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!
there's not much to see in bacchus anymore, not since the scourge hit. pal park will recover eventually, but now is not her time. everything has submitted to entrophy. everything except one thing, a hall that has made a deep impression on iker since his childhood.
he remembers stumbling upon this place once as a small child. quite literally, since some of the children in bacchus has coerced him to come to lua gardens on a dare that he had not accepted. iker scans the ground, and he can even see the exact beam that he had once broken his nose on after falling from his wheelchair. it had been a magnezone that had helped him up afterwards, but not before he spent hours on the ground, staring at the great metal doors of the artifice.
iker quietly sits in front of the great metal doors. they had appeared in his dreams often, but the real thing made his trip into a pilgrimmage of sorts. only humans would think about boarding something up like this. every other landmark was free for everyone to enjoy (or destroy).
<are we going inside?> evolution has tempered jax. he stares at the large keyhole, as if he could melt it with his gaze. the pokeassist doduo simply picks at whatever pieces of metal that he could find on the ground.
"...it's the only place i really have to come back to" iker muses. "until pal park comes back, anyway."
Griff was already inside. It was a regular lock on the front door. Well, no, it wasn't a regular lock. It was an incredibly complex lock with mechanisms inside that Griff couldn't possibly begin to imagine.
He didn't need to know the exact engineering behind it though. All he needed to do was fake the key that could open it.
It'd taken him seven hours. He'd began at dawn. Now, he took a break for lunch, eating some sort of mystery stew his mawile had concocted. Griff didn't ask what was in it. (If he had to guess, it was a mostly chunks of flaaffy and lots of lotad.)
Griff heard Iker and his pokemon outside. The door was still locked on the outside, but it opened easily from inside. He got up and pushed the door open
"Come in," he said with an open smile, the sort he reserved for strangers and first impressions. He gestured to the pot of stew. "Lunch? Didn't expect to see anybody come by, but there's plenty. Don't ask what's in it. Something cute and fluffy, probably."
He would've offered anyone a bit of food since there was plenty to spare, but his smile faded into a harder expression, that more of a comrade than a good samaritan, when he saw the vaccinated pokemon and Iker's capture styler. No need for pretenses among rangers.
"I'm Griff. Vault breaker, retired--" well, he'd been jailed, but he didn't say that, "but I thought I still had enough game to break in here."
Griff returned to his bowl of stew, and Diana produced a third and fourth bowl out of nowhere for Iker and Jax.
Before them was the second door. It didn't have a keyhole, or a combo lock, or anything that Griff could conventionally break. There was only a grey monitor with the image of an arceus. Plainly, text scrolled across the wide monitor: PLEASE INPUT PASSWORD.
iker is kind of impressed by the man despite himself. at the same time, he can't help but wonder if the inpenetrable mystique of the first door came from the fact that he was a small child when he had first chanced upon it. that was entirely possible. maybe all urban legends were doomed to die out past a certain age.
either way, the door certainly didn't seem so impressive after iker watches a man push it open from the inside. the wheelchair carries him over to griff's side with relative ease.
"thanks." iker wasn't the casually smiling sort, not unless he really felt like it. "i'm not about to be picky." not in these times. the pokeassist doduo seems a bit miffed for being left out, but it was still a vegetarian bird. iker tosses the heads a couple of pokepuffs for their trouble. that shut them up for the time being. the stew is plenty edible to both the ranger and the partner, at least.
"seems like you did have enough game, then." thalia really wasn't kidding about the whole 'eos people from all walks of life' thing. or something along those lines. "i'm iker. just an active ranger from bacchus, i guess." he had only been a kid before the scourge invaded. maybe he's still one.
he looks on pensively at the second door. iker never really gave as much thought to what might be beyond the first door. the first, supposedly unopenable door. that's how challenges usually worked, but now that the first door is open, iker can't help but think about the things that were beyond the second door. and perhaps the third.
he sets the now-empty stew bowl in his lap and wheels himself closer to the second door. "no luck? or have you not tried?" there was no guarantee that the door would allow them an infinite amount of attempts, after all. hook ¿
The mawile was the only pokemon of Griff's around. Shyvana had chosen to fly around Bacchus, scoping out the area, rather than waste an entire day staring at a locked door. Griff didn't blame her.
