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

[ Minji's tail is still bristled! But she senses no ill will now that everything has settled... While she isn't happy that Joonghyuk took a beating from both Ditto and Cramorant, she does know that he was the aggressor. For a good reason!!! That she doesn't know.

Ears pin back as she looks behind her, then back to Sooyoung. Carefully turning on her paws, she leads them to where they're lodging. It's a space where it looks like two are staying. ]

[ This sure is in the middle of nowhere, but it's whatever. After carting Joonghyuk on a Ditto wagon, she rolls him off it. This guy is too heavy for her. Anyway, she looks at him. Maybe this means Dokja is nearby? It looks like there's another person who used this place. Anyway, she decides on staying here too and looks at Ditto. ]

Fan.

[ Ditto turns into an industrial strength fan in which it starts turning to generate enough wind to dry this guy who's out cold. ]

[ It definitely means Dokja is nearby. Anyway, Joonghyuk stays passed out for quite some time as canon dictates. Eventually, he does stir and Minji brightens up to see her master awake. His gaze locks onto Sooyoung quickly, remembering why he passed out in the first place.

Usually, he would be pissed, but. ]

... Have you been waiting for this moment?

[ To beat him up because he hasn't experienced the future where he forces her to beat him up. ]

[ While drying and waiting for Joonghyuk to wake, she was thinking that Minji resembled Jihye a little. Even in a place like this, it feels like a bit of the company is here. Or perhaps Sooyoung still hasn't gotten over the sentimentality that washed over her before she came to this place.

Ditto turns into its default form, a gelatenous pink blob and Cramorant is inside its pokeball now. She almost scoffs at the question. ]

If I wanted to so badly, I'd deck you myself instead of relying on these things.

[ Things being her pokemon. ]

You look younger, Yoo Joonghyuk. Did you go through the beauty routine Kim Dokja uses to rejuvenate your skin and hair or whatever?

[ That skill you always said was useless. ]

[ Minji is a lot smarter than Jihye, but the resemblance definitely is there? The fox stays cozies up beside Joonghyuk and he allows her. It feels so long since he's heard her voice... They were about to ask the company about regressing together, then he was pulled.

But he can tell there's something different about her. Her words tip him off, too. ]

No, that's a waste of coins. [ ... ] You're older.

[ Instead of giving him a full noogie, Sooyoung only knocks on Joonghyun's forehead with a scowl. Are you calling her old?She'll really deck you in the face if you say that again-- ]

What are you talking about? I'm the epitome of beauty, Han Sooyoung. I don't get old.

[ Joonghyuk doesn't assault her when she knocks on his head, but he does glare as he pets his Eevee. ]

You aged.

[ Fuck you. ]

[ For that, the earlier knock on the head turns into a noogie. ]

[ He grabs her hand by the wrist even though it's too late. Some of his hair is mussed, though laid flat because it's also wet. ]

It's the truth.

[ It is sadly the truth, as to Joonghyuk losing all his gray hairs and looking slightly younger. Even though it must have been a few years in appearance-wise, when something hits you hard, you might as well age ten years at a time physically. Sooyoung scowls and withdraws her hands after shaking Joonghyuk's hold off. ]

So you're here for a vacation after all that, huh? Playing with pokemon and whatever.

[ Like creator like product. Joonghyuk has a similar scowl as he looks at her. He has been thinking about regressing to save Dokja all this time, even if the man is here with them, so to call it a vacation... ]

I had no choice in this matter.

Yeah?

[ It's not like Sooyoung wanted to be here either, and she understands why Joonghyuk gets really peeved over that. It was out of his control, after all. She also didn't anticipate coming here, but she honestly thought that a vacation of some sort would have been great after all that happened. She's just more peeved about the idea that they came here without her... even though it was out of their hands. It's complicated. ]

A vacation would be nice, but this is a shitty location with constant rain even if you're going back to your childhood roots and having these monsters be real.

We don't need a vacation when we should be trying to save Kim Dokja.

[ Much like Sooyoung's assumptions, Joonghyuk doesn't like having to deal with these things that are out of his control... At least the scenarios tell them what they should focus on to clear. ]

... You know what happens, don't you.

[ He doesn't want to ask if they succeed. ]

[ Joonghyuk looking younger is, maybe... just maybe, not some weird natural beauty thing he has going for him, but something due to external circumstances. She figures he wouldn't care about that sort of thing, but it still struck her as odd, especially when he asks that. She squints at him for a second while shoving her hands into her pockets. ]

... Which Yoo Joonghyuk are you?

[ It feels a little like that time when she found out that Kim Dokja was not the one she remembered, yet it was still him. That didn't feel good and neither does this, honestly. ]

I am Yoo Joonghyuk.

[ Currently, the one and only? He knows that isn't the most logical answer, but he really knows no other way to respond to that. He's himself.

However, time works in strange ways. ]

Of the end of scenarios, 1864th turn.

[ Sooyoung eyes him with a hint of suspicion. He says that and Lie Detection isn't available for use. No matter. She continues to stare at him... ]

Did you have fun being an astronaut, Yoo Joonghyuk?

[ ???? Joonghyuk genuinely looks confused about what she's saying. Excuse him, but what? ]

You're speaking nonsense.

[ Does Joonghyuk use Avatar too? She doesn't suppose so, but that bit at the end of the 1863rd turn was... yeah. It could be plausible, but at the same time, she doesn't quite think that could happen. Instinct, maybe? Overuse of Predictive Plagiarism? Perhaps. There's a bit of silence as she continues to stare at him until she finally speaks up: ]

"Yoo Joonghyuk--at the end of the scenarios, 1864th turn"... and not the 1865th?

[ He doesn't like being questioned, but if this Sooyoung is from the future, it wouldn't be information that she doesn't know. ]

... I didn't have the chance to regress yet.

[ He won't lie that he planned on it. ]

[ God, she thought she was done with the timey wimey bullshit already, but apparently not. There was only one though, that surpassed 1864 into 1865... or was there? She clicks her tongue in annoyance and gets out a lemon lollipop and bites down on it. ]

Hm... you really don't know, huh? The Yoo Joonghyuk that I know has a lot of gray hair.

[ Maybe that'll imply a lot of things for him. ]

That is what happens when you age.

[ Why is she singling that out? He doesn't care if his whole head goes bald and the unfortunate part is that he would still be hot. ]

... Kim Dokja is here and he's from an earlier time than either of us.

[ Ugh, so this time bullshit was already the norm when she got here. She feels a little left out for some reason, which makes her quietly huff even more. ]

Guess that means I still get to knock some sense into him.

[ Implying Dokja deserves a punch no matter what timeline. ]

... You haven't ran into him yet?

[ Joonghyuk isn't going to stop her, to be honest. Dokja deserves it. ]

Does he make himself easy to find?

[ Sooyoung would normally think if there's an uproar somewhere, Dokja would be there. But not this kind of place. He's just like anyone else here. Probably. ]

... He doesn't go out looking for trouble like before if that's what you're asking.

[ Maybe small trouble? But not Big Brain trouble. ]

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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