victory_road | Castle Prom 2020

After arriving in Cerulean City and riding in one of a fleet of Cerulean Cape Shuckle Shuttle buses for an hour or so, the trees break and the road snakes along sea cliffs. In the distance, all can see a grand building rising up into sight, and excitement bubbles up within each and every heart as this year's mysterious, grandiose Prom location draws ever closer...

Welcome to the castle!

Their duo of hosts stand ready to welcome the characters when they arrive, assuring them that their luggage will be taken care of, and inviting them for a special tour of the castle, or would they rather first see their rooms, or perhaps even have a bite to eat? The choice is up to them.

THE CASTLE SIGHTS
The Outer Courtyard

For those wishing to get a breath of fresh air or looking for a place to perhaps engage in a little battling, look no further than the courtyard. Nestled safely within castle walls, the courtyard has been given a thorough renovation. The stones gleam like they have never gleamed before; a large fountain (certainly too new to have belonged to the original castle) stands at the center of the courtyard, the water gently cascading down over the marble figures of two nondescript and crowned humans, one holding a sword, the other a shield; wide-open doors welcome characters further into the castle.

The Stables

To the west lie the stables. Anyone interested in taking a ride along the cliff trails (or guests who just wants to see the horse Pokemon) is welcome to enter. The comforting smell of hay and wood hangs in the air, though any persons expecting to find familiar faces like Rapidash, Mudbray or Zebstrika is going to come off rather surprised.

Instead what they will find are snow-white, proud-looking equines. Their long, pastel-colored manes and tails have been brushed to perfection, occasionally adorned with braids and white flowers. Long, violet colored horns jut out from their foreheads, a spiralling pure white groove running along their length. Long fetlocks drift along the ground, rather like delicate pink clouds, almost giving the Pokemon the appearance of being stabled on air rather than something so common as hay.

Yes, anyone who has not yet had the pleasure of being able to admire the beauty and grace of the Galar Rapidash can look and ride their fill here. While the stable hands cannot allow anyone to actually keep one of the magnificent horses themselves no matter how much a guest is willing to pay, whenever their bosses aren’t looking, they certainly prove willing to provide characters with a Galarian Ponyta egg for a small price. (Limited to one per character)

The Kitchens

To the east lie the kitchens, and what kitchens they are! At all hours, characters will be able to smell the delicious aroma of a variety of sumptuous meals being prepared. In the mornings, the scent of fresh bread and breakfast fills the air, changing to the scent of pastries and later on more filling dishes as the day continues on, and fresh pots of tea are always on hand. Officially, the guests are asked not to enter the kitchen, as to not to disturb the many cooks working there. Unofficially, there are not exactly any guards, so if you really wanted to sneak in, you probably won’t get stopped.

The Dining Room

Adjacent to the kitchens awaits a large dining room. Tables have been set up in long rows with plenty of room for all with some to spare, and once someone sits down, almost as if by magic, they will soon find one of the waitstaff at their side, presenting them with an extensive menu. Order as much (or as little) as you like! The chefs will have it ready for you in a flash.

The Ball Room

The old castle ballroom has been done up to the nines, reflecting nothing but glory and splendor. Some delicate little tables and chairs stand at the sides of the room, for anyone who needs a quick break for their feet, but most of the polished marble floor is intended for dancing. There is a small chamber orchestra playing in a corner to provide everybody with only the classiest of tunes (though they do take requests for more modern music) and neatly dressed waitstaff with an uncanny ability to tell who is and isn't underaged flit through the crowd like black butterflies, making sure no glass goes unfilled.

The Inner Courtyard

The doors of the ballroom open wide onto a second, smaller courtyard at the back of the castle. Unlike the Outer courtyard, which was all stone, this smaller, Inner Courtyard is dominated by plants. The gardeners have done their very best to dress up the inner courtyard with plants and flowers of any kind - so many plants, in fact, that there is no room for battling out here. But if you wanted to take a breath of fresh air, wander around and look at the plants, or perhaps even try and find some of the small, secluded nooks created by the plant cover, you are more than welcome.

In between the lovely smelling blooms, characters will also be able to find bushes and small trees laden with unfamiliar berries! Small cards in the soil will explain exactly what kinds of berries they are and what effect they have, and characters are invited to pluck a few berries if they want. Just don’t get too greedy!

