Planeside

[Fenric]

Orochi's Palace

Helen is not that snobbish, but nudges Frederick gently and says, nodding to Steven, "It was truly divine, in more ways than one. Hopefully, this meal will be no different."

"A sentiment I can agree to. You don't need something original to be good." Steven says.
His mother never really had much variety on hand to cook with, but she was pretty good at using what she had.

After what seems like a couple of days to the hungry fox-folk (), the draconic waitstaff bring in trays with gleaming silver covers. One is placed in front of each guest, and then the waiters pull off the lids in unison:

Three small-ish whole fish, shiny and obsidian black, are resting on a wild rice pilaf complete with mushrooms, corn, carrots, and peas. A wild field green salad dressed with a delicate vinaigrette and a pile of steamed asparagus round out the vegatables with a dinner roll to keep it all company. The smell is heavenly, to be sure! At last, the waiters dispense small glasses of fruity white wine to accompany the meal before withdrawing.

Frederick looks suitably impressed

Woah...

[Lost_Deep]

Mystery?

Kate sits up, and works at the crik in her neck as yesterday comes back to her. Her family is likely worried, again, her job is going to notice she's missing, again, they're going to file a missing person report, again... when did this become a routine?

"What are we going to do today?" Kate asks, not really giving the baby kangaskahn a second thought.

Maybe she's too jaded.

[Rebonack]

[Mystery?]

"We're going to go check out the cave dungeon," Fortuna replies, moments before her belly gurgles ravenously. "Ah heh... after we get something to eat."

At the mention of dungeons Khannie's ears perk up! "Oh! You have to let me come, too! Please dad? I'm really tough, honest! Sensei Marrowack says its because I had to do a lot of growing up without a pouch to hide in. I could help you punch the pokemon in the dungeon until they feel better!"

She raises her little fists in a pretty solid-looking boxer's stance and makes a few jabs and hooks, followed by a flurry of punches that's almost without question a Comet Punch.

ATATATATATATAT!

"And I'll gain experience, and get stronger, and go on more adventures with you!" she concludes, sounding equal parts about to exploding with excitement and hopeful.

She wants to grow up to be a great hero, even if she isn't really a human. She just has one for her parent.

[Deathkeeper]

Mystery?

Being a human has nothing to do with it. First, technically speaking her parentage is pokemon on all sides in the literal sense. The fact that most of the time her parent is human doesn't change the fact that he wasn't when she was made. Second, if she is simply referring to them, Fortuna and Zebes break the rule entirely.

"Oh, yeah, sure." Jace says simply.
To his mind, the mental effect of this world is equal everywhere. And in the dungeons, small berries can fully restore wounds and there's no real permanent danger unless the party is wiped. She's a pokemon. The darn things are shooting fire and getting hit by fire from birth, and he thinks he missed a few of her birthdays. Better to expose her to a little bit of danger and hope that she's scared off than have her nag him until she comes on something really scary. Plus, from what Zebes told him Heliosk is a rather terribly weak pokemon, so it's not like she'll be weighing them down much more than Kate.
But he leans in to look Khannie in the eye.
"But you will do everything we say without question, and you will stay either next to me or let Zebes or Fortuna carry you, got it? he says, dead serious. Which is what she's going to get if she wants to be taken seriously.

Orochi's Palace

Steven looks in wonder at the meal, and begins serving himself almost immediately. His table manners are decent, but he's never had to deal with anything upscale before. He's just happy he was given this body with knowledge of how to work his vulpine mouth without any incidents, or it'd have been worse the last few months. Still, hopefully he doesn't insult anyone.

[Lost_Deep]

Mystery?

Kate watches the exchange. Who was that Pokemon? It's a tiny Khangaskhan. Wait, where's it's moth-

As Kate realizes what Fortuna actually said earlier, you can watch her mind blow. Realization, surprise, confusion, and finally sheer lack of understanding crosses Kate's face.

"wait wait what"

[Rebonack]

[Mystery?]

"I promise!" Khannie practically squeals with delight, hopping up to wrap her arms around Jace and snuggle him mightily! "If things get scary I'll hide behind uncle Zebes!"

