Meowth couldn't quite say where the strength lay. Perhaps this was simply the aura of a strong Pokémon.
But as for whether it could defeat Clemont, Meowth wasn't sure either.
"Well—if you can't win, just steal a badge," Jessie waved her hand and said. "Anyway, these things don't have names on them, and there's no challenger information recorded."
The Team Rocket trio's sense of right and wrong roughly extended this far. Since Ron had been kind to them, they'd go through some trouble to help him out.
As for whether it was proper or not—that wasn't something Team Rocket concerned themselves with.
Haley glanced at Jessie and James huddled together plotting something behind her, then trotted up to Ron.
Under the robot's guidance, they quickly arrived at the battle arena. Clemont was currently sitting at a table on one side, typing away at something on a computer beside him.
"So you're the trainer challenging the gym—mm, Ron from Pelican Town?" Clemont paused. This name sounded slightly familiar to him.
But he had been so busy with work lately. Perhaps he had battled a trainer from Pelican Town not long ago, so he didn't pay it much mind. He introduced himself to Ron: "Hello, I'm the Gym Leader here, Clemont. That over there is my assistant, Clembot."
He pointed to the robot beside him.
"Because normally, the Lumiose Gym is sixth in the gym challenge order, I need you to battle him first. Is that alright?"
Clemont said, pointing to the computer nearby: "Sorry, I'm really too busy. If every challenger passing through Lumiose came to challenge me every time—"
He didn't finish his sentence, only offering Ron an apologetic smile.
"Sure."
Ron had no objections. Clembot stepped forward to greet him.
"Now beginning: the challenge match between Ron from Pelican Town and assistant Clembot—both sides may use one Pokémon—"
Haley was startled by the sudden electronic voice. She looked around and noticed an electronic screen rising up not far away.
"Wow, is that an AI referee?" Haley paused, then turned her head and saw the furtive Team Rocket group.
"Where are you going?"
"Nowhere, just, uh, looking around." James awkwardly scratched his head.
"I see. It's better not to run around randomly," Haley couldn't help but say. "The battle will be over soon. If Ron can't find you, he'll be troubled."
Jessie couldn't help but whisper: "Who does she think we're doing this for?"
"Alright, alright. At worst, we can just grab some unlucky passerby on the street and scam a few badges when the time comes, meow." Meowth comfortingly patted Jessie's leg, its gaze settling on Bellossom, who Ron had sent out in the distance.
Having had a serious conversation with Bellossom, Meowth knew this was Bellossom's first gym battle, and in fact, it had never even participated in a proper Pokémon battle before.
It couldn't help but look at Bellossom with some concern.
Because it empathized with Bellossom, it certainly knew that rather than having it play dirty, Bellossom definitely wanted to win the challenge match fair and square.
But if it lost this time—could it still pick itself up?
Meowth worriedly thought this.
Meanwhile, Clembot stared in confusion at the Bellossom holding a sword.
Of course, Pokémon were allowed to hold items during battles, but a Grass-type Pokémon wielding a sword was a first.
Even with the large model trained on countless battle data input into its brain, Clembot had never seen this kind of posture.
Seeing this, it still threw out Heliolisk's Poké Ball.
"Heliolisk, use Thunder!"
Before the words finished, that Bellossom, holding a sword far longer than its body, disappeared from the arena.
"What, where did it go?"
Meanwhile, Clemont turned his attention to the field and was stunned in place.
"Such speed—"
Because it was equipped with an ultra-high-definition camera, compared to Clemont's naked eye, Clembot still managed to clearly see Bellossom's figure on the field.
But even so, it could only barely distinguish Bellossom's figure from the afterimages.
If the robot was like this, Heliolisk had even less chance of finding Bellossom.
Although under Clembot's command, it still used Thunder on empty space, it completely couldn't find where the attack target was.
Just then, Clemont in the distance suddenly stood up. He shouted loudly: "Use Razor Wind! Now!"
Before the words finished, a flash of cold light passed by. Under Clemont's command, Heliolisk reflexively released a wind blade, barely colliding with the long sword rushing toward it.
But even so, it only had time to deflect part of the force. The long sword came straight at it, and Heliolisk's pupils involuntarily contracted.
As a Pokémon, it clearly realized one thing.
This Bellossom had really wanted to kill it just now.
"Alright." Saying this, Clemont stepped forward with lingering fear: "You win."
"What just happened?" Jessie turned her head in confusion to ask James.
"I don't know either."
From their perspective, Bellossom had suddenly disappeared from the arena, then in the next second, Clemont in the distance had inexplicably intervened in the battle, then quickly conceded on behalf of the robot.
"Did he throw the match? Could it be." James rubbed his chin and guessed.
Meowth beside them involuntarily shivered.
This was completely beyond rationality, belonging to the survival instincts of the Pokémon part of itself.
Meowth rubbed its body with lingering fear, staring at Bellossom in the distance, only reacting after a while.
"That's wonderful, meow." Meowth paused and said.
Being able to realize one's dream is good, meow.
It thought this, looking at Clemont.
Clemont frowned, recalled Heliolisk with a Poké Ball, then couldn't help but look at that Bellossom with a solemn expression.
"You may step down, Clembot." Clemont said, walking up to Ron.
He examined this young man solemnly. After a while, he took a deep breath and took out two Poké Balls.
"I accept your challenge." Clemont said, walking to one side of the battle arena.
Then, the AI beside them began announcing.
"Now beginning: the gym challenge match between Ron from Pelican Town and Gym Leader Clemont. Both sides may use two Pokémon. Only the challenger may switch Pokémon. If all of one side's Pokémon faint, the opposing side wins."
"Gym challenge match, begin now."
Meowth stared at Bellossom holding its sword, and couldn't help but take a deep breath.
"You have to win, meow."
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