He didn't mention the wheelchair--didn't really care. If the other ranger had a useful mind, they were good. If the other ranger didn't run as fast as he did should everything go south, that was good too. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.
"Only enough to get this far. Not so sure what to do with this one." In his defense, there wasn't even a lock to break.
jGg|7I0J 1-25 door allows one guess, 31-50 door allows two guesses, 50-75 three guesses, 75-100 five guesses 1-25 every hour, 26-50 every 12 hours, 51-75 every day, 76-100 ever
"One guess per hour. I got locked out after I tested it out with 'Arceus.' I thought I was screwed, started planning a way to just pulverize my way through the wall, but the screen reset while we were cooking. ...Might still be easier to break through the wall though. Even if I can't actually get to the other side, if I can find the mainframe, I might be able to hotwire the security at least."
"huh. you're pretty eager." an observation. not much wrong with that. the technical talk kind of flies over his head. that, and he was concentrating hard on the arceus image. his pokemon take inquisitive glances, but they seem to lose interest quickly. nevertheless, they stay around. "i'd prefer if you didn't try to ram your way through, though."
iker doesn't even ask to try the passcode lock. he has a right to this place, a right to this door. everyone does. landmarks are the property of all. iker doesn't have that much confidence in the word that he's about to pop in. he's only a small-town boy who had too much time on his hands indoors. indoors and picking books off the library shelves.
with deft fingers, he types in 'judgement.'
judgement. the greatest ability that man exercises over another. iker waits to be judged by the forefathers of this door.
suddenly, the ground begins to tremble.
KDLApCaP <50 door opens >50 a great swarm of unknown fly in to assault them. their letters are 'p' 'l' 'a' 'h'. the door remains closed. hook ¿
Some would argue that judgment is spelled with only one e. Griff was about to say as much, although there was no real point in mentioning it.
"That didn't happen last time," Griff said mildly, in the face of the apocalypse of unown. (He wondered if every individual letter counted as a dex entry for researchers.)
He stood up, not terribly concerned, and took Iker by the back of his wheelchair. Not bothering to wait, he started wheeling him back out. "Let's go."
The mawile rescued the stew, carrying it out in its metal maw and walking out backwards while hissing at the swarm. Griff couldn't help but think it'd be more effective to carry the pot, walk forwards, and snap at the unowns with her maw.
VVUIlCY1 < 50 first door slams shut > 50 first door stays open < 50 the swarm disperses < 50 mawile props the door open with the pot
Griff eyed the crack between the first set of doors--just wide enough for a person to squeeze through if they were slim (and not in a wheelchair). It was wide enough for unowns to squeeze through too, one at a time. Indeed, they did, coming through the door in a single file marching line.
Mawile smacked one down with play rough.
"Target practice?" Griff suggested, drawing the normal sign (strength).
a shitty result was better that no result at all, iker supposes. "maybe we're getting closer"
and then they're mobbed by a swarm of unknown. sentries, huh.
he doesn't put up a protest at being wheeled out, and they don't get far. iker has to wonder if there's some kind of mechanism that would prevent them from simply teleporting back inside, since they've already been past the doors.
"unless you see a better option." he shrugs. so maybe rangers were supposed to be all pacifists and shit with wild pokemon, but if griff didn't mind, then iker can't say that he does either.
manectric sinks his fangs into one with a bite.
actually, iker can think of a better idea.
"jax. we could use one of them."
iker draws the bug sign - string shot on a couple while the manectric uses thunder wave on one of the stringshotted unknowns. the 'a' goes down, and jax carries it over to iker with his teeth. the ranger trusts the other man to keep the others in line.
"...that was self defense, but i'd really like to talk." iker motions for jax to drop the unknown. he sets the psychic pokemon on the ground. "tell us about the doors."
"There's an alternative option. We could always just roll over and die to an overgrown pack of alphabet soup." He sniped a few more unown, but stopped when Iker seemed to have a better idea.
The mawile kept stemming the tide of unowns at the door, but Griff joined Iker, peering curiously at the paralyzed A.
The unown didn't seem like it wanted to live. Griff sighed.
"If you don't tell us about the doors, I'll just find a pack of electrodes and explosion my way in--and explosion past you and your friends too." The way he said it, it wasn't even a threat--too lackadaisical and apathetic. Griff truly and genuinely would. It was just a fact.
