It's time for the solstice!

[indigo_events]

Who: Everyone attending the Azalea festival!

Where: Azalea town and surrounding woods

When: June 21st

Summary: Celebi's come out, so it's time to throw a party in its honor!

Log:

It's Midsummer! Traditional festivities in Azalea are all in full swing, and this year even bigger and better than ever, thanks to the influx of curious tourists and Legendary Seekers drawn by the rumors in hopes of catching a glimpse of the elusive Celebi. Everyone in Azalea is putting out their finest, and the whole town is decked out with flowers in vases and pots, colorful streamers, and bright awnings under which vendors hawk their wares.

The fun doesn't stop there, however. Those time disturbances that have been popping up all over the place? They've become at once more localized and more benign. Flowers open quickly and stay in bloom without fading, a blissful moment seems to stretch into eternity, somehow you've managed to sample the food of a dozen different booths and it still is barely mid-morning. It's like a perfect moment somehow drawn out, suspended in time to savor as long as possible. Those who have a particularly fun few minutes may even find them repeated a few times!

Which perhaps should be no surprise, given that Celebi itself has come out to play! If you're lucky and paying close attention, you might even catch a glimpse of it flitting about from one place to another throughout the town and the nearby forest. It certainly isn't shy, though it is moving quite quickly and doing anything but staying in one place. Anybody who might attempt to catch or challenge it to a battle isn’t going to get anywhere at all—and stubborn trainers might find themselves stuck in a time loop for a few hours. There's simply so much to see and do, after all! Strangely enough, if any of the Legend Seekers are around, Celebi never seems to be anywhere to be found.

Eventually, though, the long day will come to an end, and the festivities with it. By morning, all the hubbub will be gone, and Celebi with it. But not quite without a trace: anyone who came to Azalea Town to participate in the festival will find in their belongings a single fossil as a parting gift from the Time Travel Pokémon.

Comments

[toothaches]

A shadow fell over Ash.

If this were a monster movie, this would be the part where the strings started screeching and the audience braced for something terrible to happen. Instead, a wrapped funnel cake plopped onto Ash's chest and Maurice bent down with his hands on his knees and a big dumb grin on his face.

"Hey, stranger."

His hair was wilder than usual today--he'd flown in with one of the local cryptid crew and still hadn't quite caught his breath.

[rambling_runner]

Ash needed a moment to zone back in, exhaling and blinking several times. Upon seeing Maurice, he beamed and sat up, catching the funnel cake. "Hey! Aw man, and you got me- what is it?" He'd never seen funnel cake before, opening the package and tearing off a piece to try.

Danny boofed and waved to Maurice brightly, after also coming out of his own mental zone. "Were you in Azalea when they announced the party or did you come by 'specially for it?"

[toothaches]

"Delicious is what it is." Maurice joined him on the ground, pausing to give Danny a high five/however many fingers Danny had on the way down. "I came for the party--those legendary chaser guys made it sound like a must-see. I haven't seen any weird little alien fairies or whatever but I did find you so I think the trip was worth it."

[rambling_runner]

"How is the party? I actually haven't gone in town, but I figured I could still honour the legendary with some flowers. And it was so peaceful, it felt like a great place and time to meditate on things."

He lowered his eyes, thinking on something. "Hey urm. Have you ever had...someone leave? From Johto?"

[toothaches]

"Oh it's great! You should totally come in, it's--oh!" Maurice suddenly remembered Ash's very quick departure from Azalea last time. "Don't worry, I can find you something to make a disguise with."

He scooted a little closer in the grass, both to show his support and out of that sheer awkwardness where he wasn't sure exactly how much of his personal bubble Ash was willing to give up at this point in their situation.

But then Ash asked him something that felt a little like a sock to the stomach.

"Oh...y-yeah. Yeah, a couple of people." He tilted his head, trying better to see his face. "Did someone...?"

[rambling_runner]

"Encouraging me to break the law? What about the slowpoke curse?" He gave Maurice a smile but it was a little dimmed.

"Yeah. I think...Friend of mine named Anthy. She loved grass types so I was constantly sending her snaps of new ones I found. But, I found one of her Pokemon in my PC box and whenever I've called her, the line's dead. It isn't something she'd do." He had Broichan's pokeball on his belt and reached down, clipping it off and enlarging it in his palm.

