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victory_road2019-11-26 12:31 pm
indigo_events) wrote in victory_road2019-11-26 12:31 pm
Entry tags:
Calling All Auroras!
Who: The Elite Four and the Aurora League
Where: The Indigo Plateau, Pokemon League Headquarters
When: November 24th onwards
Summary: After receiving official letters from the Pokemon League summoning them for a vague but urgent matter, members of the exclusive "Aurora League" arrive in the hopes of finding out what's up...
Rating: G, unless folks start swearing.
Log:
Between the rapidly-receding autumn and the (literal) dark days as of late, winter has come a little early to the Indigo Plateau, with frozen rain lashing against the windows and fierce winds buffeting the pines mercilessly outside. The streets are muddy and largely empty-- the Plateau rarely sees challengers this late in the year, and the resident League employees are staying indoors as much as possible, dashing between buildings with blown-inside-out umbrellas or flapping coats held over their heads.
FORTUNATELY for the invited Aurora Leaguers, they will be warping directly into the lobby of the Pokemon League HQ rather than anywhere that would require them to face the elements.
Upon arriving, each member will be directed into a private room and told to make themselves and their Pokemon comfortable (although it's a little small to accommodate more than one or two 'mons on the larger side) while they wait for the others to arrive. And it IS quite comfortable-- there's a table set up with refreshments (coffee, pastries, and fruit for the humans, and a variety of Berries and PokePuffs for their Pokemon) and the chairs are plush. No magazines, although there's a bookshelf in each corner featuring volumes of Professors Oak and Elm's work.
And that's where everyone will be for awhile!
Until, of course, they've all arrived.
That's when a door on the far side of the room opens, and in steps...
Dragonmaster Lance advances to the head of the table and stops there, hands resting heavily on it, as though even moving that far required more effort than it should have.
"... Champions of the Aurora League, I'd like to thank you deeply for your prompt response to our summons."
His voice, normally rich and authoritative, sounds thin. Coupled with the dark shadows under his eyes and the... uh, total lack of color, it is very clear that something's wrong.
"I'm sure you're all wondering why you're here. I promise we will explain to the best of our ability... but the long and short of it is... something is happening and we, the Elite Four..."
The door opens again, and in come the other four Elites: Will, Koga, Bruno, and Karen. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they ALL appear to be sharing the Dragonmaster's affliction: deathly pale complexions, faces sagging with exhaustion, and the jarring appearance of someone yanked out of an old black-and-white film and plopped down into a color one. The clothes they're in all appear normal though, albeit somewhat less... professional than the garments they're usually seen in. Karen is wearing sweatpants, and Bruno has a king-sized down comforter draped around his shoulders like a cape.
They look profoundly miserable.
"... believe that the eight of you are the only ones who can succeed at stopping it where we failed."
_____________________
With everyone seated (and Karen chugging pitch-black coffee as though in the vain hope that it might make her feel better), Lance begins their tale.
"While the situation with the Aether Foundation was unfolding, the Elite Four and I were investigating the source of the unusual swarms in Cerulean City, which we believed to be the cave to the north. As you know, access to the cave has been restricted due to the dangerous terrain and Pokemon within it, leading us to suspect that perhaps a wormhole had appeared inside without anyone's notice, driving the resident Pokemon out of their territory."
Lance pauses there with a quiet 'Excuse me' before uncapping a water-bottle and drinking deeply. As he's tending to his parched throat, Koga picks up where he left off.
"As we predicted, we encountered very few Pokemon inside... what few we did see completely ignored us in favor of hurrying towards the surface as though fleeing something. Which, considering Cerulean Cave's Pokemon population is normally extremely aggressive towards human intruders, was no insignificant matter," the Ninja Master says, his hands steepled in front of him on the table.
"We won't bore you with the insignificant details," Karen cuts in, glaring down at her coffee for its audacity in failing to relieve her fatigue. "The fact of the matter is, what we found down there was a wormhole fifty times bigger than anything those Aether buffoons could conjure on purpose in their wildest dreams."
"But that's not all," Will interrupts. He looks like he hasn't brushed his hair since they left the cave. "Tell them what was coming out of it."
