A/N: Chapter two! Yay!
Disclaimer and warnings in first chappie.
"Alright, kiddo, now we-"
"I have a name, you know," Ash interrupted the cat, who glared slightly.
"I know, I just like callin' ya kiddo," Meowth stated matter-of-factly. "Now, to da matter at hand: catchin' ya foist pokem-hey, ain't dat the red-head ya borrowed da bike from?"
Ash and Pikachu both turned in the direction that a very ticked-looking red-head girl was coming, carrying a crispy-black bike.
"You! You and your pokemon destroyed my bike!" she cried out angrily, making all three males sweat-drop.
"Hey, I'm sorry, but I had to get them to the pokecenter," Ash apologized, Pikachu and Meowth nodding in agreement.
"Well you owe me a new bike! And I'll follow you until you pay me back for my bike!"
"Hey hey, calm down, girlie," Meowth started, crossing his arms. "Da kiddo didn't know what else ta do- he was desperate ta get his still-nameless pikachu to da pokecenter."
The girl didn't seem to process anything of what Meowth said, instead staring wide-eyed. "D-did that meowth just speak?"
"Uh, yea... I don't know how. He refuses to tell me," Ash told her, nodding. "Oh, I'm Ash, by the way. I don't think I ever introduced myself."
"Um... I'm Misty," the girl, Misty, replied, dropping the bike and going to observe Meowth, who seemed to kind of like the attention. "Is he your's?"
"Umm..." Ash and Meowth exchanged glances and Meowth just sort of shrugged. "I guess in a way. I didn't actually catch him, he just tags along by his own will."
"Aww, how cute," Misty grinned. "Instead of the trainer catching the pokemon, the pokemon caught the trainer." Ash rolled his eyes. "Why don't you give him a nickname?"
Meowth gave Misty a slightly-irritated look. "Well, seein' as ya don't nickname a pokemon who doesn't got a pokeball..."
"What he said," Ash agreed, though he evidently didn't know about this unspoken rule.
"He still needs ta name da pikachu in my opinion, though," Meowth said, giving Ash a pointed look. "Goin' 'round callin' ya pokemon by deir species ain't very lovin', if ya ask me."
Ash laughed slightly nervously. "Um, does he want a name?" he asked, looking at the pikachu in question, who had an expression that said 'I'm not getting involved.'
Meowth shrugged. "He never really mentioned it, but if I had a trainer, I wouldn't wanna be called 'Meowth' my entire life."
"Then why are you so against letting Ash give you a name?" Misty asked.
"I never said-"
"You're contradicting yourself," Misty told him.
"No I'm not, nya!" Meowth argued, turning his back to Misty. "I just don't want ta be named yet."
"Excuses, excuses," he heard Pikachu say. He turned to the pikachu, who had a smirk on his face. "You just don't want someone who isn't your trainer to name you."
"Hey! You stay outta dis, Pikachu!" Meowth exclaimed, for some reason offended by Pika's proclamation. "For ya info, I don't plan on havin' a traina!"
Pikachu just gave Meowth a knowing look.
"Hey, c'mon," Meowth started, a slight growl to his tone. "I'm a independent pokemon! And I t'ink pokemon should have a right ta choose whether ta be domestic or not."
"Well, you don't seem very wild to me," Misty pointed out. "You seem pretty domestic to me."
Meowth's face went dark. "Oh c'mon! I'm not domestic! I'm-"
Misty began scratching behind the cat-pokemon's ear, and Meowth stopped arguing and just started purring.
"... I call that domestic," Misty laughed, and Ash and Pikachu nodded in agreement. Meowth didn't seem to care; he was enjoying the attention he was receiving.
The four of them sat in a cafe in Viridian City, where they'd been staying for a little while after the beedrill attack. Ahs and Misty talked to one another while Pikachu and Meowth spoke in Poke-talk.
Hey, come on, Meowth isn't idiotic enough to speak human-talk in a place that could have pokemon-thieves... like Officer Jenny warned them of.
And suddenly it was as if a bomb exploded, and the quartet heard someone shout, "It's smokescreen!"
"Guys, look at da door!" Meowth cried, since no one could see exactly who was speaking. Ash, Misty, and Pikachu all looked in the direction the cat was looking. There, against the light of the outside and the smoke of the inside, were four sillhouettes. Two were human-though one with a bizzarre hairstyle- and the other two were pokemon, one like a snake and the other a floating... ball... of some sort.
And then the sillhouettes began to speak.
"Prepare for trouble..."
"Make it double!"
"To protect the world from devastation."
"To unite all peoples within our nation."
