Chapter 7: A Royal Campout.

"Alright, our next stop is Virbank City…" Erick said, looking up from the map on his Rotom Phone, as he and Petra approached the edge of Floccesy Town. "It's the only other city on this side of Unova, from there, We'd have to cross the ocean to get to Castelia…" he looked back up at Petra, who seemed confused by his sudden look.

"Yes?" the princess asked,

"So...can I like...get on your private jet or something?"

Petra giggled. "What?" she asked. "Just because I'm a Princess doesn't mean I have to go luxuriously. I'd much rather find some public transportation."

"But...then I've gotta…" Erick facepalmed. "Alright, fine. Once I defeat Virbank's Gym Leader, we'll figure something out."

"Don't worry, I don't require lavish things…" Petra scoffed. "I'm perfectly capable of staying the night below deck. I've traveled lower class on the Royal Unova!"

"Well...if you say so…" Erick replied, he looked up at the sun, then back down at his phone map, noticing the time present on his phone.

"Oh...oh shit…" he muttered. "Uh...hey Petra…"

"Yeah?"

"We're not going to make it to Virbank by tonight."

"Why not?"

"It's still another two hours walk, and it's a two hours walk back to Floccesy Town." he replied. "We'll have to camp out the night."

"Oh...camping?" Petra asked. "But...we don't have anywhere…"

Erick chuckled as he set down his backpack, "Silly princess," he replied. He then proceeded to pull out a set up tent that his mother had bought for him for his journey, along with a cooking pot, some matches, and a bit of a soup starter kit.

"Wow...I um…" Petra replied.

"What? Can't live without your hairdryer or something?" Erick asked sarcastically.

"No...it's just that...I've never actually been camping before…" she replied, her face blushed a little. "And...well...as you could expect...I'm not actually prepared to do that."

"Not a problem…" Erick replied. "I guess you could take my sleeping bag for tonight."

"But...it's like...almost the beginning of winter!" Petra replied. "Surely we could make a hike for it…"

"Not unless you want to walk in the cold autumn night in your dress." Erick replied, pointing out across a nearby lake to the sun setting over the horizon.

Petra bit down on her lip. "Oh...alright I guess…"

"Glad to hear it." Erick replied, he took out his five pokeballs and released his team into the ground.

"What's this for?" Petra asked.

"Alright you guys," he said. "We're gonna be camping out tonight, so I'm gonna need help setting up camp for myself and Petra, I need everyone except for Trinity to go get some sticks or leaves for a fire!"

Petra listened curiously to each of the Pokemon's responses to this.

"You got it." Sunny said cheerfully.

"Slippy, it would be best that you carry maybe some bigger logs thanks to your larger hands." Terra purred as her eyes glowed blue, perhaps looking around for usable materials.

"Right, I'll get on that." The Poliwhirl replied. "You can count on me."

"I can help with identification, make sure you don't accidentally pull up some poison oak or something." Nagini replied.

"Alright then." The white Eevee jumped up, "Let's go."

Erick's four Pokemon then scattered about the open field they were in, coming back on occasion with sticks or leaves, Slippy brought a few bigger sticks that had fallen off trees.

She turned to Erick, who was busy tending to his newborn Toxel, and preparing a soup over the small fire he had started, she knelt down next to him as he stirred the soup around with the ladle. Occasionally, Trinity would attempt to crawl towards the fire, only to have Erick scoop her up and place her behind him.

"Do you want some help?" She asked. "I could hold onto Trinity or."

"No, No, it's fine." Erick replied, a manor all too quickly for her liking. "I shouldn't be making you work that hard, it's your first time camping after all."

Petra frowned at him, he was way too quick to respond for her liking. Opening up must've been a problem of some sorts for him.

"So...did you forget I exist or something?" Ares asked, startling her.

"Uh...go…" Petra looked around, now that the basic camp had been set up, Sunny, Nagini, Terra, and Slippy were all engaged in what appeared to be a free-for-all practice battle. "Go interact with your fellow Pokemon." Her partner Shroomish nodded and walked over to the other Pokemon.

