Chapter 4
Later that evening, Genevieve and her parents met Professor Oak, Mr. Ryuzaki and his son at a nice little steakhouse in the city for dinner. Apparently the blue haired boy from the VIP area, who looked as if he were hiding from the world, was Mr. Ryuzaki's son Hakuryu. Genevieve is of the mind that Hakuryu and his father might not get along so well due to Hakuryu's mannerisms in response to father. Whenever his father says a joke, that is admittedly corny, she can see the soul leave Hakuryu's body. It's pretty funny. While she doesn't have any reason to dislike Mr. Ryuzaki, she knows exactly why he invited her family to dinner; and it wasn't to exchange dad jokes.
"How are you enjoying Kanto so far then?" Mr. Ryuzaki asks Genevieve after some time.
"It is a very beautiful and peaceful region so far. I am enjoying it very much, Mr. Ryuzaki." Genevieve answers with a pleasant smile. Lance gives a hefty chuckle.
"Please, call me Lance! Mr. Ryuzaki is so formal and I feel as if our families have been friends for so long already." Lance responds.
"Pardon me, Lance." Genevieve replies.
"That's much better! No apologies needed." Lance replies in a jovial manner.
"Mr. Dantès' daughter, Genevieve, has expressed interest in going on her own trainer journey in Kanto. However they preferred if she had a knowledgeable and trustworthy guide." Professor Oak interjects. "I thought young Hakuryu would be a good option!" Oak suggests. Haku's head pops up in surprise. He fully expected to tune out all conversation and wait to be able to leave.
"That sounds very interesting." Gabriel comments.
"Haku as a guide eh?" Lance thinks out loud.
"I remember you mentioning in passing that your boy had an interest in Pokémon training, going on a journey is a tried and true method. And having good company can always improve the experience." Oak mentions.
Genevieve looks over at Hakuryu to see his shocked expression. She's not quite sure if she's reading pleasant surprise or dread on his face.
"What do you say Gabriel? Would that be okay with you and your daughter?" Lance asks. Gabriel ponders this a moment and looks to his daughter.
"Do you feel comfortable with this Genevieve?" her father asks.
"Well, I suppose I do." Genevieve answers, not really having a reason to decline.
"And you Haku? Is this what you'd want to do? It would mean that you'd miss the rest of the promotional tour." Lance reminds his son.
"Y-Yeah…I'd like to go." Hakuryu responds shyly.
"Very well. When the young lady is ready to go, Haku will be as well." Lance agrees. Genevieve excitedly scoots her chair a little further around the round table towards Hakuryu.
"I'm excited to travel! Are you as well?" She asks enthusiastically.
"U-Uh, yes of course. I've wanted to go on a Pokémon journey for quite some time actually." Haku stammers.
"Really? For how long? How old are you?" Genevieve asks.
"Uh, I'm nineteen." He replies.
"I see…well I am eighteen. My Birthday is October Thirteenth." She says happily.
"Oh nice." Haku responds awkwardly. Genevieve perceives Hakuryu as an awkward/shy type. Sota was shy at first, but he seemed more comfortable as their conversation went on. Hopefully Hakuryu also feels more comfortable talking to her as they go. The boys in Kalos were always so cocky and over confident, it became extremely off putting. Like they were entitled to her attention. So far here it seems like people don't interact with you unless they must. It's not a bad change, but she's not sure if it's entirely good yet either. Regardless, Genevieve is just happy to finally be able to start off on her journey as well tomorrow. She can finally be on her own without any obligation to meet with a designer, new makeup artists and no photo shoots. Just being a normal teenager and hopefully having fun making friends.
The next morning, Sota finishes washing up in the pokécenter showers. He takes advantage of the situation and washes Kota as well making sure to scrub his fur nice and good. The Eevee has to be constantly pulled back under the water when it's time to rinse so he doesn't just run around soapy. A loud snapping sound and sharp pain on his rear causes Sota to grunt and snap to a standing position. Three other boys continue walking past laughing and pointing at him.
"What a fuckin' nerd!" One exclaims the others chuckle.
