farawayplace | In midst of a Summer Festival, yet again!

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In midst of a Summer Festival, yet again!

In the coastal city of Turnbloom yet again, the sun is bright and warm--but of course it's not the only place. All over Ultern everyone is enjoying the summer weather. Little by little, Ulternians and long-time Drifters alike have started to put out summer decorations throughout the start of August, which replaced the ones from Tanabata (if any had been left out to begin with).

There's a distinct sound of waves, and bustling of people nearby. Followed with the cool gentle breeze that carried the salty scent of the sea. Things seem to be at peace, as usual--or is it?

After all, there were always new Drifters popping in. Maybe today there just might be some new faces wandering through looking confused. Now's the time to step up and lend a helping hand. Icharibachoude, we're all brothers, as they say in Ultern!

Or heck, just feel free to enjoy the fun festivities filled with food and music.

That is, if you can--as behind the walls of houses in Ultern that day the familiar friendly faces all wake up with a surprise no one's expecting.

(🌺Ulsai! Happy anniversary everyone, and thank you so much for a whole year of time in Ultern! Please note NPCs will be popping up here and there! But for some reason they’re all different…? For any comments, concerns and questions head on over to the OOC post! Plot with your fellow players there as well!🌺)

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Thankfully it wasn't too much left to do--and as he's picking up one of the bowls from off the counter he'll not only hear Gold, but also smile when he reappeared.

"Hey there." He chuckled, and gave a wave. However as he's doing so there's another sets of footsteps clearly heading over to the kitchen. Both Tipper, and Chikorita have scrambled in. However the two will look perplexed at the sight of a younger Beni.

"Pika pika?" Tipper's glancing around clearly trying to find signs of Beni. Beni on the other hand stared looking between both Chikorita and Tipper.

"...this must be just as surreal for them, like it is for us, huh?"

"Yeah, it must," Gold says, crouching over to look at Tipper and Chikorita. "Hey guys. This guy turned small all of a sudden." He points a thumb at Beni. "Weird, huh?"

Speaking of confused Pokemon, Gold went and got his Pokeballs while getting dressed, too. So Beni might spot some translucent Poke Balls (and one Lure Ball) on his waist, with the Pokemon inside them chattering among each other quietly in confused tones as they notice the change as well.

Tipper upon realizing who it was pushed past Chikorita, and immediately scrambled up to Beni.

"Pipi!" He'll jump up catching Beni by surprise. Of course Beni without hesitation held his arms out to catch Tipper.

"Whoa there, be careful." He laughed, and gave Tipper a pat. Chikorita not even minding he'd been pushed aside continued on with a smile. He'll even look up to Gold and gave a little bump against the side of his leg.

"Chikori!"

As Beni turned over to Gold's direction, he does notice Gold's Pokeballs. He couldn't help but be curious about them.

"Whoa Gold, are ya a trainer?"

Gold chuckles at Tipper's excitement, and nods with a smile in response to whatever Chikorita said to him. He'll even hold his hand for a fist bump in case Chikorita's up for one.

"Huh?" Gold notices where Beni's eyes went, and nods. "Yep! These are my Pokemon." He'll take the Pokeballs in his hands and bring them closer so Beni can see the Meganium, Furret, Togetic, Umbreon and Lugia inside, peering at him.

Tipper's rubbing his whole face against Beni's cheek. Chikorita seeing the fist will hop up in excitement, before reaching up with his leaf to return the offered fist bump.

"Chikoko!" It'll walk around Gold while he spoke to Beni. Beni who's moving closer to get a better look. Peering down at the Pokeballs, he gave a smile and waved to them.

"Ulsai, everyone."

Gold's Pokemon greet Beni each in their own way. Carn shouts a greeting, Elena and Umbar wave politely, and Mateo and Nerica just nod.

"Ulsai," Umbar replies pleasantly in human language which comes out tinny through the Lure Ball, and Gold's eyes are instantly sharpened onto Beni to see if younger Beni has a bigger reaction to hearing Umbar for the first time than the older one.

"Aw, you've got a lively bunch don't ya?" Beni glanced up to Gold and back to his Pokemon. Tipper meanwhile is making a face while clinging to the back of Beni's head--huffing.

When Umbar spoke, it takes Beni a second to realize Umbar wasn't speaking to him how the others were. Gold wouldn't know if of course but it made him think about his Staryu. This has Beni beaming wide.

"Whoa, I didn't know ya could speak the same language! What kinda Pokemon are ya? I've never seen ya before."

"Yep, they're great!" Gold beams. He always appreciates praise for his Pokemon!

Nerica notices the face Tipper's making and smugly waves at him. "(Oh my, jealous that your trainer's attention is taken away from you?)" she says, picking fights as usual.

