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 first failed breeding had not done any favors for milly's self confidence. she looks gloomily out to the sea. the vanilluxe beside her attempts to cheer her up with funny faces while the snorunt attempts to skate around on the slippery pavement. milly lets her. winter was only a little too comfortable for her ice types, and stuffing the pokemon in her jacket wasn't going to do her any favors like it would for her pancham.
after a while, even milly has to giggle a little at celsica's antics. "thanks, you...two?" how does one address a pokemon with two heads? the vanilluxe doesn't seem to notice or care. "i guess i just got unlucky, huh. i can't really stop now, so i suppose we'll just have to hope for the best."
the snorunt jumps up and down, and milly isn't entirely sure if she's trying to be encouraging or if she is attempting to volunteer for the next attempt. possibly both? she glances at the vanilluxe. it was intuitive that friends would breed better than pokemon that were strangers, but no research ever seemed to fully support that conclusion.
...it couldn't hurt to bring more pokemon to the dream world, though. bonding would be a greater luxury down the road, should she acquire more pokemon.
Florance liked traveling with Ikram, or at least, walking with Ikram. She was completely different than Florance, a lot more polite, and Florance was a wanna-be-tough girl.
The cold was a big strain on her grass types, so she kept them warm in their pokeballs. However, it didn't seem to bother her shuppet or gastly much, which hovered along side her head.
She also never forgot a face. A horrid last name, she did. The whatchamccall it family was a family Florance bought illegals from, and worked as part of a gang they hired to get some of their damn dubious work done. Even though it had been six years since she was on the straight and narrow, she still kept in contact with one of their daughters, who seem to have taken a liking to her. "Ikram, can we go over there please?"
"Milly! That you?" She waved and called out, before taking up a light jog.
ikram didn't have much thoughts on who she was supposed to travel with throughout the region (more likely than not another ranger or just wukong, and she'd be fine with that), but walking with florance was a nice change. the breeder was a nice person to hang out with and talk about things, and even though ikram had a suspicion that she talked a little too much, florance didn't seem to mind. and so she was happy to continue their discussion about various things as they took a stroll along the boardwalk.
her chimchar kept good pace beside her, huffing in the cold. it honestly didn't like the chilly winds, but ikram told it to bear with it and move on. because that was what pokémon -- and even rangers -- did with the weather. they were supposed to be outdoorsy people, after all.
ikram kept walking, but stopped when florance did. "hm?" hummed the girl, following florance's line of sight to where another female with pokémon was. "sure!" it was easy to agree. they moved over to where the other girl was, and for a moment, ikram had nothing to say, except:
milly surrounded herself with strong people because she wanted to be strong. as if strength were something that she could absorb like heat. she had surrounded herself with people like florance.
if it was any consolation to her friend, milly only learned her last name through years of practice. m-e-p-h-i-s-t-o-p-h-e-l-e-s. a name that her mother had taken on when she no longer wished to live in her brother's shadow (yet she inherited the same ice pokemon that her parents had passed on to the both of them).
"florance?" she turns around to find unexpected company. "...i didn't expect to see you here. i am glad to see that you are well."
she expected to see the ranger beside her even less, but she gives a courtesy nod. "hi, are you a friend of hers?" milly watches her closely, but not in an obvious (rude) manner. the chimchar is an giveaway to her affiliation, and milly's curiosity is piqued. "i am milliarde" she holds out her hand.
meanwhile, the snorunt tackles florance in enthusiasm. mizuti had been with milly since she was a child, and it was natural that she would be acquainted with florance.
"I'm glad I saw you too." Florance had grown attached to Milly over the years. Florance had worked for their family as soon as she was old enough to be accepted as a full member of the gang, around fourteen. It wasn't something that Florance was proud of, and definitely something that she didn't intend on sharing with Ikram.
