Ask to Join Lavender Town Syndrome

[Psycho Monkey]

Warning! This RP contains mature content that may not be suitable for all role-players. Join at your own discretion.

The Kanto region has recently been hit with an epidemic of mass suicides that no one can explain. People all over the region from all walks of life have suddenly been killing themselves in almost every known method from hanging to drowning and overdosing to jumping off buildings leaving police baffled and the public terrified. Since Lavender Town has the highest death-rate of all of Kanto's cities, the epidemic has been dubbed "Lavender Town Syndrome." The cause of LTS is still unknown. Is it a spike in mental illness? A series of murders covered up to look like suicide? Something in the water? Or are there more sinister things lurking in the shadows waiting to claim the next victim?

This RP is a collaboration between myself and @Aura so we'll be accepting four more players to help us solve the mystery for a total of six participants. We've already decided the cause of LTS but any players are willing to come up with hypotheses of their own. Who knows, you might even be correct. Due to the nature of this RP however, we request the four players to be mature enough to handle the subject matter. To that end anyone who wants to join must submit a sample post with their character bio. The content of your sample post should be about your character discovering the body of someone they know who has succumbed to LTS. It can be a family member, a friend, a neighbor, or just someone they know from school. This has the added benefit of giving your character a reason to participate in the plot. Aura and I will then decide who we think is best suited to join. We will be using the standard PRP Character Bio sheet found in the sticky thread above. Naturally all PRP and Global Rules are still in effect. The RP will go live once all the slots have been filled.

Players:
Psycho Monkey
Aura
Ry_Burst
Platinum_
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[Ry_Burst]

I’d be interested. Here is my info.

Spoiler: Paul Swanson and his Squad

Name: Paul Swanson
Gender: Male
Hometown: Celadon City, Kanto
Age: 24
Height: 6’1”
Weight: 216 lbs
Hair: Paul’s hair has a caramel color and is medium length with faint curls. He keeps it hanging loose which reaches to about the bottom of his earlobes. He also has a faint soulpatch under his bottom lip, and it is a bit darker than his hair
Eyes: His eyes are a dark blue, and are about average sized.
Clothing: Paul isn’t someone you would call fashion savvy. He wears simple outfits and tries not to wear things that make him stand out immensely. He primarily wears a dark t-shirt with black pants and black combat boots. However he always wears a black fedora and black long sleeved jacket. The jacket had a raised collar, and a pocket inside the right side. There he keeps a notepad, pencil, and his wallet. He also has a black Pokegear which was built to help him take pictures. The black machine is strapped to his left wrist, hidden under the jacket sleeve. He carries his personal gear in a large brown briefcase, which is larger, made of brown leather, with soft no shape corners.
Identifying Marks: Nothing major, except for a fain scar on his left upper arm from a bike crash.
Musculature: Due to a good amount of time studiying and writing, he isn’t extremely physically fit. He is a thin tall beanstalk, with limbs and a head. He has long legs and long arms to match.
Personality: While Paul is a curious person, he often cares about others and that overrides his snooping. While he isn’t the best at getting info, he is a great writer. He is stubborn in a lot of way. This is shown from when he was young and didn’t follow his parents wishes of becoming a doctor of sorts He was stubborn and refused to give it to them. However this left him very self conscious of what his parents thought about him.
Past: Paul was born and brought up in Celdon City, with his parents both in the medical field. His mother was a Neurologist while his father was a leading psychologist in Celadon. His childhood was spent studying the process of medical research. However he was very poor with science often disappointing his parents. However the young man excelled in writing and longed to be a journalist. So against his parents wishes, he applied to Celadon University, but majored in Journalism. During his time in college he became engaged to a woman named Carla Dixon. However, upon graduation, he decided to go on his own way, and broke the engagement. At age 22, Paul traveled to Lumiose City to visit the press office. He worked there for about a year as an intern to a man named Micheal Long. He traveled with Micheal through Kalos as the man did research for some of his stories. Later, he headed back to Kanto after a year abroad. While he wanted to head home, he decided to spend some time traveling and meeting people, and did this for six months. After six months of travel, he learned that his parents had moved to Lavender Town to research to rapidly increasing suicide rate and to do a joint study on it. He decided to visit his parents and inform them of his success, as he still felt he needed their approval. However what he found, sickened him...
Family: Father, Frank Swanson - (Age 62, Psycologist, Deceased), Mother, Amy Swanson - (Age 63, Neurologist, Deceased), Older Sister, Juliet Cox - (Age 27, Nurse, Married with a 2 year old Daughter
Love Relationships?: Paul had been engaged to a woman named Carla Dixon, until about two months ago, he broke it up to travel the world after feeling to held down by her. She’s already moved on and Paul feels no remorse.
Pokémon:

