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!
“That one would be a good target,” Ged mused out loud. He nodded his head at a well dressed woman as she walked by. The smile on his face made her think it was merely a courteous greeting, so she nodded back and waved politely without pausing. She hadn’t heard Ged’s words to the Pokemon that sat next to him, nor was she aware of the subject of their conversation.
Ged continued, “See the bag? Too many external pockets. Those buckles don’t do anything besides look good. Most people don’t bother closing them. It’s easy to slip in, especially since the purse is so full that she wouldn’t feel if I accidentally tugged. Which, of course, I wouldn’t. Haven’t gotten caught since I was seven.” Ged still remembered how his hands and bottom had smarted for days after his father got home and heard he’d gotten caught with his hands in the teacher’s purse.
At his side, Ava the pink Buneary nodded thoughtfully. This stealing things (or ‘filching,’ as Ged liked to call it), sounded very interesting. Ged never seemed to have enough money to buy Ava the things she needed. He’d refused her the pretty pink scarf she’d wanted yesterday for cold days, and the shiny silver Poke-sunglasses for her beautiful, delicate eyes, and he’d even refused the cheap, simple barrette Ava had asked for as a last resort. He’d told her he needed to save for better things, and while Ava had to admit the spiffy TM thing Ged had bought her was nice, a girl needed something to spruce up her looks from time to time. It was essential.
Ava glanced around Ged to the boy’s left side. There, Kebe the Archen sat, apparently paying no attention to any of Ged’s words. The Archen held a long bone in his clawed wings. The bone was picked clean, and had been picked clean for several minutes now, but the bird still gnawed on it, his rocky teeth making grating, slobbering sounds on the bone. Kebe didn’t seem to mind Ged’s stingyness, but then again, Kebe was a boy, and a really, really old one at that. He just cared where his next meal was coming from. Ava would have expected more support from Liri, Ged’s starter (that apparently made her special, but Ava couldn’t see anything special in the blushing, bumbling Scraggy). But Liri wouldn’t hear a word against Ged. The boy couldn’t do any wrong in her eyes. Ava had resolved to herself to never be so stupid over a boy.
Ged broke off a piece of carrot from the larger one he had in the napkin on his lap. He chewed on the smaller piece and reached across his body to his bad side to give Ava the larger half. The Buneary took the carrot reflexively. Her tummy was rumbly, but she didn’t eat the vegetable right away. Her little nose wrinkled in distaste. The carrot was pale, slightly off-color, with chunks missing where Ged had awkwardly cut out the bad spots. Roots were even growing out of one end. There was no way she was going to eat this!
Ava shoved the carrot back at Ged, who took it with a shrug. “Not hungry then, Ava?” he said. He handed it over to Kebe, who abandoned his bone to gnaw on the carrot instead.
The Buneary slumped back on the ledge of the dried up fountain they were sitting on. Her large rabbit feet kicked the air, and she crossed her arms over her growling stomach. Why couldn’t Ged get her good food? She guessed it all came back to money. Why didn’t he get off his butt and get her more money, then? He just sat there, pointing out good targets, but never moved to get money from any of them. She’d seen him do it once. Saw him sidle up to a brightly dressed tourist, waited until the man was distracted reading a street sign, then quick as a flash, almost too fast for Ava to notice, Ged’s hand was in the man’s pocket and out again, clutching the man’s wallet. The redhead had melted back into the crowd before the man had even realized anything had happened.
Ava could totally do that herself. She was faster than any old human. Now…who should she target? Ged had stopped pointing out targets and seemed to be lost in one of his odd trances. He got like that sometimes, drifted off, staring into space, mind in a completely different time and place than the here and now. Ava looked for a tourist, but they were in a much poorer part of time than before. There was one woman Ava thought might be a good target, but then the woman sneezed and wiped her hand on her too-tight pants. Ava’s nose wrinkled. Disgusting.
Now that boy…he was very nice looking. Ava could totally steal from him! Tall, brown hair, pretty green eyes Ava could see from all the way over here. He didn’t look like a tourist…but Ava was a Pokemon, and she was much faster than Ged or any other human, so she didn’t have to care about stuff like that. He also seemed clean, which was essential in Ava’s decision making process.
