"Ah! Are you trying to kill me? You're still scaring me at a time like this?"
After realizing Xiaoyun had scared her on purpose, Dawn angrily patted his chest, then left his embrace with a little reluctance.
"The atmosphere just now was weird. I was only trying to liven things up. Well? Aren't you less scared now?"
Xiaoyun smiled sheepishly. It had felt like walking into a haunted house, making even him nervous.
"What are you talking about? Sure, I'm less afraid now. All that's left is the shock."
Dawn shot him a reproachful glance with her beautiful blue eyes, thinking, Doesn't this jerk know I'm easily scared? Yet he still scared me like that and made me jump onto him before I could stop myself. Seriously.
"Dawn, quick, look! What's that?"
Xiaoyun peered at the hot-air balloon floating in the sky. Why did it look so familiar?
"Oh, please. You're trying to trick me again. I'm not falling for it."
Dawn pursed her lips, not believing a word this jerk said. He just gave me a fright, and now he's trying to scare me again already. Do I really look that gullible?
"Come on, it's real this time."
"Doesn't that thing look like Team Rocket's Meowth balloon?"
Xiaoyun gently turned Dawn by the shoulders and pointed at the thing floating in the sky.
"Huh! It really does. So are they falling?"
As Xiaoyun turned her by the shoulders, Dawn followed his finger and saw a Meowth balloon trailing black smoke as it fell toward the ground.
"Come on, let's take a look."
Xiaoyun wanted to see whether Team Rocket's three geniuses had caught Pikachu again, and also check whether their hot-air balloon could still fly. They could get out of this forest first.
Bang!
The scene shifted to Team Rocket as the hot-air balloon slowly fell to the ground. The geniuses who had once again failed to catch Pikachu crawled out of the balloon.
"Cough, cough..."
"That purple-haired brat was really strong. I wanted to catch Pikachu while he was battling the twerp, but we actually got spotted."
Jessie stood up and straightened her purple hair, which Pikachu's electricity had made stand on end, speaking viciously as she recalled what had just happened.
"Exactly. If that brat hadn't interfered, we definitely could've presented Pikachu to Giovanni."
James sighed regretfully too. They'd clearly already gotten their executive fragments, so how had they suddenly been dismantled?
"Meowth could already see himself sitting in Giovanni's lap, meow."
Meowth angrily bit his handkerchief with tears in his eyes. Just a moment ago, he could still picture Giovanni holding him in his arms, but suddenly it was gone again.
"Speaking of which, where are we?"
Snapping out of her dream, Jessie looked at the large trees surrounding them. Finding that she didn't recognize the place, she asked the other two.
"No idea, meow." Meowth indicated that who knew where this was.
After all, after being blasted away by Pikachu so many times, where hadn't they landed? Volcanoes and glaciers were everyday occurrences. If they made a fuss over every little thing, how could they become Team Rocket executives in the future?
"Jessie, look! There's a hollow tree over there. Let's go inside and rest, and see if we can find something to eat."
James looked around and spotted a huge tree hollow not far away. From what he knew, there were bound to be good things inside.
"Rumble~"
"Go, go, go! What are you waiting for? All that Pikachu-catching has made me hungry! What if it affects my perfect skin?"
It had been fine until someone mentioned it, but at those words, her stomach immediately growled. Led by Jessie, the three crept toward the tree hollow. They were quite clever, first scouting around the entrance before sneaking inside once they found no danger.
The three entered the tree hollow. It was pitch-black inside, with a strange smell everywhere, probably the stink of not bathing for a long time. Meowth pulled a flashlight out of nowhere. Once he switched it on, they saw Berry cores everywhere, along with things like travelers' bags, all in a mess. There was something resembling a bed inside the hollow.
"This must be some Pokémon's den."
Jessie looked at the things in the hollow and felt that it probably had an owner.
"It stinks, meow. How long has the Pokémon living here gone without a bath?"
Although Meowth's sense of smell wasn't as keen as a dog's, it was still a little more sensitive than a human's. After all, Meowth was a feline Pokémon, and the conditions in this tree hollow made the cleanliness-loving Meowth uncomfortable.
"Jessie, Meowth, come here! There's food!"
James really came through. After searching the tree hollow for ages, he discovered a fairly well-hidden little hole. He brushed aside the weeds covering it, revealing a hole full of Berries and similar things.
"Wow, we're rich! This many Berries will feed us for ages!"
Jessie was delighted at the little hole packed full of Berries, and some of her unhappiness over failing to catch Pikachu faded.
"That's right, meow! We can sell whatever we can't eat to a Pokémon shop for living expenses, meow."
That was Meowth for you. He really loved coins. His first thought upon seeing the Berries wasn't to eat them, but to sell them to a Pokémon shop. He never forgot about making money.
"Huh? What's in this little jar? It smells so good."
James discovered a little jar in the hole too, hidden quite deep inside. He brought it close and sniffed it. It smelled quite nice.
"Move aside and let me see. Mmm... so sweet! It's honey."
Jessie wasn't so particular. Hearing James say it smelled nice, she shoved him aside, opened the jar, dipped her finger in, and stuck it straight into her mouth. Her eyes lit up when she tasted the honey.
"Jessie, what are you doing? I found it first! At least let me have a taste."
After being pushed aside by Jessie, James watched her start eating what he'd worked so hard to find. He rushed back up and tried to snatch the jar back.
"Mmm... this is Combee honey. We can sell it for money, meow."
Meowth, the professional tasting expert, dipped a claw into the honey and put it in his mouth. He smacked his lips and thought for a moment before identifying the honey. Knowing it was quite expensive, he came up with more money-making plans.
"Sell it? What do you mean, sell it? It's all mine! I read in a fashion magazine that Combee honey beautifies your skin and slows aging. None of you are allowed to fight me for it!"
Good grief, the moment Jessie heard it was Combee honey, her eyes shone as she looked at the jar. As a woman, who could resist something that was good for her skin? She immediately turned into a tigress and clutched the jar in her arms.
"Jessie, don't be so selfish. There's so much honey. Can't you just keep some for yourself?"
James tried earnestly to reason with Jessie.
"That's right, Jessie. I've heard Combee honey fetches a really high price on the market. Wouldn't it be better to sell it and use the money to catch Pikachu?"
Meowth also urged Jessie not to be taken in by the illusion before her. Selling it for money, building machines, and catching Pikachu was the proper path.
Deep in their heated discussion, the geniuses hadn't noticed that danger was already quietly approaching.
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