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Tournament of Ishmadal 2

Welcome, one and all, to the second-ever Tournament of Ishmadal! The trainers have arrived, the grand torch has been lit, and everything is ready to go! Let the battles begin! … wait, you guys want to know who you're battling? Geez, sometimes you just need to be grateful for what you get! Anyway, the first round brackets of glory!:... Read More

Region Maps

Spearow are swarming in Route 1!
Shinx are swarming in Route 304!
Latest Tangelo Times: 3/1/10 · 2/21/10 · 2/13/10 · 1/25/10 · 1/16/10
Orange Islands - 26şF | Kanto - 28şF | Johto - 30şF | Hoenn - 24şF | Sinnoh - 37şF | Zeralis - 28şF Orange Islands - -3şC | Kanto - -2şC | Johto - -1şC | Hoenn - -4şC | Sinnoh - 3şC | Zeralis - -2şC

Polls

Do you support a move to a self-hosted IPB board (PLEASE read the whole post or don't vote)?
Yes 20 (87%)
No (please post explaining your position) 3 (13%)
Total Votes: 23
Only members can vote in this poll.
View Topic

Tangelo Times - 3/1/10

Posted by Trainer X (Admin) at Mar 1 2010, 12:47 AM. 27 comments

Tangelo Times
March 1st, 2010

Contents

  • [link=0, tournament]The Tournament Continues![/link]
  • [link=0, add]Shiny Time[/link]
  • [link=0, champ]Zeralis's New Champ[/link]
  • [link=0, comm]Community Spotlight[/link]
  • [link=0, ipb]Operation Invison: Q&A[/link]
  • [link=0, cost]Operation Invision: The Costs[/link]
  • [link=0, weather]Weather/Swarms[/link]
Contributors

  • Trainer X
  • Novoni
  • TheMusicMan
  • Roxas




IPB-o-Meter

Posted Image
Current: $15 | Theoretical: $230 | Goal: $272
 

Wow, is it really March already? Time sure flies when you're… uh… doing whatever it is that we're doing. So far, this is actually shaping up to be a rather progressive year in the OI-verse. You'll probably be seeing more of that come spring and summertime but of now, just rest easy knowing that we do have stuff planned.

Awesome stuff.

[link=1, tournament]So There's This Tournament…[/link]

Written by: | Category: RPG - Event

One week of intense battles and unexpected scandals through, and the tournament is moving full steam ahead. Three battles have already concluded, two are underway, two more need to restart, and one has yet to begin. And to demonstrate all of this in a kindergarten-friendly manner, we've updated the brackets!

Posted Image

[link=1, add]The Great Sprite Uploadathon: V.2![/link]

Organized by: Roxas | Category: Forum - General

Continuing in the vein of simple improvements from last week, we're now getting together to take care of something long overdue: uploading shiny sprites! Thanks to the organizational skills of your friendly neighborhood Roxas, a huge sprite uploadathon has been organized, and will encompass not only all of the original Pokémon, but all of Amaya's available shiny sprites as well! Keep checking the emoticon list to see if your favorite shiny sprites are in!

[link=1, champ]Naming a New Champion[/link]

Written by: Novoni | Category: RPG - Storyline

“Welcome, Dr. Trazom, please have a seat. Thank you for coming,” Sakura said, motioning to an empty chair around the conference table in the room above Tasmain Stadium.

“Always a pleasure,” the professor replied. “And I do believe congratulations are in order,” he said, nodding his head towards the trainer now on his right. She smiled.

“Thank you, Professor,” Luna replied. Sakura gave a small nod too; the rest of the Elites were also at the table. “But now,” Luna continued, “I wanted to discuss with you some of my findings from New Island. I spent some time there a few months ago, but all that got pushed aside in Solipsus’ wake, of course. However, I think now would be a good time to get the teams involved in something useful… and well paying for their members, no doubt. The Pokémon of New Island are thriving, and they are quite remarkable species,” she said, smiling.

“You mean the Pokémon you beat us all with have only been with you for a few months?” Jacques asked, his interest suddenly piqued.

“Yes, they’re still relatively young,” Luna shrugged. “Anyway, we will be sending a message to the teams shortly about some investigations, because it seems that whatever issues arose there last time are still leaving some lingering effects that really ought to be checked out.”

The Elites and Dr. Trazom nodded, and the phone rang. Sergei stood up and answered. After a few minutes, he hung up the phone and turned to the table. “More reporters want to speak to the new Champion.”

From the Tangelo Time’s partner paper, the Zeralinews

The Zeralis League announced their replacement for Tajiro Alakio, the former Champion of Zeralis, last Friday. Luna Delattice, formerly of Imperia City, Amaya, has been crowned the new Champion. Luna’s assistance during the Chaos Disaster as well as her research on Gri and, more recently, on New Island, made her an ideal candidate for the position.

But the process of choosing her wasn't simple. Each potential candidate first had to go through an intensive interview session. Each candidate then faced each of the Elite Four and the other candidates in battle with their Pokémon team, and Luna’s Pokémon proved during this small tournament that they were certainly championship-worthy.

The Zeralis League remains one of the newest regional leagues in the world, so it may be a while yet until the new Champion gets to face some true challenges, but rest assured that when that happens, the battles will definitely be worth watching.


Luna's New Team

:pamboo: :cresselia: :charcoalt:
:forresaur: :rainer: :terrelta:


[link=1, comm]Community Spotlight: March[/link]

Written by: | Category: Forum - Icon

Never heard of the Community Spotlight section of our updates? That's not very surprising; this is the first one (still not an excuse for never having heard of it though). Basically, once (or twice) a month, we're going to use this section to take a closer look at something in the community that we think is worth taking a look at. A forum game, an interesting discussion topic, an art thread, whatever. And hopefully, various different people will be writing this section, so you'll get lots of different viewpoints as well!

To kick things off, we're going to take a look at Novoni's new Amaya Blog! She plans to use the blog to discuss the development of our newest region, as well as call out for various suggestions when she needs them. Make sure to keep your eye on it; who knows what you might discover?

[link=1, ipb]Operation Invision: Question and Answer[/link]

Written by: | Category: Operation Invision

Continuing on from last week, we now begin (and hopefully end) our campaign to get Operation Invision supported by all or nearly all of the community! So, to start it off, we're going to answer questions about the possible move. These were questions submitted in last week's Tangelo Times; if you have a question after this, feel free to post it here!

Anyway, here we go!
Quote:
 
Scizordoom: I would like to know what will happen to the GridDex, Chat and the World Map in the move.
What makes you think anything would happen to them? The coding can all be transferred over almost completely in tact. We'd just have to change the links to make sure everything changes over OK.

Scizordoom: How long are we looking at before we move to IPB?
We really don't have a set timeframe. It could take two weeks, or ten months. We're willing to work on it however long it takes to make it perfect. If I had to give a guess… I'd say sometime over the summer? But really, we don't have any idea yet.

Ragingprimeape: Will the move mean a longer wait for Amaya?
Operation Invision and Amaya will be worked on entirely separately. Amaya is being mostly headed by Novoni, while I'll be heading most of the stuff relating to the IPB. And besides, Amaya is closer to completion than you might think ;)

Black Temple Gaurdian: What about the Topaz regions?
Caldera and Kirant are largely being put together by ImmunityBow alone. Aside from progress on moveset conversions, progress on them will be largely unaffected by anything IPB-related.

Winterbane: How much is it going to cost?
That's actually a very good question. Which leads us to the next section…

[link=1, cost]Operation Invision: What's It Gonna Cost?[/link]

Written by: | Category: Operation Invision

When we were looking into an IPB in the first place, we knew it would be costly. We weren't sure how costly, exactly, but we knew it would be up there. So we didn't seriously consider the project until something came along that made the IPB affordable.

All of this leads me to the fancy do-hickey you might have noticed at the top of this week's Tangelo Times: the IPB-o-Meter. This meter will be updated every week with the progress of our fundraising efforts, because we can't do anything with the project until we raise the money. But the meter's a bit confusing, isn't it? It's split into a few sections, which I'll go over now:

Posted Image

The first section you'll probably notice is the dark blue one on the left. This section represents the funds that are accessible by us at this very second. At the moment, that would be about $15, give or take some change. The blue will gradually transition to orange as it builds up.

The next section is black. As you can see, it's sort of see-through and faded. This section represents the money that people have said they will donate to us, but haven't actually yet. This category alone accounts for a whopping $90! However, it doesn't do us much good until the money actually gets to us.

After that, you have a larger, similarly faded purple section. This section represents the approximated value of selling our extra vBulletin license (the actual value may be a bit more/less). What vBulletin, you might ask? Why, the one that local RPG moderator Chronicler is going to give to us (no, that's not why he's an RPG mod, and no, that's not why Turquoise moved back to ZB)! What we'll get for the vB depends on a lot of situational factors, so we can't really predict exactly how much it'll help us yet.

So if we get donated exactly what's been promised, and the vBulletin sells for exactly what we're guessing it will, we'll end up with approximately $230. Our goal, as you can see by the text under the IPB-o-Meter, is $272, which is represented on the meter itself by the glowing marker. The IPB itself costs $238. Estimating for tax and initial hosting costs and whatnot make up the remaining cost. Of course, $272 is just a goal, not a roof; we're more than happy to accept more than that. It'll help us create a safety fund for hosting, and allow us to pay for more IPB add-ons! (a lot of modifications and whatnot cost money, but as for official add-ons, we're starting with the board, IP.Content, and IP.Gallery. If we get enough later, we may add the Blog).

So now that you've read all of this, what do you think? Make sure to vote in the new poll at the top of this TT with your new answer! If you'd like to donate to help, please contact me or TMM for the PayPal transfer link (the Donate button in our Support Us! page deducts a small fee, so this way is preferable). Alternatively, if you have a credit card but no expendable money, check out our Support Us! page for another way to help!