Huh, Beni's reaction was kind of slow. Oh, right, he can understand Pokemon! Gold keeps forgetting that.

"Oh, I'm nothing special. Just your everyday, average Lugia. Pleased to meet you," Umbar says with a smile. It's kind of charming for him, being around Ulternians who recognize Ho-Oh but not Lugia.

"Hey, Beni, have you always been able to understand Pokemon?" Gold asks. The older Beni never mentioned that, so Gold wonders if he was keeping it a secret for some reason.

Tipper's glaring right back at Nerica as he latched harder. Beni hearing Nerica's remark blinked. He couldn't exactly look behind to see what kind of face Tipper was making.

"Oh, so you're called a Lugia? That's neat. I don't think I've heard of ya before." He's smiling back. At Gold's question, Beni looked over to him blinking.

"Hm? Yeah, I guess? I never really thought about it before."

Nerica blanches as she realizes Beni heard her, face turning red.

"(Oh shit, he heard me. I forgot.)" She turns away swiftly. "(Has he always been listening to us? Why didn't he say anything?! Ugh, that jerk!)"

Umbar just smiles at Beni, though he glances at Nerica at her outburst, then looks back at Beni to see his reaction.

"Hmmm... It's just I never knew the older you could do that, so I was wondering if you lost that ability somehow," Gold says with a shrug. Or maybe Professor Banyan was keeping it a secret, which was fair. It's not like he owed Gold that information or anything, they were just people who lived in the same house. (Despite how he tells himself that, it's bothering him that he had no idea. Gold always thought he was good at reading people.)

Beni's frowning looking confused at what Nerica said. Had his older self not mention anything to her? He'll cross arms frowning. Of course, to Beni being able to understand Pokemon wasn't something unusual or a big deal. So why was everyone who supposedly lived with an older him reacted like that?

"Beni...Beni!" Tipper spoke up while rubbing up against his face, taking Beni by surprise. He'll reach up to gently run his hand through Tipper's fur before glancing over to Gold.

"Hmm, I can't speak for my future self but is it really that big of a deal?" He tilted his head. "Nobody really questioned it before...I mean when Pokemon speak, it ain't no different listening to a person speaking to me."

Umbar eyes Beni's reaction, but it really doesn't explain anything to him. He supposes he'll just have to ask the older Beni about it once he's back.

"It's not really a big deal," Gold agrees with a nod as he puts his Pokeballs on his waist again. "It's just something you can do. It's normal, right? So that's why it's kinda confusing that you never said anything about it." Gold sits down on the closest chair and brings his knees up, hugging them. "I dunno... maybe he just doesn't trust me or something. ...Maybe he's angry that I said we're not family." He mutters to himself, hiding his mouth behind his sleeve, not looking at Beni anymore.

Beni turned to stare at Gold. He himself had no idea why his older self hadn't mentioned it--unless...

"Maybe it just didn't cross his mind." Beni crossed his arms. "I mean, it ain't everyday someone here asks me if I understand what Pokemon are saying. I was kinda surprised when ya did ask."

He'll grin over to Gold.

"...and hey! Ya can always ask older-me. I doubt he's trying to hide it, I mean I ain't really the type to do that. I do get lost up in my head though about things so there's that too. I always get lectured about it by my friends when that happens."

"Yeah, maybe... I mean, I'm sure it wasn't for any bad reason, he's not the type." Gold shakes his head. His deep-seated instinct to blame himself isn't helping! Banyan's not the type to do that, no matter how much Gold fears it!

"You're right! When he's back, I'm gonna ask him right away." Gold stands up with determination. "I guess you've got good friends, huh? I need somebody who'll get me out of my head too." Gold's Pokemon often helped him with that as much as they could, at least.

"Anyway, we should go feed those Pokemon! Come on!" Gold smiles and bounces on his heels, full of energy, like he's trying to distance himself from that dark moment as fast as he can.

"That's right, I bet things'll work out after a good talking!" Beni grinned. At the mention of his friends Beni nodded. "Yasa, we met in class--I guess they must live on another island now if they're not around right about now."

Beni will lift up the bowls of food--and place them onto a nearby food tray, grinning over to Gold.

"Alright, let's get going! I can't wait to meet 'em Pokemon out there." He was just eager to see what kind of Pokemon were in the yard. During the whole time, Tipper still remained clinging to Beni while his Chikorita happily trotted along the two.

"Yeah, probably. I don't think I've met them." Things like 'other islands' and 'Banyan's friends' are a complete mystery to Gold.

Gold will help fill those bowls! He knows exactly how much food they'll need, and he adds some berries to the bowls too.

