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

[stitchedupbodyguard]

[Veronica had been in Goldenrod when she heard it, the voice that would spur her into action at a moments notice. Veronica was created to protect, and when she heard a cry for help from one of the people she'd been made to guard, and for the first time in several months, it had taken only a few seconds before she grabbed her things and dove into the strange portal without hesitation.]

Fran?!

[But as the young, cloaked woman landed on the other side, it quickly became apparent that her big sister was not here. It was pretty obvious when she looked around and found herself surrounded by grunts wearing different uniforms and already battling it out.

They all momentarily stopped and stared at her. She stared back, confused as to what was even going on.

Some sort of fight? She could see other people around her, obviously like her, and fighting with both the uniformed groups. If that was what she was supposed to do here, she might as well oblige? It'd be nice to work off the frustration she felt from the ruse that got her here in the first place.

She called out two of her Pokémon; Ako, now evolved into a large Honchkrow, and Baburu; her Froakie that had also evolved into... whatever it was supposed to be. Veronica herself charged forward, letting the first, unlucky grunt she saw have a knee to the gut.

This was the first fight she was getting into in months, hopefully she wasn't completely rusty.]

[cawsforalarm]

[The first sign that Henry had arrived was, as usual, fire.]

[A short distance away, some poor Grunt had just been incinerated completely by a cute fluffy widdle Vulpix. The owner of said Vulpix is standing next to him, laughing.]

[The flaming Grunt collapses at Veronica's feet, and then disappears. It's this that causes Henry to notice Veronica in the first place, and he strolls over, smiling as if nothing had happened.]

Whoa! Is that your Murkrow?

[stitchedupbodyguard]

[Veronica glanced over her shoulder as she nailed another grunt in the face with her fist. That grunt was probably going to be fine, but he was going to also be arrested soon enough.]

Hmm? Oh, you mean Ako. Yeah, she evolved a few weeks ago.


[....Hi, by the way.

Not sure why we're talking to each other.]

[cawsforalarm]

You look great! [Addressing the Murkrow again, as usual.]

How'd that happen? Is it just age-based, or what?

[CASUAL CHAT IN THE MIDDLE OF A SEA OF BURNING, PUNCHED-OUT GRUNTS]

[stitchedupbodyguard]

[Ako landed and posed, clearly happy with the attentions she was getting.

Meanwhile, Veronica was over here.]

She evolved with a Dusk Stone. It's an evolutionary stone that you can buy. A... friend got it for me.

[That's what Juniper was, right?]

[cawsforalarm]

Stone? So it's, like, a literal stone?

[Well, there are Beaststones and Dragonstones back home, so... it's basically a permanent version of those?]

...Okay, that makes sense. But where do you buy it?

[stitchedupbodyguard]

Yeah, you can buy them in Goldenrod I think.

[That's where Juniper got the stones at least.

...She glanced over Henry's shoulder.]

Did you set something on fire?

[cawsforalarm]

No.



...Embers set something on fire. Nyahahaha!

[stitchedupbodyguard]

Right.

[siiiigh]

I guess you're enjoying this.

[cawsforalarm]

Why wouldn't I? All battlefields are my home, you know!

[stitchedupbodyguard]

....I understand.

[Surprisingly. She couldn't believe it either.

Well... she could.]

Mine too.

[cawsforalarm]

For real?

[That was sincerity he really didn't expect.]

[stitchedupbodyguard]

....Yeah.

[She's opening up to you what the hell is even going on.]

I'm a bodyguard, something of an assassin too.

[unkinder]

[Nagi's attention is understandably distracted at the moment, so when Veronica stumbles into view in his line of sight, he completely ignores her in favor of focusing on the grunt he's been battling. Munashi just finished baking the poor Poochyena that the grunt sent out, and now Nagi is throwing his hand out and to the side. In unison, his Gardevoir follows his motion with a sweep of her arm, and with a terrified cry the grunt is lifted off of his feet and thrown several hundred feet to the side before skidding into another group battling.

...Not enough force to kill him, or do him any real damage, unless he's unfortunate enough to be hit by a stray attack. Honestly, it feels great to see that happen, even though he's not the one making it work.

His Pokemon's expression is like stone, but her mind is teeming. It makes her uncomfortable to do this, but she follows his mental instructions regardless.]

[stitchedupbodyguard]

[Veronica's fighting tactics were more hands on than that, unfortunately for the random grunts. Her Pokémon dealt with the pokemon, and Veronica herself fought with the grunts, utilising hand-to-hand combat. She didn't have her swords, but her Honedge was okay too, even though he only wanted to hit with the flat end of his blade.

That was fine. It might have been better to simply kill them, but that wasn't an option here. Something Veronica had to get used to.

She glanced up to see a grunt flying over head. Following the trajectory, she found Nagi.

Her eyes narrowed, and she approached.]

Interesting tactics. It's like before.

[unkinder]

[If Nagi was running on full tanks, that guy might have had his trachea crushed, or a few broken ribs, beyond...being killed outright. So, bless Pokemon world for being Pokemon world, basically.]

Is it?

[He mutters, lowering his hand a little. During the pause his Gardevoir cradles her head gently in her hands, letting out a quiet moan. Being so close to these crystals is excruciating, but she continues to fight regardless. She has to.

And the reason he asks, well. He's going all out here, attacking people as well as Pokemon if they cross him.]

[stitchedupbodyguard]

[She nodded, not getting out of her fighting stance. She had to be prepared for anything coming at her from all sides.]

Yes. Your Pokémon are following your ever move. It's like you trained them to do that.

[And don't think she didn't notice his Gardevoir in pain over there. She notices details like that.]

[unkinder]

[Well, you're not wrong, Veronica. Nagi looks away and over to the grunts milling around nearby. Most of them are eyeing him with a mixture of confusion and awe, but none of them seem to be trying to battle him any further for the time being.]

My training has paid off, then, hasn't it?

[stitchedupbodyguard]

[There was no awe in Veronica's eyes. Confusion, maybe.]

I suppose, but it seems like she's not enjoying being here.

[She gestured to the Gardevoir.]

[unkinder]

None of the pokemon are.

[He retorts calmly, looking over to Uchi, who quickly lowers her hands and steps over to Nagi's side. While she isn't comfortable, she's certainly no longer the trembling Kirlia she once was. She's tall and regal...but she still falls under the authority that Nagi seems to be able to command.]

[stitchedupbodyguard]

[The authority that Veronica was coming to find as an annoyance. Even if she followed an authority almost similar in style.]

I wonder why that's happening. It just seems to affect psychic Pokémon.

[unkinder]

It is likely these crystals have something to do with it.

[He sighs, as if that much were obvious.]

[stitchedupbodyguard]

[Well whoop de doo for him.]

Then we should destroy them.

[unkinder]

That's likely easier said than done, with how hard these grunts are working to protect them.

[stitchedupbodyguard]

[She glanced over her shoulder at the grunts. ] They wont be very hard. I've dealt with worse.