victory_road | Swinub Scurry

Swinub Scurry

Who: Everyone!
When: February 21st-28th
Where: Blackthorn City
What: It's the Swinub Scurry!
OOC Info: here!

Race day dawns bright and early on the 21st. In Blackthorn City, residents are bustling before the Winter sun is fully risen, completing setup for the veritable sea of Swinub-themed stalls and decorations that has been sprouting up throughout the week. The extra advertising has sparked peoples’ competitive spirits, and there’s also an ocean of handmade posters and signs cheering on specific racers.

Understandably, the majority of signs are for locals… but if any characters showed up earlier in the week to sign up, and had their Pokemon out and about, they may have picked up some fans! Is that a cute handmade doodle of their Pokemon hanging off a nearby balcony?

Speaking of racers - anyone who’s stayed in the town since at least last night, or arrived sufficiently early in the morning, will be invited to a complimentary breakfast! It’s simple and traditional, but there’s plenty to go around - rice and miso soup for everyone, and a vast spread of side dishes, including pickled and cooked vegetables and deep fried tofu. This food may be shared with Pokemon, though there’s also lots of high-vitamin Pokemon food specifically available!

Race sign-ups remain open until noon, when racers will be expected to gather up at the starting line - coincidentally, right in front of the big main event stage. As they harness up their Pokemon and double-check their sleds and supplies, the organizing committee for the event will be giving a speech. 30 minutes later, a loud whistle from the committee lead heralds the start of the race, and everyone will be off!

(Glance to your right as you pull away from the crowded stage area - that’s definitely Gym Leader Clair watching!)

Out on the trail, racing trainers and Pokemon will quickly be struggling, but more with the wilderness than with each other! While trainers with less than six Pokemon harnessed up are allowed to bring a regular team to deal with wild Pokemon, trainer battles are off limits during the race. There’s more than enough to worry about as is!

(That’s not to say there aren’t one or two racers willing to stoop to sabotage, provided they see an opportunity where they think they won’t get caught.)

The trail is marked with red streamers on trees and rocks, but they’re few and far between, and there’s intermittent snow showers that make visibility low. Trainers were provided with a map at the race’s start, but this isn’t the city - you better hope you can interpret contour lines and similar-looking landmarks. It’s easy to get lost! These aren’t the nice, trampled-down paths of routes - trainers will find themselves having to dodge around trees, bounce over rocks, and cross frozen streams and rivers! Speaking of frozen rivers… careful, the slushy weather earlier in the month left some of those with a more fragile layer of ice than others…

On top of that, the wild Pokemon out here are higher in level than on the routes! Trainers will find themselves having to fend off large, dangerous Pokemon like Beartics, Lycanrocs, Cetitans, and Hisuian Braviarys.

And then there’s figuring out when to rest. Any veteran racer will tell you it’s a bad idea not to let your Pokemon have a break for at least a few hours, no matter how much stamina you think they have. Dealing with the wilderness takes a lot out of you. (Every race, there’s someone overconfident enough to think they can just keep going… who then ends up staggering into the finish well behind the pack, their Pokemon completely wiped.) But… do you push as far as possible before resting, and hope you can keep your lead? Or do you rest early, and hope to breeze past everyone else while they’re taking their break?

Back in town, the festivities will have kicked into full swing! Food stands abound - in particular, given the weather, there’s endless options for warm bowls - rice porridge (particularly in the mornings), ramen, udon, oden, stew… But for those who don’t want something soup-adjacent, they will find plenty of other treats, like mochi cakes grilled over a charcoal fire, crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, with both savory and sweet varieties.

There’s stands with souvenirs and traditional crafts, too - do you want a textile with a Piloswine pattern? Of course you do. There’s lots of options for accessories for your Pokemon - woven collars and bandannas, scarves… and clothes for you too, if you’re so inclined! There’s little wooden and ceramic Swinub charms - rub their noses for luck - and various wood and papercraft objects. One particularly large stand seems to be doing a thriving business in traditional Spinarak silk soap!

On and around the main stage, there’s always something going on. During the day, there’s a constant stream of updates and commentary, with several large screens streaming video from race officials following the race on flying Pokemon. But there’s more: every day of the race has a few additional events on a small side stage, like a panel with former racers talking through their experiences, or a Pokemon performance.