That's about all for this week. See you all next week for another exciting episode of Orange Islands: Attorney at Law Ishmadal Tournament!

-Trainer X
-Is Feelin' Good in the Neighborhood

[link=1, weather]Weather Update[/link]
Same as Last Week


Orange Islands - :snow: A rare snowstorm in the tropics! Expect cold weather, some wind, and accumulation of 3-5 inches (OH THE HUMANITY!!!).
Zeralis - :sun: Neighboring Zeralis gets better weather. Cool but sunny!
Kanto - :sun: Sunny and cold up north as well! Clear skies and brisk temperatures will give way to clouds and warmer conditions later in the week.
Johto - :wind: Chilly and windy is the name of the game here. Clear skies, and lots of wind expected as the temperatures warm up throughout the week.
Hoenn - :snow: Hoenn gets hit by some snow as well! Cold conditions, a fair bit of wind, and accumulation of 2-4 inches expected.
Sinnoh - :rains: For once, Sinnoh is the warmest region! Still fairly chilly, but warm enough for rainfall to help wash away some of the snow.

Swarms
Same as Last Week


Spearow are swarming in Route 1!
Shinx are swarming in Route 304!

Tangelo Times - 2/21/10

Posted by Trainer X (Admin) at Feb 21 2010, 02:10 PM. 36 comments

Tangelo Times
February 20th, 2010

Contents

  • [link=0, tournament]The Tournament of Ishmadal[/link]
  • [link=0, add]Random Additions[/link]
  • [link=0, icon]February Icon?![/link]
  • [link=0, ipb]Operation: Invision[/link]
  • [link=0, weather]Weather/Swarms[/link]
  • [link=0, epic]???[/link]
Contributors

  • Trainer X
  • Novoni
  • TheMusicMan




Another week, another update, huh? This week, as you might have noticed, we're capitalizing on yet another non-religious holiday. That's right, President's Day Valentine's Day! We were thinking about planting random spots, that, when hovered, would trigger explosions of lovey-dovey Valentines goodness. Lucky for you guys, we decided against it .

As far as you know.

[link=1, tournament]The Tournament Begins![/link]

Written by: | Category: RPG - Event

After a week of prepping the engines, polishing the seats, and generally wasting time, the Tournament of Ishmadal is finally ready to begin! Check out the brackets for the first round!:

Posted Image

For full matchups, and other details, you'll want to check out the full tournament topic here:

http://orangeislands.net/topic/8617998/1/

For tournament participants, make sure to send in your battle team of three Pokémon from the first round team you sent in by Sunday, February 22nd, at 2:00 PM EST (7:00 PM GMT), or face automatic disqualification!

[link=1, adds]Keeping Things Polished[/link]

Written by: and TheMusicMan | Category: Forum - General

Although we do have some major projects in the wings (read below), now that we have some free time on our hands site-wise, we're taking some time to clean up a few things. This week saw the first of some site improvements. The old, out-of-date, and now useless OI-Index, for example, has been archived to the Trash forum (which you shouldn't be able to see).

Next, we're mixing up the team promos a bit. Some of them were out of date, useless, or just plain weird. So now, all four teams' promos have received a slight revamp and a boost. Make sure to check them out if you're thinking about joining a team!

More relevant to you guys, we're starting to make use of ZB's Avatar Gallery feature! We've added a number of avatars based on art from the last event, in fact. To take a look, go to the Preferences dropdown, click Change Avatar, and then go to the 'Orange Islands Pokémon!' folder. Take a look, and show off some OI pride! Please note that those avatars are not for use outside of this site, so please don't rip them!

Finally, a more notable change, courtesy of our local TheMusicMan:
Quote:
 
Over the past year or so since players started making it to Pummelo to challenge the Elite Four, I've noticed that the way we conduct battles there leaves something to be desired. I've conferred with the Elite Panel of Invincible Competitors (or EPIC), and we have decided to completely revamp the E4 system. Here's a rundown:
  • Each player will have two mods assigned to them for the entirety of their challenge (or just for one of the E4 members maybe, it's up to the mod). One of them will volunteer/be selected from our list of Battle Mods, and will be the person controlling the E4 trainer. The other mod will be the one who updates the battle (and can be any mod).
  • Instead of posting their move in their thread, both the player and the Battle Mod will PM their moves to the Updating Mod (or exactly like a closed command battle in Pummelo Stadium would work).
  • In addition, players will have the option to turn on the 'Competitive Clause' from the Pummelo Stadium (which means switching and attacking in the same turn is banned) during their challenge, but must use the same style for the whole challenge.

[link=1, icon]It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Month...[/link]

Icon by: TheMusicMan | Category: Forum - Icon

As was so subtly foreshadowed last week, it's time for February's Monthly Icon! This month, we turn it over to the honorable TheMusicMan (better hurry; the Grammar Nazis are coming!), who has thought long and hard about his decision (nearly ten minutes!). And, after all of this thought, he finally decided to award his icon to none other than…

Dragonfire! Congratulations!

[link=1, ipb]Operation Invision[/link]

Written by: | Category: Forum - General

Many of you may remember last July's PKMNDex fiasco. For those of you who weren't there, I'll try to briefly summarize. We received an offer from someone who wanted to combine their site concept with OI, essentially giving OI its own website and a vBulletin forum. We'd already been debating trying to get a vBulletin, and a website had been near the top of our list of goals as well, so it was no surprise that we accepted.

Eager to move as quickly as possible, we rushed through production, cramming as many things in as possible as quickly as possible. Finally, just two months after we announced the project, we moved. The new OI-Dex was still incomplete, we were unfamiliar with the forum software, and more than anything else, we had rushed into it. Regardless, we moved over, and found ourselves face to face with a literal barrage of forum trolls (mostly due to the accidental association of the site with the old PokeRealm domain).

As we tried to fend off the trolls, we realized how unfamiliar we were with the new forums. More importantly, we also realized how important being in control of our own site is; the new site and forum were great, but we weren't the ones running the show, even though it was largely OI content. We also realized how hastily everything had been thrown together in our excitement to move. There could be a great OI site eventually, but this wasn't it, and it couldn't be made by rushing into it.

And so, we decided to move back. But when we did, we said that we wouldn't rule out trying to set up a self-hosted OI site and forums in the future. But we said that when we did, we would take our time setting things up to make everything perfect. We would do things in the patient-OCD-perfectionist manner that we usually do things, and the manner that gets everything looking so great when it comes out. In short, the OI way.

And now, we believe that time might have come.

Over the past few months, we've been doing a lot of research into self-hosting. Mainly, into a forum software called Invision Power Board. That name might sound familiar to you, and it should, because that's the software that OI first started on! But that software was outdated when we were on it (version 1.3, to be exact), and it's even more out of date now. The new Invision Power Board (version 3.0.5) is looking absolutely fantastic, and we believe it may have a plethora of features that would be of use to us, some of which I will try to list now:
  • Watch This Topic – This feature allows you to select topics (threads) that you would like to watch. When new posts are made in these topics, they will show up in a box in the collapsable sidebar on the forum index. So instead of having to go all the way to whatever area you're in to check to see if you've gotten an update, you'll be able to see right on the board index! You can also use it to follow your friends' adventures, or an art topic you like, or a forum game you're participating in, or more!

  • Topic and Post Rating – Like an adventure, or a specific RPG post? Just hit a button and show off your love! This would be perfect for future Golden Orange Awards, and for your own (already bloated) self-esteem.

  • Customizable Profiles – Profiles are very customizable on IPB. You can add an 'about you' section, post status updates like on Facebook (more on that later), and even add a custom background to your profile page! There's also a little pop-up mini-profile that can be brought up wherever someone's username is linked to!

  • Ridiculously Awesome PM System – The PM system on IPB is like having your own private topic with someone; it looks just like a regular forum topic! Even more awesome, you can have a group PM. If you realize you forgot to include someone, you can invite them later–and kick them out when they're done!

  • Social Integration – It's not a big deal for many of us, but quite a few of you enjoy using social networking sites such as FaceBook and Twitter. Well, IPB supports full integration! Not only can you post the links to posts on the forums on Twitter, FaceBook, and more with the simple press of a button, but you can even link your forum account with your Twitter or FaceBook! Status updates you make on either of them will automatically be sent to the forums as well. Additionally, IPB supports RSS feeds as well, if you're into that sort of thing.

  • Various Little Things – There's also a lot of little things that makes IPB a huge improvement over ZB. A lot of those have to do with customizability, so they'll probably more influential on the administrative side, rather than what you'll see directly. However, a number of things, such as MultiQuote, a Rich Text Editor (the post box basically acts like Microsoft Word; no need for BBCode!), Friendly URLs (URLs are more than just random numbers; they have to do with the topic or forum title!), and others just make for an easier and better forum experience.

  • IPB Over vB – vBulletin is a great piece of software, no doubt about it. But its new owners, a company called Internet Brands, is one of those 'money first, customers second' type of companies, as proven by the new vB4, which has too many errors to count (there were over 250 bug fixes in the last maintenance release!). Additionally, it costs a lot more–and for a lot less. IPB is also advancing and innovating at a much faster pace than vB, and not only that, but they're doing it well. Most importantly, IPB is very similar to the software we're already using while adding a ton of new functionality, while vB is a far more drastic jump interface wise but not so much functionality wise. At the end of the day, it's a smarter, both feature-wise and financially, to go with IPB.
The next few features I'm going to list depend on which add-ons we purchase to go with the IPB board. So I'll list each add-on, what it can do, and its advantage over its ZB equivalent (if there is one):
  • IP.Content – This is the only one that I can guarantee we're getting. Basically, this add-on acts as a website builder. We can build webpages using the forum wrapper (like the custom webpages here), or they can be skinned from scratch. Additionally, they can use blocks that draw information from the main board (member/post counts, whether or not you have any new PMs, etc.) for even more customizability. We plan to use this to make the OI website, and to fully integrate it with the board. Trust me when I tell you that it will be awesome.

