Tiny Yellow Annoyances (Katherine)

[Nathan Marshall]

tags:Katherine Brookes Words: 386 Notes: I hope this is ok c:

● i could remember everything
whether it had happened or not

Nate stretched his arms high over his head. He lounged on a bench not far from the trail leading to the bamboo forest, lazily watching the groups of people walk by as they moved towards the heart of Sunrise Town. Originally, Nate had planned on coming to Tonga Island in order to train Flick the joltik or catch pokemon, but the warm weather had a pleasantly lethargic effect on him. All he wanted to do was lie back and sunbathe. He had as long as he wanted to catch pokemon, so he might as well relax now. 

He crossed his legs, resting his ankle on a knee. This forced Flick to leap off of his leg and latch on to his pale purple t-shirt. He felt faint tingling coming from the pokemon on his belly, and looked down at the very annoyed joltik. He smiled at the pokemon, but she continued to pout. 

After quite a while of lazing about, Nate stood up. This was his first trip to Tonga, so he might as well see what the rest of the town held. He assumed that the center of Sunrise Town would be very similar to the outside of Sunrise Town, but he wouldn't rule out the possibility that it would be neat until he saw it. Flick still hanging onto his shirt, he strolled deeper into town. He passed a couple shops, all still selling the same crap. 

He had to stop walking when Flick suddenly leapt off of his shirt and scurried around people's feet in order to get into a small alleyway. Nate almost did not realize, but chased his pokemon down until he saw what she had gotten herself into.

There she was, her small mouth clamped onto an outlet as she tried to suck the electricity out of it. Nathan sighed melodramatically and plopped down next to his pokemon. She fought the plastic on the outside of the outlet, limiting her access to tasty electricity inside. "Arceus, Flick," Nate groaned, leaning against a wall,"I just hope no one noticed you dashing around this time." Last time, a lady actually screamed when Flick sped under her skirt. Nate was not looking forward to dealing with people that called into question his ability to keep control over his little bug.

MADE BY ★MEULK OF GS

[Katherine Brookes]

Katherine Brookes Nathan Marshall

It was nice for Katherine to be able to relax and not worry about whether each corner hid police or past victims- a welcome change from Kanto. But while here she was able to live relatively violence-free, there was one thing that still hadn't changed. She was still poor, and she still needed to eat. And what better way to get free food than to just take it? It was, after all, what she had spent the last three years doing. It was also what had almost gotten her arrested, but Katherine tried not to think about that too much.

The strategy employed was a simple one, and one she doubted she would have gotten away with in Kanto, where she had been fairly well-known as a thief. She had sent Bandit into the shop first to be a distraction- the Growlithe had put on a limp and acted as if he were in agony, drawing the shopkeeper to him- and then, whilst everyone was staring at her Pokémon, she had slipped in, snagged a loaf of bread and a small bag of Pokémon food and fled, whistling for Bandit as she went. Biting the shopkeeper, the Growlithe had fled after her, and they had bolted down the street together, weaving through the crowds to avoid notice, Katherine stuffing her stolen goods into her pockets to hide them from nosy observers.

There was no sign of pursuit. The shopkeeper was probably too busy nursing his bitten hand, and Katherine had blended into the crowd quickly once outside. Even so, Katherine knew better than to relax too soon, and dove down the first alleyway she found, just to make sure she lost anyone following her. If every shop here was so lax about security, survival would be a piece of cake even if she failed to win any battles or earn any money. It certainly seemed easier than in Kanto, at any rate.

She rounded a corner and paused, spotting a man ahead. The chances of him knowing what had just taken place were slim, but Katherine was reluctant to risk being caught with her pockets full of stolen goods. Bandit, too, seemed uneasy- he was growling softly, though it didn't appear to be at the man. Odder still was the fact the man seemed to be talking to himself. Okay. Perhaps Tonga had a few crazy people on it. Well, it wasn't Katherine's place to judge.

