Dutch oven

Eventually Becky made her way back into the room, well, she came sprinting back into the room….it's still winter and cold as hell, and my shower is open air, cold + breezy are a rough combination , but it would be pretty comfortable in the summer and spring

But she came back nonetheless, wearing a black, nondescript hoodie and a pair of black long pants..

She walked over to the fire with a towel drying her brown hair still shivering a little…..did she just stand out in the cold and get dried and dressed?…..rookie hobo mistake…

Eventually she settles down and sets her hair in the towel and looks my may….I walk over to the wooden work benches I use as kitchen benches and pick up a large cup of instant ramen, before waking back over and handing to her..

"Alright take a seat, we got some things to talk about….ummm. I guess you can sit on the coffee table, I'm not sure how meowth would react to someone who isn't me sitting on his bed"

I mean, meowth would probably be fine, he doesn't care if I sit on his lounge, but that's me….he's never really interacted with another human before as far as I know and as much as I trust him around my self, I need to see how he reacts around people first…

Becky takes a seat on the table…and started eating her noodles while paying attention.

"Alright first things first, I only took you in to repay the favour when you patched me up at the orphanage, and I consider that payed, you're gonna have to stay here for a good 6-8 months before I can let you leave though…"

She didn't seem angry or upset at me telling her she can't leave for such a stretch of time… honestly it wasn't the much different from the rules back at the orphanage, I just used to sneak out….the other kids, not so much….they were to afraid of the beatings, I mean I was afraid of the beatings as well, but I couldn't let that stop me…

"Why can't I leave?"

"Because this place is a secret and I'm pretty weak, if you snitch on me to someone or mention something you shouldn't, people will get curious and come find this place…"

"Fair enough I suppose….but why did you mention 6-8 months specifically though?"

"Because in that time I'm going to be training my Pokémon and gathering money, and I hope by then I'm a little more secure, with maybe 1 or 2 more Pokémon on my belt if things go well"

"I...how…..how did you get Pokémon anyway?"

There was a little fire in that question, looks like little Becky wants to be a trainer…

"Luck and circumstance really, I was in the right place at the right time and had a pokeball in my hand…and it turned out the Pokémon I caught was chill, so it all worked out pretty well for me.."

She definitely looked like she wanted more follow up on that question, but she let that go in favour of another…

"....Would you help me catch a Pokémon?"

I figured she would ask that.

"No"

"...why?"

"It's not that I'm against helping you catch one, but you're in no position to own one at moment, do you have any idea how much they eat? Because I can tell you meowth and slowpoke eat 5x what I eat…..each….so I'm technically having to feed 11 people, and as a kid with no income, it's tough…including you now, it's 12…..so if you had a Pokémon, how would you even feed it… not to mention you don't even have a pokeball.."

She still looked pretty fired up as she answered

"I would work really hard to feed it, I know if I had a Pokémon things would work out!….and….I do have a poke all.."

She looked a little uncertain and hesitatingly reaches into the hoodies front pouch and pulls out a shrunken pokeball and holds it to her chest like it's the most precious thing in the world..

"I stole it from one of the men with the big red R on their chest who came to the orphanage after the fire while he wasn't looking…"

This is turning out to be way more drama than I signed on for, I only wanted to get a kid who I owed a favour out of the cold….well, I guess next time I get a feeling to try and help someone, all I have to do is think of this moment and I'm sure it will pass.

"Look, it's great you have a pokeball and all….and if you somehow find a way to feed the Pokémon you want to catch without me having to help out, I'll consider helping you catch a Rattata or something….but for now it's a hard no on the Pokémon"

She beamed a smile at the possibility of her owning a Pokémon one day soon…I couldn't help but let out a little smirk of my own, her attitude was a little infectious..

"Alright alright, enough of that, let's get back to the rules….ok so first you're staying here for 6-8 months… minimum, and while you're here you will be helping out with dishes, cleaning clothes, keeping the fire going when it's cold and cooking…general stuff really, and I'll keep you fed and clothes on your back…..by the way, how old were you again?"

She seemed pretty content with having to help out around the place as payment for living with a roof over her and and something in her stomach that wasn't fished out of the dumpster

"I'm 13"

"Going to be a trainer then?"

"That's the plan"

"So 3 years until you can go for your trainers license….any plan on how to go about that? It costs a good amount of money you know?"

"I don't really know, I'll work something out"

It wasn't like you needed a reference or paperwork to become a trainer, all of that works itself out when you actually get your license…but…from what I've heard it's about 15k to apply for the damn thing….and it's not a pass or fail, as long as you pay the money you get your license, but 15k is a good chunk of coin for a homeless kid..

"Well, i guess you can cross that bridge when you get to it….anyways…for sleeping arrangements, meowths claimed the lounge, slowpoke has the sleeping bag and I have that assorted pile of blankets on the ground over there….so your options are sleep next to me, or sleep with slowpoke in the sleeping bag"

I'm pretty certain slowpoke won't mind the company…

She just agrees to sleep next to slowpoke as we continue to eat our food in silence…but eventually she asks what I assume has been on her mind since I found her this morning..

"Did you start the fire at the orphanage?"

"No…..I got up to take a piss late at night and ended up outside because the bathroom was occupied by one of the wardens, and I saw some men with arbok themed jackets pouring what smelled like gasoline onto the building and taking about rockets, and one of the spotted me so I had to make a run for it…"

I wasn't going to tell her the truth, not because I was ashamed or anything, it was more as a safety precaution incase she ever ends up being questioned by someone related to team rocket or something….throwing shade someone else's way indirectly saves me trouble….hopefully…

She seemed to just take what I said as truth and told me she understood and she would have done the same thing…

I still had most of the afternoon left, so I left Becky to finish her food and organise herself while not forgetting to warn her not to leave the building….or even the floor my room was on really….as there were wild Pokémon all around…

I took the crew to our usual spot, set up some fishing rods and trained till sundown before heading home….I arrived home to see Becky had tidied the place up a bit and was currently sitting at the edge of the building looking over the big river to the east, probably wondering about the future..

The night passed with Becky regretting her choice of bunk mate almost immediately as the new poke food that slowpoke and meowth seemed to enjoy very much gave slowpoke some heavy protein farts…so he basically Dutch ovened her all night….which I found hilarious…

But the next morning after a shower and some brekky, I grabbed my mons and cart, said my farewells to Becky and made my way back to the city to scope out my target