Suddenly in the midst of a Summer Festival--

[ulternnpc]

 

There's a distinct sound of waves, and bustling of people nearby.

In the coastal city of Turnbloom the sun is bright and warm, and the scent of the sea wafts through with the cool gentle breeze that makes the glittering pinwheels spin, and the leaves on the palm tree dance.

Today the streets are extra decorated with these cute, colorful and floral shaped pinwheels. It seemed the people who were out in the streets were dressed in colorful summer attire--either casual, or the more traditional yukata. It seemed like with the booths were set out for both food and games for festival of some kind that was currently underway.

Just how did you get here, and why? A mystery, and it seemed the people in the streets didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary as they go about enjoying their time out on this bright sunny day.

---

(🌺Please don't forget to check out the OOC post for those who haven't yet!🌺)

Comments

Gold (game-based AU)

[gold_drum]

Option A: Beach
A boy stands in the middle of the beach, looking around curiously with a wide smile. He's kind of freaking out on the inside. This isn't Goldenrod City. Did he get lost? Again? This is bad.

On the outside, however, he just smiles.

"Wow! I got super lost!" he exclaims, a bit too loud and cheerful-sounding. Noticing the nearest person, he runs up to them and shouts "Hey, hey! Do you know where Goldenrod City is?! I'm lost!" while grinning.

Option B: Festival stalls
At some point afterwards, Gold wanders off to look at the crowded festival. It looked so fun! So much to see and do, yukatas everywhere, trinkets, games, food... It's just like the summer festivals in Ecruteak City he'd seen on TV back home and dreamed of attending some day. All the food smells so good, and he's hungry... Nobody would notice a little bit of food going missing in this crowd, would they?

And that's when you may spot Gold casually snatching a sugar donut off a stall when the shopkeeper's looking away, then turning to leave, hoping nobody saw him. What will you do?

(OOC: First time playing, bear with me!)

Option B!

[derailer]

On one hand, Ingo is a law-abiding man, and this is clearly a crime occurring. On the other hand... it's just a child. He feels the obligation to step in after witnessing this happen, but he isn't going to act with anger or condemnation. They're in a new place, anyway. Who knows what the culture is like wherever Gold is from? He literally might not know about currency.

Ingo moves to block Gold's way, as non-threatening as he can, gently extending an arm to prevent passage.

"Excuse me! I wonder if you have forgotten to give the cashier the coins for the donut?" A good faith interpretation, which will hopefully shame him into compliance even if it was deliberate malice.

Ingo! Yay!

[gold_drum]

Gold tenses as the man blocks his way, and stares up at him with an aggressively cheerful smile. Ugh, not some goody-two-shoes with a fancy, shiny uniform. Those types were the worst.

"Wow! You're right! I did forget!" Gold says with a bright smile, and bows. "Thank you!"

...And ducks under Ingo's arm and makes a run for it. Sorry, Ingo!

[derailer]

Oh boy. It's this kind of child. The difficulty here is higher than he would have preferred. They can be mutually exasperated by each other.

Luckily, Lady Sneasler is also with him, and she is a fair bit more intimidating. She steps out with a snarl to try and block Gold's passage, claws glinting—though she does not attack with them.

Ingo is digging for his coin purse while he gives Sneasler primary guard duties.

[gold_drum]

Intimidating, she is - a bit too much for Gold's liking. He freezes up, then takes half a step back, not averting his eye from Sneasler's claws. This reminds him way too much of a Houndoom he recently got attacked by.

One of his Pokemon seems to agree, as without prompting, a Pokeball bursts open. An Umbreon materializes between Gold and Sneasler, snarling furiously at her, but not attacking either.

"Mateo..." Gold breathes out in surprise and relief, but doesn't make any commands. Though he wants to glance over at Ingo to see what he's doing, he doesn't dare look away from Sneasler even for a second.

[derailer]

"My lady, please do not rise to provocation." It is a preemptive chiding. Sneasler takes it to heart, and just growls lowly at the Umbreon.

Ingo takes out the money for the donut, and holds it out in his palm to show Gold. "Here."

[gold_drum]

Gold blinks as Ingo shows him money. He stares at it in confusion, glancing up at Ingo's face, then quickly turns to his Umbreon.

"Mateo, chill, these guys might be alright," he says, before turning back to Ingo as the Umbreon's growling lowers in volume and intensity. "Uh, is this for me?" Gold asks, pointing at the money Ingo's holding. He's itching to grab it, but he's still a bit on edge at the whole situation.

[derailer]

"It is for the donut." He gestures back towards the stall with his free hand. "Please just offer this to the worker there, to smooth things over!"

[gold_drum]

"Oh, uh... okay." Gold shrugs, accepting the money. Then he turns towards the stall, but... it'd be really awkward to go up to the stallkeeper and admit he took a donut without paying. It's all right if he just gives the money somehow, right? Right.

So Gold winds up and throws the coins at the stall.

"I'M BUYING A DONUT!" he shouts at the shopkeep, waving the donut in the air. "THANKS! BYE!"

