PALACE GAME: Round 3

[cultfavorite]

You open your eyes—

You're standing in the vast lobby of a corporate building, facing the reception desk, where a Team Galactic Grunt is stationed—she's currently on the phone, though, and occupied. A few other grunts move through the lobby, looking as if they're on their way to their next assignment. All of them look identical. And if you watch their paths for a while, none of them actually end up leaving the room.

The walls are a bright, metallic, sterile blue with white, and the floor is made up of gleaming silver metal tiles emblazoned here and there with a gold logo. The reception desk is slightly to your right, and to the left of that there are three doors in the far wall in front of you.

To the right of the reception desk, there's a little area with a vending machine, a large ottoman to sit on, a potted plant, and . . . a dotaku? With a face? It's sitting resting on the floor next to the vending machine, and it's staring right at you with those red eyes.

Directly to your right, closer to the front door, there is a glowing green circle on the floor with a sign on the wall next to it.

What will you d—

Wait. Your phone is buzzing. Whether or not you had it with you back in the prison, you do now, whether in your pocket, in your hand, whatever. It's on your person, and it's vibrating demandingly for attention. If you choose to ignore it, a mechanical voice emanating from it begins literally saying the word buzz! buzzzzzz! buuuzzzzzz! in an increasingly irritated tone.

Check your phone?

Comments

THE PATH OF EMOTION: HEARTHOME CITY

[cultfavorite]

The door slides open for you, and you step through it into . . .

A city, as if you just stepped out of the building and onto the street. But it's hard to imagine the building you just walked out of existing in a town like this. This is no corporate hub: the buildings are homey and inviting, even the businesses, and the paths are lined with greenery. The people navigating the streets look overwhelmingly content and well-to-do. Young couples walk holding hands; grandmothers push strollers with happy babies nestled inside; schoolchildren dart here and there with their Pokemon companions scampering after them. The sun is shining, the sky is cloudless, the air and walkways are clean and refreshing. It's a picture-perfect family town.

If you turn around, the Team Galactic HQ is gone entirely, replaced by a gate out of the city, which is blocked at the moment by construction workers fixing some cobbles. Guess there's no way to go but forward!

To the northeast, there's a small but busy little building that looks like it might have once been a large house, but now has been repurposed into some kind of quaint boutique. In the center of town there's a huge domed amphitheater, and further to the north, beyond that, you can see the gates to a large, lovely park.

Re: THE PATH OF EMOTION: HEARTHOME CITY

[moonlit_knight]

Bronzong?

[ah, they didn't come, shame. Glances around the city, let's go see the amphitheater]

[cultfavorite]

The amphitheater is impressive yet inviting, with an elegant and simple design meant to draw crowds. And it is doing just that: families with their children and Pokemon are heading up the stone walkway to push through the doors and into the building, chattering excitedly. You can make out snippets of conversation about ribbons and performances and beautiful.

[moonlit_knight]

...Damn, I don't remember anything about contests.

[battle basics probably won't help but maybe Pokédex information has something useful?]

Hey Rotoron, what's the deal with these again?

[cultfavorite]

Nothing comes up in the Pokedex, but when asked directly, Rotoron is always "happy" to help:

Jumping right in, are you? Well, you'll have to do it anyway if you want to get anything out of this silly place. Good eye! You'll be performing onstage with a Pokemon and trying to appeal to the panel of judges to win the top prize!

[moonlit_knight]

You're the only Pokémon I've got right now, you reckon you can dazzle 'em with me?

[cultfavorite]

You've got to be kidding me! Don't worry about that. They've got free rentals available for people who don't bring their own. Unthinkable! They ought to charge a pretty penny for that.

[moonlit_knight]

And here I was hoping to see your moves. Fine, I'll take a free handout, don't give anyone ideas about upselling me.

[What are the chances I can watch a contest before I go rent a partner]

[cultfavorite]

Zero if they enter the building. But it might be possible to get a peek from outside if they find a window to creep on.

