⇨ ALOLA

[ringleaders]

Who: EVERYONE.
When: Day 73 - Day 87
Where: The islands of Alola.
What: The Carnival arrives at its next touring location, a series of tropical islands inhabited by a species of animal called Pokemon and their trainers!
Warnings: Pokemon is pretty PG-rated.

IT'S A POKEMON WORLD↴ Alola is broken up into four different islands, with a number of unique points of interest. Boats can easily be rented in order to get between the islands, or you can just pay for the fair of a scheduled trip. If you can prove you have the skills for it, you can also call on a "Ride Pokemon" - that is, either a Charizard or a Lapras that will fly or swim you between locations. ► POPULATION: Though the islands appear very small as an abstraction in the actual games, that doesn't hold over into the actual reality of it. When interacting with the different locations, imagine that they are about as big and spread out as they would be in real life. It's about on the same scale as Hawaii is on earth. Ignore any wikis that say the population of each island is like 200 people, because that's just adding up all the scripted NPCs, and there are realistically more than six houses per town. ► AMENITIES: Even if they aren't overtly listed on island maps, it can be assumed that all towns and cities will have basic amenities - that is, places to eat, place to go to the washroom, places to buy souvenirs, and the other things one would expect in a tourist heavy area. You can also buy malasadas pretty much anywhere. ► POKECENTERS: You'll be able to find a Pokecenter in pretty much every town - a Pokecenter is a public building in which Pokemon Trainers can rest and get their Pokemon healed. Think of it like free international Pokemon healthcare. You can also buy Pokeballs here, as well as potions and other healing items for later use. ► AETHER FOUNDATION: A peace keeping organization that shelters Pokemon from harm and abuse. If you kill/maim any Pokemon or otherwise act violently in public, they will come to try to take you down with their Pokemon. They also are the main force working against Team Skull. MELEMELE ISLAND↴ [MELEMELE DETAIL MAP] [GUARDIAN DEITY TAPU KOKO] [WIKI LINK] ► TRAINER SCHOOL: A full fledged for young, aspiring Pokemon Trainers! Students go here to learn about Pokemon care and battling before setting out on their own journeys. It would be sort of weird for an adult to show up here, like it would for an adult to try to attend an elementary school, but you can probably learn some of the basics just from touring the facility. ► HAU'OLI SHOPPING DISTRICT: The biggest shopping district on Melemele, you can do a lot here, from eating out to getting your hair dyed. A lot of shops are, unsurprisingly, completely Pokemon focused - but there are some that aren't, too. There are also some very nice beach fronts nearby. ► BERRY FIELDS: Berries come in a lot of different types and have different effects when used. Mostly, Pokemon love to eat them, regardless of what type they are. This is a big field of them, most of which are free to take if you catch them when ripe. ► TEN CARAT HILL: The secluded interior of a small mountain, filled with some rare types of rock Pokemon. You have to be able to bypass the left overs of some recent rockslides to get in. ► TRIAL SITE: There is only one trial on this islands, which is the Normal type trial. All you have to do is fight a bunch of Pokemon ferrets, and then fight an even bigger Pokemon ferret that thirsts for your blood. It's not so bad. AKALA ISLAND↴ [AKALA DETAIL MAP] [GUARDIAN DEITY TAPU LELE] [WIKI LINK] ► TIDE SONG HOTEL: A big ass hotel near the port - if you want to stay on Alola overnight, this is a pretty good place to go. It isn't too expensive, and is also rather nice. ► DIMENSIONAL RESEARCH LAB: Alola, on occasion, has been the site of various dimensional breaks (haha) in which extraplanar creatures called Ultra Beasts have crossed over. There isn't much information about these beasts, but they are something that are being actively studied. Characters who are nerds might find some of this information interesting. ► HANO GRAND RESORT: The inevitably big, fancy resort that tends to take route in touristy places like this. If you actually pay to spend some time there, you can enjoy all the things you'd expect to find in a fancy resort, except with way more Pokemon. There is also a fancy, secluded beach for resort goers only. ► BATTLE ROYALE DOME: A battle area in which 4 trainers fight each other all at once, with teams of there Pokemon. The trainers here are mostly quite expert, and you need a team of three Pokemon to play, so player characters probably won't be able to participate. However, you can still come to watch, if you like seeing a bunch of colourful monsters slapping each other around. ► PANIOLA RANCH: A large ranch that keeps a lot of Pokemon that resemble earth farm animals. You can leave Pokemon here to stay for a while if you need a break from the strains of trainer life. Quite often, however, your Pokemon will end up getting knocked up and leave you with another egg to care for. ► TRIAL SITES: Brooklet Hill is a lake filled area that contains the Water Trial. You have to fight a bunch of schooling Wishiwashi, and then an even bigger schooling Wishiwashi to win. Wela Volcano Park contains the Fire Trial, where you must climb to the top of the dormant volcano, and spot the difference between a series of ceremonial island dances. Then you gotta fight a team of Marrowaks and a giant Salazzle. The Lush Jungle contains the Grass challenge, in which you have to find a series of rare organic ingredients in order to brew something that will lure out a giant Lurantis. ULA'ULA ISLAND↴ [ULA'ULA DETAIL MAP] [GUARDIAN DEITY TAPU BULU] [WIKI LINK] ► MALIE GARDEN: A nice big garden to hang out in and chill. Also, there are Pokemon there... and also, Pokemon battles? There's really no end to it. ► MOUNT HOKULANI OBSERVATORY: Up at the top of the local mountain, you can go see a space observatory. Like most things in Alola, it's like a regular observatory, except with more Pokemon, since some Pokemon just straight up come from space. You can take a bus up here, but you can also hike if you want. ► HAINA DESERT: A shitty desert in the middle of the island. Mostly only good for if you want the kinds of Pokemon that live in shitty deserts. ► ABANDONED THRIFTY MEGAMART: A Megamart, but haunted. Extremely haunted, filled with the kind of ghost Pokemon that would actually kill you. You have to take a bunch of pictures of ghosts on your way through here if you want to beat the Ghost Trial. ► PO TOWN: The ramshackle remains of the town that Team Skull have taken over. It's completely walled off from the rest of the world, and is pretty terrible. No point in going in there unless you're fighting crime, in which case you can expect to get challenged to Pokemon battles by a lot of Team Skull knuckleheads. ► LAKE OF THE MOON: A huge, round temple thing in the middle of nowhere. It's used to praise a legendary Pokemon that existed years ago, but there presently doesn't seem to be anything around except cool architecture. ► TRIAL SITES: The Observatory contains the Electric Challenge, during which you have to fend off various kinds of electric grubs, before eventually taking on a giant Vikavolt. The Abandoned Megamart must first be cleared before challenging the Ghost Trial officially, at which point you will have to defeat a powerful Mimikyu. PONI ISLAND↴ [PONI DETAIL MAP] [GUARDIAN DEITY TAPU FINI] [WIKI LINK] ► SEAFOLK VILLAGE: A village made of nothing but houseboats and other water fairing homes. It's the only major town on Poni Island. ► ANCIENT RUINS: Most of Poni Island has been reduced to ruins, over time. Not many people live here, relative to the other islands, but there are a lot of abandoned buildings from when they apparently used to. ► VAST PONI CANYONS: Most of the island is comprised of canyons, caves, and valleys filled with particularly strong Pokemon, and also a lot of fight-hungry Pokemon trainers. Most of them will want to fight you as soon as they see you, since they are there mostly to train, but they will back down if you tell them you're not a trainer. Though, at that point they will strongly urge you to go home, because it's too danger for anything other than the strongest trainers. ► ALTAR OF THE SUN: A matching altar to the one found on Ula'ula, except this time dedicated to a legendary Pokemon of the sun. If you play some magic flutes here at the right time then apparently a giant lion might show up, but there's no way to be sure. ► TRIAL SITES: The only Trial here is the Grand Trial, which is a fight against the leader's ground type Pokemon. You may also get lucky and have the Fairy Trial's kahuna deign to fight you, with her fairy types, if she randomly wanders into your path. Both of them are very strong, and are not advised to challenge for new trainers.

