FSE

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It was nearing 6pm when Serena slipped into the oasis center. She had, of course, been bleeding once upon a time, and instead of wearing her scarf around her neck, she wore it around her back at an angle as a bandage of sorts. She remembered the scene she had left, she had stayed her hand from killing them, from marking her as a murderer again, and instead left them in Syrup's hands, who had taken care of her wounds before she had headed out. She pulled the leaves apart as she entered the area that she traced the link with Marlow to. She looked around the clearing, but didn't say anything.

{There you are Serena. The results of my experiment. Do you wish to hear them now?}

Waiting for Serena to return was almost torturous. Kyn passed the time by browsing pictures on his Xtransciever that he took out of his pack. Having a little technology on this trip would be a bother for some of his other companions, but it wasn't really a problem with him, as he was more in touch with nature than most... but still had some level of technological dependency.

"If you wish to give them to me, by all means Marlow, do so." She spoke. "But not through my mind, please. It's been a bit...taxing...today." She didn't bother sitting down, instead she wrinkled her nose at the non-movement of the others.

"You look like a bunch of sad-sacks." She made the comment offhandedly. "I mean I made you a promise." She chuckled, and almost immediately regretted it, but made no motion to say that anything was wrong.

"While I was with them, I maintained my form, for two hours." Marlow stated simply.

"It's not really that simple Serena. I will be going back to Gambitville occasionally, but I probably won't look at it the same way anymore. Now, let's hurry up and continue to the Bay. That bird back at your cave doesn't have any food for now so the longer we wait, the closer it comes to starving. Though there's a chance that it might get desperate and cannibalize its own eggs."

"Ah, you did did you?" She managed to make the words sound lighthearted, even though they carried a lot of weight. She pressed past the others. "Night time will be upon us soon...we'll get to the bay at about sunrise, maybe a little later, if we don't stop to rest." She looked down at the ground with a slight sigh. "Kyn...You asked me why the Shop keeper was so nervous...Opal...well, she was the Daughter of Guld; Pretty little thing she was, when I last saw her. She insisted on staying in Gambitville after her father's death, rather than going home to her mother...and since she was so adamant about it, I got her a job at the general store. I charged the shopkeeper with her safe keeping...and Syrup told me that she'd run off with her son...I suppose he thought I was there to collect on my threat." She reached into her pack, and pulled out a flask of purple liquid, unscrewing the cap before taking a few gulps, and putting it back. "Problem with most, can't tell a threat from a promise."

"I do not need to rest. It is up to the rest of the party if they need to rest. If even just one of them needs to rest, then we all might as well take a rest. So I ask now, do any of you feel like you need a rest?" The others, having gotten used to Kyn's strange sleeping habits, were used to staying awake for long periods of time. There was no reaction other than a shaking of heads.

Serena nodded. "Well then, lets go." She lowered herself to all fours, and rather loped rather than walked, to the edge of the clearing, passing back through the town, and finally into the prairie grass and sand. "Marlow...does the name Guld ring a bell?" She said after a couple moments.

"No... at least not right away. Maybe if some digging were done it might come up somewhere." He suggested.

The group moved in formation again, forming up on Kyn in a diamond pattern. "This little entourage... isn't really utilized back home. We do it for a different purpose there. It is your choice as to whether or not you wish to utilize it here as well." Kyn said, then continued on.

"Eh?" Serena said, looking back over her shoulder. "Back up a step Kyn, if you're going to say it's our choice, then you should at least mention what it's used for first."

"I'm not usually one to show off Serena, unless it's really just a boring day, but generally there is a sense that they are willing to be bodyguards, in many of the non-human populated areas that we go to. There have been many times where we have been able to go through areas that were designated to dangerous for humans to go to, simply because of how strong they are, and the fact that their combined strength was enough. You have the choice of bodyguards. That may not appeal to you, but the choice is still there." Kyn said, following up his explanation with a checking of the time on his watch.

"Bodyguards, as in guarding somebody with your own body, I'm guessing? Yes, that is essentially what we're doing here...Speaking of which, Striker's swarm ability hasn't gone off in a while, that could be considered a good thing, or a bad thing." She wrinkled her nose. "Passing information is not, at all, considered showing off."

As time went by, soon the lights of the city could be seen on the horizon. "Still a couple hours away from where we are currently." She had stopped to pull the flask out again, taking another swig, she was surprised he didn't ask, but was also rather thankful that he didn't.

