Disclaimer: I don't own squat. 'Nuff said.
Okey, erm, sorry it's been a while. My sister and I have been overly addicted with the new Mystery Dungeon games, and after getting the hideous pink skitty a million times on the quiz (no offense to skitty fans) I finally got meowth! Yes! Also, just to let you know, I might be adding a couple characters, dungeons and such from the second game, though there will be no real spoilers to the main plot. If there does happen to be, I'll be sure to warn you (which there most likely won't be, so no worries). There are also no exploration teams yet in this story--only rescue teams--just to clear that up; if you remember from the beginning that I said this story goes on between both plots of the games. Anywho, I finally managed to complete this chapter for ya, and I know you all have a lot of questions but I can't promise they'll all be answered soon. But, eventually, yes. So without further ado, I present to you...chapter four.
...
It was late afternoon. The quilava, poochyena and shinx had been traveling since breakfast, and though they kept walking and walking, the scenery around them never seemed to change much. And to make everything better, one of the pokemon in particular had found an annoying way to pass the time.
"Tree, tree, tree, shrub, log, bush, tree..."
"JAMES! Cut that our, would'ya?!" Jessie snapped.
"Sorr-ee! I just can't help it! It's just tree, after tree, after tree, after TREE!" he wailed, jerking his head back and forth after every "tree". "Isn't there anything more interesting in this forest? Speaking of which, I'm getting hungry again. Cliff, when are we gonna be eatin' lunch? Huh?"
Cliff sighed. "I already told you--when we find something to eat, we eat."
"Oh." They only walked for another fifteen minutes when James spoke up again. "When are we gonna find something to eat?"
Cliff sweatdropped and scratched the back of his head. "Uhh...I don't know. We'll just find it while we're walking, I guess. If we don't find any, we'll just wait until we get home and I'll feed you then--"
"But Cliff, I'm hungry right now! Can we please stop to eat? Please? I'm gonna starve to death! Don't you even care?" James continued whining to an invisible person next to Cliff, his childish complaining going unheard.
"Is he always like this?" asked the quilava uncertainly.
"Unfortunately, yes." sighed Jessie. She grabbed what looked to Cliff like a large mallet from behind her back, striking it against the electric type's head.
"Owie! That hurt." he whimpered, rubbing his sore noggin.
"Well, get used to it." the poochyena replied, rolling her eyes. "I'm not stopping 'til the lesson here is finally learned, which in your case, may be never." She put the mallet back behind her back and Cliff looked on, blinking, a little confused.
"Where'd you get that?" he inquired.
"Oh, that?" Jessie said, a little surprised that someone had asked her. "To tell you the truth, I don't exactly know, but it's always there when I need it. Isn't that right, James?"
"Eh." he murmured, still cradling his recently received headache between his paws.
Cliff raised his eyebrow. "So, you mean...ah, nevermind. You guys are weird." He started walking again when he stopped and stared back behind himself questioningly at the two transformed pokemon. Jessie and James gave him the same look.
"What?"
"Well, generally, most poochyena and shinx don't walk on their hind legs like that. You're going to draw attention, ya know."
Jessie smirked. "So, what? I see you're walking just like we are."
Cliff just returned the smirk, without any hesitation in his response. "That's because it's perfectly normal for my species to walk this way. In fact, there are a lot of different pokemon who commonly walk on two legs. But you guys aren't one of 'em."
"And why can't we be?" Jessie questioned, a little angered. Her mind wandered back to Meowth. Sure, his species didn't normally walk on two legs either, but their feline companion managed to teach himself anyway. In fact, he also learned human speech and other skills the common normal type wouldn't. Why should it be any different for them?
"Well...I don't know. Other pokemon are bound to get suspicious and I don't want you two to get discovered. Isn't that a good enough explanation?"
"Yeah, but...why can't we be discovered?" asked James, scratching his neck with his front paw. "Does it really matter?"
Cliff sighed. "Look, all I know is if people start finding out, it could lead to a dangerous outcome for the three of us." He looked around, a bit worried. "I just don't want to talk about it out here, in the open. This is a public area as far as I'm concerned, and it's not a place to discuss personal matters. I promise, when we get to my house I'll try to answer your questions. But will you please just play along with me here?"
