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!
In the waters of the Amberwell, Cameron had released his newly hatched egg. A Horsea splashed about, squirming around delightfully in the shallow water as he beat his fins around in hopes of finding out what they were for! It seemed that, if he flung them around fast enough, he'd move in the water. What was this wizardry? Terry- or so Cameron had named him- felt like everything he saw was magic as he darted around the pool of water.
Cameron was bundling up his sleeping back into a tight roll. They had spent the night in Amber Glade, beside the pool of water rather than among the densely packed trees. The man was trying to stay quiet. The other boy beside him was still asleep, the sun barely peeking over the trees. He'd reached over to make sure the sleeping bag was pulled up around Zachary's shoulders. It wasn't winter anymore, but spring could still be cold.
Zach had always been a strange sleeper. Loud, terribly loud noises rarely woke him. A car crash outside his house, slept through it. Touch his doorknob and he shot up like a bomb went off. Despite the loud splashing and squealing of the newest babe, he didn't stir. It wasn't until the rustling of the sleep bag reached his ear. Zach jumped a bit, trying to sit up but hit Cameron's arm and fell back with a soft 'oof'.
He stared at the other, eyes a bit wide.. but then realized what happened. Oh. He was trying to keep him warm. What a sap. Smiling, he looked to his friend. "..mornin..~" His eyes moved over to the water, a brow raised. "Already got 'im out and about?"
"F-fuck!" Cameron cursed, jumping back and yanking his arms away. He didn't understand how the kid slept through the loudest noises, but woke up at the smallest movements near him. It caught him off guard, but he quickly regained his composure and cleared his throat to cover it up.
"M-mornin' yourself! Slept like a rock the whole night." The trainer turned his own gaze onto the Pokemon that was dancing under the water. Actually dancing. He spun, he bounced, he even waved his fins as if he was doing some sort of creepy ritual, or cheerleading dance. Terry only lacked the pompoms. "He... really wanted out of his ball. I swore I felt it shaking because he wanted out so badly."
=Softly rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Zach laughed at the boy's reaction. Cute. There were few things he enjoyed more than scaring Cameron. Listening to the other, he wiggled from his sleeping bag and nodded. "I can't wait to play with him! Since he's young.. I can learn a lot"
Except it took him three tries to roll up the bag, then yawned. " ..When i'm more awake. I think" Once it was rolled up, he say in the grass beside the trainer, staring at the water. He'd let his spheal out soon. "It was pretty quite all night. It almost feels like a road trip by foot, rather than .. an escape."
"He'll be with us forever. You have all the time in the world now," Cameron pointed out- unless a Scourge were to attack right now and take Terry's life, or Pokemanity, from them. But he wouldn't allow it. When he could get his hands on a vaccination, he'd make sure that Terry, as well as Donovan, were safe from those monsters.
With his sleeping bag tied into a tight roll, he strapped it onto the back of his backpack where it wouldn't fall off. He cast a glance at Zachary and cocked an eyebrow. "You could say it is a road trip. We're not escaping from anything anymore. We're on a hunt. If we can get rid of those monsters, preferably cure them, then maybe we can go back home."
He didn't want to go home. That place was already dead to him. Not that he had many ill memories there, but merely, he enjoyed this. He enjoyed traveling, exploring. Even if everything was fixed, the boy was sure he couldn't go back to normal. He liked this far too much. Still, he was also scared. Could they really cure all of them?
Shaking away his thoughts, he let Jacob free. The Spheal looked at him a moment, then waddled into the water with a cheerful sound. He played in the shallows, splashing and squirming about before spotting the other water type and trying to swim closer to it. The scene made Zach smile. "Hows it feel to be a daddy~?"
Why on earth did Zachary have to word it that way? It wasn't as if he'd given birth to this Horsea. Though, if he remember Zach's rambling, the male seahorses were the ones who gave birth. But did Cam look like a seahorse to Zach?
"W-well..." Cameron's face had flushed a very dark red, a hand rubbing his cheeks in hopes that this action would calm his blush down. "If I'm Terry's daddy now, then I'm a little worried. That's my baby, right? How am I supposed to level him up without him getting hurt?"
Terry spotted the Spheal and made a beeline right toward him. "Sea-sea-sea!" the seahorse cheerfully chirped as he sprayed a blast of bubbles at the seal who approached him.