"Speaking of showing off. I want to show you some of my older conquests. When we get there or the next time one of us wants to take a break." Kyn said, checking his watch again, looking to see how long they had been traveling.

Serena flicked her tongue out as Kyn spoke again. "Probably would be a better idea to do it now, rather than IF we take a break..." Her head turned to the right with the shifting of the sand.

"Oh...well I suppose I jinxed it." A Camerupt had emerged from the sand to her right, and from the sound of it, a Lairon to the left. "That Lairon might be annoying...Any suggestions?" She had instinctively turned to face the Camerupt on the right, putting the flask back in her bag as she slipped it off her shoulders. For now, they were just staring them down.

"Irony is that it would be better to let these two fight one another..."

"Lairon... Lairon... that's Aggron's previous form, correct? If so, then a Fighting-type move will devastating to it. Now...based on what you just said last... there's a crazy idea that I got that just might work. Depending on what type of Fire moves the Camerupt uses, Lacu can turn it on the Lairon, and finish it off with some Fighting type moves." Kyn said, running scenarios through in his head, sometimes hmming out loud to himself and muttering. As they drew closer, he knew he'd have to move out of the way, so he did, not drawing his swords considering the Camerupt could easily melt them.

"Alright, Heji and Tensa on the Lairon, Marlow and I on the Camerupt...Lacu using one's moves against the other..." She counted off, and then brought herself up to her full height, removing the scarf from her back and exposing her wounds to the air. They were essentially scars now, as she wrapped it around her neck.

"As you're ready folks, don't wait for me." She said, and then she was off in a beeline, straight for the Camerupt before it could get any closer to Kyn, the blue green aura surrounding her as she ran, and leaving the trail behind her, giving them more light to fight by aside from the setting sun and the rising moon.

"Serena, couldn't we just slice this damn camel open after it helps us beat the Lairon as well as what we're doing now? We need to antagonize it enough for it to use fire." Kyn said running opposite of Serena's trail, and opposite of the Lairon's reflected steel plates.

"Plan on it." She ducked what might have been a headbutt, and slammed herself into the Camerupt's front leg, then darted away as the energy started to close after her, relaying in a cone, and finally to a pinpoint. Admittedly, it didn't do much but make the Pokémon angry. It was exactly what she wanted, as the lava boiled in the volcano's on it's back, and she danced out of the way of a flamethrower, leading it to where the others were before leaping upwards to land on the top of it's head, and wrap her scarf around it's eyes so that it was blind. "And sure, if you like lava raining down onto the sand as it erupts for it's last time." Of course, with it now blind, it was trying to get her, and the scarf off, so that it could angle things properly, and Serena looked like she was about to bite it when it bucked again, finally shaking her off onto the sand.

"Heji, use Iron Tail! Tensa, Leaf Blade," Kyn quickly ordered, thinking of weaknesses in his head and coming up with the fact that Heji's dark and electric type moves would be resisted.

Heji leaped up into the air and then his tail glowed a bright white, then it turned into a metallic silver. He did a somersault and landed it directly on the Lairon's head, after which Tensa used a Leaf Blade on the currently disoriented Lairon.

Marlow didn't really think he could do much so what he did do was launch a large number of very weak attacks from various angles at the Camerupt to disorient it, while the others moved in to assist with the final blows.

Serena rolled before a foot could land on her, that would have been bad, but it did put her in a rather unique position...While the Camerupt was distracted with Marlow, she fired off a Dragon Pulse right into it's neck, and scurried out of the way of it as it fell to earth. She pulled the scarf from the Pokémon's eyes, and wrapped it over her neck again as she heard the second thud, this time from the Lairon. "Well...that was interesting." She walked back to where the bag had been set down and dusted it off before slipping it onto her sandy back.

"That was easy," Kyn said, dusting himself off. Before walking over to Serena. "So what's the next step here Serena? What would you do after an encounter like this?"

She blinked at him. "You make it sound as if I encounter this thing everyday...maybe once a week, and usually not together." She looked at the Lairon, and then the Camerupt. "Usually, if and when I find a Pokémon that I can ride, I do so...Camerupt don't make for good mounts...they tend to be slow...where as Lairon are more prone to rampaging...the question is if it's been knocked out, or if it's dead."

"Well, I do, so I figured you might. Though I mean not exactly this specific type of thing, just plenty of wild Pokémon ambushes when I don't have my Pokémon out in the open, and even sometimes when I do," Kyn said, only partially understanding of her situations.

