Private/Closed Journey through the OG Region: Kanto Travels, Follow the Beaten Path

[Ry_Burst]

The bright flashing lights and loud talking did little to awaken the sleepy young man, Damian Grant. He had spent a the last two days traveling to this region, only to find a major festival going on. He had to take a taxi to Canalave City, take the port to Vermillion City in the Kanto Region, and then took a train to Viridian. The train ride had been dreary for him, as he was finally feeling sick of the constant traveling. However, now he could stop and focus at the task at hand. He was here to take part in the Indigo Plateau Pokemon Leauge, the massive Pokemon league hosted in Kanto. The tournament alone attracted millions of spectators and hundreds of trainers who wanted to compete. However there was a requirement, to collect eight Kanto League Badges, which many failed to do. However, Damain knew he could.

While the sounds and lights of the festival that seemed to be reaching its full swing, something else snapped him into the world of the living. A sweet, sugary smell and drifted into his nose and tickled his nostrils. A smell that he recognized from smelling it at the PokeRinger contests that seem to be often held in his hometown of Squalville. The fruity and sugary fried treat, the malsalda, a Alolan speciality.

Feeling drawn to the stand selling them, he quickly got in line to buy one. After a little bit of waiting, he bought two Big Masaldas and made his way to an open bench. Thee he sat down and sent out his partner, Hawk, a large Staraptor. He held one out which Hawk quickly grasped with his beak and began to eat it. Damian brought his to his lips and began to chow down on it.

While he was eating, something caught his eye. A flyer advertising a competition called Pokemon Capute the Flag. “Sounds interesting,” he thought as he ate.

 

[Sukoku]

A loud beep made Toshiro wake up, he slowly moved his body up, taking the blanket off his legs and placing his feet inside his sandals. "Today is the day, I think," Toshiro said, still sleepy. Toshiro began to walk towards the bathroom, turning the light on and picking up the brush he had brought, then picking up his toothpaste, which he also had brought, Toshiro was a clean person, he didn't like to share anything like food or brushes with others. Toshiro started to brush his teeth slowly, with a bored expression as always.

After getting ready, he had his clothes ready, everything set! He was sure he had to do something important!!! Take the train to Viridian... "Ok, time to get going!" Toshiro thought, running towards the train station in Saffron, it wasn't far from the hotel he was. Toshiro bought the ticket, getting on the train and sitting down on the nearest seat that was free, his Torchic's PokéBall fell from his pocket, rolling to the ground, opening, revealing the little chicken, which jumped towards Toshiro, happy as always. "Hey! Calm down!!! Don't mess up my hair!" Toshiro said, poking Torchic's cheeks.

The train finally had arrived at Viridian, Toshiro got out, walking over the exit of the subway, walking out. "Fresh air, finally," Toshiro thought, smiling. "We need to get going!" Toshiro said, running over a map, looking at it, spotting the place where the competition was taking place. As Toshiro arrived, he went towards a chair, sitting down and chilling out.

 

[Spoiled Bread]

The festival is crazily crowded. Trainers with their pokemon, couples holding hands, parents playing with their childrens. It's like people from several city is poured into this area at once.

"chamo!" The little pancham tugs the pants of its trainer and points at nearby food stalls. For this occasion, Rumi let her pancham out of pokeball and walks beside her.

"No, Jin, no." The girl named Rumi answer the pancham's plea by shaking her head. The foods in this festival is just too expensive for her now. Rumi would rather save the money for proper meal. Besides, they're here for business. Well, maybe one or two snacks is fine, those tempura looks yummy.

"Jin, let's buy that tempura!" Rumi jogs a little to the food stalls, expecting Jin to follow her with an enthusias 'chamo!'. But she heard nothing. She turns around and found no pancham.