  • IP.Gallery – This is probably the next most likely that we'll buy, and it has no ZB equivalent. Using this add-on, you can essentially host your own gallery on the forum! Upload pictures and videos, make albums, have users comment and rate them, and more! This is perfect for the many aspiring artists here (no wonder this is Novi's favorite add-on!).

  • IP.Blog – We may or may not buy this one, depending on what you guys say you want and how much money we end up raising. Although ZB has a blog feature, it's not very exploited or visible. Every user in IPB, however, has a link to their blog (and their gallery) in their mini-profile (that's the thing that shows up next to each post). You can add your own custom banner for your blog, and add custom content blocks (a calendar, for example). If you have an external blog, you can even set it up to automatically post those blog entries here as well! Additionally, you can set up a group blog (one blog that multiple users can post in). If we do get this add-on, we might use the group blog feature for a developer's blog or something like that.

  • IP. Chat – As awesome as this add-on is (and it is awesome), this is probably the least likely one that we'll purchase (other than IP.Download, which we have no use for) due purely to cost limitations. This add-on adds a chatbox similar to the one we have to the board. However, it is fully integrated; you only need one account, all permissions are shared (so if you're a mod on the board, you'll be a mod there), and you can even use our emoticons on there! The only downside is that it is sold based on maximum users in the shoutbox, and because the shoutbox is hosted on IPS servers, it has to be renewed annually (so it costs $20 a year to have a maximum of 20 online users in the shoutbox at once; $30 boosts that to 50). If the shoutbox is full, and you try to sign on, you will be told to try again later when someone has left. We rarely hit 20 users as it is, so that's not really a big deal.
Don't want to take my word on its awesomeness? Then why not see for yourself! Check out the IPB community board for a good example (ignore the topbar navigation; it's an add-on specific to their board):

http://community.invisionpower.com/index

But really, it doesn't matter if it has a million new features if there's no reason to move, right? And why go with IPB over vB? But there are reasons!
  • Expansion – As we continue to grow, we continue to test the limitations of the ZB software. It's time that we upgraded to meet the needs of our ever-growing community. And it'll be a lot easier to move now, when we only have 100,000 or so posts, than in another year, when we could possibly have more than double that.

  • Security – With self-hosting, we'd be in control of making backups for our board (although a good host would hopefully make backups every now and then as well). Remember a year and a half ago, when we lost six months of information due to a ZB server crash? If the server crashed on a self-hosted forum, we'd be able to restore from our latest backup, which we can download whenever. So maybe we'd only lose a week of data instead! Essentially, our data would be much more secure in our own hands.

  • Improvement – We're always trying to improve the experience here, but there's only so much we can do in a remotely-hosted forum environment like this. We have so many ideas for the future (in fact, we have one project already completed that we can't do anything with because we have nowhere to host it), but we need more control over our forums in order to make them work.
But at the end of the day, it's really all of your opinions that count. If you guys don't want to move, then this ends here. But before you go ahead and press that Vote button at the top of this Times, remember how embarrassed we were about the PKMNDex incident; we would never even suggest this if we thought it would end remotely like that. We're not merging, we're not going to rush, and we're not putting our site in the hands of someone else. We''ll take as long as it takes to make this project amazing, and we're going to be in control of the project the entire time. And if we didn't think this idea was worth it, we wouldn't be bringing it up.

So, what do you all think? Show your opinion in the poll at the top of this Times, and post it as well!



That about wraps it up for this week. Stay tuned for the second Tournament of Ishmadal!

-Trainer X
-Is Ready to Rumble

[link=1, weather]Weather Update[/link]
Same as Last Week


Orange Islands - :snow: A rare snowstorm in the tropics! Expect cold weather, some wind, and accumulation of 3-5 inches (OH THE HUMANITY!!!).
Zeralis - :sun: Neighboring Zeralis gets better weather. Cool but sunny!
Kanto - :sun: Sunny and cold up north as well! Clear skies and brisk temperatures will give way to clouds and warmer conditions later in the week.
Johto - :wind: Chilly and windy is the name of the game here. Clear skies, and lots of wind expected as the temperatures warm up throughout the week.
Hoenn - :snow: Hoenn gets hit by some snow as well! Cold conditions, a fair bit of wind, and accumulation of 2-4 inches expected.
Sinnoh - :rains: For once, Sinnoh is the warmest region! Still fairly chilly, but warm enough for rainfall to help wash away some of the snow.

Swarms
Same as Last Week


Spearow are swarming in Route 1!
Shinx are swarming in Route 304!

[link=1, epic]The[/link] night was crystal clear in the peaceful land of Zeralis. Millions of stars twinkled on the dark canvas, and the moon shone soft light on the quiet landscape. Through the darkness traveled three streaks of light–one a fiery red, another an electric yellow, and the last a liquid blue. They didn't appear to have any clear destination; the journey was more important.

Suddenly, the yellow streak broke off from the group and landed in an open field, in front of a traveling trainer. The adventurer appeared to be lost, tired, and hungry; a storm was gathering as well, and there did not appear to be any shelter in sight. The yellow streak–whatever it was–had seen this, and it led the trainer to a hidden cave in the ground. The trainer gratefully thanked the mysterious helper as the storm began to let loose a torrent of rain upon the field.

Ellaith nodded, glad to help, and sped off to rejoin its siblings.

Tournament of Ishmadal 2

Posted by Trainer X (Admin) at Feb 20 2010, 10:55 PM. 2 comments

Welcome, one and all, to the second-ever Tournament of Ishmadal! The trainers have arrived, the grand torch has been lit, and everything is ready to go! Let the battles begin!

… wait, you guys want to know who you're battling? Geez, sometimes you just need to be grateful for what you get! Anyway, the first round brackets of glory!:

Posted Image

Matchups
Suen (Sin)
[18] :plattail: [19] :pipawk: [20] :lunelle:
[15] :shuppet: [21] :fercoa: [19] :tauros:
vs.Drake (syphondblade}
[17] :pyroby: [18] :siron: [17] :absol:
[19] :elekid: [16] :sonnest: [18] :artily:
Shannon (NPC)
[22] :swellow: [24] :aron: [26] :manectric:
[21] :vigoroth: [25] :lombre: [24] :camerupt:
vs.Mitch (Phoenixsong)
[24] :pyroby: [21] :apollyonm: [19] :chitang:
[22] :cosmion: [25] :taegle: [23] :zebrite:
Max (Scizordoom)
[19] :nidorino: [16] :charmeleon: [24] :lapras:
[16] :tangela: [22] :nebulion: [19] :pipawk:
vs.Sarah Jr. (NPC)
[21] :gligar: [24] :gallade: [22] :prinplup:
[20] :leafeon: [19] :beautifly: [23] :aipom:
Jesse (NPC)
[18] :pinsir: [21] :cumos: [22] :amirok:
[25] :rapteroc: [20] :oracleverdeguar: [23] :ailaze:
vs.Frita (NPC)
[25] :fercoatyls: [23] :plattail: [19] :vollav:
[22] :telazure: [21] :speetah: [18] :zebrite:
Aaric (Winterbane)
[15] :spiritomb: [14] :oracleapollyonf: [20] :chinchou:
[16] :taegle: [18] :fercoa: [16] :tottem:
vs.Dave (Ultimate Fire)
[19] :pyroby: [15] :sonnest: [10] :antraxpi:
[12] :porygon2: [16] :aerodactyl: [10] :wombolantern:
Pablo (NPC)
[30] :croconaw: [25] :growlithe: [20] :sudowoodo:
[18] :sunflora: [22] :yanma: [26] :togetic:
vs.Stephen (shadow_rukario)
[20] :doomsay: [18] :gorphibius: [18] :orclata:
[16] :heracross: [21] :ufo: [23] :mantine:
Charlemegne (NPC)
[22] :charmeleon: [21] :scyther: [19] :tangela:
[25] :tentacruel: [24] :pikachu: [25] :dugtrio:
vs.Zarke (Malphis)
[18] :pyroby: [17] :gazalaxy: [17] :karama:
[16] :ivysaur2: [16] :swablu: [17] :pikablu:
Simon (Jigglypuff13)
[26] :pyroby: [25] :ufo: [24] :tarakin:
[29] :karama: [23] :toxicell: [28] :lapras:
vs.Luigi (NPC)
[22] :karama: [19] :orclata: [24] :bizzap:
[26] :clarimata: [23] :tarphalt: [25] :cosmion:

So what happens next? Well, this tournament is held Stadium-style, meaning that all participating trainers will need to send in three Pokémon that they wish to use in the first battle through PM to Trainer X by Monday, February 22nd, at 10:00 PM EST (3:00 AM GMT). Battles may start before then, however; we will start them as they become ready to start. The first round will also use the following clauses:
  • No-KO Clause – One-Hit KO moves such as Horn Drill and Fissure will not work.
  • Sleep Clause – No more than one Pokémon on each team may be asleep at a time (not counting Pokémon put to sleep by moves such as Rest or Dark Void).
  • Freeze Clause – No more than one Pokémon on each team may be frozen at the same time.
  • Competitive Clause – Switching Pokémon and attacking in the same turn is not permitted.
  • Evasion Clause - Evasion-raising moves such as Double Team or Minimize will not work.
Oh, and we're also going to be throwing in a few neat little additions to the tournament, so make sure to keep your eyes open for those! Good luck to all participants, and see you all after the first round!

Tangelo Times - 2/13/10

Posted by Trainer X (Admin) at Feb 13 2010, 12:35 AM. 46 comments

Tangelo Times
February 13th, 2010

Contents

  • [link=0, event]The Event Concludes![/link]
  • [link=0, tournament]Tournament of Ishmadal[/link]
  • [link=0, mods]The Revolving Door[/link]
  • [link=0, light]Just My Type[/link]
  • [link=0, icons]Icons Galore[/link]
  • [link=0, art]The Art Returns[/link]
  • [link=0, weather]Weather/Swarms[/link]
Contributors

  • Trainer X
  • Novoni
  • Chaos Shadow
  • TheMusicMan




And, nearly three weeks later, we're back!

