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 Izumi Yamamura on Mar 13, 2015 5:19:10 GMT -5
While Izumi was busy keeping the dishes and basically cleaning up the rest of the kitchen, she could hear the sounds of conversation coming from the living room, and could only guess that her mother had asked about her general welfare. “Trying to lay it on thick, are you?” the raven-haired young woman began, before picking up the broom and beginning to sweep the floor. “You know that flattery isn’t going to get you anywhere,” she added with a smirk, before chuckling to herself and returning to her task of clearing out the floor, whistling to herself as she did so while moving the chairs around.
Out at where the two were now seated, the older woman then shot a look at the kitchen, before leaning in and holding up a hand so that she could whisper in private, “Oh, please no need for such formalities. You can call me Hiromi,” her mother began, before feeling a wrinkle of concern pass through her eyebrows. Who knew that their guest would be able to pick up on the little crumple that otherwise constituted the entire happy family that they had? “To be honest, she only knows little, and I’d prefer for it to stay that way,” she began with a sigh, before clenching her fists in her lap and relaxing the grip some moments later.
“I found out rather early on that he was having an affair… with one of his work mates over in Lilycove, no less. The woman’s not even as dignified as I,” she continued in that same whisper, shooting continuous glances over at the kitchen, where she knew that her daughter was now working in order to be able to clean it up. “I basically raised her myself. Much as I wanted to train her in the ways of being a dancer… she had other plans and just basically grew up a bit wilder than normal. You see, I used to be an apprentice for one of the Kimono Girls over in Ecruteak in Johto, and… ‘that man’ caught my eye. Who knew that he was some sort of a philanderer when his true colors came out…” she trailed off with a rather bitter glance in her eye; before looking up once more at her guest’s direction upon hearing about what had happened to his own father.
“Oh… I’m sorry for the loss,” she began with a softer tone, reaching out for a part of his body that she could reach and giving him a bracing pat. “In times like these, all we can do is be strong. Never show weakness in front of your mother, do you hear me? You have to stand up and show her that life goes on. much like how me and Izumi are dealing with things. We just went and carried on with our lives,” she added with a soft smile crossing her lips. Over in the kitchen, Izumi didn’t know what they were talking about—because the atmosphere had gone silent all of a sudden. “MUUUUUM! Please don’t show him the pictures of me wearing the wait-staff uniform! Those’re the completely embarrassing ones!” she shouted once more from the kitchen; she’d already done her sweeping duties and was now wiping down all the surfaces with a clean cloth.
WORDS 548 TAGSJosh Dragomir NOTESMother to son talk?!
Post by Josh Dragomir on Mar 17, 2015 8:16:55 GMT -5
He would nod a nod as he said "Alright, apologies, a pleasure to meet you Miss Hiromi". He would listen intently as Izumi's mother would tell about her husband, and Izumi's father. His gaze softened as she went on. An affair had broken up their family then... He would let out a sigh, scratching his head. Here he was mentioning his father's apparent passing, and she was still dealing with problems from Izumi's father still... He would listen as she talked about how she had been forced to raise Izumi on her own, that her father was obviously never there, dealing with his.. Affairs and pleasures. Honestly, the thought of her father having an affair absolutely disgusted him. While he was a stranger to relationships, the concept of cheating and affairs was not new to him whatsoever. It was a 100%, pure grade no no in his eyes. One of the worst things you could do was cheat in a relationship. It was something he would never do, never be caught dead doing, and he despised anyone who would even think of doing something that horrible, that cruel, that inhumane. He would nod then, as she would tell him never to show weakness in front of his mother. He always tried, he knew she didn't need him to be like that when she was suffering herself...
"Well... Actually, I... I don't know if he's dead" He would admit sheepishly. "It's... Complicated. I can try to explain if you want, but it's been a year. Even my other's resigned to the fact he's most likely.. Gone" He said softly, taking a breath. His lips would then twitch into a grin when Izumi would yell out to them. "TOOOOO LAAAAAAAATE~" He would tease, flipping the album back to the uniform picture just to get at her.
Post by Izumi Yamamura on Mar 18, 2015 8:32:59 GMT -5
Izumi could only guess what her mother and their guest was talking about—because she was now busy giving the entire kitchen a thorough scrubbing with the dish cloth; and boy was there a lot of ground to cover! She’d barely gotten started on the higher shelves and racks when she heard her companion practically screech out her worst nightmare.
That was definitely more than enough to make her hop down from where she stood and make a rather abrupt appearance in the kitchen’s doorway, before belting back her right hand that held the rather dirty-looking cloth she was using to scrub down the surfaces. “Oh, Arceus. MUM! I thought you buried those under your drawers years ago!” she began, feeling what little color she had left in her face drain as she caught sight of the picture that he was now laughing at.
True enough, it showed a much younger, gangly, scrawny-looking Izumi attempting to clumsily balance a load of trays in both hands—the end result of that picture moments later was anything but pretty. “Mum, you already know what happened soon after that picture was taken. I broke everything I was holding. I was careless, I know, but please, not those pictures, they’re really, completely, honestly embarrassing!” she got out in one breath, flustered to the core. She was itching to chuck the dirty rag in her hands right at the snerking and laughing blonde’s face; but knew that she wasn’t going to get away with it because her mother was right there, seated across from him, unashamedly showing the entire album to him.
