SEPTEMBER INTRO LOG

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→ 09/01 The Arrival

「 Welcome to the world of POKEMON 」

"It will come to be. And in exchange..."
You wake up with a start. Thunder rolls across the sky, steamrolling the voices and the fog out of your head and replacing them with mottled grey on white— greyer in some spots than others, and if you're one of the unlucky ones, the greyest leaks cold water right down on your face. Drip... drip... drip... the intervals in between getting shorter and shorter until

SPLOOSH!!

The entire ceiling caves in and water and soggy drywall collapses onto your head, and those of several dozen others sharing this very open, very wet room. Rain pours down from overhead through the large hole in the middle of the ceiling, but the perimeter of the room is a little drier: about a dozen cots line the walls, not enough for the number of people here and so most must pick themselves off the ground. Other than a few curtained dividers now scattered across the flooding floor, the room is otherwise bare. White, grey, and very wet.

"Uh..." The only dry people in the room stand in the doorway: a girl who pulls her hood further over her head to keep the water off her face as she steps in to help the person nearest her up, and a boy who hangs back behind her, hesitant, staring at his feet a little guiltily until he looks up and catches somebody's eye, and he too steps forward to help people onto their feet. They introduce themselves as Chiaki Nanami and Minato Arisato, explain that they've arrived here a while ago in the exact same way as everybody here, and show off the purple and grey bands around their right and left ankles respectively, as if that is proof enough. Your unconscious bodies may or may not have been investigated while you were unconscious, but every person here will find some sort of band tattooed around a part of their body, some with a single pattern and some with two, some matching somebody else's and some unique to their own.

For those who want to hang back and ask questions, Nanami and Minato stick around and do their best to answer them, otherwise, you're free to go out in the rain and get soaked and wonder why this is your life.

→ 09/01 The Surroundings

"Ichi help me think of headings. I am so bad at writing headings" - Card

It's actually not that bad, all things considering. Sure, it's raining all day nonstop, but the rain varies between pouring and sprinkling and is weirdly lukewarm, like a shower that doesn't have enough water pressure and can't get hot enough. Strange creatures called Pokemon roam about the town of Toran, many hiding from the rain and liable to attack when people unexpectedly stumble upon them trying to find shelter themselves, especially the arm-hungry bears who just want to nap under trees, but others are friendly and eager to help people sweep water out of buildings and patch up roofs.

Whether you woke up with one or stumbled across them later, you have your own strange creature too. Be friends. If you don't know anything about Pokemon, there are plenty of elementary schoolers eager to laugh at your ignorance and teach you everything you need to know about catching and training Pokemon, little four-year-old escorts around Toran to show you where to find them in the lake at the center of the island, the surrounding ocean, the patches of grass throughout the town. The ground is perpetually marshy, thick mud and tall grass slowing foot traffic and the spiderwebs of pavement connecting the other structures around town are covered with half squashed, wiggling worms(egments) that are almost unavoidable to step on unless it's during a lighter drizzle when the bird Pokemon are free to swoop down to pick the roads clean. Want to get some experience in Pokemon battling? These literal children will gladly pulverize you to the point of blacking out and take your money or whatever fun little trinkets you have in your pockets.

The building everybody arrived in turns out to be a hospital, with an adjacent building being a hospital for Pokemon- a Pokemon Center- which offers free shelter for travellers but is currently overflowing with people who are stranded on this island, even with so many visitors forced to resort to long term lodging in the town's small inn. Both the hospital and Pokemon Center stand right along the lakeside, water overflowing and nearly lapping against the front steps, which is home to an abnormally large 30-foot long Gyarados. It thrashes about in the middle of the lake and has been scaring all the other wild water Pokemon to the outskirts of the lake, blasting the nearby buildings and berry trees with torrents of water, and lashing out at anybody who tries to approach. Several fishing boats that have gotten too close have been smashed, but a few are left tied to the docks around the lake for braver trainers to use.