"Oh he's lookin' over! I think he's in love with you!" another one sneers. Kota begins growling and showing his little teeth at the group, but he goes relatively unnoticed.
"Oh yeah I think he wants give me head! Look at him eye fuckin' me!" The third one replies.
Sota grits his teeth and clenches his fists while he remembers to breathe and count, just like the doctor taught him. He takes a deep breath and exhales out slowly, picks up his things and walks out with Kota tagging along. He recognized two of the boys from school, Hiroshi and Kenji, the typical meatheads looking for targets to pick on to stroke their fragile egos. Sota was happy to be leaving them behind after graduation, but it seems he spoke too soon. He gets back to his room and does a few more breathing exercises while getting dried off and dressed. He dries off Kota and then lingers a bit pulling out his new phone. He transferred all of his data from his old phone over last night so he should be ready to go.
He scrolls around his pokédex app looking for data on what wild Pokémon have been spotted near Viridian City. Hmm…Route 22 has had sightings of Nidoran and Mankeys! He notices to himself.
"Looks like we're going to Route 22 real quick before heading to the forest boy." Sota informs his partner. Kota yips happily as Sota grabs his things and they head off. On his way to Route 22, Sota stops by the convenient store to grab a bottle of water for the trip. When he gets to the cashier to make his purchase, the employee looks down at the Eevee then back at Sota in a lackluster manner.
"You uh…trainin' Pokémon?" the guy groans in a monotone voice.
"Uh, yeah…I am." Sota says raising an eyebrow at this curious exchange.
"Whatcha lookin' to catch next?" the cashier asks as he scans Sota's water, some antidotes and a few snacks he picked up.
"Um…probably a Mankey or a Nidoran." Sota responds.
"Mankey huh? You know the best way to catch a Mankey doncha?" the guy asks.
"….how?" Sota waits then responds when he sees the cashier was waiting for the prompt.
"Nanab berries." he mumbles and nods slowly, yet confidently.
"Nanab berries?…" Sota repeats expecting more.
"Nanabs." The cashier whispers continuing to nod. They stare at each other for a moment and Sota notices a basket of nanab berries by the register. So he grabs two and places them in front of the cashier who types them into the order.
"Right on." The employee says as Sota taps his phone on the kiosk for finalize his purchase. He then calmly collects his items and leaves the store. Once outside Sota lets out an audible exhale in response to what just transpired and continues on his way.
Route 22 heads west from Viridian City, passes by Lake Ashinoko and connects to Victory Road and Indigo Plateau from there. There's a lot of grassy areas with some small bunches of trees sprinkled around. Getting closer to one of these groups of trees, is where Sota spots a clan of Mankey hanging about in the branches.
"Alright Kota, just like we talked about…" Sota whispers as he crouches down behind some bushes before the Mankey notices them. Mankey get super pissed real easy so they're gonna have to be quick to catch one before they get ganged up on. Sota watches for a moment and then pulls out a nanab. I can't believe I'm actually gonna try this…Sota thinks to himself with a head shake. He grenade lobs the nanab landing half way between him and the Mankey tree. One of the Pokémon notices the fruit's thump on the grass and hops down from the tree to investigate.
"Here we go Kota get ready." Sota whispers. Kota stands at the ready by him also watching. The Mankey wobbles over sniffing the air around and spots the nanab and makes a B-line for it. It picks up the banana with one paw and sniffs it all around the peel. The thing about Mankey is they have no opposable thumbs, so peeling the nanab becomes a situation for them. The Mankey plops down to a seated position; facing off in a different direction as it tries to find a way to open the fruit.
"Now!" Sota shout whispers to Kota and Kota sprints off immediately at the Mankey with a Quick Attack. The Mankey didn't see the Eevee coming until it was too late. It turned to face Kota just as Kota's head makes contact with the Mankey's face sending the Pokémon off about ten feet. At that moment Sota throws a pokéball at the Mankey who, is just trying to get up after getting slammed. The ball hits him and zaps him inside leaving only the half squished banana on the ground. The ball wiggles three times and clicks green with fanfare.
"I can't believe that nanab thing worked…" Sota comments to Kota who happily barks. Sota lets Mankey out of the ball that looks around confused and angry. Mankey looks up at Sota and, realizing he's been caught, crosses his arms grumpily.
