HOENNWEEN: AFTERMATH LOG

[these_balls]

Who: Hoennween Plot Participants!
Where: Tohjo Falls!
When: Friday, October 31
Summary: The bosses are defeated, the strife is over, the apocalypse has been averted. But things are still a bit of a disaster and some benign faces are arriving, so this is your chance to wind down, rest up, commiserate with others over everything that transpired, and breathe a little in general before it's time to go home again.
Rating: PG-13 in general; please mark threads that go higher accordingly!
Log:



YOU ARE HERE. IT LOOKS A LITTLE APOCALYPTIC. BUT THESE GUYS ARE HERE, AND SO IS THIS GUY.

NOW GO LEARN THE MAGIC OF YARN.

KEY:

• The GRAY, GREEN, and BLUE areas remain as they have all plot; these are the mountains, forest, and lake areas (respectively) that are now devoid of Team Aqua and Magma Grunts and currently form the natural boundaries of the map area you're in!

• The BROWN rectangle in the center of the map is still the Elite Four's Resort; because you did so well at fighting off the bosses and their legendaries, it escaped the conflict with minimal damage. For this log, that means it will also still be available to you as a bonus area map!

• The PINK triangle represents Shauna and Sina's private jet (or, well, someone's private jet, anyway), in which they just arrived from Kalos! Also, it sounds like they've got some kind of goodies for you in there, so you might want to stop by and have a chat with them to see what that's all about.

• RED stars on either sides of the map are approximate locations where you are most likely to be able to find and approach Arceus! Note that it can be sighted pretty much anywhere on the map as it walks around restoring things to some semblance of normal, but if you intend to approach it directly, it should be in one of these two areas. Attempting to catch or battle Arceus will result in a character immediately whiting out and being booted to the Blackthorn City Pokemon Center, and thereby suspended from participation in the remainder of the event.

A FEW OTHER SETTING NOTES:

• The Gen VI Pokemon that assisted you in the battle are still around somewhat, but they're largely leaving the area to head back down into the Johto/Kanto regions proper; they made good on the summons from their creator and have received its profound thanks for it, and now it's time to get back to the areas they've picked as their new habitats from here on out.

• FOR CHARACTERS WHO USED A HONEDGE LIKE A WEAPON DURING BATTLE:
This is also where we are asking you to experience some IC consequences! Namely, in exchange for picking up your Pokemon and rather unceremoniously winging it around by the head during battle, Arceus will be returning the favor by winging you around by the head a little at some point during the log! You're welcome to handwave this as you see fit, but we ask that you please accept this as the consequence of your choices!

• On a related note, if your character has mistreated one of their Pokemon lately and you would like them to suffer a llamagod-delivered consequence for it (for the purposes of development or what have you), feel free to let us know and we'll work something out with you!

• There is no restriction on how many of the NPCs you may talk to; feel free to interact with any and all of them!

• Maxie and Archie are not available on this log; they are, however, going to be taken into Shauna and Sina's custody and presumably deported back to Kalos to receive justice for...something or other, assuredly.

• You are welcome to thread out scenes occuring at any time during the aftermath events — waking up in the morning to Arceus, spotting Shauna and Sina arriving around noon, and experiencing the Sylveon Swarm in the afternoon are all fair game!

• At the end of the day you will be getting home the same way you initially came: via an Arceus-opened portal that will take you back to the location you left, with its thanks!

• EDIT: It's been brought to our attention that this was somewhat unclear — yes, you may make your own top-levels on this log! It is not solely for interacting with the NPCs, so please feel free to tag around and interact with others as you like!

QUICK LINKS

EVENT LINKS MASTERPOST | AFTERMATH LOG INFOPOST | QUESTIONS FOR MODS

☆ THREAD WITH ARCEUS ☆ THREAD WITH SHAUNA ☆ THREAD WITH SINA ☆

Comments

[angerpoints]

[Well. That sure is a giant llama walking around over there, isn't it. Yusuke's a little groggy still, but he's at least lucid enough to recognize Arceus' figure as the one he'd seen in the seconds before he and apparently everyone else here passed out. That must've been the one who'd saved them from that blast, he thinks as he pushes himself up to his feet. Judging by the little schpiel it gave them before it knocked them out, it also must've been the one responsible for summoning them here - a feat that he reckons wouldn't have been possible if it didn't possess a shitload of power.

He isn't one to revere gods. Not even the ones who haven't been teething for centuries. As far as he's concerned, no amount of power makes anyone better than anybody else, and there's no way in hell he's about to tread on eggshells around anyone or anything just because they can do things like prevent the apocalypse with their mind.

So when he approaches Arceus, it's with an easy gait and his hands in his pockets. As usual, he's got his Altaria with him; as they draw near, Puu ducks his head respectfully, shooting Yusuke a sharp sideways look that's clearly intended to warn him not to say anything stupid.]

