He's still too young, meow! He takes Meowth and the others too lightly, meow!
Thinking this, it followed Bellossom and fed Chesto Berries to Jessie and James.
Meanwhile, at the coast.
Penny sat in Willy's fish shop, glanced at Willy fishing by the seaside outside the window, and took a sip of hot tea from her cup.
Willy didn't feel that Penny was disturbing him at all. On the contrary, after learning that someone would watch his shop for free today, he had made his plans early. At this moment, he was fishing at his usual spot.
Afraid that Penny would be cold, he had even prepared his small stove from the boat for her to heat tea.
Thinking this, Willy leisurely cast his fishing line, smoking a cigarette while staring at the float on the water.
Snow was still falling from the sky, but for an experienced fisherman, this bit of cold was nothing.
"If only the boat were here." Willy thought with some regret.
Sea fishing had a special charm this season.
Just as Willy was thinking this, a small boat suddenly appeared on the distant horizon.
—
Willy paused, turned his head, and noticed Penny in the fish shop excitedly running out. She stood at the port, staring joyfully at the approaching vessel.
As if realizing something, Willy stared at the float on the sea surface and smiled.
Over there, although the boat looked like it was almost there, there was actually still some distance. In this short time, the cold wind had already blown Penny's face red, but she stood motionless staring at the boat, not even thinking of pulling her hat down to cover her ears.
It had only been seven days.
Normally, she couldn't see him most of the time either, but Penny just missed him very much.
Soon, the boat stopped steadily at the port.
Just as Penny was about to wave at Ron, a long-haired girl got off the boat.
"So cold." Jessie wrapped her clothes tighter, turned her head, and saw Penny standing frozen at the port: "Uh—hello, I'm Jessie. I'll be coming here—to live for a while."
"Ah—he, hello, I'm Penny."
Penny answered somewhat awkwardly. Just as she was about to say something more, Ron had already docked the boat and gotten off first.
"Did you come to the port to pick me up?" Ron got off the boat, glanced at James and Meowth, then stopped in front of Penny: "They'll be working at the farm for a while. That's James, that's Jessie, and this is Meowth."
Seeing it was a man and a woman, Penny immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
But with two outsiders present, the prepared speech she had rehearsed was something she couldn't say a single word of now.
"Right, I bought some books for you in Lumiose. They're in my backpack. I'll bring them to you tomorrow."
Books were reasonably priced in Lumiose. Ron had bought quite a few at once. Although he wanted to give them to Penny now, because he needed to settle James and Jessie at the farm, he didn't have time at the moment.
It wasn't realistic to let Penny take them back herself either.
"Thank you." Penny expressed her thanks. "Everyone is at the Community Center watching the competition now. Will you go later?"
"Probably." Ron thought for a moment and said, "After I get them settled first."
"Pokémon Contest?" Jessie asked. Seeing Penny nod, she regretfully tightened her clothes.
"Really, if we had arrived in time, I would have competed too."
James and Meowth exchanged glances, said nothing, and followed Ron toward the farm.
"I thought this place would be more advanced." James said, looking at those somewhat old-fashioned buildings: "It seems quite small."
Meowth also looked around.
Because it was a Pokémon, it could see some things that James and the others couldn't.
It clearly saw that something seemed to be covering this town, used to defend against more powerful Pokémon.
It first felt a slight wariness toward this town, then immediately felt a bit discouraged because it hadn't been blocked by this thing.
"Really, Meowth is actually very strong too, meow!"
Meowth muttered. Jessie and James beside it couldn't help but ask: "What?"
"Nothing, meow."
Out of pride, Meowth kept this to itself.
At the turning point, after saying goodbye to Ron, Penny jogged to the Community Center.
Ron took them to the farm.
It just so happened that he had previously asked Robin to help him build several small cabins, originally intended for brewing wine. Now they could conveniently free up one room for Team Rocket to stay in.
This way, he could also confidently continue expanding the barn without worrying about Shane being overwhelmed.
Ron calculated, bringing Jessie and James to the empty room.
"You'll live here for now. For furniture, I'll take you to buy some later." Ron said, pointing to the room next door. "Put your luggage down, and I'll take you around town."
"Okay, meow."
Meanwhile, at the Community Center.
Pam was currently engrossed in watching the performance on TV when she heard the door open nearby. She turned her head and saw Penny walking in with her small face frozen red.
"What happened?" Pam immediately stood up.
Penny shook her head, "Nothing."
It was just that the situation just now wasn't convenient for Penny to say anything, so in the end she didn't get to say a single word to Ron, and didn't even have time to exchange pleasantries on the way.
"He's not coming back today?" Pam guessed.
"Mm, he's already at the farm. He also brought two people, and said they're preparing to move to the farm." Penny said softly.
Because she didn't really want everyone to know that she had specially gone to pick up Ron, she just smiled at everyone who looked over, then pulled Pam to sit in the corner.
Pam couldn't help but frown tightly.
She had originally thought today would be when the two poured out their hearts to each other, or at least when their relationship advanced further. This twist had put Pam, who already had little experience with relationships, in a difficult position.
"It's fine. He also brought me books." Penny said softly.
"But he always brings things back for everyone from Kalos, right?" Pam couldn't help but say.
Meanwhile, after Ron helped James and the others put away their luggage, he suddenly belatedly realized something.
"Indeedee?" Indeedee beside him raised its head and stared at Ron. Indeedee then pulled its hat down and made two solemn "indeedee" sounds.
Even without using mind-reading at this moment, Ron guessed what Indeedee wanted to say. He covered Meowth's mouth, who was preparing to act as translator, then took from Indeedee, who had trotted to the box to get things, several small items that Penny would like.
"Thanks." Ron said, releasing Meowth's mouth: "It likes to guess things randomly. Don't translate randomly."
"Indeed? Indeedee?" Indeedee called out in disagreement.
"That's right, letting a girl who specially came to pick you up go back by herself." Meowth chimed in. "Realizing it now is too late, meow!"
------------------------------------------------------
40+ Chapters Ahead: patreon.com/EphemeralShadow
There's something for free patrons too! Free Patrons receive 1 chapter in advance :)