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!
A female on a black moterbike sped down the street. When she reached her chosen destination she stopped, tossing her heel down on the brakes as she skid to a halt in front of Professor Cypress' house, lab...whatever. She wanted a pokemon from him, so she guessed that herself and her loveable Teddiursa, Rotti, as he was called, would have to get one from him.
She dismounted the machine as Rotti sneezed from across her shoulders, still a bit frazzled from the ride over. But it was such a rush, and the bear pokemon growled playfully into her ear, temper momentarily forgotten as he loosened his grip and sat on her shoulder.
Victoria Reynalds, or Vic, as she was called, approached the door and knocked three times. Hopefully, someone would be home...God, if she didn't hear that little fucker open that door and invite her in she didn't know what she would do! Rotti, grinning with a wicked sort of cackle, that sounded very cute despite the fact, poked the door bell, ringing it loudly.<Uuurr> Came his mischievous purr before pulling off an adorable gurgle towards whoever opened the door.
Professor Cypress stood in the center of the lab, standing stock still as he delicately--perfectly--added one infinitesimally small drop of acid buffer into a petri dish. The droplet splashed, and the professor allowed himself to breathe. The liquid in the petri dish began to coagulate, and that was a sign that all was well, and this next batch of the vaccine wouldn't be ruined (and thousands of pounds wasted) because his hand slipped. At least, all was well for now anyway. The next step in the process would be just another chance for him to screw it all up again.
The sound of the knocking on the door had never gotten past his concentration, but luckily, Mr. and Mrs. Brown hadn't completely lost sense of their surroundings. The Gothithelle glided over to the door and pulled it open. <Hello, welcome to Cypress Laboratories,> she said telepathically, her words a faint echo on the mind. The words were clinically delivered, like a student sitting through an interview in a foreign language. <I am Mrs. Brown, Professor Cypress' assistant. How may I be of service?>
Meanwhile, back in the labroom, Mr. Brown tapped Professor Cypress on the shoulder, effortlessly summoning up a startled scream from the man. "I-- yes! No. I mean," he managed, before he found his bearings again. Taking a calming breath, he spoke again, "I'm sorry, Mr. Brown, what's going on? What, a visitor? Now? Has Mrs. Brown answered the door--good, good. Alright, I'll head right on up."
At the door, Mrs. Brown tilted her head, receiving a message from Mr. Brown. <Professor Cypress is on his way to see you now,> she said curtly.
Her eyes narrowed, then widened at what awaited her passed the creaking door. A neutral expression crossed her face, then one of faint confusion. What kind of weird pokemon was that? Rotti was also a bit stunned, not expecting a pokemon to answer the door but he saluted the other pokemon, a brief reminder that he was with Vic too. Why did she have to be singled out?
Then, from the depths of her mind, a voice entered the void. It spoke to her - with real english! She blinked, and a second time her eyelashes fluttered meekly, but that all was discarded and hurriedly cleared her throat, speaking out loud towards the strange pokemon that greeted them so cordially.
"Name's Vic. I'm here for the Prof." She responded less than politely, her voice no more than a feminine huff of tightly coiled air as her eyes rolled to take in the inner surroundings of the lab. Interesting. There was a pause and Vic expected that the pokemon dazed off, but now knowing it was a psychic type, wasn't at all fazed when she repeated the chillingly haunting voice inside of her head and explained that Cypress would be arriving shortly.
She let herself in, casting a stern look at the bear pokemon nestled on her shoulder to behave. Rotti glanced at her indignantly. How could she doubt his superior acting skills, flaunting his cuteness with ease and so help those unfortunately enough to see through his cunningly disguised visage.
Mrs. Brown nodded her greeting to the teddiursa but eyed him suspiciously as he behaved adorably. It wasn't that Mrs. Brown doubted that the teddiursa was oftentimes adorable--most pokemon of that size were quite endearing provided they weren't wailing or being idiots--but she didn't quite trust Rotti to not knock over a vase or some other equally heinous act.
Soon enough, Professor Cypress ducked into the room. "Hi!" he said with a nervous smile to Vic. She was young and looked like the sort of trainer the Pokemon Association had been sending--not a child, but not old enough to be an established trainer yet either--but she already had a pokemon, didn't she? There was that charming little teddiursa over there, and Professor Cypress waved at him too. Well, the Pokemon Association acted in strange ways. Maybe they'd changed all their requirements--they always did like to change the rules when he wasn't looking.
<Her name is Vic, and the teddiursa is Rotti,> Mrs. Brown prompted. <They are here to see you.>
Professor Cypress blinked at Mrs. Brown. "Is she a trainer? Nevermind, she has a pokemon, and she's here, of course she's a trainer--you're a trainer!" he exclaimed, realizing belatedly that maybe it was rude to talk about someone else when they were still in the room. "I'm Professor Cypress, welcome to the labs. Are you here from the Association?"
