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 didn't trust this place, even though it was the only one in the world people dared to whisper. Nenia's Tunnel slipped in with the sewage system, the walls of cement and yellow brick. No one had used the city in years, so whatever grime had been here had fermented into a strong mossy and dank odor. Tents were pitched up along narrow maintenance walkways, conversations echoing through the darkness in either direction. It had become a sort of base, mad Nenia the mother of it all.
Her laptop was tucked under her arm, a fierce Golbat flapping above her. When she stopped walking, it perched above her on the ceiling and took a rest. She would have just walked around this little spot -- she was looking for an outlet to the grid since the Kid was tired. But right here, there was a little fire set up, food cooking, and a familiar face lit up by the light.
"H-hey," she said, looking at her kindred refuge, dark eyes flicking from his face to his food. "You're still alive..."
note: this can be the porygon thread we talked about?
Mordecai prodded at the fire with a thick branch. He did have a home here. After all, Bacchus Town was his hometown. Keyword of the past tense, of course. He didn't have it in him to go back. Not without Delilah in the least. He thought that she at least should be with him for when he went back.
"Of course I am," he replied, forcing a smile. It wasn't long before it felt natural. It would do no good for the two of them to be grim. There was only so much gravity in the air that either of them could handle. So he went back to prodding the fire and checking the roasting Rattata meat that was settled upon the makeshift grill (no one had to know that it was Rattata meat). If Regina didn't want any, he was certain that Achilles would be more than happy for a portion.
Regina was actually just the person that he wanted to see again. Mordecai was a little out of breath, mostly from running from a killer Porygon. By now, he was convinced that Delilah's Pokémon harbored a glitch in its code, which was causing its extreme aggressiveness.
But that was for later.
"Are you hungry?" And then, "... how are you feeling?"
Regina looked up and down the tunnel cautiously, then came around into the little circle he had made and sat down like this were a secret fort. She looked at him across the fire, through the smoke of the mysterious meat on the spit.
"Y-yes... ran out of supplies yesterday. I-I shouldn't have come out here, or at least not alone," she muttered.
"Just a little dry inside. I don't want to touch the water." She was drawn to the food, but hesitant of it too. There wasn't much in this town, not even to share. "That... smells really good."
Luckily for Regina, Mordecai had discovered that all the Rattata and vermin nests were the one things that had stayed intact within the Nenia Tunnels. He didn't mind sharing if she didn't mind, well, eating what he was cooking. "I wouldn't touch the water if I were you too," he commented. The water in the tunnels had never been particularly safe, but with the Hades Virus running amuck, it was even less so.
"I'd say that it's dangerous to be out alone, but here I am," he chuckled. "I don't mind sharing my food though. I think that there's plenty to go around."
He gestured for her to sit on another overturned crate at his side. "It's not so bad down here when you have company." Briefly, he wondered if he should mention the Rattata meat, but that put him under the impression that afterwards, Regina might not want his company.
Regina wearily nodded, coming around to sit next to Mordecai. Yeah it was better to have the wall at your back, she thought. Then you could see everything. See the whole world. It was pretty sad. The fire made the shadows purple.
"Thanks," she sighed. She's have to pay him back one of these days. "Nerio's in better shape than this place, isn't it." She thought that city had it bad, but Bacchus was a wasteland. Her should pressed against the man's as she slipped her laptop to lean behind her back. She leaned forward and tidied the fire, pushing bits of wood up.
"Yeah, it really is better. I'm not good at being alone, exactly. Afraid of the dark. Thought I'd hole up in Nerio, wait for things to calm down for a bit, but here I am," she laughed to herself. It was nice to be with him again. Maybe they could stay close for the rest of this. Regina didn't know what she was doing or where she was going. She wasn't a soldier, she was just looking for someone.
Mordecai handed the thick branch over to Regina. The food was almost done, so the woman had swung by just in time. Despite being Rattata meat, it did smell rather appetizing. Beggars couldn't be choosers anymore, and there wasn't much to eat in Bacchus anyways. All of it was already long-rotted or partially eaten by newly-turned Scourge, who later realized they no longer had the taste buds for "normal" food.
"It is," he replied to Regina's question, even if it was a rhetorical one. "... it's just as I remember, though with much less people." On the other hand, its emptiness was a welcoming difference from the bustling Bacchus with screaming people, crawling with Scourge. This was better. It was better for the town to be empty and the people all safely evacuated than an absolute pandemonium.
Mordecai left his overturned milk crate and prodded at the meat with a second branch. By now, the meat had roasted to a hearty brown. The unfortunate creature was freshly-caught, courtesy of Molly. The Umbreon's eyesight was particularly strong in the darkness. "Looks ready," he said, nudging the lumps of meat onto two plates. "I think that before you take a bite out of it, I should tell you that it's Rattata." It couldn't be that bad.
He glanced at Regina's laptop, then asked, "... could you do me a favor?"
Regina leaned back against the wall and let out a sigh. She was kind of taken aback that Mordecai would ask something of her, but it felt nice. This little dance of favors between them, of little side glances that said sure, weren't something to take for granted.
Regina had shown him no disdain for the Rattata meat, so Mordecai took it as a tacet thank-you for the food. He handed a single, tin plate to Regina, setting it in her lap. "Might be a little hot," he said to her, before reaching into his pocket for a Pokéball. "My sister gave me this Pokémon and asked if I could train the aggression out of the Pokémon." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I think... there's something else that's troubling it though. I was wondering if you could help me with it. Have you heard of a glitch in a Pokémon?"