“Is it my fault that you looked so adorable, so innocent… so perfect when the camera went off and snapped that photo? It was most definitely not, young lady. Now, go back to the kitchen and finish up what you started,” the older woman said in a rather teasing tone, accompanied with a matching dismissing wave of her hand. That was more than enough to make Izumi’s own temper flare up ever so slightly; and she was definitely considering chucking the cloth not just once, but twice—if she was using two rags instead of one.
“Someday… someday I’ll get back at you for this, Ma,” she muttered with a dark look passing her eyes for a few moments before she disappeared back into the kitchen, now determined to scrub everything down as quickly as she was humanly capable of doing.
Now that their little distraction had gone back to her task, she then looked over at the young man, before looking at him squarely in the eyes once more. “It wouldn’t hurt to explain a little, so that I can understand the situation much better. That is, if you’re okay with it,” she continued in the same soft whisper, shooting glances at the doorway every so often; just to make sure that their little firebrand wasn’t eavesdropping on their conversation.
Post by Josh Dragomir on Mar 18, 2015 8:58:03 GMT -5
Josh knew that it was only a matter of time before Izumi would hear them and make an appearance. And so she did, dirty clothes and little cleaning clothes and all. He would playfully hold up the photo album for Izumi to see, with the picture of younger Izumi with the uniform, clumsily holding up the plates and all. The big, teasing grin on his face showed just how amusing this was to him. It was funny really, how much he could tease her with just a simple picture, but maybe that just showed he cared? Who knows? Well, it was obvious that he cared about Izumi a great deal, but this was just the icing on the cake.
As Izumi told the short story about what happened next, the blonde would start laughing, even more amused and humored then before from all of this. He would watch with a big grin as her mother would shoo her off, before turning to him. His amusement turned to a frown, biting his lip as she would request the explanation, but he would nod.
"Alright... I.. I guess I should probably start from the beginning, it's a bit of a long story" He said. "I guess to cap it off... I'm.. Not actually from Hoenn" He said, taking a breath.
Post by Izumi Yamamura on Mar 24, 2015 8:02:05 GMT -5
The raven-haired girl could only roll her eyes as Josh (as well as her mother) continued to make a mockery out of the single most embarrassing thing that had happened to her back in her younger days, before grumbling and stomping back into the kitchen; the better to be able to finish what she was doing as quickly as she could. Now that Izumi was out of sight, the older woman then sat up a bit straighter, wondering if their guest would spill the beans to her, at least.
She was a bit taken aback at his first pronouncement; before she placed her hands in her lap and sighed, before giving him another look. “I figured as much,” she began in the same soft whisper; “…you don’t have the air that he does. I can tell, because I’m not from Hoenn either—I hail from Ecruteak all the way back in Johto,” she remarked, before nodding gently in his direction. “Please, do continue. I wouldn’t want to interrupt your tale,” she added in a softer tone, before casting a wary glance at the kitchen, where several loud scuffling and banging noises were coming from.
“Young lady, I expect that kitchen to be clean as a whistle when I go in there later, and don’t drag your feet! The dead can hear you all the way in the afterlife,” she called out to her… rampaging daughter, who was now in a huff and trying to get everything squared out. Izumi could only roll her eyes in the kitchen for that pronouncement, before continuing with the rest of the work that was laid out in front of her to finish.
WORDS 278 TAGSJosh Dragomir NOTESZuzu not pleased brah. Lol
Post by Josh Dragomir on Mar 25, 2015 19:46:13 GMT -5
The blonde snickered at Izumi's huff as she headed back to the kitchen. It was amusing, this whole thing with Izumi and the... Baby pictures and uniform pictures. Something started to form in his head, the ultimate payback, that would get her back for "Thor'eal", "Scruffynator", and all the other things. Better then all of them, perhaps...
Baby pictures.
Uniform pictures.
Ohhh, he wasn't going to let Izumi hear the end of it. And so, he called out to Zu. "Hey Izumi! We should get a copy of some of these pictures, like the uniform one, and give one to my mother! She'd love to put it on the wall since you've pretty much moved in!" He would joke in his call toward Izumi, with a big cheeky grin showing that he knew that it would rile her up. He was teasing, of course, but it was easy to tell by looking at him that he was getting payback for something.
He would nod when her mother brought up not being from Hoenn either. Huh, who knew? He would smile then as she yelled out to Izumi after she seemed to mess something up. Damn, did she always do that? Alas, he would resume his tale.
"Well..." He began, scratching his head. "I guess I might as well start from the beginning, if you don't mind a long story. I'll uh, admit.. This might get a bit... Grueling. I haven't told anyone else this story besides your daughter" He revealed. "Even my mother doesn't know the whole story, but I'll try and at least shorten it to get to the point with my dad, so I don't waste your time" He said, taking a breath, scratching the back of his head.
"You see... There's a region, or... Was a region, far away from here. It was called Kotaku. The reason you don't see it on a map anymore is because when.... 'That' started, it was erased from the maps and all travel to and from there was cut off. But... It doesn't matter now, it's gone now. A whole region, a big pile of nothing, likely a desolate wasteland at this point after what happened. That's where I'm from, that's where I grew up with my family" he revealed, taking a moment to breathe and get his bearings before continuing.
