Entry tags:

DECEMBER LOG PT1

premise ⬥ taken ⬥ faq ⬥ navigation

→ OH THANK GOD

(click to expand - the boba shop survived!!)

Sandstorms quietly continue to blow across Melona's desert, tinged black with ash carried over from the west where the volcano still intermittently sputters and spits, its hiccups and coughs darkening the sky to the west. Occasionally, a clap of thunder can be heard even as far as Melona's dome, and a shadow can be seen within the ash clouds looming above the mountains. Whispered rumors travel throughout the region, carrying warnings that "The storm is alive," remembering the destruction wrought upon Toran and the volcanic eruption two months ago that had devastated Hami, the town to the northwest. For two months, the heat and the ash had choked the skies over the mountains of Hami, but eventually, the lava stops flowing. Eventually, the skies begin to clear. Eventually, the people of Melona become curious enough— concerned enough— aware enough that their life inside their bubble that blinded them to the plights of the world at large— to start sending small groups out to Hami to see what aid, if any, they might require. The gym leader himself wanted to head the expedition, worried about his friend and fellow gym leader in the neighboring town, but he got yelled at enough for leaving his post during the last month that he reluctantly agrees to remain at the gym. Because, apparently, challenging gyms is very very important to some people, never mind the world being in a crisis and the safety of both people and Pokemon being at stake.

Instead, the desert guides are the ones who lead the way to Hami, knowing the desert and the mountains and are able to carve the most direct path towards the town. Self-sufficient as the townspeople of Melona tend to be, they do not ask for volunteers to join them, but they do not turn down help either, whether from bleeding hearts who want to do everything they can to assist people in need, or those who just want to get to the next town for their badges and ribbons. Like the trek from Mango to Melona, travel to Hami also takes several days of camping, of riding upon Numel through the sand, of climbing mountains and scaling unstable cliffs because there is no well-worn path from the ground to the peak. And nestled in the middle of the mountains, where Hami is supposed to be...

Ash and cinders. A field of rubble. Skeletons of buildings jutting up out of the ground where they are half collapsed and half buried in the ground, flames licking what little wood and scraps of cloth remain and hungering to devoid the new souls that have stepped within their domain. Aside from the rescue team from Melona, there is not another soul in sight, no sound of everyday chatter in the distance nor husks of bodies left charred on the ground. In this town laid to ruin, a single building has been left relatively untouched by the flow of lava that had run through its streets and washed away all its people. The sign hanging above the front door, blackened at the edges, reads: "Hami Boba." Inside, a single worker in uniform can be seen slumped over the counter, who is startled so badly when the door opens that she falls off her stool and blanches as if she'd seen a ghost— which is exactly what she thought, because who else would be here in Hami after everything that had happened? The volcano had erupted two months ago, she explains, all of the sudden without warning and most of the townspeople were forced to leave. Others stayed behind, those with rock and ground Pokemon who weren't bothered by the heat, or those with water and ice Pokemon who were willing to tough it out to battle the lava and the flames in an effort to save their town. This war against nature lasted over a month, and nobody ever came to their aid... But eventually, it became clear that their greatest threat came from the sky, from the ash that fell upon the land like a woolen blanket and smothered all the air, driving the last of the resistance fighters out.

In the end, the only person left in the entire town was her. The boba shop was constructed with the nearby volcano in mind, and there is no lack of things to eat inside the shop when there was only herself to ration for, but the funny thing is... even though she was stuck indoors and was horrifyingly lonely, she could feel a cool breeze pass through the shop every once in a while, and the air remained fresh. It felt as if there were something watching over her, she explains shyly, and there must have been, because she held onto that hope all this time and her patience finally paid off. Her first customers in two months!! Would they like some boba? The store's specialty is Shuckle berry juice boba! The stamps are a little dried out, but you get a cute red Slugma stamp for visiting this shop.

