my cave from here, or at least, the mountain that my cave is in." She pointed with her claw at the speck of brown between the trees, most of which were dying. "We just had a bad blizzard a little while ago, it's messed up a lot of things in the forest, but as I said, the town is being rebuilt...So who's to be your fourth?"

"Hm, I haven't seen very many Duskull. Now I do have another question. Is... is your cave able to fit Pokémon that are human sized? Actually, I should say Tensa sized since I'm actually taller than the average human." He'd unintentionally zoned out again, after the mention of her cave, and didn't hear the question.

"It's big enough to fit a fully grown Salamence comfortably." She tapped her foot as he seemed to have zoned out, and looked over at Tensa like 'how do you deal with this all the time?' finally shaking her head as if to drive it from her mind.

"Kyn... you've got to select a fourth Pokémon." Tensa said, noticing Serena's look, and grinning at her. Almost immediately, he answered.

"Oh, right... uh. Inferno." He said, indicating his Infernape for Serena. "As for the other groups, I definitely think that Striker would be team leader for one of them," he said, pointing to his Scyther.

"Then go get your Lacu and finish setting up who else is coming, and who, if any are staying behind." She was starting to get a bit annoyed. "Of course you COULD let them decide for themselves, they do have logic centers in their brains I'm sure." her tail flicked behind her, twitching with the emotion of impatience.

"I was simply stating a fact Serena, nothing more." Kyn said, before turning away from the portal and walking away. The rest of the Pokémon present moved closer to the portal, and then introduced themselves to Serena, some of them having picked up slightly human mannerisms, along with other who pretty much were almost humans with a Pokémon skin.

It wasn't long before amidst the sea of Pokémon her tongue got names mixed up, she wasn't really that good with names, sometimes referring to them with their Pokémon species name instead and apologizing. Once they were finally through the introductions, and small talk, she finally got MOST of them right, and had learned some of the terminology that they used. 'Party' now became common, although she still didn't know what a 'Poké Ball' was. She questioned that, if they could see outside from inside their Poké Ball, why they couldn't all have gone that way.

"As for the manner of traveling via Poké Balls... it mainly has to do with the fact that Kyn doesn't like keeping us in them. Besides the fresh air aspect, it also has to do with the way other Trainers use them. They basically objectify us sometimes, so that is one of the things that separates him from them. He really dislikes using them. That's why he let us out as much as possible, sometimes in full parties." Liru explained. After about half an hour, Kyn returned with Lacu.

Serena blinked at the Lucario, there were quite a few of them in the village for one reason or another. "Then why are they necessary at all, why even have them exist? Simply so that everyone can go out and force a 'mon to be theirs? It sounds like an arranged marriage..."

"I have a bit of difficult understand it myself, but perhaps Kyn might be able to explain it a bit better. Actually... I can feel him coming. He'll be here shortly." Liru then pointed to the West, indicating where he would be coming from.

"Serena... has everyone been introduced?" Kyn asked.

"They have...though I'm going to have to ask them occasionally to repeat them, I'm afraid I'm not too good with names..." She held her head for emphasis. "Did get into a bit of interesting discussion that crosses over to those...'crazy' Pokémon that I mentioned previously...they say they come from spherical objects which Liru calls Poké Balls." She looked to him to make sure she'd gotten his name right.

"Poké Balls? Well, I definitely know that you haven't seen before. If you want to know more about them I can show you." He took out Inferno's Poké Ball, and maximised it, showing how it went from the size of a Cheri Berry to something a bit bigger than an Aguav berry.

Serena almost jumped as it enlarged, her mind had formed something that was alive that captured Pokémon. "Huh, but that's certainly not big enough to hold a Pokémon, in fact I'm sure I wouldn't even be able to get my claws in there..." she tentatively poked it with the tip of her claw.

"You probably wouldn't. It's a bit more complicated than that. Inferno... if you wouldn't mind...?" Inferno understood, and walked over to Kyn. He took the Poké Ball from Kyn and then walked closer to him. He turned the ball around and then pushed the button on the front, then became engulfed in red light, that then went back inside the Poké Ball.