The Buneary bounced off the ledge and onto the ground, and took off into the crowd. Ged reacted instantly, reaching for her with his hand, but she was on his right, his bad side, and she slipped out of his reach too quickly. The teen jumped up and ran after her, cursing under his breath.
Ava bounced along, ignoring Ged, her eyes focused on her target. She could see his pocket, right there. All she had to do was slip in and out and retreat, just like Ged had taught her. She gave an extra big bounce, and slipped her little paw into the tall, brown haired teen’s pocket, just as Ged’s arm closed around her middle and pulled her backwards. Her paw automatically closed on whatever she could grasp, the target pocket, the contents of said pocket, or even the sensitive flesh beneath the pocket.
[atrb=width,500px,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style,border-radius:10; background: #e7f1fa url('http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a206/lil_ari/greenbg.png') repeat-y; ][style=background:#b2b894; margin:25 0 0 85px;width:100px;height:100px;border-radius:10 0 10 10px; padding:5px;opacity:0.8;][/style][style=background:#b2b894;width:250px;border-radius:0 50 50 0px; padding:5 25 5 5px;text-align:justify; margin:-110 0 0 195px; opacity:0.8; text-transform:lowercase; font-size:7pt; font-family:georgia; font-style: italic; line-height:0.9; color:#757963; text-shadow: 1px 1px #c3c594;] Run until your hands touch the sky. Run until your heart's full of your dreams. No matter how much I run, I can't escape from it. If I look back while running, you're always there.[/style][style=font: italic 17pt/12pt Hoefler Text,serif; color:#95957c; margin:70 0 0 85px;width:390px;text-shadow: 2px 3px 2px #effbde;opacity:0.9;]everybody run, run, run away[/style][style=font: 9pt/8pt times new roman,serif; background-color: #cbcea6; border-radius:5px;color:#31322a; margin:-5 0 0 85px;width:370px; padding:10px;text-align:justify;]Mikael had been minding his own business as usual. He rarely approached people, so people rarely approached him. Still, bumping into people would be inevitable and he was often challenged to an occasional battle. Not that he minded, of course. His Pokémon could use some extra training. Of course, it was out of the question for Azula still. The real battles would not begin for her until she evolved. However, the Azurill seemed quite content to remain as an Azurill, but Mikael knew very well that she was quite frustrated by her lack of arms. It forced the Azurill to push things with her tail or try and use it to scoop things up (to which oftentimes she failed miserably).
So today was no different for him. Mikael had spent the entire day exploring Proserpina, getting a feel of all its twists and turns. He liked to get a mental blueprint of a city. It put him at ease, knowing that if he was ever chased down by something, he'd know where to hide and other shortcuts to cut people off at if he was ever being pursued. That was exactly what he was doing today, exploring. Azula was at his side, getting some fresh air. The little Azurill bounced at her trainer's side while a Riolu walked straight-backed behind the Pokémon. That put the Riolu slightly by Mikael's side since Azula had bounced a little further up.
"Azula, don't go too far," Mikael warned, but he doubted that the blue Pokémon had heard her. Well, Julius was here so he could keep an extra eye on the happy-go-lucky Pokémon. Of course, Azula wasn't as innocent as she seemed, which was something that her trainer had yet to figure out. She wondered what people she could charm with her adorable looks to get some attention from. She was starving for it and was not happy that people seemed mostly unaffected as they ran about doing their own things. She wanted to find something fun to do. But this time, the fun had come to her as opposed to her actively seeking it.
Mikael froze when he felt something slip into his pocket. A hand? Was someone trying to steal from him? Growing up in Nerio City, he'd learned fast that it wasn't safe to put things in his pockets and instead, to keep it in his satchel. Most of the times, his left hand rested on top or near the bag, but he did not allow it to pat the satchel too often to check if its contents were still there. That would only suggest that he had something valuable in it (which he most certainly did not, unless you were out to steal empty Pokéballs, lava cookies, or bottles of water and the only thing remotely valuable he had were a couple of TMs).