"For the schmexy legs of tsareena! I just let him wanders around me, not getting lost in a crowd!" She hastily backtrack her steps. Scanning the stalls nearby with the assumption that he get lost after following a food scent. A dozen thought flash in her mind. Should she call out his name? but that would attract a lot of unwanted attention. How if there is a pokemon kidnapper nearby? She hope not. What if he steals food? Ahh, that is the most likely to happen when you let a little rascal like Jin wandering alone, she must find him as soon as possible.

"Jin! Jin!" She decided to call out Jin. But her voice is drowned by the murmur of hundreds people present here. She then tries the next method. She approaches people nearby, a group of people wearing black jacket.

"excuse me, sir. Do you see a pancham passing through here? He's small, with black body, white head, and black circle around his eyes."

The asked man turns around to face Rumi. His body is muscular with black leather jacket, black gloves and black pants. A mighty seven-headed hydreigon can be seen on his jacket. His face is unnaturally white and there's black circle around his eyes, with some of the black drop down his cheek like some kind of black tear.

"Sorry li'l miss, i don't-" the man's answer is stopped by Rumi's gasp. Her eyes widen and her mouth opened in surprise.

"A-are you, by any chance, T-the Black Dragon?" Rumi asked in excitement. The Black Dragon is her favorite indie rock band, they're just starting a few months ago and only has small fan base even in their region of origin, Unova.

"Wow, a fan! In Kanto! How unexpected! We can walks around in Unova without being recognized as a rock band. Thank you for your support, miss!" Smile rise on the face of The Black Dragon member.

"There's no way I wouldn't recognize that seven-headed hydreigon. I really like your new song, S.O.S!" Now Rumi is going full fan girl mode.

"Haha, nice. That dude Kione over there spent a week without sleeping to write that song. But that's not our newest song, eh. Have you heard The Sleeping Beauty? That's our newest!" The man puff his chest to show of how proud he is with that song.

"Oh, yeah, i forgot. I dislike that song. Feels too mellow for The Black Dragon. The lyrics also pale in comparison to the other songs. But i'm sure the next song will be better." Rumi said bluntly with smile on her face, oblivious to the fact that the man looks hurt when hearing that. His smile faded and his shoulder slumped. A skinny man steps in front of Rumi.

"Miss, i just saw a pancham. Running that direction." He pointed to a direction. For a moment, Rumi just blank out, until she remember her reason to speak to them in the first place.

"Ah, right! Jin! Thank you very much! Sorry, but i must go now. Farewell!" Rumi hastily runs to the pointed direction.

The skinny man pats the back of the muscular man. The rest of the members of Black Dragon follow it.

"Don't worry, Joe. I'm sure she doesn't mean to hurt you. Just take her words as constructive critics and write a better lyrics next time."

"*sniff* *sniff*"

"Really, Joe? Don't cry man! Your make up! Your make up! It melts, gross!"

Meanwhile Rumi found Jin stalking a little girl. She tackled the little pancham.

"Gotcha!! What did I say about sticking with me?!" Rumi prepared a quick scolding for Jin. But someone tugs her jacket. It's the little girl that Jin stalks. She carry around a wooden basket full of colorful treats.

"Onee-chan. Wanna buy some candies? It's cheap and tasty! I have ten different flavors."

"Sure, I'll buy some lollipops."

Rumi and Jin spent the next hour sitting in the garden and sucking the lollipops. Jin has a fresh, nicely shaped bump on his head. Then something snap inside Rumi's head.

"I forgot to ask for their signature." Rumi scold herself for forgetting such important thing.

 

[Dapper_Cat]

Angelina Hale looked around at what seemed to be a whole festival going on in Viridian City. So many people were out celebrating, and she had no idea exactly what was going on to cause the celebration. She'd only just arrived, of course, otherwise, she might have actually known what was going on. She had a friend ferry her over the water on the path to the Indigo League and made the rest of the trip on foot, until she'd come to the station where trainers would go to challenge the league, and instead went to Viridian City.

She looked down at her partner, Cerberus. The Houndoom was glancing at every passerby, acting as if he was Angel's security detail. His eyes flicked from one stranger to another, his whole body tensed until Angel rested a hand on his head.

