Chapter 18: The pokémon festival
While Mark was running, he heard a familiar voice.
“Great to see you again.”
It was the Mutark guy. Mark stopped.
“What do you want?” Mark said this before he realized that he was being rude. The trainer didn’t seem to care, though.
“I just wanted to talk.”
“Oh.” Mark felt stupid.
“So, are you going to the festival?”
“What festival?”
“The festival in Green town, of course. You’ve heard of it, haven’t you?”
“No,” said Mark and felt even more stupid.
“Really? Well, there’s going to be a festival in Green town soon – it’s every year because Chaletwo – that super-pokémon – is such a tourist attraction. Everyone’s in Green town these days, because it’s appearance is drawing nearer, so the hotels and the gym and all that get a lot of money. That money is used to attract more tourists by having a festival for pokémon trainers. Kids can get starting pokémon, there are going to be various contests and stuff, and a lot of other things that are supposed to be a surprise. The festival ends on the 25th with the last part of the program: Chaletwo’s appearance. I want to see it, because it’s a Dark type, although I won’t try to catch it – that’s impossible – but it’s surely worth seeing. And everything else in the festival must be interesting too. So my point is, I’m going, but are you?”
“Why do you want to know?” Mark asked.
“Just wondering.”
“Uh... I guess I’m going too, I’m a legendary collector, so I want to see Chaletwo... but I didn’t know there’s a festival.”
“Now you know,” said the trainer.
“Hey, you said you train Dark pokémon. Is Mutark a Dark type?”
“Yes. Pure Dark. Did you know that the 8th gym here is a Dark type gym?”
“No...” said Mark.
“Well, it is, and I’m going to apply for the position as a junior trainer there. By the way, my name is Victor. Yours?”
“Mark.”
Victor looked around, then asked: “Where is that girl? The one who wanted a Mutark?”
“May? She most likely went on to Aqua town,” Mark said, kind of wondering about it himself.
“Oh,” Victor said. “If you see her, would you tell her that I can give her advice about Mutark at the festival, if she’s there too?”
“Sure,” said Mark. “Aren’t you going to Aqua town?”
“No,” Victor said. “The only thing of interest for me there would be a Sharpedo, but I caught one home in Hoenn.”
“Oh. Well, see you at the festival.”
“See you there too.”
Victor walked away. Mark had to admit that Victor was actually pretty nice.