4.0 Dedicated to its Members and Fans of Pokemon A Pokemon Sandbox RP
Pokémon Dubstep (ft. Lindsey Stirling)
W
elcome Adventurer to EPOCH! A Pokemon Sandbox Rp set in the original region of Nue. Everything you need to know will be in the Guidebook and PokeDex 101!
EPOCH uses the Manga and is built on the Original ideas suggested by our members.
We are more than just a Pokemon RP, we're a friendly community with a goal on being a memorable experience for those that look in.
Golden Rule: Treat others as you wish to be treated. If you find yourself content with being an asshole EPOCH and its members will not tolerate you.
RULES
Understand We're All Human. Respect the staffers as well as your fellow members and guests. We all have flaws, tempers and quirks. Be patient with one another, but if issues involving other members come up please don’t just grin and bear it. Contact a staff member, informing them of what's going on so they can address and resolve the situation. The staff won't know what's bothering you unless you tell them.
EPOCH is PG-13. Proboards’ Terms of Service:
Sex; When you get under the clothes, fade to black.
Violence; Do not go into extreme nauseating detail.
Cursing; This is so fucking allowed, but don't go overboard.
Suggestive Content; In avatars, signatures and templates can attract the wrong kind of attention. So be careful.
Post by Josh Dragomir on Jul 30, 2014 1:46:19 GMT -5
[LIQUID TIME FTW]
Huh, the blonde hadn't been to Lavaridge Town before. But after just finishing up a mission with that girl from before, he couldn't resist visiting the town he'd just helped. Looking around, he noticed something interesting... A hot spring. Hmm... What else was a good way to relax after taking on a load of Slugma, eh? He smirked to himself as he began making his way over.
It had been a hell of a day indeed. It was only hours ago that Dragomir and his Pokemon had been locked in combat with swarms of wild Pokemon, trying to wreck havoc on the town. Luckily, with a little help, they were kept back, and Lavaridge Town was safe for now. With gratitude and recognition, Josh had made his way back to town in order to rest. Of course, he didn't really know what to do WITH the gratitude and recognition... He wasn't used to the kind of attention civilians gave to him as they passed by. It was alien to him, that was for sure. All he could really do was... Well, try and be humble about it, he supposed. I mean, what's a Pokemon Trainer if they don't use their Pokemon to help people in need? Well, easy answer... Probably a member of Team Magma, Team Aqua or Team Rocket.
Post by Izumi Yamamura on Jul 30, 2014 2:41:29 GMT -5
After managing to repel that horde away from the town (and shaking as much ash as she could out of her hair) Izumi really needed a break. She decided to fly back to Lavaridge, so that she could at least drop by and chat with the locals, as well as get herself cleaned down in the process! After swapping out one of her members for the Braviary she always relied on to fly her through the sky, she then hopped astride Sora and soared through the sky, always keeping in mind to avoid the ash fall! Sometime later, she then arrived at the outskirts of Lavaridge, and saw that there were a lot of people out and about, clamoring about something. The moment she started walking into the town proper though, that’s when she found out what was going on—a lot of people were actually whistling and cheering, as well as calling her by her other nickname, Zumi. She recognized most of the people cheering in her direction, and she waved them off with a grin, and a lot of ash, much to the surprise (and entertainment) of everyone assembled.
“Hey Zumi, didn’t know you were back in the area!”
“Thanks for helping them out in Fallarbor as well, who knows what could have happened if they decided to swarm outside our town.”
“Hey, weren’t you with some guy? That… speak of the devil he’s also here in Lavaridge, look over there!”
That was just some of the clamor she’d come home to, so with a huge , jovial grin on her face she then headed towards the Pokemon Center, recalling Sora back into his Pokeball as well. She was not surprised to see a lot of people inside the Center waiting for her, and the cheering just got to the point it was deafening. Apparently word had gotten out of the two ‘heroes of the area’ visiting Lavaridge, and there were plans on having a lot of food sent over to everyone who lived there—as well as Fallarbor, too. After grinning and much shaking of hands, she then fought her way through the crowd in order to be able to drop off her Pokemon team into the PC for a while, as she really wanted to go to the hot Springs—when she saw a head of familiar blonde hair in the crowd. Huh, didn’t know he was here, she thought with a smirk as she decided to follow him around.