The Tangelo Times (like a number of you) spent the last few weeks trapped in nonexistence. Not out of laziness, but out of… well, lack of news to report. No update at all is better than three updates that say, "Yup. This is OI. Hi!" right?

Anyway, let's see… since we've been gone, the real world was hit by what has come to be known as Snowmageddon. Or the United States Northeast was, anyway. Apparently the South is going to be hit by… two to four inches of snow! *gasp* But anyway, Novi and I dug our way out of three feet of snow, and are here to deliver the Tangelo Times you've been waiting for!

[link=1, event]Nonexistence Post-Mortem[/link]

Written by: | Category: RPG - Event

For those of you who live in caves, under rocks, in Kansas, etc., the Zeralis Storyline just concluded in a rather epic fashion. The Zeralis Storyline actually covers every RPG event we've had here so far, so this is a pretty big deal. The Legend of Three has been realized, the world has been saved from destruction at the hands of Solipsus and Tajiro, and all is good in the world.

For now, anyway.

But what comes next, you might ask? What do we do now that the storyline is complete? Well, you'll just have to stick around and find out, now won't you?

[link=1, tournament]Weren't We In the Middle of Something?[/link]

Written by: | Category: RPG - Event

For those of you managed to qualify for the Ishmadal Tournament, you might have a number of thoughts running through your mind right about now. "When is this thing going to start?" "Where's the vending machine?" As for the second one, why didn't you tell us you wanted a vending machine before we invited TMM to watch?

But for the first, the answer is simple: one week from yesterday, also known as next Friday! Ishmadal participants, we'll need all your first-round teams submitted by Wednesday, February 17th, at 8:00 PM EST (1:00 AM GMT). You'll be able to change your team after the first round (assuming you advance, of course). Brackets should be out sometime after that and before the start of the tournament itself. Like its first rendition, the Tournament will be run Stadium-style (you get to see your opponent's entire team, and then you pick three from your own to battle with), at least for the first few rounds.

Good luck to all participants, and see you on the battlefield!

Posted Image

[link=1, mods]One Up, One Down[/link]

Written by: | Category: General - Staff

Although a valued member of our staff, Malphis hasn't been doing much in the way of updating lately, and the space could be better filled by someone who would update. So, Malphis has decided to step down from RPG mod to fill in the role of Super-Secret-Agent/Otherworldly-Consult.

Meanwhile, someone else has stepped up to fill in Malphis's figurative updating boots. Someone with guts, experience, and an updating fist of steel. So without further ado, please welcome LadiesMan217 back to the RPG mod team!

[link=1, light]Just My Type[/link]

Written by: TheMusicMan | Category: RPG - Mechanics

Recently the staff here at OI has been kicking around some changes to our Light type, because some of the things it was doing just wasn't making sense. So, here's a rundown:

Light is Super Effective against:
Dark, Bug, Ghost
Light is Not Very Effective against:
Psychic, Grass, Light, Steel
Light is Weak to:
Psychic, Grass
Light is Resistant to:
Ghost, Bug, Light
Light is Immune to:
Dark

The Type Comparison Chart has been updated to reflect this change, and also, the list has been added to the OI-Dex Index. If you have any more questions about it, feel free to ask any staff member.

[link=1, icons]Super-Mega-Awesome-Icon-Bonanza![/link]

Written by: | Category: Forum - Icon

So, first things first. There's a January icon to be handed out, and there's only one person up to the task: resident sprite master Novoni! For her icon, she's chosen someone hardworking, dedicated, and most importantly, alive. Therefore, we are proud to present the first Admin's Pick Icon of 2010 to none other than...

Spoiler: click to toggle

Spoiler: click to toggle

Spoiler: click to toggle

Spoiler: click to toggle


Next, Novoni's whipped something extra special up: team icons! That's right, all you Aurora, Eclipse, Twilight, and Sunrise people have a new piece of merchandise to show off on your profiles! However, for time's sake, you will need to post in this Times to claim your icon.

:auroraicon: :eclipseicon: :twilighticon: :sunriseicon:

Moving on, Novoni's also prepared icons for both Astrelleo and the Chamber of Mysteries and the Beginning of the End events! You'll need to post here to claim those as well (make sure to specify which you qualify for!).

Finally, the icon for February! And the winner is… wait, what? Oh, sorry folks, apparently this section was supposed to go in next week's Times! Check back then!

[link=1, art]Multi-Talented[/link]

Art by: Chaos Shadow | Category: Dex - Art

Since joining the RPG moderator team, resident artist Chaos Shadow has taken the RPG by storm. But is she letting that hurt her art? Not at all! Just take a look at what she dished out this week!

Posted Image



That's about it for this week! Enjoy your Valentine's Day folks. And make sure to buy that special someone (or yourself) something special. Because if you don't, you'll make Quagentine angry.

Posted Image

And you wouldn't like it when he's angry.

-Trainer X
-Quagentine Demands Sacrifices

[link=1, weather]Weather Update[/link]

Orange Islands - :snow: A rare snowstorm in the tropics! Expect cold weather, some wind, and accumulation of 3-5 inches (OH THE HUMANITY!!!).
Zeralis - :sun: Neighboring Zeralis gets better weather. Cool but sunny!
Kanto - :sun: Sunny and cold up north as well! Clear skies and brisk temperatures will give way to clouds and warmer conditions later in the week.
Johto - :wind: Chilly and windy is the name of the game here. Clear skies, and lots of wind expected as the temperatures warm up throughout the week.
Hoenn - :snow: Hoenn gets hit by some snow as well! Cold conditions, a fair bit of wind, and accumulation of 2-4 inches expected.
Sinnoh - :rains: For once, Sinnoh is the warmest region! Still fairly chilly, but warm enough for rainfall to help wash away some of the snow.

Swarms

Spearow are swarming in Route 1!
Shinx are swarming in Route 304!

This is the beginning of the End.

Posted by Novoni (Admin) at Feb 2 2010, 12:10 AM. 47 comments

The streets were quiet. Even the Paradisea had disappeared. The few people that had ventured out after news of Solipsus’ release had since gathered in the Pokémon Center in the center of Bountai town and remained there under strict lockdown. One foolhardy trainer had attempted to leave for more food… that was two days ago.

Solipsus seemed to be everywhere at once, as though it could instantly travel at will. There had already been sightings all around Zeralis, albeit mostly (and fortunately for the observers) brief, distance glimpses of a mysterious black void and a sudden burst of strange light. But now it appeared, in Bountai Town, right in front of the Pokémon Center. It was much more terrifying in person. Some people ran to cower behind the counter, a few couldn’t tear themselves from the window. The immense, dark shape reared its head and opened its mouth; its eyes and mouth, as well as the veins running down its back pulsed with energy that changed from a light blue to a bright red. Darkness enveloped the Pokémon Center as Solipsus emitted a terrifying, eerie roar, and then the Pokémon and the Center sunk into the dark void, and everything was dead quiet once again.

Meanwhile, along the coast of Dune Town, another legendary Pokémon took careful, light steps in the sand. Its great white paws, studded with bright cyan gems, were powerful and steady as it looked around. A small lightning bolt darted through the air and landed beside the Pokémon in the form of Ellaith. The electric Pokémon looked up at Astrelleo and read the concern in the wise Pokémon’s eyes; after a brief moment, it took off again. Astrelleo looked towards the south, towards the desert-like cliffs by Ponamu City and Mao Village: Valyth was there, waiting for another challenger. Astrelleo knew he ought to confront the bird, but Solipsus was the pressing matter right now. And he knew that others would be after the bird once they’d heard of the sightings around Ponamu.

To the east, then, by Lake Pacifi and Waikat, Novoni wove between buildings in the near-deserted town, darting out to the lake, looking around, and soaring into the air again. The Pokémon had already guided a few groups of people away from the towns in hopes of preventing Solipsus from finding them, but there was no telling how long it would take for the great Pokémon to find them anyway. The dragon sighed, and took a short rest along the lakeshore.

In Taura village, Luna, Jordan and Dr. Trazom huddled in Dr. Trazom’s small house; the transcripts of the Unown tablet and the Zeralis Legend written out in a hard copy and across all of Trazom’s computer screens. He had sent it to any place he could think of; the Pokémon Leagues, Professor Ivy, Professor Oak, Professor Rowan, the Amayan Research Center, he even tried his old New Island research contact. Terrelta and Fuorasu had stressed the importance of the tablet, and the story of Ancient Zeralis seemed to hint at the release of Solipsus. Their only hope, then, was that it also hinted at how to stop it.

----------

Jordan flipped open his small laptop to check his email. Unlike the previous dozen times he had done this, though, this time he gasped.

“Dr. Trazom, check this out. The Twilight people have responded, their consensus seems to be that there’s a fourth deity on Rakkioro Island that can be released.!”

Trazom looked up. “A fourth deity? That’s nonsense. Every legendary Pokémon is accounted for in this Legend… heck, even Mew and Ho-oh are mentioned, and they’re not even Zeralian legends!”

“But Mew was there, according to that Legend,” Luna said slowly. “It’s the best lead we’ve got right now, and we’ve got nothing to lose by checking it out. Well, not ‘we’, necessarily, but… someone.”

“Who?”

Luna thought for a moment. “The Twilight people? If it was their idea,” she suggested.

Dr. Trazom shook his head. “They’ll be after Astrelleo. Eclipse is probably planning to ship out to Ponamu, and Aurora’ll be tracking Novoni…” his voice trailed off.

“The Elite Four? Where’s Tajiro?” she asked. Trazom shrugged. “No one’s been able to contact them since Solipsus was freed.”

Jordan finished reading the rest of the email and looked up. “The third word in the code. Sunrise. That team isn’t sidetracked by a deity, maybe they have people. The gym leaders are too busy trying to protect their cities.”

