"They said it's supposed to have tormented the village of Kitakami," the assistant begins. "The Loyal Three are said to have fended off the Ogre at the cost of their lives."

Sven hums to himself and takes a sip of his drink. It was his first venture to Kitakami and it admittedly felt a little underwhelming. But then again, he had grown so used to the hustle and bustle of Mauville. He wasn't one for folklore, but any information he could get was worthwhile. There was a rumor of some pokemon that had ties to the terastalization phenomenon that had taken roots in Hoenn, that it could change its tera type based on certain factors that had not been discovered, so further research into the folklore seemed necessary. The pair is greeted by a kind representative with the community center and told of the festivities that approach.

"Huh? A festival?"

Sven seems to find the suggestion to be a surprise. It'd be rude to decline the offer to partake in the village's traditions. He ponders the proposal for a bit and eventually gives an approving nod. Why not? It'd be an easy way to wind down after their research concluded. But he's restless, ready to explore a bit and learn more of the phenomena. With his Dragonite withdrawn, he crawls onto the dragon's back and props himself up to speak to it.

"Let's go scout, Barney. The mountains to the west look promising."

He and the Dragonite soon take to the skies and scout from the air. The outskirts of the village look far more breathtaking than the village itself, with much more to do and see. Posts along the way tell the village story of how the Loyal Three protected Kitakami from a creature they deemed the Ogre. The plight itself was impressive, and the idea that these guardian pokemon were willing to sacrifice themselves? It felt like a real fairytale of sorts. While he wasn't necessarily the praying type, he figures the least he could do was pay his respects to the shrine the village had built.

Though as Sven and his Dragonite ascend the mountain, he can't shake the feeling something is watching them.

Maybe he was just paranoid, or maybe the flight left him exhausted. He brushes the thought into the back of his mind and continues along the trail with Barney. Once they reach the top of the mountainous surroundings, he catches the sight of a pool that looks like it's littered with tera crystals. Sven takes photos for the sake of further inspection, but his keen eye manages to catch something at the bottom of the pool. He motions for Barney to wait as he takes a leap into the waters below and dives further to retrieve the mask at the bottom. It looks like a celebratory one, someone in the village probably dropped it in when exploring the area. Best to reunite it with its owner.

The feeling something is watching them grows more evident the moment he opens his bag to place the mask in.

"Hey, I've had a really long day, so if you could quit--"

As he turns to face the source he's speaking to, he pauses. The creature looks more like a lost child. Maybe someone who wandered too far away from the village? He gives a gentle smile and speaks to the creature again.

"Hey, I think you went the wrong way, buddy. The festivities are supposed to be east of the village. Don't worry, I'll walk you back."

The creature seems hesitant and refuses to follow. Sven notices and cocks a brow. His eyes travel from the creature to the mask in his hand that it seemed to be eyeing. Then Sven realizes: maybe this kid dropped this mask. While he attempts to approach, the creature backs away, almost frightened. Sven halts immediately and simply places the mask on the ground at the halfway point.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. You uh... Well, you go ahead and pick this up whenever you feel like it," he insists before he looks at his watch. "But don't wait here too long! The festivities are supposed to start soon!"

As Sven runs off with his Dragonite, the creature retrieves the mask and sits alone with the feeling: maybe someone as kindhearted as that human is happens to be worthy of its attention.

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dream drop distance

Saskia made a point, his last name was pretty cool. But there was something cool about the sound of the name Sven Volosenkov to him. It would be something he'd have to ponder on. He looked over and saw the way his friend practically masticated her ice cream and felt his own teeth hurt as she bit into the spiral of soft serve. Sven winced and turned his attention elsewhere for the moment. Once she seemed done, he finally turned back and had managed to formulate a result for her.

"I mean you can have my surname instead," he insisted. "Do you think if we ever got married, we could just swap names? That'd be pretty cool."

The way he talked so casually about the topic seemed second nature. When it came down to it, Sven didn't really think much on the topic of matrimony. It wasn't as end-all-be-all as most people made it out to be. Maybe he was just disillusioned, or maybe he didn't view it as that big of a deal. His words were emphasized with a laissez-faire shrug as his attention turned back to the ocean.

It was pretty tempting to take a swim before the fireworks started to shoot off. He did himself a favor and slipped the sandals off he'd opted for that day and stood up. The dry sand felt foreign between his toes, but it reminded him of simpler times. A broad smile never seemed to leave his face as he allowed his heart to guide his words, an action that spoke volumes, but perhaps not in the way it was intended. Luckily for him, the two were birds of a feather. Friendzone, schmendzone, the two were just happy to have friends.

