Project Paradox event log

[indigo_league]

Who: Everyone!
Where: EveryWHERE!
When: September 15-21
Summary: Wormholes have been appearing all over Kanto and Johto as a consequence of Silph Co's latest public meltdown mishap! Characters find themselves face to face with AUs of their own homeworlds. ((OOC details here-- Use this log for your wormhole toplevels!))

Comments

Cecil Harvey | OTA

[paladinlost]

A. Cecil's Very Horrible Day

[When "Project Pidove" was initially announced to the public, Cecil's very first thought was Fuck.

The second, which quickly followed, was This is not going to end well, and the third I'm locking myself in the house until this project is done breaking the rules of this world.

Sadly, he was right! And even more sadly, his attempt at staying far out of the way was not nearly enough. Maybe he should have found himself a nice, cozy cave and hidden there. Maybe he should have stowed away on the first ship out of Vermillion and hoped for Sinnoh or Paldea as a destination.

As it is, he has finally returned to his beloved Baron. Except this is obviously not his beloved Baron, because his countrymen's heads are usually not shaped like eggs. Or colored like Pokémon eggs. Or decorated with... whatever this abomination is. Good grief.

(Upon arriving, it took him less than five minutes to recall Rosie to her ball. Not because her presence was alarming the hat-wearing, egg-headed locals, but because she was laughing too hard to be of any help. How nice of her.)

Any poor souls who finds themselves in the same world will find him crouching near a door past the stairs leading to Cid's manse, trying desperately to pick the lock. It's not going very well.]


B. Cecil's Day Improves Mildly (By Default, Really)

[If When Cecil manages to find his way out of Not-His-Baron and back in Celadon, he promptly throws himself (and his team, sure) at the first Paradox Pokémon he sees. If he manages to help stem the tide, good! If he gets a head injury that makes him forget the last few hours, even better!

And who knows? Maybe that Paradox Pokémon is already fighting someone else. Maybe that someone else is you.]

A.

[crystalmaster]

[Radley is freaked out by the weird and immediately runs to Cecil when he sees him. Finally, someone with a normal head. And someone he knows to boot!]

Okay, why did I know this Project Pidove was going to shoot everything to hell?

[paladinlost]

Because you possess both common sense and the ability to learn from previous incidents, that's why.

[Cecil would, under normal circumstances, turn around and give Radley a proper greeting, but this stupid lock is not cooperating. He takes out the thin piece of metal he's using (a squished Corviknight feather, it looks like) and tries to reshape it.]

You've not been harmed on the way here, I hope? If the guards gave you trouble, I might be able to order them to stop.

A!

[loopsiedaisy]

[Loop ducks around the stairs and nearly trips over Cecil before noticing him. But once they do, the expression on their face instantly turns into relief, and they skid to a halt.]

Oh, thank stars. Someone who isn't an egg-head.

[Do they really have the right to be saying that? Probably not, considering. But look, it's different when there's one odd star-head that is supposed to look weird... and when absolutely everyone is just. Eggs.]

[They pause to catch their breath, hands on their knees. And - oh, there's a Buizel hiding under their cloak. The otter pokes its head out over the edge of their collar and chirps at Cecil.]

[paladinlost]

[The voice is not familiar, but those two sentences say it all. Cecil takes his eyes away from his (badly) improvised lockpick and turns to look at the newcomer.

Not an egg-head, with a Pokémon... This confirms that people may be displaced to worlds that do not resemble theirs at all. Cecil almost sighs at that, but catches himself and merely abandons his current attempt. Those wrists of his are in need of stretching.]

It's odd how such a small thing can be a relief at the moment, is it not? I feel like my standards for appreciation have drastically dropped in the last few hours.

[Eggs. Eggs, of all things. If he wasn't 110% certain this was Silph Co's fault, he'd be tempted to think his entire team is messing with his mind. But they're not the ones who might be messing with anyone right now, are they. If that sweet little Buizel is staying out of sight...]

The guards have not given you too much trouble, have they?

A

[phdepression]

[Jotaro doesn't have any leg to stand on when it comes to bright, colourful clothes, given he parades in leopard-print pantsboots and a purple coat, so he can't comment on the locals' hats but egg-headed people is weird for any universe. Not sure what to make of such a bizarre world, Jotaro simply runs off, not wanting to interact with this nonsense whatsoever.

