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

[partymagician]

i. hospital;

[ The very first thing Fai notices when he wakes up, even before the water dripping right onto his face, is that he no longer has his magic. Immediately, panic sets in and it's only interrupted by the entire ceiling caving in. At least the immediate situation is enough of a distraction as he notices the band around his right wrist and listens to Nanami and Minato introduce themselves.

Afterwards, he immediately puts on a friendly smile, going to help up anyone nearby. ]

Are you alright?

ii. around town;

[ After a little while, Fai has a Snorunt with him that refuses to leave his side. He doesn't mind, though. Fai can be found around town helping people sweep water out of their buildings, the Snorunt happily helping as well.

Fai smiles and waves at anyone passing by. ]

iii. boba;

[ After noticing the people laying around town and becoming incredibly concerned, Fai decides he needs to try this boba. He's never had boba before so he really does have no idea what to expect. It must be good with how long this line is though...

While he's waiting, he overhears that they're looking to hire more people. If there's someone next to him that he recognizes from the hospital room he woke up in, he'll turn to them with a smile. ]

Sounds like they're hiring. Want to work here together?

[ It would be a good way to get information at least. And money. ]

iv. wildcard;

[ Fai can be found around town looking at the flyers in the hospital, wandering the berry gardens, battling, and even working at the boba shop. Feel free to request a starter or write your own! ]

i

[robincould]

[ it's very hard to put on a pleasant face right now, but akechi manages to do so when fai addresses him. it's very strained, and there's clearly some resentment behind it, but he'll speak with a leveled voice: ]

As fine as one can be, given the circumstances. And yourself?

[partymagician]

Likewise.

[ He notices the resentment in Akechi's voice, but decides not to comment on it and instead lets his smile become more carefree. Maybe if he smiles enough there won't be any resentment in his own voice.

He picks some drywall off of his shirt. ]

This seems like quite the sticky situation. [ A pause. ] Wet might be a better word for it.

[robincould]

A little too wet, if you ask me.

[ he, too, starts plucking some of the drywall off of his clothes, standing in the dry perimeter and away from the rain. ]

It seems we've been brought here in the middle of a storm. How convenient.

[partymagician]

[ He'll have to hope he's gotten at least most of the drywall off of him now, because there's no way for Fai to see how much is stuck to his back and he gives up trying to pluck it off. ]

Looks like it's a pretty bad one too, if it can cause the whole ceiling to cave in like this.

[ Fai moves to pick up one of the larger chunks of drywall. It's dripping a little and pretty soggy. ]

Wow, completely soaked through! I wonder if this is the only room with a leak like this.

iii

[compendiem]

[ Fai: hmm, people are drinking this and dying
also Fai: I must try it

Minato hasn't died yet from drinking this stuff, surprising seeing as he comes here so often to grab a cup, but sometimes just to sit around and listen in on people talking, like he's doing now while watching the line crawl. ]

Hm? Mm... Not really... Are you good with that sort of stuff? Talking.

[ Talking to customers, specifically. His part time jobs back home were largely behind the scenes, cleaning and washing dishes and serving if he's forced to, but he can't imagine having to smile and be chipper all the time like this job requires. ]

[partymagician]

[ He probably should be more worried about what'll happen if he drinks it but... That's a problem for future Fai.

He considers Minato's question. ]

I'd like to think so! I ran a cafe for a little while, so I hope all my customers thought I was welcoming.

[ It was in a virtual reality game so it was nothing like running one in real life, but he's not going to delve into any of that anytime soon. ]

[compendiem]

[ Ohh, a veteran! Fai has that sort of aura, Minato thinks, of somebody welcoming and upbeat, the sort of person you'd want taking orders and promising they be right out and wishing people a good day. They're still things Minato struggles to voice. ]

Then you'd be perfect for this sort of job. You get to meet nearly everybody in town at some point. Plus, you get to make people smile.

[ It's a great job, if you're suited for it. Aka go ahead, Fai, but it isn't for Minato. ]

[partymagician]

That's certainly always a plus!

