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 !
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Ged’s flamingly red hair dulled to an almost auburn shade when it was wet, and wet it was at nearly 2 AM in the morning as Ged padded silently down the hallways of the darkened Pokemon Center. He slipped around the main lobby quickly and avoided any of the hallways lighted for emergencies or by other temporary residents of the Center with practiced ease. It was obvious to any observer that the teen was well-versed in the art of skulking about at night. But contrary to most of those other late-night forays, Ged had a right to be in the Center that night. His stealth wasn’t out of necessity, though he did not want to be noticed, but more out of practice and habit. When he reached his destination in a tucked-away corner of the Pokecenter, Ged slipped inside and removed the doorstop to close the door behind him with a nearly-inaudible click. Only then did he marginally relax.
He ran his hand through his still-dripping hair and wrung another round of water from it. The drops pattered on the tile ground as he walked over to the only quietly humming washer out of the half dozen or so that lined the wall. Ged tried to hop up onto the machine, but had to abort mission halfway up because the towel around his waist tried to flee to the floor. He grabbed at it with his hand and tried to tighten it around his waist, but it was tricky to manage with one hand. Ged gave the door protecting his privacy a warning glance, then tried to hop onto the washer again with his hand holding the towel up on his waist. With a bit of wriggling, Ged obtained his desired warm perch.
The trainer leaned back against the cool wall with a sigh. He was tired, but the beds at the Center were too soft after almost a year of sleeping on the ground or whatever other low quality surface he could scavenge. He’d tried, but had given up and retreated to the laundry room to do some much-needed cleaning. The stupid Pidgey from the day had stained and dirtied one of Ged’s only sets of clothes, and since he was running low on the few changes he possessed, Ged had taken the chance and stuff all of his clothes into the washer before going to take a shower. His clothes failed to fill half of the washer’s interior, and Ged had scavenged detergent from a forgotten bottle in the corner, along with spare change he had piled on the dryer he planned to utilize as soon as the clothes were finished. Now all that was left was the wait.
A quick check on the timer told him he had about ten more minutes before Ged could switch the clothes to the dryer. He absently traced one of the many slowly-fading scars on his stomach, the mark jagged and pink against his pale skin. He glanced at the door again, feeling very exposed with his skin covered only by a towel and scars. Ged tried to reassure himself that it was two in the morning; who would be up at this hour? No one did laundry at 2 AM. No one except Ged.
Rhys had been sleeping peacefully in the Pokemoncenter when something had stirred her awake. It had not been her partner, the bug pokemon who managed to remain asleep next to her; something she had found to be very odd, often expecting the pokemon to disappear when it slept, but figured that perhaps she made it feel safe, or it felt the need to protect her, even in sleep. She looked at the Scyther as it took heavy even breaths and smiled at her partner before searching the room. There were not many people still here, most of the trainers that had recieved pokemon around her had taken off already or were in the city sleeping somewhere else. So she had not felt the need to make her partners sleep in pokeballs.
Searching the floor for their frames, she quickly realized what had woken her up. Her Absol, Meowth and Pikachu all remained curled up to one another (another thing she found rather humorous since they would never do that conscious) and she tried to figure out where the final pokemon on her team had run off to. He was surely the largest, and probably the most frightening. Gabby, the Aerodactyl Jasper had revived for her, was gone. "Shitt," She groaned in a low tone, not bothering to dress herself properly as she tip-toed over her team mates, hoping they would not wake. It was in the middle of the night, after all. Or early morning, depending on who you asked. "Gabriel," Her voice was low and sharp as she slowly slide the door to the rest of the brightly lit center open.
The bright lights were instantly blinding, but it only took a moment for her to adjust to them. It was only a moment before she spotted the pokemon. He had perched on some sort of cupboard and was not searching the ground for something to eat, by the looks of it. The second he realized his trainer was standing there, he cried out and dove for the ground. Barely missing a pokemon who had fallen asleep next to their trainer while waiting to hear back from an emergency visit (perhaps a Scourge attack, Rhys could not be certain), Gaby then took off down a hallway. If he had not just freshly hatched and been smaller than he could have been, she worried that his wings would smash into the walls.
