Ultra Wormhole: Synthesis

(( first Ultra Wormhole run of the event! LET'S GET IN SOME PORTALS! ))

NBP #1

Within the Ranger outpost perched at the gaping maw of the Ruins, people bustle nervously. The Park has not opened itself for the exploration of a new phenomena for several years, and this was a beast like no other. Research had been carried out for weeks to ensure that the thing that had opened up at the maw of the Ruins was safe. Now, they had work to do to guide Trainers through a brand new kind of adventure.

Babbs shuffles to the window. Jowls quiver as thin lips are drawn tight. She stares contemplatively out the window and at the strange structure that has materialized in front of Enigma's entrance. The channel of light, curled down to the earth from above like some giant cornucopia, crackles with unease at its mouth. Reality itself seems to shake and warp periodically around it. The radiance that engulfs its form pulses steadily up it. The regularity of it reminds her of a heartbeat.

After a few long moments, the ancient woman straightens from where she'd hunched to crane her neck and look. Then, she shuffles from the outpost door with her gnarled cane. Outside, the air is still: eerily so. The sun shines in the cloudless sky, but its warmth seems to only lightly brush the earth.

The first one in the Park would be a man named James, and he should be arriving to the outpost at any moment. Staff was beginning to prove short as the media turned its projecting eye onto the Ultra Wormhole; they were having to rely on automated shuttles to transport Trainers to their area in some cases, and in others, messenger Flying types were being re-purposed as guides. Trainers were increasingly becoming left to their own resources to reach their destination, but Babbs thinks that's good. A little hard work never hurt anyone.

Outside the outpost, she waits for her charge. Today would be an interesting one.​

Encounter Stats:
none yet!​

Trainer Stats:

Spoiler

James at the Ultra Wormhole!
Remaining Encounters: 5
Environment: Eerily still outside. Sunny, but cool. The wormhole is active.
Pokemon Encountered: none yet!
Pokemon Captured: none yet!

Items: Digital Camera, Apricorn Box, Park Balls x4, Hyper Balls x2, Super Potion x4, Max Potion x3, Max Revive x2, Pokedolls x1

Awesome Novelty Items: Super Squirt Bottle, Pax-a-Punch, Scarecrow Mask, Crystal Ball, Egg bomb x3, Magic Mirror, Pumpkin Marker

MCR: 0 characters
Total: 0 characters

Pokemon Stats:

Spoiler

Oricorio / Pom-Pom Style / Sassy / F / Dancer
EMs: TM Acrobatics, TM Calm Mind, TM Embargo, TM Hidden Power: Ice, TM Protect, TM Rest, TM Return, TM Round, TM Safeguard, TM Sleep Talk, TM Steel Wing, TM Substitute, TM Swords Dance, TM Taunt, TM Toxic, TM U-turn, TM Work Up, BM Pluck, BM Tailwind, MT Covet, MT Defog, MT Icy Wind, MT Role Play, MT Sky Attack


Togedemaru / Jolly / F / Lightningrod
EMs: TM Fling, TM Grass Knot, TM Gyro Ball, TM Hidden Power: Ice, TM Payback, TM Poison Jab, TM Reflect, TM Return, TM Substitute, TM Thief, TM Toxic, TM U-turn, TM Volt Switch, TM Work Up, BM Encore, BM Fake Out, BM Reversal, BM Tickle, BM Wish, MT Electroweb, MT Endeavour, MT Iron Head, MT Role Play, MT Super Fang, MT Zen Headbutt

 

The pillar of light was not easy to miss. James couldn't help but wonder what lay in store beyond the engrossing beacon ahead of him.

Oh God, will it hurt?

James couldn't help but reflect on a current hypothesis of how teleportation could work. In order for something to simultaneously disappear in one location and reappear elsewhere, every single atom of the original object, him in this case, would need to be torn away from each other -- despite the intramolecular forces holding them together, and re-built in another location. That was a terrifying prospect.

Oricorio, seeing James in obvious distress over the surely-impeding doom he was walking towards, couldn't help but sigh. It was tough being such a cheerful Pokemon when her gangly awkward trainer was just so inept. Oricorio took off from James' shoulder and flapped its little pom poms, rising to get a better look at the blinding light. A woman, hunched over a cane, was standing by the entrance to the new park location. Oricorio whistled out to her.

That must be our Ranger.

"Hey! Babbs, right?" James called out.

 

NBP #2

All of the science-y mumbo jumbo that's been flying around the past couple of days has put the little old lady on edge. They tried to give her a briefing on a lot of it, but she opted out; the only thing she'd really listened to was the part about what would happen when they went in, and how they were to get out. The rest she didn't need.

Babbs was a stubborn croon, bittered in some areas by age and experience. When she was a young whippersnapper, she'd listened attentively to what they told her would and wouldn't happen in the Park. She'd clung to those certainties so much that when the time came and what they said would never happen, happened, she'd had no clue what to do. Not again. She'd go on in her toes, with no comfortable ideas about what it couldn't do. As far as she was concerned, it was a dangerous, unpredictable bull that she'd take by the horns.

A young man arrives, sees her, and heads toward her. Eyes fall with interest upon his bright yellow companion. Dusty brows raise as she sees the Oricorio; that was a Pokemon she didn't see often, especially in this form. The cheerful bird offers her a trill of greeting and Babbs gives the creature a smile before turning her eyes to the man, who has called out to her. Yep, looks like that's him.

"That's me, hun," she responds. "You must be James!" As he approaches, she gets straight to it. "Welcome to the Park. This thing behind me is the beastly thing we'll be steppin' into. Let's get right to it." She gestures for him to follow and begins shuffling her way over to it. A team or two of people are bustling about its entrance with handheld gadgets streaming a variety of data. They're supposed to make them feel safer, all of these people trying to watch for anything to go wrong, but it just makes Babbs plain nervous.

