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 last time Abraham was in Juturna was with his father. There was a concentration of people there with that weird rash his dad had been studying right before the Scourge hit. Things were different then. The people were almost of a different era, completely contrasting the urban Proserpina. And while they still were, the pastoral, rustic aura of the place was now overrun by the basic feeling of fear most people felt. Especially now with the Scourge running around the forest.
Abraham could only recall trying pine water. Oh, it was so bland and gross, scrunching his nose like a child as his father chuckled at his innocent son. Abraham felt remorse -- not only for his father's death, but for allowing himself to violate that innocence. For potentially ruining the boy his father had worked so hard to raise and protect. But it was his patriotic duty.
He sat against a tree near the center of the village, propping himself against the trunk as if he'd done it thousands of times before. A copy of The Count of Monte Cristo occupied him. Spring was coming, its warmth comforting him. He tried not to compare himself to Dantes, full of vengeance. Abraham was better than that.
karimi was starting to learn her way around juturna. it was inevitable, really, with all the time that she was pouring into the amberwell investigation effort. olivia was still pretty difficult to talk to these days, but that didn't necessarily stop the researcher from trying. she seemed to be heading her own investigation, and nobody in juturna was dumb enough to stop her.
might as well. the rangers of juturna were plenty capable of defending the village from any straggler scourge. the eos presence has also grown since then. plenty of breeders and researchers were concerned enough to stop by. karimi had the pleasure of meeting a few of them, in fact.
she decided to take the day off today, since the investigations of the past few days had been so ... exciting. camus almost died near the amberwell and karimi had been ambushed by thirty-four scourge gastly at once. really, her life could have been an adventure novel.
the houndoom by her side seems to agree with her, even if she wasn't there to witness those adventures herself. karimi doubted that she was even ready for adventure, not yet. the houndoom sniffs along the village curiously, and a particular scent leads her to a boy against a tree. the pokemon keeps her distance, but watches curiously. this one didn't have a styler on his arm like most everyone else in juturna.
"hey there!" karimi fills up the silence. "are you another eos investigator, or just dropping by?" cass
Dantes had started out so happy and content with his life, only to have it ripped away from him unjustly. Abraham was smart enough to connect the dots between himself and the Count -- he felt something other than rage. It was like a motivator. His eyes darted up at the sound of a feminine voice ending his peace. Abraham met the woman with a small smile, scrambling to his feet. Not too many people had taken notice of him since he'd arrived a few hours ago -- they were all busy with something or other. "Hi!" he chirped, keeping a finger in the book as he closed it.
Houndoom was a neat Pokemon, certainly. It had a strong look to it, it was intimidating. Abraham noted the stark difference from the Pokemon to its handler -- it was almost comical. Then again, people probably said that about him. "Just a visitor for the time being!" he explained. Eos investigator? Had he let a project slip out right from under him? Had he missed out? "But maybe I should stick around if something interesting is going on." toska
(im sorry ur getting posts while im loaded on energy drinks)
the houndoom was a pokemon from hiker horace. for all its sleek fur and sharp canines, she literally could not hurt a fly. for the record, neither could karimi. unless you were scourge or pissed her off beyond measure, but those were a little too situational to be applicable here. the pokemon paws at the ground a bit as she watched abraham somewhat warily. at least her disposition wasn't nearly as bad as it was months ago - it had taken some work, but she was finally able to handle being around large groups of people. that in itself felt like karimi's reward.
"i see!" huh. she figures that he's probably a civilian, since half of eos is in an uproar over the aftermath of the amberwell. "well, just a lot of eos are passing by to fight the remaining scourge in the forest. quite a few researchers as well, since we're all gonna have to work together to put the amberwell back into working order! it's been kind of...kaput since last month, see. weird, since you'd think the scourge would keep away from amber glade if they knew what's good for them." cass
"Oh!" he said with a start. Abraham was actually surprised to hear this. He, of all people, had missed something so blatantly obvious and intriguing, especially to a researcher. Perhaps his timing in joining Eos was unfortunate; only if he'd been around a few weeks earlier. The Scourge weren't subtle either.
