Come alive come alive

[indigo_events]

Who: Everyone attending the Contest Spectacular! (For more information about this event, check out the info post here!)
Where: Celadon City
When: February 15th-17th
Log:



Valentine’s day may be just past and most cities are relaxing back to normal after all the romance. But in Celadon City, the holiday hype wound up as a lead-in to the month’s main event: the return of the Contest Spectacular!

After Olivine had the honor of hosting in the summer, Kanto’s rainbow city has been eager to draw the event back and truly establish the new tradition. Not that it took much convincing to get Hoenn’s Contest runners back on board—not to mention the Aether Foundation’s assistance as well. They’d heard the city had had an on-and-off issue with pollution, so of course they’re here to supervise and ensure Pokemon safety!

Lusamine having the opportunity to judge more beautiful Pokemon is simply a perk to coming, of course.

Anne and Liz have returned as well, wouldn’t miss it for the world. They’re growing very fond of hosting for this new and interesting region, not to mention getting to meet all the people from entirely different worlds! Whenever they can grab a moment of downtime, they can be spotted out and about with their Plusle and Minun, and are eager to chat people up and hear their otherworldly stories. Just no questions about results!

As for the city itself... Celadon is always flashy, but they really pulled out all the stops this time.

Pink, red, and white tents and booths fill the streets between the towering green-glassed buildings. The fashion center of Kanto apparently didn't get the memo that the fourteenth was over and instead decided on having more hearts, more Luvdisc-themed decorations, and MORE cherry lollipops.

The Aether tents blend right in with the other lovey-dovey colors-- this time they're there to pass out hand-warmers and sanitizer, pamphlets about PokeRus and how to best avoid passing around germs. They're friendly as always (although there seem to be even more of them this time than there were back in August), but Celadon City made sure that there's far more to see than some geeks in white. Now that the Contest Spectacular has two massive successes under its belt, more people than ever want to get in on it.

It seems that every bakery in town came together to outdo each other, and extravagant sweets and pastries are being sold and sampled out at every turn. The usual photobooths and costume-rental stands (that, cough, are definitely not advertising from local fashion companies that want you to stop in and BUY the outfits from their boutiques later...) are present as always-- and the mini-games from last summer are back too!

One booth is surrounded by a near-constant crowd-- manned by a shiny Decidueye and his nervous-looking Trainer-- the regal owl Pokemon is signing copies of his newly-published self-help book-slash-autobi"owl"graphy ("Owl I Want Is You: Memoirs of a Hopeless Romantic") with one of his own quills.
And of course there's the official Contest stalls bursting with merch from the previous contests-- including (but not limited to) colorful additions like:

a sparkling necklace whose beads form the shape of an Onix (EXPENSIVE... but so stylin'!)

a clunky (but very popular with the Youngsters) action figure that transforms into a lumpy Tyrantrum if you follow a bunch of complicated steps

a short newsstrip-style graphic novel about the action-packed adventures of a crime-fighting Wailmer

a VERY dapper line of Joltik-themed bowties and cuff-links

a dainty music box containing a tiny ballerina Eevee figurine that spins when opened

a set of "Ink Blasterz (tm)"-- Octillery-themed squirt guns that come with packets of (nontoxic) black dye so that you and your friends can ruin your neighbor's drying laundry even more once summer rolls back around

a set of gleaming opalescent d20's in a Sableye-shaped box, complete with two hollow holes on the lid where the eyes should be where you can stick two of them!

a floppy green Deino doll that, when switched on, tumbles chaotically around the floor and emits growling noises.

But for those worn out on capitalism the shameless merchandizing, this year the real centerpiece of the outdoor attractions is a temporary but still impressive greenhouse erected in the plaza outside of the main tent. Gym Leader Erika and her underlings have worked throughout the month to feature the fruits of their labor (no pun intended) in the Celadon Gym, and the Greenhouse is a great place for a relaxing respite from the cold, slushy February streets outside. Visitors can learn all about exotic flora and even purchase potted Berry trees, houseplants and bonsais raised by the Celadon gym trainers themselves!

~*~

[IMPORTANT: Please submit your contest entries here! For all other activities, feel free to make your own top-levels!]

Comments

who you gonna call?

[pkemeter]

Contest Category: Clever
Trainer: Egon Spengler
Pokemon: "Louise" (Drifblim) and "Faraday" (Phantump)
Move: Ominous Wind and Ingrain

Costume: With a few pointers and suggestions from his partners, Egon has cobbled together a decent array of costumes for his act. After cleaning it of sewer sludge, Egon has worn the jumpsuit that Ray got him for Valentine’s Day. The jumpsuit is a faded teal color with pink accents, and has a new logo on the right shoulder. On his back, he wears what looks to be a perfect duplicate of a proton pack, blinking indicators and all. It took a whole lot of convincing that, no, the pack does not shoot actual proton beams and is, in fact, a prop, for the security guards to actually clear it. He half expected to be arrested again under false pretenses.

Faraday dons a little grey jumpsuit to match Egon’s, though the outfit cuts off at the waist. On her chest is a black patch with the name “FARADAY” stitched in red. She appears to have a mini proton pack slung over her back--which is actually a black cardboard box a few details carefully painted or glued on. A few LED indicator lights have been attached, which blink and flicker like the real thing. Faraday made it all by herself (with guidance from Egon), and she seems pretty proud of it. Both Egon and Faraday are wearing matching goggles that have been pulled over their eyes, though Faraday’s seem to be a tad oversized.

For Louise, Egon has done his best to make the Drifblim look as intimidating as possible--though, there’s only so much you can do to make a balloon creature look scary. Louise has been covered with a line of worn, criss-crossing yellow tape to invoke the image of a stitched-up mouth. Frayed strips of cheesecloth have been loosely wrapped around his body and hang off his appendages. As he waves his arms, the cloth practically floats through the air, dragging along like ghostly tendrils. The cloth also seems to have been stained and splattered with a rust-colored substance.

Don’t worry too much about it.

Act: The lights dim and paint the stage in the cool blue tone--black light, serving to accentuate the supernatural nature of this act. Egon steps up to the stage, followed closely by Faraday. As he looks out over the crowd, he freezes for a moment, as if unsure what to do. Faraday notices this and gently bumps her head against his shoulder. After a few moments, he takes a deep breath and pulls his goggles over his eyes.

Showtime.

Egon pulls a small, remote-like device out of his pocket and presses a button on it. The device starts to emit a steady, slow clicking noise like a geiger counter, accompanied by occasionally flashing lights that sit on top of it. It doesn't serve any actual function, but it looks science-y enough. Smoke from a tub of liquid nitrogen just below stage starts to fill the arena, reflecting and filtering the light from above. Egon carefully begins to make his way to center stage, occasionally sweeping the device around and looking over his shoulder. Faraday copies his movements, peaking over at the device.

“We need to find that Drifblim before it curses the whole town with it’s magic,” he recites, his voice its usual monotone. Egon’s acting skills could be better, but then again, he’s not really the one performing, is he? In this contest, he’s letting his Pokémon take the spotlight.

Faraday swoops in front of Egon, frowning and squinting through the darkness, as if looking for that pesky ghost. Egon pushes another button on the device, and the clicking becomes more rapid. Faraday lets out a quiet squeak--a warning that’s quickly drowned out by a loud rumbling noise that seems to come from below the ground.

Boom. The lights flicker, and the arena is plunged into darkness. For a moment, there is nothing but silence. The audience starts quietly murmuring amongst themselves. Is there something wrong with the stage? Is this part of the act?

Their questions are answered by an echoing roar that seems to shake the very foundations of the arena. The lights snap on again, revealing a Drifblim that seems to have appeared from out of nowhere. Louise is basked in an eerie red light, casting shadows against the fog building up underneath him. The cloth attachments whip up around him like tendrils reaching and grasping for the two Ghostbusters as he stares menacingly down at them.

“There he is! Get him!”

Egon and Faraday pull out their prop particle throwers in tandem, aiming for the Drifblim. There’s a well placed flash of light to give the illusion that they’re firing at the ghost. Louise lets out another cry and waves his appendages towards them. An Ominous Wind suddenly picks up, filling the air with terrible howling and moaning. Egon stumbles and falls dramatically, though not terribly convincingly. Faraday gets flung to the edge of the stage and has to cling to the scaffolding to keep from being blown away. Thank God they decided on wearing goggles--the first time they practiced this, Egon got a bucketful of sand blown into his eyes.

Louise lets out a noise that sounds similar to a deep, booming laugh--apparently, he likes being able to play the villain.

Egon has to shout to be heard over the wind. “Our particle throwers don’t work! How are we supposed to capture that ghost?”

Nothing happens. Egon clears his throat.

“I said, how are we supposed to capture that ghost?”

Faraday blinks. Oh, that’s her cue! Fighting against the wind, she propels herself forward and towards Egon. She lets out a small cry, gesturing towards the stage and using Ingrain. Large branches suddenly sprout from her stump and shoot into the ground, stopping her from being pushed by the wind. She continues to strain as the roots crawl across the stage, weaving in and out like veins as they wrap around both Egon and Louise. Unable to move his limbs, Louise lets out a frustrated growl as the wind begins to die down. The red light begins to fade and transition to a softer blue tone as Louise slumps to the ground, defeated.

Egon grins up at Faraday. “Quick thinking! This ghost won’t be terrorizing towns anytime soon,” he says. “Now, let us out so we can take a bow.”

Faraday lets out a cheer as she goes to retract the roots from the ground. She struggles for a few moments, and then stops. An expression of realization dawns upon her face as she continues to try and pull herself out of the ground. Egon frowns, tugging at the roots and straining with effort. Louise uses his appendages to try and pull them apart in vain.

After a few seconds of this, Egon then clears his throat, a slightly embarrassed expression on his face.

"Ah...if, um, someone could please help us down, it would be greatly appreciated." A pause. "Thank you."