She just wishes she had a pouch to hide in, instead. But alas, there aren't any around. She's gone her whole childhood without one to ride in, and she's tough enough to make do without. But... maybe just once... it would be nice to snuggle up. Maybe her daddy has some wooly blankets? Sitting with him inside a wooly blanket might be a good runner-up.

"Welcome to our life," Fortuna giggles at Kate. "When I first met Jace he was a Haunter. I offered to use my chaos magic to change his pokemon species. I was aiming for Victini, but I dialed in Kangaskhan by mistake. It was for maybe a minute at most, but I guess that was long enough for an egg to manifest."

"I can do ghost punches!" Khannie announces proudly as her right arm becomes insubstantial and her fist very Haunter-like. She tosses a few jabs with confident, practiced ease.

"Hehe, I guess that proves it, huh Jace? You're her mother AND her father," Fortuna says with a grin.

[Deathkeeper]

Mystery?

"Arm" and "Haunter-like" don't really mix. For obvious reasons.

Jace groans at Fortuna's proclamation. At least it's two entirely different species. No worries about inbreeding there, that's for sure.

"For the record, if it isn't awkward, Fortuna can probably do a pretty good Kangaskhan impression if you've been curious about that sort of thing." he says, trying not to be choked by the mighty snuggling and also trying to get some attention off of him.

[Lost_Deep]

Mystery?

Kate forces herself to calm down. Welp... not hers to worry about. The idea is a little disturbing, but not hers to worry about.

"Right, breakfast?" Kate doesn't feel hungry, but it is a good topic.

[Rebonack]

[Mystery?]

Khannie wrinkles her little nose at that suggest before giving the mew an apologetic look. "No offense, miss Fortuna, but I think that would be too weird."

Gotta draw the line somewhere.

And the line is drawn as sitting in the pouch of someone OTHER than your mother.

You just don't do that!

And then?

Breakfast!

Yay breakfast!

It's probably berries and nuts and stuff, Rebo has no idea.

[Deathkeeper]

Mystery?

Jace chuckles.
"That was a joke. Well, let's go get food, everyone." Jace says.

And then breakfast! Likely fruits and nuts and such. Maybe even Meatfruit, the fruit that somehow lets carnivores coexist with everyone else in this universe.
Or something like that. It'd make sense.

And during breakfast...
"Uh, Khannie? How old are you, exactly?" Jace asks tentatively.

[Lost_Deep]

Mystery?

Kate looks at the options and frowns. If she had to stay here very long, bread was on top of her list of things to re-invent. She was never a good baker, but...

...but breakfast without bread stank.

Kate chooses something that looks good and eats it idly. She isn't hungry, and that's showing here.

[Rebonack]

[Mystery?]

"They can build houses but they don't know how to make food?" Fortuna wonders aloud. Just another weird thing to add to a long list of weird things. Even most hunter gatherer societies know how to make some kind of bread. Or cakes. Or crackers. Or tortillas. Or some kind of bread-like stuff made from ground up, baked grain.

Ah well.

Fortuna makes do with some of the more appraising looking nuts and fruits.

At least the breakfast is healthy!

Khannie, meanwhile, beams proudly at the question. "I'm six!"

A very tough six year old!

Just the toughest.

[Deathkeeper]

Mystery?

"Maybe berries and nuts is just their equivalent to waffles and bacon. Maybe bread is a dinner thing?" Zebes ponders.

Jace, for his part, simply stares shocked at the little pokemon. "Oh my gods I missed your first seven birthdays." He reaches out shakily, gripping her into a tight hug. Victini is much stronger than it looks.
"Oh my gods I missed seven of your birthdays. I'm so sorry Khannie. So sorry. I'm a terrible parent." he moans.

[Rebonack]

[Mystery?]

"Sort of like how Belgian waffles are a dessert?" Fortuna replies quizzically. No idea why she knows that Belgian waffles are typically considered a dessert rather than a breakfast in Belgium. Fortuna knows some weird, random things.

And Khannie?

Well...

She's just glad for the closeness.

Her parent's touch, his voice, his comfort. It's more than she ever could have wished for.

"It wasn't your fault, daddy," the little kangaskhan says, doing her best to reassure Jace. "It was because of weird things and... and stuff! You said you didn't even know I was an egg. It isn't your fault."