The new available berries are: Apicot, Salac, Ganlon, Petaya, Liechi, Lansat, Custap

The Library

Situated on the second floor is the castle's splendid library, a welcome respite for those less inclined to dance and frolic. Whatever books originally filled these weighty shelves are long gone, but their hosts have spared no effort in making reading material available to their guests. Among the shelves, guests will be able to find many books on the Galar region's history and myths. Some of these tales are already known over in this region (Who doesn't know the tale of the wise King Arthur and his oval table?) but there are also many more obscure and unknown fables and tales; the truly inquisitive may even be able to find some material on the two crowned fellows depicted in the main courtyard's fountain. It's almost as if Prom's esteemed hosts shipped over their whole personal library.

They may, in fact, have shipped over their whole personal library.

Pull up one of the plush armchairs, grab a book, and make yourself comfortable by the roaring fire! There's more to read here than you can finish in a lifetime!

The Bedrooms

Upstairs, guests will find all manner of bedrooms to choose from, from smaller rooms meant for a single person, to large ones for couples, to even larger ones for characters that would like to spend the night with a few friends. One thing holds true for them all: these rooms are seriously extravagant. Decked out in the finest of antique furniture like large canopy beds, solid wooden chairs, tapestries, and rugs, the decor brings to mind bygone centuries. There are even hearths in every room that can be used to light a small fire; while the rooms are all wired for electricity, unfortunately, central heating was a bit outside of the realm of possibility.

The Tower

Not all of the towers have undergone restoration, but the grandest, largest of them has. It will take some real stamina to climb all these stairs, but if they do, characters will be rewarded with two things:

First of all, their two hosts have seen fit to create a small miniature museum inside the Tower’s chambers. Paintings, tapestries, and artefacts have been brought over from the Galar region to be put on display. All the artefacts brought over depict moments from Galar’s rich history, including paintings of ancient kings and queens, an actual knight’s armour, chalices, swords tucked in velvet under lock and key, and richly woven tapestries that for some reason seem to depict knights battling giant Slugma.

If you still have energy after the climb to get here, you can continue on to the very top of the tower. From the tower’s high vantage point, it seems the entire Kanto region is on display in the incredible view. The ocean stretches out along the horizon, but closer to home, characters will be able to behold wild forests and cliffs, the green lush routes of Cerulean Cape itself and at night, millions and millions of stars twinkling up overhead.

And all the rest...

Beyond those sparkling rooms and done up corridors lies... the rest of the castle. The parts of the castle not quite done with their renovations are roped off, but nothing is stopping guests from exploring if they so wish - especially if they are interested in finding those rumored lost treasures or traps.

While the rest of the castle shines, these parts of the castle feel almost haunted. Dust and derelict dominates the rooms, old broken furniture covered in dingy white sheets and creaking doors adding to the atmosphere. Did the eyes of that painting just move? Why is there a weird draft coming from that wall? What was that strange ominous creak coming from behind you? Are there any dungeons? Wait, did you just hear someone crying in a far off room?

Jeez, no wonder they say this place is haunted.

The Rocky Beach

The main attraction outside of the castle, besides the hiking and riding paths, is a small stretch of rocky shoreline accessible just outside the main courtyard and down a surprisingly sturdy set of stone stairs. While it's a crummy place to lay out and get some sun, it is littered with bits of detritus from the sea. Shells, whole or broken, peek out between smooth pebbles and the rare piece of sea glass, and at low tide clumps of seaweed lay draped over the craggier outcroppings. Nothing is stopping you from fishing or poking around in the shallows for Pokemon, but you're more likely to find an interesting souvenir than a new friend...

AVAILABLE POKEMON
Naturally, this wouldn't be a Pokemon Prom without some Pokemon to catch! All catchable Pokemon range between the levels of 10 to 30. The Pokemon in the castle mostly haunt the unfinished section, but feel free to have the occasional encounter in the renovated sections too!

Castle

Impidimp; Gastly; Haunter; Litwick; Lampent; Duskull; Shuppet; Sinistea; Misdreavus; Honedge; Doublade**; Dusclops**; Polteageist***; Gengar***;

Courtyard

Butterfree; Cutiefly; Ribombee; Beautiful; Vivillion;

Rocky Shore

Binacle; Staryu; Wimpod; Frillish; Krabby; Kingler**; Jellicent**; Slowking***;

During the characters' stay, they might suddenly find their room a mess, as if a small tornado went through their luggage. They might even find themselves missing some incidental items or articles of clothing, nothing necessarily valuable or significant, but it sure is weird. This is... probably the work of the castle's Pokemon, right?