Species: Abra
Nickname: Whiz
Gender: Male
Ability: Inner Focus
Hidden Power: Electric
Special Features: Whiz wears a black scarf around his neck.
Nature and Characteristic: Mild, Throughly Cunning
Personality: Whiz is quiet smart and thoughtful. He trusts in Paul and is often shy at first when meeting strangers. However once he gets used to them, he is extreme friendly, and kind. Whiz can be quick to upset, but the level of negative feelings depends on the situation. There are times where he might cry nd there are other ties where h gets defensive and fights. While Whiz is young and michevious, he can be quite smart and can understand comple commands.
Quick Backstory: Whiz was Paul’s first Pokemon and is currently his best friend. When Paul was 19, his best friend’s uncle lost his coin case, which held a great deal of coins. Paul found that coin case, and upon return, the friend’s uncle decided to reward Paul and bought him an Abra with some of his coins. That Pokemon became Paul’s best friend and partner. In the beginning, Whiz was quite shy and only stayed near Paul, due to being raised in captivity in the Game Corner. However as time passed, Whiz opened up to others.
Preferred Moves: Teleport, Thunder Punch, Hidden Power, Reflect, Psyshock
Role: Whiz is pretty much Paul’s friend, and that is pretty much it. Nothing too crazy.
—
Species: Gogoat
Nickname: Garth
Gender: Male
Ability: Sap Sipper
Hidden Power: Ice
Special Features: Garth is rarely seen without a saddle as it is a major part of his role. The saddle is leather and has room for multiple sacks for carrying gear. Garth is built with a good deal of muscularity.
Nature and Characteristic: Gentle, Strong Willed
Quick Backstory: Garth was originally a Skiddo under the care of Micheal Long. He leant the Skiddo to Paul during his and Paul’s travels through Kalos, where the Pokemon was his ride However once Garth evolved under Paul’s ownership and sensing the bond, he gave the newly evolved Gogoat to Paul as a gift.
Personality: Garth retained a lot of his gentleness from when he was a Skiddo upon evolution. He’s very kind and gentle, often looked up to by passing younger Pokemon. However he is extremely stubborn and hates losing battles. But he will accept it and seems to have wisdom begin his years. He respects his role and wants to help out as much as he possibly can.
Preferred Moves: Vine Whip, Earthquake, Synthesis, Protect, Horn Leech
Role: Garth’s place on the team is for land transportation. However he does fulfill a strength role, helping out, whenever his power is needed.
—
Species: Talonflame
Nickname: Julie
Gender: Female
Ability: Flame Body
Hidden Power: Ground
Special Features: Completely average Talonflame.
Nature and Characteristic: Jolly, Likes to Run
Quick Backstory: Julie was a Pokemon that Paul caught due to it’s speed as a Fletching. He spent time with her until she eventually reached her final form.
Personality: She is upbeat and loves to fly high and fast. She often acts like a cheerleader or want to help however she can.
Preferred Moves: Flame Charge, Tailwind, Agility, Quick Attack, Aerial Ace
Role: She is the flyer, and flying transportation. She uses her speed to help Paul get an aerial view of the situation.
—
Species: Hitmonlee
Nickname: Hit
Gender: Male
Ability: Reckless
Hidden Power: Dark
Special Features: Hit has faint scars across his feet and chest from various intense fights.
Nature and Characteristic: Naughty, Proud of his Power
Personality: Hit is someone who loves battles, but hates the trainer giving him orders. This is why Hit only follows Paul’s order during battle, (discounting the very rare occasions where he does at other times). Hit sees himself as a great fighter as has a bit of an ego. Not to mention that he isn’t the nicest, and can be cruel to other Pokemon or ones he’s battling against. While Paul’s acknowledges the fact he is his strongest, he tries to avoid using him whenever possible.
Quick Backstory: This was a Pokemon that was given to him by his friend Jacob. Jacob’s an avid battler and breeder. He is very competitive and when he met up with Paul, years after they had graduated High School, he noticed how the man had a very weak team. He had a defensive pokemon, Garth, and a quick Pokemon, Julie, but that was it. Jacob decided to give Hit to Paul, as a bodyguard of sorts. While he is strong, Hit is often disobedient outside of battle, as Hit does not respect Paul.
Preferred Moves: Hi Jump Kick, Blaze Kick, Mega Kick, Mind Reader, Brick Break
Role: Hit is the team’s fighter, and the strongest Pokemon. As a journalist, there are times where Paul could be in intense trouble and he needs some kind of attacker. That’s where Hit came in, acting as a Bodyguard and Battler.​

