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OCTOBER EVENT PT2

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→ THE BEGINNING

(click to expand - happy early Halloween)

It's on the evening of October 28th when everything quickly descends into madness.

It begins with faint static in the air, gradually becoming louder and louder until it's impossible to ignore, the pattern of cries that was once hidden now audible to everybody as it grows and grows until it culminates in an explosion. The walls of the local bookstore burst outwards, a rampaging Hydreigon within unleashing Hyper Beam after Hyper Beam without any rest in between. Its trainer, an old man, hobbles up to it in a panic in order to ask what's wrong, but the Pokemon knocks him to the ground, ignoring him and continuing to destroy everything in its path while its trainer lies motionless on the ground, blood pouring from his head.

Further down the street, another eruption shakes the city, a group of Galarian Rapidashes slamming themselves against walls and windows until they break through, careening and crashing through buildings with wild abandon. Occupants inside a cafe scream as they attempt to flee, crushed under rubble and trampled by merciless hooves. From the sky, Murkrows and Natus swoop down on residents on the streets, long talons outstretched to claw at any exposed skin and pluck out any staring eyes. All around the city, Pokeballs burst open on their own and the Pokemon rush madly at human and Pokemon alike, disregarding orders or pleads from their trainers and attacking anything within sight in a wild frenzy.

Fires blaze across the city as children wail and adults scream. All the while, the pattern of cries continues...

→ THE RAMPAGE

(click to expand - you're in for a bad time)

Throughout the night, dark, ghost, and psychic-type Pokemon rampage throughout Mango City. Wild Pokemon appear from the outskirts of town and attack anyone and anything on sight, while companion Pokemon force themselves out of their balls and turn upon their trainers. No other types seem to be affected, the other Pokemon just as confused and distraught as the humans as they're forced to run from, defend against, and fight the Pokemon they were once allied with.

While many of the mad Pokemon physically assault those around them, other use innate abilities to wreak havoc. Musharnas emit a dark mist that engulfs entire beings and brings their fears to reality, forcing all those within the fog to face the same delusions. At the same time, Shedinjas steal souls away in their shells and keep them captive in a shared endless nightmare of their worst experiences relived. Similarly, Beheeyems cause those nearby to reexperience their most feared and hated moments, erasing all memory after that moment in order to trap their victims in that vulnerable mindset of the past. Meanwhile, Zoroarks trap their targets within grand illusions that force them to undergo a series of deaths over and over again, causing them excruciating pain and suffering while their physical bodies continue to live. Haunters phase in and out of walls to surprise and lick their victims, sapping years off their life and causing a frigid shivering that won't stop until they wither away, and Gengars loom in the shadows, sapping heat away from its surroundings and causing the small and the weak to slowly freeze to death. Umbreons spray poisonous sweat all over the street, causing people to choke and convulse if they stay too long near the toxic areas, and Cofagriguses drag humans into their coffins and wrap them up as mummies, bound so tightly nobody can hear them scream. No amount of pleading nor bargaining will cause any of them to stop; the only option left is to defeat them in battle, either by killing them or knocking them out.

It'd be kinder to do the latter, but in the heat of the moment, it's difficult to hold back. It's desperate times, after all, as the city streets soon begin to fill with the cold and still bodies of both Pokemon and humans.

→ HELP...?

(click to expand - is anyone even sane enough left to help)

At the outskirts of town bordering the forest, herds of Stantler lead the unaffected and helpless deeper into the forest into an area where the trees are so densely packed that even the shine of the moon can't break through. The only source of light are the small Litwicks that scurry towards the humans, smiling and holding out their little hands. Follow them. They'll keep you safe(?).

Perhaps it's time to abandon the city, where the fires continue to grow and rage throughout the streets, threatening to engulf entire neighborhood blocks. The hospital and Pokemon Center get repurposed to disaster zones as the doctors and nurses struggle to treat their patients while fending off rampaging Pokemon at the same time. Mari's large Steelixes wrap themselves around the buildings to become iron walls keeping the wild Pokemon out, but even their great defense struggles against the never ending attacks.

In the midst of the ongoing disaster, the radio tower remains undamaged and completely abandoned, untouched by the rampaging Pokemon outside. The receptionist has fled long ago, leaving the front doors open but the door to the stairs and the elevator up remaining locked. The tower stands empty and silent, completely free of the static and pattern of cries playing outside, the one place of reprieve from the hell that has descended upon Mango City.

→ MOD NOTES

⬥ Welcome to the Halloween event! Due to the nature of the prompts, please properly warn for any potentially disturbing content in your threads/tags for all players.
⬥ This event is forward dated to the evening and night of the 28th and may last past the 28th if no proper IC measures are taken to stop the rampaging Pokemon. The OOC deadline to solve and fix the disaster will be October 29.
⬥ Please comment to the mod question & investigation thread to report any actions that characters may take to stop the events of the log.
⬥ Have fun! :)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Hien remembers what he read on the note, and thinks to himself. There are twins, and this person looks like Fai, but he says Fai is up there. It probably wouldn't be a stretch to assume that Fai has a twin, but he hears "Yuui".

