Snacks, Conversation, and Performance! [Halloween 2019]

As Saturn was looking through opportunities for merit points, he discovered that Peak Academy was hosting a Fall Festival public event in a couple days that awarded a generous amount of merit points for hosting some kind of activity for others to participate in. It could be anything from a performance to a service to even a snack stall. The only stipulation was that it had to pretain somehow to one or more of the classes/clubs you are part of. The question was, what kind of product/service would he provide?

Hmm. My majors pretain to combat and exploration. What kind of service would be relatively easy for me to provide that would also touch upon either of those subjects? Saturn wandered about the outskirts of the campus, absorbed in thought. He knew that he wanted his service to be educational in some way, seeing as knowledge was one of the few things he possessed that was worthy of sharing. Could I do something pretaining to identifying plants? Probably not, I don't know enough about them yet. Perhaps I could set up an activity centered around guessing a pokemon's type by looking at them? No, that's too inconsistent. Oh, I know! How about a fun memory game that challenges your knowledge on type matchups? That sounds rather engaging.

Saturn then got to work on putting together a little puzzle for others to solve. It consisted of putting the name of every type that exists down on individual slips of paper. Then, two slips are drawn at random and whoever is participating in the puzzle has to state the relationship between the two types. For instance, if Rock and Grass are drawn, then whoever is playing says whether they think Grass is supereffective against Rock, vice versa, one is resistant/immune to the other, or if it is a neutral matchup. Obviously, the objective of the game is to state the correct answer. Maybe even have multiple pokemon compete against each other, and the first pokemon to answer correctly gets a point and whoever has the most points after a certain amount of rounds wins? Of course, he didn't really have anything to give away as a prize, but the opportunity to hone one's skills in making split-second decisions like this was a reward in and of itself, in his opinion. After all, you usually only have mere seconds to size up an opponent before a fight breaks out, so being able to reliably call upon such information at a moment's notice is a very useful skill to have. And to top it off, it pretains to his battling major, so it all works out!

After a couple days' worth of gathering supplies and setting everything up, Saturn managed to finish his project just in time for the public event to start. It wasn't very extravagant or anything; he basically just had a bag full of small pieces of paper (two for each type, since some types have some interesting relationships with themselves.) and a rudiamentary cheat-sheet he could rely on to confirm answers. Other than that, he didn't have any fancy stall or anything. He didn't really need one.

I wonder if anyone will find my little game interesting?, Saturn thought to himself, looking at the other activities some of the more ambitious pokemon set up. Maybe someone else already thought of my idea? Either way, I'm sure someone find my little setup intriguing.

Valen had also heard that there was a Fall Festival at Peak Academy, where running an activity could give merit points. He had thought about what to do for quite a long while, but he had finally managed to think of an activity in time. It was based off his major in Expeditionary Studies - the idea was about finding items in hidden places, similar to what could potentially happen in a dungeon. Valen had, over time, collected a few items which he could now use for this.

Valen had written in large letters on a relatively small sign, now stuck in the ground: Find Hidden Items! Below it on the sign, in smaller letters, was an explanation: Do you want to test your skills at finding hidden things? If so, this is the place for you! Rules: 1. Look at the status listed on the other sign. 2. Only when the other sign says "Open," you can talk with me so we can decide which items you can look for. 3. All items will be hidden within the area of the three Sticks stuck in the ground. 4. Do NOT damage, destroy, or use the items. They are my property, and such acts will be reported to Peak Academy authorities. 5. No cheating. You may use any senses you possess to try to find the hidden items, but only once they have been hidden. Do not try looking, hearing, smelling, and so on for the items while I am hiding them. Mind-reading is not allowed at all - none of these items have minds.

Valen had, indeed, stuck 3 Sticks in the ground in a triangular pattern. This area, he believed, would be large enough to hide items well. It included two trees, some bushes, and a lot of grass. The other sign mentioned on the rules sign was actually near the rules sign and looked similar. It had "Open" and "In Use" written on it. Currently, a gray band - which was actually the one from the Aileron Guild - was covering the "In Use" part, leaving only "Open" visible. Valen hoped that using the band in that way wasn't against some Guild rule he hadn't heard about, but it at least looked undamaged so far.

Once the signs and Sticks were set up, Valen looked around for potential customers. The first who came by was - to his surprise - a Kirlia. For it was not just any Kirlia, but one who had helped him before in Peak Academy by lending paper and ink when he didn't have anything to write with or on. The Kirlia turned towards him and said "Hi! I remember you."

