⇨ 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

[handwringing]

She comes over to take a look. It's interesting - it looks like the bird it once was could conceivably grow into the bird it is now, but apparently it happens instantaneously. It's not like any animal Elsa has ever seen or heard of before.

"So it can change again. That's interesting."

She reaches over to flip the page, to see the final evolution Childermass mentioned. She thinks the way it currently is is quite big enough, though, with the attitude it has.

"It's strange that they live with these creatures, but don't seem to know much about them... but then, I suppose scientists are discovering new things about our world every day." And that doesn't even get into the magical things from Elsa's own homeworld - trolls and ice powers, among others.

[atouts]

"Though I don't plan on seeing it through to the third one," Childermass admits. Even if he doesn't mind the snippy bird all that much, it also isn't the Pokemon he has in mind. Of course, that it gives him the evil eye as if it might understand him somehow...

That doesn't help its case at all!

"And it is strange, but your guess seems as good as any other. There seems to be such a wide variety of them, all with different powers." He looks back down from the bird to the book again. "It must make for an endless amount of things to try and study, among whatever else there is to study in this world."

He assumes they have some regular animals as well, somewhere. Their technology is certainly advanced, too. Surely there's more than only Pokemon trainer schools around here...

[handwringing]

One can only hope. Elsa would rather the children of her country get a proper education in reading and writing and useful skills. Something like this "Pokemon training" is better left for their free time.

But she's not really here to criticize other countries' ways of doing things, strange as they are.

"Someone told me there's a professor on another island who studies Pokemon moves, and apparently there's some kind of... dimensional research lab." She actually smiles a little at that. "If only they knew the true nature of the Carnival... we might get swarmed by scientists trying to study us."

So maybe it's better that they don't. There's nothing that sounds more like a nightmare to Elsa than having some stranger scrutinize her for science.

[atouts]

"A dimensional research lab?" That earns Elsa a curious look. He hadn't heard of that one just yet. "It would be a problem if they did know, that's true, but I wonder. Does that mean they're already aware of dimensional travel? It might be worth stopping by to see."

If only to see what these people think of as dimensional research. 'Magic' is doubtful to enter into it. As fantastic and supernatural as the creatures here seem to be, he's yet to hear much about that at all, outside of the odd ancient story written here or there throughout the library thus far.

[handwringing]

"I'm not sure. They also mentioned that some people think Pokemon can come from other dimensions." Which isn't so unbelievable to her anymore, but the person in question had seemed a little dubious. "So maybe that's what they're studying."

It would be pretty incredible if they were aware of inter-dimensional travel. Many of the worlds they visit aren't, though some certainly are. But there are a few flaws in this theory.

"If they did know about it, I'm not sure the Carnival would have to masquerade as a normal carnival."

[atouts]

"Fair enough point," Childermass concedes. The carnival hadn't put on airs in Atlantis, where what it was hadn't ever been a secret, and here, it was clearly different. In any case, he realizes this conversation has gone on long enough without him properly introducing himself, so he finally pushes his chair out away from the table and gets to his feet, offering Elsa a polite nod as he does.

"I don't believe we've met before," he begins, then goes on to add, "I am John Childermass, one of the carnival's magicians."

[handwringing]

Right, that part is important. Elsa gives him a polite nod in return.

"I'm Elsa. I'm... the new treasurer, as of recently." It's still new to her, clearly. "I've been at the Carnival for awhile, but I had to leave for a bit."

Running errands for the Ringmaster, mostly. It was certainly interesting.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Childermass."

[atouts]

"Likewise, Miss Elsa," he returns the sentiment before tilting his head slightly, giving her a curious look. "Does that mean the old treasurer is gone for good? I had the ill fortune of running afoul of him before he left and it certainly did not seem like anyone else missed the man at all.

[handwringing]

"Ah... he is."

She hates to say bad things about her previous supervisor, but she can't say she disagrees with that sentiment. Gilgamesh was not the nicest man - she's happier, knowing he's gone, honestly.

"He's not someone who is easily missed. It's not just you."