A beautiful place with beautiful people

The Priz region may be small in comparison to most other regions, but that doesn't make it any less interesting. Oddly enough, it is one of the few, if not only, regions that does not offer pokemon gyms or even an elite four. Priz is mainly a tourist attraction, as well as a place where more confident and well-skilled trainers and come and train a bit more. The pokemon here are definitely stronger than most others, and can pack a fierce punch if one is not prepared. But there is one other thing that Priz is known for. The locals won't speak of it, brochures won't elaborate on it, and there is slim to none information on it. It's a phenomenon that is particularly known within the region of Priz, and it's called poketitis.

Poketitis is a disease that is contracted by pokemon, usually from eating berries that are rotting or from various sources of water. Pokemon with the disease can also give it to other pokemon, usually by general contact. Poketitis, then, causes the host to become more aggressive than usual. The host will often attack anything that moves, and those with poketitis are usually shunned from their herds or colonies until they are healed from the disease. Generally, for pokemon, the disease lasts about a week or two, sometimes three. After which, they will act their old selves. Poketitis is much like the flu in the aspect that it seems to change every so often. Those that caught it are immune for a few years, but the chances of catching it again after that time are more likely.

When a pokemon with poketitis comes in contact with a human, their first instinct is to, obviously, attack, usually attempting to bite the human. Unless the human moves or tries to avoid the oncoming attack, they will get bitten, and the poketitis disease will move to them. Humans can only get the poketitis disease from a pokemon, and it can only be transferred by bites or open wounds.

After the poketitis disease enters the bloodstream, signs and symptoms are quick to follow. The bite or wound will immediately grow red and begin to swell and will eventually get itchy over time. Within hours, the new host will feel as if they're catching the flu, and will have flu-like symptoms for the next week or so. Symptoms such as nausea, upset stomach, diarrhea, weakness, fatigue, and fever are often to follow. However, oddly enough, it does clear up fairly quickly. Most often, after a week, any symptoms of sickness are gone, and all seems fine and well... Until about the two, three week mark.

It's usually around that time when a transformation happens. Once the moon begins to rise, the infected human will feel a tingly feeling, and an urge to get outside, away from civilization. Whether they follow such urges or not, they will feel the tingliness grow stronger and stronger until they find themselves changed. They would not longer be human, then. They would find themselves a pokemon. They would stay within their pokemon form until dawn, and then shift back to their normal form. It is at this point the human is deemed 'eternally infected'. Any pokeperson found out is to be either arrested or killed on the spot.

The pokemon that had bitten the human makes no difference when it comes to the pokemon the human can turn into. The pokemon the human can turn into can be any sort of pokemon imaginable, whether it be common or legendary. The infected person, affectionately referred to as a 'pokeperson', only has one pokemon form, and if it's a pokemon that can evolve, the form can, indeed, evolve and would not effect the human form in the slightest. Pokepeople can also be caught in pokeballs when within their pokemon form, but will ultimately break out of them once they return to their human forms. Pokepeople can also understand other various pokemon, and seem to have better relationships with both wild and their own tamed pokemon than most others.

Within the Priz Region, pokepeople are wanted criminals. Since there is so little information on the poketitis disease, the people see them as a threat. The people believe that the poketitis disease within humans is still transmittable, while pokepeople themselves will state otherwise. Nevertheless, anyone known to be a pokeperson is, by law, a criminal, and must be arrested or killed. Because of this, pokepeople are forced to leave their families and friends and find a place where they could be safe. A group of them have formed within a small, abandoned village deep within the Redwater forest. Once known as Coalfell town, the once bustling town was reduced to shambles long ago. Since then, the pokepeople have raised foundations and have claimed the place as their own. Their hidden by the powers of the various psychic type pokemon that reside around the area in return for food, and no one tends to travel as far into the large forest. For it is a three day's walk from the nearest town to Coalfell. They are safe, and hope to continue to be a safe haven for the coming years.