Author: Angela Rating: PG
Generation K
I've always been a little bit different-Well, at least compared to my family. There were my parents- you probably know them as Jesse and James- who had been on Team Rocket since long before I was born. I was just like they were when they first started out. Failing at everything. Always. Never a thing done right. Then there was my big brother Michael.
When he was only fourteen (and I was a seven-year-old little girl) he, with only a little help from my mom and dad, managed to snag a Dragonair! It was because of him that my family's team got promoted from white uniforms to a special black outfit that had only been recently designed! For my mother and I it was a short-sleeved black shirt with white trimming on the collar and sleeves. Accompanying this were small white gloves and boots lined with black rings along the top. In the upper left hand corner of the shirt there was a small red "R". Michael and Dad had very similar dress accept with long pants.
Michael, although not a bully, knew how to defend himself when need be. Not only was he popular, he was one of the top agents on Team Rocket. He had Mom's spirit (which was something I had always longed for) and my dad's gentleness. His hair color was even almost a mixture of both of theirs. Because of all this, I took to calling him "Michael Mix".
Now me on the other hand-I always found it hard to make friends. In fact, just about the only one I had was Meowth, the pokemon that lived with us. Why hang out with me when you could be with Michael? I was clumsy, shy, and unsure of myself. This drove people away. But I didn't know how to change on my own, and no one cared to help me. All I really needed was a (human) friend or two that would just like me for me. None came. I was alone. Everyone- especially Giovanni- expected me to live up to my brother's achievements and be just like him.
That's even why I was named Katastrophie. It was sort of a "prepare for trouble and make it double" thing. It wasn't at all that my parents thought I was a catastrophe to them. They always thought me and Michael to be the dynamic duo of trouble. That's where I let them down.
When I was ten years old, my family was sent on a mission to steal a flying pokemon of a high state and level. We went to the Violet City Gym. This was to be Michael's last assignment on our team before he received his own partner, a girl of age 17 like himself, named Constance. We successfully got inside the gym and were so close to taking a pokemon when I tripped over Meowth, making noise and blowing our cover. I told myself as we barley escaped, "I'm a klutz. I'm a annoying little klutz."
That title truly stuck with me for the next two years. Especially once my bother left home with Constance. His team got better while our team slowly got worse. Dad must have sensed that I blamed that on myself because he sat me down and let me know that he and Mom loved me. I told him that I knew that, which I did. My mother said that no one expected me to be my brother. I knew better.
When I was 12, I could take it no longer. Loneliness ate away at me like ants at a picnic. One night, I packed a small backpack with clothes, a bit of money, and only a couple personal belongings. After changing into jean shorts & a navy blue, short-sleeved shirt that had one red star on each of the sleeves and tennis shoes, I was prepared to leave. Running away seemed like the best thing for me at the time. Very quietly, I slipped out of my room and towards the door of the Team Rocket cabin my parents had purchased form the boss one they had children. I had just barely opened the door a crack when I heard a voice say,
"Katastophie? Where ya goin'?" Startled, I looked back.
"Meowth! Oh I was just um-" The look he gave me could see right though the lie I was about to tell. "Alright, alright. I'm quitting the team. Running away."
"What?! But why?"
"Don't you see? I can never be Michael! I'm just not cut out for this type of life. I've tried-I really have. But nothing worked."
"But-"
"I left Mom and Dad a note. Good-bye Meowth."
"Listen to me! There's somethin' ya gotta know! If you-" I went out the door and hurriedly closed it before he had a chance to finish. That was pretty mean though, considering he can't reach the handle. I thought he was just trying to make me stay. But if I had only listened- everything would have been so much easier.
The moon reflected off of my emerald green eyes and short, bright red hair that tucked just behind my ears. It was about one in the morning now as I headed off towards the nearest inhabitance known as Astrolight City. It took me the entire remainder of the night to reach it. Once inside the metropolis, I collapsed on a park bench, and fell asleep almost instantly. I didn't awake until the sun was high in the sky.
