Summer Festival pt. 1

Capim Town entrance, Grass continent

A number of unkempt fences unevenly surrounded the town, and a tall signpost marked its entrance. A jumble of symbols were written onto the sign in an unknown language, with the words "Capim Town" crudely scribbled beneath it in plain English. Odd, Rain thought.

“Are all Pokemon towns like this?” Rain asked Cory.

“Depends on what you mean by ‘like this’, mate,” he replied. “But I think this is the first town I’ve seen that’s so… green. They really didn't wanna get rid of the trees, huh?”

Cory started to preen himself, picking at any specks of dirt stuck to his feathers. Rain, eyes still glued to the vast scenery before her, shuddered at the prospect of coming face-to-face with so many other Pokemon.

“Are Pokemon towns normally… friendly?” She asked again.

“Hm… haven’t visited many Towns myself, but they probably won’t be as hostile as ol’ Ariados back there. This town hasn’t had the misfortune of meeting me yet,” Cory answered, smirking. “Well we can’t just stay here and stare at it all day. Let’s go find this guild, aye?”

With a quick ruffle of his wings, Cory finished preening his feathers and hopped a few steps forward, then turned to look back at her.
She hesitated, feet seemingly rooted to the spot. "I-I don’t know. What if they don’t like humans?”

“Rain, all the humans in the stories I’ve heard save the world in the end. If anything, I think they’d love you.”
Rain took a deep breath to calm her nerves and took her first tentative steps past the signpost into Capim Town.

“I guess you’re right… how bad could our reputation be?”

Finally entering Capim Town proper, Rain was greeted by the scent of earthy wood and damp moss. She could almost taste the salty tang of the sea breeze in the air, and her ears twitched reflexively upon hearing the constant chatter and movement of all the Pokemon around her. It was a vibrant and lively place, full of energy and excitement. Her feet sank slightly into the grainy wood floor beneath as she followed sheepishly behind Cory.

Amidst it all, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of wonder and anticipation for what lay ahead.

“This is… incredible,” Rain breathed, her earlier nervousness giving way to awe.

“See mate, nothing to worry about!” He crows, puffing out his chest. He gestures in front of him with a wing. “Look there, I think that’s probably the Town Square.”

Before the two of them stretched a large marketplace, atop the stump of what must have been an enormous tree. Around it, multiple different Pokemon gathered. Some were trading goods, while others sat around makeshift wood tables and had casual conversation. Colourful stalls lined the pathway, showcasing a variety of berries, orbs and trinkets.

A Persian and Ninetales duo ambled by them, nodding a friendly greeting. Rain instinctively flinched at the larger Pokemon, but managed a weak smile in return. Cory held back a chuckle.

“Heya! Do either of you happen to know where we can find the local guild?”

The Ninetales paused and turned his elegant head towards them. “The.. guild?” He repeated. He pointed eastward with a tail. “If you’re talking about the Clover Guild, just keep walking that way. It’s a pretty large building a little out of the main town, you can’t miss it.”

“Got it. Thanks a ton!” Cory replied. The Ninetales waved a paw dismissively and Cory responded with a salute.

The two of them made their way through the bustling Square, following the given direction. They weaved around buildings and structures, across rope bridges and up and down a few stairs. Before long, they found themselves on a dirt path that led up a gentle slope.
At the very end of the pathway lay a plain, gigantic building. It seemed to grow organically from the ground, a number of large roots snaked from its sides into the grass around it. The Clover Guild stood proudly before them, covered in overgrown plants. The front of the building held some simple decorations and bushes, though nothing that really boasted affluence. A banner with the symbol of a four-leaved clover hung from either side of the front doors.

“Whew. It sure is grand, eh?” Cory whistled in astonishment. “Haven’t seen a building this large since… ever, really.”

“I’ve seen bigger,” Rain replied. “But it's still impressive. Considering Pokemon don’t have machines and such. I guess they make up for it with magic powers? Can Psychic Pokemon uproot trees? I saw a Machop on the way here… how heavy can they lift? Or can-”

Rain jumped back when a voice startled her from below.

“POKEMON DETECTED! POKEMON DE- oop, where’d they go?”

“Hey you up there! Get back on the grate!” A different voice yelled.

“M-me?” Rain stuttered.

“Who else? Are you retarded?” It replied.

“What the hell man, what happened to being ‘professional’?” The initial voice chided. “If you want to enter the guild, we gotta identify you first! Please step back on the grate!”

“Um, okay,” Rain said, abashedly stepping onto the mesh laid on the floor again.

“THE FOOTPRINT IS… EEVEE’S? Wait, why aren’t you brown?”

“Dude you can’t just ask someone why they’re not brown!”

“What, is asking about someone’s fur colour a crime now? It’s not like racism even exists here anyway.”