Karen transfers her glare to the Psychic-trainer, but he's already sagging back against his chair like a festively-dressed ragdoll, energy reserves apparently drained just from the act of speaking. Karen is spared the effort of having to come up with some biting remark about how she was going to tell them, you fancy idiot, by Lance, who rejoins the conversation, his tone grave.
"What was coming out of it was a creature the likes of which this world has never seen. It was colossal, and seemed to be made of pure darkness, radiating an aura of enormous power. If I absolutely had to draw a comparison, I suppose it could be likened to the other "Ultra Beasts" that have been coming through these wormholes... but I feel that doing so would be painting a dangerously inadequate picture of the level of power we're dealing with.
With a deep and tired sigh, he pulls out a remote and activates a screen behind him. Photographs of Pokemon that the Aurora Leaguers will immediately recognize as being the ones they battled to win their final Pokemon League challenge slowly cycle through.
Lance's Dragonite draped limply across several Pokemon Center beds pushed together with a concerned-looking Nurse Joy pushing a thermometer into its mouth.
Bruno's Onix, curled in a ring and looking even grayer than normal, despondently ignoring a heaping plate of nutritious food next to its head.
Will's Xatu, once-bright plumage now completely dull and colorless, hunched like a vulture on a perch as a Chansey presses a stethoscope to its narrow chest.
Karen's Gengar, sitting in a corner with a hot water bottle on its head and an expression so depressed it would almost be funny if it weren't for the gravity of the situation.
Koga's Venomoth, just face-down in the middle of his grassy battle-arena like a paper decoration that blew down in a storm.
Each and every one of them is as black-and-white as a newspaper photograph.
"As you can see... our attempt to battle the invader did not end in our favor. And..." Lance lets out a completely mirthless chuckle as he gestures to himself and his colleagues. "Now we know that humans are no exception to whatever power has been draining the color out of our Legendary Pokemon. Which, as you might have gleaned from the photos and... us, is not an enjoyable experience."
Next to him, Bruno's chair creaks as he leans forward. He hasn't said a single word during this entire exchange, and now his muscular frame is visibly shaking with the effort to muster coherent words.
"Bruno... craves... death."
A pointed silence falls across the table.
"... Thanks for your input, Bruno," Karen says flatly after a moment.
Bruno just grunts and lapses back into silence.
Lance raises the remote again and shuts the TV off-- even through his exhaustion, it clearly pains him to look at his own Pokemon in such a terrible state.
"Fortunately, the Legendary Beasts Entei and Raikou came to our rescue before something even worse could befall us, and we were able to escape to the surface. However, we had no way of contacting anyone, and with our Pokemon badly stricken and us not faring much better, we had no choice but to let Entei and Raikou continue to help us back to the Plateau," he says.
"Tell them the other part, Lance." Will had lifted his head for about two seconds, then let it flop back down.
"Ah, yes... Partway through the journey, as the Legendary Beasts carried us, something else happened. Two enormous shapes swooped down out of the sky-- Lugia and Ho-Oh. They landed on either side of us, with Lugia letting out an enormous roar at us. Then Ho-Oh, too, screeched-- but at Lugia. And then at us. Then the Beasts began to roar... I will confess that with our Pokemon out of commission, we had no way of interpreting exactly what was being communicated... only that all of them appeared to be extremely distressed. After a few moments, they both took off again, flying back in the direction we came from. And... we eventually arrived back at the Plateau. Which brings us to today."
Lance lifts a hand to swipe across his forehead-- talking this much is clearly taking it out of him. Fortunately, it seems they've reached the matter of the Aurora League.
"It probably doesn't come as any shock that my colleagues and I are incapable of battling... or indeed, doing much of anything... in our current state. But the wormhole in Cerulean Cave remains, and I'm sure you too have noticed how there seems to be less light in the world. Which we believe to mean that whatever was trying to get through... did. So... we need powerful, capable trainers to enter Cerulean Cave and... do what we couldn't. And you all... have already proven yourselves, in our eyes."
He looks to the rest of them, and one by one, they all nod.
... Or, in Bruno's case, grunt vaguely.