"No need for that here, Cerberus," Angel said reassuringly. "This is a party, right? Doubt anyone here means any harm." The Fire/Dark-Type relaxed itself a little at his trainer's words, but still seemed to be glancing at all the passerby. Angel let out a sigh, knowing very well he probably wasn't going to stop that. She just shrugged. "Oh, well. Let's see if there's something to eat, yeah? I could use some food."

 

[Sciencewars]

People state that the Kanto region, while nice-looking, is quite flat and blocky. Adrian Davis, while only traveling, still agreed. That aspect of Kanto is quite overshadowed by the national monuments, like the looming Mt. Moon and the Safari Zone. Of course, Kanto was also famous for the treacherous Pokemon League Tournament, which attracted trainers all around the world. Of course, eight Kanto badges were needed to participate, of which Adrian had 0.

There was still stuff to do, however. The tournament time also attracted people starting Kanto journeys. All the shops around the tournament had special items, and places from all around the world came to sell and advertise. Adrian and his Pallosand, who had surprised quite a few peopls so far, liked the Unovian ice cream cones.

Other than the shops and tourney itself, other games and competitions were going on. A team-based capture the flag competition had drawn his eye, but races, mock battles, and even a recreation of a battle from the war were advertised.

 

[Eis]

Amidst the streets of Viridian City, a lone Weavile swiftly weaved through the bustling crowd. It seemed that there was some kind of festival going on, and the city was packed with locals and tourists alike. However, the Pokemon had no time to enjoy the festivities at the moment. He was busy looking for his troublesome trainer, who he had lost in the crowd. Normally they didn't have this sort of problem, but the Weavile had been distracted by a tempura stand almost as soon as they arrived.

Despite being an Ice type, the weasel like Pokemon had an affinity for spicy foods. Naturally, he couldn't help himself to one...or two...okay, five may have been a bit much, but it wasn't his fault! Neither the Weavile nor his partner had eaten more than a candy bar since they arrived in Kanto the previous day! Plus, the food was surprisingly cheap for festival food! Or at least, as far as the Pokemon understood. He never really grasped the value of human currency, but in his opinion a trade for delicious food was well worth a handful of scrap metal.

Shaking the thought of food from his mind, the Weavile went back to the task at hand. He had to find his partner. It was difficult to catch her scent among so many other humans, but eventually he was led to a building he recognized as a Pokemon Center. After only a moment of thought, the Weavile knew exactly what was going on, and rushed through the doors in the blink of an eye. Immediately, he spotted his partner, Nina, chatting up the nurse behind the counter.

"So, yeah, I just arrived here the other day, and I'm feeling a little under the weather." Oh no, she was already doing it. Taking matters into his own hands, he dashed over to Nina and jumped in the air, aiming the backside of his claw to slam into her upon his descent. "Maybe you could take my tempert-ACK!" Nina's advances were cut off as a Knock Off attack connected with the back of her head, leaving her sprawled on the floor. Rubbing her head, she looked up at her three foot tall assailant. "Ugh...hey Ruhig. I thought I lost you back there." Ruhig merely crossed his arms and gave Nina an unamused stare.

"Oh, don't you give me that! I'm sure you were having a great time imitating a Munchlax at the tempura stand!" Before Ruhig could think of a retort though, Nina's stomach growled loudly. "Er...say, you wouldn't happen to have brought some of that tempura with you, would you?" Ruhig shook his head, chuckling a bit while Nina gave him her hardest glare. "Gee, thanks pal." Nina finally got up off of the floor, and turned around to ask the nurse if she knew any good places to eat. Unfortunately, the nurse had bolted from the counter as soon as Nina was knocked flat.

"Welp, I guess we're hunting on our own." Nina tapped her shoulder, signaling Ruhig to hop on. The Weavile happily obliged, riding on Nina's shoulders with his feet wrapped around her back as the two dived back into the streets in search of a proper meal.

