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!
Who left the kid out here without supervision? Was the kid even a kid? Because if the kid turned into an eelektross, Neo was going to hurt somebody. Probably herself.
She hadn't even been aware there was a game at hand, let alone that she was playing. "Found? I didn't even know you were hiding from me."
Neo tilted her head at the boy, in thought. "How long have you been here?" vertigo
"so you're not the seeker?" the child asked, frowning. "that can't be right. whoever finds me has to be It. i played a game of hide-and-seek with my brother; he said, 'let's hide and someone will come find us' and so i did.
"have you seen my brother?" its eyes were round and wide as it glanced at neo. "i don't know how long it has been, but i think it's almost time for dinner."
it crawled out from under the table; it wasn't tall for its age at all.
"I didn't know I was the seeker," Neo said. She started to wonder if she was hallucinating again. This conversation felt surreal. "'Us'? What's your brother look like? I've only found you so far. Do we need to find him too? I wouldn't want him to miss dinner."
Her face turned carefully blank. Juno? Neo considered walking back to the first white room, just for the chance to roll to punch it in the balls. But she stayed, because she could let bygones be bygones. Kindly, she said, "It's nice to meet you, Juno. My name's... Leonida."
"it's nice to meet you too, leonida!" it said, "my brother is taller than i am." it gestured about three inches above itself. "people say we look alike, but i think we're look different."
it tilted its head, then nodded. "yes, we need to find him." a sense of urgency had crept into its speech. "we'll get scolded if we miss dinner again." it frowned, and walked towards the other door -- another one in the room, which had somehow appeared without either of them noticing.
"i wonder if he left me alone again." it twisted the doorknob and pulled open the door. "i think he doesn't like me very much, you know, leonida?"
She hadn't seen anyone marginally taller than this child. Granted, time seemed more fluid here. Maybe its brother had grown. Maybe its brother was dead.
...That door hadn't been there before. How was she supposed to win any game of hide-and-seek if doors popped up whenever they felt like it?
"Wouldn't want to miss dinner," Neo said, but she didn't quite agree. She'd pass on a dinner in a white room. She'd pass on dinner anywhere in the Land of Nightmares, when it came down to it.
"Maybe he's just not hungry, or he doesn't want to lose the game. " Neo looked at the child, who seemed like a reasonably likable creature--as far as children went. She couldn't tell if its brother was right to dislike the child, or if its brother was the sort of person that was better off lost. "Let's see if we can find him."
"maybe he doesn't like losing. i'm the star player of the family, after all."
the door opened into juno city.
the city wasn't much different from what neo had seen in the past -- the cypress laboratories were nearby, as well as the ranger union and the breeder's guild. it was like a first day out for a freshly-registered member of eos. getting a starter pokémon and all that fanfare.
the child tugged on neo's hand. "we're out of the house. this can't ... be happening," it said, frowning almost instantly -- things seemed completely and utterly wrong to the child.
She didn't say anything in response. She wondered what family the child was from. (Star player of what, she also wondered.)
Neo looked over her shoulder, wondering if the door was still there. The tugging on her hand got her attention again though.
"We're outside, that's not so weird." Admittedly, that was a little strange considering that they were indoors just a few seconds ago. (Did the white rooms really count as indoors? Close enough, probably.) "Where's your home? We can go back inside, unless you think your brother is hiding outside. Then we should find him before you go home."
...She still needed to stop somewhere to find clothes though--if this was truly Juno City anyway. Neo'd rather not be seen looking like a one night stand.
"but we weren't outside just now," the child protested, but fell silent. "my home is --" it turned to point past one of the modest houses by the street. "-- that way."
the passers-by all gave neo weird looks. she really did seem out of place to them -- but they said nothing and kept walking. it was best to mind their own businesses.
"he could be anywhere. sometimes he hides in the dream world."
the skies dimmed suddenly; it was as if something had slowly sucked the sun away from view.
There was nothing like the polite but incredulous silence of people minding their own business. Neo tried to ignore them, and it was easy compared to ignoring her earlier hallucinations. "I don't think we can find him in time for dinner if he's in the Dream World. That seems like cheating when you're playing hide-and-seek."
Her grip tightened on the child's hands as the light turned to darkness. Calmly, because she'd had a long, difficult day, and it wasn't about to get any worse now, she said, "That doesn't seem good."
Quickly, Neo started walking towards direction of the child's house. "We should head inside. It might be safer."
"it's too early to be night!" the child exclaimed. it's concern was with being late for dinner; the fact that night had fallen meant that it was in for a scolding, and it really didn't want that to happen. it sighed, and nodded at neo.
"we should," said the child, "i'm already late for dinner ..."
the sun continued to dim, but there was no sign of the source causing it. there was a distinct red tint to the sky -- quite similar to the land of nightmares, but a little too real for it to be a nightmare.
"Don't worry, it's not night, it's just--" Neo looked up, doing her best to shield her eyes from the glare of the sun, except there was no real glare. It was just dimming, like ballroom lights for a slow dance.
Suns didn't do that, last she checked. Gaseous orbs in space aren't allowed to just take a break every now and then, when they were tired of shining all the time.
"Maybe it's an eclipse," Neo said, knowing full well it wasn't. "Don't look straight at it, it's bad for your eyes."
the child nodded. "okay," it replied, and kept its gaze on the ground. it occasionally tried to steal glances as they walked, but each time, it noticed neo and promptly turned its head away. it figured that she would know better about such happenings than itself.
they made good pace to the child's house, but along the way it couldn't help but stare at some freshly-baked pastries at a bakery. it sighed, and moved on. "can't eat cakes before dinner," the child explained to neo, "because they said so."
the skies only grew a darker shade of red. the sun's dimming seemed to have ceased; clouds were sparse in the sky, with most of it centered over a building towards the edge of the city.
"Who's 'they'?" she asked. She didn't actually care. If it didn't look like the apocalypse might be starting soon, she would've wanted to know, but right now, she just wanted to keep up pretenses of idle conversation. She didn't want to worry the child.
Neo needed to find her pokemon. That, or Neo really needed to ignore every urge to investigate, because there wasn't anything she could do besides walk into a death trap. (Where was Athena? She'd planned on fleeing with Minerva but that turned out to be a poorly executed plan.)
"Do you have a C-Gear? If not one on you, maybe I could borrow one at your house?" she asked the child. "I need to call someone."
"our housekeepers. the maids and the butler. it's always 'no, juno, you can't have cakes before dinner, it'll spoil your appetite!' and then i have to wait for dessert, but sometimes it's ... pudding, which is not cake." the child pouted.
they neared a house, which was significantly less grand than the ones surrounding it. "i don't have one, but i think we do have one at home. would you like to come in, leonida?" it stood on tiptoe to reach the knocker upon the door, and knocked thrice.
the door swung open.
it was tresillian, except much, much younger than he was when neo last met him.
"you've come home early today," he said, raising an eyebrow, "that's very unlike you."
"well, i met a friend, and she would like to borrow a c-gear." the child crossed its arms, and tresillian nodded.
he soon returned with a c-gear, which he handed to the child, who in turn handed it to neo.
Who left the kid out here without supervision? Was the kid even a kid? Because if the kid turned into an eelektross, Neo was going to hurt somebody. Probably herself.
