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

[ Siwoo is but baby. As soon as they reach the lake does he crouch down, letting Siwoo hop onto the grass who does a little stretch before looking to the group they've seem to have attracted. ]

At least not of that kind. [ He muses, he does have some berries but... They don't stock up on dead bodies. ]

..They aren't going to try and eat us, right? [ Just. A little worried. At least they seem pacified. ]

[ When Siwoo is let down, Minji is quick to pounce on him!! What fun is it to be carried up there when you can be down here and play with her?! ]

I don't think so. They seem rather friendly.

[ Because, well, they fed them. The bears are a little demanding? And decide to sit by the lake with them as Joonghyuk takes some stray bucket and uses it to wash his gloves and hands. ]

[ Siwoo squeaks in surprise! Falling over as a weight pounces on him, but he's happy to wrestle with her and play. Here comes a fluffy bury as he collapses onto her. ]

Well, long as we aren't their next meal it's fine. [ He does look amused as they sit by the lake. Taking a moment to wash his own hands, though there's no blood on him or anything.. his mind keeps reflecting back to the blood that was shown to them.

He starts to search his bag, pulling out some berries that he places in a nearby bear's paw. Here. But no more, he doesn't have a lot? So share with others. ] That's it, alright?

So I guess our next objective is just to keep going. We had it easy with Tom Nook, since he did help us work to finding a way back home before. [ And so far, nobody seems to even know anything here. Even the two that have been here for sometime now. ]

[ At least the Eevees are wholesome while these two are basically ruminating after a murder. Once he has clean his gloves, he dumps the bloodied water into the soil to soak. The smell and color is diluted, so no one should be able to pick it up except for possibly Pokemon.

The Ursaring seems happy to get a berry! But then they start talking amongst themselves. Why do you get the berry?? And so forth, they all wrestle for it in the background. ]

... That world really was too convenient.

[ Tom Nook was doing his best despite the chaos at the beginning. Joonghyuk wrings the water out of his gloves before stowing it into an inside pocket. ]

The locals here don't seem to know anything, so our only choice is to check the rest of the world if possible.

[ Looking up, even if it's dark, it's easy to tell there are some dark clouds ready to rain. ]

[ Wholesome Eevees just romping about while these two hide evidence of murder. Dokja just watches the Ursaring move onto wrestling and decides yeah he's no longer involved with this. He's going to move on and hope these Pokemon do too. ]

A lot of it was handed to us.

[ Anything they asked, was more or less given to them. Dark eyes watch his companion as he finishes his tasks before he leans just a bit against his side with an observing gaze. ]

That could take some time. We could be here much longer than just two months. [ He grows quiet after saying that, letting the thought sit. ]

[ Quickly, Joonghyuk tries to disperse those worries. While he doesn't lean back, knowing well he might topple Dokja over, he makes sure to stay steady for him. ]

Our allies will do fine without us for a bit... And we'll get out of this alive.

[ Once all the water is wrung out of his gloves, he has to leave it to try, but he wants to head back to their camping site. Peeking over, he checks the Ursaring. Still wrestling. ]

We should leave before their attention turns back to us.

Edited 2020-09-11 22:36 (UTC)

Fortunately I'm not too worried about us.

[ Dokja says with a quiet chuckle, keeping settled against his side. Though, his worries about their companions has lessen since two months ago he.. still thinks about it. His eyes drift to a close though perks as he feels his companion shift and follows that gaze.

..Yup. The Ursaring are still at it. ]

Probably for the best. [ He reaches out to gently tap the pair of Eevees. Come now, you two. Dokja pushes to a stand once he sees Siwoo react and is already wagging his tail at them. ]

[ Joonghyuk also picks himself back up onto his feet, then leads them back to their camping site. Minji's ears twitch when she notices the two have taken a stand, tail wagging much like Siwoo's, and follows them happily after saying farewells to the Ursaring (that pay her no mind, still fighting over the berry). ]

Will you be able to catch some sleep tonight?

[ It's late, so... It's something to worry about. ]

[ At least this leaves them out of their hair. Dokja moving to sit once they finally reach their camping site, feeling exhaustion prick at him but not looking to sleep right away. He hasn't been sleeping well but what else is new?

The reader perks at his words, Siwoo meanwhile crawling onto Dokja's lap with a yawn as he curls up and uses his own tail to cuddle with. Dokja looks down and gently pets the Pokemon with a hum. ] Probably.

[ He knows Joonghyuk won't like that answer but, he's really not too sure so. ]

[ Joonghyuk takes a seat beside Dokja and Minji cozies right against him, then crawls over his lap and tries to squeeze between the two of them. Even if she doesn't fit, she fits herself there and closes her eyes with the knife still in her mouth.

Carefully, Joonghyuk takes the knife and stashes it so she doesn't hurt herself or someone else in her sleep. The baby sleeps peacefully with her bushy tail wiggling every now and then. ]

You don't have a tail to use as a pillow anymore.

[ After making sure Minji is comfortable, Joonghyuk loosens up and crosses his arms. ]

[ How a small Eevee manages to squeeze herself between the two of them is beyond him. Though, the reader seems amused by it, despite Siwoo himself seeming quite content with Dokja's lap until his back feet stretch out to rest over part of Joonghyuk's lap as well. ]

I don't. But, that's what I have you for, right?

[ One arm winds around Joonghyuk's waist as he leans more against his companion, resting his head against a shoulder with a look full of mirth up at him. ]

... Why does that matter when it won't help you sleep easier?

[ Joonghyuk huffs, but doesn't reject Dokja when he comes in to wrap his arms around him and snuggle up. He merely looks grumpy. After a couple of seconds of silence, his gaze shifts to him. ]

You're getting bolder.

[ Dokja seeking out affection without feeling any shame. Wow. ]

Who is to say it won't?

[ Stop being grumpy. Dokja isn't exactly lying, he has slept better with Joonghyuk by his side back on that island. His eyes drift to a close as he relaxes a little more. Comforted by the warmth on his lap, squeezed between and beside him.

He does peek at that statement and scoffs quietly. What is there for him to be embarrassed about? He's gotten accustomed to receiving affection and giving a little here and there. Also.. ] It's only us here.

[ No need to be shy, Joonghyuk-ah. ]

[ The bundle of Eevees are really cute... They keep them warm in the cold night. What more can they ask for? And then there's Dokja who's still slotted against him. Stupid.

He's lowkey happy despite circumstances. Shifting a bit, he looks off to the side, somewhat embarrassed by how he's feeling. ]

Shut up and go to sleep.

[ The pair of them aren't normal, thinking about a well night's rest after basically murder. ]

Yes, yes. [ And because he's having too much fun? He leans up to press a quick kiss to a cheek despite the man looking away. The guts on this man. ] Good night, Joonghyuk-ah.

[ Now to bring some blankets closer to them, properly spreading to cover and secure their newly Pokemon companions. ]

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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