Despite being crouched over and trying to be subtle, Cecil, with his very not-egg-shaped head, stands out, though in a good way for Jotaro. Jotaro heads over to the familiar, experienced trainer and sighs.]

Finally, someone normal. What the hell is this crazy place?

B.

[outofsynth]

[As it happens, that someone is Min-Gi. Thankfully his Gastrodon is helping him to put up a pretty good fight. Rain pours down over the two Pokémon, presumably provided by the Gastrodon. Min himself is trying to keep some distance from that.

Good a job as Doug seems to be doing battling alone, Min's not going to turn down assistance. He gives Cecil a grateful nod as he shouts out his next order.]

Harden.

Harry Potter | OTA

[phoenixwiz]

The Weirdest Homecoming Ever
(While he is all for making efforts to send the otherworlders back home, the last thing Harry wants to see again is witnessing Cara Liss’ experiments to turn the world upside again. He had arrived in the world of Pokémon by the way of Hisui thanks to Cara’s inventions and he wasn’t going through anything resembling that again. And sure enough, his worries turn true when Arceus had to intervene, causing the machine to break and all sorts of chaos ensue.

Before he can get out of the range of the machine , Harry soon finds himself back to Hogwarts once. But he certainly doesn’t remember the people in this world to wear clothes in bold neon colors. He is aware that most denizens of the wizarding world tend to go very old school in their fashion sense but this is taking things too far.

Tonks the Varoom, Hedwig the Noctowl and Dobby the Furret soon pop out of their balls, wondering their Trainer needs some help. They are also taken aback by the colors of the clothes of the people of Not!His Hogwarts as well, Dobby’s jaws drop in horror as he turn to find some students in neon colors.

Anyone unlucky to get sent in this strange world will find Harry looking stumped at the Great Hall, sitting at one of the benches, unsure of how to get back to Olivine and seeming about to burst into tears at any moment.)

Fighting Paradox Mon
(When he does find a way to get out of Not!His Hogwarts and back to Olivine, he is soon greeted by a Screaming Tail and he is understandably shocked by its presence. So shocked that he would have been left wide open for its screams if had not been Tonks coming out of her ball and headbutting it immediately.

Perhaps that he could help someone in fighting any nearby Paradox Pokémon roaming around and causing trouble.)

1.

[crystalmaster]

[Radley falls through a wormhole with Evie and then rather stops and stares in confusion at all the bright neon-clothed people.]

Uh ...

[He has no idea whose world he's ended up in. He wanders around in bewilderment before finding the Great Hall.]

Harry?

[Evie chirps Hi!]

Homecoming

[phdepression]

[Jotaro doesn't think that the clothes of the students are absurd at all, but maybe that's because Jotaro wears bright purple, gold chains, and leopard pantsboots for his day-to-day wear. It's more the 'everything else' that jumps out at Jotaro personally.

Thankfully, he's not left wandering alone for long. The man eventually finds himself in the Great Hall where he sees Harry and his team. Jotaro walks over, frowning as he notices Harry's expression.]

Harry? Are you alright?

Isabel Madrigal | OTA

[senorita_perfecta]

This Isn’t My Beautiful Home
(Isabela wasn’t sure of what she is about to deal with the moment Cara’s machine was about to start working. It is great that Cara is at least trying, but from what she has told and informed, things never go well with her inventions at all. Arceus must have sense that this was going to make things worse so they decided to put a stop to this and somehow made the situation even more complicated, sending Isa and her team back to what should have been her world.

Well, it did put her back to the encanto. But this encanto feels and looks weird as soon as Isa opens her eyes and realize that something about this world is very off. For the townfolks are now composed of teddy bears with colorful neck ribbons and they all walk very funny.

She could have sworn that she could hear Cappy laughing at the whole scene with his two heads wailing about, leaving an annoyed Carmen, an irritated Esmeralda, a confused Matcha, and a flustered Félix. As much as she would loved to go back to her world, this is not the one she really wants to return to and, right now, she just wants to head back to the world of Pokémon and not deal with this ever again.)