"You know, this is almost becoming rather bothersome. I am the foremost expert on whether or not a Pokémon is dead or just knocked out around here. Nothing here is dead." Marlow blurted after that last sentence Serena said. He paused. "Except me, of course. Well... bah. You know."

"Of course Marlow, I figured you would be the one to answer the question." She pulled the coil of rope from her pack and made some reins and a halter, pulling it tight over the Pokémon's head before climbing up it's side. "Well this should work well enough, we'll have to abandon formation, but eh, four hours on the back of a Lairon is better than nine walking."

"Damn it all Serena, I haven't told you how many times I've thought about Reshiram during all our journeys. This will work, but haven't you thought about it too?" Kyn said, hoping that she'd be able to understand his thinking while their thoughts were still focused on travel.

"Flying, you mean? I think about flying almost every day..." She snorted, waiting for all of them to board before reaching down and biting the Lairon's headplate, letting her mouth get increasingly hot until it nearly bolted upright. She let go of it then, and pulled it's head in the direction they wanted to go, and had it not had the shit kicked out of it less than five minutes ago, it might have fought, but as it was it turned and reacted properly to the directions, starting off slow but gradually picking up speed.

"Well sort of yeah, but alright. Why don't we find a way that Reshiram can carry both you and me at the same time?" Kyn suggested. Not necessarily trying to fulfill her idea of flying, but more so the idea of quick travel.

"...Kyn, I'm afraid that I can't let you bring your White One into this world. No Pokémon of Myth should ever cross between the worlds except for a specific reason, and that shouldn't be to save our feet from being used. However, if you were in reference to convincing the Space bender to edit the rift so that time passed slowly and visiting whatever it is that you wanted to show me on YOUR side...Well, I've said before that I don't have control over what you do." She was berating herself for letting herself get thrown off the Camerupt, what HAD she been doing instead of fighting? She remembered watching the two take down the Lairon as she fell...and then she was on the ground and avoiding a foot from crushing her lungs.

"Oh damn. Well, I guess then, my statement still stands for my world. And, as for the second thing you said, I planned on doing that. Now, when we get to the Bay, I do have a few things I want to show you from my world again." Kyn said, disappointed at not being able to bring Reshiram to this world.

"Apparently today is a very boring day?" She spoke, almost without thinking, but at least when she sparked an ember near the Lairon's head it responded by moving faster. She really didn't care about it, it was essentially just an animal after all. "Sorry, I didn't mean that...just haven't eaten yet today and being attacked twice has me a little on edge..."

"Alright you, I don't care how much you protest, or what I have to do, but I am going to get you to relax when get to the Bay!" Kyn said half forcefully, half playfully.

"...It's not my element, Kyn, relaxed happens on my turf, not in someone else's territory...but fine, you want me to relax? The bay is only a couple hours from Tao village, shorter even to my cave...and they have a postal service. I'll see if I can't get one of the ghosts to take care of the bird and we can spend a few days there if you like...Do me a favor and grab the flask from inside the pack again, since you're behind me, Kyn. I would get it myself, but a moment of weakness can make the difference in controlling something that doesn't accept you as an alpha."

"Yes. I will do that. So, about this here flask. I'm not going to ask what's in it, but I will say, that it reminds me of a human drinking alcohol. Have you ever been intoxicated Serena?" Kyn asked carefully.

"Have been, yes, you did hear Syrup say that I owed her a drink...Dragons don't exactly have the ability to bounce back like the poison types do, but drinking does deaden the nerves for a while." She took the flask from him, twisting the cap and took another swig of it. "One of my ribs is cracked, don't think that's ever happened before...well, when it wasn't self inflicted anyway."

"Hm, such an interesting set of circumstances. I'll try my best not to treat you like a human as much. I do sometimes need to be reminded. There have been times where I've had to remind Tensa too. I'm rather used to Pokémon taking after humans most of the time. Hmm, I wonder if they'd respond to terrorist attacks the same way...?" Kyn mumbled that last bit aloud, doing his chin-stroking thing while he thought.

"Terrorist attacks?" She snorted, her head was foggy from the mixture that Syrup had put in the flask, she wasn't exactly sure what it was herself, only that it smelled like a mixture of her poison and some fermented berries, and something else that she claimed wouldn't leave her with a hang over the next day.

