In midst of a Summer Festival, yet again!

[ulternnpc]

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!🌺)

Comments

[ulternnpc]

Red thankfully doesn't seem to mind as she's finally diving into her own soba. She will however blow on her food before loudly slurping her noodles. No one seemed to mind one bit about that.

"Mmm! This is the stuff!" She beamed. "I feel like it's been years since I ate this. How do you like yours, Goldy?"

[gold_drum]

Gold glances at Red blowing on her noodles, and does the same. He'll puff on his food for longer than Red does, and when he does eat, he takes the bowl, slurps the broth from it, and manages to grab some noodles into his mouth, slurping them up loudly. This boy does not know how to use chopsticks, and will not even try.

In response to the question, Gold just makes a "Mm" sound and keeps eating ravenously and messily.

(He's still wearing the hat. Its rim might've taken a small dip into the soba broth at some point.)

[ulternnpc]

Red will stop noticing Gold hasn't even touched the chopsticks. Then again a lot of young kids weren't good with them. Setting her bowl down she'll notice the hat also getting in the way.

"Hey, Goldy do ya want a fork?" She smiled. "It'll make eating your noodles easier! You don't have to use a chopstick you know."

[gold_drum]

Gold pauses in eating and looks at Red, mouth full of soba. He looks at his bowl consideringly, then nods, and continues chewing. It didn't occur to him to ask for a fork, since everyone around them is using chopsticks, but he'll take them if they've got them.

Why is Red being so nice to him, anyway? Gold really can't understand it. She just keeps on smiling and being understanding and buying him things. She has to be lulling him into a false sense of security to kidnap him or something. Nobody would be this nice to him otherwise.

[ulternnpc]

"Okay, lemme go get you a fork." It's been decided, Red thought as she got up from her seat. She'll walk over to the counter to ask for a fork--and will soon return with one. She'll then place the fork down to Gold's side of the table.

"They always carry a fork here since not everyone's used to using chopsticks on things!" She explained before taking a seat. "It takes me back, since I used to be really bad with chopsticks too."

[gold_drum]

Gold keeps his eyes on Red as she goes and brings the fork, and grabs the fork as soon as she lets go of it, as if he was worried she'd take it away again.

He swallows a mouthful of food while eying Red dubiously, hesitates a moment before speaking up.

"What do you even want from me?" Gold asks. "Why did you buy this for me? Why are you acting all..." Gold doesn't even know how to describe it. He just gestures at the fork, and at the hat he's wearing.

[ulternnpc]

"Huh, what do I want from you?" Red's reaching for her chopsticks as she's sitting back down. Ooh this boy really was suspicious of her. Not that she could blame him, given his look and how obviously hungry he is.

"Nothing, really! I just wanted to go out and have fun at the festival. Bumping into you and having someone to spend time around here is just a bonus for me, ohoho."

She'll laugh, yet again.

"Unless...you'd rather be left alone?" She questioned.

[gold_drum]

"...How is this fun?" Gold questions, hand tightening around his fork. "You don't make any sense. I'm not... I'm not somebody people wanna be around! Why are you using your money on me? I'm just some random brat."

"...And stop laughing at me!" he snaps.

At the question, Gold just looks away. It's not that he wants to be left alone. He just... doesn't trust this. He just wants the other shoe to drop and for Red to show whatever evil side she must be hiding, because there's no way a person can just be nice for no reason like this.

[ulternnpc]

"Oh, because you're some random hungry kiddo I'm supposed to ignore you?" Red questioned while lifting her chopsticks to slurp up more of her noodles. She takes a minute to chew and swallow before continuing. "Silly, I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing because I'm having a good time."

She's setting her chopsticks down to eye Gold.

"I don't really need a deep reason to reach out to someone and if it wasn't me I bet someone else here would've done the same for you Goldy."

[gold_drum]

"Why are you having a good time? What's fun about buying food for an unlikeable brat?" Gold demands.