→ WELCOME TO THE NEW HAMA

(click to expand - it's free to live out here)

So, there's that. There is no town, not really. No gym, no contest hall. But the Melona guides aren't satisfied with leaving it at that, so they stock up on all the Shuckle berry juice boba they can carry and continue their search for the town's residents. They offer up Abras to teleport anybody who doesn't want to continue back to Melona, and then split into small groups to spread out across the mountainside, winding around smoldering lava lakes and trudging through paths knee high in ash. Here and there, all across the mountain range, small campsites can be seen. Up on a ledge on the cliffside, a group of people can be seen foraging berries alongside some wild Mankey. Out in the open in a valley, another group of people are seen roasting meat and nuts over several wild Torkoals' backs. At the base of one of the mountains, another group of people and Machop are hard at work breaking large boulders into smaller pieces to build shelter. Rather than having relocated to a single area, the people of Hami seem to have scattered to live in the mountains, welcome enough to the Melona guides and those who accompany them but denying that they need any help or expressing any real desire to reform a central town. There is no need, after all. Everything they need to live on is provided by the land and the wild Pokemon who share not only their habitat, but where to find food and water, and keep them warm and safe through the night. The volcano still grumbles from time to time, the seas around them continue to churn with relentless whirlpools, and sandstorms rage in the east towards Melona. But right now, they're just trying to live day by day.

While there is no main town any longer, the people do come together from time to time in the valley to share resources and spread news, and once a week, they sit together under the stars and hold Pokemon Contests on a stage that is nothing more than a large, wide slab of rock. The gym leader, Tsubomi, specializes in both fire and fighting type Pokemon and honors battles wherever she is challenged. Because of the lack of a gym building, she might need to be tracked down, though she is easier to find than Konoha, often making set rounds from group to group, checking up on the townspeople spread across the mountains. Central to all the campsites are natural hot springs, and both people and wild Pokemon come here to submerge themselves in the steaming waters and rejuvenate after a long, hard day. When the first of the rescue team arrives at the hot springs, two familiar faces are seen: a girl with pink hair and a boy with blue hair. Nanami opens her eyes blearily and pats Minato on the face. He looks up at the group and goes, "Hey. What's up?"

→ AW NUTS...

(click to expand - you really should have done something about that volcano)

A couple nights into the month, a shooting star is spotted streaming across the sky and disappearing into the waters to the southwest.

The ground shakes.

In the dead of night, the sky is lit up with a spew of fire that bursts out of the volcano hundreds of meters in the air, black smoke billowing up into the air in thick clouds, the mountains hacking up ash and molten rock. Screams can be heard throughout the mountain range as lava rushes down the slopes, people trying to grab what little they have left for a second time— though many already have nothing left but their lives. Wild Pokemon flee from the mountains in herds, heading for the desert to face the sandstorms rather than being consumed by flame.

The ground shakes. It cracks.

Desert becomes beach as the sand spills into the water, the cusp between mountain and desert becoming a chasm driven deep into the water as the Hami mountains break away and start sinking into the sea.

→ MOD NOTES

⬥ For the sake of timelines, the Melona guides first head for Hami on December 3, the volcano erupts on December 5, and Hami subsequently becomes its own island on December 6. Destruction and evacuation can be played out however you want, but the boba shop remains standing in the end. The building is in impeccable condition. Not even the ash sticks to it.
⬥ Please make note of the new investigation form in the toplevel below, involving investigation style.
⬥ The second event log will go up on December 15.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[It's a little amusing to see Sagi react like an actual bird, and he wonders if it's unconscious and the wings sort of do their own thing instinctively. He won't ask, though.]

So far, yeah.

[Yoichi isn't going to dismiss the possibility something else will happen to him before they go wherever the next place is, but at the same time, he's pretty nonchalant about the 'are you okay' questions because there's been a lot lately and he's come to expect it along with any general greeting. The Mudbray flings off some more mud from her hooves, and he'll just put her back into her ball before she gets antsy and does something more violent. She leaves behind a few clumps of mud as she vanishes.]

