Mom's Keys

by Lamia of the Dark

Who would throw a perfectly good Pokemon away? Team Rocket find an abandoned Klefki in a trash can and the traumatized Pokemon becomes attached to Jessie. (First chapter produced for Caesar's Palace Shipping Week, Summer 2018, Day 7, no prompt.)

2. Chapter 2

~ Mom's Keys ~

While Nurse Joy was surprised to hear Meowth speak in human language, outwardly she showed no sign of it, keeping her composure as she handed the healed Klefki back to Jessie.

"Kiii," Klefki chirped happily as it floated next to Jessie's shoulder.

Since they didn't seem to know anything about the Pokemon they'd rescued from the trash can, Nurse Joy showed them the Pokedex entry for Klefki, and also gave them a sample-sized bag of Pokechow which was specially formulated for the Steel/Fairy type combination. There was a cartoon drawing of a Mawile on the bag, but Nurse Joy assured them that it was good for Klefki too.

"It likes to hold keys, huh..." James said thoughtfully.

"But this one didn't have any keys when we found it," Meowth pointed out.

They both turned to stare at the battered metal keychain that dangled on Klefki's arm. Klefki was happily munching on a Pokechow pellet which Jessie held up to its mouth.

"Whoever threw it in the trash probably took all its keys away," Jessie said.

After finishing the last bite of its Pokechow pellet, Klefki said, "Klefki. Klefki ki. Kiiiii. Klefki."

Meowth translated: "Klefki says that it crawled in the trashcan itself to get its keychain back, but it couldn't get back out of the can."

"Kiiii. Klefki ki. Klef. Klefki."

"All the keys were taken away by its previous trainer's kids after..." Meowth trailed off with a sad look, hesitating to finish the sentence.

"After what?" James asked.

"She died."

Team Rocket was silent for a long uncomfortable moment. The silence was broken by a loud crunching sound, as Klefki floated down to the table where the Pokechow bag was sitting and started eating again. Apparently it was done with the conversation for now.

Jessie and James both started digging through their pockets, but after unloading a lot of useless junk on the table, one thing was clear.

"I don't have any keys."

"Neither do I."

They sifted through the stuff on the table, looking for anything metallic and shiny that they could give Klefki to hold, but all they came up with was a single paperclip.

Klefki did not want the paperclip.

~to be continued~