After consulting my watch, I discovered that it was just after noon. Let me take this moment to say that park benches are not very comfortable for sleeping. When I sat up, I found that I was very stiff. Even after standing and stretching a few times, it felt like I had been laying on a pile of rocks. I turned and stepped onto the sidewalk, not even seeing the boy around my age about to pass by. I ran straight into him, causing us both to fall.
"Hey!" he shouted, "Why don't you watch where you're going?" Oh great. Here was just one more person to resent me. Well I wasn't going to just stand back and take it this time. For once, I was going to fight back.
"Why don't you?!" As we both stood up, I noticed that he was just a bit shorter than me. He sort of spikey, and maybe a bit floppy brown hair and sea green eyes. Under those eyes were very distinct squiggly facial features that almost made it look like he needed to wash his face. He wore long blue jeans, a black T-shirt, and a collar-less green jacket with yellow buttons. There were three pokeballs on his brown belt. I said, "Stay out of my way from now on."
"I should say the same to you!" the boy answered.
"Don't mess with me kid! I've had a long night!" My force surprised even me.
"I know how to settle this. Let's have a battle."
"A-pokemon battle?"
"Of course! You do have pokemon, don't you?"
"Sure I do-" I took out the only pokeball I owned.
"Okay. But this is a one on one battle."
"Suits me! Go, Totodile!" As he tossed the monster ball, a Totodile appeared. The pokemon I had was a birthday present from a year earlier. But I never trained it. It was more of an occasional pet.I held up the pokeball and said,
"Come out Mareep." The sheep-like creature materialized in front of my opponent. "Alright," I sighed reluctantly, "try a tackle attack." But the boy's Totodile easily avoided that and, when ordered, fired a powerful water-gun that knocked Mareep out.I bent down to pet my pokemon. "Poor baby- You should get back in your ball." It gladly returned.
"Ha!" the youngster cried, recalling his own monster, "I won fair and square!"I stared at the ground.
"I expected that. Mareep isn't used to battling."
"Oh- I guess I shouldn't have challenged you then. Sorry 'bout that. The only reason my Totodile is so strong is probably because my mom gave it to me to start out my journey with. She's the Cerulean City Gym leader! That was a water pokemon gym unless my dad battles the challenger. Then it's all types only on a water field. He's never lost! Not with Riachu at his side- Oh geez. Listen to me, babbling on when I haven't even introduced myself. My name is Kyle Katchum." I was suddenly shocked and speechless. Did he say Katchum?! Mother of Cerulean City, father with a Riachu- No doubt about it. This kid must be the son of two of the "twerpy " children my parents had told me so much about. I then realized that he had his hand extended, waiting for me to introduce myself. I shook his hand.
"I'm Katas-" I stopped. There was no need to have "Kyle" make fun of me like so many others had. There was also no need to let him know who my parents were. I wasn't fond of making more enemies. "Uh, my name's Kat." There. That would do.
"Nice to meet you. But I'd better get going. I have to face the Astolight City Gym leader for my first badge. I don't know why, but something evil swelled up within me.
"Bet you five dollars you loose." This statement caught him off guard, but he gladly offered a mischievous smile.
"You're on!"As soon as we reached the gym, Kyle said, "Get ready to watch a real master in action!"
"I know the leader is good," I answered, "but what about you?"
Upon entering, we were met by a young girl with long brown hair and purple eyes. (She was 11 years old at this time, but her 12th birthday was soon to come.) On her black shirt was the shape of a yellow crescent moon. She wore kaki capri pants.
"Welcome to the Astrolight City Gym. I'm Lunia. Which one of you will I be conquering today?" Kyle stepped forward.
"I challenge you to a match with the Night Badge as my prize." I won't go into the details about the battle, but you should know that this was a dark type pokemon gym. His Totadile beat her Murkrow and Houndour, but lost to her Umbreon. The powerful dark-evolved Eevee also defeated his last two pokemon, Spinark and Vulpix. As I rejoiced at winning the bet, Kyle was heart broken. "How could I loose? I thought I had trained so hard-"
"You did a good job," Lunia told him, "but your pokemon need to be stronger to beat me."
