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!
Shyvana strayed ahead. She always did. Griff had warned her that the area was still dangerous, Kohaku University's presence notwithstanding, but the charmeleon hardly cared. Thankfully, Diana stayed closer to his side.
He didn't need them to feel safe, nor did they need his protection, but there was power in numbers--and they were partners. It just felt right.
Griff found a high vantage point, his favorite sort of vantage point, and sat at the top of a stairwell to nowhere, the last remnants of a castle-like mansion. Someone rich lived here once. He was here now. They previous owners were probably dead. There was something poetic in there, he was sure, but Griff didn't bother looking for it
Idly, he lit a cigarette and took a long drag.
The mawile sat next to him, impervious to the smoke. Shyvana explored what remained of the mansion, theoretically on search for scourge or perhaps people in need of help. He suspected Shyvana only explored for fun. He would too, but he'd already concluded that whatever wealth this place possessed, it was gone now.
...Still, maybe there was something. In the basements, perhaps, or in a concealed floor panel. Hmm. It was worth considering.
"Let me know if you find something," Griff called to Shyvana below.
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alex faysal
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luke hopeTRAINER fossil, dust, ebon, venomBREEDER 307 eggsRANGER 4 signsAGENT 12 battles
there was a certain beauty to bellona hills that alex only lately began to notice. he stood in front of a familiar worn down home, having walked through its halls days before. the area around it he hated, but this one small place he did not. he'd met a dead woman there, rekindled a bond.
it was with grace that alex made his way up a hill, walking up behind someone he'd seen from below, squinting against the sun. "smoking kills, you know." he murmured, taking a drag of his own.
The mawile's steeltrap jaws snapped at the stranger, but Griff didn't mind his presence--not yet. Not until there was a reason to.
"I should be so lucky," Griff drawled, interrupting himself with another drag, "to die from cancer of all things in this day and age."
He craned his neck to look at the man standing behind him. Griff didn't trust him, but to be fair, Griff didn't trust anyone. (It was only fair. No one should trust him either.) "Didn't think I'd find company out here. Most people are too busy gambling their lives away at the Casino to enjoy the view."
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alex faysal
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luke hopeTRAINER fossil, dust, ebon, venomBREEDER 307 eggsRANGER 4 signsAGENT 12 battles
sonata was nowhere in sight, giving nothing away about alex. "better something quick like the virus rather than months of cancer." alex pointed out, tossing his cigarette to the ground. he crushed it under his shoe, leaving a melted puddle of snow.
the hair was really really red, in alex's opinion. but then again, he didn't have any right to talk. "gambling is fun. but monotonous." he didn't mention that he wasn't old enough to get into the casino. "better to see the beauty than a slot machine. orso goes some opinions." faintly, he wondered if ismael gambled ever. "why are you out here? shouldn't you be fighting the scourge." alex snorts.
"Me, with the virus... I might take cancer over that--like a slow-ass lazy suicide. Virus sounds more like murder by someone else's hand."
Griff wasn't old enough to enter the casino either. That had never stopped him though--very little ever did.
He stubbed what was left of his cigarette into the snow, deep until it actually hit the steps he sat on. Griff stood up, dusted the snow off of his legs, and he smiled at the stranger. It was a politician's smile, not even a con-man's. It wasn't in the least genuine to any onlooker, but warm enough to be so tempting to believe in.
"The scourge aren't going anywhere, neither forward nor back. I can fight them later. If they start marching into Nerio, then I guess I have to get off my ass. But hell, they can have Nerio. What's left there worth saving anyway?" He grinned, as if it were a joke from a born and bred local, but he was honest enough. Age turned some things into fine wine, but others just rotted in their own decay.
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alex faysal
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luke hopeTRAINER fossil, dust, ebon, venomBREEDER 307 eggsRANGER 4 signsAGENT 12 battles
it was mildly comical. "scourge are everywhere." he pointed out, eyebrow raised. "who knows? the next person you see might be scourge. hard to tell with the humans." he turned towards the light breeze, irritated at how the hair was getting into his face. "strange to think that they're just normal people. are you one of those religiously anti-scourge people?"
"Who knows?" he asked, in agreement. This conversation was too significant for his tastes. Who was this guy? What was he doing out here, without pokemon? This wasn't the Bellona Hills of old, where tourists flocked mindlessly.
He looked for Shyvana. She wasn't around. If she was out of sight, Griff didn't expect her back for another five minutes or so. That was how long a normal scouting run took.
Griff shrugged.
"I'm not religiously anything. I might've been into fun and profit a few years ago, but circumstances have changed. Now, I just like being alive and virus free--and by virus, I mean syphilis."
