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 walk from juno to proserpina had taken longer than she had anticipated. ikram was greeted by heavy snowfall by the time she reached the city, and was shivering as she checked herself into a nearby inn. the pokémon center was halfway across the city, and she didn't dare brave the journey across in such weather.
wukong trailed behind her, its face scrunched up in annoyance. it wasn't too happy with the weather either. a fresh blanket of snow it was happy to put up with, but a lot of snow happening while it was trying to keep up with a human being was pushing it. the fiery creature hopped gratefully into the inn, and promptly glanced over the menu of a nearby vending machine.
'hot coffee sounds great.'
"yeah," ikram agreed, rummaging around for some coin but found none. "ah, i don't have spare change."
the snow was falling more heavily today, and it was with a bit of difficulty and a lot of bundling up that verte made it to the inn at all. athena was curled up in her arms, seeking the warm that radiated from there, refusing to stay inside a pokeball but not wanting to be cold, either. personally the trainer couldn't blame her, and so here they were, in a building that was actually warm, and looking over the various hot drinks that it offered.
nearby she saw someone looking through their pockets for change, and a quick look at the pokemon behind them had verte rummaging through her wallet for spare coins. "here," she bluntly offered thewoman, holding out enough money for anything from the vending machine in a red-mittened hand. "you look like you need it." verte had never been one for subtlety, and those in the eos program had to stick together, right?
ikram turned around to see a familiar face. as odd as it sounded, it was a face that she had only seen in her dreams. the battle arena, to be exact; she vaguely remembered the name of her opponent. the zorua served as an affirmation to ikram as to the identity of the other person. "oh, thank you," said ikram, accepting the coin and inserting it into the machine.
while the machine churned and prepared her beverage of choice, ikram decided to greet the other trainer. "it's nice meeting you again, and not in a dream this time," she said, before the machine beeped. she reached out to take the steaming cup of coffee. gently blowing on the surface, ikram watched verte for any signs of recognition.
wukong waved, oblivious to the fact that verte might not have recognized them.
when her target turned around, it took a moment for verte to place the face in her mind. she vaguely recalled being paired up with her for a battle in her dreams, and that had her smiling at ikram when she greeted her. "same here. that was a good battle, though," she said. "i hope you and yours have been well." she turned away for a moment to get a cup of hot chocolate for herself from a machine near by, the coins clinking as verte slotted them in.
while she waited for the machine to warm her drink up and pour it verte looked back to the trainer with the chimchar, whom athena was resolutely ignoring. the small pokemon hadn't forgotten the burns he had given her, and she was a petty thing. verte made a mental note to talk to her about that later. "still in proserpina?"
the wooden inn by the boardwalk looked out at the sea, and ikram was glad to be indoors as the wind howled outside. "thank you," said ikram. the battle had turned in her favor because wukong had gotten lucky with its ember attack -- the burn was what won them the match, ikram felt. "we have seen better days, what with the weather and all. but we're fine!"
ikram passed wukong the cup of steaming hot coffee after deciding that she didn't need to drink anything. the chimchar sipped at the dark liquid, its eye closing contentedly as warmth washed over it. "well, this is proserpina," said the girl, "and i'm not sure if i'll be going to ceres in this weather. not good for walking, and wukong can't fly me anywhere, either." she eyed the chimchar.
she could agree with the weather part - it had been unusually frigid lately - but at least spring was coming soon. ish. hopefully. the trainer only eyed at the chimchar skeptically as it drank the coffee, before deciding that it wasn't her place to talk when she let athena have chocolate. which was never a good idea.
verte shrugged at the proserpina comment. logic was logic; she wasn't doubting it. she did snort, however, when she imagined the chimchar flying. "no, i imagine he can't. i'm staying put as well until the weather calms down a bit."
when a ding sounded verte turned and retrieved her hot chocolate - she'd had too much coffee lately, and needed to cut back on the caffeine - and took a sip of it, letting it burn down her throat. when athena motioned for it she let the zorua have some, glancing at ikram while doing so. "but when it does? would you go to ceres then, or would you stick around for a bit? i'm planning on challenging the gym leader here soon, before moving on."
"it says in the ranger guidebook that i ought to stop by the ranger outpost in juturna village, so i suppose that's where i'm headed to next," said ikram. she didn't really have an aim in this foreign land; as far as things were concerned, she was more interested in blending in than she was in getting recognized for her efforts against the scourge. "once the weather clears up, i think i'll set off. we rangers are supposed to be outdoorsy people, anyway."
how true that fact was, she didn't know. ikram didn't know many things about the place in general, anyway. she got by relying on logic and common sense, and it had served her well so far. "if you're challenging the gym leader -- you must be a trainer," she inferred, "... oh."
so she had battled a trainer and won? that was indeed a surprise. she hadn't realized it until now, unfortunately; she felt that she could have revelled in her success for a while longer.
"i heard the local gym leader specialises in fossils. have you a grass-type? i heard they worked wonders."
the ranger guidebook? ikram was a ranger? that came as a surprise to verte, but occupations were irrelevant at the moment - she took another sip of her hot drink as the other girl came to the inevitable conclusion. "yeah," she merely said, and shrugged at the mention of a grass type. "heard of that. don't have any, though - gonna have to start looking, or just go for it without one."
she paused for a moment. "'supposed to be outdoorsy'? why, are you not?"
at the comment, ikram shrugged. outdoorsy wasn't really her style, but it was a requirement for rangers out in the field. all those camping and stuff she needed to do to get signs -- they basically required that applicants had a love for nature and pokémon.
"i'm not really outdoorsy, per se, but i'm also not the bookish kind," said ikram. "it's rather hard to put in words."
when one had rather unique origins ... they tend to stand different from the crowd.
"let's just say i'm happier moving along at my own pace and i don't really like volatile weather, okay?" she smiled.
"that's fine. arceus knows that i don't like it when the weather forecast is wrong." she smiled back. it was one of verte's pet peeves when they couldn't predict if there would be rain or not. it was their damn jobs, they should be able to at least guess correctly, right?
"just curious - are you staying at this inn? or did you just duck in here for the warmth?"
ikram grinned. oh yeah, that was a bad thing. luckily she had already learnt the rayquaza sign -- unless some trainer decided to mess with it by casting some weather attacks. she hadn't had firsthand experience, but she suspected that it wouldn't be a pleasant one.
"i'm just here for the warmth, to be honest," said ikram, "and also because wukong wanted coffee." she glanced at the chimchar, who had finished its paper cup of coffee. it sat off to the side, content. "what about you?"
ikram grinned. "yeah, it'd suck to get caught out in the cold." outside, it was starting to snow, and what seemed like a blizzard had started to brew in the part of the city where the inn was in.
wukong stifled a yawn. coffee didn't really do the trick when it came to keeping it awake.
"we're gunna go take a break in the lounge upstairs," said ikram, snapping her fingers to get wukong's attention. "seems like a better place for him to nap." she glanced at the chimchar, nodding.
the snow was falling more heavily today, and it was with a bit of difficulty and a lot of bundling up that verte made it to the inn at all. athena was curled up in her arms, seeking the warm that radiated from there, refusing to stay inside a pokeball but not wanting to be cold, either. personally the trainer couldn't blame her, and so here they were, in a building that was actually warm, and looking over the various hot drinks that it offered.
"that's fine. arceus knows that i don't like it when the weather forecast is wrong." she smiled back. it was one of verte's pet peeves when they couldn't predict if there would be rain or not. it was their damn jobs, they should be able to at least guess correctly, right?
