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!
Thalia said there were four, maybe five, of them as far as Lake Pax, and lo and behold, all of them actually bothered showing up when called to duty. Literally called, because EOS didn't have a better form of social communication than ye olde C-Gear. Neo hadn't even had everyone's numbers.
"Glad you all could make it," she said, although if she didn't make eye contact with Stefan... well, she didn't make eye contact with Stefan. Didn't mean she wasn't glad he'd actually shown up.
Neo didn't see the point of wasting time. "We have a problem. We've--meaning me, Thalia, I don't know about the rest of you--fought people that train scourge pokemon. They make for a pretty tough fight."
"Exactly what it sounds like," Thalia sighed. "There are humans working with the scourge now, apparently. And even if you win, you don't kill them, they just run away."
There was bad news, and then there was bad news; Delilah was fairy certain this fell into the latter category. She listened to the two talk with a clenched fist.
"They're crazy." Obviously. "Why haven't the scourge eaten them? How the fuck do they even -- ugh." Now was not the time for her to bombard them with questions that she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer to.
She eyed Neo and Thalia. "You won, then?" At least that would mean they were beatable.
if stefan had been disappointed that erik hadn't shown up, then he certainly didn't show it. a small voice at the back of his head wonders if the incompetent idiot has even arrived at neiro yet, but he shuts it up quickly. there are immediate matters at hand.
"and we should trust you, why?" the corner of stefan's mouth twitches. to him, neo has done absolutely nothing to warrant believability. "you haven't improved in your storytelling abilities at all since di manes"
thalia is more of a difficult case, but not by much. no one with a bleeding heart and a tendency to jump to conclusions merited much trust either. "any evidence?"
at least deliah displays some healthy amounts of doubt, but that is small comfort to him.
Neo held up two fingers in response to Delilah. "Two battles, maybe won one. Lost the other. The scourge listen to them. Camerupt was about to eat me, but its trainer stopped it."
She glanced at Thalia. "The first teleported away, drew signs like a ranger. Took out my gyrados with an electric attack like I'd never seen." If she had studied a zekrom for her dex, she would've known the move as fusion bolt, but currently Neo could only identify it as what the fuck.
For Stefan, her normally expressionless face broke into something akin to a manic grin. She leaned back, spread her hands--take it or leave it--before stuffing them into her pockets again. "You don't have to." The grin faded into grim determination. "But I don't have to like or respect you to want you to stay alive. If you think we've gone this far out of our way with an elaborate prank, the lake's right there. You can go fishing while the grown-ups talk."
Thalia bit her lip as Stefan and Neo went back and forth. "You're a lot of things," she said to him, "but I didn't think you were an idiot." Okay, that was a blatant lie, but she didn't think he was an idiot about this sort of thing. "There's a zombie virus that turns pokemon into weapons of mass destruction that have laid waste to near half the region, and what you're doubting is that some people might wanna jump on what looks like the winning bandwagon? I know you've got a different reason than most of us for being on this journey, but the scourge won't care if you found your brother or not when it decides to kill you, so at least realize you're on our side, and we're trying to help everyone we can."
She took a breath, and continued. "As for proof, I have none, other than my word that it happened. I fought the woman named Cameron, who controlled the camerupt. Like Neo said, the scourge pokemon listened to her. She gave it orders during our battle. I don't know who the other agent is, though. I've only seen Cameron."
J listened to everything and attempted to process what was going on. apparently humans were controlling scourge, okay. humans were fighting on the scourge's side, okay.
someone was called cameron and probably worked for the scourge. a woman. alright, that went into his memory was well.
Delilah glanced at Stefan, an eyebrow raised. "Chill and listen, cabbage-head." Just because it was unbelievable didn't mean Delilah would write them off -- she didn't trust Thalia, but she knew the girl better than that. Nor did she think Neo the type to pull off a joke about something as serious as this.
"So there's two agents we know of -- this Cameron woman and ... another?" She held up two fingers. "Cameron with a camerupt." The woman smiled wryly. "How clever."
Then she sighed. "What're you suggesting we do, then?"
"insanity is unbecoming of you, little girl" stefan decides to do himself a favor by ignoring neo entirely. or should he leave? leaving sounds like the most appealing option right now, especially when erik isn't in the picture. but then thalia begins to speak, and...well, he supposes that he can spare a few seconds for her.
