They Did The Fusion 'Mon Mash!

[these_balls]

Hey, Routers! As mentioned earlier in the month, here is a supplementary infopost for the Freaky Fusions event, with further information about what the event is going to entail, how things will play out once it begins, and what you can plan for your Poke'morphs in the meantime!




LET'S START WITH A RECAP!

As discussed on our preliminary infopost about this event, come the end of the month, a brief influx of strange fusion Pokemon will sweep the regions, allowing characters that are wounded by one of those Pokemon to begin transforming partially into one themselves! These fusion 'mons cannot be caught by regular Pokeballs, and will almost certainly become hostile if they're hit by one! Thus, although normal Pokemon generally have a natural aversion to attacking humans, Fusion Pokemon will not have reservations about attacking a person, if provoked. Feel free to play with this as you will, for getting your character to take damage!

WHOA. SO WHAT HAPPENS IF MY CHARACTER TAKES DAMAGE FROM A FUSION POKEMON?

In a nutshell, they will themselves begin to transform, temporarily becoming up to half Pokemon, themselves.

Here are some guidelines to follow when making your plans for your character's transformation; please make sure to read them carefully and familiarize yourself with them!

YOUR CHARACTER MAY:
• Become "infected" and begin to take on the traits of any Pokemon you choose, excluding Legendaries.
• Undergo a physical transformation for the duration of the plot, up to half shifted or altered to resemble the Pokemon in question.
• Demonstrate the same type advantages and disadvantages of the Pokemon they have begun to fuse with — with Fire-types finding rain unpleasant or Ground-types being immune to lightning, and so on.
• Exhibit traits naturally related to the Pokemon in question — for example, moments of intangibility for Ghost-types, camouflage for a trainer turning into a Kecleon, and so on.
• Use the generic element associated with their Fusion Pokemon's typing — shooting fire for a Fire-type, splashing poison for a Poison-type, etc.

YOUR CHARACTER MAY NOT:
• Transform into more than one Pokemon for the duration of the plot. For more specifics, please take a look at the example of Buff Thorgbeef, here.
• Undergo changes that would render them more than half Pokemon.
• Infect another player character with the Fusion virus.
• Infect a Pokemon with the Fusion virus.
• Undergo massive size changes as a result of their transformation; they should remain generally the size they normally are, but reasonable deviations are permitted. (For example: characters should not grow to thirty feet long if fused with an Onix or shrink to miniscule size if fused with a Lillipup.)
• Utilize specific moves or the moveset of the Pokemon they are turning into; for example, while a character may generally produce fire, they would not find themselves capable of explicitly using Ember, Flamethrower, Flame Wheel, and so on.

THE FUSION LIFE IS SO COOL! BUT I'M READY TO CHANGE BACK NOW, SO HOW DO WE GET RID OF THESE THINGS?

Glad you asked! Since regular Pokeballs don't work, both the Professors and Team Rocket's science department will be simultaneously rushing the development of Fusion Balls (patent pending), which are exclusively for catching the horrible abominations roaming the landscape! These Fusion Balls will become available on October 22, which is also the first day your characters may begin threading out catching the Fusion 'Mons for good ICly!

Note that capturing the Fusion 'Mons alone will not automatically revert the changes your character is undergoing, even if they manage to capture the same 'Mon that infected them! Once infected, they'll stay that way for the duration of the plot, or until the antidote arrives; see below for more on that!

SO WE'RE NOT ALLOWED TO KEEP THE FUSION 'MONS?

No, the Fusion Balls will act as more of a containment device (think Ghostbusters) to keep the freaky fusions from getting loose. So once they're caught, it'd be near impossible to get them out again without access to the special device the professors and Team Rocket use to contain them.

IS IT JUST THE VAULT FROM GHOSTBUSTERS?

...maybe.

WHERE DO I GET THE FUSION BALLS FROM?

You can pick them up in sets of six from your nearest Pokemon Center, or if you're too far afield to make it into one, you can assume the professors and Gym Leaders air-dropped a case of them onto the route nearest your current location.

SO WE CATCH THEM AND TURN THEM IN, WHAT HAPPENS THEN?

For starters, there's one less fusion Pokemon running around spreading this bizarre pandemic! But additionally, the professors and Team Rocket will use the data from the captured Pokemon to create antidotes so that you guys don't remain part Pokemon forever! The antidotes will become available to the population on October 31, at the latest; however, if we see a lot of IC action taken toward rounding up the Fusion 'Mons, your hard work may cause them to become available sooner in the plot!

I'M NOT PLANNING ON BECOMING INFECTED AND TRANSFORMING INTO A POKEMON FUSION. CAN I STILL PARTICIPATE IN THIS PLOT?

Absolutely! You're perfectly welcome to still have encounters with the Fusion 'Mons during the infection period (October 18th to the 20th), and simply assume or handwave that you weren't injured by one of them. Unaffected characters are also welcome and encouraged to participate in the Fusion-catching efforts!

WHAT ABOUT THOSE QUESTION MARKS ON THE PLOT TIMELINE? IS SOMETHING HAPPENING ON THE 29TH AND 30TH THAT I SHOULD KNOW ABOUT?

Well, it wouldn't be an October plot in Route if we didn't go out with a bang, would it? We strongly recommend not making any big plans for your characters during those two days; as you're playing out your own fusion storylines for the duration of the plot, please take into consideration that those two days might be busy ones!

We'll have more for you on those Mysterious Question Marks during the last week of the plot!

CAN YOU RECAP THE TIMELINE FOR ME, PLEASE?

Sure! It's as follows:

• Sunday, Oct. 18th through Tuesday, Oct. 20th — The Fusion Pokemon begin swarming throughout the regions; characters participating in the transformation aspect of the plot should encounter and be wounded by one during this time.

• Wednesday, Oct. 21st — The transformation begins to take effect on the characters wounded by wild Fusion Pokemon, turning them partially into Pokemon themselves.

• Thursday, Oct. 22nd — Fusion Balls become available at Pokemon Centers and on the routes; characters may now begin capturing Fusion 'Mons.

• Wednesday, Oct. 28th — Final day of general transformation shenanigans.

• Thursday, Oct. 29th through Friday, Oct. 30th — ? ? ? ? ?

• Saturday, Oct. 31st — The plot concludes, leaving all characters to have a happy Halloween!

I WANT TO SHARE MY FUSION DESIGN WITH THE GAME / I NEED HELP BRAINSTORMING IDEAS FOR MY FUSION / I WANT TO SEE WHAT OTHER PEOPLE ARE DOING AND MAKE PLANS WITH THEM FOR THE PLOT / I'M AN ARTIST AND I WANT TO DRAW OTHER PEOPLE'S FUSIONS FOR THEM!

You can do all of that on OUR FUSIONS MEME over in the meme community! Feel free to use that post for plotting, fusion design discussion, art trades, and whatever else you'd like to do to get excited for the plot!

I STILL HAVE A QUESTION YOU HAVEN'T ADDRESSED YET!

Feel free to ask us about it here!