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!
Mo wasn’t entirely convinced of the Dratini’s idea either. How were they supposed to blast a hole in the ceiling? If any of them were strong enough to do that, then surely they could blast through the wall instead? I hope you’re volunteering, he said to the Dratini, because I don’t know any attacks that could even dent the ceiling.
He started to pace, although it didn’t look quite right when something without legs paced. He was trying to think. A couple of ideas came, but he didn’t mention them. One prompted him to turn to the other two with him and ask, Even if we could blast a hole in the ceiling, how would you two get up there? Can you climb walls..?
Oh. Well, Mo wanted to hit himself in the head for not realising the obvious earlier.
==
“We are not going to Nerio alone,” Tiffany said adamantly, even though Clavier hadn’t been serious or keen for that idea. She was definitely not going to Nerio without Mo; she would need him and she knew it.
Clavier did have a more serious idea which sounded okay, even though Tiffany did not like the idea of back-tracking. She had already done it once and was starting to grow sick of the idea, especially when they were so close to her home.
Tiffany stared at the Axew and asked, “Are you sure there’s nothing else we can do?” She had no good ideas herself and ultimately wouldn’t argue, and really, it was only a half hour walk. At least the cave in hadn’t happened further into the cave.
well, said the dratini. aren't you underestimating me a little bit? i'm still a dragon pokémon, after all. the blue creature whipped its scaly tail about in the air. check this out!
the dratini slithered back, before a mass of draconic flames started to gather around its body. it then proceeded to dragon rush a hole in the ceiling, and when it was done, it stood on the upper floor and glanced down at mo, smirking.
not bad, huh?
meanwhile, isaac was left to cover his head with his hands. the rocks scattered downwards; it was almost like another cave-in. well, it was similar enough; just this one was smaller in scale. the ranger glanced up at the hole in the ceiling, then at the rotom.
"um, i wish i had the rock sign ... then i'd be able to rock climb up there."
--
no, we're not, clavier agreed. he wasn't leaving di manes without isaac, either. the axew paced a circle. we could -- the axew barely finished its sentence before a loud rumble shook the caves, and it glanced towards the other side of the cave-in, frowning.
that didn't sound good.
did they just ... have the ceiling fall down upon them? clavier muttered to itself, before glancing at tiffany. we should hurry, it said before exhaling a bout of brilliant blue flames. it was dragon-fire, and clavier was able to maintain it on its tusks.
i think you'll agree if we get searching for that bend instead of leaving things up to our imagination. the axew's gaze was serious as it walked off, deeper into the corridor. it was certain that despite tiffany's worries, she would follow it.
Mo didn’t have a chance to respond before the Dratini decided to show off and cause even more rocks to fall from the ceiling. Because apparently dose of falling rocks wasn’t enough. Like before, the rocks didn’t bother him, and although he was surprised (and even a little impressed) that the Dratini had made a hole in the ceiling, he still wasn’t happy about the idea.
Good job, genius, he said. For the most part, he didn’t mean it, but the Dratini’s plan was almost working smoothly so far. You're forgetting your ranger. Mo turned to Isaac, scrutinised him for a quick moment, before he asked him, Are you sure you can’t just pull yourself up? He did have arms and hands and stuff…
==
Tiffany froze when she heard the second rumble. She hardly heard Clavier’s words as she tried to fight back thoughts of being trapped in a cave until the day she died – y’know, if the rocks didn’t crush her to death first. All of a sudden, doubling back seemed like a great idea.
“Yeah.” Dammit, her voice had come out in that annoying way again. She coughed, and tried again. “Yeah. Let’s go… back…” She stared at the rock wall as she stood up, and even as she followed the Axew, she kept glancing worriedly back at it. On top of everything else, it looked more eerie than before now that it was illuminated by blue flames.
“Umm… Clavier? Do you think they’re okay?” Tiffany couldn’t help but ask that question. “I mean, that last one…” She had no idea how to elaborate on the question, and thankfully stopped before she used words like ‘squished’.
isaac glanced at mo. the ceiling was a little too far out of reach. mo's idea was indeed a good one, though. "if only i was taller," frowned the ranger as he glanced up at the hole.
oops, said the dratini, tilting its head as it thought about their predicament.
"oops isn't going to fix this problem ..." isaac said, sighing. "i need a boost up, then i could reach over, but i'm just going to step through mo if i attempted that." he glanced at the part-ghost pokémon, and scratched the back of his head.
--
do you think they're fine? the question was pretty innocent, coming from tiffany's mouth, but clavier couldn't think of a way to give the girl an equally innocent answer. it couldn't deny the fact that it had been thinking of the worst just moments ago.
it turned around, fangs tightly locked as the flames crackled at the tips of its tusks. beats me, if you want an honest answer, said the axew, and moved onwards as quickly as its stubby feet could carry it. i could always lie, but i don't want to. it doesn't seem right, tiffany.