"We have gangs and tribes, but it would take something larger scale than them to put the meaning of terror into our hearts." She said, taking a stab at what the word 'terrorist' meant. She looked at the horizon where the sun would be coming up behind the buildings in a few hours, and pulled the Lairon to a stop a little ways outside of the city limits. "I will never understand why some 'mon believe that all of us are created equal, but someone will flip their lids if they see us 'riding in on someone else' and in bondage to boot." She slid off the Lairon's back and pulled on the reins so that it was forced to look her in the eye as the others got off, at least, that way they would be safe in doing so. When they were all off, she pulled the rope off of it's neck and growled at it. Words were lost in the guttural sound, but apparently the Lairon got the gist as it turned tail and ran back the way that they had come from. She coiled the rope back up and snorted.

"Think Sorbet level destruction and death, but over a period of several years, and over a much larger scale, stretching as far as from Tao Village to the Bay. Every day, more hundreds of deaths being reported. Hatchlings, elders, middle age, it doesn't matter, you don't know where the next attack will come from, or when but you know it is coming." Kyn tried.

"Sounds like paranoia, it wouldn't affect most of us. Scavengers would pick them up, dispose of them. Only those who actually formed bonds with those who died would have any reason to hate the ones doing it. Sorbet was a problem to all three guilds, those who responded didn't care about the problem, they just did as they were told." She sighed, putting the flask back in her bag as she walked into the city, the rope following suit. "Eventually those who cared about what happened would form together and make a pact for a period of time to take the problem down."

"That, I suppose, is one of the things that rather separates humans from Pokémon. In some ways, I rather admire that." Kyn said, and after they entered the city, he ceased to mention anything human related until they were in a place where they could freely speak about it and no one would care.

Serena took the time to wrack her brain, and then she looked around. "Oi...I'm going to regret doing this..." She steered them over to the K.R. Casino, rather quite ignoring the Clefairy at the door, she seemed to do that a lot lately. Still, they wouldn't look twice at a large group of Pokémon together here, and it was busy enough that they wouldn't have to worry about being overheard. Still, this was the place that the first error message had been received, and still, this place was full of technology. She walked up to, not surprisingly, another Clefairy behind the desk, who at first mistook her for Terra, but once she got it straight they called up Anana and got them cleared to stay for a couple nights, the keycards were passed to her, and she hopefully lead the group to the elevator, grumbling under her breath. "You wanted to fill in for Dee anyway, right Marlow?"

"There was a time when I did want to I guess, but I've rather lost my motivation now." He quickly responded.

"Yay for casinos. Glad to see that I'm not going to feel completely out of place here." Kyn said sarcastically.

"Think you can cover one show a night?" She shot Kyn a look. "It's just a room, it's not a prison...no, you'd be dead if you screwed up here...there's a Slowking that runs this place, and he has enough muscle to even put ME out of commission. We're not here to play on the machines...it's a free room and so long as you're with us, you can eat ANYWHERE in the bay for free as well. Anana's picking up the tab." She rubbed her headplates as the elevator stopped, walked down the hall a ways to the number she had been given, and opened the door. Inside was a 'living room' of sorts, and setting off to either side were doors which lead off to bedrooms. "There are three bathrooms here, one on either side, and both are attached to the rooms themselves. The last is back behind the kitchenette area there" She said simply, flopping herself down on the couch. "Pick your rooms now--we've still got a couple hours before the post office opens...and as with the Saloon, the walls are sound proofed."

"I hate to seem ungrateful after all you've helped me with and done so far but.... First of all... What the hell were you thinking?! Secondly, how the hell did you manage to do it?" Kyn said

"Ugh. We're only going to BE here for one night I thought. All that other crap about asking Ghosts, I say to you the same thing Kyn did, what the hell were you thinking?!" Marlow crossed his arms as he floated in front of her.

"The guilds put up a request for someone to come take Dee's place in the bay, she's an assistant in the magic show here. We're a bit late, but h--she's still a bit sick." She had put her claws together, tapping the sharp tips against one another with pinpoint accuracy. "I tried to set it up for only one night at first, and that wouldn't fly. Being an assistant shouldn't be too hard anyway...a few tricks...and we'll be able to do what Kyn suggested. R-E-L-A-X. It's unfavorable, but one of our fellow Rogues will take care of the bird...it means that all of the candy might be gone when we get back, but if it is, then they've been paid for their help."

"Bah, fine whatever. Now just sit there while I show you what I wanted to show you." Kyn said, taking off his Xtransciever and sitting down on the couch next to Serena.

"Well then. I suppose one of those entertainment choices you'll all have is his performance. Guess you'll be seeing me sooner than later." Marlow commented.