"My pokemon are strong!"
"Not strong enough." She turned and walked through a door, leaving us there on or own.I smiled.
"So where's my money?"
"I don't have it right now," Kyle muttered, obviously annoyed. He headed for the exit. I followed.
"You don't even have five dollars?"
"The money I have I need for essential things. I can't afford to waist it on you."
"Oh yeah?! Well I'm never going to leave you alone! Not until you pay me what you owe!!"
For the next three days I followed Kyle around like there was no tomorrow. He trained his pokemon and also caught an Oddish. I actually trained Mareep too. By the end of the third day, it learned a thundershock attack! (It was a big thing for me then, to have a pokemon that could actually do something.) That boosted my self-esteem the tiniest bit. Kyle kept tying to get rid of me. And I don't blame him! I was purposely extremely irritating by bring up his debt and how he lost the bet.
When we returned to the gym, we found not only Lunia there, but also a younger boy who looked about nine years of age. He had brown hair, like Lunia's, which he wore in a short, spikey style. His brown eyes were threatening.He turned out to be her younger brother, Travis. Apparently, they took turns as gym leader. Kyle was to battle him. Again, details about the match are unimportant. Travis lacked technique. Kyle creamed him.
"Travis!" Lunia screamed. "You see? You see why I don't like letting you run the gym?! You always loose!"
"Shut up, I don't always loose and you know it!"
"Alright, fifty percent of the time then!" Just seeing a girl with her brother reminded me of my own. I hadn't seen Michael in quite a while. He only came home every so often after he left for his own team. You could always tell what kind of a mood he was in just by looking at his blue eyes. He had this one piercing gaze just like the one Travis first offered us. Michael got that trait from my mother. I will never forget the look of amusement Mom had when she would tell us the story of when she saved my dad from a woman named Jessibelle by taking a whip lashing for him or something. She liked to hold that over his head. Especially when a light bulb needed to be changed, or the dishes needed to be done, etc.
"Hey Kat!" Kyle said, breaking me out of my train of thought, "How about that? I don't owe you anything now! I'll keep my own five dollars!"
"I bet you for last time, not this time. I meant what I said. I'm not leaving you alone until I get my money." As we argued, Travis and Lunia's dispute grew more intense.
"You just can't win can you?!" Lunia shouted.Her brother replied,
"I could if I didn't have you breathing down my neck while I battled! I think we'd both be better off if you would just leave."
"Oh really?! Then fine. I'll do that." He gave a short laugh.
"Yeah right. You wouldn't last a minute on your own."
"I'll, I'll-" she looked at Kyle and I. "I'll go with them!"
* * *
Kyle never planned to travel with anyone, let alone two girls. He had left home in Cerulean on his 12th birthday, which happened to be a couple months before mine, to start his pokemon journey. He went off by himself and trained and caught pokemon a little while prior to our bumping into each other. This guy was generally a loner. So needless to say that he was hesitant to let Lunia come. Actually, he was still trying to get rid of me! But I refused to leave him alone until I got my five dollars. It's not that I really needed the money- it was the principle of the whole situation.
Kyle was the son of two twerps, he was supposed to have that annoying "good heart" thing that made him want to always do what's right (which includes paying your debts). However, he didn't seem at all like the Ash and Misty I heard about. But anyway, I told Kyle that Lunia was my companion. As long as I stuck around, so would she. I did this because I felt very uncomfortable voyaging with only a boy. Not only that, though. I liked Lunia. She had the ambition and spirit I had always wanted so badly. Just like me, she wanted to leave home as well. We soon found out that we also shared simple interests.
After Kyle received his Night Badge, the three of us left Astrolight City. As we walked, I asked Lunia,
"You sure your parents won't mind you leaving the gym to go with us?"