TREASURE HUNTING
While your shuttle bus slowly trundles towards the castle, the driver will regale his riders with local stories and legends, chief among those the legend of the castle itself.

You see, the castle was built by a relative of Bill (you know, the Pokemon storage system inventor?), but no one has lived in it for years and years because it is haunted. No, not haunted by Ghost types. That would be rather common and hardly worthy of note, wouldn't it? No, the castle is haunted by the ghost of Bill's great-great-great-uncle, and rumor has it that he is so possessive of the castle and its contents that he will kill all who enter.

You see, even when he was alive, this man's enormous hoard of wealth was only outmatched by his enormous amount of paranoia. He was so paranoid that others would come to steal his wealth that he built his castle high upon the cliffs where no one could approach it undetected. But that wasn't enough to settle his fears! He started to hide his multitude of treasures all around the castle, and he built many traps and secret passages to protect them. It's said he was so fiercely protective of his money that he refused to leave the property even after his death, and his spirit still haunts the castle to this day. Many who have tried to find his treasures have disappeared.

That is what the rumors say, at least.

In any case, feel free to explore those abandoned halls and ruins for these supposed long-lost treasures. Better check for hidden rooms and passages behind old bookcases, trap doors covered by thick dust-riddled carpets, and perhaps even a hidden vault or two in the castle basements. Players are free to go absolutely wild in coming up with secret passages and hidden secrets for their characters to find.

Now, as for the treasures characters can find during these explorations, they can broadly be divided up into two categories.

The first category of treasures are common treasures. These are small, fairly common items that can be sold after prom for a small amount of Pokedollars each (think 100-200p), or they can be kept as a memento. Generally, these are small items that could easily fit inside a character's pocket and won't necessarily be well hidden. Characters are allowed to find as many of these common treasures as they want.

Examples of common treasures would be items like pieces of antique silverware, broken mirrors, small figurines, old books damaged by the passage of time (but perhaps still readable in some places), or parts of worn and threadbare tapestry.

The second category of treasures are rare treasures. These are properly hidden items that can either sell for quite a bit of Pokedollars after prom (think 5000-6000p), or can be used in-game. In order to allow of an element of surprise, every character that wants to participate in finding some rare treasure is allowed to comment once to a special RNG comment to find out exactly what they will find. Each treasure will consist out of somewhere between two and four items, the exact number of which will be left up to chance.

For any questions, please refer back to the previous OOC post.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Trigel's little cheeks puff out at Armin's commentary, but Allura puts a hand over the little squirrel and shakes her head. ]

I didn't bring my Grass type with me, and Keith is your man for Ghosts. But, there might be a way...

[ Reaching into her pockets (because, yes, she did change out of her dress before arriving), she retrieves a few liechi berries and tosses one to Blaytz. ]

All right, Blaytz! Use Natural Gift!

[ The Altaria plucks the berry out of the air and gulps it down, lifting off and firing off the attack. Even though he doesn't known any grass-type moves, Natural Gift allows him to use them with the right kind of berry, and liechi berries just happen to give the strongest effect. ]

And while we're at it... Trigel, use Charm!

[ Happy to oblige, Trigel hops up and blows kisses, winking at the Kingler. That will lower its attack stat, if nothing else. ]

[Keith gives the others a nod before turning his attention back to the frothing Kingler.]

You got it. Let's finish this quickly before anyone gets hurt.

[He throws a second pokeball and a Dragapult wearing a sequined scarf joins the fray.]

Regris, set up a Reflect! Buddy, it's time.

[Grinning a little at the Houndoom, he grabs a stone hanging around his neck, and holds it up into the air. Arcs of swirling pink and red energy glow around it and the Houndom until the pokemon takes on a new evolved form.]

Alright, buddy. Hit it with a Solar Beam!

[The devil dog glows as it gathers energy from the sunlight, then instantly firesit off at the behemoth. Few things really like taking a sun boosted, solar power boosted attack from a Mega Houndoom, and this gigantamax Kingler is not an exception. Taking heavy damage, the towering Kingler flails massive limbs and smashes a claw down onto the ground.]

I don't believe anyone with me is especially adept with grass type... [Jonathan murmurs, frowning.] But I do have... [He pulls out Bruford's ball again, tossing it forward- the bird, ever vigilant, simply appears just above the group instead of charging toward the Kingler.] Bruford- I need you to prepare yourself before joining the others, understand? Hone your claws for now!