Comments

[lordofthering]

"Why not?" she asks, like she genuinely can't understand why he is both acting so contrite and so stubborn simultaneously. "Do you understand how this works? If I punish you, it isn't going to give you a free pass to continue your behavior. I am never going to allow you to behave this way! Why cause yourself the trouble? For nothing?"

She takes her hands off her desk and straightens her body, frowning deeply.

"And stop lying to me, Universe. If you were really sorry or if you really didn't want to cause trouble, you'd listen to what I'm telling you."

[fragileandsoft]

"I just don't understand. I don't see how just talking and giving advice is some awful, fate-altering thing. Not when it can... it can help, or..."

He deflates further. His nerve has started to waver under her frustration. Maybe he really is in the wrong here. Maybe he's too stupid to get it?

[lordofthering]

"Did you listen to what I told you at all?" she demands. "You think it will help, and maybe it would, in some situations... yet, I just explained to you how in other situations it would result in those that returned winding up dead or enslaved! How are you so sure that you know what's right for a stranger? Leave their fate in their own hands!"

[fragileandsoft]

"Because a whole load of them just got tortured!" He looks up again, desperate. "I can't know what anyone's got going on for them at home, but we just saw the kind of things that can happen here! Between the unknown and more people dealing with that, why should I think they'd rather risk this? It--"

His nerve breaks again, and he looks away. "I can't... I can't just assume that it'll be worth it, boss. I'm sorry."