Jessie and James blinked at him after he finished his vague speech. He sounded serious; serious enough that even Jessie gave in and took the situation delicately. "OK...whatever." she answered. "We have enough problems on our hands--er, paws--as it is, anyway."
"Heh...paws. That's funny." chuckled James.
"What's so funny about it?!" Jessie fumed, obviously not amused in the slightest. She got out her paper fan, slapping his face multiple times with it.
"STOPPIT!" he whined sorrowfully between blows.
"Oh, woe are you, Mr. Self Pity." Jessie retorted, putting away the fan. "Now do everyone a favour and keep your annoying lips clamped shut, okey?"
Cliff rubbed his forehead, feeling a slight pang of sinuses coming on. When he first met these two "humans", he thought it would be easy to take them in and help them out. After all, when he used to be in a rescue team, he did rescues all the time. Piece of cake. However, these two proved wrong. He surely underestimated them from the beginning, but now he didn't have much of a choice. Besides, a headache was only a mere side effect of this rescue. At least he wouldn't be so lonesome all the time...in fact, it could even be fun.
Maybe...
"This sucks. My hands are getting all dirty and all because we have to walk like normal pokemon." complained Jessie, for once it not being her whiny partner. "This really really sucks."
"Not hands, Jessie. Paws." James chuckled again.
Jessie rolled her eyes. "I don't care what you want to call them. Just look how dirty I'm getting...oh, it is going to take so long to get the mud out from between my pads." She lifted up a muddy paw in disgust, then glanced up at the quilava, who seemed to be on a train of thought. "Hey, Fire Weasel. Tell us--how long again 'til we reach the next shower?"
Cliff, getting onto the fact that she must be talking to him, turned around to meet her gaze. "Showers?" he asked. "No, there's no showers here."
"OK, a bathtub then." she grumbled.
"Erm...no bathtubs, either."
"What about a hose? Come on. You have a hose, at least."
"Nope. No hose." Cliff continued. "We don't really need any such thing here. The water pokemon take care of the water supply here, which is good. Water bills are the last thing I'd like to waste my money on these days."
Jessie looked at him with an odd mix of confusion and fury. "No water? How are we gonna bathe ourselves, then?!"
Cliff smiled ear-to-ear. "That's what you have a tongue for, now isn't it?" He continued walking, but Jessie and James stopped to think it over.
"We have to...lick ourselves?" James made a sick face.
Cliff saw them stop and turned once again to meet them. "You're pokemon, now. What do you expect? Nothing's going to change just because the two of you dropped in, so you might as well get used to acting like one."
Jessie sweatdropped. "This is going to be a blast." she mumbled sarcastically.
The three of them continued to walk. It just so happened that Tiny Woods--the place where Cliff found the two of them late morning--was quite a ways from wherever the quilava happened to be leading them. They took hardly any breaks, though they did stop for lunch when Jessie sniffed out an apple tree, and a couple other times when James supposedly became so tired he could not move his legs. They also unexpectedly got attacked by a couple pidgeys and sunkern, though Cliff did a good job of getting rid of them quickly with his flamethrower. It seemed like forever when Cliff finally stopped for good. Jessie and James collapsed from behind him, obviously very exhausted for what seemed to them to be quite a long journey.
Cliff laughed as he saw them on the ground, dazed and breathing heavily. "We're here." he announced.
James blinked weakly at the small establishment in front of them. A couple old fireplaces and torches stood around it, though none of them lit fire, much to their relief. In fact, it looked as if they hadn't been lit for a long time. "What's that? A...A shack?"
"Not just any shack." Cliff assured. He turned to the worn down shelter, pointing in its direction. "This here used to be my old home about a year ago. Gosh, it's a miracle it's still here. I thought it would be gone for sure, with the town being rebuilt and everything."
"Town? So not only do we have talking pokemon here, but there's also a town?" Jessie inquired suspiciously. "And I suspect it's run by pokemon too, isn't it?"