She shuddered visibly. "Why in the world would you humans USE something like that? It's like a torture device. Especially if they were unsuspecting that it was coming. Why is there a need for such...brutality? Even if the Pokémon might learn to like the trainer later, surely capturing them in such a...THING would hinder it."

"They way you view it makes it seem like Stockholm Syndrome. But you pretty much described most of the reasons why I don't like using them. With the exception of... the torture analogy. Anyway, as for the matter of capturing them in these... that's something that I don't do anymore. Obviously Pokémon are intelligent enough to decide for themselves, so I usually ask them if they would join me or not. Though unfortunately, that's not how it always was with me. It wasn't until I met Tensa that my views of Pokémon really changed." He quickly let Inferno back out and minimized the ball.

"There are more than one type of these. Though, I think I'll my little speech sink in before speaking anymore."

Her claws, tail, and even mouth twitched as the monologue sunk in, she already knew that there would likely be repercussions should she attack him.

"Why are they necessary?" It was a simple question, with a not so easy answer. "Why can't they just go out into the...wild and find Pokémon that are like them and will get along?" She shook her head, now more conscious of how exposed she was. "It's Mechanical...and people believe that Pokémon are HAPPY like this?"

"They aren't really necessary. For one thing, it's not easy to find Pokémon that are just willing to cooperate with humans. Plus... there's...also the small matter of... almost every human not being able to understand Pokémon, be it their speech or their body language."

Serena snorted. "So it would take them time, if they were smart it wouldn't endanger them, surely not." she put her claws to her head, a very human gesture as if she was getting a headache with all this information. "Are we ready to go? No, you're still looking human. You have your..." She said the next word carefully as if not to offend them. "Friend with you? As well, you should probably take the time for questions about my world, since it will look odd for me to be explaining basics when I'm supposed to be a child...well, not mentally, but physically I'm still a child."

"Serena... I've since that Pokémon aren't as judging as humans are in most cases, so I've got a few more important things to tell you before we go. I remember earlier you did say that I slightly smelled like a Sceptile. Well, that's because of Tensa. Now you said you live in a cave but... do the rest of the Pokémon have housing? It's also the matter of a size issue again."

"Yes, Most teams live in houses shaped like them, though PK, the leader of the Merchants, has provided lodging for villagers and teams that can't afford a home of their own." She didn't flinch at the words 'because of Tensa'. People kept telling her she smelled like death all the time, it was because she still hunted while most Pokémon buy their food. "The lodging is bought with Poke...but it doesn't exactly appeal to me, too many voices...the town's the same way."

"That's going to be rather interesting to see. Though if our houses were shaped like us that'd pose a bit of a problem, as you could probably imagine." He rolled his eyes. "Plus... as you mentioned, we're amongst the more dominant species, so our lifestyles are different. Oh... right! That's... another issue. I don't have any of their currency, obviously."

"So long as it's not too expensive...I should be able to afford most of anything that you could want...though I don't know why you'd want anything from my world...it couldn't be clothes or an evolution scroll--it seems like you don't need them here anyway--but I can buy food at the Spinda cafe...er, do you humans eat the same things we Pokémon do?" She looked a bit incredulous at it, but it was an honest question.

"Well... I do, but for the most part no. I eat most of my meals cooked most of the time, but there have been times where I've eaten berries, and things made from berries. Actually, that reminds me, I should probably stock up on PokéBlock just in case..." Kyn said, beginning to dig around in his backpack to find some of them.

"Everything at the Spinda Cafe is cooked, in fact, they don't serve anything that might offend other Pokémon, even though -I- limit myself to only eating non-sentient Pokémon doesn't mean that everyone does. More controversial dishes we'd have to go to the bay for, which is several hours away by foot. Oh, I never said what to leave behind, did I? Well anything in the pack should be okay, you may get questions as to where you got that style though, Leavanny and Gnasher don't make that style in the village." She raised an eyebrow at the word PokéBlock, tested it against her pointed tongue, but didn't ask, she had asked enough about a world she would never get to visit again, at least, that was her inclination.

"Aha, here's one." He was referring to a PokéBlock case, that had an array of colored blocks inside. There were in sequence, so he took out a yellow, green, pink, blue, red-orange PokéBlock. "Obviously you're a hunter but, since it probably won't matter much, would you do me the honor of trying these and telling me which one, if any you prefer?"

