fallers_ooc | Test Drive Meme

Test Drive Meme - July/August

Welcome to sunny Alola! The sun is shining, and it is July! Which means it is the warmest, most tourist-y days of the year! And that means it is fun in the sun and there is plenty to do. As the summer days are out and the Pokemon School has yet to officially begin its school year, let’s give you some orientation prompts for the area.

1. Arrival
You’ve just arrived! While not an ideal prompt for your test sample, it makes for a good testing for your first reaction here! Having fallen, gotten off the boat or plane from another region, your passport is stamped and processed. If you’re a Native, there’s plenty to see, and can go about your day. But if you’re a Faller, there’s a tour guide waiting for you. Just hold on tight!

2. The Sandy Beaches

Perhaps you’ve had the time to acclimate yourself to the area, and just want to relax now. It’s time to relax in the sunny beach, throw yourself onto the sand and surf, and just chill. You’ve had a long,tough time, and now just want to sleep. Or maybe you’re too excited! This is another world, or another region! Perhaps you’ve been planning this trip to Alola for ages, and now its time to play! The choice is yours!

3. Shopping

What’s a trip to Alola without shopping. There’s food, accessories, more food, clothing, and tourism. Ride some Pokemon, find some things to do. Eat some malasada and shop at Aina’s Kitchen and Team Rocket’s Honey Donuts. If you want to escape the heat, there’s always the mall.

4. Pokemon!

Of course! Pokemon are everywhere. And maybe your Fated Encounter is upon you now. The Tapus are urging a Pokemon to come to you, be it in an Egg format to make its way into your hands, or perhaps a bird or a bug or whatever. Somewhere, a partner is waiting for you, you just have to meet them. And then, perhaps, you will be able to make friends! Just remember in this world? You don’t catch Pokemon -- Pokemon catch you.

5. Travel

There’s plenty to see on Melemele even in one day. There’s a lot of places to travel even by foot, and a lot of room, even in this place. There’s forests, hills, the town, the smaller suburbs, and beaches, an island off the coast, and the honey field even within walking range. Take time to explore and get to know the place, you may be staying for a while until the Ultra Guardians can send you home.

6. Battle

What is Pokemon life without Battling? Now that you have your Pokemon, you can battle with them. But Pokemon battles aren’t just about training but about forming a bond. There’s no such thing as levels in this world, the level system isn’t really a thing here. Sure there’s math and science to count the precise numbers of a Pokemon’s strength but we don’t dwell on this sort of thing. What’s important is forming these bonds with your Pokemon, and learning how to communicate with them, making precious ties with them. Eat, sleep and cherish them as your own family. Manalo, and Ohana. No one is left behind, or forgotten.

7. Freeform

Anything Goes! Come at you, this is a wide world, make up your own prompt!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Pokemon School, huh...I wonder what that's like?

[Since he's done all his schooling in a Nice, Normal (as normal as a school practically run by Hiruma gets, anyway) School, he can't help but be curious what kind of things a Pokemon School would teach.]

Oh, right, I'm Sena! Sena Kobayakawa, and that's Monta - [he points at the Infernape who happily drops his pile of beach paraphernalia to greet Pikachu and Lycanroc] - over there. My other Pokemon...they're still in their Pokeballs, at least until I finish setting up. They can get kinda rowdy sometimes...

Oh that's cool! It's been a while since I've seen a Infernape actually. Nice to meet you Sena!

[Ash grinned.] So are you one of the Fallers or did you arrive here from another Region? I'm just asking because you said you have Pokemon and all.

Um...

[How does he put this.]

Bo...th?

[uh]

[Ash tilted his head.] Like... another... another Pokemon world BUT you're a Faller?

I think I get it?

[Questionmark?]

Maybe?

[help him]

I mean, Alola exists in the world I was pulled from, but I've never been there so I don't know this is the same world or not? And I'm not originally from that world either, so, uh...

[this is his second world-tripping experience please forgive him]

Oh, well, I suppose that makes sense. I've only... made a trip into another world a couple of times, and there was also time travel involved a couple of times... three times? It's hard to remember when you're literally being erased from time, and then there was the incident with literal Arceus...

