she tries to remain calm and collected on the outside but inside she grew more and more nervous as the crowd of fans continued rambling on in fandom around her.
"waaah, save me ash!" thought serena anxiously
elsewhere while walking down a fairly busy pathway ash lets out a mighty sneeze as he's walking. iris, who's walking slightly ahead of him, looks back hearing him sneeze.
"bless you" says iris
"oh, thanks. wonder where that sneeze came from. I'm not coming down with anything" says ash
"well, maybe someone's talking about you somewhere" says iris giggling
"huh? well that could be it I guess haha" says ash
soon afterwards the two come to an intersection of paths where there are 4 different routes. the one they were on then left, straight, and right. iris walks out in the middle of the intersecting paths and looks around in all directions as if trying to get her bearings as ash stands nearby.
"so uh, is it around here? that food stand you told me about?" says ash
"I think.. trying to remember" says iris
"well, which way iris?" says ash
"hmmm... it should be somewhere right... around... here.." says iris walking around a bit scanning the 3 adjacent paths
unbeknownst to her, someone walks up from behind ash, takes his hand, and starts to run down one of the paths pulling ash along with them. ash could only muster a "whaa?!" as he's being pulled along.
"hmm... ah I remember now, it's down this path. ready to go ash?... ash?... hey!" says iris looking around for him
"ash, are you around here? hey!" yells out iris
she continues to look around for any sign of ash. not seeing him anywhere she scratches her head in confusion
"aww... don't tell me we got separated again. argh!" says iris
meanwhile ash is still being pulled by the arm by an unknown individual wearing a blue hoodie. the person continues to run while pulling ash along darting around several corners as ash tries to keep up.
"h-hey! what do you think you're doing?! where are you taking me?!" yells ash
"just follow me, ok?" yells back the person who is apparently a girl
"huh?" thinks ash
the two continue to run down 2 or 3 paths until eventually they reach a wide open area off the festival grounds with several benches and a water fountain. after they stop the girl lets go of ash's hand and the two try to catch their breath after running for quite a long distance. ash, having recovered quickly, turns to face the hooded girl.
"ok, what's the big idea? bringing me all the way over here, just who are you anyway?" says ash as pikachu comes running up to him having followed them
"sorry ash... I know that was rude of me, but... I... well..." says the girl as she turns around to face ash
"its just that I... didn't want to talk around all those people. you see... I wanted to face you alone ash. after all... it's been so long since we saw each other" she says
"do I... know you?" says ash
the girl then removes the hood covering her face and head revealing her distinguishing purple hair.
"hi ash, long time no see" she says smiling
"you're-" says ash looking at her
"it's me, casey. do you remember me?" asks casey
"ahh!... casey?" says ash
"casey... casey... hmm..." he says trying to recollect the name
"ahh.. casey from.. johto?"
"yes that's right! glad you remember" she says happily
"I remember now, you were the girl who was the big electabuzz team fan" says ash
"yup, and I still am, for sure heh" says casey
"wow, I haven't seen you in years. good to see you again, didn't expect to see you here though haha" says ash as pikachu hops on his shoulder
"well it's... really good to finally see you again ash. actually... I was.. kinda hoping I'd get to meet you here.." says casey slightly blushing
elsewhere near the center of the festival grounds, where it's most crowded, cilan and burgundy are walking slowly down one of the pathways. they are both holding ice cream cones in their hands and licking them as they go.
"mmmm this ice cream is delicious. so good" says burgundy
"I concur. I especially like the vanilla-chocolate swirl flavor ice cream, it is quite divine. oh by way, you might not want to eat your ice cream that quick, as you might get brainfreeze" says cilan chuckling a little
"ahh shut it you. oh yeah, so where're we going next anyway?" says burgundy
"oh, nowhere in particular. we're just looking around seeing what wonders this celebratory festival has to offer. what a grand occasion!" says cilan
"grand occasion huh? are you a festival coinnoisseur too?" says burgundy staring at him
"ahh! how did you know?" says cilan
"wha- are you serious?! ugh!" says burgundy
"anyway, we should enjoy ourselves now then we can see what ash and the others are up to later" says cilan
"sounds good to me" says burgundy licking her cone
"and also we..."