"You were the one who helped me before with the ink and paper, weren't you?" Valen replied. "Thanks a lot again for that!"

"You're welcome," the Kirlia said, "and now I want to ask you a favor." He laughed. "Can I participate in your activity?"

"Definitely!" Valen replied. "So, what items do you want to look for once I hide them?" Valen brought out a collection of items he had.

The Kirlia looked for some time. Eventually, he said, "I guess I can start out small. I'll try to find one Sitrus Berry and... this Orb," pointing to what Valen knew was a Rocky Orb.

"Great!" Valen replied. "Do you want any tips from me before you start?"

"Umm... I'll try on my own first," the Kirlia said.

"Okay then. So, I'll be hiding the items now. Move away a little bit, don't look until I tell you I'm done, and as the sign says... no mind reading at all." Valen told the Kirlia, who quickly obliged. Although I don't think I can tell whether he's reading my mind or not. But I guess I have to trust him. He helped me before, after all. Valen realized.

First, Valen moved the Gray Band so it covered "Open," leaving only "In Use" visible now. Then, he flew over to one of the trees in the area. Its leaves and shape somewhat resembled a Sitrus Berry tree, but it was somewhat larger and the leaves were greener. Nevertheless, as Valen couldn't see any actual Berry plants around, he decided this one could be the place to hide the Sitrus Berry. He placed the Berry on one of the lower branches, so it would be easy for the non-flying Kirlia to reach, and wedged between two leaves. Next, Valen looked for a place to hide the Rocky Orb. Eventually, he remembered where he had originally found it - in the mud of Cattail Marsh. There was no true mud here, though, and Valen had to admit he wasn't sure whether there was a particular kind of area where Orbs were likely to be found. Nevertheless, he decided to place the Orb on the ground near one of the vertices of his area, relatively far away from either of the trees, and somewhat cover it with dirt. He intentionally left some of the blue visible, though, so someone looking could potentially see a small unusual patch of blue on the ground.

While Valen was doing this, he looked - and saw Saturn. The Cubone was some distance away from Valen's area, and seemed to be holding some things. Valen wondered whether the Cubone had an activity of his own. If he does, I would like to do it, Valen thought. But I have an activity of my own to host... What should I do?

Valen decided to fly back to the Kirlia now, as he was finished with hiding the items. "You can start searching now," he told the Kirlia, who was still in the same position. Then, Valen realized something he could do, especially since he definitely felt now that he could trust the Kirlia who had helped him before. "There is one thing... I need to meet someone else for some time. Can you search while I'm not around and make sure nothing bad happens here as well?"

"I guess I can do it," the Kirlia told Valen after turning towards him, and then went into the marked area while closely looking at thigns - though at the bottom left, far away from both of the hidden items. It might take him some time to find them, Valen thought to himself, so at least that might give me more time to be with Saturn. Valen then flew over to near where Saturn was. Once near Saturn, Valen said "Hello! I'm doing an activity but I got some time away from it now, so if you're doing an activity, could I participate in it? And just maybe after that you can do mine? I'm just wondering."

(OOC: the Kirlia's speech color is #ff3399. All effect items mentioned are straight from my inventory.)

Chiron had an idea. It was an idea for an invention, one that he’d be thinking about for a while. So, a lot of Pokémon can’t fly or reach really high places, right? What about a little something that allowed those Pokémon who couldn’t fly to reach those high places. Some way to help Pokémon reach things and get places really high up, which, for Chiron, was something he would love to be able to do himself instead of having his dad reach all the high places for him. Chiron had spent quite a bit of time thinking about how that would be possible. Do you create wings? Give Pokémon levitation? Do you grow them? Then it hit him, What if you can just jump higher? And so, Chiron had his idea. Boots you could wear that would make you jump higher to reach all those out of reach places.

He was thinking of putting springs beneath the boots, but that made them very hard to walk in. He could jump from place to place, though! Sort of! Before he tripped after the second bounce, that is. Still, Chiron wasn’t done. He wouldn’t be placing springs to his feet, no, they’d be in some footwear. Some kind of footwear, or boot, that you could make springy or not springy at will. Some kind of switch you could flip that turned them into normal boots. Of course, Chiron had no idea how to do this seemingly impossible task...but wasn’t that what inventing is for? To solve impossible problems to help better the world? Maybe? And thus, Spring-Boots were made. At least in his head, where he’d continue trying to build prototypes and test them. Not only would they help you reach that top shelf, but they’d also be fun to hop from place to place in.