"Naw, I don't think so. They know I've been dieing to get out and see the world. They're helping my mom's younger sister get settled in her and her husband's lab. She was an aid for my great-grandfather before I was born. It was then that she met this guy named Tracy who had been an aid himself for years." Lunia smiled when she said, "He's her husband now. My Uncle Tracy."
"But what about your brother?" Kyle asked. "Is he staying all by himself?"
"Oh no, of course not. While my parents are away, our grandmother's staying at our house to watch us. Don't worry. She'll keep him in line and hopefully teach him a thing or two about training pokemon! She a good trainer herself."
"So just who are your folks? Would I have had to battle them at the gym?"
"Yes, you would've. And let's just say they taught me all I know. You were lucky with me! Maybe you've heard of them. Gary and Vesperi Oak?" Kyle stopped walking.
"Your dad is Gary Oak?!"
"Yeah-"
"I can't believe it! My parents are Ash and Misty Katchum!"
"No way! That's amazing!"
"I'll say!" We walked on as Kyle turned to me. "How about you Kat? Are your mom and dad anyone we'd recognize?" Of course I knew exactly whom all they were talking about, but both of their families once hated mine. If they found out I was a Rocket, Kyle and Lunia would hate me too, and they were all I had right now. (The two of them had no reason to resent each other however. I was told Ash and Gary became friends during their teenage years.) I quickly looked at the ground and lied,
"Uh, no. My parents aren't anything special. Just average people."
We continued on for a few hours, heading toward the next town. To reach it however, we had to pass through the uninhabited, rocky Russet Valley. But all of us were tired and dark was nearly upon us. Kyle concluded that the valley would offer protection while we camped for the night. He was wrong. I was awakened late at night by a piercing roll of thunder. Next to me, Lunia sat up in her sleeping bag. Kyle, who could sleep through an earthquake, continued to snooze. I observed the dark clouds gathering overhead. Then there was a bright flash of lightning and directly after thunder clapped even louder than before.
This time Kyle awoke and asked sleepily, "What was that?"
No one needed to answer. The next moment, the heavens opened and rain poured down. I put my arms over my head.
"Awe, my hair!" My family's team had always been relatively big on fashion.
"We have bigger things to worry about Kitty Kat!" the boy in our group cried in a sarcastic tone over the rain. "We've got to get out of here! This is the perfect place for a flash flood!"
This time, he was right on target. As soon as we were all packed up, all the dirt on the ground was very loose mud. By the time we reached the sloped side of the valley, water was already ankle-deep. The wind was growing intense. This wasn't just any storm- it was a hurricane or tropical storm or something. At the moment I didn't really care which. My travel companions and I climbed the slope with ambition. Suddenly, a huge amount of water came pouring into the valley. It was a flash flood alright. I screamed. We made a mad scramble upward, Lunia in front.
We the reached level ground at the top just as the muddy liquid rushed up and filled the valley behind us. It was so dark that all I manage to even barely make out ahead of me was Lunia. Then all of a sudden she was gone! She disappeared into thin air! Just like that!
Kyle stopped abruptly and instinctively shot his arm out so that I ran into it, ceasing to proceed forward as well. I was about to ask him the meaning for this when I realized that straight in front of us, the ground seemed to disappear. A cliff! So that's what happened to Lunia!
"Lunia!" I screamed. A very faint cry could be heard coming through the rain below. "She must be stuck," I said to Kyle, "Do you have any pokemon that could help?"
"The wind would take the pokeballs right out of my hand," he answered. "Even if it didn't- My pokemon are all too small to help her!"
"Well what are we supposed to do? Just leave her there?!" He thought for a moment. "If I had a rope, I could go down myself and get her."
"What about your Spinarak?"
"It'd be blown right off this cliff!"
"I'll hold it! We just need it long enough for it to give us some web string!" Kyle held the monster ball with both hands and released his spider pokemon into my arms. After it produced a long, white, thick string for our use, it returned to its pokeball. He tied one end of the web thread around his waist and the other end around a large rock at the top of the cliff. He started his climb downward.