...

He's not good with thinking about things like this, so he'll brush that aside. He feels bad just from watching him climb and feels wary about him falling, so he stands at the bottom just in case. ]

Come back down. I'll help you get out of here.

[ That's the more important part, isn't it? ]

[ Fai slides back down the rest of the way, almost losing his balance because he just isn't thinking about it. A couple of his fingertips are bloody, having been scraped on the rough walls of the tower. He frowns, finally looking at Hien. ]

How?

[ There's no escape, there never was. Fai looked and looked over the months (or was it years?) he spent in this tower and found nothing. ]

Magic doesn't work here, if you were thinking of using that.

I don't need to depend on something that was never mine in the first place.

[ Hien picks him up and slings him over the shoulder. Then he rubs his hands together. Okay... it's been a while since he scaled walls. Maybe he can do some parkour? But the walls seem to be too far apart for that. Hm.

Whatever. He just starts climbing the wall instead. ]

[ Fai raises his eyebrows at that. He had assumed Hien had magic but... maybe not.

He gasps when Hien picks him up, and he frowns. Normally he would just laugh but he's too tired, too angry that he's having to relive this. ]

Put me down.

[ There's no way Hien is going to actually get out of here, and Fai doesn't want to get his hopes up and start thinking that maybe he will. ]

No.

[ That's all the answer Fai is getting as Hien continues to scale the wall. It's a slow progress, but it's something. Though if Fai tries to struggle, he really will fail.

His hands don't hurt just yet. Hien is really glad that he's always been physically active, because he's found more and more places where there were magic locks put on. ]

[ As much as he wants to, Fai decides not to struggle because he doesn't want the both of them to fall and join the rest of the bodies down below.

The tower seems almost insurmountable, but as Hien continues to climb the opening at the top seems to be getting closer and closer. There's a figure at the top of the tower and soon after it's joined by another one who pushes that first figure down. Immediately, Fai recognizes that figure, especially as they pass the two of them and land down below. That's definitely the king that threw him in here, and it seems like this memory is determined to continue to play itself out even if Fai isn't down there.

Hien might notice that Fai is shaking. ]

Hurry. Please.

[ His voice is quiet as he tries to keep it from shaking too. ]

[ Hien quietly wonders if this is some sort of coup as he continues to climb. It takes restraint to hold himself back from attempting to catch the other falling people so that they don't die, but he needs to focus on this right here. He notices Fai shaking and steels his resolve to continue climbing, to get them out of here. His fingers are starting to hurt, and his knuckles sometimes scraped against the wall, but it's fine. He keeps going, despite knowing exhaustion trying to win over.

After a while, his pace was kept steady, but at a cost of his energy. He's immensely tired, but one more. A little more and he can reach the end-- ]

[ The king is still very much alive as Hien continues to climb, as he shouts at the faint outline of a child down below, since Fai is not actually there. He says that the birth of the twins only brought sorrow, that the only ones still breathing in this country are the king and the twins and that he's going to end it here. The man picks up a sword and before turning it on himself, tells the child that he and his brother must atone for their sins.

Hien is almost at the top, he's within arm's reach even, before their surroundings shift around them and suddenly they're at the bottom again.

Something has changed, though. There's a dimensional rift, a hole in the air with a man inside, speaking about other worlds. Now that they're back at the bottom, Fai steps back off of Hien. Fai grabs his arm. ]

Go. Get out of here.

[ Hien doesn't appreciate this gaslighting! He takes a moment to reorient himself when he's at the bottom. He can't tell if his efforts were wasted or not, as he looks over at the rift. ]

... You're saying one thing, but doing another.

[ His arm. You're holding onto it, boy. ]

[ Fai lets go immediately, realizing that the part of him that wants to be saved from this is fighting with the part that doesn't want anyone else to see his memories. ]

I want you to go.

[ But Fai doesn't sound entirely convinced of his own words as he looks down at the ground. The man in the rift keeps talking, eventually asking "Do you want to leave this place?"

There's an echo of younger Fai's words reverberating off the walls that he does, in fact, want to leave.

"I can grant your wish. But... you must choose between you and the other one!"

With those words, Fai immediately turns to face away from the scene, shutting his eyes and covering his ears. He doesn't even want to hear what happens next. Seeing it once and in his dreams after was enough. ]

[ The moment Fai lets go of him, Hien reaches out to hold onto his hand anyway. He's seeing these memories anyway, whether he wants to or not, so there really has been only one option from the start, hasn't there?

He hoists Fai up, carrying him bridal style regardless whether he's still turning away from this. We have too many mindbroken people today. We don't need more--so Hien basically brings Fai with him as he jumps into the portal. ]

[ Fai's so shaken he doesn't even react when Hien scoops him up and steps through the portal, taking them to somewhere snowy. It's quiet around them, eerily so, but Fai can't bring himself to notice that just yet. ]

You...

