A Journey's Link

Chapter 56 - Blasted

As they were leaving, Goh looked closely at the wallet as the purplish-haired one began putting it back in their pocket. It was a large red R, and instantly Goh knew exactly what it was. That's where I recognized the voices! He thought to himself, understanding what had just happened.

The trio almost made it out of the door, when Goh ran over and stopped behind them. "Team Rocket!" He exclaimed, causing the three to stop in their tracks. "What are you up to now?" He angrily yelled, worried that they had been absent the last week to scheme some evil plan. He reached for Raboot's Pokeball and released him, with Raboot getting in a battle-ready pose.

All three members turned around, sighing. "I guess we were found," the purple-haired one said, revealing himself to be James. The others took off their disguises, revealing Jessie and Meowth as well. "It was bound to happen sooner or later!" Meowth exclaimed in his signature voice. "Afta' all, we are pretty famous!"

"Would you cut it out?" Jessie said, annoyed. "The twerp is right there! If we tell him about anything, then we're toast." Goh had no idea what they were pandering about, but he furrowed his eyebrows and angrily said, "Tell me what's going on right now!" James put his hands up defensively and said, "We aren't doing anything evil if that's what you're thinking, twerp."

Goh didn't believe them, so he asked, "Then what are you three doing?" Jessie came forward and Goh saw something that he had rarely seen out of the Team Rocket members: sincerity. Jessie looked sincere as she came forward and said, "We're trying to hide from Giovanni. That's why we haven't come after you twerps in so long," in the most honest way possible.

Raboot looked back at Goh in a confused way. Goh stared back at his Pokemon and nodded, giving him clearance to come back to him. Raboot hopped back to Goh, whose facial expression softened, but remained defensive. "How can I believe you three?" Goh asked, testing to see if they were telling the truth. The three looked at each other cautiously. "Should we tell him?" James asked the other two. "It's a twerp, we shouldn't do that," Jessie responded anxiously.

"We don't got much of a choice," Meowth chimed in. "If we don't tell him da truth, then da boss will probably find us out," he explained. James nodded and said, "Meowth is right. We've got to tell him what's up." Jessie grunted and pursed her lips. "Fine. If it has to be that way, then fine," she reluctantly said. James turned back towards Goh and suggested, "Why don't we go grab a cup of coffee while we explain everything?"

Goh was slightly shocked at the request, but he surprised himself by saying, "Sure," and returning Raboot to his Pokeball. As he followed the three to wherever they were going, Goh texted Serena and Chloe that he would be slightly late due to a holdup at the store. As he typed the message, he contemplated why he was lying for the sake of Team Rocket but had an odd feeling that what he was doing was right.

As he sent the text explaining his absence, Meowth turned around and kept walking forward, facing Goh. "You probably don't trust us, huh?" Meowth said. Goh thought for a moment and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know," he said honestly. "All I know is that you haven't been coming near us, so something must be going on," he said, reasoning with himself for his decision.

Meowth nodded and turned back around, continuing the trek towards the nearby coffee shop. Goh had found the location of it to make sure that they were actually heading towards it, and sure enough, they were. This caused Goh to relax a bit, as he had a feeling that the three members were telling the truth about their lack of attempts at kidnapping Pikachu.

Goh looked back at his phone and realized that they were nearly there. "We're here!" James exclaimed, jogging to the door that led inside the coffee shop and pulling it open for everyone else. Jessie and Meowth walked past him without saying a word, while Goh noticed the kind action and thanked James for it. "Oh, thank you twerp," James said, caught off guard by the kind words.