Phew. Awkward interaction avoided. He turns back to Ingo with a wide smile. (ooc: As Emmet's brother, I assume Ingo can probably tell different kinds of smiles apart pretty well? This isn't a genuine smile, but it's not an unhappy one, either.)

"Thanks, old man! That was nice of you."

(Meanwhile, Gold's Umbreon stopped growling at Lady Sneasler around the time he shouted, and is now staring at Gold in disbelief.)

[derailer]

Ingo is indeed skeptical of smiles that don't reach the eyes being genuine. This feels more like a "default" smile, which could be worse.

And it's just a kid anyway, he reiterates to himself, in order to maintain a polite and un-offended demeanor.

"In the future, please remember to make such a transaction at the time that you first acquire the food."

[gold_drum]

"Sure, I'll do that!" Gold says brightly, with no sign of remorse. He'll absolutely do this again.

However, Ingo's earnestness and unflappability has him kind of intrigued. He finds himself wanting to mess with the guy to see what it'd take to get a reaction out of him. (Also, Gold kind of just finds Ingo endearing, but he's not honest enough with himself to admit it.)

"Hey, old man! Wanna go around the festival with me?" Gold asks, grabbing onto Ingo's sleeve with his free hand and tugging slightly. "You could buy me more stuff!"

[derailer]

"You have a Pokemon, do you not? Don't you have the ability to battle, to earn money to pay for things on your own?"

Paying for something that already needs to be smoothed over is one thing, but going around and paying for anything this child wants at the festival seems a little... much.

[gold_drum]

"Well, yeah, but I'm saving up money for something!" Gold whines. "And I dunno how much money I'm gonna need in this new region I ended up in, or how I'm gonna get back home. I might need to save money for a plane ticket too!" He gives another little tug on Ingo's sleeve and tries to look as cute as possible, looking up at him. "Besides, I heard old people love buying stuff for kids! It makes them feel alive or something! Pleeease?"

Off to the side, Gold's Umbreon is watching this all with a bit of second hand embarrassment.

A

[ulternnpc]

"Like, where's Goldenrod City?" A teenage Swimmer who wore a colorful t-shirt over her swim suit tilted her head. Next to her, her Pikachu who wore a matching t-shirt tilted his head with a questioning look. "That doesn't sound like a place I know."

She then looked over to her Pikachu.

"Do you, Kannai?"

"Chuchu?" Seeing her Pikachu was equally confused, the Swimmer returned her attention back to Gold.

"But well, if you're lost!" The Swimmer beamed. "Are you hungry? How's your Pokemon looking?"

[gold_drum]

Seeing the cute Pikachu in the cute shirt is kind of soothing Gold's worries. Doesn't make him any less lost, though. His shoulders droop in disappointment when the girl says she hasn't heard of it, but he perks up when she smiles at him, and smiles back.

"I am hungry! And my Pokemon are too! Probably! So gimme food!" he says shamelessly, beaming at her hopefully, as bright and innocent as possible.

[ulternnpc]

"Well you're in luck!" The Swimmer cheered along with her Pikachu, Kannai. "I was having a bit too fun with the grill so I made too much food for myself...so come and have some!"

She's leading Gold away from the shore but not too far from where they were on the beach to where a table had been set out along with a grill. It was clear as day she had been preparing for a number of people to swing by but so far it was just herself and Kannai.

"Hehe, my friends are supposed to show up but Kannai and I came early for a little swim." She nodded to Kannai who bounced happily. The Swimmer walked over to grab a paper plate while holding it out to Gold. "Anyway, go ahead! Take as much as you want of the food here! I even have some Pokemon Food too since it's not a beach party unless we're all eating!"

[gold_drum]

"Food!" Gold throws his hands up in the air and cheers, before following the Swimmer and Kannai to the table with a bounce in his steps. The sight of so much food cheers him right up, and he eagerly accepts the plate and takes some of... whatever food it is. He doesn't care, he'll eat anything.

When she mentions the Pokemon Food, Gold pauses in grabbing food and looks at her curiously. "Can I really bring out my Pokemon? All of them? Some of them are pretty big!"

[ulternnpc]

"Ooh? How big are they? As big as a Wailord?" The Swimmer's eyes lit up in clear excitement. "You know I always wanted to meet a big water type Pokemon like that..."

"Pika!?" Kannai turned to his trainer in shock. The Swimmer giggled before giving a pat.

"It's okay Kannai we won't go that far into the sea. Anyway, go ahead send out your Pokemon! Besides this beach belongs to everyone people and Pokemon alike!"

[gold_drum]

"A Wailord? I dunno what that is... But I bet my Pokedex knows!"

Gold brings out his old Johto Pokedex that has never been updated and checks it.

"...My Pokedex doesn't know!"

He puts it away. Then, now that he has permission, he brings out all his Pokemon. Carn the Meganium heads straight for the food with a cheerful noise, followed by Nerica the Togetic. Elena the Furret goes to politely greet Kannai with a bow, and Mateo the Umbreon follows her like a sulky duckling. And finally, Umbar, the Lugia, takes a look around the beach, then lifts a hand/wing and waves at the Swimmer with a pleasant smile.