Spoiler: RP EXAMPLE

Lavender Town wasn’t really a place for vacationing, that was for sure. The whole town had a dreary feel to it, making Paul Swanson feel uneasy. Garth’s hooves galloped upon the dirt, as Paul took everything. Whiz, his Abra partner, seemed to dislike this place. Probably because of the ghost Pokemon. But Paul’s mind was on other things. The fact his parents decided to come here for their research project shocked him. They hated dreary things. But of course, the possibility of finding the cause of the “Lavender Town Syndrome,” and winning another award, was something that he knew they couldn’t pass up.

“No wonder there is so many suicides. It’s too sad. Or maybe it’s sad because of the deaths. Ugh, I want to leave. But I can’t. This is a scoop I have to get. I need it to jumpstart my career here in Kanto.” Paul spent time debating with himself in his head, as he neared the Lavender Town Inn, his parents had been staying in. People who were walking past all gave him somber stares. Probably because he was riding a Gogoat, which isn’t a Pokemon native to the Kanto region. Hopefully the unusual Pokemon was the only reason he was getting stares. He would hate it if it was for some other reason.

Garth came to a stop outside of the hotel, and Paul examined the building. While it didn’t look run down or trashy, it had an odd feeling. A somber and emotionless feel, that kinda was a bit depressing. Paul slipped off of the Gogoat’s back and dug out Garth’s Pokeball from his jacket pocket. “Return Garth. Thanks for the lift,” Paul mumbled as Garth began to glow with a red light and morphed into a beam of energy that was sucked into the red and white machine. Paul felt uneasy, and had the odd feeling that he was being watched.

After entering the building, Paul was quick to notice an odd smell. He couldn’t really define it, and he was internally describing it as “musty with a hint of sorrow”. He shrugged it off and walked to the front desk. There sat a man who sat in a stool staring blankly ahead. Paul walked up and ringed the bell. The man remained motionless. A second time, which was slightly more frantic, Paul ringed the bell on the counter.

“Huh, oh sorry. I was alseep,” The man mumbled with his head jolting back a bit to the sharp ringing. After talking the odd man who slept with his eyes open, Paul learned his parents were on one of the upper floors, and figured out what floor. The thin man with the Abra on his shoulder, thanked the man behind the counter and made his way up the staircase to his right. With a bit of effort, Paul reached the floor his parents were on. But there was some strange stench flowing through the corridor. Some kind of coppery smell. Blood?

Paul’s stomach did a flip as he ran forward towards the room his parents were in. He knocked on the door. “Mom! Dad!” His voice was strained as his throat constricted. After a few seconds of no response, he was ready to hit the gun. Whiz had a troubled look on his face. He noticed a red stain seeping under the door and nudged Paul, pointing to it.

Paul immediately sent out Garth, lettting the large Gogoat take form in the hallway. Paul quickly stepped aside and shouted, “Garth, ram it down!” The Grass Type lowered his head and smashed the door in a full on ram. Splinters of wood flew in different directions.