"No, they wouldn't! Nobody would do that! People don't just help people for no reason. If they did, then why hasn't anybody..." Gold stops, biting his lip and glaring angrily down at his soba. Then he starts angrily eating with his fork, not finishing his sentence.

[ulternnpc]

"I don't see an unlikable brat around here." Red's nodded to herself. "Plus I'm having a good time having someone to accompany me and M."

Whether Gold didn't think highly of himself, it wasn't the case for Red. Of course she won't elaborate on that. Instead she's quiet for a moment while staring at her soba.

"...it's different here." Red spoke quietly. "When I showed up here...oh, it was years ago. I'm used to camping out, living in the wild with Pokemon but they all saw me with no place to go, and wouldn't have none of that."

She'll go back to slurping up some noodles and chew. Once she's done she grinned.

"Anyway, there's a lot of friendly folks here! See M, here? The folks here didn't try to do what a lot of the people in Kanto did when they first saw him. In Kanto...M's pretty unique, so people with cameras would always try to grab M, and take pictures and chase after us. Even barged in on our house. Rude, right? How are we supposed to be able to relax when we're this cute together?"

She made an obviously fake, pained look. M's chirping in response before nuzzling up to Red's face. She's giggling at that.

[gold_drum]

She's totally lying, Gold thinks. Gold knows he's unlikeable. Whatever, if he's not going to get an honest answer from her he'll just act like he accepts the lie.

He stays silent and listens to her talk, and something starts niggling at him. So she showed up here years ago, camped out with her Pokemon... When did that happen? He was still somewhere in New Bark Town or near it, right? So he would've heard about people giving a place to stay to a girl if it happened near his hometown.

Something seems off about the whole situation.

Kanto... Kanto isn't that far from Johto, was it? It couldn't be that different here and there.

He chews his soba thoughtfully, swallows, then gives Red a dubious look.

"Hey... Isn't this New Bark Town?" he asks.

[ulternnpc]

"Ooh, no one told you that yet?" Red gives a sympathetic look over to Gold. "Goldy, you and me we're both pretty far from home. This place is called Turnbloom City."

She'll gesture over to tv that was playing news coverage on the Summer Festival.

"See that? They might be talking in a language we understand but the text all over is all in Ulternian. You can't read that when you first pop up here."

[gold_drum]

"Turnbloom City?" Gold frowns, he hasn't heard of it. Looking at the TV doesn't really help either, but it does look like the same festival he saw outside.

"Ulternian?" he repeats in disbelief. A different language? But that'd mean... A different region, maybe even a different country? Why? How?

No, that doesn't matter. He's away from his house, so he needs to find shelter somewhere. He'd better eat his fill and gather food, too.

And so, Gold just resumes eating his food determinedly without asking any more questions about his situation.

[ulternnpc]

"Turnbloom City is one of the towns on Ohritori Island." Red said, as if that's an explanation. When Gold didn't seem like he had any other questions (for the time being, Red assumes) she's back to slurping up her noodles.

"Oh yeah--I wouldn't worry too much about it." Red finally spoke after a few more noodles having been consumed. "I mean, we probably won't be here for maybe a day tops."

[gold_drum]

Gold nods. So he's on an island. He doesn't know why he's here, but it sounds like there's no easy way back home. He's fine with that. As long as he can find a place to stay and food to eat, he's fine. He's already mentally preparing for the future.

Red's next statement throws him for a loop, though, and he looks at her, clearly surprised.

"Huh? Why?"

[ulternnpc]

"I'm pretty sure we're both here 'cause of Celebi." She states all too casually, while slurping some more noodles. Chewing thoughtfully she seemed to be thinking of how to explain this further.

"See, I was minding my business back in Kanto--and just poof! I'm here, in Ultern--that's what this region is called--and nowhere near my house. Was it the same for you?"