5cH|US7s < 50 threats work better than polite requests
"i think i'll pass." iker is starting to get the impression that rangerhood isn't griff's primary occupation, unless he also had personal reasons to get past that door. he's not sure if griff is serious about the threat or not, and iker hopes that he isn't. there were some spectacular actors out there in this world.
the unknown begins to tremble. the unknown that are still conscious seem to tremble too. which is a really weird thing to see when they're all in the shape of letters, but whatever.
for the first time, iker grins a little. "i'm surprised that you got your license." griff was kinda cool, though. a tad unconventional, maybe, but iker could always appreciate a bit of daring.
<us...us five are...are the guardians of the beginning of all things.>
...what. five? iker glances at the pile of unknown behind him. there are plenty of unknown, certainly, but they only came in four flavours.
five. the letters on the lock, then?
p l a h
h a l p
l a p h
h l a p
l h a p
...this is getting nowhere. iker had not exhausted all of the possibilities, but four was four. unless...
he gives a good long stare at the 'a' unknown. the first letter of the alphabet. the...
"us five...the original one..." he mumbles to himself. "the beginning of all things."
a l p h a
his expression clears.
"thanks. sorry for the trouble." he is the one who had keyed in 'judgement', after all.
Griff is essentially the worst ranger. Not that Kohaku rangering had much to do with preserving nature. It was mostly about beating up scourge, which Griff handled alright.
"I usually put up a better front," he admitted. "More tree-hugging, fewer bomb threats."
Honestly, he never got very close to tree-hugging at all. There were some plants that, if he were in a pinch, he'd be willing to plant, harvest, process, and sell--but that was a different topic altogether.
He left Iker to ruminate on the unown's words. For his part, he was more focused on preventing the onslaught of unown from breaking through the door. Griff was going to unhelpfully suggest that the unowns were meant to spell out H A L P, but Iker seemed so deep in thought that he doubted the other boy would even hear the joke, much less appreciate it.
Griff noticed, about fifteen beaten and broken unowns later, that there were twice as many A-shaped unown as there were any other letter. Iker seemed to have realized the same.
"Don't thank it yet," Griff said, softly enough to be dangerous.
The unown bodies are starting to pile up at the door. There's still enough space to angle Diana's attacks and his signs, but only just. Griff would drag out their corpses later to burn them. The scourge was too strong in this area to do otherwise.
He doesn't look away from the unowns proceeding into their deaths. He asks, voice even--conversational, friendly, and deceptive. "What are you guarding? And why is the artifice so helpful? A picture of arceus, how cute. Unowns to spell out the proper code, how downright gracious. I somehow doubt the artificers needed clues to remember their own password."
To Iker, just as the last unown fell, he said, "We're clear. Maybe an hour's passed, so we can give it another shot, but be careful. They're making this too easy for us. We're walking into a trap, or worse yet, we're being invited in. Or both."
Q2NjIc6c <40 walking into a trap >80 invited in >100 both
it's a good thing that iker wasn't planning to enter 'unown' as a password, then.
"who am i going to tell?" he shrugs. "can't imagine that any environmental terrorism of yours is going to rival the scourge, though."
iker's voice is quiet, but for a decidedly other reasons. "...i guess it's better for all of us if they're taken out as regular pokemon now, rather than scourge later." he doesn't even bother hoping that this is the last time that he has to think about the prospect. the world isn't that kind.
he feels the need to ask. "what about you? beating the scourge didn't feel like enough of a challenge?" iker grew up with the urban legends of the lua door, but even the baccheans didn't have a sure history that would tell them about the bowels of the beast. there was no promise of any worldy reward that would rival that of a bank break-in. from what he's seen of griff's skills, his talents could probably be applied to more...assured prospects.
the ranger's grin widens. "it would be rude to turn down an invitation." never mind that iker is a bit of a brat to begin with. admittedly, an invite was more exciting when he didn't make an invitee list very often. hell, nobody made the artifice invitee list for as long as anyone could remember. "and if we're walking into a trap, it's a good thing that i have an electrode bomber at my side." that was a half-serious joke. depending on how serious griff was, of course.
iker figures that griff can handle the dirty work behind him. he looks past the crack in the first door and draws the psychic sign to get to the second door.
"Compared to the scourge, I'm a saint. It's so nice when the cops are more worried about--well, anything that's not me." He smiled, a little cynical and perhaps bittersweet. "I could get away with anything with a distraction like this. Too bad there's nothing left to take."