He gestured to the food. "But first, you should eat before the food gets cold."
Post by cold volume on Apr 26, 2013 0:51:17 GMT -5
The meat was charred a bit on the outside, but looked like any other meal that could be put together in the wilderness. She picked a fleck off and and tasted it. She was hungry, and she took another and another. Regina ignored the unpleasant after-taste of the flesh, shoving it away in her mind - anything cooked in scourge territory had to be half rotten from the beginning. But it would do for replenishing herself. While, she ate, she listened to the case. "A porygon?" They were rare little mathematical Pokemon. "It has a problem with you?" she asked, skeptical and yet, concerned. "...Of course. But you will it eat too, though? I don't think I could take all of it." She pulled out a handkerchief and fixed her hands a bit, then, continued to pick at the meal.
"I will," Mordecai replies, and lifts the piece of meat to his mouth. He blows a bit on it and takes a hesitant bite of the roasted Rattata. It's not so bad, save for the slightly sour aftertaste, but aside from that, it was perfectly edible. He took a second bite, a little bigger this time, before setting it upon back down upon the tin plate.
He reaches into his pocket to retrieve a Pokéball. In red light, Duco is released, vaccinated blue body glinting in the fire. It makes curious beeping noises, zipping around the fireplace, before pausing before Mordecai. Its eyes glow red as it scans Mordecai's identity, which didn't really make a difference considering the fact that the Pokémon lunged for him anyways. Mordecai whipped his hands out just in time to catch the Pokémon from knocking him aside head-on.
Post by cold volume on Apr 28, 2013 1:04:01 GMT -5
Regina snapped out a pokeball from her pocket and it expanded in her hand. She put her other on Mordecai's shoulder as she peered at the geometric pokemon. It's little legs spun as it attempted to free itself. Quickly she released Sunshine into her palm and held the Bellsprout out. Little white powder puffed out onto the Porygon's nose which ought to put it to sleep.
"How did she get this one?" she asked with an awed huff.
The Porygon2 wobbled a bit, eyelids drooping heavily. It appeared that the Bellsprout's Sleep Powder worked, even on cyber Pokémon. Duco slumped in Mordecai's arms, so he gently set the Porygon down into his lap. "I'm not sure," Mordecai replied. "It isn't every day that a person can get their hands on one..." Unless, of course, she had gotten it from the dream realm. Mordecai still didn't understand how it worked, but it appeared whatever experience a Pokémon gained, or if a Pokémon was captured while in the Dream World, he awakened with the Pokémon at his side (such was what had happened with Vulcan).
"She did say that the Porygon was a little unstable, but I didn't know that its... data appears to be corrupted, or whatever it is that drives the Porygon to do what it does."
The sleeping Pokémon looked completely harmless right now.
Post by cold volume on May 21, 2013 13:24:40 GMT -5
"Hmm... lay him down for moment. See how his circuitry shuts down..." She pressed Mordecai's arms to lower he Pokemon to the ground. Her Golbat flapped down from the ceiling, closing the circle with its wingspan, the guard in case the geometric creature snapped awake.
When the Porygon2 was set down, it folded over itself, melting into a perfect, sphere like a ball of cotton candy ice cream. Regina dipped her hand into her back, making not a noise as she withdrew two headsets and a device which she called an Amnesia device. It could be used to explore a Pokemon's subconscious. Methodically, she attached the cylindrical transmitter to the Porygon which plugged into her computer (a sleek, black model, with more power than you might expect. a real, proper, laptop.) The headsets were wireless, and looked like the mask cyclops from X-men wore to restrain his laser vision.
"Put this on," she whispered, handing a head-set to Mordecai. "It knows you, so you'll have to interact with it while I explore its code and wait for the bug to make a ripple in the software."
Mordecai nodded as he gently lowered the sleeping Pokémon to the ground. The Porygon2 was taking a little snooze, and it seemed to be enjoying the little nap, before suddenly melting in on itself. The creature, perhaps, had reverted to its natural state of data. It was all very strange, and Mordecai understood none of it. Therefore, he was quite glad that Regina had stumbled upon him.
He gave her a quizzical look, but put the bizarre head-set on anyways.
It was all so very strange. He knew that he was still in the tunnels of Bacchus Town, for the walls were still mucked with its grime. On the other hand, there was a curious grid that ran up and down the floors and the walls. Mordecai heard the telltale beeping of Duco echoing off the walls, but saw that Regina did not react to it at all. So Mordecai fixed his gaze upon the ball of blue that was Duco. Of course, thanks to the headset, he could see that the Porygon2 was no longer curled up. Instead, he saw that the creature was made up of little 0s and 1s. There were places, such as its beak, that seemed to be missing these codes though.
"Duco?" he said to the Porygon2, whose data buzzed with static before the Pokémon leaped at him. Mordecai whipped out his hands to catch the Porygon2 again, but he felt nothing in his hands.
Post by cold volume on Jun 25, 2013 18:27:19 GMT -5
Regina lean closer to the man, watching a nervous expression flicker into his body language. "What are you waiting for?" she hissed into Mordecai's ear, gently lifting the headset up. "Ask it a question! I can trace the circuitry from the stimulation."
She needed to track the information relays, and where the query was diverted electronically would give a hint as to what was eating the Porygon2. Her laptop screen flickered neon green as her software opened, and green commands spewed over the black as they mapped the Pokemon's central operations drive. She felt sorry for it - how its 3D rhombus twitch into asymmetry every few seconds, especially where the man's hands touched.