Paul stepped past Garth and looked down. At the foot of the door was a broken vial with blood seeping out of it. He took a breath of relief. It wasn’t their blood, which in Paul’s mind told him everything was okay. He took a step through the doorway and looked around the room.

While Paul didn’t see anyone there, there was obvious signs that people had been living there. The TV was blaring, and the lights were on. Paul walked down into the living room and walked around. No one. He made a turn and made his way towards the bedroom. The door was cracked.

Paul peaked his head inside, and threw up. There his parents were, both hanging side by side over the bed. Tied around each one of their throats was a rope that was strung up through a bar over the bed. It was crudely attached, like they put it there in a hurry.

——————

Within a matter of hours, the police had swept through the scene and marked it as a double suicide. However there was some curiousity of why they both committed suicide together, but no ideas or speculation was tossed around. To them, it was just another suicide case. Not the strangest, most gruesome, or the worst. Just another case for the books and one that increased the people’s fear of the LTS.

But for the young journalist, it was a call to action. After he had made the phone call to his sister and had to listen to her crying fit, Paul knew he needed to solve this mystery. This would be his big scoop. It had to be.

 

[Platinum_]

Been looking for a nice literate roleplay such as this - I would love to join, hope I am considered.
===

Spoiler: ･Character･

Name: Harrison Hall

Gender: Male

Hometown: Lilycove, Hoenn

Age: 19

Height: 5'8 ft.

Weight: 135 lbs.

Hair: His hair is a neapolitan yellow shade, and is short with a naturally curly/shaggy form.

Eyes: A deep, soothing brown color. His eyes are well-rounded, with a cartoon-like liveliness to them.

Clothing: Harri's fashion sense is exactly what you would expect from a teenager-young adult who stays keeping up with the timely trends. When relaxed, he casually wears large, simple colored hoodies along with fitted jogger-pants. However, when attending Contests or dressing to impress, he usually wears whatever catches the attention of others and matches whatever season of clothing is most popular; whether it be sharp suites, large sunglasses, scarves, hats, etc. When in street-wear, he carries a small, yellow (to match his hoodies), two-pocket backpack to carry his belongings in.

Identifying Marks: None besides a faint birthmark on the back of his left shoulder that his parents say resemble a Shroomish.

Musculature: Not being very athletic growing up, Harrison has quite the average physique - perhaps a bit thinner than most his age.

Personality: Harrison is quite the optimistic, yet unmotivated soul. He is the pure essence of a "lazy perfectionist". His style is an expression of his attitude: usually in a good mood, and always hoping to put a smile on others' faces. He enjoys quality comedy, and believes that a day without laughter is a day wasted - however at times he has the tendency to gain a lazy, self-absorbed disposition...causing him to not necessarily be the greatest 'team player'. He can be quick to make decisions, usually that end up in his favor, without putting much thought into them. He realizes these tendencies and does make genuine efforts to correct them, though. Overall he is a loyal friend, who will try to lift up poor spirits if he senses any gloomy auras.

Skills: Harrison is an adept Pokemon Coordinator. He communicates fairly well with Pokemon, especially his own, and knows how to utilize their personalities and skill sets to put on entertaining performances and show them off to any willing audience

Past: Being born within the Hoenn Region, right in Lilycove, Harrison was raised in a very positive setting. His father was a "Rare Stone Specialist", working alongside many architectures and Pokemon Scientists to study a plethora of gems and stones and their abilities as well as how they effect the world. His mother was a stay-at-home wife, who rose Harrison and his brother while tending to her own hobbies of breeding and caring for Pokemon. His hometown was very Contest savvy, so he had grown up seeing Trainers of all kinds come and compete with their Pokemon for entertainment and status. Naturally, he grew up taking on the goal to become a capable Coordinator as well, wanting to join the ranks of those who had the most beautiful and commendable teams in the Region. As he continued to grow he found himself in love with Contests, and even made it to compete within the Hoenn Grand Festival - however, after he was unable to make it past the third round, he had went into a gloom. Eventually, he decided to travel around the other Regions, as many Trainers did, to hone his skills and learn as much as he could. He made it through some parts of Johto, and currently found himself within Kanto. He had fallen in love with the Region and the competition there as well. His older brother lived there also, so it was convenient and comforting having a close relative nearby. After a year of living in Kanto, he had decided to remain there for the time being - currently residing in Cerulean City.

