Workers and business owners of all ages were hustling around, noisily hammering in nails or laying down wooden floorboards for shops that would soon be ready for business. Restaurants were carting in dozens of carts of food, managed by grumbling chefs with angry voices. Soups sloshed about in large pots, and meat landed with wet sklaps onto wooden chopping blocks. The clatter of plates and pots drifted out over the empty fields of the Entralink Forest, hanging in the air before vanishing like mist in heavy crosswinds. It was a surprising set for the festival this year, though the plans the coordinators of the even had in mind seemed more grandiose than ever. With everyone setting their shops up, a seasoned festival-goer would know exactly how long until the festival's beginning; the remaining preparations would take just under 16 hours. There were difficulties this year ensuring that everyone would get their things in order, however, so the officials started the preparations four days early. The central stadium's frame had long been built, and the stone columns put in place. The only thing left to do was fill the stadium's floor with sand, paint in the chalk lines for the battle areas, and let the stand owners cart their way in. The largest area requiring preparation was almost done, and it was already displaying its grand crystalline orb. Once all was said and done, it would be lit up for the beginning and ending ceremonies. But for now, it was just a displayed beauty. Fanning out from the red, tent-covered stadium were red-orange buildings and stands, famous for their food and souvenirs. A pokémon center had hurriedly been established as the second building to go up, and a pokémart built into that.
Five prongs pointed out in a star shape from the base of the festival, each "arm" of the star representing a new region. The north-facing arm was Kanto, and following in a clockwise circle around the arms, the other regions were Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, and Kanto once more. This proved to allow any member of any region a chance to partake in the delicacies or cultural trinkets of another region. Such was the noble ambition of many wanderlust-stricken individuals. The colored tents faded from the red to the yellow tips, in representation of a sunrise. Old shops with great success were given prime registration and their choice of location, meaning that these established wonders would find themselves clumped around the stadium. Newer shops with booming sales, or shops with less success and just as much history, would establish themselves in the middle, with brand new stores or old flops taking their places at the very edges of the star-shaped arms. In between the arms they set up Pokémon parks for the three main distinctions: Those who are bound to the land (A series of jungle gyms or benches with a relaxed atmosphere), those who were bound to the sea (Large pools set up with hoops and diving boards, along with smaller, more open pools for the littler Pokémon.), and those who took to the skies (Large numbers of perches, flying hoops, pulley systems for trainers to send up treats.)
The festival, established hundreds of years ago in Johto, was intended to celebrate the majesty of the night sky that renewed its wonder every year with a resetting of the constellations. A tribute to Jirachi was adopted once Hoenn officially announced its partnership with the festival’s organizers. The two main draws of the festival, however, took place every day over the entire length of the festival. The Star Cup, a famous coordination event that rivaled those of regional grand cups, and The Star Tourney, an event larger than most regional championship conferences. Their sizes were mainly due to their lax entry requirements, allowing many would-be champions into their fold. It was only required that you have a competing team of at least 4 pokémon, register the day that registration was declared open, and that you have at least six badges or three ribbons from any one region. Simple requirements meant large entry numbers, and large entry numbers meant a true challenge of skill by the time the final 5 rounds were decided.
The bustling had grown to a crescendo on the final preparation day, a roaring of shouts, power tools, and grunting workers blanketing the forest clearing. Under the stadium's floor, almost three dozen scientists buzzed around noisily, checking and rechecking equipment. A broad, brown-haired woman, nervously biting her fingers on one hand, watched with attentive blue eyes as they hooked cold metallic sensors to her daughter's temples. The scientists had placed her in the padded black pod with the utmost care, but she was still nervous. They had chosen her because of her "Untapped dreaming potential," but these scientists had never mentioned how scary it would look. After they attached the final sensor to her chest, they lowered the glass door over her daughter's calm body and latched it in place.
"She'll be fine," a female voice behind her asserted. As the cautious mother turned to see who was speaking, she immediately identified the scientist as Fennel. Her purple, waist-length hair and pristine lab coat and glasses instantly identified their thin-framed, intelligent, and calm owner. "She's just having her dreams monitored and interpreted. She'll be totally fine in there."
"And you promise about that?" the mother said in deliberate, warning words. "You promise she'll be safe?"
"I promise," Fennel agreed with a nod. "One hundred percent promise."
"I'll be fine," the muffled voice of her daughter assured her from behind the glass, pressing her hand on the glass towards her mother. "Don't worry mom. Your little Stella will be just fine."