Speaking of letters, how do you send them? There's no... mail system.

[It's pointless to write a letter if someone has to hand-deliver it anyway; they can just talk.]

[With the Mudbray gone, Sagi tucks his wings behind his back again and lets them fade. He doesn't appear to be thinking very hard about them - he's mostly peering at the remaining letter paper in his hand, trying to decide whether the top sheet is clean enough to write anything legible.]

With Pokemon, what else? That's all they do here.

[The joke may sound more bitter than he normally skews, but that's only because he's distracted. It's still a joke. Hmm... yeah, this page seems fine. Only half the page got covered in soot smudges when he yanked the paper away; he can just write on the other half. He kneels down again to do so, for lack of any other surface to lean on.]

Sigilyph knows the way, and he's delivered letters before. Without a direct line of some kind, I don't think we could get the word out faster than him.

[Sigilyph musters the energy to scream proudly, still flapping in place where Sagi jumped away from it. It's exhausted from this volcano business, but it will do its best!]

["That's all they do here" is Yoichi's general opinion on Pokemon. He can be obsessive, so there's some perspective on it, but he doesn't see the appeal of Pokemon and this general culture revolving around them.]

Guess I don't have any that would be mailmen.

[Hana-chan would, in a cute little outfit, but Yoichi doesn't know that. Nor would he trust her to deliver anything. He shoots a sharp glance at the Sigilyph while it screams. It remains one of the most odd Pokemon he's encountered.]

Don't those... Abras?... teleport?

[That's probably faster. If there are any still around.]

[Sagi looks up at him in surprise. He'd forgotten about those. Outside of the ones he takes care of and the few he recognises as belonging to his friends, it's still hard to keep all these weirdly-named monster species straight in his head.] Wow, you're right... If those trainers didn't head back before the eruption, that would be faster.

[Then again, they might all be gone already. Sagi has no idea, since he didn't consider taking them up on their offer at the time. In the time it would take to ask around, he could easily send Sigilyph on its way... Meh. He'll finish the letter he started first, even if the only thing actually on it right now is a big smudge.]

OK, I'll write a few copies. If they don't have Abras left, they might have other wind-types we can borrow. It doesn't hurt.

[Though it does mean he should pick up the pace - ugh, he's never been the fastest writer. Here goes. Hami volcano erupted, town destroyed, survivors in desert west of Melona...]

[Much like Sagi, he's paid attention to his own Pokemon for the most part. He does remember the names of the other ones, though some of it is owed to having actually played the Pokemon games a few times and having general familiarity with the universe.]

I haven't seen them lately, but I haven't been looking.

[He gets a Pokeball out of his backpack and releases Hana-chan. She appears in a spin. It's a bit slow and tinged with sadness, but she is regaining her Spinda ways. Yoichi plies her with a handful of berries.]

Go see if anyone's still got an Abra hanging around.

[She eats her berries, smushing them against both her mouth and her hand, and then wobbles away to look for the Melona guides. At least the Spinda is good for something, when Yoichi doesn't want to go wandering around looking for things that might not even be here anymore.

Hand-written copies sounds daunting, and he feels sort of responsible for the Mudbray, but not entirely.]

Tell me your list, and I'll write some too.

[He has nothing better to do anyway.]

You will? Thanks, Yoichi! That would speed things up.

[Yoichi is a nice guy after all. Maybe he's finally settling in a little, and the Snorlax panic thing was a one-off. Sagi hopes so.

He peels a few sheets off the bottom of his letter paper stack and holds them out for Yoichi to take. They're plain-looking apart from the Pokeball print in the corners, and now a couple of smudges too.]

Just a couple should do. Between the Pokemon Centre, the gym and the guard station, I'm sure they'll find someone who can organise something. As for the list...