(Did a bit of a re-write of the story to better reflect events, so looks like you're getting the re-told one : D )
Post by Izumi Yamamura on Mar 27, 2015 8:13:13 GMT -5
That was the absolute last straw.
The moment Izumi heard the remark about Josh attempting to make copies of the lone picture that she’d struggled to keep hidden for most of her life, the sounds in the kitchen went silent—before a thundering noise began to echo throughout the area—and then a rather dirty dish cloth came flying out from the kitchen and smacked the visitor dead-on in the face! The raven-haired Trainer then smirked and giggled with glee at the sound of the dish cloth hitting his face; and even Hiromi had seen the aforementioned dish cloth whizzing out of the kitchen doorway and promptly made a dodging gesture; not wishing to get smacked with something that was covered with a rather liberal amount of dirt and grime.
“THAT’S IT!” they would hear from the kitchen; as the younger female would finally proceed to roll up the sleeves of what she was wearing and hitched up the skirts, before stomping out of the place looking rather worse for wear—she definitely meant business. “Sorry, Mum,” she began, before bowing in her direction and coming to a stop in front of Josh. She then bent down to pick up the dish cloth; and seeing as she was in such close range, pitched back and lobbed the rolled-up dish cloth right into the blonde’s face again!
A round of rather…colorful profanities would then issue from the younger raven-haired woman’s mouth; completely and totally not caring if her mother was there listening to what she was saying! Of course, she’d defaulted into her original language, just to throw him off, before finally picking up the dish cloth again and returning to the kitchen in a huff.
Hiromi could only blink and stare at what had happened—yes, she’d definitely managed to listen to the rather long, if somewhat unbelievable story and was about to react when the little explosion that had come from her daughter had taken place. “Well, I rather…” she began, before looking over at the kitchen with a rather dark look flitting through her eyes for a few moments. “I think you overstepped that,” she began in a soft whisper, before breaking out into a dignified-sounding chuckle. “She’s rather… touchy about that particular episode in her childhood. Don’t worry, I’ll deal with her later,” the older woman continued, before finally addressing the beginning of the… story that she’d heard from earlier. “I find it a bit hard to believe, how can a region become a desolate wasteland over time? This is actually the first I’ve heard of other regions existing asides from the ones I am fully aware of,” she continued in the same soft whisper.
“Please, do continue…” she urged, hoping that he would still continue to tell the tale, regardless of the little “commercial break” that had happened earlier.
WORDS 473 TAGSJosh Dragomir NOTESYou have pissed off the cannon
Post by Josh Dragomir on Mar 27, 2015 9:52:27 GMT -5
Honestly, he saw a blow-up coming eventually. But considering he had JUST started the uniform pictures and baby pictures jokes in this thread, he hadn’t expected Izumi to have a serious episode so quickly. So it came as a surprise when Izumi would decide to toss a dirty cloth his way. Luckily, Lightning, who was clinging to his shoulder still, would whack the cloth away with his tail, as if used to deflecting things on Josh’s behalf. He would look over at Izumi and roll his eyes. He’d watch as she would walk over in an angry huff, and pick up the cloth. He knew what was coming, as did the Pikachu, and as Izumi would try to thwack him with the cloth, the tail would come up again, this time sending the cloth right into Izumi’s face. Josh hadn’t lifted a finger, Izumi had just failed to figure in the possibility of her mortal enemy, Lightning, getting in the way of her dirty cloth smashing plans. Josh would blink once Izumi was gone, before looking back toward her mother and scratching his head.
“Yeah… Uh… It wasn’t exactly over time” The blonde would explain. “It was actually a… Physical destruction. It didn’t just rot away. It was destroyed by force” He would add. “We were sworn to secrecy on this, but… I’m far, far, away from Kotaku now, they can’t really stop me at this point. That governing body is disbanded now, since their region is basically destroyed” he said, cracking his neck. “The region is, or, well, was… Quite a ways from here. There are many regions out in the world, but this one was a long boat ride from Nue, or even Hoenn. It probably took about a day aboard a helicopter to get to Hoenn” he explained.
He took a deep breath, biting his lip. This was obviously quite difficult for him to talk about. “You see… Uh… A long time ago, scientists in Kotaku were experimenting with genetic modifications, in Pokemon. Now, everyone was already sketchy about this, because part of their team consisted of scientists who were formerly in this terrorist organization called Team Light, who had caused complete havoc in the region years before. But these guys claimed that they would be able to make it so the type disadvantages of Pokemon would be wiped out. Fire Pokemon would no longer have to fear water. Grass Pokemon would no longer fear being set on fire. They wanted them to be… Perfect. They performed experiments on Pokemon, which of course nobody approved of, but they continued to do it, claiming that this would make League battles more fair, and based off a Trainer’s skill then lucky type match-ups. Sure, it seems great on paper, but… No Pokemon is perfect, you can’t fuck with nature. But…” He trailed off, taking a deep breath.
“They… They pulled it off. They made an injection that could turn Pokemon into a perfect being, without a type disadvantage. But… The problem was, they… Well…”
He bit his lip. Great, here came the part he hated the most about this part of the story.
