OCTOBER EVENT PT1

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→ EVACUATION STUFF

(click to expand- aka getting people out of here)

The water level keeps rising, the storm refusing to abate even after two months of non-stop rain and circulating whispers of an even greater danger: an erupting volcano, threats of subsequent tsunamis, and Toran right there in the blast zone. There has already been one casualty. Jiro, after going missing for a week and a half, was found washed up on the beach. Probably drowned, they say in regards to his cause of death and never investigated further, not realizing that the band of tattooed fire around his neck has disappeared. While there is a very real possibility the island will become inhabitable very quickly and very soon, many townspeople are worried about leaving, with the storm swelling in response to anybody leaving the island in the past and if evacuation tips the situation over the edge... well... at this point, though, there's little other choice. Homes and other buildings get boarded up over the days counting down to the end of the month, berry trees get chopped down to construct as many boats as possible, all the Pokemon in the Daycare get returned to their balls and loaded into crates. The Pokemon Center becomes a shelter for those unable or unwilling to leave while the rest head out, the first of the boats pushing off the north shore at dawn.

With boats carrying six people each, families towards the center of the group and trainers with strong water Pokemon flanking them on all sides for protection, the evacuees steer northeast, veering out of the projected path of the volcanic activity in the northwest, with towering waves, jagged reefs, and whirlpools every several dozen feet dictating travel. Even with their own Mudkip, trainers who try to leave on their own will find it too difficult to cross the sea, with too many whirlpools for one little Mudkip to handle on their own and the storm forcing them to turn back around. It takes a group effort to carve a safe path away from the island, especially when thunder starts to rumble overhead, storm clouds so thick the sky becomes black as night.

The roar is almost deafening, encompassing and full of rage. Boats lurch to the side, caught in whirlpools that threaten to suck them under until the Mudkips in the group are able to reverse the whirlpool and calm the water, other water Pokemon pressing up against the boats to keep them upright as ten-foot waves crash down over people's heads, torrential rain unrelenting and there is no escape from the lightning that flashes across the sky. Trainers with electric Pokemon use them as lightning rods to redirect the lightning away from the others, and other Trainers direct their Pokemon as best they can to block the lightning as the ships cross the sea. Nanami's Marshtomp leads the group, clearing the path and searching desperately for any sign of land on the other side, while Minato's Yamask zips from boat to boat, using Protect to shield them from the lightning, but there is no end in sight.

In that moment, the sky turns white. There is light, there is silence, and the rain snuffs out all at once. Those who think to turn around might see Minato on his feet at the very rear of the group, two shimmering figures fading away into the sunlight behind him just as he topples backwards into the water. For everybody else, their attention is drawn by the deafening screeching that pierces the air, black clouds parting to reveal blue sky and a shining sun for the first time in two months. With the parting of the clouds and the subsequent silence, they hear a muffled boom out in the far distance, a spew of fire, and a plume of black smoke. There's your volcano, and here is the swell of the ocean that pitches the boats forward, driving them east.

→ FOR THOSE WHO ARE STAYING

(click to expand - have fun drowning)

The flash of white is noticeable even from the island, the first warning before the clouds part of their heads and the rain comes to a stop. Without the veil of rain constantly blurring their vision, the people who remain can clearly see the tsunami heading their way, waves upon waves dipping and rearing their heads as they slam into the coast and out across the island. A foot- two, ten- the water level rises too quickly for anybody to run, even the lake rising and spilling out as those in multi-story buildings try to make it to the highest floor possible. Drifloons float out and try to grab onto stragglers and drag them to safety, but they're too light and weak and all they can do is inflate themselves as much as they can and be buoys for those stranded to cling to for dear life. From the lake, the Gyarados takes advantage of the overflow and urges its Magikarp towards the north side of the island along with it— and stops in surprise when it spots Akira. Why did this human not ditch the first chance he got? This is not his home, there is nothing important for him to protect here...

