Planned: 15th February 2023
Started: 16th February 2023
Finished: 17th February 2023
-3,059 days,
Unknown Street, Hollywood, Kanto.
21st July 1981. 16:57pm.
The kitten gasped in horror as she tugged away from the post, the collar uncomfortably rubbing against her neck and her back straining in the process.
Her two young owners who lived with her, two teenage boys, were looking down at her but they were laughing?
Why?
This hurt.
She had a distaste for her 'home' but she'd prefer it any day over being chained up. The boys turned around and started to walk away. She mewled out loudly for them, begging them not to leave her.
Could she find food without the stupid humans?
Then she froze, thinking, where did her food come from? It was small brown pellets that actually didn't taste that bad. Huh, maybe they scavenged it outside? No, they were too stuck-up for that. So if she didn't know where it came from how could she survive?
She grumbled as they went out of sight, she bet on their rotten hearts that her older owners, the…parents…of the boys were in on this too. Rolling her eyes, she lowered her head and bit down on the collar around her neck, pulling it and hoping it would come off.
Why would they keep her trapped in their house all the time as long as she could remember if they just wanted to leave her out in an abandoned part of the streets in the end?
She sighed, humans don't make sense. Shuffling, she lay down— uncomfortably but manageable— and closed her eyes, making sure to keep her ears listening in case someone snuck up on her.
-3,058 days,
Unknown Street, Hollywood, Kanto.
22nd July 1981. 07:18am.
She grimaced as she was rudely awakened to a pain in her side, quickly getting to her paws— and ignoring the sting in her stomach— she worriedly gazed up at the human man. He looked positively…out of it?
The young cat didn't know what humans called it but when her owners had those extremely loud and horrid days with a lot of humans in their house some of them acted weird then too.
She also not only recognised the look, and actions, but also the familiar bottle in the man's hand. Well, she was positively doomed.
The glass was suddenly shoved in her direction along with angry shouts from the human. It's not like she could move, she wanted to, but couldn't. So this odd creature was being quite stupid.
Her own thoughts distracted her from what was going on at that current moment, she used that word a lot— well, thought it obviously. She didn't even know what it meant. Huh. One of the young boy owners used that word a lot so that would explain why.
Those people had rubbed off on her, as much as she hated to admit it; which she didn't.
Suddenly brought back to the present when the human kicked her side again, oh that's what the pain was, she winced and closed her eyes. Her tail curled over her injured side and her ears lowered.
She hated how weak she probably looked but again, something out of her control.
Her eyes snapped back open and her head snapped up as she heard a yowl, at first worried that it was someone else about to hurt her and almost sighing in relief when she realised that the other Meowth were attacking the man not her.
Wait, other meowth?
The man ran off howling in pain as one of the other Cat-Pokémon bit hard on his leg.
'What a wimp!' The cat who had just injured the human laughed, 'Can't take ah bit of rough play, mate!?'
He then turned and gestured to the chained cat, to the two other female meowth he had come with. One of them looked expectantly at the boy and the male meowth hissed.
'What!? I ain't dealin' with that. It looks like one of dem human owned ones to me.'
The chained cat raised her hackles as one of the females walked up to her.
'Calm down, I won't hurt ya. Loud mouth kid here has a habit of not thinking. My name is Namiko, what is yours?'
She didn't reply.
The boy immediately stepped in, 'No! Please don't tell me she's all posh-like and mute! How're we gonna explain this to Kazz?' Then he seemed to realise something and wiggled his eyebrows at the two meowth he knew. 'Maybe I'll win Sakura ovah by bringing in ah helpless kitty tho, I'd appreciate that part!'
She went to retort but decided against it.
One of those meowth, the one who had not yet spoken, looked skywards and let out an exasperated sigh. She could relate with that feeling. That meowth then walked forward as well, 'And my name is Rikona,' she gestured to the male cat 'And that is Genki.'
Genki growled, 'Why are we telling er this? She could be ah spy!'
Namiko looked at Genki unimpressed, 'Seriously, You've been watching way too many human movies, Gen.'
He seemed to take offence to that, 'What!? I'd nevah watch movies from those creatures! Not even the sad ones with the growlithe and the vulpix and the cool weapons..- I mean uh…whatever.'
Having enough of the pointless bickering, Rikona grabbed the collar around the cat who they rescued's neck and fiddled with it until it fell off.
'What, now she's just going tah run away!' Genki grumbled at Rikona angrily.