The fact that she was a fellow researcher was easy enough to glean from the conversation. She seemed to know enough about the situation for him to ask questions. "I'm a researcher, too. I, uh, don't really know how I missed the investigation." his face reddened and he smiled sheepishly. "I got here hoping to find some stuff out about the attack on the forest so that I know what I'm going up against, but I somehow managed to look right passed all the scientists." trying to excuse his own embarrassing act, Abraham's eyes fell to the Houndoom. She was sweeter than she looked, causing Abraham to relax.
"Yeah, maybe they got here and realized that they didn't have much power to take out one of the main obstacles stopping their domination." Abraham mulled over the idea of visiting the Amberwell a bit later as he watched the Houndoom paw at the ground like a mere pup. She was irresistible, enough so to make Abraham crouch over and reach for her head to pet it. Houndoom's weren't a common sight. Still, he resisted a move toward his Pokedex out of respect to the other researcher -- not that he thought she'd mind. It was better to ask.
"Would you mind if I scanned her? Gotta start somewhere." he looked at the girl again, eyes lit up like a child's at the potential of his first real entry. "I'm Abraham, by the way!" toska
"you're...you're a researcher??" her volume is enough to turn a couple of heads. "oh my god, why didn't you just say so oh my god take my pokemon take them and scan them like your life depended on it." and to be fair, it kind of did. the scourge weren't going to beat themselves, not without a researcher's data. karimi probably blinds the passerby when she sends out like five pokemon all at once.
before abraham now stands an arcanine, eelectross, braviary, mega gardevoir, and swampert. all of them are vaccinated and show clear signs of ancient wear and tear - these are certainly not hatchlings. "but yeah man, everyone's freaking out about the amberwell since it's like the source of the vaccines' power, y'know? and now that the amberwell has gone under, everyone's getting their share of vaccines cut in half. i haven't gotten any less efficient in my dilution methods, but there's only so much amberwell rations i can recieve, yeah?" it's been a lot of frustration for karimi, and she can only hope that her investiations would turn up some fruitful results. "really not sure what the scourge were thinking, since we still managed to kill a lot more of theirs than they did of ours. they're here to stay too, which is ... kind of typical of scourge, i guess. even when it's obvious that juturna's got enough rangers to turn them all into ashes in a matter of weeks."
okay, maybe she shouldn't have been using 'we', considering that she had skipped ceres forest in the middle of the attack in favor of more 'important' errands. "i'm karimi! and hella yeah you go scan those pokemon man!" cass
"Sure, if you insist!" Abraham whipped out his Pokedex quickly, fumbling with it as he tried to keep a hold on his book. Annoyed, he tossed the book to the ground, far too excited. What had started as one potential entry had multiplied by six. There was no time to waste. He started with the Houndoom, to whom he offered a gentle grin. The device went to work, leaving him to speak with Karimi, which was probably actually more beneficial to him. Not that he was aware of that.
"Do they have a timeline as to when they see it running out? I mean surely Eos has people out there searching for another source. Whatever the isomer is in the Amberwell must naturally occur somewhere else in Kohaku, right?" His eyes fell to the Pokedex for a moment. "And I'm assuming nobody's found a way to synthetically prepare it." he felt like a grabby, needy child. That was his disposition though, and he wouldn't apologize for it. It was different when it came to science. He was like a starved Tauros after food -- there was no stopping him from getting what he wanted.
"Maybe they were hoping that if they threw enough bodies at it something good would happen?" Abraham imagined the infected Pokemon throwing themselves into the depths of the spring. "You wouldn't happen to know what happens when they get exposed directly like that, do you?"