Large canopies have been set up over the berry gardens dotting the rest of the lakeside to keep the rain (and the occasional Gyarados hydro pump) from washing off the berries. The trees are tended to by gardeners with their grass Pokemon, and at times Minato with his Yamask covering his face, one black arm wrapped around his neck and the other lazily waving an arm to part the cloud of several hundred Combee buzzing protectively around the boy, trying to keep unfamiliar people away from the beehives as Minato makes his rounds checking up on each of the hives and picking up the fruit that has fallen or has ripened enough on the branches, offering berries to any person or Pokemon who's hungry.

Most of the buildings around town are doing well enough, despite the unending gloomy weather and too many people. The Daycare Center is particularly packed with Pokemon whose trainers are stuck outside of the island and unable to pick them up, and volunteers to help feed and care for the Pokemon are needed more than ever, especially the younger Pokemon who are fussy and upset at being away from their trainers for so long. Even the older Pokemon are a bit worried, and some of the daycare workers whisper about rumors of a pack of wild Drifloon seen around town whenever the rain calms down to a drizzle and luring little kids into the thick fog and getting them lost. There are also whispers about the hospital, hushed words about how it's haunted by the spirits of the deceased and that when a group of Murkrows gather around a patient's window, it's to mark that person with misfortune and death. Several posters of missing children are hung up around the Daycare Center, with the promise of a reward for any information or return of the children, and flyers begging for help to calm the residents at the hospital of their worries about the Murkrows or ghostly sightings.

The Game Corner arcade never knows silence with the constant flashing and chiming of the slot machines and roulette wheels, but don't be fooled with the frequent payouts seen at the machines Nanami and her Mimikyu sit at, because the odds are actually pretty low and the tokens can only be traded in for berries, common items, and Pokemon accessories. There are no windows in the Game Corner, and it is very easy to lose track of time inside— one elderly gentleman in a tophat can be seen at the same slot machine in the corner at all hours of the day, never eating or sleeping or doing anything else but mechanically pulling the lever, unresponsive to the rest of the world around him. He's going to hit the jackpot, he knows it. Just one more pull. One more pull...

The newest building in Toran is the boba shop, freshly painted in bright yellows and blues just before the storm hit and the colors remain bold against the grey sky. The "Grand Opening" sign still hangs above the front door despite opening over a month before, inviting customers inside to try their specialty: milk tea with Combee honey boba balls. Boba is half off for first-time customers, and you also get your stamp card stamped with a lavender Bulbasaur face, unique to Toran's shop. There are eight stamps total to be collected- fill up your stamp card for a special prize! But strangely enough, scattered throughout the town, people of various different ages slump against walls and on the ground, barely responsive and with empty cups of boba around them. They're ignored by the townspeople and despite the unnerving sight of these semi-vegetative citizens, lines to the shop are just as long as ever.

The shop is also currently hiring, for those who would like to fill up their days while there's nowhere to go and make a little $$$. How about it? Join Team Boba today! (:

→ 09/02 The First Meeting

"Hahahahaha" - Ichi

After giving people some time to get settled, later in the evening of the second day, Nanami, Minato, and their Pokemon go around finding people with those mysterious bands marking them as isekai'd strangers to the island, and herd them towards the boba shop to Talk. About why they're all here, about that dream, about where to go from here...

As the group waits for the last of them to arrive, with a round of boba provided courtesy of Nanami and her small Game Corner fortune, chatter around the boba shop paints the same story: a storm has been raging for over a month now, with thunder and lightning, hurricane winds, and whirlpools making travel to and from the island too hazardous, trapping visitors on the island way past their expected length of stay. There are talks of strong Pokemon trainers having headed out into the storm to try and get help from other towns, most of them quickly forced to turn back, and others— whether they were lost at sea or managed to break through— never heard from since. Storms are never this bad here, the people say, they never last this long and they don't ever seem to be... sentient... getting a lot worse earlier yesterday when so many new people were found collapsed around the island and were brought to the hospital, intermittently throughout the past month whenever a trainer tries to leave the island, and the largest reaction from the storm over a month ago when a girl with pink hair and a boy with blue hair were found in the lake and dragged half-dead to the hospital.

