Intro post - Winding up in Ultern

[red_berry]

[STARDUST BEACH]

It's a windy day in Ohritori Island. Not stormy, but the waves are high. And on Stardust Beach, a man is standing alone, watching the waves. He's tall and thin as a beanpole, wearing an oversized plain white T-shirt that makes him look even thinner, like the wind could make him fall over any moment now. But he stands there without falling, motionless. It's a bit of an eerie sight.

If you approach him, he looks at you, hair blowing in his face and covering most of it.

"...Not Alola," is how he greets you.

[POKEMON CENTER]

Later, you can find Red sitting at the cafe in the Pokemon Center, hair still a complete mess from the wind, typing on his phone and ignoring a cooling cup of tea front of him. There's a slightly grumpy Pikachu, also with wind-frazzled fur, sitting on his table and nibbling on a rainbow Pokebean.

But if you're not at the Pokemon Center, you might instead see a post on Pippi, the Ulternian version of Twitter.

[ONLINE]

Red Sr. (@)scarlet_ellipsis posted:
[Image of a Pikachu standing in heavy wind with his face scrunched up. The caption over it says "it fucken WIMDY"]
he hates this weather!! [several laughing emojis]

(ooc: This is Gold's player, bringing in a different character from the same AU! Come say hi to Red, either in person or online! He's a lot easier to talk to online though XD)

Comments

Stardust Beach

[radleyslittleevie]

[Evie the talking Eevee approaches, hearing him greet someone in this manner. She pauses and blinks.]

What's Alola?

[red_berry]

Red pauses. He pushes his hair out of his eyes, looking down. Huh. So he wasn't seeing things, it really is an Eevee he's talking to. Unexpected, but no matter. Red kneels down on the sand to better talk to Evie.

"Alola is..."

He pauses. Putting words to his thoughts is so difficult. He knows he was in Alola a moment ago, but isn't anymore since the sand is so different, the weather changed so suddenly, and the sea smells different... So he has to be somewhere else. But he doesn't know where.

"...not here."

Did that answer the question? Probably not, Red thinks.

[radleyslittleevie]

Evie appreciates Red's thoughtfulness, but is still confused.

"Okay! What's different?"

[red_berry]

"...Beach."

Red reaches to dip his hand into the sand and lifts some of it up to show the star-shaped sand to Evie.

"This."

It's the easiest difference between Alola and wherever Red is now that he can show. Hopefully the Eevee will understand what he's saying. Now, where is he, anyway? And how did he get here, and why is Green not here...

"...Where is this?" he asks, since that's the most important question.

[radleyslittleevie]

"Oh. Yeah, that's really different! It's so pretty!" Evie exclaims.

"This is Ultern! People and Pokemon are getting brought here from all over!"

[red_berry]

"Ultern..." That sounds important, so Red repeats it to himself.

People and Pokemon are brought here... So that's why he's here. Maybe Green ended up here too. He should ask about him.

"...Green?" is all he manages to vocalize of that question, though.

[radleyslittleevie]

"... Green?" Evie is confused again. "There's lots of pretty green things here: grass and trees and even some Pokemon!"

Online!

[brightasmoone]

Elio @(alolasunsun):
The wind was really strong! My Raichu loves it! 😊

[Attached photo of Sparkle, his Alolan Raichu floating around. She's living her best Raichu life. It's clear from the background they're somewhere near a beach.]

[red_berry]

Red Sr. @(scarlet_ellipsis):
that's so cuuuute!! <3<3<3
is that an alolan raichu??

[brightasmoone]

Elio@(alolasunsun)
Yes! Her name is Sparkle 🤗 does your pikachu have a name?

[red_berry]

Red Sr.@(scarlet_ellipsis):
yep! he's pika [pikachu emoji]

[Attached photo of Pika sitting on a table and looking at the camera curiously, half of a Pokebean in his paws. The background is clearly the Pokemon Center's cafe.]

[brightasmoone]

Elio @(alolasunsun)
aww! Pika's cute!

[Elio soon follows up with another piip(tweet) of Sparkle floating above the waters, pretending to surf.]

Sparkle used surf! (lol)

[red_berry]

Red Sr @(scarlet_ellipsis):
i know right???

Meanwhile, in the cafe, Red sits up straighter as he sees the photo Elio posted, staring intensely. He's extremely charmed, though it doesn't show on his face. To anyone watching it, it might even seem like he's angry.

He likes and re-piips it, and replies with several hearts. Then he scrolls through his phone to find his older Pika photos.

