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!
karimi had already made her apologies to olivia. unsurprisingly, they weren't exactly recieved very well. camus still bore the bruises from her bug attacks.
"sorry, old friend." she gives the eelectross pats. not on his bruises. despite everything, the pokemon is still cooperative. of course he would be. they've gone through this entire journey together, haven't they?
"alright, this seems like a good spot!" they stop by the water bank. "you've got this, camus!"
the eelectross obliges and aims a power-up punch on the ice. it breaks, revealing the waters below.
karimi looks at camus nervously. "if the amberwell still has healing properties left...well, you wouldn't mind checking for me, would you?"
camus nods and dips his bruised tail in the water.
he falls into the water as the poison overcomes him in seconds.
"fucking shit!" she curses and scrambles for braviary's pokeball. "save him!"
leon rescues the eelectross. not from the poison. her pokemon were vaccinated. she had no idea that this would happen. fuck, she should have been prepared for this.
"fuck fuck fuck, we gotta run!"
or maybe some kind soul will come by with an antidote or a pokemon with heal bell, but when has karimi ever been that lucky?
she doesn't know what she's doing back here. here, at the amberwell. she hasn't been back since the battle, since it was frozen over by a hades agent and with the aid of winter, remained frozen. she's standing at the shore, looking into the water and at the ice with her two parters, plus the local assist by her side. madonna knows what went down here, and is just as tense as she is; ares does not know what history they have with this place, yet remains on guard as well. lyre, the assist, is as diligent as either of her two pokemon, even though he isn't really hers.
(even though you almost killed him -)
her head jerks up when there is a breaking noise on the other side of the well. there stands a blue-haired woman and her pokemon, and although she has to take her hand off her styler where she'd unconsciously put it, ahuda is relieved to see the vaccinated eelectross. she's terrified when it falls over, starting to spring towards the woman and her pokemon even as she summons a braviary and rescues it.
the ranger is skidding to a stop before the now-trio, her own three pokemon coming to a sliding stop around her, when she is kneeling beside the pokemon and pulling out her styler. "don't worry, i'm a ranger," she is saying to the woman, before she goes ahead and uses the full restore function. the eelectross looks to be badly poisoned, and she watches as the medecine takes affect.
ahuda sighs, before glancing towards the woman. "what happened?" she asks. her mienfoo stays diligently at her side while the charmeleon and politoed go down to investigate the water. they're staying back, although ares is starting to poke at it with a stick. ahuda doesn't know what to think of it.
karimi's pokeball was still curled around hibiscus' pokeball, just in case camus needed to be sustained for the journey back to juturna village. thankfully, that wasn't necessary.
she's still shaking a little when the eelectross is cured of his poisoning. "camus?" her pokemon starts levitating again, and she breathes her sigh of relief. "i'm so sorry, i should have been better prepared-" they embrace, and it's all a very touching scene, i promise. it's only after they separate that karimi turns her attention to the ranger.
"oh thank arceus that you're here!" karimi doesn't know who this ranger is, and nor does she really care. she hugs ahuda without reservation. "i... i didn't think that things would turn out this way! i'm an eos researcher, and i thought that i'd test whether the amberwell had any healing properties left. i didn't expect...i didn't expect it to turn on my pokemon this way. a vaccinated salamance had tasted some water during my last venture here, and he was alright. but that's stupid of me to assume, i know. pokemon are very...diverse creatures" maybe camus has allergies? or was it their own bad luck?
the trainer and pokemon hug, and ahuda rolls back to her feet with a sigh. then she's getting the breath squeezed out of her as the grateful woman hugs her, and she's awkwardly patting her back before pushing her away. the infodump she takes with curiosity, because any information is good information if it regards the amberwell. "yeah, they tend to be," she's saying distractedly, trying to keep an eye on her partner and assists' antics as they investigate the amberwell. ares has stopped poking around the edges of the water and puts the stick in the apparently poisoned water entirely.
DAWBeN5N 1-25 nothing happens 26-50 it starts to smoke 51-80 the wood starts to rot 81-100 the wood starts to corrode
her charmeleon is dropping the wood as if it'd burned him when ahuda is running down to where he and lyre is and jerking them both back from the water. then she's looking to the woman and her levitating pokemon, because if what she says is true then she is a researcher, and would have a better idea than she as a ranger. "what do you think of this?" she asks, and gestures to the wood.
the amberwell is getting bad, and she needs to know why, how, and what she can do to help.
well, fuck. did she really practically toss her eelectross into that? again, grayson's salamence had been okay.
she has nothing but theories for the reason as to why the amberwell is reacting like this.