"Quite right." Cliff nodded. "Wow, you two are more clever than I thought. But I'm not letting that get my guard down." He cleared his throat and continued to explain. "The town is only a block away from where we're standing. It's got a shop, a bank, a dojo...the works. However, it's being rebuilt, for reasons unknown to me. I believe they are making a guild there...but then again, I've never been around long enough anymore to know for sure."
Jessie was too delighted to have finally reached their destination that she didn't have time to criticise his beginning statement. "Well, at least we're here now."
James agreed, getting up on shaky knees. "I don't think I could have survived another minute!" He looked to Cliff with sparkling eyes. "Now let's eat dinner! It's been forever since we last ate!"
"Yeah, five hours." Jessie snorted. When he wasn't complaining, whining, or getting attacked by a nearby wurmple, he was thinking about food; pretty typical. But then again, she could feel her own stomach grumbling at the thought. After all, that harsh traveling was more than she and James were used to from when they worked in Team Rocket. Even she, herself had to admit it was pretty tiring. It was surprising to see that Cliff didn't seem to have lost one ounce of energy from the trip. What was wrong with this guy?
"Dinner doesn't sound too bad." Cliff cut in through her thoughts. "I have a couple leftovers from lunch that should soothe our hunger for tonight." He stood near the entrance of the small tattered shack. "Come on now. We shan't be wasting time." He slid easily in with both his travelers following closely behind.
The two of them looked around to take in the new environment. The place had obviously been unused since Cliff's last outing about a year ago. It was small and old, though it had a comforting aura to it. The floor was made of wood, and on the ground there was a small bale of hay looking to resemble some sort of bed. A couple bottles and food bowls appeared to be scattered around the base. There was also a miniature shelf filled with cobwebs.
"Well, how do you like it?" asked Cliff. "This is your new home."
"It's real nice, Cliff," James said impatiently. "but what about dinner?"
The quilava sweatdropped. "Alright, alright. Let me split up the leftovers. Just be patient." He grabbed some half eaten apples out from his non-existent pocket and began slicing them up. Jessie and James stared up at the abandoned shelf above the hay bale and wondered what could be up there.
"Hey, what are you hiding up there?" Jessie inquired with a suspicious tone in her voice.
"What?" He turned around.
"Up on that shelf." James hinted.
Cliff turned his eyes away. "Oh." he replied. "There? I don't know." He continued cutting the apples without another word. But his answer apparently wasn't enough to satisfy his visitors, and five seconds later he was once again interrupted by their voices.
"Whaf's thith?"
Cliff turned around once more. They were just close enough to startle him, and James had a big, brown book in his mouth, causing his distorted speech.
"Is this your diary?" Jessie asked with a smirk. "I didn't know pokemon kept diaries. Especially boy pokemon." She eyed over him as if waiting for him to admit to it. Her smirk was starting to creep him out a little.
"Uhhh...I know nothing of it." Cliff stated, scratching his head to send the message of confusion. His acting, no matter how clever, did not fool either of of them. James dropped the book to the ground and after reading it, tilted his head.
"But it says...Cliff's Diary on it." he insisted.
Jessie only smiled wider. "Ooooh...a secret diary." she mused. "What do you think he writes about, James? The cute flareon who lives down the block?!"
Cliff fumed. "No!" he cried anxiously, sweating. He grabbed the book from paw's reach of the other two. "This is just...it's just some book I used to write in about my traveling..." He trailed. Seeing that both their eyes were not leaving the book, he nervously walked between them and placed it back on the shelf, pushing it back into the dust and darkness.
"So...does this mean we get to eat dinner yet?" asked James hopefully.
"Well..." The apples weren't completely split up, but what did it matter, really? He shrugged it off. "Sure. Go ahea--"
His sentence was left unfinished as both ravenous pokemon tore through the leftovers, consuming them in such haste that Cliff was afraid they might carelessly choke.
Fortunately, that was not the case. The two of them had successfully dissolved every trace of edibility in Cliff's home without breaking a sweat, much less a throat muscle. It was the last of their food supply, but it didn't bother the quilava much--he had tons of money for food anyway, so it didn't seem much of a problem. Instead, he found it quite funny. After how tired the both of them looked from traveling, they completely spilled with energy at the sight of food. Cliff laughed.
