"A backup tent?" Emily looked at Ron, her tone drifting.
Immediately after, she saw Ron already pulling things out of his backpack.
"Backup tent, backup sleeping bag——" Ron took them out one by one. "To prevent any unexpected situations! I prepared for everything!"
"——" Emily paused. "Wow."
"What?"
"Nothing, just surprised." Emily looked at the things on the ground, and after a moment, started laughing. She then peeked out, "Ah, the bear seems to have left."
"Did it?" Ron took a look as well, then finally put away Bellossom's Poké Ball.
Originally, in Ron's expectations, if that bear hadn't left yet, he planned to have Bellossom chase it away just like it drove off the Miltank before. Because he remembered that this bear wasn't bad, and even seemed to be a vegetarian bear, Ron had specifically swapped Bellossom's weapon back to the wooden club, so as not to hurt the innocent little bear.
"Uh——then, then——" Emily looked at the pile of backup items on the ground, opened her mouth, and after a moment, resignedly picked one up and crawled out of the tent.
"Need help?" Ron asked.
"No need." Emily answered as she spread out the tent. "Did you anticipate all of this? If you hadn't prepared a tent, I'd suspect you were the one who found the bear."
"I just thought you might forget to bring these." Ron explained as he relit the campfire.
The food from earlier had been mostly eaten by the bear. Ron rummaged around and used the ingredients he brought to make two Survival Burgers, then tossed a few Yam chunks into the fire.
After setting up her tent, Emily took the Survival Burger Ron handed her and sat down next to him.
"Although it's not as delicious as what you made earlier, this feels more like camping." Emily said, gesturing to Ron what she imagined camping to be like. Things like making fire by rubbing wood, using a stone to make a slightly sharp little knife, and then using it to cut open trees and wild fruits to get water sources, and so on.
"And finally finding some Cave Carrots and Eggplants to put in bread as a burger!" Emily said, taking a bite of her burger.
"Isn't that wilderness survival?" Ron asked.
Emily froze for a moment, then laughed. "True."
As it got late, the night sky was gradually covered with twinkling stars. Glancing at the scattered stars in the sky, Emily leaned against Ron's shoulder.
"Even though there are stars every night when I get off work at the saloon——" Emily then glanced at Ron, who was concentrating on peeling a Yam. "But it just feels like the stars tonight are different from usual."
"Different how?" Ron asked as he handed the peeled, piping hot roasted Yam to Emily.
The distinct fresh scent of the tuber immediately hit Emily's nose. She sniffed it and took a bite.
"I don't know," Emily said vaguely. She then looked up again and suddenly shook Ron's shoulder excitedly. "Quick, look! A shooting star!!"
Ron tilted his head back just as a star streaked across the night sky.
Turning his head, Emily had already closed her eyes. The dim, flickering light from the campfire fell on her face.
Her eyes were tightly shut, and she suddenly opened them a moment later.
"What did you wish for?" Ron asked.
"Secret."
Emily blinked.
The stars really were different tonight, Emily thought, raising her head again.
Time flashed forward to the next day. At the farm's south gate, after saying goodbye to Emily, Ron turned and walked into the farm.
As soon as he entered, he saw Indeedee, who was standing guard at the door at some unknown time.
"Indeedee, indeedee, indeedee?" Indeedee stared at Ron, tilting its head.
"Just camping," Ron said. "Don't overthink it."
"Indeedee?"
Indeedee tilted its head in disbelief, eavesdropping on Ron's inner thoughts. It then shouted in disbelief: "Indeed?" (You actually just camped?)
Perhaps too shocked, Indeedee jumped right into Ron's backpack and stuck its head inside.
One tent and sleeping bag after another was pulled out of his backpack by Indeedee.
"Indeedee?!!!"
Indeedee looked at Ron in sheer disbelief.
——
It then remembered the deal it had specifically made with a good bear not long ago. That's right, although Indeedee had promised Ron not to do these things anymore, he never said it couldn't let someone else—no, another animal—do it.
For this, Indeedee had even brought a bottle of Maple Syrup!
Under Indeedee's watchful gaze, Ron slowly revealed a smile.
"Indeedee?" Indeedee jumped down, picked up the tents from the ground, threw them onto Ron, and left in a huff.
Arriving at the cabin, Meowth and Team Rocket were still eating breakfast.
Seeing Ron arrive, Meowth greeted him.
"How was the camping? Did you have fun, meow?" Meowth asked.
"Just normal camping." Ron answered as he sat down.
"I see." Meowth took a few bites, and seeing that Indeedee hadn't returned, looked up and asked, "Where's Indeedee?"
"Went for a walk to clear its head." Ron thought about Indeedee's retreating back and answered.
"Is that so, meow." Meowth took another bite and asked carefully, "Aren't you too lonely?"
"Lonely?"
"Yeah, maybe because you're always by yourself, Indeedee thought it would be nice if you were with someone?" Meowth said while eating. "Maybe it sensed this kind of emotion from your heart, which is why it does these things, meow."
Although Ron felt that Indeedee's starting point wasn't as noble as Meowth put it, he still pondered Meowth's words for a moment.
Meanwhile, Indeedee.
After angrily leaving the farm, Indeedee wandered around near Cindersap Forest.
Not long into its stroll, it ran into Leah, who was searching for Spice Berries with the Raccoon not far away.
"Just one more and we can make Dried Spice Berry." Leah said, looking around.
"Come to think of it, foraging in the wild has been really difficult lately."
It was as if some glutton had appeared in the forest; as long as you woke up just a little late, the forest was guaranteed to be so clean you couldn't even find a single Sweet Pea.
"Squeak..."
"But there's no way I'm going to buy Hot Pepper Jelly and Oranges." Leah rejected without even looking at the sign the Raccoon held up. "A raccoon should act like a raccoon. Stop thinking about relying on the grocery store and the Pokémon Center. Besides, you don't have any money."
——
The Raccoon fell silent, sighed, and quietly put its sign away.
"Indeedee?"
"Ah, Indeedee, it's you." Leah turned her head and, seeing it was Indeedee, said in pleasant surprise.
------------------------------------------------------
40+ Chapters Ahead: patreon.com/EphemeralShadow
There's something for free patrons too! Free Patrons receive 1 chapter in advance :)