“Send them an email, then,” Trazom said, looking out the window at the black sky.

--------

“What were you thinking? What are you doing?” Lilia was nearly in tears now as she clutched Tajiro’s arm. “Where did the others go? Did you know about Solipsus?

The Champion pulled his arm away and shrugged. “Lilia, you do not understand. No one does. But the Champion… it is such a generic term anymore. Each region has one, and even they are being defeated every now and then... Pokémon training… all that has created is a desire for violence, control. It’s an endless cycle, one of which I no longer wish to be a part of. You remember hearing about Cyrus, in Sinnoh, correct? My goal exceeds even his. Solipsus is the greatest Pokémon in existence. Even Arceus himself won’t come down from his realm to confront it! Everything is playing out perfectly…” he said, a dark smile across his face.

“You’re disgusting. How could you let the people of Zeralis be destroyed by that… that monster? You can’t possibly stop it, no one can!”

“I don’t plan on stopping it, I plan on controlling it. Then we can learn of its true power… By controlling Solipsus, I control existence, what is nothing and what is something. It is truly remarkable,” he replied, clutching a strange, golden sphere in his hand. Lilia reached for a Pokeball at her belt and expanded it, but before she could release it, Tajiro had shoved her against the wall and released Flarya and Exterrestre, with the former pinning Lilia against the wall and the latter telepathically retrieving her Pokeballs and handing them to Tajiro.

“Keep an eye on her, Flayra,” he said coldly, turning around. The Flarios gave the girl a sort of apologetic look before raising her arms to create a ring of fire around them. Tajiro pulled out a small device and glanced at the small screen.

A frightening grin spread across his face again.

“Solipsus has been spotted on Navel Island.”


Team Leaders (or if the Leader is not online and a topic hasn't been made yet, any team member may do so) will create topics in their secret bases to discuss their plans involving their deities (and in Surise’s case, an expedition to Rakkioro Island) and organize a squad of 4-5 team members in the next 48 hours to embark (Do you want to try to confront your Deity? Guide it to another to battle? Protect it from Solipsus?). You will then be transported to your teams’ bases where you can access your PC and the plaza before embarking. Those of you who are participating in the tournament but have passed the Whirlpool Strait are welcome to join your teams' squads.


Lone Wolves can request to join a team squad, as well; to do so, you must PM the team leader.

For those involved in the squads and those not, be on the lookout for Solipsus! If you find the Pokémon, officials are advising you not try to battle it, and instead try to escape as far away as quickly as possible. Solipsus seems to have the ability to absorb people, Pokémon, and objects in a strange void, possibly to a parallel world similar to the Distortion World, but nothing can be confirmed yet.

Happy Anniversary Orange Islands!

Posted by TheMusicMan (Admin) at Jan 25 2010, 04:48 PM. 31 comments

Orange Islands 3rd Anniversary!
January 25th, 2010

Contents

  • [link=0, credits]Opening Credits[/link]
  • [link=0, year]A Year in Review[/link]
  • [link=0, art]Anniversary Art Extravaganza![/link]
  • [link=0, promo]Just 24 Hours![/link]
  • [link=0, griddex]Griddex Awesomeness![/link]
  • [link=0, follow]A New RPG Mechanic![/link]
  • [link=0, apps]RPG Mod Application Results[/link]
  • [link=0, weather]Weather/Swarms[/link]
Contributors

  • Trainer X
  • Novoni
  • TheMusicMan
  • Tyreximus
  • Chaos Shadow




You’re probably wondering why you’re reading this on such a…. blank skin. Fear not, the answer lies somewhere in this very post! I know it’s hard not to jump ahead to see what it is, but bear with me. Now, without further ado, on with the anniversary!

[link=1, credits]Opening Jedi Mind Tricks Credits[/link]

Written by: | Category: Anniversary

Before we kick off the festivities, I would like to give a big thanks to my fellow admins, Trainer X and Novoni. TX does a lot of the grunt work for the site that goes largely unnoticed, and we would be a lot less far along without Novi, who has dual-handedly drawn us into RPG awesomeness, as well as keeping us all sane.

A great deal of thanks also goes out to our global moderators, you guys put up with way more crap than you should have to, yet you still keep coming back and doing what we ask of you.

To our RPG Mods: GET TO WORK! You guys are the workhorses of our operation here, and we couldn’t do this without you.

I’d also like to thank the Dex Staff for their tireless work throughout the year that was, without you guys our site would be a lot less visually epic.

One more line of thanks goes out to our VIPs, thank you very much for all of the help you’ve given us!

And lastly, the biggest thanks goes out to our community here at OI. Thank you for hanging around with us through the tough times, and here’s to another great year ahead!

[link=1, year]An Awesometastic Year in Review[/link]

Written by: Trainer X | Category: Anniversary

Has it really been another year already? It seems like only yesterday that we were unveiling Amaya, as people madly scrambled to evolve their suddenly-useful Gri. Before we get into all that juicy anniversary goodness (and believe me, it is juicy), let's reminisce, shall we?

January 25th, 2009 - Ah, who could forget Anniversary '09? The opening of Pummelo Stadium, the opening of some pretty sweet eggs, and, best of all, the announcement of Amaya, our second completely-original region!

February 22nd - The Solstice Resort, the hottest vacation spot south of Sinnoh, opens! A host to all sorts of unique Pokémon, adventurers from all around the world have flooded through its doors since its opening.

March 22nd - The Key to Chaos, our fourth RPG event, kicks off! Not one of our more popular events, it experimented with some rather unique mechanics that made it a wild and certainly memorable ride, the revelation of Valyth, the first deity of Zeralis, notwithstanding.

April 17th - The Free Stadium Project is opened! Our greatest endeavor yet, it threatened to break all the boundaries known to text RPG-dom. Unfortunately, a lack of planning led to its untimely closure (don't worry, it'll be making a comeback at some point this year).

May 29th - The Clarimata mini-event kicks off! Additionally, we swap the remaining non-OI-exclusive Pokémon from the Zeralis Dex, giving us an entirely-exclusive dex! The announcement box and weather mechanics are also introduced .

June 13th - We announce the move to PKMNDex, an under-construction Pokémon site. With it comes a move to vBulletin! Sounds enticing, doesn't it?

July 20th - A hasty decision, we announce the move to PKMNDex. Unfortunately, and for various reasons, things didn't work out, and we announce the move back to the old/current site three days later.

August 14th - The Jewel of the Unown, our fifth RPG event, begins! A team-based event like its inspiration, a Glitch in the System, the event is generally a blast despite an ill-timed updating drought, and ultimately culminated in the release of Novoni, the second deity of Zeralis!

October 31st - The most epic Halloween ever to haunt the world! The official OI Twitter goes online, an epic theme takes over the board, and ghost-Pokemon run rampant throughout the RPG.

November 27th - The Kajikami mini-event begins! Additionally, all of the slots of the Amaya Dex have concepts and sprites (even if you haven't seen them all)!

December 22nd - The qualifying round for the second Tournament of Ishmadal begins! Trainers from around the world gather to fight their way through the Whirlpool Strait for a spot in the legendary tournament.

December 31st - We host the first-ever Golden Orange Awards, starring all of the faces you've come to know and love from around the site! Awards are handed out left and right, many munchies are munched upon, and everyone has a good time.

January 1st, 2010 - New Years '10! Some epic art is shown, and, more importantly, the last adventure to the Abyss of Lost Dreams kicks off, as well as our seventh RPG event, Astrelleo and the Chamber of Mysteries!

January 25th - Anniversary '10! Remember when… oh, right.

Looking back on it, it's been a rather eventful year, wouldn't you say? Here's to another one!

But now, I hand the microphone over to TheMusicMan. Happy Anniversary everyone!

[link=1, art]Putting the Edge in Ankyledge[/link]

Art by Tyreximus / Chaos Shadow | Category: Dex - Art

Our artists have been working on something special for the anniversary, and I just know it won’t disappoint! Let’s head over to the desks of our epic artists to see what they whipped up for us!

Posted Image

Meet Ankyledge, drawn by Tyreximus and colored by Chaos Shadow!

Disclaimer: No sledgehammer-like-rock-things were harmed in the making of the above drawing.

Also, in case you missed it (although I'm not sure how you could have), check out the awesome Karozur that blasted through the event, also drawn by Tyreximus and colored by Chaos Shadow!

Posted Image

[link=1, promo]Double Patty Midnight 24-Hour Madness![/link]

Written by: | Category: RPG - Promo

I’m happy to announce the return of one of our most beloved promos, Crystal Island Gri Albino Eevee! Be sure to post in the thread below to claim your very own!

http://orangeislands.net/topic/8609973/1/

This promo will close exactly 24 hours from now. Enjoy!

[link=1, griddex]The Moment You've All Been Waiting For[/link]

Created by: Trainer X / Novoni | Category: Dex - Griddex

One year ago today, we announced a brand-new original region. It took a lot of hard work and dedication by numerous people, but today we have the finished results. I would like to take the opportunity right now to thank everyone who contributed movesets, names, and shinies, and also the biggest thanks goes to our spriter, Novoni. We truly could not have made this possible without you.

Now, without further ado, I am happy to announce the unveiling of the all-new Orange Islands GridDex! Now featuring a fancy new homepage, with artwork by Novoni and coding by Trainer X!

[link=1, follow]Hey, You! Stop Following Me![/link]

Written by: Inevitable | Category: RPG - Features

For this section of the update, I’ll turn it over to our resident crazy Espeon soloist evil mastermind, Inevitable.

Inevitable
 
Follower Pokémon

Introduction:

What with the impending release of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver we have decided it’d be a nice idea if one of the new features of these games was implemented in the OITRPG. Now, as you may already know, you can write your RPG stories with Pokémon out of their pokeballs if you wish to, just like in HGSS and, indeed, Yellow. However, this mechanic intends on creating an official version, with advantages and disadvantages.