Post by Josh Dragomir on Jul 30, 2014 2:55:40 GMT -5
Jeez, a couple of "Thank you"s and handshakes was alright, but this? This was insanity, unlike anything Josh was used to. He hadn't been back in town ten minutes before the heroes welcome had gotten brought out. Before he could say a damn word, he'd been swarmed by people. Whoa! Did all of the town nearby come down here or were these all from Lavaridge? He couldn't tell, quite frankly, but the usually modest and lone wolf-ish Dragomir was completely out of his element here. Was this what heroes dealt with on a regular basis? All he'd done was help out, nothing more. Hell, the other girl had done more then he had, for sure.
Regardless, after quite some time spent in conversation and handshakes, Josh had managed to make his way to the Pokemon Center. But like for Izumi there was a crowd here too! He had to suppress a sigh as Round 2 took course. Some time later, Josh had finally gotten himself a room, and had managed to get a moment to himself to think. The first thing the blonde did was flop onto the bed, burying his face into the pillow. His ears were still ringing from all the yelling.
With all the ruckus, he hadn't realized he'd been followed.
Post by Izumi Yamamura on Jul 30, 2014 3:09:03 GMT -5
Since she’d decided to follow him around, she was quite surprised to find out that her stealth skills were still up to scratch, even after being out of practice for so long. One she’d sighted that he’d gone off to one of the smaller inns in order to get a room, she then waited for a few minutes and then slipped into the building as well; hell even the innkeeper was surprised to see a local and was about to call her attention when she waved him down and put a finger to her lips, before grabbing a piece of paper and a pen, scribbling something down on it—and then leaving it for him to see. After reading it, said innkeeper nodded and then wrote down a few more things, which she took and then decided to find his room—since the complex was quite small, there were only a few rooms occupied—and this one was where she was headed. She’d arrived in the hallway just to hear the door close, and then knew that this was the place; she could only guess as to how he was holding up due to the sudden influx of attention and stuff.
Once she reached the closed door, she then took a deep breath and knocked, hoping that he would either answer the door; or if she wasn’t as lucky, leave a note pasted on the door instead! Hahaha, never knew word travels that quickly… she thought to herself as she then leaned against the wall, waiting for Josh to open the door and either get surprised or just plain scared out of her wits. In the meantime, she decided to shake off as much ash as she could, and watched as the normally pristine floor started to be covered in all the little flecks that had fallen on her face, her hair, her clothes… basically everywhere that was exposed. Ugh, really need to get a bath now. Ash everywhere and it’s not helping. That and I better get some of my clothes down to the laundry place and get it all cleaned up. No wonder my nose is feeling… ticklish, she mused as she felt a little tingle on the tip of her nose; and then held her breath, hoping that she didn’t accidentally sneeze and gave herself away!
Post by Josh Dragomir on Jul 30, 2014 3:25:00 GMT -5
Oh cripes, not again.
But he couldn't turn away visitors, they'd come out and made the effort. He might as well stop being a self-centered asshole and think of them instead of himself. So he got up, rubbing his head. All that noise had given him a headache. Badly. But the duck could you do?
He made his way to the door and opened it. He was surprised to instead see Izumi though, and he smiled wide.
"Well well, what a pleasant surprise" he said with a chuckle. "A prettier face then normally seen in Lavaridge Town. What brings you out here?" He asked, teasing her jokingly the same way he'd done during the mission to bring up spirits with jokes and teases. "Did they maul you too?" He snarked.
Post by Izumi Yamamura on Aug 4, 2014 0:20:23 GMT -5
It was right at the moment that Josh had opened the door that Izumi sneezed; therefore he’d walked out onto something pretty embarrassing—for her at least! “Oh gosh, sorry if I sneezed. Something’s been tickling my nose for a bit,” she began with a sheepish look on her face; secretly relieved that he was chuckling. “Well,” she said, pinching her nose for a few moments before willing herself not to sneeze, and releasing her fingers, “…the answer to that is simple. Lavaridge is my hometown,” she continued, this grin appearing on her face. “It’s no surprise you chose this inn, this is actually where people go if they do want to get some privacy. Most of the locals know me, so getting around is no problem,” she continued, still shaking the ash and grit out of her clothes in the process. She was then wondering what could be something good for them to do, and then she got an idea.
