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 atmosphere of juno is strange; the people there are even stranger. the city itself is quaint, peaceful. (she would never have guessed that this is where the headquarters is placed.) the only signs are the telltale amount of people; be them rangers, trainers, breeders; who walk around with the glow of excitement and anticipation.
this is where dreams begin, after all.
delilah knows that she herself likely had the same kind of expression on her face when she walked out of the lab. it is when she realizes bael is her pokemon now; the riolu is not simply some wandering, homeless rattata that her brother took in. he is her partner, to be by her side as she works to rid the world of scourge. (as she works to make the world a safer place.)
the axew stared at isaac as he ate his ice-cream; the duo walked alongside each other, the sun as bright as the hopes and dreams of people new to kohaku. juno was a city far away from the problems that plagued the region, and a perfect starting point.
but what was missing was the children.
where were the children?
isaac glanced at the axew, and then back at the odd image of a family walking on the streets, a baby or child missing from the picture.
he was the baby of the family, wasn't he? they left him, just like this family left their child at home, in safety's arms.
she walked down the sidewalk, kicking any pebbles that happened to cross her path in a game of pseudo-soccer. her riolu walked by her side, careful to avoid her feet and any small rocks that might end up tripping him. (unlike her, he wasn't quite as steady on his feet.)
there was no particular destination; delilah did not have any place in mind when she re-entered juno. maybe it was to look at a serene city virtually untainted by the scourge -- or maybe she had just been hit by a random, sudden bout of meaningless desire to be there.
after starting her journey, there was honestly no reason to return.
delilah saw another pair walking on the other side of the street, a man -- boy? -- and his axew. the woman raised her arm to wave when the realization hit her like an oncoming train. (... impossible.)
out of sheer habit, isaac turned to face in the direction of the voice. "yeah?" he said, and his eyes widened as soon as he recognized the overly-familiar figure. he stood, rooted to the spot, until clavier nudged his leg.
"you're right," said the ranger, upon hearing a grunt from the small pokémon. clavier whispered something else under its breath; isaac nodded, picked up the dragon-type, and started to run in the other direction.
he responded to her, and the instant she saw his face she began to run -- whether it was to quite literally crush him in a hug or punch the daylights out of him, she wasn't quite sure. nor did she ever have time to figure it out because, once his initial shock had worn off, he began to run.
the little shit was running away from her.
to say the least, she was not amused.
"get back here!" the woman called, breaking into a sprint. (there was a reason she never lost at tag.) it didn't take long for her to reach her brother, her right hand reaching out to grip his shoulder and spin him around.
her eyes flashed. "what the hell are you doing here, issac?" she demanded.
isaac's eyes flashed when his sister forcibly turned him around; however, his eyes had softened when he fully faced his sister.
"what are you doing here, delilah?" he repeated the question, staring into delilah's eyes, willing himself not to blink. isaac dropped clavier from his grasp, and the axew made a solid landing.
it wasn't his fault for leaving in the first place. everyone left him alone, and expected him to stay. everyone left him and expected him to be good, when they were off not being as they ought.
"weren't you doing shopping, when i last heard from you?"
delilah found herself at a loss for words; one of the few times when she simply couldn't think of anything to say.
this had always been her worst nightmare, of course. returning to issac before eliminating the scourge -- how could she possibly explain herself to him, face-to-face? (but the ends justified the means, right?)
she pulled her hand back, trying not to flinch at his cold tone. this wasn't right. he -- he wasn't supposed to be in juno; only eos were in juno. delilah had already decided to take whatever he threw at her once her journey was over, but --
it had barely even begun.
biting back despair, she finally spoke. "you were supposed to stay where it's -- it's safe." and while nerio wasn't the safeest place by any standards, she knew the town would come together in case of a scourge attack. her right hand moved to her other wrist, and she clenched it tightly. "i .. i'm doing it for you."
