On The Road

Chapter Fifteen

Arriete awoke to the sound of hushed laughter. She groggily opened her eyes to see Bina and Wally standing there, both giggling into their hands as Bina took another picture with a small portable camera.

"Bina...?" Arriete asked as she rubbed her eyes, still half asleep. "What...?"

"I take it Larance's shoulder wasn't as comfy as a pillow?" Wally smirked, trying to contain his laughter.

Immediately, Arriete stood up, her face a beet red. Larance, not aware that Arriete had left his side, opened his eyes slowly as well. Seeing Arriete scolding Bina and Wally made him instantly alert as he stood up as well.

"What's going on?" he asked with a yawn.

"Just taking pictures of the scenery," Bina replied with a smirk as she showed Larance and Arriete her camera.

Both of them looked at the picture, at each other, then away from each other with equally red faces. This cause Wally and Bina to finally let out their laughter at their friends' embarrassment. Giving in, Arriete and Larance began to chuckle as well.

"Talk about an eventful morning already," Bina mimicked wiping a tear from her eye as she calmed down. "I've got to get ready for the contest. Meet all of you there!"

The other three sighed as they began to get ready for the day as well.

***

Bina grinned as she walked out of the changing room, her new ribbon gleaming in her hand. Another contest over. Another contest won. She met up with the others, who congratulated her, and they began to walk to the entrance of the Contest Hall. 

"Hey, look!" she suddenly exclaimed. "It's Lisia!"

"Seems like she's talking to someone," Larance observed. "Let's go find out who."

As the four of them approached, the sounds of conversation reached their ears. 

"You must be very proud of her."

Lisia laughed before answering.

"I never thought that when I spotted her she would be this amazing!" she smiled. "So, I guess I am proud of her."

"Speaking of, there she is."

Lisia turned to see the four friends approach them, confused looks on their faces.

"Steven?" Wally asked. "Why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be in Fallarbor?"

"My friend has taken over for me for now," Steven replied, looking troubled. "There were so many grunts, my Pokémon grew exhausted. Thankfully, my friend came at the right time to take over. I decided to meet up with you four as soon as possible so all of us can head off to Fallarbor together." He sighed, seeming like he didn't want to say the next thing that came out of his mouth. "I'm going to need your help taking down both teams."

"But you said-" Arriete began before Steven cut her off.

"I know I promised them," Steven muttered more or less to himself. "But, I was just recently thinking this over. It might be time to put both teams to a stop before they cause any more harm."

"We also have to find out how they know about me," Larance added, narrowing his eyes.

A look of guilt flashed through Steven's eyes, Lisia being the only one who noticed.

"Good news for Bina though!" Lisia suddenly said, trying to lighten the mood. "Your next contest will be there, and in two days no less!"

This statement, in fact, did lighten the mood as the friends began to chat excitedly together about what Bina was going to do next. Steven sent Lisia a thankful glance, Lisia smiling in return.