[toothaches]

Maurice's shoulders fell.

"Man...I'm sorry, dude. Same thing happened to me--that's how I got Tyra." He looked back toward the bustle of the festival for a long moment, thinking. "I think I'll stay out here by the shrine with you. I can get wasted at a party any old time."

[rambling_runner]

"Really? I had no idea, I thought Tyra was just yours. How'd she take it? I never really hung out with the Pokemon she's left with me - I knew of him but I saw her more with her other Pokemon - so...I dunno. I dunno what he's gonna be thinking right now...hell, I dunno what to think about it either."

He sighed, rubbing a thumb over Broichan's pokeball. At the mention of missing the festival he quickly looked up, shaking his head with a small smile. "Man, don't feel like you've gotta miss the whole festival though. From what I've heard it's like a summer fete. And you gotta try and find the legendary pokemon, don't ya?"

[toothaches]

"She was kinda mopey at first. Hanna had really worked with her...but I met her when she was really little so she already knew me."

Maurice rubbed an arm, looking out over the shrine thoughtfully.

"It's no fun goin' all by yourself. Besides, we've got catching up to do, right? I can go grab us some lunch and we can uh..." He yanked up a fistful of grass to give his hands something to do. "Have a...picnic. Thing?"

[rambling_runner]

"You got nobody else in there?" That was honestly surprising. He thought Maurice had more buddies around who'd be at the festival.

"We do have to catch up tho. And I actually do have Hitchcock with me, since you wanted to borrow him. But you gotta get to Goldenrod if you want me to show you that shop I told you about!"

[toothaches]

When his picnic idea got no response, he decided to let it drop. Maybe Ash just didn't like that kind of thing.

"Well I did run into one person but he's not what I'd call a friend." He frowned, thinking of Jack. But he quickly shook himself and took his hat off. "That's great because I finally got my badge."

He held it out to show Ash the new Zephyr badge he'd pinned to it.

[rambling_runner]

He hadn't meant to ignore Maurice's idea, just kind of distracted by other topics. He wasn't really sure what a picnic entailed actually. A blanket and some food? Something like that.

"Nice! Shit, that's the one I still need to get. Fuck the guy who runs that gym." Yeah, he still had a grudge with Falkner. "I should go back and re-challenge him, now I've got a shit-ton of electric types. How'd you beat him?"

[toothaches]

"Wow, did you two get into it or something?" While Falkner hadn't been the friendliest person Maurice met, he hadn't really found a reason to dislike the guy. "I used rock and electric with Relly to back 'em up if they needed help. I'm not super looking forward to fighting the bug guy. Bugs freak me out. Especially bugs the size of dogs."

[rambling_runner]

"He was the first guy I challenged and it was like going into the deep end. I got down to just one Pokemon and he wouldn't let me leave. It was Étain man; my Vivillon that, you know, birds fucking eat. I just wanted to call mercy and leave but nope." He huffed out his nose. "Gotta completely wipe out a guy's team, even when it's obvious they'd fucked up. I do have a bunch of electric and rock types now. I should probably head over there and repay the favour...he said something about electric types being an insult to his Pokemon so. I reckon I could throw some insults his way."

He shook his head, as if clearing it of those impulses. "Bugs huh? I went in with Cú, Fionn and Mufusa. Weird thing I noticed; the Scizor's part steel. Super, super weak to fire, but I had Fionn out and didn't realise, so his flying attacks didn't work as well."

[toothaches]

Maurice made a few concerned faces. Those were the rules. It would have been the same if the two of them had battled each other. It planted a seed of worry in the back of his mind.

"OH man...I didn't even think about that. And I'm a mechanic! Thanks for the tip."

He flashed Ash a grin. He had this badge in the bag!

[rambling_runner]

Ash didn't see it that way. If Maurice had one pokemon left to send out and, for whatever reason, it was clearly a losing battle, he wouldn't force Maurice to send it out anyway just to knock it out. It felt cruel to him. Rules and laws had always taken a backseat to Ash's own sense of right and wrong.

Either way, he gave Maurice a bright smile. "Hell yeah. I got a TM out of it, but I don't know who to teach it to yet. It's called u-Turn and it sounds pretty cool - the Pokemon like, immediately returns to you so you can send someone else out. Like going 'Fuck that shit I'm out-'" He sang that last part.