It was another day for Brave Vesperia, but not a normal day for anybody except Yuri and Repede. Estelle the beloved princess, the one that would always stand beside Yuri or at least somewhere close to swordsman was as far as possible from the young man. Her delicate gloved fingers pressing on her nose, she even preferred the 'manly musk' stench that came from old Raven.
Oh, and she wasn't the only one, the rest of the group was right beside her leaving a long space between them, Yuri and his canine friend as they walked to Nordopolica. They had crossed the horrible desert of Mantiac not so long ago and once they had finally arrived to Mantiac they had all rush to the Inn to take bath… except for Yuri that had been busy taking care of…Cumore. *Cough*gay *Cough*
Of course it was Yuri's responsibility to bathe Repede but he had clearly forgotten about that. Brave Vesperia had started to notice a strange odor when they had gone all the way to The Weasand of Cados for the second time. Karol had been checking his bag to see if it was one of those 'veggie breads' he had found once. Raven would constantly smell his arm pits speculatively. Judith would just observe around and try to figure out what it was without putting her nose in danger. Rita would just be more aggressive and Estelle, well Estelle was just too shy to ask.
By the time they had leave The Weasand of Cados to head for Nordopolica they all knew where the stenches came from. Estelle had try convincing Yuri it would be awesome to take a bath, without telling him he stench worst than that thing Karol used to attract the eggbear in the Quoi Woods but the politeness in her words didn't convince Yuri at all.
Everyone knew that if Estelle's puppy eyes didn't convince him, nothing would.
"I can use Tidal Wave on him and that will solve the problem!" Rita growled as they all walked slower so they wouldn't catch up with Yuri and Repede.
"Rita, darling it's not just about water, y'know." The old man sighed, "We need soap too, besides we might all die on the flood before even tackling Yuri." Oh yes, they had come up with a plan, they were able to convince Yuri to stop for "lunch" once they had traveled half way to Nordopolica. Once there they would capture the swordsman and the pooch and force them to take a bath.
"I just hope this works." Karol said nervously. "What if Yuri gets mad? He will 'final gale' us to death" He said 'final gale' with the manliest voice he could manage.
"I really think we shouldn't do these." Estelle said shyly clenching her fist together.
"It's not like we actually want to do this," Judy said glancing away with her hand over her chest. "It's more like we need to, for our own sake." There goes Judith twisting her words.
But she was right; the stench could no longer let them sleep. Besides Karol and Raven didn't want to sleep in the same tent with Yuri anymore, frankly they had preferred the rocky surface of the cave than bleeding noses at night.
Even his odor was repelling the monsters and to Judith that was not good, how was she going to stab them to death if they preferred to run away? How would Rita concentrate in the blastia? And how would Estelle be near the swordsman to admire his soft hair and beautiful features without throwing up? It definitely brought discontent to everyone.
When they finally reached the check point everyone was preparing for the 'Prepare to die eggbear!' mission. They had split into two teams, one that would take care of Repede and the other one that would take care of Yuri.
Yuri had obviously notice the strange attitude of his comrades but he didn't want to take a bath, he was too lazy for that right now. He remembered the scared look on everyone's face back when they were in the desert as he shouted, "I can't stop sweating. Damn it, I can't stop!"
He would have loved to take a bath at that time but then he remembered Repede would need a bath too and he wasn't for any of that now. Yuri rested his back on a nearby tree as he wait for the usual "Lunch is ready!" quote.
Yuri closed his eyes and lifts his right leg resting his feet on the tree trunk; he crossed his arms, still holding his sheathed sword in his left hand.
He was caught off guard when Karol, who was hiding over the branches of the same tree, jumped over his back choking him with his arms around his neck. "Prepare to die eggbear!" Karol shouted, that was the secret words for the next phase of their mission.
"What the-" Yuri didn't finished his sentence when a blurry mass of purple, pink and red tackled him, from under some bushes, to the floor.
"What the hell is going on?" Yuri shouted as Raven and Estelle dragged him from his arms, with Karol still attached to his back, his body curled into a ball and his eyes shut with a face of 'I'm using all I've got!'.
"Shut up!" Rita slapped him in the face.
"Ouch!" Yuri whined as they kept dragging him.
"Rita, don't hit him!" Estelle pouted.
Yuri understood when he saw Judith petting Repede, two wooden bathtubs right next to them. Yeah, so basically the teams were: Rita, Raven, Estelle and Karol vs. Yuri, because they only needed Judith's "innocence" to take care of Repede.
"Oh, such a good boy!" Judith smiled innocently when Repede jumped inside the bathtub with happy eyes and a loud, "Woof!"
"You lucky bastard." Yuri mumbled with a deadpan look on his face.
Raven and Rita practically threw him inside the bathtub, still with all his clothes on. Yuri could barely see anything as several hands massaged his head with shampoo; one of them was definitely Rita almost ripping his head off his neck.
Some hands slipped to his tunic to take it off, "Hey no, waitrguauraruaaguu." Someone had pushed his head down, sinking it into the water. Estelle was at his right, blushing furiously as she rubbed a soapy sponge on his back along with a scared Karol.
When his head finally came out, coughing water, "Y' knows ya have to hold yar breath boy." Raven suggested with a dark smile.
"I hate you all." Yuri muttered darkly.
"Anyway who's washing down there?" Rita spluttered with an evil smile. Yuri's eyes grew wide with horror; his worst nightmare was just starting.