NOVEMBER EVENT LOG

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NOVEMBER LOG

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In the aftermath of the rampage, the city of Mango starts to put itself back together, mourning losses of its citizens and Pokemon which would have been much heavier if the calamity hadn't suddenly and mysteriously stopped. The static in the air, which the citizens had gotten so used to to the point of no longer noticing it, is now gone and the silence is almost palpable, so obvious in comparison. Even the sandstorm to the west has started to die down, so that every crunch of heel on gravel can be heard as relief pours from Toran to Mango City, volunteers empathetic and eager to return the favor, however unfortunate that the opportunity had to be this soon.

The ghost Pokemon linger for a while, helping to guide the souls of the dead to the afterlife before they disperse back into the forest, while the cemetery stands still and silent save for those working on restoring the graves and fixing structural damages. Both towers remain closed to the public, the cemetery out of respect and the radio tower due to police investigation, with the staff called in for questioning but each denying knowledge of the radio signals having an adverse effect on the Pokemon. If there is anybody with that knowledge, it would be the company president, who is currently on leave elsewhere in the region and cannot be reached due to the storms and a conspicuously missing radio antenna preventing physical and electronic communication respectively. Maybe you guys will come across him later, maybe not. Maybe he got caught up in that volcano explosion you let happen. Who knows? haha!

Either way... people are welcome to remain in Mango as long as they want, and Toran seems to be fully up and running as well. Those who make the trip back to check up on how things are going will find the island to be warm and sunny, townspeople hard at work sowing the berry gardens and expanding the daycare center, where extra Pokemon will be sent to once the maximum limit of six Pokemon in a team has been met. Several missing children posters remain hung up around the daycare, but the island feels fuller, happier, with sounds of children laughing and yelling as they rush to the game corner to pool their tokens to win the new month's prize Pokemon: Swinub which know the move Rock Smash.

But for those who have decided to push forward, the only way forward is to the west, into the sandstorm towards Melona.

→ ICHI WE MISS YOU AND LOVE YOU

(click to expand - with all our hearts)

Even without raging sandstorms, the desert is rough travel and there is no reliable map to get from one place to another, especially with the way the wind naturally and occasionally picks up to start sandstorms, and it's so easy to get turned around by the wind and the cliffs and the way everything is sand for miles and miles and miles around. Little Gale King is eager to go home, looking around for somebody who will act as her guardian so they can travel with a guide straight to Melona. While taking a guide can be a bit expensive, groups up to six people can travel together for the same group price and they are guaranteed safe passage, provided with thick capes to keep the sand from buffeting them, goggles to help them see, and rental Numel to ride upon so they don't have to make the trek on foot.

The trip from Mango to Melona takes several hours, with occasional pit stops during which the guide pitches a large tent for everybody to rest in or to wait out a particularly heavy sandstorm before continuing on, but if they leave early enough in the day, they will eventually come across a huge stone dome in the middle of the desert, spanning several miles in diameter. Around the perimeter of the dome are several gates that can be opened from either side via hand cranks that require two people to operate, the thick stone walls of the dome protecting the desert town from the sun and the sand. At the apex of the dome is an open oculus that allows sunlight to shine down upon the town, and during the day, a constant beam of light illuminates the boba shop located at the very center of Melona. This shop's specialty flavor is Cacnea flower tea and its collectible stamp is a yellow Sandshrew! The boba shop is where the guides make a beeline to once everybody has been dropped off, the employees at the shop glad to hear the news that the sandstorm isn't as bad as it was in the recent month or two, but they also don't seem all that concerned about the outside world, nor were they aware of how bad things really were, with how isolated they are within this dome in the middle of the desert. Tsunamis? Volcanoes? Rampaging Pokemon? The citizens are pretty horrified, actually, and promise to send help to both Mango and Toran when the guides have rested up and are able to make the return journey.

