"Oh look, it's one of those planes that carry signs with ads or other stuff!" - Said Elise, with a goofy smile on her face, her tongue sticking out from the corner of her mouth in an expression of almost childish joy.
"Geez, Elise... Are you always over excited about mundane things like that?" - Replied Rouge, her companion for the afternoon, not batting an eye (pun freaking intended) to the object of the girl's interest.
Being insulated from the common, everyday life of someone her age due to her royal obligations, the Princess made sure that every single opportunity she got not to be a princess, but just a girl, wasn't wasted. Boy, did she love the warm touch of the sun on her skin and the pleasant tactile sensation on her feet that the beach made possible to her... this was probably her favorite place ever, a place where she could be free from the meetings, audiences, charity events, the smell of a castle that seemed to be older than time itself and its fittingly tacky furniture, the high heels and the famous "carrot leg" stockings that people loved to mock on social media... To make it all even better, she had someone to have fun with: Rouge The Bat. Shockingly, the most unlikely pair had so much in common that it seemed they were buddies forever. Checkers, fashion magazines, exotic food, jewelry and gems... all seemed to be a blast to them. Of course that not everything was perfect. Not having any street smart skills, Elise would fumble on trivial things, such as how to operate a soda can vending machine, applying sunblock to her shoulders or choosing wisely what street food vendor she'd buy food from. As time showed, she learned that buying a pot of curry from a less-than-optimal food truck was not the greatest idea she ever had, and she learned it the hard way, while the wiser bat friend of hers couldn't help but giggle at the girl's predicament. Not too long after the lunch, the curry came back with a vengeance, disagreeing with her body and demanding to leave, forcing Elise to make a visit (or twenty) to the ladies room, before some of her assistants gave her a medicine that sorted the issue out almost as if it was magic. Despite the ordeal, the princess kept her head up and still enjoyed the day out.
"Woo boy... Praise Solaris for porta potties and 3-gallon bottles of Pepto Bismol! Not only that fixed me, but it also had the cutest color... Pink just like that weird stuff they put on the McDonald's burgers!" - said the upbeat Elise.
"Glad to know that you loved using the porta potty, because judging by that bottle of medicine's size, you won't be needing one until 2030... By the way... McDonald's? Really? First the curry, now you mentioned junk food. Are you a human garbage disposal bin of sorts, eating terrible things?" - replied Rouge, puzzled by the eccentric eating habits of her friend.
"You are a little ray of sunshine all the time or this is just because we are here? Tee hee!" - replied the unphased princess, as she caressed Rouge's cheeks. "Come on, let's do something fun. I brought the beach ball, let's play with it a bit!"
"Uhh... are you sure this is a good idea, after you got your stomach upset?" - asked Rouge.
"Ah, I almost have no chances at doing this, I'm not letting a rogue, killer curry from outer space ruin my fun!" - stated Elise, her eyes metaphorically burning as she made a face of pure determination.
"Killer curry indeed, heck, the Secret Service even arrested the vendor on attempted murder charges... They took the guy in cuffs, with a bag over his head. Creepy..."
"Ah damnit, Rouge! You love bringing things down, don't you? Spending too much time with Shadow The Edgehog might not be doing you any good." - bellowed a slightly upset princess. "If I knew you'd be such a rain on my parade, I'd have called Sara, or even Katella!"
In a last-ditch attempt at making Rouge play with her, Elise kicks the beach ball, expecting that she would catch it before it bonked her in the head. Sadly, as the bat was busy with her magazines, she only saw the incoming object when it was too late to do something about it. As a result, it hit her straight to the nose, putting her in a fit of rage.
"That's it, you're getting it now!" - shouted Rouge.
What ensued later was a scene worthy of the worst low-budget action movies, as an angry Rouge gave chase to Elise through the sand, the other bathers looked confused and the security team debated on whether they should intervene on their quarrel or not, finally deciding not to do a thing and laugh a bit at the situation. At a point, Elise's foot is caught by something buried in the sand, and she falls down. seeing how gnarly the girl's fall was, Rouge stopped her little chase and became concerned with her buddy. To her satisfaction, Elise got herself together and, after rubbing her sore toes a little bit to alleviate the pain, she kneeled and observed what caused her accident.
"Are you alright, girl?"
"Yeah Rooj. I'll live... but what in the blueberry heck is this thing!?" - said Elise, as she pointed the object she tripped on: a small carved box that appeared to be made of stone. It was covered with mold and had a few shells of sea creatures stuck all over.
"I wish I knew... I wonder if it has a pretty gem inside!" - replied the bat. "I want to know what's inside, let's open it!"
"Hold your horses... See those guys over there? Royal Soleannan Secret Service. The weirdo in a crappy disguise and a sombrero? Gendarmeria Soleannese officer. If they notice this, they will take it away and we'll never see this box again over national security reasons. We need to figure out a way to distract them for a bit, so we can see what is inside!" - said Elise in a stern tone.
"I think I have just the right idea... Once i start, you find a way to stash this on your beach gear bag. We will open it when we get to your palace." - replied Rouge.
Looking around, the bat took a deep breath, and started dancing what the young people knew as the "cat daddy", a sensation of New City's clubs despite it being the cringiest dance number ever created. some argue Eggman created it himself as means to embarrass the planet into accepting his leadership without opposition. Just as people took pictures of Rouge's number to post on the lolcow section of 06-chan, Elise smuggled the rather small box into her beach bag and, as one of her servants tried to ask her about the object, she shoved her foot into her mouth and demanded a massage, while doing all sorts of threats to the poor girl that revolved on doing vile things to her should she tell anyone about what she saw. Once she finally shut the puzzled girl up, the princess gave Rouge a thumbs up signal, and she finally stopped her little dance routine, utterly mortified and hoping that, whatever it was inside the box, was worth the sheer embarrassment she felt.
"Nice job, Ruju Za Batto! We're finding out this thing's secrets later tonight!" - said a grinning Elise.
What was in the box? Let's find out in the next episode! I mean, if you guys want to find out, or the staff find an excuse to deem the artwork offensive out of nowhere. In that case, I'll just post future chapters on DeviantArt. LET ME KNOW IF YOU ARE INTERESTED ON THIS ONE!