“I got it! Can you go check in the room if they have any extra bath robes and stuff like that?” she asked; while she was still busy patting herself down.
“I know just the place where we can get cleaned up, I bet you haven’t experienced the best aspect of Lavaridge that we have to offer,” she continued with a mischievous grin on her face. The hot springs, definitely. And luckily I know of a hidden entrance—one that doesn’t require going through the crowd of people outside… she thought to herself with another grin crossing her face. She then remembered, “Don’t forget to bring some extra clothes along,” while waiting for him to re-emerge—and then after that she’d take him to the family café and get them some food while they were at it!
| | | | |
WORDS 298 TAGS Josh NOTESLavaridge hospitality here we go
Post by Josh Dragomir on Aug 4, 2014 0:42:51 GMT -5
He couldn't help but laugh at her first reaction when he opened the door. The poor girl must have had ash all over her, and that stuff, he knew, was a bit hard on the nose. Regardless, he nodded at her mentioning Lavaridge was her hometown. He wasn't surprised, really. It would also explain why she knew where to take them for whatever she had planned. "Must be hilarious suddenly being a hometown hero then, huh?" he teased with a smirk. "Aye, I can go see if they have any" he said, noting the mischevious grin on her face as she spoke next. He smirked, feigning innocence to her facials.
"I think I can do that" he said as he shot her a cheeky grin, and a tiny foot boot to the rear for her as he passed her by. Why? A simple acknowledgement of the look on her face from before, and a bit of teasing and flirting didn't hurt on his end. He would return, of course, with extra bathrobes and the like, giving a casual wave.
Post by Izumi Yamamura on Aug 4, 2014 1:21:57 GMT -5
“It’s actually quite ironic for me, considering that our most known ‘hometown hero’ is Flannery, but I guess word does tend to get around quite quickly,” she added with a chuckle as he then disappeared back into the room, very much noticing the teasing gestures—and then sneezing right as he’d entered. Ugh, too much ash… I have to get rid of the residue… she thought as she sneezed twice more, looking up after the second time and seeing that he was now there, holding said extras. Perfect. I know he always keeps bath robes in the closets, so thankfully they’re there, she thought with another amused grin on her face. “Now,” she continued, still shaking some ash fall out of her hair, “…just follow me. Everyone’s waiting outside, but I know just the place where we can go and get cleaned up. if you’ve never heard of the Hot Springs, then now’s your chance to experience them,” she continued, the mischievous grin getting even wider.
She then proceeded down the hallway, before going down a few flights of stairs; and then reached an unmarked, simple door. “This is the back exit… there’s an alleyway here that goes right to the back of the bath house behind the Pokémon Center, just follow me,” she said in hushed tones, putting a finger to her lips and then opening the door—it budged without resisting, and she slipped out, waiting for him to exit as well. “Once we get into the hot springs, we can just chill there… there’s also a small laundry place near the hot springs; they take the clothes and run it through the wringer,” she continued, going through the back streets—it was definitely an easy way to slip around. “Also, the air here may have hints of sulphur in it, but that’s only because most of the water is drawn from nearby Mount Chimney,” she continued, pointing over his shoulder, towards the foggy distance, here a faint outline of a rising precipice loomed.
“There are a lot of other things in the town that make people come over—it’s mostly the medicine store, the hot springs, and the various inns that are here to accept tourists—only thing is that everyone who lives here is in an uproar because of what we’ve done for Fallarbor, so it’s kind of crowded outside,” she added, still walking down the back alleys until she reached another unmarked door. “Ah, here we are… go straight inside, and when you see the changing room, go there. I’ll meet you in the hallway,” she added, opening it wide enough for them to slip inside. “Just leave your stuff in the cubbies, it’s fine,” she continued, continuing the sneaking down the hallway towards the women’s changing room.
