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 was soaked to the bone, curled up by the side of the amberwell. he shook from both fear, pain and the chill that was seeping into his skin as night fell over ceres forest. the fact that it was dangerous didn't matter to ismael; between a nightmare and what happened to him earlier that day, he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. the only thing he did was phone a random stranger whom he had met earlier that day; he didn't want to phone hisham or even his brother.
little did he know that they were fucking each other just across the lake. he gripped his c-gear, buried his head in his hands, and tried to stop himself from just falling back into the water.
Ismael's voicemail had been worrying, and from her brief encounter with him, Thalia suspected he was not a person who inspired confidence in his physical state even at the best of times. And this hardly sounded like the best of times.
She'd come as soon as she got the message, and when she arrived at the Amberwell Thalia thought for a moment that she had been too late. Ismael's head was buried in his hands and his body looked more like a corpse than living flesh, drenched to the bone and curled up motionless. But she could see the faint rise and fall as he breathed. Barely.
Thalia felt like she was going to vomit. She fell to her knees besides Ismael, hands fluttering over him uncertainly. "H-how did you get here? Never mind it isn't important, just--" She didn't want to just manhandle him but he obviously needed heat before anything else. His clothes were soaked and the temperature in Ceres was fading fast.
Ninetales came out of her pokeball and Thalia gestured at Ismael helplessly. The fire-type curled around him, her tails wrapped like a blanket. Thalia tried to think of something else. Charizard had no finesse--would probably kill him?
Fennekin. She jammed the little fox pokemon into Ismael's stomach and hoped it would act like a space heater.
breathing felt like hard labor to him. he could barely lift his head, let alone hold unto his c-gear. his fingers were shaking yet stiff from the cold, and strength wouldn't come to him even if he tried to focus. the amberwell's water had long since seeped through the fabric. it had worked its magic, trying to repair the infection running under his skin, but all it managed to do was singe the epidermis. without an injection straight into the bloodstream, he stood no chance against the hades virus.
he let out a small choke. a part of him held out for thalia to arrive before he gave up upon himself, and he wasn't disappointed when she heard his voice.
ismael tried to lift his head. he was greeted by a ninetales and its warmth, followed by a fennekin that leapt into his arms. "thalia," he murmured, the c-gear falling from his grasp as the little fox moved closer to warm him.
He'd said something at least, even if it was just her name. That was good, right? She hoped it was good.
Darkness was falling, and she could barely see a few feet in front of her face. It must have been worse for Ismael, although she couldn't tell if his eyes were open at all.
Umbreon came out. Umbreon used sunny day.
She couldn't change night to day, but she could push it back a little. The air around them became warmer and brighter, cutting through the cold that had settled in. She dug out a slightly squashed oran berry.
what little sun and warmth the black creature managed to summon was better than nothing for ismael. it didn't change the fact that he was still shivering. his alabaster skin was slightly tinged with pink, not because of health, but because of the amberwell's waters. he finally managed to raise his head, and even smiled faintly at thalia when his vision focused upon her.
he said nothing else. ismael took the oran berry and had a tentative bite; it was spicy, dry, bitter, sour and sweet all at once. "an oran berry," he said in his distant, faraway voice. he ate the rest of the berry, and for some reason, felt slightly better.
"It was all I had on me besides potions," Thalia said. "I could give you one, but I'm not sure how much it would do. If you can move, we should really get you to a hospital, honestly."
She looked up at the sky. She doubted he could walk, and even as fragile as he seemed, there was no way she could carry him. Dragonite could carry him, she supposed, if he felt up to moving. But he wouldn't get any better just sitting here in front of the Amberwell--
The Amberwell. She was stupid.
"How did I not think of that," she groaned. "Did you come out here for the Amberwell?" He must have collapsed just before he got to it. "I can bring you some of the water to drink. It should fix you."
ismael choked, not because he felt unwell, but because of thalia's suggestion. his head fell again, and he shook his head as violently as he could.