[lordofthering]

"It doesn't matter what you assume because it's not up to you!" she yells right back at him, lacking the contextual sensitivity to not yell in the face of someone who is clearly pretty terrified of her. "You don't know anything about this carnival or what it stands for! You don't know anything about what all of this has meant to me!"

[fragileandsoft]

Reflexively, his skin starts to toughen and lose its color. Obviously stoneskin won't do much if she does decide to lash out after all, but were he to think of that he'd only latch onto it harder.

"You're right. I don't." That's all he can say, really. He doesn't know a thing.

[lordofthering]

She crosses her arms, trying to regain her composure. She frowns at him grimly for a few seconds before managing to convert his discontent into words.

"Then do what you're told and do your damn job!"

[fragileandsoft]

For a moment, he says nothing, eyes downcast and arms crossed in front of him.

"Boss... is this really what you want from me?"

[lordofthering]

"Is what?" she asks, looking at him warily. Her specific wording senses are being tingled, and she doesn't want him to go along and say that she ordered him to do something that she didn't.

[fragileandsoft]

"Just... being a body to do a job." He lifts his head a little, but still can't look at her. "I don't know what else I can do."

[lordofthering]

"No!" she says, and there is a flash of genuine distress and frustration to it that suggests its something earnest. She puts her hands to her face. "I just want you to live. By the stars, do you really think that I bring people here because I earnestly need the labour? If I wanted to make mindless automatons I could have already..."

She brings down her hands and looks at him, her face twisted up with some kind of internal emotion.

"But, for anything to live on, there must be rules. I can't just abide by you breaking them without consequence. I don't ask for much, Mr Universe..."

[fragileandsoft]

His shoulders hunch, pulling in on himself. The Ringmaster is a good person, he knows it. Even if he can't understand, even if he's unhappy, she's trying. What went wrong wasn't her fault, and she's trying to press on.

"I'm sorry," he croaks. "I can't."

He can't figure out how to move forward. He can't figure out how to be happy here, or how to grow stronger, or to live like she wants, like everyone else seems to. He just can't.

[lordofthering]

Her eyes remain settled on him, even as he curls up like he wants to disappear. He's a mystery, to be sure. The inability to understand is mutual, but some part of her at least thinks she can compare it to something else that she knows of. Not that it's one that she actually likes to think about.

Always move forward.

"Does nothing here have value to you?" she asks, and it isn't a challenge. It's a genuine question. "Didn't... didn't you ever want to see or do more than what your world allowed you?"

[fragileandsoft]

"...I dunno," he admits after a pause. His voice is rough, weighted with barely-restrained emotion. He can't claim to have had no pleasant experiences, no people he's glad to have met. Yet everything seems in the shadow of a great, looming "but."

"There was a time I'd probably love this sort of thing. Like it was all I could've dreamed of." He gives a very long, very tired sigh. "I'm not sure when that changed."

[lordofthering]

She frowns. It isn't an angry frown, but like she's trying to understand something that is difficult for her.

"If you felt that way before, then can't you remember the virtues of it?" she prompts, gesturing vaguely. "What caused you to stop feeling that way? When doesn't matter."

[fragileandsoft]

He uncurls enough to sit back in his chair a little. "I just... started caring about other things. The things already in front of me were more important than dreaming about some big cosmic possibility." He shrugs, arms still curled tight around himself. "Now it's all... too much."

[lordofthering]

She gestures helplessly.

"Can't you... do both?"

She's trying here, man.

[fragileandsoft]

He looks up at her again. After a moment, he gives her a weak, watery smile.

"I'm a little out of practice."

[lordofthering]

She's relieved that he's giving her that much, anyway. She exhales slowly, her own expression lightening a little.

"You may not believe it, but I do hope for my workers to gain something from being here. If there is anything I can do to aid you in that... that doesn't break the rules... then I would be happy to see what I can do."

[fragileandsoft]

Greg rubs at his face, and stares at his lap for another few seconds. The emotional rollercoaster of this conversation has left him feeling fairly winded.

"If I think of anything... well. Thanks. For the offer, and for listening." It hadn't been a smooth process, but in the end maybe it's better that way.

[lordofthering]

Honestly, she still isn't sure how to feel. Then again, he probably doesn't either, but the Ringmaster prides herself on actually being decisive. Now that she's calmed down a bit and Greg isn't actively fighting with her... hm.

"I do try," she says, a casual shrug off of any thanks he's offering. She takes this opportunity to leave the desk and wander towards the back of the tent, where she's got some shelves filled with various knickknacks. "You can go back to your duties, by the way."

Time to look busy.