SEPTEMBER INTRO LOG

premise ⬥ taken ⬥ faq ⬥ navigation

→ 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

ɪ: ᴛᴜᴛᴏʀɪᴀʟ
[ Nagisa has been watching the other kids showing other people how to catch Pokemon—that's all she can do for the time being since her Togepi hasn't hatched yet. The part in which a trainer has to weaken a Pokemon doesn't sound too nice, but she accepts that, more or less.

If someone happens to be confused about how this works, Nagisa is willing to help them out as soon as she notices. ]

Do you want to catch one? I can give you a few tips! It's pretty easy if you know how to do it! Do you have any Pokeballs?

ɪɪ: ᴅᴀʏᴄᴀʀᴇ
[ A lot of Pokemon staying at the daycare seem to be stressed, but Nagisa is currently preoccupied with a Cleffa that won't cheer up no matter what she does. ]

I've tried giving her cheese but it didn't work. She doesn't want berries either. And she won't play with other Pokemon...I don't know what to do.

[ She scoops the Cleffa from the ground and holds her up for whoever's close. ]

Make a funny face, please!

[ That's it, that's her idea to cheer the baby up. ]

ɪɪɪ: ᴍᴇᴇᴛɪɴɢ
[ Once Nanami and Minato are done with their part of the story, Nagisa gets up so she can be better seen. ]

Maybe it's because of a Witch!

[ That's what causes disasters back in her world, anyway. Which might be a bit naive way of thinking, but that's her first thought. ]

Many children have disappeared around the city, too. I don't like this...I don't want anyone to get hurt.

[ That would be a terrible start of her new beginning. ]

ɪᴠ: ᴡɪʟᴅᴄᴀʀᴅ
[ Nagisa can be found at the daycare or wandering around the city to try to find some clues about the mysterious disappearances. I'm open to anything, though!! ]

Edited 2020-09-01 17:30 (UTC)

[ Oh my god. Minato is startled and his face freezes in response, but Nagisa did say please, so his Yamask obliges by reaching around the back of his head and squashing Minato's cheeks so his face contorts into something silly. ]

[ Yamask becomes employee of the month at this particular Daycare just because of this. Nagisa decided. I hope Yamask likes cheese. ]

Pfft!

[ Nagisa snorts and hopes that will encourage Cleffa to do the same, but her mouth is now forming a line. That's still an improvement. ]

Aww, I thought it was pretty funny. Can you stand on your head maybe? Please?

[ Yamask loves all sorts of food and would stuff her face full of cheese at any given opportunity. Her little mouth opens in a grin while she stretches Minato's cheeks instead of squashing them, and she looks down at Minato from above. He looks up at her. ]

... [ Oh. Oh no. ] Face—-

[ Too late. This little Pokemon is pretty strong, and she swoops down to wrap her arms around Minato's ankle and proceeds to swing his leg up and dangle him upside down. ]

You're so funny!

[ Cleffa actually agrees! Perhaps she always wanted to see a human dangling upside down, who knows. Either way, the sight of Facehugger holding Minato by his ankle brings a smile to the Pokemon's face. ]

A few other Pokemon need cheering up. Can you help me?

[ At this point, Minato just supposes Nagisa is speaking to Facehugger, but his Pokemon glances down at him again, to his mild surprise. ]

...Yeah. I'll help you.

[ It doesn't take much for him to give in, seeing the look on Cleffa's face, as well as Nagisa's. Besides, being a prop is pretty low energy, even if all the blood is going to his head and making him dizzy. ]

Can you round them all up?

[ All of them all at once, he doesn't want to be inverted a hundred times to entertain each Pokemon at a time. ]

Okay!

[ In less than a couple of minutes, Nagisa gathers a small group of Pokemon—there's Pichu, Azurill, Munchlax, and Ralts. ]

You're going to love it! [ At least it's obvious she's speaking to the Pokemon not to Minato, haha. ] Everyone is ready! Please do the thing!

[ Facehugger is on it! She grabs Minato's ankles and before he can protest, he finds the room turning upside down and he has to shut his eyes for a moment until the vertigo passes. But he can just dangle and do nothing, so after a beat, he does the Orobas pose upside down. ]

[ Minato did his best...all the Pokemon make soft surprised sounds only to start chirping happily when the boy turned upside down makes the pose. ]

You're amazing!

[ Nagisa claps and some Pokemon who actually have hands (sorry Azurill) try to mimic her. Whenever Facehugger decides to give Minato a break, all the Pokemon will cling to his leg and nuzzle against him. ]

You've made so many friends so fast...!

[ Facehugger lets Minato down on his head so he flops onto his back before getting swarmed with Pokemon. Is this what it's like making friends... it felt more like being a clown and being laughed at by a bunch of little kids. ]

You guys are gonna have to grow up big and strong if you want to be able to lift me upside down like that.