Chiron’s Spring-Boots were more important than trying to think of a stall or activity for Peak Academy. It wasn’t mandatory in order to go. Chiron thought. I’ll just enjoy other Pokémon’s stalls. He then noticed his friend Saturn, a Cubone that was also a Peak Academy student. I wonder if he set up a stall? Chiron saw that he was actually talking with someone else, and you shouldn’t interrupt a conversation. He moved close to Saturn, pretending he was looking at a stall filled with treats. The owner probably greeted him, but Chiron wasn’t listening. He was only listening to his friend, wanting to hear what he was talking about and wait for an opportunity for him to be alone. So, he just stared at the treats, not really paying attention to them. The only Pokémon he paid attention to was Saturn. And his new friend.

Once Saturn got situated, he wondered if he should be advertising his service, to make it more genuine. Nah, I'd probably just make a complete fool of myself in the process. As it turned out, that wasn't really necessary. Much to his surprise, Valen showed up, asking to partake in his game. "Oh, hey, Valen! Of course you can play my game! It's pretty simple. This here bag is filled with pieces of paper, each with an elemental type written on it. I pull two of them out, and your objective is to correctly state the relationship between the two, as fast as you can. It's an exercise to help pokemon get more familiar with type matchups by simulating the tense, split-second decisions you have to make during a fight.", Saturn said, whilst mixing up the contents of the bag. "And yes, I'd love to do your activity once I have a free moment to do so."

Once he felt the paper slips were sufficiently mixed up, Saturn reached in and grabbed two slips at once. He had to carefully untangle them a bit so they didn't risk being ripped. Once he separated them from their bretheren, he set the rough, burlap sack down and read aloud what the pieces of paper said. "Please state the relationship between Fighting and Steel types"

Hopefully, his activity made as much sense in practice as it did in his head.

Valen noticed a blue Pokemon approach Saturn. Totodile, he thought. Water-type Pokemon with powerful jaws. Hopefully I'm remembering that correctly from the books I read.

But there was something else as well. Saturn explained the rules of his activity - and it was about type matchups - one of the things Valen had the most trouble with remembering, even with all of the books he had read recently. After all, he had been focusing more on learning about Pokemon species. Maybe, just maybe, this will be one of the ones I remember... But as Saturn stated "Please state the relationship between Fighting and Steel types," Valen realized he most definitely did not. So what do I do? Admit I don't know or guess and likely get this horribly wrong? Valen wondered. Well, trying is better than just giving up, and... this is my friend I'm playing with. This isn't serious. Even if I'm wrong now, I'll be fine.

Valen started thinking to himself. He still couldn't remember much about how the Fighting and Steel type related to each other, especially because neither of them were the Flying type. He did remember that Fighting was super effective against Normal, his other type, but Flying resisted it, so Fighting-type attacks were neutral against him overall. This did not help him at all with its relationship to Steel, though. As for Steel, well, Valen could remember something... it resisted so many types, didn't it? It resisted both Normal and Flying. Did it resist Fighting? Valen couldn't remember if it did did, but there were so many types Steel resisted... There was something, something at the edge of his mind but Valen couldn't remember it clearly. How did Fighting interact with Steel-type attacks? Valen had no idea whatsoever, so the default choice was it was neutral, wasn't it?

"Okay, so... I guess that Steel-types resist Fighting-type attacks, and Fighting-types are neutral towards Steel-type attacks?" Valen suddenly felt even worse. I know I made a mistake. And there's that... Totodile, after all? So it isn't just Saturn. What is that other Pokemon going to think?

“No.” Chiron said to the bird Pokémon that...wait, haven’t I seen that Pokémon somewhere before? What even is he? Shaking his head slightly, focusing on Saturn, Chiron was unable to resist answering what was such an easy question. Type Match Ups. Chiron’d learned about those in preschool, it was just simple memory work. Like math. “Fighting Type moves are super effective against Steel Types, who are weak to Fighting Types.” He had a confident smile on his face, one that told everyone he believed he was superior than this...bird he did not know the species of. He walked closer to the two Pokémon, now focusing his attention on Saturn the Cubone. “As for Steel Types, well...it’s a trick question because there is no answer. A Steel Type move isn’t stronger or weaker against a Fighting Type, it’s a neutral match up.” He glanced at the bird Pokémon, grinning even more smugly. “That one’s child's play.” Said the child himself.