When they go outside, Gold lets his own Pokemon out too. By now, the wild Pokemon are used to them, and don't look twice at them on their way to the food bowls. Beni's current appearance, however, probably makes a few of them wary to approach.

Beni gave a nod, but as he's looking away from Gold he frowned. Where and what were his friends doing now? Answers he didn't have, and only his present (and older) self knew.

He is however grateful when Gold helps with filling up the bowls of food. While his present self may be used to Pokemon, Beni found himself staring at the wild Pokemon. He has a moment as he scratched his cheek while observing them all, before his eyes landed on one.

"...oh!" Beni beamed, waving over to a Hoppip. The usually timid little Hoppip seemingly recognizing Beni despite his appearance hopped over. It let's out a small little chirp in greeting. "Ulsai, Hoppip. It's been a while, huh?"

Beni will kneel down to start seeing the bowls down. But while he's doing so there's a small frown on his face.

"I've known this Hoppip for a long time. It looks mighty different from the Hoppips I'm used to seeing here in Ultern."

"Oh, that one? So he's been here a while," Gold muses, looking at the Hoppip. After his kind of disastrous first meeting with Hoppip, they'd gotten used to each other by now.

"Yeah, he looks like the Hoppip from back home. My friend's got a Hoppip like that too. Well, I guess it evolved already, into Skip... something," Gold says, but he notes the frown on Beni's face. He wonders if he should ask or not. ...Maybe he should.

"Is something wrong?" Gold asks.

"A Skiploom is what yer thinking of." Beni nodded, while he turned his gaze over to Hoppip. The Hoppip lightly bumped against Beni and even gave a greeting to Gold. Just as he was kneeling down to be at eye level with the Hoppip, Beni held one finger out allowing the Hoppip to gently bump its face against his finger tip.

When hearing Gold's question, Beni shook his head.

"Nah, just thinking...about those that drift in here. Especially the Pokemon. They all got a place to call home outside of Ultern, but...the longer they're here, the harder it is to say goodbye. I wonder how my older self feel seeing this Hoppip here still."

"Skiploom, yeah, that was it," Gold nods. He gives a small wave at the Hoppip in return for the greeting.

"Ah, yeah... I get it." Gold looks down, a wistful expression on his face. "I've been here a year, today. And it's got me thinking... What am I gonna do if I'm still here ten years from now? I don't wanna. I wanna go home, and see my dad. But I don't wanna say goodbye to everybody here either..."

"A whole year...yeah ya mentioned that earlier didn't ya?" Beni nodded, while the Hoppip has moved over to help itself to the food that's been set out. At the mention of "Dad" had Beni lower his gaze, going quiet for a moment.

"I hope we do get to say goodbye, before ya do get to go home. I think...more than anything, I'd want that. It's hard when ya don't even get the chance to say bye."

Gold's Pokemon are eating with the others, and Gold looks at them with a mild smile before turning back to look at Beni.

"Yeah... A friend of mine disappeared one day, and it was pretty hard... but he showed up later for one day on Tanabata. So I got to say bye after all." A lonely smile appears on Gold's face after saying that.

"I'm glad ya got to see 'em, at least to say goodbye." Beni grinned but he returned his attention out to the Pokemon who were now eating. "I know nothing lasts forever, and the time we spend together are important."

His smile however crumbled but he's looking away, trying his best to hide it from Gold.

"Hey Gold, can I ask...have ya...heard anything about my parents?"

"...Yeah. Yeah, I guess I know that now." Gold looks wistful. He wishes he'd spent more time at his dad's house when he was back in his own world, instead of continuing his Pokemon journey so soon after meeting him. He'd thought he could just go back whenever...

Beni's question has Gold freezing slightly, but he keeps a neutral expression up. He wants to put up a smile, but since he knows the wild Pokemon around them are afraid of fake smiles, he doesn't. Beni's question feels... loaded.

"Nope, I haven't," Gold says, and he's not sure if that's a good or a bad thing, so he keeps his eyes on Beni.

"It's always good to be aware of that. I mean, I guess a lot of us here are..." Beni trailed. Beni remained silent even after Gold replied until a sigh escaped him.

"Sorry, Gold. I didn't mean no trouble." Shaking his head, Beni's bring his hand up to his face. No doubt to rub at his own eyes. "I know it's a smart idea not to pry about the future and all but I just hoped, that maybe..."

"Chico?" Chikorita's wandering over to them. He'll lightly bump his head up against Beni as if trying to cheer him up.

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year 10 of Ultern Beni be like Welp we sure haven't aged have we Gold? Bwahaha!

ten years of being ten, it's like being a Pokemon protagonist or something

hmmm (stares at Ash) nah that can't be-

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