"I didn't exactly volunteer you specifically Marlow, did you honestly think I would be so rude? You don't have to If you don't want to, If not, I'll just take your place." She blinked at the Xtransciever, admittedly curious, but her mind wasn't in it, at least, not completely. Her stomach seemed to agree with her, and she dug around in her pack for one of those rocks that gave her headplates their color. She bit into it with a crunch, and chewed.

"Ya were playing with that when I walked back inta camp." She said, trying not to spit gravel everywhere, she didn't have the table manners that Marlow seemed to insist that she needed.

"Yes well, I take it you have good eyes, because this damn thing, has such a small screen, but it's portable which is the main convenience. Wait a moment." Kyn pushed a button on the side and then another screen popped out. He fiddled around with settings, and then brought up archives his records in the Pokémon League that anyone who was willing to dig back far enough would be able to find, but that he had just conveniently saved. His second run through the Hoenn League. "What I wanted to show you was a record of when I entered the League for the second time, and with Tensa. It is a bit long, so I hope you don't mind." The video was set up so that it was stretched across the two screens, but the divider in the middle was rather annoying somewhat.

She folded one foot up under her, a rather relaxed pose. "Most Pokémon do have good eyes." She confirmed, her head tilted as she watched the screens, and it was only when it finished that she took time to process what was shown to her. Pokémon, fighting, and having fun doing it. Obviously they weren't dead...in the end she just snorted and licked her claws. She would offend them both if she actually said anything, of that she was sure, but she fought to live...this was...a mockery of it.

"This... is essentially the whole premise of the Pokémon League. Which is why when I met you and discovered your way of life... that it made me reevaluate mine."

That stopped the thought process in the tracks. She glanced at him with her forest green eyes, and flicked out her tongue. "I...am a minimalist, in the truest sense of the word. If I wanted to, I could have had a house BUILT for the team, I could have moved into town, could have had it furnished with couches as comfy as this one, with Ducklett down pillows and sheets made from Cottonee fibers...basing your way of life against mine is foolish." She didn't think she had even told Marlow that, but she was happy with her cave, it had always kept her safe from harm, and she didn't think she would ever part with it.

"However...I will tell you that that..." She pointed at the screens. "Is a mockery of the way that I live."

"Nothing I know can ever compare. I was hoping to get your opinion of it, good or bad. There is one other thing I will tell you. This world of yours... is going to be a closely guarded secret of mine. There will be only two people who will even have a remote hint of a place like this, and that would be Clair the Dragonmaster, and Professor Oak. Now, on a more positive note, Pokémon Contests. I also have some stored on here." Kyn really thought about what Serena had said, and figured that he wouldn't even come close to being able to understand how this situation would seem from her point of view.

"Heh...well, if it wasn't, then they would all likely end up dead anyway. I can see it now, humans coming into Tao village and trying to capture Pokémon who, by most meaning of the words, would tear into their Pokémon like a predator on their prey, and then when the Pokémon were dead, they'd turn on the humans." She waited for the contests to be loaded onto the screen, rather patiently for her, leaving the silence there for a moment. "You already know I can't tell anyone else anything about you either...you need not think of my happiness."

"People are still baffled by the way I treat my Pokémon. Anyway, it is time for you to get a glimpse of the OTHER side of human interaction with Pokémon." He started up a video that featured some of the opening rounds of his first time entering in the Grand Festival.

Serena muttered something about him being a jack of all trades and refocused her eyes on the screen. This--this she found interesting, Pokémon going about their abilities with grace, showing off even, yes, that quite appealed to her inner dragon, and the outer dragon too, if looks were to be believed. She had at some point leaned forward onto her knees, and only when the video ended did she force herself to sit back.

"Serena, I don't know what exactly you were paying attention to during this, but you should be able to recognize me amongst all the other entrants. Now for the next few rounds." Kyn said, scrolling down through his list.

"Kyn, you're teasing a dragon here..." She made the comment offhandedly "Probably best to leave some of them for later...I'm sure I smell like I've been hugging backside of a Skuntank and like a Camerupt had it's way with me. Can it wait until I've had a nice hot bath?" Syrup had put the thought in her mind before she left, and right now it sounded sooo good.

"I wasn't intending on 'teasing a dragon' as you say but yes, go ahead." Kyn said, pushing the screen back into it's slot.

