Cosplay: Lippo Bunkasai Japan Fest

Me: There are several reasons why I've sent you here today, Ash - two of them are that we've got a little time and the competitions are open for us.

Ash: Nice! I'm in.

Pikachu: Chu! ["Yes!"]

Goh: They do happen a lot where you are.

Me: Only this one happens to be distant, but not as distant as it usually is - but you still end up coming early and leaving late. And it's somewhere new for us, so you have to try to be there. Those are two more reasons.

Ash: OK. So, what do you have for me today?

Me: The singing competition, which will dictate the character parade. This time, I've got another new song for you: "Soko ni Sora ga Aru Kara".

Ash: Hey, that's a nice one! It takes me back to my Hoenn days. So... my Hoenn outfit then.

Me: You got this. Now, the place for it might be somewhat generic, but it should work well.

Ash: It's a shopping mall! I guess, if it works out.

Goh: At least, I'm sure you don't have to pay anything to get in this time.

Me: If they did charge, I'm pretty sure it won't be at a shopping mall. The mall essentially helps out the organizers. If anything, we'd have to pay to be in the competitions... and I did, in fact. So we've gotta do stuff.

Goh: How was everything there?

Ash: It was really like a small festival! There were food stands and a stage.

Goh: I'd like to find out what happened on stage.

Ash: There was music, dancing, and a show. They were all a blast - a fun to see!

Pikachu: Pika! ["It was fun!"]

Goh: And the competitions happened there too.

Me: So we ask - what happened?

Ash: Um... I messed up a tiny bit on the chorus. And while I was throwing my Poké Ball. I'm sorry!

Pikachu: Pika... ["Oh no..."]

Me: Oh, dear. We might have to schedule a retry of the song in the future. As for the Poké Ball, I regret that also.

Goh: I guess that means we didn't win anything.

Ash: No. So many people were in the singing competition too, and only three won. It was the same for the character parade. The singing competition took up so much time that a lot of things were late!

Goh: The judges must have had their work cut out for them.

Me: No kidding, with that many, especially for the singing competition lateness, which is true time and time again. What else did you see?

Ash: I saw a giant Pikachu, like last month!

Me: That's a neat find, but I have to say that their entertainment aspect is greater than their character aspect. It's pretty nice, but still, just as a fair warning.

Ash: OK. But then I saw, I saw... someone you told me to watch out for. And it looked like he was into it.

Me: No, you did not just...! Ah, the "persona non grata". I honestly thought this would be safe given how my social media connections promoted it. For that, I'm really, really sorry. At least we now have new signs to watch out for. I'm starting to think that today has been a mistake.

Pikachu: Pi. ["Really."]

Goh: There must have been some good things other than the obvious bad thing.

Ash: Yeah! I met many of your friends that you haven't seen for a real long time!

Me: That's awesome! That is yet exactly one more of the reasons for sending you here... although I admit that can happen any time. Still, it doesn't escape the mistakes from this day.

Goh: Why did you send Ash here in the first place, aside from everything else you just said?

Me: Actually, someone had planned a more local festival today, but it just couldn't happen, and I had been invited to send Ash to sing too. So think of this as the "replacement" for that.

Goh: Well, you two got good practice at the least. What's done is done.

Ash: Next time, we'll have to be extra careful!

Pikachu: Pika pika! [intensely, "We must!"]

Me: Yeah, that. And as the song says, "keep on walking, because the sky is there".

One year ago: (Possible?) Community Day Concepts

Two years ago: Preparing for Pokémon Go Tour

Three years ago: For the Sake of Consistency

Four years ago: Pokémon Go Event Rollup, 2/19/2019

Five years ago: Pokémon Go Team Leader Stickers

Six years ago: Let's Get Ready to Rumble