'So be it, we don't own her.'
The now-free kitten tilted her head and looked down at the collar in wonder. It seemed ridiculously easy for the other cat to take off but she used her claws so that was a bit unfair.
She could run away now, or stay with these cats who didn't actually seem too bad. Well…the girls anyway.
Thinking back to Namiko's question of what her name was, she grimaced. Crystallina Pearla Evangeline Arabelle seemed a bit over the top compared to their names…
So she shortened it.
'Uhm,' all three cats froze and turned to her, 'my name is…Crystal.'
Rikona smiled and nodded, 'It might seem like a bit of a stretch but if you don't have anywhere to go you could come back to our gang. If so, we'll have food, water and shelter waiting there for you. If not, we understand.'
'No we don't.'
'Shut up, Genki.'
-3,058 days,
Unknown Street, Hollywood, Kanto.
22nd July 1981. 07:33am.
Crystal gazed warily around, there were so many Meowth and Persian, it almost felt like she was in an ocean full of them. She couldn't help but still feel like the odd one out, however.
After Rikona, Namiko and Genki— well, Genki didn't actually really do anything but complain and Namiko was arguing with him most of the time so it was mostly Rikona— explained her situation to 'Kazz' who Crystal decided must be their leader she stood warily next to a wall in the alleyway.
Rikona said that Namiko would've loved to help show her around as well but her mother had told her to take care of her little brother while she went to scavenge food with some others, so it was just the two of them.
That was fine of course, in fact it was better, the less strangers the safer Crystal felt.
She never really took time to really look at the cats around her, Rikona looked very friendly just from the outside. She also had a small red bow on her ear that looked like she never took it off, so either maybe she was once owned by humans too or one of the gang cats found it for her. Probably the latter.
Kazz looked terrifying at first, she was worried she had made the wrong decision. He had a large scratch over one of his eyes and a chipped ear. His eye that wasn't blinded had a blood-red pupil and he just looked very intimidating.
However, when he and Rikona started talking he actually didn't seem that bad, he had quite a soft timbre voice and a face not too serious, but that looked strong enough to keep all the cats he was caring for in line.
Namiko looked very similar to Rikona to the point where she wondered if they were related, however Namiko looked even more well-groomed than she did. She looked very tidy, and didn't have a bow like her strangely similar friend did.
Then again, a lot of Pokémon looked similar to each other, they weren't like humans. Pokémon could still easily tell each other apart though, even without scent.
Genki's fur was very unkempt but not in a necessarily bad way. It wasn't dirty, just a bit…wild?
Rikona dragged Crystal forward to another Meowth eagerly. This Meowth, like Rikona, looked unnaturally friendly.
'You must be the new cat here, I'm Sakura, nice to meet you!'
Crystal couldn't help but give a small smile of her own, even this girl's voice sounded heavenly sweet.
'Umm..yeah I am…Um…I'm Crystal.'
Sakura giggled slightly with a paw covering her mouth, 'I already know that, of course. This place never keeps anything secret, I swear!'
Crystal raised an eyebrow and Rikona continued Sakura's words, 'Sometimes it's funny though, like how everyone now knows how terrible Genki's singing voice is!'
She slowly raised her voice through this declaration and some other Meowth and Persian nearby smiled and a familiar Meowth, who happened to be nearby, stormed over angrily, 'Hey! I 'appen to take pride in my singing, anyway, the ladies love my voice!'
Sakura let out a small laugh again, causing Genki to blush in slight embarrassment. Rikona rolled her eyes and Crystal couldn't help but join in.
-3,058 days,
Unknown Street, Hollywood, Kanto.
22nd July 1981. 08:39am.
'So…you were born here?' Crystal asked Sakura curiously as the two lay on a soft blanket deeper down the gang's territory, where there was more space to roam.
Thankfully for Crystal, the area the two were led in was quite secluded, and not too many other Cat-Pokémon were there.
Sakura shook her head, 'A nice group of cats from here found me when I was a newborn alone in a nearby forest and brought me here.'
Crystal's eyes widened, 'Oh, I'm sorry.'
The other meowth looked at her with a small head tilt, still with that small smile plastered on her face, 'Why? Don't be, that's the best thing that has ever happened to me. You'd rather I die in the forest?'
'What?! No I—' Crystal froze her panicked sentence as she glimpsed at Sakura's face, realising it was meant to be a joke.
Another laugh.
'Calm down, you know I don't mean it. Anyway, let's change the subject, what else would you like to talk about?'