“I like your game.” Chiron said to Saturn, finding the premise simple, easy, and rewarding as he gets to impress his friend with his knowledge of Type Match Ups since, apparently, that was so difficult. “Make my Type Match Up a hard one.” He was only showing off because he liked Saturn. It wasn’t Chiron’s fault this avian had the memory of a rock. An inanimate one, not a Rock Type like a Geodude. No offence to Rock Types.

Once Valen finished responding, Saturn looked down at the cheat sheet in his hand. He already knew his answer was wrong, but double-checked anyway, just to be sure. As he was looking up from his paper to relay this, a familiar Totodile came up and took the words right out of his mouth, barring the over-confident demeanor. "Oh, hello, uh..." Saturn struggled to remember his name. He remembered it sounded foreign to him. "...Kiba, is it? Yes, you are correct. Although, there are no matchups that are necessarily more difficult than others, That is purely subjective and varies from pokemon to pokemon." Saturn then put back the two previously drawn slips of paper and shook the bag up some more. "Ok, let's see here... Your matchup is Grass and Dragon. What is their relationship?"

Saturn hoped this game wouldn't get too competitive. He'd hate to see his friends fight, but would certainly try to defuse the situation, if necessary. Even if he didn't have a whole lot of experience with diplomacy, surely it would be better than doing nothing, right?

So yes, the worst things that Valen had feared had indeed occurred. Not only had Valen gotten the question wrong, the Totodile's expressions and speech showed that he clearly did not have a high opinion of Valen's intellect now. At least Saturn defended me, Valen thought. He's still my friend. That's good.

I should have remembered. Fighting is super-effective against Steel, and it's one of the few types that are like that. But... it's not really important to me, is it? Neither of those are my types, and I'm probably not going to be using moves of those types... except through Mirror Move, but still... Valen continued thinking. That Totodile... He's just another non-flyer who thinks he's superior to me somehow. Like that... Piplup I met in Fallen Leaf Copse, but this time it's not even a bird Pokemon who's the one thinking that way. Valen had barely even noticed what question Saturn had given to the Totodile and was just standing there, thinking without doing much else.

“Dragon Types resist Grass Type moves. They also resist Fire, Electric, and Water Type moves, too.” Chiron answered, looking at Saturn, arms crossed. I should probably add in an extra fun fact, just to impress him even more. “Fun fact, Dragon Types are the only Type that’s weak to itself, so they have to watch out while fighting other Dragon Types.” This was great! He was playing Pokémon Type Trivia to show his friend all the things he knew! And he wasn’t being shooed away for playing it! “Grass Types, however, are another trick question. There’s no relation between them, Dragon Type moves deal a neutral amount of damage just as a Steel Type move deals a neutral amount of damage to a Fighting Type.”

Chiron’s smile grew even wider, he felt so excited. Saturn probably thinks I’m so smart. Smarter then that...other Pokémon, what even was he? “And most Pokémon call me Chiron, Saturn.” Chiron corrected his friend, smiling politely. “Kiba’s my last name.”

Saturn searched through his answers, making sure everything Chiron said was true. "You are mostly correct, Chiron, except for one, small thing. Dragon isn't the only type that is strong against itself. Ghost also shares this relationship. They are the only two types that work in such a way." Saturn looked around, seeing if anyone else seemed interested in his activity. It appeared that just about everyone else was lining up for free snacks and waiting for mock battles and such to begin. He was grateful for this, since it meant he could try out Valen's game.

"Unfortunately, I don't have any prizes to give out, but if either of you want I would be happy to help you practice some more. But before we get into that, I would like to try out Valen's activity, first." Saturn put down the sack and rolled up the answer sheet, carefully placing it inside. He looked around and hoped that nobody would rifle through his belongings while he was gone. He also had his dungeon spoils in there, after all.

"So, Valen, how does your game work?"

"Nice! So, well... I ended up writing all of the rules there, on a sign near my activity..." Valen replied to Saturn's question. "But the basic idea is that it's an item finding game, based on my major of Expeditionary Studies. So, it's like I have an area, and I'm going to hide items in that area, and you have to find the hidden items. It's sort of like what might happen in a dungeon, as there can be items in places which make them difficult to see in dungeons... Hope that's a good explanation."

