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!
Briar wanted to stay on the path and get out of this forest as soon as he could. A part of him was scared that ghosts might come out of their hiding places if night came along. At least the Cubone was there right at his heels to protect him. But this Tangela that he'd been partnered with seemed to really want them to follow her off of the path.
"N-no, Tangy! We need to get to Nerio as quick as we can." That's what he'd been told when he left Juno. He had to go to Nerio. It was a long way away, and they couldn't afford any detours. But the Tangela kept bouncing up and down, as if she knew something were out there. Maybe a Pokemon in need of help? Or even a short cut. Maybe she'd even seen someone out there. But the grass type sure looked excited as she ran off the path and into a bush.
A face palm and Briar was running off the path now. "No! Come back here, I can't lose you!" He only had one assistant Pokemon in Ceres. He didn't need her running to her death.
"and this is the place where many people lose their way? okay," isaac nodded as the monkey pokémon before him bounced about, chattering and pointing to various landmarks that he wouldn't have otherwise noticed. "okay! i'll watch out for these plants. gloom, right?" the ranger asked, while clavier followed behind isaac and pansear, on the lookout for wild pokémon that may attack.
"hey, clavier! check this out!"
the axew was roused from its thoughts by an excited isaac, and an equally-thrilled monkey. the three of them gathered around a footprint, or rather, many of them. they were large, and strongly imprinted in the ground as if created by something large and heavy. the ranger glanced to its partner and assist, watching as clavier and the pansear discussed the footprints.
"i wonder what's up -- oof!" isaac exclaimed. the pansear started chattering excitedly at the sight of isaac slightly bent over from being knocked into by something; clavier had been ready to attack, but the creature seemed harmless.
isaac caught his breath, then looked down. a tangela! their first wild pokémon in the forest! "hi there," he greeted the tangle of vines, offering it a hand to shake while his assist pansear watched on, holding its breath.
meanwhile, clavier had started looking around and sniffing the air for signs of other people; this tangela had something different about it, and experience told the axew that it probably warranted suspicion on belonging to a human.
Several of the Tangela's vines outstretching, wrapping around the man's hand and snaking up his forearm. She started shaking his hand around, gleefully, as she hopped from foot to foot and cheered. "Tan-tan!" She knew something was out here, and here it was! She'd expected a Pokemon, but she'd found a trainer too. Such luck!
Seconds later, the Tangela's partner was speeding through the brush, trying to stop when he saw the Pokemon, but getting his foot caught on a bush he'd tried to jump over and tumbling face first into the dirt. Briar groaned as he tried to brush the dirt from his face and hands, a lot of it imprinted into his skin now.
Cubone was close behind. But he'd slowed to a walk to prevent a second accident like his trainer's. He walked past Briar's body and toward the human stranger. The bone was pointed in the man's direction and he narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Cu-cubone bone?" Who wanted to know who this man was. Was he trying to kidnap Tangela from them?
the tangela was rather bouncy, and isaac's eyes followed it with much effort. "hi?" he couldn't help but follow the tangela's movement as it bobbed about on the forest ground, for its vines were practically gripping his forearm and forcing him around.
clavier watched the tangela, silent. pansear was similarly at a loss.
"is this a wild pokémon?" the ranger mouthed to the axew, who jerked his head towards a figure tumbling through the bushes. isaac stopped moving along to the plant's rhythm after seeing briar; he immediately moved towards the other boy, quite possibly dragging tangela along with him like a dog on a leash. "... is this your pokémon, by any chance?" he asked gingerly, and extended his free hand towards briar.
The Tangela stood in her tracks and bolted upright when she heard the thud of the boy hit the ground. Her vines immediately untangled from around Isaac's wrist and out from between his fingers as she hopped around until she curled up hidden behind this stranger's legs.
Briar found a hand inches from his face when he looked up. His face had tinted a deep red as he reached out to accept the offering and used it to get back on his feet. He exhaled in a deep huff and, while brushing dirt off his clothing, nodded. "She's my assistant. Thank you! I worry she'd have run for miles if she hadn't run into someone on the way," the ranger meekly confessed, giving an timid smile. "S-sorry about her! She's friendly. A little too friendly."
it took a while for isaac to register the fact that he was speaking to another ranger. he immediately brightened up, and smiled at briar. "hi! i'm a ranger too!" said the boy, "it's fine. sometimes they're excited to help out a ranger." isaac was almost speaking from experience; the pansear he had was particularly excitable when it came to chasing something down.
he waited until briar dusted himself clean before continuing. "this is my partner, clavier, and my pansear assist." clavier nodded at its name, while the monkey waved exuberantly.