[He glances off to his side for a second. He did tell Marno to keep a low profile until they could straighten things out, but at the moment he cares less about looking distractingly weird than about getting something, anything useful done.]

Medical supplies. Burns, sprains, fractures, breathing problems. Food, water. Shelter for the displaced. That's enough for now.

[By all appearances, that voice was definitely Sagi's. It sounded like him, if slightly quieter and flatter than the way he was talking a second ago, and his mouth blatantly moved.]

Yeah, that sounds about right. We can't demand more than they can put together in a hurry. [He looks back up at Yoichi.] Medical supplies, food, water, someplace for them to stay. Is that OK?

[Yep, he sure just repeated it back anyway.]

[The public display of Snorlax panic was a rarity; Yoichi prefers to keep his panic and anxiety to himself in the middle of the night instead of sleeping... He takes the offered paper and sits on the ashy ground to write, getting a pen from his backpack, and the journal to use as a hard surface.

He waits for Sagi to stop consulting his physic ghost Pokemon or whatever he's doing there, looking off to the side like a weirdo. The resulting list recitation has more of a detached bent to it; like a clinical report. It's not too distinctive, but Yoichi tends to notice small details and discrepancies. He may ask about it later, if observed a second time, but for now, he'll just write that down.]

Right-

[... or he will ask now, because what the fuck. Sagi just paraphrased himself in the more expected casual terms. He looks up from his half-written list, the pen making a little messy trail off from the otherwise neat and legible words.]

What just happened?

[Yoichi means the turning aside thing, right? The thing Joss got on Sagi's case about too. That's probably it. Or else Yoichi actually heard Marno, but Sagi is never entirely sure how much of Marno's voice other people can or can't hear, only that they tend to attribute it to him when they do.]

I've got a friend who lives in my heart. I just asked him what the list was, in case I forgot anything.

[Said with the air of someone who has to explain this all the time, even though he hasn't properly for months. He's already casually gone back to writing out his own letter. His handwriting is neat, soot and dirt aside, and not egregiously slow, but Yoichi definitely writes faster.]

Shelter for the displaced... Please send help... ASAP. Okay, that's one.

[Yoichi doesn't know what to say to that. There are too many clarifying questions needed. Whether it's a literal friend inside the bird kid's body, or some spirit possession, they are both beyond anything he can realistically fathom. Like the rest of the things in this world. Everyone else's "normal" does not mesh with Yoichi's.

He goes back to the letters as well. Sagi's clearly not concerned, so it's none of his business to pry when he ultimately doesn't care. After he's finished the lists, he goes back to make an addendum on them to send Abras or other teleporting Pokemon for quicker communication and movement of supplies. Though he doesn't know the extent of their powers and if something can or can't be brought by those means.]

...And another. That should be enough.

[Sagi starts to get back to his feet, happens to look over at Yoichi's letter, and hastily adds Pokemon with Teleport to the bottom of his at an angle, ruining the relative neatness of it. Which is fine, because it's still legible and he doesn't care beyond that.

After that, he beckons his Sigilyph over, folds the letter and slips it between the prongs of one of its fork-like feet. It looks incredibly precarious, but hey, it worked last time.]

Grab whoever will listen, okay? Starting at the Centre. And, hang in there.

[He pats it on the side of its central core. It keens at him determinedly, then flaps away across the desert sands.]

Alright, let's go find Hana-chan. She might have found someone to deliver the copies by now.

Okay.

[He folds the letters to leave in his pocket for now.]

She probably didn't go too far...

[They will find Hana-chan over the next outcropping of rocks covered with recently hardened lava. She's found one guide who has an Abra, and is presently spinning and wobbling, apparently getting her message across. At least to the Abra. The guide seems perplexed by the Spinda.]

There she is!