"Hey Mankey, ready to get going with us?" Sota asks the Pokémon. Mankey just tilts head away with a grunt.
"Yeah you're a tough guy aren't you…I'll call you Grunt." Sota declares. The Mankey just shrugs his shoulders with another grunt. Sota peels the second nanab and goes to hand it to Grunt. The Pokémon side eyes the fruit, then Sota and then the fruit again swiping it quickly. Grunt chomps it in one bite and…grunts.
"Ok then!" Sota says with a chuckle.
With that, Sota and his Pokémon move on north toward Pewter City, but in order to reach it he'll first have to get through the Viridian Forest. The forest is huge taking at least a few days to walk through and is known to be a hot spot for bug type Pokémon. Which on paper might not sound tough, but there are a good amount of bugs with poison attacks to make it difficult to any trainer that's unprepared. Even if you are prepared for the poison dangers, the other thing to watch out for is the swarms. Beedrill swarms, to be specific, are incredibly dangerous to Pokémon and people alike. Giant three feet tall, flying insects with three stingers. While they aren't going to be going around looking to attack, if you trespass on their territory or harass Kakunas and Weedles, then you should probably run.
Walking into the forest, one can't help but appreciate the natural beauty. The wind rustles the thick canopy of tree leaves letting the sun light sprinkle through the tiny gaps, punching holes in the shade of the forest. It would almost be peaceful, if not for the inevitable chorus of screams from trainers encountering the bug types for the first time. With the ceremonies over and the official start of the season, all the trainers are out now. The good thing about it is that now Sota can try and make some money to help finance this trip. Cost of food and supplies isn't cheap and Sota's funds were dangerously low.
Trainers battle each other all the time and while it is for training and bragging rights, it's also because money is on the line. Rules are in place to prohibit people getting taken advantage of. Since you're not required to disclose your Pokémon to your opponent ahead of time, there is a limit cap on how much money can be put down for the pot. That way someone can't manipulate some kid into going all in with everything they have, thinking they're going up against a Caterpie. Only for the opponent to switch out with a Gyarados and wipe his Pokémon out, then taking all the money and skedaddling.
So trainers can only put up to a maximum of ten percent of the money they have in their trainer account if they have no gym badges earned. Every time you earn a badge, you can put up an additional 5% if you want to. With all eight gym badges, plus the initial ten percent, it would get you to a potential fifty percent of your funds as a possible pot capped at the trainer with the lowest badge count. The idea is, if you have all eight badges, you should be well capable of facing practically any other trainer fairly. Even if you could lose half your funds in a battle, at least you didn't lose everything. With that said, it's time to make some money.
At this early stage of the journey, pretty much everyone Sota comes across to battle has the base form their Pokémon. Which means that the only Pokémon that could give Sota a problem would be anyone, with a Pidgey or Spearow, that knew a flying type move. Thanks to his Kota and his mysterious light aura move, it wasn't much of an issue that day for Sota. He battled fifteen trainers and lost only three of them allowing him to make close to five thousand, two hundred pokébucks. He also managed to avoid any wild Pokémon poisoning Kota and Grunt. A pretty decent first day in the forest, Sota thought to himself. With the evening quickly approaching, Sota set up his tent in an area with no sign of dangerous bug Pokémon and healed up his partners.
Genevieve waits outside the hotel that she and her parents stayed at with her backpack on and Clair by her side. Since she's going be doing quite a bit of walking, she decided to wear some black leggings with a cute pink t-shirt with gold and black Liepard pattern along with some matching pink and black running shoes. She decided to wear her makeup on the lighter side and made sure it was the waterproof brand to minimize sweat ruining her look. She wore her favorite dangly heart earrings and with that felt prepared for the day. A silver luxury town car with heavily tinted windows pulls up and the driver gets out and opens the back door for Genevieve. Inside she sees Hakuryu and gets in to back seat. Haku is wearing a charcoal gray, oversized t-shirt with black casual jogger pants along with a pair of new white and black high top style sneakers. He is also wearing a black cap and has a black cloth face mask currently tucked under his chin.