"Nice to meet you, Karimi! Sorry, I was a pretty big nerd in high school. I have this inexplicable need to know things..." he realized that she was probably at least similar, or else she wouldn't be so understanding. toska
"oh hell yeah i insist! you go out there and chase those entries, man!" if karimi was a shonen manga hero, she'd probably have flames coming out of her eyeballs. actually, i'm pretty sure kohaku is a shonen anime so go ahead and imagine that fire came out of her eyes. "dude, opportunism is everything in our business! you're gonna really regret not getting entries for a houndoom in ceres when you realize later that you hafta double back to di manes to chase one down! trust me, easy entries are a blessing and breeders are your best friends."
the next bit of the conversation is a little more troubling. "we have... half a month left at the most. mind you, no researcher is dumb enough to try to synthesize vaccines from what the amberwell's become. i've ran several tests myself, and the results ranged from weirdly bitter to toxic cesspool." she scratches her head. "you're probably right, but the thing is that the amberwell is the most easily defendable location. mind you, we actually could have come off a lot worse, but juturna village was able to respond really quickly. and if anyone's figured out how to make vaccines without the amberwell, then they'd probably be swimming in dough off the patents." she laughs.
"the amberwell is toxic to the scourge. all that would happen is that their bodies would be dissolved to nothing." although it was not alltogether unimaginable. most of the scourge were mindless beasts with little to no self preservation instinct whatsoever. the smarter ones usually lurked at pax lake.
"haha dude it's okay - most of the researchers you meet probably won't be able to shut up about this sort of thing. i was working with a ranger around these parts earlier and i think i lost her attention halfway!" cass
(Toska i'm so sorry this past week has been absolute hell in school but I should be good now. I didn't anticipate it sucking so badly.)
Abraham smiled, his scan finished. The Houndoom's information was logged, but that was only the beginning. His passion/annoyance was actually expected from researchers. Similarly, if Abraham was a Final Fantasy character, he'd probably fall under a male version of the annoying girl that shows up in pretty much every game mixed with the timid girl. So, naturally, this was all a relief. He moved on to the Arcanine as he listened to Karimi's response.
What a disappointment. He thought of a scenario where Odin wasn't vaccinated. It didn't raise positive thoughts. "So, if we aren't getting vaccinations from the Amberwell, where're we getting them from? You said it's like a toxic cesspool now? Unless I'm misunderstanding you." His eyes wandered around them at the village. It seemed so simple that it's defensive capabilities would surprise anyone that didn't know that it was full of highly-trained Rangers.
"Is it bad that I was hoping for some kind of fireworks from their deaths?" he chuckled. He thought of the researchers. "They just rounded up all the nerds and threw them into the same classification." he was wrong, he knew that, but he didn't really care. It was still kind of true. "So you're Ranger ditched you?" he wasn't certain that he'd understood correctly, but a project like this was difficult to simply pass up. "Because if you need me to do anything...since I'm so incredibly busy..." he could feel himself blush as he held up his book. Wasn't he supposed to be pushier? Did Karimi not just tell him that? "I'm saying that if you need someone to ramble on at or anything, I'd be more than happy to help." toska
(no man it's okay i understand haha college has been hectic for me too)
also abraham had little to worry about when karimi is the character who ends up pissing off like half the player characters on this site. she's pissing off a hades agent right now in the land of nightmares because her heart overrides her brain. really, she could take lessons from neo.
"well, once you get enough entries to be synthesizing vaccines, the university will be supplying you with amberwell water. they've got reserves saved up, see. just in case something like this ever happened." arceus bless those people who had the foresight of doing so, even if nobody wanted to think of the possibility. "but the source of the water - the amberwell's gone to hell. i ran a ph test on it, and it's too basic for safe consumption. when my vaccinated eelectross tried touching it- well. if the ranger hadn't been there...i'm not sure if he would have made it."
she looks at him seriously. "we just...gotta be really careful. take all the safety precautions we can, rubber gloves and goggles and all that elementary lab safety stuff. make sure that your pokemon understand the risks and all that jazz."
she's not sure if she's understanding abraham exactly. "you mean from proserpina? or the region? i think most everyone is plenty disturbed by these happenings, mind you. just...not in the way that i'd prefer maybe." she shakes her head. "people are just barring up their metaphoric windows instead of ... i don't know, investing in the one department that's capable of maybe fixing this mess." or at least she hopes that they can fix this mess.