"Alright, now that the soup is all prepared, just need to let it simmer for a bit." Erick said, alerting her back to him. The young knight turned and picked Trinity back up, placing the baby Toxel in his lap.

"I think I'll train you in some light practice battles at first." he said. "However, you normally don't learn any new moves until you evolve. So, it might be easier to just keep you in the back and have you watch battles for experience."

"E...Rik." the baby squeaked, making Petra blush a little, even baby Pokemon needed time before they could speak fluently.

"Why are you blushing?" Erick asked curiously.

"Sorry...it's just...baby Pokemon's speech always gets me embarrassed...they try to speak and it just...well...you know."

"Hmm." Erick muffled as he turned back to Trinity. Leaving Petra to feel mildly infuriated. Always so short answered.

"I just...have to keep poking at him, If I keep it up, surely he'll talk to me more. I am on this journey with him." she thought to herself. In all honesty, this was a rather...unusual situation for her. Normally, whenever she met someone her age, wherever they went, it was always the same things, autographs, questions, the occasional request for a kiss on the cheek, and almost stalker-like following until one of the many guards took notice.

She was far from an attention seeker though. In fact, she found all that squealing and treatment rather irritating. She had at least hoped that Erick would've been...more social. Hell, now that she was thinking about it, she barely knew anything about him.

"So...Erick...where are you from?" she asked. "I mean like...what region did you move here from?"

"Sinnoh," he responded with a rather dead tone.

That...honestly told her everything she needed to know. Sinnoh was in a state of chaotic warfare at all times ever since Team Galactic had gotten their hands on several Legendary Pokemon's Pendants. Cynthia had been up in arms trying to get other regions to help her, but she was constantly shot down, whether it be for not wanting to get involved, or simply because other regions, mainly Unova at the time she had first heard about it, had their own issues.

With that being said, Cynthia would often visit her private beach house in Undella Town to either hold secret meetings with others of the Galactic Resistance, or to discuss matters with her family. Her parents were willing to help, unfortunately, the council had been vetoing all requests. It didn't help that the current Champion, whoever he was, was missing and without him, the whole dissension was at a stalemate.

"Do you...uh…" well damn...talk about a slap in the face. Anywhere else but Sinnoh would've been an easy get to know ya.

"So...did you uh...meet Sunny in Sinnoh?" she asked.

Erick looked up from the Pokedex, which he had been using to check on Trinity's health as Petra had spoken up.

"Um...yeah, my friend Moon and I found him a few days before I left for Unova last year. Cynthia said that he was most likely an escapee from Team Galactic. Probably for his white coat."

"I see…" Petra replied. "Where did you uh….live? I've heard most places are pretty dangerous."

"Celestic Town…" Erick replied. "I used to live in...Veilstone City...before…" the boy fell quiet.

Petra quickly picked up on his digression and diverted her questions.

"So...what about your friend?" she asked. "You said his name was Moon? How'd you meet him?"

Erick seemed to bite down on his lip. "Uh...we met at…" the painstaking memory of where they had actually met might've set off an alarm if he told her the truth. "A summer camp run by Professor Rowan. There was also a girl, her name was Sarah, they kinda clicked."

"Ah...do you miss them?"

"Sort of…" Erick replied, rubbing the back of his head. "But...then again...I'm here now...it's better like that." An awkward silence fell over both of them.

His rotom phone started buzzing, startling both of them in their awkward silence. All their Pokemon ran over to them now that they were done.

Erick pulled out his Rotom Phone and, much to his surprise, found not one, but two emails waiting in his inbox.

The first one was from Professor Juniper.

Dear Erick,

I received word that you took the egg from the Floccesy Ranch. If you could send me a photo and the data of the Pokemon that hatched, that'd be really nice! Anyway, I have another request for you, I've heard from Professor Cheren that you obtained your first gym badge and are on your way to Virbank City, as you may know, there is a power plant there that supplies all the power and electricity for the peninsula side of the region that you live on. I've heard that there are a few unique Pokemon that you could pick up there that may aid you on your journey, in addition, I have a researcher there who has a package for you. Stop by before you take on the Gym Leader.

