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!
Artemis sat on the curb, looking homeless and alone. She'd long since given up her home once she'd chosen the Eos life. She should have been venturing across Kohaku, collecting Pokemon and watching their shenanigans as they produced new, powerful children to save the planet. But here she was, still stuck in Proserpina. Better than Juno, she told herself.
The young girl sat right outside the gym with a book she'd nicked from their library. It rest in her lap as the flaps of her trench coat pooled around her body. Artemis's eyebrows furrowed together, her tongue protruding from the corner of her mouth in deep concentration as she searched the battered pages. It was a study about the breeding system and moves of amorphous Pokemon- Artemis's specialty. But the girl was growing frustrated as she realized none of her Pokemon knew any of the good moves that they could pass on to their children.
Growling, Artemis vaulted the book away as it skidded into a puddle. That drove her Yamask crazy, who dove for the book to try and save it, sobbing while he realized it was ruined. Now she'd have to pay for it and waste more money on things they could have avoided.
Neo had just stepped out of the library with an armful of books--manuscripts, really. Her scientific study of the scourge had drawn no particular conclusions, and now she (grudgingly) turned to the study of the esoteric: myths and legends, superstition and folklore. She held an armful of fairy tales, and it didn't make her feel like much of a researcher.
The reuniclus Phoebe noticed the book in the puddle first. Gasping, she bounced and tumbled over to the yamask and surveyed the damage. Unsalvageable! A disgrace!
"What's going on?" Neo asked, not quite able to see over all her books to the ground.
<A library book! Ruined!> Phoebe proclaimed. She pointed a dramatic finger at Artemis. <Woe!>
Neo glanced to Artemis, who she could see just fine even with a towering pile of books. "No luck with your research? I want to hurl a book or two sometimes myself. Can't say I ever have though."
The accusing finger that jabbed in her direction was waved off by the girl. What did the Reuniclus know? It was just a book! The library probably had several copies anyways. And what was the point in having a book that wouldn't help anyone? It wasn't helping Artemis at all.
"No luck at all. All the information is right there, but I don't have any of it," Artemis grumbled, pulling at her hair in frustration as she flopped her head against her knees. The sigh was frustrated as she mumbled more, "How am I supposed to breed and sell powerful babies, when my own Pokemon aren't powerful themselves? Horus is the strongest I've got! And he's an absolute pansy."
It was a good thing that Horus wasn't listening, or his feelings would have been hurt and his tears would have started. He was too busy trying to salvage the book. He'd pulled it from the puddle, attempting to cast Protect on the research. Damn, his slow reactions. The book was wet and the pages clung together, and no amount of protect was going to save it. The Yamask was sobbing hysterically.
The reuniclus mourned the passing of the book. <Is there any hope? Can it be saved?> she asked the yamask. To help, she used reflect, as if she could retroactively bounce back the water. Fat chance. She wrung her oversized hands, not too sure what to do with the crying yamask. Awkwardly, she reached out to pat his shoulder. <There there...>
Neo nodded, which was her way of empathizing whole-heartedly. "Been there before. It's alright. Can't stay stuck there forever."
The yamask had a different coloration from Esme's--vaccinated then--and if she was Eos, there wasn't much room for doubt that she was a breeder.
"Is that Horus?" Neo asked. Considering that the yamask was currently bawling its eyes (mask?) out over a ruined library book, Neo couldn't quite put in a defense for him in good faith. A lost book was a horrible thing, but probably not that horrible. "Well. The only way to go is up. Give him a battle or two. Or just throw him against the scourge and see if he drops dead. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."
That might've been a joke. It didn't sound like one.
"Aye, that's Horus all right. Pathetic excuse for a Yamask, I must say. He doesn't even want to fight his own battles. He'd rather hide in his shell of Protect," Artemis snorted. Why her lady Pokemon agreed to breed with that ghost was a wonder to the girl.
The breeder gave a little snicker as she smacked her hands against her knees, and grinned widely. "As if there would be a scourge in these areas! Nerio, yes, but we're not there yet. A couple of trees and tunnels that me and my party gotta venture through."
Horus was currently using the Reuniclus's arm as a tissue, wiping his non-existent nose on her and wiping the tears out of his eyes. Why had he signed up for this breeding business? He would have been better off haunting an ancient library, protect the precious documents from evil women like this one.