"it's safe in juno as well," isaac protested, and the frost was gone from his voice. there didn't seem to be any sort of undertone, except for the little brother who could never keep up with his siblings, no matter how hard he tried. "it's not close to the scourge, and i've been writing to mordecai pretty often, so he knows i'm safe."
he wrapped an arm around his sister, then pulled himself closer to her. "i know, but ..." his voice trailed off, and his mind wandered. she was doing it for him, really? isaac had no time to believe in such truths; he knew another truth now, and that was a truth where he could do something for himself instead of waiting for his siblings to make things change.
he wasn't alone, anymore. he lost his siblings, but he now had a partner.
delilah sighed. "it's safe in juno, but you're not going to stay, are you?" imagining issac going through the cities that get more and more infested with scourge made her terrified. she placed her own arm around him as he moved closer. at the mention of their oldest brother, however, she felt a stab of pain. (of course. of course her brothers kept her out of the loop; of course she was the last one to know.)
she accepted that she was their black sheep (always was, always would be), but this -- it hurt.
the woman sensed the doubt in her brother, but she still didn't know what she could possibly say; that she didn't want to see him like her, like mordecai -- like their parents, who would never return? that she just wanted him to endure it a little longer and make a life for himself in nerio that didn't involve leaving the city.
but there were no words, so she simply pressed him against her and held him in silence.
"you know i love you, right?" her voice cracked. (why did children have to grow so quickly?) "i just want you to be safe."
"i might be staying here," he said, "it's safer, and nerio is scary." he shifted slightly, and saw clavier's gaze on him.
the axew could sense something amiss; rangers were meant to leave places to seek out the scourge, and isaac was a ranger. the same determination that had faced sa'di remained deep within isaac, and clavier was certain that the boy's mind did not change easily.
and so it stood and waited patiently.
"i love you too, but really, i can manage. i'm sixteen now."
isaac looked at his sister, his smile faint but present.
"mmft," came isaac's muffled response as he flailed about. delilah had been rather direct in displaying her affections, and isaac wondered why she wasn't angry. or she wasn't, yet. maybe over dinner tonight she would explode -- at the thought, the boy hastily pulled away from his sister and glanced at his axew.
"his name is clavier." at the mention of its name, the dragon pokémon raised a hand in greeting. "mordecai's going to get me new pokémon; i'm really excited about that! he's a breeder, and he'll breed me a baby pokémon to look after, and i don't know if i can manage two, but somehow i'll --"
clavier raised an invisible eyebrow, and isaac simmered down.
she smiled at his enthusiasm; at least he had enough energy to be his usual, happy self. "i'm sure you'll do great, issac," delilah said. he was the kindest out of all of them -- if it was him, she doubted he would have any problems befriending pokemon. (fighting them, on the other hand ...)
her eyebrows raised at his question, and she ran her hand over her belt and the gleaming spheres on them. taking one of them, she opened it and released a golden riolu. bael blinked and looked up at issac. "this is bael; bael, this is my younger brother."
delilah gently tapped her other pokeballs. "i have a budew, torchic, and glameow in here as well."
isaac gasped. "a riolu?!" he said, bending down to the canine's level and extending a hand to it. "how are you, bael? i'm isaac!" his enthusiasm was back; the ranger was always fond of pokémon, and enjoyed meeting new and familiar species alike. "delilah's really cool, you're lucky to have her as your trainer, y'know!"
he turned to delilah. "you have more pokémon?" his eyes were bright, even shining as he grinned at the other pokéballs. "where did you catch all of them?"
clavier gingerly approached bael, and held out a stubby hand in greeting. how's it going, it said, curtly.
bael hesitated, then pressed his paw to issac's hand. (he couldn't exactly shake without opposable thumbs.) delilah grinned down at her brother, gently patting the top of his head, before gesturing at her pokeballs. "the budew i got from some mysterious man in proserpina -- he kind of handed her to me and ran away?"
delilah recalled the memory with great confusion, but shook her head and tapped the final two pokeballs.
"those two i got from ceres forest; they actually tried to steal from me," she laughed. "they're both tricksters."
the riolu tilted his head at clavier, then nodded in response. i'm doing good. he looked at the two humans, then back at the axew. is your trainer nice?