As it begins to get dark, activity will slow down… but even in the wee hours of the night, the stage will stay open with the next shift of commentators, albeit with a much more sleepy, relaxed atmosphere. (Absolutely no loudspeakers, people are trying to sleep.) Some brave and selfless stalls will stay open all night with hot drinks, and tiny local bars so small they only seat a handful of guests offer a warm, friendly place to stop and relax well into the early hours of the morning. Even Blackthorn City’s onsen is kept open well into the night, offering a steamy soak to people and Pokemon alike.

In the early afternoon of the 22nd, the very fastest racers will start showing up at the finish line! They’ll be met with cheering, as will every racer that arrives afterward - it’s a Swinub Scurry tradition that every racer must be welcomed back enthusiastically, no matter how long it takes them. Yes, even in the middle of the night. (There’s a reason the finish line is located at the edge of the city.)

Trainers and Pokemon will be dragged back to the center of the festivities and brought inside to warm up and enjoy another complimentary meal. They’re expected to stick around the city until the race is officially over - they want their medal, right? - but they’re otherwise free to enjoy the celebration around town! They may have to suffer through occasional excited crowds when they’re recognized, though people will let characters go if they beg off by saying their Pokemon are tired or hungry. On the other hand, being recognized at stalls might mean getting offered some small treats and goodies on the house - particularly for those who performed well in the race!

Shortly after sunset on the 23rd, the race will finally come to a close when old man Junzo comes placidly trundling in with his full pack of Shuckle. The cheers for him are… lackluster, to say the least, but he seems entirely unbothered. At this point, all the racers will be called to the stage, with anyone who completed the race presented with a medal, anyone who participated offered the option of taking a Swinub egg (assuming they didn’t get caught cheating)... and the top three winners particularly hyped up and praised! Hope you wanted to be on TV?

But that doesn’t mean the festivities are over! While the intensity will ramp down over the week, and the stage and performances will have shut down after the 23rd, the stalls and extended local business hours won’t close down until the 28th.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Heh, I bet- I'm pretty sure the only pokemon that could pull an all-nighter are synthetic...

[And, well.] ...and that's without thinking about the trainers. Did you bring too much in the way of supplies for a camp-out?

Oh right, the weight of the supplies on the sledge. A while back at the starting line before the race began, I did checked to see if I didn’t brought along too many supplies when preparing for the race. And remarkably enough, they weren’t too much after I did double checked them out. So I shouldn’t be too worried over the weight possibly weighing me and Godric down.

Arc!

Weight's one part, yeah...

...There's also just a matter of if you have enough though- or the right stuff- we'll have to camp out for at least tonight for this race after all.

[He gestures to his sled.] I brought the kits the Gym's going to stock, myself...

Yeah, that is another thing to worry about. A part of me did wonder if I was able to pack enough supplies for the whole race even with all the preparations put into it or if they’ll last the entire night and the next morning. Which I do hope that I got it all down but it never hurts to be certain that we’re prepared for anything.

Wow! That is pretty clever that you have plenty of kits for the Gym on hand for nearly anything.

I mean..I wouldn't call it clever really- it took a lot of planning and working out; a lot of it's based on donations at this point, that and my own pocket.

I just hope it works out...

[Ahem, anyway.] Well, when we stop for the night, how about we pool resources- that way, if you turn out to be short what you need, you won't be out of luck!

Oh yes of course, that does sound like a great idea. Pooling in our resources for the night campsite will help out a lot to alleviating any supplies that I might be lacking. That would be very helpful.

Arc! Arc!

Look at that: even Godric agrees with the idea as well.

Exactly!

[Yayyyyyy. Anyway.]

Godric's still holding up then?

[Good to keep running Harry?]

I have a feeling that he might be slowing down a bit. So maybe it is for the best if we can stop in this area for the night.

Arc…

Come on, Godric. There is no need to be this stubborn in a time like now. You really need to rest up as well.

Hahaha!

[Sounds like Godric yep.]

The sooner you get sleep, the easier it'll be to push on through in the morning..! [he says in an attempt to entice the dog.]

Arc… Arcanine.

(Godric eventually relents upon hearing Emporio’s explanation and seeing a very concerned look on his Trainer’s face. Harry wasn’t kidding when he said that he shouldn’t be pushing himself too hard at a sunsetting night.)

Well then. I suppose that we can take that as a yes from him.

Sounds like a plan then- It looks like there's a good spot to pull off up ahead...Follow my lead?

Sure, of course. Alright, Godric: it looks like we’ll be setting up camp for the night. Let’s follow Emporio and his team to a good spot to set up the camp in.

Arc, Arc! Arca-Nine.

[A flash of a thumbs up, and Emporio starts leading the team to a safe spot to pull to a stop. The animals all coast along to an easy stop, and Ghibli happily perches herself as high as possible so that it's easy to see and work around her.]

