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!
he'd heard stories about messor rock at night. things went bump then, and they were almost always scary. ghosts, or scary pokémon appeared, and the boy wasn't sure if he wanted to meet head-on with a ghost. after some discussion with clavier, he decided to make his trip through that part of the forest during broad daylight. he hoped nothing too horrible would come out of it; the boy didn't like the idea of having to come face-to-face with a ghost pokémon, or worse, a spirit.
his axew partner trailed behind the ranger as usual, while his pansear assist led the way, brave as always. the monkey was fearless, jumping from branch to branch, swinging along the low-lying ones while the human struggled to keep up. it seemed that no matter how difficult the terrain got, clavier had no issue navigating them, which made the boy a little more in awe of his pokémon.
after getting past a fallen tree, the trio decided to take a break. resting on the other side of the trunk, isaac took a deep breath as he looked up at the thick canopy. this part of the forest was indeed a little scary. little to no light was shining on the forest ground, and instead, the light illuminated the leaves from the back and cast an eerie coloration over the area.
isaac shuddered, trying not to think too much of it.
"we'll play hide and seek!" they had said. "it'll be fun!" they had said. cherubi had happily agreed, and she knew just the place to hide! the grass type smiled as she waddled to her special place. she hopped inside of a large tree, winding into the sky with gorgeous leaves and blossoms sprouting from the branches. on a nice spring day, there was nothing the cherubi would love more than to be at her special hideout. and on a nice hide and seek day, it was even better!
there it is! the cherubi squeals, scrambling up the tree and onto her nice branch. the long, thick limb of the tree stretched out quite far, but the pokemon stuck to inner areas. that way, they'd never find her! those other cherubis didn't have hiding spots nearly as good as this one-
and the thought was interrupted as her stubby feet slipped off of the tree branch, and she fell head first, straight towards the person below. the cherubi didn't even have time for thoughts before she was right in the boy's arms. squeaking, the little pokemon widened her eyes at the human. stranger! scary! and she stumbled around to the other side of the tree, before proceeding to meekly peek around the trunk, keeping a watchful eye on isaac.
isaac had no time to respond, or rather, he was very surprised to find that a cherubi had fallen into his arms, before escaping to hide behind a tree. the boy blinked, color draining from his face. clavier placed a hand on the boy's leg, as if urging him to calm down. isaac stared, wide-eyed, at the axew.
"what just happened?" he asked, voice barely louder than a whisper. the pansear by his side sprung up, and gestured something about going to find out what exactly had transpired; the monkey flashed the ranger a thumbs up before moving towards the tree trunk cautiously, a small smile on its face. "don't frighten it," said the ranger as he too, went after the pansear.
now that the shock had worn off, isaac was able to identify that the thing that had fallen rater simply into his hands was no monster, but instead, a pokémon. quite alive too, considering it had moved from falling down to his hands to behind the trunk. the boy crouched down to the ground, and glanced at the cherubi. he felt something bump his thigh and he jumped; it was just clavier, however.
"um, hi," said isaac, while the pansear waved a little less exuberantly than it always did. clavier offered the pokémon a friendly smile.
cherubi was just as surprised as isaac was, to be honest. the grass type was afraid of most trainers; they came into the forest and yelled and stomped and were just plain scary. the cherubi had never had too much trouble with them, as they never found her. she just stuck with her family, and they were all okay. monkeys, however, were a different story. the grass type avoided them at all costs-they were the most frightening creatures to roam the forest! (by day, at least.)
so you can imagine how she reacted when that monstrous pansage face peered at her, grinning. monkeys eat berries! monkeys eat berries! she squealed again, closing her eyes and shrinking away to the ground. she had to get out of here! cherubi didn't want to end up as some monkey's meal!
when the grass type realized she wasn't being gobbled up, she opened her eyes and glanced up at the duo in front of her. a trainer and a monkey?! cherubi needed to get out of here, back to her special hideout. she'd be safe there! but....was it too risky trying to climb the tree? what if they saw her climb it? oh what a nightmare this was! a fun game of hide and seek had been ruined, and now she was being stalked by two evil-doers. oh no! oh no! another squeal. I must get out of here! yes yes! the cherubi ran as quickly as she could to the adjacent tree and crept behind it, breathing as quietly as possible.
the pansear had seemed to take the cherubi's actions as a game of tag, even though the cherry-like creature was yelling out at the top of its lungs. it didn't matter whether it was yelling, crying, or laughing; it didn't seem to matter to the monkey as it went after the cherubi, but had the sense to wait for isaac to come before it proceeded. and so, the ranger went, unsure whether the cherubi was simply distressed or excited. it did seem a little afraid and nervous though, but he thought that it was perhaps due to his usual tendencies.
