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!
He did not understand why Iskander didn't do a population check on Decima himself. Then again, the other agent always had his reasons. Aaron had learned, already, not to question the other man's motives. That didn't make him any less irritated. Iskander had justified sending him to Decima with Hyde, so Aaron really couldn't say no.
An elephantine Pokémon lumbers by the agent's side. What a Scourge Mamoswine was doing out here, Aaron did not know. Perhaps the creature had been turned while part of Decima City was razed by the Scourge. Still, the creature stands tall, and its feet leave small indents in the earth. "Stay close," Aaron says to the Mamoswine, and the mammoth Pokémon sways his trunk, plodding behind Aaron and Byte. Byte, occasionally, zipped back to make sure that the Mamoswine was keeping up. The bizarre creature would beep at the Pokémon, then zip right back to Aaron's side.
Thus far, Aaron had yet to encounter any signs of life.
decima was as empty as the place ought to be, hyde thought. the metagross's mechanical gaze swivelled, zooming in on the agent and his pokémon. much like its human partner, the metagross preferred to keep its distance before coming in for backup. the human had chose the bridge, which was a stupidly open area to parade about, it thought. hey, iskander's voice filtered in through a mental link to aaron and byte, isn't that mammoth going to destroy the bridge? it'd be a scene right out of a pokéwood movie.
the metagross kept its respectable distance, before it focused on a figure clad in red headed towards the trio of pokémon. bullseye? perhaps. hyde remained static, but its mind was rapidly processing various probabilities and projected results. iskander was but static noise in the supercomputer's mind as it made its way through complex figures and calculations.
on the bridge, the figure was accompanied by a scourge milotic and a gas mask. with its hood up and face shielded by a gas mask, whoever it was, it seemed to be mostly human. an agent, too, if the milotic was any indication. it held out a gas mask to aaron, tilting its head just slightly to indicate that it was fine to take one of them, even if he already had one.
the milotic kept close contact with its human, as if using its empathetic ability to establish a check on the hooded agent.
The Mamoswine snorted, though showed no signs that it had heard Iskander's voice. Instead, Aaron replied with, "Only one around here for miles. It wanted to come, anyways." It'd be more useful with them, and Aaron was always trying to maximize efficiency. Granted, the Mamoswine wasn't the best Pokémon to work with, but it would create a ruckus and either draw people towards it, or chase people away. Either way, it was going to make their work a little easier.
Byte was the first to spot a figure. At its side, there was a Milotic with darkened scales, clear indication of Scourge. The Porygon-Z picked up the pace, zipping over to Issei. It whirred softly, chirping almost, as if greeting the young man, then waved at Aaron, Hyde, and the Mamoswine, to hurry up.
Aaron shook his head at Issei, pointing towards the gas mask already on his face. "Thank you, though," he replied, and then asked, "Are you alone here?" Aside from the Milotic, of course. Issei seemed harmless enough, and as a general rule of thumb, none of the Agents had found a reason to raise a hand against another Agent. He gestured towards the Mamoswine and added, "Don't worry about him. He's actually quite friendly." Aaron imagined that young children may have once swung from the Pokémon's huge tusks.
it should have melted like ice-cream on a hot sunny day in undella, iskander's voice seeped into aaron's mind, barely lifted from a drawl. does the part-ground part of it have anything to do with its survival? i should have been a researcher. static crackled soon after iskander spoke as he ordered hyde to filter out his thoughts. neo was a researcher, and damn if he hadn't thought of becoming one after finding out she was one. there was something interesting about pokédexes that he was unable to crack, not to mention the idea of cutting things up. he fancied it, but to get real blood on his hands was something else altogether.
who's the milotic? iskander asked, but despite his curiosity, he sent hyde to retreat from the scene. as the metagross moved, the voice in aaron's head grew fainter and more distant. issei, on the other hand, moved closer to the other three.
the hooded agent tossed the gas mask over to aaron, anyway. if he didn't catch it, it would fall to the ground with a clatter, and issei could care less about it. he watched aaron from behind the gas mask, and said nothing. he continued to stand where he was, watching the way aaron's hair moved and the line of his jaw, and the way the mamoswine curved as it swayed due to its weight.