 

[Sukoku]

Toshiro took a deep breath, getting up from the chair which he sat recently, he then looked around, searching for something interesting to buy. "Ok, I think we should walk around a bit!" Said Toshiro, running through the many tends that were in the Viridian city, spotting one tend, it wasn't a common tend, it was a tend... which was selling caps! Toshiro ran towards that tend, pulling out three PokéYens from his pocket, giving it to the guy in the tend. "Okay, which one do you want?" Said the guy in the tend, frowning. "I want this green one!" Said Toshiro, picking the green one. "Whatever, thanks!" Said the guy in the tend. Toshiro placed his cap on his head, it was basically Dipper's cap (Gravity Falls Dipper.), but, instead of blue, it was green, and there wasn't a pine in the middle of it.

"Ok, time to go back to where we were!" Said Toshiro, running back to the chair where he was, but, as he got next to the chair, he noticed that a person had taken his place. 'Oh well, I think we should go search for another place." Said Toshiro. Toshiro walked between people on his way, the festival was really crowded! Toshiro had finally found a free chair, he went up it, sitting down and going back to his chilly state.

 

[Dapper_Cat]

Angel's head shot up as the smell of something undeniably delicious hit her nostrils. She sniffed the air, similar to a canine.

"You smell that, Cerberus?" She asked her partner, who replied with a bark of confirmation.

"One of my favorite things. Burgers. Let's go!" Angel shouted excitedly as she began following the scent, literally sprinting in the direction the smell was coming from. She was hungry, and she needed to eat as soon as she physically could. Cerberus was right on her heels. Apparently, he felt the same.

 

[Spoiled Bread]

After taking a rest for an hour Rumi arouse from her seat. Jin now hanging on her backpack.

She started snapping photos here and there. Until her lense captured something interesting.

"Oh my..."

In the corner of one of the game stand, amidst plenty of toys and dolls. There's a yellow hoodie, but not an ordinary design. It has two dots in the front, the bottom part is black and ragged, the hood itself has scribbled eyes and mouth, it also has pointed 'ears' with black tips. It's a...

"It's a mimikyu hoodie!" Rumi screamed in delight and approach the stand.

"I want that. How much?" Rumi pointed to the yellow hoodie in the corner.

"I don't sell that, kid." Answered a middle aged man, seems like he's the owner of this stand. He took out a tube with hole in both end. At the one of the end, there's a lot of threads. On the other end, there's some threads with paper tied to it.

"Pull one, you can take anything written in the paper. If you get no paper, i'll give you some candies to compensate." He held out the part without tied paper to Rumi.

"How much per one pull?" This is a kid scam, Rumi recalls some people do this exact same thing in Heahea. The innocent children will spent almost all their allowance before they gave up without getting any prize except some meager amount of candies. This thing is totally rigged. Yet she can't endure the temptation to try at least once.

"Haha, nice, seems like you're familiar with this kind of game. The first try is on the house." Answered the man. He's trying his hardest not to grin. This is just his strategy to trap customer to spent more. Give them easy start and let the snowball rolls.

"A-allright. I'll try, just once..." Rumi has a bad feeling. But the first try is free, so what's the harm? She'll just do it once.

She stared at the threads. There's too many. Where's the one that has the hoodie prize? Is it that one that looks too long, the one over there that is a bit split at the end, or this thread that has a bit of grey on the color?

Ahhh, why there's so many!! After a few seconds, Rumi calmed her mind and settled her choice on one of the thread.

"This one!!" Rumi pulls a random thread. The man's jaw drops to an unbelievable level when he saw the prize pulled by Rumi. He rings a small bell and said half-heartedly.

"C-congratulations! You got the h-hoodie."

"Yaaaay!!" The excited Rumi didn't waste any time and wears it immediately.

"Is there another one with two or three size smaller?" Rumi asked after she realized how big the hoodie is. It covers down to her knees, the sleeve is too long and the hoodie covered her eyes. She feels like wearing a freaky cultist cloak now.