as a child, wild pokémon had never liked isaac. they all went away, perhaps due to his demeanor. pokémon his siblings and family had were a different matter, though. they had taken to him kindly -- isaac didn't want to think about it. too many memories he didn't want to dredge up while approaching an oddly-acting cherubi. perhaps there was something amiss in the forest that caused it to act this way. (a ghost, maybe. isaac didn't know how to handle something like that.)
clavier prodded the ranger in the small of his back as they navigated around the fallen trunk to get to the cherubi. clearly, you have a face problem, the axew said as it moved after the cherubi. its eyes had caught the movement of the grass-type, and its disappearance was quickly charted up to its hiding behind some shrubs, or a tree. which, the axew didn't know, but it figured it could guess.
he does? asked the pansear as it perched atop a branch for a good view of the area. didn't know that!
"where is it?" isaac asked, willing himself to focus more on the job rather than his face and its inherent problems.
be quiet! be quiet! the cherubi told herself, a frown evident on her small face. that pansage could sneak up on her any moment if he heard her breathing, so the grass type held her breath and leaned against the tree. she peered out, noticing an axew and a pansage coming towards her. they knew where she was! uh oh, uh oh! the cherubi had to start breathing again, but very lightly. her lips pulled tightly into a face of dread, as she waddled out from her hiding place. she was crumbled, squished in a way that made her look much smaller. maybe they wouldn't see her?
they did. and she heard them talking. she didn't have a problem! typical of an axew to say so, they were always such meanies! she'd met a few in the forest, and they were always bullying everyone else. just because they're dragons doesn't mean they're better than everyone else! the cherubi puffed up and straightened in a growth as she defended herself. "I don't have a problem!" she said. it was surprising to hear such a strong statement out of the pokemon, as she was usually a very shy, quiet grass type. "your friend was going to eat me!" cherubi was getting defensive, as she huffed and rolled her eyes at the dragon.
chances are, she was misunderstanding this whole conversation, but that was something that the pokemon did all the time.
but she started to regret her phrase when she saw the pansage again. he was up in the trees, ready to pounce! "monster! monster!" she said, as loud as she could, before running back to her hiding place behind the tree. and then followed a muffled plea: "don't eat me! don't eat me!" she didn't want to die! the cherubi had a mommy and a daddy to get back to, and if she wasn't home soon, they'd worry! that wouldn't be good! not at all. not good, not good!
okay, arceus help the cherubi, for it wasn't being very coherent. a moment and it was here, another moment and it was there -- isaac found keeping up with it movements a task in itself. "clavier," he whispered to the axew, who glanced to him upon hearing its name, "what is it?" the boy stared up at the plant in the trees, squealing up a storm so loudly he was surprised no other pokémon emerged to attack it while it was vulnerable, or even why no other cherubi appeared to help it.
the trio stared up in silence for a moment, while the cherubi continued yelling. at this point, it had gone from strong yelling to wailing that it didn't deserve to be eaten. isaac supposed he had found the root of the problem now: the creature thought it was going to be eaten. he glanced around him, seeing clavier's serious expression, and the pansear's confused one. he could see why in an instant, but did not see what warranted the fuss. delilah would have skinned him alive had he made such a fuss, cute little brother or not, and isaac had learnt that wailing would never get him what he wanted. (being cute did.)
isaac racked his minds for the ranger signs he'd learnt. fire, electric, water and zapdos. neither served a purpose in this situation, as none of them would work to his favor. he also figured that reasoning with it would bring no fruit (hah) while the cherry pokémon was on edge, so he remained silent, wishing hard that he had a sleep-inducing move at his disposal that he could use to calm the cherubi down for a bit.
"... no, we're not!" isaac called out, wisely deciding not to use the word 'eat' anywhere in his sentence. he smiled at the creature, hoping that it would at the very least quiet down and sober up before a wild mightyena appeared to gobble up all of them. (smile, isaac, smile. smiles usually solve everything!)
the pokemon was awfully anxious; her face was tightened into an antsy expression as she curled up into the fetal position and fell on her side. Maybe they'd just go away. Yes, and then she'd get back to hide and seek and everything would be okay! although....everything should be okay now! the other cherubi should be rushing to her aid, especially after all of her yelling. no one was coming to rescue her! did she not matter enough to them? her friends should be helping her, because that's what friends are for.