Re: Isabel Madrigal | OTA

[crystalmaster]

[Radley is more than a little WTH when he wanders into this world with Evie and sees giant walking teddy bears.]

Uh ... okay then.

[He looks around for the wormhole to escape, but it's too late. It closed up immediately.]

[paladinlost]

[What a beautiful land! It's a shame Cecil is too busy staring at its inhabitants in alarm to enjoy it.

Look, for all he knows there is a world of sentient teddy bears out there, but there's still something extremely odd about these. Maybe seeing what was done to his world previously helps him recognize that this is not simply a local quirk. Maybe he just doesn't want to accept what surrounds him.

Slowly, almost unconsciously, he pinches his own wrist. The pain makes him wince.]

...Not a dream, then. And here I thought I understood how badly that little project went.

[Next to him, Rosie the Clefable (who is having the time of her life) glimpses Isabela and her team, immediately shouting a greeting. Hello there!]

III | Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal | OTA

[swordarc]

i. A Rude Welcome (Network)

[III was not here for the initial announcement of the ARC-eus system. He's been here less than a month. As a result, when things go Horribly Wrong, III is largely caught off guard.

Over the network comes a video of an Iron Treads in the streets of Saffron City, shot from behind a
dumpster in an alley. It doesn't seem to know it's being filmed as it roams the street, which is...probably a good thing!]

...What is that thing? [III is whispering from the other side of the Gear, trying very hard to Not Be Noticed by the metal elephant. A soft 'Vullll...' sounds nearby, signalling III's Vulpix is also watching.

In any case, he's not budging until the Iron Treads moves on.]

ii. Skulking Around

[III is a Rocket, which means he's doing a job here! Specifically, he's taking advantage of the
chaos to sneak around the Silph offices for any info to bring back to his bosses.

Find him either 1: stealthing around the place looking for anything useful; or 2: hiding somewhere out of sight trying not to get caught somewhere he probably shouldn't be.

Either way, he's definitely steering clear of the fights against the Paradox Pokémon, well aware that getting involved in those would not end well for him. The Iron Bundle at the entrance was bad enough...]

iii. Alternate Universe Troubles

[It might happen at any point. Maybe when III is still in the streets of Saffron, trying to avoid the Paradoxes. Maybe when he's trying to stealth around Silph Co. Either way, III is an outworlder, which means he's getting his own surprise trip to another dimension!

The place III has wound up in is...well, it might have been Heartland City at some point. III can see the distinctive building designs that tell him where this is. However, it's also very clearly a wartorn mess, with most of the buildings destroyed or damaged and no one (besides III) around.]

What...what is this? [III knows Heartland wasn't like this when he was last there! What in the world happened here?!]

[songstressedout]

[ Ironically, for Yuzu, falling into a wormhole and ending up here should be a good thing for her. Sure, it's a wartorn mess, and there's a pang of pain in her chest that she knows is coming from memories that aren't hers... but it's closer to home than she's been in years.

The problem, of course, is that as far as she's aware... Heartland shouldn't be this much of a wartorn mess anymore. It should be in the process of healing, repairs, reconstruction efforts and everything. The war should be over... but it's clearly not. There are no reconstruction efforts, no people to be seen... because they're all either hiding or fighting to avoid being turned into cards.

Fortunately, it does mean that III stands out like a sore thumb enough that when Yuzu spots him... ]

Come here...!

[ ...he'll suddenly find himself being grabbed by the arm and dragged out of the open and into a damaged and abandoned building, a place with cover. ]

You can't just stand out in the open here...!

[ That particular tidbit of knowledge is something she knows isn't hers... but Ruri's memories are feeling particularly prominent in Yuzu's head right now. It scares her a little, but for now it's helping her, so she has to live with it. ]

Absol, youre so based for Xyz heartland

[phdepression]

[Good grief, where are they now?

This place is significantly worse than everywhere else Jotaro has been, both in his world and the Pokemon world. The streets are torn up, everything is a mess, and it's empty. Jotaro frowns at his surroundings and walks carefully through the ruined city.

Being the only drop of colour in this otherwise greyscale world, III is immediately noticable and Jotaro walks up to him. He had hoped for answers but looks like this is as clueless as he is.]

Looks like there's been fighting. A lot of fighting. Maybe some sort of attack if I had to guess.

