Author notes:
I placed a time skip in here because of a certain battle that takes place. Hopefully my battle scenes are written well enough, but the winner of that particular battle was more important than the battle itself. Like I said before all moves I use are from their level list, egg list or any move list. Pretty much if they can learn it its fair game in my book. And if they can't and I have them do it anyway I will also make a note of it why I defied the laws of Poke physics.
The Chestreen is another little creation of mine...you will find out later in the story what that is...but like I said many times before one of my many goals for this story was to make the organizations/teams seem like they have their own way of doing things. Whether their tactics are ethical or not is a discussion for another day.
Lastly...do you remember the big brother at the end in chapter 3?
Chapter 25: The New Moon of Truths
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Honestly Ash, if you had caught it we wouldn't be having this problem." Professor Oak chastised. It was already the afternoon as Ash and his friends were searching for the scratch cat Pokémon that must have taken off in the middle of the night. Professor Oak wasn't going to stay in town for long. Today was the last day of lectures and he really wanted to take advantage of the fact that Meowth was now traveling with Ash. He knew to perfectly well what happened last time and he didn't want to lose a chance like this again.
"Why didn't you catch it? The last time we spoke to each other it sounded like that was what you were going to do."
"Well you see, I didn't really trust it so we made a deal and it promised that it wouldn't do anything as long as we didn't catch it," Ash explained.
"You made a deal...Pfft...Ha, Ha!" Professor Oak laughed.
"That Meowth sure outsmarted you! Ha, Ha!" He continued to laugh at Ash's expense.
"Ash, I told you that all you had to do was to catch it. It's a wild Pokémon and it would have become bound to you. Its desires to return to Team Rocket and its misguided actions would have diminished as you trained it. There was no need to make such a deal. A deal to not catch it...now that's one for the books, Ha, Ha!" Ash shamefully listened to the professor as the man continued to laugh.
"Did I just hear you right?" A voice echoed, it was Barrett.
"You lied? It's not yours, after all, is it?" He demanded, he didn't wait for Ash to respond, as he took off in search for the missing feline.
"That boy again?" Professor Oak said. Ash was on his way out but Professor Oak stopped him as he placed a hand on his free shoulder.
"Ash, I'm not mad at you for not capturing it. I have a pretty good suspicion as to why you may have held back." He eyed Pikachu before continuing.
"Do you trust it now?" Ash stared at him bewildered by the question; he was unsure how to answer, did he? He thought back to last night. It took every ounce of patience to calmly convince Meowth to go back to the school. It was as if Meowth was planning to stay out all night in the city park.
"It's hiding something." He muttered softly.
"Trust goes both ways, Ash." Ash looked down at his feet as he listened to the Professor's words of wisdom.
"I think I know where it might be." Ash thought out loud.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Just a few more hours." Meowth thought to itself. It was exhausted, to say the least, as it walked around the city's park. It came across one of the park's fountains and decided to sit on its high ledge to listen to the soothing sound of the water trickling ever so gently. It was a lovely park as the crystal blue waters of the river border the park on one side. Allowing decorative pedestrian bridges to be apart of the landscape so people could cross. Meowth sighed.
"Just a few more hours." It repeated to itself as it looked up to the sky. It then glanced over to one of the white bridges laced in climbing flowers. It walked over to it and jumped onto the wide railing to walk on. Meowth was getting quite bored so with nothing to do it jumped from the one railing to the other with ease. The small bridge was slightly wider than average so a jump like that did earn it a few humans taking notice to which Meowth decided not to play anymore. It didn't think it would be noticeable but apparently it was wrong. It sat on the railing hoping that the few bystanders would continue on with their lives as it looked over the serene river.
***Stomp, Stomp***
Meowth quickly turned around to see a very angry twerp and Pikachu. Without saying a word the twerp reached to grab it by the scruff but then an orange beam came out of nowhere in between them. They both turned to see it was the blue-haired boy who ordered his Primeape to use hyper beam.
"I'm not going to let you take it without a fight," Ash growled at the challenge.
"Fine, Pikachu go!" Pikachu refused.
"Pikachu, what's wrong?"
"Pikachu!" It harrumphed.
"Pikachu?" He questioned, he then looked to Meowth hoping to have some answers. However, Meowth only watched not willing to converse.
"Pikachu, Pika, Pika, Pikachu, Pika Pi, Chu, Chu, Pikachu!"
"What's it saying?" Meowth stared at him with its hallow expression.
