Cerulean City's skyline shone under the afternoon sun, its outlines softened by mist from the sea breeze. In the distance, you could almost hear the waves brushing the shore.
"…" Misty stared at Cerulean's familiar silhouette, face tangled.
Then she made up her mind.
"Ash, I've got something to do first. I'm heading off," she said, turning on her heel.
"Huh? Need us to come with you?" Ash turned, squinting at her.
"Nope." Misty waved a hand without looking back.
"Pika?" Pikachu tilted its head, confused.
"Let it go, Ash~~" Brock said, suddenly sounding very wise. "You have to understand a girl's heart."
"I got it." Ash nodded, not pressing. "Be careful on the way."
He could more or less guess what she was going to do.
Wait for him at the Cerulean Gym, right?
He was looking forward to it~
After seeing Misty off, Ash and Brock headed for the police station.
They turned in Jessie—still shouting insults through gritted teeth—and James, trying desperately to maintain some gentlemanly composure and failing miserably—
And walked out with forty thousand in prize money.
(｡◝ᴗ◜｡) Ash's mood: ↑↑.
"Now my wallet finally feels respectable," he said, happily tucking the cash away.
Off to the side—
Things got a little… abstract.
"Lovely Officer Jenny~" Brock blushed as he leaned a bit too close.
"You're trying to flirt with me, aren't you?" This Officer Jenny had clearly seen it all. The moment she caught Brock's expression, she could guess exactly what he was thinking—and obviously, this wasn't the first time.
"I'd really like to be friends with you~~" Brock didn't even deny it.
Now that he'd dumped his Gym duties, he was letting himself go a little.
"…Let's just meet at the Cerulean Gym later," Ash said, deciding he absolutely did not want to get in the middle of whatever Brock was doing.
Honestly, after all this time traveling in the wild together, it wasn't a bad idea to split up and rest on their own for a bit.
Ash left the station alone and headed toward a park.
He called out Meowth, who looked a bit dazed.
Meowth instantly understood, trotting toward a public phone booth nearby.
"I-I'll just… go call the, uh, headquarters, nya!!" it said, lowering its voice.
Ash didn't stop it.
He only gave it a meaningful look. "Go ahead… and remember our 'deal.'"
Then he turned and walked toward the lake.
The park's lake connected to the sea—a wide, open sheet of water.
Meowth shivered and muttered a reply, more to itself than him.
It quickly dialed a number buried deep in its memory—one it would never dare forget.
The phone rang only once before being picked up.
No greeting.
Just a heavy, steady male voice, carrying an invisible weight that pressed straight through the receiver and onto Meowth's chest.
"Talk."
Meowth's tail snapped straight.
It instinctively stood at attention, even though it knew the other side couldn't see it.
"B-Boss! It's me, Meowth!"
"Jessie and James… they messed up, nya!"
"They got thrown into the station in Cerulean by some kid from Pallet Town!"
It rattled off the story as fast as it could—how they'd run into Ash, how Pikachu had smashed them, how they'd ended up captured.
Carefully skipping all the parts about being caught itself and the secret bet with Ash.
From start to finish, it spoke purely as a failed field agent reporting in.
The other end went silent for a few seconds.
The silence was so heavy Meowth almost stopped breathing.
Just when it thought it couldn't stand it—
Giovanni's voice returned, unreadable as ever.
"A kid from Pallet… Name?"
"H-he's called Ash, nya!"
"…Describe him," Giovanni said.
There was a faint new note in his tone—interest.
Meowth didn't dare slack off. It squeezed its brain for the best words it could manage.
"That kid… looks normal, but also not normal at all, nya!"
"His eyes are so bright it's scary—like nothing can get past him, nya!"
"As for his Pikachu…"
Fear and disbelief colored its voice.
"It's insanely strong, nya!"
"Fast like real lightning, and its Thunderbolt hits way harder than it should!"
"It even used moves I've never seen before!"
"Like a straight-up monster, nya! And… and…"
Meowth hesitated, trying to find the right words.
Honestly, it was confused.
It felt guilty, like it was betraying something—
"And what?" Giovanni's voice rose by a hair.
Just enough to show he was actually listening now.
"A-and he caught a Golden Gyarados, nya!" Meowth blurted. "Shiny, glittering gold! He fished it up in Viridian Forest!"
That part had been prepped with Ash in advance.
If Meowth wanted to stay credible, it had to deliver solid intel.
Even if Giovanni didn't particularly care about this trio's "performance."
The line went silent again.
This time, the quiet seemed deeper, heavier.
Meowth could almost hear the very faint, rhythmic tapping on a desk in the background, like its Boss was thinking.
After a long pause, Giovanni spoke again.
"Golden Gyarados… in Viridian Forest… Interesting."
He paused.
Then asked something Meowth absolutely hadn't expected.
"Meowth."
"In your view…"
"What kind of 'Trainer' is this Ash?"
Meowth blinked.
It hadn't seen that coming.
It thought back to that brief, crushingly intense contact with Ash.
To the line: "No one understands Pokémon better than I do."
To how calm he'd been in front of a rampaging Gyarados—and during Team Rocket's ambush.
To how easily he'd pierced the price Meowth had paid to learn human speech.
To that conversation in the woods that had felt like a spell—and ended with Meowth somehow using Swift.
It chose its words very carefully.
"He's… weird, nya… He's obviously a rookie, but he feels like a king standing at the top already, nya."
"Really scary… nya."
"It's like he doesn't care about the usual rules at all. He just does whatever he wants, and if he wants something, he'll try to take it…"
"But—but with his own Pokémon… he actually seems… not bad, nya?"
"At the very least, that Gyarados got beaten up badly by him and still listens without complaining…"
Meowth's voice trailed off.
It realized the more it talked, the more complicated and contradictory that boy's image became—
And the more unsettling.
It betrayed just how conflicted Meowth felt.
Ash's "talk" that day had shaken it to the core.
If someone promises you miracles, you assume they're lying—
But if they actually give you the miracle…
Giovanni listened quietly, never once cutting in.
When Meowth finally ran out of words, he let out a very soft chuckle.
So brief it was almost nothing—
And yet it sent a chill crawling up Meowth's spine.
"Understood."
"I'll have people pull them out."
"Meowth."
"Until then, stay in the area."
"Watch this Ash."
"Report when necessary."
Beep—
Beep—
Beep—
The call ended, cleanly.
Meowth stood there holding the receiver, stunned, cold sweat soaking its back.
His Boss's last words…
What did they really mean?
Just simple surveillance?
Or… some deeper kind of "interest"?
Team Rocket recruited new members too.
When they found a promising Trainer, they'd absolutely fight the League over them.
Meowth shook its head hard, refusing to think any further.
It slipped out of the phone booth and ran toward the lake.
In the distance—
Ash stood in the sea breeze, looking out over the sun-dappled water of Cerulean's great bay.
Lost in thought.
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