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!
Neo sat with her pokemon not far from the Amberwell. The remnants of a makeshift picnic were still littered around the place, and Neo was picking up the packets of pokechow that were still lying about.
All her pokemon were lounging about. The solosis and wynaut were lazily playing telekinetic catch with blades of grass. Meanwhile, the scraggy, gyrados, and blitzle simply rested.
Leto strayed around the edges of their encampment, looking for innocent bystanders to astonish.
mood: startled notes: i swear nima has the best introductions lmfao
What a beautiful place! It was so serene…and yet, coming across the pond, Nima got a shiver. This place…this was where they were currently retrieving that which would be distilled into the vaccine. And it was disappearing… They could not rely on it forever. Hopefully, all his hard work would help just a little. He wanted to create a cure…
Something abruptly bobbed up in front of his face, something foggy and purple and- “EEEYAAAAH!” Nima ended up on his rump, heart practically in his throat. Zooka the horsea spilled out of his messenger bag with a startled squeak. Getting its bearings, the little water pokemon whirled angrily upon the offender (not the most intimidating of creatures, the horsea, but he did try). “W-Wait Zooka…!” Too late. Without really thinking about it, Zooka shot off a miffed octazooka at the rude Ghastly.
The gastly cackled with glee--then the octazooka slammed into its face, shooting it back towards the picnickers, its ghostly form tumbling through the resting gyrados, scraggy, and blitzle in turn, giving each of them the shivers. As one, they all turned to see Nima and his horsea.
Weakly, the gastly tumbled to a stop and fell unconscious. Neo's pokemon rose up as one in outrage, and Neo was quick to recall them all to their respective pokeballs--all except for the solosis, who was probably the calmest out of the lot, although Phoebe too fumed. <Solosis sol!> she exclaimed. That was uncalled for!
Neo herself simply picked up the gastly and dropped it into the Amberwell, where it floated. It'd regain consciousness soon, Neo knew. No big deal.
"That's one for you," Neo said coolly. Without a change to her stoicism, she briefly dug out her pokedex and pointed it at the horsea, glancing at the new entry before lowering her hand to hold the 'dex by her side. "But there are five more pokemon eager for a battle, if you'd like to finish the fight."
She took her estimation of Nima, looking him up and down and... was not impressed. "There's nothing to fear. The amberwell has excellent restorative properties, and as you can see, it's right here."
mood: miffed notes: lol first battle goooo i'm doomed
Oooh this was terrible…his heart was still thudding rather awkwardly in his chest, the fright of that ghost pokemon still lingering. And then things went from bad, to worse. Luckily the trainer recalled her pokemon, and Nima felt a little less like he was about to get eaten alive. Zooka did not take to the solosis’ tone, and trilled out a reply just as fast. That meanie attacked my person! THAT was uncalled for!
Nima, more or less understanding the gist of the atmosphere, scrambled for Zooka’s pokeball. “I-I’m so so…eh??” He was completely taken off guard by her statement, and he simply blinked up at her. That was…one? Ah a pokedex! So then, she was a res…er… Wait. Wait what??? “Eeeehhh!?” They were going to battle!?
Nima scrambled to his feet, brushing off his rump of the grass and dirt stuck to it thanks to his fall. Zooka was still pretty angry, but quite honestly he’d never been in a fight before either. That tone of hers, however, rubbed him rather the wrong way. His hands went to his hips. “Pardon? The only reason I was afraid before is because your ghastly used astonish on me out of the blue.” He huffed a bit of a sigh. He didn’t really want to battle…but then, on the other hand, his pokemon could use the experience. Eventually, he’d be in a fight with the scourge…what good would it do him to avoid chances like this? A little pouty, he snatched his own pokedex and scanned both the ghastly floating in the lake (he felt bad for that poor thing though…) and the solosis hovering in front of them. “Fine, let’s battle. Since I fainted one of yours, albeit on accident, you can go first.”
<It was a joke,> the solosis replied telepathically, voice so chilly that Neo almost shivered.
"Indeed? Yet your horsea is vaccinated. That makes you either a very, very rich boy--" she wasn't entirely sure this was a boy, "--or you are an Eos initiate. How do you expect to battle the scourge if a hatchling pokemon's mere sense of humor catches you off guard?"
The sight of the pokedex cinched it: this was an Eos researcher she was dealing with.
"As you wish. Phoebe? Open with confuse ray, follow with psywave," she ordered, and Phoebe did as she was told, albeit with less rage and more calculation than you'd expect for an angry pokemon. A few of Neo pokemon might've been happier in the hands of a trainer, but in general, their interest in battle was primarily intellectual.