"Its something that we can both agree on. We are enemies. There may be times when we work together or feel sorry for one another. We may even root for each other once in a while. But that doesn't matter, this traveling arrangement will end soon. Maybe if we met under different circumstances things may have been different but fantasizing over what will never be is a waste of time. We will never be friends. We will always be enemies."
Ash was shocked by what he was hearing as he looked to his best friend who refuses to look at him. Is that really how Pikachu feels?
"I want that to change," Ash whispered.
"Don't you want it to change?" He raised his voice. Pikachu looked at Meowth who retained its cold empty expression. It then turned to Ash.
"Pika Pi, Pi, Pika, Pikachu, Chu." It said sheepishly, he wished he knew what it was saying. Ash couldn't tell if Pikachu was agreeing with him or not.
"No." Meowth cuts in as they turned to the cold feline sitting on the railing.
"I like the way things are." It said monotonously. Its desire to keep things the way they were was unsettling as Ash stared into its ghostly dark blue eyes. There was no emotion, no life, no light in its eyes as it spoke its cold desires to keep things bitter between them. Ash didn't know what to say as he looked down while his body quivered to the thought.
"Everything will go back to the way they were." It said. Ash snapped his attention directly at it.
"Everything happens for a reason!" He countered as he grabbed a poke ball from his belt and threw it to release Hawlucha to battle the opposing Primeape.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
***Time Skip***
"Hawlucha dodge it!" Hawlucha flew out of the way as Primeape swung a focus punch.
"Now's your chance to use high jump kick!" It did just that.
"Primeape counter with thunderbolt!" They clashed with their attacks. Both took a good amount of damage but it was Primeape who became the victor.
"Way to go Primeape! Now go pin down that Meowth!" Primeape charged towards Meowth who was still sitting on the railing of the bridge as it watched the battle. As the oversized monkey pig swung another focus punch in its direction Meowth dodged it by jumping over Primeape to reach the other railing of the bridge. Meowth then proceeded to run off with the Primeape and trainer hot on its trail.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Primeape surround it with double team!" Barrett shouted, the Primeape picked up its speed and as they reached the front of the school building, Primeape was able to cut Meowth off by surrounding it with its double team. "Now use focus punch!"
"Meowth dodge it!" Ash screamed as he followed.
The twerp didn't need to tell it that for Meowth knew one hit could mean the end...the end of everything. It jumped high avoiding the copies and their direct hits as it somersaulted out of the way. The loud commotion gained all of the twerp's friends as they rushed onto the scene. The Primeape kept going after Meowth with its focus punch attack as Meowth kept jumping out of the way, dodging each one. Primeape was getting really agitated as it kept missing the small Pokémon.
"Primeape use hyper beam!" Just as Meowth dodged its latest punch, Primeape quickly shifted gears as it did what it was ordered to do. It shot its orange beam of light at the scratch cat that was still in the air after dodging its last attack. Meowth tumbled out of the way but it was, unfortunately, grazed on the side as it crashed to the ground ungracefully. Meowth got up quickly but it was growing very tired. It was only a matter of time as everyone watched.
Meowth isn't dodging as fast as he knows it can. It probably still needs time to recover. Ash instinctively reached for a poke ball to call out one of his Pokémon to aid Meowth; while he may have lost against Barrett, Meowth should at least have a fair fight.
"Don't bother," Diggory said from behind, Ash glared at him for being so cold.
"Just watch, it will be alright. That boy is a third rate trainer at best, he will never be able to catch it. Even when it's at its weakest state a Pokéteer is still a challenge." Ash turned back around to watch and couldn't believe his eyes.
"It's going faster?" Professor Oak questioned astonishingly.
"It's a free spirit Professor Oak," Anthony told him from behind. "It can't be bound by anyone."
"I've never seen Meowth like this before," Tracey stated as he continued to draw the fight.
Meowth was fast, spinning out of the way of the attacks. Jumping over the oversized monkey pig Pokémon as it dodged its punches. It was growing more exhausted while the Primeape was growing uncontrollably angry as the small Pokémon kept dodging its attacks.
"Primeape charge at it with focus punch!" As it did so Meowth jumped out of the way to dodge.
"Now use thunderbolt!" Lightening came at it; Meowth twirled out of the way but just barely and was hit enough to tumble to the ground. It was slowly getting back up onto its feet as the trainer saw his chance. He threw the empty poke ball in its direction. Meowth looked up and it was so tired, its body was growing heavier by the minute and this battle made it worse. If it gets stuck inside the poke ball it might not be able to get out. What's worse it might not remember anything when it's released.