Quickly, Katherine made to hurry past the man, deciding it safer to keep going rather than head back onto the main street, where it was possible people were looking for her now. As Bandit passed, his growling became louder, and in the same moment Katherine saw an odd yellow Pokémon clinging to an electrical outlet. Suddenly, she realised the man wasn't talking to himself- he was talking to his Pokémon.

Forgetting about her act of theft, Katherine paused to stare at the Pokémon. She hadn't seen it before- but then, she wasn't surprised. Her twin, Lily- the Pokémon thief of the pair- hated bugs, and this one looked decidedly bug-like, so it was unlikely either of them had stolen one before, or dared to get it out of its Poké Ball if they had. And if it wasn't from Kanto, she wouldn't have seen it in the wild.

There was only one way to find out what it was, and that was to ask the trainer- or coordinator, or whatever the guy was. "If you don't mind me asking... what is that Pokémon?" she asked, panting slightly from the run. Slowly, she rested her hand on Bandit's head to calm him down. The Growlithe barely reacted, though his growling did quieten slightly again.

Some trainers would have been embarrassed to admit not knowing a Pokémon that, in some regions, might be considered common. Katherine was not one of those people. After all, if the man decided to laugh or tease her, her Growlithe was bigger than that little bug, and knew a mean bite too. And Katherine could handle herself in a fight, even if her scars suggested otherwise.

OWL

[Nathan Marshall]

tags:Katherine Brookes Words: 580 Notes: ~

● i could remember everything
whether it had happened or not

Flick didn't even acknowledge him as he spoke. Nate rolled his eyes. He hated when she did this. She was so focused on herself constantly, and the only time that she seemed to show any type of affection was when he was trying to have conversations with other people. Of course, that was when she had to be lovey dovey. She couldn't care less about him otherwise. At this point in the pair's partnership, Nate was convinced that Flick had only allowed him to put her in a poke ball because she could explore all the different food options that were not available in his apartment. Or maybe he was just grumpy because he had to put his journey on pause to wait for Flick.

He noticed movement out of the corner of his eye, and turned to look. Oh, not this again, He thought. Surely, it was another lady complaining about how a bug managed to see up her skirt or some guy angrily confronting Nate about his apparent inability to handle his pokemon. He was shocked to see that it was some girl, somewhere in her mid teens by the look of it. She made to walk past him, and Nate could almost feel her contempt towards him, the dude moping in the alley while waiting for his itsy bitsy spider-thing to finish whatever it was doing. Or at least, that is what Nate assumed he would look like from her point-of-view.

The growling of her growlithe began to stand out from the buzz of the street as they approached, and Nate looked away from her and her pokemon. He felt a tiny bubble of dissatisfaction rise inside of him. If he had wanted to confront this girl before, he knew he could not now. This thing could shred him and his pokemon in seconds.

Nate looked back at the girl as she spoke. He was surprised by the lack of arrogance in her voice. Maybe she wasn't the contemptuous jerk Nate had assumed her to be. He mentally cursed his inability to judge a person's character and his tendency to assume people were inherently negative, and promised to not do so in the future. A promise he would probably break, but a promise nonetheless.

"Um, she's a Joltik," Nate responded, trying not to sound like a contemptuous jerk himself. At first, he found it silly that she had not known what kind of pokemon Flick was, but he quickly remembered that the islands attracted people of all places. This included regions where joltiks were not in the wild. "Yeah, she is an electric bug type."

The girl was breathing harder than what Nate would imagine normal, but Nate didn't pay it any mind. He did not really care why she was breathing heavy unless she suddenly had an asthma attack and collapsed, releasing the growlithe she had been petting to do whatever he pleased to Nate and Flick. But, since that was an unlikely situation, he would not bother questioning it.

"So...um...you," He slurred, failing to be subtle about wanting to know her name. "I see you've got a growlithe? I am assuming you're a trainer then." Nate kind of had to look up at the girl, because he was still sitting on the floor and had no intention of standing.

