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Liko, Roy, Dot, and Ult were currently walking along a dirt path. They had just met Murdock in Cortondo, and now they were on their way to find and meet Orla.
"It was so nice to see Murdock and Katy again!" Liko exclaimed.
Roy nodded his head. "Yeah. It felt great to try Murdock's cooking again!" He stated. Crocalor let out a cry of agreement.
"It was nice but I wish he wasn't so embarrassing to deal with." Dot said, with her usual flat tone.
"It just means he cares about you a lot Dot." Liko said.
"Yeah I guess…" Dot flatly said. She looked out the corner of her eye and saw Ult who was very quiet, which was very out of character of the usual loud natured boy. His gaze kept towards the side and he also kept a fair distance away from Dot.
"Uhh are you ok? You're acting kinda odd." Dot asked.
Ult snapped his gaze towards Dot and blushed a bit. "I-I'm fine!" He stammered out.
Dot tilted her head in confusion. Why was the Ult acting so much weirder than usual? She continued to look at him until it finally clicked for her.
"Wait, are you still embarrassed by me holding your hand??" Dot questioned.
"W-what?! O-of course not!" Ult cried out, his face becoming a bit more red.
Dot sighed. "Look it's fine you don't have to worry about it." She said in a slightly exasperated tone.
"I wasn't worrying about anything!!" Ult shouted, causing Dot, as well as Quaxwell, to shield their ears.
"Ult, Why are you yelling?" Roy asked with a very apparent irritated tone.
'I-Its nothing!!" Ult stammered out again.
Roy raised his eyebrows in disbelief not really buying Ult's deflection. "Really? It doesn't sound like nothing. And why is your face so red?"
Ult opened his mouth to deflect the question again but before he did, Dot cut him off.
"He's still embarrassed by that whole hand holding thing back at Cortondo." Dot stated.
"Is that true Ult?" Liko probed.
Ult stood up straight, his face going crimson, and then bolted running far past everyone, leaving the others behind. Sableye struggled to keep up with him.
Roy sighed incredulously, while shaking his head. Cap mirrored the gesture. "I seriously don't know what's wrong with him."
Liko chuckled awkwardly. "Well I guess he's just embarrassed is all…"
"Over a little hand holding?" Roy asked bemused.
"Everyone's different, Roy." Liko simply stated. Meowscarada let out a sound of agreement.
Dot meanwhile was still gazing at the direction Ult ran. She was still a little confused but there was also a small part of her that was also…intrigued a little.
The Rising Volt Tacklers have decided to camp out for the night. Everyone was getting ready to fall asleep. Dot included.
"Yawn. Ok Quaxwell let's go to bed." Dot said while tiredly rubbing her eyes. She was getting ready to go inside her tent, until she noticed Ult laying down on the grass. She raised her eyebrows in confusion. She walked up to him.
"You know you could sleep in a tent right?" She said while walking towards the wild boy and his Sableye.
"I know." Ult responded. "I like sleeping outside better." He finished saying. Though for some reason he wasn't looking towards Dot.
Dot noticed this but instead of commenting on it, she just sat down on the grass next to Ult, to which the boy tensed a little.
"Y'know you seriously don't have to worry about what happened in Cortondo." Dot said in her usual tone, though there was a slight soft edge to it.
Ult laid there in silence for a while before finally speaking up. "…I honestly didn't know. That you were a girl." He said in an unusually soft almost…shy tone.
"It's fine, seriously, no need to make a fuss out of it." Dot said. "Why did you even make it a big of a deal in the first place? You were fine before you knew what gender I was."
Ult bristled at the question. His face blushes again even through the dark night.
"Because…because that was my first time holding a girl's hands." Ult shyly said.
"Oh…really?" Dot questioned, sorta surprised.
"Yep…" Ult lamely said, still kinda embarrassed.
Dot eyes gazed down towards Ult. He still looked pretty embarrassed with himself or…was it something else? Whatever the case was, Dot didn't want him to feel like it.
"Well…If it makes you feel any better, that was my first time holding someone's hands too." Dot expressed. It was a complete lie but she wanted to make him feel better.
Ult sat up and for the first time that day looked Dot in the face. "Really?" He questioned.
"Mhm." Dot hummed.
"Well…ok that actually does make me feel a little better actually." Ult voiced again with that soft tone.
Dot noticed this soft tone of Ult's. It was kind of unlike for him to talk in a soft way. Usually he would be loud and noisy, something Dot couldn't stand but this new soft tone of his…she liked.
The two sat in comfortable silence for a little while before Dot opened her mouth.
"I thought differently about you too through the Rotom phone as well." She declared.
This got Ult's attention again. The boy turned towards the purple haired girl again. "What did you think of me before?" He queried.
"Well before I thought you were annoying, loud, noisy, and a pretty brazen guy." Dot expressed. Each word takes a blow towards Ult's confidence. "But after finally seeing you in person…you're kinda cool." She finished.
Ult's face lit up at the compliment, his eyes sparkled. "Well naturally! I'm a mega cool guy after all!!" Ult cockily said, returning to his usual loud brazen self. Much to Dot's slight dismay.
"Yeah…" Dot muttered.
After another small moment of silence Dot got up stretching her arms.
"Ok I really need to go to bed now. See you in the morning Ult. Let's go Quaxwell." Ult watched, as Dot got up and went inside her tent, along with her Quaxwell. After she was fully inside Ult laid back down on the grass with his own sleeping Sableye.
His face was still red a little and his heart beating a bit faster than it usually should, but it…all felt nice.
Really nice.
With that final thought of his, Ult went to sleep.
In the tent, Dot was wrapped around her sleeping bag ready to fall asleep. Her mind began to drift towards Ult however. Dot did actually think he was just another annoying boy that tagged along with them but actually meeting and talking with him changed her mind. Y'know maybe Ult wouldn't be such a bad addition to the crew after all. And she suspects that she would actually like being around him in the future.
But that was just a small hunch of hers.
And with that thought done, Dot began to fall into a deep slumber.