“They… They became mutated. Their colors became dark and decayed. Their eyes turned red. Their flesh peeled from their bodies, and hung like some kind of horror story come to life. They couldn’t detect any life in them. They were medically dead. But they were alive… And they were much stronger then the average Pokemon, with no type disadvantages. But they were wild, feral, aggressive and dangerous… And then… The ones they were experimenting on… They escaped from their glass containment units. They attacked, and killed, most of the scientists that were experimenting on them. And here comes the worst part. It turns out that this… Thing, in them… It was a plague. A scourge, it was called. And it could be spread to other Pokemon. Either through the air, or through physical attacks. So the first thing they did was infect all the other Pokemon that were in the lab, and then they escaped, being loosed upon the region. They attacked wild Pokemon first, infecting them with the disease as well, and before long, it was like an army. A plague that had spread across the region. And I did mention the air earlier, basically... As they spread, their essence managed to get into the air. While humans were immune, just as they were to physical attacks spreading to them, the Pokemon were not, whether human trained or wild. Every Pokemon out of their Pokeball that wasn't protected or sheltered somehow had a small chance of contracting the scourge at random, in which case, if they were trained... They would slowly begin to turn into one of those monsters, before attacking their Trainers and forcing them to..."
He bit his lip as he trailed off, having a hard time finishing. It was something he hated thinking about, and something that during that whole time, he had feared more then death itself. He was lucky, then, to not have ever had to deal with losing a Pokemon that way. To be forced to kill one of his own to survive...
"F-Forcing them to kill their own partner, their own Pokemon, to keep them from killing the Trainer and the rest of their Pokemon. That was how the scourge Pokemon ran, after all... They would either kill your Pokemon, or worse, infect them and they would slowly become one of them. Whichever came first..." He said, staring down at the ground for a moment, taking a breath. "This brought about the end of competitive and league battling. Because now, we couldn't afford to have our Pokemon out for league battles, and we had to spend more time training to take on the scourge. For, while they had no weaknesses, a side effect was they were quite frail. If a Pokemon was able to turn up their attacks... A Flamethrower set to full strength, a Thunderbolt to full power... They would disintegrate into ash. That was the only way for the world to survive, and that was to start fighting against them"
He needed a moment. "C-can... Can I get a drink or something? I need a moment..." He said, feeling a bit lightheaded. He had meant to get into some background about his father, but he felt sick to his stomach. Lightning would curl up in his Trainer's lap to try and comfort him.
Post by Izumi Yamamura on Mar 30, 2015 8:58:04 GMT -5
Screwing the fact that the Pikachu had factored into her plans, she was already in the kitchen by the time the Pika had retaliated, and she was now starting to resent having the Lightning Mouse around. As she continued to scrub the hell out of all the dirty surfaces that were present in the kitchen, she then continued to strain her ears, listening to what he was saying—there was something a bit different about what he was sharing with her mother; as compared to what he’d told her initially.
Wait, what the fuck? Why is what he’s saying right now much different from what he told me in the first place? she thought to herself, feeling a furrow of concern pass through her eyebrows. Not like it’s my place to interfere. But I’ll strangle him later for that, she continued to muse to herself, planning ruination on the Pikachu that had ruined her payback…
Back outside, Hiromi’s expression changed from one of benign surprise, to one of outright shock (not to mention disgust) the longer the story went on. At first, she was mildly interested in the fact that there was a place somewhere out there, that had managed to somewhat “nullify” the weaknesses of a Pokémon that naturally existed. However, the longer (and deeper) that the story went on, the more and more… terrifying it became. Once he’d reached a point that he needed some water, she then looked up from her pensive state before shouting towards the kitchen, ”Young lady! Get us some refreshments, please!” before turning to face him again; before tentatively placing a hand on his knee.
“Does… does your mother know about this entire story, too? What about your father, what did he do in order to be able to get you all out of there?” she continued in the same quiet voice; now tinged with concern for the blonde’s general welfare.
Post by Josh Dragomir on Mar 30, 2015 13:11:56 GMT -5
Aw, as much as she hated him right now, Josh was sure that Izumi loved the adorable little Lightning Mouse inside. I mean, how could she not? He was like a part of their unique little family, and he'd tried to help Izumi on occasion. This was just one of the times that Lightning had decided to protect Josh instead, and it just happened be from Izumi.
As they waited for some drinks, Josh would take a moment to recompose himself. Truth be told, he hadn't told Izumi anything "different" per say. They had just met, but yet he somehow trusted her quite a bit. But only enough to tell her the short version of the story. He had told her mainly what he had told her mother about the mutants, so Izumi wasn't missing out, so no clue why she was upset, but she would find as Josh went on that it was clear that he had only prior told Izumi the short version. Of course, if she'd asked later after they had gotten close, he likely would have told her the full story later. Well, at least she was hearing it now, right?
"Aye, I was getting to my dad and how he factors in all this" He said softly, once he had gotten his bearings. "To allow you to understand though, I'm going to have to tell all of it, or it'll be all jumbled and confusing. Izumi only had the short story. My mother knows most of this story... For the most part, anyway. You see, both of my parents were real hotshot Trainers back in Kotaku. My mother, along with her partner, her Arcanine, was a fearless Trainer who took challenges head on, though she had other interests that took her time, such as working on machinery, studying Pokemon, studying breeding, stuff like that. So she wasn't always on a journey, but she tried to put her time toward everything she could. This is why she has the funds she does, she made a successful living off her work. And why she's so good with building things and her knowledge of Pokemon is so vast"
"Now... My father. Unlike my mother, all he wanted to do was go on a journey and train Pokemon. And he did. Unlike my mom, raising, training and batting his Pokemon was all that he did. He was an amazing Trainer, really strong... He and his partner, his Raichu, who he had since he was a Pichu, conquered the Kotaku League Tournament and became the Kotaku Champion. He met my mother, and they ended up settling down together, combining the funds of her businesses and her work, with the funds he earned as Champion, to build a ranch that they could settle down together, get married, and live in peace with their Pokemon. They had me, of course, and I spent my life around the Pokemon there. Whether it was the wild Pokemon that they let into their enclosure to live with them, or their own Pokemon, I was allowed to work there and help out throughout my childhood. When I wasn't at school, I was there. Sure, I didn't see my dad a whole lot... I mean, he was always really busy with his work, but when he was around, he'd show me all the different Pokemon and taught me about types.. And... And..."