"I won't let that happen!" Determined, it looked up at the flying poke ball. As the poke ball was in proximity to make capture Meowth slashed it in half, preventing the possible capture from even happening.
Everyone was in shock by the occurrence.
"It sliced it in half?" Barrett wondered out loud. Meowth stood up as it looked at the boy daringly, its heart was pounding hard as its breathing was becoming irregular. It was so tired but it was willing to keep going...willing to do whatever it takes not to lose its freedom and above all not to lose itself. Barrett wanted it even more.
"Primeape use hyper beam!" Ash had seen enough, Barrett lost his chance at catching it and so he grabbed a poke ball containing one of his Pokémon to aid Meowth.
***Clap, Clap, Clap***
The sound of someone clapping stopped everyone from what they were doing. They turned to see it was Team Flare's Takashi.
"Wonderful, simply wonderful!" He walked up to Meowth but Ash and his friends quickly ran in front of it while Bonnie rushed to its side and started to hug it protectively.
Meowth couldn't hold back the urge to gently nudge her off. While it was a battle not worth fighting, she was too close for comfort. The mini twerp obliged by simply placing a supporting hand on its shoulder as they both kept their eyes on the Team Flare agent in front of them.
"I'm not the threat here. I'm on your side remember. I can't have you passing out and lose you to the likes of Team Blade."
"Team Blade?" They all questioned. Just then a man with brown hair and dressed in black made his appearance.
"I'm sure you enjoyed that performance as well. But it looks like no matter what, your plans won't succeed." Takashi snidely side glanced him.
"What are they talking about Meowth?" Ash whispered.
"I have a much different opinion on the matter." The Team Blade agent eyed the exhausted Pokémon.
"There's no need to fight it anymore. It will all be as if it were just a bad dream." Meowth glared at him for even suggesting such a thing.
"You certainly are a stubborn one, I'll give you that but do you honestly think you can make it to midnight? You had very little energy, to begin with, and after that battle...willpower will only get you so far."
"Shows how little you know!" Meowth shot back.
"Meowth," Ash spoke up.
"What is he talking about? What's going on?" Meowth was breathing heavily, it was so tired. It heard the heavy concern in the twerp's voice but it refused to answer.
"Please, just tell me."
"Ooh, did we say too much?" Takashi asked pompously as he brushed his hair to the side elegantly.
"You certainly have a fascinating way of doing things my little kitten. Traveling with useless trainers and not telling them your ordeals is simply an adorable trait of yours." Ash and his friends eyed it even more.
"I was the one who separated the talking Meowth from the Team Rocket agents." The Team Blade agent spoke up causing everyone to gasp at his confession while Anthony, Piper, and Diggory only listened to him carefully.
"We are Team Blade the weed that will always grow. I'm the one who was able to successfully block its mind...to mold it into what we want it to think. I don't know how you were able to break from my control before but it's too late. It took some time to perfect but I was finally successful. You are clearly out of energy. You won't be able to make it to midnight tonight. It would be best for you to rest; no harm will come of you for it's only your memory that will be lost. You will wake up as a new Pokémon, a new Meowth that is no longer attached to the confines of Team Rocket." Everyone was letting the man's objectives sink in as Meowth looked down while its body shook with anguish. Bonnie started to move closer so she could hug it comfortingly but it gently pushed her off.
"I...will," It mumbled, as it moved towards the center of the humans. It looked up directly at the Team Blade agent. It was those vivid sapphire eyes...the fire danced passionately as lights seemed to sparkle within those irises.
"I will never lose to the likes of you! Whatever vendetta you have against Team Rocket I assure you I will burn down all the weeds that you try to grow! Team Rocket will never succumb to the fate that you have in mind!" The twerps and Professor Oak were in awe at its declaration. Tracey was so entranced by it that he almost forgot to draw it. Those eyes they radiated with such passion, hopefully, his drawing will do it justice.
"Hmm, Hmm." Takashi giggled.
"Rockets aren't known for their perseverance for nothing. It seems that a Rocketeer would be to wild for the likes of you." He side glanced Team Blade. The agent for Team Blade said nothing and walked away.
"Good luck my little kitten!" Takashi waved goodbye leaving everyone in pure utter astonishment.
"Ha, Ha." Anthony's heavy chuckle broke their silence; "Team Rocket should be counting their lucky stars to have someone like you on their side. Ha, Ha!"
