Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Performers of Harmony

[EmeraldSky]

Interlude: The Next Show


"Our official badge from the Performer's Guild is here!" Ruby smiled as she set the mail down on Lita's kitchen table a few weeks later. "Thanks to our successful performance of 'How Solgaleo, Lunala, and Jirachi Were Saved', we've already earned the Iron Rank." She showed Lita a dull gray star badge to prove her point.

"Nice..." Lita smiled. "So, what's next?"

"If we perform four more plays, we reach Bronze." Ruby replied, pleased with herself.

"No, no, no...I meant what's next in our journey as a troupe." Lita sighed.

"It would be best if we built up some fame in our hometown first..." Ruby went on. "But if and when we are invited elsewhere to perform, Amber Town is the closest place from here."

Lita unrolled a map of the region on the table. "We are right here..." she mused, putting in a tack at Harmony Town's location at the west end of the region. "Amber Town is just a few miles away, to the east..." She stuck another pin where Amber Town was on the map. "and Luminous City is all the way over here on the eastern coast." She stuck a sparkling gold pin where Luminous City was to designate the city as their goal.

Ruby noticed the long distance between the two pins. "We've got a long way to go if we want to reach Luminous City..."

"It's not as intimidating as it looks once you mark where the other cities and towns are on the map." Lita explained.

She began marking more cities, towns, and landmarks as she continued "From Amber Town, we continue eastward into Jade City, then through the Jade Forest to reach Silver Town. Then once we pass through Mt. Lune, we reach Sapphire Cove."

"They say Lugia sleeps on Mt. Lune..." Ruby remembered. "The Legendaries love a good play as much as normal Pokemon do."

"There's also Mt. Citron, Mt. Rubin, and Mt. Saphir, which surround Mt. Lune." Lita explained as she marked three more mountains. "If you take the Steel Pass in Silver Town instead of the Lunar Path to Sapphire Cove, you can hit all three of the Jeweled Mountains and Mt. Lune. Granted, it's a longer route, but if the Legendaries are big drama fans, it'll be worth the trip."

Ruby thought for a minute. "I wonder what kinds of plays the guardian birds and Lugia like, anyway?"

"No prizes what we perform for Moltres." Lita smiled. "I'm sure she enjoys hearing people tell of all the heroes she helped..."

"Lugia probably would want a play having to do with unity, or coming together to solve a problem." Ruby mused. "But what would Zapdos and Articuno like?"

"We can think about that when we do hit the road--or ask the others when we get together to discuss our next show." Lita assured her friend.

"Speaking of which...what sort of play do you think we should do next?" Ruby wondered. "We know we don't want to do tragedies. Like you said when we started this project, the only tears here are tears of laughter, and tears of joy."

"Mayor Erin always says to dream big..." Lita mused as she abandoned her map and started pacing the floor. "That said, we don't want to dream too big for what we are capable of doing..."

"Something with more speaking roles?" Ruby suggested. "Some members of our troupe suggested that."

"Let me go get my books of mythology and folktales..." With that, Lita hurried to her room...

---------

Lita returned with a variety of books some minutes later. "Now then...which of all these stories would make a good play, or already exist as a play?"

"Preferably something a small troupe can easily do." Ruby agreed as she found some paper to write down play ideas.

"Once we have enough ideas, we can present these to everyone tomorrow." Lita agreed as she opened up the first book to the table of contents. "Nothing overly preachy, either."

"It's important to explore a theme or a lesson in the play, but audiences don't like being lectured." Ruby agreed.

Lita studied the table of contents. 'The Tower of Doom'?

"Too cliche..." Ruby sighed.

"Actually, this version is a variant on the 'magical relatives' tale type." Lita explained before looking at the table of contents again. "We probably want to avoid stories everybody knows..."

"If we HAVE to perform 'Cinderella', 'Snow White' and the like, pick a lesser known version." Ruby agreed.

"We can still do 'The Queen of the Lonely Island'..." Lita suggested.

"There's not too many roles in that tale...and since our troupe has grown a bit, let's try and give them all a chance to shine." Ruby smiled.

"'Brian of the Leppas?'" Lita suggested more story ideas. "'The Guardian Arcanine?'"

"We could more than do that one!" Ruby smiled. "But let's keep it in mind--someone else may have a better suggestion tomorrow!" She let that hang as she wrote the story title down...

To Be Continued...