He was shaking a bit, and wiped his eyes as he bit his lip and looked down. This was hard for him. And getting increasingly harder to deal with.
"H-he.... He... I-I'm sorry, I need a moment..." He whispered as he would take a moment to recompose himself. Once he'd recovered, he would wipe his eyes and look back at her. "I mean, my mom did her part, and her knowledge was a great teacher... But I looked up to my dad. He was the Champion. He was this great Trainer who loved his Pokemon. He was my hero. And I wanted to be just like him. I begged and begged to be allowed to go on a journey when I turned 10, like he did. And he was thrilled to oblige me. He promised me, if I was good, he'd give me my own Pokemon and let me go on a journey when I turned 10, because he knew that I had it in me. So I worked harder, I put more effort into the work at the ranch. I wanted to prove to them that I was capable of it, and I wanted to learn as much as I could to prepare for my journey, while also taking elementary schooling"
"But... Just before I turned 10, the scourge hit. My parents had barriers implemented around the ranch that could keep them away, but they knew that the barriers wouldn't last forever. They weren't very durable, but they were incredibly expensive due to the demand. But... I knew something was off the moment they started hunting down all the wild Pokemon that lived with us, and either caught them by their choice, or shoo'd them away if they didn't want to. I didn't understand why, but I was still excited to go on my journey. But... Then just before I turned 10, they told me that they wanted me to stay on the ranch and work more to improve myself, and continue my schooling. I wasn't going to go on a journey... I wasn't even going to get a Pokemon, because, while they didn't tell me this... They knew that if I got myself a Pokemon, I would get frustrated by them refusing me, and I would run off on my own and get killed. It was to protect me, but I didn't understand. I... I was heartbroken" He said quietly, biting his lip. "That was all I wanted to do throughout my childhood, and I was heartbroken that they took it away from me. They tried to make me feel better by promising that if I did good in school, they'd eventually let me go on a journey and have a Pokemon. So as the years ticked by, I worked harder and harder. As I got older, I got more ambitious with my work on the ranch. I spent a lot of time hunting down lost Pokemon, climbing artificial rocks and mountains, swimming against sharp currents, and working hard. That's why I'm in the shape and muscularity that I am, though I took up weightlifting at 15 as well. I wanted to prove to them that I could take care of a Pokemon and go on a journey. I wanted it so badly, and they kept promising and holding it off... Of course, they were stalling it, in case the scourge would go away and they'd be able to let me then. But I only saw it as them keeping it away from me and holding off on me. I was furious. But motivated. Eventually, I graduated, and still nothing. The scourge had spread across the region, most wild Pokemon around were infected. Towns were barricaded off, and many people didn't leave their homes anymore"
He took a breath. "My family pushed me to leave the ranch and Kotaku, knowing that soon the borders into the region would be closed to prevent the spread of infection in the air, as well as scourge Pokemon leaving the region and going elsewhere to infect the world. So... I left for a university in Sinnoh, with the promise that when I graduated, they would finally give in and give me a Pokemon, and let me go on my journey. I was motivated, so... I left. In the years that followed, the League, and all competitive battling as we knew it, became nothing. My dad's status as Champion became nothing but a distant memory. And something they didn't tell me was that the ranch's barriers were about to fail. They knew I'd refuse to leave, and they wanted to keep the scourge a secret from me, as many parents did with their kids in that time period. So the only thing they could do to protect me then, knowing I'd be absolutely miserable without the ranch, was to make me leave. I graduated with my Bachelors in Psychology, early even. They sent me letters telling me to take spring and summer courses, to graduate faster. They wanted me to finish my schooling fast, and push me towards a psychology career, which I'd shown interest in. For awhile, my journey was forgotten. I was going to graduate and find work in Sinnoh. They were pushing me to go for my Psyche Masters degree after I graduated, but I decided to return home for a break since I hadn't seen my family in years, before returning to finish my education" He would explain.
