HOENNWEEN: INTRO CHALLENGE LOG

[these_balls]

Who: Hoennween Plot Participants!
Where: Tohjo Falls!
When: Wednesday, October 29th
Summary: You've just received a call from a mysterious voice asking you to come help save the world. This is Day One of The Rest Of Your Life™ — the introductory skirmish that will determine your field position for tomorrow and the advantages you'll have going in to the fight against Archie and Maxie.
Rating: PG-13 in general; please mark threads that go higher accordingly!
Log:



YOU ARE HERE. YOU'RE FIGHTING THESE GUYS AND ALSO POSSIBLY THESE GUYS. THEY'RE NOT HAPPY TO SEE YOU.

ETA: AND THIS IS YOUR BACKGROUND MUSIC!
KEY:

• GRAY areas in the north are a range of mountains that form a natural barrier around part of the Tohjo plain where the Elite Four's resort is located. It is both difficult and dangerous to get up into the mountains proper, but this seems to be the direction from which most of the Team Magma Grunts are entering the area.

• GREEN areas in the southeast and southwest are densely-packed forested areas interspersed by lakes and rivers that seem to be feeding into the main waterway into the area. It is both difficult and dangerous to venture into the woodlands proper, but this seems to be the direction from which most of the Team Aqua Grunts are entering the area.

• The BLUE area in the south is the massive lake that feeds the eponymous falls that give Tohjo its name. You will also find Team Aqua Grunts here taking great care to hold control of the lake, if you're interested in engaging in a water battle.

• PINK diamonds in the east and west are the sites of massive formations of Mysterious Plot Crystals™ jutting up from beneath the surface; the Grunts on both teams appear somewhat wary of these growths, so they will be keeping a reasonable distance from them while still doing their best to protect them.

• The BROWN rectangle dead-center in the map is...the Elite Four's resort. Not exactly what you might call a fortunate place to be located, but it's easy to see why this might be considered prime real estate for both teams. You're likely to find members of both Team Aqua and Team Magma hanging around here, so be cautious!

A FEW OTHER SETTING NOTES:

• As per Arceus's summon, there will be Gen VI Pokemon joining the battle on their own! You may NPC these Pokemon, within reasonable limits; you may not capture them in Pokeballs, and they are still wild so they will not take commands from characters the way a captured Pokemon would from its trainer. However, they do recognize that the portaled-in humans are fighting on roughly the same side as they are, so they won't attack player characters and might occasionally come to their aid if need be — you're free to NPC them as you like for purposes such as this.

• The aforementioned Gen VI Pokemon can be any Pokemon that swarmed during September, plus any of their evolved forms. They've had several weeks in the wild to get buff and settle in; now you can see what they've got to show for it!

• You may NPC the Team Aqua and Team Magma Grunts as you see fit; either one can be found anywhere on the map, though Team Magma will be more highly-concentrated in the northern areas of the map, and Team Aqua will be keeping more to the south.

• There is no restriction on how many Aqua and Magma Grunts you may fight.

• You may fight members of both teams on this log if you so choose; you are not required to pick just one or the other to focus on for this particular log.

• You may forego Pokemon battling entirely and simply beat up the Grunts with physical violence yourself. If you KO a Grunt, they will white out and be warped to the nearest Pokemon Center back down in the regions proper, where they will be arrested by an officer of the Kangaskhan Police.

• FOR CHARACTERS INTENDING TO USE HONEDGES LIKE WEAPONS: due to the high volume of questions we have received on this topic (it's a popular inquiry!), we want to clarify for this Pokemon in particular —

If you choose to use a Honedge as though it were a traditional sword, the most that the Honedges will allow might be slapping the grunts with the flat side of the blade. They are still opposed to attacking/killing humans, opponents or not, and if you try to stab an opponent with them, you're going to get a really obstinate ghost sword going incorporeal and ineffectively going through them. There's also the fact that you're grabbing them by the head and swinging them around — they won't like that very much.

PLEASE NOTE: if you intend to use a Honedge in this manner anyway, we may ask that you experience light IC consequences for it later in the plot! We're not barring you from getting your sword skills on with your Honedges; we're simply pointing out that there may be natural outcomes that follow from those choices.

• UPDATE: if you would like to interrogate the grunts, check here for information you can learn from them!

~

☆ THE NUMBER TO MEET OR BEAT IS 50 PARTICIPANTS ☆.

REMEMBER: IF YOUR CHARACTER DOES NOT POST TO THE INTRO CHALLENGE LOG AT LEAST ONCE
(AS A TOP-LEVEL COMMENT OR IN RESPONSE TO SOMEONE ELSE'S TOP-LEVEL COMMENT)
BEFORE 9:00 PM EST on OCTOBER 28, THEY WILL NOT COUNT TOWARD THE 50-PARTICIPANT GOAL!