Therefore, fingers in his back pocket were quite unusual. There was no reason for anyone to steal anything for him, and perhaps accidentally, he was proven right. He felt a slight pinch and he whirled around to see who the culprit was. Whoever had touched him was going to pay for groping his behind. He was prepared to see a sort of perverted old man or a vixen slathered in makeup, but all he saw was a red-haired teenager with a Buneary. He eyed the boy warily before glancing at the Buneary. The Pokémon seemed to be struggling and besides, the fingers he'd felt groping him would have been far too small to have belonged to the boy. So it was the Buneary? Why?
"I'd appreciate it if you kept your Buneary away from me," he glowered. Still, the trainer could not be held accountable for what his Pokémon had done. Julius and Azula both had quite confused expressions on, for neither of them had seen what had happened. They looked at each other and then shrugged. Of course, on the inside, Mikael was slightly relieved that he wasn't being pinched by another person. The last thing he wanted was to be harassed in that sort of way again. Nerio City was full of creeps and as an orphaned child with a relatively pretty face? It was pretty inevitable.
Life seemed determined to cause trouble for Ged today. Earlier he’d barely managed to bargain/steal enough for his Pokemon’s lunch, which left nothing for himself. It was nothing unusual, though Ged had been tightening his figurative belt thanks to the additional mouths to feed. Eventually the Pokemon would start paying for themselves, once they began hunting the scourge and bringing in bounties…or even just fighting (and winning) trainer battles. Now, just when Ged was hoping for a quiet afternoon of scouting out the city and figuring out where the best place for more training was, Ava managed to get into trouble. Ged had hoped that the taller boy hadn’t felt the paw in his pocket, but the fact that Ava had grabbed the boy’s pants probably sealed the deal.
Ava managed to wiggle out from Ged’s grasp. It wasn’t that difficult to do, and Ged really wasn’t trying. He was more concerned with catching the backpack that was slowly falling off his right shoulder. He’d shoved his shoulder through the strap when he’d jumped up to go after Ava, and her struggling made the bag only slip of faster. The redhead dropped Ava and grabbed his bag just before it fell to the ground. He slung it over his arm and onto his good shoulder.
Ged turned a smile onto the annoyed boy. “It’s not my fault. I think she has a crush on you,” he said lightly. Ged looked over the taller boy, and at the Pokemon at his feet. “Don’t blame her, do you? Ava, do you like the nice man? Did you just want to say hello?” The nearly invisible mocking note to Ged’s tone was the only thing that could clue Mikael into the fact that Ged wasn’t sincerely apologetic and innocent in the whole situation.
The Buneary landed easily on her feet. She brushed off her paws and tucked them neatly behind her body. She slid one back paw on the ground shyly and peeked up at Mikael with coquettish eyes. “Buneeeeeary,” she said, pouring out all the cuteness and innocence in her little body. If she was cute enough, maybe the cute brunette would give her something good?
Ged paid close attention to the boy’s Pokemon. This was exactly why he avoided stealing from other trainers. Pokemon had senses that could catch Ged, even when he slipped under human radars. Ged knew his Pokemon weren’t very strong yet, and he didn’t want to piss off a stronger trainer. The Azuril was a weak Pokemon, but Riolu could be tough, and this one looked fairly trained.
Something caught Ged’s eye, near the Azuril. A large Archen maw yawned wide open, toothed beak ready, already salivating at the thought of tasting a succulent, tasty Azuril.
“Kebe, now is not the time for playing,” Ged admonished lightly. Kebe heard the warning tone layering Ged’s voice and backed off with a grumble. The Archen stalked over to Ged’s legs and sulked in Ged’s shadow.
Ged turned his smile back onto the taller boy. “Guess my Pokemon click well with yours, right?” the trainer said with a chuckle. The potential seriousness of the situation (Kebe had almost eaten Mikael’s Pokemon) seemed completely lost on the redhead. In truth? Ged didn’t give two shits about the other Pokemon. Getting the other boy angry would be inconvenient, and the absolute perfect addition to his day.