"I know you weren't...for the record it's not a good idea...waving an event that I like in front of my nose and knowing that I'll never be able to see it would be the equivalent of me giving you a taste of something that you'd never be able to deny liking, just enough to get you hooked--and then refusing to give you more." She muttered under her breath about the stink on her, and how all of this ruined the coating of Heji's scent on her from the night prior. Of course, Kyn's ears wouldn't be able to hear it from so far away, but the others...that was a different story. She clicked one of the still unoccupied room's door behind her, and headed into the bathroom, her claws clicking against the tile as she started her bath.

"Beh. Who says you won't be able to see it yourself?" Kyn muttered when she was out of earshot. He planned on showing her one of Hearthome City's daily Pokémon Contests that ran in the city that weren't part of the qualifiers for the Grand Festival.

"It really doesn't matter that much how long we stay here. Considering that if we stay here for 12 days, 12 days wouldn't have passed back home." Striker commented.

Hot water, steam and all sorts of scented soaps, luxuries that Serena had gladly forgone for the most part. She slipped gladly into the hot water and picked one of the milder scents, as well as a scrub brush. She did wince as the brush grazed the wounds that used to be much worse than they were now, but they did need to be clean. The soap of course stripped her of her natural oils on her scales, and only when she got to her neck did she realize that she had worn her scarf in, and set it on the rim, she would wash that in the sink when she was through, perhaps she could get most of the dried blood out of it. When she deemed herself clean, she let the (almost black) water drain out of the tub and dried herself against a fluffy towel.

"Y'know, I guess it really couldn't hurt for me to shower either. Now perhaps that it's implied that we're going to be here a while. Perhaps Tensa will be able to do what he wanted to do, since as she mentioned, soundproofing. When she gets back I'll ask her about more of the cleaning areas."

Tensa practically lit up at Kyn's suggestion, and it excited him greatly, but he didn't mention it at all.

It wasn't long before she was back, she was sparkling with a soft scented oil that matched the soap she had used, and her scarf was warm and soft again after another quick drying, but still she couldn't help but feel a bit more like an elephant in the room, like she had just walked in on something that she wasn't supposed to hear. She ignored the feeling, her claws clicking against the wood once again.

"There, that's better." well, at the very least, she did seem more relaxed. "Probably the only downside to Syrup's concoction, I don't know when it's wearing off and when my body is stitching itself back together."

"Alright Serena... uh... besides that one, that you were just in... where are the other bathing areas again? I believe that besides me, there are others that wish to bathe." He didn't specifically refer to who but he guessed that she would probably assume that most of them did.

She blinked at him. "Well usually MOST Pokémon aren't shy about bathing together. Aside from the one I used, there's another over on the other side, and probably one to the south past the kitchenette, but I'd have to look at the floor plan again to be sure." She did glance at Tensa, and took his signs of happiness as being offered a wash. She smelled like cherries--even the thought made her smile. Well, Anana had certainly outdone herself, she retrieved the room plan from the door, which was set annoyingly high up on the door considering her height, but her claws could JUST reach it...and then she was back at the couch. "Yeah, the one back there is smaller, I'm guessing in case there are some that are shy about bathing, or in case the doors to the other two are locked."

"I am for the most part, aware of that. That is another benefit about being in a Pokémon dominated world. I don't have to worry about modesty much, I think. Well, we'll be off now. See you in a bit, Serena." Kyn said, with a wave, heading for one of the nearest places. Striker and Tensa followed close behind him. Heji and Lacu went to the other area.

Serena flopped down on the couch again at one end. She had been left with Marlow, and he probably still wasn't happy with her.

"Have you chosen the room you want yet?" She asked, pulling the flask from the bag at her feet, the green eyes meeting blue. She didn't need to talk with him, necessarily, but the silence, after traveling with them for the days they had, and being surrounded by speech for so long, was growing deafening. Of course, she could have turned on the TV, been greeted with a Porygon, who would then funnel in a stream of electricity from down below, something recorded...but she didn't exactly feel like watching a movie, and besides, Kyn would likely be more apt to want to meet the Porygon for himself.

"Yes. The room you have chosen, is the room *I* have chosen." Marlow said simply. He did something the he hadn't done in a while, and floated over to Serena and 'sat' on her head.

"...You do realize that there's a likelihood that you'll end up being alone in the room when you wake up from your sleep cycle, right?" She flicked out her tongue, carefully balancing his skull on her headplates as she reached forward for the flask of purple liquid, and found that her ribs didn't hurt. What exactly WAS in this stuff?