"Good morning, Hakuryu! Or would you prefer 'Haku'?" Genevieve greets brightly.
"Good morning Dantés-San. Um…a-actually, here it's more customary to call each other by our last name. First names are usually reserved for people with close bonds…" Haku states in a soft tone.
"Oh…I see. So I should just call you…"
"Ryuzaki-San is fine." Haku interjects awkwardly.
"Alright…Ryuzaki-San." Genevieve says. She finds that calling someone by their last name feels so impersonal and cold, but if that's what he's more comfortable with, she doesn't want to be disrespectful.
"So, where will we begin our journey? I thought we would be walking." Genevieve asks curiously.
"Oh…well…I thought we'd be more comfortable traveling city to city by car." Haku states.
"Oh." Genevieve says a bit put out by that.
"Would you rather walk?" Haku asks seeing her expression drop.
"Well that is part of the journey, no? To walk, battle trainers, catch interesting Pokémon and see the countryside?" Genevieve explains.
"I see. I suppose that is the traditional way…" Haku replies a bit anxiously."Ito-San…please drop us off outside of the city…w-where there isn't anyone." Haku tells the driver, who nods in response. Genevieve thought this was all a bit odd, but as long as she gets to travel, here in Kanto where no one recognizes her, then she'll be good. The car ride to the outskirts of Viridian City was a bit quiet; Clair was intently focused on watching the scenery out the window pass. So Genevieve did her best to break the awkward tension.
"So do you have a Pokémon to start with?" Genevieve asked cheerfully.
"Mmhmm. I have a Dratini." Haku replied
"Ah yes, 'that makes sense. Your family is famous for training dragons, yes?" She continues to engage.
"Yes." Haku replies.
"Yes. Of course…." Genevieve looks at Clair trying to think of something to say to entice a conversation. "What have you named them?" she asks.
"Um…I haven't named her anything…I just call her Dratini." Haku answers.
"Aww…many people believe that giving a name to your Pokémon helps to foster a stronger bond between you both. For example, I have named my Eevee Clair and she was so happy when I did!" Genevieve explains while petting her Eevee who is still enthralled with watching everything move by so quickly.
"Well I mean, Dratini does have a name…it's Dratini…" Haku states.
"Do you plan on evolving her in the future?" She asks.
"Well, yeah. Of course I do." He responds.
"Will you still be calling her 'Dratini' when she becomes a Dragonair?" She questions in a soft tone.
"…No. At that moment she'll be 'Dragonair'…" Haku responds fidgeting in is seat a bit. Genevieve gives a smile and nod with raised eyebrows. She doesn't want to catch too many Pokémon, but she wants to name all the ones she does catch. She wants them to feel special and cared for by her; she believes giving them a name helps that. Haku scrolls on his phone or looks out the window, he occasionally will glance uncomfortably at Genevieve. After about another 15 minutes of awkward silence, the car pulls over to the side of the road and the driver goes to open the door for them.
"Ito-San, you can go back home now. Just tell my father that everything is fine and this is what I wanted." Haku instructs the driver. Now without the car they can begin their adventure…just the two of them…in more awkward silence. I still have you Clair! It will still be fun for us! And perhaps we make more friends on our trip…Genevieve declares to herself as she gives her Eevee a pat on the head. Haku pulls the bill of his cap lower over his eyebrows and places his mask over his nose and mouth. The two teens then begin their walk into Viridian Forest.
To Genevieve, walking into the large forest was like traveling back in time to an age before people took over everything, when Pokémon were the dominant force in the world. The sound of the bird Pokémon chirping and squawking in the trees. Everything seemed so serene and peaceful.
"Do you think there will be any fairy type Pokémon in the forest? I absolutely adore fairy types!" Genevieve chatters to Haku.
"I could try searching to find out…" Haku answers bringing out his phone and tapping the screen.
"Yes Clair, what is it?" She asks her Eevee as she looks down at the Pokémon rubbing against her right leg. Except the Pokémon rubbing her leg wasn't Clair…it was a large Caterpie! Genevieve lets out a scream that could easily win her a role in the next teen slasher movie. She hops away quickly, kicking her knees up as high as she can and hides behind Haku.