NOTE: You will still be able to have Pokémon follow you around in a story sense, though these will not benefit from this mechanic.

Mechanic Overview:

At the end of every battle when you have a follower Pokémon selected, it has a chance of randomly picking up an item from a pre-prepared list. These items include berries, special pokeballs, hold items and TMs, not to mention the rarest of all: The Shining Leaf.

Rules:

1. The mechanic cannot be used until you’ve defeated your rival for the first time. Furthermore, you will also only gain berries until you reach Valencia Island.

2. At the start of a new adventure thread, you can specify that you wish to assign one of your party Pokémon follower status. This must be done before anything else. You cannot pick one at any other point in the thread. You also cannot change your choice or deposit the chosen Pokémon. You have to stick with it all the way.
2. a) If you are returning to a previous thread, you can make a choice in your first new post of that thread. Attempting to exploit this system will result in punishment.

Try and keep this clear. Something along the lines of “I would like my Swablu to be a Follower Pokémon” rather than “John sent out his Swablu to stretch its wings.”

3. Each wild Pokémon battle you engage in must start with the follower Pokémon being sent out. You may immediately withdraw it if you wish, but that first round must have it being sent out.
3. a) When in towns, trainer battles not related to the story must also start with the follower Pokémon. This is only in town, on the routes, trainer battles can be started with any Pokémon. This means that Gym/Rival battles or Team event battles are exempt from this rule.

4. At the end of each battle you must tell the mod you have a follower Pokémon. Staff are not required to check. They will then check to see if you get an item, and if so what item, and include it in a reply. If you forget to do this, it is not the staff’s fault, it is yours.
4. a) Some may take this to meaning staff won’t check certain things, and therefore try to exploit the system and not start battles with the follower Pokémon when they should. If you are caught doing this, you will be punished.

In Short:

Pros:

Chance of getting free items.

Cons:

Can’t change the Pokémon.
Can’t deposit the Pokémon.
The Pokémon must be used first in wild Pokémon battles [on routes].
The Pokémon must be used first in non-story trainer battles [in towns].


NOTE: This will also be posted in the Advanced Mechanics guide.

On another related note, we are sorry to announce the retirement of yet another mod, Inevitable. Life has just become too busy for him to continue being a mod, but wanted to stay on long enough to see this project through. Happy trails!

[link=1, apps]Hey, Read the Rest of the Post Before You Skip Here![/link]

Written by: | Category: RPG Moderator Applications

That’s right, here it is. The epicness that is Hitmonchuck the RPG Moderator Application results. We had quite a few great applicants this time around and this is especially evident in the number of mods we decided to take. Before we get to the results, let’s take a look at some of the better answers from the second section:

1. In ancient mythology, stories are told of clashes and rivalries between the gods, who resided in a mountain that towered above the world. If the Greek gods and Egyptian gods were to get into a 'Yo Momma' battle, who would win (feel free to pick a specific god), why would they win, and what would be their finishing line?

Quote:
 
Well, let's examine the pantheons:

The Egyptian pantheon is technically composed of a single multi-faceted god who would express different identities for different purposes, but all the gods were, in fact, a single supernatural entity, a lone god commanding all of creation by expressing itself in different manners, and as such is its own mother.
(Yeah, this is true. Religious Studies was NOT a wasted class!)
Yo Momma jokes, as a rule, become incredibly awkward when Yo Momma is actually present. I learned this the hard way.

The Greek Gods, however, are many and various and much more human than the supergod that the Egyptians worshiped. They had more flaws and more vices, and as such are probably much better at coming up with Yo Momma jokes to begin with. Some of those, however, can be touchy subjects and result in the ranks of the gods dropping out of the competition early, given that about three goddesses were the mothers of about everybody else, and Zeus was the mother of everybody whom they weren't the mothers of.

So all considered, who would win?

Neither of them.

I mean really now. Even if we accept the existence of two pantheons -- which is paradoxical in and of itself, due to the fact that if one pantheon is the truth then the other must inherently not be the truth, and therefore not exist -- these two pantheons would be incapable of communicating with one another. The Egyptians, of course, spoke in, well, Egyptian, while the Greek gods spoke Greek (or, after assimilation and transmutation into the Roman pantheon, Latin), neither of which is remotely compatible with the other. To break the language barrier would require a masterful translator, which would inherently ruin a lot of the inflection of the joke as he has to transliterate between languages. What began as a simple slight:
"You Momma so fat that she casts shade on the Sphinx!"
It would be translated as:
"Your mother is so thoroughly endowed that she is capable of casting umbrage on the large cat-bodied monument over the horizon."

Not a very good Yo Momma battle.

But if they persevered despite the poor translation attempts, they would ultimately come to a standstill. Many of the Greek gods would grow bored after the third decade of exchanged insults (Zeus himself would have left within about twenty minutes in order to go rape somebody), but the more stalwart -- poor Hephaestus, no doubt, accompanied by Athena -- would stand and continue slinging insults as best they could unto the deaths of their respective civilizations.

Ultimately, both of them would have to give up just by virtue of the fact that nobody who actually believes in them exists anymore (or until there exists nobody who speaks Ancient Greek, Latin, and ancient Egyptian fluently), but these would truly be the final lines:

Posted Image

Posted Image

What does that mean? Hell if I know.


2.Explain the Birth of Chuck Norris (also known as the Epicification). Include plenty of details!

Quote:
 
When a girl and a boy love each other very much… They both die LOLLOLLOLLOLLOLLOLLOL. This was before that, and that, and even that. Before the Watermelonhubbabubbasaurus, before TMM nommed upon his first twinkie, before people started mocking me for using the word, “Upon”. There was nothing but a computer, logged on to Chatango under the name “bob”. Then one day, when the dark wallowing hole of empty depression and broken dreams that was the universe was especially happy sunshiny and cheery, it posted LOL. Then in a puff of magenta purple smoke, there was Chuck Norris and a roll of duck tape. Chuck arched an eyebrow. The duck tape exploded and created the big bang, which in turn, formed the spaghetti.


3.If apples keep the doctor away, and oranges keep you cold-free, then what are avocados for?

Quote:
 
They keep the lawyers away. No, seriously. The French words for lawyer and avocado are the exact same (l'avocat, in case you were wondering. Useless facts from French class are fun). So, if you're eating the lawyers, the rest of them are much less likely to come anywhere near you, right? Plus you get a big pat on the back. The best possible use they could be put to is getting you some protein and vitamins. Sometimes cannibalism is worth it. So remember to always eat your avocados, kids! You're saving the human race!


4.What is the square root of negative Awesome (√-A!)? Make sure to show all of your work.

Quote:
 
Posted Image

Wait, no:

Posted Image

Oh damn it! I'm just gonna guess!

FONZIE!

Posted Image




5.©

Quote:
 
My answer to this was pretty bad-ass, but unfortunately some moron over at Publishing seemed to think much of the material was copyrighted to the Orange Islands Slavedrivers' Guild, so I can't post it here on risk of being thrown into handcuffs instead of into the traditional slave bonds. Damn legislation.


Let’s now take a look at a couple of the better proses from this round of applications:

Spoiler: click to toggle


Spoiler: click to toggle


Malphis’ App



And now for the moment we’ve all been waiting for, the unveiling of the results of our recent-ish-but-at-the-same-time-not-so-recent-ish-since-it-was-over-a-week-ago RPG Moderator Applications. Without further ado (I’ve been using a lot of ado, haven’t I?), in no particular order, arrangement, classification, or categorization, and I should really get to the point already, here are our newest slaves RPG moderators!

Chronicler
Chaos Shadow
Bidoofish
ragingprimeape
Riceeman


Alternate: LadiesMan217

Congrats to all new mods, and to those who didn’t make it, better luck next time!



THE END. IS NEAR.

Posted Image

Oh, and happy Anniversary everyone!

~TMM
~Still Rolling Pounding Along[/spoiler]

[link=1, weather]Weather Update[/link]

All Regions - A 100% chance of

Swarms

Solipsus is swarming everywhere!

Tangelo Times - 1/16/10

Posted by Trainer X (Admin) at Jan 16 2010, 04:59 PM. 31 comments

Tangelo Times
January 16th, 2010

Contents

  • [link=0, event]Tri-Event Updates[/link]
  • [link=0, updates]Various Site Updates[/link]
  • [link=0, art]Even More Art![/link]
  • [link=0, apps]: O : O : O[/link]
  • [link=0, anniversary]Anniversary Foreshadowing![/link]
  • [link=0, weather]Weather/Swarms[/link]
Contributors

  • Trainer X
  • Novoni
  • TheMusicMan
  • Riceeman
  • Winterbane
  • Sin

Coming up with a witty opening to a Tangelo Times around an interesting date is always fun. But this week, we're stuck with Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Not that it isn't a great holiday and all, but what jokes are there to make? MLK isn't a renowned criminal mastermind like Santa Claus, or an ever-returning zombie like those that come on Easter. Sure, we can throw those "I have a dream" jokes out there all day, but it won't last long.

Oh, fine. I have a dream, that one day, little newbie boys and little newbie girls will be able to join hands with little boys with 13 badges and little girls with 13 badges and love OI equally!

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
               -George Orwell

[link=1, event]The Drama Rages On![/link]

Written by: | Category: RPG - Event

For those of you who were wondering, the events are moving right on pace. Homies in the Whirlpool Strait are getting their asses kicked by fish. Homies in the Abyss are getting their asses kicked by funky Absol. And homies in the Castle are getting their asses kicked by… everything else.

Ah, all is right with the world of events.

In tournament news, four trainers have already qualified for the tournament! But time is running short! Who will be next?

Moving over to the Abyss, the trainers seem to be making their way into some sort of enormous labyrinth, filled with booby traps, angry grandmas, and more! Who will emerge victorious, and with the Black Orb to show for it?

Finally, inside the Ishmadal Castle, the adventurers have discovered a room filled with enchanted paintings, each the doorway to its own universe. Will they be able to find the Mirror of Wisdom that the mysterious announcer spoke of?

