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

[explosivecombat]

[It's likely a bad sign when one of the first people to show up on the scene is this guy.

Kimblee isn't the sort to answer Heroic Callings; he's not exactly here to save the region, after all, and if that's what Johto has ultimately brought him here for, then he hates to tell everyone this, but it summoned the wrong person. This sort of work is better suited to Fullmetal or his brother, or...well, just about anyone but him, and he'll be the first to acknowledge that; that being said, what brought him here wasn't a call to save everyone.

It was a promise that he'd get to see a world-deciding battle.

He'd been in the middle of preparations when he'd heard it, and if he hadn't already been muttering to himself while he worked he would have assumed he'd hallucinated it; his focus had thoroughly been elsewhere, however, and the usual sounds and words from Ishval haven't crept into his head for quite some time, and it had been just urgent enough for him to pause, and to turn around, and that...that certainly was a portal, wasn't it.

...What on earth...

He'd eyed it warily for a while, just long enough to ascertain that it wasn't going away, and it had occurred to him that maybe it was another dream. That maybe he just doesn't remember this part of the leadup to the castle last year, and perhaps that was exactly how that entire mess started.

But on the other hand, that entire mess had involved a battle, and it had involved alchemy, and while there's an element of "fool me once, shame on you/fool me twice..." at work here...

...Let's say he's never really been one to turn down a chance to see the world ending, and that is exactly what this sounds like. So he'll be showing up with a full team of six, and for a while he'll just...watch curiously as the grunts do their thing and seem a bit oblivious to the new guy standing near the crystals over there (and they do seem to be keeping their distance from the crystals, so perhaps that's not a surprise), and after a while he just smiles, the look in his eyes coming rather alive when he realizes what he's standing next to.

Rejoice, Johto!

He's going to be very intent on messing with those crystals; he's laying his hands on them way too much to be comfortable, for one thing, and for another...well, he's got an Electrode out with him that he seems to be conversing with on a regular basis, quietly, just out of earshot.

Somebody might want to see what he's doing, because he has entirely too much first-hand experience with what these crystals do when they're blasted full of energy...]

[twinsanity]

[It's perhaps fortunate that the call to arms could come in the form of urging from a loved one; it's why Alfred hadn't even thought twice about answering it. He wasn't entirely sure where the urging had come from, granted – it was one of those weird disembodied things coming from nowhere and everywhere all at the same time – but the fact was that Alexia had told him to move and so he'd simply gathered his things and moved, lab work be damned today.

It'd taken a bit more convincing to deal with the portal, of course, because that was just ridiculous, but Alexia had insisted and when he'd finally complied there had been no Alexia, which was incredibly confusing but not entirely surprising if he were to consider it.

(Had Alexia wanted him to go, or had he really wanted to go himself? It's a valid question, if he thinks about it; fortunately, he doesn't really want to think about it for too long today, and what matters is that he's here.)

When he arrives, there are a few things to note; there are a lot of pirates, and there are...a lot of generally badly-dressed people in red, and there are a bunch of those Pokémon from throughout the month hassling both, and both sets of humans are hassling each other, and good lord those little black caterpillars are trying their best to swarm a pirate en masse and having no success whatsoever.

Fortunately, he's fairly near the building in the center of the roiling mass of stupid that he's surely been deposited into, and there's a girl sitting on the outdoor veranda – one of the poorly-dressed people in red – and she's got diagrams laid out in front of her and wow that looks like some terrible science on that diagram.

...He's just going to be over here battling this poor girl's Poochyena with his Gashunk Ant, if no one minds; in fairness, she set it on him because she didn't like his tone, but he's not about to stand there and let the goddamn idiot believe that dropping rocket fuel into a volcano is in any way a sound idea, thank you very much.]

[doitrockapella]

[This is the second year in a row now that Carmen's come down with a sense of deep foreboding during the week of Halloween while present at a battle at which she's spotted her friend Nietzsche, and all things considered that's an uncomfortably specific pattern of events and it's one she's not entirely sure she likes.

It hadn't taken much to get her through the portal, either — the logical conclusion that this could offer some explanation for the strange happenings that have been plaguing the region lately, and the urge to be present at...whatever it was that the voice seemed to think was coming, because when there's a party she wants to be present, and sometimes you act out your plan like a woman of thought but sometimes you do it like a woman of action, too.

She's riding comfortably along with a Kadabra when she teleports into view a short distance from the man and his Electrode, and admittedly the aforementioned Kadabra doesn't seem too thrilled about being so close to these giant masses, but he remains as faithful and silent as always at her side as they land near this fellow trainer he remembers so well.]

