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!

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[Unbeknownst to the two would-be investigators, they are not the only ones who felt like doing a bout of tower-climbing that day.

There was Joss, too, a few minutes earlier, propelling himself from foothold to foothold much like Sagi now is. Who needs wings, when you can go up several stories in one leap? Joss isn't sure why, or how that ability of his suddenly decided to work again, but he's grateful for it. To a dragoon, jumping is nearly as natural as breathing; to Joss, in particular, it's also a much needed reprieve from the bustle of the city down below.

If only there wasn't that strange thrumming in the air...

When Sagi and Atsushi finally reach the top they'll find Joss on a ledge, seemingly deep in thought as he overlooks the city.]

[While Sagi can't quite propel himself straight up the side of a ten-storey building in one go, he's similarly in his element when making climbs like these. He's always liked high places; they make any problems you might have on the ground look smaller. With his final jump, he catches the ledge surrounding the top of the building, vaults his legs over the side, comes within inches of kicking Joss in the shin, and lands with ease on the dusty tiles beyond.

Wait, what?

Sagi turns around so quickly that the feather clipped to his hair has trouble catching up.]

Mr. Joscelaint...!

[Okay, this guy can't be the source of the buzzing sound, no matter how much louder it is up here. Not even Sagi would jump to that conclusion. He eats leaves and has a face like a kicked fluffpup, it's hard to imagine a connection to any kind of magical ominous presence. So how and why is he up here?]

[Atsushi takes longer to get up there, climbing over the edge and onto the roof as Sagi makes his exclamation. He stays on all fours and just sort of awkwardly stares at Joss.]

Are you making the squiggly noise?

[Probably not, but you never know.]

[Sagi is lucky Joss is in a relatively calm mood. Had his nerves been frayed, he may or may not have elusive jumped away in surprise, and now that would have been embarrassing. As well as potentially deadly.

Instead, his face goes completely blank as he tries to process what just happened. Sagi he knows. The other young man he does not, but they seem to be together. Probably friendly. He gets down from the ledge... only to be visibly taken aback by Atsushi's question, even if just for a second before his expression slides into "neutral" again.]

Squiggly.

[As flat as the statement is, there's definitely a hint of interrogation in it.]

[The awkwardness is palpable. One or the other of these two is going to need an interpreter. Sagi is aware he probably isn't ideal for the job - he still isn't sure what makes Atsushi so jittery sometimes, nor... anything meaningful about Joss, come to think, other than the fact that he eats leaves. He is, however, the only other person on this roof. There doesn't seem to be much up here except the large, frame-like mechanical thing sitting in front of them.

He'll try his best. He always does.]

Um, the noise coming from this tower. From that... antenna machine.

[He glances down at Atsushi on the floor just to check he didn't misunderstand, but he thinks it fits the bill. The static is louder now, that much he's certain of. Joss's stony silence gave him ample time to hear it.]

Were you looking into it too? If you came up here from the inside.

[That has to be it, right? They didn't see him mid-climb or anything.]

Yes, that's... that's the antenna...

[Atsushi stands up and attempts to retract his claws, but they won't go back in. He will deal with that later.]

Do you hear it, um... Joscelaint?

[That's what Sagi called the man, anyway.]

[He shakes his head at Sagi's question.]

Jumped. Wasn't aware there was something to be investigated.

[Sagi's friend, now... Joss's eyes linger on the furred hands and the vicious claws that protrude from it, and for a second his features are darkened with the shadow of body horrors past. Men who turn into monsters... but this is a different land now, isn't it? Besides, if a kind young man like Sagi is on friendly terms with him, Joss sees no reasons to be particularly wary.]

I do hear it, however. Is it strange?

[He just figured this is what non-illusory cities of the sort sound like...]

[Jumped... That sounds dangerous without wings. And how the heck is he going to get down? The mystery of Joss ever deepens. But it isn't the one hurting Atsushi's ears, so Sagi decides not to investigate it today.]

Yeah. Who's to say what it is just yet, but there's something. Atsushi here heard a pattern in it somewhere. And when you trap it, it looks like this.

[He holds up the strange, scribbly magnus he got from the lobby. So many scribbles, nearly blotting out the scattered tiny eyes. So little explanation of what he means by trapping them.]

