Round 1: Test Drive

[cordibus]

Welcome to the first test drive!

Please don't worry too much about using your Personas correctly or following the prompts exactly. They're meant to give you starting ideas, but by all means, go wild and add more options!

The objective here is to try out characters and see who you could have the most fun with in the game's setting. However, feel free to follow this link to request a Persona be generated for you as if you were part of the game. (Please try to limit this to only one of your test drive characters if you can as to not overwhelm us! Never mind generating Personas is a pretty fast process! Request for as many characters away as you like!)

If you have questions about the test drive itself, you can ask them here! If you want to play an AU don't forget this entire post can be used for you to get AU scenarios set up and see who your character might have been related too or know before Awakening.

Now then, let's begin...

Prompt 1 - From Dawn to Dusk

The city has been abuzz for the past few weeks. A new string of murders is making front page news and serving as a grim reminder why the nightly curfew is so important. As families, perhaps even someone close to you, mourn, pressure continues to rise at the many police stations and at city hall. The people are afraid and they’re demanding answers.

There's not much time for you to dwell on this.. Like everyone else in the city, you have a lot to do, and a tight schedule to do it in. You don't even notice the application that has appeared on your phone's screen. The headache that follows, however, is strange and disorienting, and it brings with it an odd sensation that something is wrong today. You’re just not sure why.

The day passes by and soon, it's close to midnight. Your body, if you're not in bed by now, is completely exhausted. Despite your best efforts, you'll find yourself closing your eyes. Too bad it's quickly interrupted by a strange noise, and movement like something pulsating softly.

It's your phone, or at least you think it's your phone, but it's never glowed this orange before. There’s mist rising above it almost like fire...something's definitely bizarre about this. Despite your fears, you forces yourself to open it, and click on that strange snake-like icon.


It opens revealing a single statement and blank box;

To begin, please write your name.

Your fingers move on their own. Before you have time to really think about it, and as the pain inside your head becomes so terrible you start breathing rapidly and sweating, you've entered a series of letters and pressed enter. Now you're in a large chatroom with many others...but your 'name' you've never even heard of it...have you? It almost feels like you have...

Prompt 2 - Awakening

The last rays of the sun disappeared over the horizon almost an hour ago, yet here you are, walking through the apple orchards located behind one of the campus wings. The strange app that's been sending you strange clues the past seven days now says you're ready to face the truth. It told you to come here tonight, but never to travel alone. Repeatedly, it warns you to make sure to have someone close by if you're to survive…but besides some friends, what else did you bring with you? Did you pack for this, or did you figure you'd make it up as you go? Are you in a position to be able to bring weapons with you that no one would suspect?

Something is out there, and it's getting closer.

Before you can think, you see it: a large, blackish mass, almost like slime, slithering along the ground resembling a vaguely humanoid shape with glowing yellow eyes. When it roars again, it reveals rows and rows of teeth. This was a mistake your brain warns. The strange name from the chatroom, the days leading up to this...you're fairly certain even if you are prepared that you're going to die.

And yet, something inside you stirs. Even as they move closer, you find yourself charging instead of running, as your heartbeat increases. A voice inside is guiding you, each movement bringing forth a surge of memories of a past that you had lost. You’re angry and confused, but your pain, your fears, your rage for all of this… all of that needs to be taken out on those creatures.

All you need to do now is to tear out your heart.

Prompt 3 - A new, old life

Now that you have your memories back, the strange veil of this world has been somewhat lifted. Things that seemed simple now seem strange. You have so many questions, but not enough answers. Then there's the new weapons you wield and the strange creature inside of you...your Heart Persona.

During the day, you are encouraged to continue to live as you did before, but with old and new memories together, sometimes it is difficult to keep acting like you did. Will it cause issues in your job or school life? Will it change your reactions to whatever life you had here? Do you notice others like you who have awakened?

Maybe it would be a good time to send a chatroom message, just to ask others what they are planning to do. Maybe you should set up a meeting to fight shadows at night. Maybe you’ll organize a plan of attack or set up a club to escape the strange looks others have been giving you. Maybe you just want someone's opinion on the best place to have pizza. Hey, no one said you had to use the AppleNET just for serious things, after all.

Comments

[megabond]

Yes. I came from the Kalos region and my main research is Mega Evolution, a special phenomenon that only some of the Pokemon can have.

Although right now, I doubt I can't continue my research thanks to our current situation.

[lovelledup]

Yeah. Not like there are any Pokemon here.

[He crosses his arms, seeming maybe a little troubled. He has not the best associations with "Pokemon" and "research" being in the same sentence. That, and thinking about none of them being here just makes him miss Silvally and the others.]

[megabond]

[Not only that, he seems that not only that his Garchomp isn't anywhere to be found, but his Key Stone seems to be missing as well.

I agree. Which makes me wonder why and how did we end up in this city living in our false lives in the first place.

[Then, he noticed that he is troubled for some reason.]

What's the matter?

[lovelledup]

[He shakes his head.]

Nothing.

[He's not going to talk about his past, or his "failed experiment" of a Pokemon.]

How do you think we even got here? And what happened to the Pokemon that were ours?

[megabond]

I don't know and I have no clue where our Pokemon is or if there is one in this city.

All I know is that when I remembered everything, I somehow obtained a strange power and all of the sudden, I somehow unable to control myself and I-

[He stops in mid-sentence as he still feels regret at what happened to him a couple of days ago.]

To be honest, I'm completely stumped at our situation as well.

[lovelledup]

[It's not like he was really expecting anything else.]

For all that thing talked about learning the truth, it's done a pretty bad job of giving us any answers.

[A lot of memories, but all that did was lead to more questions, really. He'd be a lot less irritated if he just knew his Pokemon from that other life were okay.]

[megabond]

Guess that means we have to figure this one ourselves and find a way back to our old lives and look for our Pokemon then.

[He is lost when it comes to what happened to his friends, his assistants, and his Pokemon, but he knew that they are there somewhere and that their new powers might help them solve this strange mystery.]

[lovelledup]

[He watches the professor's face, trying to find any clues about whether he's anywhere near as worried about his Pokemon as Gladion is. But that scrutinizing look doesn't last long, and he's not going to ask. If they both want to find a way back, then that's enough to work with for now.]

Any idea where to start?

[megabond]

I think all we can do for now is to try to find someone who might have got into the same situation like us.

[He then looks at his phone and opens the app to see the chatroom.]

And this might be a guess, but I feel that this app may able to help us in one way or another.

[lovelledup]

[He glances at the phone.]

I haven't seen anyone mention Pokemon yet. You think there are other trainers around?

[megabond]

I can't say we can know them, but there is a possibility that we might able to find them through the chatroom.

But with these many users in here, I don't know if we can know who are the Pokemon trainers or not.

[lovelledup]

[He looks at his own phone, a little lost in thought. Even if they are all in similar situations, he wonders how much it's safe to say on that chatroom about their lives before. Still, something as general as that probably couldn't hurt. He looks back up at the professor.]

If we asked, they would probably answer, right?

[megabond]

I think so. But just in case, let's try asking "Do you know about Pokemon?" before anything else.

If we use the wrong questions beforehand, we might only get confusion instead.

[lovelledup]

[This face. Just. This face.]

That's obvious, isn't it?

[megabond]

[Well, that makes him a little embarrassed at stating the obvious. Regardless, he sends out the question "Do you know about Pokemon?" to the app without any second thoughts.]

There. I hope we might able to know who are also affected by this phenomenon.