"Gaby!" She growled again, chasing him angrily as she tried to catch up with the ancient pokemon. At least her barefeet were much more quiet than they would have been with shoes on. Although she could not imagine how filthy they had to be... again. She had just showered, too! Ugh. She grumbled again, pulling up her shorts that were somehow big around her waist, yet rather short on her legs. Perhaps that was just the style of pajama shorts in modern times. She had not bothered to ask when she got them for a found quarter at a thrift store. Her camisole rode up her belly a bit, but at this point she did not care, as long as she was not mooning anyone while she chased the beast of a pokemon.
In a moment, she could feel a smile flash across her face. The Aerodactyl was closing in on a door that was shut tight. She knew that he would have to stop, which meant she could catch him. Still, she did not understand why he did this, tried to hunt other pokemon all the time. She fed him like she was supposed to! She grumbled and shook her head, slowing down only to watch the beast slam straight the door, sending it open and smashing into the wall (probably leaving a dent where the knob made contact). She instantly stopped, her jaw dropping in shock as she watched the beast then stumble to the floor, getting caught up in his own wings. "Oh my Arceus," She said in shock before running again through the door. Leaping toward the pokemon, he again took off into the air and perched upon a vibrating washer, leaving her sprawled out across the floor.
"Mother fu-" She paused, her anger quickly washing from her face as she spotted another human in the room. Sitting upon a washer directly across from Aerodactyl was a boy in a towel. She quickly blushed and covered her eyes, not sure how to respond. "Gaby!" She growled again, her eyes now focusing on the floor as she stood up and shut the door behind her, not wanting to disturb anyone else who might be near. "Uh... sorry..." She said, only looking over the boy quickly. His hair was in that general longer, shaggy type look, or so she figured. It was still wet and for all she knew, he could style it to look completely different. Her teeth ground against each other as she clenched her fingers into a fist. "He's still a little wild," She grumbled again, not feeling the need to explain herself, but feeling a bit better about the situation in doing so. Well, hopefully the others were still asleep, and at least they were not in this awkward position. Gabriel seemed to laugh at her as he stood smuggly on the washer, waiting for her to leap at him again, but she did not. Instead, Rhys momentarily stared down the pokemon before again looking at the boy.
"I'm Rhys..." She said sheepishly, her eyes shifting. Oh Arceus, did she feel stupid right now! Rubbing her belly and her arm, she could also feel the stinging in her knee from hitting the floor like she had. Not to mention, she had managed to slide across the floor, which left her a little red. Pulling down her shirt so that it at least covered her belly button, she still felt as if her face was bright red and wished that she had one of her hats to pull over her face... that way he could not have been able to so easily see how embarrassed she felt right now. Especially since she almost never felt embarrassed, so this feeling was a newer one. But then again, it was the middle of the night and she should have been in bed. She was sure that if it had been in the day time, she would not have even reacted to it. Not to mention, the boy was in a towel... With a grunt, she shook her head and flipped her faded red-brown hair, using her fingers to fix it a bit and allowed the red to drain from her face, replacing it with a look of anger toward her pokemon. 'Should I pretend like I was coming to do laundry?' She wondered, looking between the few washers and dryers that had clothes in them.
The laundry room door open, crashing into the wall. Ged started so badly he almost fell off the washer, his hand going to cover the stump of his right arm in a protective gesture. Curses echoed the room, and Ged glared daggers at the Aerodactyl who flew oh so smugly around the room to alight on the washer across from Ged. He took his eyes off the Pokemon for a moment to judge the distance from him to the ratty backpack he had stashed in the corner, safely out of the way while he showered. Could he reach it before the Aerodactyl attacked? Probably, but it would be close, and Ged really didn’t feel like getting bitten again. The teeth hanging over the Aerodactyl’s jaw made him shudder.
A girl followed the Aerodactyl into the room, her cut-off curse putting voice to the swears still rolling through Ged’s mind. He eyed her with almost as much venom as he had looked at the Aerodactyl. She was looking at him, but only in short, quick bursts. Was she embarrassed? Ged was the one who should be embarrassed, and indeed, a faint flush could be seen standing stark against his pale skin. Unlike many teenage boys, Ged wasn’t entirely comfortable being mostly naked around a girl. First and foremost in his mind, she was a stranger, and any moment she was going to notice his arm, or scars, and stare. Then the questions would start and the staring would continue. Maybe she was enough of a prude that she wouldn’t take a closer look.