Yo! Thing! What's up?

[Puu winces. Well, so much for that. Yusuke slows to a stop in front of Arceus and peers up at him, a smirk spreading across his face. In spite of the significant size difference between the two of them, he doesn't seem frightened by Arceus in the least - on the contrary, he looks relaxed, confident. He also looks like a damn mess, because no matter what world you're in, saving it from getting wrecked by monsters generally isn't something you come out of without a crapton of bruises, scrapes, and cuts to show for it.]

Doin' some damage control, huh? Must be a pain in the ass, havin' to clean up after all of us.

[If Yusuke were thinking of it, he might've made some remark about how it's too bad his friend isn't around to help Arceus out with the flower-growing. As it is, his mind is on other things.]

[legendarybeasts]

[...Wow, okay, hi there...you. Admittedly you're sort of a new and novel breed of creature today — there have been ones that have yelled and there have been ones that have groveled and there have been ones that didn't really seem to understand what was happening, but you appear...entirely nonchalant about any of this, and that's really something, isn't it.

...

It's almost difficult to find it offensive just because it's so audacious.

Very...well, then. Are you looking for assistance with those painful-looking wounds, or just..."shooting the breeze", as it were...?]

[angerpoints]

Not a big talker, are ya?

[Welp. All right, then! Yusuke shrugs and says:]

Eh. 'S all good. I got a friend like that. He's not a giant sky llama, though. Preeetty sure he's got more eyes, too. Like, way more than anybody even friggin' needs, actually--

[Puu is looking more and more mortified by the second. Yusuke, would you please stop talking just for the sake of talking and just get to the point already, you are going to get your ass smote. Possibly his as well, just by association. Yusuke, of course, still doesn't look bothered.]

Anyway, uh - about all this. [He pulls one of his hands out of his pockets and indicates the area around them with a wave.] That was you, right? Bringing us here, and saving our asses from gettin' blown off the face of the planet.

[He's looking for confirmation more than anything else.]

[legendarybeasts]

[The look Arceus directs at Puu is one that, perhaps later, Puu will have reason to boast about to all his fellow Pokemon, because this is his creator personally calling upon him to explain precisely what the shit is going on here, and if you could be so kind as to indicate whether or not this human is like this all the time, that would be great as well.

Advise your creator deity, little one, because right now it's just a bundle of ????? at this.

That said, there's an easy answer to the human's question, and so it comes:

Yes.]

[angerpoints]

I figured as much.

[And with that, Yusuke falls silent, seeming contemplative all of the sudden. While he has the opportunity (i.e. while Yusuke still has his big stupid mouth shut), Puu responds to the look Arceus is giving him with an apologetic and vaguely exasperated one of his own. He doesn't even have to say anything for the meaning behind it to be clear. Yes, says the long-suffering expression on Puu's face. Yes, he is always like this. He is so sorry, Your Llamaness.

A long moment passes before Yusuke speaks again. He doesn't know how to feel, now that his suspicions about Arceus' role in all of this have been confirmed - on the one hand, that means it had something to do with him hearing Raizen, which bothers the hell out of him just on general principle. (It's not like the whole disaster with Raizen has been troubling him for the past several months or anything - oh, wait.)

On the other hand, though, that also means it'd saved them. It isn't hard to figure out what would've happened if it hadn't intervened at the last second. If it weren't for Arceus, they'd probably all be...

...]

... Y'know, I was gonna get pissed off at you for usin' that old bastard's voice to get me to jump through that portal. I mean, c'mon, if you wanted me to come here that badly, you coulda just asked. 'S'not like I'm gonna turn down a fight anytime soon.

... but you really helped us out back there, so... hey. Thanks. I really appreciate it.

[And in spite of his mixed feelings and the brazen way in which he'd been speaking to Arceus up until now, he really does seem sincere when he says that. He's been in enough battles that the chaos of the past couple of days hadn't worried him too much, but when those crystals shattered and the world around them was enveloped by that blinding white light, he'd been legitimately afraid - not for himself, because dying twice has only rendered his sense of self-preservation even poorer than it was in the first place, but for his friends. It's thanks to Arceus that they're safe, and Yusuke isn't going to forget that anytime soon.]

[legendarybeasts]

[At the sudden burst of contemplation and self-reflection, Arceus obligingly remains silent itself (or at least, the sort of intentionally silent that suggests a certain measure of consideration, as opposed to the silent it's been up until now by virtue of the fact that it just doesn't talk a whole lot); when those conclusions finally come to light, though, the considerate attentiveness shifts to something almost like amusement, and on a different level, approval.

A moment later, it makes that approval known even further.

You did well. You have always done well.

And isn't that interesting, really...]