“You think Pokemon can’t be racist? Do you not remember that cuck Alakazam? He definitely had some White Power shit goin’ on…”

Bewildered at the brash language, Rain backed off the metal grate. Cory cheerfully hopped on to replace her.

“Ooh, me next!” He grinned.

He stood on the grate for a good minute while the two disembodied voices continued to argue with one another. They either didn’t notice or didn’t care and completely ignored him. The wood double doors cracked open, beckoning them inside.

“Cory, I think we should just head in. The sentries are weird,” Rain said, motioning for Cory to follow her through the entrance.

“Aw, all right,” he reluctantly obliged, walking off the grate.

“This place feels odd…” She muttered.

“Rain, what’s a ‘cuck’?”

Clover guild lobby, Grass continent

“It’s not everyday I get to see a shiny Eevee.”

An Audino peeked her head out from a door. She spoke in a very melodic manner that was like honey to the ears, and had a sweet smile to match.

“Hey mate! Are you the guildmaster?” Cory asked.

“No, my name’s Kina, I’m just the nurse here… our guildmaster’s a Meowstic named Lliam,” the Audino replies. “He’s not in right now though. He said he had some stuff to check out.”

Cory frowned in disappointment. “I thought guildmasters just sat in the office all day. And where’s all the guild members?” He motioned to the empty lobby with a wing. There wasn’t a single Pokemon in sight, save for Kina and themselves.

“Ah… it’s a busy time for the guild right now. There’s a big festival coming up and we’ve been put in charge of entertainment,” Kina explained.

“Ooh, a festival?” Cory’s face lit up.

“Yeah. Isn’t that what you came here for?” Kina asked. “I’ve never seen either of you two before, so I assumed that’s why you guys are here…”

“Oh no, we wanted to see if the guild had an opening! I’m just looking for a job and Rain here wanted to see if you guys could help her with a… problem of hers.”

Kina raised an eyebrow. “A problem? Well if it’s an injury or sickness I can take a look at it, I am the guild nurse after all.”

“No, its more like-”

“If she’s human, we don’t know why either. We kinda gave up on that front.”

Astounded, both fox and bird paused to stare at each other, then Kina.

Kina looked at the expression on their faces and continued. “You guys never heard of us? We’re pretty infamous in the town for being mostly human.”

“We didn’t really speak to any other Pokemon on the way here…” Rain spoke nervously. “Just made our way straight to the guild.”

“Oh. Let me be the first to welcome you to Clover then!” Kina hummed. “Judging by your reactions… I assume you're the human?”

Rain nodded with chagrin.

“Would you like me to show you around the guild in the meantime? Everyone’s occupied with preparing for the festival so it’s pretty much only me here right now, other than a few guildies who are lazing about in their rooms.”

“Aw yeah, guild tour!” Cory cawed.

“Couldn’t hurt I guess,” Rain agreed. “It’d be fun to see what a guild of former humans looks like.”

“...and this is the garden!”

Kina closed the gate behind them, and Rain’s eyes lit up instantaneously.

“Oh wow,” she gasped. “There’s so many different species… and they’re so big!”

She darted from flower to flower, inspecting them passionately and squeaked with fascination at each one. A cluster of large white flowers captured her attention, and she cradled one between her paws, careful not to pull it from its stem. Her eyes are glued to the sharp red gradient that bleeds out from the centre of the five petals.

“Do you know what this is?” She smiles gently. “This is a Hibiscus! Back when I was a little girl, I used to see a lot of these on the way to school, though not in this beautiful white shade. Some parts of the world use them to make tea! In flower language it’s commonly interpreted as ‘true beauty’ which makes a lot of sense. Do you see how large each of the lips on this particular flower is? I imagine without pests and decent care, the flowers in this world can grow to insane sizes…”

Kina turned to Cory. “She’s spoken more here than the whole tour. Quite the flower enthusiast, hm?”

“Aye,” he responded curtly.

Rain is so engrossed with her speech that she failed to notice another pair of Pokemon coming into the garden.

“They’re quite the hardy flower for how showy they are, which makes it a popular choice among even inexperienced gardeners to enhance the beauty of-”

“A shiny eevee!”

Upon hearing a voice that was not Kina’s nor Cory’s, Rain whipped her head around.

Standing at the entrance of the garden was a Raichu and a Minun. Raichu adorned a navy blue neckerchief and Minun wore a white lace choker with a white wildflower. Both rodents sported small green Clover-shaped badges that alluded to their status as guild members. Upon making eye contact, Minun dashed up to Rain, her eyes gleaming with joy.

“Omigosh…” Minun squealed. “When I joined the guild, I really thought I’d get to see more of you… ugh, you’re so fluffy!”

In an odd turn of events, Rain turned from inspecting flowers into being inspected. Minun visibly jittered with glee as she put a paw forward to shake.