Ged himself had no prudish thoughts keeping him from taking a good look at the intruder’s body. She was quite cute, about his age, and she was a redhead as well, though from the faded color he guessed she was faking it with dye. He’d never dyed his hair. It was wild enough as it was, and he wasn’t about to go for a dull color like black or brown, even if it would help him blend in more. The girl had obviously been in bed, or on her way there, when her Pokemon decided to take a little trip to the laundry room. From her rather uncoordinated entrance and complete lack of laundry, Ged concluded that there was no way she had purposely crashed his laundry party. Well, that would make it easier to make her go away. His eyes lingered on her stomach as she pulled her shirt down, not because he felt sympathy for the rug burn she’d sustained in the fall. He was a teenage boy, after all. The girl’s eyes looked everywhere except at Ged, and he looked a little longer before turning his eyes back on the Aerodactyl. Despite now knowing the Pokemon had a trainer, Ged still didn’t feel comfortable with the Pokemon so close.
“I can tell,” Ged’s voice drawled out a response to her comment that the Aerodactyl was still wild. He feigned confidence and took up a nonchalant posture, leaning back against the wall behind him, though his hand didn’t move away from hiding the remains of his right arm and the muscles adorning his too-skinny frame were still taunt with tension.
“If you’re looking for an open washer, I’ll be done in…” Ged twisted slightly to look over his shoulder, “Eight minutes. You can come back then.” They both knew he was just making conversation. There was easily another four machines for Rhys to pick from. He focused his tawny eyes back on Rhys once again, managing to quirk a smile at her. She was still blushing. “Name’s Ged.” He might as well introduce himself. He preferred to do so before the clothes came off, but since Rhys had jumped the gun, he could be flexible.
As Rhys felt herself feeling less embarrassed, she continued to glare at her pokemon. Slowly, she approached the creature, her face showing him that he would be paying for this later, especially since he had woken her up. Still, he did not seem to be at all worried or frightened by her. Instead, he looked over the human. Perhaps he tasted delicious. The pokemon had been the first to notice the missing arm and quickly wondered if it had been caused by a predator like himself. Thinking it over, he ignored his trainer to consider this. Had the pokemon only eaten the arm because it tasted bad? Or had the boy managed to escape before it could eat the rest of him? He licked his lips but shook his head. Obviously the boy was still alive for a reason, even if the arm was missing, so perhaps he should avoid trying to eat him. Now... if he had a pokemon out instead... well that would be free game.
Rhys reached out a hand quickly to pat the pokemon's head, stroking down its muzzle as she hoped to keep it calm. She did not want him taking off again. Or starting trouble with this boy like she could already see the beast doing. Sure, she loved her Aerodactyl, just not during times like this. And it would not be entirely bad if the pokemon was not taller than her and did not weigh more than she did. She shook her head at her companion and he listened to the mental command that her eyes told him. Don't do anything. He rolled his eyes and lifted his head to look back at the boy as he spoke. The Aerodactyl showed distaste as he knew for a moment the human had spoke of him, but shook it off. He would be good... at least for now. That was the only way Rhys would give him food. Not that he liked what she gave him compared to what he used to hunt, but food was food.
Now that her pokemon was beginning to calm, Rhys turned to look over the boy once more. He was not bad in appearance. His hair was red, almost like hers. Although her hair had red in it, it was more so brown naturally. She had recently decided to try and dye it to be more red than brown, but being out in the sun all day did not keep the color alive. She had recently decided to dye it again, but was caught stealing hair dye from the store. Which resulted in her still walking around with her hair looking so awful. She smirked at how gloriously bright this man's hair was naturally, or she assumed it was natural. She could feel the envy boiling up in her, but refused to let it show. She did not want him to know how jealous she was.
As she continued to examine him, she picked up on several scars. Many of them very large. Something she had initially looked over. But in reality, scars meant a good story. However, she knew that there had to be an awesome story once her brown eyes rested on what used to be an arm. Even then, she did not allow them to stick for long, mostly just passing the stub over before going back to his face. She did not really mind that he had no arm. Why would she? She smiled gently at him as she took in the rest of his appearance before looking at his towel and then looking about the room. The bag on the floor that he seemed a little uneasy about was surely his. Not that she would steal it. Unless it had something good in it that she really wanted. Which she sort of doubted it would.