"no no, ahuda was plenty kind to me! again, my pokemon might not have survived the poisoning if not for her." the eelectross beside her nods vigorously. "i think i just went a little overboard with the explanations. she was plenty cooperative though!"
karimi considers his offer. "to be perfectly honest, i'm mostly waiting for the rangers to clear out more of the scourge before i go back to check the amberwell. i think whatever data i can gather from the amberwell, i've pretty much collected already. maybe the results will change afterwards, i don't know. how much do you know about vaccines?" if he's asking about the source of the vaccines, then it's a safe bet to say that this boy probably hasn't gotten that far yet.
he's going to need a lot more experience if he's going to make some real breakthroughs on their war on the scourge. karimi can personally attest to that after going through all the beginner's stuff herself last year. the real checkpoint is nerio. everything before that is just ordinary training stuff.
karimi wets her lips and makes a decision.
"hey, mind doing me a favor, then?" she reaches for her bag and pulls out a thick folder of paper, bound together by small binder clips. "do you mind taking this to a friend of mine in nerio city? it's all handwritten field notes on the amberwell that i'd like a researcher friend of mine to see." karimi winks at him. "plus, i don't really mind if you just so happen to see the contents if they're beneficial to your own research."
abraham seemed like a decent kid, so maybe a task would be a pretty good motivator for him to speed to nerio. karimi throws in some incentive.
"her name is leonida neo, and i'd really appreciate it if you do. i mean, you're headed there sooner or later, right?"
karimi hands him tm thunderbolt x1
cass wow i don't remember the last time i had an eos thread with her that didn't involve free stuff
With the Arcanine stored in the archives of his Pokedex, Abraham moved on to the Eelectross. He made up scenarios where he had to actually go find these things. He felt even more grateful.
"Ah, right. Reserves. That was a good call!" Where did they keep those? "And that's why there're investigations going on? Because of the pH of the Amberwell?" things were coming full circle at this point. "And I'm assuming nobody has a solution, and that's why you're still here and worrying?" not that Karimi didn't have the right to be worrying -- had it been his Pokemon on the line, he'd be just as worried. Abraham watched the Eelectross for a brief moment; it looked fine to him. The Ranger must've done a good job.
"I was actually referring to their actual, physical deaths. Like, watching their bodies explode, or something cooler." how scientific of him. "Nonetheless, I understand. People should be concentrating every ounce of their effort on this. Eos' numbers should be sky-high! I wouldn't be able to sit around. Waiting a year to join in was hard enough."
He smiled at the thought of the Ranger. Not everyone was barring up their metaphoric windows. "Sorry for misunderstanding." he amended simply, scratching his head.
Abraham perked up at her mention of a favor. It was better than going aimlessly, just improving himself. That was important -- he was aware of that -- but having the feeling of doing something to directly help was motivation. He smiled and nodded with excitement. "Yeah! Absolutely!" he listened intently.
"Alright, will do. I'm sure you have a ton of stuff that you need to do after all the Rangers are gone." he grasped the folder, studying its blank cover before looking back at Karimi. "So don't worry about this." Abraham found himself sticking to her mentioning his own research. He didn't have any real hypothesis made -- no, Abraham didn't even know where to start. But if this was going to help him somewhere along the way, damn straight he'd be reading it.
"Leonida Neo, you said?" Karimi gave him a TM, Thunderbolt. She was just full of gifts. He grinned ear-to-ear and grabbed the technical machine, tucking it under his arm as he made sure to keep a nice, gentle grip on the folder. It was clearly more valuable than the TM. toska
haha it's a good thing when karimi owns literally the only eelectross on this entire site.