The teddiura paused in his abrupt act in staring cutely up at the new man who entered the room and instead shot a very annoyed, very brief look of exasperation towards the psychic type. How did she know his name? Was she rooting around inside his little mind when he wasn't paying attention? His face scrunched up in a tiny frown, turning purposefully towards Vic, who regarded him coolly, shrugging her shoulders at the introduction.
The professors mouth moved oddly, putting together words that hardly made any sense to Vic let alone appease her sense of pride. Her ego twitwched as if it were poked at being addressed so...so insensitively. Didn't he know it was rude not to speak to someone directly if you were talking about said person? Rotti crossed his arms with a huff, ears flicking against the back of his large cranium as he ignored the man's greeting. As if he actually deserved any respect from him, especially since his own pokemon assistant didn't know better not to intrude upon his sacred thoughts!
All Vic could think as she watched Professor Cypress was that he was such a dork. She nodded, although his inquirey brought a mental grimace. The Association indeed...they probably had a hundred wanted lists and crank calls from her parents to try and find their little lost girl. Oh well, they probably just wanted the bike back...they didn't care about her and Vic certainly provided a mutual thought in agreement.
"Of course. And I know you're just the man to see about obtaining a pokemon. Something...exotic. A poison type maybe. Got any of those?"
Professor Cypress generally believed what he was told. If Vic said she was sent here by the Association, that was good enough for him. Besides, he was personally of the opinion that as many people as possible should have his vaccinated pokemon. Everyone deserved to be able to defend themselves from the scourge without fearing that their own pokemon would become corrupted too. "Mrs. Brown, can you go get the paperwork? There's some forms you need to fill out, Miss VIc. Nothing outrageous, it's not very long, just a page front and back, and I'll take care of the back for you. The Association just wants to be able to contact you in case there's a scourge emergency, and they need to sound a call to arms. It's... ah, well. It'd be nice if you answered, although you're not required to--but we should all try to fight the scourge and defend the human race and everything, right?" For a moment, his nervous smile flickered. It was hard for him to talk about the scourge and keep a smile on his face at the same time.
"Anyway! You came here for a pokemon. Poison..." he repeated aloud, thinking to himself. "Well, there's tentacool, but I'm not sure that counts as exotic. They're quite populous along our shores, really, and I hear they're common in some cuisines. Otherwise... how about ekans? I vaccinated a few the other day, and they're certainly more exotic than tentacool."
Professor Cypress strode over to the cylindrical device built into the wall and jammed a few buttons. "Just one second, and I can have all the tentacools and ekans out here--or just the ekans or tentacool, if you're not interested in snakes or jellyfish. Just let me know."
ooc: yeah, prof cypress' wall of text just critted you for over 9000. sorry.
Vic could habe gulped at his words. Paperwork? Well, what did she expect - getting away scott free with the wind in her hair and a free pokeball in her pocket. Kinda. She shrugged once more, though, trying to appear nonchalant. Nothing much fazed the girl anymore ever since after she left home, stealing her father's bike and leaving behind the life she knew for one of mystery and some would say, danger.
"That's fine. No biggy." She breathed in a calm coo, turning her gaze to rest momentarily upon the normal type beside her as he tried to knot her frazzled blond hair. The look she shot him though was enough to deter him from his mischievous acts, gurgling an apologetic hurr and tapped his claws impatiently upon her shoulder. Rotti wanted to be free of this company as well - and get to some action!
To his next speech she listened acutely as it had something to do with her future partner. "Tentacool..." Those were the blue jellyfish, right? They were also a water type, and Vic didn't particularly care for water types. They were so common, no? She shook her head, a memory rekindling a poisonous snake from her mind. Her cousin always flaunted around his Seviper, and she often wished she could have something resembling the admirably strong serpent. An ekans might be exactly what she wished for.
Mrs. Brown returned to the room with a clipboard, her silent footfalls making it seem like she was as capable of teleporting as Mr. Brown. For whatever it's worth, Professor Cypress normally jumped at sudden appearances, but he'd long since gotten used to Mr. and Mrs. Brown's coming and goings. He had to, or he'd be a victim of chronic heart attacks by now. Mrs. Brown approached Vic and presented the clipboard to her, along with a stately ink pen. <Please fill out of the front side of the form. There is a dotted line on the back for your signature as well.>
Professor Cypress fiddled with the settings, and three pokeballs containing ekans appeared out of the machine (and a fourth pokeball containing a togepi, which he sent back into the PC, hoping no one noticed). "I've only vaccinated three ekans, but I think they're all suitable for training. Well, the Association thinks they are anyway. I wouldn't know."