~

QUICK LINKS

EVENT LINKS MASTERPOST | THE INTRO CHALLENGE INFOPOST | QUESTIONS FOR MODS | INTRO CHALLENGE PARTICIPATION CHECK-IN THREAD

Comments

[enjoymyatelier]

[Honestly, Kayneth probably would have been there the moment he heard about legendary Pokemon, but apparently someone wanted him to be at his most disappointed when he walked out of a space portal right into a group of pirates who very decidedly did not look like Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri.

...it was, at least, a good motivator to get him to let out his Serperior, Ampharos, Nidoqueen, Reuniclus, Archeops, and Chandelure all at the same time, his expression completely flat in the way that only someone extremely angry can manage and give them a brief signal to hold still.

The various Aqua grunts look mildly confused for a moment, then... start kind of snickering because look at this fancy pants asshole, which is possibly the worst thing they could have done in this situation.]

Cezanne, use several rounds of Leaf Storm in front of us to clear a path. Gloria, stick with me. The rest of you... do whatever you like, just take them all down.

[Cezanne does seem at least a little bothered by how indiscriminate that order is, but he does comply... and given that he's now Contrary, after last year, well.

...needless to say, it is entirely possible to encounter the Chandelure, Archeops, Reuniclus, and Nidoqueen quartet doing their own thing through the ranks of grunts that are further inland or, if one gets to the shore, Kayneth himself. He's standing and radiating some cold fury with his Serperior... and his Ampharos, who is shocking the Aqua members on the lake indiscriminately and occasionally giving her trainer looks that are the definition of (unsure), because holy shit, dude, calm down]

[nostabbing]

[Perhaps fortunately for Kayneth (and his already-souring mood), Parker is actually nowhere near him at this point, given that she's fairly far inland and gradually working her way towards the house that appears to be the focal point of the siege. She is, however, very aware of her surroundings, and that happens to include a certain Shimmering Green Buddy™ who's made a couple passes overhead so far, and who she'd quite frankly recognize anywhere.]

Bernie!

[She jumps up and down once, waving to catch his attention even though he's a goodly distance from her up in the air.]

Bernie! Down here!

[enjoymyatelier]

[Bernie is actually slightly less comfortable in the air than on the ground given that for Archeops, flying is less beauty and grace and more wild flailing, but... you know...

what better place to toss rocks from without having to deal with all that/i> much water

...with that said, he's flying a little lower and

OH

BEST FRIEND

SORRY OTHER MEMBERS OF KAYNETH'S POKEATELIER HE IS GOING TO DIVE DOWN BY HIS BUDDY]

[nostabbing]

[BEST FRIEND IT'S SO GOOD TO SEE YOU.]

Hi, Bernie! Are you okay? These guys aren't giving you trouble, are they?

[does she have to punch a guy Bernie she will punch a guy for you]

[enjoymyatelier]

[BERNIE IS FINE, BUT THANK YOU FOR ASKING! He squawks a bit cheerfully to indicate that he's doing just fine... but he does adopt a bit of a conspiratorial stance and expression.

He's not having trouble, but he'd be really happy to make trouble for them...]

[wakeupslap]

[So the grunts wore Red and Blue. Those were simple colors and he could see them from a distance. And he went around taking them out with his fists. He has to put Princess back in her ball due to how much he was moving and how hard it was to stay attached. So he's without a Pokemon right now, but he didn't ever need one to begin with.

So when he noticed someone in blue? He knew what he needed to do. He moved around a little bit closer to the shore. Forget that he was taking down what appeared to be his own team members, Moses was more focused on himself jumping up into the air, and towards Kayneth. Not really paying too much attention to his surroundings.]

[enjoymyatelier]

[...annnd that's precisely why Cezanne the Serperior is with Kayneth, who almost instinctively aims a Slam at Moses's midsection with heavier than usual vines.

...Kayneth... doesn't seem to be reacting at all...]

[wakeupslap]

[And there he goes, flying across the sky and into the ground face first. Okay, so that's not his best efforts, but he's not one to give up! He moves around, trying to get at a completely different angle before jumping, a lot lower to tackle him to the ground.

He'll get these villains yet!]

[enjoymyatelier]

[Cezanne just gives Moses a Look and slithers between him and Kayneth, because Pokemon are slightly more resilient than people and maybe he can just... try to figure out some way to get the point across to this man

CEZANNE ATTEMPTS TO USE WRAP ON MOSES, WILL IT WORK]

[wakeupslap]

[Yeah good luck with that, have you noticed he's not very bright. Like, especially since he's going right in for another slam even right after getting knocked down and out.

He's able to move away from most of the vines but eventually one catches him and gives him a squeeze. He groans and grunts, trying to grab them and pull those vines off of him.]

L... let go!

[enjoymyatelier]

[human consider this to be a wake-up call in terms of actually using your brain.

...but he'll try to get this through to the trainer rather than just... tossing him, because that would be better in the long run, he's sure.