Zooka bristled something fierce at that. It was a mean joke then! Scaring people isn’t funny! Nima wasn’t particularly keen on the other researcher either. Honestly, why such a bad attitude? As if being condescending was any great default setting. His hands went from his hips, only so he could cross his arms. It really wasn’t in good humor, and he wasn’t the sort to let people say whatever they wanted to him. He was genuinely rather annoyed now. “My job, and yours, isn’t to battle the scourge in a literal sense. Yes, it will be necessary for closer study, but first and foremost we are researchers. I know what my abilities are now, and I would not go looking for the hades virus. Whether or not your baby ghastly has poor manners or not isn’t any concern of mine.”
Now then, guess it was time for this battle! Here goes nothing…he really had no idea what he was doing as far as experience. He was pretty clever he supposed, and he had a good understanding of moves…well, hopefully he wouldn’t make too big a fool of himself…. DO NOT WANT CONFUSION “Zooka move it!” The horsea started and…fell over. Which was, surprisingly, enough to get him out of the way of the confuse ray. Oh to heck with it, may as well go all out. His pokemon were not battle ready, so you know what, why not just go for it? “Now, surf!” That was probably overkill, but Zooka was super excited to use his newest move, and he surged forward with a rather giddy look on his face.
In the end, Nima was smiling after all. Hehe, he was really bad at this wasn’t he…?
<Phoebe, use snatch on the researcher,> she said telepathically. The solosis seemed caught aback by their new 'plan of attack', but it went onwards anyway. Telekinetically, it snatched the pokedex out of Nima's hands and carried it to Neo's.
She flipped through the entries. "Not bad." She wasn't lying. It was, in fact, more than she anticipated, and even discounting the low expectations, it still counted as a reasonably developed pokedex this far out of Juno City.
She pointed the pokedex at the solosis, entering it into Nima's pokedex. Then she threw it back to Nima, a strong overhand pass probably unexpected of any researcher--she'd gotten a lot more athletic since she'd survived Lake Pax. "Catch."
Phoebe reacted to the surf better than Neo did, which is to say that Phoebe floated higher and higher into the air, the surf water sloshing beneath her as she avoided the waves. Neo, on the other hand, got drenched. "Like it wasn't cold enough already," she said, teeth gritted now against the winter chill.
mood: crushed notes: wow way to push all his buttons mang lmfao
“AH!” Abruptly his pokedex was wrenched from his hand by an invisible force. W-what?? He looked absolutely horrified, but he couldn’t exactly do much. Why would she do that though!? She was a researcher! She understood how important that little device was! “W-What? Give that back, what are you even doing? Honestly, I don’t get you!” What a strange person! She was even…scanning her pokemon for him?? Aaaah this made no sense! He’d thank her if she hadn’t just stolen-
“N-NOOO!” He literally screeched it. WHY WOULD YOU THROW IT. WHY. WHY WHY WHY WHY! Zooka couldn’t help - he was already about to do his attack. And even so, he didn’t have hands. There wasn’t time to release a pokemon - he was certainly not gifted with those sorts of reflexes. And speaking of reflexes. He had a defunct hand for crying out loud! Nima tried for it all the same, but only the fingers on his right hand could flex fast enough, and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d ever even played catch.
It bounced off his knuckles, hitting the grassy earth with a dull thud and sliding a ways away. He stared at it in mute horror. And then he was on his knees, picking it up in a scramble to check it. No, all his work wouldn’t be lost just by dropping it, right?? Right!? He shivered. “This stupid fight is done! DONE! What is wrong with you, why would you do that!? This is hard enough without you THROWING SOMETHING SO IMPORTANT!!” He ended on a sob. Great, now he was crying. When was the last time he’d done that?? This was so dumb!
"I think you should consider staying somewhere safe and weathering out the scourge," she deadpanned, but she meant it in earnest. "Professor Cypress is a great intellect, but he does not operate in the field."
The solosis, who cared slightly more about not committing social faux pas than Neo did, gave Neo a telepathic prod. <Maybe apologize.>
mood: frickin irritated notes: push aaaaaall the buttons lmao
Nima whirled on Neo faster than was probably healthy given his bad leg, but he didn’t care. “My parents are out there!! I’m not just going to curl up in a hole and wait! I’ve only just started, and I’m doing my best, and I know very well that there are things I am not good at! You have no right to say anything! You have the common sense of a BRICK. Only somebody that dense could think it okay to THROW a researcher’s pokedex!!!” He heaved a few times, the tears making his eyes red, but he regained his composure surprisingly fast. This was reminding him too much of his childhood. He did NOT want to go back there, so he’d better buck up and get these emotions under control. He sniffled despite himself - his nose was running, okay??