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jessie!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"
People had begun panicking as the TR duo Jessie and James came forward. It seemed everyone recognized the name "Team Rocket" and many were fleeing as the smoke cleared up.
"Now hand over your valuable pokemon!" the male called as people realized all the exits were blocked off. Jessie laughed at the stupidity of people.
"Did you honestly think that you could get away? Now hand over your pokemon!"
Ash and Misty jumped to their feet and stood in front of Pikachu and Meowth.
"You'll never get Pikachu and Meowth!" Ash shouted at the duo, who turned their heads towards them. Neither looked impressed.
"We don't want your pathetic pokemon, twerp," Jessie laughed. "We're only after the most valuable!"
"Hey, who ya callin' pathetic?" Meowth shouted, much to the surprise of the TR duo. "We'll show ya pokemon thieves!"
"What he said!" Pikachu cried, jumping up on Ash's shoulder.
"A talking meowth? Now that is actually pretty rare," James stated.
Meowth startled Ash by jumping up on his other shoulder. "Darn straight!" Meowth shouted, exchanging a glance with Pikachu.
Meowth could talk, yea, but Pikachu was the stronger one. On his own, Meowth knew he himself would never have a chance at defeating them... but Pikachu could probably defeat them singlehandedly.
"Hey, Meowth! Use fury swiped on them as a distraction, and I'll handle the rest!" Pikachu told Meowth, seeming to understand Meowth's thoughts. Meowth nodded and jumped onto the floor, landing on all fours.
He dashed across the floor and jumped into the air, ignoring Ash's cry of "Meowth!"
'That kid's lucky Pikachu's here or else I'd be runnin' for da hills,' Meowth thought to himself, bringing his claws down on the startled humans.
It wasn't often they themselves were attacked by a pokemon. Usually their own pokemon were.
While the duo were being distracted by the cat's claws, Pikachu started with his signature "Piiiiiikaaaaa..."
When meowth heard this, he jumped away from the duo.
"Chuuu!"
The entire place was alight with electricity as the duo were being electrocuted by one angry Pikachu.
The sprinklers came on just as Team Rocket "blasted off".
Everything was silent for a few moments, except for the sound of water sprinklers. Then...
"AGH! I hate watah! Especially WET watah!"
Ash, Misty, and Pikachu were practically dragged out by the now-wet cat.
-Later-
"Gee, you two made a pretty good team," Misty commented, looking at the two pokemon, who both perched themselves on Ash's shoulders.
She laughed slightly, watching Meowth desperately lick at his fur to get the water out while Pikachu watched, confused.
"Meowth, you're heavy," Ash told him.
"It's da watah," Meowth stated matter-of-factly, still licking desperately.
"I guess I shouldn't be surprised you don't like water; you're a cat," Misty chuckled.
"Yea, and dose two failures weren't even worth da watah!" Meowth exclaimed, jumping to the ground. "If we see dem again, dey're gonna pay!"
"Though you know, you guys shouldn't have attacked without Ash telling you to," Misty pointed out. Pikachu looked a little guilty, but this seemed to anger Meowth.
"One, da situation was cause-worthy, 'nd two, I am a wild pokemon still! I don't gotta listen to anybody. And I won't become his little poke-pal 'til I knows I can trust him," Meowth stated, crossing his arms. Before she could reply, he changed the subject. "So where we goin' now?"
"Well, we're gonna fight the gym leader, of course!" Ash told the cat pokemon, who stared blankly. "What?"
"Um... Ash, dere's a problem wit dat plan," Meowth started before Misty could give any input. "Yous only got one pokemon right now, 'nd he's an electric type. We're in rock-kingdom. Da gym leader's gonna have rock-type pokemon. Guess who has da advantage? Da rock type. Rock types are unaffected by electric types. Ta defeat a rock type, ya need either a watah, grass, or ice type pokemon. Pikachu here won't defeat a rock-type wit just his electricity, 'nd I can't fight for yous in a real battle like dat since I'm not ya pokemon."
"Nah, Pikachu could take him down, I'm sure!" Ash stated confidently, causing his three companions to sweatdrop and Misty to go into a lengthy lecture on type-advantages and how he could severely injure his pikachu by this.
In the meantime, Meowth and Pikachu decided to converse in poke-talk.
Elsewhere, Jessie and James were caught in a tree. "Wow... that pikachu is really strong," James said to his partner.
"I agree... perfect for the boss," Jessie agreed. "The meowth too."
The duo grinned at each other as they set their sights on the two pokemon that had defeated them.
"This is going to be interesting..."
Brock shows up next chapter, obviously. After Brock comes up, it kinda ventures off the path the series takes.