Keitaro, Yumiko

[Dischord]

Name: Yumiko Keitaro
Nickname: Yumi, Kei
Age: 21
Gender: Female
Birthplace: Kanto
Family: Yasuhiro Keitaro (Father), Allison Keitaro (Mother; Deceased)

Trainer Orientation: Neutral
Team Affiliation: Team Rocket
Trainer Class: Gym Leader of Open Sky Gym, Rocket Grunt
Starter Pokémon: Pidgey

Xenosaga - Chase Extended
Context: Character Theme

Xenosaga - Final Fight
Context: Battle Theme

Pteras [Male Aerodactyl] — "Let me tell you of the time before time."
Aerodactyl was the second pokémon that Yumiko ever managed to get her hands on.  Her mother found a piece of Old Amber during the course of her work and gave it to Yumiko as a gift for her seventh birthday.  She revived the pokémon shortly after her thirteenth birthday.  
—Obtained as Old Amber.

Ability: [ability=rock-head]

Kikinzoku [Female Skarmory] — "It's a bird, it's a plane. Holy crap, it's both."
Captured in Hoenn, Kikinzoku is a fierce and fast bird, who is willing to throw herself in front of Yumiko to protect her.  When she sheds her wings, she offers them to Yumiko, who has them shaped into arrows and throwing daggers for practical uses.  Kiki prefers to be out of her Poké Ball, and makes a bad habit of popping out without being asked.  She's stubborn, but fast, and Yumiko likens flying on her to racing a car.
—Captured on Route 113.

Ability: [ability=sturdy]

Strata [Female Altaria] — "Let's lay around beneath the clouds and make shapes out of nothing."
First captured as a Swablu, Yumiko almost released this pokémon back into the wild, finding herself almost incapable of dealing with the constant cleaning.  After a long 'discussion', Strata and Yumiko finally made peace between them and the two have been together ever since.  An unusual color for a Swablu, Strata's body is milky silver, and her cloud cover a deep grey, like a storm cloud.  Because of this unique coloring, Strata is able to blend into the skies best during unnatural weather, when Yumiko prefers to fly.  
—Captured on Route 210.

Ability: [ability=natural-cure]

Gilion [Male Gliscor] — "Hey, I don't call you ugly, do I?"
During Yumiko's somewhat dubious membership with the team she was part of in Sinnoh, she was given a Gligar as an indication of her status in the team.  That pokémon eventually evolved into Gliscor, and when Yumiko left the team and traveled back to Kanto looking to join Team Rocket, she took Gilion with her, unwilling to give him up.  Gilion is head strong and a bit mean, preferring to bite first and follow orders second.  
—Received on promotion to Team Agent.

Ability: [ability=hyper-cutter]

Hikousen [Female Drifblim] — "I'm on a blimp and, I'm going fast and..."
Originally captured as a Drifloon, she's more of a novelty in Yumiko's team than an actual battle pokémon.  When the rest of Team Rocket gets in minor trouble that she doesn't consider worth the hassle, Yumiko tends to summon her, and float away, leaving the rest of the group to fend for themselves.  This gives Hikousen a great deal of amusement, and she normally goes along with it willingly.
—Captured near the Valley Windworks.

Ability: [ability=aftermath]

Oyabun [Male Honchkrow] — "I won't let you hurt my precious subordinate!"
Obtained as a Murkrow, Oyabun wasn't named thus until after his evolution when he apparently decided that Yumiko would make a good subordinate.  Much like the mob boss he's meant to look like, Oyabun is bossy and pushy, demanding to be fed right when he wants it, and getting irritated and often pecking Yumiko on the head.  It takes something critical for him to decide that he'll give Yumiko a hand, but if the situation is dire, he's loyal and protective, Yumiko suspects that this is because he feels no one else has the right to boss her around.
—Captured on Route 7.