[ And he even smiles to make a point. But now he can't help but wonder since Minato brought it up... ]

Do you like to make people smile?

ii

[nyom]

[ Efi has been roaming around town and looks over at Fai before walking up to him--wow he's so tall. She has to tilt her head all the way back. ]

Hi, mister! Want to play?

[ In the rain--unless Fai wants to pull Efina into a building so they can play there instead. Deino trails after her and whines while making nibbling motions. He's hungry. ]

[partymagician]

[ He crouches down so she doesn't have to tilt her head back so much. ]

Sure! What would you like to play?

[ As much as he hopes she wants to play somewhere in a building, he won't reject playing out in the rain. ]

[nyom]

[ Though Efi always asks if people want to play, she's always good with just talking things out too. She looks over at Snorunt just as she's about to say something, but then she takes it back. ]

Is it cold...?

[ This... triangle thing. ]

[partymagician]

[ The Snorunt runs behind Fai's legs when she catches Efi looking at her. ]

Nope! Actually, I think she likes the rain.

iii

[lienhearts]

[He looks like one of the other townspeople by now, really, his profile already different from the green-garbed man who left the hospital in a hurry upon arrival. His clothes match the locale now, and his hair gives off the impression of being rather short thanks to braiding it in the back to stuff into his shirt.

But he'll still respond to the question anyway.]

Oh, were you thinking of working there? It's a popular place. I'm sure it'll keep you busy.

[Or at least one can assume based on the behavior of everyone so far.]

[partymagician]

[ Fai tries to place this guy's appearance somewhere in his memory, trying to remember if he saw him at the hospital. Doesn't seem like he can place him. Maybe he's seen him around town.

The fact that Fai can't remember where he saw him doesn't deter him too much as he continues to smile. ]

I hope so! Even if it wasn't, I would take anything as long as I can stay out of the rain, to be honest.

[ But he thinks this place would be the best for asking people in the town questions. ]

[lienhearts]

It's been a month of this weather, so surely it must clear up soon... I can't think of what we could have done to displease the gods so much that they would continue this for much longer.

[He is more or less reporting what he's overheard other people saying but y'know.]

You don't look like you're from around here. Are you with a new group?

iii

[rateup]

[ itaru's lining up again even after buying boba earlier, but at fai's words he gives a curt nod. ]

You read my mind. I wanna see how they make their boba so delicious like that. Do you?

[ enough to (probably) die for, if not careful. ]

[partymagician]

Oh, I haven't tried it yet! So it really is worth this long line?

[ He's also curious about how it's made—namely, why are people lying in the street with a bunch of empty cups around them. ]

[rateup]

[ yeah, uh. he's just going to lean over and whisper into fai's ear. ]

Probably not. Wouldn't wanna end up like a before-and-after shot from boba overdose. [ there are better ways to go than that! ] Too bad they suck in this world, though. They really do taste really good.

ii

[cheesees]

Oh!

[ Snorunt definitely isn't cheese, but she's yellow and her shape is very alike...so her radar goes off anyway as she passes next to Fai. ]

What is the name of your Pokemon? It looks like cheese.

[ Nagisa... ]

[partymagician]

[ He immediately grins at her. ]

I haven't decided on a name yet!

[ The Snorunt deserves a fitting one, after all. Fai looks down at her before looking back at Nagisa. ]

She does kind of look like a wedge of cheese, huh?

[cheesees]

She does! A very yummy wedge of cheese. [ NAGISA NO... ] And I heard from other kids that naming Pokemon is really popular...

[ It looks like there's something else she'd like to ask, though: ]

Are you an adult?

[ He looks like one but she needs to make sure. Adults aren't so cheerful!! Weird! ]

iv. wildcard, boba shop

[thetyger]

[Apparently, they both work here. So one day when they have the same schedule, Atsushi hisses at Fai when he's done with a customer. There's a lull.]

Fai. I need to show you something.

[partymagician]

[ Fai's thankful for the rare lull in business. He turns to Atsushi. ]

Hm? What is it?

[thetyger]

It's in my locker, in the back.

[He whispers still, in case the others overhear. It's probably illegal to have... this. He motions for Fai to follow him to the break room, which is hopefully empty.]