"No." Actually yes, there is. But he still had some hope if the hoodie is too big she would exchange it for another cheaper prize.

"Ah, it's a shame. But i don't complain though. Thank you uncle!" Rumi left the stand, happy with her prize that she obtained without losing a penny.

"chamo!" Jin clamour in protest. The new fabric is making his nose itchy. He jumped down to the street and protest once more.

"chamo!"

"Right, Jin. Let's eat!" Rumi picked up Jin and hold him on her chest, with a big smile on her face. Again, Jin wants to protest about the itchy hoodie, but Rumi's good mood and the mention of food silenced him. He didn't know why his trainer has a thing for rudiculous pokemon outfit, but as long as it makes her happy then he's happy too.

 

[Ry_Burst]

“Gather around trainers!” A voice called about from a blaring loudspeaker. A man with a platinum blonde goatee and a hat’s face appeared on screens across the fair. “It’s time for sign ups for a new competition. The Pokemon Capture The Flag Tournament! Head to the big blue tent for more details. Get your game on folks!” The man made a peace sign for the camera before the screens all turned black, before shifting back to their previous program.

“The Pokemon Capture the Flag Tournament. It’s a mouthful of a name, but it does sound intriguing.” Adriana said as he crumbled up the empty masalda wrapper in his hand and tossed it in a nearby trash can. “I’m up for a competition if you are bud,” the young man said rubbing his hands through Hawk’s feathers. The Staraptor gave a nod and a smile grew on his trainer’s face.

“Well you heard the man on the TV. The big blue tent.” Adrain said standing up and surveying the surrounding area. Just northwest of where he was towered a large blue tent that seemed to overlook the whole festival. The duo made their way though the crowd and got nearer to the tent, with Hawk flying above Adrian’s head.

After a bit of walking, he made it to the tent. There he walked inside to see a large crowd already forming. He quickly walked up and reviewed the notice posted above. Pretty much, teams would be randomized into groups of six. Then the rules would be explained later on when it began. Adrian was quick to sign up, and now he had to wait for it to start.

 

[Spoiled Bread]

It's starting! Rumi sprinted to the blue tent. She had memorized the fastest way to the tent. She use her small figure and speed to easily slips between the crowd, register the tournament and got out before the crowd crush her.

"Phew, what a mass. Are you ready, Jin?" Rumi sat down on a bench while looking at the crowded tent.

"Chamo!" Jin looks eager to start.

"That's the spirit! I wonder who would be our teammate? I hope there's no jerk there."

 

[Sukoku]

Toshiro looked around, getting up. "I guess we shall go, right?" He said, looking down at Torchic, "this must be the call of the destiny soaring through the speaker, Torchic!!!" he finished. Toshiro began walking, going towards the big blue tent, but he was a bit confused. As Toshiro walked, he found a map near a tree, he looked at it, memorizing the path to the tent. "Right, let's go!!!" Toshiro yelled, picking Torchic up and running towards the blue tent.

Toshiro finally had found the tent, as he entered, a big crowd was already in, he looked around, trying to spot the place where he should sign up, as he found it, he got into the crowd of people, returning Torchic to its PokéBall. "This is the place, uh?" Toshiro said, "quite cool. Ah, and the tournament, oh well, I never played that capture the flag thing, then, my first experience must be the best!!!" He thought, waiting for his turn.

 

[Sciencewars]

Big blue tent, eh? Well, the sign sure caught Adrian's eye, so maybe the little competition was worth a shot. Seeing what Kantonian trainers were about would get him hyped for the journey ahead. Palossand had heard too, and the ghost's glowing eyes darted up to Adrian with a look of excitement.

"Ok buddy, we'll go sign up. But you better do good!" Adrain said, talking to palossand in a quiet voice. The blue tent happened to be nearby, and a crowd had already formed. The buzz of excitement meant that this game was either new to the roster or an old sport.