"So, we can go back there now and try out the game. When I left, there was someone else working on finding some items - he's a Kirlia that I know from before, actually, so I trusted him to make sure the rules were being followed. I'm not totally sure, but I think he could have finished by now, but if he hasn't, we would just have to wait, I guess." Valen started to fly slowly back to his activity, so that Saturn could follow him. Before Valen had gotten very far, though, he remembered something. "Um... Oh, Chiron. Do you want to play my game as well? I mean, I don't know what you want, but you and Saturn could even try working on finding the items together if you wish." he said. He currently didn't have that high of an opinion towards the Totodile, but it wasn't so extreme that he would outright turn down a potential participant - especially since it would be quite rude to do so. He then continued his slow flight back. "Just showing the way..." he mentioned.

“Wait, that’s wrong!” Chiron stated, mainly in denial. “That’s...no, that’s not right! You you must be wrong! Or or...” He couldn’t think of a reason how, or how to explain it, but his friend was wrong. Simple as that. He opened up Saturn’s sack and searched through it before grabbing the answer sheet, looking through it. This is wrong. The answers showed that Ghost was strong against Ghost. No. No, he couldn’t be wrong. He couldn’t. He wasn’t wrong! He looked back up at the strange bird with a look that was both angry and surprised, eyes wide as he couldn’t understand why he’d possibly want to play the game of a Pokémon who’d just showed him up in front of his friend. Yes, he’s blaming the strange bird. It’s not Chiron’s fault, he’s not wrong! “You...” Chiron said through clenched teeth. “Expect me to play some...weird, reversed hide and seek?”

He placed the sack down, just letting the answer sheet fall near it. The look of surprise now looked like one of pure anger as he started balling his fists. “After YOUR WRONG ANSWER!?” He yelled, focusing his attention towards Saturn. “YOU THINK I WANT TO PLAY A GAME AFTER THAT!?!”

Well, and now Chiron's really angry with me, Valen thought to himself, feeling very frustrated, and I was just trying to be polite! And just because I got one thing wrong, why wouldn't he want to play a game with me? Does Chiron really think I don't know anything - especially when Saturn said he also made a mistake?

It took a lot of effort for Valen to not shout at Chiron and ask exactly what was wrong with him. But eventually Valen managed to say in a fairly calm tone, "It's okay if you don't want to participate. I was just wondering what you thought. Does anyone else still happen to want to come with me and do the activity, however?" I hope at least Saturn does, Valen worried to himself. He's my friend, and I hope he doesn't think badly of me for this. I mean, it's not even my fault that this Totodile shouted at me. What is going on with Chiron?

Saturn was eagerly following Valen, listening intently as he explained how his activity worked. Or at least, he was, until Chiron started making a scene. It appeared that the young Totodile did not much like being informed he had made a mistake. In his anger, he grabbed the answer sheet to see for himself, only to realize Saturn was telling the truth. At this point the Cubone was genuinely worried. Oh no, he's about to throw a fit. In public. Around all these other pokemon. He looked around, realizing how embarrassing it would be for everybody if he didn't calm Chiron down.

"You were mostly right, Chiron. It's not like most pokemon can remember off the top of their head that Ghost is strong against itself. I feel like it's one of the harder relationships to get right." Saturn was worried his words were not enough, but unfortunately, words were all he had to give. "What I'm trying to say is, you did great, Chiron. Don't beat yourself up, or anyone else for that matter, over such an inconsequential detail. It's... unbecoming of a Peak Academy student such as yourself."

Saturn then held out his hand. "I would like that answer sheet back, please."

Hopefully, he convinced Chiron to calm down, otherwise he was probably going to bail.

Chiron reluctantly handed the answer sheet back, still holding onto it. Mostly right, huh? It’s not like most Pokémon can remember it, huh? “I’m not most Pokémon.” Chiron told Saturn, letting go of the sheet, letting him have the faulty thing. He’d started to clenching his teeth together, biting, which was hidden because he closed his mouth. He was angry that he was wrong in front of Saturn, his friend. He probably thought he was an idiot now, that he didn’t know what he was talking about. He just wanted to impress his friend with something he was good at, Type Match Ups. “Have your answer sheet.” It was very obvious that he was still angry through his voice alone as he held it together. For now. “Happy?” He asked.