PROMAGEDDON: THE MOONLIGHT PROM-ENADE

[these_balls]

Yes, that's right, Routers and PokéFans! Pokémon Prom is once again coming to a Route near you, and we're incredibly hype to be bringing it to you one last time before the transition into Victory Road.

(There's still one more event between now and prom, but since prom tends to be a pretty big event, we wanted to get this out to you with a little time to anticipate and plan!)

So let's get right to it, with what you can expect from this year's PokéProm!



WHAT IS POKEMON PROM?

PokéProm is an event that originated in Route back in April of 2013, in which once a year the game NPCs put on a big blowout dance party extravaganza and invite every player character in the game to come to a single centralized location, dress up in fabulous outfits, and spend a short span of time dancing the night(s) away!

In our first year, Prom took the form of a single blowout house party hosted by Clair and Lance at the Elite Four's palatial Pokéworld estate in scenic Tohjo Falls. In the second, we prommed even harder by inviting a wide complement of Pokéworld NPCs to party amongst the player characters. Last year, as a means of shaking things up, we hosted Dream Prom and took the event to the limits of people's wildest imaginations. And now, for our fourth year, we're planning to continue our PokéProm tradition of going bigger, better, and harder every year by inviting our promgoers to Boldly Go Where No Promgoer Has Gone Before™!

Ladies and gentlemen, for PokéProm 2016, we would like to proudly present...

OH MY GOD, YOU DIDN'T.

WE SUPER DID.

A Prom so hype it's Out Of This World!


YOU'RE SERIOUSLY GOING TO TAKE THE ENTIRE CAST OF ROUTE 29 TO THE ACTUAL POKÉMOON?

Well, if by "we" you mean The Legendary Formerly Known As Mewssingno™, then yes, we certainly are!

WAIT. WHO IS THE LEGENDARY FORMERLY KNOWN AS MEWSSINGNO™?

The Legendary Formerly Known As Mewssingno™ is the Game-Unique Legendary that you, the players, had a big hand in creating back during the Freaky Fusions event last fall! As some of you oldbies may remember, following Mewssingno's defeat, it asked Jirachi to grant its wish of becoming a new legendary Pokemon for the sake of finding its place in the world. Once Jirachi granted that wish, Mewssingno went off to spend some time discovering itself and to adjust to its new Legendary form and capabilities!

Well, that was several months ago, and as you may have already guessed, it's come back just in time to bring this month's series of wild and wonderful events to all of you, and it will also be responsible for orchestrating and transporting everyone to one final big shebang: Moon Prom!

And we do mean everyone.

THAT'S RIGHT — YOU SAID PROM IS GOING TO COINCIDE WITH FOURTH WALL THIS YEAR, RIGHT?

Absolutely correct! Which means The Legendary Formerly Known As Mewssingno™ will not just be bringing the entire cast of Route 29 to the moon for this year's PokéProm; it's going to be bringing any and all fourth-wallers who'd like to show up, as well!

I'VE NEVER PARTICIPATED IN A FOURTH WALL EVENT BEFORE. WHAT ARE THOSE ALL ABOUT?

If you've never been a part of one of Route's semi-annual Fourth Wall events before, you can feel free to check out our Standard Rules and Guidelines for a Fourth Wall event at the link provided!

However, the general rules are fairly straightforward: everyone is welcome, powers are no longer stripped, doubles are permitted, Pokémon-universe characters are permitted (though they will be considered to be from an identical parallel universe, NOT Route's game universe), and wanton property destruction will mend itself on its own, so y'all can feel free to blow shit up as much as you feel like. When it comes to what you can do on a Fourth Wall, the general standard is: feel free to shoot the moon!

...And in this case, if you so choose, you can feel free to literally shoot the moon, but we cannot promise that the moon will be too happy about that. It is hosting your prom, after all.

SO I CAN TELL MY FRIENDS ABOUT THIS EVENT? EVEN IF THEY'RE NOT IN THE GAME?

We strongly encourage it! We'd also recommend linking them to this post, so that they can get the rundown of PokéProm as well (since that's what they'll be attending when they arrive), but everyone is welcome to come and have a great time with us!

I USED TO BE IN ROUTE 29, BUT I'M NOT ANYMORE. DOES THAT MEAN I CAN COME BACK WITH THE CHARACTERS I PLAYED HERE? CAN THEY HAVE IN-GAME MEMORIES?

For the duration of the event, you absolutely can! However, if you'd like to keep them here beyond the Fourth Wall event (and we also encourage that — come back and play with us again!), you'll have to apply for them through Victory Road's applications page just like everyone else.