it's also surprising that her parents aren't here. haven't they been worrying about her? oh no, oh no! the cherubi's terrible thought began. what if they forgot about me? she panicked and began to get worked up, little eyes watering and blurring up. her breathing became heavy and accelerated, as tears began to slip down her red spherical body. she had been forgotten! maybe they hated her all along! or worse...maybe her parents replaced her with another cherubi.
ok, ok, ok, ok, ok. she began to think, trying to remember which direction she had come from. it was hard to remember, especially when her brain was tiring out from the crying. calm down-let's find the way out! let's find the way out! she spoke to herself, trying to regulate her breathing and halt the salty tears.
but her thinking was interrupted by the trainer, calling out to here. she stayed small, but stood and peered from around the tree. they weren't going to eat her? well what were they planning on doing with her then? torture, execution-
"really?" a little croak came out of the cherubi's mouth.
"um, yeah. you can stay over there if you'd like," isaac said, "we're not going up there." he gestured subtly to the pansear to stay by his side, while clavier looked away, aware of its draconic appearance. "... so how are you?"
it would be hard to accept the trainer's kindness for most pokemon. a lot of others would be more cautious, and maybe would even flee the scene. but not cherubi. she squealed yet again, except this time it was obviously out of happiness. "thank you, thank you!" she thanked him quickly. what a merciful soul! so kind of him to prevent that outrageous evil monkey from eating her. "i'm...good." cherubi said automatically, before stopping herself with a sigh. "not good actually." and emotion caught her when she was vulnerable yet again. tears started to build as she sniffled. "i'm doing bad. i got losted!" clearly, she was a very young pokemon.
well, that explained a lot. now that isaac knew that she was lost, things were much easier to handle. he glanced at the dragon, then at the pansear, before finally looking at the cherubi. "you're welcome," he said, exhaling in relief. he really had no idea what to do had the grass-type continued to wail on and on.
"o-oh, you're lost?" the ranger's eyes were wide in surprise. "maybe we -- i, can help you!" it was best to leave his partners out of the equation, but he knew they could be trusted with letting the cherubi feel at ease. clavier, whispered the ranger from the corner of its mouth, can you check the surroundings to see if it's safe?
without another word, the axew silently left to secure the perimeter, while the pansear darted after clavier. now that it was just both of them, isaac hoped that it felt more at ease and less inclined to run away.
this was bad. very very bad. she should have never told the trainer that she was lost. cherubi knew that she had to be careful in situations like this. she could be pokemon-napped, or murdered! although she was aware that the worst could be coming, the cherubi waddled closer to the ranger when his pokemon left the area.
"you'd help me?" the cherubi asked quietly, not even waiting for an answer before running awkwardly up to isaac's feet. if this boy could help her, maybe he wasn't all that bad. he wasn't going to eat her, he was going to help her find her family! good, good! "we were playing hide and seek..." she sniffled, face still wet from crying. "but they never came to find me."
hide and seek was a dangerous game, a game that isaac disliked playing as a child. he often was the one forgotten; sometimes they forgot to look for him, and he never appeared. appearing would mean losing, and yet no one told him the game had ended. it was indeed a dangerous game, and when he had not turned up at dinner, it took his siblings to find and retrieve him before day melted into night.
"yes, i will," isaac promised as he smiled at the cherubi, "don't worry about it. we'll look for your parents together, okay? pretty sure it won't take a long while!" ... or so he hoped.
hide and seek was oddly dangerous for a game that children played. it was scary for a lot of people, and sometimes cherubi would get so nervous she'd have to come out of her hiding place and give up. she had always preferred seeking over hiding. but it just so happens that today, she had been looking forward to hiding. her special place was newly-discovered, and she was excited to see how impressed everyone was with her after she won.
maybe she was having the same problem as isaac had as a child. cherubi knew that there was a chance they had just given up the entire game, but wouldn't her friends be nice enough to come and tell her? apparently not. "thank you, thank you!" she hugged isaac's leg tightly, squeaking with joy. "okay okay! let's go!" and she started to walk.
"can i pick you up? it would be easier to move around," isaac offered, bending down to the grass-type's level. it would indeed facilitate their movement, as he wasn't sure how a cherubi would be able to keep up with its tiny feet. it was adorable, though, and isaac was sure that if he was careful, he would be able to hold it just fine without hurting it.
as they moved along, isaac signaled for the pansear and clavier to keep a safe distance behind them. the ranger felt at ease once clavier slid into view. the dragon pokémon's attacks could reach quite a distance, and the monkey was quick on its feet. as far as things were, they had no issues, or so isaac truly hoped.