There was another ranger in town? This was the first that Briar had met one since he'd left Juno! So, it turned out that they weren't a dying breed. The boy was brimming with excitement as he brought both hands over his face, covering up his bright, shy smile, that he couldn't manage to hide.
"B-briar! My name is Briar. And... and that's my Tangela assistant. And this..." Briar trailed off, looking behind him, then beside him, and even in front of him. Oh.
The Cubone was standing next to this 'Clavier' character, a firm grip on his bone and standing tall, trying to size up this dragon Pokemon. "... Kaizer, he's my Cubone," Briar muttered, trying to stumble forward and pluck the ground type away before it decided to cause any damage. "H-he's a little wary of strangers! That's all!"
"oh, oops!" isaac gasped after realizing he hadn't introduced his name. briar had reminded him of that! "my name's isaac," he said, giving a small bow politely. "it's great to meet all of you!" somehow, he was grateful for another ranger. clavier seemed calm about it, while pansear seemed confused at all the new names. it still grinned goofily, though, and waved to everyone.
"hm, what's the matter?" isaac blinked as briar picked the cubone off the ground. clavier had returned kaizer's gaze, but made no move to attack it. it was unbecoming of a ranger's pokémon to act out of orders. even if it had to disobey, it would have to undergo intelligent disobedience; in no way would it harm its partner. "o-oh ... okay."
the boy glanced at clavier. "clavier didn't do anything, right?"
"No! Clavier seems like a great guy, and I promise he hasn't done anything," Briar assured, his head shaking as his face buried against the arm of his own Pokemon, still squeezed tightly in his arms and against his chest. "Kaizer just... he... h-he doesn't get along well with other Pokemon." Though this might have been an understatement.
When the boy finally lifted his face, he wore a bright smile. "Isaac! It's really nice to meet another ranger. A much more experienced ranger too, I bet!" Briar's mind was immediately wandering to think of how strong this Clavier was, and just how many ranger signs Isaac had. Briar was only at a total of six. But he was going to get more, he swore it!
if briar ever bothered to ask, isaac was only at five signs, and quite possibly less experienced at the entire thing than briar was.
"clavier's on edge most of the time, so i understand what you mean," isaac said with a nod, "and i'm not really that experienced ... i only have five signs. i'm trying to get more, though!"
Briar rubbed the back of his head, smiling warmly at the other as he nodded back. "Me too! I mean... that's kind of a part of the job we signed up for. Collecting signs. It's a little bit harder than I thought it would be," the young male confessed.
Knowing there was only one sign per type, Briar wondered where in the region he'd get his hands on the countless other signs! "Do you have any tips? F-for, you know, getting more signs. I try to help Pokemon, but some of them just don't need the help."
Around Ceres, or so Briar thought, there were no Scourge. The Pokemon in these parts were lucky to go about their merry way without the fear of those monsters.
isaac knew only five signs, and that was it. he really didn't have more experience at the job; all he had in mind was to meet up with his brother in nerio city, and that was it. he didn't know where else he was going to go after that.
"i really don't ... i think befriending other trainers and making friends with their pokémon works just as fine." he remembered nima and how he had learnt the fire and electric signs from raijin and phoenix. that had worked out just fine. "hey, you know what?
"T-that's what I've been trying to do..." Briar confessed, fiddling with the hem of his shirt and pulling down his sleeves nervously. He took a deep breath and shrugged his shoulders. "But I... I, uh... I'm not the best with people." He was shy, he was awkward. The boy always got a nervous stutter and fumbled with his words. Briar made himself look like an uneducated fool in the presence of other humans.
There was a faint blush on Briar's cheeks. He wasn't looking at Isaac, but he was eagerly nodding his head at the idea- even if he couldn't look the man in the eye. "P-please! That's the best offer, I've heard! I would... really, really appreciate a little help."
"sure thing," isaac nodded as he grinned. the boy extended a hand to briar to shake. "it's a done deal then!"
working alongside people was one thing, while trusting them was another. isaac wasn't too ready to trust briar with his life yet, but working alongside another ranger ought to help him along in his quest in eliminating the scourge. "are you heading to nerio, too?" asked the ranger as he glanced in the general direction of proserpina. he figured that with di manes to conquer before reaching nerio, he had to get some supplies first.