"I'm Nate, by the way," He added. It would be rude to ask for her name without giving his own first, right?

MADE BY ★MEULK OF GS

[Katherine Brookes]

Katherine Brookes Nathan Marshall

Well, the man didn't appear to be too bad to Katherine- at least, he hadn't picked a fight or done anything that could cause her any problems, yet. In fact, he was being quite helpful, explaining his Pokémon's species to her. She observed the little electric bug for a few more moments, and as she did, she gave Bandit a gentle tap on the head. Seeming to sense her meaning, the Growlithe finally fell quiet, though his wary gaze never seemed to leave the man.

"Yeah, I'm a trainer now," she replied, deciding not to comment on the man's way of addressing her. In her world, it was give and take- and she never gave anything for nothing, not even her name. Until the man gave her his name, he wouldn't be getting hers, and until then he could call her whatever he liked. "Don't mind Bandit. He won't hurt you as long as you don't start a fight. He's just not used to other people being friendly."

That was an understatement. Katherine smiled ruefully, fully aware that she was probably part of the reason for Bandit's distrust of strangers. After all, she had stolen him from his last trainer, and it had taken her months to get him to trust her and stop trying to bite her every time she had him out of his ball. Even now, he sometimes growled at her, if he was feeling particularly stubborn. But those were the problems that came with trying to train a stolen Pokémon. Not that this man would understand that- Katherine doubted he had ever gone without, even for a day, and in any case, he probably had morals that told him stealing was wrong, especially if what was stolen was a Pokémon. Most people seemed to. But she didn't hold that against him. Some people were just lucky to be able to think like that.

She smiled as the man introduced himself. Nate, huh? Perhaps that was short for something- it certainly seemed like it, not that it was any of her business. "I'm Katherine," she replied. If he had any desire to shorten her name, he could do so as he pleased- she didn't care. "So, what's your Joltik doing, anyway?" It looked kind of odd, actually, just clinging to the outlet like it was doing.

OWL

[Nathan Marshall]

tags:Katherine Brookes Words: 396 Notes: ~

● i could remember everything
whether it had happened or not

She gave her growlithe a pat on the head, and he visibly relaxed. Nate felt relief wash over him. He felt safer when he was not worried about getting his head ripped off by some pokemon. He still was very intimidating, and he kept his eyes locked on Nate as though he expected him to leap up and attack them at any moment.

The girl responded. Unfortunately, she was not interested in reviling her name. Nate was disappointed. Her unwillingness to tell him something as simple as her name confused Nate. He did not understand why she would hide her name when it would only make the conversation easier. He tried to think of things that he could call her instead of her name, but nothing viable came to mind.

"Well, I am not planning to start anything, so that's one less thing for me to worry about," He remarked, a grin forming on his face. He was not used to friendly people? Odd. Nate had heard that canines could become violent in adulthood if they were not properly socialized. Maybe she just didn't let him meet enough people when he was a pup?

Finally, Nate learned her name. Katherine. A very formal sounding name. Nate was surprised that she did not shorten it to Kate or Kathy or whatever else it could be cut down to. He preferred to go by a shorter name himself, as it made him sound as though he were not trying to take himself too seriously. 'Nate' also had a nice ring to it.

He turned to look at Flick. She usually was not this interested in random outlets, but the pair had not been to his apartment for a couple days. Nate assumed that she was tired of waiting to find cords that she could strip the plastic exterior off of and nibble. "She's just hungry," He replied. After he spoke, he remembered that Katherine did not know about joltiks, and decided to explain a bit more. "She can't generate her own electricity, so she's got to get it from electric pokemon or basically any other source she can find. And I don't have any other electric pokemon yet, she gets power from outlets and stuff. 

"Is your growlithe your only pokemon so far?" He asked, loosing interest in explaining why his joltik was participating in such a strange activity.

