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!
iskander wasn't scratching; he had been drawing. he'd probably scratched an itch neo had, though, or perhaps that was the woman outside that had helped him out of more questions. the agent made no comment about eos or things getting better; whether the scourge won or not mattered nothing to iskander. he was just there to watch them, from a different point of view.
had there been a different time and different experience, iskander was sure that he would have gone on a different path than the one he walked on now. he stepped back as neo scowled and picked up her bag; why was she leaving, he thought, and glanced from the female to phoebe, hoping to pick up some sort of sign. he got nothing from either of them, though.
the woman screamed again, louder this time. iskander recognized the edge in her voice as fear seeping in more urgently; females shouldn't walk about the slums this late at night, is all that churned in his mind as he reached out to take neo's hand, trying to stop her from leaving. (he didn't know what excuse he was going to give this time. more words rarely worked on neo, it seemed.)
"no," iskander said, hesitance in his voice - maybe someone ought to go check on the woman - "don't go. it's dangerous."
She didn't expect him to stop her. Quite frankly, she never expected anyone to stop her from doing whatever it was that she wanted to do. Not anymore.
Neo looked at his hand on hers. Wasn't sure what to do with it, so after a few seconds' thought, she brushed it off.
"Dangerous, you say? More or less dangerous than fighting scourge?" she asked with a smile that didn't meet her eyes. "Understand me, Delta. I am not with eos for fame or fortune or to stand by idle. I am with eos to--"
To prove herself. To make a difference. To make her life worthwhile. To give herself purpose. To get revenge. To see the scourge burn.
"--To do something good, to do something right. Now, someone out there needs help. So you tell me this, Delta! Does our screaming woman believe she's getting what she deserves? Because if she does, then fine. This isn't any of my business. I'll stay, you can have me all to yourself tonight. But if she's screaming for help, I am going to do what I can to help. Because I can."
fine, he could have said coldly, and let her hand go. he could have lied too, that definitely was an option. iskander understood, though, that neo joined eos to make a difference in something, and apparently it was to do something. what exactly - whether good or bad - wasn't for him to judge. she shrugged off his hand, and he kept it to himself, and nodded.
"then go," said the agent, giving no sign of protest nor hesitance, "see what she's up to, but please leave phoebe here." neo could go out there, be a hero for all she wanted, but iskander wasn't about to be left alone without a pokémon. he moved to replace the untouched soda pop into the fridge, and closed it shut.
he stared at the top of the fridge, a hand resting on its door. "go, neo," said iskander, unflinchingly. he was certain that the woman's fear was warranted -- perhaps a mugging, perhaps something worse. one could always imagine, but never hope that it happens to oneself. "see what's going on over there, make a difference if you can." he didn't hear anything else, and if he were to hazard a guess, he would say that the woman probably was devolving into a puddle of tears and sobbing noises.
iskander moved back to the stool, and sat on it while he watched neo, waiting for her to open the door and leave.
He had been fearless at Lake Pax. She remembered that. More importantly, he'd gone to Pax and back to Nerio again without ending up dead. Yet he wouldn't stay alone? That was either false or phobia. She'll find out which--someday.
She nodded. "Phoebe, refresh the reflect. I'll be back shortly."See to him. But don't trust him, she added to the reuniclus.
Neo had a solution to violence. It wasn't very elaborate. She just used more violence.
Once outside, she released the only pokemon she needed for a night outing. This was a far uglier part of town than where the refugee camp was, but the principle for safety remained the same: bring out the hydreigon. She followed the sound of the screaming, and then the sound of the yelling once she was close enough. The noise was loud enough that Neo didn't need much stealth, but not so loud that a hydreigon's roar didn't still send a tremor down the spine of any mortal man. Those that didn't run from the roar would be wise to run from the dragonbreath that followed.
Back in the room, the reuniclus went to Iskander's side, more curious than anything else. <Sooooo, why doesn't she trust you?>
neo had set fire to a makeshift hut, and a family of six ran out from the house, followed by another family of three. it didn't matter, though. the group of men terrorizing the woman had left her quite alone to be eaten up by the hydreigon. the woman, upon noticing the hydreigon, had fainted out cold. it wasn't a surprise, really. a dragon blasting draconic flames about in the dark of night was a rather scary thing, especially if it had set fire to something and scared other people off by roaring.
the woman laid rather awkwardly on the ground, but she was relatively intact. at least, she hadn't been subjected to finger-cutting or anything of the sort. her clothes were in disarray though, and parts of her hair looked like it had been ripped out of her scalp. nothing too alarming, though. just another scene in nerio, definitely not as bad or revolting as dissecting scourge pokémon.
in the meantime, iskander had been ruminating over phoebe's question. "she doesn't?" he asked, "i should have expected it." a small smile curved his mouth, and he chuckled to himself. "i don't exactly look very reliable a person, but thanks for helping me out earlier," iskander said to the reuniclus. it had indeed been a great help. "i don't suppose you know why she doesn't trust me?" iskander frowned, and stared at the ceiling.