[atrb=width,500px,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style,border-radius:10; background: #e7f1fa url('http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a206/lil_ari/greenbg.png') repeat-y; ][style=background:#b2b894; margin:25 0 0 85px;width:100px;height:100px;border-radius:10 0 10 10px; padding:5px;opacity:0.8;][/style][style=background:#b2b894;width:250px;border-radius:0 50 50 0px; padding:5 25 5 5px;text-align:justify; margin:-110 0 0 195px; opacity:0.8; text-transform:lowercase; font-size:7pt; font-family:georgia; font-style: italic; line-height:0.9; color:#757963; text-shadow: 1px 1px #c3c594;] Run until your hands touch the sky. Run until your heart's full of your dreams. No matter how much I run, I can't escape from it. If I look back while running, you're always there.[/style][style=font: italic 17pt/12pt Hoefler Text,serif; color:#95957c; margin:70 0 0 85px;width:390px;text-shadow: 2px 3px 2px #effbde;opacity:0.9;]everybody run, run, run away[/style][style=font: 9pt/8pt times new roman,serif; background-color: #cbcea6; border-radius:5px;color:#31322a; margin:-5 0 0 85px;width:370px; padding:10px;text-align:justify;]And unfortunately for Ged, Mikael was smart, but he refused to rise to the bait. He had more important matters to tend to, and if he made a big stink out of this event, it would only cause him to attract attention to himself. That wouldn't have been good at all. He preferred to stay out of other people's sights and it had just been plain old bad luck that had caused this Buneary to pick on him. Besides, by the way that the Buneary was reacting, it seemed like it had been an accident. He glanced at the Buneary. "Not everyone carries things around in their back pockets," he said to her. Especially not a citizen native to Nerio City.
As for the Buneary, Mikael was quite unaffected by her cuteness. If he was so easily charmed by such appearances, Azula would have him wrapped around her thumb (not that she actually had any digits). So he was quite capable of ignoring the rabbit Pokémon, and that was precisely what he did. But Azula sensed that the Buneary was trying to steal her trainer's attention from her, to which she puffed out her cheeks and let out a warning of, "Azu, azu azurill!" Mikael nudged the Pokémon gently with his toe to remind the blue Pokémon to behave. It was ridiculous how easily jealous the blue mouse-like Pokémon could get of others. In her books, no one deserved her trainer's attention except for herself.
Julius had stepped forward in front of the Azurill. Mikael had assigned the Riolu of helping watch after the mischievous Azurill, and it was a job he took quite seriously. "Ri, riolu lu ri!" he said as a warning towards the Archen. Although Mikael had not sensed that the Archen was about to really snatch up the Azurill in its jaws, Julius had. The Riolu stared the Pokémon down with fierce eyes, and his piercing voice caught Mikael's attention. The Pokémon would not have become so protective without good reasons. He trusted Julius' judgment. But Ged had already gently chided his Pokémon and the flightless bird Pokémon retreated to sulk by his trainer.
Ged was just wasting his time. Mikael was a patient person, but the redhead was really pushing his buttons. He'd had quite enough of it. "Of course they do," Mikael said with a slightly scathing tone. Then nodding at Julius and Azula, the two progressed forward with Mikael in close step. He wanted to get away from Ged, and if the boy even thought about following him, there would be consequences.
Ged didn't give a damn about consequences. Ava might have shit judgment when targeting someone for theft, but she had picked a good one to play with. Ged wasn't finished with Mikael, not by a long shot. The slightly scathing tone was all the teen needed to urge him onward. Besides, this was a hundred times better than sitting around feeling his stomach eat itself from the inside out, and he might even be able to get some good information from the other boy.
The redhead slung his backpack over his head so the one-strapped bag lay crossways over his chest, just like it usually did, and jogged after Mikael's longer legs. "Hey, where are you going? You're going to disappoint Ava. She was really looking forward to making a new friend," Ged said when he had caught up enough to fall into step with Mikael. He kept easy track of where they were going, and his eyes flitted over the passing tourists with a practiced gaze. A good observer would notice how he made sure to look deep into every shadow, marked any possible escape routes, and kept a watchful eye on anyone who got too close.