Post by Josh Dragomir on Aug 4, 2014 1:37:55 GMT -5
Josh couldn't help but laugh at the first bit. "Looks like we're right up there with her right now" he cracked. "Maybe not as much. A Gym Leader is usually much more important then a couple kooks that saved the town from an invasion of wilds" he cracked with a smirk. After all that was done, and he came back, he nodded at her works and the leading. Hmm, the hot springs huh? He'd heard of them, but never experienced them himself. Though he'd considered it...
He would go with her all the way (Sounded so wrong) until they reached the changing rooms.
He would nod after her explanation. "Sounds like a plan" he said as he headed to the change rooms. Within a few minutes he was back out in bathing suit, no shirt (Which would unveil the... Rather surprising muscular build of the blonde, which we've already covered in private ) and would look around before leaning against the wall of the hallway, letting out a yawn as he tried to relax. It was different, not just being on the go all the time. Of course, he'd always stopped for awhile, just never as long as this seemed to be taking him. Maybe it was about time he finally kicked back and just enjoyed the ride.
He'd let out a yawn as he kicked back with his arms behind his head, letting himself lean against the wall. The cold wall made a good change against his skin in comparison to how hot his clothes had been getting in Lavaridge's heat. Was good to have before he would be jumping into the hot springs, after all. A calm before the storm while he waited for Izumi.
Izumi herself... He didn't know what to think of her, he thought to himself. She handled herself well back there, and seemed to be good to get along with. He'd certainly enjoy getting to know her as a friend if possible. That is, if his teasing didn't scare the poor girl off. That, he didn't hope he did, but he could never be too careful.
Post by Izumi Yamamura on Aug 4, 2014 2:04:36 GMT -5
Since Izumi had gone on to the women’s changing room, she then let the bottled emotions she’d been holding in finally surface, and resisted the urge to let out a squeal. She bit her lips as hard as she could as she then went towards the cubbies and then began shuffling around; finally finding the one where she’d left her clothes the last time she’d been here—which was a long time ago, to be exact. She then caught sight of herself in the foggy mirror… and saw that she was actually blushing; something that hadn’t happened to her in a long time! “Wait. Whoa. Calm down,” she began, quickly turning around and taking off her ash-coated, muddied clothes and kicking off her muddied boots; but she could still feel the heat on her face! Calm down, girl! Calm down! She chastised herself in the back of her mind, quickly slipping into the swimming attire she’d left behind—which, interestingly, was a black-and-red one piece (the classic kind) and then grabbed her towel before leaving her soiled clothes there in the meantime.
What the hell are you panicking about?! You’re crazy, girl! She thought once again as she then slipped out of the women’s changing room; glad that nobody was in the hallway and made her way down to where Josh was waiting—and resisted the urge to actually whistle; because who knew that under the clothes he was wearing, he was actually well-built?! “Nice pack you got there,” she continued with a teasing grin, although if he looked a bit closer, he might have noticed that she was slightly pink in the face as she said it! “Come on, let’s go get into the hot springs—I’m pretty sure we have it to ourselves now that everyone’s outside, having a party and everything. We can join them later,” she added, making her way down another corridor before coming out to two hallways—they were just for show really, because once you got past them, everyone could get in the water regardless of gender. “I’ll see you in the spring,” she added with a grin, going through the women’s door and finding that there was a nice overhead hanging that had been recently installed—it helped shelter the hot spring whenever it started raining.
Tossing her towel onto one of the rocks, she then quickly got into the water, sliding down until she was in a nice, sitting position. “Man, it’s been a while,” she continued, sinking down further until she was in up to her neck.
Post by Josh Dragomir on Aug 4, 2014 2:23:53 GMT -5
If Josh felt any similar emotions as Izumi, he was definitely handling them with a cool head... On the outside anyway. He couldn't help but smile as he looked her over, and an immediate response to her first words would be in the form of a loud wolf whistle in her direction. Apparently, he thought she was quite the stunner herself, evidenced by the playful grin crossing his face.