II

[outofsynth]

[It can't be said that Min-Gi is the most diligent of Rockets, but equally he has no idea to get himself in trouble with a criminal organization. Orders are orders, which is how he finds himself snooping reluctantly around the same office that III is hiding in. A Joltik that enters at the same time of him seems likely to belong to him, but keeps its distance, exploring the room independently.

It's the Joltik that finds III first, peering at him from over the desk with unusually beady eyes.

For now it seems that Min is oblivious to its discovery, looking through some papers on a desk on the other side of the room, though it does seem like the Joltik is at least considering alerting him.]

Ryner Lute | The Legend of the Legendary Heroes | OTA

[tearsofademon]

[Ryner does not trust Silph Co. He certainly hasn't trusted them since they announced their Type: Null project, but honestly his distrust of the local scientists in general goes back even further, to the Shedinja incident and the black Pokeballs. Cara Liss's involvement doesn't exactly inspire any confidence either, after what happened in Hisui.

So it's not exactly a surprise when everything goes wrong with their latest little project. A pain, certainly, but not a surprise.

It is, however, mildly surprising when, while trying to help organize the menagerie to defend the house against a duo of metal moths that look oddly like Volcaronas, Ryner and Rose accidentally fall into a wormhole. And on the other side of that wormhole is a small dango shop that is very familiar to Ryner.

...Well, except that all of the local flora is now tropical - palm trees and the like - rather than the usual deciduous forest, but. Details. The signage makes it very clear, to anyone who can read the common of Menoris anyway.]

Wynnit Dango?

[Ryner's surprise, however, pales before Rose's glee as she peeks out from atop his shoulder. She's heard tales of this place, where the ultimate dango exists.]

Re: Ryner Lute | The Legend of the Legendary Heroes | OTA

[crystalmaster]

[Radley and Evie are wandering around after falling through yet another wormhole. By now they're pretty wary after some of the weird worlds they've seen, especially Cecil's. Evie is riding on Radley's shoulder instead of running ahead to look around.]

... This place actually looks pretty normal....

[Is he speaking too soon?]

[dreamsofahero]

Sion had next to no interest in messing about with the latest inventions, nor did he trust them to work as advertised. That did not, however, prevent strange occurrences from happening right on his doorstep anyway, however.

Because of course it didn't.

"Ryner...?"

The small tear in reality did not bode well.

Envy | Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 | OTA

[exeggutorhead]

A. Saturday Morning Cartoon Hours

[In spite of his best efforts...Envy does not manage to avoid wandering into a wormhole and being deposited in pretty close to the last place he wanted to be. The massive cavern underneath Central and its long dead city. Great. Fantastic. Thanks so much for the gift, Silph Co.]

[He does notice that he's properly a homunculus, again. That's one plus.]

[The news broadcast had insisted that this wasn't really real, but he's not sure if that means that he's going to run into anyone else or if he's going to be all by himself down here. Mainly, he's hoping not to have a run-in with his evil mom. But it's so quiet down here that it's not long before he realizes that he's REALLY not by himself. In fact, as he walks towards the ornate entry building, he starts to hear more and more echoes of...yelling? Cackling? He can see the elevator from the surface on its way down. And also what sounds like a huge squad of soldiers marching in? There's not supposed to BE anyone down here! Much less what sounds like possibly every State Alchemist.]

[Anyone else pulled into this dimension will encounter Envy speedwalking through the empty streets towards the increasing sounds of pure chaos. He has GOT to find out what the hell's happening over there.]

B. Dysfunctional half-brothers get put in the Brotherhood Get-Along Shirt [LOCKED TO EDWARD ELRIC]

The second wormhole to Amestris that Envy finds himself sucked through is...not quite the same as the first. This time, he's aboveground in what he's pretty sure is Central. Again, he finds that he's been artificially changed back into a homunculus, which is about the only upside he can see. Maybe he hadn't run into his ex-master the first go-round, but who knows about this time. At least he already found the way out, all he needs to do is go back down to that room, right? Easy! He can go straight there.

Except there's no decrepit old church where it ought to be. Other abandoned buildings, sure, but not the cathedral. Maybe the door is still there anyway and the building is just wrong, it may have been a while but he's sure he took the right way here...