Ability: [ability=super-luck]

Poppo [Female Pidgey] — "Please don't ruffle my feathers."
Popppo was a gift from Yumiko's mother, Allison. Despite Poppo's intelligence, Yumiko treats the bird much as one might a pet canary, letting her ride around on her shoulder. She keeps the Pokémon close at hand, and though she has a Poké Ball, she's rarely in it. When Yumiko isn't at home, Poppo remains around her home, given free range, and staying near whatever area Yumiko has designated as home. Poppo is a docile little bird, and when Yumiko is gone, she usually simply naps, or plays at chasing bugs around the Kitty in the House shop.
—Gifted at age 5.

Ability: [ability=keen-eye]

Yumiko is about as average as they come.  Not exceptionally pretty, but not unattractive either, she sits somewhere on a steady middle ground.  She has a slight Asian complexion thanks to her father, and her mother's bright gold eyes.  She has long black hair that is typically kept back in a ponytail when busy. Her physical form is satisfactory, with a body made lean by activity, from running to some martial arts. The most noticeable strength comes from her upper body, honed from constant practice with the daikyū, and more recently with the special bow obtained at Seafoam.

Her fashion sense isn't the greatest, but has been improving with time. She wears whatever is comfortable and allows her to move about with ease. This is usually a top and jeans, but can sometimes be skirts, though more practically it's usually a hakama. The one possession she's never without are her mother's dog tags, wearing them even when in her practice gear.  Though she's retired from them at the moment, her Rocket uniform is a basic grunt's uniform, except she prefers to wear the male version for ease of movement.  She leaves the top open, a sarashi visible underneath.

Artwork by Lady of the Dark Pits (front, back).

Yumiko is a complicated individual of contrasting behaviors. With an upbringing that was meant to bring her under control as the perfect wife and mannerisms that sometimes lend to this assumption, she often rebels against direct attempts to control her behavior and movements. This can and has extended to her field work as a Grunt in Team Rocket. A superior must first earn her respect, and those who manage find her to be quite obedient, and most importantly, dedicated.

Far from quiet, Yumiko is outspoken and willful, sometimes giving little thought to the comments she makes towards others until they have been spoken.  Despite this, Yumiko carries a very deep sorrow at the loss of her mother and her distance from her father, who she prefers to avoid speaking about.  Personally, Yumiko is possessed of a very deep sense of duty towards her family, and regardless of being considered a criminal and a delinquent, she tries to act in a manner that she feels would not bring shame to them were anyone to discover her family connections, above and beyond her membership in Team Rocket.

Romantically, Yumiko wass stunted, having been raised in strict surroundings, and while she showed interest in romantic relationships, she was virtually clueless in regards to how they worked.  She seemed to get nosebleeds when exposed to men or women she considers exceptionally attractive, and was easily embarrassed by most things, especially in regard to anyone she showed an interest in.  She's also a little confused on whether she prefers men or women romantically, and unfortunately this usually results in some comedic scenes when she becomes flustered.

For a time, Yumiko had developed an interest in Idrill Meifeng, but that seemed to wan as time passed, and the two grew more distant.  In more recent times, and on a hilarious note, she has developed feelings for the Lugia who is her companion.  Which is both embarrassing on her part, and made worse on his part by the fact that he seems either oblivious to it, or gets some kind of enjoyment out of making things more awkward for her. She hasn't yet figured out which. What she does know is that she has no idea how the logistics of that might work, even though she's at least a little (probably a lot) interested in finding out.

Yumiko was born in Kanto, but ended up traveling to the United States not long after she was born, with her mother, Allison.  Initially her father accompanied them, but circumstances and situations that Yumiko was never aware of led to a temporary separation that unfortunately became permanent.  Equipment failure on the Air Force Base that Allison was stationed on resulted in her death, and the eight year old girl was whisked back across the ocean with nothing left of her mother but a few possessions, her dog tags, and her jacket.  Devastated by the loss of the only parent she had been close to, Yumiko withdrew from her father, attempting to put distance between them.  

