Chapter 6: I Miss How It Used to Be

Takeshi angrily kicks in the door to the abandoned cabin they are using as a hideout. Kyoko looks up from her map screen and turns her gaze towards Takeshi. He stands there with ripped clothes and scratches all over his body. She places her hand over her mouth coughing while trying to contain her laughter.

"What happened to you?" Her voice wavers as she continues to stifle her laughter.

"I fell in a stupid Rattata hole. Damn bastards." He slams the door shut and heads up the creaking stairs. "I'm going to change and bathe."

Once he's out of earshot, she bursts into fits of laughter. 'Serves him right. He probably wasn't paying attention to where he was going.' She wipes the tears from her eyes and immerses herself back into her surveillance. Earlier, she marked on her map all of the places she set up traps. She turns it off causing the screen to fade back into the box. She sits back in her chair placing her hands behind her head as she stares up at the ceiling. She yawns as her eyes grow heavy. She closes her eyes falling asleep almost instantly, leading her to dreamland.

"But Otouchan, I want to help you!" A young Kyoko looked up at her father grabbing onto his lab coat.

"Kyoko-chan, I have told you multiple times that the answer is no. My line of work is way too dangerous for a child your age to help."

She puffed her face out in anger and crossed her arms. "That's not fair! I'm ten years old now. In the other regions, kids are out having adventures with their Pokémon by now. I want to research Pokémon like you do!"

Her father sighed and placed his hands on her arms as he looked into her eyes, "Look, when you're old enough then I will let you join me. Right now, you can't even handle taking care of the Pokémon that we got you."

Kyoko looked behind her noticing her Bellsprout playing with one of the other Pokémon in her father's lab. "I don't like that Pokémon! It's stupid! All it does is dance around."

Her father sighed and took his hands off of her arms as a stern look formed on his face. "This is exactly why I won't let you help me with my work. No Pokémon is stupid. Pokémon are stronger than we are. Even though they are stronger, they don't attempt to take over our world even though they could do so easily. They live beside us in harmony. They are magnificent, beautiful creatures and until you can realize that, you will never be a real researcher."

Kyoko's face started to turn red as tears ran down her face. She picked up her Bellsprout and ran out of the laboratory. She shoved past all of the workers in the laboratory and sprinted out the door heading towards the park. She stopped running once she reached the park and placed the Bellsprout on the ground as she tried to catch her breath.

"Stupid...Otouchan." She said in between gasps for air. She walked over to the swing set as her Bellsprout followed behind her. She turned around, placed her hands on both of the chains, and sat down in the seat of the swing. She softly pushed the ground with her feet slowly swaying back and forth on the swing. Bellsprout hopped in her lap and snuggled up to her chest.

The tears continued to flow from Kyoko's dark eyes as she looked down at her Pokémon. She let go of the chains and wrapped her arms around him hugging him tightly. "I'm sorry that I called you stupid. I was just angry at Otouchan. He is never going to think that I'm good enough to work with him."

Bellsprout looked up as the sound of soft footsteps were heard. Kyoko looked up as a boy sat down in the swing next to hers. He was very handsome and had short, chocolate colored hair. He smiled at her with perfect, pearly white teeth and looked at her with bright green eyes. Bellsprout started to tense up and glared at him.

She started to stammer as her flushed face from crying turned to a blush. She quickly wiped away her tears as he started to laugh. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to laugh. Your Bellsprout keeps giving me this dirty look."

She looked down at Bellsprout and said in a hushed tone, "Stop looking at him like that."

He extended his hand to her, "Hi, my name is Takeshi Mori."

She reached out her hand to shake his when Bellsprout unleashed one of his vines and hit Takeshi's hand with it. Kyoko became embarrassed, her face turning more red than it already was. Takeshi pulled back his hand and laughed.

"I guess he doesn't like me."

"I'm so sorry! He's never like this!" She says apologetically.

"It's fine. Some Pokémon don't like me. I don't stress about it."

"Umm…" She looked down at the ground as her foot made circles in the dirt beneath her swing. "My name is Izumi Kyoko. Nice to meet you, Takeshi-kun."

"Nice to meet you, Kyoko-chan." The sound of footsteps and voices began to echo through the park. The smile on Takeshi's face faded as he stood up. "Hopefully, I'll see you around some time. Sayonara!" He waved at her as he walked off into the surrounding trees.

"Her heart thumped fast in her chest. She held Bellsprout up in front of her and gave him a stern look. "Please don't hit cute guys." She smiled and hugged him tightly again.

~Later That Year~

A tall man wearing black pants and a black shirt stood before a mixed group of children and teenagers. His long, silver hair was pulled back in a ponytail. He cleared his throat loudly causing everyone to go quiet.

