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forever waiting for you.

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[attr="class","freiwanttmid"]CHARACTER FACTION rocket

[attr="class","freiwanttmid"]CHARACTER RANK associate

[attr="class","freiwanttmid"]FACE CLAIM macchiato, path to nowhere

[attr="class","freiwantttop"]ABOUT THE CHARACTER

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up until meeting professor thorne, nikola (or rather, nika horvat) led a fairly ordinary, if unpleasant, life. their parents split when they were young, their father taking their younger sibling with him. nika was left with their mother, a harsh, overbearing woman who cared more for herself than she did anyone else. they struggled with money, and nika took up multiple jobs around the community in order to survive. their mother had no regard for their personal belongings, and often "borrowed" money she had no intention of giving back, giving nika a deep-seated distrust for human beings in general.[break][break]

they managed to squirrel away enough to save for university, where they were a quick study. they intended to become a pokemon professor, so they wouldn't have to work too much with people. it was here that they met professor thorne, a woman with the absurd idea that humans had latent powers just like pokemon did, and that all they needed to do was find out how to unlock them. she reasoned this because of the rumors of certain individuals with special powers, psychic powers, and though she had no evidence, she was so dead certain on her theory that she took out several loans to rent a laboratory and supplies for certain "experiments".[break][break]

nika was the only one crazy enough to work with her, more desperate for money and fame than anything else. they became her assistant, despite believing her ideas were nothing but the ramblings of a madwoman. at first, they took other volunteers. their experiments started small, and became more ambitious. each one failed, and the more failures there were, the fewer people were willing to work with them. soon, their loan money ran out. nika knew they should have cut and run there, but after several years of effort, they hated the idea of achieving nothing of value there.[break][break]

perhaps professor thorne's fervor had infected them. reluctantly, nika agreed to become a test subject... their only test subject. the experiments that followed were painful and humiliating. it wasn't long before nika took to asking the professor's beheeyem to manipulate their memories of their suffering so they could forget it ever happened. and the more beheeyem made them forget, the more nika's mind was fractured. a year later, the lab was still in the red, and nika had forgotten so much of their life they couldn't even be useful as an assistant anymore. they'd become slow, malleable, easily confused and clumsy, though they did not realize anything had changed about them at all. professor thorne placated them by calling them her genius assistant, the only one she could depend upon. "nika horvat" disappeared, and in their place came nikola catellus, a name and identity bestowed upon them by the professor.[break][break]

they made mistakes. a lot of mistakes. dropped beakers, bumbled experiments... eventually, professor thorne had enough. she told nikola that their "abilities" were needed elsewhere. still convinced they were some kind of genius, nikola agreed to take a trip to the hoenn region. they were told the professor would join them later, and off they went on their way, not realizing she never intended to follow. at some point, they stumbled upon an injured cyndaquil in the city and nursed it back to health, not realizing it came from a rift in time.[break][break]

nikola continued to wait for the professor. their previous distrust for humanity had been overwritten by dependence; it didn't even occur to them that they have been abandoned. they went about their daily life under the assumption that it would be just a little while longer until they are reunited with the person they care for most in this world.[break][break]

(meanwhile, professor thorne has submitted a thesis paper about the negative effects repeated mind-manipulation by pokemon can have on the psyche.)[break][break]

after some time, though, memories started to come back to them, unbidden. disturbed, yet curious, they finally took the plunge and sought a way to regain their lost memory; they resorted to submitting themself to ameena abadi's machine, re-experiencing their previous life through dreams. when they awoke, they were not themself, and yet they were more themself than they've been for years. [break][break]

they resolved to continue their research, this time under rocket's mantle, believing the organization would give them the funding they sought without having to worry about things such as "ethics" or "morals". nikola catellus disappeared just like nika did, and from that empty shell came nikola samsa, a shut-in scientist who rarely leaves their lab. when they do, they make sure it's under full disguise, so no one will recognize them. [break][break]

their cynicism has only grown since regaining the memories of their past life. they're disgusted with how they acted previously, and will do anything to distance themself from that fractured identity. sometimes they still feel a pang of concern, or curiosity, or simple interest in another human, but they do what they can to shove it deep, deep down.