In the meanwhile, Melona is a pretty quiet town, with everything quite scattered and far apart, less streets and more individual buildings with packed dirt paths connecting them. Next to the boba shop near the center of town is the Pokemon center which features a clinic space for people in lieu of an actual hospital, and flanking the Pokemon center on either side is the contest hall and psychic-type Pokemon gym, although the gym leader is currently absent and thus the gym is closed. Apparently it's not uncommon for him to wander off sometimes, but he has never been gone for weeks at a time and the people are getting worried. Is he lost? The last anybody heard, he had set out to find a mythical Pokemon rumored to be in the area, investigating a possible link to the abnormally long and harsh sandstorms that picked up recently, but for as competent a trainer as he is the storm was no joke and the town has never seen anything like it before. The same worry is echoed at the Pokemon school, which takes students of all ages to teach them more about Pokemon, their relationships with humans, and everybody's place in the world; several field trip groups had departed weeks ago but must have gotten caught in the sandstorms as well because they haven't yet returned. Gale is immediately concerned, and, asking around, learns that her little brother Jordan had gone on one of those field trips, and both their parents had gone with him as chaperones.

Hopefully good news will come in time, and the townspeople are patient, going about their daily business with a certain calm. For those who wish to earn some money, there is an abundance of odd jobs hiring both people and Pokemon, especially asking for Pokemon suited to specific tasks such as fire Pokemon to help cook and keep fires going at night for warmth and light, water Pokemon to water the fields and ground Pokemon to help till, flying Pokemon to check the dome for cracks to repair, fast Pokemon to make mail deliveries around town, hardy Pokemon to weather the sandstorms and keep a lookout for anybody approaching, for example. For those who looked at October and went "That was not a break month, what the heck," other places of interest include the museum containing many specimens of ancient Pokemon preserved in fossils and amber found right in the surrounding desert, offering rare items in exchange for more specimens, and... that's it, really. It's a quiet, sleepy town.

The days are hot and the nights are long, but when the sun goes down and the electricity is shut off overnight, the view above is spectacular. Thousands upon thousands of stars can be seen overhead, sparkling like diamonds in the pitch black of the oculus, while candle lit rock salt lamps line the street sides to provide a soft, temptingly lickable, warm glow below.

→ ICHI WRITES ALL THESE HEADERS

(click to expand - Ori headers are just like this haha)

But perhaps you're not the sort to just sit around and wait for things to happen. Perhaps you're the sort to dive headfirst into trouble despite the multiple danger warnings. Perhaps you were just foolhardy enough to have ventured into the desert from Mango without a guide, thinking that you could save a few bucks and make an adventure out of finding Melona all on your own. Those leaving Melona may be stopped by townspeople on the outskirts offering to sell them escape ropes, which will allow them to escape the ruins and appear right in front of them again if they're ever caught in a sticky situation, along with other food, water, and camping supplies. One man in particular suggests catching an Abra to teleport you right back to Melona— or if you prefer, he is also offering to trade one of his own.

Those leaving Mango are out of luck.

Either way, even if it takes days (and if you're wandering blindly, it's going to take days), you will eventually come across one of the ruins scattered throughout the desert. Hopefully you came prepared, not only for the travel, but for whatever awaits inside the ruins! The ruins look like this, aka the first thing that pops up in Google Images, but while some of the pillars still stand, most have collapsed and lay buried in the sand, presumably due to the massive sandstorm that raged the entire month prior. The sand is soft and hard to walk on, constantly shifting over uneven ground and quite a bit of digging might be required to locate hidden underground entrances or other secrets. The ancient ruins seem to be a bit unstable, with evidence of cave-ins here and there, the potential for further cave-ins the deeper inside the ruins one ventures, and with the lack of light and constantly branching halls, one could be stuck down here forever exploring the labyrinths underneath the ruins. Maybe you'll never escape. Maybe you'll live and die here, and get to do just that (:

No wild Pokemon can be found without thirty feet of any of the surface ruins. Every few hours, a slight tremor can briefly be felt underfoot, barely noticeable at the start of the month and becoming somewhat concerning as the month progresses. Everything is fine.