"Get it away! Get it away!" She repeatedly exclaims. Clair stands ready to fight, protectively waiting for Genevieve's command.
"I-It's just a Caterpie…and it seems friendly." Haku states calmly.
"It's a bug! It's gross and it touched my leg!" Genevieve shrieks at a high pitched voice.
"Let's just move past it and continue on then." Haku advises as he walks by the Caterpie. Genevieve goes with him making sure that Haku stays as a barrier between her and the bug Pokémon. Not too long after, they put enough distance between them and the bug allowing Genevieve to calm down, after giving a few shivers and using a wet wipe cloth on her leg. Haku watches in fascination of her reaction to the bug type Pokémon.
"I didn't know you disliked bug Pokémon." Haku states.
"Well, I didn't think to mention it. I didn't know we would be seeing one so soon." Genevieve responds.
"Well there's a high probability we see more…I mean we are in a forest." Haku explains. Genevieve looks over at him in horror.
"Please tell me you're joking with me…" she pleads. Haku shrugs.
"Let me look to verify…" He goes back to his phone. If she could see Haku's face behind the mask, she would get the immediate sense that she was not going to like what he found out.
"It seems that this forest has the highest known concentration of bug Pokémon in Kanto." Haku reluctantly reads aloud. Genevieve whimpers at that news.
"We should probably just try and trudge through as quickly as we can." Haku suggests.
"I suppose." Genevieve says staying close to Haku's back. Luckily he takes after his father where height is concerned, making him a good shield for her. They try to walk at a quicker pace in order to avoid anymore long interactions with the bugs. Unfortunately for Haku, it means they also come across other trainers at a higher rate as well.
"Hey! You guys wanna battle?!" One boy calls out.
"No thank you." Haku sternly states as they continue walking by. Genevieve sees the mix of disappointment and confusion on the other boy's face as they leave him.
"You don't want to battle others? She asks.
"I uh…I thought you wanted to get out of the forest quickly?" Haku replies. "What if he threw out a Weedle?" he counters. Genevieve feels a chill run down her spine at the thought. She finds Weedles creepier than Caterpie.
"You have a point. Perhaps we should keep going." She concedes.
So they continue on avoiding bugs and trainers a like as much as possible. Genevieve feels like Haku has an ulterior motive for avoiding other trainers, but she doesn't question it right now. She just wants to avoid the creepy crawlies. However, despite their best efforts, quite a bit of their travel gets side tracked with Genevieve freaking out as they dodge or battle away wild Caterpies, Weedles and Butterfree make frequent appearances. The Weedles in particular had the tendencies of shooting string first and asking questions later. So that caused more delays of the trainers having to brush the webbing material off of them. Genevieve took extra care to make sure every ounce of string was removed from her and to groom Clair every time this happened. Moving at a quicker pace has the unfortunate side effect of having to take more frequent breaks to rest; meaning they don't make it as far as they would have hoped before it was time to camp.
The two trainers both pull out their Silph Co. deluxe quick tents, tents that come packed into a small box and when taken out, you just have to set it down and press a button for it to automatically inflate. Essentially it builds itself; and since they the deluxe version, each tent could fit four adults. Genevieve and Haku both give a small chuckle at the coincidence they have matching tents.
"It would appear that great minds think alike, Ryuzaki-San." Genevieve says.
"Yeah I guess so." Haku replies.
"I wanted a big tent to make sure that my Pokémon are comfortable too." Genevieve continues.
"I see." Haku says with a nod and finishes setting up a battery powered lantern for light.
Genevieve spends the evening making sure Clair is fed and healed while Haku does the same with his Dratini. I hope that "Ryuzaki-San" gets comfortable enough to have more interesting conversations as we continue on our travels…Genevieve laments. For tonight, she decides to turn in sooner than later. She just hopes that no bug Pokémon try to get in her tent while she sleeps.
