"Wow, so there it is!" Leaf smiled in appreciation as Cameran Palace finally came into view. The medieval castle was absolutely amazing. She could hardly believe she hadn't come here to visit sooner.
"Toby never see Palace before!" said teenage male declared proudly as he walked alongside his friends. Having grown up in the forest nearly all his life, he wasn't accustomed to such sights; but then again, Leaf hadn't seen the place either, and she actually lived in Kanto.
"It's wonderful," Riley agreed. Even Knuckles the Lucario had to grunt in approval.
"So…" After a few minutes of staring at the place, Toby quickly grew bored, "Why Leaf want to come here?"
"Oh, come on, Toby," Leaf rolled her eyes, "There's a huge festival going on today! There's going to be a battle tournament and everything! Now, who wouldn't want to get in on that?"
"Right… Toby will win lots of money today for more Pokéballs!" Riley's cousin's eyes positively shined as he thought of all the interesting Pokémon he'd be able to find around here.
"Um…" Riley looked around uneasily at all of the other festival goers surrounding them as they continued on their way to the castle, "Were we supposed to dress up for this festival?"
Leaf looked around and was a bit startled to see everyone dressed up in bad Renaissance outfits, "Ugh… No way… You've got to be kidding me… Well, there's no way I'm going to dress up like that! No thank you!"
Three teenagers wandered down an old path, two were huddled over a map trying to figure out where they were while the third just sighed.
"So… what's this place like Willow?" A blond haired boy asked as he fixed his balaclava and tore away from the map, leaving it in the hands of his female companion.
Willow shrugged indifferently. "Little point of me describing it to you if it's right in front of you…"
The final member of the group, a girl named Mallori looked up from the map and gasped in awe at the sight of the Cameran Palace. "Sheesh! They don't make Castles like that anymore…"
"They don't make castles period." Willow yawned; he was growing tired of teaching them. They had been rookie trainers when Willow had met them; under his tutelage they had now become respectable trainers in their own right, but still quite inexperienced and still grasping the realities of the world they lived in. "You guys are so easily amused."
"You're boring Low!" Mallori hissed. "And it was your idea to come here!"
"I've been here a few times. I'm just sorta used to it." Willow waved her off. "Besides we're here for the tournament remember?"
The blond haired boy, Jean placed his hands on his hips. "What do we win?"
Willow shrugged. "You become the 'Aura Guardian' for the night…"
"Enough chat!" Mallori squealed enthusiastically. "I can't wait to sleep in a proper bed again! No more lumpy ground~!"
For the past week the trio had been camping out in the wild, Mallori was quite touchy about sleeping nearby her companions and friends. There was the occasional awkward moment between them, but eventually they just laughed it off.
As Mallori shot down the path, Jean and Willow looked on and shrugged to each other. "Girls."
Willow and Jean eventually caught up with Mallori who was looking around in disgust at all the ridiculous clothing people were wearing for the festival.
Willow groaned. "Guys… welcome to the medieval equivalent of a Sci-fi con."
Mallori cringed at the sight of some people's clothing. "Dressing up isn't compulsory… is it?"
One of Willow's pokeballs burst open revealing a bipedal blue and black fox, a Riolu called Rylte. Rylte was Willow's starter Pokemon and had the bizarre ability to communicate telepathically with humans. Unfortunately for Willow this wasn't a good thing as Rylte spent his time chatting about absurd and random topics.
'WHOAA Look at the size of that mushroom!' Rylte exclaimed pointing at a nearby fence.
Willow suddenly smiled as he stared into the crowds of people in the streets. Jean and Mallori noticed this and shot him quizzical looks.
"What you smiling at Low?" Jean questioned following Willow's gaze.
"I sense an old friend of mine…" Willow explained. "I wonder what he's doing here…"
Mallori raised an eyebrow "Who?"
Willow raised a hand and pointed at three figures that emerged from the crowds. "Riley."
Leaf, Riley and Toby paused when they noticed a boy in a grey jacket pointing at them. Knuckles who wasn't paying attention to his surroundings bumped into the back of his trainer and fell back. As Knuckles began to rise to his feet, he found himself face to face with his pre-evolutionary form.
The Riolu pointed at him and laughed. 'Youuu fell ovar~!'
Knuckles stared at the Riolu in confusion. 'What?'
The Riolu shrugged. 'Got any napkinz?'
Knuckles was now even more confused. 'Napkins?'
'You know pieces of cloth for dining tables? I need them so I can forge the sword of Everland and defeat the evil Zurk Bedwetter.'
Knuckles shook his head awkwardly. 'No… I don't have any napkins little one…'
'Little!' The Riolu gasped. 'I'm older than you! And more dashingly beautiful...'
Knuckles backed away from the Riolu. 'The impossible has happened… I have found someone worse than Blathers…'
As the two Pokemon chatted away (or at least it appeared that way to the humans nearby) Leaf stared at the group of teenagers approaching them.
She leaned over to Riley. "Who are these people?"
Riley grinned. "An old friend of mine."