Family: Father • Don Hall - 51 - Stone Specialist // Mother • Safira Hall - 48 - Breeder // Older Brother • Simon Hall - 25 - Manager of the Kanto Department Store (Wife: Laura || Son: Noah - 3)

Love Relationships: Nothing serious outside of short-term girlfriends/one boyfriend back in Hoenn.

Pokemon:

Species: Wartortle
Gender: Male
Ability: Torrent
Nature/Characteristic: Bold, head-strong. Always willing to take the forefront, even if it knows the situation is doomed for failure over victory.
Bio: Wartortle was given to Harrison as a Squirtle almost as soon as he had arrived in Kanto. It was simply as a handout from an old man. It had been the elderly's companion, but the man was growing too old to care for the water-type, so he had given it away, as he believed it deserved a young and active Trainer. Within a year of being with Harrison, it had evolved after growing in confidence and ability while battling/training for Contests.

Species: Masquerain
Gender: Female
Ability: Unnerve
Nature/Characteristic: Sassy. Very elegant and likes things to go only her way the majority of the time.
Bio: Caught by Harrison as a Surskit back in Hoenn, Masquerain is very experienced in participating in Contests. She has played a very important part in obtaining most of Harrison's ribbons. She is quite curious, and usually decides herself whenever she wants to be in her Pokeball or not.

Species: Breloom
Gender: Male
Ability: Poison Heal
Nature/Characteristic: Gentle, caring. Although quite powerful, Breloom is a gentle soul. His strength is outweighed by his kindness. He is very much a tank, able to take hits before growing tired, but unfortunately does not attack with all of its potential for fear of hurting others to a greater extent.
Bio: Breloom was Harrison's first ever received Pokemon. He was given to Harrison at a young age as a Shroomish, as a playful gift from his parents due to the joke that the birthmark on the back of his shoulder resembles the small grass-type. Ever since, the two had grown extremely close, being inseparable while on Harrison's travels.

Species: Milotic
Gender: Female
Ability: Competitive
Nature/Characteristic: Adamant, strong-willed. Very confident in her capabilities. Formerly quite disobedient, but became very caring and reliable.
Bio: Definitely the powerhouse of Harrison's team, Milotic was originally won as a Feebas by Harri at a local fair in Hoenn. It was labelled as failed potential, as the other Feebas were able to evolve, yet that one wasn't. However, after receiving the care and training from Harrison after a couple years, she was able to evolve into the beautiful Milotic it became. This caused some overconfidence in her, and she became disobedient in many areas. However, over time she learned to work with Harri, and began to care for him as much as he did for her. Milotic also played key roles in many of Harri's Contest victories. Now, she is the strongest of Harrison's Pokemon - both in contests and battles.​

​

Spoiler: ✧ RP Sample ✧

Life is hard, especially when you're a privileged teen on the rise to fame. After coming to terms with his past couple of hysterical failures within recent Kanto Region Contests, Harrison had decided to take a break from the competitions - more so out of self pity. Instead of taking on the determination to try again and again to get better, the best choice here was to take a hiatus and throw a pity party...obviously. Harrison was taking in the gloomy air of Lavender Town, strolling down the sidewalk as he entered the suddenly infamous town. It had only been a couple of minutes since he entered the small town and he had already felt an air of depression. Silence, all around him; not one bustle, one voice, one soul, or even one sanction of nature making a sound. It was putting a real damper on his mood.

"I guess that's the condition that comes with being the town that used to host a gigantic gravesite." Harrison mumbled to himself, examining the green in the area. The violet flowers indicated the name of the town greatly, yet the grass and trees seemed to be downcast.

Suddenly a familiar bleeping of his cell phone rang from his back pocket, most likely his brother trying to get a hold of him, since they had agreed to meet in Lavender to see what the big deal about the whole Syndrome phenomenon was. His brother, Simon, had a couple of colleagues that were homegrown within Lavender - and he was curious as to how the whole LTS sickness came into play, so perhaps they could satisfy some inquiries. Harri brought the phone up to his ear, only to be greeted with the sound of sobbing. Stunned, Harri simply listened on, trying to make sense of his brother's attempts to form a sentence. Finally he spoke up himself, anxiety beginning to well up in the pit of his stomach.