Ava bounced along after the boys. She breezed past Ged and sidled up next to the Riolu. "Hellooooooo," she said slyly, edging up into his personal space. "My name is Ava. What's your name? You were sooooo brave standing up to Kebe like that. He's a big bully!" She fluttered her large eyes at him cutely.
Kebe trotted after Ged, gaining speed and ground until he jumped up, latched his claws onto the backpack, and used it and Ged's large shirt to climb up to the boy's right shoulder. Ged glanced at the Archen, and almost asked him to get off, but decided against it. The weight wasn't too painful on his bad shoulder, and the Archen had awfully large teeth awfully near Ged's face. Kebe rested a clawed hand on Ged’s fly-away red hair for balance. He looked at the taller human with interest. Since his resurrection, Kebe was always fascinated by every new human he got a chance to inspect. They were all so different and varied. This one, aside from the green eyes, was actually quite boring, both in appearance and in dress. What interested Kebe was the Pokemon down by his feet. Kebe wasn’t familiar with the Pokemon of the new age, and the little blue mousey looked yummy. He wanted to know what it was, and where he could hunt more of them without an annoying bodyguard interfering.
Instead, Ged went back to badgering making friends with Mikael. "I am sorry about Kebe here. I only just started out at this thing, so I only have three Pokemon, but I already feel like my hand is full," Ged attempted to nudge Mikael with his elbow. "Got any pointers for a newbie?" he asked, face open and inviting.
[atrb=width,500px,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style,border-radius:10; background: #e7f1fa url('http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a206/lil_ari/greenbg.png') repeat-y; ][style=background:#b2b894; margin:25 0 0 85px;width:100px;height:100px;border-radius:10 0 10 10px; padding:5px;opacity:0.8;][/style][style=background:#b2b894;width:250px;border-radius:0 50 50 0px; padding:5 25 5 5px;text-align:justify; margin:-110 0 0 195px; opacity:0.8; text-transform:lowercase; font-size:7pt; font-family:georgia; font-style: italic; line-height:0.9; color:#757963; text-shadow: 1px 1px #c3c594;] Run until your hands touch the sky. Run until your heart's full of your dreams. No matter how much I run, I can't escape from it. If I look back while running, you're always there.[/style][style=font: italic 17pt/12pt Hoefler Text,serif; color:#95957c; margin:70 0 0 85px;width:390px;text-shadow: 2px 3px 2px #effbde;opacity:0.9;]everybody run, run, run away[/style][style=font: 9pt/8pt times new roman,serif; background-color: #cbcea6; border-radius:5px;color:#31322a; margin:-5 0 0 85px;width:370px; padding:10px;text-align:justify;]Wow, this kid was annoying. Mikael didn't particularly think that Ged was lying when he mentioned his Buneary had only been looking to make a friend, but the fact that Ged was following him was the thing that bothered him. There were two ways to deal with people like Ged. Mikael knew that he could either: A) answer Ged's questions and hope he'd shut up about them instead of continuing to be nosy and elaborate on said questions, or B) ignore Ged and hope he'd lose interest and leave him alone. Somehow, both options had rather dull prospects. For now, Mikael had decided to remain silent.
His Pokémon were far more talkative. Julius appeared to be unaffected by Ava's attempts to charm him. Instead, he replied to the Buneary's questions casually with an unruffled voice. "My name is Julius. If I had not defended Azula from the Archen's jaws, I would have failed in my duties towards my trainer." It was already quite apparent that the Riolu had a very strong bond with his trainer already. Of course. Their relationship was built upon friendship, and the Riolu was actually almost ready to be evolved. The same went for Azula. Sometimes, she could swear that her tail was shrinking, but the blue Pokémon often blamed her imagination for such thoughts but Julius had certainly grown slightly taller since he had first met Mikael in the Dream World.