The island has been isolated for well over a month now with nobody having any idea what's going on outside, but the arrival of so many people at once can't be a coincidence- it must signify the time for change. When something to this scale happens, people tend to look to the gods, the Legendary Pokemon, but if they're really the cause... it'll take effort from everybody in order to break through the storm to catch the attention of the Legendaries and reach the rest of the world.

→ MOD NOTES

⬥ Welcome to Pokespe! All characters wake up at the hospital by the lakeside and can explore the rest of the island. Players are free to play out Pokemon battles or wild Pokemon encounters, but please let a mod know when catching a new Pokemon so we can approve or decline the capture.
⬥ On the second day, Nanami and Minato will be available to answer questions about what they've found out in the month before everybody else arrived. They will each have an NPC toplevel for those who wish to speak with them, and characters present at the meeting are free to learn about the information shared without needing to thread with an NPC.
⬥To proceed to the next area for next month's log, characters must find a way to travel across the stormy ocean filled with whirlpools and choppy waves. Make sure to mention your efforts on the permanent AC page at the end of the month!
⬥ There are several other oddities and problems around town that characters may choose to help with or investigate, which may or may not help with escaping the island or have ties to the plot as a whole. To investigate one of these areas, please comment to the questions toplevel with a link to your thread so the mods can direct you appropriately.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ just hearing the melodious sound of coins rolling in is enough to rouse itaru from his slump, staring up at minato as though he is a god who just gave him another chance at salvation. ]

Thank you... Thank you...

[ it doesn't matter that itaru looks so pathetic in front of a high schooler because in the end, no one is safe from terrible slot rates. but he inserts the coins again, and before he pulls the crank, he turns to minato with a rather grave expression on his face. ]

Join me. [ suffer with him ]

[ Minato in another life has spent literally an entire week out of a murdergame playing nothing but slots to the point he was passed out for all of trial, so he has done his fair share of suffering already. It's too hard to refuse a request like that, though, so he gets up from his seat and sits down on Itaru's— it a bit of a tight squeeze, but they can each fit a buttock and a half, maybe.

He is here for moral support. ]

I dunno too much about how lucky I am... I'm better at crane games. But for slots... I think you can do it with the right timing. And knowing the pattern on the reels.

[ moral support is more than fine; itaru may be a bad influence to the unsuspecting youth but he's not That Bad. so he's going to make some space for itaru and huffs out a light laugh. ]

Yeah, I get that. Maybe when I get more acquainted with this machine, I'll be able to figure out its pattern.

[ but unlike nanami he has a life outside gaming so, ]

Gacha will always be better than this. [ they're the same, dumbass ] Come on, put your hand on the lever too.

[ Even more acquainted, huh? They're stuck here for the time being, and Minato's sure Nanami will help feed the gambling obsession too, so is there really any harm to it? He thinks not, and he reaches out and places his hand on Itaru's hand that's already on the level. ]

Pull on three? ...and six, and nine?

[ Since they have to pull three times... ]

[ minato really shouldn't enable gambling addiction in general, especially with gamers with one-track minds as they are, but it seems that this is the point of no return now.

itaru nods, and - ]

One, two, three--

[ they pull, and got a cherrim. so far so good! ]

Four, five, six--!

[ A second cherrim! ]

Seven, eight nine—-

[ Cherrim number three!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lights start flashing as bells go off and the machine plays a cheery jingle of congratulations.

The payout is a whole three tokens. ]

Sweet. We can play three more times now.

[ THREE (3) TOKENS... you know what he'll take it. but he blanches at minato's suggestion and he's like - ]

Oh nah, can I cash these in already? I know a shitty losing streak when I see one, and I'm not about to risk it.

[ he'd be here all day if he had his money and credit card from his world :( ]

[ What can they even get with three tokens... That's like the equivalent of a lollipop, maybe, one of those tiny prizes for kids who don't have enough money to play a lot and win big, or when you do manage to get a big prize and have a handful of change leftover.

