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!
Emily winced as she lay against a tree stump, holding her arm tightly. After a random encounter with a Beedrill, Blaze managed to help her escape, but at the cost of a badly scratched arm. She probably wouldn't bleed out but...well, it did hurt pretty badly.
"Dang it...I'm sorry Blaze. I'm just glad you're not hurt!" At this the Cyndaquil whined, but Emily smiled back. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. If I can stop the bleeding I'll wrap it later on with my shirt or something." Althugh she seemed well, the pain really was almost too much to bare. But there was no way she was going back to the city now!
She wandered through the woods, and she expected a wild pokemon or perhaps a trainer to show up for a battle. To say that she was looking for a fight was... mostly accurate, actually, even if Neo wouldn't like to admit it. (Trainers looked for fights. Researchers had better things to do with their time--except apparently not.)
She never really expected to run into a wounded girl. That wasn't ever on the menu.
Neo stepped out into the clearing and coughed, announcing her presence.
"You don't look so good," Neo said, revealing her latent skill at stating the obvious. "It needs bandaging, probably cleaning too."
It was probably just a normal sort of accident, but Neo didn't get too close, not to the girl but especially not to the cyndaquil--just in case. You'd never know how far one scourge pokemon could wander. "How'd that happen?"
When the sound of rustling leaves could be heard, Blaze took a defensive stance in front of Emily. The girl too tensed up, not ready for another wild pokemon to attack. But when the sound ended up being a girl, the trainer relaxed and let out a sigh. "Geez you scared me! I thought you were that Beedrill coming back for more..."
Blaze was still wary, but dropped his stance only to wave at the girl. Emily smiled and looked up, keeping her hand on her arm. "Hi! Yeah I know it looks bad but..." she paused, seeing the hesitation from the other. "Oh no! I wasn't attacked by a Scourge. I just accidentally ran into a Beedrill hive and ticked one of 'em off. What's your name? I'm Emily, and this is Blaze."
At this she nodded at the Cyndaquil, who flared his back up in a greeting.
Not scourge then. Well, that was a relief. With that out of the way, Neo consulted her normal list of priorities: she pulled out her pokedex and ran it on the cyndaquil. With that aside, she turned to frown at Emily, partially in concern and partially in a bit of distaste. "Maybe avoid the hives of pokemon with giant stingers for hands," she chided.
Emily didn't look like she'd be walking, although at least the wound wasn't to her leg. Then again, the wound was less worrying than the blood loss.
"We could get you to the amberwell, but if you're still conscious, we probably want to get to a hospital to get stitched up asap. Amberwell can't conjure up needle and thread." She used the plural we on automatic, because you don't leave wounded people alone in the woods. Not in the swamps of Lake Pax, and not here in these far more pleasant forest glades.
"I'm Neo," she said as an aside. Moving on from that subject immediately, she continued, "Has the bleeding slowed?"
Emily nodded, smiling at the comment. Some people might have found it sarcastic, but she knew the woman was only chiding her. The amberwell was a good idea; Emily had heard of its powers but the thought of actually using the water to help clean her wound had gone over her head.
"Ahh, you're right! That's a great place to go!" she commented, moving to stand up. It took her some time, but eventually she was standing in front of the woman. "A hospital? No thanks! I've come too far now to head right back into town! It's just my stupid fault for messing with a Beedrill."
Blaze nodded, staying y his trainer's side as she moved. Emily opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by the woman when she introduced herself. "Nice to meet you! I'm sorry we met on such odd terms but...My name's Emily and this is Blaze!" she began, nodding her head at the fire type. "If you need to keep on moving, you don't have to worry about me! I wouldn't want to inconvenience you!" Her words were genuine; the blood had stopped flowing as much as it was before, which was good. Or at least Emily thought it was good. "As long as I get something to tie around it, the blood should clot soon..."
"Nice to meet you," Neo said, reflexively polite. "I'm not going anywhere until I'm certain you're not bleeding out." She wanted to make haste to the scourge, but she wouldn't do that at the cost of human decency. That'd run against everything Eos stood to defend.
Honestly, Neo thought Emily ought to consider a doctor, but if she felt confident enough just to take a dip in the water--well, her call. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a pokeball and released her blitzle, who whinnied concern almost immediately after observing the situation. "You can have a ride. ...Or if you can't sit steady, you could just lean on him."
She dug even further through her bag. She did have some spare cloth, but... But. She sighed. "I have an extra hoodie. Good cloth. Should contain the blood well."