MADE BY ★MEULK OF GS

[Katherine Brookes]

Katherine Brookes Nathan Marshall

It was oddly pleasant just having a conversation with someone- in fact, Katherine was surprised at just how pleasant she found it. But then, it had been a while since she had managed to talk to someone in a civil manner, so perhaps that wasn't so surprising after all.

Nate's remark made her smile, and she rubbed Bandit's head. "That's good to know. Bandit and I have issues with people who like to start fights, and I wouldn't want to have to hurt you," she said, still smiling to show she wasn't trying to be threatening. How successful she was would depend on whether Nate had noticed the scar on her cheek or her nicked ear, and how he actually viewed those scars if he had noticed.

"Just hungry?" she echoed as Nate explained his Pokémon's obsession with the outlet. Fortunately, he soon offered more information on it. The thought of a Pokémon having to get electricity from somewhere was bewildering, to say the least, and she was glad she had chosen to train fire-types instead. They were far simpler to deal with. Well, Bandit was, anyway."Isn't taking power from other peoples' properties illegal?" she wondered aloud. Then she realised she probably wasn't one to talk. Her pockets were literally full of stolen goods. Thankfully, Nate hadn't noticed. She always felt so self-conscious when carrying stolen items, worrying someone would somehow notice even if there was no outward sign.

His question made her pause for a moment before she nodded. "Yeah. I had others, but Bandit's the only one I have now." The 'others' had only ever been temporary- Pokémon her sister had stolen and Katherine had worked with for a little while, just so she could decide on which Pokémon she would eventually want for herself. They had all been sold on eventually. "I'm looking at catching another one soon, though. Maybe a Vulpix, or Fennekin, or something." She really wanted another canine Pokémon, one that she could train herself- one that hopefully would not be as aggressive as Bandit occasionally was.

OWL

[Nathan Marshall]

tags:Katherine Brookes Words: 338 Notes: ~

● i could remember everything
whether it had happened or not

Nate smiled back when she spoke about her growlithe. He caught on to the fact that she was no longer threatening him with her pokemon, even if the growlithe still freaked Nate out. He never had a bad experience with a growlithe or anything of that sort, but something about him was just so intimidating. It seemed that Katherine had her pokemon under control, though, so Nate tried to relax despite the fact that the growlithe was still eyeing him warily.

"Um, yeah," He responded, eyeing Flick with annoyance. Hopefully Katherine was not planning to run off to the building owner. By now, he was pretty sure that she was not the type to do something like that, but he had judged her incorrectly before... "Either way, I'm not grabbing her now," He said, sighing, "At least not when she has two legs in an electrical outlet and the ability to electrocute the crap out of me." She really was a pain sometimes, and Nate would have liked nothing more than to pry her off and leave the alleyway. He was not the type to do things that were illegal, but this was a special circumstance. It was not like he could get into a lot of trouble for stealing just a little bit of power, right? He was probably wrong, now that he thought about it.

"She usually just gets it from my apartment, but she decided that she needed it now, apparently," He said grumpily, turning back to look at Katherine.

She paused to think, and then replied to his question. He nodded. "I'm also gonna go out and try to find some others. Hopefully an Electrike or something," He replied. He had a special liking towards the pokemon, as his parents had a Manectric that he had grown very close to as a kid.

Wait. She used to have others? "What happened to them?" He asked, his curiosity getting the best of him. He generally avoiding prying too much into people's pasts, but he forgot that this was a goal of his. He realized that he may have made a wrong choice when asking that. What if they died or something? He just hoped that she would not be upset with him for asking.

MADE BY ★MEULK OF GS

[Katherine Brookes]

Katherine Brookes Nathan Marshall

Katherine would not have been surprised to learn that Nate felt intimidated by Bandit's stare- even she still sometimes felt on edge, especially when he was being particularly stubborn. There had been occasions when her Pokémon had turned his teeth against her.

She couldn't help but laugh at Nate's response. So it was illegal, but he was putting his own wellbeing before the law. That boded well for how he would react if he did happen to discover the reason why she was down the same alley as he was. Surely he would not see what she had done as being too different to what he was letting his Joltik do?