"Why is that? Are you planning on being up early or something?" Marlow hoped Serena wouldn't let him fall, because he knew she was partially under the influence of whatever was in that flask, but he didn't know by how much.

"Naivete isn't in your nature, Marlow." She did take another drink from the flask, and let her tongue flicked out over her lips. "When the sun is up high enough, I'll be heading to the post...unless you'd prefer to go home." She offered. She had thought, at one point, that Marlow's memory might have improved while being in Gambitville, as that was the place that they had thought that he had originally lived in.

"I'm going to shadow you. This is one of those time where you're not going to be able to get rid of me for a while."

Kyn and Tensa were currently engaged in cleaning activities, and Tensa was enjoying the water. "Try not to get TOO excited. Though we do need to clean EVERY part of us."

"What's the point if we're just going to get 'dirty' again?" Tensa commented, sighed.

"The point is... we've been traveling for a while now, and we haven't touch a single drop of water other than what we've had to drink." Kyn countered.

"You think that that's going to change what I intend to do, or are you just being your curious self? If it's the latter, I can give you the memories afterward." She commented, snorting. "But honestly, I had no idea, Marlow." The chuckle that accompanied it was something akin to those that happened last night, though she pulled the skull off of her head, transferring him to her chest as she reclined on the couch, her head on the arm of it.

"What? Serena, now you're not making sense, going from subject to subject. What exactly are you chuckling at now?" He oomphed as she shifted him around and made note to tell her to be more careful later.

"I'm not making sense? I'm not shifting from topic to topic at all. Where was I last time I wasn't in my room, Marlow?" She asked him, he knew the answer. She was with Heji, of course. "As for what I'm chucking about, is you turning into a voyeur after telling me you didn't like being sent simply to supervise things."

"Knowing you, you were with Heji." He answered before commenting on what she said next. "This is different and you know it. I am doing this for a reason that you will figure out later."

"Yes, I was with Heji." She confirmed, and chuckled again at him. "You could just tell me, you know. As much as we pretend to be, we are not mind readers when the other wants to keep a secret." She idly rubbed the crack in his skull with the thumb of her free hand, leaning to the side to put the flask back, she hadn't even taken another drink, but she got the sense that she didn't need to. With the rock in her belly, it was much considered to be 'full', and as with most, a full belly meant she would be getting sleepy soon.

Tensa helped with cleaning in between Striker's carapace as well as the other parts of his exoskeleton, and then he began working on the areas underneath an in between. "Thank you all very much for your assistance again," Striker said. In addition to what was already there, Kyn also had travel sized shampoo for his own hair, which was something that he felt he needed, just keeping that additional part of home.

"No, you will have to figure it out on your own. I will tell you in five days if you haven't worked it out." Marlow said, noticing that Serena had began fiddling with the crack in his skull.

Serena sighed at the idea of having Marlow shadow her around. Despite what she said, it did put a damper on what she had in mind. "I wont try. You do know that, or at least you should by now. I don't keep you on a leash and watch everything you do." she clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth, forcing herself into a semi upright positioning so that she wouldn't fall asleep.

"Alright if that's what it comes to, then I shall tell you. It is because I believe it is in my best interest to monitor you here. At least when I am not doing those silly shows."

Kyn, Striker, and Tensa finished bathing, and went back into the room where Serena was, since they hadn't chosen where they would stay yet. Heji and Lacu had finished as well. Lacu dried Heji with a towel, but he still couldn't help himself and began giving himself a tongue bath in certain places that he deemed necessary, afterward.

They walked in a short while after.

"So, where are the sleeping quarters again?" Kyn asked.

"I've already told you you didn't need to do those shows, if you didn't I would just take your place." She spoke softly. Her next statement was cut off as Kyn spoke, and she looked at him oddly. "Four bedrooms on each side, for goodness sakes Kyn you walked through one on your way back here." She knew he was putting off something. "There's nothing...wrong..Is there Kyn?" She phrased it very carefully.

"Hm... no. Nothing is wrong at this current time. Also, you WILL get to see a Pokémon Contest. Understood?" His hair wasn't as normally spiky as it was, but it was still recognizable, as he hadn't put the hair gel in just yet.

"Probably better that I not." Her tongue flicked out as she spoke, giving a slight hiss to her words. "So you'll be going to bed soon then? I realize it's getting back around to the point where you slept before.." Of course, she hadn't noticed the other two from the other direction, at least until their scents hit her nose. She was struck by the urge to pounce Heji's tail, but knew how odd that would look, and was still able to suppress it; so apparently she wasn't TOO drunk, if at all. {Why do you think that you need to watch me constantly?}

"Dammit Serena, make no mistake, if I have to force you to come with me, I will! Why in the world could you possibly believe that it would be better if you didn't see one?"

