The Wizard then opened his Pokédex and started checking the move list.
Dawn watched from the side, getting anxious.
To her, this behavior was no different from giving up. But even if he was giving up, he should at least use Harden to protect the innocent Metapod before those Beldum crashed into it!
As she was thinking this, the Wizard happened to flip to a suitable move.
So, he commanded Metapod.
"Metapod, use Burn Up!!"
"What?"
The trainer behind him suspected he had gone deaf.
Watching the Metapod slowly bouncing toward the Beldum, he even suspected he wasn't fully awake. Otherwise, he was having auditory hallucinations, mistaking the simple word "Harden" for "Burn Up"—my ass.
"Are you crazy?" the trainer said, sending out his own Pokémon. Feeling sorry for the Metapod for having such an unreliable trainer, he simultaneously tried to have his Charizard show him what a real Burn Up looked like.
As a result, two flashes of light streaked past the three of them.
One was the Charizard popping out of its Poké Ball.
The other was the burst of Burn Up erupting from Metapod.
This fierce, intense flame instantly made the entire cave sweltering hot. The Beldum that had been crashing into each other all froze in place. A few that were close to the targeted Beldum even scurried into the corners at the very first moment.
The next moment, Burn Up hit the Beldum.
Seeing this, the Wizard threw his Poké Ball.
"Piplup—"
Piplup felt like it hadn't woken up yet.
Dawn felt the same way.
She rubbed her eyes. Having been given a "vaccine" by the battle video she watched earlier, for a split second, she actually thought it made perfect sense for Metapod to use Burn Up.
"Piplup, pip—"
"Char?" Charizard looked at the bouncing Poké Ball on the ground, then at the Metapod over there, and finally turned its head to look at its own trainer.
If it didn't have at least some understanding of its trainer, Charizard would have thought he sent it out just to show it someone else's Pokémon, so it could learn what a real Burn Up looked like.
"Come back, Charizard."
Charizard darted back into its Poké Ball in a puff of smoke, leaving its trainer standing there in a daze, questioning his life choices.
"Let's go."
The capture went even smoother than the Wizard had expected. He picked up the Poké Ball, turned his head to look at the two stunned people, and only left the cave with Dawn once he saw her snap out of her daze.
As soon as they exited the cave, the sound of people chatting drifted over from outside.
"They came out so fast—this is what happens when you bring a Metapod to join the fun."
"Probably got one-shot."
A few people were discussing it. Seeing the entranced, vacant faces of the two people behind the Wizard, they deduced the sequence of events in a completely opposite direction from what had actually happened.
The Wizard had absolutely no intention of clearing his name. Seeing that he had obtained the desired Beldum, he decided to find a hidden spot and teleport directly back to town.
"Ah, right, how are we getting to Pelican Town?" Dawn followed the Wizard for a while, noticing the route seemed a bit off—it wasn't the way to the docks at all—and couldn't help but ask repeatedly.
The Wizard turned his head to glance at Dawn, then looked around. After confirming no one was around, a bright light instantly flashed over the two of them.
The next second, the two vanished from the spot.
The trainer, who had finally snapped out of his daze and decided to ask the Wizard how he had trained his Metapod, stared at the empty ground. He started to wonder if he had seen a ghost or if he was dreaming.
***
Meowth was humming a song.
Relying on spreading rumors lately, Meowth had managed to scrounge up quite a lot of good food at the Saloon.
Plus, there wasn't much entertainment in the small town to begin with, so Meowth, the master of gossip, had been highly sought after recently, getting a bit carried away with himself.
Hugging his little notebook, he was pondering what kind of rumor to fabricate next.
The previous story was about the heart-wrenching love triangle between the sailor, Indeedee, and another Rattata. But before Meowth could even finish brainstorming his next tale, a bright light flashed before his eyes. The next moment, the very Indeedee who was the main subject of his gossip was standing right in front of him, alive and in the flesh.
"Ahhhhhhh!!!!!"
Meowth shrieked, "Meowth didn't prepare to say anything, meow! Meowth was just—why is the Sinnoh brat here too, meow?"
"—Meowth?" Dawn, holding Piplup, looked at the terrified Meowth and paused. "I think I should be the one asking you that?"
With that, Dawn looked around, realizing that the surroundings were completely unfamiliar scenery. Belatedly, it dawned on her: "Where is this?"
"Peli—Pelican Town, meow," Meowth said, his eyes darting between the Wizard and Dawn. He roughly guessed that she was also a guest who had been invited over. So, before she could ruin the reputation of the Team Rocket trio, he emphasized, "Meowth and the others have completely washed their hands of their old ways, meow! Don't go spreading nonsense in Pelican Town, meow!"
"—" Dawn, who had been fiddling with her Pokédex to confirm that she couldn't indeed pinpoint her location, stared at Meowth for a few seconds. After a long while, she nodded.
"Right, then how am I supposed to—" Turning her head to ask about the way back, Dawn found that the Wizard had long since disappeared. So, she turned back to Meowth: "—Are you very familiar with this town?"
"It's alright, meow," Meowth said, his gaze accidentally landing on Indeedee beside him. Feeling guilty, he quickly averted his eyes.
'Don't think about it, meow. Don't think, absolutely don't think about it, meow—she knows mind reading, meow!'
The more he warned himself, the more all the big talk he had spouted at the Saloon flooded into his brain.
"—Indeedee?"
Indeedee stared at Meowth.
"Ahaha, of course, of course I'm familiar, meow! You're here all by yourself, a newcomer, you definitely need someone to show you around! Let's go, meow, Meowth will guide the way!" Saying this, Meowth scratched his head in embarrassment and led Dawn away from Indeedee as if fleeing for his life.
Only after running far away and confirming that Indeedee wasn't chasing them did he let out a sigh of relief.
Then, he looked up at Dawn: "So, are you planning to stay here long-term, meow?"
"Just here to look around! I heard there would be someone I know from the Kanto region here—" Dawn paused mid-sentence. She looked at Meowth, a rather unpleasant suspicion popping into her head: "—Don't tell me you guys are the acquaintances I know from Kanto?"
"Well, if you put it that way, I guess so. The little brat isn't here anyway," Meowth said. "Who invited you, meow?"
"Indeedee," Dawn said.
Meowth instantly guessed Indeedee's intentions.
His previously guilty-stricken spine straightened quite a bit.
Meowth now felt he hadn't done anything wrong at all. If anything, he was carrying out justice!
With this in mind, he relaxed. "Then just follow Meowth, meow. I'll take you to meet the mayor first and find you a place to stay, meow."
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