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!
Doubt is a powerful trick of the mind. It has hindered, held him back for so long that he grows tired of the mist, the tricks, the illusions. In a fit of impulse, he decides to grasp doubt by its roots and bury it, if only briefly. They day when he's able to pull it out, roots and all, is looming in the future, but he cares about the future as much as he thinks back on his past, and nothing is more important than the present. He has learned that much over the past half year, among other things.
The dingy ship lacks stability and makes him feel sick to his stomach - Jayden decides that he doesn't like it within the first second, feels the need to get things over with as quickly as possible so he can leave, in the next. "I'm here for a gym challenge." He says it offhandedly, like a superfluous comment, then plants his feet on the deck and waits, not particularly caring who hears and who doesn't. Hopefully, Atlanta can handle intruders - he's partly convinced that the scourge will be here one day. If not eventually, then soon.
@mod, for the sea badge!
"into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely."
atalanta peered over the cover of her magazine and raised an eyebrow. a challenger, eh? they certainly have been coming with more and more fervour ever since nerio had fallen and risen up on its feet again. was that one of the reasons why? she didn't know, but it meant more traffic atop her ship, and she wasn't very happy about that fact. things were already busy enough for her without having to tend to the needs of trainers who were only after her badge and nothing else.
these needy little shits, she thought to herself as a new one entered the ship. the cruise liner was anchored at sea. the weak ones wouldn't come, but the strong ones would. and she was always ready -- needed a drink or two to pass time, though.
she watched the newcomer with a bored gaze before returning to continue her perusal of the magazine. after this wave, she told herself, they would all cease to arrive and she could have her peace and quiet again. it had been like that in the past.
"where's my drink," she demanded, and rhys the blastoise toddled up to her obediently with a cocktail in hand.
She ignores him, and that's fine, he thinks. Strength comes in different shapes, takes on forms that he has never imagined possible and he's constantly trying to find them, that golden needle in piles upon piles of the weak hay of society. He has his doubts about atlanta, though. Doubts that need to be cleared up, not only about her but also himself.
"Are you done?" He snaps at her, his eyes narrowing as he reaches for a pokeball at his waist and tosses it forward with more force than absolutely necessary. "Because I don't have all day, and I'm sure you don't, either." It doesn't matter that she hasn't set the rules, the standards the regulations, he has a target, a reason for attack, and all his pokemon needs is that jerk of his head to commence, not stopping until they're either fainted or six feet under. Besides, he's out of patience. Jayden nods and his pokemon moves, like a well-trained lapdog.
His suspicions about atlanta morph into an emotion he's unfamiliar with, something not bitterness, anger or irritation, but merely expectations for the worst. Nobody is without reputation, after all, and she's no different.
swampert was sent out focus badge mimicks x atk uses mud slap on blastoise uses mud shot on blastoise uses foresight on blastoise (lowers eva, accord to zulf!)
atalanta's blastoise swerved out of the way, holding the round tray away from harm's way with remarkable grace for a creature as large it was. atalanta ignored her challenger, standing up to take the cocktail and downing it with one shot. she watched jayden coldly, saying nothing at all. her blastoise seemed a little battered, and she fed it a super potion to allow it to recover from the sudden, low blow.
if this was how the trainer wished to play, then she would not humor him. she had better things to do than play games with a little trainer.
blastoise hurried away from view, and atalanta whirled upon jayden with a smirk on her face.
"are you done?"
citrus foresight does not lower eva, and never trust zulf lol. foresight just removes the ability of one pkmn to dodge for a turn.
Flip doesn't chase after the blastoise - it's not in its nature to do so, and it never will be, no matter how many training sessions they have gone through in the past. Jayden scowls at the water type but feels nothing for it, especially seeing as the super potion is more than enough to counter whatever damage it took. With its disappearance, he then turns his attention to Atlanta.
She is calmer than he anticipates, though the smirk is to be expected, her blastoise is no small farce to be reckoned with. "Maybe if you win." He looks at her and doesn't change his expression to match hers, he's still low on patience, after all. "I heard rumors about your strength, so I came here. I don't care about how fast you down a drink."
Flip looks at him expectantly, swiveling its head to take in this strange battle-field. Jayden doesn't recall it, he stares Atlanta head on and demands she live up to her reputation.
atalanta wasn't an idiot. she had seen many challengers while she was on the job, and many a time had she shut down the ship completely (read: make it undetectable and steer it into international waters free from kohaku law) to avoid them from bothering her while she wanted to peruse a new shipment of alcohol or even a new stack of fashion-gossip magazines. her smirk only widened at jayden's statement, but there wasn't a sneer behind her expression.
win? oh yes, she had won before. beating him wouldn't be difficult at all.
"Gym leaders should be prepared for anything." He shrugs. "Besides, you had a pokemon out in front of a challenger. I just assumed he was part of the challenge."
"Are you scared of losing?" Atlanta definitely has strange tastes, he thinks. The ship might be a favorable place for water pokemon like Flip, but he's more concerned about the toll battles take on it, how it'll eventually collapse, for sure. "Is that why you're stalling for time?"