in a hollow manner, issei leaned to the side slightly, still saying nothing.
stefan walks beyond the borders of decima city, shielded with the mask that was given to him by batin. no matter how many reservations the other eos members had about it, the mask had still served its purpose. that's all that matters, doesn't it?
it's a pity that not everyone sees as he does. he breathes his first bit of fresh air since arriving at decima a few days ago.
he is alone. of course, it is common practice for eos to keep their pokemon stowed in case of an unfavorable encounter. however, stefan isn't sure if that's the entire reason that alexander isn't hovering over him right now, protecting his trainer's every breath with his life.
does he want to be consoled right now? who does he want it from?
it doesn't take him long to spot the scourge and the agents. he supposes that every being alive in decima would be trying to escape the fumes. the rational decision would be to take out his entire party and fight their way out. that's what any rational trainer would tell him.
stefan isn't so sure. after the last victory against the agents, nothing about fighting the scourge really feels rational anymore.
his gaze settles on aaron, his eyes free of grudge. their battle was merely a learning experience for stefan. a one night stand of sorts, if you will.
nothing has felt personal since erik, and now he doesn't think that anything will be personal again.
that wasn't personal. he doesn't care if the porygon-z's trainer believes otherwise.
"are you in allegiance with batin and cameron aster?" he wonders if his voice will carry over the wind. maybe they will answer. maybe they will try to kill him. either way, it will be no different from how things began at pal park. stefan thinks that he can live with that.
Iskander's words are like white noise in Aaron's ears. "If you had put your mind to it, I believe you would have made it to Pax," he said. Iskander would have still been very, very bored. He wasn't sure if Hyde or Iskander had heard his reply though, considering that by the time he'd finished the sentence, the Metagross had disappeared along with Iskander's voice.
Aaron also caught the spare gas mask anyways. It didn't look like Issei would take it back. He wondered if this was the rumored man in a red hoodie who handed them out to people passing through. He supposed that he could hold onto it. It never hurt to be safe, so if his own gas mask decided, by some chance, not to work, he'd have a spare. He hooked it onto the Mamoswine's tusk before turning back to Issei. "I presume the Milotic is yours, then," he stated flatly. Most people fled when a Scourge appeared on the scene.
There is a third party at the meeting, and Aaron glances over his shoulder. Byte whirs, a red light steaming from his eyes. The ray washed over Stefan's body, as if to scan the Eos trainer. Aaron, on the other hand, sees no reason to lie to Stefan in this situation. He replies simply with, "We are." The question now became how Stefan came to be acquainted with Zahir and Cameron, especially Cameron who seemed to abhor Eos.
it's all so damn funny, how intertwined some lives are. all this time, the alejandros and pax eos were right about him. he's nothing but bad luck, having associated with the wrong sorts of folk. stefan never had any doubts in his heart, but that's a filthy lie, isn't it? the fact that he was still fighting is proof of his infidelity to his own beliefs.
stefan is fighting the battle long after the treaty had already been signed. the absurdity is not lost on him.
...then again, is the fight ever truly at an end? the scourge are fighting against an entire established order, cultural, political, and biological.
"...why do you all fight?"
ZULF ? (dw vert we're gonna get to this brawl by next post i think)
Rhetorical questions without answers. Aaron pauses for a moment, thinking hard, before finally replying to Stefan's question. "We have nothing to lose," he responded, or at least, most of them didn't.
Suddenly, the Mamoswine rears its huge head, thrusting its tusks forward, pawing at the ground. Saliva dribbles down the corners of the Pokémon's mouth as it swings its head to and fro. There is something terribly wrong with the Pokémon. The Scourge's eyes seem to glow a faint red. Aaron grabs his styler; he knows all too well these signs from the Scourge. "If you'll excuse me," he says to Stefan. The Scourge were hungry, and as an Agent, Aaron had decided that he would have to help with their feeding.
Suppertime.
mamoswine used mud-bomb at stefan
porygon-z used magnet rise porygon-z used agility porygon-z used electro-web at stefan
aaron drew the flying sign flying sign manifested in defog in stefan's general area?
LVL35 + 10 double edge, ancient power, endure, mud bomb, ice fang, take down, double hit
stefan suppresses the urge to laugh. it's a good thing he does, or he might have inhaled a mouthful of mud and noxious poison.
in the end, they're all brothers, aren't they? marauderers with nothing to lose. maybe in a different life, alexander and gerfried would have been scourge. maybe in a different life, he would have been fighting with him.
(maybe in a different life, he would have had something to lose).
the mask protects him from the poison - in fact, poison in decima seems rather redundant. the mud bomb is a rather unpleasant experience that causes several thousand hundred pokedollars worth of damage to his clothes. by the time the electroweb comes, stefan is already backing the fuck up. the defog clears his vision of mud bits, at least. his ribcage is less fortunate, but at least nothing seems broken.
no point in delaying the inevitable.
a honchkrow appears in a pokeball's flash. alexander pulls stefan out of danger, like always. he feels generous, so stefan allows gerfried into the battle as well. maybe a third would be wise, but stefan thinks that he would like to do most of his observation now.
honchkrow used fly
stefan sent out bisharp bisharp uses hone claws bisharp uses acc stat boost iron head on the mamoswine
[ uh idk if what i did was legal, but tell me if it isn't? ]
Aaron was, in a sense, had only been counting the seconds to the fight. It was absolutely inevitable, though he hadn't calculated for it to have escalated so quickly.
No matter. It would solve itself. Perhaps in a different life, Aaron would have a vaccinated Pokémon at his side instead of this corrupted Porygon-Z.
mamoswine hit by iron head mamoswine used ancientpower on bisharp mamoswine used mud bomb on bisharp
porygon-z used thunder wave on bisharp porygon-z used nasty plot porygon-z used discharge on bisharp porygon-z used electro web on bisharp agility turn 1/2
aaron drew the flying sign flying sign manifested in defog on bisharp
LVL35 + 10 double edge, ancient power, endure, mud bomb, ice fang, take down, double hit ~ 50% HP
jsyk, in general situations, you're hit by everything before fly takes effect. it's when you're in the air that all attacks miss and you perform your attack. i guess this time is an exception.
milotic used aqua tail on bisharp milotic used water pulse on bisharp
issei drew the bug sign - string shot on bisharp <95 hits
[yeahhhhh srry uh my offer to edit is still open if u guys wanna see bruises/burns/etc lol ]]
well, the scourge trainers have certainly improved since their last encounter. stefan doesn't think that it is because of the addition of the mamoswine either. he will give credit where credit is due.
stefan supposes that it's not courteous to become alexander's burden. he draws the hydreigon's pokeball and settles onto his back instead, allowing the honchkrow to attack.
gunther wants in on the bloodshed. he is not content to serve as his trainer's carriage. he never was, and he hisses initelligably in his trainer's ear. stefan closes his eyes, signifying the end of their discussion.
that's not to say that he isn't allowed his role in the battle
bisharp is hit by everything bisharp faints
honchkrow used fly on porygon-z honchkrow used tailwind
hydreigon used acc stat boost fire blast on the mamoswine hydreigon used work up
Aaron's learned plenty from his last fight with an Eos trainer. In fact, he recognizes Stefan and his Pokémon from the last battle, so he knows that the man is a formidable trainer. He needs to be cautious. Attack hard, attack fast. There is no waiting in between. Byte and the Mamoswine seem to understand that, but the Pokémon is still hit by the Hydreigon's cruel flames. The Scourge let out an unearthly shriek before slumping motionless on the ground. Byte, on the other hand, is still going at it.
mamoswine hit by fire blast mamoswine melted
porygon-z used dodged fly porygon-z used discharge on honchkrow and hydreigon porygon-z used thunder wave on hydreigon porygon-z used electro web on honchkrow and hydreigon porygon-z used lock-on on hydreigon
agility turn 2/2
aaron drew the zekrom sign zekrom sign manifested in fusion bolt on honchkrow
LVL35 + 10 double edge, ancient power, endure, mud bomb, ice fang, take down, double hit ~ 50% HP
