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

[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!

[terribletwos]

[Going to go bobbing for munny!

... But first, going to apologize to the poor busy lady. Awkwardly.]

[cultfavorite]

She is a very kind lady and she's totally already over it, beaming at him and waving him off. Also, she makes great pastries.

Walking to the north, you can see an expansive park, lush with greenery and immaculately kept, stretching out behind the gate you're approaching. But there is the matter of the gate first. It's beautiful, made of carved stone and wrought iron, but it's also imposing and secure. There's no chance of getting past the fence without going through the admissions queue to the left: a tidy little kiosk manned by a prim-looking worker.

At least there's no line right now?

[terribletwos]

Uh, hello? How do you reach the fountain?

[cultfavorite]

The worker behind the kiosk doesn't exactly look down her nose at you, but . . . there's still a little bit of an air about her.

"Excuse me. Please step forward for vetting. For the sake of our visitors and the reputation of Amity Square, we can't allow simply anyone or anything free roam inside."

Eesh. She has a tablet in front of her, which she picks up and begins to scan, scrolling through with one finger . . . suddenly she stops, squinting at whatever she's looking at on the screen and then back up at you.

"Oh, um . . . I see . . . "

[terribletwos]

Is something wrong?

[cultfavorite]

The gatekeeper looks sheepish, if still a bit dubious. "I apologize. I really didn't think you would be on the list of allowable Pokemon into our park, but I shouldn't judge so quickly. You are on the list. It says right here that it's cute when you act innocent and pure even though you wield such a powerful weapon."

She gives you a look as if she's still not quite sure of that herself. But she does wave you into the park.

"Please, go right ahead."

[terribletwos]

[Makes a confused face as if he's not sure if he should be insulted. But it means he can go inside so...]

Thanks....

[Into the park...]

[cultfavorite]

The park from the inside is just as lovely as it was from the outside. The manicured lawns are spotless despite the volume of people strolling through the area with their Pokemon at their sides. As one might expect from the entry process, all of these people look extremely respectable, and all of the Pokemon with them are small and cute. You're not going to find Garchomp here, sorry. Everything looks like it might be Baby's First Pokemon; some of them literally are, as evidenced by the fact that they're toddling along with actual toddlers and their parents.

It's a park. There's not much to do other than take a stroll. There is a large stone fountain in the middle of the park, its carved marble tiers streaming gorgeously with . . . blood?

[terribletwos]

[Gets over his previous confusion to enjoy the new scenery, especially marveling at all the new pokemon milling about. They're much more charming than the ones he's seen in the prison.

But hmm, is that really blood? Holds a hand under the mouth.]

[cultfavorite]

Yep, that's blood all right. No one else seems to notice this or find it strange? This could be any fancy fountain sparkling in the sun amidst a perfectly designed public park, except it's blood. The pool around the base is blood, bubbling invitingly(?) to dip your toes in(???). The blood is drawn up back into the mechanism in the center to spill out again in a lovely cascade that makes a soothing, cool rushing sound.

Of blood!

When the blood touches your skin, you see—

Uncertain. Something. A vision flashes before your eyes of a dim and undefined area that could be a cave, or a vast room, or something else entirely; it's hard to see. There is the sensation of something watching you. And a form rises up in front of you, tall and imposing, impossible to make out except for the sense of many limbs and a spark of malice aimed directly at you . . .

The vision fades as quickly as it came upon you, leaving you back by the fountain.

[terribletwos]

[Stumbles back]

What was that?

[Okay, he WILL NOT be scrounging in this fountain.]

[cultfavorite]

Luckily for him, there are plenty of coins scattered around the base of it on the ground, too. 1500 worth! He could get more if he scrounged, but who would?

Rotoron speaks up:

What was what, laddie? The sound of precious metal clinking in your pocket?

[terribletwos]

No, there was a... a vision with a monster. It was huge and had all these limbs...

[cultfavorite]

Oh, really! Sounds like the Big Boss to me! Lucky you, sneaking a peek at what that thing really looks like. He doesn't often show it!