Though...

It might be the fault of whoever or whatever yoinked her into this strange reality. If she hadn't been abducted, her egg probably would have just been sitting on the couch after Jace turned into a Victini the first time.

[Deathkeeper]

Mystery?

"Not my fault doesn't make it okay. You should have just stayed where we were, not shown up here. Blissey is a wonderful person but no kid should go without their parents for six years because their egg just fell into another dimension."
He doesn't know what generally happens to an egg when the female organs that are normally supposed to lay it suffer Critical Existence Failure due to chaos magic, but he's fairly sure the answer is not "fall into another dimension."
"I warn you in advance. When we get home and I have arms big enough to hold you I'm not going to let go for a while. You only get to come on a possibly dangerous dungeon run because pokemon are strangely durable and you asked after I owed you seven consecutive birthday presents.
...
also, when is your birthday; I am not missing the next one."

Properly speaking, it's probably in the fall when the whole kangaskhan thing happened, but if she remembers when it was here he'll go off that for her sake.

[Rebonack]

[Mystery?]

That's assuming pokemon even lay eggs. Rebo is convinced they just manifest out of nowhere in a flash of light or something. Makes about as much sense as anything else pokemon related.

"Blissy is really nice, but I'm glad you're here now," Khannie replies, not one to give up on the hugging any and every chance she gets. "Maybe we'll find out why my egg came here on our adventure together! And I can't wait to get home because then you'll be able to really hold me and that'll be the best!"

Normally?

Not likely.

But given how straight forward this world seems to be when it comes to plot elements?

Very likely.

"Hehe... This is a great birthday present! Even if it's late. My birthday is September nineteenth!"

Why would they use the same months as- ah well. It probably isn't worth puzzling over. Though if Jace recalls, that's the precise day when he got turned into a kangaskhan for less than a minute. Timing checks out.

[Deathkeeper]

Mystery?

"Khannie, speaking of that, are you sure there isn't anything else we can do for those feral pokemon we come across? Just hitting them worked last time, but if we can avoid violence we really should." Jace says.
He doesn't really expect an answer from this one. He's just trying to make sure Khannie won't think of him as a murderknock-out-hobo kind of adventurer. She's already looking up to him enough with those impressionable little kiddie eyes.

[Rebonack]

[Mystery?]

Everyone knows that violence solves ninety percent of the problems in pokemon games.

The other ten percent of problems can be solved with item-duplication glitches.

Anywho!

The little pokemon frowns at the question, her ears drooping. "I don't think so... They just start acting like animals, then they go to the forest," she says, pointing off towards the woods. "The village had guards. They would knock out pokemon who went crazy. That always made them better. But then lots of pokemon started going crazy. The guards, too."

Well.

That sure is awful.

"Drifloon said it was because of bad air from the old temple. But then she went crazy, too."

[Deathkeeper]

Mystery?

Jace blinks. Zebes too. "There are normal animals?" he asks.
He's honestly never been sure about that one.
"Well, we'll have to help them, then. But just so you know, you can't do that once we get home. Normally, it's not okay to go around punching people just because they're a little nuts. Normally going a little nuts doesn't mean your brain is shutting down." he says, very serious.
Man, this place is screwed up.

[Lost_Deep]

Mystery?

At some point, Kate stopped eating and started looking thoughtful. She isn't saying anything, but the half-eaten berry is unusual.

[Rebonack]

[Mystery?]

How would you manage to eat half a berry? But, then again, Kate is really small. Fortuna notices how distracted her friend looks and offers a curious, "What's up, Kate?"

Khannie, meanwhile, just looks puzzled. "Little things that aren't pokemon?" she replies. "Like... mice. And flies. They don't know how to talk. I tried talking to some mice before, but they just ran away. Mama Blissy says they were brought here from somewhere else, like humans are. But humans turn into pokemon and they don't."

Huh.

Well, maybe 'animals' are non-sapient, non-powered creatures under a certain size? There are plenty of plants that aren't pokemon, after all. Why not some animals?

Khannie listens intently to Jace's explanation about who can and can not be punched, her little eyes growing with wonder and her heart with hope. "You... you mean people don't go feral in the human world?"

