FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

This thought of course, would come to her when she was prying the stone up, and it came back down on her head, thank goodness for her headplates. She pried it back open and flicked her tail, stepping through the opening and held it open while the others came out, then closed it behind her. She hesitated for a minute, then spoke as she curled her tail around her leg, looking up at Kyn with her big green eyes. "H...Heji..." She muttered, she could feel that blasted color rise to her cheeks, even as the sputter came out. "I...would look for Heji...regardless of if there was a possibility of an...egg or not." Then she dropped to all fours, and started along their trek for the day, not really paying attention to if they were following or not.

Kyn was a bit surprised at the response that she gave, but he didn't question it. If that was who Serena had an interest in, he wouldn't interfere with it. "So, when did this develop?"

Heji knew a bit more than the rest of the group due to Serena telling him these thing due to the very same reasons that she mentioned.

When exactly had the feelings developed? She snorted slightly as she thought about it. It wasn't exactly at first sight, no...but the first time they were alone together perhaps? It had certainly gotten stronger--if she was going by the fog that had tried to fill her head. "Probably somewhere around the first night, when almost everyone else was asleep, if you're trying to put a marker on it..." she virtually let herself slide down the sand bank as she crested over it. "Of course...my mind is ahead of my body in maturity, and I had a hell of a time figuring out why my logical brain was fighting with the more instinctual side..."

"Alright. Well, I had a good rest this time." Kyn said, changing the subject to give Serena a break. He figured that they'd be able they'd be able to have plenty of time for questions and answers later.

Striker let out a big yawn and fluttered his wings for early a small morning exercise. "That was a good sleep on my part as well.

Serena didn't answer, thankful for the rest and letting them talk amongst themselves as they walked, though she did, at one point, break formation to catch herself a Trapinch that had been burrowing in the sand, even then did she not stop walking. She felt relieved, a little bit...and yet, like she might have insulted the others. They were all fine hunters, wasn't it unfair of her to single one out from the pack? It was about noon when they finally traversed over soil again, instead of sand, and the trees that dotted the oasis were in running distance.

"Ah, finally, I was starting to think that my internal compass was clogged with sand." She WAS a little dusty, but that could be fixed with a quick dip, better to let them set up camp. Of course, true to Pokémon nature, around the front edges of the oasis there were buildings shaped like the heads of Pokémon, but in smaller scale, as if they were homes instead of shops--which was exactly what they were.

"Serena, are you or are you not used to traveling long distances like this?" Kyn asked, thinking about all the times he'd been extremely far distances in a single day. Of course he'd either had to sleep for a longer period of time, or he'd have to eat a lot more than normal as well.

"It's... unusual for me to travel this long, as I mentioned before, I've only made this trip once before, and even then I stayed a week to make it worth my effort of traveling this far, it was a hunting trip that brought back quite a bit of food...unfortunately for me the people in Tao village didn't appreciate it...The people in the bay were more than willing to exchange with me though, after I clarified that I hadn't gotten it around there, of course." She pressed through the streets on her hind legs, having long since eaten the Trapinch and discarded it, and it was only once they'd reached the deserted part of the oasis at the very center, in which the spring was the clearest, did she stop moving. "We'll set up camp here...it's unusual for Pokémon to come here at all, they believe the area to be cursed...I on the other hand, feel more of the exact opposite."

"I'd hate to mess up your natural rhythm by having you travel as much as I do. I suppose it's a positive thing that you're not traveling with me in the other world. For one thing, the variance is incredible. There are some humans that don't leave a single area for all of their life, and there are those that on a farther scale, travel the world everyday. Though not always on foot or by sea of course, sometimes by air." Kyn said, looking at the Trapinch.

"Well, I did tell you that when I hit my final evolution I wouldn't mind traveling, but I'd need to explore MY world before I went to explore yours." She followed his eyes down to the Trapinch on the ground a little ways away.

"I suppose that I would have just done something that's Taboo in your world..." she paused, not exactly sure how to continue the thought, shook her head, and returned to the previous topic. "At the point that I am a Salamence, then I would probably be able to do something similar to what they do, then."