Yeah. Oops indeed. Mo took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly as he started to think.
First, he looked at Isaac, then at the hole the Dratini had created. He had a considering look on his face, and asked, in all seriousness, If I shocked you, how high do you think you’d jump? Would that be a good enough boost?
Well it wasn’t like he had another way of helping the Ranger up.
…Or the Dratini could come back down and give you the boost you need. He looked up at the other Pokemon. Could you manage to do that? It had had enough power to pummel a hole through the ceiling, so boosting a human up seemed plausible. Safe, not really, but plausible, yes.
==
The blue flames were making everything seem a little off, and when Clavier answered her, they made his face and voice more ominous than they were. “That’s not an answer,” Tiffany mumbled as she tried not to look at the flames too closely. She knew it was a lighting trick – the blue flames were making everything sound more gravely serious than it was.
Yeah. That was it.
“I don’t mind white lies.” She wasn’t sure how true this was. “And now that I think about it, they probably had the same idea as us. I bet they were away from the wall when that last rumble happened.” She wasn’t sure how true that was either, but she had to tell herself something positive. Fake it ‘til you make it. “They’re fine. Totally fine.”
"wait, what?" isaac glanced at mo, eyebrow raised in surprise. "i guess i wouldn't be jumping after you shocked me. i'd be lying on the ground, paralyzed!"
of course i can do that. i can send two humans up, in fact. but what doesn't seem wise. the dratini sighed. you know what, if you're not afraid of pain, i can dragon rush both of us. how does that sound?
"worse."
--
white lies are still lies. clavier shook its head as it continued walking. and you're probably right. they're trying to come over to where we are, but if we keep on moving -- the axew stopped and crossed its arms. we're going to meet each other at some point.
white lies, right? it'd give tiffany a white lie. it was pretty sure that they might just miss each other by chance. so let's get a move on.
For a moment, a cheeky grin broke out on Mo’s face and he even almost laughed, but when he realised it had, he immediately went back to looking serious-faced. You’re such a wuss, he told Isaac, little hints of his cheekiness escaping every other word. I’ve shocked Tiff plenty of times. Yeah, little things that felt no worse than static shocks you’d get from carpet friction. But that wasn’t the kind of shock he had meant for Isaac.
Not that he was still planning to shock Isaac, of course.
(But it was still a better idea than the Dratini’s.)
This was hard. We could… wait, what are they doing?! Mo’s mouth practically fell open as he realised that he could have – should have – been playing messenger between the two separated groups. Without another word, he rushed through the rock wall only to find that Tiff and the Axew were gone
==
“They’re better than nothing,” Tiffany said, sticking with what she had said before, but refused to let herself think too much into it, in case she found she disagreed. She was pleased that Clavier had said that she was right, but had a slight, nagging feeling that he had given in just a little too easily.
Tiffany turned her attention away from Mo, Isaac and the Dratini, and instead started to wonder about the cave. “Do the tunnels criss-cross?” she asked Clavier with a slight frown, realising that if they did then this place would more or less be a maze.
"still, no thanks," said the ranger as he shook his head. he'd sooner brave a dragon rush because draconic flames apparently worked like a rapidash's. they didn't harm those whom they trusted, while isaac was pretty sure that a thundershock hurt regardless of whether he trusted mo or otherwise.
ah, crap.
by the time isaac looked at where the rotom once was, mo had already disappeared. darn. the ranger gritted his teeth, at a loss for words. intelligence was never his forte.
"what now?"
i could abandon you.
--
yeah, clavier agreed. we're bound to run into them. not to mention the amount of wild pokémon here -- if they encountered one, we'd be able to hear sounds of them battling. then we can follow their voices or sounds, and track them down. he grinned toothily.
That’s not a bad idea. Mo said as his head poked out of the stone wall. The rest of him (not that there was actually much of him aside from a head) followed. He hadn’t spent too long on the other side; as soon as he realised the other side was empty he had jumped back through in time to hear the Dratini’s joke. (Well, we all assume it was a joke…)
But… Mo was frowning now. We have a new problem. They’re not there.
==
Tiffany’s face scrunched up a little and she looked uneasy. No toothy grin for her – she wasn’t happy to hear that the paths criss-crossed. And she didn’t like the reminder of wild Pokemon either. “I hope we don’t run into one,” she said, very aware of how useless her one sign would be underground. “Or two. Or three—can you imagine fighting three at once? That would be—
Clavier.” For a second or two stopped walking and talking as she reeled in the idea, then she suggested, “Why don’t we make some sounds for them to follow?”
the dratini grinned, but then its face fell upon realizing what that entailed. wait, did you even look properly? see if they were there for real? the dragon-type shook its head in disbelief. had they really wasted that much time blowing a hole in the ceiling? it had thought of making a passage that crossed over the cave-in, then they would make their grand entrance over where tiffany and clavier were, and, and, and --
well, damn.
at a loss, isaac sighed and stared at the cave-in. this was bad, wasn't it? he knew the zapdos sign, but zap cannon was hardly going to be useful in breaking down the wall.
