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!
It wasn't everyday that people were simply handed scourge pokemon, and Delilah hadn't the slightest idea what to do with it. She gingerly held the pokeball as if it were some dangerous weapon liable to explode in her face. Delilah hoped Neo was on her way.
The swamp didn't bring back any memories. She'd survived here on her own for at least a week, living on scavenged berries and uncooked canned food. It hadn't been a very good week.
She didn't remember anything--or she did, because Neo had a mind like a filing cabinet. Everything was recorded in thorough detail, but those days... those days were filed away all the way in back, where they couldn't be seen.
She didn't remember how she felt, neither the fear nor the desperation, but she remembered this place. Neo navigated the bog like she'd lived here all her life, not like she'd learned its rocks and trees and all its best hiding places like a scared loppuny.
The woman turned around, relief clearly written on her face as she recognized the researcher. "Hey." Explanation wasn't necessary -- Neo's job was to learn more about the scourge, and Delilah happened to have a live sample -- so she simply held out the virus ball, biting her lip.
"Is it alive or dead? Either way, release the pokemon. I'll make use of my scalpel. Audience not recommended." Neo recalled that Thalia had looked like her digestive system had just done a back-flip when they'd opened up the scourge jynx, and Regina had deposited her lunch messily into a trash can. J, thankfully, had not, and had actually assisted her investigation without comment.
"Then if it's alive, I make an autopsy on a living specimen. Then it dies. Then I perform a necropsy. Then we burn the corpse."
"Alive." Delilah figured she could stomach whatever Neo was going to do. (Hopefully.) She released the Gloom from its pokeball, covering her nose at the smell. The pokemon was oozing -- whether from its normal status as just a very poisonous, very stinky pokemon or because it looked like it had been dragged through the various levels of hell, she wasn't sure -- and Delilah glanced at Neo. "Let's do it, then."
She hadn't covered her face with a surgical mask when she had the chance with the jynx. She'd regretted that. She simply didn't have the option with the donphan. This time, Neo wrapped her scarf around her face. Granted, she might've done that with a normal gloom too.
Neo started with light cuts, taking samples of the gloom's skin, leaves, and an eyeball neatly bisected. Then she put on her gloves; this would be messier work. "Look away," she advised, before she took the scalpel straight to the gloom's face--slicing forehead to chin (where its entire body ended) and began stripping away its skin in neat layers, like an onion.
The stench brought tears to her eyes.
The musculature was fascinating to see, but she suspected it was about the same as a normal's gloom, except fitter and healthier (were it not half dead). Reaching a hand under the gloom's jaw, Neo jerked its face, bone and all, up and out to examine the organs within. Quickly, she removed the vital organs, inspecting them briefly before tossing them over her shoulder--nothing of interest. After that, she investigated the gloom's leafy head, finally tossing that aside too.
"Inconclusive. But interesting. Thanks for the call."
It was disgusting, but seeing Neo at work was worth the squick in her stomach. The ease with which the woman tore into the Gloom -- literally -- was nothing short of impressive.
The smell, of course, was less than so.
Delilah blinked away the tears in her eyes, raising her coat to cover most of her face. The researcher continued to dissect the Gloom with terrible precision, taking it apart and tossing it aside.
It was done faster than she thought it would be, and Delilah watched as it began to degrade into a puddle of foul-smelling, pitch black goo. She nodded at Neo once she was done, deciding to leave as soon as possible.