“You can call me Minun,” she said excitedly. “And this is my favourite partner, Raichu!”

Raichu smiled lazily beside Minun. “I’m your only partner, silly. Nice to meet you both. New to the guild, I assume? ”

“Yeppers, we are!” Cory responded. “I’m Cory, and this is my favourite mate, Rain!”

A little taken aback by Minun’s fangirling, Rain only managed to cough out a short ‘yes’.

“Ah… excuse Minun here,” Raichu said. “She’s only like this with flowers and cute things.”

Raichu herded the smaller electric mouse away from Rain. With a sobering nudge from Cory, Rain found her voice to speak.

“Um, no worries,” she croaked. “I really like what you guys did with this garden… I can tell the flowers are well-loved. They’ve bloomed spectacularly.”

“They have, haven’t they?” Minun grinned. “Though we just help with the upkeep… you can thank Chespin and Booker for the actual planting!”

“I gotta meet them someday then,” Rain replied. “I loved flowers as a kid and kinda never grew out of it.”

Minun put a paw to her chin in thought.

“Say Rain… whaddya say about doing me and Raichu a favour?” She asked. “I know we just met, but I overheard some of your lecture just now. Your plant taxonomy is amazing!”

Rain blushed. “I wouldn’t say amazing… pretty good at best…”

“What’s this one called?” Minun pointed at the nearest flower.

“That's a daisy. Probably an ox-eye daisy, but it could also be a-”

“See? Amazing,” Minun said. “Ooh I’m so happy to finally have someone I can nerd out about flowers with! Even the seeders know jack shi-”

Raichu nudged Minun gently to calm her.

“Okay, so you both know about the upcoming festival, right?” Minun asked.

Cory nodded. “Kina filled us in while showing us around the guild, yeah.”

“Right, then you also know that us guildies are tasked with hosting booths and entertainment then,” Minun continued. “Raichu and I plan to set up something flowery, and we need a little help gathering the materials/flowers needed.”

“You want us to prune flowers?” Rain asked. “I think I can handle that.”

“Woohoo! Our first guild mission!” Cory exclaimed. He immediately moved to pluck a garden flower at his side.

Minun leapt in front of Cory, stopping him. “Woah, not so fast!” She yelled. “We can’t use the garden flowers. These flowers were specially curated by some of the other guildies. Plus there’s nowhere near enough of them to use to make into bouquets or weaving into crowns!”

“We were planning to pick out wildflowers from the forests and plains outside town,” Raichu added. “But we also need some time to get the physical booth ready, and we’ve only just got the supplies delivered.”

“Yeah, and the festival’s in 2 days! We’re so screwed!”

“I know you’ve just come into town, and the outskirts aren’t the safest place… but it’d be a big help if you two could help us,” Raichu sighed.

Rain looked at Cory. He nodded fervorously back at her.

Reluctantly, Rain accepted the request.

“Okay, we’ll help.”

Minun grinned and pumped her paws into the air.

“Yes! Thank you so much!” She yelled joyfully. “Then we’ll meet back here in the morning?”

“Sounds good to me.” Rain and Minun shook paws in agreement.

The five of them waved goodbye to one another as they went in separate ways. Rain felt a tap on her head as Kina led the two of them out the garden to continue their tour.

Kina stopped in front of a door at the end of a corridor and turned around to face Rain and Cory.

“Unless you two already have accommodation plans, you may use this room.”

She opened the door to reveal a small, empty, wood-lined room. It had close to no decor other than a simple wood table, a stool, a small chest and a window.

“It’s not the biggest, but it beats sleeping outside…” Cory said.

“Bigger than the apartment I owned at least,” Rain commented. “Can’t complain, it’s free as well. Honestly, not bad. How did the guild get a hold of a building this large anyway?”

“Ahh… that's a story for another day. For now, you guys should get some rest! There’ll be plenty of time for the both of you to explore the town tomorrow,” Kina replied. She shut the door behind her, and Rain and Cory found themselves alone once again. Rain gave herself a stretch and settled down on the bedding provided.

“This is an oddly snug position to fall asleep in,” Rain mumbled as she curled up. She felt her tail bring itself up and around her body until its soft tip rested gently on her nose, covering her like an incredibly soft quilt. She tucked her face into the thick fluff of her neck and yawned. Feeling safe and secure, she shut her eyes and sleep washed over her.

“Good night, Cory.”

She heard the clacking of his talons as he found a comfortable spot to roost. A gentle caw escaped his beak as he yawned in turn.

“Hehe… if you were a Raichu, I could call you Rainchu.”

“...not your best work.”

Hibiscus is a Genus of flowering plant commonly found in tropical and subtropical regions. They are relatively easy to grow, very bright and colorful, making them ideal for landscaping. Personally my favourite flower :D