"But... When I got there with, having had to sneak into the region because of the quarantines, I... I was shocked by what I found. I witnessed a man, and his Pokemon, be viciously killed by one of the scourge, before an officer found me. They thought I'd come near the border from the Kotaku side, and was trying to exit, so they shoo'd me out. The man I paid to boat me there was gone anyway, so I couldn't really turn back. But... When I got home and confronted my family on what I saw, they... Finally told me the truth. I found out about the lie they had told me for so many years, and what they had tried to hide from me"
"I... I was furious. I was furious that they stayed and hid while people needed help, when I could have been out there, helping people. I was furious at my dad, this big bad Champion who I grew up idolizing, had just kept doing competitive battles until their extinction, instead of going out and fighting. Of course, he did go out and fight, just while I was already gone. But I didn't know that... I was upset. And I was determined to do what he couldn't do, and I ran away from home, determined to catch myself a Pokemon as I realized they would never keep their promise to me... And go out and help people who were being killed off like that"
"Of course... That's when everything got bad for my family. I was foolish, and I ran off without thinking. But emotions drove me, I was motivated to do something. But sometimes... I wish I hadn't"
Post by Izumi Yamamura on Apr 3, 2015 4:46:34 GMT -5
Izumi’s ears were still perked up as she quickly bustled through the fridge, getting out the request that her mother had practically screeched her way while they were talking over in the living room. She could feel her hands trembling as she did so, snatching up glasses, pouring out ice, and finally setting the pitcher onto the tray before she made a grab for one of the cookie jars and placed it on the tray as she then made her way out to the living room, where her mother and Josh were currently talking. She then set down the tray without another word, before quickly excusing herself and making her way back into the kitchen—she still had some leftover clean-up to get to.
But… that story… it’s so outrageous it’s unbelievable… all the same, I never knew he’d gone through so much shit… it’s just too much. How the hell does he keep himself strong anyways?! I know he’s bound to crack up someday… the raven-haired Trainer mused to herself as she then proceeded to finish up with cleaning the entire kitchen. Even if she didn’t want to hear the rest of the tale, a part of her was very much curious—what would happen next as he continued with his story? Back outside in the living room, the older woman looked up with a crinkle of concern flitting by her face, before gently reaching out and giving the younger male a pat on the shoulder.
“It’s okay… you don’t have to continue if it’s getting to be too much for you,” she said in the same soft tone; before gesturing at the table that now had a tray set out, complete with drinks and some snacks. “Feel free to eat for a bit,” she continued, gesturing to the try that had been set out for them.
WORDS 308 TAGSJosh Dragomir NOTESThis story is so scary it's unbelievable
Post by Josh Dragomir on Apr 3, 2015 12:20:21 GMT -5
Josh would decide to take a moment to rest. It... Admittedly was difficult to talk about this sort of thing. He would nod in silent thanks to Izumi as she brought a drink out, and he would gulp it down. Lightning cuddled against him, trying to comfort his Trainer as the blonde would try to relax himself before continuing. "No, no, it's okay" Josh would respond to her words, though did indulge himself for a cookie, as would the Pikachu, who knew that his part in the story was coming up. Once he'd eaten and relaxed himself, he would continue. "I mean... I needed to get this out in full anyway. I've never told the full version before" He would admit. "Again, I gave Izumi the short version, and I know she's eavesdropping in the kitchen" He said, smirking a bit toward the kitchen.
"But... I managed to get to the next town without incident. It was there that I met some remaining scientists, who were also Professors... And when I told them my situation, they gave me a Pokemon with a weird color. A Torchic. They said that it was immune to the scourge and I could fight them with this Pokemon without fear. What I didn't know until later was that the poor Torchic had been abused and experimented on by them, thus why he was colored like that, and immune... He'd had the immunizer injected into him, yeah, but he was so frail when we met. But... We bonded, and we became close, and we fought together. When we were ready to fight, we headed out, and that was where I first dealt with the scourge firsthand. Vulcan, the name of the Torchic, and me... And yes Izumi, I know you can hear me... That Torchic is the same one that evolved into a Combusken when we met, and later evolved into Blaziken... But Vulcan and me fought our hearts out. But I still remained naive to what was going on behind the scenes and the true brutal nature of the scourge... I thought they were pokemon in pain, and we never killed any, just fought through them to get to people to help. Of course... That was until I finally saw their true nature" He said quietly.
"I said earlier that sometimes I wished I'd never seen it. But at the same time.. It was a blessing in disguise, because that was how I met Lightning. Vulcan and I wandered into a forest that had been razed by the scourge Pokemon, and we came across the corpse of a Raichu, being feasted on by the scourge Pokemon. Vulcan and I drove them off, and it was then that we found a baby Pichu, just a few days old, hidden in some bushes, freezing and starving to death. It was too young to know how to get food, and while it hadn't been infected, it had been badly wounded. I picked him up and we ran back to town to the Pokemon Center. The nurse was out, so I had to nurse him back to health myself, as the poor thing was dying. I spent a week at the Pokemon Center, always at the Pichu's side, trying to nurse it's wounds and help him get back to health. It was there that my parents found me. They had gone looking for me, to bring me home and sneak me out of the border so I could go back to school. I refused, but then they saw the lengths I'd gone to nurse the Pichu back to health... And eventually, once he was all better, they gave me their blessing and went home. It was there that I'd found out the nurse had been killed by the scourge on a supplies run. The Pichu never left my side once he regained his strength, and it was suggested by my mother to catch him, before she'd left. So.. I did. I named him Lightning, he became my partner, and we fought the scourge together, to avenge his mother and to help people so they didn't suffer the same fate" He said.