"Meowth, That's Right! Ha, Ha!"
"You're laughing?" Ash was amazed by how well it was taking all this.
"It's incredible," Tracey said as he continued drawing his pictures of Meowth, one as it was filled with passion, and now he was drawing it as it laughed wholeheartedly.
"It certainly is." Professor Oak concurred.
"I don't get it," Barrett spoke up.
"Do you belong to someone or not?" Meowth stopped laughing almost immediately as it looked at him annoyingly.
"Xenos can be such idiots," Piper muttered under her breath for only her brother and Diggory were able to hear causing them both to snicker. With nothing more to do Meowth started to head back towards the park.
"YOU COULD HAVE TOLD ME!" Ash screamed.
Meowth stopped and turned around as it was suddenly ambushed as the twerp hugged it in a big embrace, collapsing to his knees in the process. He was crying, Meowth couldn't believe it as it smelled saltwater as well as feeling the twerp's tears wetting its soft fur. It wanted to be let go; it hated being held like this. It started to struggle weakly while also trying to save what little energy it had left. But it didn't matter as the twerp tightened his grip the minute it started to wiggle.
"Why? I would have helped you. You know that, don't you? Just why?" Meowth listened to the twerp's tearful plea as its eyes started to water up slightly themselves. Everything from being separated to Team Blade flooded his mind. He finally made it to Anbero City, he thought he could put this whole mess behind him and that he would have been reunited by now. Not wanting to be caught with its guard down Meowth quickly pushed back its own tears to maintain its hard stance.
"You wouldn't understand." It mumbled. "Let me go, twerp. I want to be alone."
"You can forget about that!" Ash declared as he looked at it strictly. He proceeded to stand up with Meowth in his arms much to Meowth's dismay.
"Wha...What are you doing? No, No...Stop...Put me down...Put me down!" It started to struggle frantically but to no avail as Ash squeezed it tighter.
"Nooo! Let me goooo!" It whined. Ash smirked at its whiny behavior as a playful smile embraced his features. While one arm held it firmly he reached with the other hand to scratch it behind the ear.
"Don't do that!" It whined even louder as it pushed him off. It glared at him and proceeded to bat his hat down into his face with the hopes that would cause Ash to let it go so he could fix it but that didn't work. Instead, Ash just tightened his grip as he fixed his hat with one hand, smiling at it as if he won which only aggravated Meowth even further.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was unspoken but Meowth was basically put on lockdown as Ash carried it inside. The gang has put an end to its parade of constantly disappearing on them. They sat in the conference room so Professor Oak can do what he came here to do. They had some time till the last lecture in the evening and Professor Oak really wanted to see how far its intelligence can go. After witnessing that battle only added more curiosities for everyone. They lost track of time on how long Meowth's protest has been going on as they watched it lay on its back as if it was defeated by the boredom that was forced upon it.
"I'm bored...I'm bored." It robotically kept saying.
"Come on Meowth, won't you please try to cooperate for just a few minutes." Tracey pleaded.
"Alright little Meowth, let's play a memory game using these cards." Professor Oak said as he pulled out a deck of cards that had pictures instead of the usual four-suited deck. He was patient long enough with its little protest and figured maybe a game would lighten up the mood in the room.
"What's with everyone's obsession with my height!?" Meowth eyed him annoyingly as the Professor placed all the cards neatly face down.
"The object of the game is to find pairs of,"
"I know how to play!" It snapped, "And it's a boring game for stupid people!"
He eyed Meowth who didn't move from its spot on the ground as it continued looking up at the window. It just wanted to go outside; maybe it was due to it being wild. Meowth are generally very playful but this one just kept on refusing, maybe it was because all of his offers weren't challenging enough.
"A free spirit?"
"Knock it off Meowth!" Ash demanded, "You're acting ridiculous!"
"And you twerps still don't get it!" Meowth finally got up. "It's the middle of the day and I need to stay up till midnight in order to beat him."
"Professionally speaking I believe it's unwise to follow through with what you're doing. I would even say I'm skeptical of Team Blade's hypnotic abilities."
"Stick to your boring lectures on harmony between humans and Pokémon." Meowth rudely snapped. "I don't care that you all hate Team Rocket but the world of the organizations is different. I know what I'm doing so just back off!"
"I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to chastise you." Professor Oak spoke calmly, preventing the likes of Ash from starting a screaming match.
