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!
The docks are a loud, boisterous place, people moving to places only they know about and pokemon scattering the various nooks and crannies. Ahuda moves along with the crowd, ever-present Madonna at her side as they head toward the edge of the docks. At the very end of the walkboard there are places for people to sit and dangle their feet over the edge if they chose to, or simply stand, regardless of the cold air that blows in from the sea and the freezing water just below.
Escaping the mass of people Ahuda stands on the very edge, looking out in to the sea. She is dangerously close to falling in if she isn't careful, but the ranger finds she doesn't mind. There has to be at least some thrill in life, after all, even if a startled shout from a well-meaning stranger could send her plunging into the sea.
Mo was the first to spot the potential victim girl, and if this was months ago he would have taken off straight away, but nowadays he liked to give Tiffany a little warning before he got up to anything. <Look,> he said, motioning to the girl standing on the edge of the dock. Tiffany looked, and even though she couldn’t see the target she knew there was one.
“Oh please don’t tell me…”
<I’m gonna do it.>
“No you are no—wait, Mo!” As usual, her words were too late, and even if they had been they would have been quite ineffective anyway. Tiffany chased after her Pokemon parter, calling for him to stop, and realising a little too late that she was catching up to Mo.
That was weird. Really weird.
Then Mo shot upwards and Tiffany, eyes still locked on him, ended up doing something completely inadvisable to anyone: she wasn’t looking where she was running.
“Mo, what are—aah!” Tiffany ran into Mo’s target and the next thing she knew she wasn’t on the docks anymore.
Ahuda would forever blame what happened next on Madonna, who, for her part, would remind her that it was her damn fault for standing so close to the edge in the first place. The ranger would then bicker that the Mienfoo could have pulled her out of the way, but no, she just had to hate cold seawater with such a passion that her first instinct wouldn't be to save the friend she'd had for her entire life and instead save herself from the freezing cold instead.
(Madonna would give her that flat look that simply said "I've saved your hide a dozen times, don't you even start" while Ahuda ignored it through years of practice)
So it only makes sense that both Ahuda and the person who'd ran into her went flying off the edge went plunging into the water.
b0gAPTB5 <50 it's shallow water, ankle high <50 it's medium deep water <50 they land on a pokemon <50 on a "safe" pokemon <50 ...it's a gyrados
...Ahuda doesn't know what pokemon they've landed on in the waist-deep water, but she knows they did, because it's screaming bloody murder at them. And like all good rangers pokemon first, humans second. "Are you alright?" she asks it, but she can't see what species it is because water is in her eyes. Only after she's tried and made sure the pokemon is fine Ahuda's turning to the human, blowing wet hair out of her face and shivering in the rather cold sea water. Arceus, they'd have to get out soon. "You okay? Can you swim back to the docks?"
dizzyplease don't kill me for this, you can decide the pokemon they landed on :3
Jeez, these partner Pokemon. You think they’d care a little more.
Tiffany tried to figure out what was going on as fast as she could, but was only making a moderate success. Which was understandable since she was putting more energy into keeping herself afloat. How had she even ended up out here? Oh, that’s right. Somehow she had gone from running on the dock to splashing into the water (easy enough to figure out that), but she swore she had hit something and couldn’t think of what that something was until it spoke to her.
“I’m okay?” she repeated blankly at first, then it clicked properly. “Oh. Right. I’m Fine.” Breath. “I think. And you?” And what about Mo? Where was he—?
Scratch that. She could hear the cheeky bugger cackling in the background somewhere. Fudgesticks! Tiffany slapped the water in frustration. That was it! She wasn’t going to look after him anymore; if he wanted to prank someone and get hell for it, he was welcome to. She had had enough of keeping him out of trouble.
Huh? “Ohmygoshsomethingtouchedme!” Tiffany suddenly yelped, aware for the first time that there was a Pokemon underneath them, yelling and screaming (it was amazing what she noticed when she wasn't busy being annoyed with Mo), and now that she thought about it, the other girl wasn’t the only thing she had bumped into. “Oh no, oh no, oh no. Are you hurt?”
She looked up at the other girl, worried and wanting to ask how pissed off the Pokemon was.
nette don’t be silly, the dice decides everything! ULCgVAeT 1-33 Tentacruel 34-66 Sharpedo 67-99 Kingler 100 Qwilfish (ouch dat poison point) <50 said Pokemon is pissed off >80 very pissed off
Fuck, the pokemon seems pissed. Not to mention it's a Sharpedo. A damn sharpedo.
Seriously, does Ahuda have the worst luck around here or what?
"I'm fine, but we need to get out of the water now." she says, gritting her teeth as the ice-cold water splashes against her neck. She starts to swim back to the docks, glancing once behind her at the apparently reckless person behind her. "Come on!" she shouts, before launching into strokes. Her speed's nothing compared to a Sharpedo's, but Ahuda's hoping that she can outpace the pokemon before either she has to talk to it - and she's very doubtful it's willing to listen - or become Sharpedo food.
