It was dark now, and getting pretty late, and I still wasn’t at the spot that I had decided to make my campsite for the night.
“It’s gotta be around here somewhere...” I muttered to myself. I pulled out my map and stopped walking, intently searching for the place I had marked earlier. How had I managed to get lost so quickly? Just my luck, I supposed.
Just then, the area was lit up with a bright flash of light. “____, is that you? Fancy meeting you here!” The voice was familiar... could it be? I looked up to see a very familiar silver-haired man walking towards me. The same man I’d pretty much given up on seeing ever again. After all, it had been months since I last saw him, when he told me we’d meet again!
“Steven? Hi!” This time, Metagross’s flash was welcome; my flashlight had run out of batteries over an hour ago.
“It’s been quite a while, how have you been? How is your journey progressing?” Steven asked.
“Great! I have 5 badges now!” I opened the side of my vest where I had sewn in the badges, and grinned triumphantly.
“Ah,” he smiled. “I suppose you’re heading to Fortree, then?”
“Yep! So how’ve you been?”
“I’ve been well, thank you. I’m actually headed to my hometown, Rustboro, to help my father with work. But I got a bit sidetracked, as I heard there were some rare stones around here somewhere!” He grinned sheepishly, and I laughed. He sure did like rocks, didn’t he? “Anyway, you look a bit lost. Would you like to stay at my campsite for the night?”
I felt my cheeks heat up. Stay at Steven’s campsite? Sleep near him? But... he was right. I was lost. And it would be stupid of me to refuse. So I said, “Actually, that’d be great!”
“Wonderful! Follow me!”
As we walked down the dirt path, Steven talked about the different rocks that he had been looking for. Whenever he turned back to look at me, his face was absolutely lit up. Something about people talking about their passions in life was... very intriguing. And it made him look, well, even more attractive. His silver eyes practically sparkled with excitement, and his smile lit up the night.
Pretty soon, we had reached his campsite, which was just a tent pitched near the mouth of a cave. Steven insisted that I sleep in the tent, and he would sleep outside. After some protesting, I gave up, changed into my pajamas, and fell asleep.