The next day starts out similarly to how most of the previous day went for the duo. More running, more bugs and more freaking out as a result. Each encounter sending them off in a different direction, more and more away from the path. Before they knew it, in their haste of avoiding bug ambushes, they seem to have gotten themselves lost. The last half hour they've spent trying to find the path again to no avail. They tried using any kind of navigation or map they could pull up on their phone, but there's no signal this deep into the woods. They have had no sound or sign of other trainers and with thicker forest, they have less light. After an hour of no path, Genevieve is starting to feel uneasy.
"I don't like this. Perhaps we should turn back and retrace our steps." She suggests.
"We've gotten so turned around in here; I'm not really sure which direction is 'back' for us…" Haku admits. "
They take a turn around some especially tall and thick brush when they see it. Almost all of the trees directly in front of them covered and connected to each other with the same webby string that Weedles have been shooting at them for the past two days. They both stop dead in their tracks at the sight. As they continue to look around they are able to see the numerous amount of Kakuna that are also perched all over the tree branches and trunks. They see Weedles slowly crawl out of different hiding holes to see what is disturbing the area. That's when the buzzing starts. Haku and Genevieve look at each other in alarm as the buzzing grows louder. A huge swarm of Beedrill emerges from the tree canopy and locks their sights on the two trainers and the Eevee.
"Run!" Haku yells. He immediately starts running the opposite direction they were heading.
"Putain de merde!" Genevieve exclaims as she picks up Clair and runs after Haku and the swarm gives chase. Panting the two run as fast as they can trying to void running into trees and bushes. The Beedrill gain ground as the zip around branches trying to catch the intruders. Genevieve stumbles on a tree root and catches herself on the trunk of the tree by dropping Clair onto the ground. Clair lands on her feet and just as Genevieve is about to move left, a giant stinger is shot into the bark of the tree inches from her face. She lets out a blood curdling scream and sprints the other way, Clair running beside her partner. Another Beedrill takes a dive at Haku who dodges out of the just in time to make the Pokémon miss.
"Dantès-San! Keep running!" He yells to her.
"I'm trying! They are too fast!" She yells back. Genevieve screams again as two Beedrill swipe through in between the two separating them a bit by twenty feet. The two focus only on running and fail to see the steep declining slope up ahead and end up sliding down the hill. They land with a hard thud at the bottom and see up ahead, the path!
"Kota use swift!" they hear a voice call out. Quick moving streams of bright yellow light shoot past them from above and hit a couple of the Beedrill sending them off to the sides. Another Beedrill lunges down toward Genevieve who screams and curls into a ball for protection.
"Grunt Fury Swipes on that one now!" the voice yells desperately. A Mankey leaps out and latches on to the Beedrill before it can land its hit. They tumble off to side and the Mankey begins to furiously scratch and punch the Beedrill until it flies off in retreat. Genevieve is finally able to see who it is helping them.
"Sota!" She calls out running over to him. Haku gets on his feet as well.
"Let's move!" Sota declares as he points up the path and they start running again. Kota sends a few more Swift bolts and the Beedrill give up their chase. The three run a little further then slow down to a stop to catch their breath. Genevieve marches over and gives Sota a hug and a kiss on each cheek.
"Mon Dieu, you saved us again!" Genevieve exclaims.
"Again?" Haku asks. While Sota tries to reboot his brain from what just happened.
"He saved Clair when she was still in her egg a week ago and now from the Beedrill." She explains.
"It's nothing really." Sota says with a blush.
"It is not nothing! We could have been terribly hurt or worse if not for you!" She rebuts.
"It was lucky you were around…" Haku states.
"Luck and also hearing the screams I came back to see if I could find out what was going on. That's when I saw you two tumble down the hill." Sota explains. "What were you guys out here anyway? And why were you off of the path?" He asks. Haku and Genevieve look awkwardly at each other.
"Well, Ryuzaki-San and I have started our Pokémon journey as well and um…I-I was trying to find a Pokémon to catch and we got lost." Genevieve fibs ashamed of her fear being the cause of their dangerous experience.
"I see." Some guys get a different kind of luck and usually luck favors those born with a silver spoon in their mouth…Sota thinks to himself as he notes an awkward tension. What were you looking for?" Sota asks. Genevieve hesitates and looks at Haku for help.
