SEPTEMBER INTRO LOG

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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.

Comments

[thetyger]

i. hospital

[All initial muddy thoughts of trying to piece together where he is - what happened, if he's still dreaming, was that a dream at all, or did he just have too much to drink at the office party - are forgotten when the chunk of ceiling collapses. Atsushi flinches at the noise and scurries under one of the cots on instinct. He regrets it, a obvious pathetic and cowardly thing to do in front of all these people. He crawls back out, staring at the floor and trying to gather the courage to look up at all the disapproving glances he expects to get. Then there's an explanation starting, and he can sneak off to a corner somewhere to check for that... tattoo thing.

He finds his on his right ankle after pulling off his soggy boots. There's a little shriek despite his best efforts as the marking is revealed to be some creepy eyes.]


ii. catching(?) a pokemon

[The island isn't that bad, Atsushi has certainly been worse places; but the atmosphere is gloomy and depressing. His clothes mostly remain damp in the drizzle, and his boots still squish a little as he explores the less occupied places. A rusting in the bushes nearby is barely a warning before a small furry brown creature leaps at him, clawing up his pant leg and trying to burrow into his shirt. It squeezes through the gap between buttons, undoing two of them and scratching his skin. Its striped tail hangs out, shaking as it quivers in fear. Atsushi didn't get a good look at the thing, presumes it's a raccoon from the tail, and thus concludes it's rabid. In a panic, he tries to pull the tiny raccoon out of its hiding spot, but as he gets hold of the soft fur, a flock of chattering birds fly out from the bushes and attack. There's a lot of screeching and squawking and yelling.

Moments later after realizing he has no use of his abilities to easily dispatch the birds, he's fleeing from the angry Spearows, who dive bomb every few seconds. They were terrorizing the tiny... flying squirrel? Rabbit? It's a strange thing, and not a raccoon. Now that he's gotten it out of his shirt, he holds it close as it trembles and its ears twitch. He's not sure where he's running to, but he ends up by the lake with no place to hide. The birds continue their attack, pecking at at him as the Senret tries to burrow under his shirt again.]


iii. missing children

[It's hard to ignore the rumours about possibly evil pokemon taking those poor kids. Atsushi frowns, examining one of the posters in the Daycare Center. His Sentret, which he has since named Lucy, refuses to leave the comfort of his shirt. Lucy's long ears keep poking him in the face, and she bats at his tie occasionally, but he's fine with that as long as she's comfortable. It's hard to keep focused on the poster information, having to push the furry ears aside every other second. But is that... a reward? His eyes light up. Not that he wouldn't have tried to find these kids anyway, but. Money helps. It helps a lot. He waits near the poster, until someone approaches, and then forgets what he had prepared to say.]

Um, e-exucse me! The children!

[Lucy hides again; he was too loud. Her fur tickles and makes him squirm a little.]

What I meant to say was... do you want to... look for them? The children. The missing ones...


iv. team boba

[They must be desperate to hire him, but he won't question it too closely. This isn't the sort of work Atsushi's used to, and despite some of his former coworkers being strange and unpredictable, it's nothing like the constant influx of people and continuous noise from the machinery. The conversations have blended into a background roar, but the intermittent beeping of keys from the cash registers are always too loud. There's also one guy who makes annoying buzzing sounds every time someone orders the Combee honey - and almost everyone does. The line is to the door this morning - it may not be worth the money after all.]

Welcome to Toran Boba! What can I g-get for you?

[One day he will make it through the line without stuttering, but today is not that day. This customer just looks... menacing somehow. He'd thought that about the small girl he'd just served as well.]


v. wildcard
Anything goes. Start something or plot on plurk (hylidae)

iii

[nyom]

[ Here is a child that can look for the children. Efi was about to ask if she can play with Atsushi, mistaking Lucy's actions for playing. But it looks like she came up with her own thing. ]

You want to play hide and seek?

[thetyger]

[Why did he ask a child? He doesn't want to frame this as a game, but Efi's bright eyes are too much to resist. Technically, it will still be looking for missing kids, right?]

Uh, yes. See this boy?

[He points to the poster.]

Let's go find him first. He's been hiding for a long time.

[He feels really bad about using Efi for bait, but it's what he intends to do. They're after the kids and well, they're more likely to find these creatures if there's a child in the party.]

[nyom]

Okay!

[ Efi eyes the poster. She can read some words, but most of it is too hard to understand. Though she's not absolutely stupid and can connect the dots otherwise, like why is there a poster of the boy? She's been through situations where people end up missing. Yeah. nbd. She agrees anyway. ]

Where should we look? In dark places? Under the table? Behind the counter at the center?

[thetyger]

[Coming up with things on the spot isn't Atsushi's strong suit, but he tries to make this still sound like game and keep the majority of the fear out of his voice.]

I think that boy in particular is really good at hide and seek, and that's why no one's been able to find him yet. So, we should try unconventional places - anyone can think of hiding under a table! I bet he's not even in town!

iv

[compendiem]

Bzzzzzzzz. Take a guess, punk.

[ The stuttering does not impress this masked customer, hands on their hip and an exasperated sigh escaping out behind the mask. What did the previous five customers order? This guy must be new, and new guys are always so slow and makes so many mistakes and ugh /: ]

[thetyger]

[That mask is so creepy, and well, is this even allowed in the store? Customers hiding their faces? It could be a robbery.]