"mo, i'll risk it. i'll dragon rush up there with dratini, since we can't afford to lose tiffany and clavier!" he said, grimly.
--
sounds? clavier shook his head. they're just going to echo in the caves. isn't it going to be pretty confusing for all of us? the axew neglected to mention that it would also get a headache.
fighting wild pokémon, right -- while we're on that subject, you also don't want anything attacking you. or rather, you don't want to draw attention to you. i can probably fight one, but any more is going to be tough.
Mo had to laugh at how the Dratini’s face had changed – it really did look funny – but he stopped the laugh as soon as he could. Of course I looked for real. If you don’t believe me you can go and look yourself. Mo turned back around and looked at the wall again, wondering if he had looked hard enough. Looking for something (aside from hairstyles to ‘improve’) wasn’t something he had really done before.
He tilted so that he could get a better look at the hole in the ceiling. If he just moved a little to the left, he’d have a good view of the show. So you’re not a wuss? It was either that, or a morbid joke that was probably best saved for later. Well, go on. I’ll come up after.
This was going to be interesting to watch.
==
“But—” Tiffany was confused by what the nay-sayer had said (and didn’t even need the help of echoes). “But didn’t you just say that if they got into a fight, then we could follow their sounds and find them?” Even if she didn’t want to, she had to pause after saying that to fill up her lungs with air. The amount of emphasis she used, she realised, had been a bit much.
Still, she had been proud of her little idea and wasn’t happy that it had gotten shot down so easily. “And, I know,” she said. “Getting attacked is bad.” That was probably one of the top five rules in Nerio City: don’t give people a reason to attack you. “It was just an idea.”
no, he's a combusken wuss, the dratini corrected as flames blossomed from its long body. it twisted to get a better look at its ranger, and smirked. c'mon, chicken boy.
isaac huffed. "am not," said the ranger, but gripped the dratini's slick yet scaly back all the same. the flames didn't hurt him; it felt somewhat cool to the touch, but he had a nagging feeling that the dragon was just holding back for now.
"let's go."
the dratini cackled. (the ranger blinked and tried his best to not gulp.) one dragon rush, comin' right up!
in a burst of brilliant blue flames, the dratini and boy shot up into the ceiling, before a sickening thud sounded from the cavern above.
we're all intact! ... relatively! came the dratini's cheery voice.
--
well, knowing the dratini, it'd try to act like bruce lee, said the axew matter-of-factly, and as a dragon myself, i can pick up its voice. honestly, clavier was feeling at a loss after being caught in a contradiction. but it moved on, eager to skip over the brief pause that had started tiffany's disappointed words.
look, we can ... yell for them, or something. if you want. the dragon-type sighed, glancing at the other ranger. they neared another cave, and clavier stopped walking entirely. it too, didn't want to leave without his partner. (the dratini could stay in the caves and play pretend all day long. clavier didn't care about that.)
Chicken boy… That had a particular ring to it which Mo liked. It sounded a lot better than Combusken wuss.
The act hadn’t been as interesting or entertaining as Mo had first thought. In fact, it was rather plain, and certainly would have been more exciting if they went with his initial plan of shocking the poor boy. At least the thud hadn’t sounded too good, and the word ‘relatively’ held some promise.
Mo floated up through the ceiling, following the other two. What do you mean by relatively? he asked, not bothering to hide any eagerness. (What? Being stuck in a cave got boring really fast, okay?)
Better blast another hole down, Mo said to the Dratini, then turned to Isaac. You up for another round, Combusken wuss? He didn’t mean it… Much. (The part about round two, that is.)
==
She had no idea who or what a Bruce Lee was (was it related to Hitmonlee), but nodded slightly at the comment anyway. She thought of the Dratini, but all she could remember that it was cute and squishy-looking; things she felt it didn’t have in common with Bruce Lee.
Tiffany hissed a “Yesss,” under her breath when Clavier gave in and admitted that calling out would be a good idea. Well, that was how she was interpreting it. “And, like you said,” she added. “If you can hear the Dratini easily then it can probably do the same with your voice too. Come on! Take a deep breath and…”
She paused, looking at Clavier. He had sounded… well, she didn’t know the word for it, but he had sounded like that. Tiffany crouched down beside him and asked, “Are you okay? Do you need a hug?”