YOU USUALLY TELL US ALL ABOUT THE SETTING OF PROM WELL IN ADVANCE. ARE WE GOING TO GET A FLOORPLAN? HOW ABOUT POKÉMON, CAN WE CATCH ANY OF THOSE ON THE MOON?

There will definitely be a full description of the PokéProm setting for you to look at and use when setting up your top-levels (and a floorplan, because Alex loves floorplans), which will be provided as a part of the PokéProm mingle log! That prom-specific informational post will also include information about the possible Pokémon you may be able to catch there!

WILL THERE BE A SEPARATE MINGLE LOG FOR FOURTH-WALLERS THAT DOES NOT TAKE PLACE ON THE MOON AT PROM?

For the purposes of this event, the Prom Mingle Log will also double as our usual Fourth Waller Mingle! Fourth-walling characters will be showing up on the moon, rather than down in Johto/Kanto proper, so Moon Prom will be the only place where you will find fourth-walling characters this time around!

AM I ALLOWED TO LEAVE MOON PROM EARLY? WHAT IF I WANT TO MAKE MY OWN POST IN JOHTO/KANTO BEFORE THE EVENT IS OVER?

Unfortunately, what happens at Moon Prom stays at Moon Prom, and that includes its guests — while we'll allow for some leeway for people who might want to show up to prom a little late, once a character is on the moon that's pretty much where they're going to have to stay for the full three-day duration. However, this will not come as a surprise to them; their invitations will have indicated that this is a multi-day event, so a stay of several days won't end up being anything particularly unexpected.

WILL THERE BE IC NOTICE ABOUT MOON PROM? OR ARE OUR CHARACTERS JUST GETTING KIDNAPPED WITH NO WARNING?

It's a little of both, actually! On May 25th, all player characters in the game will receive a formal invitation sealed with a wax stamp — very old-school, very proper. The contents of that invitation will inform them about an upcoming prom-like event, similar in nature to the way previous prom invitations have been worded; however, the invitation will not mention the location being on the moon. It will merely request that interested parties be at their local Pokemon Center with their prom-related luggage to be picked up by transportation provided on the part of the hosts, the same as in previous years.

However, this year it's a little bit of a farce; the game-specific legendary doesn't need your character to be at the Pokemon Center in order to pick you up, so even if your character ICly wouldn't agree to the invitation, feel free to toss them up onto the moon anyway!

In this way, you can make the trip and stay over on the moon as easy or as difficult on your characters as you like — feel free to have fun with it!

IS THERE AN IC DRESS CODE FOR PROM? MY CHARACTER IS A FASHION DISASTER.

While it's not mandatory in an IC or OOC sense, we do strongly recommend taking this opportunity to shove your character(s) into Fantastic Formal Swag™ — that's half the fun of a party!

If your character is a fourth-waller, you can feel free that the trip through the dimensions came with a wardrobe upgrade (or as some characters may see it, a wardrobe malfunction); if your character is currently in the game, they can either pack their own outfit as detailed above, or you can assume that the trip to the moon came with complimentary attire, free of charge.

IS MOON GRAVITY IN EFFECT AT PROM? WILL I BE ABLE TO EXPLORE THE MOON? WHAT MOON-RELATED ACTIVITIES WILL I BE ABLE TO DO THERE?

There'll be more specific details about possible Moon Activities™ when the setting information and floorplan go live, but rest assured, there will be some areas at Moon Prom that have standard gravity!

...And there will also be some areas that won't. What's the fun of being on the moon if you can't moon-dance in reduced gravity?

WHAT IF I DON'T WANT TO ATTEND PROM?

That's okay! Prom is an entirely optional event and nobody is required to attend. However, it is the only place that fourth-wallers will be available for interaction, and it has the potential to overtake most of the setting, so characters choosing not to participate will have a few options at their disposal.

You are, of course, welcome to sit out the event entirely and resume playing in the game after the three-day period is over; you are also welcome to backdate non-fourth wall posts and logs to before the event begins and play in those. Additionally, we will be including some quiet areas at the site of prom, for characters who would rather avoid a party but still would like to attend the event — we're going to try to make sure there's a little something for everyone!

I STILL HAVE QUESTIONS!

We still have answers. For Prom-centric questions, use this thread; for ones pertaining to Fourth-Wall-specific matters, please use this one!

WHERE DO I FIND THE FOURTH WALL INFORMATION AGAIN?

Have a gander right over here!