Day 25 of the journey to Kanto. Sunny.
At last, the weather turned nice. Since Reiji wasn't traveling with Ash's group, the three of them got up early, ate breakfast, and headed straight for Fuchsia City.
He was still asleep at the time, so there was no chance to say goodbye. Ash and the others only said farewell to Poliwhirl before leaving first to challenge the Fuchsia Gym.
After waking up, Reiji prepared breakfast for his Pokémon. Only after they started eating did he make his own.
"There are still two people and a Pokémon in the forest. Want me to wake them up?" Darkrai asked from inside Reiji's shadow. It had used Dark Void on the Team Rocket trio several times last night, and the three of them had slept right through until morning. The sun was already well up.
"Wake them," Reiji said. Then he called out, "Poliwhirl, bring them here..."
"Yobo." Poliwhirl nodded and hurried after the patch of shadow Darkrai had slipped into.
Not long after, the bushes began to rustle. Then three heads popped out at once, hair a complete mess, sleep still crusted at the corners of their eyes.
"Go wash your faces first, then come eat."
Jessie, James, and Meowth exchanged looks at Reiji's invitation, all of them baffled. What confused them even more was how they had somehow slept through the entire night without noticing a thing.
"Food first, meow," Meowth said before either of them could keep overthinking it. He jumped out first, washed his face at the river, then came straight to Reiji's campfire and sat down. His stomach was already growling.
He knew what hunger felt like. He'd been through it before, and he had no intention of going through it again. Whatever Reiji was after, he could deal with that after eating.
"Thanks for the meal, meow." Meowth sat cross-legged in front of Reiji, and Reiji set down a steaming bowl of instant noodles in front of him. The smell alone was enough to make his mouth water.
"Smells amazing, meow. Time to dig in." Meowth picked up the chopsticks and started eating like a person, which drew a curious look from Reiji.
This was his first time seeing this Meowth in person. It really was as unusual as the anime had made it seem: walking upright, speaking, using chopsticks, imitating all kinds of human habits. In a world full of Pokémon, Meowth was practically a built-in translator.
Reiji knew his backstory. He knew how hard Meowth had worked for the sake of love, how much he had forced himself to imitate humans just to become something he could never really be. If he had put that same effort into battle, he would probably have been a very capable Pokémon.
In the end, love had really done a number on Meowth.
"So you really can talk like a human," Reiji said. Even knowing the story, he still found it hard not to ask.
Meowth kept eating as he sighed. "Don't ask. That part of my life's better left buried, meow."
"We don't even know each other. How are you two already this comfortable?" James scratched his head as he finally came out of the bushes. He was hungry too, but too embarrassed to ask for food.
"What's the big deal, meow? If you're hungry, you eat."
Grrr...
"Come sit down," Reiji said, waving James over. He didn't dislike the three of them, as long as they didn't come bothering him. If they ever tried anything stupid, he really would kill them. This world didn't come with cartoon immortality.
The kind of nonsense these three pulled in the anime would have gotten real people killed a dozen times over. Even Ash, the writers' golden boy, shouldn't have survived half of it. Without that absurd tendency to bounce back from anything, who knew how many times they would have died by now.
"Uh... thanks for the meal," James said as he accepted a steaming bowl of instant noodles. The moment he got it, tears started pouring down his face. "Meowth, how long has it been since we last had instant noodles this good?"
"Who knows, meow. We spent all our budget chasing Pikachu."
"Jessie, come sit," Reiji said, not bothering to hide that he knew their names. Anyone who had seen the anime knew who the Team Rocket trio were.
"You know me?" Jessie had still been hesitating, but the second she heard her name, her whole face changed.
"Of course I do. You used to run with a biker gang around Fuchsia City. You were the boss of the whole group. You were pretty famous."
"Huh? Jessie, you were in a biker gang before joining Team Rocket?" James and Meowth both turned to stare at her in shock. Neither of them had known she had that kind of past. She must have been pretty cool back then.
"That was a long time ago." Jessie waved it off, clearly not interested in the subject, but she still took the bowl Reiji handed her. The smell of the noodles hit her, and her eyes started watering too.