Alright- if you get Godric unharnessed first, [Which is likely, Emporio has a lot more harnesses to undo,] Feel free to start setting up your tent first!

Sounds like a sound plan. I’ll start in getting him out of the harness right away so Godric won’t have to deal with it for long periods of time while I’m setting up the tent.

Arca-Nine, Nine!

(Without any further prompting, Harry immediately gets off the sled and begins removing the harness off Godric. While a part of him does wish that he could have more Pokémon to help Godric in pulling the sled in the race, having just one Pokémon means that it is easy for him to take a harness off Godric faster.

The Hisuian Pokémon patiently sits down as he carefully detaches the harness off of his body, eagerly panting his tongue and wagging his tail.)

[Emporio does little more than give a thumbs up, before setting to work on his own team. There's quite a lot to de-harness after all, and so he's absolutely doing that still when Harry is done.

When he does get it done, he glances over to see how Harry's doing- he'd imagine at the very least that the ground cloth to keep the tent from getting water through the bottom is down, but you never know.]

(With no magic to help him in propping a tent up fast, he will have to do it with just his hands. Not that he could complain about it, going through nearly three years without any access to it had him learned to appreciate doing things the way normal people would do.

Harry has brought out the tent equipment from his sled, proceeded to place the ground cloth onto the ground, and was already trying to get the stake attached tent poles to stick onto the snow covered ground. What he was not expecting is that setting up a tent in the snow can present its own set of troubles.

The young man is struggling in trying to keep the poles from falling onto the snow despite his best efforts. Not to mention the difficulty of him trying to anchor the stakes onto the snow.)

[Easy- well, simple enough, for any work like this cannot be called easy. The instructions might be clear, but the strain of cord and pole does not make anything 'easy'. Emporio finishes with the harnesses, and turns around-

And there, of course, is Harry.]

Here, [He starts, coming over to offer his help.] Need a hand? You can help with mine from there, [he adds with a somewhat cheeky grin.]

Yes. Yes please. It seems that the snow is making it a little difficult for me to anchor the poles and stakes onto the ground. I may have to get better in building tents under winter conditions after the race.

(Godric barks as he walks up to his Trainer and proceeds to lick him on the cheek as a motivator.)

Whoa there, Godric. Try to go easy on the licking tonight. We still need to get the camp site ready for the night.

Heh, maybe if we're lucky there'll still be some snow in March, and you can learn at the Gym, [He laughs, heading over to help.] Alright...You got the ground sheet down, so that's good. Godric might be able to help here though- no fire, but if he just breathes right on a few spots in the snow here...

Right. So that means no Flamethrower, Raging Fury, or any major Fire moves from him tonight. But is it possible for him to try Ember without causing any fires?

Arc?

Yes, Godric. We would like you to try to melt some snow spots so we can get this tent set up as soon as possible. Or maybe you can attempt to dig out the snow if you have to avoid using too much fire power right now.

Arc, Arc!

Hmmmm...

[He's a bit nervous but...] We'll have to be ready in case any sparks catch the tent but that should be fine. We're only looking for enough room to drive the stakes, so aim near....

[He moves over, starting to mark a few spots.] ...Here we are. Fortunately, we need to stake a bit from the tent for stability anyway.

Good idea. It doesn’t hurt to make sure to be ready for any emergency at a moment’s notice. I might need to bring out of my water Pokémon to put the fire if needed.

Arc, Arc!

(Godric barks cheerfully as he promptly runs to melt the snow in the marked areas. He is being mindful to not accidentally set off fires as he melts the marked snow with Ember.)

Great work, Godric. Now we should get the tent set up in no time.

Great! [Perfect, perfect.] Alright let's see...

[Get a few poles....and...]

I'm going to feed the main pole through, if you can grab the other end when you see it? From there we can drive the ends down.

Arcanine! Arcanine! Arcanine!

Heheheh. Oh Godric, you silly big dog. Sure yes, I’ll get to that right away.

(Harry quickly gets to where the other end of the tent is at and, upon spotting it on the snowy ground, grab hold of it. Godric happily barks in sheer delight as he wags his tail in excitement.)

Okay, got it! I’m holding onto the other end of the tent now. Let’s get this tent set up.

Great! In we go then...

[That's the main pole in place then!] Right, one down, a few more poles to go!

[They'll go on like that for a while, but the tent will go up in no time as a result. Soon, they can happily say the tent is up!]

That's yours done then- any problems inside?

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