"The things we have to do for our Pokémon, right?" she joked. Here they were, both stealing different resources, all for the sake of their Pokémon... well, and Katherine as well, in her case.

Nate's question, however, made her pause- not to think, but just out of instinct. As painfully honest as she could be, even she knew better than to just blurt out the full extent of her criminal past. So instead she simply shrugged and, still smiling, told a portion of the truth. "My sister sold them. It was pretty much the only way we had of making money before we came here." Hopefully, he wouldn't wonder about how they had 'obtained' the Pokémon they had sold. "Have you ever had any other Pokémon other than your Joltik?" she asked, trying to steer the conversation into safer territory.

OWL

[Nathan Marshall]

tags:Katherine Brookes Words: 467 Notes: ~

● i could remember everything
whether it had happened or not

Nate nodded, smiling at her laughter. "Yeah, you could say that." At least he knew that she was at least pretending to be interested in conversation. He knew that he was a worthwhile person to talk to, but it seemed that some people were too dumb or busy to realize. Either way, he felt a little more comfortable in his situation now.

He stood in the seconds of silence after he asked He should not have said that. He almost always would commit to what he said; never taking things back even if they were misheard. Once they left his mouth, he would almost never change them. But in this case, he wished that he had not asked what he did.

She finally spoke, but Nate continued to be wordless. "Wow, that sounds...hard," He said, his smile leaving his face. Nate and his family had never struggled for money. His parents were rather well off, and he, while not having loads of money, could get by with few hiccups. And she had to sell her pokemon? Nate glanced at the ground. Nate tried to imagine either of his parents selling either of their pokemon. Nate's father had always threatened his Scyther by saying that he was going to give him away, but only jokingly. Nate could not fathom his dad giving up his best friend like that. His mother and her Manectric were also very close, maybe closer than Dad and his scyther, but if they had been hungry. If her son had been going hungry...

"Uh, no. I mean, I grew up around my parent's pokemon," He replied, looking back up at her. He took the hint that she did not want to talk about loosing her pokemon. If a sibling had sold his own pokemon, he would not want to talk about it either. "My parents were both trainers," Nate explained. "Most of their teams stayed back in Sinnoh, but a few came to Bahari when they moved. But yeah, the pokemon and I got into tons of trouble together," He laughed.

"So, you're not from around here..." He pondered aloud, still trying to change the subject. He brought his hand up near his face to a classic thinking position. "You didn't know what type of pokemon Flick was. Scratch Unova off that list then, too," He knew that joltiks were from Unova, scythers were from Sinnoh, manectrics were not from Sinnoh, and little else when it came to pokemon geology. He dropped his hand. "I'm at a loss," He stated, throwing his hands in the air and hanging his head in mock defeat despite the smile still on his face. "Where did you come from then?"

MADE BY ★MEULK OF GS

[Katherine Brookes]

Katherine Brookes Nathan Marshall

Katherine watched as the smile faded from Nate's face, and she frowned thoughtfully at what he had said. Hard? She supposed, to some people, it might sound that way. But to Katherine, it was life. "It wasn't that bad," she replied confidently. "I only really had them for a couple of days, so it's not like with Bandit- I never had time to become too attached."

Fortunately, Nate either wasn't the curious type, or he had decided the subject was too sensitive to continue on, because he asked no questions and seemed happy to answer her question. And she learnt more than just a little about him- his brief answer told her he came from Sinnoh, but had family on Bahari. The same island her sister now lived on. Perhaps he had met her- but Katherine decided not to ask. There was a chance that Lily had targeted them.

"I'd never been around Pokémon up until three years ago," Katherine said quietly. "Being an actual trainer is still pretty new to me I keep worrying that I might do something wrong."

Watching the man try to guess where she came from was quite amusing. Katherine smiled as she waited for him to admit defeat, before proudly proclaiming the answer. "The streets of a Kanto city," she replied. "And I only left the city for the first time to move here a few days ago. Before that... well, it's a pretty long story."