A few moments later, I was aware of a body climbing back up. I could just barely make out Kyle carrying Lunia about her waist using one arm and heading up using the other and his legs. In the dark, it almost looked like he was walking completely sideways, straight up the edge.
When they were halfway to me, the string snapped next to where it was tied to the rock! The two people on the other end gasped as they felt themselves begin to plummet downward. I made a desperate dive for the wet twine. I was so scared that I would miss, but thank Heaven I caught the end of it before it disappeared from sight. Whoa! They were heavier than I thought they'd be! No offense to them, it's just that I now had the task of supporting multiple persons all on my own. I wasn't strong enough for this! I started to drag toward the edge. I caught myself by wrapping my legs around the rock.
While Kyle continued to walk upward, I struggled to remain in that position and keep my grasp on the string. Before long there came a burning sensation in my aching arms.
"Just hold on." I told myself. "No matter what, just hold on." Just then as my luck would have it, the valley behind me overflowed. The muddy waters of the flash flood rushed up and hit me full force. My companions were almost to the top at this point, but because of the current, the web twine slid from my hands. By now, I had stopped thinking logically. I lunged my upper body downward, grasping Kyle's hand. Even through the rain, I could see the gaze of admiration and surprise on Kyle's face. It was as though he were seeing me for the first time. And really, he was.
I pulled them up and sighed in relief that my "mission" was finally accomplished. I stayed where I was, lying on the ground, letting the water stream around me. Due to exhaustion, I had no desire to stand. Kyle bent down.
"Are you alright?" he asked. Why should he care? I thought I was nothing but an annoyance to him.
"Kat?" I managed to push my self up and look at him eye level.
"I'm fine."
"Thanks for your help-I mean, ya know-"
"Don't mention it."
"C'mon," Lunia said, "Let's get away from here!" They both helped me to my feet and we walked away from the rim of the drop. Then it hit me what had just happened. I saved Kyle and Lunia's life. I didn't want to let them die! That's a big step up from being raised to not care about people I don't know. Was it true? I had actually made friends. Two of them! I couldn't remember the last time I was so happy.
From that day forward Kyle jokingly blamed Lunia for the incident that night. She was given the nickname Chaos. Anyhow, soon the storm cleared and we spent the night on the cliff (far from the edge). In the morning, we walked along the frame for an hour until we found a steep sloped path to the ground. Upon reaching the next town, Kyle made the comment,
"Hey you know what? Today marks one month since I left home on my pokemon journey." My friends started talking about each of their families and how their fathers knew each other, and such. I felt secluded. I wished I could tell about my own family and not be looked down on. That got me thinking about my parents and how worried they probably were. I mean for all they know, I could've been hit by some drunk driver's car or something. When I spotted a pay phone I decided to call them just to let them know I was ok.
"Uh, just a minute guys," I told my fellow travelers, "I want to make a quick call." Kyle replied,
"Alright. But hurry, I'm hungry." He and Lunia stood at a distance as I dialed the number.My mother appeared on the video screen looking very tired and stressed. Whatever she was holding was dropped and broken when she realized it was me.
"Katastrophie! Oh Lord, where are you?!" Behind her, my dad came running to the phone.
"Katastrophie you have to listen!"
"Look," I interrupted, "I was just calling to say that I was okay. I'm not coming home." Meowth jumped up to the screen.
"Like I was tryin' to tell ya before! Leavin' Team Rocket is-" I cut him off like I had a few nights ago,
"Nothing you say is going to make me come back. Just don't worry about me okay?" My dad tried again.
"But Katas-" I hung up. Feeling guilty, I rejoined Kyle and Lunia. I couldn't help but to wonder what was so important that they wanted to tell me. It probably was just something to get me home-. But still- I was curious. That continued to haunt me for the next four years.
But oh, if only, if only I had listened to them! My life would have been so much easier! There was one word of warning that would have made me realize my mistake-.
Assassins.
(Editor's note: There is also art by Angela to go with this fic, a picture of Kat and Kyle. To see it go Here.)
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