"please, no. no water," he muttered, "no water." his eyes were tightly shut; the amberwell was bad for him. it had burnt his skin and recovered it in a short amount of time, but it had hurt a lot -- ingesting it would be twice as bad. he imagined his insides would be set aflame upon contact with the water.
"not the amberwell."
ismael's shoulders shook as he took a deep breath and hugged the fennekin closer to him.
"Yes," Thalia promised. "I'll get you out of here and you're going to be okay."
Now all she had to do was actually accomplish that. She hadn't lied. She'd do it. But she was worried about flying him out. It would be cold and windy above the trees, and it might jostle him overmuch. And she had no idea if he was injured, or what it might do to him.
She took out her Charizard.
"If we can get you onto his back," Thalia said, kneeling by Ismael. "He can carry you out of the forest. He's really warm. And you can keep fennekin."
a moment of clear-headedness struck him, and ismael found his body responding as he wished it to. the fog had not only lifted from his mind, but also from his bones. "i think i can stand," he told her.
he tried, and succeeded. ismael's gait was awkward because of the pain rippling through him, but he managed to reach the charizard's side before he stared at it for a moment. boarding a charizard seemed like a difficult task.
ismael hugged the fennekin. it was his first pokémon.
"Of course! He's far too little for me to be bringing him out when I'm in scourge territory, and I really don't give him the attention he deserves when I'm not. I'm sure he'd be much happier with you."
She reached out to ruffle the fennekin's ears.
"And he's had the EOS vaccine, so you don't need to worry about that."
"i appreciate it," said ismael as he allowed thalia to help him up onto the charizard. the fennekin in his arms barked its name happily. it enjoyed the attention it was getting from the two of them. it thought that humans could be nice -- even if it meant being cooped up in a pokéball for a longer amount of time than it liked.
"did you run off the first time to vaccinate him?" the teenager asked. "you talked about ... free vaccines." fennekin glanced up at its new trainer, then back at thalia.
The charizard began moving forward slowly. Very slowly, after a glare from Thalia, mindful of the passenger on his back. Thalia strolled alongside them.
"No, not him," she said. "He was born like that, actually. Both his parents were vaccinated, and the vaccination is inherited in cases like that. I save my free vaccines for the wild pokemon I catch, or pokemon born from captive parents that aren't vaccinated yet."
"Feels like forever since I talked to someone who wasn't part of EOS," she said. "It's nice."
riding a charizard was a strange sensation. it wasn't flying, but ismael figured he could get used to it. it was a slow sort of walking. warm, too, because charizard was a fire-type. the fennekin nuzzled its new trainer happily.
"i see," said ismael, "spreading the vaccine would help against the scourge."
voices whispered in his mind. the scourge, it hissed. whatever else it said, ismael couldn't hear. he scrunched his eyes tightly, and reopened them when the voice went away.
they continued walking. or rather, charizard and thalia did.
"Nothing fun. We mention which of our friends we haven't seen in a while, and try to decide if they're dead or just out of touch. How the latest battles went, what the new scars are, which pokemon breeds we shouldn't mention in front of so-and-so because their starter was the same type and died fighting the scourge. If we'll ever go home. If we're happy."
She shrugged.
"Boring stuff. Have you had any luck with finding your own story?"
It seemed better than asking how he was feeling physically: the situation spoke for itself.
"that's not boring," said ismael. "that's interesting. so far i've got nothing to tell other than how ill i've been recently."
he smiled despite himself. his mind was starting to blur again. he could barely make out thalia in the darkness. as much as umbreon had tried to warm the day, night had fallen all too quickly. a half-moon hung in the sky, and offered little light and warmth.
but he had fennekin, and the fox was happy to have company.
Ismael's voicemail had been worrying, and from her brief encounter with him, Thalia suspected he was not a person who inspired confidence in his physical state even at the best of times. And this hardly sounded like the best of times. 