(ceres still weighs heavily against his chest)
he stays with an impassive look on his face, up until thalia mentions his alternative reasons. then he shoots her an arresting look - eos did not need to know which goal of his took higher priority. not that winning against the scourge was a priority to begin with, and that's one secret that he has worked hard to keep.
suddenly, stefan realizes the inconvieniences of their report. if he were to suspend disbelief, then who does he even trust anymore? the scourge were easy enough to watch out for, but humans...normal humans who had smiles and tears and grating voices would be out for his blood. stefan has no desire to believe them, but the war is still young. there are many variables that have not yet been discovered. hell, even stefan had deemed the news of the scourge as an elaborate prank.
"what does cameron look like?"
riiiip
ever since he lost five pounds while starving at lake pax, stefan had taken to cramming his bag filled with food to last him weeks. unfortunately, even the camping-grade bag was not able to hold every bit of supplies that stefan had stowed away. assorted berries, potions, dried foods, and toiletries fall out.
along with the mask that a man named batin had given him at decima.
Thalia tried to restrain a laugh when Stefan's bag ripped, and probably failed miserable.
"Cameron looks like a man, to be honest. I thought she was a man until after I fought her. Some boy named Delta came up to be afterwards and gave me a revive before talking about how he'd encountered her before; that was how I got her name and uh, gender. He seemed kinda loose with his screws--" Thalia swirled her finger in the universal symbol for fucking crazy"--but reliable enough in his weird way. She's got a red scarf and short hair. And a camerupt trailing after her, obviously. Not really a big talker."
"I propose we attack somewhere. All five of us, focus on one area. My fear is that the scourge have been lying low, that they've been planning something. They haven't struck back to put down resistance in Bacchus or Decima, and they're not disciplined at Bellona either. If they have human minds that they'll obey, then any smart person will think to secure their holdings or--worse yet--expand. Stay on the offensive. Five of us alone can't defend against them, so our only viable plan for now is to distract them. Attack somewhere, make a fuss, hope that puts them off balance until more of EOS gets here."
Neo was about to roll her eyes at the shoddily made bag, but she sighted on the mask first. "The other scourge trainer I met said he didn't have a name, so I told him to give me something to call him besides masked man. He picked the name Batin. Dude likes stories. Sound familiar? Because that's his mask right there."
She knew there was a reason Neo was a researcher -- the girl had a brain, and she used it. Delilah only nodded. It was a good enough plan. "We can't go in there alone, though -- or at least without a way to get the fuck out of there." If these humans and scourge were coordinated enough, getting caught without an escape plan meant certain death.
Delilah snickered at the rip of the bag, rolling her eyes. Her smirk slowly faded off of her face as Neo continued to speak, her hand traveling to the pokeballs on her belt. "... Brat, what the hell is she saying?" Delilah's eyes flashed.
stefan's blood runs cold at the news, but that doesn't mean that he misses the change in the mood or deliah's hand. his movements are almost instinctive at this point - weeks upon weeks of being ambushed by scourge can do that to you. the pokeball flash clears away to reveal a honchkrow, ready to protect his trainer.
"i was hoping to be discussing our present threat civilly" he stares at deliah coldly. "that doesn't seem to be the case. my mistake, agreeing to meet with a group of children. hands off, or i'm leaving this instant"
spending the last few weeks in pax and decima really didn't do much for his nerves. actually, he would probably be halfway to neiro by now if half a dozen attacks weren't likely to find their mark if he didn't clear things up. regardless, people liked to be offered choices. the pax crew is no exception.
he decides that mentioning the man-woman that he met at pax would probably be a bad idea. he goes with the safer route.
"i did meet a man named batin. he was courteous enough to offer me some physical resistance against the poisonous air of decima. he did not seem to be a trainer, but a tourist of sorts. possibly an amateur engineer. that is all that i can say"
alexander hovers above stefan. he doesn't even need to tell the honchkrow to be ready for haze, if needed. the tension in the air speaks for itself.
J leaned back, and watched the exchange of words and emotions unfold. while it had been an interesting conversation with new things he hadn't been updated on yet, everyone present decided to start relying less on logic. or rather, J saw it as jumping to conclusions.
he felt that stefan was innocent until proven guilty, for the most part. he hadn't showed signs of wanting to lynch them, but he couldn't eliminate the possibility of him being a spy, either.
"neo. how do these people control scourge pokémon? through special pokéballs or a device? what skills do they know?"
as far as J knew, every class had its own skillset. he trusted neo to know, after having fought these people more than once. if stefan could do what they did - hell, he'd even take similar skills - then he was in effect, guilty.