"Wow...it's a mystery you two didn't turn into munchlax, with appetites like that." he joked.
James burped. "'Scuse meh..." he trailed. He hiccuped and placed a paw over his mouth.
"I think you guys are probably gonna eat me out of house and home by the time we actually start making progress." Cliff stated, half joke, half personal. "We're gonna have to really keep up with rescues to afford enough apples to satisfy all three of us."
A visible question mark appeared over James's head. "Wha--? Rescues?"
Cliff sweatdropped, once noticing he had finally spilled. "Alright, I admit. I've been planning it over ever since I asked you two to accompany me. I was bound to give you the offer soon enough."
"What offer? What the heck are you talking about?" asked Jessie.
Cliff took a deep breath, preparing himself for what seemed to be a big speech. "Well, let's start from the beginning. See, I've been out of business for about a year now in the rescue industry. Ever since then, I've been making a living as a pokemon out in the wilds, but let me tell you--it's been a lonely 365 days out there. Seriously, the other pokemon there were nothing more than...well, pokemon. My life's been stinking miserable ever since I decided to abandon my old rescue team, and now I'm getting the urge to be on a team again, you know, like the old days. The times have gotten rough again and there's more and more pokemon in danger because of it. And that's where you guys come in." He looked both of them over before continuing. "When I met you two humans out in Tiny Woods, I knew I was onto something special. There's no doubt you're probably linked to whatever's happening, and I want to know more about it. Every time a human has entered this world, it has been at the same time was disaster began to stuck--this is because the only real reason humans are sent to this world is in order to save it. That's why I want to help you." He paused for a breath. "And that's why I want you to help me form a new rescue team."
Both of his guests jumped in response.
"Whoa, hold the phone for a second." Jessie growled, regaining her feet. "I don't know what's with you and this whole rescuing gig, but your words are nothing but jibberish to me. Me and my friend were not sent here at all. In fact, I think it was an accident. All we want is to get Meowth back and return to our lives."
James nodded. "Yeah. We can't stay too long, especially since Meowth must be looking for us."
"But...this could be important." pleaded Cliff. "Your appearance here was no accident at all. There has to be a reason behind it. I mean, you guys could have been...you know, chosen to save us or something. Don't you want to know why you're here? Doesn't it bother you?"
"Frankly, no." Jessie replied coldly. "All we want is to know how to get out of here."
"But we have to find Meowth, first." James added quickly. "Then we'll be on our way, right?"
"For once, yeah, you are right...unbelievably so." Jessie responded jokingly. "All we need is to find Meowth and we'll be blasting off out of this place in an instant."
"Hooray!" James celebrated in excitement. "Now that's the kind of blasting off I'm open to!"
Cliff stopped them in the middle of their enthusiasm. "Not that it's any of my business but...you two really have no idea where to even start looking for your friend, do you? This place is full of many, many different dungeons. And those dungeons, better yet, are filled with just as many pokemon. If you thought that pidgey in Tiny Woods was tough, you'll never know what you're going up against in the stronger dungeons. You have hardly a chance at all."
Jessie's brow furrowed. "You calling us weak?"
Cliff didn't even flinch. "I said nothing of the sort." he replied casually. "All I'm saying is, without knowledge nor strength of your friend's whereabouts, you'll most likely be putting yourselves at your own risk of danger. Unpredictable things could happen."
Jessie didn't seem at all convinced by his words. "So what are you trying to say, then? That we should just let poor Meowth fend for himself out there in those tougher areas...without us? Pretty selfish attitude, wouldn't you agree?"
"No! This is not greed, it is merely a concern for your safety." the quilava countered. "I have, for a fact, been to these dungeons. You two are no match for the pokemon that dwell there. I can't just let you go there alone, without anyone to protect you. It's way too dangerous."
"But Meowth!" wailed James. "We have to go there! We need to find Meowth!"