Florance catches Mizuti in her arms. She was pleased to snorunt too, she petted the ice type gentle. "What are you doing around here, Milly?" The shuppet glides around Florance, checking out the snorunt, but sadly making Florance dizzy in the process. "Yes, this is my friend, Ikram. We've decided to travel together. We're both in the eos program." vertigo, then toska-senpai
"pleasure to meet you, milliarde," said the ranger, "and like florance said, my name is ikram." the eos program comment was something unecessarily tacked-on in her opinion, but she didn't really mind. it was one way of identifying to someone else that they weren't against humanity, or something along those lines. who knew what people thought in these times.
ikram shook milliarde's hand. it was a firm shake, something she had been taught to do alongside her tendency to keep her voice soft and exclamations gentle. the fact that the other two already knew each other didn't seem to put her off. in fact, it only piqued her curiosity further.
the vanilluxe is a little more considerate of their human company, and keeps enough of a distance to avoid giving anyone a cold right before winter ended.
milly holds her gaze steady, noting that nothing about florance seemed to have changed too much from what she can remember. there is no cry of jubilance after the initial surprise. sustained electronic contact had been enough.
"i have become an eos breeder." they are the surest words that she can say to florence now. they are not an indicator of her strength, but her priority. she's still the same milly who left with a world of expectations behind her and another world of expectations ahead of her. she is unafraid. when her parents has been tossing around such burdens on their only child for all of her life, milly knows that the only end is to fulfil those expectations. she's doing this for herself too, milly reminds herself silently. "i thought that i should pack adequate supplies before heading off to nerio. the breeding orders and societies await."
she knows that the order of the beast would be the most advantageous to her current mating pairs. at the same time, she had heard so much about the order of the wild's mordecai delecroix, poised to become the best breeder in the eos generation, the best of their generation -
(not now! you're in the presence of company, milliarde mephistopheles!)
"i am glad to meet you as well, ikram." she snaps out of her daze (although her expression did not change much from her usual) and returns the firm grip. to have a floppy wrist now would be the height of rudeness to florance's friend. "have you known each other for very long?"
Florance smiled. "Breeder? Are you copying me here, or what?" She was kidding, though Florance was certainly more sure that Milly might have been more cut out for this than she was. "How's your parents doing? They fairing well?" If something happened, despite Florance keeping in touch with Milly, she didn't know.
"Ikram is traveling with me, but my next goal is Nerio too. Are you sure you'll be alright, Milly? Nerio isn't the safest place in the world." At all, actually.
"I met Ikram in the city actually, we just kinda.. hit things off. Here we are, friends." Florance learned to always have a healthy distrust of everyone, but something about Ikram - the vibe she gave off - made Florance really enjoy being around her. vertigo, then toska-senpai
ikram smiled at the both of them. "yep," she agreed, "it wasn't exactly a glamorous first meeting, but sometimes the best things come when you don't really expect it." she glanced at florance, still wearing her smile.
"nerio? what's up with that place?"
ikram wasn't exactly well-versed with the place as it currently was. from what she could see, everything was vastly different and completely changed from what she knew it to be. if there was any place that would remain timeless, it would be cura -- but cura wasn't exactly nerio when it came to pacing.
"i mean, i know it's pretty dark and dangerous, but ..."
she smiles serenely at ikram. "if it's with florence, then i imagine not. i expect to hear this story eventually."
nevertheless, milly gives florance a strange look. "...my family are all breeders. they have been for several generations" she kind of...expected the girl to at least know the specialty of her employers. that would be like working for a rifle store without realizing that they were pro-nra. "my parents are fine. i expect that they are...recovering from the scourge siege from last summer." or more like profiting off the city's panic. vaccinated pokemon are a pretty penny to non-eos these days.
"i spend more days outdoors than you think" she tries to look offended in a way that most people can tell that she's jesting. "...i'm lucky to have a hometown after what the scourge did to nerio."
she turns to ikram with the intention of answering her question. eos had plenty of new recruits from other regions, so it isn't entirely surprising to milly that the ranger hadn't heard. "the scourge broke past bellona hills last summer. there were scourge everywhere. people either escaped to proserpina in time, or..." suddenly, she doesn't have the heart to continue. "...nerio just...isn't the best place to be right now. not after the people have tasted that kind of desperation." a sentiment that the city had always been weak to.
the first failed breeding had not done any favors for milly's self confidence. she looks gloomily out to the sea. the vanilluxe beside her attempts to cheer her up with funny faces while the snorunt attempts to skate around on the slippery pavement. milly lets her. winter was only a little too comfortable for her ice types, and stuffing the pokemon in her jacket wasn't going to do her any favors like it would for her pancham.
Florance liked traveling with Ikram, or at least, walking with Ikram. She was completely different than Florance, a lot more polite, and Florance was a wanna-be-tough girl. 