Professor Juniper.

The second one, was from his mother.

Hello Erick, sweetie,

Congratulations on receiving your first gym badge! Your father would be so proud to see you now on your own Pokemon adventure! And now, you're a knight for a princess! I hope you and Princess Petra are having fun together, try not to get too close though ;-)

The faint giggle from Petra made his body flare up with redness.

"Anyway," he said, "The sun has gone down, so it might be best that we turn in for the night?"

"I agree," Petra replied, as she finished draining her soup. The two of them climbed into their large tent, followed by their still small Pokemon. As she climbed into Erick's Sleeping bag, she noticed that it was quite large, enough to fit two people. She guessed it was probably a hand-me-down.

"Uh Erick…" she asked. "You uh...you're gonna get cold at night this time…"

"And?" Erick asked.

"Well...your sleeping bag is big enough to hold both of us…" she felt herself go red as Erick gave her a look of shock.

"Don't get the wrong idea…" she said quickly. "It's only for one night, tomorrow when we get to Virbank, we'll buy another one."

"I'll...I'll be..." Erick stuttered, as he rubbed his shoulders from the cold breeze. "I'll be fine."

"No you won't!" Petra snapped at him. Unova's weather can get really cold at this time of year at night, you're not about to catch Hypothermia at this time! You're already chattering!"

"I'm uh...no…" By this point, Petra could now hear the laughter and snide remarks from all of the Pokemon. Each comment only got her more embarrassed.

"Bro...where is my Popcorn?" Sunny laughed. "It's like I'm watching a soap opera with Erick's mother again!"

"Slippy, how about hypnotizing him?" Terra giggled. "Maybe then the Princess can have her way!"

"Don't do that! This is much more entertaining!" Ares giggled. "I don't get much entertainment from the palace."

"What if Myson catches us?" Erick asked. Still shivering and chattering a little.

"My parents and the knights will understand!" Petra flared, her face now red with anger. "Do not make me order you!"

"Alright...alright…" Erick replied. After a bit of squirming around, especially from him trying to make some sort of space between the two of them, they settle down.

"Satisfied?" Erick grunted as he attempted to roll to his side. Still hearing the snickers from their Pokemon in the process. Though, he found himself unable to roll over.

"A little, yes." Petra replied, her left arm and his right arm were squished together, but surprisingly, Erick's hand felt much warmer than hers. Probably from the heat of embarrassment. "I'm uh...I'm still a little...cold though."

Erick didn't respond. Irritating her a little, she stayed up, feeling the cold air press against her, it was her first night out of a normal house like area...yet...she somehow felt good...staying next to him. She rolled over and, as she started to fall asleep, she felt her arm fall on his chest under the bag.

Look, I get it, everybody is sick of the "Haha Royalty/Rich doesn't know how to do shit." Stereotype. At least I can make Petra different from them by making her eager to learn and try new things. There's only so much I can do with a Princess after all...Lol. Now that I'm older, I've gotten a lot more comfortable with more...mature content. When handling stories like this, I'll definitely do a lot better from the starting fazes. Heh, crazy to think there was a time when the most I was comfortable doing was a simple hug and kiss. No flirting or build up or tension and humor. Just straight up, get to the point.

Wow how time flies...there's a lot I could discuss further, but I've gotta save some stuff for authors notes. Heh, if anyone looked back at my older stories, that are Pre-Black Dawn you'd see the more innocent writer charm I used for my OC's slowly started to shift in different directions. Even my interpretation of the Evil leaders got better than just "Haha person bad."

Ah well, if you enjoyed today's chapter, you can let me know, if you have any suggestions I'm also all ears.

PKMN Teams:

Erick Heart:
Sunny - Eevee
Nagini - Snivy
Slippy - Poliwhirl
Terra - Espurr
Trinity - Toxel

Petra Gropius:
Ares - Shroomish

See you all, next time.