So we thought we could climb up real quick and see if it's easier to pick out near the source. It is louder up here, right?

[It seems unlikely to him that he imagined that part, but the squiggly noise is still a mystery to him too. Mysteriouser and mysteriouser.]

[Atsushi picks up on the too-long look at his claws. Joss thinks he's some kind of monster; which he finds strange, coming from a world where those pointed ears and Sagi's wings would also be abnormal. He feels awkward just standing there trying not to cringe too much at the noise, so he goes to look closer at the antenna, though he doesn't know how these things work exactly. Maybe there's a wire to cut.]

It's definitely louder over here, the squiggly noise too.

[That doesn't mean it's coming from the antenna, though. It could be broadcast to it from somewhere else.]

I see.

[That's about the sound being louder up here. Joss has absolutely no idea what Sagi means by "trapping" it. It just looks like someone scribbled on a triple triad card... Sagi didn't bother explaining it though. Maybe he should have been aware of it already? Did he miss something? He's just going to completely sidestep that part of the conversation.]

Perhaps I can assist.

[It seems like this spot isn't going to be quiet again for a while, and jumping off now might come off as rude... Besides, the noise does bother him.]

Really? If you're sure, we'd appreciate it.

[Sagi sees no reason to turn down someone willing to help. It's unclear how much Joss can help, but maybe the noise will turn out to be edible. Maybe he can stand in for the antenna machine, since they're roughly the same shape.

Speaking of the antenna, he should go take a closer look at that too, not just stand here while Atsushi does it. He approaches the antenna a little gingerly, furrowing his brow to try and concentrate through the thrumming and the buzzing. He's not entirely sure...]

I can't tell, but it - feels like it's repeating. It feels oppressive.

[This description is unlikely to help anyone. Neither is what he's about to do. He takes a second, similar-looking card out of his pocket, then - without warning, nor any indication of how he's doing it other than a whistling sound similar to the one he caused in the lobby - pulls a full-size messenger bag out of that card, which he unceremoniously slings over his shoulder. The bag illustration on the card immediately fades away, leaving it blank.]

Okay, cleared some space...

[Next, he holds the blank card up to the antenna. The same whistle rings out, the same tugging sensation momentarily permeates the air nearby - and coalesces into the image of another scribble. Still dark and incomprehensible, still covered in eyes.

Now he has one scribble-card in each hand. He holds them in front of him like the world's two saddest poker hands and looks down at them, frowning. Side by side, the eye drawings on the second one are plainly larger, if no neater in arrangement, and all of them seem to be staring directly upward from the card's glossy surface.]

...Hmm. It's definitely stronger.

[But it's not what he'd call a coherent pattern, even if you squint. Is squinting something you should do to a card covered in eyes?]

[Atsushi can't help letting out an embarrassing little growl at the unexpected whistle again. More noise is not appreciated, but it's not Sagi's fault, so he just pretends that didn't happen. When the second scribble-card is produced, he looks at them to compare as well, ignoring the antenna itself for the moment. The lines still have no meaning, and the eyes are creepier this time.]

Should we try turning the antenna off?

[For an experiment. Can they even do that? Does it have an off button?]

[Joss is absolutely, completely flabbergasted by Sagi's magna essence shenanigans, remaining frozen in one spot with his eyes wide open wide the entire time. Well, that explains the bit about trapping the sound... but did the teen just retrieve an entire bag out of that one card???

He blinks, filing all this under Weird Things To Ask About Later That He Probably Won't Find The Courage To.]

Do we know what it's for?

[Maybe it could be amplifying linkshell signals. Maybe it could be the only thing preventing an ancient god from resurfacing. One of the two would be immensely more annoying to deal with.]

[...Did something growl? Was it the antenna? That only further confuses its purpose in Sagi's mind. All he can tell is that the sound feels more pattern-like when he goes right up to it, and that it isn't a pipe. He might have had a better idea of where or how to switch the thing off if it was.]

I don't know, but it couldn't hurt to briefly turn it off, right? It isn't working right now anyway, they said so. If it was controlling other things in the tower, there'd be... well, controls.