[ Just got them out of there. He doesn't know what to say. ]

Me.

[ He replies rather nonchalantly as he looks around. ]

Where should I go? There's nothing but snow here. Being buried in snow is a shitty way to die, so tell me quick.

That way.

[ Fai points towards a large castle, his hand shaking. He tries to keep it under control, but he can't. ]

We're in Celes now.

[ He doesn't know why he says it, just feels like he needs to talk to fill the quiet air around them. ]

[ He wishes he could get Mimi here, who evolved into a Flareon, but souls don't carry pokemon. Hien's soul is complicated, but it shows others a person in his early twenties, probably a uni student. It's definitely a past appearance, and to be honest, he only looks distantly related to himself despite how it's supposed to be him. At least his voice is clear. Small blessings for a soul like him.

He doesn't have his cloak with him, so when Hien notices Fai's hand shaking, he tries to hold him closer to himself. Maybe he's cold? They're out in the snow after all. ]

A neighboring nation or something?

[ He doubts he wants to go home after what just happened. ]

[ Fai is surprised when Hien pulls him closer, but he doesn't shift away. Although he isn't all that cold, not yet at least, the extra warmth is nice. It makes him feel grounded. ]

No. Another world.

[ He's quiet for a moment, before deciding that he might as well say more. Hien's seen enough, and there's no reason to omit things now. ]

I couldn't live in that other world, so I grew up here. You saw that letter, didn't you? I don't know how much you read, but twins in that world are considered a bad omen.

[ Cursed for something you can't do anything about. Hien frowns--he hates that sort of thing because that's something you can't change. If people are going to hate others for something, do it for something they've done. ]

Did you at least have a good time in this world?

[ He actually has to think about that. For the most part, he was well cared for and people liked him, but it was difficult to keep going after everything that happened in that other country. ]

...Yes, I did. I was lucky, being able to grow up here.

[ As they get closer to the castle, the quietness grows eerier, more unsettling. It's empty where there would usually be people bustling around. Fai frowns, having a feeling they've arrived in the middle of one of his other memories. ]

[ Hien continues to carry Fai. He may have never been here, but the fact that an entire castle is very quiet is already weird to begin with. And since Fai wanted to come to the castle, it must have been somewhat important to him.

This doesn't sound good. ]

... A shot in the dark, but I'm gonna guess the reason why you took so long in answering is something I'm about to see very soon.

[ And so, he enters the castle anyway. ]

[ Fai gives him a wry smile. ]

You're really good at guessing.

[ He shifts a little, putting his hand on one of Hien's shoulders. ]

You can put me down now.

[ Truthfully, he... doesn't know why he let Hien carry him for this long in the first place. Maybe because it was nice to be literally supported. He's not going to really think about it, and instead focus on trying to find a way out of this cycle through his memories. ]

[ Hien gently puts Fai back down. Support and having someone be here is nice, but Hien is also not going to say anything about it. ]

Can you walk?

[ He's not going to go ahead by himself until he confirms this. ]

[ The moment Fai steps down onto the ground, his clothes suddenly shift and he's wearing a long fluffy coat. It was a toss up between a few different memories that Fai wasn't sure what he would be walking into, but now he knows for sure. He looks over at Hien and gives him a genuine smile. It's small and tired, but real. ]

Thank you.

[ The throne room is just down the hall and he looks at the doors for a moment before turning back to Hien, his expression now serious. He really doesn't want to go through that door and just continue this cycle of reliving the worst moments of his life. But maybe he'll be able to use the full extent of his magic in this memory and they can get out that way... ]

...I don't want to keep going, so let's try to find a way out here. Do you have any idea what might be behind this?

[ Wow, Fai just went through a Pimp My Outfit scenario and Hien just wants a comfortable hoodie. It's COOOOLD it shouldn't be, but it's absolutely cold and his soul should be aligned with ice stuff, but no.

He quietly follows him though and when asked, he thinks of the possibilities. ]

Probably a Shedinja. Mimi is probably working on finding it...

[ Hien doesn't know how much time passed outside, but it sure feels forever. ]

[ Fai tries to remove his coat to offer it since he has another one on underneath, but it doesn't want to budge. Seems like some things have to stay to preserve the memories. ]

Can you tell me a little about Shedinja?

[ He starts feeling along the walls in the hallway for anything that might be inconsistent with his memories. ]

If you look into the hollow crevice in its back, your soul gets sucked in.

[ Hien squints a little into the distance. He has an unevolved Nincada. Maybe he should just buy it a backpack when it evolves. Yeah. That'll work. ]

Though the "experience your terrible memories within it" seems to be a new thing.

premise ⬥ taken ⬥ faq ⬥ navigation

→ THE BEGINNING

→ THE RAMPAGE

→ HELP...?

→ MOD NOTES

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