_____________________________________________
Where: The Indigo Plateau, Pokemon League Headquarters
When: November 24th onwards
Summary: After receiving official letters from the Pokemon League summoning them for a vague but urgent matter, members of the exclusive "Aurora League" arrive in the hopes of finding out what's up...
Rating: G, unless folks start swearing.
Log:
Between the rapidly-receding autumn and the (literal) dark days as of late, winter has come a little early to the Indigo Plateau, with frozen rain lashing against the windows and fierce winds buffeting the pines mercilessly outside. The streets are muddy and largely empty-- the Plateau rarely sees challengers this late in the year, and the resident League employees are staying indoors as much as possible, dashing between buildings with blown-inside-out umbrellas or flapping coats held over their heads.
FORTUNATELY for the invited Aurora Leaguers, they will be warping directly into the lobby of the Pokemon League HQ rather than anywhere that would require them to face the elements.
Upon arriving, each member will be directed into a private room and told to make themselves and their Pokemon comfortable (although it's a little small to accommodate more than one or two 'mons on the larger side) while they wait for the others to arrive. And it IS quite comfortable-- there's a table set up with refreshments (coffee, pastries, and fruit for the humans, and a variety of Berries and PokePuffs for their Pokemon) and the chairs are plush. No magazines, although there's a bookshelf in each corner featuring volumes of Professors Oak and Elm's work.
And that's where everyone will be for awhile!
Until, of course, they've all arrived.
That's when a door on the far side of the room opens, and in steps...
Dragonmaster Lance advances to the head of the table and stops there, hands resting heavily on it, as though even moving that far required more effort than it should have.
His voice, normally rich and authoritative, sounds thin. Coupled with the dark shadows under his eyes and the... uh, total lack of color, it is very clear that something's wrong.
The door opens again, and in come the other four Elites: Will, Koga, Bruno, and Karen. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they ALL appear to be sharing the Dragonmaster's affliction: deathly pale complexions, faces sagging with exhaustion, and the jarring appearance of someone yanked out of an old black-and-white film and plopped down into a color one. The clothes they're in all appear normal though, albeit somewhat less... professional than the garments they're usually seen in. Karen is wearing sweatpants, and Bruno has a king-sized down comforter draped around his shoulders like a cape.
They look profoundly miserable.
With everyone seated (and Karen chugging pitch-black coffee as though in the vain hope that it might make her feel better), Lance begins their tale.
Lance pauses there with a quiet 'Excuse me' before uncapping a water-bottle and drinking deeply. As he's tending to his parched throat, Koga picks up where he left off.
"We won't bore you with the insignificant details," Karen cuts in, glaring down at her coffee for its audacity in failing to relieve her fatigue. "The fact of the matter is, what we found down there was a wormhole fifty times bigger than anything those Aether buffoons could conjure on purpose in their wildest dreams."
"But that's not all," Will interrupts. He looks like he hasn't brushed his hair since they left the cave. "Tell them what was coming out of it."
Karen transfers her glare to the Psychic-trainer, but he's already sagging back against his chair like a festively-dressed ragdoll, energy reserves apparently drained just from the act of speaking. Karen is spared the effort of having to come up with some biting remark about how she was going to tell them, you fancy idiot, by Lance, who rejoins the conversation, his tone grave.
With a deep and tired sigh, he pulls out a remote and activates a screen behind him. Photographs of Pokemon that the Aurora Leaguers will immediately recognize as being the ones they battled to win their final Pokemon League challenge slowly cycle through.
Lance's Dragonite draped limply across several Pokemon Center beds pushed together with a concerned-looking Nurse Joy pushing a thermometer into its mouth.
Bruno's Onix, curled in a ring and looking even grayer than normal, despondently ignoring a heaping plate of nutritious food next to its head.
Will's Xatu, once-bright plumage now completely dull and colorless, hunched like a vulture on a perch as a Chansey presses a stethoscope to its narrow chest.
Karen's Gengar, sitting in a corner with a hot water bottle on its head and an expression so depressed it would almost be funny if it weren't for the gravity of the situation.
Koga's Venomoth, just face-down in the middle of his grassy battle-arena like a paper decoration that blew down in a storm.