"Of course he's gonna get hurt. Kids always do. If we didn't get hurt, we wouldn't know anything.." He smiled at him, trying to ease the other. It was through their bruised knees and bloody noses that the boys learned most of their facts about live. Like. They learned the hard way what happens when Zach lets Cameron bully him into throwing a rock at a hive. They learned through falling out of a tree that bird watching is done from far away. Silly lessons, but ones no one else could have taught them.
"oh boy.." He watched the pair. the Spheal panicked at first. Trying to waddle away from the stream of bubbles, splashing at the other. Yet soon, he was batting at the bubbles, still trying to get closer. Playful, determined. Just children. "Well. At least Terry has a swimming partner - maybe we can take a dip too!"
Cameron started laughing suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, but it was at the suggestion. It shouldn't have been funny, but the man was grinning and resting a hand on his belly from how hard he seemed to be lasting. "Zachary! Do you know where we are? This is the Amberwell. You can't swim in the Amberwell." Well, you could, but Cameron was sure it would be frowned upon.
If Zach really didn't know, then it was Cameron's turn to give a little nerdy explanation of facts. "The vaccine that our Pokemon are given to survive the Scourge is pulled from these waters. They have healing properties, if you drink it. Any Scourge that drinks the water will die," Cameron told what little he knew of the matter, offering a soft smile. "I'd rather not taint the water with my sweat and testosterone."
His face was a horrible red now. He forgot where they were. Of course, he couldn't stay this, so the boy looked away, huffing a bit. "..I thought you didn't know anything! I.. was testing you?" Bullshit. Even he gave a smile at his own lie, at how terrible it was before sighing, looking over to the pokemon. "..Should we get them out of there then? I mean. They probably aren't the cleanest from all this walki- .. you can give off/i] testosterone!"
Still, at least he was smiling, slowly shaking his head towards the other. He was far too much, sometimes. Sure, he was pretty tough and rather masculine, but sometimes the other took it too far. Idiot. Sighing, he stretched his arms high over his head, giving a small groan till his back popped. "..Why are you up so early anyhow?"
Testing him. Of course. Zachary just refused to admit that there might be things Cameron knew that he didn't, right? "They should be fine. As long as you've been cleaning the little guy, there shouldn't be a problem, right? And they're water types anyways." At least, the Horsea was. The Spheal, if he remembered right, was actually part Ice type as well.
"Couldn't sleep. Got a little cold. I thought, maybe... I could get a head start on packing up and do a little working out before you woke up," Cameron explained, the faintest tint to his cheeks. So much for that idea. He couldn't just do his morning routines with the other boy watching him. What if Zachary started to stare or grow uncomfortable?
Sorry old buddy, but he saw the tint, and a smirk grew. " ..~? Am I distracting you" He laughed a bit, inching over before poking the older boy's cheek in an almost childish manner. There were times Zach left like he spent too much time around the youngest Frost son, and pocked up his habits - like literally poking at Cameron. "OR is Hercules suddenly bashful?"Zach knew better than to tease the other, he really did. Yet, he wasn't stopping, still grinning at him. "and I do clean him! all the time."
"N-no!" Cameron stammered, his gaze hardening and his jaw clenching. Zachary wasn't a distraction at all. It was the opposite. He didn't want to be the one distracting Zachary. Could the young boy handle the sight of a muscled man, slick with sweat? He had seen the blushes on Zach's cheeks in the past, when he looked at him after performing any form of hard work. "Who's the mama now? Babying and bathing your Pokemon. Mine can clean themselves. Independent little creatures. Except, you know, Terry. Recently hatched and all."
He laughed at the other, but didn't push. Instead, he tsked and looked out to the water. At their pokemon. hey were very cute. Playful. Yet the ice type could not stay in the water for long - or go very deep. Oops. "I can't baby them a little? .. I know I need to be strong with them, but I worry! I just.. I wanna spoil them. Ya'know? " The small sigh couldn't be held back, while he looked to his friend. " .. We can't stay here long though. Have to get moving soon"
"Zachary... relax. We have places to be, but we need to sit down here and there," Cameron explained, his gaze hardening as his eyebrows furrowed together. He could only handle so much stress and walking. Why couldn't he have the chance to enjoy some time with his partner? Why weren't they allowed to sit and talk awhile when they were out of danger's way?
Cameron lifted himself enough that he could pull his body over to Zach's dropping to sit right beside him. An arm raised and dropped around his friend's shoulder, pulling him close. For a moment, their foreheads touched, and the man spoke now in a hushed voice, "Our Pokemon want to rest and play too, I'm sure. They're just babies. Let them grow. Don't rush them."