[But he could be wrong. He pockets both of the scribble-cards and wanders around the perimeter of the roof for now in case the controls are just hiding. His sandals crunch on scattered debris and scuffed dirt. Looks like someone was up here recently besides them, but not to clean. Unless Joss brought all this dirt up with him, but that seems excessive; compared to the forest cryptid Sagi first met, he looks somewhat less dishevelled today.]

Maybe in here... [He cautiously tries the handle.] Oh, it's locked. ...Maybe somewhere on the machine itself.

[How could this approach fail to inspire confidence?]

I don't see anything.

[Examining the antenna itself also seems to be fruitless. There aren't any controls on it, or down at the base. He can't even find wires; they must be inside it. Is this entire attempt a failure?]

[Joss examines the antenna in turn, not really expecting to find anything the two young men did not. Oh, how he wishes he could enlist the help of the engineers from Garlond Ironworks right now... Except for Nero, probably.

He mumbles to himself.]

Kettle discourse...

[With that enigmatic statement out of the way, he shakes his head before facing Sagi and Atsushi again.]

Neither do I. Inside?

[Kettles, meat and greens... Maybe Joss is like this because he's hungry all the time. Maybe the food here isn't long enough for him. Oh well, it still doesn't matter.]

Yeah, most likely. But it's locked.

[He rattles the door handle a little harder, just in case. Nope.]

I wonder about just taking the whole machine with us, but... [He spreads his hand to vaguely indicate the scuff marks and dirt on the floor.] It looks like they're still trying to repair it.

Maybe we were being too hasty about this.

[Someone has been up here besides them, and it seems rude now to have ascribed malevolent motives to anyone involved with the tower or the antenna. The door is locked, and Atsushi's now getting a little nervous about trespassing, since the initial panicked urge to destroy the noise has abated. They could have security cameras up here.]

We should have offered to help them instead of... um... well, demanding they tell us about the static.

[Maybe they could have gotten more information out of the receptionist had they been better at communicating.]

I see.

[That certainly explains why the two of them got here by climbing instead of taking the roof exit. Joss cannot help but feel a slight sense of dread as he gets the feeling he might have agreed to Crimes.]

Please do not get into unnecessary trouble.

[His tone is soft but a little disappointed, like a teacher who caught his favourite student eating chalk.]

[Wouldn't Joss be the one eating the chalk?]

It's not all bad. [No one could accuse Sagi of getting this far in life by being a pessimist.] We found out that there's something strange up here, and even that it's stronger where this antenna is. If we apologise, maybe they'll let us look around more once their repairs are done.

[Still, even he can pick up on the implication that they're probably done here for today. He does not want to have his life choices judged by a leaf-eating tree.]

I think that's a good idea.

[In the distance, there's footsteps coming up the stairwell. They're on the 7th floor right now, as far as he can tell, and there's... five people. He moves closer to the roof door to listen. Yes. It's, oh. They have indeed committed Crimes.]

Um, the police are coming.

[Ah, there is it. There's something about Joss's expression that turns long-suffering, as if this sort of thing just keeps happening to him.]

... I would not be so optimistic, Master Sagi.

[A pause.]

I can attempt to explain.

[Not that he particularly wants to explain things to the police, but... he just happened to already be there when Sagi and Atsushi climbed the tower. They might be willing to see him as a neutral agent. ~~You're all going to jail.~~]

Wait, why?

[He's not about to question Atsushi's ears, but Sagi's confusion is genuine. Who would call guards on them for just climbing a tower? It was right there. There wasn't even a sign.]

...Do we run?

[Clearly, this would reduce the amount of trouble they're now in.]

[Atsushi is torn about what to do. They should run, in the self preservation sense. Someone saw them and called the police, probably the receptionist. They may have been doomed from the start. On the other hand, would it be any use to run away when they don't blend in with the populace exactly? Sagi is a bird, and they will find him anyway.]

I... I don't know.

[Apparently, he's not making the decision here.]

[He shakes his head. He doesn't like to take charge, but...]

Running would only serve to make us look suspicious.

[Besides, he shares the same apprehensions as Atsushi. None of them really blend in, and the receptionist almost certainly got a good look at their faces when they were demanding to be let in.

Surely, the local police will be smart enough to see it was all a misunderstanding.]

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scension - 2020-10-16 11:51 (UTC) - Expand

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