---
Standing on top of a gently-sloped hill, Coda brushed back his ginger hair and looked over the clearing with calm emerald eyes. He was trying to fight down the nervous and excitement that the festival awoke inside of him. He had just brushed out the wrinkles on his tan suede jacket, and he was already feeling the wind upset its carefully hung folds. His darker brown vest hardly held out any of the cold, though the high collar did help keep the chilled wind off of his face. Perfectly pleated pants were the least of his worries, though he did try and keep them that way. He had originally opted for nice dress shoes, though the hard to clean, shining leather shoes were soon traded out for nice traveling shoes with solid rubber grips.
"'Ey," he said to the group of happily munching Pokémon behind him. "You guys ready for this?"
A chorus of cheerful cries echoed behind him.
"Ya’ sure?"
Another sudden burst of noise affirmed their positions on the matter, and Coda smiled at the open space that was quickly filling with people. His five comrades stood behind him, some sitting, chewing on a bowl of their preferred pokéfood. The latest member, Sarge, was perched on Hyun's shoulders and eating his food from on top of the Emboar's head. The wet slurps and chomps of happily eating pokémon were the backdrop to his clear thoughts and excitement. He had never been to the Festival, and he had arrived one night early in a fit of over-excitement. He sighed, and checked his X-Transceiver for the time just once more, as if the 30 second break between checks would suddenly shoot the time forward by 12 hours. He tapped his foot and looked at the enchanting Unovan skyline. The trees that broke up the horizon were bathed in a warm golden glow, which made the summer trees turn into autumn's gilded harbingers. A few scared flaps broke the silence behind him, followed by a few heavy, reverberating stomps of Hyun's approaching legs. The soft crackling of fire that accompanied Hyun's approach was comforting to Beo by now, though it did worry him that the sound of a small forest fire brought him comfort.
"Mate," Coda began, reaching his arm back to welcome the burning boar's approach. "We've come a long way. There's been a lot of personal trial, and even more challenge from others, but we've made it so far." A snort of small, flickering light from Hyun stated his commemoration. The young man wrapped his arm around Hyun's shoulder, and the pokémon reciprocated the gestures. "So some dragons stand in our way. What power do they have over us?" The munching behind him stopped, and the sounds of his approaching party replaced them. "They don't get to tell us our strength. We get to tell them." Treant nudged his way under Coda's wing, and turned to coo in confirmation. Oubli hovered over his head and happily chimed his excitement. "We just gotta take it. And let me tell you, mates." He pointed at the stadium, aiming for the central crystal. "It's right there. And it's ours." His party pointed limbs and appendages towards it, each one making their own personal pact to take their victory.
"Yers?" a deep voice asked from behind him. "You've got yerself stiff competition, boy." A man on a Rapidash approached Coda from behind, pulling off his wide-brimmed, stereotypical rancher's hat. The man raised his arm to mimic the gesture Coda presented. "Ya might get it, but we'll give y'all one hell of a wrassle for it."
"Really?" another female voice questioned, breaking out of the tree line from Coda's other side. "I think your victory, or whatever, is so mine. At least, like, the Star Cup is." Her perfectly chosen, properly matching outfit belied a personality of wealth and entitlement. Her hand lazily rose to point at the Stadium. Soon, more trainers arrived with anywhere from no Pokémon to a full team trailing their heels. Each one, Pokémon and human alike, pointed to the center of the Stadium. The pact was all the same, and it rang true in each heart.
Victory at the Festival of Stars.
---
Soon, just after the sun had completely set, almost a dozen camps were arranged, Coda himself sitting at one with the cowboy - his name revealed to be Maxfield - and the air-headed girl - her name, Ashley. There were only three tents so far, but they were large were enough for both the trainers and their full parties to rest in. The trainers were swapping stories, joyously laughing their way through Maxfield's retelling of how a single Munchlax had almost cost him an entire herd of Bouffalant. In between Coda's laughs, which grew steadily hoarser, he felt sleep nagging at the bottoms of his eyelids. After just a few more stories, Coda set an alarm on his X-Transceiver and headed to his tent for sleep.
---
The festival ran like a well-oiled machine, and before Coda even realized what was happening, he'd already been signed up and was waiting in the Green Room before the preliminary rounds started. He scanned the other trainers in the room, and discovered just how diverse these other trainers are. It was insane, just how different people with the same dream could be. Coda took a few more deep breaths, and traced the outlines of his pokéballs with his fingers.
The mint green tint of the entire room was relaxing, but only somewhat. The cushions of the couch beneath his rear were incredibly stiff, and unforgivably poorly stuffed. The room was the size of a Pokémon Center lobby, and was staffed with two Nurse Joy's and a pair of Chanseys. The walls were the same shade of green, and the square room had TV's on every wall to display the action from the inner area of the Colosseum.