Too late, she realised the mistake in her wording. If he realised she had been homeless, put two and two together... But she shook off the concern. If he had a problem with her lifestyle, it wasn't like he could do anything about it. After all, she had a Growlithe, and all he had was a bug. And there was no evidence tying her to any particular crimes here... other than what she had just stolen, which she was sure Bandit could easily dispose of for her if needed.

OWL

[Nathan Marshall]

tags:Katherine Brookes Words: 371 Notes: ~

● i could remember everything
whether it had happened or not

Nate thought for a moment. He could not imagine his life without pokemon. They had always taken up so much of his life, and a few of them had been the best friends that he could not always find in people. He loved socializing with the neighbors, but Bahari was only so big. A few people would leave for vacation, and suddenly he would feel much more alone. His parents' pokemon had always helped him to get passed that.

"I am sure that you can't be that bad of a trainer," He responded. "A lot of what it takes to be a trainer is letting yourself fall down and then always picking yourself up. If there is something that you never stop trying to do, how could you end up doing it wrong?" He stood in silence for a moment, grinning. It was a rarity to see Nate say anything vaguely wise or meaningful, but it did happen on occasion. When he said something in an attempt to be inspiring, he was usually just quoting Mom anyways. His mom had said it to him when he left to head to Mitaro, but he found these words fitting for this.

"And you can't be too horrible a trainer if that growlithe hasn't bitten your hand off by now, right?" He eyed the pokemon again, briefly, before turning his attention back to the conversation. He remembered that the girl had referred to her growlithe as Bandit, and, for a second, he wondered what could have inspired a nickname such as that. He quickly dismissed this curiosity. He had named his own pokemon Flick just because it was pleasing for him to say. This girl had probably done the same thing.

She seemed to be amused by Nate's wonderful use of the process of elimination, and that made Nate feel witty and smooth. Kanto? He had never vacationed there. "Well, I'm here until Flick is done,, and I am quite curious about your adventures through Kanto. So I'd love to hear it, unless you have places to be," He responded. He had shared a part of his past, and he was excited by the possibility of learning more about someone else's. He found Katherine to be interesting, well at least much more interesting than watching Flick do whatever she was doing.

MADE BY ★MEULK OF GS

[Katherine Brookes]

Katherine Brookes Nathan Marshall

Katherine wanted to laugh, but somehow she resisted the urge. Not that bad a trainer? She was training a stolen Pokémon, having to steal food to keep them both alive. Yeah, she was a great trainer. Still, one day she would be able to make an honest living... well, if she didn't get arrested or killed first, anyway.

But his comment about Bandit make her pause and look down at her Growlithe thoughtfully. He had a point. Bandit had been stolen- he wasn't hers. He could have easily chosen to turn against her and attack in retaliation for being taken from his original trainer, but he hadn't. They had had a rough start, but he had gotten over that- mostly- and seemed happy to accept her as his new trainer. Perhaps that did count for something, considering the dog Pokémon was known for its loyalty. "I suppose you're right," she agreed. "He can be troublesome."

A slight understatement, but she was sure Nate had probably figured that out. Bandit seemed to have calmed down by now, enough to sit down next to Katherine calmly, but there was still a tenseness about him that suggested he was still ready for trouble. He probably wouldn't relax until Katherine had managed to hide her ill-gotten gains, she knew.

His curiosity about Kanto once again caused hesitation, though this time it was only for a moment, a barely noticeable pause. In that moment she decided to stick by her honesty policy, regardless of the problems it caused. "Nah, nowhere to be in particular." It wasn't like she had a home, or a family, or even anywhere planned to hide her stolen goods. "I'm just not sure how interesting you'd find my adventures," she said cheerfully. "Most of them were spent in an orphanage, foster home or on the streets."

With that said, she watched Nate carefully, waiting for his reaction.

OWL