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!
Regina's lab in Nerio is impressive, but Thalia isn't sure of what else she expected from the woman. She only remembers dusty childlike shadows of what Regina's father was involved in, and only based off her own father's actions, but it's not surprising that she has access to a place like this.
Thalia spins the virus ball holding the jynx on the gleaming steel tably idly, waiting for the two researchers to show up.
Athena arrived before Neo by a good few minutes, having charged up the stairs with agility in full motion. Fuck security, they couldn't catch her, she's the gingerbread man!
Neo had apologized for the wayward riolu and filed all necessary paperwork for access to the facilities, and proceeded up on the elevator to the laboratory.
When Neo arrived, Athena was peering wide-eyed at the corpse. Neo approached it quickly, gestured for Athena to move out of her way. With a scalpel in hand, she started making incisions in the dead scourge pokemon. After a few cuts, examining the density of skin and the viscosity of the post mortem blood, she remembered to set up the room's video feed before she began a dissection in earnest.
"Athena, get me more light," she said, and that was a luxury because she usually worked in much worse conditions than such a fine research facility.
To Thalia, she asked, "I heard it didn't fight alone. Are they more competent in pairs? Are they capable of tactics and cooperation?"
The laboratory was shut away in one of those hidden city basements. Dark and rough purple brick walls were penetrated by the hot water pipes -- and deep inside, a sterile white labyrinth framed in steel seemed to grow like white fungi under a log. It was a sketchy abode, with a few gentlemen in black suits standing in front of several doorways -- the last and most loyal of her father's dogs.
Ugly florescent lights were webbed with tangles of cable that fell from the ceiling. The table was clear, for once, of glassware that needed a run through the furnace down the hall. It had been too long since she was back in Nerio.
She handed Neo a pair of latex gloves, then Thalia. "Buried them out for the occasion," she said, snapping on a pair of large, plastic goggles. She nodded at the Riolu, at Neo, at Thalia.
She peered over the methodical slit while Neo operated, the half rotten flesh falling away in layers as the cavity of organs folded out. They made incisions here and there, performing a biopsy and collecting tissue samples for later chemical analysis. She stuffed wormy slices into test tubes, corking them.
While Regina prepped the power drill, because yes, the skull really ought to be popped off now, she listened intently to Thalia's story.
Thalia looked for a place to sit that wasn't covered in uh, dead scourge fluid, and failed to find one. Instead she paced around the two researchers and their specimen, her eyes flickering from time to time to the steady dissection of the corpse.
"I wouldn't call them a more competent team," she said. "Was it scar--more challenging to face two at once? Of course. But they didn't seem to sync their attacks in any way that I noticed. Each pokemon operated on its own. They communicated though. At one point, the donphan was faltering in its attack on us, and the jynx seemed to speak to it and encourage it."
She was a decent multi-tasker, but if she glanced to Thalia at the word change mid-sentence, she declined to comment at least. At her side, or occasionally on the other side, Athena carried a camera and took quick polaroid photos throughout the process. It was a morbid process to scrapbook, but Neo preferred it over a video. You could always reference a photo, harder to have the machinery to play a video.
"Hmm, a lack of battle cohesion would imply a lack of mental capability, but maybe they didn't think they'd need teamwork. Why would they? They've butchered everything in their path so far without much of a challenge. And if they still have ability for emotional connection, not to mention communication, well... they are not so unlike us then. Troubling."
Neo set down the scalpel to allow Regina to approach with the bone drill.
She pursed her lips in thought before saying, "I thought the virus rotted the brain, brought out violent tendencies, reduced all ability for clear-thinking. We call it a disease because it was contagious. But if they are anything approaching sentient..."
Is it virus? Or is it simply a superior mutation--evolution?
Regina nodded like an attentive owl as Thalia tapped her chin and recalled the vicious encounter. If only she could see these ogres in action,and witness the real details of the symptoms first hand. Did they foam at the mouths? Did they feel pain? Was their living blood the same color? The dying body wasn't fresh, and the goop that now stained her gloves would be burned as soon as their examination was complete. But where was this pathogen? Was it in this black goop? Was it in the saliva? She swabbed its mouth, but there was so much blood mixed in that she didn't trust to to be a legitimate sample. (The raspy, ragged, dying breathing made her a little jumpy too.) Power drill was nearly operable.
"Well, you really beat this one to a pulp," she said. The instrument clicked as she adjusted the settings.
Neo trailed off, wondering about the mechanism of the disease. "The architecture of the brain holds the secret, you know? Let's take a look." The blade whirred as she pulled up the power throttle.
With rough hands, she brushed the Jynx's blood-crusted blonde locks aside and pressed the tip in, smoothly creating a hole in the purple-grey scalp. She'd put on a doctor's mask, as blood splattered on it, her tongue licked her lips in concentrations beneath. The skull was a boulder - so dense - and she was not football player. She didn't have those surgeon muscles. The body hopped on the table because she couldn't keep her shit straight.
Finally the hole was made, and the most disgusting a putrid smell erupted onto her face, pluming into sour, invisible cloud. Regina stepped back, coughing, covering her arm over her nose, her eyes watering, and she weakly dropped the corded device to the floor. Regina yanked the dirty mask, and unable to hold back the rising bile, lunged for and puked into a sink on the opposite counter. Her body shivered sickly.
Thalia turned away politely as Regina vomited, carefully edging away from the body on the table. This was repulsive, honestly. She was not really cut out to be a researcher at all.
"Frostbite scars. Looks like it beat itself into a pulp," Neo corrected with a certain level of satisfaction.
Neo ignored the mask, although she did use gloves. Humans, last she checked, did not catch the virus. Watching Regina work, she wondered if she should've offered to take the drill herself. She'd never used one, but she was willing to bet that she was a great deal fitter than the rich girl.
She regretted not wearing a mask once the smell hit. Covering her nose and mouth with her sleeve, she drew closer, picked up a stirring rod (uncleaned, but who cared?) and stuck it straight through the hole. It came out dark ooze and nothing more. Seeing that, Neo grabbed a tarp and slid it over the jynx's head.
"No. I'm done here. Thanks for letting us at it."
Coughing, tearing up a little at the putrid smell, Neo walked out of the room, gasping the cleaner air out in the hallway.
Ill-at-ease, Regina wiped her mouth and weakly turned around. A hand clumsily shoved itself into her pocket, and soon, the Houndoom was beside her. It gagged with it's first breath, pawing its sensitive nose and whining. What a relief when Neo threw the tarp over it.
Regina glanced at Thalia, covering her nose from the putrid smell, the look in her eyes asking if she could burn the mess.
Regina nodded profusely a thank you. "As immediately as possible," she said with a frank, nasally tone. The wretched smell was causing another wave of disgust. The Houndoom helped out the vulpix with another quick ember, and the flams shot up to the special ventilation shaft above. The Jynx's body' squirmed a bit, pieces of it still alive, as the flames roared.
"You've been a real help Thalia," she said warmly, grabbing a rag at last and holding it over her face. "I'm going to go work on these sample now, but if you ever want to stay somewhere safe to chat, you're welcome here. You're an old face to me."
She smiled a little bashfully, and then, gathered up all the labelled and corked test tubes with her arms. Her squirtles came to watch the flames, bouncing over each other like oompa loompas, and cleaned up the mess in due time.