"i hope she's safe out there, though."
the ceiling shook from tiresias's roaring, and iskander figured that yes, neo was doing just fine.
Neo recalled her hydreigon as discreetly as possible to avoid giving away her position. She circled around the scene, in theory waiting to see if the woman was taken care of. Instead of paying that much attention to the woman, she pulled out her journal out of her bag and started taking detailed notes on the movement patterns of dragon fire as it spread. In the dark, and in her particularly dark hiding spot, it was hard to see what she was writing down, but Neo figured it'd be about as readable as the rest of her journal.
Done with her notes, and the woman forgotten, she started making her way back to the apartment, clutching Icarus' pokeball just in case she ran into trouble.
Back with Iskander, Phoebe shook her head adamantly. It wasn't how he looked; J looked about the same, and Neo trusted him fine. Maybe it was the suit. ...Probably not. She hadn't detected any opinions from Neo one way or the other concerning suits.
<I don't think it's how you look.> The reuniclus frowned, tilted her head as if in deep thought. Comprehending human behavior took pretty deep thought for Phoebe. <Maybe you're just too nice.>
Phoebe was unphased by the hydreigon's roar, still fearsome from the apartment despite its distance. <I'm more worried about the safety of everyone else out there.>
as neo left, the woman was dragged into a nearby apartment by the hair, her assailant muttering something about force being the solution to everything.
in the apartment, iskander shifted his gaze from the green blob to the ceiling above. had the stool had a back for him to recline upon, he would have done so, fingers intertwined. "i guess nice, selfless people are extinct in this time and age," iskander mused, "i don't blame neo, i don't blame anyone, really. people have come to expect a lack of kindness where the main objective is to maintain your own survival." his gaze returned to settle on phoebe.
"why is that?" he asked. as far as he knew, a roar probably wasn't too dangerous. (dragonbreath was a special case; it was unlike fire, and it did not release smoke upon burning something. no one would have noticed it, not unless they looked out of their window and saw the house encased in glassy blue flames.) "is neo particularly violent when it comes to something she's fiercely defending?"
but then again, wasn't everyone? most people fought tooth and nail to prove that their ideals were right. in a way, the scourge pokémon were. they'd promised all the humans they made into agents a dawn of a new era, or something along those lines. iskander had almost lost interest, in the wake of his temporary fascination with neo and her questions.
Phoebe thought about violence, and she graded Neo's violence levels, when compared to the scourge. <Not particularly, no,> Phoebe evaluated. <But she's very black and white sometimes, for morality. Or sometimes she forgets about morality. Especially for science.>
Phoebe thought harder. She'd been privy to Neo's thoughts and psyche, but often it was like looking into a computer's if-then response programming. <I don't think she's defending anything either, even if it's what she says. I think she just doesn't want to be useless.>
In other news, all the doors in the apartment complex looked the same to Neo, and she wasn't certain which one was Iskander's. She considered just sending the haunter to phase through all of them until she found the right one, but she also suspected that was a form of breaking and entering--not that the law really ever stopped her. What stopped her was a simpler solution.
She brought up Delta's contact info on her C-Gear. Fingers tapping away, she sent a message, Which one's your room again?
"that's interesting," iskander commented. "i've never asked, or i've forgotten, but by any chance, phoebe -- is neo a researcher?" it had always occurred to iskander that neo's curiosity couldn't mean trainer, but it was always good to make sure. "she always seems to do things very methodically." he raised his bandaged hand; the dressing was done very neatly and professionally.
"but she isn't right now, so she is doing something right," mused the agent, "i think she's fine the way she is." he heard the chime for a c-gear message, and moved to take it from his bag. it was a slightly scratched device, and the screen was cracked in the corner, but it was still very much functional. he flipped it open and promptly crafted a reply after reading neo's message.
"hey, phoebe," said the agent as he fired off the text to the researcher. "neo lost her way in the apartments, and i told her to look for the room second from the farthest end of the fourth floor, but i don't know if she'll know which it is in the darkness." he slipped the device back into the bag's compartment. "i think i'll be fine alone, hopefully, so maybe you could go to where the stairs are and wait for her?"
his message read as such, fourth floor, second room from the end. will ask phoebe to wait for you at stairs.
<Definitely a researcher,> Phoebe replied. Phoebe thought Neo was fine the way she was too, except that she worried about her a lot. ...And maybe the researcher would run into a ditch someday justifying everything with for science.