"See you in the hot springs" he said at her words as they walked, sticking his tongue out at her playfully as he made his way through the mens entrance. Seriously, they just led to the same place. What in the Goomy was the Magikarping point? Eh, he decided to just put a Sawk in it and deal with what it was.
He would walk through the mens hallway and end up in exactly what he expected... The same place Izumi did! Regardless, he would toss his towel onto the rocks and decide to join Izumi in the hot spring. As he got into the water, it took a moment to adjust after weeks of cold river baths while camping out, but soon enough he was deep in, letting himself relax right beside Izumi as he nudged her playfully.
"You're not that bad of a looker yourself" he would tease, instantly getting her back for the pack comment with a playful grin. He considered finding more ways to get at her, but he was't sure if she would be comfortable... Her personal space and respect still mattered to him, obviously.
Post by Izumi Yamamura on Aug 4, 2014 3:10:27 GMT -5
She felt her ears burn red at the point where he whistled at her appearance—thankfully her hair was long enough to hide the burning sensation! That was earlier, of course, and she then put a hand to her ears now, while she was out in the water, and found out that they were still quite flushed, for the sensation underneath was quite hot. Sooner or later, Josh made his appearance and was now seated beside her, before giving a playful nudge. “Same to you, who knew there was a well-built frame hidden underneath all that clothing,” she added with a teasing grin, before finally getting the courage to whistle in his direction. “That was for earlier,” she said with a grin, before finally relaxing and leaning back against a rock. Now that they were settled in, it was time for the hot water to do its magic. “So what brings you to the Hoenn region? I’m definitely sure that I haven’t seen you around anywhere, but that may be just me. Why not… we start with the basics?”
Now that Izumi was steering the conversation towards a more relaxed topic, she then decided to get started. “Well, for starters… my dad works in the Lilycove Department Store He rarely gets the chance to be home. He met my mom while she was shopping here, because she’d just moved to the region herself and was looking for things—he was just a clerk back then, and she was the new kid in town, if you could put it that way. I… I never got the chance to ask where she came from, because she’s always busy. We have a café somewhere in town, which I’m pretty sure is crowded with people looking for us,” she said in one go, before stopping for a bit. She then continued, “I grew up here mostly, that’s why most of everyone here knows me and y folks. I left on my journey recently, but I only got the chance to return back to Hoenn recently. How about you?”
Post by Josh Dragomir on Aug 7, 2014 0:54:08 GMT -5
He had to admit, she was attractive. Of course, he was just a bit better at keeping his cool, though he blushed a little as he thought about it. He could blame it on the spring's heat if she asked, of course! It only got worse when she got him back, and he nudged her playfully on the hip after her own whistle. After that, he relaxed back with her, taking a breath. Ah, he'd get her back for that... He just had to figure out how.
He listened to her story and smiled a bit. "Yeah... Hopefully we won't be disturbed here" he said. "I'd be happy if we could just relax here for hours on end, just us" he said, chuckling a bit. Hopefully, he thought, that didn't sound like a flirt or a romantic thing.... But he couldn't help but blush. "Sounds like you've had a hell of a ride though. Though I gotta ask.... What kind of journey ARE you on?"
Finally, it came to tell his own story.