[The guide is almost as perplexed at being accosted by a couple of teens, but his expression changes when he recognises the striking bruising along the side of Yoichi's face. Is this the young man who strong-armed his way into the initial expedition from Melona, then spent half of it grinning creepily at everything? Does this Spinda belong to him? Is this his idea of a prank? This really isn't the time.

Sagi waves a hand quickly, trying to head him off before he can get too suspicious.] No, it's not a prank! He wouldn't do that. [He barely knows Yoichi, but he's confident in that much.] We just wanted to know if your Abra can help us get some supplies out here.

[The guard is a little mollified, but regards both of them with certain dose of scepticism nonetheless. Do these teenagers really not remember the Pokemon basics that all 4-year-olds are familiar with? Teleport can take them back to the nearest Pokemon Centre, yes, but it's a one-way trip back to Melona. Before that, he'd like to stand watch a while longer and make sure they don't strand any late stragglers out here without shelter or proper medical treatment.

Hearing all of that, Sagi looks vaguely troubled. It sounds an awful lot like writing letters was a waste of effort, then, but... not everyone here is going to want to go to Melona, surely? Maybe some of them have even had second thoughts about abandoning the old town.]

Hmm... he probably knows what he's talking about, right?

[In contrast, the Abra seems laid back about this whole affair. It appears to want to play pattycake with Hana-chan, despite her constant Spinda bobbling probably making her paws hard to clap.]

[Sagi speaks up before Yoichi can challenge that guide on the spot for talking about him like he's some kind of troublemaker. He says nothing while Sagi talks to the guide, instead keeping an eye on Hana-chan. She may have decided to initiate the prank herself, but no. It appears she's in earnest; he can tell by her eyes, having learned to read the spiral shifts.]

I guess, but... one way teleportation?

[That's illogical, but it's probably a Pokemon move and not actual teleportation. That's what stood out to him, but it likely means nothing. Hana-chan and the Abra continue their game, the Spinda missing every other clap, but she's trying her best.]

It sounds like that's how it is, yeah. [Sagi doesn't pick up on Yoichi's hang-up at all. Magic is powered by the heart, as far as he knows, so it can have all the arbitrary, contradictory rules it wants. Actual hearts are the same way.] I have to wonder how different this whole region would look with better transport...

[He expects the guide can convey what supplies they might need sent back this way just fine without a letter of introduction, but he turns back to the man for one more question while they have his attention and not his annoyance.] Do you know roughly how much longer you want to stand watch out here? We were thinking of sending some flying-type Pokemon on ahead, in case those other towns can spare anything for us.

[The guide doesn't know. Maybe tomorrow, maybe sooner if anybody takes a sudden turn for the worse. Unfortunately, he doesn't have any flying-types to lend out or trade, either - just this Abra, a few trusty Numels, and his daughter's snuggly wuggly Koffing who is so round and cute.

Next to him, the next pattycake clap Hana-chan misses causes Abra to stick its little skeletal-looking hand out too far and topple face-first into the sand. It has to levitate itself back into a sitting position, though it doesn't seem to mind.]

[Like with a lot of things in Cassava, science doesn't seem to apply. They're not going to get much help from the Pokemon that are offered.]

I can send the Corphish, if we have something waterproof to protect the letters.

[He has no other potentially useful Pokemon for this endeavor, having not picked up the Klefki yet. Hana-chan looks over and mimes sticking something in her pocket. She wants to help! Yoichi dismisses her, because her pocket isn't magic and will get wet.]

That won't work.

[He then thinks better of it, though, remembering what Hana-chan keeps in her pocket.]

Do you still have duct tape?

[She bobbles her head and abandons the Abra to zigzag over. Yoichi turns back to Sagi with a shrug.]

Duct tape the letters inside Pokeballs.

...Are they waterproof?

[Sagi not only legitimately doesn't know, he never wondered about it before. He unclips Sigilyph's currently empty Pokeball from his belt again and weighs it in his hand, as if that would answer the question in any way.]