"Alright. Now, you did say that there is a possibility of Tauros, right? Last time I checked... a single Tauros would be able to feed the carnivores of this group for a short while."

"Yes, Tauros or Miltank would do quite well in either case to feed us...although if it's not sentient, it could easily be brought back to Tao alive and used as a resource...I do hate having to go into town any time I need something...and we DO need to replace what we used of your supplies as well, don't think I've forgotten about that."

"So, I figure... now is the time to tell you about what I hope to do. I hope to at least manage to kill or incapacitate one Tauros. Then after that, I'll see about what other non-sentients appear around here. Serena, the next time I go back to the portal, please remind me to get my other swords." Kyn said, trying to picture the variation in the size of Tauros here. He'd have a bit more of a time with a heavier and more muscular Tauros. "Oh my, my mouth is already watering imagining it..."

"Yes, as I recall you wanted to give it an attempt by yourself." she flicked out her tongue, over her foreclaws. "I'll see if I can remember to tell you to get your other swords." She nodded, almost biting her tongue in the process, but she seemed to not have noticed.

"I hope that's a figure of speech, I wouldn't appreciate being drooled on." She turned her head north, where there was a dot of civilization. "THAT is Gambitville, anywhere between this spot and that town, are our hunting grounds...of course, even when you're flying solo, you won't be alone." She remembered her part of the deal, if he could capture one, or kill one, on his own, she would choose to allow herself to be put in a Poké Ball.

"I see, so then, this might be where we temporarily part ways. I'm still sure that you all might be close by since we are within proximity to each other, but for the most part, Striker, Tensa, Heji, and you will be more together than with me. Now, actually before we get there, I want to check something via technology, just to get a general idea of about how many Pokémon might be in this area at this time." Kyn said, and waited for Serena's response. This time, he wouldn't be completely relying on the technology, and would go back to the way he initially learned.

"As you wish..." There was a slight hint of disdain from the word technology, but she made no comment on it. "We'll work on smaller prey for when I get home...and I AM going to have Marlow go with you though, just in case you need some cover while we get there..." 'And so that he can give me a play by play.' she added silently to herself, pulling Marlow from her scarf and rather forcefully (At least, if he didn't want to land on his head) threw him up into the air, which would mean he would HAVE to take form.

Kyn took out the Pokémon Radar and activated it, a bit surprised by the amount of Pokémon that he saw. "There's quite a few Pokémon here. I'd say about ten or more. Now, how many of those are sentient and non-sentient I have no way of knowing until I encounter them." He said, then put the radar away.

Marlow felt the sudden rush of air, and was filled with shock and surprise for only a few seconds then he was filled with almost contempt. "Again, you are sending me out to do what exactly? Observe? I do suppose that I will be able to absorb a decent amount of energy to be able to maintain my form if he does manage to take down the Tauros that he wanted though."

"Yes, exactly, I'm sending you out so that you can eat a healthy, decent sized soul for once instead of STARVING while we capture Pokémon for the cages, I would think that you would have preferred that." she spat, every time she woke him up during the day, he was like this, but you would think that after being asleep for almost two days, that he wouldn't MIND being woken up at all. "and assist him if he needs it." there was a command resonating in the words. She figured that he wouldn't want much to do with her, since she had given Kyn an answer before she had given him one.

Kyn made his way into the settlement, with Marlow in tow, now making sure to check everywhere that he went, under, left, right, and just to be extra safe, above. He wouldn't be able to use any trees to ambush things, so he'd have to merely rely on surprising them from behind if their hearing wasn't acute enough.

Serena gave them time, cooling her own jets as well, calm, she needed calm. She pinched her claws to her snout...there was no harm in going to Heji now, after all, everyone knew, yet why did she feel so guilty? She decided to not think about it as she approached Heji, and wrapped her arms around his neck with a sigh, burying her head in his soft mane. "Just...give me a sec." She hoped that the phrase would stop any words on their lips. She was being more bold, and half wondered if it would come back to bite her in the tail. It was only a moment before she moved away from him. "Yes Tensa, you can say it now, you've probably been dying to anyway." Her tongue clicked against the roof of her mouth.