"But I don't think I'd trade our friendship for the world though," he insisted. "It's the one constant I've had since being here."

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saskia volosenkova

With the shove, he was thankfully free from the confines of the wall. Once he was up and moving around, he flashed a smile of gratitude to the woman on the other side of the wall. As he looked back, he saw that the rest of the people waiting to test their skills and gave a bewildered smile. Oops. That was his bad. Sven raised his hands in a form of defense as he spewed out a few awkward apologies with a nervous laugh. Time to get moving, he supposed. As he circled around, the brunette quickly trotted up to the stranger who had been kind enough to push him out of his predicament (quite literally.)

"Hey, thanks again by the way!" he offered with the utmost gratitude. "Name's Sven, wish we could've met under better circumstances, but hey, no biggie."

A hand offered out, then quickly drawn back to wipe it free of any sweat from the adrenaline that coursed through his veins from the ride, and offered out once more. If she chose to shake it, then great. If not, he understood. It wasn't exactly in good tastes to shake hands with some weirdo that you pushed out of a wall. Sven wasn't exactly the verbal thanks kind of person, so it wasn't long until he held a hand up to excuse himself.

"Just wait right here! Let me get you something as my thanks."

He darted off towards the nearest food stand and got two orders of cotton candy. A bummer for the kid who had just gotten behind him. The young boy seemed so excited to get some cotton candy and when it was mentioned the stand didn't have anymore, Sven furrowed his brows and quickly turned around to offer out the treat he'd gotten for himself. He knelt down to the child's height and offered it out.

"Hey, hey, there's no need to be upset at a carnival. Here, you can have mine, just make sure to share it with your mom here, alright?"

Sven flashed his teeth in a smile at the child and quickly stood up to make a dash back to Camellia and offer the other cotton candy out to her.

"Here! This place has some pretty sweet cotton candy."

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Camellia Lemaitre

"Well we were both part of the end result if you think about it, so we both helped to fix it," he reasoned.

Sven began to pile ketchup on his own plate of fries and soon went to devour them. But as he got about a quarter of the way through his plate, he began to slow down. Maybe it was due to the fact that his eyes were bigger than his stomach, or maybe he'd just eaten them too quickly. Either way, it resulted in smaller bites and fewer takes from his plate. Eyes watched the Typhlosion with a sense of curiosity. He'd heard briefly about the Hisuian variants, but it was strange to see something that had supposedly been lost in time so out in the open. Whenever the Typhlosion looked at him, Sven flashed an awkward smile.

"I just happened to pick up the wiring trick with my own dj equipment, and then there's always working on stuff to get my foot in the door as far as research goes."

He was a sharp-minded individual but self-abnegation barred him from bragging about his talents. With his own share of the fries ate, he allowed both of his Sprigatitos to dig right in. It wasn't long until his attention focused on a nearby booth. Something about guessing how many there were? Sven stood up from his seat and carefully eyed the Spinda they had in a group. Though of course none of them stood still long enough to be counted. As his eyes tried to keep track of them all, he felt himself grow dizzy at the display. He gave his guess of 17 and the booth attendant shook their head. Better luck next time.

He came back and couldn't help but stumble a bit on the way. Once he gained his bearings, Sven shook his head a bit to stop the spinning in his head.

"That game's impossible!"

Once he glanced to the plate that originally had his fries, he saw that his grass cats had devoured them without so much as a second thought. Not that he seemed to mind, that's what he offered them out for.

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Elinor Anderson

It was time for him to try his luck with the Tauros Rodeo once again. Sven hopped up onto the mechanical bull and readied himself. With a thumbs up to the operator, the brunette gripped onto the saddle as tight as his fingers would allow him. The machine started slow and steady and rocked back and forth. Though in a matter of seconds, it began to violently buck. This wasn't the first time he'd experienced the extreme twists and turns the Tauros had in it. So far, so good. The timer read twenty seconds. Twenty one, twenty two... By the halfway point, the ride jerked back, forth, turned at breakneck speeds. It was a miracle Sven was still on.

But then he wasn't.

Like all the other times he tried to tame the mechanical beast, he went flying. Though this time, his upper body seemed to break through the protective barrier that the carnival had set up for those who couldn't handle the bull's wrath. Arms awkwardly tangled as one hooked above his head and the other pinned just beneath his left pectoral. As he glanced to the side, he noticed a passerby and wiggled his fingers in a rather awkward wave.

"Hey, uh... Mind giving me a little push out of here? I got a little overzealous with that mechanical menace in there."