"Deep breaths, deep breaths," Coda reassured himself. He was unnaturally tense. Maybe it was the crowd. Whatever it was, he was ready.
Just after his heart had settled to a manageable rate, another number of trainers walked in, their footsteps so out-of-sync and their walking paces so varied there was no way that more than two of them were traveling together. Coda waved them in, and tried to fake a smile for the trainers in front of him.
Hopefully none of them were his opponent.
Five prongs pointed out in a star shape from the base of the festival, each "arm" of the star representing a new region. The north-facing arm was Kanto, and following in a clockwise circle around the arms, the other regions were Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, and Kanto once more. This proved to allow any member of any region a chance to partake in the delicacies or cultural trinkets of another region. Such was the noble ambition of many wanderlust-stricken individuals. The colored tents faded from the red to the yellow tips, in representation of a sunrise. Old shops with great success were given prime registration and their choice of location, meaning that these established wonders would find themselves clumped around the stadium. Newer shops with booming sales, or shops with less success and just as much history, would establish themselves in the middle, with brand new stores or old flops taking their places at the very edges of the star-shaped arms. In between the arms they set up Pokémon parks for the three main distinctions: Those who are bound to the land (A series of jungle gyms or benches with a relaxed atmosphere), those who were bound to the sea (Large pools set up with hoops and diving boards, along with smaller, more open pools for the littler Pokémon.), and those who took to the skies (Large numbers of perches, flying hoops, pulley systems for trainers to send up treats.)
The festival, established hundreds of years ago in Johto, was intended to celebrate the majesty of the night sky that renewed its wonder every year with a resetting of the constellations. A tribute to Jirachi was adopted once Hoenn officially announced its partnership with the festival’s organizers. The two main draws of the festival, however, took place every day over the entire length of the festival. The Star Cup, a famous coordination event that rivaled those of regional grand cups, and The Star Tourney, an event larger than most regional championship conferences. Their sizes were mainly due to their lax entry requirements, allowing many would-be champions into their fold. It was only required that you have a competing team of at least 4 pokémon, register the day that registration was declared open, and that you have at least six badges or three ribbons from any one region. Simple requirements meant large entry numbers, and large entry numbers meant a true challenge of skill by the time the final 5 rounds were decided.
The bustling had grown to a crescendo on the final preparation day, a roaring of shouts, power tools, and grunting workers blanketing the forest clearing. Under the stadium's floor, almost three dozen scientists buzzed around noisily, checking and rechecking equipment. A broad, brown-haired woman, nervously biting her fingers on one hand, watched with attentive blue eyes as they hooked cold metallic sensors to her daughter's temples. The scientists had placed her in the padded black pod with the utmost care, but she was still nervous. They had chosen her because of her "Untapped dreaming potential," but these scientists had never mentioned how scary it would look. After they attached the final sensor to her chest, they lowered the glass door over her daughter's calm body and latched it in place.
"She'll be fine," a female voice behind her asserted. As the cautious mother turned to see who was speaking, she immediately identified the scientist as Fennel. Her purple, waist-length hair and pristine lab coat and glasses instantly identified their thin-framed, intelligent, and calm owner. "She's just having her dreams monitored and interpreted. She'll be totally fine in there."
"And you promise about that?" the mother said in deliberate, warning words. "You promise she'll be safe?"
"I promise," Fennel agreed with a nod. "One hundred percent promise."
"I'll be fine," the muffled voice of her daughter assured her from behind the glass, pressing her hand on the glass towards her mother. "Don't worry mom. Your little Stella will be just fine."
---
Standing on top of a gently-sloped hill, Coda brushed back his ginger hair and looked over the clearing with calm emerald eyes. He was trying to fight down the nervous and excitement that the festival awoke inside of him. He had just brushed out the wrinkles on his tan suede jacket, and he was already feeling the wind upset its carefully hung folds. His darker brown vest hardly held out any of the cold, though the high collar did help keep the chilled wind off of his face. Perfectly pleated pants were the least of his worries, though he did try and keep them that way. He had originally opted for nice dress shoes, though the hard to clean, shining leather shoes were soon traded out for nice traveling shoes with solid rubber grips.
"'Ey," he said to the group of happily munching Pokémon behind him. "You guys ready for this?"
A chorus of cheerful cries echoed behind him.
"Ya’ sure?"