[The corviknight doesn't screech, but simply nods- and moves to hover a bit behind the crowd, scratching talon over talon over talon. In the meantime, Jonathan explains-] Bruford has a move known as 'Power Trip'...it's quite impressive, and while it won't have any advantage in typing, it's incredibly powerful even with just one raised statistic. Raising one's power farther than that should make it far easier to force them back.

[It's a bit brutal, but Bruford is good at controlling himself. In the meantime...well.

Singing is still happening. Also, not that Jonathan realizes it yet, his Type Null is currently running toward the crowd on the beach, having just now realized 'WOW!!! ONE OF THE KINGLER IS REALLY BIG NOW!! WOW!!'

She can't do anything but Jonathan is here and what if he doesn't know?? He should definitely know.]

[The beach practically vibrates when the huge claw hits it, but before a second swipe can knock any of them over, Armin's Dhelmise deflects the blow with its giant anchor, following up the move with a Giga Drain to replace any of its lost health.

Armin meanwhile draws a second Pokeball from his belt, releasing his Dragalge into the water.]

Juniper, use your Smokescreen to obscure us from view.

[Octavius can only deflect a blow like that so often before even the huge anchor will falter. Better to prevent the Kingler from hitting them.]

[ Well, if they're upping the ante, she can do it too. Taking hold of her keystone, she calls out to her pokemon. ]

All right, Blaytz. Time to show them what you can do.

[ In a flash of brilliant light, Blaytz is transformed into Mega Altaria. Allura tosses him more berries. ]

Use Natural Gift again! Trigel, use Super Fang.

[The Kingler is taking a hefty amount of damage and between the seemingly unending onslaught of attacks and the singing, it doesn't really seem to know what to do. Looking a little exhausted and drowsy, it begins frothing at the mouth. It's kind of a sight to see, considering each individual bubble it produces is probably the size of a grown man, but as it drips onto the beach, the froth starts to dissolve the rocks and debris in its immediatele vicinity.

The Kingler watches as smoke fills the beach, obscuring all of its pesky little assailants from view. Enraged, it begins to charge up a move that's never been seen in Kanto before -- an attack that can only be used by a Gigantamax'd Kingler. A powerful burst of water and foam explode from the Kingler's massive maw, sending a large tidal wave towards the beach.

And its coming quick so.....]

Watch out!

[Calling Buddy back to his pokeball, Keith turns to his Charizard:]

Get us airborne!

[,small>Then to Regris.]

USePhantom Force to dodge this!

Keep going, Castella! You're doing wonderfully!

[Or she would if she could get still enough to sing. Ultimately she decides on an option that is unique to her- going for the foam. Covered in cloudy wings as she is, she disappears right into it, no doubt confusing the crab immensely. And from there, 'Sing' can properly be done, and at close range.

Bruford meanwhile, seems just about done with the claws.

And good thing too-] COR!

[As the water approaches it dives- Jonathan grabbing at their side to hop on and thus get into the air before the water overtakes him. With a point, Jonathan nods.] Alright! Now is the time-

Use 'Power Trip'!

[It may be dangerous to be riding on the bird making a direct attack, but Jonathan is going for it regardless.]

[That sure is a hell of a lot of foam heading straight for Armin. Unfortunately, while he does have a flying pokemon, getting Amadeus out of his ball and onto his back would probably take far too much time.

So instead he's going to try a different tactic.]

Octavius, use Rapid Spin to clear away this foam! Juniper, help him out with Twister.

[There is too much foam to clear it all away, but Armin doesn't need it all gone. He just needs enough of it deflected that it won't flood over him.]

Quiznak! Blaytz!

[ Fast as a flash, Blaytz swoops down and ferries Allura up on his back and out of harm's way, Trigel clutched carefully against her chest. Keith is safely airborne, but potting Armin, she points Blaytz in his direction. He dives again, this time picking up the other trainer by the shoulders with his claws. Once they have enough altitude to be safe, Allura reaches down to pull Armin up so he can be seated safely on the Mega Altaria's back with her. ]

Are you all right?

[ Below them, the enormous Kingler begins to sway, and Allura huffs softly. ]

I've had about enough of this. Trigel, use Electro Ball! Blaytz, Natural Gift again!

[ Her attacks fall from above, the Electro Ball all the more powerful for Trigel's speed. Kingler's attack not only flooded the beach, but it's begun to rain as well--so much for Sunny Day, but that doesn't diminish the power of the Electric and Grass type moves.

Beneath them, the Kingler crashes down into the water as it falls asleep. It seems Sing took effect, but Allura isn't sure that their fight is done yet. ]

Is that it?

Castle Prom 2020

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