It takes some checking and kicking around in all the junk, but it turns out there is a rusty old gate that opens to a darkened staircase. But it's not quite right either. The stairs are neat brick and the only other thing that blocks his way is another, less broken barred gate on the way. He pushes it open easily and doesn't get much farther before he notices the pipes running along the ceiling. He can hear faint rustling, along with chitters and growls, like there's a whole damn hidden zoo at the bottom. At least in this body he ought to be able to fight some animals if he has to, and his Pokemon are still hanging from the belt he's still wearing if it came to it...

But some of the shadows are thicker than they should be to homunculus eyes, in a way he can't quite put his finger on. The staircase ends way too soon, not in a cave but a massive sewer pipe that stretches as far as he can see in both directions, lit only with dim floor lights. There are definitely creatures down here, skittishly looking down from grates in the ceiling but shrinking away out of sight when he looks up. Going down into the city always felt like going into a still, silent, dead place. This whole tunnel feels like there's something uncannily alive about it.

...You know what? No thanks!! Envy turns and marches right back up the stairs two at a time and is very normal about it and definitely not at all creeped out. He's just going to go look around the city and see if anybody else got pulled here or maybe he'll just hang out! Go to a cafe! Play tricks on some humans! Not wander around alone in the haunted mystery sewer!

[no_ufo_ending]

[ As Envy power-walks toward the chaos, he will hear nothing until a strained voice calls his name. ]

Envy?

[ Henry has manifested in the middle of the street, several meters behind him. In his hands is a wooden board gripped so tight the man's knuckles are visibly white. He got dumped into a spooky dark empty city. His first instinct is: find weapon. The second is: find help. ]

[ But...this might not be his Envy. He's well aware of that and he knows he's risking getting his head dive-kicked clean off. ]

[alltoblame]

When Edward finds himself in Amestris it is with no amount of relief. Everything looks right, but none of that matters. None of that matters because he doesn't belong here and he has no idea how true that thought is, yet. What he does know is that he can't get back to his brother this way. Which means he's walking through the streets maybe a little faster than he should, in a panic, both afraid to see a familiar face and desperately wishing he would at the same time.

His brother's maybe.

Only. Not. That one...

“Envy-?” The Pokémon get up was a good sign this was the same Envy that should - in theory - be from back where he came from. This could be worse, right? Maybe... Maybe their truce was still in effect, at least until they know for sure that they can't get back from here. It wasn't exactly that Ed didn't want to be home, but without Al here, and knowing where Al was- not for that price.

“What the hell is going on?!” Not nearly as hostile and accusatory as it would have been years ago. No longer the aggressive teenager with the energy to be angry. More in the way he might demand answers from someone who has a better understanding of a situation than he does. Almost how he'd talk to Mustang, if he thought about it long enough to realize-

Nope, not doing that.

“What is this place?” Because it can't be Amestris. He can't be back. Not for any logical reason, really. Just the pure Elric adrenaline fueled denial that comes with every situation he has yet to understand or accept. Like the fact that if he's here, he really does not know how to get back to Al and the life he'd left behind with him. There has to be some other explanation, something he can latch onto to remain goal oriented. It was how he survived.

Envy has been doing this a lot longer, maybe he understands what's going on here. Or, at the very least, they could come together for a common goal of getting the hell out of here and work it out.

A

[goldeneyeball]

[ Just as quickly as Envy is walking toward the noise, a tall thin man appears on the same street walking away from the noise. ]

Forget about it! It's not worth it!

[ JW warns this passer-by. Until they get a little closer and he stops walking. Half afraid, half furious, James lifts a bony finger and points at Envy. ]

YOU!

[foolishwren]

<sub>[You know, sometimes Heather really hates being right. The second that stupid news broadcast with the Silph guys went up, she knew it was going to go to hell.]

[Falling through her own coffee mug and into a different world is new, though.]

[The place she ended up in has exactly one thing going for it, and that's that it's NOT rural Maine. Which is something to be grateful for, but Heather isn't feeling particularly grateful.]

[Because in addition to being who-knows-where with no immediately obvious way out, she is also covered in hot coffee.]

[A gargled screech of pain echoes through the empty streets.]</sub>