The Gyarados turns to stare out at sea. And with its eyes glowing red, the wind starts to pick up, a Hurricane building and whipping the air all around the Gyarados as it faces the tsunami and roars, parting the waves to either side of the island before they can reach the shore. Two little Magikarps splash next to the Gyarados in encouragement, and for the next hour, Gyarados weathers the tsunami until the sea calms down, and the world is quiet and still once more. It looks back at Akira, at the friends who stayed behind with him, and approaches him for the first time. If he wishes, the Gyarados will allow him on its back and it will carry him and company across the sea to join his friends in the northeast; if he does not, the Gyarados and its family slips into the water and disappears.

Either way, maybe we'll meet again someday.

→ FOR THOSE WHO ARE LEAVING

(click to expand - have fun camping)

Eventually, the boats bump against the soft sand of a sunny shore. It's warm, the air strangely dry, but welcome compared to the constantly rainy Toran. Not far from the coast is a grove of wild berry trees, overgrown with fruit that a herd of Girafarig and Stantler surround, pausing in their grazing as they watch the soggy mess of evacuees drag themselves onto shore, a little Yamask flitting around from person to person trying to find her blue-haired boy. A small group of water type trainers offer to take the boats back to Toran and make a second evacuation now that they know the path and the storm has quelled- for the time being, anyways, and ask around to borrow or trade for the Mudkips who are able to temporarily reverse the whirlpools. Everybody else is encouraged to find the closest town, and call for shelter and for help.

The forest before them is thick with trees, so dense that the sun everybody's sorely missed is barely visible past the canopy, forcing the group to stay packed together as they search for a path through the forest. Nothing stops the brave or the foolish from peeling off from the group and trying to find their own way, but the children are quick to warn anybody who will listen that following flickering lights in the forest is a bad idea. There is constant rustling in the forest, swift movement out of the corner of your eyes, the feeling that somebody is watching you. It is very dark, very crowded, and like the sea, it is vast and endless. For several nights, the group is forced to camp, taking turns keeping watch and heading out at the first sign of sunlight, but here and there they come across trainers in the woods, surprised to see so many people at once but always willing to spare what little food they have and to point them towards the closest route to town.

Five days after leaving Toran, the evacuees stumble out of the forest and stand before Mango city. While the forest borders half the city, the other sides are wide open plains, fields and pastures as far as the eye can see, all full of grazing Pokemon and flocks of flying types circling the skies. Continuing north, one would find themselves facing the sea; to the east, the forest and eventually the sea once more; and to the west past the endless plains, a severe sandstorm rages that makes further progress impossible.

The city itself is much larger than Toran, with steel and concrete buildings that feel almost out of place amongst all the wilderness surrounding it on all sides. But the people are welcoming, the Pokemon Center accommodating both Pokemon and trainers with plenty of space to rest after a harrowing journey. Many families offer their own homes for refugees to stay in, while others pool together money and volunteers to head to Toran for relief measures in the aftermath, and local children take any stranger's hand to show them around the city.

The pride and joy of the city is............. the boba shop!!!! The specialty flavor for this shop is Miltank milk tea, a classic. Make sure to stop by the shop and get your card stamped with the green Butterfree, unique to this city's shop. The city also features its own contest hall and Pokemon Gym, with its gym leader specializing in Steel Pokemon; a museum filled with skeletons and fossils of ancient Pokemon; an art gallery featuring both prominent and local artists, with a special event every Wednesday where artists offer to draw portraits of visitor's Pokemon; and a bug catching contest hosted every Sunday that awards trainers for catching the largest or heaviest bug Pokemon within a two-hour window. Everybody arrived just in time to see the Vivillon migration, where all twenty different types can be seen fluttering across the sky, meeting together over this city for several weeks before scattering all across the globe before winter. Two towers pierce the sky right in the middle of the city: one a cemetery and one a radio tower, positioned right next to each other and the buildings almost seem to be humming the closer you approach their doors. There are also multiple barbeque restaurants in the city, grilling up Miltank and Bouffalant and Tauros, you're welcome, Cliff. Still, the boba shop is where several of Toran's children still insist on going, latching onto Joonghyuk and Sagi who promised them a three-tiered cake with sprinkles and a magic show and a party!!! We escaped the island. A town might be wiped out because we veered away from the volcano, and Toran is half-drowned and will take several weeks to drain and return to normal, but never mind that. Party.

