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!
"the idea of being able to kill or wound is a lucrative one, i suppose," said ignatius. "some people tend to cave into that desire, and the anvil is only too happy to provide."
ignatius stared at the gifts cresselia bestowed upon them with a sort of apathy he didn't know he was capable of. "well, thank you," he told the cresselia. he still remembered his manners, after all. "did you come from afar just to bring us this?"
he noted that it was injured from an unknown cause. it was probably bad to metaphorically spit on its gifts. he plucked a piece of chocolate from the heart-shaped box, and bit into it. ah. it was a chocolate truffle.
"i'd rather have nightmares too, but cresselia is well-intentioned, i should hope."
ignatius pointed his pokédex at the cresselia before inspecting its injuries.
6Fd9NXQb 1-40 minor scrapes 41-60 lashes and bruisings 61-80 puncture wounds 81-100 major bleeding
After a moment of internal debate, Orwell emptied the bottle of wine overboard to fill it with water to serve as a vase for the bouquet. It seemed like the right thing to do.
With a faint psychic pulse, the cresselia emitted a string of sounds, images, and a plea.
ruvCU_m2 < 50 cresselia totally got into a fight 1-30 with darkrai, 31-60 with giratina, 61-90 with deoxys, 91-100 WILL THE REAL MOLTRES PLEASE STAND UP < 50 it has a quest for them 1-30 investigate, 31-60 save, 61-90 battle, 91-100 destroy 1-30 deoxys, 31-60 shards, 61-90 a landmark, 91-100 LoN 1-20 artifice, 21-40 laboratories, 41-60 rift, 61-80 monolith, 81-100 ruby throne
Orwell ignored the psychic message for now. "Wounds look external. Nothing time or a pokemon center can't fix. I'm not a doctor though."
vertigo ETA: for some reason, when i went back to edit in the last roll ALL THE ROLL VALUES CHANGED, so i underlined the original rolls ETA: although if you'd prefer to run with a quest to destroy deoxys, by all means wynaut
ignatius was treated to a glimpse into cresselia's mind, but he walked away from it slightly shaken by what he had seen. the pictures weren't exactly what he would term nice; interesting felt more like what it was, and he would rather leave it at that. cresselia had chosen both him and orwell to undertake some sort of mission to battle a deoxys -- what and where exactly this being was, he didn't know. all he knew that it came from a faraway land. from space, some theorists had said; from the darkness of caves, said some others.
he turned to the breeder. orwell, his mind told him. the researcher ignored his thoughts and gently pressed two fingers against the cresselia's skin. it didn't react.
"neither am i," said ignatius, "we can't bring it to a pokémon center, though. cresselia --" he addressed the legendary, "do you live here?"
Weakly--more from exhaustion than its wounds--the Cresselia nodded the affirmative. It's voice was a pale crow, but it spoke in a warm psychic whisper: <I live in any place where one may dream, but this is home. I will rest when my work is done.>
Briefly, it showed a vision of people, pairings and duos snatched out of the Land of Nightmares, stolen from the clutches of Darkrai. It rose up, an elegant struggle, and lifted its head. <I must away. There are yet more to salve for Darkrai's clutches.>
ignatius said nothing. the land of nightmares was a familiar one to him. he watched cresselia fade away, leaving them with an abandoned valentine's dinner and a mission for the future.
he looked at orwell. "we shouldn't waste what cresselia had laid out," he said, indicating the gifts. ignatius raised an eyebrow at the makeshift vase, but at least that was a good use of the bottle.
Orwell looked at the box of chocolates, raising an eyebrow in a fashion not dissimilar from how Ignatius regarded the flower vase. Orwell took a truffle, selecting one not entirely at random (he preferred dark chocolate). He ate it, biting it in half first to observe the filling: coconut creme.
"Waste not, want not," Orwell agreed, "but I'm not entirely certain what I'm supposed to do with the roses. I doubt we can lure in deoxys with a fragrant bouquet, and if we did, it'd only be our funerals."
"you could keep them," said ignatius, "hold one as you fall asleep in this world and wake without it. cresselia would be happy you accepted the gift." the researcher glanced at the vase a second time, and noticed an envelope pinned under it. he didn't quite remember seeing it before.
curious, he opened it up. it was lightly scented with a strawberry sort of fragrance, but it couldn't have been cresselia. it had conveyed its messages and all that it had to say earlier. ignatius used a steak knife as a makeshift letter opener, and tugged out the note.
it was written in a fine sort of handwriting not unlike those who specialized in calligraphy.
"dear orwell and mr grimm," ignatius read aloud, "i see that this year, cresselia has picked her champions against me. she has chosen a researcher and a breeder. she has never changed; year after year, she picks a pair like this to do her bidding. i hope you understand that seeking me out has repercussions. whether it will be for the better or for the worse remains to be seen, as none of her champions have gotten to point where they have seen me in person. i hope the both of you get farther than the rest.
"yours truly, the deoxys cresselia told you about."
Orwell took another chocolate. Hazelnut filling. Not bad. A little hesitantly, he look the box, and nudged the vase of roses over to Ignatius. Orwell was alright with the idea of keeping the edibles.
He took the letter from Ignatius too, skimming over it briefly. He shrugged, indifferent.
"Trash talk," Orwell dismissed. "Didn't even leave a return address. We'll find him when we find him. I don't mean to worry about Cresselia's quest until then."
"neither of us has a greater purpose, though. no gyms or league to challenge. i have my pokédex and you breed. cresselia probably intends for us to fill up our time with less small talk and more substantial contributions to the world."
ignatius took the bottle of roses. he picked one out, slipped it into orwell's pocket and took the rest. it seemed only fair to do so in light of valentine's, even if he wasn't particularly attached to the idea.
"I don't know about you, but I haven't much need for a greater purpose. Still, something to do, something to look forward to," Orwell said.
He accepted the single rose. He didn't make anything of it, although he would need to find a good place to put it when he woke up. Travelers tended not to carry vases around with them.
Orwell kept the letter from Deoxys too, although he wasn't entirely sure why.