Despite her best efforts, her father was strict, much more so than her mother, who had been raising her to be an independent young woman.  Because of his position and his family's money, he expected quite a bit from the young girl, but eventually showed a soft spot and gifted her with a Pidgey in an attempt to draw her from her shell.  This didn't work as well as he had hoped, but she did try to live up to his seemingly limitless expectations.  She learned all of the traditional arts that would make her a proper housewife.  Her father, a swordsman as well as a man who held the secrets of forging traditional blades made certain that not only was she trained in being a proper housewife, but also with a means to protect herself.  To that end, she spent much of her pre-teens to teenage years learning various martial arts.  He attempted to teach her the sword but she had no apparent gift with it.  Eventually she focused on the bow, and has in the time since become an expert marksman.  

She remained at home until age 15, where she finally fled when her father arranged her marriage and seemingly her life without any care for what she seemed to want.  She released her Pidgey, one of her only two Pokémon at the time, wanting to sever all ties to him.  Her travels from there led her to Sinnoh where she joined a little known Team, and worked her way up through the ranks.  At the age of 19, she was prepared to advance to a position just under an executive, and when she realized that the leader of the team was a psycho woman with unrealistic expectations, she checked herself out of the team in a hurry.  Going back to Kanto, though avoiding areas where she might brush into her father, she eventually was approached by a Team Rocket recruiter.  Despite her earlier position in the other team she knew it wouldn't make much difference in a new organization and accepted their request without much thought.  

She's been a member of Team Rocket for the past year, and already busted her backside to try and advance past Grunt.  Instead, she was assigned to a specific team for which her unique skills would be considered useful.  Though she has had no contact with her father in six years, she does still feel a deep sense of duty towards her family, trying to do nothing to bring disgrace on them.  Well, aside from being part of Team Rocket, of course.

Martial Abilities______________________________________
└-Weapon specializations and fighting styles.

Archery: Yumiko has been using a bow ever since she was small, with the size of the bow scaling as she grew up.  She practices a very traditional form of archery, or did until recently, when the fight with Giratina forced her to stretch the limits of her eyesight and her capabilities.  Of late, she's gotten into deeper contact with Giselle, one of her fellow Gym Leaders at Seafoam, who is developing and working with her to create a quiver that utilizes attachable heads to arrow shafts, in order to give her a multipurpose quiver, and a composite longbow made for extreme range, to help her in the fight against whatever Darkspawn happen to pop up.  

│
├─Classification: Physical
├─Category: Weapon Proficiency
└─Power Level: Master

Swordsmanship (Katana): While secondary to her skills as an archer, Yumiko is quite capable with a sword, particularly the kendo style of fighting with a katana.  She doesn't have the necessary speed for iaijutsu, as all of her focus with quick draw happens to be honed instead on her skill with drawing arrows from her quiver.

│
├─Classification: Physical
├─Category: Weapon Proficiency
└─Power Level: Expert

The woman was half-hidden amidst the rows of flowers, and stepped out when the Chimeco above the door sounded. She'd already been beaten to the new arrival, and gave a slight shake of her head. When she had been greeted the same way when she first arrived, her responses had been comical.  In the time that had passed since then, she'd gotten used to his mannerisms and they no longer caused the same reactions. Except the nosebleeds. Those were still pretty common, but she blamed that on anything except him.

She gave herself a moment to look the new arrival up and down, half-hiding a smile, before stepping back behind the flowers, adjusting the pots. She'd finish her arrangements before pulling off the gloves she'd been wearing and stuffing them in the back pocket of her blue jeans. She was sans her jacket, but the muscle shirt she wore left her arms bare, and they were covered with a speck of dirt here and there. It was obvious she did the dirtier work in the shop, but she enjoyed it as much as she enjoyed arranging the flowers.  

When she passed, carrying a bundle of flowers, she gave Kojiro a slight bump with her hip, angling her head towards the counter, ponytail bouncing behind her as she moved. "Don't lecture people on their choice of undergarments, or I'll start turning yours into cloth flowers again." a grin as she unloaded her bundle carefully on the counter.  "Your 'fanclub' would go nuts if we started selling those."