"A-A Bulbasaur! Yeah she wanted a Bulbasaur. I heard they could be found in forests." Haku covers for her, he doesn't know why, but he couldn't help but assist when she looked at him like that.
"I see…I did read that they are around, just hard to find because of natural camouflage." Sota explains. "For now I think we should move further up the path and find a safe place to camp for the evening." Sota continues looking the two over and noticing some scrapes and cuts. "I've got a first aid kit so let's get you guys taken care of." He suggests.
They agree and walk for a few minutes before finding a good spot to rest. Sota pulls out his first aid kit and helps the two clean their wounds and bandage any up that need it.
"Luckily everything seems superficial." Sota says as he gently cleans a scrape on Genevieve's elbow. She winces at the stinging of the rubbing.
"Sorry…" Sota apologizes for causing her pain.
"No it is okay. Thank you." Genevieve insists.
Aside from some small abrasions on his hands, Haku was fine and focused on setting up his tent. Sota notices the high end equipment that makes the camp building easy and shakes his head subtly, however, Genevieve notices.
"What is it?" She asks.
"Oh, nothing…" Sota tries to deflect.
"Hmm? Are you sure?" She pushes.
"Just thinking it must be nice to be able to just press a button and poof…tent is all done." Sota jabs at Haku.
"Well it beats dealing with the assembly." Haku responds.
"No doubt." Sota agrees.
"Well then you will love this." Genevieve gets up and removes her tent and sets it up with the button push. "Voila!" She triumphantly declares. Sota gives a chuckle.
"I guess I'm the only one not glamping." He jokes.
"What is glamping?" Genevieve asks confused
"It's a slang term. It combines glamorous and camping together, it describes the act of camping with high end equipment that mimics modern luxuries. He's making fun of us for being ritzy…" Haku replies.
"Hey! That is not very nice." Genevieve exclaims and over exaggerates a pout.
"Would you like me to make sure there are no peas under your sleeping bag?" Sota asks sarcastically.
"Are you calling me a princess?" Genevieve asks pretending to be annoyed.
"Maybe." Sota says with a grin.
"I am not a princess thank you very much! Hmpf!" Genevieve feigns offense. She marches off into her tent. Not long after a buzzing noise starts coming from her tent.
"What the hell is that?" Sota asks.
"I dunno, the noise came from her tent last night too…just didn't ask about it." Haku replied.
"Hey what's that noise? Are you okay?" Sota shouts over the noise as he gets up close to the tent flap. The noise stops for a moment.
"What is it?" Genevieve calls out.
"What's making that buzzing noise?" Sota repeats.
"….nothing…." Genevieve mumbles. After a few heart beats the noise reemerges. Sota sighs and heads back over to her tent flap.
"I'm coming in!" Sota exclaims.
"NO! I'm…I'm changing into my nightwear!" Genevieve shouts back.
"The buzzing is from you changing clothes?" Sota asks skeptically.
"Y-Yes! Don't come in please!" Genevieve pleads.
"Fine…" Sota concedes. The buzzing begins again and lasts for another three minutes before it stops.
"Are you dressed now?" Sota asks through the tent.
"Umm…I'm very tired and will be going to sleep now. Good night!" Genevieve calls out. Sota looks over at Haku with a suspicious look in his eye. Haku just shrugs.
"I'll be going to sleep then too, Good night." Haku states heading into his tent.
Sota lets out a sigh to release any leftover tension from the day's events. Kota rubs his body along Sota's leg as he walks by.
"Alright boy….let's call it a night." Sota tells him and they head off to their tent. Sota stays up a little bit while petting his Eevee sleeping beside him.
So Genevieve and the Dragon Prince are traveling together…hmm. I guess that explains why she and her family were in the VIP section at the ceremony. I wonder how they even know each other in the first place. They probably met on one of his family's trips to Kalos or something….does this mean they're dating? I figured the celebrity news hounds would've picked up on it if they were. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised I guess. A girl that pretty, she wouldn't waste her time with a normal nobody…naw, guys like Ryuzaki Hakuryu get girls like her. Sota lets out another sigh and tries to clear his mind and eventually sleep takes him away.