[gold_drum]

"Celebi?" Gold asks dubiously. He doesn't know what that is. Did some Pokemon carry him here or something? So he's been kidnapped then. Well, as long as he's got food he doesn't mind.

He nods in response to the question, but raises an eyebrow.

"Why does that mean we're not gonna be here for long? Is that Celebi thing gonna take us somewhere else too?"

[ulternnpc]

"Mmhmm! Celebi's a Pokemon that can travel through time--oh but the one here is a bit different. Like it's still in training, maybe?" She's looking thoughtful. At Gold's question Red's scrunching her face up in thought.

"Hmmm, not exactly. It's more like...Celebi's going to revert us back to the correct time? Something like that. It makes me wonder if we'll even remember any of this...there's no way to tell, honestly."

[gold_drum]

Gold's expression turns bewildered as she talks, then slowly, angry.

"What the fuck are you talking about?! You don't make any sense!" Gold shouts, slamming his fist on the table. He feels like Red's making fun of him, because she clearly understands something Gold doesn't. What does time have to do with anything? What does remembering have to do with anything??

[ulternnpc]

"Oh, sorry. It is kinda confusing having all that dumped on you, huh?" Red takes a moment. "Uncle Beni's much better at this stuff than I am..."

Red will place her chopsticks down before pointing at herself.

"The me that's here, is much much younger. She's still just a kid, but because of Celebi I took her place. Celebi's uh...hmmm." Red's crossing her arms while making a sound. "Celebi pushed my time forward, and you, Goldy..."

There's a sigh, yeah this wasn't going great, was it? She wished Professor Banyan was around. He'd probably handle this situation better. (Probably not, given he's also currently a child.)

"Celebi reverted your time back. You're much younger than what I remember of you."

[gold_drum]

Gold is definitely still glaring dubiously as Red is explaining all this, but he's listening and trying to understand.

"Wh... What do you mean you remember me? I don't remember you!" he shouts, but the gears are turning, and he eyes her, going quiet as he thinks.

Red was a kid, but because of Celebi, she became older? And in reverse, Gold was older, but he turned younger... But why should he believe something as fantastical as that? It was ridiculous. And Red had no proof. And if it was true, why didn't she say she knew him until just now?

Wait... Now he understands what's going on. This is one of those tricks that people who try to kidnap kids use. Saying something like 'I know your mom so you can come with me' and stuff. Too bad for her, Gold's not dumb enough to believe in time travel!

But what should he do now? He doesn't want to get kidnapped... But if he really is far away from home, maybe he's already been kidnapped. Maybe he should just pretend to believe her, finish eating, and then slip away when he gets a chance.

"...Okay, so it's Celebi's fault," he finally says, then continues eating.

[ulternnpc]

Look, she'd explain it better if it made sense on paper! But Red at least has the sense enough to not make a bigger fuss out of it. When he goes quiet, that has Red frowning. Should she have not mentioned that bit of recognizing him? Maybe.

"I mean, I recognize you when you're a little older." This sure didn't make a lick of sense at all. Sighing she'll consider it a win that Gold wasn't tipping his bowl of soba over and running off. Slurping the rest of her noodles another thought occurred to her. If Gold is this small...

"Oh crap, Liolio." She'll stand up from her seat. "Sorry Goldy, there's someone else I should check up on. I'm going to step away a bit to make a phone call if you don't mind?"

[gold_drum]

Gold nods as he's eating. It still makes no sense at all, but he's not going to contest it.

"Yeah, whatever," Gold responds, trying to seem like he doesn't really care, but he's geared up. He starts eating faster, ready to make a run for it as soon as she's not looking.

Elio meanwhile completely fine and oblivious-

[ulternnpc]

"Alright! I won't take long!" Red beamed as she gets up from her seat to walk away to make thw phone call. All the while M's trailing along leaving her spot vacant.

Now seemed like the prime opportunity for Gold to make a run for it.