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Camellia Lemaitre

With the Typhlosion's handiwork in check, he flashed the pokemon a thumbs up as a form to acknowledge its hard work. It seemed everything was in working condition. Sweat trickled down his neck from how stuffy it had been under the machine, and the added heat of the Typhlosion only seemed to make it worse. Sven ducked out completely and allowed himself to cool off. He soon drew his Morpeko back into its pokeball and grinned from ear to ear.

"Thanks, both of you!" he offered. "The ride should be safe for now, but it wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on it."

The latter words were offered to the operator. With the ride momentarily fixed, the pair had no need to linger. Sven whistled and both of his Sprigatitos bounded towards him. He used both arms to pick the felines up and beamed at them. For a moment, Sven's stomach rumbled loudly and a split-second look of embarrassment plastered itself onto his face before he laughed it off.

"I think that's our cue to go get something, you want anything?"

He glanced between Elinor and Gati. Whenever they offered an answer, he took off towards the snack stand and glanced back to see if the pair opted to follow. Once Sven reached it, he looked over the menu and practically salivated at a bit of everything the stand had to offer. Something about fair food was so good, maybe it was how unhealthy it was. But he didn't care. After some careful pondering, Sven got a large order of fries that the two and their pokemon could share, an energy drink for himself, a drink for Elinor, and then a small dish of ice cream for the Typhlosion that had been so kind to help solder the wires.

With all of the treats in tow, Sven took to a free table and sat it all down before he went to go get some ketchup for the fries. Notably the twin Sprigatitos in his team hopped up onto the bench on one side of the table in the meantime. Sven didn't take long to return, as he took his seat and then soon offered the ice cream dish out to the Typhlosion.

"A thanks for you!" he insisted. Then carefully pushed the drink for Elinor her way. "And a thanks for you!"

With the treats offered, Sven took to the fries and began to eat a couple.

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Elinor Anderson

Sven was quick to flash Saskia a thumbs up. He could vibe with the idea of snow cones if they could find a stand that sold them. Since the pendulum ride caught her intrigue more, he figured that'd be a great ride start. As they approached the line, he couldn't help but frown a bit. It didn't seem like too many people found interest in the ride. But hey! That meant that their wait wouldn't be too long. As the ride gave its final swing, it began to slow down. The crowd slowly made their way to the exit, and the gates opened once again. Sven took a seat closer to the back and managed to scoot over to offer Saskia enough space to sit with him. There was something about the backseat that was arguably best for a ride like that.

It took on the appearance of an old-timey pirate ship with prop cannons on the side, and a support beam for the ship to swing from in place of a mast. Once everyone was fit onto the ride, it soon took off. Slow at first, but gradually picked up speed. It wasn't exactly a thrill ride in itself, but the height it swayed from felt pretty exciting. Sven peered over the edge to see some of the carnival goers watching as the ship took to the skies in the back and forth motion. The faster the to and fro motion became, the more the wind blew his hair all over the place.

Saskia was right, it had been a decent way to cool off. But it felt that no sooner had the ride gotten exciting, it came to an end. After the ride came to a halt, Sven took the lead off of it and offered a hand to his companion. Once the two were off, he figured he'd offer the chance for Saskia to scout out for a snow cone stand.

"You see anything? Some sort of map that'll tell us where to go? Or--," his thoughts were cut off.

Someone walking by held a snow cone in their hand and walked their way. He could only assume they'd come from the opposite direction. Notably the entire time Sven lead the way, he hadn't let go of Saskia's hand.

"Should be this way!"

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saskia volosenkova

"She's determined, that's how she does it," he insisted.

Sven shifted in his seat a bit. While he didn't know Shalin as well as he knew Josh, it was blatantly clear that the ranger had plenty of nerve. She and Josh shared that in common -- both wild in their own aspects. He was lightning, quick to strike and volatile. Shalin was the wind, violent in its wake yet gone without a trace. At least those were the impressions that he got from the two. Two sides of the same coin. But hey, that's what made both interesting people in their own right.

"I dunno, I guess I probably have overwhelming optimism coursing through my veins, but I like to think she's got plenty of potential to do something great."

He was quick to flash a warm smile to accompany the words he offered. It was, in a sense, his acknowledgment that Shalin had a bright future with the rangers. They needed wild and unpredictable, but as long as she didn't suffer any harm, then she was golden. His train of thought was cut short the moment the curtain rose to reveal the setup for the audience. What sort of show would Shalin offer to the crowd?

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Josh Devlin