"James, if you really wanted to, you could go home. You wouldn't be this broke otherwise," Reiji said with a smile, casually bringing up James's family background next.
It didn't really matter if he said things like this to them. The Team Rocket trio were comic relief to begin with. Even Giovanni never took them too seriously. He let them fool around in Team Rocket, and most of the time it looked less like he was using them and more like he was keeping an old promise by looking after a friend's kid.
After all, the three of them actually had Giovanni's contact information, and Giovanni would even take their calls. If they were just ordinary Team Rocket grunts, there was no way they'd ever have that kind of access. Anybody with half a brain could figure that out.
Giovanni had countless subordinates under him. There was no chance he treated every random Team Rocket member the way he treated those three.
"Don't say it, don't say it," James said quickly, waving both hands. He had no idea exactly what Reiji knew, but if Reiji knew about Jessie's past, then he probably also knew James had run away from an arranged marriage.
"James, are you hiding something from us?" Jessie and Meowth slowly turned toward him, their faces stiff, both staring so hard that his scalp prickled. He had never told them anything about his past either.
"I just don't want to talk about it." James let out a long sigh. There was no way he was going to admit that he had abandoned life as the heir to a wealthy family and joined Team Rocket just to escape a marriage.
"Don't push him, Jessie," Meowth said with a sigh. "Some things are better left alone, meow."
"How do you know all this stuff? Were we really that famous?" Jessie asked between bites, studying Reiji with growing curiosity. He was strong, mysterious, and far too well-informed about the three of them.
"Me?" Reiji glanced at them and gave a helpless shrug. "Back when I was scraping by, trying to become a Trainer, I did all kinds of dirty jobs. I crossed paths with plenty of people who looked a lot more impressive than they do now."
Jessie and James exchanged another look, and each of them immediately filled in the blanks with their own imagination.
Jessie pictured herself in her biker-gang days, while Reiji worked as a mechanic who fixed their bikes and never got paid.
James imagined himself living in luxury at the family estate while Reiji served tea as one of the household staff, someone James had never even noticed.
Meowth imagined his time in Hollywood, fighting over scraps, imitating humans, chasing love, while some waiter named Reiji ran after him with a tray in hand.
"...Sigh."
No one knew what the other three had imagined, but in the end, all that remained was a chorus of sighs.
"Uh..."
They looked at each other awkwardly and, for a moment, all saw the same thing in one another's eyes: the frustration of people who had all had it rough in their own way.
For that brief moment, they actually felt a strange kind of kinship.
After letting out his sigh, Reiji pulled himself together and smiled. "Ash and the others already left. Aren't you going after them?"
"Oh right, the twerps are gone and we're still sitting here eating noodles," Jessie said, snapping back to herself at once. They still had Pikachu to chase.
"But aren't this guy's Pokémon even better?" James muttered under his breath while eating. "Wouldn't Giovanni like them more?"
"James, you idiot, don't say that out loud, meow!" Meowth instantly clamped a paw over James's mouth—the same paw he used to bury his poop—and then shot Reiji a nervous glance, terrified he had heard them planning to steal Pokémon.
"Go ahead," Reiji said with a laugh. "You can't beat me, and you definitely can't take my Pokémon."
If James had really used his family's resources and set his mind to becoming a serious Trainer, he might even have had a shot at the Elite Four someday.
But he had chosen a different life instead. Honestly, he looked pretty relaxed living it too. The downside was obvious: this version of James was ridiculously weak. Still, it was his own choice, and that counted for something.
"True. Even if we wanted to steal them, we couldn't win anyway," James said, smacking one fist into his palm as if he had just solved a great mystery.
"You're hopeless, meow," Meowth groaned. "Why do you keep saying everything out loud?"
"I'm full. Time to go, James." Jessie put down her noodle cup, stood up, bowed to Reiji in thanks, and turned to leave.
"Thanks for the noodles. I should get going too," James said. He quickly drank the rest of the broth, stood up, bowed, and followed after her.
The truth was, James wasn't stupid. He hadn't let that slip by accident. They weren't going to steal anyone's Pokémon. They couldn't beat Reiji, and he had just fed them. They weren't the kind of people who would accept a meal, then turn around and bite the hand that fed them.
