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!
This time he didn't bother being gentle, pressing the center of the sphere as it rested in his jeans and jerking the small bird even before the last shards of red faded away from its body. At first, it protested, madly snapping its beak in the air and getting feathers all over his jacket. "Hey." He hissed at it with a mixture of irritation and anger. "You can't work with the others? This is what its going to be."
They were standing under a particularly tall tree, and he pointed at it. "It's going to be this way, too, 'till you fly up there and back without screwing up." At least then, it would go from becoming an anchor to something with slightly more purpose, perhaps a shield. As it stared incredulously at the height standard he set for it and clawed at the dirt below he told himself that this would work, kicking it with a foot. It had to work.
she was back in the forest once more, and wondered if it was truly only a short time ago that she had been in the forest, worrying about wild pokemon and determined to fight the scourge -- believing that things couldn't get much worse than the vicious pokemon that lurked in the trees, ready to defend their home and family.
now, with sunlight slanting through the upper canopy and speckling the brown earth with flecks of gold, she still couldn't believe the difference across the region. decima was a toxic wasteland; bacchus was completely abandoned. pax was infested, and even nerio had a scourge presence -- but here, in the forest, things were serene.
calm. peaceful, even.
her lucario silently walked by her side, absentmindedly glancing around, when a snarl rumbled low in his throat. delilah's head whipped around -- were there infected -- no. she followed her pokemon's gaze to a boy who was kicking his pokemon. delilah's expression hardened. "hey, brat." she folded her arms across her chest. "that's not cool."
notes i'm so so so so so sorry this took so long! ;;
He was used to this kind of thing. Mantras, repeated like they were pre-programmed into machines, almost to the point where he remembered each line, the tone that paired with it and what irregular beat it was said in, sometimes shaky. "You think so?" And as he said it with a slightly sing-song tone and a half-smile on his face, turning around to face her with the irritation still prickling fresh on his skin.
He kept natu in view, peripheral vision allowing brief access to those green feathers with hot-pink undertones. "What are you waiting for?" Wind swept through the area - harsh, brief, uncovering forgotten underbrush on the forest floor. "Fly." To which it responded by lifting up a claw and flapping both wings clumsily. If pokemon were useless, they had to be punished because treatment was earned, not provided. They were facts, and facts were meant to be followed so he abided by them.
delilah's expression twisted into one of mocking amusement. "i wouldn't have said it otherwise."obviously. the scorn in her voice was clear, and she felt her lucario's sudden surge of concern. bael placed a hand on delilah, as if to stop her from doing something she would regret.
(what did it matter, though? if he treated his pokemon this way, he would die before the year was up -- not that she could say she would miss him.)
she leaned against the trunk of a tree, cold anger twisting her insides. "oh." a bright smile appeared on her face, and bael's grip on her arm tightened in warning. "why don't you train too, brat?" her expression was sweet -- sickeningly so. "you're more useless than that poor natu of yours."
if he wouldn't, all she had to do was make him.
her lucario wondered if he would have to hold delilah back.
She was one of those types. He knew her type - sarcastic, disapproving -, knew because people like here were everywhere but each acted just a little bit different from the last. Knew because the second training wheels were taken off and the rough training started he attracted people like her for miles, without pause.
"Oh I'd love to, but tell me, mother, how should I train?" Paced a couple of times, kicking some leaves and picking up a handful, looking at them. "Climb up this tree? Flap my arms, take flight and make two figure eights in the air? Maybe I should toss this up," Demonstrated with a leaf and it hung there, suspended for a moment. "run back a few miles with lightening speed and shoot it down dead center?" In the background, natu clicked its beak, and he wasn't sure if it was saying yes, trying to get his attention or something else altogether.
"Flying isn't training. It's a unique skill that all birds should possess." Even if she was annoying, she was sarcastic and critical and unjust he still wasn't looking for a fight, and part of him sensed a threat, woven deep in those words (not that the lucario helped, either).
Natu was here to train, not die. He wasn't sure why he'd reminded himself that, but he had.
she wanted to raise her fist and crash it into his little, bratty face -- she wanted to feel his nose crack under her knuckles, but instead she gave him a bright smile. "well, if you're killed then there's really no point in 'training' your pokemon, is there?" arceus, even she could defend herself; all this child was doing was kicking his pokemon and pointing up.
"it's a pity you're an idiot."
(... i swear the first draft of this was better, but hahahaha computer why did you crash)
"Oh, I'm sorry." Returned the smile, and maybe she was kind enough to make it seem bright and cheery, but his smile was smug, turned down at the edges in a bitter, mocking fashion. "I was under the impression that the purpose of training pokemon was so I don't get killed, but I'm obviously wrong, here." Behind him, nothing but silence, and he wondered if natu had fallen, broken a wing, maybe fainted (at least then the bird could be given credit for trying, but it never did).
He stepped closer (testing, breaking boundaries). "Why don't you educate me, then, oh wise one?"
she was back in the forest once more, and wondered if it was truly only a short time ago that she had been in the forest, worrying about wild pokemon and determined to fight the scourge -- believing that things couldn't get much worse than the vicious pokemon that lurked in the trees, ready to defend their home and family.