{Well, I suppose there's really no point in keeping this from you at this point since we're in that sort of relationship, as a Team but, I overheard your conversation with Syrup.}

"Because SEEING it was the problem in the first place." She spat back at him, and what's more, she snarled. "AND you're lying to me, you're either doing it now, or you did it back when you told me that you wouldn't force me into anything." she didn't exactly turn away from him, but there was that typical smoke coming from her snout as she forced herself to look away from him.

{Ah...you need not worry about anything in Gambitville following us, either physically or emotionally. My debt is...well, paid in full. You haven't looked at my back, I take it, or the scars that are there now, that were not there before.}

"Ugh. Serena, you're taking my words too literal. This time I mean. I guess what I'm saying is... I wouldn't have shown you that unless you would have been able to experience it for yourself. It may not be now, but eventually you'll be in a position to be able to see them firsthand." He didn't care that what he said had apparently caused her to become annoyed, maybe even angry with him, but he wanted to clarify.

She wrinkled her nose at him, her green eyes focused in on him. "If you do not say what you mean, why do you talk? Life would be a lot simpler if we all did that, rather than phrasing it in a way that can be misconstrued." She rubbed at her temples, just below where the headplates started. She knew she was part of the 'we' and that she was being hypocritical, but she didn't exactly care at the moment. Alcohol made her tongue slip more than it should have, and more open about things she was normally rather closed minded on.

"This is a fallacy of my humanity I am afraid. But, enough of this talk for now. I shall be headed off to bed, as you correctly stated." Kyn said, turning his back to Serena, not necessarily waiting for a response.

Serena sighed a little, picking Marlow up by the horn as Kyn exited, and set him on the cushion in front of her as she sat up the rest of the way. She watched Kyn walk away, and sighed again rather than bidding him off a goodnight/morning/whatever. Her eyes closed for a moment, then reopened, and she was really...quite aware of them all around her. She checked the time on the clock on the wall, and thought about going to send the post off, and rethought...if she was able to put Kyn in odd sorts, it would probably start a fight with any 'mon on the street. {You've gone quiet.}

Kyn went into a room with Tensa and closed the (I'm assuming there's doors here still) door behind them. Kyn could tell how eager Tensa was to do this with him, after being denied such a long time. "Alright, you get your wish tonight." Kyn said, removing his overcoat, cape, and shirt. There wasn't going to be striptease tonight. Tensa removed Kyn's belt, and pants, and folded them in a stack near the rest of what was already removed, then he quickly tackled Kyn to the bed. Although he wasn't that interested in a striptease, it still didn't stop him from doing any foreplay.

{Nothing left to say to you. Go to sleep Serena.} Marlow said.

She wrinkled her nose, her body rather tense, all of the relaxing the tub had done had been undone. "Fine." The word came out slowly, calmly, perhaps too much so. She left Marlow there on the couch as she dropped to the floor, clipping the link with him so that at least for the time being. He couldn't read her, couldn't even find her. The link was, of course, set up on a permission basis, and when he didn't have permission, he may as well have been shut out. The sobering thought was that she was behaving like a child, yet again, as she closed the door behind her. She didn't bother to lock it, and rather than sleeping on what she was sure was a soft, comfortable mattress, she slid under the bed to ignore the sun. Silence again, and the deep throbbing ache that came from when the link was inactive, but she wanted to be reminded that they wouldn't always be there, that she would, at some point, always be alone.

After removing Kyn's only last remaining protect, Tensa prepared him in the way he normally did, playing with him with his tongue. Kyn decide to let Tensa top him this time, so he let him position him, and do whatever he wanted in this case. Tensa chose the missionary position this time, and he also used his long tongue to stimulate Kyn as well. After they were finished it would be apparent to anyone with a decent nose, which was pretty much everyone, what they had done. That both exchanged a decent amount of their scent, but Kyn went to bed with his clothes on again. Tensa curled up beside him and they both fell asleep together, with him finally satisfied after having been pent up so much.

Serena slept, if just barely, but the darkness had helped her forget where she was. As consequence, of course, she tried to sit up, to be greeted with the clang of the bed frame against her headplates. Thankfully it hadn't been her tail, but still, shimmying out from under the bed was a bit humiliating.