Enjoying yourself, Nietzsche?

[explosivecombat]

[He doesn't take his gaze off the crystals when he replies to her; there's no need to watch her, because he knows her well enough to know that while she might shove him off a rooftop, she's not going to stab him in the back. So he remains where he is, his hands ungloved for once while he continues doing...whatever it is he's doing.]

We'll see whether I enjoy myself or not in a short while.

[And something seems to occur to him then, if the brief way his breathing hitches a bit before he laughs is any indication. The sound is soft, and he shakes his head a little before he continues.]

What did you hear - did someone invite you here? Because if they did, I can guarantee that we didn't hear the same thing.

[doitrockapella]

[As he resumes his efforts, she reaches to her belt and produces a pair of Pokeballs of her own; one light toss later, an Empoleon and Ivysaur have been summoned forth, and given the way they both look instantly to her Kadabra, it's pretty clear that whatever's going on here is something they've practiced many times over.

But that should do to keep any particularly daring Grunts at bay, at least for a while. And Chief (or Rousseau, depending on who's asking) knows how to handle himself without his trainer's direction.

Which means, of course, that she's free to talk.]

You heard it too, then. That voice, just before the C-5 Corridor opened up.

[...Portals. c: ]

Dare I ask what yours said?

[explosivecombat]

[And that does get his attention, though he doesn't say anything after he's given those Pokémon a quick glance-over to see exactly who they're being aimed toward.]

You wouldn't like the answer.

[And that is, as far as he's concerned, the end of that.]

"C-5 Corridor", however...you've seen these sorts of things before?

[cobraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa]

[On a scale of about 1-10 for anger, Cobra's sitting at about, uh...probably 30 right now. Walking through that stupid portal, only to find out Destro's not actually here and wasn't calling for his help? Didn't exactly do wonders for his mood. Add in that those crystals seem to be back and there's some sort of new team or two new teams or whatever encroaching on what will obviously one day belong to Cobra? Yeah, he's furious.]

A.S.P., Hyper Beam! Strato-Viper! Ssssteel Wing! Overkill! Venosssshock!

[Take that...random Grunt Pokemon. That'll teach Team Aqua and Magma to...actually, Cobra's not even sure why they're here or what's going on. He didn't ask, and he doesn't really care. All he cares about is that there's some other group of individuals that are clearly invading what should belong to him.]

Now then, the resssst of you! Ssstri-

[Okay, maybe he should've paid attention to the migrating Pokemon because he just got knocked over by a herd of Goomy. Or Bloobers. Whatever they are, they've managed to knock Cobra Commander down ruining what will probably be the only impressive victory he gets today, and now he's flailing and slipping in a pile of Goomy...goo.]

What is thissss? Is there no end to thisss idiocy?

[And on that previously referred to anger scale, he's at about a 50 right now.]

[doitrockapella]

We have that technology back home. It's a little different than teleporting with the help of a Pokemon — there's a visible portal to walk through, and a certain amount of effort involved in setting the entry and exit coordinates.

[And we didn't have that when she was a detective but you know what, it makes the game more interesting so good on the kids, really.]

My rivals use it to try to keep up with me.

[explosivecombat]

...Well, I certainly hope none of your rivals look quite like that.

[Between the pirates and the...whatever those other people are.]

They're an interesting lot; it seems our new arrivals don't like them very much.

[exeggutorhead]

[There aren't many people Envy would jump into a mysterious portal just on the off chance they were really there for. Even fewer people he'd do it because it sounded like they were demanding him to. Tulio is one of those few, and hearing his voice gets Envy into that portal without even thinking about whether there might be a spooky castle on the other end.

He's not very happy when he shows up on a battlefield full of crystals and pokemon fighting people who would be fashion disasters even in Amestris, and no Tulio in sight. Really not happy. And he's very willing to decide that this is somehow the fault of the poorly dressed brigade, and that it would help make up for it to take it out on them. But he calls out the team he brought with him for Mission: Find Heather's Pokemon...and one of them, instead of being the Vaporeon he was sure he had picked, comes out as a raring-to-go level 12 Tyrunt.

...well, he's sure Imp can bite some people's ankles while he uses the others to battle. Battle because after all, how is he going to get close enough to kick any of these people in the gut until he gets their Pokemon out of the way?