If Ahuda was really unlucky then she wouldn’t be wearing any shoes – those Sharpedo scales must be rough!
In that moment Tiffany agrees with Ahuda more than she’s ever agreed with anyone ever before. She can’t make out the Sharpedo through the water (probably because she’s never seen one before) but she can certainly make out the pointy dorsal fin, and that was something you were supposed to run away from. Always. Right?
Tiffany follows with awkward swimming. She is awkward and slow and right now really wishes she wasn’t wearing any clothes to drag her down. This isn’t working. There’s no way she’s going to outswim an angry Pokemon. She is so in trouble right now.
4Yz6pS7p <50 remembers she has a styler >50 mo decides to save her
Lucky her – her partner must have felt guilty or something, because the Rotom is by her side in no time and tries to warn the Sharpedo off with a ghost attack.
<50 it works and the sharpedo backs off
nette all good! i dunno if that counts as <50 or not
But then her shoes would be wet. Wet shoes, ngggg.
The other person in the water with Ahuda is slow, and she finds herself slowing down to keep a wary eye on her. Damn her hero-complex, and if the Rotom - wait that was a Rotom, holy Arceus - hadn't unveiled itself she would have tackled the Sharpedo herself.
Yeah, sometimes Ahuda hated herself and her inability to leave others to their doom.
The Sharpedo backs off, surprisingly enough.
ECYdN7u| <50 it has friends
...and damn it, even if the single pokemon backed down, there's a swarm of Sharpedo after them now. Pokemon aid or no, Ahuda is panicking in the water and where in hell was Madonna?!
And just when things were starting to look better, they only got worse. So much worse. Now the Sharpedo had his other Sharpedo buddies to back him up and there was no way Tiff was going to outswim them no matter what the rolls.
“I can’t.” Tiffany managed to say amongst bobbing her head up in down in some attempt at freestyle. The fact that she was trying freestyle in the ocean said a lot about how out of her depth she was here. (Fun fact: you’re better off with breast stroke in the ocean).
Swimming away wasn’t going to work. Tiffany turned around and tried to talk to, who she now dubbed, the Sharpedo Squad. “We’re sorry, okay? For whatever we did.” Which was what? Jeez, it hadn’t even been there fault. “Look, we fell. And you guys just happened to be in the way. And I’m sorry but you totally could’ve moved out of the way and avoided being fallen on top on.”
And for extra measure, Tiffany pointed at her Rotom and said, “It’s all his fault anyway.”
<Hey!>
L|XIHG2i <60 Sharpedo calm down <50 Only half of them were listening so only half calmed down <50 Decide to go after Mo instead.
...the girl was stopping to talk to the sharpedo. What in the name of all that is holy does she think she's doing?! Ahuda thought, but she's surprised when half of them back off. Even after being insulted. Well, maybe it was because they were insulted that only half did. Whatever the reason, Ahuda's common sense takes over and she grabs the other girl by the elbow because the fishy that are left look hungry.
"Come on, really?" she complains as she tries to drag the other girl through the water, ignoring the Rotom hovering above them all. "It really was an accident, I swear. Please go after the Rotom?" She hated throwing a pokemon under the bus for them, but it was goddamn floating in the air. It could dodge whatever the sharpedo left threw at him.
Besides, she could see Madonna and her Axew assist waiting on the docks with blankets. Thank god.
...wait, pokemon. Pokemon. She was a damn ranger, she had signs. Hastily she drew her styler - which was still working, bless ranger technology - and drew the ice sign to create an ice platform underneath herself and the girl.
"Get on it," Ahuda said tersely, glancing at the Sharpedo left. She draws herself up onto it - it's stable enough - and looks to see if the other girl does the same.
On the bright side, half of them had somehow been convinced that eating the two humans wasn’t really worth the trouble. Or something. It was one of those mysteries we’ll never know the answer to.
Before Tiffany even saw her words work, the other girl started to pull her along. “We’re not fast enough,” Tiffany protested, because duh, as if they were really gonna outswim actual water Pokemon. At least she had been backed up in blaming Mo. Poor Mo. At least the Sharpedo Squad hadn’t gone after him – that, or they realised what Ahuda had.
Regardless, Mo wasn’t going to let either of the rangers forget it – they owed him.
The whole ice platform thing was a brilliant idea and Tiffany was a little embarrassed she hadn’t thought of it first. The embarrassment didn’t slow her down from trying to scramble onto the platform, something that proved more difficult when you were wet and slippery.