By this time Willow and his friends were close to him. Willow smiled and offered his hand. "Riley! It's good to see you again."
Riley shook it. "Good to see you too Willow! Still practicing to control your Aura?"
"Willow?" Leaf stared at the brown haired boy. "You're name's Willow?"
The boy nodded. "Yeah that's right?"
Leaf grinned. "My sister's called Willow too!"
Willow's face fell and his two companions burst into laughter, Riley even gave a light chuckle.
'OH NOEZ! Did I just miss my BFF getting pwned again?' Rylte giggled and hopped onto Willow's shoulder.
"Aww!" Leaf exclaimed, completely unaware of the fact that nearly everyone was still laughing over Willow's shared name with her little sister, "Is that your Riolu? He's so cute!"
"Yeah, cute now. Demon later," Willow sighed.
'RARRRR!' Rylte roared for emphasis.
"Rarrr!" Toby mimicked the blue Pokémon and laughed.
"Uh, yeah? So… who are these people exactly?" Jean asked, eyeing Toby carefully.
Willow rolled his eyes, "He's Riley, I'm Willow, she's Mallori…" Willow pointed at each person in turn, "…And you're Jean," he finished with a slight smirk, "You still remember your own name, right?"
Before Jean could let out his angry protest, Riley broke in, "And right here, is my friend, Leaf, and my cousin, Toby."
"Your cousin?" Willow looked at Toby with an eyebrow raised, "Since when did you have a cousin?"
"It's a long story…"
"So, does your Riolu have a nickname?" Leaf asked Willow.
'Captain America!' Rylte declared with a proud pose.
"No, his name is Rylte…" Willow frowned.
"That's so cute!" Leaf gushed, "Can I hold him? Please?"
'Noooooooo! Keep her away from me; she has cooties!' Rylte screamed.
Before Leaf could think of a response, she felt Knuckles tugging on her arm, "Huh? What's wrong?"
As a series of growls and grunts were elicited from her Lucario, Leaf's eyes widened with horror, "Oh no! Not another one of them!"
"Wait, what? What did he say?" Mallori asked Rylte curiously.
'DAH EVIL CLOWNS HAVE COME TO EAT HER!' Rylte shrieked.
"So… what did he really say?" Jean rolled his eyes.
"Actually, he's not that far off," Leaf explained before promptly hiding behind Riley.
As if on cue, a purple-clad jester danced his way over to them, "Hello, hello, hello!" he sang happily, juggling a few Pokéballs, "Welcome to the-! Oh dear me! You people seem to have forgotten the tradition of the Festival of the Aura Guardian!"
"That's not a clown," Jean said loudly, but was largely ignored for the time being.
'Horrible!' Rylte screeched, 'It's a fairy! We're all doooooomed!'
The jester continued without missing a beat, "Why! You people look like you've been dropped off by a time machine! Come with me at once, and I'll show you where you can find some nice and normal clothes so that you can all fit in right at home here today!"
"Yeeah, sure, mate, we'll get right on that," Willow said sarcastically.
"Clown has bells on hat… Very stupid," Toby noted.
"Ah! Blasphemy! You dare mock my outfit!" the jester suddenly abandoned his lighthearted tone and looked dangerous.
"Man look stupid," Toby repeated, having no idea what "blasphemy" even meant.
Willow clapped, "Dang, Riley, your cousin is great!"
'His cousin is toast!' Rylte pointed at the jester accusingly.
"You will pay for that comment with your life!" the jester screeched at Toby, lunging to attack. However, one of the Pokéballs (which he had been juggling all this time) knocked him on the head when he broke position. Apparently, this was enough to knock him unconscious because the jester then slumped to the ground and fainted.
"Wow… was that a Heavy Ball?" was all Willow said.
No one answered at first. It wasn't until the Pokéball rolled over to Knuckles' feet, and he had inspected it before they learned the truth. It was indeed a Heavy Ball.
"Whoa… I am never going to use one of those…" Mallori looked horrified.
"Phew… That was close," Leaf stepped away from her hiding place behind Riley with a sigh of relief, "I'm so glad he didn't notice me…"
"Leaf has an unpleasant… history with clowns…" Riley explained with a slight shrug.
"But it wasn't a clown!" Jean insisted again.
'Duuuuh!' Rylte cried out loudly, 'Everybody knows clown equals jester in medieval world speak! It's common mathematical knowledge that ALL fools know. Even the smart ones!'
"It's close enough!" Leaf exclaimed, "If I've learned anything on my journey traveling across Sinnoh, it's that clowns are NOT to be taken lightly! And I'm not taking any chances when it comes to jesters either!"
"Yeah… so… the Tournament… Anybody up for it?" Willow shrugged.
"Yeah! Let's go!" Mallori squealed, all confusion of the past few minutes thrown aside for now.
Notes: If you want to see what the characters look like, check out the link to their pictures on my profile. It's the only link on there, so I'm certain you'll be able to find it. :) There are a lot of original characters in this story, so ScotSniper took the time to make that picture and give everyone an idea as to what these people look like.