Chapter 1: Familiar yet Different
The Mienfoo, still unsure of his footing after coming out of a groggy, confused state, made his way towards what looked like a hut that was modeled after the Buizel. The house wasn't the only one of its kind, either. Nearly every home he could see was built to resemble the apparent occupants. His musings were cut short when the Buizel asked him for his name.
"...Paul," the Mienfoo replied. "My name is Paul Nasserie."
"That's a bit of a long name," the Buizel commented.
"Actually, it's two names," said Paul. "Where I'm from, we have a first name and a last name, sometimes called a surname. Last names are usually passed down from our ancestors and given to us when we're born. Basically, it's our family name. Is that your house, by the way? It kinda looks like you."
"Yeah!" the Buizel chimed. "That's something you find all the time here. I've never heard of someone with a 'last' name before. That's new to me. You're not from around here, are you?"
There was a brief pause while Paul tried to think of an answer.
"No…" he finally spoke, shaking his head.
"What's wrong?" the Buizel asked, puzzled. "That took you quite a while to answer."
"Nothing, let's go to wherever you're taking me," Paul answered.
The truth was he didn't know how to explain his situation to the Buizel in a way that made sense to him. He was a stranger in a strange world and decided that getting to know the place as well as how his new neighbors lived was a smarter idea than knowledge bombing a talking animal he only just met.
The inside of the Buizel's house reminded Paul of some of the medieval fantasy games he played on his computer back home on Earth. While Paul had heard of Pokemon being a popular phenomenon, he never thought one day he would become part of the actual world. It perplexed him to no end, thinking of how a virtual world could actually exist in some dimension he could live, breathe, and experience...and what was even more boggling was how he got here in the first place.
"What do you think of my place?" the Buizel asked.
"...oh! It's pretty nice" Paul answered, his train of thought derailed by the question.
"Are you okay?" the Buizel asked again. "There's a lot going on in your head, I can tell."
"I'm not ready to tell you what it is yet," Paul replied, giving the Buizel a serious look as if to warn him. "You'll know soon enough. Until then, would you mind helping me get used to life here? One thing I will say is that this is will be the biggest culture shock I've ever experienced. I'm having to adapt to what looks like an entirely different way of life to what I'm used to."
"I can do that!" the Buizel chirped, enthusiastically.
A table sat in the middle of the room with four chairs. On it sat a bowl full of strawberries.
"Are these strawberries?" asked Paul.
"They sure are!" the Buizel replied, offering to share some of them.
"We have these where I'm from," Paul commented with a warm smile, glad at the fact that this world wasn't entirely foreign to his own and that the two shared things in common.
"We grow strawberries and other fruit around here," the Buizel added.
"I am genuinely happy to see these here," Paul continued. "We actually do share something in common. My mom used to make a really good strawberry crumble back when I lived with her."
"Crumble?" the Buizel inquired, curious as to what this item was."
"Crumble, at least how my mom makes it, is a dessert where you chop a bunch of fruit up, lay it in a baking tray and cover it with something put together by mixing flour, oats, butter, and sugar and sprinkling it so completely over the fruit that it forms a layer on top. You put it in the oven until the crumble becomes crisp. Really good."
Paul looked at the Buizel for a moment.
"Say, do you cook at all?" he asked.
"Nah, not really. Though I know someone who does it really well," The Buizel answered. "Follow me! I'll take you to meet my friend next door."
"Sounds good," said Paul. "By the way, I don't think I ever asked you but what's your name?"
"Thomas, though you can call me Tom," the Buizel answered.
As Paul and Tom walked towards the house to the right, the smell of fresh baking filled the air. Paul immediately showed a satisfied smile.
"Hey Drew!" Tom called, waving at the owner of the house next door. A door opened and a Monferno emerged.
"Yeah, Tom?" the Monferno replied.
"Meet my new friend, Paul!" Tom greeted with a smile. "He's a new arrival and he's staying at my place for a while."
"Nice to meet ya, Paul," Drew replied.
"We were just talking about baking and I come here smelling something good," Paul commented. "So Tom tells me you're quite a baker. What are you making?"
"Nut loaf!" Drew beamed. "Wanna try some?"
"Sure, I'm actually rather curious as to what you use to bake things with." Paul inquired.
As Drew whipped out a loaf and sliced a piece to hand out to the two Pokemon, Paul noticed something about the nuts. They were walnuts, another familiar food item. The slice felt warm in his hand, obviously fresh out of the oven. It was sweetened walnut bread with the best crust he ever tasted. It tasted like there was a coating of cinnamon and sugar crumbs held together with something, and he had trouble guessing what the flavor was.
"There's something holding these sugar bits together and it's really nice," Paul spoke. "What's in it?"
"I used apple butter so I could hold all the crumbs in place as I was baking it," Drew explained. "I use a stone furnace."
"I remember the old pizza place back home using an oven like that, except it was much larger," Paul recalled.
"Pizza? What's that?" Tom asked.
"I'll explain later but it uses an oven like that," Paul answered. "Say, have you ever tried making strawberry crumble?"
"A what now?" Drew asked, unfamiliar with this item.
"We have strawberries growing around here from what I've been told and my mom has a really good recipe for what we call strawberry crumble," Paul continued.
"If you show me what to do, I'll make it," Drew offered. "Got any strawberries?"
"You can use mine," Tom spoke. "I'll go get them!"
"Right, do you have any oats because that's a key ingredient?" Paul asked Drew.
"Indeed I do," Drew replied.
And about an hour later, a delicious strawberry crumble was made. The gorgeous smell just so happened to attract the attention of a passerby.
"What is that beautiful smell?" A bird's beak poked through the entrance of the bakery. It was a Honchkrow and the first thing he saw was the strawberry crumble.
"Ahhh, you haven't met the mayor of this town yet!" Drew told Paul. "Edison, this is Paul, a brand new visitor who's just come into town."
"A pleasure to speak with you, Paul," the Honchkrow beamed. "What is this lovely thing I see?"
"That is called a strawberry crumble," Paul answered. "And it's a recipe my mom had when I lived with her. Try a piece."
Drew cut the mayor a slice of the crumble and handed him a small plate. Edison's eyes lit up when he tasted it.
"I've never had anything like this before," the mayor spoke. "This is amazing! Your mother knows something we haven't tried yet."
"Well, seeing as I'm new and I'm currently staying with Tom for a while until I can find a place of my own to call home, this is quite the culture shock for me, but at the same time, a lot of this stuff I see and experience is in many ways like home," Paul explained. "Let's say that I'm a foreigner from a distant land and there are a lot of things I need to adjust to in this community."
Paul was still aware that he was more than just a foreigner but he decided to play it cool until he knew the community better. But until then, he was happy to know there were at least some things he felt right at home with, and the Pokemon were friendly and welcoming. Maybe this new way of living wasn't so strange after all.