"i tested the water a little farther from here with some litmus paper. it turned a really dark shade of green when it came into contact with the water. amberwell is chemically basic, i expect." she kneels down at the wood. "it's corroding living material, so i'm a little more confident in my theory. i just...i' not so sure as to the cause itself. there are inconsistencies, y'know. like why i haven't been finding the dead bodies of water pokemon along the shore. one that have died of unnatural causes, anyway." she's not sure if dying from scourge attacks really counted as unnatural anymore.
karimi's not sure if the ranger is interested in a less grounded theory, but she voices it anyway. "if you ask me, i think the amberwell is up in arms against itself. like an immune system. maybe flushing out vaccinated pokemon and foreign objects is how it survives. there's self-harm in the process like in a human immune system, but there's a higher chance of survival if it follows through with that step.
suddenly, she looks a little sheepish. "actually, i'm no marine biologist. i'm only an eos researcher."
there's another infodump, but ahuda finds she can keep up with it. there are some parts when she needs to recall things and information she hasn't used since school, but ahuda finds she doesn't really mind, since the researcher makes sense anyway, and she rolls back to sit on her heels as she thinks.
"i'd think that if the water pokemon started dying, we'd notice," ahuda agrees as she looks around the amberwell. it's deceivingly calm, and quiet - too quiet, she notices with a jolt, because where there should be noises of forest and moving pokemon it's absolutely silent. she's not sure what to take that for, as either a good sign that the wild pokemon were smart enough to clear out, or as a bad sign that the well was just that bad. she does glance back when the researcher raises a second theory though. it has shaky reasoning, and there's not enough to prove it, but it makes sense.
ahuda gives a smile towards the sheepish expression. "that's fine," she says as she sits down cross-legged completely. it looks like she'll be here a while, and as ares and lyre go off in separate directions into the forest she watches them go with distant eyes.
"didn't think you'd be one anyway; researchers tend to concentrate on scourge and vaccines, right?" the question is off-handed, and ahuda is turning her head back to the woman. to be completely honest, she doesn't know that much about researchers, but it's not a question for here and now. she drifts a hand over the wood instead, wondering if it'd be safe to touch it. she's not exactly sure enough to take the chance, and returns the hand to her lap instead. "the immune system theory is sound, but you'd need evidence to prove it. we're gonna have to find it."
"yeah." she nods. "all the wild pokemon around here are unvaccinated, and camus isn't. he also never showed any adverse reactions to the water before."
karimi pauses to think. she doesn't actually know what she'd be if she hadn't become an eos researcher. once the scourge hit, she couldn't think of anything else to be. this is their world now, not the nice days that decima town held.
"...kind of. most of what i do with scourge pokemon is concentrated on vaccines. the real experts would be the doctors of medicine. which i'm not, by the way." it seems that she's regretting not taking on a second degree more and more lately. there simply wasn't enough time to be trying when the world is burning up around her. "my specialty is in pokemon training and battling." she smiles at her eelectross. "when he's not dying of amberwell water, camus is one scary eelectross!"
karimi threads her fingers through her blue hair. "ughhh i wish i knew what in the world is going on, but i ... i wasn't even here when the scourge attacked. do you know what happened?"
there's a laugh. "i don't doubt it." researchers are worth their weight in gold, if what ahuda's seen so far is true, and what she's seen so far is that they're good. doctor of medicine or not, she respects this still-unknown researcher for at least having the guts to come to the amberwell.
at the question, she sighs, and she slumps as if all the energy has been drained out of her. "...like you said, scourge attacked. at first it was one agent, apparently, then another showed up. i was helping a trainer who had already engaged with the first when the second appeared. we were utterly useless against them both until thalia arrived to help us both." she drags a hand over her face, rubbing against her eyes as if still unbelieving that it's all over. "she managed to chase them both off. you can guess the rest."
"oh, hell yeah, thalia!" karimi punches the air some, before remembering that they're still in quite a bit of a pickle. "but...but if she chased off a bunch of agents, then that...that doesn't really leave us with many answers. they didn't do anything to the amberwell, did they?"
she mulls things over some. "maybe it's not really anything that the agents did, if the amberwell has been secured since thalia passed by. maybe it has more to do with the scourge pokemon that olivia's been raging about. think we could ... fix things some if we got rid of 'em? maybe their presence is causing some kind of chemical imbalance." she shakes her head. "i mean, ceres has never had a scourge invasion before. foreign species that are introduced to new areas usually mean trouble for the environment. with pokemon especially, that's why abandoned pokemon have always been such a big problem in every region. arceus only knows how bad it would be with scourge pokemon."
she's really just throwing theories at ahuda at the moment.