Crystal paused for a second, deciding what question to ask, 'Is…is my name odd?'
Sakura looked at her worriedly, 'Not really, I think it's pretty.'
The slightly older cat sighed, 'Maybe I should rephrase that, do you think I can change my name?'
The worried look changed to confusion, 'Why would you want to do that?'
'My name doesn't necessarily fit in, plus it reminds me of my old life.'
Sakura nodded, 'That makes sense.'
'So…do you have any names in mind?'
The smile morphed into a smirk.
-3,058 days,
Unknown Street, Hollywood, Kanto.
22nd July 1981. 08:43am.
'Wait, wait, so you're saying humans name their cats fluffy? That sounds hilarious! Poor things.' Crystal laughed in amusement
'Yeah, and I don't think it would match you anyway,' Sakura giggled.
'You're saying I'm bald or something?'
'Maybe~'
-3,058 days,
Unknown Street, Hollywood, Kanto.
22nd July 1981. 08:52am.
'Maybe something you like, such as a season or…I don't know a colour or something?' She asked the older meowth.
Crystal looked up at the sky in thought, wincing at the newly arisen ball of light stinging her eyes. She perked up however when it gave her an idea, 'What would a suitable name be that links to the nighttime version of that?' She asked Sakura, pointing a paw upwards to the sun.
'The moon?' Crystal nodded. 'Well there's a few different ways—'
-3,058 days,
Unknown Street, Hollywood, Kanto.
22nd July 1981. 09:25am.
Rinoka gasped in wonder, 'It matches you so well!'
She smiled and blushed at the praise, 'Thank you, not as nice as your name is though.'
The bow-eared cat shook her head, 'No, it's so pretty! Welcome to our family, Mochizuki!'
Mochizuki smiled, family? That sounded nice.
78 days,
Unknown Street, Hollywood, Kanto.
21st February 1990. 11:06am.
Meowth waited anxiously for the bird to return, what if this was someone abandoning him again? He moved his gaze downwards, it probably was.
'I hope I'm not late!' The pidgey said from behind Meowth as he landed and looked up at his new friend eagerly.
The Cat-Pokémon gasped and instantly turned around, hugging the bird, 'You didn't leave me!'
The pidgey laughed and patted the cat's shoulder slightly wheezing, 'Need— b-breathe.'
Meowth's eyes widened and he settled the bird back on the floor, flattening any fluffed up feathers, 'Sorry!'
The bird chuckled, 'It's alright.'
Meowth looked at him in wonder, 'Hey…we met yesterday obviously, but I never asked, do you have a name I should call you by?'
The pidgey smiled and ruffled his wings, 'Yep! My name is Orville, what's yours?'
The cat felt a frown tug at the corners of his mouth, 'Umm, no…everyone else seems to though, am I meant to have one?'
Orville looked at Meowth a bit confused, 'Not really and no one ever used to but it's started to get popular so it's a bit odd not to have one— especially here I think. Did your parents not give you a name?'
Meowth looked down at the floor again in shame, 'Uhm…no…my mother left me and I don't know my dad.'
Orville's eyes widened in horror, 'Oh! I'm so sorry!'
He smiled sadly, 'It's ok.'
There was an awkward pause for a few seconds until the Pidgey-Pokémon spoke up again, 'Do…you want one..?'
Meowth looked a bit confused, 'Why would I want one other than the fact that it's starting to get popular?'
Orville frowned, 'I guess…it's just a way of being recognised from others?'
'I…don't know what mine would be.'
'Huh, that's fine, what about a name you've heard of before that you like?'
Meowth's thoughts went to his old gang sadly and he shrugs.
Suddenly an idea struck the Pidgey, 'What about a nickname?'
'What's that?'
The pidgey was also confused now, that the kitten didn't know what it was, and there was another pause, 'Umm…it's like…if you were to call me Orr, or Orv, or Orvy, or Orvinator!'
Meowth raised an eyebrow at the last example and Orville chuckled a bit embarrassed, 'It's basically just a shortening of a name— or a totally new one— usually used by friends! It's not their proper name but others call them by it sometimes.'
'Ohhh.' That intrigued him, his thoughts drifted back to what Orville had said about borrowing a name and he imagined Sakura. A nickname, that's what 'Sakki' was.
Keeping the word fresh in his mind he smiled, 'This name'll only be for you, no one else!'
Orville nodded curiously.
'You can call me Aki…for now.'
