[PRP] The Locket (Kratos and Izaya)

[Wylde Roses]

Kratos' most valuable possession was missing. It shouldn't have been able to go missing, since he always wore it around his neck and never took it off for anything, not even when he slept. There was only one reasonable explanation for its disappearance, and that explanation floated in the air in front of the redhead, an innocent twinkle in its wide, dark eyes.

"What did you do with it, Zero?" Kratos asked in a no-nonsense tone as the white misdreavus pretended innocence. It wasn't uncommon for the ghost pokémon to make off with small items and hide them around the base as a sort of joke on his trainer, but Kratos had thought that he had gotten Zero out of that habit. Apparently he had just been planning a bigger 'prank' than usual.

When no response other than a cheerful "Drea, dreavus mis!" was forthcoming, Kratos sighed and raised an eyebrow at the little ghost, slowly starting to count down from five. As his trainer counted, the Misdreavus' humor dropped away, and finally he cowed and floated to the doorway, beckoning for Kratos to follow him to where he'd stashed the object.

Kratos shook his head and followed. "If anyone has gotten to that locket while I've been arguing with you," the redhead said as he and the pokémon walked (and floated) through the halls of HQ, "You'll be given double the usual amount of training."

And Kratos would have a lot more trouble on his hands, especially if the person who found the locket opened it, as well. He didn't want to explain the picture that was inside it, but he might be forced to. As the pokémon led him through the base and in the direction of the lounge, Kratos grew more and more certain that he was going to have to do exactly that.  

[lZAYA ORlHARA]

The fact that Kratos never removed his necklace was actually a reason Izaya would have guessed it would have gone missing in the first place. After all, if you carried something around with you everywhere as opposed to keeping it locked up in a safe place, it was far more likely to get lost.

On the other hand, the grunt knew all too well about thieving, mischievous, trouble-making pokemon. It was a little ironic, really, that a criminal organization like Team Rocket who stole as a main mode of operation owned pokemon that stole from its members. But perhaps, as Agent Faleen would have likely believed, it was just insufficient or improper training.

Thus, the concept 'finders keepers' seemed appropriate to apply among the Rockets, because if a bunch of thieves couldn't train their pokemon well enough to keep from stealing the wrong things, how were they going to know when to steal the right things? Such insubordination was hardly reliable.

When Kururi first brought Izaya the shiny, gold piece of jewelry as he sat on the couch in the lounge, his first thought was that she'd found it between the cushions or something. He guessed a female member of the Rockets had probably dropped it or something during down time before he noticed a little clasp on the edge of the circular pendant. Raising his brows in surprise, he popped the little locket open, curious as to its contents.

Inside was a miniature picture portraying a family of three - a father, a mother, and an infant child between them. He squinted, wishing he'd had his reading glasses. The woman he wasn't sure he'd ever seen before and the infant wasn't really recognizable at its young age...but that man...

Red hair. Of course. With a heavy sigh, the informant reached into his parka pocket for his glasses and put them on. "Oh." He'd seen that face around the Rocket base before, but hadn't really properly met the fellow. Kururi leaned in to look at the locket picture, then at Izaya and back again. What was that man's name again...? "Kratos," he said aloud, speaking the one that came to mind. "Could this be his...?"