"I moved here awhile back, actually" he explained. "I used to live in a region called Kotaku. My parents were these two hotshot Pokemon Trainers that were famous all around the world. They were my heroes, I wanted to be a Trainer just like them. When they retired from travelling, settled down and started a family, they started trying other fields of work that didn't involve it, like breeding and Pokemon research. Their job title depends on the situation, but they have this massive ranch that they use for both as a breeding center, and a research area. As well as for housing the Pokemon they caught so they can roam free. The Pokemon I don't have with me right now get sent to them so they can roam free" he explained. "Anyway... I spent my childhood helping them with the Pokemon when I wasn't at school. My days would be spent climbing small mountains and canyons and running through forests to find Pokemon that ran off, hefting heavy bags of Pokemon food, and generally taking care of the Pokemon they had and housed their. I wanted to be a Trainer so bad, but when I turned 10, for some reason they didn't let me. It... Hurt, to be honest" he admitted, sighing. "I'd spent so much time with Pokemon, that I couldn't bear not being allowed to have my own, or travel and catch my own. I didn't understand why. I thought they would be proud of me for it, and proud of all the work I'd done. I felt like they thought I wasn't ready despite how ready I really was. So when I graduated from school, I went to post secondary to be a Psychologist. After my first year though, I found out what was really going on... There was this threat in the region that made travelling as a Trainer almost impossible. Trainers were losing their lives, or worse, the lives of their Pokemon, to this... Thing, and they didn't want me involved in that, so they got me to stay away. Of course... That's until my dad lost his partner, his Raichu" he said, giving a sigh. "He loved that Raichu so much, it was his partner, he went everywhere with him. He was there for his wedding back when he was a Pikachu. And... Then he was gone. My mom and dad were so heartbroken, and I couldn't bear to see that anymore. My dad slipped into a depression after that, and after a few months I had enough and.... Ran away from home. Took a break from my studies at post secondary to become a Trainer and stop this thing, along with the other Trainers that had gone out to do so" he explained.
"Those Torchic and Pichu you saw? They were my first and second Pokemon respectively. I've had them a long time, and they've fought a lot of dangerous battles with me. But... It ended up being for nothing. We couldn't stop it. They overwhelmed towns and killed millions. Finally, my parents begged me to come home, it was getting too dangerous even for me. They wanted to move to Hoenn, get away from this... Start over. I hated to do it but... I had no friends left. They'd all been killed. I had no help, no allies, no hope. Just me and my Pokemon. So I went home. We packed up and... We left. We moved to Littleroot. My old home is a quarantine zone now, nothing gets in, nothing gets out. We couldn't let what was plaguing it spread to the other regions, despite how far away it was. We were lucky we left when we did" he said, taking a breath.
"When we got to Hoenn, my parents finally realized they could believe in me. So they gave their blessing for me to go out on a Pokemon journey and be a Trainer like I always wanted to be. Now I can raise my Pokemon without fear of losing them so quickly, just like that. So they started their operations over and found themselves some land that they turned into that ranch I told you about earlier, and I've been travelling since. Haven't been home since, either" he said, chuckling.
Post by Izumi Yamamura on Aug 7, 2014 23:25:49 GMT -5
Izumi knew that he’d asked her a question; but decided to answer it later as he explained a bit more on his back story—and it was apparently a long one; but nonetheless the mention of an “outbreak” in his former region got her… quite alarmed, to be exact. She waited until she was done talking, before asking even more questions—unwittingly her hand, which was submerged in the water, was hesitating on taking his and giving him a comforting pat after hearing what had happened. “That’s unusual. No word ever got out that there was something like that going on… they kept quiet about the entire thing?” she asked, still unable to believe that even in regions that were literally thousands of miles away, such things were actually possible. “I… I’m sorry to hear about your father’s Raichu. Is he okay now?” she continued in a gentler tone, before straightening up a bit in the water… and then giving him a pat on the head. “At least here, you can have the chance to start over and… if you don’t mind my asking, what was happening that was causing Pokémon in your former region to just... you know, die?”
She was curious as to what was causing what Josh had described, because nothing of the sort had been heard of—not at least in all the regions she’d managed to travel to; which was… well, all of the existing places that she knew about. Remembering that he had asked her a question, she then cringed, before speaking up, “Well… to be honest, I was supposed to go with… a friend,” she began, feeling her ears burn up again—but only this time it was because of something that she’d thought she’d already forgotten resurfacing. “But, the stupid idiot left the night before—we were supposed to travel around Hoenn at first, then the rest of the world; but he just plain disappeared. Without a trace,” she halted, quickly rubbing her eyes with her hands—no, she was definitely not going to cry in front of Josh—before continuing, “…after I finally managed to go on the journey—by myself, I might add—I found him. He was all the way in Kanto, but he… he’d gotten tangled up with Team Rocket; but he left them, and then he told me about a plan of bringing Rocket down from the inside. The thing is… before he could actually execute his plan—he and a few of his friends who also abandoned Rocket were hunted down.”