Anything's good, though, so he shrugs and gets up off the seat. ]

Counter's towards the back. Maybe you'll see a prize you like and save the coins. It's not like they expire, and you'll get your streak back someday.

Ah. Let me run it through them, then.

[ he heads to the exchange counter and comes back just as quick; turns out that he can only get a lollipop shaped like any of the starters you want. he shrugs. ]

I'll just save this for another rainy day then. [ like, not literally. ] Does this mean there are Game Corners in other towns?

[ Another rainy day, aka tomorrow. ]

Oh... I never asked about that.

[ He likes games, but he isn't obsessed with them like certain gamers are, and he likes a variety too so can't be content pulling slots all day. ]

There probably are? I don't really know much about the other towns, but they're probably known for different things. In Toran, we've got a game corner and the berry gardens. The climate's supposed to be really good for growing berries.

[ Can you imagine? a sunny Toran. ]

[ who knows, they might be able to restore sunshine and rainbows in this dreary town with the power of friendship! and sugar rush from all the boba. ]

Mm. Can't wait for us to unlock those other towns, then.

[ but who knows when that'll be... ]

[ Unlock like this is some sort of puzzle game... ]

In my experience, we have to either beat something up, or wait until a certain date. Or wait for a phone call to let us know it's okay to go. The time will come.

Oh, you've been through something like this before?

[ itaru's kind of aware of time limits in his previous adventures, but he wasn't sure how long he's stayed in those pocket worlds... time just sorta melded in within each other back there. ]

Something like it. Fighting monsters with monsters, that sort of thing... but never with so many people. It's kinda...

[ Scary, if he has to admit it, and his voice falls quiet in that near admittance. He likes people- he really does- but being around so many and interacting is still something he's getting used to, as good as the experiences he's has been. ]

...There was always somebody else telling me what to do, so it was easy back then. There's no list of tasks here... It's like an open world game.

[ Too big. And the vastness is overwhelming sometimes. ]

[ ehh, sounds like he came from some sort of rpg. back then, itaru would've wished he lived in that kinda world but nowadays he's been having second thoughts about it. it really isn't easy fighting off threats like that when you really think hard about it. ]

Well... when you put it that way, life in general is just a huge, sprawling open-world game, isn't it? [ he huffs out an amused laugh. ] But yeah, I kinda get where you're coming from? 'Specially when you're kinda new to this world.

[ he stares up at the ceiling in thought. ]

But isn't that like, a good thing? You've got all the freedom to do what you wanna do here, on your own terms. As free as you can be in this flooded town anyway. [ shrug ] If you don't know where to begin, think about the first thing you need and start from there. Make a list if you have to. Stuff like that would naturally come to you over time.

[ itaru may seem like a slob but - he does speak from experience sometimes. ]

[ Life is the absolute scariest game. There are no save points, or restarts, and when it ends, it's supposed to be the end. He'd never expected he would get a post-credit epilogue. ]

...yeah, you're right. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around that, having the freedom to do whatever I want. Or what I need...

I need a drink.

[ OF BOBA
but also maybe he needs a drink ]

There's that boba shop outside, but you might wanna go for something less sweet, IMO. And I doubt you could even drink drink yet.

[ itaru's so sick of sweets........ ]

Edited (do you ever just mix up replies for threads) 2020-09-08 06:40 (UTC)

[ Huh... legally, yeah. He will never be able to drink drink- never really wanted to, aside from wanting to connect with his weird drunk monk father figure who wouldn't let him drink- but the thought of never being old enough is somewhat sobering. ]

Coffee, then? I know a good place, if you feel like grabbing a cup with me. A hot drink should help with the gloomy weather too.

Hah, now you're talking. Let's blow this popsicle stand.

[ that'll be a nice pick-em-up after going through the wringer with the slots... ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

SEPTEMBER INTRO LOG

premise ⬥ taken ⬥ faq ⬥ navigation

→ 09/01 The Arrival

→ 09/01 The Surroundings

→ 09/02 The First Meeting

→ MOD NOTES

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