"I just find Team Blade's actions of pushing a Pokémon to such an extent to be cruel." He continued to speak in a calm manner as he stared into its sapphire eyes while the sun shined behind it. Just then he could have sworn that he saw something sparkle within those eyes. The eyes of a Meowth would always sparkle when there was something shiny but there was nothing in the room that would fit that description. Could it have been the reflection of the sunlight? He sighed as he looked out the window.
"It is a lovely day. Let Meowth go outside. We could always try again later." Meowth didn't need to be told twice as it quickly darted out of the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Meowth wait up!" Meowth growled frustratingly as the parasitic twerp came out to follow it with his trusty sidekick Pikachu on his shoulder.
"Hey wait for us!" They turned to see the mini twerp along with all of the twerp's friends. They had a lot of free time till Professor Oak's final lecture in the evening and wanted to take the opportunity to go sightseeing.
Anbero City had a few canals that went through town due to the multiple rivers that cut through. The city was like a large garden but still had a heavy urban setting. There were lots of streets with tiny boutique shops on the one side of a canal with the other being a park of some kind. The girls would always go into one of the shops while the boys mainly Meowth would get sidetracked by something that only nature provided. Compared to the robotic whining machine it was before, Meowth was filled with unlimited energy as it walked around happily in the sun. It would jump up on the railings of the many bridges crossing the waterways and run to the other side. To the best of their knowledge, it must have been up all night last night, and yet it had all this energy even after an intense battle. They soon made their way to Lake Anbero's beach that required them to cross another pedestrian bridge. The bridge had a very narrow railing but Meowth jumped on it to run across with ease.
"I can't believe you can do that," Ash exclaimed excitedly while Meowth looked at him casually.
"All Meowth have great balance. The trick is, is not to fall down." It smirked at its own statement before taking off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As time past, the starting time for Professor Oak's lecture was coming closer. Meowth was content with the idea of walking around town. It didn't care about the lecture but with great difficulty, they were able to convince Meowth to return to the school.
Meowth sat in the spot it did yesterday with the trio in a row by the window and with the twerp who also sat next to them. Meowth looked around the room to see that idiot Barrett was here but the two agents that have placed him into this mess were not. It looked around to see if maybe they were in disguise but it was no use. As expected, the lecture was boring. It was basically the same lecture from yesterday about how Pokémon and humans work together in harmony. How there are so many mysteries about Pokémon that they still don't know about. He eyed Meowth at that statement but Meowth just ignored him. The twerp tried to nudge it to participate but Meowth retaliated and scratched his hand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The lecture was over and Meowth walked out of the room as everyone gathered around the Professor to thank him. It stopped in the hallway and leaned against the wall as it looked out the windows seeing that it was now nightfall.
"Just a few more hours."
"Your persistence is admirable." The Team Blade agent made his appearance.
"But even the mountains are weak to the weeds that grow. Team Oyama will soon crumble to our power and Team Solaris continues to feed our purpose. We will keep growing even if we fail tonight." This man was even more aggravating than the twerps. Meowth pushed itself up to walk away.
"Meowth?" Ash walked out of the classroom to look for it and quickly noticed the two conversing.
"Hey!" "Pika!" He shouted as he ran in between them. The man eyed Ash for a moment.
"You're that boy with the Pikachu." He stated.
"You're the one that this Meowth and its comrades have been chasing all this time. I find it odd that you want to help it to stay with Team Rocket."
"How do you know that?" Ash was surprised, to say the least.
"Pika Pi," it gained his attention, pointing out that Meowth left. He looked back at the Team Blade member who in turn remained stoic.
"I don't care!." He thought as his eyebrows furrowed while he gritted his teeth. "Their world is different? I don't care! I hate it!" He ran off to follow the always disappearing feline.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meowth continued to walk away. He was getting annoyed by it all and just wanted some time to himself. He was nearing the exit but unfortunately, Takashi was standing there pompously waiting for him.
"Good Evening!" He greeted.
"Going outside again I see." Ash ran up from behind Meowth and stepped in front of it, glaring at the tall man.
"There's no need to be like that. I'm on your side but I can't allow you to keep wandering off. No, No I just can't have you leave my sights again." He said playfully. "I'm afraid I must confine you here in the school for the remaining hours."
"Where's Tatsuo?" Meowth asked.
"Who knows but do you honestly want him here? If he was here he would have knocked you out before you even knew what was happening. It's better this way wouldn't you agree?"
"After I win against Team Blade I want us to have our own challenge," Meowth stated.
