As soon as she finished speaking, a cheer came from inside the cabin.
This gave Leah the illusion of accidentally walking into a kindergarten. She smiled, hung the towel back on the rack, and continued working.
Meanwhile, last night Team Rocket had stayed with Ron and the others.
The specific reason was unknown, but in any case, none of the three had tents. So Jessie stayed with Haley, while Meowth and James squeezed into one tent with Ron.
Ron had gotten up early. Glancing at James sleeping soundly and Meowth curled up with him, Ron paused, then strode out of the tent.
After lighting the campfire, Ron took ingredients from his backpack and began making breakfast.
If they didn't delay too much on the road, they could probably reach Lumiose City by tonight. After challenging the Lumiose Gym tomorrow morning, they could head toward Coumarine City.
Ron pondered this while cracking a few eggs into the pot.
With a sizzling sound, the aroma of fried eggs wafted from the pot.
"Smells so good, meow—" Meowth rubbed its eyes and poked its head out of the tent. Then it froze, slowly walking over to Ron's side: "You're making breakfast, meow."
"Mm." Ron lowered his head, looking at Meowth standing on tiptoe staring into the pot. He paused, then reached out to pat Meowth's head.
Meowth wasn't tall, not even reaching his knee. This perspective gave Ron the impression that it was completely like a child.
"Meow?" Meowth couldn't help but cover its head with its paws, looking up at Ron.
No one had patted Meowth's head in a long time. Although it was with Jessie and James, because they treated Meowth as a colleague, they didn't realize—it was just a Meowth, a Meowth dreaming of being favored by the boss.
It did bad things only for this, only for the boss's favor, nothing more.
Ron paused, used tongs to lift the fried eggs from the pot, assembled a sandwich, and handed it to Meowth: "Eat up. There's more if it's not enough."
"Thank you, meow." Meowth held the sandwich, hesitated for a moment. "But you can't pat Meowth's head, meow. Only the boss can pat Meowth's head."
Saying this, it didn't wait for Ron's response, sitting down at the dining table and taking large bites of the sandwich.
But the feeling of having one's head patted was really nice, meow—
If he could scratch under the chin too—
Thinking this, Meowth looked at Ron who was still busy cooking, only looking away after a while.
Just then, Froakie also crawled out of the tent, jumped behind Ron, called out to him, then hopped onto his shoulder.
"Morning. How did you sleep?"
"Froakie!"
"Hungry? Breakfast will be ready soon."
"Froakie!"
"Breakfast this early." Jessie poked her head out of the tent, glanced at Ron's back, then retreated back inside, combing her hair while asking Haley: "Is he always like this? Does he always cook when traveling?"
Haley paused: "I've only traveled with him for two days, but it seems he's always cooked on the farm too. If you follow him to live on the farm, you should be able to eat his cooking every day."
"I see." Jessie paused, somewhat moved by the prospect of eating like this every day.
Ron's cooking skills were truly not bad.
On one hand, he learned from Gus; on the other hand, from taking care of the picky Rattata for so long, he had been well-trained early on.
"Let's eat!" Jessie sat at the dining table, shouted this, then fed the sandwich into her mouth.
The bread was soft yet chewy, filled with fresh, crisp lettuce, farm-grown tomatoes, egg-based mayonnaise, a fried egg cooked crispy outside and tender inside, and a few slices of sizzling fried meat.
Jessie paused, then couldn't help but chew in large mouthfuls.
After breakfast, the group once again set out on the road to Lumiose City.
Meowth walked beside Bellossom, chatting idly with it.
As for Froakie, it crouched on Ron's shoulder. Although Meowth also wanted to chat with Froakie and gather some information, because Froakie was basically never separated from Ron, it had to give up.
But then again, although Meowth and the others were villains, Ron was completely a good person. Was it really okay to steal his Pokémon and his Pokémon breeding methods?
Meowth thought this, looking up at Jessie and James.
This breakfast had clearly shaken the two of them as well. After several exchanges of glances, Jessie somewhat uncomfortably averted her gaze.
"I say—" Jessie paused and said: "Let's go take a look first. If we really can't bring ourselves to do it then, we can just sneak away."
James paused, then nodded, agreeing with Jessie's proposal.
"Then let's do that for now, meow."
"Bellossom?" Bellossom looked at Meowth in confusion.
"You're asking what we're talking about, meow." Meowth paused: "We're discussing whether to go to the farm."
At these words, Bellossom couldn't help but introduce the farm to Meowth.
"Ah, there are fresh ingredients every day? Everyone on the farm is very nice." Meowth paused: "Your job is to fight monsters? So amazing, meow. But, what are monsters, meow?"
The concept of monsters barely existed in Kalos.
Because, generally speaking, even if there were supernatural phenomena, they were mostly caused by Psychic-type or Ghost-type Pokémon.
"Very powerful monsters, and you beat them away just like that?" Meowth paused: "What?! There are also gold mines and silver mines? And all kinds of gems, meow?!"
At these words, the three's eyes instantly lit up.
Bellossom had seen plenty of these things, and whether gold mines or gems, they really didn't sell for much in Pelican Town and weren't particularly precious. So it didn't quite understand the value of these things in Kalos. It nodded and patted Meowth's shoulder.
"Bellossom."
"You'll bring me gems next time you go to the mine, meow? Is that really okay?" Meowth looked at the warm and hospitable Bellossom before it, and tears of emotion welled up in its eyes.
"Belloss." Bellossom nodded solemnly.
It unexpectedly somewhat liked Meowth.
It couldn't quite say why. Perhaps because they had watched the moon together last night, or because Meowth was willing to quietly listen to its dark past. Even for a moment, Meowth acted as if the one who experienced those things wasn't the Oddish from back then, but Meowth itself.
"Thank you, meow. Meowth will definitely go to the farm, meow!" Meowth said, patting Bellossom's shoulder, but feeling somewhat conflicted for a moment.
Such a good person, such good Pokémon—was it really okay to cause destruction for them?
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