He'll be found mainly in the mountains at the beginning of the fight, and near the house later on. In the mountains though, he had a plan to heavily inconvenience the red spike-hooded ones. And that plan is to have his Tyranitar dig some good old fashioned pit traps. And he probably won't say no to anyone offering to help him with that. Careful though, those don't really discriminate in who they collapse under. Envy will be around at some point to see if he's caught any grunts to beat up, maybe he'll help anyone else who's fallen in then. Maybe.]

[solas_ion]

[Lancer--]

[It was her voice. The voice that had once called the name of Culann's Hound across space and time, the voice which he'd answered then and would answer again now. He'd barely even given the portal or the voice's source a second thought before snatching up the bag with his Pokemon and usual equipment and all but diving through it, because if Bazett Fraga McRemitz called for help then Cu Chulainn would answer no questions asked.]

[What he found on the other end of the portal, however, was not Bazett by a long shot. In the time it had taken Lancer to blink, he was standing in the middle of a group of Team Magma grunts that seemed to have been mid-conversation. The knight in the blinding Hawaiian shirt blinked a few more times out of confusion as he tried to determine just what was going on. In several flashes of light from as many Pokeballs there was a circle of Poochyena and Numel prepared to attack, and that rather put Lancer's curiosity on the backburner.]

[So, whatever was going on, this was going to be a fight. Shrugging his left shoulder as though to test it out, Lancer found himself satisfied with how the most recent mortal injury had healed up--it wouldn't be a problem. One hand reached for a single Pokeball, the other...a collapsible fishing rod that he twirled almost like a baton.]

[A smile that was really more of a near-feral smirk came across Lancer's face, and he spoke one word:]

Aigéan.

[His Poliwhirl appeared in a flash of light and a blast of water, Lancer himself moving in a flash to strike the nearest grunts with his fishing rod like a makeshift lance.]

[...He still had no idea what was going on, but they'd started it.]

[doitrockapella]

[And for a minute she's just kind of...quiet, watching his interest in those crystals, glancing toward the commotion going on around them as more and more people filter onto the scene and battles start erupting into being all over the clearing.]

Are you choosing a side on this one?

[It's a valid question.]

[cawsforalarm]

[Henry had literally been on his way to Tohjo when he got the call. Glowgan and Eleanor -- the Inkay and Trevenant he met during the swarms -- had both been feeling uncomfortable for a while, but when both of them demanded independent leave at the same time, that was when Henry became concerned. His Pokemon felt a strong need to move to Tohjo Falls, so Henry dropped every single obligation he had and started traveling to Tohjo Falls. When they went to bed on the 28th, both had been antsy, convinced that they weren't going to arrive on time... and then the 29th happened.]

[Long story short, here he is: a seventeen-year-old boy with a wide smile. He's smiling mostly because oh boy, oh boy, people gonna kill people today!]

[He'd let Glowgan and Eleanor head off to help with the wartime preparations, dragging his two starter Pokemon around with him as he searched for some other way to assist. Who cares if this isn't Ylisse's army? This is his Pokemon's army, so it's Henry's army too.]

[Soon enough, he decides to inspect the crystals, mostly because he's heard mention of "glowing pink gems" for about as long as he'd been in Johto, and this is his opportunity to see them up close. Instead of trying to hear Kimblee and Electrode's conversation from afar, like a normal Grunt would, Henry simply strolls up to them, with a Murkrow on his shoulder and a Vulpix in his arms.]

Heya! What'cha doin'?

[explosivecombat]

[It occurs to him that normally that's the sort of question he wouldn't answer; he'd leave it up to the asker's imagination, or maybe he'd ask what they think, or he'd simply ask to be left alone so he can work and they would see later.

What he does is offer her something that's not a smile, really; it doesn't reach his eyes enough for that, doesn't involve enough of his face. But there's something there regardless.]

Say what you will of my normal activities around this place, it wouldn't be the first time I fought in defense of my country. Because I've been asked to, of course, but also because regardless of what I think of it or intend to do to it in the long run, it's mine.

[He glances over toward one of the masses of grunts over there.]

If they were truly the superior option for us, they wouldn't be invading us right now. That's how I see it.

[explosivecombat]

[Oh...hello there. He doesn't recognize the voice, nor does he recognize the person it's coming out of, but he'll acknowledge him anyway.]

These crystals have been a particular interest of mine for a few months now; I'm wondering if these have the same properties as the ones I have experience with.