"Hmm, we'll see about that. You have really caused me a whole lot of trouble." He eyed it noting the lovely passion in its sapphire eyes.
"Why not, I simply can't say 'no' to you." He said whimsically. He walked up to it ignoring Ash's glare.
"I can't have you lose to the likes of them. Here take this." Meowth walked past Ash to meet the tall man halfway. Takashi reached over and handed Meowth a blue capsule.
"I'm sure a Rocketeer like you is familiar with these." He winked at it and waved goodbye. "Ta, Ta my little kitten."
Meowth growled, "Why must he keep calling me that?"
"Hand it over. I highly doubt it's safe." "Pika," Ash demanded.
"No way." It countered.
"You're seriously going to take it?"
"Team Flare wouldn't want to lose to another team on their own turf. So in a way, I trust him. Besides, it doesn't look fake."
"What is it?"
"It's a chestreen...a capsule filled with the juices of a chesto berry and green tea. They're used to help one to stay awake for training, missions or for whatever."
"Don't take it." Ash insisted.
"They're perfectly safe for Pokémon."
"I don't trust him. What if it's something else?"
"You don't trust anyone in a team," Meowth stated dryly before casually popping it in to swallow.
"I guess the rooftop is the next best thing." It thought as it turned back around. They both walked back upstairs and as they made their way Takashi was there waiting for them.
"Ugh, I thought I was done with him."
"So you took it, I'm so glad! This moment will always be remembered as the beginning of our journey together." He said flirtatiously which only angered Meowth as it trembled like a teapot ready to burst.
"I humbly accept your challenge."
"What you mean now?"
"Of course! Timing is always of the essence in these delicate situations."
"Hmm, I think I remember seeing some priceless artworks in some of the windows of the shops in town. How about whoever steals one first wins?" It suggested happily but soon realized who was standing nearby as a fuming Ash and Pikachu stood tall glaring at him from behind.
"Um...our deal is off remember? So it's not like it's a bad thing." It spoke genuinely with a slight twinge of nervousness in its voice.
"YOU'RE NOT STEALING ANYTHING! YOU HEAR ME!?" "PIKACHU!"
"YOU CAN'T BOSS ME AROUND! THE DEAL IS OFF, I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT!" They continued to scream at each other while Takashi watched amusingly; he brushed some of his long white locks to the side before interrupting their little quarrel.
"You must answer three questions correctly." He regained their attention, "Three times you have eluded me so therefore you must answer three questions." Meowth was surprised by his simple request. Were they going to be trick questions?
"What's his deal?"
"They're the creators of stones but have strong allies that go beyond space and time. Who are they?"
"The Draconids."
"That is correct!" He exclaimed. "Twins of the Vale had their truths and ideals but they also had a sun that they shared. It saved them and their people from the darkness of the volcanic eruption but their constant battles caused it to harden. Who was this warm soul."
"Volcarona," Meowth answered melancholy.
"Bingo!" Takashi shouted happily.
"How do you know all this stuff?" Ash questioned.
"Read a book once in while twerp." It answered insultingly.
"Last question, what does it mean to be a Pokéteer?"
"To work for a team without having to belong to a human."
"Well, I guess that's one way to answer it. Well done! You won my challenge!" That was surprisingly simple and he's not even upset that he lost. It was like he had no intention of winning.
"What's his deal?"
"Now let's go celebrate with some lemon cakes!"
"Lemon cakes!?" Meowth asked enthusiastically and followed the man quite willingly to the classroom where Helen, the trio, Professor Oak, and Ash's friends were still talking. They eyed the flamboyant man as he waltzed in. Within a matter of seconds as if the strange picnic of an assortment of sweet treats came out of nowhere graced their presence on the long teacher's desk.
"Bon Appetit everyone!"
"Lemon cakes, brownies, chocolate and is that...?" Meowth oodles the sweet treats before it as if it were staring at something sparkly. It reached to grab a lemon cake but suddenly stopped as it became dizzy.
"What's wrong?" Serena questioned.
"You wanted the lemon cake, right." She picked one up to hand it over but Meowth just stared at her blankly. It placed a paw to its forehead; it felt like the room was spinning.
"You're so stubborn." They turned around to see the Team Blade agent.
"Drastic measures had to be made." The man eyed Takashi.
"You were predictable which made you careless." Takashi eyed him and quickly reached into his pocket to retrieve the bottle containing more chestreens. It looked normal and the capsules looked fine too but then he noticed something was off with them.
"You switched them?" He breathed accusingly.
