Kinnie's dreams

It was the moment Kinnie had been waiting for all her life. She had lived, breathed and hunted comet dust this season as hard as she could, and FINALLY it was all going to pay off. Never had there ever been a more beautiful Phosray on the stage about to be announced as one of the winners of this year's Star Monarch Festival, and this year she was going to be the one wearing the sparkly gold and red crown, adorned with comet dust shards and crystals. She could almost shed a tear at thinking about her hard work this year, she thought closing her eyes deep in thought.

Firstly, she had the luck to have been super lucky in her free time exploring hidden caves scattered all throughout Colsentia! Being a Phosray gave Kinnie so much advantages, she could reach into those super hard to get into cracks and wouldn't you know it? But all the comet dust shards were hidden deep in small crevices that no Stelciar could ever hope to get! Not to mention she had obtained a bumper crop of mugwart berries AND special rice berries, the combination of these two delectable berries had helped her to create a divine batch of mochi and dango for her stall at the Star Monarch  Festival. At first, there were the regular Stelciar and Phosray coming to buy her usual batch of dango, but then by word of mouth a super famous Stelciar Pun-hmorg himself had heard about how delectable they were, and as soon as they had taken a bite of the soft chewy texture, flavoured to the brim. It was inevitable that everyone came running! Kinnie puffed up her golden chest with pride, as she opened her eyes looking down at all the fawning Phosray and Stelciar below the stage.

"...And now! It's time for crowning our first Phosray winner of this year's Star Monarch Festival... it's everyone's favourite mochi and dango stall owner... the one, the only..... KINKA!!!!!" at the roar of the cheers of the many Phosray in the crowds, Kinka, saunters up onto the stage. She tosses her golden orange ponytail behind her shoulder with a singular paw, and struts up to the center of the stage. Gracefully with a swooping motion of her black dress fins, she kneels on one knee, and is crowned this year's Phosray winner, being given the gold and red plush crown that fits a little loosely over top of her hair. Carefully she stands up on her feet, before walking to the microphone, puffing out her fluffy golden mane, she grabs the microphone firmly with one paw.

"HELLLOOOO STAR MONARCH FESTIVALLLLLLLLLLLL" she screams into the microphone, to the raucous cheering of Phosray and Stelciar. "It is I! Kinka!!! This year's 2026 winner of the Star Monarch Festival!!!! I would like to thank all my customers at the Kinnie Dango and Mochi Stall for buying so many of our specialty dishes. I'd like to thank my regulars, my friends and... PUN-HMORG!!!! I COULDN'T HAVE DONE IT WITHOUT YOUR CELEBRITY STATUS." Kinnie admits sobbing tears of joy openly. She wipes here eyes with a paw, before grabbing her black dress fins and blowing into them to clear  her nose. She looks down at the happy tearful Phosray and Stelciar customers and friends, and sees Pun-hmorg among them, grinning back up at her giving her a cheeky thumbs up. The MC Stelciar gently pries the microphone away from Kinka's hands.

"And that's our winner's speech for this year!!! What a humble, touching speech. I'm sure Pun-hmorg must be feeling amazing right now! Anyways, it's time for our winners to go and spread comet dust across the world! As is our annual tradition! Wish them well everyone!" The MC yells, as the cheers go wild for her. In fact, she can almost hear them blowing horns... except the horns are getting louder... and louder and...

_____

BEEEP BEEEP BEEP.

Kinnie blearily opens her eyes, pressing a firm paw onto her alarm clock.

"Oh phooey it was all just a dream wasn't it?" she exclaims with a sigh. She holds her head with one paw and looks around, realising she and Pun-hmorg had drunk the entire bottle of sparkling fruit juice the night before and had gotten rowdy talking about what they'd do if they won this year's festival. Well, she thought to herself, at least it tasted good, and gave me good dreams. She gently grabbed the black bottle and empty champagne flutes and headed to the kitchen to clean up. There was dango to be made after all!