Another sudden burst of noise affirmed their positions on the matter, and Coda smiled at the open space that was quickly filling with people. His five comrades stood behind him, some sitting, chewing on a bowl of their preferred pokéfood. The latest member, Sarge, was perched on Hyun's shoulders and eating his food from on top of the Emboar's head. The wet slurps and chomps of happily eating pokémon were the backdrop to his clear thoughts and excitement. He had never been to the Festival, and he had arrived one night early in a fit of over-excitement. He sighed, and checked his X-Transceiver for the time just once more, as if the 30 second break between checks would suddenly shoot the time forward by 12 hours. He tapped his foot and looked at the enchanting Unovan skyline. The trees that broke up the horizon were bathed in a warm golden glow, which made the summer trees turn into autumn's gilded harbingers. A few scared flaps broke the silence behind him, followed by a few heavy, reverberating stomps of Hyun's approaching legs. The soft crackling of fire that accompanied Hyun's approach was comforting to Beo by now, though it did worry him that the sound of a small forest fire brought him comfort.
"Mate," Coda began, reaching his arm back to welcome the burning boar's approach. "We've come a long way. There's been a lot of personal trial, and even more challenge from others, but we've made it so far." A snort of small, flickering light from Hyun stated his commemoration. The young man wrapped his arm around Hyun's shoulder, and the pokémon reciprocated the gestures. "So some dragons stand in our way. What power do they have over us?" The munching behind him stopped, and the sounds of his approaching party replaced them. "They don't get to tell us our strength. We get to tell them." Treant nudged his way under Coda's wing, and turned to coo in confirmation. Oubli hovered over his head and happily chimed his excitement. "We just gotta take it. And let me tell you, mates." He pointed at the stadium, aiming for the central crystal. "It's right there. And it's ours." His party pointed limbs and appendages towards it, each one making their own personal pact to take their victory.
"Yers?" a deep voice asked from behind him. "You've got yerself stiff competition, boy." A man on a Rapidash approached Coda from behind, pulling off his wide-brimmed, stereotypical rancher's hat. The man raised his arm to mimic the gesture Coda presented. "Ya might get it, but we'll give y'all one hell of a wrassle for it."
"Really?" another female voice questioned, breaking out of the tree line from Coda's other side. "I think your victory, or whatever, is so mine. At least, like, the Star Cup is." Her perfectly chosen, properly matching outfit belied a personality of wealth and entitlement. Her hand lazily rose to point at the Stadium. Soon, more trainers arrived with anywhere from no Pokémon to a full team trailing their heels. Each one, Pokémon and human alike, pointed to the center of the Stadium. The pact was all the same, and it rang true in each heart.
Victory at the Festival of Stars.
---
Soon, just after the sun had completely set, almost a dozen camps were arranged, Coda himself sitting at one with the cowboy - his name revealed to be Maxfield - and the air-headed girl - her name, Ashley. There were only three tents so far, but they were large were enough for both the trainers and their full parties to rest in. The trainers were swapping stories, joyously laughing their way through Maxfield's retelling of how a single Munchlax had almost cost him an entire herd of Bouffalant. In between Coda's laughs, which grew steadily hoarser, he felt sleep nagging at the bottoms of his eyelids. After just a few more stories, Coda set an alarm on his X-Transceiver and headed to his tent for sleep.
---
The festival ran like a well-oiled machine, and before Coda even realized what was happening, he'd already been signed up and was waiting in the Green Room before the preliminary rounds started. He scanned the other trainers in the room, and discovered just how diverse these other trainers are. It was insane, just how different people with the same dream could be. Coda took a few more deep breaths, and traced the outlines of his pokéballs with his fingers.
The mint green tint of the entire room was relaxing, but only somewhat. The cushions of the couch beneath his rear were incredibly stiff, and unforgivably poorly stuffed. The room was the size of a Pokémon Center lobby, and was staffed with two Nurse Joy's and a pair of Chanseys. The walls were the same shade of green, and the square room had TV's on every wall to display the action from the inner area of the Colosseum.
"Deep breaths, deep breaths," Coda reassured himself. He was unnaturally tense. Maybe it was the crowd. Whatever it was, he was ready.
Just after his heart had settled to a manageable rate, another number of trainers walked in, their footsteps so out-of-sync and their walking paces so varied there was no way that more than two of them were traveling together. Coda waved them in, and tried to fake a smile for the trainers in front of him.
Hopefully none of them were his opponent.
Well, that was lengthy. Regardless, only seven people, including myself have been okay'd for this one. Cody, Shiny, Zacky, Brendan, Psycho Monkey, and Dinova2.
...
And me. SO. I hope this will be great guys! I've missed you so. ;-;
...
And me. SO. I hope this will be great guys! I've missed you so. ;-;