[Ash counted on his fingers and called out to Pikachu,] Pikachu! How many times did we encounter Arceus? One or two times?

Pika pi!

Okay just once. Things get weird when literal Time and Space are folding in on you.

Yeah, you're right about that...especially when the world's getting destroyed in the process...

[You've seen what that ridiculous Judgement attack can do first hand, right? Absolutely terrifying. Worse than what even Sena can imagine up.]

A-anyways, the world I'm originally from doesn't have any Pokemon or anything like that, so I guess that means I count as a Faller? Aha...

Yeah I've seen that happen. Way too many times to count.

[Ash doesn't like dwelling on the whole fact that the entire world CAN'T GO TWO MONTHS WITHOUT IT EXPLODING WITHOUT HIM.]

Well! [Exclaimed Ash with a wide grin.] If you came through the Ultra Hole, you're definitely a Faller! Welcome to Alola for real!

Which Region did you come from by the way? Kanto? Johto? Hoenn?

T...too many times? That happens a lot, then...?

[He's only seen it happen like! Once! Or twice, if the whole emotionwiping thing Cyrus did halfway counts as destroying the world.]

Yeah...I thought that was something Dialga or Palkia mighta done at first, but apparently they don't do the Ultra Hole thing?

[Which is weird. Extradimensional wormholes totally sounds like a Dialga and Palkia thing.]

Unova! [Ahahaha.] I was in Nimbasa City, actually...

Edited 2019-07-10 18:53 (UTC)

Ultra Holes aren't even on their radar. So nope. It's more of an Alola-Radiant One thing.

Oh, I've been to Unova. I spent a year there doing the Gym Circuit before moving onto Kalos.

Oh.

[Said rather blankly. Then again, if they were behind this kind of thing he'd have been able to go back by now, probably? Maybe. Anyways, moving on.]

You did the gym challenge there too? I only did it in Sinnoh, honestly, so I don't know what the Unova gym leaders are like...I've heard Elesa's really tough, though, so I've considered at least challenging her for practice...

[He laughs a little sheepishly. The way he talks about the gym challenge, it really doesn't sound like battling's his thing.]

Yeah I participated in all of the Conferences actually. Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova and Kalos before I took a break.

[Ash shoved his hands into his pockets and stared up into the sky as he sighed.] I came here looking for relaxation. I got it, and then I got excited when Alola opened a Pokemon League. It was refreshing, not to challenge Gyms again, and focus on the Grand Trials, which is a thing they do here actually! But like...

[He smiled a little wistfully.] I do miss the gyms, but I've decided to stay another year to clear my head some more.

All of those leagues? So, you must be some kind of battle expert, woah...

[Sena's still under the impression that the Conferences are "fight eight gym leaders, challenge elite 4, champion, done," like they would be in the Pokemon world he knows about. Even if he did know they were huge nationwide tournaments, though, that still wouldn't change the awe he's expressing. You're definitely a star battler in his eyes.]

I guess sometimes, you just need to take a break, huh?

[Sena kinda gets it. There's times when the pressure gets to be too much and you need to look away. Or spend some time figuring things out.]

But you know...if it's something you really enjoy doing, that passion...it's always there, right?

I'm still learning! But I've learned a lot, throughout the years after all. I couldn't have done it without my friends, even if I got upset at some of them sometimes. But that's just how friends are sometimes.

[He nodded.] Not gonna lie, sometimes some of those regions got rough.

[Ash smiles.] Yeah. You get it, huh? Thanks for understanding.

Yeah, you're right! Even if you're an expert on top of the world...it only takes being beaten once to show how much you still have to learn, right? Still, discovering things you haven't seen before...it's great, isn't it?

[Sena grins brightly, clearly remembering the thrill of some match or other.]

It's honestly something I had to learn the hard way...it took me a long time to find something I was really passionate about, you know? Something that I decided I didn't want to lose to anyone in. But when you find it...it's all worth it, right?