Without hesitation, Adrian found a small opening through the crowd. He returned palossand to the Pokeball and approached the counter. A simple few pen strokes and he was on the roster. The games were in teams of six, and appeared to be hosted in an arena of sorts. The tent he was in was side by side with a few others, which he presumed was for other games. Palossand wouldn't win a race, but Adrian wasn't really in it to win right now.


Doesn't mean he wouldn't try.

 

[Eis]

The duo weaved through the crowds, Nina's eyes shifting back and forth in search of a decent meal. As...appealing as carnival food was, it was rather expensive considering the actual amount of food, and the Sinnoh native wanted a bit more bang for her buck. That, and Nina was absolutely dying to try some of the native dishes. To Nina, one of the biggest highlights about Kanto was its food, and she would let nothing stop her from sampling at least a few of those delicacies. From his place on Nina's shoulders, Ruhig leaned forward over his trainer's head to get a look at her face. He snickered after seeing that she was almost drooling at the thought of food, earning him a glare as Nina snapped out of her stupor.

"Oi. You ate already, so you don't get to make fun of my hunger." Ruhig curled up the corners of his mouth and started squeaking in a high pitched voice. He was straight up mocking her. "Wow, real mature mate. Maybe I'll just drop you off at a Day Care for the rest of the trip? I know there's a good one by Cerulean." The Weavile dropped the voice after that remark, but he still planned on getting his kicks later. He knew Nina well enough to know that she would never follow through with that threat. Before he could continue his teasing however, a gust of wind sent a piece of paper flying into Ruhig's face.

Annoyed, Ruhig tore the paper from his face and gave it a quick once over, just to see what it was that had the gall to fly into him. Upon closer inspection, the flyer seemed to be an advertisement for some sort of competition, though exactly what kind the Weavile couldn't determine. Still, it piqued his interest. Ruhig hadn't had a good battle in over a week, and he was raring for some kind of challenge just to get him moving. Deciding that this was more important than Nina's food cravings, he leaned over her once more and held the flyer in front of her, jabbing it with a single claw for emphasis. Nina sighed, getting a little fed up with her partner's antics.

"What, you found something you wanna check out?" Nina asked as she grabbed the flyer from Ruhig. "Alright, let's see...Pokemon Capture the Flag Tournament? Jeez, that's a mouthful." Nina didn't seem too interested by the event. It sounded like fun, but with each moment that passed the pit that was forming in her stomach became more and more urgent. She turned her head to look at Ruhig, who was now leaning across her shoulder. "Mate, I know you're itching for action, but I'm starving. Can it wait one more day?" Ruhig began to pout a little in response, but his expression brightened as an idea dawned on him. The Weavile jumped from Nina's shoulder and landed in front of her. Reaching into the pouch that was tossed over his shoulder, Ruhig retrieved a single coin, tossing it in the air to get his point across. Once she understood, Nina had to smirk. "A coin toss? Heh, sure, you got it. I call heads." The duo usually made decisions with a coin toss when it was just the two of them, and lately Ruhig had been winning most of them. Logically, that meant that Nina was more likely to win this flip. Right?

Ruhig tossed the coin into the air, leaping up to catch it in the air and turning one hand over the other once he landed. Both Nina and Ruhig gazed down upon the hand with bated breath. Slowly, Ruhig moved his hand away from the coin it concealed.

It came up tails.

"What?! How?!" Nina shrieked at the coin as if it had snubbed her on purpose. As Ruhig cheered, rejoicing in his victory, Nina's screams quieted down to a dejected sigh. "I swear, you're cheating somehow. Fine, where is this thing anyway?" Nina started to skim the flyer for directions to the event, but looking past the flyer she was met with a large blue tent. One that perfectly matched the tent depicting in the advertisement. "Huh. Well, that makes things easier at least. Off we go then!" With Ruhig trailing close behind, Nina entered the crowded tent, eventually finding the sign up booth and writing both of their names down.