“Lucky for you, it’s not broken. All my hard work would have been gone just like that. I can’t believe you’d be that blatantly disrespectful.” Zooka was nearly purple he was so angry right then. They made Nima cry! CRY! What sort of horrible monster…people…pokemon…were they!? But Nima just beckoned him over, and the little horsea was picked up and cuddled gently to sooth his anger. “I would like to see your pokemon, assuming you can stop being so atrocious for a little while. I was looking forward to my first pokemon battle, and all the experience it would give me, but you clearly have bizarre ideas on what it is to have a friendly sparring match.”
Neo heard him out, waiting in silence until it seemed like he was done. She didn't look away, shuffle her feet, tilt her head, or make any movement whatsoever. She listened.
<She's sorry,> the solosis said to everyone in the vicinity.
"I am not," Neo corrected without batting an eyelash.
She seemed lost in thought, but her thoughts were very clear; she ruminated over a decision. There are some things that, when asked, hurt feelings. Neo didn't give a rattata's shit about voicing those. There are other questions that, when asked, open up old wounds, uplifted buried memories, and undid the brain's work to deny, reject, and forget. Those questions she knew to avoid.
Finally, she asked, voice terribly soft, "How do you know your parents are alive?"
Nima let out a breath. “Thank you little one, but it’s alright if she doesn’t want to apologize.” He was talking to the solosis of course, and was grateful for her attempt, even if her trainer was not keen on playing along. That was fine, he’d rather the truth than a lie anyway.
That question made him shiver almost painfully, but he set his jaw and looked her in the eye. He wasn’t going to be intimidated off or something. “I don’t.” He was brutally honest himself. He wasn’t going to sugarcoat that. He was smart, he understood what was going on and what the probabilities were. It looked dismal. “My mother was at Pax. My father was at Bacchus. Both have been overrun, destroyed. The chances of them being alive is almost laughable.” His expression became even more stern. “It doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t be able to face myself if I used that as an excuse not to look. If the situation were reversed, they would do the same as well. I’m not very good yet. If I were to meet Scourge pokemon as I am now, I would have to run. I’m aware of all this. So don’t you dare try and tell me to give up.”
Equally softly, she asked, "I was at Bacchus when the scourge attacked. I was not the only survivor; I am aware of a resistance there to this day. What was your father's name? What did he look like?"
Then she shrugged, voice returning to its normal, clinical disinterest. "I crossed through Pax as well. There, I saw no one. But again, I survived with my wits alone, which gives me cause to believe that anyone at all could've survived the same odds. Except maybe you."
She gestured for the solosis to return to battle stance with a wave of her hand. "Solosis, reflect. We'll continue from where we left off. You're not as horrible a battler as you seem to believe, but a less emotional temperament might help." She paused, considered that statement, and she found it in error. "Nevermind that! I believe your emotional temperament is what feeds your will to continue."
Nima’s jaw practically dropped. Wait, seriously!? Momentarily he couldn’t exactly think of anything. Somebody out of Bacchus?? Finally he might be able to get some answers! And things continued, with Pax. That news was…not as pleasant. But then, even had his mother survived, he doubted she’d have stuck around such a heavily infested area. The insult was hardly heard, Nima’s mind full of his parents instead.
He’d have liked to pursue that train of thought a bit more, but apparently the bizarre researcher was going to continue the battle?? “Ah, don’t just change the subject like that! Argh!” This lady really was infuriating! Well, fine, if nothing else this would let them see each other’s pokemon. And after that, he’d ask her about Bacchus town! “Then may I continue to be emotional for a long time. Zooka, smokescreen then bubble!” The bubbles ended up discolored thanks to the smokescreen, but at least it made it a lot less likely for them to pinpoint Zooka’s location within the smoke - they spread out almost immediately, rather than being in a concentrated directional beam.
Hm. That was a bit of a topic change, wasn't it? No matter. "We can discuss that later. Time is of essence, but there's nothing we can do for either of them from here."
The solosis sidestepped the bubble, which is to say she did an awful lot of sidestepping to avoid a wide array of bubbles.
Far more gently than last time, Phoebe sent a psywave, a glittering sheaf of light, towards the horsea.