"Thanks for the food, meow. I'm off too." Meowth copied James, put down his cup, bowed, and hurried after the other two.
As soon as he caught up, he heard Jessie already pressing James for answers.
"Come on, James. What exactly have you been hiding?"
"Yeah, spill it already," Meowth said, grabbing James by the head and demanding the truth.
"You're going the wrong way," Reiji called after them with a wave and a grin. "Fuchsia City's the other direction."
"Huh? Ah—thanks! Thanks a lot!" James and Jessie froze, then both flushed bright red. They had actually managed to head the wrong way and needed someone else to point it out. It was humiliating.
After shouting their thanks, the two humans and one Meowth bolted off with their faces covered, running as if growing a few extra legs might help them escape their embarrassment faster.
"What a fun bunch," Reiji said, smiling as he watched them disappear into the distance. The fact that those three had been assigned to follow Ash was probably Giovanni's idea too.
After all, Ash was the boy Ho-Oh had taken an interest in. Sending those three comic disasters to keep an eye on him was a simple solution. They wouldn't bother Giovanni much, and if they happened to run into a Legendary Pokémon, they could always report back.
As for the real reason?
Who knew.
Everyone had their own way of living, and Reiji still had his own journey ahead of him.
...
Outside Fuchsia City...
After the Team Rocket trio left, Reiji packed up the tent and headed for Fuchsia City as well. The Fuchsia Gym wasn't in the city proper. It sat out in the suburbs near a canyon, part of an old complex of traditional buildings, so it wasn't hard to find.
Riding on Golbat, he crossed the reservoir, flew over the ridge ahead of it, reached Fuchsia City, and circled the outskirts once before spotting the Gym he had asked about in town. Then he landed in front of the dojo gate.
From watching the anime in his previous life, he knew this place was a ninja dojo packed with traps. He was only here to challenge the Gym, not play through a bunch of nonsense, so he had no intention of going inside if he could help it.
He had no idea who was currently in charge of the Fuchsia Gym—Koga's daughter or Koga's younger sister—but as long as it wasn't Koga himself, that was good enough.
"Anyone there? Is anybody in the Gym?" Reiji took a deep breath and shouted toward the building from the entrance. If he could lure someone out and battle outside, all the better. If he went in and triggered some stupid trap, that would be a pain.
Ash and the others had come here in the morning, and he had no idea whether they had already done the Gym battle. It was afternoon now.
He shouted several more times, but no one answered. In the end, he took out a Poké Ball and released Rhydon.
"Earthquake," he said. "Just don't bring the whole place down."
Rhydon gave a low grunt, lifted one heavy foot, and slammed it down. The Earthquake attack rippled through the ground at once.
Even Reiji nearly lost his footing from the shaking, but he refused to believe no one was coming out. If they still wanted to hide, then they couldn't complain if the building started collapsing.
Rumble—Rumble—
About half a minute later, a young girl finally rushed out and shouted, "Stop! Stop! Quit using Earthquake!"
"I was starting to think nobody was here," Reiji said with a smile. He had Rhydon stop, then asked, "Can you make decisions here? I'm a passing Trainer. I want to challenge the Fuchsia Gym."
"Even if you want a Gym battle, this isn't how you do it! You're not even coming inside first? You're just going to challenge the Gym from outside?" The girl glared at him, clearly annoyed. It wasn't as if she hadn't heard him calling earlier. Challengers were supposed to go through the ninja trial first.
"I called plenty of times. Nobody answered," Reiji said, spreading his hands helplessly. That wasn't on him. He had called. She was the one pretending not to hear. And he had zero interest in playing some boring ninja game.
"Fine. Fine. You want a Gym battle? Then it'll be a six-on-six Gym match. Send out your Pokémon," the girl snapped through gritted teeth. This Trainer was way too arrogant, and now she wanted to see what he could actually do.
The six-on-six format was something she had just made up on the spot. The Fuchsia Gym was normally a two-on-two battle, but her dad wasn't at the Gym, so she could do whatever she wanted...
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
[Check out my Patreon to read 20+ chapters ahead]
[[email protected]/BellAshelia]
[Thanks for your support!]