Heji simply let her do as she wished. She obviously needed this, and he didn't mind it anyway.

Tensa shook his head and crossed his arms. "There aren't any Dragon-Electric types besides Zekrom. Now, there is a way... but I don't think you I'd want to do it," was all he said.

Kyn finally spotted the target he was looking for after much searching. It was an average sized Tauros, one that would have been similar to the dimensions that the Pokédex described. His first objective was to incapacitate it, and if that didn't work, he would attempt to fully cripple it, to the point where he'd be able to kill it, then store it the same way the Patrat was stored.

Serena snorted at him, taken aback by the outright...then she realized it was a ploy to make her blush, and that it had worked. "That's not what I was talking about you bush gecko. Never mind." She waited until the color had drained from her cheeks before she spoke again. "Anyway, Kyn's left us in one another's care...since we're going after smaller prey, and since even I can incapacitate something around here without killing it, a hunting party isn't going to be needed--we DO, however, need to have something to show for it, so I'm going to ask what each of you would prefer to do at the moment so that we don't get our wires crossed."

"I will be attempting to secure something about your size. I'm guessing that Heji will as well. We should all meet up somewhere close to the settlement, so that we will be able to pool our collection together, I think." Tensa said. Heji nodded in agreement with Tensa, and waited for Serena's response.

Kyn slowly crept upon the Tauros, and after not seeing an item anywhere, the legs, neck or horns, guessed that it was feral. It was currently grazing on an oddly specific cluster of grass, and didn't appear to notice him at the time. After evaluation, he determined that the best place to strike would be the rear legs, and so readied his swords, not unhilting the blades, but keeping them in his hands, delivered a sweeping leg kick, to the ankle joints, after getting almost directly behind the Tauros' rear. With a sickening crack the joints dislocated. The initial shock caused it to cry out in a way that Kyn was waiting to see if would notice him.

Since he had attacked from the right, he quickly moved to the left, which as he guessed, after it had regained some sense of itself, not used to this level of pain but obviously having adapted to a similar measure in order to be able to survive the violent clashes that it usually engaged in. The next angle of attack was the left ankle joint. This time he kicked the joint in the opposite direction that it was facing, at full force, causing another sickening crack. This of course caused another cry of pain. Since the Tauros hadn't called out for help, and was only mooing in response, it was safe to say that this particular Tauros was feral. With that knowledge in mind, he planned to continue his task. The Tauros after about half a minute of mooing in vain, collapsed on its hind legs, which again caused additional pain, and thus, more crying out. "Dammit... I have to end this quickly," Kyn said, knowing full well that if the Tauros continued to cry out like that, it would attract more predators. He moved over to the Tauros' front, and without looking it in the eye, raised his leg high into the air, and brought it down on the Tauros' head, between the horns. Almost instantly the Tauros ceased its howling, and it's eyes closed. At this current point, Kyn wasn't sure if he'd actually knocked the Tauros out or had actually killed it since he hadn't heard the distinctive cracking of a skull. "Even if it had charged me though, these would have come in handy a bit." He said to himself, and possibly Marlow. He then used a Poké Ball on the Tauros, held it in its hand, watched it shake, and then the indication of being caught was his confirmation that he had indeed either killed it or knocked it out.

Marlow watched this entire event with much wonder. He hadn't expected Kyn to be able to be this aggressive. After seeing that the Tauros was caught he floated over to Kyn and said, "It's not dead. You were obviously thinking that, and I'm letting you know that it's not."

"Then I guess I'll have to paralyze it completely when I let it out again. Plus, that way it won't feel any pain anymore hopefully."

"Alright, well, we don't need four hunters out there, so I suppose that I'll wait here then. Striker?" Her head tilted to where the old bug was. "What about you?" her tail flicked, if she wasn't absolutely needed to stay with Striker, chances are she would be watching the two hunt, it was in her nature after all, and she was more inclined to watch--She cut off the thought before it could go into the gutter, and there was nothing wrong with changing your mind after you said something else previously, so it wouldn't be a lie either.