"He what?" Everyone exclaimed.
"These aren't chestreens...these are for humans who have sleep deprivation. Do you have any idea what you've done?"
"How could you do that!?" Professor Oak demanded.
"Pokémon can't take stuff like that. We need to get it to a Pokémon center right now!" Ash instinctively rushed over to do just that but with all of its might, Meowth pushed him away.
"I'm fine!" It snapped.
Ash tried again but Meowth pushed away with even more force. "Back off!" It shouted before running out the door.
"Meowth!" They all cried out.
"I don't understand you." The man stated causing Ash to scowl at him.
"Why would you allow a Pokémon to return to Team Rocket? Do you seriously want it to return to a life of thievery?" Ash paused he wanted to scream at him for all the trouble he caused. How dare he thinks that he is above them all. Ash hated him...he hated all the teams, not one is better than the other, they're all evil. But this wasn't the time as he ran out the door.
"Wait Ash!" Professor Oak called out. Ash stopped in his tracks as the professor walked up to him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ash rushed to the rooftop figuring that was where it would be. He ran outside and saw Meowth sitting out on the ledge looking up at the moonless sky.
"Where are you?"
"There you are." "Pika, Pika, Pikachu," Ash said as he closed in on it from behind. Meowth didn't respond nor look at him as it continued to search for its beloved moon. The night of the new moon, the night it never liked. Why did this have to happen? The twerp quietly sat next to it on the wide ledge.
"Team Blade?" He thought out loud.
"I've never heard of them, have you?" Meowth shook its head no.
"Just how many teams are there?" Meowth smirked at the question.
"A lot. However, most of them prefer staying out of the spotlight."
"Like the one that Mamoru guy works for?" Meowth nodded.
"So then who does he work for?"
"I'm not allowed to say, twerp."
"Why not?"
"Its complicated twerp. The world of how organizations like Team Rocket run is not something you need to wrap your head around. The fact is that they exist and that's all there is to it."
"Well, they shouldn't!"
"And that is why we will always be enemies," Meowth stated point-blank causing Ash to stare at it surprisingly as grief slowly overcame him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The wind started to pick up and it was getting cold. Meowth didn't mind it but it was slowly getting too tired to hold itself up.
"Just a few more minutes." It thought as it looked up at the stars.
"I can't see you but your still there, right?" It got up and started to head for the stairwell with Ash right behind it.
"If I catch it then it will all be over. Meowth wouldn't be in Team Rocket anymore. It wouldn't have to worry about Team Flare, Team Blade or any other team." He thought as he watched it slide its back against the wall to sit on one of the stairs.
"I've never seen you this exhausted before and yet you're still up and moving... you're amazing. I almost feel like there's nothing you can't do." He recalled it slicing through the poke ball.
"It was amazing." He thought.
"I don't want us to be." He started softly breaking their silence to continue the conversation.
"I don't want you to regret doing the right thing or to think that traveling together was wrong." Meowth stared at him blankly, it was too tired to fight with him. The twerp was just going to say the usual friendship speech, which annoyed Meowth to no end. How many times must he tell this kid it's not going to happen?
"After tonight...after you get your rest I want us to battle." This caused Meowth to do a doubled take as it quickly stared into the trainer's brown eyes. Ash stared back at Meowth determined to do what needed to be done. Meowth saw the look in his eyes; it was the look that any trainer gets when they see a Pokémon they want. Does the twerp seriously want to catch it? That's absurd! He couldn't possibly want it. There must be a logical explanation for this. It's circumstantial, that's what it is. Once it returns to Team Rocket everything will go back to the way they were.
"I told you already that I have no intention of leaving Team Rocket." It replied cooly as it looked away. Just then Meowth stiffened slightly as it felt the twerp embrace it with a comforting hug.
"And I told you that you're stuck with me for now on." He responded just as coolly, gently stroking its soft fur on the back of its head.
"I promise you that we will find Jessie and James but returning things to the way they were feels wrong. I truly believe that everything happens for a reason. I want us to be friends, to trust each other, to work hard together. I bet I could learn more about Pokémon with you in ways that no one else can." Meowth didn't respond it was actually listening to him. There was no yelling, no fighting, he reached it, he finally reached it. He looked at the clock that was present and saw that they made it past midnight.
"Meowth you did it." He spoke softly as he looked down and saw that Meowth was in fact asleep. He gasped softly.
"I'm impressed that it made it this far." The voice of the Team Blade member appeared at the bottom of the staircase. Ash held Meowth in his arms tightly as he glared at the man.