Finally, a slightly better drop off point, as he would take a quick break to take another sip of water and ate another cookie, running his hands through Lightning's fur. "Chaaa~" Lightning would coo affectionately as he would nuzzle his Trainer in response. "We've been inseparable ever since. I've saved his life on many occasions... And he's saved mine in countless others. We're rarely ever apart"
Post by Izumi Yamamura on Apr 4, 2015 13:04:47 GMT -5
While their guest was busying himself with the cookies and the drinks, she’d returned to her task of scrubbing down the kitchen and just basically making every single surface shine and glimmer like the sun—or at least make it look absolutely spotless and clean. The moment he’d mentioned that she was listening in the kitchen, she then did her best eye rolling impression, shrugging at the same time—because she was secretly glad that he couldn’t see the reaction on her face as she did so.
Now that he’d continued with the telling of the full version of the abridged story that she’d gotten from him back in the Lavaridge hot springs, she continued to scrub down all the surfaces while keeping her ears pricked up for anything that she didn’t remember hearing the first time around. Back outside at where Hiromi was seated, she continued to listed to the rest of the story, finally managing to piece together how he’d come across his companions.
“Those scientists… what were they thinking in the first place? They should know better than to… than to play ‘God’ with Pokémon… I wanted to say that they got what they deserved, but then again that wouldn’t be a very good reaction on my part, now that I’ve heard majority of the story from you, dear,” she remarked with this thoughtful look on her face, before reaching for the tray and pouring herself a glass of water too.
“Please, feel free to continue anytime you wish,” she added, before finally catching sight of the Pikachu in his arms. “So this is the very same Pikachu...” she trailed off, sitting up a little straighter, the better to be able to get a good look at the Pokémon who was now wanting another head scratching session from his owner.
WORDS 303 TAGSJosh Dragomir NOTESNow it all makes sense
Post by Josh Dragomir on Apr 6, 2015 1:07:32 GMT -5
Josh let out a sigh as he nodded. "I don't know what they were thinking. I mean, it was obvious that they were pressured into it by the Team Light members of the scientist team, so they could, yknow, try and take over the region again with these perfect Pokemon, but... They just never stopped. They made a big mess of things, and only hurt more Pokemon in trying to fix it. It was shameful. I'm just glad that Vulcan's with me now, and not being abused and experimented on. He deserved a lot better then that. He's loyal, he's a great partner and a great friend. He was my very first Pokemon, there's always been a special place in my heart for Vulcan. And these days, Vulcan's happier then he's ever been. It was a godsend to get him away from that horrible place and those horrible people" He said quietly, cracking his neck.
As she would trail off, he would nod, running his fingers through Lightning's fur. "Yep... This is the same Pichu that I saved when he was only a few days old. He evolved when I came to Hoenn in order to save me from a pack of Gyarados after we'd been knocked into the water" He would explain. It'd been quite some time since then... In some ways, he missed Hoenn. But Nue was certainly the best place for him to be right now. And for his Pokemon.
"That plague... Changed a lot of people. It drove people mad, and made them so desperate to survive that some Trainers went from fighting them... To joining them. To actually throwing their own Pokemon, helpless, to be killed and eaten by those... Those things, for some kind of unholy alliance. They were intelligent enough to see a human as their ally if they sacrificed their Pokemon to them. And lured Trainers and their Pokemon to their doom. That happened to me as well... I met a kindly man with a Clefairy who got me and Lightning and Vulcan out of a jam. Prior to this, I had avoided fatal conflict with the scourge. I only wounded, never killed. That man... He led us into a clearing, and then when we were surrounded by the Scourge... He sent out his Clefairy and tossed the poor thing to them to be eaten. I could see the betrayal in the poor thing's eyes, and it tore me apart..." He said quietly, his fists shaking a bit as he fought back tears from reliving it. "That site will forever be stuck in my head... The bastard... The fucking bastard threw the poor thing to be killed. It cried out to it's Trainer to save it, and he just stood there and laughed. And he let them kill it and eat it right in front of us. We ran, when we realized what was going on... When we thought we finally escaped.. He suddenly grabbed me and tried to throw me to them too. It was there that every shed of innocence and sanity I had left disappeared. I had lost faith and trust in others, my survival instincts suddenly kicked in and I stabbed him in the throat with my field knife. I had to convince Lightning and Vulcan to turn their attacks up to full power, Lightning's Thundershock... Vulcan's Flamethrower... They had to burn and electrocute and fry those things to death. And whenever they got too close, I was forced to use my knife to kill them. While they had perfect strengths with no weaknesses, they were fragile. They could be fried quite easily if you turned it up... It broke my heart, every single time. I had to become a survivalist, someone who wouldn't hesitate to kill person or Pokemon, no remorse... I hated it. I despised what I was forced to become, but I had to in order to protect myself, in order to protect my small group of Pokemon that had joined me on my journey. Vulcan, my Torchic... Lightning, my Pichu... Ace, my Pidgey... Bail, my Furfrou... All of them were saved from the scourge or scientists and they joined my team in return. We fought together, despite the odds. But... The problem was, the scourge threat grew bigger, and entire towns were overrun, the human and scourge-less Pokemon population was sinking down to nothing. Finally... It was time to go. The military had been called in and a region-wide evacuation had been ordered. But I refused to go. I thought there was still people I could save. Eventually, my family got ahold of me. Told me that our hometown was about to be overrun, that the ranch was about to be overrun, the shields were gone, they couldn't have the Pokemon out anymore... They convinced me to leave. What hurt more then that was the fact that for a short time during these travels, I was accompanied by a woman named Maxine, who I saved from the scourge. She knew very little about training pokemon and I taught her all that I'd learned. We fought together to take on the scourge, and when the evacuation began, her parents called her home. I never saw her again, for years after that. For years, I'd assumed she'd been killed when the scourge suddenly flooded her hometown, broke down the barricades and massacred the remaining population there..."