[ Assuming that's what all this clinging to his leg is about, but he pats them on the heads anyways. He glances over at Nagisa. ]

Maybe you guys are strong enough to lift her?

They're strong enough to knock me down, that's for sure.

[ Been there done that. Playing with Pokemon is fun, even if they use tackle on you. ]

I need to feed them and put them to sleep now. Do you want to help with that or are you busy?

[ Like overenthusiastic puppies who don't know their own strength, is what Minato's imagining. But Pokemon are super strong in their own right, just looking at Facehugger who is pretty small but could probably fling him into the ocean if she wanted to. ]

I'll help you out.

[ He scoops Azuril in in his arms, because it looks round and squishy and he isn't disappointed.

Where are the food bowls... How do you feed a dozen baby Pokemon at once, he's imagining a long trough like you use to feed farm animals or something. ]

Distract them for a little while longer and I'll get the bowls and the food ready!

[ Nagisa knows she can leave the babies with Facehugger and Minato, they're such a great pair. Thankfully, it doesn't take her long to get the bowls stacked on top of each other—there's one for each Pokemon. The food is a bit trickier since it's hard to remember what all of them enjoy eating. ]

Umm... [ She's holding a bunch of colorful poffins. ] I don't remember which color is the spicy flavor...

[ She might need some help, after all... ]

[ ...Minato sets Azuril down and pinches off a tiny piece of one of the poffins and pops it in his mouth. Sweet. He pinches off a piece of another. Kinda of bitter. ]

Try some of the others... we'll figure it out.

[ He doesn't know poffins either, so they're just going to have to taste test each one. ]

[Oh, what the f -- hell? That's a kid. What's a kid doing around here talking about other kids being abducted and stuff? Go back to daycare, kid.

Except...]

Could be. A witch, I mean.

[Eliza's okay these days, but the only other witch he'd ever met...hadn't been a good time. He shouldn't be going around confirming this sort of thing around someone who had no business getting pulled into this world, but she seemed to at least take it more seriously than some halloween commodity.]

Sorry. Were you friends with any of the kids that have gone missing? Did they have anything...in common?

[Probably not names magically written on their hands, but he'll take what he can get.]

No, they've disappeared before I got here. But it might happen again and we need to prevent that!

[ ...She might be a bit too extra, even for an anime kid. Maybe. ]

Back at the daycare, I heard that it might have something to do with a Pokemon called Drifloon. What if a Witch sent it...? That would be absolutely terrible!

[Oh, she's -- like him, then? That's even creepier to think about... Why bring a kid here? And then she could go and get kidnapped within a kidnapping...]

Sent by a witch or not, you still have to be careful. Monsters are monsters. If you go off looking for it, make sure you have someone with you, like me or someone older that knows what they're doing. [Ah -- ] I'm Cliff, by the way.

[ Basically...a kidnapception. ]

I'll make sure to go with someone. I really don't want to die. [ She seems pensive for a moment, but a smile is back on her face soon enough, even if it's a bit sheepish. ] I'm Nagisa, it's nice to meet you! Umm...I wonder if it's okay to say that.

[ She might be grateful for getting another chance in another world, but it doesn't have to apply to everyone. ]

[He's not a fan of this kid talking about her mortality like that...]

Why not? I'm nice to meet in all circumstances.

[This isn't at all true and literally everyone he knows would say as much, but she doesn't need to know that.]

Do you know a lot about witches?

[ Some kids just know too much, it seems... ]

Pfft. [ Despite her own grim words from earlier, Nagisa can't hold back a chuckle. ] You're funny. In a good way, I mean.

[ The question about witches shouldn't throw her off so much when she was the one to mention them first, but still. ]

Umm...a little. Just a little. Why are you asking? Have you met one?

[Hell yeah, look at him. Making kids laugh even though they've all been kidnapped to a nonsense world by maybe a witch or maybe a pokemon, and said kid was concerned with dying. That's not a bad day of work, really.]

Yeah, sort of... Uh, two. I only really know one of them, though, and she's okay. The other one... She tricked me and tried to take me away, like I guess these Drifloon things are doing.

A Witch who is okay?

[ There's confusion painted all over Nagisa's face as she tries to parse that piece of information before she gets an idea: ]

What if the Drifloons are familiars of the Witch?

Uh...yeah. She's saved my a -- [this is a child, no cursing] -- um, my friend and me a few times, and she protects the town.

[He still doesn't like Eliza, but...for the mostpart, he does trust her. As much as she stuck to the rules even when they didn't make sense to him, she wasn't a bad person.]

A familiar... Like a monster she made? [are all witches girls, actually? that doesn't seem fair.]

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

no subject

ii

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

iii

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject