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 feels right at home in the warehouses. It smells of old fish (death too, he thinks, but it's probably just his imagination). He raises a hand and rubs the back of his neck, feeling the thin cord digging into his skin. He remembers a sick girl, a Piloswine, a man, and a ring.
All, of which, are long gone, save for the piece of jewelry that hangs around his neck.
Mikael doesn't know what has brought him to this place. It's dark and it's cold, but it's potentially the sketchiest area in the entirety of Proserpina City ("no wonder you feel safest here," he says to himself). Because out here, removed from the majority of the population of Proserpina, anything was fair game. He was free to use anything in his utility belt if something went awry.
He's not sure what that says about him.
Titania stumbles along at his side, and Mikael's eye catches the shudders that she's making. He frowns, lifting the small Pokemon in his arms. "Sorry for bringing you here," he says to her, to which the Ralts tilts her head curiously to the side. "We can leave soon though, if you'd like."
The Ralts only makes happy chirping noises. Mikael isn't sure how this little Pokemon is supposed to someday grow up and fight Scourge. Only when she suddenly disappears out of his arms and onto the floor does he stop his musing, but before he can pick Titania up again, she's already run off. "Titania? Hey, wait up," he calls and goes to run after her.
She's not comfortable -- not in the warehouse, where everything oozed suspicous activity; not in Proserpina, where everything was nice and perfect; not even in Kohaku, where she's already spent more than a year.
Sinclair doesn't know how to do anything but keep going and never stop. She doesn't know how to live a life that can't be nearly packed into boxes, ready to move to the next house (but not home, never home) -- so her acceptance into Eos means she can finally start moving again.
Setzer stands beside her, shifting nervously, and Sinclair silently moves farther from her pokemon; he's nice enough, sure, but there's no telling what happens if he freaks out and she's within reach of those wicked-sharp blades. (It's another problem she's going to have to fix.)
There's a soft scuffling sound from nearby, and the woman glances around for the source. Her hand is ready to draw her weapon, nevermind the fact that there's a walking bug-blade beside her, before she sees the blue Ralts hop toward her, making happy chiming noises.
She stares at it, unmoving, until it makes its way to her leg and clings to her steadfastly. "..." A part of her wants to kick it away -- it's obviously vaccinated, not wild, and she doesn't really need to bother; but the other part of her is already reaching for her pokedex, registering the pokemon's entry into the machine.
... Then, after a cautious glance around to make sure no one's there except her terrified Scyther, she scoops the Ralts into her arms, getting a friendly nuzzle and enthusiastic chirp in response. "... Cute."
By now, Mikael's learned that Titania has a tendency to run in straight lines. She couldn't have gotten far, not with all the crates strewn all across the floor. Then again, what with her teleporting, scaling crates wasn't much of a problem. Still, he keeps going, calling out, "Titania? Hey, where are you?"
He's always careful to peer around a corner before actually stepping out, automatically going for his gun in case something pops out unexpectedly. What he sees catches him off guard, particularly because it's a girl (what on earth is she doing here?), and also because she has Titania in her arms.
The Ralts doesn't appear to be very distressed. Mikael's learned that she's very friendly, completely open to strangers. Quite frankly, if the Ralts feels comfortable to give her a friendly nuzzle, she must not be a bad person.
Still, his hand never strays from the gun.
"Hey," he says, stepping out in the open. He trusts Titania's intuition, particularly because the Psychic-Fairy Pokemon picks up on emotions. If the Ralts feels safe enough to hug this stranger, then she must not be too big of a threat. "Titania, why'd you run off?" The Ralts glances over her shoulder and chirps, waving at the Ranger.
On the other hand, the Magnemite hovering at Mikael's side appears to be less inclined to trust the stranger. There are already sparks gathering at either side of the Magnemite's magnets, ready to strike if Titania was in any actual danger. He was surprised by how quickly the unfamiliar Pokemon became attached to him. Such was the magic of a Poke Assist, he assumed.
She's cradling the Ralts with surprising gentleness (and more than a bit of trepidation, considering she has no idea what she's doing), and Sinclair would even be inclined to smile, if such inclinations were characteristic of her.
But they aren't, so instead she tentatively pets the pokemon in her arms and wonders if she can take it with her.
By virtue of holding an exceedingly adorable thing against her chest, she's not as fast as she would have liked to be -- so her hand flies to the hilt of the knife strapped to her side too late when she hears a male voice.
Sinclair's eyes narrow at him, acutely aware of what his hand might be resting on. Setzer jumps in surprise at the sight of the sparking Magnemite, and the Ralts in her arms stirs at the sudden influx of negative emotion --
-- along with intense embarrassment for being caught red-handed (literally), but Sinclair doesn't allow that to show on her face.
Her expression is inscrutable, though her body is stiff. "... She yours?"
"Easy," Mikael says to the Magnemite. Its magnets immediately cease their sparking, and the Pokemon settles for making a dim, buzzing noise.
He only tells the Magnemite to hold back because he already has his gun out. The switchblade is in his back pocket, but there isn't a need for it. Firearm versus metal, Mikael thinks he's probably won this round.
At the sight of her human partner, Titania lets out another cheerful noise, disappearing from Sinclair's arms to cling to Mikael's pants leg. "Yeah," he responds without lowering his weapon.
"... your face is bright red."
(you can tell when I write posts not on a computer.)
She's slightly surprised when the Ralts hops down, attaching itself to the man's leg, but her eyes never leave the barrel of the gun pointed at her. Sinclair's fingers tighten around the hilt before she slowly lets go, raising her hands into the air.
If only she had her gun. (But she doesn't, and she already knows who would win should he decide to start a fight, so --)
"Unarmed."
Then he points out the obvious heat that's rising in her cheeks, and Sinclair sincerely wonders if she can break his face once the firearm is put away. "..." She raises an eyebrow at him.
She's not the poster child of etiquette, but even she knows he's rude as hell. "... Hope. Sinclair Hope." The brunette narrows her eyes at the weapon before glancing at him in slight exasperation.
Only when the woman lifts her hands in the air does Mikael lower the gun. He's surprised that she fell for that, particularly because the gun isn't even loaded today. Then again, Mikael would have done the same as Sinclair; best not to question whether or not a firearm capable of damage was actually working. "... it's okay. There isn't anything in it today," he says, opening the gun to reveal its lack of cartridge.
She's given him her name. Is he expected to do the same?
"... Rogers. Mikael Rogers," he responds as he slides the gun away into his jacket. His breath curls white in the chilly atmosphere when he speaks. He's not sure why he's decided to come here of all places. He can feel Titania's small hands shivering against his shins, so he scoops her up into his arms. "Hey, don't run off again, okay?" he says to the Pokemon.
The Magnemite drops in the air slightly to become eye-level with the Ralts. It makes curious buzzing noises, as if to ask the psychic-fairy Pokemon how she is feeling, to which Titania merely grins and offers the Pokemon a high-five.
There is very little that Mikael actually understands about social norms, primarily that there are greetings that are meant to be exchanged before people leap into a conversation. Instead, he asks, "Why are you here?" After all, she's a stark contrast to the dark warehouses.
She's all bright emerald eyes.
And actually, now that he's gotten a good look at her face, she's quite pretty (says his styler, which begins to glow faintly.
Her gaze follows his hands as he opens the gun, and she feels like stabbing herself in the foot. Unloaded. It's absolutely unbelievable.
Sinclair has half a mind to punch him on the spot, if only she weren't vaguely impressed by his bluff (and the nerve he has to show his hand so quickly). She touches the pokeballs on her belt, eyeing the Magnemite. If she released a pokemon long enough to distract them, it wouldn't be too difficult to ... maybe break his nose?
But instead he introduces himself and asks her a question, of all things. Other than the flush that's slowly receding from her face, she sees no reason to not answer -- so she says, "To train." The woman raises an eyebrow. "... And you --" Her eyes are drawn to his styler, and she cuts off mid-sentence. Sinclair's fingers are back around the handle. "... What is that."
He's a part of Eos, sure, but that doesn't mean she trusts him.
Mikael is vaguely amused by Sinclair's look of horror, surprise, and irritation (which is saying something because Mikael is never amused). A loud silence falls between the two of them, and he can only assume that it's Sinclair trying to recover from his bluff.
Training is a valid excuse, he thinks to himself. The warehouse is quiet, a clear indicator that there were no other humans out and about in the area. It meant plenty of wild Pokemon to pick off for some experience. It wasn't why Mikael was here, but it was a valid alibi. He can tell that she's not here for the same reason as him, not with the way that she stands up straight and holds her head up high.
Part of him is glad that his styler has suddenly begun to act up. Mikael doesn't want to tell Sinclair that he's here because it feels like home.
"It's... my styler?" It comes out as a question because, quite frankly, he isn't sure either why it's glowing. Mikael removes it from the inside of his jacket, and the mechanism is glowing a faint pale pink. "I don't -- " It glows brighter, humming quietly, before everything fades away and it's as if the styler hadn't been acting up in the first place.
There's only one way to find out.
Mikael glances at the glyph that's displayed on the styler's screen and begins to draw it. The warehouse fills itself with a faint, white light as Titania lifts her arms and begins to glow with energy.
Sinclair stares at him -- it doesn't even occur to her that he might be uncomfortable with it, so she never averts her gaze even as he pulls out his styler. Setzer trembles nervously behind her when he draws the sign, and dives behind the nearest dusty crate when the Ralts begins to glow.
The researcher just watches in vague fascination.
She blinks when she notices the sudden flush in his face, and her eyebrows knit together in confusion. "What happened." Sinclair glances at his styler, then at the spontaneously-glowing Ralts.
He feels right at home in the warehouses. It smells of old fish (death too, he thinks, but it's probably just his imagination). He raises a hand and rubs the back of his neck, feeling the thin cord digging into his skin. He remembers a sick girl, a Piloswine, a man, and a ring.
She's not comfortable -- not in the warehouse, where everything oozed suspicous activity; not in Proserpina, where everything was nice and perfect; not even in Kohaku, where she's already spent more than a year.