→ MOD NOTES

⬥ It's November!! Somehow! When I'm at work and am writing dates, sometimes I autopilot 2010 and sometimes it's 2021 and ig I just want everything to be over.
⬥ Ruins investigations are currently capped at two investigations per player to allow your mods space to breathe, but is likely to be lifted as the month progresses and investigations wrap up. As a hint, it would be highly worthwhile to investigate the area and question npcs first, and in particular find the gym leader, before heading into the ruins! If you do decide to run blindly into the ruins, though, we'll have a good time (:
⬥ As a reminder, the gym leader must be located and brought back to the gym before any challenges can take place. The contest hall, on the other hand, is open from the start of the month. For both, please comment on the appropriate toplevel for submissions!
⬥ Please comment to the new Pokemon toplevel for trading with the NPC, making a note of which Pokemon you would like to trade for his Abra. As a reminder, traded Pokemon are able to gain +15 levels a month through bonus activity, and traded Abras are able to evolve into its final evolution, Alakazam.
⬥ As an alternative to the daycare in Toran, Pokemon can also be given jobs around Melona if they aren't in your main party. OOCly, players are allowed to give each of their Pokemon +5 levels (not counting towards the bonus activity level cap) one time only for this month, regardless of the number of jobs the Pokemon takes. ICly, the Pokemon will be unavailable for one week while they're at work, so please be mindful of which Pokemon are available in your threads at what time of month! Please also be aware of the badge/ribbon requirements for higher level Pokemon to continue obeying, applicable to the total number of unique badges/ribbons in the travelling group.

Comments

[scension]

[cat bonus A]

[At some point in the latter half of the month, a cat can be found wandering through Melona. It's just an ordinary cat - a slate grey-ish tabby, verging on teal blue in a certain light, with fluffy fur and white mittens.

Whether you encounter it perched on a ledge or peeking around a building corner, it's staring intently at you with round green eyes, the same way it's been watching all the other townspeople streaming past its lookout spot for the past while. It seems to be searching for something. Still, if you happen to stare back at it, or even just glance in its direction with a face Sagi would recognise, it looks away rather quickly.]

M... Meow.

[There's nothing strange about the noise it makes either, provided you know what a cat is, but it sounds vaguely nervous somehow...]


[cat bonus B]

[It's later on. The stupid short-eared bunnycat thing hasn't worn off. Through thrilling feats of heart-pounding action that he probably will never and currently literally can't tell anyone about, Sagi has located his things, but not his body. Maybe this particular brand of bullshit doesn't work the same way, maybe it's just somewhere he can't get to it. It amounts to the same thing: he's hungry, he doesn't know what this animal is supposed to eat, and as uncomfortable as he is with the plan he just thought up, he doesn't want to starve. He has someone back home to stay alive for, you know?

As such, the same cat from before is now loitering by an aisle in the Poke Mart inside the Pokemon Centre, among a slightly anaemic selection of camping supplies for onward travellers. It's carrying a blank playing card in its mouth. As you approach, it turns its head, instantly looks guilty, starts to bolt for the exit -]

Sagi! There is a time and place for everything!

[- and instead freezes in place, both forelegs in the air. Obviously, this doesn't last. When gravity takes its course, the cat just performs an impressively un-catlike faceplant into the floor.]

Mrp? Mrrwup??

[The card is still in its mouth. The cashier over at the counter was severely weirded out by the booming voice out of nowhere, and is now yelling for backup in case of a potential shoplifter. Who the heck is this "Sagi" person, anyway?]

A

[thetyger]

[Atsushi has been acclimating himself to Melona after his return, sort of lost and fixating a little too much on his missing time. Will it happen again? The umbrella he was given by the clinic is very unnecessary, but it was somewhat like a gift, so he shouldn't discard it. That would be rude. He's collapsed it and is currently using it like a walking stick in the dirt streets. He stops suddenly, his thoughts paused, because... there's a cat? He hadn't seen any cats in this world. The tabby pattern and slightly blue hue disturb him, because it reminds him of himself; what lies within, ready to attack and kill and maim and- no. It's just a cat. It's just a cat. Still, after the hesitant meow and attempt to hide its face, Atsushi gently pokes at the cat with the umbrella.]

[scension]

Mrah!

[Sagi all but squeaks and scrambles to the side, fur standing on end. The perils of being cat-sized - the end of an umbrella starts to look like a credible weapon. Why would you do that to some random animal? That's so uncalled for. He looks up with round, pitiful eyes.