[cawsforalarm]

[Henry makes a thoughtful noise as he looks up at the massive tower of gem. If he had to guess, this would probably be similar to Dragonstones or Beaststones, which enable certain races to transform into various creatures... but if they are the same, there's no Taguel or Manakete around here to try it out on. Too bad.]

What properties do yours have? You're not just talking about what they feel like or how tough they are, right? 'Cause, I mean, the fact that they're huge and glowing and pink kind of implicates a bigger meaning than that.

[explosivecombat]

Oh, quite.

[Goodness, sir, you give off the impression that whatever pops into your head comes immediately out of your mouth.]

Things like this erupted out of the ground several months ago; they were destroyed back then, but the shards did some interesting things when they had a sufficient amount of energy put into them.

[cawsforalarm]

[That impression is 100% correct.]

[At the very least, though, he listens. If the gems popped out of the ground a few months ago, they're probably similar to the small pink gemstones people kept talking about on the Network.]

Oh, so these are the ones that shake and give Pokémon headaches and stuff, right? What do they do when you put energy in 'em?

[explosivecombat]

They both draw it in and amplify it, from what I've seen, until it reaches a point that the crystal can no longer contain the energy it's gathered.

At which point they explode rather violently.

[doitrockapella]

I understand.

[It's a little...off, that; she feels as though it ought to have been a "thank you", but that didn't seem quite right either, both because there's really no need to run the risk of making Nietzsche QWOP right now in the middle of a war zone, and because she half-figured if she did, he'd just look at her in that mildly inquisitive way like he couldn't work out what in the world she was thanking him for in the first place.]

You know this sort of a party isn't my realm of expertise. Should I expect any notice for places I should avoid, or am I trusting my own skills from here on out?

[Surprisingly, there doesn't seem to be any underlying implications in that; it's an honest question all around.]

[cawsforalarm]

[And there -- right there -- you can see Henry's demeanor change entirely.]

[He gives out a little gasp and clenches his fists, body language practically oozing excitement. Exploding things? Heck yeah! Exploding things with those red and blue guys around? Double heck yeah!!]

That's so awesome! We can use these to wipe out a bunch of those grunts at once!

[explosivecombat]

My preferred combat style isn't exactly subtle; I trust you can handle yourself.

[And there's nothing condescending in that; just a statement.]

You'll know where I am once I start.

[explosivecombat]

[Now, that's interesting.]

...We could, if we so chose.

[Let's see where this goes, shall we?]

They're easier to weaponize in shards; it would be more strategically sound to take one of these down and then use them more like grenades - charging up the ones we want and controlling what we destroy and what we don't, rather than simply taking out large numbers of the party on both sides.

[occultigen]

[Whatever Meridiana was expecting when she'd gone through the portal, she'd had to admit it hadn't been...this. She'd heard a familiar voice, of course, and if there were any voice in the world that she would've listened to, it'd have been that one — one of the last she'd heard before she slipped away into death a second time, that voice of the boy who'd loved her and who she'd loved too much in return to let him sacrifice himself for her.

That boy wasn't here when she'd emerged on the other side, blinking in the harsh sunlight and baffled by the badly-dressed people all around, but the sounds of fighting had quickly drawn her attention and she'd...

Well, the truth was, she'd just sort of stood there awhile, disoriented and afraid, not really sure why she was here or what good she could do about any of it.

Even when she'd spotted Lancer (one of the few familiar faces here — and one of the few distinctive enough that he could hardly be missed), she hadn't leapt into action; she didn't know what action she was really supposed to leap toward, anyway, and it was all just unfolding so fast —

But at some point, as a new Grunt began to drift over to join his beleaguered compatriots and provide some fresh reinforcements, that uncertainty snapped, and she did the only thing she could think to do.

And that was why, at some point in the midst of Lancer's fight, one of his aforementioned Grunts (probably one hanging near the back waiting for an opening to engage) would pause mid-battle with a shout of pain and instinctively raise a hand to the back of his head, because she sure did just throw one of her Pokeballs at it and whoops, suddenly she's been spotted by the enemy now, hasn't she.]

[cawsforalarm]

Oh, yeah, you're probably right.

[Tactics were pretty much never Henry's strong suit, mostly because he finds the concept of "don't kill your own soldiers" kind of difficult. But this is exciting, so he's gonna try regardless!]

But how are we supposed to get it apart without anyone noticing? There's almost no one around here, so it'd be really obvious.

[Oh!]

Unless we just shatter it so that it doesn't explode, but the pieces fly all over the place... it'd look like collateral damage from a battle...