"With my luck, I might attract something that wants to attempt to eat me, and no matter how strong it initially is, I'm inclined to say that it won't matter much with its innards spilled onto the ground. There is a technique I know, that focuses Dark-type energy into my Blades, in a manner similar to your Shadow Claw, and that will allow me to have a little more impact that just my blade by themselves." Striker explained, using the similarity between Shadow Claw and Night Slash as an understandable comparison base. "Not all of my Clan know this technique as not all of them were able to master it. The ones that have... may have genetically passed the knowledge down by now."

Serena watched the boys head out as Striker spoke, and nodded. "We get a lot of Pokémon that learn the moves through their genetic lines, or by observing other creatures in the forest...I taught myself Shadow claw, the others were instinctual, I suppose you could say that those were passed down to me." She sat by the river for about ten minutes, wiping Heji's scent from her nose. It was comforting, yes, but distracting. "You...asked me earlier if I had more questions... I did, but I had to figure them out for myself--I'd already asked the limit my pride would allow of me."

"Well Serena, perhaps now you would be willing to continue the conversation, but I am going to take a quick look up in the air." Striker said, and then took off. After spotting what was he believed to be something suitable to go after, he lined himself up with it, and then quickly descended with a Night Slash, using both blades, aiming first down its spine, and then across its legs. He then waited for Serena to approach.

Serena blinked at him, she watched him take off, watched the moves he made, and then watched the creature presumably fall to the earth, or at least head that way. She was under it before it hit the ground, and once again, covered in blood. Had it been anything other than a hunting day, among friends, almost family, she would have cursed her luck, as it was, she chuckled. "Good, but did you remember to look for an accessory? To verify it was a non-sentient?" She questioned, looking over it herself.

"Yes. It was something that I saw when I was hovering up above, and confirmed at the last split second before the first strike." He wiped his blades together, attempting to at get them some sense of clean. "I don't usually have blood on my blades for long, as you know, blood will attract things."

Serena nodded, setting the bird down, it was small enough to be carried in her arms, but she couldn't place the...then she saw the head and it clicked "It's a Chatot...Huh, never had one before." she nodded at him, and motioned to the spring before them as she set the bird down on some bush leaves. "Remind me to weave a leaf cloak for Kyn before we leave, just in case there's another rainstorm."

Striker chuckled. "That is probably the first time you've seen Kyn naked. I however... have seen it more than once."

"Nudity doesn't bother me, when it comes down to it we're all naked, we might have scales or chitin armor to protect us, but if he had the same, he wouldn't need the coverings either." She apparently hadn't taken it the way she could have, though it was probably taken as her being more open about things. She waded into the water and started to rinse both sand and blood from her scales, her tail flicking amid the calm water and stirring it so that the blood was dispersed in the water, rather than clouding it with the pink, it was almost a faded grey.

"Now, I have successfully secured my kill. Let us quickly journey to the designated area," Striker said, finishing washing his blades. "We will find out what the others will bring soon, I think."

Tensa and the others made their way to the designated area, with Heji carrying his kill in his mouth, a rather healthy looking Spoink sans pearl, as Tensa was carrying it.

Kyn made his way back to the area where they started, wondering exactly how long it would be before the Tauros woke up, after he released it. He didn't see Heji, Tensa, Serena, or Striker right away, so he figured they must have moved on, and then headed for the designated area.

Serena nodded, letting the water drip from her as she picked up the bird by the neck, away from the bleeding spine, with her claws digging into the feathers. "You act as if we walked THAT far away from the campsite." She chuckled and leaned against a tree as they got back to where everyone had set their things down. "You haven't eaten anything since going into the MD with me..." She said, with a hint of concern in her voice, she had totally forgotten about going to watch the two hunt, seemingly getting caught up in her own hunting adventure with Striker.