So, he'll try to stare Moses in the eyes, then direct Moses's attention to the fact that... you know... this blue guy is attacking other blue guys...]

[wakeupslap]

[Look,okay, we can't all be perfect. Or decent. Or completely not shit. But it's not his fault! He can't be blamed for Kayneth's fashion mistakes.

There are many that are being committed today.

So he looks at the creature and narrows his eye.]

Kay, so why is this my fault?! I was only doin' what I thought I had to!

[friendyousohard]

[A crackle from the sky and a massive lightning bolt dropping onto one of the grunts heralds the arrival of one of the few people in the regions who might be able to get him to chill out.]

Sir El-Melloi!

[Twilight waves at him from atop her Magnezone, smiling widely and completely blase about the fact that she just electrocuted a poor guy. After all, it's the Pokeworld. He'll be fine.]

I'm glad to see you here.

[enjoymyatelier]

[...that actually does raise Kayneth's spirits some, though it... admittedly dampens the Ampharos's, because goshdarned Magnethings stealing her thunder

literally

she does go back to what she's doing, though, while he turns to Twilight and gives a brief wave.]

Ah, I was wondering if I'd see you here, Twilight. Are you enjoying yourself?

[friendyousohard]

I'm not sure enjoying is the right word for something that involves this much violence, though I'll admit I've sort of grown accustomed to it. Still, there is a certain sense of satisfaction in defeating these clowns.

[Another of said clowns goes flying past them, hurled by a grinning Heracross who starts beating his chest.]

Oh for crying out loud, Megasoma! Does it look like we've won the battle yet? Get back in the fray!

[He sulks a bit but obeys, rushing over to another now-very-frightened grunt.]

So... would it be a bad idea to inquire as to what brought you here?

[After all, he does look rather... cold, right now.]

[enjoymyatelier]

Well, you couldn't actually call it a bloodbath, at the very least, but I'll admit that it almost feels unfair to subject these unfortunate individuals to our Pokemon.

[...he doesn't look like he feels bad about it at all.]

Granted, they really ought to have put more actual effort into training their Pokemon if they actually wanted to win, so they actually kind of deserve it...

[...his, er, cheerful demeanor fades at that last question, though...]

And it... most likely would, yes.

[friendyousohard]

[She nods a bit at his answer, it being kind of what she'd expected.]

Alright then. Let's focus on our situation. The strategy of our opponents seems to be to overwhelm us with sheer numbers, but I can't quite figure out what they're after. They're giving the spires wide berth, which I don't at all blame them for given that I have it on good authority they're... unstable. But that just leaves the Elite Fours' house, and I have no idea what they'd want in there.

[enjoymyatelier]

In all fairness, we weren't given full access to the Elite Four's villa, so for all we know they could have something we don't know about.

[...he remains silent for a moment.]

...we'd have free access to the library and wouldn't have to worry about Clair throwing us out.

[friendyousohard]

... You raise an excellent point. And suddenly I'm quite eager to see what exactly we can find in there.

And, not so coincidentally, in making sure they don't get anywhere near it.

[ortion]

[Dist comes across Kayneth while on his own temper tantrum rampage, making his Pokemon send Hyper Beams flying every which way (but always at some sort of target mind you) before coming in to recharge. He seems to be just as infuriated as Kayneth, his eyes tinged red and slightly puffy from throwing an absolute shitfit at some grunts earlier on.]

You too, Kayneth?

[He figures Kayneth will understand once their eyes meet. They've both been had, and everything's gonna suffer for it.]

[enjoymyatelier]

[Kayneth turns around and... yep.

that is a feel that he feels.]

Whoever's responsible for this could have really just said legendaries and I'd be right there, you know. There was no reason to do... that.

[...he gives a look to the Ampharos, because she has stopped electrifying the lake and she really needs to start that again]

[ortion]

Exactly. I don't understand what their aim was, tricking us like that. Were they intentionally trying to anger us? Did they want us to attack those idiots in the tacky outfits?

[Because said tacky idiots apparently didn't have a clue about the message, so obviously they didn't send it...so what the hell?]

[enjoymyatelier]

It could be both, given that the former has certainly made me very enthusiastic to do the latter. It's very...

[hang on this needs to be more melodramatic wait for Gloria to call down a thunder so he can hear those screams]

...therapeutic.

[ortion]

[Y'know what, he's just gonna bask in those screams with you, Kayneth. Music to his ears right now, to be honest.

Once that round of screams is over though, he just sighs.]

As therapeutic as it is, it's not actually providing any answers. Have you made any leads on just what is going on here? Or where those voices came from?

[He has some info, but he'll save it so they don't end up repeating facts.]

[enjoymyatelier]

...I'll admit, it's been preventing me from being productive on that front. I haven't really been thinking about going after leads, really --- I likely could've interrogated one of these incompetents, but it didn't cross my mind.

...perhaps I should, come to think of it.