Emily's legs wobbled beneath her, but she did her best to stay upright. Blaze let out a concerned whine, keeping himself as close to his trainer as possible. "Thank you...you're very kind! I'll have to repay you..." she began, only to be stopped as a Blitzle appeared. "Wow, he's gorgeous! Are you sure you don't mind me riding on you?" Emily wanted to make sure it was okay with the pokemon before she just decided to jump on him for a ride.
But her eyes turned back to Neo when she offered a spare hoodie. She seemed hesitant to hand it over, but Emily would have said no to begin with. "That's alright! I've got some that I'll use once I get the wound cleaned at the amberwell."
The blitzle nuzzled Emily, not really understanding the concept of personal space, getting a good whiff of her and finding it to his liking. He whinnied something, which Neo couldn't translate, but she knew his habits well enough to speak for him anyway, "He won't mind."
Neo assessed Emily's bleeding arm warily. The girl seemed lively enough rather than groggy from blood loss, so that was at least a good sign. She withdrew the offer of the hoodie. "If you say so. But if you pass out between here and there, I'm bandaging the wound with whatever I've got."
She stood a bit ahead of the blitzle, ready to lead him and his wounded rider away to--well, Neo didn't know exactly how to get to the Amberwell from here. She'd been there before though, and the general direction was that way. Worse comes to worst, she could always send all her pokemon out to scout out the location.
"Thank you very much!" Emily said to the Blitzle, moving to lean on him. She giggled when he sniffed her; apparently he liked her because he whinnied happily. Blaze stayed closed to the girl's feet as they slowly walked along, and Emily couldn't really take the silence. Although she was getting a bit dizzy...
"So...are you...a trainer?" she asked, trying to keep her voice as level as possible. She didn't want to upset Neo or anyone else.
When Emily's question came out with more ellipsis than necessary, Neo glanced at her but then looked back to the road. She should keep talking, probably. A voice was a good thing for a wounded person to focus on, she might've read once. Or did that only apply to shock victims?
"No, a researcher."
Neo didn't really have that much to say. She struggled to find words; she used to talk plenty, just a year ago. You'd think you wouldn't forget how to carry on a conversation.
"I thought about becoming a trainer. I like research though. What about you?"
The more they walked, the harder it was to see. But Emily wasn't about to give up yet! She struggled to keep her eyes open; sleep was a bad choice at the moment.
"A researcher...What do you do? Besides...research?"
They were drawing close to the Amberwell now, Neo was starting to recognize the area from where she'd picnicked (and battled) before. Unfortunately, she was starting to doubt Emily could make it, but she still held out hope. Just a bit longer!
Neo clicked her tongue, urging Hyperion along faster.
"I train my pokemon sometimes. Other times I read. I don't really do much else besides research though. I figure I'll have the spare time after we're done with the scourge. What do you do in your spare time? Have any hobbies?"
She stepped closer to the blitzle, and Neo gestured for the cyndaquil to watch his trainer closely on the other side. If Emily fell, hopefully one of them would be able to catch her at least. Hopefully, she didn't fall at all.
At the thought of battling, Emily's spirits perked up a bit. Her eyes brightened and she turned to Neo with a bright smile. "Hey, you wanna battle sometime? My pokemon are still working on their abilities but we've got some amazing combo moves learned!"
She turned to Blaze, who nodded in agreement. Anything to keep the girl awake. As they neared the water, Emily stopped speaking and stood on her own, releasing her grip from the blitzle.
"I'm good now." The trainer commented, slowly walking to the water where she fell to her knees. At first she drank some water, then she rolled up her sleeve and doused her arm in the liquid.
"Ohhh that feels so amazing! I'm feeling better already!"
Instead of replying earlier, Neo had nearly shoved the blitzle into the clearing of the Amberwell. While Emily saw to her own wounds, Neo watered the blitzle and patted the pokemon on the neck.
She didn't really understand the water's properties. Sure, she'd worked with it in making the vaccine, but on examination, it really was just water, not too special about. It healed though, that was undeniable, but Neo wasn't sure if Emily was actually feeling as good as new or if the first application of the amberwell water was a painkiller and energy booster.
Nevertheless, Neo nodded, unsurprised. "The water's pretty impressive. I had a battle here earlier, didn't even need a pokemon center afterward. If you still want a battle, then this is the perfect place."
Emily looked up after she'd dressed her wound. It felt much better, as did her spirits. When Neo asked for a battle, however, the girl looked down to the Cyndaquil, who nodded happily.
"Are you sure? I mean, I'd LOVE to battle you! But only if you want to!" she asked with a smile, coming to a standing position with Blaze at her side.