‘Hunted down’ being the tamer version of what she’d seen happen, but she decided to go along with it anyways, so she took a deep breath, before continuing, “…I wasn’t expecting to be returning to Hoenn so soon the first time, but… I had a casket with me then. The whole of Lavaridge knew that my ‘journey’ was to bring back the town’s ‘wayward son’, but… I wasn’t expecting to be bringing back a dead body instead of a living individual,” she then stopped, before rubbing her eyes a bit more vigorously this time. “After what had happened, I then realized that my original purpose for travelling had changed—I wanted to become stronger, because I wasn’t able to save him when he was killed right in front of me,” she continued, her voice cracking up a bit with emotion now.
Post by Josh Dragomir on Aug 8, 2014 0:43:50 GMT -5
At her questions, he let out a sigh. "Yeah.... They did" he said. "They wanted to quarantine and be rid of it as soon as humanely possible. Probably thought they and the Trainers could handle it and be rid of it and get vaccines and such and pretend it never happened before our governments got a bad rep from other regions. But... Well, it didn't work out that way"
She mentioned his father's Raichu... And he shook his head. "No... He pretends to be happy. Stays strong for me and my mom. But everytime he looks at a family photo, with every single one from the last 20 plus years having that Raichu in it... He just stares. I've snuck up on him a few times and seen him just stare at it coldly, looking like he's about to cry. When that happens, he leaves someone in charge of the ranch and just... Disappears for a few hours. I don't know where he goes, but I assume it's somewhere special to him where he remembers his Raichu and the happy moments he had with his partner. I know he's clinically depressed, and I wish there was something I could do. I just hope maybe this journey might help give him some closure... Especially with Lightning being with me. Knowing I bonded with a Pokemon in the Pikachu line, with them being my partner... I thought maybe it'd remind him of the good times he had with his and... Again, help him heal. But... I can't replace Raichu. His first Pokemon, he had him since he was a baby Pichu, just like I've had Lightning since he was maybe two months old. I can understand him being depressed...."
"Yeah.... I... I suppose" he said to her statement, and gulped at her question. "Well... I don't know all the details, but I think the scientists in the region were studying... SOMETHING. All I know is it went wrong, and it fucked up the Pokemon in the lab. They mutated into these... Zombie-like things, killed any scientists and attacked any Pokemon left too. Any Pokemon that didn't die were... Turned into more of them. They escaped the lab and started infecting more Pokemon. No Pokemon were safe, whether they were wild, whether they had a Trainer, or whether they were somebodies pet. While humans were immune to the disease, it had spread so badly that it could even spread through the air to our Pokemon if not vaccinated. We were going to town to get supplies and... We were attacked by a horde of them. My dad's Raichu sacrificed himself to save us, he wouldn't let us stay back with him.... He went right at the horde singlehandedly and a combination of attacks caused an explosion that separated us from him. It got us safe from the horde but... Dad looked for weeks for his partner, his Raichu... And he couldn't find him. He was gone. That was when I ran away from home, like I said...."
"I... Guess I'm glad we're away from that now... I just can't believe my old home is a quarantine zone now. Swat teams only can go in there, and that's to destroy any Pokemon they find. Since the Trainers they sent out with vaccinated Pokemon, which by the way the vaccination was incredibly expensive, so nobody could really afford it... Failed, they used more... Violent means, obviously, after the residents were moved to other regions and sworn to secrecy. We left before all that mumbo jumbo, obviously.
He listened to her story, and as she began to finish, he couldn't help but take her hand, slip her fingers between his. Once it was over, he sighed and pulled her into a hug, despite the fact he was half naked and not wearing a shirt. "Just relax..." he whispered, knowing she was seconds from crying... The best he could do was be there for her. "It's all going to be okay...."
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
) and would look around before leaning against the wall of the hallway, letting out a yawn as he tried to relax. It was different, not just being on the go all the time. Of course, he'd always stopped for awhile, just never as long as this seemed to be taking him. Maybe it was about time he finally kicked back and just enjoyed the ride.
