Route 13. That was the day's destination for the four-strong team that walked along the grassy roads; Anu, Chief and Allan, with the addition of a long-time friend of Allan's called Giles. The males would usually scour the road for a victory that would soon boost their skills but if Giles' constant warning to not challenge anyone meant anything, then they were most likely looking for something rather than someone.
"Why are we even here?!" Anu said, sounding rather malicious in his complaining. "It's obviously not for training, otherwise that blasted Kyro would be with us, breathing down my neck during every battle."
"There's this guy called Parsons," Allan began, calmly in the face of the bad-tempered Pharaoh. "He used to be part of our team way back when. Anyway, he met this girl and he wants to get a Sun Stone for her as a present."
"Why is that our problem? Surely menial tasks like this is peasant's work?"
"You wouldn't be saying that if you saw the strength of the people who trained here," Giles said, his posh accent causing Anu to raise an eyebrow. "Speaking of people, look out for a group of intellectual types. I heard they often carry Sun Stones during their research and I'm sure one of them will give us one if we ask nicely enough."
"And if they refuse?" Anu asked, eyes glinting as he felt dark energy pulsing around his unmummified hand.
"You promised Drake not to do that," Chief suddenly interjected, sounding a little concerned for his teammate's lust for battle. "You made promise with honour. To break promise would be...I'd rather not bring up analogy for that one."
Originally thinking the gradual silence to be at his expense, Chief then noticed why his fellow teammates had suddenly allowed said silence to fall upon them; sitting on the tree stump was a short, freckled redhead donning yellow glasses and a yellow and orange, school uniform-esque shirt and skirt combination. She seemed too engrossed in her book to notice the four males who were staring at her; Giles being the first to turn his head away from her as to not appear rude, he huddled the team together, though it was Chief who broke the tension with the obvious question.
"Who's going to ask her?" The Native American asked, secretly hoping it wouldn't be him.
"Well it can't be Allan because he's far too friendly with women," the Pharaoh said, giving a little sneer. "They'd probably waste an hour talking about shoes or clothes or whatever your modern-day women are into, before even remembering to ask the question."
"Anu, the girl is wearing slip ons," the male in pink retorted, even sounding a little disgusted. "Does she look like someone who's into shoes?"
"Hello, gentlemen."
Hearing the unfamiliar, female voice, the males turned around to notice that the girl had now stood up from her stumped and had approached them, staring at them in a curious manner.
"Can I help you at all?"
"Hello there," Giles began, giving a little half-bow in her presence before kissing her hand in a gentlemanly way. "Could you possibly tell us if you're in possession of what they call a Sun Stone?"
"Did he do the thing?" Allan muttered, cringing a little. "Did he seriously do the thing?"
"Sun Stone?" She asked, hitching her glasses before opening what looked like a cloth, fire-red messenger bag and pulling out a glistening, sun-kissed stone. "You mean this, right?"
"Yes, that's right," Giles replied, nodding and smiling alongside the rest of his team; even Anu, though his smile was rather forced. "Could I possibly trouble you for it?"
"Why?" She then asked, sounding rather suspicious.
"We have this friend called Parsons," Allan began, his sudden chirp causing Giles to shoot a quick, annoyed glance in his direction. "He met this swell gal in Pinwheel Forest and he was hoping to give her a Sun Stone as a present."
"Oh, your friend wants to offer a blossoming gift!" The female exclaimed, her happiness soon turning to amused expectation when she noticed the confused looks on the males' faces. "Parsons is most likely friendly with the daughter of the Petale or Coton families. If a male offers a blossoming gift, it's a sort of dowry to allow that relationship to go any further, should it do so."
"Sounds like something back in my time," Anu said, sounding a little impressed at her knowledge. "Except with us, it was more gold, or slaves."
"What's your name, by the way?" Giles then asked, smiling. "Sorry, I just felt I couldn't let this carry on without having introduce ourselves. My name is Giles. The one in the headdress is Chief, the pink one is Allan and the grumpy Pharaoh is Anu."
He pointed each one out as he spoke, with Chief giving a single nod, Allan giving a wave and almost a hug, had Giles not stopped him, and Anu simply giving a dismissive roll of the eyes. It seemed rude, but that was actually quite sociable for the Pharaoh as he'd actually taken some time to acknowledge her.
"My name's Soleila," the female then replied, smiling as she twiddled a lock of red hair around her finger. "And now I know why, yes. I'd be happy to let you have my Sun Stone."
Handing the stone to Giles, she couldn't help but giggle as the object found itself being passed from male to male, as if every team member was scared of dropping it or changing as a result of exposure.
"Don't worry, gentlemen," she said, reassuringly as she hitched her glasses up once again. "I've read up everything on those things and only four kinds of people change through exposure. None of you fall under the category."
"Your knowledge is plentiful like the salmon during the first flows of the river," Chief said, the wording of his compliment causing Soleila to giggle slightly and sweetly. "How would you like to come travel with us and put that knowledge to use when our minds are empty like the barren forest?"
"Like...around Unova?" She asked, eyes widening before glancing left and right and just about managing to make eye contact with the Native American. "Well...I don't know..."
"If you're worried about the amount of testosterone, we have our fair share of female companions...and Allan."
"Cheeky!" The male in pink retorted, chuckling at the remark.
"It's not that, Giles," Soleila said, shaking her head. "I still have a lot of research to do and Dad doesn't let anyone leave the group for self-travelling until they'd finished their 'field', if you get what I mean. I'm probably in enough trouble that I've given yet another stranger my Sun Stone."
"No, keep it," she then said, shaking her head once more when Giles tried to give it back. "I can easily find another one before there's any chance of him finding out."
With that, she gave a half-bow to the males and a wave before breaking out into a light run. It was almost as if she didn't want to be caught slacking off by talking to the group, and the team didn't mind too much (with the exception of Giles, who just thought it rude), as they had what they'd been looking for.
"Let's get this to that monkey-faced moron before anyone else tries to talk to me," Anu said, sounding a little grumpy at the possibility of another stranger approaching them. "Conversing with peasants makes me feel so...ugh...dirty."
He immediately began to make his way down the grassy road, head held high as if he was the most important; turning round to face his team with a dark glare on his face, it was enough to cause the other members of the team to follow him with a quickened step. They'd all made a pact not to submit to his decisions so quickly but the dark glare signified his mood was ready to drop if his authority was not respected. And the last thing any of the team needed was Anu in one of his legendary bad moods...