Griff drew a ground sign outside the artifice, digging a deep trench. He called for the mawile to help, and the two of them gathered the unown corpses and dropped them into the trench. A few fire signs and a bit of patience, the unowns were no more, just a pile of melted metal.
When he was content that the unowns would never, ever become scourge--except maybe as a scourge muk--Griff shoved open the first doors, which stayed open, just in time to watch the second doors open.
From behind, he heard the sound of pokemon cries--screeching, howling. He had a good idea what to expect when he turned around, and Griff wasn't surprised to see a horde of pokemon that looked ready to kill them dead.
uwhij4mb first digit for first wave of enemies, second digit is the number of waves
- number on minutes on countdown
Red numbers on an aging, flickering screen showed 59:00:00. He blinked, and it read 58:59:48.
"I wonder what happens when the timer runs out."
< 50 first wave is scourge second and third wave fourth and fifth sixth and seventh
toska --i thought we were screwed, but I guess wave 3 and 5 don't really exist
[ i've decided to have real fights for the swarms that are 3 or less. fuck 8 pokemon swarms. i'm also randomizing so let's pray that we don't have to fight triple swarmpert at some point ]
"so you think there's something to take here?" would explain why he's here, rather than out there fighting the stragglers of pal park. "a pot of gold? cos' i'm not really seeing the rainbow."
these two pokemon aren't willing to listen to reason. iker can tell that much.
he should probably live up to his license and make an attempt, though. "yo, why can't we be frie-"
a psybeam shoots dangerously close to his face. that worked well.
iker pulls the brim of his hat up. oh well. their funeral.
iker draws flying sign - defog on jr #1
manectric used bite on jr #1 n2S5ot2V <30 flinch manectric used thunder wave on jr #2
doduo used uproar on jr #1 doduo used growl at both
--
mime jr uses mimic - growl on manectric and doduo mime jr uses psybeam on manectric
mime jr uses mimic - reflect mime jr uses psybeam on manectric
"It's not about the taking," Griff explained, not expecting Iker to understand. Few people did, and it didn't really matter either way. "It's about the breaking in. That's the fun part."
"Honestly, I think it's been long enough that whatever's left in there is dust."
Griff whistled, not really expecting it to work, but a roar overhead told him that Shyvana was around and paying plenty of attention. Then again, the horde of pokemon gathering around the artifice was probably something you'd see from on high.
The charizard landed on the ground, wings alight. <Looks like trouble,> she said.
Griff shrugged. "Just a bit. Might die without you. Might die here with you too."
Shyvana would've rolled her eyes if she weren't a 10ft tall dragon that didn't have dragon typing. <Please.>
charizard uses heat wave on jr 1 and jr 2 charizard uses dragon dance
mawile uses faint attack on jr 1 mawile uses taunt on jr 2
griff uses heart sign (night daze) on jr #1 GkG5X66L < 40 acc debuff
"i guess i'm glad that you're having fun at least." iker readies another sign. "doubt that anyone who didn't enjoy the chase would make it this far."
if it was about the rewards of the endgame, then they were probably better off breeding eggs. iker's lifespan wasn't long enough for something like that. didn't seem like griff's was either.
the clock ticks. if movies and books were anything to go by, that was never a good thing. at the same time, a part of him is curious enough to want to watch the clock strike 'zero'.
they'd have to survive the battle first, though.
oh god i really didn't think through how to conduct this battle. fuckkk why didn't i process all of iker's attacks first
jr1 is hit by defog jr1 is hit by bite jr1 is hit by uproar jr1 is hit by growl jr1 is hit by heat wave jr1 is hit by faint attack jr1 is hit by night daze
jr1 faints. wow they might not die after all
jr2 dodges thunder wave jr2 is hit by heat wave jr2 is hit by taunt
jr2 uses psybeam on charizard...wow what kind of sick fuck makes a couple of baby pokemon guard this door with their lives
maybe we should do actual fights for the large swarms too haha
manectric uses hp boost to avoid psybeams manectric is hit by growl manectric uses thunder wave
Griff was already inside. It was a regular lock on the front door. Well, no, it wasn't a regular lock. It was an incredibly complex lock with mechanisms inside that Griff couldn't possibly begin to imagine.
??