...Which means he finally gets a good look at the face above the umbrella, the one he was too distracted to properly register while people-watching a moment ago.]

Rreow?

[Atsushi??]

[thetyger]

[The cat is real, and he's not hallucinating. But he's just frightened some poor cat. Atsushi pulls the umbrella back and looks properly apologetic.]

I'm sorry.

[He crouches down, as the cat doesn't seem intent on running away.]

Are you lost?

[scension]

[It really is Atsushi. Sagi didn't think he was the type to just prod at animals for fun. Oh man, Hythlo's prayer came true...

He has a lot he wants to say, and no way of expressing it until whatever the heck this is decides to cut him a break. For a moment he weighs up his options, but eventually he just shakes his head, a decidedly un-catlike gesture.] M... Myah.

[Either Atsushi will catch on, or Sagi can go find him to talk properly once he's back in his body. There's nothing else he can do right now.]

B

[bythefurry]

[Joss was busy trying to figure out which flavour of tea he should buy (a very hard choice; there are only three sorts, but he's been at it for fifteen minutes) when he hears the voice booming through the entire mart.

He freezes, for two reasons: 1) he heard Sagi's name, and would hate for the teen to be in trouble 2) this has happened to him before.

He rises from his crouching position - the mart is not designed for people his size, and it's the only way he could reach some of the products - and looks over the shelves. He can't see Sagi anywhere. Did he lose his balance much like he once did? He thinks he would have heard the crash, but... Hmm. Unless the shopkeeper's yelling drowned it out? The man, who startled a little when Joss got up, asks him if he's the one who just yelled. Joss shakes his head sadly. The shopkeeper squints, but figures he seems too sad to be a criminal, anyway.

It's when he walks into another aisle that he finds the collapsed cat, and his heart skips a beat. Oh no. Does he need to get a nurse? He reaches to check if the little animal reacts to touch... when he notices the card in its mouth.]

Huh...

[Sagi has a gaelicat?]

[scension]

[Oh... the Celestial Tree. Wait, no, it's just Joss. The main giveaway is that the tree wouldn't sound as sad.

Regardless, Sagi can think of no way of communicate with a tree while he's like this, or else his food problem would be easier to resolve. All he can do for now is ignore Joss, leave, and try something else. Ugh, he knew stealing was a bad idea from the start. There's no way the cashier is going to ignore the sound of a blank magnus now. He's not sure why he fell down, but he can chalk that one up to weird things about being temporarily quadrupedal.

He stands up with his jaws still firmly clamped onto the card, shakes himself off, then makes another dash for the Pokemon Centre doors. Well, he tries. This time it's his hind legs that lock up mid-leap, sending him sprawling onto the floor.]

Mrrp...!?

[Sagi's mom raised him to keep most of his curse words to himself, but it doesn't count if it's just cat noises.]

[bythefurry]

[That cat's legs must be injured... Joss scans the shop, trying to see if he missed Sagi's presence somehow, but the only person looking back is the disgruntled shopkeeper. Under his insistent gaze, Joss can't help but blurt out a question.]

Um. Looking for a young man. Teal hair. Likes red.

["Haven't seen 'im," replies the shopkeeper, still squinting suspiciously. Joss hums sadly. Strange. Considering what happened the one time he heard a booming voice yell at him, Sagi couldn't have gone far. Just outside the mart, maybe?

He's just going to try grabbing the gaelicat gently - if it'll let him - and leave the shop. If he doesn't see Sagi, he might have to check in with the nurses at the Pokémon center desk...]

[scension]

[Pulling himself to his feet yet again, Sagi just shakes his head in exasperation while Joss talks to the shopkeeper, but Joss grabbing him puts an end to that.]

Mnyip??

[Forget about struggling, it takes most of his presence of mind to clamp his teeth down on the blank magnus so that he doesn't drop it when Joss sweeps him heavensward. Like dog, like trainer. He just dangles, fluffy tail flicking back and forth without him thinking about it.]

M... Mreehh...