The first ekans popped out of his pokeball on his own, eager to stretch his neck now that he wasn't stuck in the PC. Spotting the teddiursa, he slithered over to meet the other pokemon happily, fangs bared and eager for a snack. <No,> Mrs. Brown commanded, and the ekans stopped short an attack. Instead, the ekans smiled in a way that would've been described as sheepish if sheep had very different teeth. "Er, that's the first. He's... very cheerful? And possibly hungry? I swore I fed them all just an hour ago..."
Professor Cypress released the other two ekans from their pokeballs. One of them looked around coolly, appraising her company and finding herself mostly unimpressed. However, she did give Vic a second glance, curious about her presence, but she was either too lazy or too arrogant to bother approaching the girl.
The third ekans immediately went over to Professor Cypress to greet him with a playful--and mostly harmless--nip on the ankle before dashing away to smother their guests with his attention. He peered at Vic and circled around her excitedly. <Ekkaaaans,> he chirped as an introduction. This ekans should've been born a growlithe, with a tail to wag and four legs to run around on.
"She's quite intelligent and an able battler, although I'm afraid she's not very personable. I'm sure the right trainer can connect with her though," Professor Cypress said in regards to the female ekans. "The other is completely opposite--very friendly and outgoing. He does bite though, but that's just to show his affection."
Her amber eyes regarded the presented paperwork with a sightly raised brow, poised with a slight suspicion towards the sheets. If the Association found out that she was runaway, dodging the law to avoid being spotted and brought back for theft. She instantly grabbed the papers as they were presented to her, though, possibly to get this whole thing over with as soon as possible. Little Rotti was jostled from her shoulders, arms thrown back to steady himself as she leaned forward on impulse and scooped up the pen from Mrs. Brown.
She glanced around for a steady place to set aside the form and spotted just the place - a hard surface resembling a sort of desk. That would do. She hurried over, brushing aside a messy strand of blond hair from her face as she faced the form with a neutrality and a tight sigh, seeping through her lips. She uncapped the pen and signed the necessary places, adding her name (although feinting a last name) and signed her signature and other information, always careful to look for optional places, not wanting to give out too much about herself.
When she was finished, she glanced up, handing the sheet back towards the psychic pokemon with a conclusive grunt. Rotti echoed it, now turning with a interested glimpse towards the presented ekans that appeared from their pokeballs. The very first one made the bear growl a warning as he approached. When the ekans bared his fangs with a hungry hiss, the Tediursa rose up indignantly, lunging for the serpent expecting a battle. Ears pinned down and a roaring Urrr, he sprang forward attemtping a Scratch attack, but Vic held him fast - although it didn't stop the bear in trying to reach him. His little legs kept running, and Vic rolled her eyes. Rotti was always looking for a fight.
He calmed down a bit as the other two were presented. He crossed his arms and stared. Vic, however, was more interested in these two, the collected female and the overly obsessed male. The female - she wanted that one, and her decision was immediate. "I want the female." She replied simply, casting the ekans of her choosing with an equally cool glance, masking her interest as well. They seemed similar...and if that was true, she would have to earn her trust. This was a good start, though.
As soon as Vic made her choice, Professor Cypress quickly recalled the more aggressive ekans before it had a chance to launch another attack. The professor supposed that the Association had selected that particular ekans because of its killer instinct rather than in spite of it, but next time someone requested one of the snake pokemon, maybe he'd have the reflexes to stop it from taking a bite of a prospective trainer.
"This one?" he asked, gesturing to the female ekans--just in case one of the other ekans had received a gender change in the last five minutes or something. "That's great! I'm sure you two will get along. Don't you think so, Mrs. Brown?"
<...Like two peas in a pod,> Mrs. Brown deadpanned. All business, she handed Professor Cypress the forms Vic had filled out. Professor Cypress glanced through them. He'd enter the data in the system later, and all that really mattered was that she'd filled out all the contact info. There wasn't much point to building a squadron of scourge-immune trainers if the Pokemon Association couldn't call them together to fight off the scourge.
He flipped the form over to the other side. Signature and date, all present. Good. "Right, well, this all looks in order," he said, pleased that another trainer had found a pokemon to suit them. Out of seemingly nowhere, Professor Cypress produced a small package of items and presented them to Vic, along with the ekans' pokeball. "Here's her pokeball, and take this too. There's a few little things in there that will help you get started, courtesy of the Association. With that, you're all set! Take good care of your ekans, alright? And good luck."
Vic received a LV05 ♀ ekans! wrap | leer | poison sting | +1 egg move
