Reverie - Ingo Palace

[derailer]

Pokemon Spreadsheet

Pokemon Battle Rules

Comments

[cultfavorite]

Ha . . . Ingo.

[THIS IS ALL JUST SO INGO. (affectionate)

Well, he's going to approach the man first and foremost, since he's being flagged down. And he's also checking his belt for his Pokeballs, after the Feather Incident.]

Yes? I heard you have some information for me.

[derailer]

You have all Pokeballs with you intact. Phew!

"Right you are! I see you're a trainer, but, we've got a Pokemon here for each of you, so take this."

He hands over a ball containing Sharpedo, and some empty Pokeballs for good measure.

[cultfavorite]

Oh—

[Saturn takes the Pokeball and releases Sharpedo, and beams with childish glee for a moment upon seeing what Pokemon it is. He's rented this one before! It's so cool!!]

Thank you . . . this is for me? I'll raise it well.

[What level is this guy and stuff. WHAT'S ITS NATURE. GOTTA FIND ALL THE POKEMON FACTS!]

[derailer]

"For as long as you're here, at least. Not everyone visiting has Pokemon of their own, and, y'know, you don't know what you might be running into out there."

It's Level 50 and its nature is Sassy. This doesn't come up mechanically in this Palace, but wasn't that fun to learn?

[cultfavorite]

[IT WAS IMPORTANT TO KNOW. Saturn pats it, but like, carefully, because it's a Sharpedo. And he nods:]

I see how it is. Of course he'd take care of us in here, and of course it would be of this nature . . . well. Thank you. Who are you, may I ask? Just an attendant? Someone who knows Ingo?

[derailer]

Sharpedo is playing it cool, but he looks happy to be patted.

"Depot Agent Cloud, at your service. I'm one of the Boss's employees here in Gear Station. Pleased to meetcha."

[cultfavorite]

I'm Saturn. Thank you for your assistance. Is there any other information you think I ought to have before I set out?

[SHARPEDO CUTE . . . this will be his Walking Pokemon for the moment, unless he gets into somewhere where he specifically needs one of the others. They probably shouldn't all attempt to walk as a group.]

[derailer]

"Personally, my idea is that you should have a lot of battles! That tends to get the Boss memories without too much trouble. At least try it out." He sounds invested in his theory being proven correct.

[cultfavorite]

I don't know what I expected.

[With some dry, but very evidently fond, humor. He pats Sharpedo again and then turns to take a look at the map on the wall.]

I appreciate your insight, Cloud.

[derailer]

"You're welcome."

The map is labeled oddly, but otherwise looks like a normal subway map.

[cultfavorite]

[Aha, so it is. This tracks. Pun intended. Saturn nods, looking it over with crossed arms.]

—I don't suppose it matters which I take first?

[derailer]

"If it does, no one told me about it." He sounds uncertain, but—"Can't see why it would. Oh, but the Progressive Line isn't running. Don't bother."

[cultfavorite]

Oh, really?

[Ping! He turns to scrutinize the map again, turning that over. But before he chooses, he's also going to go check out the ticket machine that's on.]

[derailer]

The ticket machine has a touch screen that displays a list of selectable items, with a label at the top: Prison Shop. Almost all of the items and prices are glitchy and illegible. But there is one option that is clear, and faintly glowing, looking as if it is superimposed over the glitchy screen. It reads:

Azure Flute – 3 plates

[cultfavorite]

Azure Flute . . . that sounds vaguely familiar, but . . .

[But he can't place it. He maybe once saw the term in a research report, a lead that was never followed. And Plates . . . well, this is a Palace. He remembers how those go. He probably needs to find them, or win them.

For now, he goes back to give the map another look over, and then he's going to head to the platform for the Regressive Line.]

[derailer]

You step down the stairs, and see a train already pulled up to the platform. Only the first car has doors open for you to enter. There is about the same amount of fog here as there was in the main area.

[cultfavorite]

[Oh Sharpedo we're really in it now! In we go!]

[derailer]

The train is a standard modern subway car. Above the seats, where advertisements would normally be in a train, there are instead photographs of different scenes. They depict different people—some familiar, some unfamiliar, some Ingo himself. There's an uncomfortable air coming from them, including those which are not overtly negative...

[cultfavorite]

[He is of course going to look at every single photograph, or at least as many as he can before the train stops, in the following priority order: pictures of Ingo, pictures of anyone else Saturn recognizes, and then the strangers.]

[derailer]

The photos are these:

- Emmet looking directly at the viewer, not smiling.
- Ingo and Emmet as teenagers, with a sulky Ingo in a vaguely emo-goth aesthetic.
- Ingo sobbing on the floor of Da Vinci's workshop as she crouches near him.
- Chandelure lighting a darkened room with two beds.
- A younger Ingo entering a doorway to see two people intimately entwined (anything explicit obscured by the sheets).
- A cellphone with an unread text message notification.
- Ingo splayed out on the ice, pained, bleeding profusely from a major chest wound.
- A snake-headed man, and a woman with scales down her face, smiling fondly.

I will let you pick which picture of Ingo he finds most immediately worthy of investigation.

[cultfavorite]

Ah . . .

[He considers, and then goes to take a closer look at the one with Da Vinci.]

[derailer]

As you linger over the picture, you understand something:

She doesn't make it a secret that she thinks you're making a mistake, getting invested in her. So, are you? You don't know what it's like to be successful in love. You know she's hurt you, and tried to get rid of you. Maybe you're just someone's plaything again. But that can't be true. One day, surely. If you tell her you love her, she will look at you with love, and not pity or disgust or discomfort. If Emmet believes in her, too, it's not just a delusion.

[cultfavorite]

[Saturn stands there with his arms crossed, looking at a random empty seat nearby rather than the photo. Sharpedo just watches him. He is too new a team member to be exposed to these feelings! But that's probably for the best.

Finally, he hops up onto one of the seats like a complete asshole to touch the photo physically, and say aloud:]

. . . It wasn't. You weren't. However I may or may not get on with her, I also believe in that. Disgust . . . no.

[derailer]

Touching the photo doesn't get you any additional information or reaction, after you already lingered over it, but perhaps your words are absorbed somehow. At least Sharpedo has heard them.

[cultfavorite]

[MARK THEM WELL, SHARPEDO!

Now he goes to investigate the bloody chest wound photo. Yeesh.]