It's warm, it's dry, there is always a faint static in the air and there has been no phone or radio signal for the past two months. Enjoy your respite.

→ MOD NOTES

⬥ Congrats on surviving September! October will be a no-plot month, so please take the chance to be good to your characters and build up that cr, but there will still be opportunities for investigation!
⬥ Minato will be presumed missing until after Ori's murdergame is over, and cannot be found at sea. The Gyarados and the Magikarp also cannot be found, but may return at a later date. Toran will dry out and return to normal towards the middle of the month, but characters can freely travel between Toran and Mango by catching a ride with one of the sailors whenever they like.
⬥ For those who wish to trade their Mudkips with one of the sailors, please comment to the questions toplevel for your rng options. Traded Pokemon tend to grow stronger quickly, but they might not always listen to their new trainer! Traded Pokemon are allowed to gain 15 levels per month rather than the usual 10.
⬥ Please comment to the appropriate toplevel on the Pokemon info page for challenging the gym or participating in the contest hall.
⬥ Please comment to the bug-catching contest toplevel by October 10 if your character would participate. We will rng three winners, one for each Sunday of the month, and reply with your prize. Characters may choose to either keep or release their bug Pokemon at the end of the contest.
⬥ As a reminder, the Halloween event log will be posted on October 15!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Atsushi isn't particularly eager to be at a kids' party, but he has his reasons. Sagi is someone he feels at least somewhat comfortable around and would consider a friend. Though, he's mostly here because he feels gnawing guilt at not saving Gale King the first chance they got. Everything turned out okay, and the children weren't harmed, maybe not even emotionally. He classifies it as guilt, but the feeling is more of a despondency at himself for failing.

But he's here, and he's brought... Drifloons!]

Here, go play with them. They're very excited!

[He pawns them off on the nearest child. The Drifloons want to play all the time, and they're exhausting. Atsushi waves at Sagi, but he can't do anything about that Dark Lord situation. Clearly, Sagi's more cut out for that than him.]

[Fortunately for Sagi's limited acting ability, the arrival of two Drifloon friends from back home is more than enough to distract the kids mobbing him as well. Two Drifloons! That's four little yellow balloon hands to play pattycake with! They rush over to join the child Atsushi fobbed the Drifloons off on, delighted.

That, in turn, draws Sagi's notice. He was maybe a little too into voice-acting the environmental sound effects to notice Atsushi walk in a moment ago.]

Hey, Atsushi! Thanks for humouring them.

[He regards the kids with a small smile, far from offended at no longer being the centre of attention. It's vastly preferable to them drawing on his face again, or mugging him. Scenes like this happened all the time in his mom's orphanage...]

They'll wind down once we're out of cake, I'm pretty sure.

You're welcome!

[That thanks didn't need a response, but oh well. He sidesteps the children as they flock to the Drifloons.]

I don't know about that. Someone brought boba.

[He points out a row of cardboard drink holders, each housing a very large cup of boba. On the side of all of them are prominent scribblings in marker identifying "+3 sugars! extra syrup!".]

Oh.

[That's a lot of boba. Something else Sagi was successfully distracted from while doing sound effects.]

...Maybe we'll get lucky and it'll make them fall asleep too.

[It's a little better than imposing on the boba shop's time and space without buying anything, but... yeah. As they've learned, these kids' families and guardians are pretty hands-off in general, so at this rate they might be here until closing time. That would not be ideal.

He steps over to the corner table and picks up one of the cups. It feels heavy, perhaps with the weight of future dental bills.]

We could just chug 'em before they see...

["We" meaning him and Atsushi. He's still not entirely sure these aren't Pokemon drugs.]

We... we could.

[This strikes him as a very dumb idea, but Atsushi is sheltered in a lot of ways and has never experienced a sugar rush. What is it like? Maybe he won't be so depressed for five minutes.]