"Hm, I think I'll ask Kyn for a quick snack, when he gets back. Serena, I don't have to eat as much as you all do, but I do thank you for your concern." Striker was not aware of the strange effects that a Mystery Dungeon had on one's stomach, but he mostly wouldn't have noticed it anyway since he had spent so little time in it.

Kyn arrived, along with the other two, and stated the obvious. "Well Serena, we're back. Now, what exactly did you hunt?"

Serena looked at Kyn, if a bit skeptically. "Four trained Pokémon, hunting non-sentients in these lands? Talk about overkill. Heji and Tensa volunteered to hunt, I let them and stayed here with buggy boy. Had a nice chat, and he made this fall in my grasp." She held the Chatot out to one side. "You?" She avoided Marlow's glowing eye for the moment, they would have to have a talk sooner or later, but now? She wasn't in the mood.

"I found what I was looking for. If any of you happen to be hungry, that still prefer to eat Raw meat... then I'll be able to provide it." Kyn said, not sure if Serena would even believe him. at this time.

He was right, she scoffed, if a bit mockingly. "Alright big man, we'll see what you caught soon enough, as soon as the other boys get back...and then, if you did, I'll uphold my part of the deal." she flicked out her tongue, and retracted it as she mentally counted off what might have been inches and feet. "Thankfully for even those of us who do NOT eat raw meat, there are plenty of fruit bearing trees, and, of course, wood for a fire, around the oasis."

"Serena! I've got a pearl for you. Do Pokémon here accept Spoink Pearls as commodity?" Tensa said, holding his particular catch in one hand, and the sizable pearl in the other hand.

Heji himself merely dropped the Spoink near where the Chatot was and said, "If that pearl were edible, what do you think it would taste like?" Heji said oddly.

"They are." She said to Tensa and Heji alike. "Usually a pearl is passed down from generation to generation, so they're rather rare to find, but people in the bay make jewelry out of them...and Heji...from experience I can tell you...that's one rock you don't want to bite into, it's bitter and tastes like sand...If you've ever accidentally bitten into the stomach of your kill and gotten a taste of the acid that lives there? it's a bit like that."

"Alright, well now that everyone's back, I guess it's time that I reveal to you what it was that I spent so much time on," Kyn said. He reached for the ball that he had placed, and then open it up, causing the Tauros to emerge, still knocked out. He waited for Serena's reaction, though if she didn't respond right away he would let her know that he had only knocked it out, and not killed it yet.

"Are Onix able to eat the pearls then? It says that Onix eat rocks." Heji said, referring to the Pokédex but forgetting its name temporarily. He didn't know how Serena would react to seeing the Tauros, but if he needed to he would ask her again later.

She flicked out her tongue, and did bite it this time as the Tauros emerged from the ball, but the time her tongue had spent outside had told her what she needed to know. "It's not dead." Her nose told her this too. "It doesn't SMELL dead." She raised an eyebrow at him, not quite hearing all of what Heji had said, but she did hear the last statement.

"Could, probably wouldn't want to, but could, same as you or I, we could, probably wouldn't want to, but could." She hadn't even noticed that she had said the same thing twice. "Well then Kyn, a deal IS a deal, gimme a ball." She held out her claws for it. She was dreading it, sure, but she had made a deal, and she -was- going to keep it.

"It isn't dead, Marlow confirmed that for me, but even if it wakes back up, it more than likely will not be going anywhere. My goal has been accomplished Serena. Now, I do have several different types of Poké Balls. Do you have a specific preference for any of the ones that I showed you?" Kyn said.

"It would probably be better just to stick with the basic ball, seeing how if we're right, it's going to be crushed...but if YOU would prefer a different one, then just put a different one in my claws." It was a long winded version of 'I don't really care' but it gave more substance to it, and she wanted to be sure that he knew that it was probably going to be destroyed before he did it.

"I see... that's a bit unfortunate," Kyn said in a mock disappointed tone. "And here I was thinking that you'd have wanted a Luxury Ball to match your headplates. Ah, well, too bad Serena, you aren't getting you own Poké Ball," Kyn said with a grin.