"?"
"Rattata?"
In little Sailor's eyes there was great confusion.
However, after Ron paid it some pocket money, Sailor quickly forgave him.
Ron then remembered the Pokédex system. He took out the Pokédex, pulled up Sailor's interface, and discovered that Sailor's fishing level had long since reached level 10.
"No wonder—" Ron thought, then gave Sailor some more money, telling it to buy an Iridium Rod for him the next time he went to the fish shop.
"I thought I was going to have to rely on Froakie," Ron muttered to himself, then remembered something else and decided to send Froakie to fish as well.
After all, fishing still required skill, but if Froakie could beat the fish into submission on the spot, that was another matter entirely.
Ron had never paid much attention to skills. Now, looking at it, he realized that skills including fishing had been gradually maxed out over the past year through the Pokémon's hard work.
"In that case, I'll go take a look at the Mastery Cave tomorrow," Ron thought, putting away his Pokédex.
The Mastery Cave was located in a corner of the Cindersap Forest, corresponding to five skills that could provide significant improvements in all aspects.
For example, for combat, after unlocking the proficiency skills, defeating monsters had a chance to drop an item called a Trinket, such as the Fairy Box which could heal wounds, the Frog Egg which could instantly kill monsters, or the Parrot Egg which could grant extra gold—and so on.
In short, if they could be used, it would be a major boost.
The only problem to consider, probably, was—were the cheats too broken?
Thinking this, Ron smiled, then turned his head and saw Meowth, who was wearing a "this is absolutely amazing" expression, repeatedly putting on and taking off the boots.
"What an amazing thing, meow—" Meowth said, putting the boots on his hind paws. "If I wear these— maybe I could beat that other Meowth, meow—"
Since Meowth was staying overnight in the cabin, he soon shifted his attention from the boots and started to brush his teeth with the Rattatas in the bathroom.
With an extra Meowth, although the group was still just as chatty, because Meowth could translate, Ron realized for the first time just how noisy this group of Rattatas was when they were getting ready for bed.
"You said this is yours, meow." Hearing this, Meowth passed one of the toiletries to a Rattata. "Ah, it's yours? You should put a mark on it, meow—"
Translating seemed to be etched into Meowth's DNA. Probably because he had acted as a translator for so long, whenever another Pokémon spoke, he would translate it immediately.
Ron, who could normally treat these sounds as white noise without using his mind-reading ability, now felt a massive headache coming on.
He lay on the bed in a daze, his mind filled with nothing but "Ratta, ratta" and "this, meow, that, meow—"
"Indee?"
"Never mind— he's probably just—" Ron paused. "happy to be with everyone, so he wants to fit in."
As he spoke, Ron turned to look at Meowth, who was coming out of the room, looking cheerful.
Meowth was beaming, surrounded by the little Rattatas, scratching his head with his paw, looking a bit shy.
"Are we going to sleep, meow?"
"Mm, good night."
"Good night, meow." With that, Meowth watched the Rattatas climb onto Ron's bed, then turned and went to the room where Indeedee and the others were.
Lying on the small bed, Meowth turned to look at the soundly sleeping Indeedee, then at Bellossom and Shaymin, who were sleeping together in a nest.
Indeedee said something in her sleep.
Meowth then turned his gaze to the ceiling and couldn't help but mutter, "I'm not going to do bad things, meow—"
The next day.
Early in the morning, Jessie and James arrived at the cabin.
James was a bit more skilled with his hands and was busy making breakfast with Indeedee and Meowth.
Jessie, on the other hand, was helping out by preparing the ingredients and setting the table.
When Ron woke up, he saw the two of them busy at work.
"Morning," Ron said.
"Good morning, meow!"
Meowth was placing plates on the dining table.
Since the Night Market would last for three days, they also planned to finish work early today and wander around Pelican Town.
—
Of course, putting aside bad ideas, getting along with the townsfolk was also quite important.
After all, they couldn't contact Team Rocket headquarters here, they couldn't go back for the time being, and they didn't know the way back.
They tacitly suppressed the mission Giovanni had given them to the bottom of their hearts, just waiting for the day when Giovanni would forcibly summon them back, so they could quietly return to be scolded.
Thinking this, they glanced at each other and quietly ate their meal.
Meowth was planning to visit Maru.
He got along surprisingly well with Maru. Plus, Meowth himself was quite smart and understood machines at a single glance. He was now studying one of Maru's small inventions with her.
James and Jessie, on the other hand, planned to wander around aimlessly.
Of course, if conditions allowed, Jessie actually wanted to visit Evelyn. She couldn't say if it was for the cookies that tasted like home, or for the kind old woman.
After breakfast, everyone went about their own business.
Because they had things they wanted to do, the three of them worked with full energy, finishing before noon. After a hasty lunch, they each set off for their desired destinations.
Meowth followed his memory and found his way to the Carpenter's Shop.
After knocking on the door with his paw, Maru opened it with an excited look on her face.
Seeing it was Meowth, she immediately picked him up. "You're here!"
"Of course, meow!" Meowth said, and was immediately carried by Maru into her room.
Recently, Maru had been working on building a robot. Because her family relationship had improved a lot, Demetrius's dependence on Maru had lessened considerably, and the originally planned companion function was removed by Maru.
Currently, she just planned to build a robot that could do housework for everyone.
"This shouldn't be too hard, meow—" Meowth said, pondering next to the robot.
Because the power system didn't quite match Meowth's understanding, he stared at the robot for a long time, then turned his head and asked, "Can't you just stuff a Rotom inside, meow?"
"Rotom?"
"It's a type of Pokémon, meow." Meowth described it with words and gestures. "In many places on the continents over there, they use Rotom as the— core of machines, meow. Not only can it provide power, but it can also become a smart AI based on its written programs. I think there's a Rotom on the farm, meow!"
Hearing this, Maru pushed up her glasses and frowned, deep in thought.
"A Pokémon... is that really okay?" she pondered.
"If you can build it, the farm will probably need a robot like this too, meow," Meowth continued.
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