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Neither Kratos nor his team looked up when someone else entered the training room they were currently using. To the side of the room sat a small nest of blankets with a sleeping eevee nestled in them, being watched over by a bright pink Pikachu with blue eyes. In the middle of the training room, a double battle of sorts was being held - a white Misdreavus and a blue-crested Pidgeot were battling a Rapidash and a rather green Leafeon. Their redhead trainer called out commands occasionally, but for the most part he surveyed his practicing team like a general viewing his troops.

"Martel, you need to time your Roar better - Zero couldn't hear it over Yuan's twister," he barked, his tone firm but not angry. "Yuan! I don't care if you have an egg with her, you two are opponents right now! And that means no deliberately missing!" He pinched the bridge of his nose and took a breath before calling out yet another correction - "For the last time, Kellan, no matter how excited you are to have just learned fury attack, using it against Zero won't do you any good!"

It was only when Miette ran over to her trainer and started jabbering at him in Pikachu that he jumped and turned to look at the man who had just entered. He looked briefly over at his practicing team, shook his head, and held up a hand. Immediately, all four battlers stopped what they were doing, although the Rapidash ended up sneezing out a lick of flame before he stilled entirely.

"...Yes?"

Now that they no longer needed to focus on battling, Yuan flew the short distance to Martel's side, landed, and started preening the leafeon and crooning to her. Kratos knew what the two pokémon were doing, but deliberately ignored it to focus on Rory. "Hello," he greeted, and didn't so much as flinch when Miette came over at a dead run, climbing up to sit on his shoulder and peer at the newcomer. "Is there something I can do for you?"

For her part, Miette blinked curiously at the blond. Here was someone she didn't know, and she needed to introduce herself immediately! "Pika! pikachu chu pipipika?" She asked, twitching her tail and waving at the man. Had he brought presents? Or maybe he wanted to play? Either option sounded wonderful to the little pink pikachu.

"I don't mind," Kratos said simply, then recalled Kellan and Yuan - the two smaller pokémon, Zero and Martel, he left alone. Taking his action as a cue, the two remaining battlers launched into combat again, this time focusing solely on each other. Kratos watched over them for a moment before nodding to Rory. "I trust we won't be a distraction to you?"

Miette sniffed the air, blinking curiously at the blond. Something was... hm. She jumped down from Kratos' shoulder and waddled over to Rory, sniffing at him the entire way. "Chuuuu?" She asked, tapping his foot curiously. "Pikachu! Chu pika?"

Kratos' answer to Rory was a nod and a "Hn." He raised one eyebrow as the pink - very pink, pinker than Miette - ponyta trotted over to his battling team, who stopped what they were doing to sniff her in turn. "Whether or not you are, it won't be a problem - battles are full of distractions anyway," the redhead added. Though he had to admit that the pink ponyta was more of a distraction than his team was used to - if only in his own thoughts.

Miette gasped at the sight of the treat being held out to her, and clapped her little paws together in joy. "Pi? Pika kachu pi pika kapipipi!" She began bouncing up and down on the spot, occasionally turning to shoot Kratos pleading glances. Kratos quirked an eyebrow at her antics, but nodded.

"Just one."

Kratos shook his head, glancing out over his supposed-to-be-practicing team before dragging his attention back to the blond man and the little pink pikachu. "I don't know why Miette has the coloration she does," he said, glancing at the mouse pokémon as she crooned from the ear scritches and took the treat climbing up to his shoulder to munch on it there.

"I inherited Miette from her original owner, and I never asked about her origins." The pikachu had always been a part of his family, so what did it matter what had made her so, well, pink?

"She is unique," Kratos said, which was as close as he was going to come to agreeing with that particular statement. He didn't want to inflate Miette's already-sizable ego past the point of being able to stand being near her. The redhead nearly sighed as the pink pikachu visibly puffed up from the faint praise, taking a moment to groom her ears and preen.

Turning to glance over at the interrupted training session, Kratos made a slight disapproving sound, which made both Martel and Zero jump to attention with cries of "Leaf!" and "Drea!" Kratos nodded and recalled them both for the moment - he'd let them back out when they were ready to actually train again. It was only after he had finished this action that he finally addressed the blond again.

"She's not very useful as a battler, no," he admitted, but there was a cold tone to his voice that was meant as a warning. He didn't appreciate such pointed questions, and while he had no intention of lying to his fellow rocket, the tall redhead would prefer not having to answer.

"It's fine," Kratos said simply, and after a moment of thinking, released Kellan and nodded at the Rapidash, granting him permission to greet the pink ponyta. While this was a training room and not a socializing room, he could understand the extroverted creature's need to be around others in a non-combative environment. As he looked over the ponyta, he thought idly that Anna would have liked her. Perhaps the two could even learn from each other.

When Rory bristled at his tone, Kratos pinched the bridge of his nose and frowned. "Curiosity isn't a bad thing to have," he said, casting a glance at the blond to be sure he was listening. "But there are those who don't appreciate what they perceive as prying." Kratos himself being one of those people. He felt that the younger Rocket needed to realize when to stop prying about matters that didn't really concern him.

...Okay, maybe that was somewhat untrue. Kratos just didn't want to have to discuss his past with anyone, let alone a teammate who he barely knew.