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It's been a few days since Florian jumped through that portal that brought him to Pasio, to find his treasure here. He met new friends with Brendan, May and Wally. Juliana seems like the sister he never had. And of course, his friends from school… His friends wished him the best of luck when he jumped through that portal. Still, it was a shock that these versions of his friends don't recognize him but because they're a version of his friends they quickly became friends again. Florian even found Director Clavell in Pasio too and hearing about Florian's homesickness, Clavell dressed up as his counterpart to make Florian more comfortable in Pasio.
To get rid of his homesick blues, Florian walks around many of the towns in Pasio. It's filled to the brim with Scout Pairs. “So many people have stories of their own here… they each have their own treasure… Will I find mine here?” He questions himself. Maybe he shouldn't have gone through that portal, sure he can talk to versions of his friends here but they're more acquainted with Juliana so he feels weirdly left out even if they experienced the same events. He starts to remember what happened back in Area Zero… Penny walked up to what seemed to be a Delibird but it suddenly pointed its cannon in front of Penny's face.
"What the—?! Waaaaaaaaagh!!! Florian! It's battle time!”
He heard the call and summoned Miraidon to battle the robotic Delibird. It put up quite a fight but it was no match for the Iron Serpent.
"Seriously, what WAS that? Darn thing scared me half to death… Come on, let's get inside already. One more jump scare like that and I'm done for…”
They both looked at each other with reassured looks as they met up with Arven and Nemona. As they paired up with them again, Florian was thinking about how he couldn't bear seeing his friends get hurt. Especially Penny! When he first met her, he had Beautifly in his stomach. He would defend his friends but he would go beyond for her.
With his moping, he noticed one of his friends chatting with someone else, it's Penny! She's talking to a guy in a red track suit. Florian is happy that Penny is out of her shell, even if it's another version of her. She notices Florian and waves him over. “Hey Florian, this is Hugh! He was the first person I met when I arrived here.”
“Really? That's so cool!” He’s happy about her achievement. “Hi there Hugh! I’m Florian as Penny said, she's one of my closest friends.”
“Glad to meet you.” Hugh said. “She told me you're from a parallel universe, where you took the place of her friend Juliana. I gotta say that's pretty crazy… Though I heard some others have a similar situation, will you guys start a parallel universe club?” He tries to make light of the potential existential crisis Florian might be experiencing.
“Hey that doesn't sound like a bad idea!” Florian said. “I’ll have to bring that up when I meet others with a similar situation as me.”
“That's the spirit!” Hugh cheered. “I wonder who else will come through portals next? Imagine someone comes out of the portal that has the powers of a Spidops!” What an active imagination he has. “Hahaha what an amazing fantasy you have there Hugh!” Florian replied.
*RIRIRIRIRIRING* Hugh’s Poryphone starts to ring. “Huh Rosa what's up? *sigh* Really? I’ll be on my way. Sorry to cut the conversation short, I hope we can meet up again!” Florian smiles with a thumbs up while Hugh runs off to meet up with Rosa.
“Now it's just us two…” Penny chimed in, wanting to ask her parallel universe friend some questions. “Let's sit at a bench, I'm getting tired of all this standing!”
“*Laughs* I guess some things never change!” Florian and Penny start to look around for a place to sit.
“So….” Penny doesn't know where to begin with her questions. “You said you experienced the same thing as Juliana right?”
“Yeah that's correct.”
“So, did you help me in front of the school? Against those 2 Team Star grunts trying to recruit me?”
“Yes.” He answered directly. “I know about ‘Operation Starfall Street’ Big Boss…” He said in a deep but amusing voice.
Penny is shocked that the exact same events happened to Florian but she couldn't help but laugh at the voice he did. “Ha that was pretty funny! I guess you were referencing the modified voice I used as ‘Cassiopeia’!” She asks her second question. “About Team Star, are they back at the Academy?”
“Yes.” He answered directly again. “The Director said Team Star could come back after hearing their situation.”
“I’m glad to hear that the operation was a success then. Glad it happened in your universe too.” She looked up at the sky. “I wonder if it's successful in other universes too.”
“Even if I or Juliana don't exist in that universe, I bet you it'll always be a success! Maybe one universe Arven is the one to do it, maybe Nemona! The possibilities are endless!” As Florian thinks of the many possible worlds he doesn't notice that his hand was on top of hers.
“AH, OUR HANDS ARE TOUCHING!” Penny thought to herself. As she is panicking she isn't moving her hand despite the panic, Florian is pretty knowledgeable. She can't help but listen to every word he says.
“OH! Oh my gosh Penny! I didn't notice my hand was touching yours! Sorry for being carried away talking about possible universes. But it's just so fascinating don't you think?”
“Yeah it’s interesting! I could never get a conversation like this going with Juliana… uh please don't tell her I said that…”
“It's so interesting Juliana and I have completely different personalities, I guess everything varies between universes…” Florian can't help but ponder again.
“Yeah I bet you accidentally touch hands with the Penny of your universe too!”
“AH! WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO IMPLY WITH THAT!” She said to herself. “ARE YOU WANTING TO KNOW IF HIS PENNY DIDN'T PUT THE MOVES ON HIM AND HE’S AVAILABLE? BUT WHAT MOVES? I DON'T KNOW ANY MOVES! BUT MAYBE THE PENNY OF HIS UNIVERSE IS A SMOOTH TALKER!” She starts to overthink what she said.
“Uhh… yeah a few times.” He answered, but unlike the first two responses, he seemed to hesitate on it. But Penny doesn't seem to notice due to her overthinking.
“A-ah well it's good that these awkward moments happened in every universe.”
Florian smiled at her to reassure her, it's cute in a way. Never got the time to hang out with his universe’s Penny this way. He remembers saying farewell to his friends before traveling to the portal. Arven gave him some ingredients for sandwiches, Nemona said to contact her ASAP if he found a strong trainer and finally… Penny…
“Good luck Florian… you better arrive back in one piece! And uh… I…. just good luck on your adventures!” He loved the words of encouragement she gave him, but the sound of hesitation and the slight blush seemed like she wanted to say something else… He wanted to say something too but was also nervous and hesitant in saying his true feelings towards her.
“Now if you excuse me Florian.” Penny said after her panic. “I have to go somewhere for an errand… actually do you want to come with me?” He never did this with his universe's Penny. “Yeah, definitely!”
“Great! Follow me then.” Penny thinks to herself. “Do I… do I have a crush on Florian? Why did I have to say if his Penny touched hands with him? Am I jealous that another me got a boy? Well, Pasio is a new place and I promise myself I will do things I've never done before. So I'll build up the courage to ask him out!” She smiled at her after her prep talk.
“Penny…” Florian thinks to himself. “Does she like me… Well, does this Penny like me? It feels so strange Penny taking such an interest in what I have to say. Usually we had small talk and nothing else. She seemed to be interested in someone else… Do I get a second chance at having a relationship beyond being friends with her? *Bleh* that sounds like wish fulfillment… getting my cake and eating too. I should just have the relationship between us be friends, to her I'm just a new person but I know her. If something happens I don't think I could ever see her the same. It was a close call in my universe.” Florian ponders his conflicting feelings towards her, a struggle not even sandwiches can solve.
