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

[foolishwren]

<sub>[What happens when a charging horse meets a rampaging bear?]

[Well, hopefully they both stop, because otherwise things could get ugly.]

[Carousel is a fairly calm and level-headed Pokemon, but even she can't avoid being startled at the sudden appearance of a FREAKIN' BEAR. With a whicker of alarm, she rears up slightly, making Heather grab for her neck to balance.]</sub>

WHOA!

WHOA, easy, Carousel, EASY!

[wing_attack]

[Rachel backs off, and Tobias moves in front of her, holding up his hands.]

Sorry. We didn't mean to startle you.

[He looks at Rachel and gestures off to the side, and she continues on her merry battling way.]

Are you okay? I've been sticking to the ground for now but if you need to get airlifted out I can give you a hand.

[foolishwren]

_{[The Rapidash is still puffing in consternation, but she calms down as Heather rubs her neck.]}

I-it's okay-- this place is a madhouse. I haven't seen a free-for-all this big since-- well, it's not important.

_{[She shakes her head in response to his offer, though.]}

No thanks-- I've actually got air coverage, and I'm kinda... looking for something down here.

_{[She gestures upward, where Sunny is circling in the sky like a giant white hang-glider.]}

[wing_attack]

Oh.

[He looks up and nods, before looking down at her.]

What are you looking for? Maybe we can help.

[foolishwren]

Actually, I'm looking for three Pokemon.

And-- _{[Ugh, it's awkward to admit this.]} one of them is the lion you traded me.

[wing_attack]

Ah. Are they some of the new ones? They ran off, right?

[foolishwren]

Yeah. The night before that big quake, I think. I didn't notice till after it hit.

The other two are a little fox one and a bird.

[wing_attack]

... Right. Regal, head up and take a look.

[Regal flaps and takes off. Two sets of eyes in the sky are better than one.]

Mine have been acting weird, too. The two dinosaurs I got kept heading this way. I wonder if something's been calling them. Migration of multiple species doesn't happen this fast. At least not where I'm from.

[foolishwren]

Yeah, the news said that all those new species were migrating unnaturally fast.

I figured the ones I caught ran off to join the migration.

But with all those earthquakes... yeah. I didn't wanna let 'em go by 'emselves...

[wing_attack]

I understand. I wouldn't want them to, either. I'm sure they'll come back, though. Pokemon are a lot tougher than they look a lot of the time.

[foolishwren]

Yeah, I know! Believe me, I know-- it's just-- they're like, level five, you know?

And there's serious shit going down.

_{[She swipes at her brow, letting out a sigh. Even in the chilly October weather, riding around on a Rapidash at a full-tilt gallop is a good way to work up a sweat.]}

[wing_attack]

... Yeah, I know. It's understandable to get upset over it. If we find them, we'll let you know. I promise.

[foolishwren]

Thanks. I appreciate it. Seriously.

_{[Carousel lets out a whicker, seemingly in agreement.]}

... Uh, sorry, I guess I should introduce these guys. This is Carousel.

The Absol's Alessa.

And the bird up there is Sunny.

[wing_attack]

No problem. And this is Rachel. Regal is the Braviary that's been flying around and throwing people in the lake. Volts is a Zebstrika... he's been running around.

[Rachel waves a paw at the group.]

Nice to meet you guys.

[foolishwren]

Yeah. Good to finally meet in, uh, person.

_{[He's a little taller than she thought he'd be. To be fair, everybody looks short when they're squashed into a tiny PokeGear screen.]}

[wing_attack]

[This is true. The technology is still kind of weird to him.]

Yeah. Regal's sure changed since you last saw him. But he's a lot happier now.

[A grunt nears them, and Rachel lumbers off to go beat up his Pokemon. Tobias doesn't seem too concerned, at least.]

[foolishwren]

Yeah, he's really grown up, huh? Didn't take you long to get him to evolve.

_{[Unlike her, who's kept her starter a Growlithe for four years now.]}

You must trust 'em a lot, to let 'em run around freely like that. And vice versa.

I didn't get to that stage with mine for... well, longer than you've been here, heh.

[wing_attack]

It felt like forever, honestly. But he's worked hard for it. And... well. I'm really good with birds. I know how to read their body language and even a little bit of what they're saying in their calls. So he knows I understand him, and he understands me, and he likes me enough to want to stay. If he didn't want to, I wouldn't make him.

You can't keep birds cooped up. They need their freedom.

[foolishwren]

<sub>[... Wow, that was... sure a little speech about bird rights.]

[Heather can't help but stare for a second, but then she grins.]</sub>

Wow.

You know your stuff pretty well, then!

[wing_attack]

[... That may have been too much. He rubs the back of his head.]

Sorry. Birds are kind of my thing.

[foolishwren]

<sub>[... It occurs to her, just for a moment, that maybe he's the self-confessed BIRD ANON from the network awhile back.]

[But she doesn't say anything.]

[Just thinks "Ah" to herself in a knowing manner.]</sub>

Hey, it's okay.

We all have our things.

[wing_attack]

Yeah. ... Thanks, by the way.

[Admitting this is awkward but he's... okay about it now. Sort of.]

For replying to my anonymous post a while back.

[Rachel nudges him gently and he flails to prevent himself from falling over. Stop that.]

[foolishwren]

I thought that might've been you.

_{[But hey, she's not gonna make this weird for him. The last bird she knew called her varying levels of ugly every time they spoke. Heather's not about to assume that Tobias's secret bird identity makes him any different from any other person in this place.]}

Don't mention it.

I know the 'suddenly a human' thing can be tough to adjust to.

[wing_attack]

Yeah. It's not as weird for me since I'm used to becoming other things, but it's still kind of strange. At least I'm not constantly squinting anymore.

[foolishwren]

... Becoming other things?

You just mentioned you were a bird.

Were you... like... something other than a bird?