He took a deep breath. "It... Was time to go. My parents told me that I had to think of my Pokemon. It was a miracle that the ones I had hadn't been infected so far, and if I wanted to keep them that way, since the vaccines were way too expensive to buy... I had to go with them. They wanted to move to Hoenn, to start a new life. To get away from this before it was too late. So... I left. I went with them. They promised me that when we got there, they'd let me go on a journey finally, for real. They came and picked me up at the one remaining Pokemon Center, they'd already packed and gotten everything ready, but... It was on the way to the helicopter that where this story is leading is going to be revealed. We were waylaid by a large pack of the scourge.... There were far too many and we were running out of escapes. Finally, my dad's Raichu decided to charge in, crying out to us as it attacked the scourge on it's own to tell us to escape. I wanted to stay and fight, but dad yelled at us to get to the helicopter not too far from there. Dad tried to stay behind as me and my mom ran, but his Raichu wouldn't have any of it. Shot a warning zap his way to tell him to run too. He started to back away, hesitant... And Raichu fought his damn hardest to keep them at bay. But... They hounded him and jumped on him... When they buried him in scourge Pokemon, dad knew he was lost... And he ran with us, his only concern now to get us on the helicopter and get us out of this crazy region. We flew out of the region on a helicopter. Dad wanted to go back for him, but... He knew deep inside that if Raichu had survived, he was already infected and bound to die sooner or later..." He said quietly.
"After flying for two days, we landed in Hoenn and bought a new home there... They bought a big piece of land and made a new ranch, started over... They gave me their blessing to go on my journey, so I took my Pokemon that had joined me and let them come with me. But... Sometimes, I wish I hadn't. I tried to come home as much as I can, but everytime I did, dad just... He hardly spoke. He had become a zombie of sorts, just staring into space, not eating much at all, not training, not really helping with the housework... He was heartbroken. He loved that Raichu. They'd been together ever since Pichu hatched for him when my dad was 10 years old. He was his first Pokemon, and they'd been together for over 40 years. He won the Kotaku League Championship with Raichu. He just... He didn't know how to function anymore. And we all loved Raichu, too... He was a family member, much like Lightning is now. I... I can't imagine what he went through. I can't imagine losing Lightning. It would destroy me. But he had Raichu for 40 years. I can safely say that... Losing Raichu completely destroyed him...."
"He slipped into depression, he didn't speak, he didn't eat, like I said... He just... He was like a tomato, but a walking, zombie moving tomato. He was like a fucking vegetable. He was dead inside. Nothing could cheer him up. He even tried to get a flight back to Kotaku to reunite with Raichu, to see if it survived... He didn't care that it was probably infected and killing people. He just wanted to see him one more time before he died... That's.. That's when he found out that the military had evacuated everyone so that they could place and detonate a series of nukes across the Kotaku region. It was gone... There was nothing left. The scourge menace was dead... As were any wild Pokemon or people that hadn't been evacuated for one reason or another. His Raichu was gone.... His partner was gone"
"We got more and more worried about him the further he sunk into depression... Eventually, my mom called me while I was travelling and told me that he'd disappeared. We couldn't find him. After a year... We finally moved to Nue when it popped up, for a better life... And I know mom's heartbroken. Part of her wanted to stay in Hoenn in hopes that he might come back. B-but now... We know it's... It's very likely he's... He's... He's d-dead now. As much as we hate to admit it... He probably... C-committed suicide to be with Raichu..." He whispered, choking out a sob, trying to hold it in but having a hard time. Lightning would cuddle against his Trainer, not wanting him to cry. "Mom's in denial, but deep down... We both know he's gone... He's not coming back... He's gone, just like Raichu is..."
"I... I'm sorry for burdening you with all this... Y-you've got your own problems with your own family... I-I guess... I guess I just needed to get that all out. I've... I've been holding all of this in for a few years now...." He said quietly, rubbing tears out of his eyes.
Post by Izumi Yamamura on Apr 7, 2015 6:56:24 GMT -5
Even if it wasn’t that obvious, Izumi was listening to the rest of the story unfolding while she was now mopping the floor of the kitchen. There were some parts that were different from the short version that she knew about; but either way, the entire thing was now starting to make sense. She then stopped mopping the floors for a bit before looking up and listening as intently as she could. After hearing a certain point, she could only sigh, before leaning the mop against one of the chairs in the dining room and coming out into the living room and was quite surprised to see that Josh himself was now crying silently.
Whoa… this is new… she thought as she then quickly rolled up her sleeves and gingerly sat herself down beside him, before looking up and seeing that her mother had joined them on the sofa. It was pretty cramped, but with him seated between two women, there was nothing else to it. “There, there, Josh… no need to cry,” the older woman whispered, gently patting him on the shoulder before catching her daughter’s eye with a knowing look. “Dude…. No need to hold it in, let it all out if you have to. You know I’m here to listen… well, me and my mum, but you get the point,” Izumi added, before slowly giving him a light conk on the shoulder before rubbing his back.
WORDS 239 TAGSJosh Dragomir NOTESGet squished with reassurance