"Do you wish to battle me for it?" Team Blade asked.
"I'm..." Meowth began to stir.
"I'm not asleep you imbecile!" It declared as it got up out of Ash's grip and started to walk down the stairs.
"What the twerp just said really ticked me off so I couldn't sleep. You lose Team Blade! Rockets will always blast away the enemy at the speed of light. So I suggest that you surr...en...der nw." Its victory speech soon became nothing but garbled words as it slugged to the ground all dizzy.
"My legs...they're not working! What's going on? I'm seeing double! No triple!"
"It must be that pill that you just had to take." "Pikachu," Ash smugly explained.
"The professor told me that you might feel the side effects of numbness and dizziness." He walked down to pick it up.
"But I want to scratch his face!" Meowth was so dizzy as it felt the twerp carry him away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ash and his friends spent the night at the Pokémon Center while also waiting for news of a full recovery. Ash stayed by its bedside eagerly waiting for a healthy Pokémon to battle. As the sun shined through with its warm light he woke up and stretched himself only to see Meowth was no longer there.
"Meowth?" He looked around frantically causing a disturbance as his friends rushed into the room.
"It's not here." They turned to the doorway to see the Team Blade member. "It's with Team Oyama now."
"Team Oyama?" He questioned.
"That's right. Team Rocket and Team Oyama are allies. They have worked together for many years. The talking Meowth was sent out on its own mission to keep Team Flare distracted while its teammates and Team Oyama could steal the data from Lysandre Labs. After their mission was completed Team Oyama along with one of the Team Rocket agents were to come here and recollect the talking Meowth."
"That's right...James is here." Ash recalled as he listened to the harrowing news.
"I'm sorry that our fight brought you great trouble. We have been at odds with Team Oyama for some time in Alemaca Valley. They constantly exploit fossil Pokémon. According to some of my fellow agents, they spotted the talking Meowth helping them recently."
"What?" They all gasped. Ash couldn't believe it, he then recalled Meowth claiming that it was wrong about finding James. Was it just lying to him...about everything?
"Are you doubting me?" He questioned.
"The talking Meowth has done missions like this before if I can recall the last time it was on a mission like this was when it was traveling in Unova." Ash looked at him sharply as if his mind has been made up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Team Blade agent was walking through Anbero City. As he reached Gavata Square he spotted a man in a red blazer and pants who was leaning against one of the long legs of the giant Donphan like statue.
"I planted the seeds, sir."
"Good."
"What shall we do now? We lost the Team Rocket agents, we don't have a place to plant our roots."
"You did your part," Tatsuo began as he removed his red hair wig and black shades, revealing his natural black hair and green eyes.
"Now let me do mine."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Updated Author note:
This segment of my overall story is completed as in no more new chapters as in finished. I know that the last chapter may make the ending seem...eh? or meh...hopefully there was some emotion. The reason why this story has a lot of build-ups is that this is the first story, I did my best to only scratch the surface. For new readers, I won't get into it too much here but I will say that in the sequel it goes deeper than the surface...in other words, there's not going to be just the one sequel but a prequel or two...I got a lot written down, with not a lot of time to spare...too busy playing video games:)
Last Author notes:
I guess its time to admit that I left countless of easter eggs...or I guess I should call them Poke eggs within almost every chapter...soooo...***hint, hint***
Two of the answers are references to the games. The first one is to the Delta episode in ORAS. The second one is to Black and White, in the games you were to find Volcarona but in the anime it was meteorite a plot for Team Rocket that went no where. (Details that you could look up on your own time.)
Hopefully my writing was good enough to make it clear why Ash reacts the way he does at the end. Hopefully he doesn't come off like someone who flips super fast but then again I do remember him being easily manipulated at times, especially when it comes to people who don't share the same views as him. While the two did have some nice moments together, the idea of them becoming a team was never going to happen anytime soon. He may have truly wanted to capture it/to help it/ to be its friend at times but like I said about the Poke eggs being everywhere, I placed indicators throughout the story, hinting at the fact that there was always something there that was preventing that from fully happening.
I felt that the last chapter of the overall story should be author noteless. I know that the last chapter is very short and it might even feel rushed. I didn't put in a lot of information because I didn't want it to be clogged up with exposition. Instead, I decided to save a few explanations for another story.
Team Hyoga- is my own creation and the word Hyoga is Japanese for glacier. So Hyoga + Glacier = Ice types!