"if you see a meal laid before someone else in a restaurant, do you immediately assume it is yours?"
vV15XBXE <50 atalanta leaves
"no, to the both of your questions, boy," smirked atalanta. and with a whip of her hair and a confident smirk, she disappeared into the depths of her cruise liner.
pokémon bouncers emerged, ready to manhandle jayden and throw him off the ship and into the ocean.
They are bouncers to her. All he sees are fish out of water - they don't belong on land, aren't part of this gym battle so he doesn't care about them, they are obstacles and nothing more. Scowling, swallowing the urge to curse he recalls flip, sends out his gallade in a motion he's practiced often, in preparation for the scouge.
Atlanta's picture fogs and returns to what he expects her to be, and he's relieved, among other emotions. The gallade closes its eyes briefly and teleports them away with barely a glance at what he leaves behind.
N0_wDQGE > 50 they teleport to atlanta
"Well? Are you done?" He stands and fixes her with a cold glare, the beginning of a headache starting to prickle at his temple.
> 50 'mean look' prevents atlanta from escaping again
"Is there a point to these games you're playing? I'm not going to just leave,doubt any challenger would." He's inclined to believe that she doesnt understand her responsibilities as gym leader, regardless of the little incident on deck. "I don't just want your badge, i want to battle somebody strong and your position gives you that much."
"Fight me." Gallade shifts nervously, sharpening its blades. "And then i'll get the fuck off your ship and never come back."
vertigo its such a struggle to type on a phone im crying omg
"into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely."
most recently, it was heal, after getting thrashed pretty badly due to being outskilled. atalanta glanced at jayden.
"you don't need to finish challenging us gym leaders before you fight the elite. go challenge habiba or something, she's strong and you can have fun in the snow with her."
"Do I look like a cold-resistant person to you?" He turns the pokeball in his hands, then pockets it, trailing after her. Gallade follows two steps behind, red pupils flickering everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Jayden quickens his pace to step in front of her, then sticks out his tongue as an answer to his (somewhat)rhetorical question.
"We're not all water type specialists like you. I can swim, but my team would drown without your badge. It's not a matter of obsession." Scourge do not discriminate against terrain - they exist everywhere, and he knows Flip alone won't be enough when that time comes. "Fight me." Repeating it is one thing. His constant presence will, most likely, speak volumes more.
zjFGhSm_ 1-33 atlanta says yes 34-66 yes, but there's a catch 67-99 keeps walking 100 the ship catches on fire
atalanta liked hearing people admit their incapabilities to her. no-one was perfect, especially people who came challenging her for the sea badge. they usually boasted pokémon who were incapable of fighting on different terrains -- and they were far too attached to the idea of fighting with their few loyal pokémon to see beyond their noses for the other pokémon they could be training. adaptability was what led to survival, not stubborn meandering.
atalanta's strides gradually grew swifter and more confident. she took the stairs to the upper deck of her cruise ship. she fully expected jayden to keep pace.
"i'll fight you -- eventually," said atalanta, emerging onto the upper deck where the weak winter sun beat down upon them. it wasn't much warmth, but atalanta would take what she had been given. "admit that without my badge you are helpless against the scourge, and talk to a girl whom i had defeated not too long ago. perhaps she could teach you a thing or two about being humble in the face of greater strength.
"she had cat ears and was a blonde. natural or not, i do not know. but she was pleasant and likeable enough, unlike you." atalanta rolled her eyes.
The weak sunlight does little to abate the cold, but the difference is notable, a stark contrast between the shaded interior and he appreciates it, but only a little. Gallade is somewhere behind, lost in the midst of stubbornly matching atlanta's pace, but it will appear eventually, he has enough faith in it for that much. For the time being, he preoccupies himself with her while the absence of their pokemon still remains.
"She wears cat ears on special occasions." He's not surprised to hear about her again, not in the slightest - this tug of war between them, of strength and power and understanding, it reminisces of the dojo, burns the salt bridges that clouds his thoughts with nothing but raw anger. "Her hair's color is natural, been that way since she was five. Helvetica Russell, Heal, that's her name, right? She's not 'a girl', just like i'm not 'boy', or 'love'.
"For me to smile, grovel, and lose to you like she did, is that the result you want?" He takes out his c-gear, types a few numbers in and turns it around in his hand. "Because I know her far better than you do, enough to know that talking won't change a thing the second time around. Besides, we made a promise not to meet until we're both at the top. And I don't break promises." He hasn't talked like this in a long, long time, but something about the mention of Heal makes him feel like he has to explain some things, at the risk of being misunderstood, otherwise.
"The scourge are everywhere. To be strong enough to handle them under any situation and circumstance, I need your help, but I'm far from helpless." The headache has faded without him realizing. It's something new, unsettling because it's never happened before, not like this. "If you demand that I talk to her, I'll call. But greater strength? Don't start demanding respect for something you haven't given evidence of."