"Welcome to Team Rocket Youth Training Facility. You have all been recruited here because you all have magnificent parents that work for our organization, and you have passed all the exams given. Now, you will learn over the next few years how to become some of the best trainers in the world. You will learn how to capture and trap Pokémon flawlessly. You will be graded every year. If you fail, you will not be held back. You will be immediately removed from the program. Any questions?"

The room stayed silent so he continued, "Now, you will all be assigned a partner. This will be your partner all throughout the first part of your Training Program. Every child will be paired with an older partner that passed their exams last year and has completed the first part of the program. These teenagers have volunteered to help you with your training instead of taking on jobs that were offered to them as official Team Rocket members. Show them respect."

"Yes sir!" The whole crowd echoed in unison.

"Good." He turned around and faced the group of teenagers standing behind him. He dropped the volume of his voice and said to them, "Each of you step forward and call out the name of the child you have chosen to sponsor."

All of the teenagers nodded in response. One after the other, they walked forward on the stage and called out their child's name. Kyoko looked around her as everyone started to walk up to the stage. The children met with their partners and exited the auditorium. Everyone had their name called except for Kyoko. She continued to stand in her spot for a few more minutes.

The silver-haired man stepped down from the stage and walked over to her. He looked her in the eye and said, "You must be Izumi-sama's daughter." She nodded and he continued, "I'm a friend of your father's. He is a great man and an amazing researcher. You can call me, Sunada-sensei."

She looked around again, "Sunada-sensei, do I not have a partner?"

He let out a sigh and said, "You do. He's just running late today it seems. Regardless of the fact that he's never on time for anything, he did graduate top of his class last year. He picked you specifically."

The door to the auditorium opened and a boy walked in. He stood next to Sunada and smiled, "Hello again, Kyoko-chan."

Her heart started beating fast in her chest as her face brightened, "Takeshi-kun!"

"You two know each other?" Sunada looked at Takeshi as he raised an eyebrow.

"We met a few months ago. I could never forget such a cute girl."

Sunada rolled his eyes at the boy. "Well, make sure you take care of her. I expect you two to be on time tomorrow for the first day of training. Take her and go set up her dorm room. We didn't have very many girls in the class this year so you will have your own room. You will have a pamphlet in your room describing all of the rules."

"Yes sir!" She bowed to him and looked up at Takeshi.

"Lets go." He placed his hand on her head and shuffled her hair. She smiled brightly, and they exited the auditorium. They walked outside as she placed her hand over her face to shield her eyes from the sun.

"Wow. It's very bright today."

"That it is." He looked over at her and placed her chin in his hand. He tilted it up towards his face as he leaned down. "Kyoko-chan…"

"Yes?" She said as a blush formed on her face.

"Wake up..." He said in a soft voice that trailed.

"What?"

Kyoko slowly opens her eyes as Takeshi's voice calling out her name echoes in her mind. She looks up at Takeshi standing over her wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his hips. She sits up quickly as he steps back. She places her hand on her chest feeling her rapid heartbeat.

"Wow. I had a dream about the first time we met. That was weird. I wonder was caused that?"

"The author wanted to inconspicuously give away a small portion of your backstory in order to help explain your character's personality more and allow for more easily understood character development." Takeshi says in a nonchalant tone as he stretches.

Kyoko looks at him with a blank look. After a few moments, she begins to laugh. She smiles as she begins to reminisce about the days she spent in training.

"So, did you get everything set up?" Takeshi asks as he sits down on one of the chairs leaning back.

She begrudgedly snaps back into reality and nods, "Yes. I have multiple traps set along the path that they will be taking. I took some measures to block the main road so they'll have to travel through the forest more."

"Good. As long as things go according to plan, we'll be fine."

"My plans never fail." She says as she crosses her arms in front of her chest.

"For your sake, it better not." He stands up and slowly makes his way to the stairs. "You should head to bed soon. It's late and you need to sleep in an actual bed." He walks up the stairs as they continue to creak.

She stands up stretching and pulls out a Pokéball from her bra. The ball grows in her hand as she calls out her Pokémon's name. A red light flashes connecting the ball to floor. Victreebel pops out of the ball and looks up at Kyoko with a confused look. Kyoko walks over to Victreebel and wraps her arms around him. Victreebel's vines come out and wrap around Kyoko as they hug each other.

"I'm sorry." She whispers. "I don't try to be mean to you. I love you." She giggles. "You're still a fat ass though."

Victreebel smiles and playfully hits her with one of his vines.

"Alright." She pulls back from Victreebel letting him go. "Lets go to bed. We have a big day tomorrow."