Don't get me wrong, the fact that our journey had finally begun was exciting. But it was a little troublesome, too. Our destination, as you well know, is the Floji subregion. And to reach Floji, we had to cross "Route GF." And between Route GF and Kogeta Town (Which acted as a sort of "checkpoint" between the Grama and Floji Towns), we had to make our way there in the wilderness. That meant we had to march towards Kogeta Town while surviving out here in the elements.

"Don't worry," Allison reassures me. "I understand your concerns, but we're fine on all those fronts."

"How's that?" I ask.

"You see, we just press on when it's daytime, and set up camp when it's nighttime. Simple as that."

"Also," Chloe adds, "On some occasions, we set up camp at daytime."

"Oh," I sigh. I thought it was going to be WAY more complicated, but I guess I was wrong. Suddenly I heard some sort of rumbling noise, but it was so faint I wasn't sure that I heard it. Then I hear it again. I definitely heard it that time. My gaze falls onto Ash.

"I guess I'm pretty hungry," He says.

"Then why don't we set up camp?" Lynn suggests. "We can take a break."

"That'd be a great idea!" Pikachu agrees. Not gonna lie, but it's been an hour since we hit the road and I totally forgot that I could understand Pokemon when Liana or Wesley around. Maybe Chloe, Aaron, and Susie, too.

Allison nods. She puts her bag down, and she produces a whole camping set, which totally caught me off-guard. She brought out two large, folded-up tents, a portable table, some folding chairs, and a few pots for cooking. My jaw was still hanging as everyone else sprang into action and began to set everything up. And before I knew it, they finished. Ash also sent out Milcery to let it hang around.

Not only did it look perfect, they were FAST. Like, NINJASK FAST. (And apparently Ninjask was one of the fastest "non-legendary" Pokemon in this world. Thanks for the tip, Rotom.) Well, okay, they weren't going so fast they were practically invisible, but you get the point.

"W-Wow," I gasp in surprise.

"Stunned? Impressed?" Chloe probed me.

"Yeah... Geez, that was really fast!"

"We learned to quickly set up camp after doing it several times," Susie explains.

"I've done it a few times myself, too," Ash adds.

"How fast did they do it, Rotom?" I ask.

"They did it in just one minute and nine seconds!" Rotom responds. That was a pretty nice time, to be honest. Afterward, I was at a loose end, a phrase which here means "I didn't know what to do." There were a lot of things I could do around the campsite, but what? Eventually, I decided to try my hand at cooking. It was the least I could do, I guess.

"I dunno, David," Aaron says timidly.

"With the girls?" Robert adds. "I swear, you've got a death wish."

"Oh, come on," I reassured them. "How bad could it be?"

"Extremely bad," Both of them say in unison, but I ignore them. I join the girls as they gather around the campfire, which hasn't been lit yet. They set up some equipment in order to make it suitable for cooking.

"So, what're we making today?" I ask.

"Well, since this is your first time," Allison says, "We'll do something simple. Got any ideas, Lynn?"

"How about curry?" She replies. The rest of us nod in agreement. "Okay, then. Firstly, we need a key ingredient." I checked my bag to see if I had anything that would be suitable for curry, but I didn't see anything noteworthy. But Chloe pulls a loaf of bread out of her bag, and Allison approves. How does bread go with curry? But I decided to think about that later.

"Next, we should all pitch in some berries," Lynn adds. I considered my options. I didn't want to waste my precious, magic-restoring Leppa Berries, and not to mention I only had something like five left. So I decided to throw in some Pecha Berries, because according to Rotom, Pecha Berries are kind of sweet. I also added some Oran Berries for good measure.

Allison put some Cheri Berries in, Chloe added a Chesto Berry, Lynn threw some Rawst Berries into the mix, and Susie finished by adding a Grepa Berry. Susie asked me to cast Frizz on the firewood to begin. After lighting the fire with my spell, we were all set.

The girls pulled out a fan from each of their bags, and Allison also gave me one. She explained that we needed to fan the flames in order to intensify it. I don't know how that worked, but I guess whatever works in this world works. I decided to put some oomph into it, and fanned it with two-handed swings. And before I knew it, the flame was pretty big, and it was working out pretty well.

Afterward, Lynn handed me a spatula. I had to stir the curry pretty well in order to make sure the flavors mixed, as she instructed me. I stirred quickly, but I hadn't noticed that I spilled occasionally. And finally, we finished making the sauce. Allison and Lynn also quickly made some rice to go with it, which was unknown to me until I finished.

"Why am I doing all of this, anyway?" I ask.

"It's your first time, right, David?" Allison replies. "So you should get some experience first." I couldn't agree more. Afterward, I volunteered to put the finishing touches on the curry. I brought out some plates and began serving the curry. I also put a slice of bread on each plate, as Chloe asked me to use her loaf of bread, as it was supposedly the key ingredient.

Finally, I put the plates on the table, and called everyone so we could eat.

"You made this, David?" Ash asked me. "Looks delish!"

"Well, thanks," I reply. "But the girls helped me, not including Liana."

"Do you think this time will be different?" Robert asks Aaron.

"I don't think so," Aaron responds. "You shouldn't get your hopes up. But then again, we've had a guy pitch in..." I was wondering why Robert and Aaron were muttering so much. And I would soon find out. I took a spoonful of curry from my plate, and ate it.

Now let me just say that was the stupidest move I've ever made. As soon as the curry hit my taste buds, I sensed something was wrong. I could tell after one bite that this curry... no, concoction, isn't edible... There's no way I could swallow it...

"Uh... David?" Liana says.

"You alright?" Ash asks, with a concerned look on his face. I take the spoon out of my mouth.

"C-Could you excuse m-me for a s-sec?" I stammer, with that concoction still in my mouth. "G-Gotta go d-do s-something." Before anyone could say anything, I put my spoon down, got up, turned on my toes, and started walking towards a small, nearby forest. After I reached a considerable distance from the camp, I did what I had to do. I won't tell you what I did- it was utterly disgusting. All I will say is that it involved spitting. Then I made my way back, but I fainted before I could even get into one of the tents.

When I came to in one of the tents, I heard a serious discussion outside. When I stepped outside, Liana immediately went up to me.

"David!" She crowed. "You're alive! By golly, I thought you were... well, y'know!"

"Calm down, lil' sis," Wesley says, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Food's not lethal."

"Well, of course I'm alive," I replied. "But on a more important note..." I turned to the girls. "What the heck did you just feed me?!" I yell angrily. "That wasn't curry, that was some... some... I dunno, poison!" The words escaped my mouth before I knew it, which caused me to grow slightly paranoid and eat a Pecha Berry to ensure that the so-called "poison" still wasn't working.

"Oh, geez..." Susie facepalmed.

"Another guy who hates our cooking, huh?" Chloe sighs. "And I thought two were enough."

"Not only does he hate your cooking," Rotom responds, "Your cooking was really wrong! Not only did you put in the wrong berries, but you made the flames too intense and stirred too much, and it ended up as some sort of spicy-dry-bitter-sweet-sour monstrosity with slices of bread slapped on it!"

"That's pretty accurate," I compliment Rotom.

"I tried to warn ya," Aaron moaned.

"But you brought this upon yourself," Robert finished for Aaron.

"Yeah, I guess you were right," I admit. "I'm not taking any more of those girls'... 'Mystery Food X.' Sorry, gals, but you gotta have some constructive criticism."

The one in which David experiences the girls' horrible cooking, and slaps a label on it.

I had no idea what to follow up the previous chapter with other than some comic relief. And yes, this is a direct reference to Persona 4.