"yeah! i mean it's a little noticeable when vaccines don't synthesize like they used to in the labs. amberwell water is rather...chemically sensitive, so the first researcher who tried to synthesize a vaccine didn't get very far. and that's after they had to beat back a bit of scourge to approach the amberwell. like man i couldn't even cut open a corpse the other day without being ambushed by thirty four scourge gastly." thanks, king. thank you so much for rolling the number of gastlies.
"it's all a mess, honestly. as if we didn't have enough to worry about at bacchus!" and decima, but nobody wanted to hear about that while the gym in bacchus wasn't free. god, the trainers in the region can just milk melchior for a badge, but they can't even lift a finger to save the town. bitterness fills karimi up like a poison, and it's all that she can do to prevent it from showing up in this conversation. "we're constantly swamped with shit to do, and not enough people to do it. the most competent people are either busy with god knows what or..." she doesn't want to think about it. they couldn't be dead - they're smarter than that.
suddenly, karimi looks rather tired. blowing scourge bodies up for the past year can do that to you. "maybe, but ... admittedly it's not that interesting after it happens the fiftith time. i'd rather see a resolution to all this mess." she's lost too much. the region's lost too much. karimi tries her best to smile at him. "so why'd you have to wait? eos is pretty desperate for recruits all the time. 'specially among the researchers! we can't get new ideas with the same old people all the time."
the girl had already scanned her notes into a digital compressed file, so she didn't actually mind that much if her notes happened to be lost on the way. really, she even had the proper university channels to get the information to neo directly. while she had wanted to motivate him, karimi wanted to get through to neo too. she wanted to make neo see that she wasn't alone in her endeavors, that the eos researcher branch isn't dying. maybe she could restore hope that way.
(maybe they could be friends once again)
"yeah. nobody calls her leonida anymore, though, so make sure that you ask for just 'neo'. she works in the department of battles."
I don't think that Abraham is trying to abuse Karimi for free things but eh. He moves on to the Braviary, taking a moment to examine the feathers of the flying-type.
Abraham found himself trying to imagine being surrounded by 34 Gastlies. Then he tried to imagine himself surviving. "Wow." he muttered, wide-eyed. Was that really how widespread the Scourge were? He couldn't imagine what it looked like at Lake Pax. "How fun."
A chuckle rose out of the back of Abraham's throat. He would have died for a chance to help his region survive a time like this, yet there were people shrinking away from the chance. "Whatever happened to good ole' patriotism?" There were people out there dying. Numbers would have aided in the fight, no matter how inexperienced the fighter. People learned. "I just can't fathom choosing to sit around and wait." Imagining waves of people searching for the resolution Karimi spoke of gave a jolt to Abraham.
Fifty Scourge? Truthfully, the number wasn't that outrageous for how long she'd been at it. Not to mention the brief mention of 34 Gastlies attacking just the other day. He allowed the surprise to write itself on his face. "You make a good point. The best satisfaction would be for someone to just end all of this!"
The energy dissipated. "Well, my parents didn't let me. They were researchers too -- very proud Kohakans, mind you -- and they wanted to go out and help after they survived the initial horror of Decima. So they enlisted in Eos, went out to fight, and told me to stay home and stay safe after my brother passed in Bacchus. So a few weeks(?) later, my mother came home, alone. No Pokemon, no dad." he swallowed and the screams resurfaced. The pictures of his brother laying in a pool of blood rushed to his conscious, and Abraham shuddered. That was why he fought. Maybe it wasn't this unwavering patriotism. "So I waited a while and then just went, convincing my mother that I couldn't just sit around." Oh, how his eyes wanted to spill over and expel the pain that haunted him. He couldn't though, and he knew that, because for his story, there were probably hundreds that were worse. Instead, his eyes searched the surface of the stack once more, as if looking for some form of comfort from its encryptions.
