⇨ 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

[empty_vessel]

Jimmy side-eyes Joker a little, unsure if he's being patronizing or not. "It's not that. I've seen what happens to those dogs, and I don't want it happening to her." Yeah, Jimmy's being overprotective and this happens all the time, with the addition of emergency free vet care 24/7.

"What about yours? Is he coming too?" Jimmy hopes that doesn't sound snide, he's honestly curious if Pea's going to be the only Pokemon at the Carnival.

[pipers_son]

There's a brief subtle glance to the Pokecenter, because Joker's sort of caught wind of those too, but he doesn't say anything. Hey, if the guy wants to fuss and has already been presented with reasons why there's no need to, well... He doubts anything he could say would do anything.

Instead, he turns his grin to the content fat owl. "I think he might. Never really had a pet before, and, hell, if that doesn't work out, could always have him perform, right?"

[empty_vessel]

"Absolutely. If it's anything like back home, a big bird of prey making a few low passes over the audience is a definite attention getter. The zoo back home used it to great effect when they were doing a demonstration." And Joker's owl Pokemon should be very eyecatching, gliding over the crowds.

"But.... we'll need to go actually fight, if we want to prove that we want to keep them." Still not thrilled at the thought of Pea fighting, but slowly approaching resigned to needing to do it if he wants to keep Sweet Pea.

[pipers_son]

And right back to the thing Joker was trying to reassure him about. Ah well. Sweet Pea will have to go without stomach rubs now, because Joker is pushing himself up onto his feet so that he can give Jimmy a firm pat on the shoulder.

"It'll be fine. From what it sounds like, people do it here all the time but it turns out fine, right?"

[empty_vessel]

"I keep telling myself that. And I know, it'll be fine. Like I said, it's bleedover from actual animal fighting back home. Pea seems to be totally into it, though. A little rock thing, like, an actual rock with feet came over, and Pea went right after it." Pea puffs up a little at that. She kicked that Roggenrola's butt but good.

"But if we do a... double battle?" He thinks that's what it was called anyway. "Less worry about getting overwhelmed."

[pipers_son]

“Well, it works for me! I mean-” Best he can, he shrugs his shoulders and grins as his Rowlet flutters its wings. “Got yers on the ground and mine in the air. That means we should have everythin’ covered, right? And I never heard any rules about no one bein’ allowed ta try these trials with each other!”

….To be fair, he also hasn’t looked too closely at the rules, but, hey.

[empty_vessel]

Jimmy really hasn't either, to be honest. But if it's not just him and Pea, he's game. (Him, anyway. Sweet Pea is convinced she could rock most of the island, no pun intended.)

"We can give the rules a good readover on the way, and stop by the shopping center for some supplies." Healing items especially, but the book explained about something called Status Effects that they should probably be worried about.

[pipers_son]

"Sounds good~! But," he says with a grin, "you'll want ta do yer vacationin' a bit more first, right? There's no rush for this kinda thing, so long as we get it done before the carnival moves on, right?"

[empty_vessel]

"Yup. Sounds good to me... We can read up on the rules and I'll see you... here in two days?" Jimmy looks down at Pea, who barks up at him and continues to be convinced of her ability to whoop so much ass.

[pipers_son]

"Two days sounds good!" The Rowlet on his shoulder hoots his agreement, and Joker grins a bit as he scratches beneath his chin. "So we'll see ya then. Outta be excitin'!" Just hopefully it's the good kind of exciting.