farawayplace | EVENT: Harvesting Bonds Festival (CLOSING)

As the sun is beginning to set, a crowd gathers around Gilterrace's town plaza, some of them holding their freshly harvested goods from their fields. One by one, they pile them in front of a small shrine and fold their hands together as they begin to chant.

"May you bless our offerings as we wish for another bountiful harvest to come."

Unbeknownst to the townsfolk, Calyrex has been watching them at a distance with a look of intrigue. He too would like to bring happiness to these people, knowing they have worked hard for this. And clearly offering a more bountiful harvest is just what he's good at!

After a moment of deliberation, the legendary Pokemon hovers over the food pile while glowing in a gentle blue light, and starts doing a little jig. And with a wave of his left hand, all of the fruits and vegetables around Gilterrace start growing until they are twice larger than their usual size.

As the crowd cheers and rejoices, the strums of the sanshin could be heard and playing a very cheery yet familiar tune to some of the drifted out there. This also draws in many Pokemon, wild or not, joining amongst the crowd, though there is a noticably fair amount of Ghost-types gathering as well. And with Calyrex dancing along to the music, they all soon start to sway their arms from side to side as they dance alongside the King of Bountiful Harvests.

Much like with the summer festival, it is a sign that today's festivities is drawing to a close. And they will keep dancing until the music finally stops the moment the night falls.

(🌺 This marks the end of the event! Feel free to join in the partying, make friends with ghosts, or get a free enlarged produce to take home! 🌺)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Meanwhile, Ash just... blinked. He wasn't sure if he misheard it due to the crowd's whistling and cheering over the kid's reply, but he swears he heard him say 'Trip'.

"Uh... I'm Ash." Maybe he needed to hear it again. "Sorry, could you repeat that?"

Trip gasped at the floating sweets, eyes wide and sparkling.

“I wish I had a camera…!” he said, hands balled up in a mixture of frustration and excitement, before gratefully accepting the sweets, or what he could grab of them! Oh, he could grab his hoodie and pull it away from him, to gather sweets in the front, like an apron!

Sorry, Ash, Trip was still so distracted by the Pokemon, but he didn’t ignore the questions entirely… he turned again and went closer, thinking Ash might be having a hard time hearing him, and he disliked shouting, so he won’t raise his voice to shout his name…

He tapped on Ash’s leg, hoping he’d bend down, and tried to stand on tiptoe, so Ash could hear him better!

“I said I’m Trip… from Nuvema Town!”

"Crooon?" Calyrex looked between Ash and Trip. The legendary Pokemon found Ash's behavious peculiar but he didn't have a way to verbally express them. Banyan on the other hand as Lil Yago was happily strumming away on his sanshin, followed by a rhythmic step.

"C'mon Rexy, let's show yer new friends a dance or two!" He spoke up while happily dancing as Lil Yago.

Ash would watch Calyrex's dance when he felt a tap on his leg, and saw how Trip tried to reach to him, Ash immediately bent down to the younger boy's level figuring he had something to say.

And then those last four words really took Ash aback.

"Wait... for real?"

While that did confirm his suspicions about the child bearing a similar appearance to his friend and rival, Ash was pretty sure the last time he met Trip, he was much older than the one before him.

Between the loud cheers, the festive music and the confusion of having a younger Trip being present, this is giving Ash a headache as he rubbed one of his temples with his thumb.

"Does your head hurt?" Trip asked with a frown and tugged gently on Ash's clothes, trying to pull him along. "We can go somewhere where it's quiet..."

He thought that maybe it was just that the loud sounds were too much for Ash!

"I don't like loud voices either."

It's when he felt Trip tug on his shirt and looked down that Ash realized he was beginning to make the younger kid worry for him.

"Huh? Oh, no I'm fine!" Ash reassured as he gently smiled. "Well, in that case... We should go elsewhere where it's quieter."

He then turned to both Calyrex and Lil Yago, taking the moment to excuse themselves and move away from the crowd for Trip's sake.

"That's good," Trip said, although he still looked a bit unconvinced as he walked.

He wasn't sure what was bothering Ash, if it wasn't the sound Ash was bothered by, was it something he said?

"... is my name weird?"

Ash quickly shook his head.

"Nah, it's just that you look a lot like a friend of mine. Heck, you two even share the same name too!"

Which made Ash wonder if this is the very same Trip he knew. No, no, that can't be. That sounded too weird to be true. It'd make a bit more sense if the kid just happened to be a relative of Trip's or something!

He tilted his head, and watched Ash curiously, then smiled brightly.

“Maybe I’m a time-traveller! Maybe that’s why this place is so unfamiliar… it’d be nice if I was the same Trip, if it means I’d get to have friends when I grow up… especially a really nice friend like you.”

He seemed to like Ash so much, he was swinging their joined hands a little and walked with a spring in his step.

“What’s he like? What’s his favourite colour? I like red and orange! Is he older or younger? Are we the same age? Does he like to read? Does he like Alder sir too?”

"A time-traveller, huh?" Ash chuckled. He would've chalked it off as a kid's vivid imagination, but given how this world worked, it's a possibility he also couldn't rule out. But... as he continued to listen, that only got Ash thinking more. Was this kid really Trip from the past?

It's then Trip barraged Ash with numerous questions that caught him off guard.

"Woah there, I can't answer all of that at once!" He gestured the younger boy to slow down. "We may be friends, but I'm still trying to get to know him."

There was a momentary pause as he thought about Trip more. Thinking back about the previous encounters he had with Trip when they were in Unova, and the battles they fought too.

"What I can say about him is that he's been a great rival for me, and I could see how much he's grown in strength as a Trainer since then."

Trip looked a little embarrassed to ask so many questions, but nodded, listening closely to Ash's words. His eyes lit up at his final statement.

"So, I'll be really strong?" he asked, hands balled up in excitement. "I always wanted to be strong, stronger than anybody!"

EVENT: Harvesting Bonds Festival (CLOSING)

FINALLY REPLIED after freeing myself from Pokemon Violet

[welcome back and congratulations! 🎉🎊]

no subject

i realized i have missed this... SO LET'S TRY TO WRAP THIS UP!!

[aw, I thought you dropped this intentionally with other older threads, sure, let's wrap it up!!]

i feel like i want to finish this one so it'd have a bit of closure!!

[alright! ^^]

no subject

[I got locked out of the tiny Trip account for too many wrong guesses, PFFT]

RETURN TO TAGGING THIS

[tagging from this account because Iiii still can't get back to the other, FFF]