CAMP ALPHA: for everyone who wanted a crossover between summercamp and Ghost Adventures

[indigo_league]

Who: Everyone who came to Camp Alph
Where: The Ruins of Alph
When: July 18th-21st
Summary: This is a log for all the camping shenanigans your heart desires! For part 2 of the event, there will be a second log to keep the ensuing seance situation separate from the all-purpose ruin-exploration adventures. Participation in part 2 will be entirely voluntary, so feel free to tag on part 1 as long as you like! For more information about this event, check out the info post over here!
Rating: PG-13
Log:


Been to the Ruins of Alph before? Are you an old hat at this stuff? Well turn everything you thought you knew UPSIDE DOWN because EVERYTHING. IS DIFFERENT NOW.

… Or at least, that’s what the flyers being passed out under a canopy of cheap Celebi balloons that are bobbing around in the breeze say.

One thing’s for sure, there sure are a lot more tents than normal. By the time most of you casuals get there, the entire picnicking area, usually quite spacious, has been turned into a small tent city. And the excited atmosphere is palpable.

The crackle of the Ruin Rangers’ walkie-talkies mingles with that of the ghost-hunting equipment toted around by excited Hex Maniacs, burbling Unown are drifting here and there to blink curiously at all the new people and Pokemon suddenly on their turf, and chatter from Legend Seekers of all ages (really, of ALL ages-- everyone from Youngsters to Veterans have apparently been swept up in the Seeker-mania!) rings out as stories and speculations are swapped.

There’s lots to do, plenty to explore, and (according to word on the grapevine), more than enough spooky rituals to perform once the night falls.

Will you solve some tile puzzles and fall into an underground chamber? Stick to the main group and make s’mores? Befriend a floating letter (or twenty-four)? Go directly against the advice of the tired-looking Rangers and play One Man Hide-and-Seek in the dark?

Or, most importantly, will you start a small-scale riot in order to keep the loud static boxes away from the tents where you’re trying to sleep?

Comments

[cyan_maid]

Well, it hasn't said it isn't the same letter when I've addressed it.

[The J bobs behind her a little, eye squinted as if it's smiling.]

And if I didn't have a knack for figuring out shapes and things, I don't think I'd have come down here in such a sudden way.

[neverstudied]

Good point. Though I dunno if these guys are really the most communicative...

I'm alright with the puzzles, but Sigourney's better. She won't even let me look at 'em half the time before she starts solving them.

[The Beheeyem in question continues to trace the walls without turning to look at her trainer, though now she's radiating a vague sense of smug self-satisfaction.]

[cyan_maid]

Oh, shucks, that's not fair...

[But Pokemon do what they want, most times; it's a tricky thing.]

Well, at least she has you come with her down here? It'd be terribly worrying if one of mine dropped through a hole and I couldn't follow them.

[neverstudied]

It's fine. Less work for me.

[As long as Sigourney isn't chasing people around with knives or wiping their memories clean, Venkman couldn't care less what she does. She's a grown alien. She knows what she's doing.

Speaking of:]

Really? Like, half of my team went off to explore parts of the ruins on their own a couple hours ago.

[They're probably fine.]

[cyan_maid]

[asdfghjkl]

Y-You...must have a lot of confidence in them, then...! I mean, the most I do is let them have the run of the house...

[neverstudied]

For the most part, yeah. I mean, I'll keep an eye on the ones that're assholes, but most of the others know right from wrong or'll have a more responsible Pokemon around to keep them from being stupid.

[This is reason #653 why Venkman is not capable of raising a child. Somewhere in the ruins, Plunderbird is daring some NPC's poor unsuspecting Pidgey to stare into the antlers of a Stantler.]

[cyan_maid]

[oh no]

Yeah...I've got some responsible ones who can run the house while I'm out, and some who need to be watched a little more carefully...and some, of course, who can't bear to let me go on an adventure without them.

[Also why would she ever leave Dinah behind?]

[neverstudied]

[It's fine, Roach'll probably drag the Klefki away before it can do any real damage to anyone. If he notices in time.

... This really is a "hiring a horse to watch your dog" situation.]

Christ, I haven't even thought about what'll happen when we actually settle down and get a house in this world. Most've the actual responsible Pokemon we have are the ones we'd normally keep on hand...

[You'd think that out of the three Ghostbusters here so far, they'd at least have a good selection of responsible Pokemon. Of course, the three of them combined can barely make up one[1] responsible person, so maybe that's not so surprising.]

[cyan_maid]

Well, it's not like it's required to settle down. It's just something people can do if they want to. And you know, eventually, you'll end up with a veritable menagerie, so at some point you'll have a fair set of responsible types.

[neverstudied]

Yeah, I know it's not necessary, but I'm getting tired of hotel rooms or camping all the time. Having somewhere permanent again'll be nice. Especially if it's not an old firehall this time.

[Venkman says that, but he also knows that Ray's been begging for them to move into a firehouse again, and he knows that the universe conspires against him, and there'll absolutely be a shitty, rundown old firehouse in Saffron where they can make history repeat itself.

... He knows that both because that's just how his luck works, and because he's already looked into places in Saffron.]

Besides, we're thinking of eventually trying to start up something similar to our job back home, here- less "Ghostbusting", more... weird animal pest control. Can't run a business like that without an office.

[How the mighty have fallen, going from fighting eldritch gods to helping deal with Rattata infestations... Ah, well.]

[cyan_maid]

Oh, that could prove to be very useful! While the incredibly weird things don't seem to like to happen without as many people who've come here from other worlds available to tackle it, stuff that's more mundane is very common! And I've seen Pokemon swarms cause concern and trouble before, I bet you'd be called a lot around then.

[neverstudied]

[He preens a little at the support, looking a bit too full of himself.]

Mostly my idea. Figured we might as well keep doing what we know, even if we don't have our equipment. Obviously no more proton packs for us, so we'd have to use Pokemon to wrangle most stuff, but that shouldn't be too difficult. Just battling wild Pokemon with more of a purpose.

We'd probably still try to specialize in Ghost types, and Dark and Psychic ones, but really, any Pokemon or group of Pokemon causing a disturbance. Which isn't too far from what we did back home- gremlins and trolls and Cthulhu aren't exactly ghosts, but we've handled 'em all the same. And considering the number of Pokemon that can cause huge problems for people- at least according to some of the Pokedex entries- I don't think we'd ever be hurting for business. Especially not with the swarms, like you said.

[cyan_maid]

[Listen, she will encourage all endeavours.]

...Cthulhu?

[Yes, that's the one she's stuck on.]

Hold on - do you mind elaborating? When you say Cthulhu, you mean...the very same one that's the big eldritch guy with the tentacles and whatnot?

[neverstudied]

Yep. Some cult tried summoning it and a bunch of its tentacled minions. We weren't able to permanently take it out- but we used a roller coaster to electrocute it. It'll be dormant for another 60 years or so.

Wasn't an easy job Ecto-1 had some car trouble, I nearly got dragged away by some squid-faces in a sewer, we had to look through a bunch of Ray's old comic books for help, I fell off that roller coaster - but hey, if we can handle all that, probably can handle whatever this world can throw at us.

[cyan_maid]

That's...that is certainly an impressive and rambunctious sequence of events!

[She's not sure if she 100% believes it, but if you believe it happened, Venkman, she won't challenge that.]

Hopefully someone will, ah, be around to deal with the rapscallion when he wakes up in sixty years...