I-it's a lot, though.

[Perhaps even too much in those big cups, for children. Maybe it is best to remove the temptation from them.]

[It's definitely way too much for the children, which is why Sagi decides to take Atsushi's highly doubtful response as encouragement. Here he goes! Down the hatch!

Well, he tries. He manages to drain maybe a third of the enormous cup before almost choking and having to take a breath. Several breaths. A couple of coughs and splutters. He steadies himself with a hand on the table; he's fine.]

Yeesh... this is really sugary.

[He sounds somewhat hoarse. He even likes sweet, and this is bordering on a shock to his system. He hadn't tried the kinds sold on Toran even after they were acquitted of secretly being drugs... His mind had been on other things.

The shock does not, of course, stop him from immediately trying to down the rest once he recovers from choking to death. Glug, glug.]

[Atsushi holds a cup, but isn't going to try it until Sagi does. Which was a good idea. He watches Sagi choke and sputter, and can't decide if he should pat the boy on the back or not, and by the time he thinks he should, Sagi is already... drinking more of it.]

I-is that... should you be, after...?

[There he goes. Atsushi looks around the room, and yes, he's currently the only adult here, and maybe he should... not be incapacitating himself with these bobas. He slides the cup back into its holder.]

I'll just make sure the kids don't touch them.

[Hey now, Sagi has not quite incapacitated himself. That said, he doesn't manage to empty the cup even after round 2, so chugging them looks to be a losing strategy after all. He sets the cup down and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, defeated.]

Bleah. [Just let him catch his breath again. He's not sure what texture he expected from this stuff, but it wasn't what he got. It feels like the sugar is sticking to the inside of his throat, too. There must have been more of it in that drink than he used to see in a month.] Good... Good idea.

[Unfortunately for that plan, his minor coughing fit didn't fully escape the kids' notice, and once they swarm back over to this corner of the room there's no hiding the boba cups from them. A couple of them attempt to tug on Atsushi's clothes. Hey, mister, are those for them? Can they take one each? Can the Drifloons take one each, too? If the bird guy is dying, do they take him to the hospital, the Pokemon Centre or straight to the graveyard? The onslaught of questions doesn't let up, with or without answers.]

[Oh no. There's too many children swarming, the Drifloons are back, too many questions, and Sagi doesn't seem able to help fend them off at this point. Atsushi backs up against the table and attempts to answer all the questions, while dodging little child hands sticky with cake frosting.]

He's not dying! He'll be fine! T-they're not for you, or the Drifloons!

[The thought of hyperactive Drifloons is frightening.]

Y-you don't want any of this stuff anyway, it's um... alcoholic! And that's bad!

[Poor Atsushi. Sagi's throat may still feel weird, but his hearing is fine. He moves over to put himself between the kids and the Forbidden Boba for now.]

Yeah, these... [He coughs again. Urrgh. At least give him a sugar rush to make up for this soon. Right now he just feels mildly sick.] These are for the adults who helped us out, so don't you guys touch them.

[A flash of inspiration arrives in what passes for his mind. He lowers his voice to a conspiratorial stage whisper.]

If you promise not to touch them, I'll cut some more of the cake for everyone. OK?

[This may end up being counterproductive. But it might not!]

[This is going to be a long party. The kids are more excited for extra cake than the boba, though. They take the Drifloons and gather by the cake. The bird guy's too slow! Where's their cake?]

How much cake is left?

[Hopefully not a lot.]

[A lot. Not nearly as much as there was earlier, but a lot. Three tiers of cake is a whole lot of cake, even for a party's worth of small children.]

Um -

[Before Sagi can actually say anything along those lines, the kids start yelling for him. He did just make a promise, so it's fair.]

I know! Just a sec.

[He'll have to leave Atsushi hanging for now and make his way over to stop them complaining. Though... now that he's actually looking cakewards, weren't there a lot more paper plates over here before? He remembers putting them there.]

