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 was something distinct about the ruins that made J not want to return. perhaps it was the air about the chamber he was in, or perhaps it was a pile of human bones sitting in a crumpled heap in the corner. from it, a raikou silhouette had risen and struck down a particularly bratty mawile -- that was what J remembered.
and then he'd gotten a mega stone for his mawile. not that he'd ever used it, mind. having it was a good idea in general, because who knew what use it'd bring him someday.
(he wasn't much of a trainer who was focused on mega evolutions, though.)
One moment J was alone, and the next he wasn't. An aged mega lucario passed out of the stone behind him, drifting a few feet above the ground. Perhaps he wished to avoid the debris and rocks that littered any cave; he didn't seem very stable. His body seemed almost translucent in parts, his fur fading away to faint mist at the edges.
< A visitor, > he said, noticing J a moment after he passed him. < It's been some time. >
Lucarionite was apparently not a stone in high demand since Neo had stopped by.
J glanced at the silhouette -- it wasn't much of a lucario, so to speak. in fact, J wasn't even sure if he was looking at a lucario. it seemed different, much like the mawile in this very same ruins. perhaps it was some sort of extended evolution.
"a visitor?" J echoed after the aged creature. "hello, i guess."
"really?" J asked, finding himself curious about the caves. funny how they remembered when he was certain that many an explorer would have traversed through it in search of treasures. "how do they remember?
"... i guess. a mega stone. not sure what pokémon have them though."
< They have nothing else to do, > he answered. < I believe remembering everyone is a form of entertainment. Also, you were the first person they've seen to actually wrest a mega stone from the guardian, rather than have it gifted. The Raikou excited them as well. >
Whew, so much talking. The Lucario listed sideways, and then straightened himself back up with an effort.
< I guard the Lucarionite, > he said. < As you probably already guessed. It will be yours; I ask only a simple favor. >
J had vivid memories of fighting the mega mawile barehanded. in fact, he had vivid memories of many things. he was a man who had done much in a small region, but was better off without any sort of recognition.
"that's true," J had to agree. "the raikou was cool."
... he actually hadn't expected the ancient mega lucario to give him a lucarionite, but since it had offered, he figured he'd accept.
"okay," said J, nodding. "what's the favor."
he hoped it wasn't answering a riddle or figuring out a puzzle.
< I am the guardian, > the Lucario said with pride, a shadow of a smile crossing his face. < But I am old, and the powers that bind me older still. They are strong still, and hold me here, but I am fading. I would request that you make your way to the central cavern and renew the rites that keep me here ere I fade entirely. >
J nodded, and wordlessly headed off to the central cavern. he didn't know what rites waited for him, but he hoped that they were simple enough for him to complete.
he didn't want to screw up to the point where the aged lucario ended up fading while it waited for him to finish whatever rites he had to complete.
The central cavern was empty of ghosts and images. There was only a red spiral painted on the floor. Where the spiral ended in the middle, there rose a gray stone pedestal. A velvet cloth, aged by long years and looking like it would turn to dust at a touch, covered a small object that rested on top of it.
The lucario's voice drifted to J, although he was nowhere to be seen.
< Walk the spiral, > he said. < Think if nothing, if you can. If you can't, think only of the past. When you arrive at the pedestal, you'll be halfway done. >
J was not a curious person by nature, and what the lucario told him to do, he did. he kept his mind cautiously blank by focusing on a whitewashed wall -- it was as blank as things got in his mind -- and followed the spiral.
<50 J finds it difficult
apparently thinking of nothing while following a particular pattern to an intended destination was very easy for J. it was an ingrained trait, it seemed.
The cloth hadn't even needed a touch. J's approach was enough to have it crumple under the weight of time. There was a small black box underneath, containing an opening just large enough for a human hand.
< Place your hand in the box, > the Lucario said. < Wait. >
For the moment, there was nothing in the box. The Lucario spoke again, but this time his voice was behind J. He sounded tired. Perhaps the ritual was exerting him.
< The box is older than I, > he said. < And I could not easily explain to you how it works. But this is the completion of the ritual. You will begin to feel a blinding, excruciating pain in your hand from the box. You are not being physically harmed. Your nerves are only being manipulated. But if you should cower away from the pain, remove your hand before the time is up, there will be a reaction from the broken circuit. The resulting feedback may well kill you. At the very least, it will destroy this cavern, and I will pass with it. Either option is unpleasant. Please do your best. >
J kept his hand in the box as he was told to. it seemed bearable in the beginning -- whatever it was, it started off slow, and like a ticklish sensation under his skin. that was fine, but the lucario had him expecting 'blinding, excruciating pain,' and so J waited for the inevitable.
not once in his adventures had he been subjected to pain out of the blue. his previous attempts at killing himself to wake up had been foiled numerous times. he would have done the same to wake up, but this was the waking world.
and pain was very, very real here.
it washed over J like lightning and he fought against the urge to curl his hand into a fist and to pull away from the box.