[moonlit_knight]

[yeah okay let's try and sneak a look I can get to windows]

[cultfavorite]

There are definitely windows that look in on the various auditoriums inside! You can see that a performance is happening in one right now: a young man dressed in a dusty pink suit adorned with ruffles and ribbons is having his Chansey perform an adorable dance and then produce eggs for the judges. Don't think too hard about how that works.

The judges are a panel of five sitting in the front. You would normally not get this blurb until Selena was onstage themselves, but they're a clever cheater and get a sneak peek. Our panel of judges, from left to right:

Mr. Big Shot: A man in sunglasses and a suit, with a briefcase at his side. He's holding his tablet, but he's also on the phone at the same time, watching you out of the corner of his eye as he chatters away with someone about . . . it's probably important?
Miss Sinnoh 20XX: A woman in a tiara and an evening gown, with opera gloves and an updo. That's a lot of satin she has on. When you make eye contact with her, she flashes you a winning smile and lifts her hand in a beauty queen wave.
Mx. Pokerainbow: A famous streamer with an adorable sense of style and a rainbow motif. Everything they have on is rainbow. Rainbow ruffled tutu, rainbow fingerless gloves, a rainbow vest and collared shirt . . . they bounce up and down in their seat like a child when you come out onto the stage.
Mrs. Butcher: A large, older woman with guns out to there and black leather up to here. Silver spikes adorn every part of her that can be adorned. She sits with her arms crossed and gives you a gruff nod.
Mr. Wise Guy: It's literally just Fran.

[moonlit_knight]

Is that fucking Fran. Get out of here he's not a Pokémon character.

[well fuck they're going to have to wear frills for some of these judges aren't they. WHAT DO THEY RATE PINK CHANSEY DANCE MAN]

[cultfavorite]

Watching the show, you can see that the judges look bored and unimpressed other than Mx. Pokerainbow. But after the performance wraps up, Mx. Pokerainbow gets up out of their seat and begins talking animatedly to the other judges, making huge pleading eyes. You can't hear anything happening, but it's pretty clear even without words.

Then all five of them hold up perfect 10 cards.

Re: THE PATH OF EMOTION: HEARTHOME CITY

[terribletwos]

[Oh, it's like Twilight Town again! Definitely soaking in the atmosphere and checking out a few buildings before finding his way to the boutique.]

[cultfavorite]

You approach a homey, green-roofed building with big front windows; the closer you get to it, the more it both looks and smells like it's probably a bakery. There are displays of what look like filled buns in the windows, and the people who pass by out front stop to ooh and aah and drool over them. A few even go inside! When they do, there's the quaint little ding of an old-fashioned shop bell. What a cute little place.

[terribletwos]

[Also goes inside to breathe in the great bakery smells]

Now I get why Sora spent all that time with Little Chef.

[cultfavorite]

The inside of the Poffin House is warm and inviting and smells fabulous. There are cases of those same pastries that were on display in the window; they seem to come in several different flavors. Customers mill about between cases trying to make their purchase decisions. How can you? They all look so good! A woman bustles around behind the service counter ringing up customers and packing orders to go.

[terribletwos]

Um hey, could you tell me the fastest ways to make munny in this place?

[cultfavorite]

"Huh? Oh, um . . . "

She seems at a loss, looking around between you and the customers and the Poffin in her hand that she was bagging. Rotoron begins to laugh from the phone. Pahaha!

[terribletwos]

What? You said to explore. I'm exploring.

[cultfavorite]

Don't just ask a busy woman where to get a job! When it comes to matters of money, I'm the type expert. Let this old man give you some advice. There are two places you might find some cold hard cash in this bougie city. You could check for coins in the Amity Park fountain, or win the top prize in a Super Contest Show. Spoilers, you have to do that second one anyway, so I hope you don't have stage fright!

[terribletwos]

I've never been on a stage before.

[cultfavorite]

Then you won't be frightened of it! If you're lucky.

[terribletwos]

It wouldn't hurt to check the fountain first though.

[cultfavorite]

Atta boy! You'll want to head for Amity Square to the north of town for that. Nothing wrong with a little scrounging!