[Sagi seems like he's a little confused, and hmm... The stack of plates is gone. Atsushi had seen them when he'd come in, before the boba had been discovered. A cursory glance around the room results in finding the plates... sort of.

It seems a group of kids less interested in cake have seen Hythlodaeus and/or Hien around Mango City, and think they're superheros. They've managed to poke eye holes in most of the plates, and now hold them to their faces making robots noises, and standing on their toes trying to be extra tall.]

I'll get more plates.

[Dare he leave the kids and Sagi alone for three minutes?]

[Three minutes later, a small girl is crying loudly in the middle of the boba shop.

To be fair, Atsushi's presence may not have prevented this. A "superhero mask" lies at her feet, torn in two, and a second girl next to her is on the verge of angry tears herself. It was an accident! It was an accident, they should share when there aren't enough plates, and saying it's her fault is mean!]

Now, now... She apologised for ripping it. Can't you forgive her? [Hearing Atsushi return, Sagi waves him over with an apologetic look of his own.] See, we've got enough to go around.

[In the corner, a few of the more persistent and resourceful small children appear to be eating their promised cake off the surviving "masks". Crumbs are dropping through the eye holes and scattering everywhere. It's a mess.]

[At least Atsushi is somewhat used to this sort of chaos. He could absolutely see one of his coworkers making superhero masks out of plates and then eating cake off them later. He'd probably wear them as masks again after too. The children getting cake all over the floor though the eye holes are ignored for a moment. It's a mess, but they're not upset; the girls take priority.

Atsushi brings the new plates over to Sagi and the crying girl. He crouches to her level to hand her a plate.]

It's okay. You can have this one, but...

[He spares a glance at the angry girl; though he thinks she's just more frustrated.]

If someone takes the time to apologize, and I'm sure she really means it, it's always better to forgive them than hold a grudge. If your friend didn't care about you, or what she did, she wouldn't have acknowledged it and asked for forgiveness.

He's right. Let's not fight over something like this, OK?

[The tearful girl nods through her hiccups, mollified by the plate Atsushi handed to her. After she messily dries her eyes and nose on her sleeve, she hands the new plate to the other girl as a peace offering, and soon the other kids who had been staring at them are all swept up in crowdsourcing a new superhero concept to go with it. Crisis averted, it seems.

Sagi breathes a small sigh of relief, even though he can see the morass of cake crumbs beside the table expanding its territory by the second. One thing at a time.]

Thanks for that, too. You know, you've got a good heart.

[He does not have a single shred of self-consciousness about saying that.]

[Atsushi looks away at that compliment. Does he have a good heart? He'd like to think so, but he doesn't. He thinks he's just set that girl on a path of internal destruction. If she forgives this, what else will she forgive just because someone says they're sorry? How much will she allow herself to kowtow to and how often will she bend to others' whims to avoid an arguement or an uncomfortable situation? It was poor advice, and he's awful for ruining this little girl's future.]

Mm.

[It's somewhat of an agreement, and it's the best acknowledgement of his comment Sagi's going to get.]

They're getting crumbs everywhere, I'll just...

[He'll clean them up before one of the kids starts licking them off the table.]

I appreciate it. [Does he need to be quite that formal? No, but it's better than not saying it.] Um, there's a dustpan. Under there.

[As well as a cheap-looking mop and bucket propped up against the wall. Sagi is somewhat aware of how much mess a gaggle of barely-supervised small children can make. What he's going to do with the cleaning supplies when they have to leave is a problem for Future Sagi.

Present Sagi's problems are more along the lines of distracting the kids who have started digging in the cake crumbs and throwing them at each other like it's sand, so he leaves Atsushi alone for now.]

[While Sagi is preoccupied with the kids, Atsushi cleans up as much of the crumbs as he can and then... escapes with his Drifloons. Bye, Sagi.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

OCTOBER EVENT PT1

premise ⬥ taken ⬥ faq ⬥ navigation

→ EVACUATION STUFF

→ FOR THOSE WHO ARE STAYING

→ FOR THOSE WHO ARE LEAVING

→ MOD NOTES

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