This world is inhabited by creatures that we call pokemon. People and pokemon live together by supporting each other, but now the scourge threatens the safety of the entire region. Kohaku has become a dangerous place, where children stay at home and only brave souls go adventuring.
Welcome to KOHAKU. Come for the nightmares. Stay for the tea and crumpets.
The season is SUMMER. It is easy for survivors to forage for food from the land, as there are entire abandoned farms ready for harvest. On the downside, you can smell the corpses.
swarms
GRAND OPENING !
Welcome to KOHAKU REGION's grand opening! If you're interested in joining, come check out our grand opening giveaway!
Here it was. The Breeder's Guild. It was a pretty flash looking place, Felizia had to admit, but that was a given. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why the Breeder's Guild was doing so well. There was a pang of something in her chest (it didn't quite feel like guilt), wishing that she had taken this job earlier. Great Granny Jan was probably doing a dance in her grave, happy that another of her descendants had given in to her profession.
She knocked on the door gently enough, half-afraid that she would chip the paint and have to pay a fortune or something ridiculous to compensate. Everwhere was marble, gold and who knew what else. Fake or real, it made Felizia feel a bit uneasy and she was eager to leave as soon as she could. "Hey," She called through the doors without any tact. "Lady Mercedes. You there?"
Lady Mercedes had half the mind to say no, she was elsewhere, too busy counting all her money to attend to rude guests.
Instead she stood up and answered the door.
"It seems I am," she said, a touch too cold to be entirely polite. "And what business do I have with you?"
She looked the girl up and down, drew an incorrect conclusion, and said, "I'm afraid Eos trainers are being accepted at Professor Cypress' laboratory."
Before Lady Mercedes had finished her first sentence, Felizia knew that she and the lady would never be pals. And it was just as well since Felizia could only manage to reply with the misconception with sarcasm; a brilliant way to hinder a first impression. "Oh really?" she said, her voice fake and half-full with mock surprise. "I would have never guessed!"
She frowned at the older woman. Being straight up with her would probably work the best. "I'm an EOS breeder, actually. Y'know, farms and eggs and all that." Of course Lady Mercedes would know that, something in the back of Felizia's mind said. Sharpen up or you won't get anything at this rate.
"Are you certain?" Lady Mercedes asked, the words cool and out of her mouth before she even realized she'd spoken. In an effort to not be a completely ungracious host, she added, "I'll need your name for verification purposes. It's a formality I'd rather not dispose of."
Farms and eggs were involved in the fine art of pokemon breeding. That was true. If this girl had figured out that much, perhaps she already knew exactly how eggs were made too. Lady Mercedes wouldn't be entirely surprised if this rude girl still thought eggs were delivered by a swanna.
Felizia shrugged. Then, in an effort to keep things as simple and straight as possible, said, “Yeah.” It probably wasn’t the most convincing answer her highness had ever heard, but even if she had answered differently, Felizia reckoned that her name would still get checked against some record.
Felizia sucked at first impressions, Especially when faced with the posher species of the human race. Second impressions didn’t seem to go that well either.
“It’s Felizia Bishop.” She answered, and managed to keep her mouth shut past that. The "formality" seemed more like a security check to her, and if she bothered to see things from Lady Mercedes point of view she'd understand why. But that was quite an if at the moment. Besides, she couldn’t come up with a comment which she liked.
Lady Mercedes recognized the name from the list she received. She'd be lying if she weren't a little bit dismayed that the girl wasn't just a trainer that'd gotten very, very lost. "Well, Felizia Bishop, then I wish you all the luck in the world in your chosen career. You may need it."
Still. Perhaps there was potential in a new, less refined approach to breeding?
"Come in," she said, stepping away from the door to give Felizia space to enter. Her office was expansive, and at the far end lay a sleek but sizable pokemon PC hooked up to a holographic display. "Understand that I wish to see all Eos breeders succeed; it is important to the region as well as to my reputation.
"To that purpose, I'd like to offer you two hatchlings of my own farm." With a few key clicks, a momentary lag as the display flickered to proper calibration, and a PC box's worth of pokemon appeared on the screen.
When Lady Mercedes wished her luck, Felizia couldn't help but take it with a grain of salt. "Don't worry, I'm bursting with luck," Felizia said as she followed the lady into another room.
Thanks to the holographic display, this room looked just a bit flasher than the last room. Felizia's eyes glued themselves to it, even as she listened to Lady Mercedes talk. She couldn't help but respond by saying, "Of course. None of us would dare to hurt your reputation."
The display flickered and switched, and Felizia looked carefully at the ten Pokemon on display, recounting egg-groups in her head. She was only interested in two egg groups - the ones she had grown up seeing her parents deal with - and easily picked out which two Pokemon she wanted.
"I want the Wooper. And the Snivy." She paused for a second, before remembering to add "Please." There was another pause, followed by an uncertain "And thanks."
Felizia took the Pokeballs with a grin. Score! That was two more Pokemon to add to her Breeding Farm. She was already considering who she would try to pair them up with. She looked back up at Lady Mercedes and winked. “Oh, you will,” she promised, knowing that the answer wouldn’t exactly reassure her highness.
