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Welcome to the Nexus. The people here are wildly different. The worlds they come from, even moreso. Still, this place isn’t the same as the world you remember, is it?

Maybe you woke up in a tropical beach resort. Maybe you woke up in a desolate wasteland. Everyone’s room is different, but some things are always the same: No one came here by choice, and no one can clear their own room.

With the exception of one person, everyone starts in their own room, which plays out explicitly like a level in a video game. The only problem is that no one can clear their own room, causing the room to reset itself over and over again once its time limit runs out. Uncleared rooms have no exit, and most people have no idea what they’re supposed to do to begin with, making no progress at all. Every time the room resets, the room owner resets too, losing all memories of their room, trapping them in an endless loop. Only through the Nexus, which contains doors to everyone’s room, can the cycle be broken. That being said, no one can escape the Nexus yet either...

Each room is designed by the player who made the character, with challenges and/or enemies that match the character in question. The room’s obstacles will be managed by me and the player who created it. The goal of each room is to avoid or conquer all obstacles and acquire a character’s token before the room’s timer runs out. The token possesses the power of the corresponding character, and can take the form of any object the player specifies. (Within reason) When used by other characters, the token will grant them a portion of the corresponding character's abilities, as determined by the player who created them. (with my help for balancing purposes)

Once a token is touched by one of the room's intruders, no matter how briefly, the door back to the Nexus will open up somewhere nearby. The room is cleared when the token is brought through that door, negating the time limit and connecting the exit door to the room’s entrance in the Nexus. However, if a room’s timer runs out, the room owner will gain a tremendous boost in power and lose all control of themselves, going on a murderous rampage that will not end until either every intruder is dead or the token is brought to the Nexus.

Once in the Nexus, tokens can be placed on corresponding pedestals to unlock a character’s living quarters and utility room. A single door in the Nexus is locked, and has no corresponding pedestal. The prevailing theory is that once all pedestals are filled, it will open and everyone will finally be free…














PM me your character apps. I would like to keep tokens, rooms and utility rooms a surprise.
That wouldn't stop people from doing it, and evading legal repercussion would be as easy as leaving the room, but that's cool too.
How flexible can we get with the puzzles or traps in our room? Could we have a room with carnival where we try to throw rings onto the heads of bottles from behind a rope?

Yes. Pretty much anything goes as long as the challenge itself is fairly presented (e.g. hidden elements need to be hinted at) and at least one viable solution is humanly doable. Were you to want the ring toss to be a part of your room, I would go on to ask about the specifics of the ring toss, such as how to allow players to make many attempts, if there is an intended method to circumvent the ring toss, or what you would like to happen if players try to mug the ring toss attendant for prizes.
Edit: In hindsight, my hasty elevator pitch was a bit overloaded in information while also not being very clear. In any case, the RP can be found here.

It contains all the details of the RP laid out a bit more concisely.
Troy

"No! Damn it, at this rate..." Bobby wracked his brain. Gulp just wasn't good with his Poison Gas. What other moves could they use? "Gulp, use Acid Armor!"

The Gulpin's form slowly melted into a puddle before reforming once more. His cells rearranged, he could now withstand stronger physical moves. "Gup!"

"We're powered up!" Bobby pumped his fist into the air. "Let's see what you can do, RIVAL!" How would Troy react?

So his strategy is to give up on evasion or defense and take the hit directly using acid armor as a crutch. It's one thing to know your limits and change your strategy accordingly. It's another entirely to give up on the desperation play and hope things will work out if you ignore it. There is no attack stronger than Rollout once it gets going. If nothing is done about it now, then no amount of acid armor will save Gulpin, and even if Gulpin manages to stop Shuckle later, the damage will have already been dealt, and the war of attrition will have been all but won before it even starts.

"Follow through!" Shuckle continues to speed up, flying at Gulpin with an increasingly magnificent plume of rocks and dust trailing behind.
Troy

Seeing as how Shuckle wasn't poisoned, it would seem that Defense Curling in the face of a special move payed off, or at least wasn't punished. Either way, with a second hit of rollout, it will have been damage-efficient, and Yawn is a relatively slow move. Although Troy doesn't doubt Shuckle's ability to withstand a direct attack or two while asleep, it would be nice to avoid the scenario altogether. With that in mind... "Spin as fast as you can! Tear up the arena and use it against the bubble."