Um, sir, o-or madam! Please remove your mask for the comfort of our other customers! Toran Boba is a family establishment.

[There's snickering from the long-time workers in the back.]

[compendiem]

[ If a mask could scowl, there would be a scowl on it. ]

Excuse me? You don't see me asking you to remove your face for the comfort of other customers, do you?

[ Their left hand raises as if to gesture, but they grab it with their right hand and holds it down. Shh, Minato, she's got this, it's fine. ]

[thetyger]

Oh, that's your-! I'm terribly sorry! Please excuse my rudeness and let me provide you with our m-most delicious Combee honey boba on the house!

[Parting with his hard earned money at the end of the day for this will be depressing, if he doesn't get fired in the next five minutes anyway.]

iii

[scension]

Oh, you're interested in those too?

[Sagi almost looks like a normal teenager with his wings folded up and near-invisible, but he's still clearly surprised at someone in this place actually addressing him, at least for the couple of seconds it takes him to recall the other faces at the hospital.]

Their parents must be going out of their minds. Actually, I came back here to double check the details... but there really isn't a lot to go on, huh?

[thetyger]

[Atsushi has yet to see the barely-there wings, and he'll probably freak out when he does, despite having seen lots of weird shit.]

Yes, I... They must be really scared out there and alone in the woods. Do you know what a Drifloon is? That's what people are saying took them.

[scension]

Huh. I think I heard the name, yeah. Too bad these critters don't come with their own field guide.

[In other words, he doesn't know what one of those looks like. Oops. But there must be some way he can still help...]

Did you find anyone who saw it happen? Or at worst, knows where it happened? That might be better than us just getting lost in the woods too.

[thetyger]

Not yet. I haven't had much time and I'm not... I don't want to annoy people. You bring it up and they're very... cagey about it. They know it's happening, but they're not forthcoming, which is probably my fault because I'm not asking the right questions, maybe.

[Atsushi tries not to be too direct in questioning the townpeople, for fear it will come off as accusatory. Then he gets flustered and excuses himself and runs away.]

Maybe we should talk to the police first?

[Are there police? He hasn't gone looking, because he got a job at the boba shop and has precious little time with all the boba zombies coming back every five minutes for another fix.]

i

[partymagician]

[ That little shriek gets Fai's attention and he notices the band around Atsushi's ankle.

Fai holds out his right arm, showing off the band around his own wrist and smiling cheerfully. ]

Looks like we have the same one!

[thetyger]

Oh!

[He eyes Fai's wrist, and it makes him marginally better. But it's still disturbing.]

What do you think that means?

[He takes one more look at the eyes on his own skin before shove his boot back on and covering them up.]

[partymagician]

Hmm... no clue!

[ His smile stays in place though as he tries not to look too worried about this. If only he had his magic, maybe he would have some sort of an idea... ]

It doesn't seem to hurt though, so that's a good thing.

[thetyger]

Yeah.

[It's a very good thing, and at least everyone seems to be in the same boat here. The initial unnerved feeling is starting to subside, and now he's getting a good look at the hospital room and the general saturated greyness of the place. It's not at all comforting, but it could be worse. He gets to his feet and brushes the plaster dust off his pants as well as he can.]

I'm Atsushi Nakajima.

[It seems strange to introduce himself amidst all this; he's not that important and no one cares what his name is anyway. He pushes those thoughts away for a minute.]

Uh, I came from Yokohama. Do you know where that is?

[It would be good to establish a range of where everyone was brought in from.]

III

[lienhearts]

[Money helps a lot. He's been looking at the posters too, even though he's dressed like one of the locals by now, not at all resembling the man in green who was at the hospital on the first day.]

...Are you planning to look into it? I was just thinking how unfortunate it must be for the parents.

[thetyger]

I'd like to.

[This guy wasn't in the hospital that day, as far as Atsushi recalls. Maybe he has information, or at least something to go on more than posters.]

Do you know any of the families involved?

[lienhearts]

Not personally, no. But if we asked them, we might be able to learn where the kids usually spent their time to see if there's any common threads.

[thetyger]

It's a place to start.

[But he doesn't know who the parents are, so it's going to be a lot of random questioning.]

wildcard!

[nyom]

[ Efi sees Atsushi with two Drifloons and gasps. She was told that the balloons were bad! Why is Atsushi with them? She toddles over to him while Deino waddles after her. ]

Mister Atsushi! You have balloons! I thought balloons were bad!

[thetyger]

[He smiles awkwardly, because this is such a bad time.]

Efi. Hi.

[The Drifloons won't let go of his hands and he is internally freaking out. The Drifloons wave excitedly and bob up and down. Play with them, Efi!]

[nyom]

[ Efi looks up at the Drifloons and then back to Atsushi. ]

Hi... but since you have them, are they good balloons? Are you okay? Are they holding you hasteej?

[ Hostage. ]

[thetyger]

I'm not sure; I think so, but I can't really get them to communicate well.

[They forget questions and give vague answers even if it's supposed to be simple 'yes' or 'no' nodding.]

I'm fine! Ha, of course they're not!

[Those are both lies; he absolutely feels like their prisoner right now. He left them with Niko, but they followed!]