"Number one rule is to stay close to me when we're in the hole, kid. That's some weird voodoo in there that I'm not about to get sucked into forever, ya' hear?" she tries to keep her tone light to not make him nervous, but also wants to impress the importance of them... well, you know, not dying in another dimension. "And remember that you've signed the waiver, so we're not liable for your screw-ups, yeah?" She gives a little chuckle where maybe she shouldn't. People part to make way for them as they shuffle up.

The hair raises on their arms as soon as they get near it. Babbs takes a long moment to stare the beast of the wormhole in the face, the light flickering upon them both. The channel of light curls high, high up into the heavens. She's seen people go in; she knows that the moment they reach for it, it'll drag them in. But she hasn't been yet, so she doesn't know. Wrinkled hand reaches out to rest on the man's shoulder.

"Get your Pokemon friend to lay a feather on one of us; we've gotta be touching for it to bring us all into the same place." She pauses for several long moments. "Whenever you're ready."

She waits as long as they need. When they're ready, Babbs reaches out and touches the light. ​

***​

They say that it feels different for everyone. Some report pain, some report serenity unlike any they've ever known. Everyone experiences the feeling of their body being teleported across entire dimensions in unique ways. For Babbs, it's nothing. The moment she touches it and it sucks their party in, she doesn't feel a thing. It's like sleeping--or dying, she's not sure which--where there's just not really anything. Her senses are blank, even her sight. For a few seconds, it's just like floating in a dark room at a temperature perfect to not even notice it, with no wind and no scent. A part of her is disappointed that it's not more glamorous.

Even then, it's only a few seconds. Before she can really get used to or analyze the feeling, things begin to drop in around them. Smoky background of sensuous blues and purples and pinks that remind her of the night sky ripple in the distance that stretches infinitely around them. Her eyes blink as she takes it in. Their feet rest flat, as if on some sort of surface, but a quick tip of her foot shows that there's not really anything there at all. Two portals hover to their right, four on the left. They all hover on the same vertical plane that makes them feel like a corridor framing their vision.

Cautiously, she moves her hand from where it'd still been resting on James' shoulder. Funny, she hadn't been able to feel it there, and when she moves it, there's no sensation--no wind or anything that would suggest movement. If she wasn't looking at it, she wouldn't even realize it's actually moving. Trying to see how they would move around, she tries to walk, but the motion only seems to make her drift upward slightly. She tries this time to swim. That, at least, seems to work.

"Alright, looks like we're swimming," she says, but for some reason she can't hear her own voice. Lips tighten into a flat line again. This time, she stares at James and thinks about the message going to him--and this time she hears the echo in her thoughts as she speaks instead into his mind. It's strange, being able to initiate telepathy--bound by mortal shackles, she's only ever been able to respond to a link opened by a Psychic type Pokemon, but never open one herself. She figures it works in their favor, though. In a soundless place, telepathy is nice.

Babbs turns her gaze back to the portals. A light blue and light green portal rest at their right. To their left are a yellow, a white, a pink, and a purple portal. Their colors glow in a vibrant ring, framing a reflective surface, like a mirror but with the same colors and ripples of the enigmatic space around them. The part she'd listened to about the briefing said that the colors reflected the type of unpredictable world within them, but other than that, she wasn't sure what they might mean.

"Well," Babbs says, looking between them. "Your choice on where we want to go. When you make it, let me know, and we'll enter touching so we don't get separated." ​

Encounter Stats:
none yet!​

Remaining Portals:

Spoiler

For reference, modified Pokemon + Locations.

• Light Blue: Great Lakes
• Light Green: Botanical Gardens
• Yellow: Abandoned Power Plant
• White: Mt. Oktori
• Pink: Meteor Valley
• Purple: Ruined Manor

Trainer Stats:

Spoiler

James at the Ultra Wormhole!
Remaining Encounters: 5
Environment: Eerily still outside. Sunny, but cool. The wormhole is active.
Pokemon Encountered: none yet!
Pokemon Captured: none yet!

Items: Digital Camera, Apricorn Box, Park Balls x4, Hyper Balls x2, Super Potion x4, Max Potion x3, Max Revive x2, Pokedolls x1

Awesome Novelty Items: Super Squirt Bottle, Pax-a-Punch, Scarecrow Mask, Crystal Ball, Egg bomb x3, Magic Mirror, Pumpkin Marker

MCR: 1,086 characters
Total: 1,086 characters

Pokemon Stats:

Spoiler

Oricorio / Pom-Pom Style / Sassy / F / Dancer
EMs: TM Acrobatics, TM Calm Mind, TM Embargo, TM Hidden Power: Ice, TM Protect, TM Rest, TM Return, TM Round, TM Safeguard, TM Sleep Talk, TM Steel Wing, TM Substitute, TM Swords Dance, TM Taunt, TM Toxic, TM U-turn, TM Work Up, BM Pluck, BM Tailwind, MT Covet, MT Defog, MT Icy Wind, MT Role Play, MT Sky Attack


Togedemaru / Jolly / F / Lightningrod
EMs: TM Fling, TM Grass Knot, TM Gyro Ball, TM Hidden Power: Ice, TM Payback, TM Poison Jab, TM Reflect, TM Return, TM Substitute, TM Thief, TM Toxic, TM U-turn, TM Volt Switch, TM Work Up, BM Encore, BM Fake Out, BM Reversal, BM Tickle, BM Wish, MT Electroweb, MT Endeavour, MT Iron Head, MT Role Play, MT Super Fang, MT Zen Headbutt