[Great, now what? Joss isn't going to find him out there, the inquiry process is going to be embarrassing, and then the man might end up 1.5 times as sad as he normally is. Sagi's options for changing this less than ideal timeline are limited, and he's still hungry. He's too far away from the packaged jerky on the shelves to attempt any crimes on it now. All he has is this card.

...And when all you have is a blank magnus, everything starts to look like its magna essence.

You know what, it's time. He activates it, loud and bright as usual. It's time to siphon off some of Joss's Unbearable Sadness. Maybe that will be just enough of a hint that something is up.]

2

[joysticks]

[ Rather than being all sad and sulky for entire weeks, Kyu-chan has taken on various different jobs and one of them is at the Poke Mart. He doesn't really do much but stock the lower shelves that humans with bad backs can't properly work with, but he is very proud of his job and wears his custom-made apron with pride. ]

[ He's putting away a few cans of beans when he is startled by a loud and booming voice. He drops one of them and glances around. Oh no, a potential shoplifter?! He needs to find them! Well, luckily, the thief isn't that far away and even if it's just a cat-type Pokemon(?), Kyu-chan needs to stop them! ]

[ He scurries up to Sagi and tugs on the card. Hey, give it back! :T ]

[scension]

[Sagi recognises the doll Pokemon as the one that was always hanging around Nanami, but he has no time to think through any of the implications of that before he finds Kyu-chan trying to yank his magnus off of him. Ohh, that isn't good. He barely had time to struggle back to his feet, and that thing has hands. This body does not. In fact, unlike what he'd expect from a Pokemon - and unlike a greythorne, and unlike the, uh, other thing he has some experience of turning into - it doesn't feel like it has anything magical about it at all. This sucks.

What can he do? If he loses this card, not only do his food-stealing plans go out the window for the time being, he might never replace it even after going home. Blank magnus aren't the everyday kind of magnus you can just buy.]

Mrrgh!

[He can't think of anything else. He activates the card - it's a machine anyone can learn to use, after all. It flares bright white and emits a high-pitched noise, though not nearly as loud as that mysterious booming voice. Its blank surface rapidly fills with a silhouette illustration of a cat, its fur standing on end much like Sagi's is now, but collecting this magna essence of Cat Panic isn't the point. He's just trying to startle the Pokemon into letting go.]

[joysticks]

[ Startling the Pokemon into letting go is exactly what he manages to accomplish. He jumps and places his hands to the sides of his costume's body, which is actually where his real head is. That was a really loud sound! It almost hurt his non-existent ears, but just as quickly as it screeched through the store, he lowers his arms. Oh no! It let go of the card that the cat was clearly stealing! ]

[ Immediately, he takes off. Where did you go, kitty!! Give that unknown product back!! ]

[scension]

[Sagi did not go far at all - he managed to reach the end of the aisle while cautiously inching away, but the second he decided it was safe to pick up the pace, one of his front paws froze in mid-air and almost tripped him up again. What the heck is up with that? What did that mysterious voice do to him? Did it put him in this body, too? He's so disoriented.

But he has no breathing room to puzzle any of it out, because Kyu-chan has caught up with him again. With nothing else at his disposal, he activates the card again. Along with the same bright light and the same whistling sound as before, Kyu-chan is about to experience the distilled essence of "the panicked emotion you feel when something is threatening you and you don't know why you are just a non-magical cat".]

A

[authoriser]

[ Sooyoung has seen Fai turn into a cat who had similar color schemes, so she definitely notices a regular cat because it's so out of place in Cassava, much less in a dinky dome town. She goes to lift the cat up from his sides, seemingly not caring about getting scratched. Looks like she has mittens on with string attached to both. ]

Which one are you this time...

[scension]

[Oh no, he stared too long. Despite looking nothing like a ragdoll cat, Sagi goes limp the moment he's grabbed. He doubts she's going to figure out the specifics when he goes out of his way not to talk to her, and he definitely doesn't want to set her off while he's defenseless.]

M-Meow.

[Another cat noise that wouldn't be out of place for a normal cat if not for how hesitant he sounds.]

[authoriser]

[ She carries the cat and goes to sit on a bench because that's the closest place where she can just sit down. She sets Sagi on her lap, still holding him by the sides, making him sit human-like. ]

A mixed russian blue cat maybe... white feet...