Serena looked at the blocks sceptically, she was supposed to eat these things? they looked like clay...but since he had said 'honor' and that was a word she knew very well, since Soba and Udon talked about the honor of dragons all the time, or at least she assumed so, since that was all she heard them talk about when she was around them. "I...guess?" she moved her claws carefully, not sure how much it would take for her razor sharp claws to puncture his skin, she knew it didn't take much for them to cut any other Pokémon's skin...after a few...humiliating times of trying to pick it up between two digits, she poked it with one claw and popped it in her mouth. This one had been the yellow. She chomped down on it and let it sit in her mouth for a while, then swallowed and cleared her palette of its flavor. "It's alright, sour doesn't really speak to me though." She chose a next one, this one had been the Red orange. "Mmm, like Cinnamon~ that's got a kick to it, like I can breath fire." Again, the next one was popped into her mouth, this one the green, and it immediately made her want to spit it out. "Eesh....Only after eating a Michel berry could I swallow that."

"Well, it seems you an I at least have similar taste regarding that particular aspect of PokéBlock. Spiciness. Tensa and I both love the red orange ones. Micle Berries are very rare though. At least here. Dunno about there. I usually offer the Pokémon I encounter PokéBlock after meeting them... to determine certain aspects. It's part of being a Pokémon Breeder. Though I'm not REALLY a Breeder."

She paused with the pink one near her lips, clearly about to ask what a breeder was, then decided that she didn't want to know. "Neck, that one's really, really sweet, a bit too much so actually..." the last one almost matched the same color as her scales, as such as she marveled at the closeness of hue before her eyes before popping it into her mouth as she had the others, and just like the others she took the time to savor the flavor and texture. "that one's really good, though it's a little bland...it's too bad that the Red and blue one weren't mixed together..."

"Heh. That's actually an issue that I've dealt with. I actually have one that combines both of those flavors. I've got to take into account a huge number of Pokémon preferences and variations. You'd be surprised with the numbers of combinations that I've had to come up with." He reached into his pack once more, and pulled out a PokéBlock case labeled Spicy-Dry, that had gold ones in it. "This is the last one, and then we'll head out after Lacu y'know does his thing." He opened it so that one would drop in his hand, and then he handed it to her.

Having things handed to her made it quite a bit easier on her, she found, and chuckled at the fact that THIS one, was the exact same as her headplates, it made her wonder if something in this block was what made her headplates the color they were. Instead of popping this one in her mouth, since it was in her palm rather than on her claw, she slurped it up with her tongue, and let it sit in her mouth for a while, her eyes closed in pleasure. "Ah, that was good~ but we don't have them where I come from."

"Well, then I guess I'll give you something to remember your first encounter with a human. I can always make more, provided that I come back here. Though of course... me simply disappearing for an extended period of time might cause a bit of a problem... But then again, I don't know how much time passes between this distortion. IT could be hours, it could be seconds, it could even be days. You and I will just have to see on the other side." He handed her the PokéBlock case and then turned to Lacu and nodded.

She didn't believe it, simply because it wasn't in her NATURE to believe it. PK had always said that nothing was for free, but he seemed to be defying those words. Serena had learned all too well that things were never free, even when stealing them. There were always repercussions, even if you successfully got away with something else. There was always any number of Pokémon coming or going in a shop, yet somehow they could always narrow it down to you...this was why Serena had had that other section of tunnel kept separate, even though it was in their possession. She waited, as there was not much else to do, until the four of them had finished getting ready for the trip. She still thought she was crazy, she still thought this would end badly...but the decision was already made and she couldn't go back on it now, and not with them already ready to go. She took a breath and pushed back through the barrier, stepping off to the side to wait for them to join her on this side.

"This is it... hopefully I'll see you all soon." He said, waving goodbye to the remain party. Before setting off through the portal. Lacu himself was currently floating in midair, meditating to cast the appearance onto Kyn. As they walked through the portal, Kyn of course, started to spend a whole bunch of time looking around and observing, but then remember that he was in a hurry to follow Serena and he didn't want to keep her waiting.