[link=1, updates]Tying Up Loose Ends[/link]

Written by: | Category: Forum - General

Lately, we've been doing a lot of work behind the scenes to improve the site. This week, the name of the game was small, overdue improvements. We finally wrapped up a number of things that have needed completing for quite some time now, some since before the summer of last year! Here's some of the stuff we fixed up:
  • Only a few months late, but we've finally updated our sprites to Heart Gold/Soul Silver sprites! By general consensus, Blastoise, Pinsir, Jolteon, and Mewtwo were left with their Platinum sprites, and Entei was left on Novoni's sprite. And the best part is, you don't need to do anything to use the new sprites! All old sprites in profiles and adventures were automatically updated, so it's a pretty sweet deal. Thanks to Amerac, Noir, Chaos Shadow, Phoenixsong, Sin, Dragonfire, and Angels & Insects for helping to upload them!

  • Thanks to Sin, the routes and towns of Hoenn and Sinnoh finally have flavor text (for those curious, it's sort of a strawberryish lemon).

  • Following our cleanout of the staff groups last week, we were quickly greeted with the return of Riceeman! He got straight to work upon arrival, finishing up the long-overdue Hoenn region map for the announcement box!

  • For a long time now, we've had sprites for the OI badges, both big and small. And now, finally, the other regions have their badges set as emoticons! All except for Zeralis, but that will come eventually. Thanks goes to Winterbane for helping to get that set up! For those of you who have already earned some R2R badges, they should now be showing up in your profile as well, thanks to Roxas and shadow_rukario.

  • You may or may not have been aware, but there are a series of unlockable member titles based on your post count. And, up until a few days ago, the list was pretty generic. So now, it's been revamped, with a new rank mixed in as well! Do you have what it takes to be a Pokémon Master?
Inadvertently, updating the member titles also turned on the Pips feature. Pips are the little squares beneath your member title, and you get more of them as you unlock new member titles. But the question is, do you guys like having pips around? They can be tuned off, if nobody wants them. Make sure to vote in the poll at the top of this Times!

[link=1, art]A Triumphant Return[/link]

Art by Riceeman, Chaos Shadow | Category: Dex - Art

Prior to his finishing the Hoenn map, Riceeman whipped something up else as well, partially to show off how much he's improved since he left, and partially because he's that awesome. So take a look and see for yourself!

Posted Image

Not to be outdone, Chaos Shadow, as usual, has something of her own to offer up!

Posted Image

[link=1, apps]Is It True? Could It Be?[/link]

Written by: | Category: RPG Moderator Applications

As of late, we've found ourselves rather shorthanded staff-wise, especially with our continued growth and the departure of Pikang from the staff team this week. So, we came up with an ingenious plan to solve all of our problems!

Random OI Member Battle Royale to the Death! [insert applause here]

Ok, maybe that's not such a good idea… lets just stick with RPG mod applications, shall we? If you're new to the process or just want to refresh yourself, here's the skinny:
The Creed to Lead
 
So, you want to be an RPG moderator? Good for you! But be warned, there are some requirements. And maybe a rule or two... or seven. But they're not that hard to follow, if you're actually applying because you want the job.

Still there? Good. Now let's get started.
  • We're only looking for the best of the best, and that includes activity. We look for a bare minimum of thirty updates a week and an hour of updating activity a day from each staff member, barring holidays, family emergencies, Armageddon, and the like. This equates to at least five a day (with a day off!). If you can't manage that, don't bother reading further.

  • We only want honest Joes on our staff team, not jerks. If you're caught abusing your newfound superpowers (exclusively updating certain people, beefing up your/other profiles, rigging battles, etc.), be prepared to take the heat. All 10000şC of it.

  • If you're thinking about applying because staff members get pretty colored names and neat badges next to their posts, stop thinking about it. You'll be off the staff team before you can say 'eep?'.

  • NOT NEW BUT STILL IMPORTANT: If you think school's going to be seriously dragging you down, do yourself a favor and wait until the next round of applications to apply. The occasional tidal wave of schoolwork is fine, but people who are constantly drowning under it aren't the people we're looking for.

Ready? There's no turning back now; once you read the next section, your life will never be the same. Still with us? Here we go!
The Application
 
Part 1: Happy Meal
1. Time-Zone:
2. Why do you want to be an RPG moderator?
3. About how much free time do you have a day? Take into account schoolwork, social lives, after-school activities, etc. Remember weekends as well.
4. Why should you be promoted above anyone else?
5. Do you have any previous experience in the field? If so, do any of the experiences make you a better choice for the staff team, and how?
6. If you could add/change one thing and remove one thing from the RPG, what would they be and why?
7. Anything else interesting/special/neat that we should know that might make you an awesometastic member of the staff team?

Part Beta: The Whopper
1. In ancient mythology, stories are told of clashes and rivalries between the gods, who resided in a mountain that towered above the world. If the Greek gods and Egyptian gods were to get into a 'Yo Momma' battle, who would win (feel free to pick a specific god), why would they win, and what would be their finishing line?

2. Explain the Birth of Chuck Norris (also known as the Epicification). Include plenty of details!

3. If apples keep the doctor away, and oranges keep you cold-free, then what are avocados for?

4. What is the square root of negative Awesome (√-A!)? Make sure to show all of your work.

5. ©

Parte de Final: The Grande Meal
For this part of the application, you're going to be writing a battle based on one (and only one) of the proses below. You'll need to type out between two and three turns of the battle in question, in as much detail and awesomeness as you can muster. Note that this doesn't have to be like a normal RPG battle. Go in depth as you want, develop your characters, and even give one a shotgun for personality! You won't even need that section with damage and statuses and Pokémon sprites. And remember, grammar and tl;dr are good things!

1. An epic clash between Miss Meg and the LadiesMan Formerly Known as Ace. The former is using her Ho-oh, and the guy who will now be referred to as Ace is using his Lugia (hey, an HGSS reference!).

:ho-oh: vs. :lugia:

2. A long-overdue showdown between TheMusicMan and Trainer X (TX: hey, I'm in one of the proses!). TMM is using his Ferazon, and TX is using his Solidra.

:ferazong: vs. :solidra:

3. A completely awesome matchup between the original global moderators, Dragonfire and shadow_rukario. DF is using his Mewthree, and shadow_rukario is using his Missingno.

:mewthree: vs. :missingnofinal:

Bonus (Not Mandatory/Can Be Done In Addition to Another Prose): A duel of the millennium between global moderators Reznal and thedude27. Reznal is using his Magikarp and Flish, and thedude27 is using his Feebas and Borin. All four Pokémon know only Splash.

:magikarp: + :flish: vs. :feebas: + :borin:

All applications must be in to Trainer X by Saturday, January 23rd, at 7:00 PM EST (12:00 AM GMT). No exceptions! And good luck to all applicants!

[link=1, anniversary]Awesomeness Appoaches[/link]

Written by: | Category: Forum - General

For those of you counting the days, you might have already realized that there are only nine days left until the OI 3rd Anniversary Celebration! Being the guy who's organized every anniversary celebration so far, I'd have to say that this one may be pretty awesome. A number of things are shaping up to be pretty fantabulous, including a few unexpected surprises. Made of pure awesomeness.

So, as I said last week. January 25th. 7:24 PM EST (12:24 AM GMT). Be there.



A relatively quiet week in the Islands. But is that such a bad thing? There doesn't need to be constant explosions for things to be going the way they should, after all. So sit back, and enjoy the peace and quiet; it won't last much longer.

-Trainer X
-Is Already Prepping the Tubas

[link=1, weather]Weather Update[/link]
Same as the Previous Week


Orange Islands - :wind: A cold snap hits the islands! Expect winds, unseasonal cold, and maybe some frost and ice here and there!
Zeralis - :rains: Winter rain plows its way through Zeralis. The front also brings warmer temperatures, but steady rainfall.
Kanto - :snow: Snow makes its way to the Kanto region! Expect steady precipitation with snowfall accumulating to between 8 and 18 inches.
Johto - :snow: The system is large enough to cover Johto as well, although Kanto will be getting the worst of it. Snowfall between 5 and 15 inches.
Hoenn - :rains: The rainfall in Zeralis encompasses Hoenn too, although it's a bit chillier here.
Sinnoh - :sun: Sunny but bitter cold up north. The blizzard is gone, but it's going to be too cold for any of the snow to melt!

Swarms
Same as the Previous Week


Borin are swarming in Route 202!
Millenio is swarming in Dragonfire's adventure!

Tangelo Times - 1/9/10

Posted by Trainer X (Admin) at Jan 9 2010, 12:51 AM. 19 comments

Tangelo Times
January 9th, 2010

Contents

  • [link=0, znb]Zathyus News Awards[/link]
  • [link=0, event]Astrelleo and the Chamber of Mysteries[/link]
  • [link=0, staff]Staff Cleanout[/link]
  • [link=0, art]The Art Returns![/link]
  • [link=0, anniversary]OI Anniversary Stuffs[/link]
  • [link=0, weather]Weather/Swarms[/link]
Contributors

  • Trainer X
  • Novoni
  • TheMusicMan
  • Chaos Shadow
  • Artemis


Ah, the first Tangelo Times of the New Year. It sort of has a certain air to it, doesn't it? Like that new baby smell. Or maybe that's just the smell of awesomeness on the stove? Well, you'll find out soon enough, I suppose.

Anyway, on with a rather jam-packed Times to start off the year!

[link=1, znb]We Are the Champions, My Friends...[/link]

Written by: | Category: Other (Awesomeness)

So, in the past few Tangelo Times, we were promoting voting for the Zathyus News Awards, an award show not too unlike ours on another site. We were entered in two categories: Best RPG, and Best Gaming Forum. And guess which ones we won?
...
...
...
That's right, NONE! Wait, hold on, what? Oh, seems I have the wrong score card. Let's try this again!