[ She doesn't think she can match the color description with anything else just yet. The teal shine doesn't show itself with the lighting where she is. Since she knows that this cat is probably one of the foreigners, she just starts subjecting Sagi to this. ]

[scension]

[What the fuck! What the fuck!! The moment she starts shaking him, Sagi abandons his passivity. He emits a loud yowl - not really a likely sound for an actual cat to make in this situation - and flails wildly with all four sets of claws, but his forelegs most of all, trying to get free rather than scratch anywhere in particular. Get the hell off of him, he didn't do anything that time! He couldn't say a thing!]

B

[nyom]

[ Efi was stocking up on general pokemon supplies in the Mart when she hears that loud voice. Is Sagi getting scolded?? She kinda wants to see what's going on, and when she runs over there to the aisle she thinks Sagi is in, there's just... a cat. She can see the cashier yelling for backup, but she's mostly unfazed as she looks at the cat. ]

Oooh, that looks like Sagi's card thingy... magna.

[ She'll get it right one day without being corrected. ]

Did you take that, kitty? That's not good...

[scension]

M, mrrwrrr... [Picking himself up, Sagi frantically shakes his head, or at least tries - it mostly looks like he's shaking off the dust from the mart floor.] Mrrrrrh.

[If he had difficulty communicating anything before, it's even harder while keeping his jaws clamped onto the metallic filigree of the card. Frankly, he's over it. It's frustrating, and he's hungry.]

[nyom]

[ Efi lowers herself to the ground, resting her chin on her knees while looking at Sagi kitty. ]

Are you hungry, kitty? I can get you some food, but I should probably find Sagi too. They yelled his name for some reason, so he might be in trouble.

[ Efi has absolutely no idea what a cat eats, but she gets some beef jerky anyway. Everyone likes these, right?? ]

[scension]

[Sagi has no idea what a cat eats either, so as far as he's concerned, this is fine. He follows Efi to the counter, trying as hard as he can not to look like a shoplifter despite the magnus still in his mouth, and... notices that he's drooling on it when she pays for the jerky. Eww. He attempts to turn around and wipe it off on his fur, but it doesn't help much, so he gives up and just waits.

It takes a lot of willpower to sit there on the floor instead of going straight for the food, but he manages. He just stares straight up at her, his eyes large and round.]

wildcard!!!

[partymagician]

[ Fai is the kind of person who follows through on what he says he's going to do. So one day, he comes to find Sagi. He's holding a thermos in each hand and there's a soft smile on his face.

Maybe Sagi is working today out by the gate or looking for spots in the dome that need to be prepared. Or maybe he's just playing with his Pokemon.

Either way, Fai will be calling out to him. ]

Sagi! I have something for you!

[scension]

[Sagi is no longer a cat, thankfully. He's never really hard to spot thanks to his penchant for brightly coloured clothes and often the glimmer of ghostly feathers, but today he can also be traced by the sound of metallic clashing - he's in a deserted lot somewhere, play-swordfighting with his Pawniard. That is, the fight has to be a play fight, since neither of them are hurt and Pawniard only cares about lightly tagging the blade with her claws. The katana itself looks pretty real in Sagi's hands, and somewhat oversized.

He lowers the blade and turns around when he picks up the sound of footsteps, which happens to be when Fai calls out to him. It comes as a mild surprise that someone found him out here, but he supposes you can only get so much space from other people in an enclosed dome, so he isn't bothered.]

Hey, Fai. What's up?

[He doesn't draw any connection to the flasks Fai is holding right away.]

[partymagician]

[ The way they're sparring is pretty cute, and Fai is more than content to watch for a bit while he approaches.

He holds up the thermoses. ]

I brought you tea! Are you at a good stopping point?

[scension]

...Oh, like you mentioned before! [He got there eventually.] Sure. We were just practising a little before the next contest.

[With a more orange-tinted burst of light and a slightly lower, more mechanical whirring sound than Sagi's previous card crimes, the katana shrinks into a card. Sagi catches it with one hand as it starts to fall. Don't worry about it.]

What kind of tea is it? Did you find the right flowers in the end?