"Pikachu..."
"Our future will be as vast and boundless as this ocean..." Ash looked into the distance, to the place where the lake met the ocean.
The sea was boundless.
Their future should be the same.
"Pika?" Pikachu looked at the lake, looking in the direction Ash was gazing—that was the sea.
What is the sea?
The current Pikachu couldn't actually understand it.
It could only understand it as a very, very large body of water.
Although this understanding wasn't technically wrong, it wasn't vivid enough.
The sea breeze, carrying a salty scent, blew through the park in Cerulean City, ruffling the stray hairs on Ash's forehead.
He gazed at the lake, which shimmered with fragmented gold under the sunlight, for a long time, before slowly turning around.
Because.
Meowth had arrived.
Ash looked at the slightly uneasy Meowth before him. There was no particular expression on his face as he spoke calmly:
"Alright, Meowth."
"You're free."
Playing hard to get?
The Seven Captures of Meng Huo?
...None of that mattered.
Letting Meowth continue to stay in Team Rocket might allow him to use Meowth for something later.
Ash was very wary of Team Rocket.
Or rather, all villainous organizations in this world were within the scope of his guard.
These guys would poke a hole in the sky at the drop of a hat; he had to be defensive.
"Eh?" Meowth jerked his head up, his green eyes filled with shock and disbelief. "F-Free? Meow?"
He thought he had heard wrong.
This human who had spent so much effort trying to capture him, even working hard to help him learn Swift, was just so easily... letting him go?
Wasn't that a total loss?
And what about Boss Giovanni's mission?
Meowth felt very conflicted right now...
Should he listen to Giovanni?
Or listen to Ash?
The two missions clashed.
...While Meowth was pondering this question, Ash's objective had already been achieved.
"Just wait near the police station," Ash's tone remained flat, as if speaking of a trivial matter. "Someone will come to bail out Jessie and James."
He paused, his gaze seeming to inadvertently sweep over Meowth's pupils, which were rounded with shock.
After all... the identities of those two were not ordinary.
Ash remembered that Jessie's mother was a former high-ranking Admin of Team Rocket, and James's family was a super-conglomerate... though he didn't know if this world was exactly the same.
Having said that, Ash no longer looked at Meowth, who was frozen in place. He simply adjusted the brim of his hat and turned to walk toward the Cerulean Gym.
"Pika?" Pikachu nimbly jumped onto Ash's shoulder.
He looked back at Meowth, who was still standing by the phone booth like a statue.
Then he turned his head back, tapping Ash's cheek gently with a small paw, letting out a confused cry.
—Just letting him go?
—Partner?
—What if he runs away or brings people to cause trouble again?
Ash's footsteps did not pause.
"Pikachu, do you remember their bounty?" He extended a finger and gently scratched Pikachu's chin.
"Pika?" Pikachu tilted his head to recall.
"Twenty thousand each." Ash's voice carried a calmness that saw through everything. "That level of bounty... rather than calling them wanted criminals, it's more like... 'naughty children' having their names posted."
"For truly vicious guys, adding a zero to the end of the bounty would still be considered low."
"To be able to easily 'fish' them out of the station..." Ash's gaze held a hidden meaning. "Do you understand what that means?"
"Pika..." Pikachu nodded seemingly understandingly, then shook his head; his little brain was still having trouble turning that corner.
Ash smiled and patiently explained: "It means the people standing behind them don't care about this little trouble at all, and might even be happy to see them being 'active' like this."
"Keeping Meowth and holding Jessie and James... aside from getting the visible forty thousand, there are no extra benefits. Instead, it might attract unnecessary attention and real trouble."
"But if we 'release' them back..."
"Then it's business as usual."
"What they plan has nothing to do with us."
Ash lowered his voice slightly.
"Partner."
"Our current strength isn't enough."
"We need to at least reach the level of the Indigo League Champion... to be qualified to participate in these matters."
After clearing 8 Gyms, the Champion of the regional tournament participated in can be considered an Elite Pokémon Trainer on the level of an ordinary Gym Leader.
And after clearing 8 Gyms, there is no clear mechanism for training improvement.
Every Trainer must decide their own future through their own efforts.
"So let's work hard, Partner."
"One day, we will make them act according to our expressions, rather than us guessing their thoughts."
The current Ash couldn't be that naive.
He gained power, crossed into another world; perhaps he might behave a bit like a chuunibyou, but he would absolutely not be stupid.
He was Master Ash!
Not a Foolish Thing!
This point must be emphasized.
"Compared to a captive filled with resentment who might bite back at any time."
Ash could be very certain that Meowth wasn't that kind of simple-minded Pokémon.
Meowth was the kind of Pokémon very well-adapted to human society, but with a lot of thoughts on his mind.
...It was just that his friendship with Jessie and James was maxed out.
The friendship of the Team Rocket trio was real.
"A Meowth who is 'free' yet harbors doubts and even a trace of 'gratitude' is of greater value to us."
"Besides, I believe..."
Ash turned back and took one last look in the direction of the park.
Meowth was still standing in the same spot, his small figure appearing somewhat lonely and lost in the open space, watching them from afar as they left.
"...He will come find us again."
"After all, I promised to give him 'remedial lessons', didn't I?"
Ash's tone sounded as if everything was in the palm of his hand.
99.9% of the Pokémon in this world desired power.
And the impression Ash gave Meowth was that he could help him obtain power.
"Pikachu!" Pikachu blinked his black eyes, finally realizing the truth, and slapped his forehead with a small paw.
—So that's it!
—Partner, you're so cunning!
—But I like it~
"Pika~ Pika~" Pikachu rubbed his cheek against Ash's neck.
"That's not called cunning, Pikachu." Ash smiled and corrected him. "That's called 'sustainable pond-draining'."
"Let's go."
He said no more and stepped forward.
"To Cerulean Gym."
"Let's see what kind of 'welcome ceremony' Misty has prepared for us."
"Partner~"
"Are you going to fight Misty?"
Ash actually kind of wanted to see some electric fishing~~
"Pika?" Pikachu was also a bit torn.
The sunlight stretched their shadows very long, extending toward that blue Gym surrounded by water vapor.
And in the distant park behind them.
Meowth still stood in place, the sea breeze blowing his wet fur.
Ash's last sentence, "Someone will come to bail them out," echoed repeatedly in his ears.
Meowth watched the direction where Ash disappeared, his green eyes filled with complex emotions he had never felt before.
That boy...
How much did he know?
And what exactly... did he want to do?
For the first time, Meowth discovered that so-called "freedom" made him feel even more at a loss than when he was bound by a Poké Ball.
And the more he thought, the more his head hurt.
"What exactly should I do... Meow..."
____
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