"I can always send a high ranked rescue team after your friend, but I'm afraid that's all I can really do." he admitted. Then, suddenly getting an idea, he brightened up. "Unless..."
"Unless what? TELL US!" stormed James, grabbing onto Cliff's waist in a full embrace.
"Alright, alright, just cool it, will ya?" he asked, pushing the overly-anxious pokemon's body weight off his own. He cleared his throat and eyed the two of them. "Listen, I'll make a deal with you two. I'll help you find your friend...Meowth, is it?...and in return, I expect both of you to join me in a rescue team and carry off rescue activities. I also want you to stay with me and maybe find out a little why you turned into pokemon. That's my goal. So what do you say? Deal?" he stuck out his paw to both Rockets.
Jessie sighed. "Look, if it's to find Meowth, we'll do anything. Just help us." She winced as she said this. It wasn't like her to ask for help, especially to none other than an un-fully evolved pokemon. Besides, if he wouldn't let them go there themselves, it looked like it was their only good choice.
"Yeah, anything!" agreed James.
Cliff smiled. "I knew you'd accept. Don't worry...with me, anything is possible. We'll be able to get your friend back, safe and sound. If we all ban together as a team, we'll be able to get it done. Who knows? We can become really high-ranked and help serious pokemon in danger! We can even become good friends, maybe..."
"But after we find Meowth," Jessie concluded, staring Cliff straight into his maroon eyes. "you're going to take us straight back home, promise?"
Cliff stopped and grunted understandingly. "Yeah. I promise."
"Cool. Thanks so much, Cliff!" James barked in excitement, his blue face shining. He ran up once again to the quilava, only this time he was ready and dodged the hug, sending James flying into the wall.
Jessie sweatdropped. "This is going to be a looooong trip..."
"Heh...yeah. Totally." added Cliff, rubbing the back of his head as the shinx slowly slid down the wall. Opening his mouth and lifting his finger, (if a quilava has one...if one not, then his paw) he seemingly proclaimed at random, "Why don't I go...get some food for tomorrow?"
Jessie's eye twitched. "Yeeeeeeeeeeeeahhh...do that."
...
Not too much later into the afternoon, the sun was finally started to set and a couple stars appeared in the orange sky. It really wasn't afternoon much anymore. It was evening and time to get some much needed rest. It had been a long day. Cliff was still yet to return with the grub, and the other two took this to their advantage to make themselves a little at home.
"So what do you think about Cliff?"
Jessie paused for a moment as she dropped a pile of hay on the ground for her bed, slabbing it down with her paws. She and James were still breaking Cliff's little rule about "standing on two legs and using paws instead of mouth", but he wasn't there anyway, so it didn't matter much. She shrugged. "Still don't trust him."
"Still?"
Jessie cracked her neck sideways and settled into her new bed. "Nope. The guy seems way too suspicious to me. Why," she questioned, lifting an eyebrow. "Do you?"
James shrugged, kicking the stray pieces of straw into his nest. "Well, I assumed both of us did...you know, after we accepted that little offer of his." And with a smile, "He seems pretty friendly."
"Well, sure, he is now..." the poocheyna replied. "But the way he was pleading us to join him before was almost like he was forcing us. I think he wants to use us for something. After all, it seems like a tactic we've used a couple times on the twerps. You know, the Friendly Approach?"
"Oh yeah, you mean when we follow the rules and battle fairly?" James inquired.
"No, no, not that, you numskull." she said, rolling her eyes. "I'm talking about when we pretend to be friends with them in order to steal the brat's pikachu. Of course, it never worked on them. But then again, they always seem to find a way out, 'cos they're twerps. But for us it's different, you know. We won't just get lucky, so we have to keep our guard up around this character. If that weasel is planning something, I'll be sure to find out and make sure it backfires on him."
James blinked. "And if he isn't?"
Jessie gave a big, long yawn, mostly to irritate James as he awaited her reply. "Well..." she yawned again, a small one this time. "I doubt we'll ever uncover the truth, unless he finds a real smart way to prove it." She laid her head down. "Now stop being so annoying with your dumb questions and go to sleep already."