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alex faysal
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luke hopeTRAINER fossil, dust, ebon, venomBREEDER 307 eggsRANGER 4 signsAGENT 12 battles
well, that could be changed. alex took a few steps closer, resting right behind griff. "how is the virus spread again? proximity is one of those, right?" sonata lurked in his shadow, currently cast directly on griff. today was one of those bad days. he was viciously aware of the virus, thrumming through his veins. "syphilis is a little easier to avoid. proximity isn't."
his head hurt. his limbs felt like they were held up by yarn, his entire body did. sonata couldn't keep him grounded, if anything he would pull alex deeper into the pit. it was almost paralyzing. he felt numbed, fist clenching.
It suddenly occurred to him that the top of a stairwell to nowhere was not the best place to be. Where could he go, besides towards Alex? "Find Shyvana. Be quick," Griff murmured to the mawile, his voice resonant when it was soft.
Griff took a step back--it was the furthest he could go, backed up to the sharp precipice where the stairwell ended and nothing began. He leaned against the railing, falsely calm like a coiled spring.
"You don't look so good," he said, still around a murmur. They were standing close enough that any louder was unnecessary.
He drew the normal sign, and sent the strength downward. The stairwell crumbled, old steel compacting as the entire structure started falling apart.
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alex faysal
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luke hopeTRAINER fossil, dust, ebon, venomBREEDER 307 eggsRANGER 4 signsAGENT 12 battles
"i feel well enough." alex didn't have any time to say more before the floor began to crumble from beneath his feet. he quickly drew the ghost sign, falling through the rubble and then stepping out. "that was abrupt. you really should warn someone before you send the ground crumbling. especially after you left yourself defenseless. you're new to this aren't you?"
alex dusted himself off, looked disapprovingly at griff, and sighed. "you say i don't look very well and then collapse a tower on me... very inconsiderate."
He drew the rock sign, and rock climbing on a falling stairwell was more of a challenge than Griff had anticipated. He'd gone through worse though. This was better than the sudden death laser security some Nerio bigwigs employed.
He recognized the ghost sign when he saw it. There weren't that many other explanations for a stunt like that anyhow. He smiled when he saw it, something genuine that reeked of adrenaline. If this guy was a ranger, Griff was a saint, and that only left one option for what this stranger was.
"New to this scourge-fighting thing? Sure." He dusted himself off, displeased at the state of his suit. This wouldn't do. "Rappelling off of high spaces though, that's an old trick of the trade. Terribly out of practice though. That's what time behind bars does to you. Do me a favor, and pretend you didn't see that."
Griff laughed at Alex's disapproval. "Never said I was considerate. Besides, you seem fine. And me, well, you haven't bought me nearly enough drinks to stand that close, boy."
Boy, he called him, but Griff was pretty certain he was the younger of the two.
Where was the mawile? For that matter, where was the charmeleon? He hoped his pokemon would find their way back to him soon.
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alex faysal
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luke hopeTRAINER fossil, dust, ebon, venomBREEDER 307 eggsRANGER 4 signsAGENT 12 battles
haha. alex actually gave a chuckle, arms crossing over his chest. "in nerio city, being new to scourge fighting is much more useful than rock climbing. maybe you should see where your priorities lie." he crouched down, arms resting on his knees. "i guess i'll be polite and honourable then. no honour in attacking a defenseless boy."
inside, something screamed at him to just let sonata rip him to shreds now. he shrugged it off, distracting himself by scratching his cheek. he hadn't cut his nails for a little while(he made a mental note to buy a nail cutter)and his fingers left red streaks on his pale skin. "i hope they come back soon. my pokemon get stressed when they're impatient. he's more... rash than i."
"Don't say things like that--it makes me curious. Do I get eaten if they take their own sweet time? Or do I become one of you? Or better yet, both."
He wouldn't get to find out. Shyvana barreled in, still ahead of the mawile, who didn't tend to rush anywhere. To his surprise, a wild klink followed them both into the fray.
...Great. He was going to get another kind-hearted wild pokemon infected with the scourge. Whatever.
"Maybe you should reconsider your priorities. If I were on your side, let's be honest, it sure is easiest to kill a defenseless boy." He smiled when he spoke, but he knew that for a fact. A knife in the dark and silence, quick and clean, and then gone from the scene of the crime; Griff knew from experience.
leave my corpse to rotI PLAY grayson lumina
alex faysal
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luke hopeTRAINER fossil, dust, ebon, venomBREEDER 307 eggsRANGER 4 signsAGENT 12 battles
Shyvana strayed ahead. She always did. Griff had warned her that the area was still dangerous, Kohaku University's presence notwithstanding, but the charmeleon hardly cared. Thankfully, Diana stayed closer to his side.
there was a certain beauty to bellona hills that alex only lately began to notice. he stood in front of a familiar worn down home, having walked through its halls days before. the area around it he hated, but this one small place he did not. he'd met a dead woman there, rekindled a bond. 