Red Sr.@(scarlet_ellipsis):
[Photo of Pika sitting on top of an Omanyte. They seem to be in a large terrarium with a pond of water the Omanyte is swimming in. Pika is pointing to direct the Omanyte.]
pika and his mighty steed!!

pokémon centre

[domeinion]

[Another Redface, huh? Alice adjusts her glasses before she approaches. A little messy, might be Kay -- no, too old, and no Rattata army around him. Well, it's probably a new Red. That's fine. Alice waves and sits down at the next table to go over her notes.]

Hello! The weather's a little much today. I was going to go out anyway, but it does get inconvenient when your research notes start flying away.

[red_berry]

Red looks at the girl who talks to him, absolutely no expression on his face. She looks... vaguely familiar. But, scanning over her features, Red comes to the conclusion this isn't anyone he knows.

"Mm," he replies vaguely, nodding. The weather is a bit much, and it is inconvenient when notes fly away. It's all true.

But now that a person talked to him, maybe he should ask her about what he's been thinking about. He scrolls on his phone for a moment, then holds it out to show Alice a photo of a young man with a very distinct style of spiky, light brown hair. It's clearly a Gary/Green/Blue/whatever his name may be in other worlds.

"Seen him?" Red asks.

[domeinion]

Not yet. [She shakes her head.] It looks like he really is a universal constant, so statistically one of him will show up sooner or later... Is he Green or Blue for you? Or something else, I suppose, it just tends to be one or both.

[red_berry]

"Green."

Red's mind is absolutely whirring with the implications of what Alice said. Universal constant, one of him, Green or Blue... So there are multiple universes, each with a version of Green, but with different names. And at least one of him will probably show up eventually. Eventually, meaning he may not be here. Maybe Green's still back in Alola and only Red showed up here in Ultern. Red can't even contact Green right now, so if Green's still in Alola, he might end up wasting the rest of vacation looking for Red. That'd be a shame. Hm, maybe the fact he can't contact Green is a sign he really was left behind in Alola?

While Red's thinking of all this, he's just sitting silently at the table, not expressing any of his thoughts on his face.

[domeinion]

I see. Mine was, too, for a while, but it's a long story. Actually, all of this might be. I'll keep a look out, though. One of them's got to show up some time.

[She punches in a food order and smiles with what she hopes is reassurance.]

My name's Alice. If it's not any trouble, what about you? What's your name?

[red_berry]

For a while? Red wonders what that's about, but isn't curious enough to ask.

"Mm," he agrees, also hoping one of them will show up. Well, he'd prefer his Green to show up, but it might be interesting to meet another one.

"Red," he says, and after a small pause, asks "...Other Reds?"

Since if there are multiple Greens, there should be multiple of him too.

after all is said and done...

[red_berry]

Before running off into the wilderness to find Ulternian Pichu, Red pays for his purchases at the cafe, and buys some sandwiches and Pokebeans to go. As Gold runs the register, he stares at him, fairly certain that Gold is, in fact, the Gold he knows from his home world, only several years younger.

"..."

Staaaaare...

[gold_drum]

This guy's staring is really weird, but Gold acts like he doesn't notice, customer service smile in full effect.

"Here you go, sir!" he says brightly, handing Red his food to go. "Have a nice day!"

[red_berry]

"Mm." Red nods, taking the stuff and storing it in his backbag. Then he sets a plastic bag from a local toy store on the counter.

"Souvenirs," Red says to Gold, opening the bag and pointing at an Ulternian Sunkern plushie inside. "For you." Then, he points at a Beyblade toy. "For Silver."

They were souvenirs Red had bought for the Gold and Silver in his world, but now that he's realized he can't go back for now, he'll just give them to this Gold instead. That's just as good, isn't it? It makes perfect sense to Red.

And Red leaves without another word, ready to disappear into the wilderness.

[gold_drum]

"Hey, what? Uh, sir?!" Gold calls out after Red, but the man's already gone.

Huh.

Gold stares at the bag. Why did he randomly get presents? And why was one of them for Silver?

Well, whatever. Gold shrugs and grabs the bag. Who cares about that when he got free stuff!

[serperiority]

"... man, how do you always get the weirdest customers?" Trip said, after sidling up to Gold. "You think it's safe to accept... whatever that is?"

[gold_drum]

"I think I'm just cursed to meet interesting people," Gold says casually with a shrug, peering into the bag. "It's fine! Probably. Seems like he knows my friend Silver. Or some other Silver, I dunno. Anyway, I never turn down free stuff so I'm keeping it."

A part of Gold is delighted about getting a toy as a present, maybe for the first time in his life.