Yeah, and I feel like I've got a lot more to discover here in Alola. It's been great, learning about this place. There's still so much to discover after all. I'm just getting started!

[Ash grinned brightly at the same expression on Sena's own face.]

Yeah, you get it! You totally get it! Man, it's nice seeing someone who really gets it. My friends learned that too.

I guess we'll be learning about Alola together then, at least for now!

[passionate shonen protags, unite!]

Um...the way you described it, what they do here is different from gyms, and that's why you came here or something? How is it different? You said there was still a conference here.

Edited 2019-07-10 19:45 (UTC)

I actually came here on vacation, [said Ash.] My mom's Mr. Mime won a trip to Alola and we came here and I wound up staying.

AS for the Grand Trials, they're like big ceremonies where you pass it, and you get a Z-Ring and a Z-Crystal from the Kahuna or someone important on the Island. I got mine from Tapu Koko and Mallow got hers from Oranguru and Tapu Koko for example.

The Conferences are biiiiiig tournaments! The Alola League starts off with a Battle Royal! 151 Pokemon Competitors fight it out in the arena until 16 are left standing and those 16 fight to the top 8! And then those 4 and then the last is crowned Champion for the year!

Oh! A battle royal, huh...it sounds pretty chaotic. [Might be his kinda thing, though. Hm.]

[Blinks slowly.] So, there's not like an Elite Four or anything like that here? And what kind of ceremony are you talking about?

[Is it...not a battle, or something? It's different from gyms, right?]

It was pretty crazy! I enjoyed it immensely, because it was so unlike the other Conferences of the Pokemon League.

[He nodded.] The Elite Four NEVER fight in the Conference! They're sort of the governing force of Champion Pokemon Trainers than anything else. Even Cynthia from Sinnoh doesn't fight in a Conference, that'd be unbalanced. She does do battles against other Champions though! I wonder how she's doing...

MMm well, the Grand Trial is like a Battle, typically. Prove your strength against the Island King or Queen, the Kahuna of the island. Professor Kukui said they're less like a Gym Leader than a uh... religious figure? The governing spiritual head. It goes over my head but Pokemon religion was never my strong point, not when I literally rode Arceus. You can't get much weirder than that.

Yeah, I get why they wouldn't fight in a tournament or something, but I thought you could just challenge them and the champion after you beat the gym leaders? At least, that's how it was where I did the challenge...

[Okay, now you've really got him confused, though.]

So like a...religious Pokemon battle? I'm not sure how that would work...

Doesn't work that way here. Never did really, so I dunno. The Conferences were always between trainers, not the trainer and Elite Four.

[Ash shrugged a little.] I don't pretend to know how it works? But being respectful to the circle of life and the prayers of guidance towards the Tapus before a battle is real important to the Kahunas. They pray for their blessing before the battle begins and then we fight with all our might, no potions or revives as is custom in all Pokemon Trainer Battles. We use our full power.

Huh...I mean, then again, if there's a lot of people challenging gyms, it'd probably be better to hold tournaments? I wonder why it's not done that way where I came from...

[Huh.]

So it's like them testing our strength, or something?

[Sena tilts his head, confused.]

I mean, if they're praying to someone before they fight, it's like they're looking for something, isn't it? Unless they're just praying for victory, uh...

There were over 70 people last time in the Kalos one, and we had to move through a lot of competitors in 1v1 battles. So yes, there were a lot of people.

[Ash shook his head.] They're testing our strength, but also it's a rite of adulthood, passage of time and strength and how far we've come as people.

They're... [Ash considered his words.] They're praying for the guidance to give us the strength to move forward in our lives. Does that make sense?

[Maybe if Sena was still a little younger, still in high school, he'd be confused about it all.

But he's been figuring his way out through college by this point, so he kinda gets what Ash is telling him - although it is kinda weird hearing this from someone potentially younger than him. You sounded wise for a second there, Ashy-boy!]

So, this battle is meant to be something you learn from?

[Sena's eyes glint in curiosity.]

It sounds like something you'd do if you wanted to find yourself...does that mean they battle differently from the gym leaders? Have different strategies or something?

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