That's the most wonderful thing she has ever heard ever! Well, next to hearing that her parent had finally come for her.

[Deathkeeper]

Mystery!

Jace nods.
"Well, there are still crazy people. And bad people. But it's not a normal thing that just happens. So yeah, no punching people at home unless they try to hurt you first. But, we have bigger problems right now than explaining home to you."
Just wait until he has to explain clothes.

[Lost_Deep]

Mystery!

"Just..." she steals a glance at Khannie, and then specifically looks back at the plate in front of her. "Just... pondering regrets... and people I don't know well enough." Yeah, close enough. "I'm not hungry."

[Rebonack]

[Mystery?]

Fortuna offers a small smile. "If you don't know someone well enough, there's always the chance to fix that."

Unless the person died.

Or got turned into a tree. Or whatever. Hopefully that didn't happen. That would be super-depressing.

Regardless!

With breakfast done (or being left uneaten) Fortuna rises up out of her chair. "I'll go thank our hosts for breakfast and tell them we're heading to the cave dungeon to find the next part of the spirit stone. You guys gather up whatever supplies we can get in the mean time."

And off she goes!

Khannie coughs slightly. "Um... the Kecleon brothers run the town store... Maybe they can help us?"

It's worth a shot, right? Surely they wouldn't over-charge our heroes since they're trying to help rebuild the town.

[Deathkeeper]

Mystery?

Jace nods. "We got some money in the dungeon, so we should be able to buy things that the berries and apples Blissey gave us won't cover." he says.
You know, like Escape Orbs. Which Khannie will clearly need when she figures out that a dungeon is not a place for a six year old. That'll happen, right?

Either way, Zebes scoops her up in his big arms and carries her out. "Just show us where it is, Khannie." he says gently.
He knows that he isn't her daddy, but being a supremely cuddly dragon and also sort-of her uncle has to count for something.

[Lost_Deep]

Mystery?

"Money? What, like coins? How is that possible?" Kate asks, "That would imply enough technology for some kind of minting, but we haven't seen any metalworking at all. Unless they're wood coins? Would that work? No, it would make counterfeiting too easy..."

[Rebonack]

[Mystery?]

Wood working and houses, but no metal nails. Metal coins, but nothing that would suggest they have the ability to smelt metal FOR coins.

This whole place doesn't make any sense!

"Eep!" Khannie gasps when Zebes scoops her up. He's no mommy, but being held by someone like that is still nice. "Umm... It's down at the end of town, next to the item storage shop."

A beat.

"I'm... kind of in charge of the item storage shop," Khannie admits.

Why?

Because she's the only kangaskhan in town, obviously.

[Deathkeeper]

Mystery?

Who knows what P is made of? Pretty much all we know about it is that it's yellow. Though the designs of Duskull's bank does sort of imply that it's gold.
Maybe they just feed gold nuggets to a Larvitar and he chews it into discs or something. Pokemon are weird.

"That is a traditionally Kangaskhan-run sort of thing. I always thought it was a joke about the pouches. So what, Khannie, you had a little lockbox for everyone in town to keep their things safe?" he asks while they walk.

It's a fairly simple job that a young girl could probably do. Except that most little kids are not to be trusted with other people's valuables.

[Lost_Deep]

Mystery?

"How would that work? Is there a government? If so, why haven't they done anything to help? Has the government fallen apart and the remaining Pokemon still acknowledge the worth of coin out of habit?" Kate says, utterly overthinking it, "There are roads and bridges, so that implies some kind of civilization outside of this town. Where is it? How far is it? Can we get to it? Do we need to worry about it?"

[Rebonack]

[Mystery?]

Khannie nods in reply to Zebe's question. "There's a little building with lock-boxes in it. I keep the keys for them and keep everyone's special things safe there."

A beat.

"...but no one ever really gives me anything. I kind of wonder what the point is?" she wonders aloud. "It might just be something for humans like you when you come to our world, since humans always go on adventures and find precious things that have to be kept safe. That's what all the stories say."

And then comes Kate's question barrage!

Khannie's ears droop. "I... umm... I don't know?"

She sure doesn't.

She hasn't ever really thought much about how things work in the village. That's just the way things have always been.