"Uhm... actually... I already did laundry. Just coming to check and make sure I got it all... when my pokemon decided to run a muck," She lied. She figured that he knew by now she did not have laundry to do and hoped that she would leave. Especially when he mentioned his washer opening, even though there were so many more around. She nodded, but did not say much as she looked back at her pokemon once before not allowing her eyes to leave the boy. She continuously ran over what he looked like, although she completely ignored the arm, not even bothering to look at it again. She figured enough people probably stared at it, why should she?
"Nice to meet you, Ged. Why are you doing laundry at two a.m. anyway? Not a people person?" She tilted her head, leaning against the washer as she continued to calm Gabriel through affection strokes. She figured that if his plan had been to avoid people, well she had done a good job in ruining it. But even so, she was not going to be leaving in a rush. Especially if he wanted her to. Perhaps it was that constant need to basically rebel against others that worked up inside of her. She hated being told what to do, but often told her pokemon what to do and how to act. Something that she despised about herself, but figured was necessary. She could not let Gaby run around and eat other people's pokemon for example. Not to mention, if they wanted to win battles, well she was the one who was supposed to train them and make them stronger. Which would mean they would have to listen to her. But even so, she tried to be kind and give them as much freedom as possible. Perhaps that was why they seemed to like her so much. Well all of them except, perhaps Gaby. He never seemed to agree with her or do what she wanted. She rolled her eyes at the pokemon.
Gabriel let out a small sound, which still seemed to echo through the building and she shushed him quickly. "Sorry about him. Honestly. I don't know what his deal is all the time. Those ancient instincts to catch his own food and what not, I am assuming. That was why he took off initially. Planned to catch some poor trainer's sleeping pokemon..." She stared at the boy, almost feeling rude about it, but now intrigued about him. She wanted to learn more, especially about his scars that were so easily visible in the little towel that barely covered his body. But she would not ask, at least not now. Instead she would have to keep friendly conversation going. Make him see that she was not some douche bag of a trainer who just invaded other people's space, refused to leave, and brought up bad memories that they did not want to talk about.
"You can relax, by the way. He won't hurt you. And I'm pretty sure that you could kick my ass if I tried," She did not bother to add in her other thoughts about that. How if he did try to kick her ass, he would surely end up naked. And he had blushed being in a towel. So while most guys would not mind, she had a feeling that he would feel odd. Which would mean that he would probably try not to fight her. Perhaps he had a knife and could just stab her. Maybe that was what all the scars were from. He could have been from a bad place. Maybe in a gang who got into fights and he lost something. Like hand to hand combat. Lost his arm and then decided to go and get pokemon, head back home and kick their asses later. She allowed her mind to wander with these thoughts and she imagined all sorts of 'interesting' stories, doubting that any would match up to the real one. "Are you a trainer?" She finally asked, "I know, probably a dumb question. Why else would you be in a center, yadda yadda. But I mean, I dunno. You /could/ be a killer. Where you out slashing people then decided to come and wash your clothes in the center afterward? Through off the police," She giggled.
"Or perhaps a homeless person that needed to wash up for the first time in months. Not judging," Her grin was wide as she tried to show him she was mostly just kidding around. Still, at this time of the night when her mind would normally be dreaming, she could not help but think up stories. She often was not a social person herself. But at this point, she really would not mind some contact with another human-being. Especially if it came down to talking to him or Gaby, who she was still rather annoyed with, even if she did not show it. "But don't go off thinking I'm weak and easy pickings. While I said you could probably take me, if I was lucky, Gaby here would try and save me... maybe."
Ged kept his eyes on Rhys, noting where she looked and each and every time she paused. He marked down every time she stopped to stare at one of his scars, and noted exactly how long her eyes stuttered to that familiar stop when they reached his right side. She didn’t openly stare like many people, but he still wasn’t convinced. Some people pretended to not notice, only to gawk and try to get a better look as soon as they thought he wouldn’t notice. He always noticed. It was only a matter of time before Rhys starting asking, or staring, or subtly hinting that she was curious. Just the fact that she had stayed told him that she was curious (though he supposed Rhys could merely be bored). Ged didn’t want to talk about it, he never did.
Ged couldn’t help but comment on Rhys’ look, “Like what you see?” he asked with a slightly sharp tone. Yes, he had noticed her looking, and no, he wasn’t going to let her get away with it. The redhead glanced down to make sure the towel was covering everything essential. It was a little low in the back from wiggling onto the laundry machine, but nothing that would get him arrested was showing. He kicked his legs slightly, heels making a light thud against the door of the washer. Even his legs had a few scars on them. He hooked one foot behind the other heel, hiding the unmistakable bite scar, and returned his look to Rhys’ face.