"i don't think that the either of us would want to risk our pokemon for testing out my first theory. the second one, though - i think that's testable."
she looks around. "...i don't think that we're really going to see many scourge in the daytime, though. not according to the reports from juturna village."
ahuda just... kind of sits there, slumped, while the researcher talks. "yeah, they like the night better." she would have gone on, had her partners not trotted back from wherever they'd gone off to.
K1JI1LBS <50 they discover bodies odd - regular pkmn even - scourge pkmn <50 mutilated <50 water pokemon 1-25 1 body 26-50 2 bodies 51-75 5 bodies 76-100 10 bodies 1-30 they're strewn on the shore 31-70 in the trees 71-100 RANDOM SCATTER MURDER SCENE
"they're not all grass scourge, are they?" despite being murderous pokemon, some of the tropius and sunflora that karimi used to dissect showed some internal processes resembling photosynthesis. it didn't come as much of a surprise when they were still able to activate abilities such as chlorophyll. karimi had gotten a nasty surprise when she thought that one of those scourge was nearly down for the count.
a single dead psyduck sprawled on a rock, the condition of the corpse screaming 'bloody murder'.
karimi kneels to take a look, but she's not expecting foul play at all. psyduck weren't exactly at the top of the food chain. she flips over the corpse.
1-30 half scourgified on other side 31-60 half eaten 61-90 poisoned by amberwell 91-100 scourge playing dead
she'll never really get used to how gross scourgification is. ugh, at least - maybe some eos trainer or ranger had put it down before it could do any lasting damage.
karimi inspects it grimly. the scourgification didn't go far enough for the psyduck to count as an entry. she's not sure if that's unfortunate or fortunate. unfortunate for her maybe, but probably more fortunate for the psyduck. "...seems like ceres' troubles aren't over."
at first the psyduck looks normal, but then ahuda can see why her partner and assist had called her here. half the pokemon is scourge, and although the effect is interesting the ranger only sighs and leans back onto her heels. "apparently not," she agrees bitterly, and crouches down to look at it with the researcher.
"you think this is an aftereffect of the scourge?"
"i would think so. seems like there was a trainer or ranger who was close enough to put it down before it fully scourgified. there's a grace period, you know?" karimi then realizes that it may not really be common knowledge. not many people who had their pokemon scourgified really survived. those who did probably weren't looking to just casually talk about it. "i used to specialize in studying scourgification before moving on to the actual university branches." "pokemon scourgify a lot slower if it has a strong bond with its trainer. pokemon that evolved by happiness tend to scourgify a lot slower." she wish she had the data sets to show the ranger, even if ahuda might not have been able to read all her charts. "if this psyduck didn't scourgify immediately...i would say that it belonged to someone once."
it made the discovery only that much more bittersweet. nette
that there is a grace period, ahuda listens to with surprise. she's never known that, not even heard of that, and the fact that there even is one is... not comforting, per se, but makes her tense up even more.
even as the researcher continues her observations ahuda rolls back to sit on her heels with a sigh. things weren't so black and white anymore, she knew, not like in her childhood, but still - that a loved, loyal pokemon had turned scourge still hurt, even for this anonymous pokemon and trainer.
"...we'll need to burn it, though. after you examine it, or do whatever researchers do, but we'll need to burn the body." if only to keep others safe from catching the virus.
"...yeah, it's neither truly pokemon nor scourge, but someone from my department might be interested." karimi takes a scapel and cuts off a bit of tissue sample from the psyduck. she gathers pieces from different parts of the body and encloses them in small glass containers. "the trip to the bulwark is a bit far." she wasn't nearly as concerned for the rewards, but the fortuna oasis had plenty of isolated holding facilities for scourge corpses. one of the most secure in the region, in fact.
it's a bit of a waste, but the amberwell comes first. karimi releases her arcanine. he lets out a heat wave that reduces the body to ash in seconds.
"i guess...i guess what i've learned today is that my pokemon shouldn't go skinny-dipping in the amberwell" she smiles grimly. nette
she doesn't know what she's doing back here. here, at the amberwell. she hasn't been back since the battle, since it was frozen over by a hades agent and with the aid of winter, remained frozen. she's standing at the shore, looking into the water and at the ice with her two parters, plus the local assist by her side. madonna knows what went down here, and is just as tense as she is; ares does not know what history they have with this place, yet remains on guard as well. lyre, the assist, is as diligent as either of her two pokemon, even though he isn't really hers.
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