Shuckle attempts to speed up, spinning around the arena, back towards Troy, before coming back towards the bubble and swerving, kicking up as must dust and debris as possible towards the bubble and Gulpin.

Popped or not, the bubble and the dust should provide a workable level of visual obscurity to make Rollout difficult to defend against.

"Now back around." Shuckle continues the swerve, circling around in an arc in order to spin towards Gulpin while avoiding proximity with the bubble and any effects it may have as it may or not pop.

Troy

The queen of deceit strikes again, uncoiling her vast tendrils and winding them around us all in a leathery vice grip akin to that of an anaconda cosplaying as a bear trap, snapping shut on our collective legs and whispering promises of total consumption.

ZARIA, wielder of misdirection and chaotic sower of confusion, how far doth thou aim to grasp?

Just when Troy had given up, when Zaria had completely thrown him off with acting worthy of an award, she had come back around and boldly proclaimed that her earlier statement was a blatant, flagrant, and utterly shameless lie. She knew the transfer students would know immediately. She could have picked any lie, but instead chose to announce her previous statement as the lie in front of the entire class. Did she know the teacher would conduct this particular icebreaker? Was this all planned from the onset? Is Professor Caprea in her pocket? How powerful is her influence, and how high up does it go? Why would she have such influence? Why would she deliberately let the transfer students know she lied? This timing is too perfect. Does she want Troy to suspect her ulterior motives? Is she trying to say there's more than meets the eye? How great is her ambition, and for what purpose does she taunt Troy and the other transfers with this?

Troy goes on like this for quite a while, ruminating on possible explanations for Zaria's actions but not coming to any satisfactory conclusions.

Eventually classes come to an end and the class 2-A tournament begins, with a TM on the line for the victor. Naturally, Troy is ready and raring to go, putting aside the Zaria mystery for the time being to focus solely on his battle. For the first time in front of others, he sends out Shuckle on the battlefield and gives it an affirmative nod. No words need to be said.

He is matched up with a classmate named Bobby, who insists they will be the best trainer in class, screaming even louder than Zaria did earlier today. He then proceeds to say some nonsense he probably stole word-for-word from an anime or something and takes the initiative with a Sludge attack from his Gulpin.

Troy couldn't help but notice the attack's shoddy quality, sparser than one should expect and symptomatic of Gulpin's visible inexperience. Even in spite of Shuckle's defensive focus, power split is unlikely to yield much (if any) results this battle, and Shuckle should theoretically do the most damage through brute force.

As for Gulpin's attack, although poison is usually very difficult for a Shuckle to deal with before learning Rest, it's shouldn't be an issue for a 1v1 battle with healing available in between, so long as things don't get dragged out. Troy hates to take chances, but expecting a Shuckle to dodge an attack with no setup is like expecting the sun to stop shining. Still, it's not like there's no counter-measures.

"Block it with defense curl."

Shuckle withdraws into its shell and angles itself to avoid direct contact with the sludge as the poison comes to drape itself over his shell.

"Now, shake it off with rollout!"

Shuckle begins spinning rapidly, attempting to shake off the poison while it barrels toward Gulpin.

Troy

"homeroom tournaments"

A battle you say?

The risk of Taunt, Encore, and status ailments are devastating for almost any single-pokemon team. He didn't give a clear answer to Masaru earlier because of this; such an encounter should not even be called a battle. Still, even without any countermeasures, the prospect of battle fills Troy with anticipation, in a good way. His Shuckle is not completely without battle experience, but he hasn't had much opportunities to get practical training in with Shuckle, a problem that can only be remedied with many, many more battles. From the looks of things, he won't have to wait until after school hours to get started.

As Troy and the others arrive at class and take their seats, the teacher, Professor Caprea, begins her self-introduction and proposes a simple ice-breaker; two truths and a lie. Students are called up one at a time to introduce themselves and give random facts about themselves, a ritual Troy hasn't seen since elementary.

He supposes this would be a good time to take a look at some of his future battle opponents, though most of the facts these people give about themselves are so inane as to be pointless. He ends up forgetting most of them, and by the time he is called he has gleamed nothing of value. Par for the course, to be fair.