The reuniclus nodded and left the room to find the stairwell. It only took half a minute for Neo to show up. "How anxious did he seem while I was out?" she asked Phoebe.
<He was worried about you, but I think he's calmer now!> Phoebe announced happily.
Neo nodded, and she had nothing else to say as they returned to Iskander's room. She knocked on the door. "Delta? We're back."
by the time phoebe got back with neo, iskander was setting to boil another kettle of tea, unwilling to be thwarted by his previous failure. he turned around as the door opened, and he greeted them, smiling. "oh," he said, hearing the knock on the door. he watched as the fire licked the sides of the kettle (he'd set the flames a little too high), before making a decision to ignore the stove. the agent moved to the door, his mind turning.
he supposed it made more sense for neo to be a researcher over a trainer. he didn't know what he would have said if he had been wrong, and that neo had been a trainer instead. out of caution, he peered out of the window to see if it was indeed neo; voices couldn't be trusted. certain that it was her, iskander opened the door. phoebe had brought neo back quickly enough, he thought. "welcome back," he said, smiling, "i'm boiling some water for tea. can't possibly fail twice."
the kettle bubbled on the stove. "what happened down there?" the agent asked as he waited for the duo to enter before locking it behind them. once the door was locked and bolted, he felt safer.
Phoebe was right; his nerves looked like they were in a calmer state. "Tea sounds good."
The reuniclus immediately sped through the door to attend to the kettle, not quite trusting Iskander to, you know, not burn the entire building down while boiling water. Couldn't possibly fail twice were famous last words, after all.
It took until Iskander asked for Neo to realize that she'd forgotten about the woman. Well. She hoped she'd be alright. If not--Neo didn't think about if not. She didn't want to.
"Tir set fire to a shack. Dragonbreath. The flames traveled differently from normal flame. Fascinating. I took notes. Will have to perform follow-up experiments on a later date. ...Preferably not on an occupied home. Perhaps the ruins in Bellona will work nicely."
She sat back down on the couch, primly and a tiny bit sheepishly. It was hard to tell with her impassive face. "I'm sorry for the trouble. And thank you for inviting me over."
iskander was somewhat relieved that phoebe was helping him out, as soon as he realized what was going on. after his earlier accident, he felt confident in his ability to boil water again, but since there was someone - something - else helping him out, the agent figured he might as well let phoebe do the work. a reuniclus, especially with its psychic abilities, was a great help. regrettably, he would never come to own one. (it was also unlikely that he would encounter one that was as good as phoebe, too.)
he nodded as neo spoke. dragonbreath sounded relatively fascinating, if it wasn't for the fact that he knew it for a damaging attack. it had never been more of a pity that they were both on opposing sides. it not only made things ten times more difficult, it also made for a lot of topics iskander couldn't chat about. "no one's going to rebuild bellona?" he asked, settling for a topic that hopefully was relevant to the times.
"it's nothing," he said, smiling, "i don't mind having company over. it's really good to have someone to talk to, or you know, have someone putting up reflects to make this place safer." iskander glanced at the reflective walls phoebe had erected over the windows. "or something." he laughed.
"Up to Nerio government to decide that. Maybe they should. Maybe they won't." Bellona Hills was probably worth salvaging, in Neo's estimation. Some of the buildings were hardly damaged at all, although others were basically rubble. Still, you could make something out of that.
Phoebe dug through a few cabinets to find cups for the tea. When the kettle started whistling, she removed the boiling water from the heat, dropped a little clump of tealeaves into each cup, and poured the hot water. Honestly, Phoebe was pretty sure Iskander could've done this himself. She still wasn't going to take any chances though. <Tea's up!> she announced and sent two cups gliding telekinetically through the air.
Neo picked a cup of tea out of the air, holding it in both hands. The warmth was nice . She took a sip, but it was still a bit too hot to drink. "I'm glad. I mistook you for a loner."
"could be worth a shot though," said iskander, remembering the people who were clumped all over the city, cluttering the city square and its hotels. at the same time, tensions ran high from people who were gradually filtered into the slums because they couldn't afford staying in six-star hotels anymore. "it would make everywhere else in nerio less crowded with people but at this point, i can't really tell who's a nerio native and who's just passing through."
he plucked the remaining cup of tea from the air, but didn't drink it. he held it awkwardly in his non-injured hand; it was too hot to rest on his knee, and he didn't want to risk ruining the carpet. he didn't feel like paying for the cleaners; spending on unnecessary services was something iskander wanted to avoid. "thanks, phoebe," he said, raising the cup in a quasi-toast to the reuniclus.
iskander said nothing else after neo's words, even though he wanted to ask her why she had taken him for a loner. he did not actively shrug off company; most of the time, people avoided him. he smiled for an answer, and drank the hot tea, even though it scalded his tongue and throat on its way down.