It was obvious to him that she was lying about checking on her laundry. The fact that she chased the Aerodactyl into the room was clue enough, as was the confusion on her face as if she hadn’t recognized the room at all when she’d entered. For a moment, Ged wondered if he should apologize. It was probably the water he’d dripped on the floor that she’d slipped on. Ged discarded the thought as swiftly as it came. He didn’t care.
Rhys turned a question back at him, inquiring why he was doing laundry at two AM. “Couldn’t sleep and laundry needed to be done. Convenient, right?” Ged said with a shrug of his good shoulder. He was a people person, even if he didn’t care about other’s well-being, people offered a decent distraction and he couldn’t implement most of his ideas without recruiting at least a few others. Ged expanded on his reasoning, sprinkling the real story with a healthy dash of substitution of fact. “I understand the Aerodactyl thing. I have an Archen with the same problem. He’s still pouting because I wouldn’t let him finish off the Pidgey we ran into earlier…the Pidgey tried to tease Kebe from a dumpster, Kebe jumped in after it, trash went everywhere…hence why I needed to do laundry. You think eating a trash-covered bird would have made Kebe sick?” Ged mused. He had, of course, caught the Pidgey for profit, not out of concern for Kebe’s well-being, but Rhys didn’t need to know that.
Ged knew his fossils. They turned up in Oreburgh all the time, either brought up from the Underground or brought to the museum for reanimation. That was why he had taken a fossil instead of one of the other offered Pokemon. Prehistoric Pokemon weren’t softened by generations of being bred by humans for obedience in battle. When Archeops ruled the sky, there was no humans around to keep a Pokemon battle from going to the death every time. Ged wanted those instincts. He’d allowed Kebe to eat the next creature the Archen had captured, but it hadn’t appeased the flying type. He’d wanted to take revenge on the taunting Pidgey, not that Ged could blame him, but Kebe needed to understand that Ged was the boss. Controlling Kebe’s food source was the easiest way to assert his authority.
After Rhys’ last words, Ged paused for a long moment, debating how to answer, and letting her stew. Was he a killer? She was awfully cavalier to stay in a room alone with a stranger. True, Ged was hardly intimidating, sitting there in a towel with his skinny body on for show. He was even already crippled. He looked Rhys over again. He was probably her height. Really, he wasn’t an intimidating figure at all, especially when she had an Aerodactyl sitting right next to her. Ged’s Pokemon were all quite small, even if he was growing cautiously confident in their combat abilities. Intimidating, Ava the pink Buneary was not.
“Actually…I’m a tourist,” Ged deadpanned, “No, really, I’m a trainer. Just came from Cypress’ lab, where I got my starter and the fossil.” The way he’d said it, Rhys wouldn’t know whether to believe he was a tourist or not. Ged’s accent was softened by the year he’d spent in the region, and most people couldn’t tell where he was from, though they never thought he was a native. Ged was used to not belonging. His red hair, light skin and eyes, and slim stature made him stand out like a sore thumb among the tall, muscular, macho men of Oreburgh. Many questioned whether he was even his father’s son, though not when they knew Ged was listening. Ged was good at eavesdropping, and he always exacted his revenge on the gossip mongers later.
“I’ll have you know I washed the day before yesterday. Remember the rainstorm? But that only got one pair of clothes clean, so I still had to do laundry today.” Ged gave Rhys a grin so she would know he was actually joking about that one. Let her take his evasive answer as she would. He wasn’t about to tell her he was technically homeless. But then again, weren’t all of those traveling around, fighting the scourge homeless? They were nomads, drifters. That was why the Pokemon Centers were open to them, after all.
Deliberately, Ged moved his hand away from his right shoulder. His hand could cover the remains of his right arm with space to spare, but now he moved his hand away. Would she stare? He rubbed at a series of small, narrow, overlapping scars on his right shoulder, watching her the entire time, then moved his left arm out of the way, moving to fiddle with a stray thread on his towel to pass the time. Now nothing on his torso was hidden. She could see everything, the scars that traced down his good arm, the ragged ones across his stomach, bisected by a thinner, cleaner surgical one. Everything.