79y6k8YT <50 manages to get on
Oh damn you luck. Tiffany slipped off. Great. It was a great time for her to remember why she wasn’t originally a nature fan. Forests and caverns were okay because they didn’t try and feed her to angry Pokemon. This escaping thing wasn’t working out for her. Tiffany turns back to the Sharpedo to reason with them again. Or die trying.
“Please. It was an accident. It’s not like my hobby is falling on top of Pokemon or anything.” The argument sounded weak even to her. It was time to switch back to the Mo defence. She pointed at him again. “It really is all his fault. He’s a prick like that. He’s the one you want, not us.”
<15 weak argument works <50 Sharpedo go after Mo <50 Mo is 100% done and leaves them to their doom
Well, that kind of worked. The Squad's interest was now with Mo who did not like being picked on. They started to jump and bite at him, hit him with water attacks, and he fought back with ghost attacks. Nothing electrical until Tiffany was out of the water.
She started to feel bad for picking on him and resolved to scramble out of the water as quickly as possible, which she managed to do this time because screw rolling for that again. “Thanks,” she said to the other ranger.
nette whoops forog to tag you sorry. and wow this is long, feel free to reply with a short post.
Wow, the Rotom is getting attacked pretty hard. Ahuda'd feel bad for him except for the fact that he was keeping the Sharpedo off their backs. When the pokemon's trainer rolled onto the ice platform it rocked a bit but held steady, thankfully enough. At least it wasn't sinking like she was worrying it'd would. Thank god for small miracles. "You're welcome," she said to the girl, before turning back to their predicament.
Rather than paddling all the way to the shore, Ahuda palmed her styler again and drew another ice sign to create a pathway back to the docks. Hopefully, the Sharpedo wouldn't notice.
Vw5qIGQe <50 too busy with Mo to notice
Well, at least they had a clear way back now. "Come on," she said to the trainer, before starting down their escape route.
For Mo’s sake, let’s just pretend that these Sharpedo are only newly evolved (ie around lvl 30), so that way he won’t be getting completely owned. Saying that, as soon as Tiffany was, more or less, safe on the other ranger’s ice path, he was free to shock the Sharpedo to his heart’s content. Hooray for type advantages.
Tiffany took care when she stood up on the ice platform and had her arms out for balance. The last thing she wanted, or needed, was another fall back into the water. For now, that and getting back on the docks were the only things on her mind.
There was another pang of guilt. She really ought to help out Mo. “I’ll be there soon,” she told the ranger before pulling out her own styler and turning back to the Sharpedo and her Pokemon.
“Move it, Mo!” She shouted at her partner, who was quick to move away when he saw that she was drawing a sign. With any luck the water sign would pull through accuracy-wise and trap the Sharpedo in a whirlpool.
Ahuda glances back when the girl speaks, then her eyes dart toward the styler in her hand.
...what were the chances that she was stuck out in the water with a fellow ranger? Surely it couldn't have been that large. Well, at least she knew she wasn't just a random civilian or anything, although the vaccinated rotom should have clued her in. Nevertheless the ranger can't just leave her comrade there, so as soon as she sees the whirlpool work she attempts to grab her wrist and run with her. "It's good, let's get out of here!" she cries, and begins to run toward the docks and Madonna and ohmygod heat.
“Wait, wait.” Tiffany let’s herself be pulled along the ice path, and calls back over her shoulder for Mo to hurry up and come back to the docks. With someone holding onto her, Tiffany feels confident enough to run – well, it’s half that and half she’s being pulled by a runner and has no choice.
Somehow, and Tiffany really wasn’t expecting it, she makes it back to the docks without slipping or sliding on the ice, and once she’s on land again (well, close enough to it) she never wants to leave ever again. Never ever. “Ohmygosh! That was…” Kinda fun, actually, now that she could look back on it in the past. But fun probably wasn’t the best word to use. “Adrenaline-pumping?”
“Thanks for. Getting us. Outta there.” She was still trying to catch her breath back, but that didn’t stop her from holding out her hand for the other girl to shake. “I’m Tiff. You?”
Ahuda shrugs under the blanket Madonna had hastily draped over her, because that water was freezing cold and accepts the cup of hot chocolate her axew pokeassist handed her. Her two pokemon were offering the same to Tiff, should she want it. She might - it's fucking winter and they were in the sea.
...yeah. At times like this Ahuda really, really wished she had a fire pokemon.
"I'm Ahuda," she says instead and holds out a hand to shake Tiff's - the one without the hot chocolate. "And you're... welcome? I guess?" Adrenaline-pumping it may have been, but the ranger is not going to do that ever again.
She looks pointedly to the other girl's styler. "So you're a ranger too, I take it? What the hell happened?" Because one moment she'd been standing on the dock, and the next she'd been pushed into the sea with this girl. Honestly, Ahuda didn't know what the explanation would be, but she was interested.