[angerpoints]

[Interesting indeed - and surprising, too. Yusuke had done a good job of keeping his outward appearance pretty cavalier up until now, but those words - "You have always done well" - catch him off-guard, and it's obvious by the look on his face.

Make no mistake: he doesn't regret being Spirit Detective. Not even after everything that's happened. He'd told Sensui that his job was the only damn good thing he's done in his life, and if anyone asked him about it now, that's exactly what he'd tell them as well. But it does suck, looking back on it all and seeing how it ended. He'd rather swallow a tin full of needles than admit to feeling at all messed up over what Spirit World did, but the fact is that he now has to deal with the reality of how disposable he was to them all this time, and that...

... well, it's not the greatest feeling he's ever had in his life, let's just put it that way. So to hear someone tell him that the things he's done were still good despite Spirit World's actions - someone who, presumably, has an objective view of the situation, and thus can be counted on not to tell him things just to be nice - is... well, it's something, is what it is. He doesn't know if it necessarily disproves what Kuroko and the bozos up in Spirit World said about him not being any good, but it's definitely something.

(Funny. You'd think by now he wouldn't be affected by it when someone tells him he's a menace to society. Especially when he knows they aren't wrong.)]

... Hey, Sky Llama. Can I ask you something?

Or, uh, another something.

[DON'T YOU PULL THAT "YOU JUST DID" CRAP ON HIM, SKY LLAMA, he hates it enough when people do that. Yusuke's affect is rather blunted now, at any rate - his poker face might not be as great as some other people's, but by god, in a pinch, it does the trick pretty well.]

Did you bring us here? To this world, I mean. Pretty sure we already established that it was you who told us to come fight those freaks.

[If Arceus knows as much about Yusuke's life back home as its choice of words suggests that it does, then it's possible that the reason it knows is because it was the one who made the decision to pull him out of it. He has to at least try to find out one way or another.]

[legendarybeasts]

[...Damn, it was totally going to pull that on you, too. SO SNEAKY, SPIRIT DETECTIVE.

However, despite being quick on the uptake, that still doesn't buy you your way out of the same answer it's been giving pretty much all day when it's been posed that question: a sort of enigmatic llama-shrug, as if to say, what do you think?

Curiously, that seems sincere; do tell it what you think, because it knows you do.]

[angerpoints]

[Yusuke doesn't respond right away. For a minute, he just stands there and stares at Arceus, his gaze level and his expression stony. Then, finally, he says:]

I think that even if you are the one who brought us here, you're not gonna confirm it one way or another. Which probably means I shouldn't bother wasting my time asking you why I'm here.

Figures. You gods're never straightforward.

[And with that, the poker face is broken, and though one would probably expect him to look angry or accusing now, instead he's just kind of... smiling ruefully. He doesn't know why he isn't more pissed off with Arceus than he is - maybe it's because he knows that getting angry with it wouldn't get him anywhere. Or maybe he's just tired. He's been running on adrenaline for the past couple of days, but now that the battle's been won and he's got no one to fight, exhaustion is starting to set in.]

Look, y'know what? It's fine. I was only asking 'cause...

[Because he doesn't know what to do with himself here. Because he's sick of feeling directionless and angry and not knowing who or what he is. Because he'd thought that leaving the living world and going to Demon World to kill Raizen would be the first step to resolving all of that stuff, and not only did he get sent here before he could even lay a finger on the son of a bitch, he now knows that he wouldn't have been what killed him even if he hadn't been interrupted. Genkai had told him that he had to figure all of this out by himself, and he knows she was right. Nobody could solve this for him. But what is he supposed to do now, now that he's right back at square one? It doesn't help that he can't figure out what the hell it is he even wants in the first place: on the one hand, he wants to be able to live normally and be with his friends and family, but on the other hand, he can't stand the idea of being stuck dealing with the same thing day in and day out - of never feeling that rush of excitement and energy that he can only get when faced with immediate danger.

Maybe there really is something wrong with him. He doesn't know. He's so confused, and it's bugging the hell out of him. Botan had reassured him that everything would be okay, but what's the point of knowing there's a light at the end of the tunnel when the tunnel is long and dark and you're caught right in the middle of it?

He hasn't told anyone about any of this. He isn't about to, either. As much of a pain in the ass as it is to feel like this all the time, he knows it's something he has to bear on his own. Besides, he doubts Sky Llama here'd be interested in his sob story.

So, about a moment after trailing off, Yusuke shakes his head, squares his shoulders, then looks Arceus right in its furry face and tells it:]

Nevermind. It's fine. I'll figure it out. It's my ass and I've gotta be the one to wipe it, right?

[He grins. It's a little strained. He reaches up to rub his shoulder, gingerly kneading the skin there through his jacket and shirt with his fingers. Man, is he really starting to feel his injuries all of the sudden...]