But they break open so easily.

[That much he can say from experience.]

[Yoichi just stares at Sagi for a moment.]

The duct tape covers the outside. Pokeball stays closed. Water doesn't get in too much if the Corphish swims fast.

[The tape is only water-resistant, so this plan isn't guaranteed 100%. It depends on how far away Melona is, but he's confident the Corphish would keep the Pokeball mostly above water, like how it saved him when he arrived.]

Oh, it's the tape that's waterproof...

[Guess he learns something new about the technology of the probable future - well, not every day, at this point. But still often enough.

He strokes his chin. His glove leaves a smudge of soot there too, but there were enough of those on his face already.]

I wonder... Do you think he could make it along the coast instead, and hitch a ride to Toran? It sounds like these guys can send word back to Melona just fine, but they can't split in two and swim through all the whirlpools. And they rebuilt the town over there a little while ago, so they might have hands to spare.

[This is Sagi's idea of an practical plan, yes.

The guide they were talking to looks vaguely indignant that they're now talking about him like he isn't there, and especially that they don't want to hear more about his daughter's extremely cute Koffing, but he has better things to worry about. He picks up his binoculars and goes back to searching the split-off mountainside. The Abra is now levitating in circles around Hana-chan like they're dancing together.]

Yeah.

[He probably shouldn't have assumed everyone knew the wonders of duct tape, especially a boy with wings from who-knows-where fantasy world. At Sagi's suggestion, he nods.]

Corphish should be fine going that way. There were whirlpools when I got here, and he did fine.

[And if there are people along that side of Hami ready with boats to Toran, that makes it easier.]

Well, in that case, that sounds like a plan.

[He does still have a couple of spare Pokeballs in his satchel, in case they needed to quickly disable any rampaging wild monster on the way here... At least his lack of foresight on what they should have worried about can prove a little useful now. He folds the other sheet of paper and slips it inside one.]

Hana-chan, it's all yours.

[He crouches and holds the Pokeball-turned-envelope out to her. It's hard to actually step over there and hand it to her while the Abra is bobbing around her in mid-air.]

[Yoichi hasn't amassed a lot of spare Pokeballs, but he'll use Hana-chan's for his extra letter. She can stay out. Hana-chan gives a wobbly wave to the Abra, who slows the circling, so the Spinda can get to them. She eagerly takes the Pokeballs, like she's been entrusted with a greatly important task. Now wth her hands full, she looks down at her pocket. Oh, no! She can't do it all at once! She seems to debate what to do, and Yoichi sighs a little. Hana-chan is powerful and smart in some ways, but she is also like this...

After deliberation in her head, Hana-chan drops one Pokeball to dig out her duct tape. Then she plops down on the ground to hold the ball steady between her feet while she meticulously wraps it with sticky tape. Her tongue lolls out as she repeats the process with the second Pokeball. Magically, there's still some tape left, and she hides it away once again in her pocket.

It takes her two tries to get up without falling back over. She presents Yoichi with both Pokeballs; some parts are tacky with the underside of the duct tape exposed, and there's a few bits of Spinda fur stuck to them. But she did a good job!]

This should work.

There we go. You're so talented, Hana-chan.

[He may not know what the duct tape is capable of, but those sure are two taped-up capsules with help requests inside. Trusting that the rest of the plan will go exactly as Yoichi said, Sagi hops to his feet with a mostly unseen flap of his wings.]

Alright, can we leave those to you guys?

[He does not know where he wants to wander off to, nor what to do with the other copies of the list, only that he's probably no longer needed here.]

Yeah. I'll take care of it.

[Hana-chan waves at both Sagi and the Abra, and they'll head off towards the water.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

DECEMBER LOG PT1

premise ⬥ taken ⬥ faq ⬥ navigation

→ OH THANK GOD

→ WELCOME TO THE NEW HAMA

→ AW NUTS...

→ MOD NOTES

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject