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

[fuelthefire]

[Dolly doesn't mind company! He's even got a handful of popcorn, too, gifted to him before the bag was given away. He peeks down from his very high perch in Krieg's hood at Sushi as they both munch on their yummy snack. Does she really take things that don't belong to her? That's so bold!!]

Pfff! It's okay!

Does she do that a lot?

[The mask surprises fewer and fewer people, these days, and Krieg has no idea if that's a good thing or a bad thing.]

[sunspotted]

[ sushi chatters up to dolly when he asks her that. of course she does! if nobody is around food, then food is free. that's how she's lived always, even if her trainer thinks it's bad.

marco, for his part, nods with a chagrined look. ]

Not so much with any of my friends, but I have to keep an eye on her out in public. She did used to be on her own, though.

[fuelthefire]

[Oh! Dolly didn't realize. He doesn't remember what he did before he met Krieg, but Krieg always makes sure he has enough to eat. Doesn't Sushi's friend do the same?]

[Ah! Krieg's eye widens in understanding, and he glances over his shoulder at Sushi, before replying to Marco.]

Life's rough without friends. How long've you had her?

[sunspotted]

[ sushi looks at marco and chatters out a laugh. of course he does! but free food is free food, and she's not going to stop taking an opportunity when she sees it.

marco looks over at sushi, who is stuffing popcorn in her mouth happily. ]

Ah, about four months now? I found her on Halloween, digging around in some trash.

[fuelthefire]

[Ooooooh....Dolly sees. He's not sure he'd ever be bold enough to take something that wasn't his, but he thinks he understands!]

I found one in the trash too!

...A Slag Stack, not a trash cat. Pretty sure someone'd get mad if I let it out in here.

[Saved from proximity to the giant Muk by social niceties. Look at how good Krieg's become at peopling!]

[sunspotted]

[ you can work up to it, dolly! just steal things that are small and people won't notice. then you can work on bigger things like food.

in the meantime, sushi offers the bag for dolly to take another handful.

marco grins. ]

What kind of Pokemon is a Slag Stack?

[fuelthefire]

It's a sludge monster!

[Once again displaying an astonishing amount of character development, Krieg refrains from releasing Slag Stack into the greenhouse and pulls out his 'Gear instead. It only takes a moment to navigate to the photos, and another moment or so for him to find some pictures of his Muk. Once he's got a good photo pulled up on the screen, he turns the 'Gear around so Marco can see.

The entire photo is just. Purple sludge. With two big, drooping (but somehow also happy-looking) eyes kind of just. Melting in the middle of all the sludge mess.]

It likes eating trash and being pet!

[sunspotted]

[ that... sure looks like nothing marco has ever seen. but it does look happy, and very purple. and krieg looks very happy about it too, so he doesn't have the first reaction most people would about a grimer. ]

Wow! Are they related to Dittos at all? It seems like he is kind of the same shape.

[fuelthefire]

...That's the little pink blob, right?

[Timothy Lawrence had had a Ditto - it had been his starter - but Krieg's more familiar with them because of the one Jean keeps around for Blitz and Blitz's Electrode sweetheart. Because apparently the two balls need a liaison to be able to reproduce? Whatever, it's weird. Electrodes are weird. Pokemon reproduction is weird.]

I dunno. Maybe!

[sunspotted]

[ don't think about it too hard, krieg. ]

Yep, that's the one! I should ask Armin if they're related at all. But, this Slag Stack seems like he's very happy. So you must take very good care of him.

[fuelthefire]

[It's already forgotten! o/]

They're all good sludge monsters! They like being pet.

But it hurts to touch them so most people don't want to pet them.

[Krieg likes the sting so he will pet all the wild Grimer. He's like the Grimer Whisperer.]

...I just pet mine and feed it garbage.

[Does it sound like he's not sure what to do with Marco's praise? It's because he's not sure what to do with it. He's pleased, though! Just. Also unsure.]

THIS IS OLD

[sunspotted]

Can you pet them with gloves on? I'm sure then lots of people could pet them without getting hurt.

[ at krieg's unsurety, marco smiles wider. ]

You don't have to do a lot to make a difference and be a good trainer, I've found. Sometimes it is just being there for your pokemon.

IT'S NOT OLD IT'S FINELY AGED

[fuelthefire]

...I dunno. They might eat the gloves?

[And by 'eat' he means 'dissolve'.

But, now that it's been suggested, he thinks it's at least worth a try. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, and all that!]

Mnnn...I guess. But that's not hard.

[Isn't being a good trainer supposed to be a challenge???]

[sunspotted]

I guess it'd be like a treat for them, at least...

[ krieg says it isn't hard and marco shakes his head. ]

No, being a good friend - being able to support, take care of people, give them what they need, even if it is something unique.. like wrestling? That is something only you can do for your pokemon.

[ marco hasn't met-met krieg but he's seen and heard the stories of the wrestle cats. ]

[fuelthefire]

Maybe! They all like different things.

[He never has a lot of spare trash on hand to feed the local wild Grimer population, but he usually has a few small things he can hand out when he spies a group. After spending so much time around both his own Slag Stack and the wild ones he goes out of his way to find, he's become a pretty good judge of when a snack is merely acceptable and when it's a hit.]

[He squints thoughtfully as he considers Marco's reassurance, tilting his head to one side as it processes. When Marco mentions "wrestling," though, he snickers.]

Wrestling just one of the many fine services I provide!

...Okay, maybe you have a point.

[sunspotted]

Good, I'm glad you can see it.

[ marco smiles wide up at at krieg. he knows that jean thinks highly of krieg as well, and has seen many of his good points - it's probably why marco was so prepared to defend them to krieg's own self. ]

Sometimes, we aren't perfect. But being perfect is overrated - and it seems like our Pokemon love us flaws and all.