...
That's right, BOTH! As they say in France, we are officially teh winrar. Well, given that we were probably a bit more into it than the other boards involved (some of them actually have pretty awesome forums), but still. Thanks to everyone who voted, and to everyone else, WHY DIDN'T YOU VOTE?!

[link=1, event]'Astrelleo and the Chamber of Mysteries' Continues![/link]

Written by: | Category: RPG - Event

At the same time this Tangelo Times went up, the event plot progressed! If you're in the Castle or the Abyss, make sure to check it out!
Quote:
 
Deep within the Ishmadal Castle, something clicked. A pulley spun, a rope was pulled, and gears were thrown into motion for the first time in years. With a creak, a large, brass door began to swing open. Through the new opening floated a small pink Pokémon, with feline-like features and a long tail. The expression it wore on its face was hard to place, but could best be described as expectant.

It glanced inside the newly opened chamber, understood what it had to do, and teleported away in a flash of light. Reappearing in the welcome booth outside the castle, it noticed a single employee standing near a microphone for announcements. The pink Pokémon's eyes lit up bright blue, and, after a moment, so did the employee's.

The employee stood motionless for a moment, and picked up the microphone.

"Attention all visitors to the Castle, " he began, his voice monotonic and steady. "A new chamber has been discovered in the center of the castle. In it are a number of rather… interesting paintings. The chamber is also said to hold the key to the Mirror of Wisdom, an artifact that was lost within the castle walls many years ago. The only clues to its whereabouts, however, are said to have been hidden within the paintings themselves. All trainers exploring the castle are encouraged to investigate this chamber."

The employee's eyes returned to their normal color, and the employee collapsed to the ground, momentarily unconscious. The floating Pokémon glanced around, made sure that nobody had seen, and vanished in a flash of light.

Across the seas, deep underneath the surface of Zeralis, at the end of a huge and winding labyrinth, something rose to its feet.

It sensed something coming.

http://orangeislands.net/topic/8603140/

[link=1, staff]Cleaning House[/link]

Written by: | Category: Forum - Staff

Over the past few months, we've sort of been accumulating a lot of deadweight staff. They didn't formally quit; they sort of just.. vanished (well, except for one, but that's another story). We left them on the staff team for extended periods of time in the hopes that they'd return. If they do, they're welcome to reapply. But for now, we need to clear out space, both because having inactive staff sends a bad message and because, if they're not going to be here, then why should they be on staff?

So, first, the following members are being removed from their RPG Moderator positions:

Error
MechanicalMonarch
MelonOfJustice

Next, the following two members are being removed from their Dex Staff positions:

oykawoo
TaintedICE
Riceeman

And finally, we're bring a new staff member into the fold! Please give a warm OI welcome (whatever that means) to our newest Dex Staff member, Artemis!

:partytoulav:

[link=1, at]The Last Winner[/link]

Art By: Artemis, Chaos Shadow | Category: Dex - Art

And to prove why we added Artemis so soon after she (fun fact: all girls on the internet will pass through OI at some point. All 12 of them) joined, here's what she's done so far!:

Posted Image
Posted Image

But, not to be outdone, veteran artist Chaos Shadow has whipped up a little something of her own to boot!:

Posted Image
Posted Image

[link=1, anniversary]See It to Believe It[/link]

Written by: | Category: Forum - General

If you've been here for one of our two previous Anniversary celebrations, then you remember awesome these things are. Two years ago, on the one year anniversary of the site, we introduced the new domain (it was new then!), and gave out free Gri eggs (although they took forever to hatch). Last year, we introduced Amaya, a region of untold epicness.

So, what are we going to do this year, you might ask? Well, we can't say too much just yet, but if you've been following the main OI storyline (the one with Valyth and Novoni and lots of explosions), then you won't want to miss this. Trust us.

January 25th. 7:24 PM EST (12:24 AM GMT). Be there.



That's about all for this week folks. Not a bad way to start off the New Year, huh? We have about two years to get done everything epic before the world goes kaboom in 2012. Either that, or people will figure out that the Mayan calendar was made to reset itself. But it's always good to be prepared.

-Trainer X
-And You Said That Escape Pod to Texas Was a Bad Idea

[link=1, weather]Weather Update[/link]

Orange Islands - :wind: A cold snap hits the islands! Expect winds, unseasonal cold, and maybe some frost and ice here and there!
Zeralis - :rain: Winter rain plows its way through Zeralis. The front also brings warmer temperatures, but steady rainfall.
Kanto - :snow: Snow makes its way to the Kanto region! Expect steady precipitation with snowfall accumulating to between 8 and 18 inches.
Johto - :snow: The system is large enough to cover Johto as well, although Kanto will be getting the worst of it. Snowfall between 5 and 15 inches.
Hoenn - :rain: The rainfall in Zeralis encompasses Hoenn too, although it's a bit chillier here.
Sinnoh - :sun: Sunny but bitter cold up north. The blizzard is gone, but it's going to be too cold for any of the snow to melt!

Swarms

Borin are swarming in Route 202!
Millenio is swarming in Dragonfire's adventure!

Astrelleo and the Chamber of Mysteries

Posted by Trainer X (Admin) at Jan 2 2010, 01:39 PM. 24 comments

On the isle of Ishmadal, a number of men were standing on the inside of the castle gates. It was finally time. On the outside of the gate, a number of trainers had gathered, all eager to get their hands on whatever lay waiting inside the castle.

"Open the gates!" one of the men called. It was too late to turn back now. The wheels were already in motion, both literally and figuratively.

Inside the castle, something floated through the halls. It glanced at one of the paintings at the wall, and then floated over to a window, where it saw the people rushing in. It took one last look around, and, in a flash of light, vanished.

Across the oceans, deep beneath the waters of Zeralis, something else felt the castle open. It stood up from its resting place against the tree, and went to sit in a shadow on the side of a large temple. It was almost time for it, too.

For those of you going there, the Castle is now open! There are three areas for you to explore, which you can switch between at any time by saying so in your adventure topic (unless you're in the middle of a life-and-death situation, of course):

The Castle Grounds (outside and around the castle)
The Chambers (different rooms, etc.)
The Dungeons (darker, older chambers below the castle)

Also note that updates for the Abyss event will be posted within this topic as well. The Castle can be found here:

http://orangeislands.net/forum/4002795/

Please note that you have no plaza access in the Strait, Castle, or Abyss.

So, are you ready?

Happy New Decade Orange Islands!

Posted by Trainer X (Admin) at Jan 1 2010, 12:00 AM. 16 comments

So, how were the awards? I had to go to an absolutely fabulous party (I'm picking stuff up from TMM; did you know he's a fashion designer? He's feeling fat – and sassy!), but I heard they were a blast! Anyway, I'm glad you guys enjoyed them, and hopefully I'll be around next year!

Oh, right, you guys came here for soma stuff. And rightfully so; it's New Years! We're doing this old-school-WU style. No fancy formatting, nothing. LET'S DO THIS!!!



It's a Promo! FOR TWENTY FOUR HOURS!!!

That's right! For the next twenty four hours, you'll be able to claim your own, exclusive, one-of-a-kind… wait, what exactly are they going to be claiming, Novoni?
Quote:
 
The Aquatic Pokémon Research Center, located on a small island between Zeralis and Amaya, recently discovered a rare subspecies of Lapras thought to be long-extinct. A few of these species were captured, bred, and raised for observations, but now in order to make room for other Pokémon, the Center is hosting a limited giveaway of these 'Ancient Lapras'. These Lapras are just like their more familiar brethren save for a few different moves they have mastered and their less pleasant personalities.

:ancientlapras:
Lvl 5 :genderhere:
Ability: Hydration
Moves: Aqua Jet, Ice Fang, Ancientpower, Iron Head, Sing, Growl, Mist, Water Gun, Confuse Ray, Ice Shard
Exp: 0
Happiness: 70

Oh, right! Thanks, Novi! To claim it, check out the promo thread here:

http://orangeislands.net/topic/8602789/1/

Triple Art BONANZA!!!

You heard right! We have not one, not two, not seven, but three new pieces of art to show off! First, from Chaos Shadow, it's Zebrite!

Posted Image

Next, from Phoenixsong, it's Zebrite's evolution…

Posted Image

… Nevrimore? Wait, that can't be right! Hold on… oh! Here it is, drawn once again by Chaos Shadow!:

Posted Image

Oh wait, there's one more? Let's take a look...

Posted Image

OH GOD WHAT IS THAT?! OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!



Tri-Event Smackdown!

And, last but not least, a little story!
Quote:
 
On the island of Ishmadal, the Board of Tourism was finishing their final preparations. The castle had been cleaned and prepared – well, the garden out front had been. Everyone was still too afraid to step foot inside. That's why they were opening it to the public!

A rather round, plump man sitting at the head of the long table in the board room was going over a slip of paper. He thought for a moment, and then stamped it with a rubber stamper in his pocket.

"Alright!" he said. "Time to open!"


Many miles away, in Zeralis, Tajiro stood at the mouth of the Abyss. His cell phone buzzed in his hand, and he opened it to see a text message. "It has begun."

Tajiro laughed. This soon? Oh well, he was ready. "Good. Send the word," he replied.

This should be interesting.

For those of you who aren't skilled in the way of inference, that means that it's time for the events to begin! Please note that the Tournament is still in the qualifying round, so those of you participating needn't worry.

For everyone entered in the other events, this is the time to get ready! Post in your current RPG adventures with any last-minute team changes, and a mod will be around to process them and to close your adventure. You can also use any of the Plaza facilities. If you're in the Abyss event, you can start now! If you're in the Castle event, you'll have to hold on for a day or two. But it'll be worth it, trust me!

See you all in the Castle/Abyss!


That's about it for this New Years Post. I know it's not quite as awesome as last years, but the awesomeness will come in due time! Until then, Happy New Years everyone!

-Trainer X
-Is Already Planning for December 21st, 2012
 

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