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!
Morals dictated that there was nothing worse than a man who tried to play, God, or Legendary or whatever controlled life and death. Xylon could put beside his own personal feelings for the sake of this sign. He could decide that he could screw around with nature, only if given the right tools to do so.
"Anyone here?" He asked. Tinkerbell followed along behind him, curious. "I'm Xylon, I sent word from Ceres that I was coming."
the sound of a cane resounded through the caverns as hieronymous made his way through the area where the lake was. "nannerl," he barked, and a pink vaporeon slithered out of the water. "we're leaving!" he walked onwards, his stride strong and poise graceful. a man like him needed no second command for his pokémon to obey. the vaporeon kept close to the old doctor's heels, its footsteps light.
when the water-type paused, so did its ranger. hieronymous clicked his tongue. "keep moving," he said, but a comment from nannerl made him turn.
he saw a young man asking for something -- for a ... something. hieronymous couldn't hear because he wasn't paying attention, of course.
"what?" he said, a little snappish but only appropriate for a man of his age and position. "speak up, son."
"Sorry." He said. He thought he spoke loud enough to wake the dead, he guessed not. "I'm Xylon Thorma." He spoke as though he was trying to get a message to the deaf. "I sent word from Ceres that I'd becoming. I'm a ranger, here to learn."
"thomas?" hieronymous bellowed, before shouting aloud: "constant vigilance, ranger!" the man rapped his cane against the walls of the cave, sending echos reverberating throughout the lake area. "ranger!" he said again, "there is nothing more important to learn in this world than the fact that! life is precious and life is everywhere if you look hard enough! even in the dead, you know."
nannerl purred happily. it loved listening to its partner's spiels.
Oy, this was going to be tough. "I grew up in the wilderness, sir. You don't have to tell me twice." He answered. This man seemed more militaristic than Xylon would have liked. Tinkerbell seemed very, well, pumped up by the Ranger's speech, he stood up a bit straighter.
"speak up, or else i can't hear you," hieronymous said with a wave of his cane, "but it doesn't matter. look at the fallen heroes before you!" he tapped a series of rocks on the cave walls, and a chamber opened up like diagon alley.
within it were crypts of fallen pokémon of heroes long past. they were all laid to rest there after serving their duty. "dying is optional. living is mandatory."
he walked over to the fallen pokémon and stared at their perfectly-embalmed faces. they all seemed as if they were merely asleep.
"you can cheat death, ranger, but you cannot cheat life. it goes on."
Was he talking about the sign? Is that how they cheated death? "Dying is as mandatory as living, at birth one is confirmed to die, are they not?" Playing god or whatever never served anyone well, but this was a war, not a time for Xylon to question his personal moral standing on the subject. If it meant protecting Kohaku, he'd sell his soul to do it.
This place crept him out though. He didn't like how these pokemon almost looked alive. Mummies were creepy.
"you can extend your lifespan in various ways. you do so by cheating death. while pokémon are supposed to die at the hands of scourge, they are instead vaccinated and no longer have to suffer a slow death by the virus eating them from the insides. you can play with your own life and do whatever you want with it, but you cannot intervene with it as if you were god itself. you meet other people and you have no control over them or what they do.
"death is much simpler. you die, and you have no other concerns. perhaps it is because of how boring it is that people wish to extend their lives and suffer more in their quest to atone or to achieve something. ambition, they call it. the will to live, some say."
Ranger and philosopher? Oh boy. Xylon nodded, as though he was completely listening. He wasn't. He just wanted to get this sign and get out. "Life is certain though, what happens after death, is not." That's why so many people were afraid to die. They were afraid of what happens to them afterwards.
hieronymous didn't skip a beat. nannerl emerged from behind the crypts, dragging out a freshly-dead zubat that it had caught outside.
"good job," hieronymous boomed to the vaporeon, who preened itself before its master. "now you, ranger. did you see the sign that i drew? now try to bring this zubat back to life. it's called cheating death and also divine intervention. you can play god with death."
He did see the sign the man drew. "Can't wait." He tried his best to copy it, and place it upon the zubat. He didn't actually believe it would work though. It kinda crept him out.
"If you can play god, why not bring back one of these Pokemon?" He spread out his arms, to gesture to the pokemon within these walls. "If you vaccinated them, they'd be great at fighting the scourge."
"it would be wrong to disrupt their sleep after they have performed their services to the world. this zubat, on the other hand, has had its life prematurely ended by nannerl."
the vaporeon perked up at the mention of its name. it smiled.
"what did i say? living is mandatory. death is optional. i'm giving the zubat the option to not be dead. and it is up to you to resurrect the zubat."
GMOT ? (( i guess you start rolling <20 and if it succeeds, the zubat is revived ))
"I see. Did you instruct... Nannerl to kill the zubat or did she act on her own?" Did they kill the zubat for the chance for Xylon to learn the sign? He wouldn't judge them if they did, they were in a war after all.
Morals dictated that there was nothing worse than a man who tried to play, God, or Legendary or whatever controlled life and death. Xylon could put beside his own personal feelings for the sake of this sign. He could decide that he could screw around with nature, only if given the right tools to do so. 