"S-Simon? Whats going on, man?" He questioned, only to be responded to by more muffled speaking. "Are...are you ok!? Where are you?" He went on to ask, picking up his walking pace.

Eventually he was able to hear something about a tower, and that was enough to indicate that he was by the Kanto Radio Tower: the popular broadcasting central for all of Kanto - formerly a seven floor building holding the graves of fallen Pokemon. Harrison wasn't exactly a local, but he had also heard multiple rumors about the town being widely inhabited by roaming ghosts of Pokemon. The thought of malicious spirits tampering with people alone had kept the boy a good distance from Lavender, remaining the preferred two cities away. However, this seemingly meant a lot to his brother, and he was pretty curious himself so he decided to tag along in the mini-investigation...something he was quickly beginning to regret.

Harri progressed into a jog, finally making his way up to the tower, but stopping dead in his tracks as the scene before him presented itself. What he saw couldn't have been real - even though it shouldn't have come in a surprise. Whether he wanted to believe it or not, three bodies laid out splattered on the floor before him. They had jumped from the top of the tower. The blood almost reached where he was standing...which was at least 10 yards away. He covered his mouth instantly, the smell reaching him in a matter of seconds. He wanted to look away, but he couldn't help notice the two men and a woman, all in business suits, on the concrete. Yellow tape had been set up prior to his arrival, and Simon was sunken to his knees just at the barrier with his head slumped into his arms.

The 19 year old was in pure shock and stayed still for several quiet moments, before he was able to get a grip and approach Simon. He didn't speak, but simply knelt and comforted his brother. Harrison himself wasn't too familiar with these victims of suicide, but he was aware of how relatively close Simon was - and he could only imagine what was going on through his mind at that time.

Speaking of, what was going on through theirs?

That was surely question of the year. Harrison, as well as the majority of Kanto, couldn't wrap his head around all of these deaths. Were they actually even suicides? Was there possibly a psychopath running around town setting murders up as self-inflicted slaughter? Or did it have anything to do with all of these damn ghosts? Harri wouldn't be surprised if it was discovered that these alleged reprising spirits had heavy involvement in using innocents as haunting play things, driving them to the ultimate act of depression. Whatever it was, someone needed to figure it out, and it needed to be stopped.

 

[Psycho Monkey]

@Ry_Burst and @Platinum_ You both are accepted! I shall add your names to the roster.

@ShadowZoroark I'm afraid we're going to have to deny your application. Since you did not provide a sample post like we requested, I took a look at your posting history in other RPs and I don't think you're up to par with what we require for this RP.

For everyone already accepted or considering joining, there are a few details about the setting that I wish to elaborate on. The first point I want to make is that the mass suicides are happening all over the Kanto Region, not just in Lavender Town. Lavender Town just happens to have the highest death toll out of the other cities which is how the epidemic got its name. It's helpful to have everyone gathering in the same place but don't feel like you have to start out in Lavender Town if you wanted a character from Pewter City or Fuchsia City. The second factor I want to point out was actually something I realized with Platinum's post and that is timeline. The RP is set in a post GSC/HGSS Kanto so all of the changes made in those games apply here as well. Team Rocket is gone, Magnet Train exists, Radio Tower replaces Pokemon Tower, Janine and Blue are Gym Leaders, and Cinnabar Island is in ruins. I don't know if those changes will actually impact the plot, but I feel like it's always a good idea to know what the world around us is like for consistency.

That said, there are two spots remaining for any one else interested. Ry and Platinum, you two are free to post at your leisure.

 

[Aura]

I'm just making a note here to let you guys know that I do intend on putting up a biography for Vincent myself, but it will just be after I'm done with my finals probably. I just really wanted to get the post out on Halloween >>

 

[Platinum_]

Ah, alright! Sorry about the misunderstanding, I've edited my character's bio just for convenience sake. I should have a post up on the main thread soon =)