"Hello," Umbar says in human language, not with telepathy. His voice is smooth, ethereal, and ambiguously masculine, and he sounds mildly amused. "I'm afraid I'm not a water-type, nor as big as a Wailord, but I hope I will suffice."

(OOC: yeah he has both an Umbreon and a different Pokemon nicknamed Umbar, I didn't think about how confusing it'd be when I named them years and years ago ^^;)

[ulternnpc]

"Ohhh!" The Swimmer looked in amazement when Gold had pulled out a Pokedex. "I've never seen a Pokedex like that before!"

But before she could ask anything else about Gold's Pokedex, he had put it away and out came his Pokemon. She watched his team with a smile, especially when Elena greeted Kannai who gave a happy wave in response.

At the sight of Umbar however, the Swimmer gasped. While she had never seen a Lugia before she knew well enough about the silver bird to become speechless. Plus it could talk! Who knew Lugia could talk?!

"Pi-ka!" Kannai greeted with a wave snapping the Swimmer out of it.

"Oh, that's right! Ulsai!" She giggled and waved to Umbar. "Even if you're not a Wailord, it's still really nice to meet you!"

Shen then turned back to Gold with a sunny smile still on her face.

"Wow, you're amazing! Not everyone can call Lugia one of their Pokemon! How did you two become friends?"

(ooc: No worries! I think it's a nice nickname! I'm not so good giving names to my Pokemon but I do it anyway lol)

[gold_drum]

Huh, Gold never knew his Pokedex was anything special.

Umbar responds with an "Ulsai!" of his own, slightly bemused, but, when in Ultern you do as the Ulternians do. He then turns back to the other Pokemon and talks to them in the Pokemon language. Nerica responds by scoffing and tossing a piece of Pokemon food at him, which Umbar catches in his mouth. The rest of the team lets out impressed noises, and Carn gets a gleam in his eye like he's about to try and throw food too. Elena makes some scolding noises at them all.

Meanwhile, Gold responds to the Swimmer's question, slightly embarrassed at the praise.

"Well, I was fishing at the sea with a Lure Ball attached to the hook. And when I reeled it up, Umbar was inside!" He pauses, frowning. "That's how we met, but I guess it's not how we became friends... I think that happened later, when he defended me from Team Rocket!"

(ooc: Same here! I usually just name my Pokemon the first thing that comes to mind haha)

[ulternnpc]

Kannai watched Gold's team curiously. Jumping onto the table he'll lift one of the berries his trainer had set out into his mouth before trotting over to join them.

He'll cheerfully wave to them with his tail.

"Oh wow..." The Swimmer meanwhile gasped amazed by the story behind how he caught Umbar, and how they got along. Although at the mention of Team Rocket she frowned. "What's Team Rocket? Are they bad people if Umbar protected you from them?"

[gold_drum]

Elena waves back to Kannai, and chitters something along the lines of 'sorry if my family gets rowdy sometimes.' The other Pokemon smile and aww in response to being called 'family', and greet Kannai as well, before joining him around or on the table to eat. (Umbar, however, may be stealthily glancing at Kannai to encourage him to throw a berry at him, because he loves a bit of chaos.)

Gold, meanwhile, pops some food in his mouth as the Swimmer is talking, and thinks over the question carefully as he's chewing. He swallows.

"They're like... an evil team, I guess? But I dunno about 'bad people'. The Team is bad, they do a bunch of evil things, but the people in the team are just... normal people? Some of them are kinda bullies, but others are alright." Gold shrugs, then gets serious. "But the ones Umbar protected me from, they were total bullies. They tried to steal my money!" Gold sounds personally offended by this.

[ulternnpc]

Kannai setting the berry down gave Elena a happy wave. He didn't mind the rowdiness, more the merrier! Plus he glanced over to his trainer, he was happy that she was having fun. Facing Umbar, Kannai shook his head and clutched the berry.

No!!! Nami told him not to play with food like that!

Kannai's pouting while holding the berry close.

Meanwhile the Swimmer, Nami, completely oblivious to the shenanigans between Pokemon kept her attention to Gold.

"An evil team..." That sounded a little scary, actually. She couldn't help but frown. "So they're a group of people in an unfortunate circumstance? That's so sad..."

But the frown doesn't last upon Gold's last comment about them. She gave a soft laugh.

"Well, I'm glad Umbar was there to protect you. It wouldn't have been good if you had your money taken from you, or gotten hurt! Of course you don't have to worry about any of that here!"

[gold_drum]

Elena blinks at Kannai's pouting, then levels Umbar with A Look. She's not angry, just disappointed. And on that day, Lugia, the guardian of the seas, is seen looking embarrassed and chastised at a beach party.

Gold nods at Nami's first comment. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he relates to Team Rocket Grunts too much to ever really hate the Team, no matter what crimes they commit. At the second comment, however, he frowns in confusion.

"No need to worry about it here?" he echoes. "You mean there's nobody in the entire region who steals or hurts people? That's kinda hard to believe." He assumes it's just naivety talking, but if it's true? He can't decide if it's a dream come true, or scarily unnatural.

As an aside, he adds, "By the way, did I ever say my name? Hi, I'm Gold."