Each and every one of them is as black-and-white as a newspaper photograph.
Next to him, Bruno's chair creaks as he leans forward. He hasn't said a single word during this entire exchange, and now his muscular frame is visibly shaking with the effort to muster coherent words.
A pointed silence falls across the table.
Bruno just grunts and lapses back into silence.
Lance raises the remote again and shuts the TV off-- even through his exhaustion, it clearly pains him to look at his own Pokemon in such a terrible state.
"Tell them the other part, Lance." Will had lifted his head for about two seconds, then let it flop back down.
"Ah, yes... Partway through the journey, as the Legendary Beasts carried us, something else happened. Two enormous shapes swooped down out of the sky-- Lugia and Ho-Oh. They landed on either side of us, with Lugia letting out an enormous roar at us. Then Ho-Oh, too, screeched-- but at Lugia. And then at us. Then the Beasts began to roar... I will confess that with our Pokemon out of commission, we had no way of interpreting exactly what was being communicated... only that all of them appeared to be extremely distressed. After a few moments, they both took off again, flying back in the direction we came from. And... we eventually arrived back at the Plateau. Which brings us to today."
Lance lifts a hand to swipe across his forehead-- talking this much is clearly taking it out of him. Fortunately, it seems they've reached the matter of the Aurora League.
He looks to the rest of them, and one by one, they all nod.
... Or, in Bruno's case, grunt vaguely.
[The Indigo League appeals to you for HELP! What do you do? Feel free to thread with your fellow Auroras below, whether it's having serious talks about the mission at hand, or sitting around awkwardly in the waiting room for everyone else to arrive! If your characters have questions for the Elite Four about all this, comment here! We will not be threading out responses NPC-style, but we will let you know what they have to say in response!]
no subject
His tone is somewhere between dubious and encouraging. Not that he's in any position to talk, trained as he was to actively harm himself in order to inflict as much damage as possible to his enemies. But his Blissey's success with the Toxic/stall strategy against Lusamine has convinced him once and for all that defensive strategies are valid, even in this world.
"Butterfree is an excellent choice. Should you decide to bring him along, I'll leave mine behind. I'd have to see if Venomoth's moves overlap too much with theirs, too."
no subject
If you run up to God's broken body and kick it in the head until you hear something snap, you MIGHT be
Heather Masonpredisposed to physical violence as a solution to problems!"But glad you think so-- hopefully he's not too rusty. This is gonna be a lot tougher than fighting a Gym Leader."
Honey enjoys the simple life these days... but she'll just have to pull him out of retirement. :T
"I've never trained a Venomoth, though-- but they're Bug/Flying too, right?"
no subject
Cecil is assuming that the Elite Four will not begrudge them forgoing the usual rules of engagement, at this point. The situation is certainly dire enough to warrant 'cheating'.
"Bug/Poison, actually. Even if-"
He makes a gesture that vaguely resembles a pair of moth wings.
"-you know. Yet they've still at least ten moves in common without the help of a TM or a move tutor, somehow."
no subject
"Pff. Figures. This is why I don't train more bugs. But, uh, I know Honey at least does know a lot of strong Bug moves too... although wait, shit, they said beam-type attacks didn't do any good, right? Guess that means Signal Beam's out."
no subject
Maybe he should just bring his Volcarona along, to be safe. And to set the cave on fire if needed.
no subject
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Heather's looking a little more enthusiastic about this now-- actually strategizing with other people is kind of nice for morale.
"We should probably pick just one status effect to go for, though... unless we just want to rain down as many as possible and see what sticks. Which, I'm not opposed to that."
no subject
Were Cecil a good twenty years old (or whatever the equivalent is in half-Lunarian years), he'd sound like a grumbling old man right now. As it is, he only sounds mildly annoyed by all those nearly-useless one-turn sleeps.
no subject
THE OTHERS ARE WAY BETTER, they don't just go away.
no subject
Why is he never up aginast one that has Frisk instead? Why?
no subject
SHE'S USED TO IT NOW, BUT GOD. THOSE RED EYES AT THE FOOT OF THE SLEEPING BAG ALL NIGHT...