Mikael was quite aware of the Archen that was studying him with its beady black eyes. It was only a Pokémon though. There was no need for him to get irritated by the Archen's curiosity. If anything, Ged was being more annoying with his pestering voice. This kid thought they were friends just because his Buneary had groped him. Wonderful. What would Griff and Sinclair think of this situation? He chewed on his bottom lip as he decided that he'd make Julius and Azula swear not to tell either of them or their Pokémon. However, knowing Azula, the Azurill probably wouldn't be able to keep her big mouth shut. Griff would have found the entire situation terribly amusing.
At least Ged seemed to be attempting amiability. All right. He'd play along for now. He'd work on losing the kid later on. Somehow, he doubted that the switchblade attached to his right wrist under his sleeve would be enough to chase the redhead away. "No, I don't have any," he replied, his left hand casually slipping into his pocket out of habit. "Train is all I could tell you." It hadn't been too long since Mikael himself had left Cypress Laboratories with a starter Pokémon. He'd managed to fill all six slots in his party in no time though. In a sense, Mikael owed it to his luck. He'd been incredibly fortunate to run into some loyal Pokémon in the Dream World and he'd managed to hatch a Larvitar and a Larvesta from a couple of random eggs that he'd been handed.
He rounded the corner with Julius and Azula, making his way towards a more crowded area of Proserpina. Maybe he'd be able to lose the redhead here. His clothes didn't stand out too much and brown was a typical hair color, and if there was one thing that Mikael was good at, it was blending in.
With his bright red hair, it might surprise Mikael how well Ged could blend into a crowd. But Ged had honed his sneaking skills over the years, and while he was obviously not at his best in the unfamiliar streets of Proserpina, Ged wasn’t too worried about losing the taller Mikael in the crowd. Still, Ged stuck to Mikael’s side like glue, if only because he knew exactly how annoying he was being. Ged was an only child, but he fit perfectly into the role of annoying younger brother, especially when they tried to be stoic like the other boy.
“Train? That’s all anyone tells me to do. It’s getting old…nothing in this city is worth catching. I’ve got some interesting things in that weird Dream World, but that’s it,” Ged rambled. Ava was from the Dream World, and she communicated this to Mikael by jumping up cutely and tugging on his left hand. Ged was on Mikael’s right, ensuring that the redhead’s good side was nearest the stranger he was annoying and ready just in case the other boy was more insane than Ged’s initial judgment revealed. With Ava hanging onto Mikael’s other side, the boy would be hard pressed to escape. Even Kebe was watching Mikael closely, and if Mikael was watching Kebe, he might notice how the Archen licked his lips with a speculative expression on his face as if he was judging whether the tall boy was too large of a prey for Kebe’s stomach.
Ava peered around Mikael to giggle sweetly at Julius and flutter her eyelashes at the tall Pokemon. “You’re so brave,” she gushed, putting it on a bit too thickly, “You must really like your trainer a lot. Kebe is awfully scary.” As one who evolved by friendship herself, Ava could tell just how connected the Riolu was to his trainer. She didn’t have nearly that amount of feeling with Ged, though she did like the boy. He had all sorts of ideas on how to have fun, and taught her powerful attacks to help her grow. He didn’t have fun as often as she liked and preferred to train instead of shop, but Ava was confident she could work on him. She would have the boy twined around her ears soon enough.
“So where are you going?” Ged asked, looking around the streets. He made sure to note where they were, and went through his surprisingly detailed mental map of the parts of Proserpina he did know. He didn’t think the other boy had any specific location in mind, but it never hurt to check. “Do you have a cool place to train in mind…” Ged trailed off and fixed an expectant expression on his face, obviously waiting for Mikael to fill his name into the blank. Eventually he would tire of Mikael, but not yet. Ged still had all sorts of ideas in his head. If all else failed, he could always get Ava to grope the other boy again. She was already trying to hold his hand.
[/style][style=background:#b2b894;width:250px;border-radius:0 50 50 0px; padding:5 25 5 5px;text-align:justify; margin:-110 0 0 195px; opacity:0.8; text-transform:lowercase; font-size:7pt; font-family:georgia; font-style: italic; line-height:0.9; color:#757963; text-shadow: 1px 1px #c3c594;] 