Troy stands and makes his way to the front of the room, without bothering to bring any piece of paper with him. He initially considered making three statements wherein any one of them could be accurately called a truth or a lie, with the other two statements changing in their truthfulness based on that, but ultimately, that wouldn't say anything about himself as Professor Caprea intended, other than that he liked being a smartass or some shit. Troy comes to a stop in the front of the room, turns around and crosses his arms.

"My name is Troy. I've been in hundreds of battles, if not thousands, using pokemon that do not belong to me. I will do anything it takes to win a battle, even if it costs me my dignity. I don't like talking about myself."

A crowd response is only as gullible as its most gullible member, or at least the most gullible person to say something. Even Troy thought he was laying it on a little thick by putting the bait third after Professor Caprea brought it up, but they fell for the it like a coyote realizing it's just run off of a cliff.

"The third statement is not a lie. I am not the best at externalizing my introspection, and I often find praise discomforting."

After that, Occam's Razor takes effect and the next guess is for the first statement.

"The first statement is not a lie either. My father has a vast collection of pokemon, and it's what I've been using to do rental battles on an almost daily basis, multiple times a day, for the past couple of years."

"So it's the second one?"

"The statement was that I'd do anything it takes to win a battle. 'Anything' would include dishonest or unsavory methods. As for me, there's no satisfaction to be found in a hollow victory. It's much more fun to play games on higher difficulties."

With that, Troy returns to his seat as Professor Caprea calls on the next student.

Troy

Troy didn't pay the closest attention to the conversation between Zaria and Antoinetta. He had mostly lost interest in the conversation when Tim rejected his offer and it wandered off into topics irrelevant, like what pokemon are supposedly ugly. Zaria's motives and methods remain to be seen, though the possibility that Troy was expecting something beyond reality out of her actions was creeping its way into consideration. Even with such a possibility on the table though, that does not rule out grander designs, which just makes it harder to guess whether her actions are an act or not. Either way, the conversation was taken over with the introduction of two new students.

"I'm Evey!"

"Masaru"

"Troy."

Evey goes on about the interruption this morning. He had to admit, Zaria was really loud earlier, but it's not as if it was unprovoked, nor as if the faculty had done much about the situation to suggest they had any interest in keeping it from happening again. If this is how the PMA reacts to altercations between students, then it begged the question how competent the faculty actually were. It was always possible that staff competency outweighed their disciplinary shortcomings, but the school prefect wasn't instilling any faith.

In any case, Masaru seemed interested in a battle, but wasn't requesting one directly. Judging from his demeanor and choice of company, he didn't trust Masaru enough to expect the battle to not have consequences. Troy wasn't one to turn a battle down, even if there were social risks, if only because the best training is always hands-on. However, there was a risk that Shuckle would be shut down altogether, gaining no meaningful experience and making the entire encounter a pointless waste of time. Troy's metaphorical trigger finger itched, but his team of one still had obvious weaknesses that might impede practical training.

"If you're looking for a battle, you might have to wait a while." He didn't want to delay a battle unnecessarily, but as it stands right now, it was unclear how much he stood to gain from this, making it conflict with his goals. His team was too unbalanced, and as any one-man team is, utterly helpless against a variety of moves or ailments.

Still... the allure of battle was tempting. Troy didn't want to rule out the possibility, so he gives a simple explanation that would let him work with a non-committal time-frame. "We have class, after all." Troy eyes the others, waiting to see if they had something to say or if it was time to just leave.

Troy
A pleasant breeze blew in, coming from Antoinetta's Combee. Troy looked its way and held his gaze for the majority of the conversation. There was something really pleasant about a Combee's innocent smile, radiating infectious positivity.

It's a shame this one didn't seem very happy at the moment.

"Say, Troy, you didn't take your pokemon out at the ceremony, right? What kind do you have? Show us your starter! Inquiring minds wanna know! Haha, right Netty?"

"Anyway, yeah. Moving along, let's see your starter."

"No thanks." Troy responded without even looking in her direction, though he did avert his eyes from Combee as attention got drawn to him, putting it onto Antoinetta. It helped that they were next to each other. "Maybe some other time." Revealing Shuckle at this point would be pointless. There's no reason to bring a Pokemon out when it doesn't pertain to battles, training, or routine care, right?

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