James looked around worriedly from his hay bale. "But...is it safe?"
He could hear growling from Jessie's side of the room. "If you don't stop getting on my nerves, I can guarantee it won't be safe...must I remind you I still have my wooden mallet? And if I am not mistaken, I can just come over there and pummel you on the head with it?"
The shinx squeezed under the hay until only his bottom was visible. "Let's skip that part." he mumbled from underneath the straw.
Jessie smirked. "Alright, then. Night, James."
"Mmmmm...goodnight Jess..." he hummed, already half-asleep in what looked to be an uncomfortable position.
After a couple minutes when it had become apparent that the two of them were in a deep slumber, a head peeked out from outside. It was Cliff, and it was obvious he had been listening in a little to the two of them to maybe find out a bit more about their pasts. Instead, he was shocked to find that they found everything about him as suspicious and thought of he, himself as a some sort of...villain. It was a little disregarding to him.
"You still don't trust me?" he whispered. "After providing you with all this? Food...shelter...and even an offer to save your friend?" he shook his head. "Ah, give it time, Clifton. This wouldn't be the first time this has happened. They don't really seem too apt to change their minds, especially that poochyena..." he lifted his eyes to her. "but you can win their trust. Just try harder. After all, you are the Great Cliff." he grinned, after saying this re-collation of his own past. "But now, it's time to catch some Z's."
He walked up to his little hay bale in the middle of the room, the center of his two guests and hung his black necklace snuggly on the small stick of a rack above it. He took his hand away from the small rock attached and let it swing limply in the air. He sighed with satisfaction, then spun around three times and curled into a ball. He was about to go to sleep, but found he could not, as the shinx next to him was snoring loudly as he tossed around with drool hanging from his lip. Cliff put his arms over his head. "Figures..." he grumbled. However, as he was trying to block out the horrific noise, his eyes guided to the shelf hanging to the wall...where his diary was. He tried to look away. Ha! No way...I haven't opened that thing in ages. There's just no way I can just..., he looked up at it again. Come on, Clifton, get it together! It's just a book! There's really no need...When he glanced up a third time, he knew he had to take action. He just couldn't resist writing up his thoughts again, after so long. And besides, who can get to sleep with such loud and bubbly snoring?
Carefully stepping over Jessie, he approached the shelf. He reached up and grabbed the book, blowing the dust off the cover page. Hey, without all the cobwebs, it still looked just like it did when he first got it. He opened the first page, then the next and the next. He sighed again as he recalled the memories. Wow, that was before he got so lonely and isolated...a year ago, when he always seemed to be in the midst of adventure and rescuing pokemon from all over the place. Hm, those were the days...
He continued flipping until he came to an empty page. He grabbed the pencil from within the notebook's coils and lit a small torch next to him for a candle with a weak ember attack. Finally settled, he brought pencil to paper and began to write.
Dear Diary,
Yeah, it's me again. It's been so long...I know. You probably thought you got rid of me for good, huh? (he laughed) Well, I've made my return back home, and honestly, I was pretty sure I'd find this place...and you, in a pile of ashes by now. Fortunately you're still here, and I can't believe I forgot to take you with me...not like it was interesting anyway. In fact, it was the worst year of my life to tell you the truth.
Until today...oh yes, today. That's the whole reason I'm even here now, instead of out there in the crummy wild. See, when I was walking through the Tiny Woods this morning, doing my usual morning duties, I found these two abnormal pokemon...and guess what? They're human! I just cannot believe it...I mean, it's happening all over again! Of course, I mentioned them to come home with me and that's why I'm here now. I managed to persuade them to help figure out why there here...I'm sure there's a reason behind it.
The bad thing is...well, I don't think they trust me entirely yet. I don't know what it is about them, but they've shown it in their actions and I've heard it in their conversations. I really want to be friends with them because they don't seem like the kind who would want to cause trouble...erm...at least, I don't think. They claim to have lost their friend, and as part of the deal, it looks like I'll be helping them find him as well.
Anyway... (he went on, deciding to be quick about it as he didn't want to make his entry too long) I think I'm going to keep my eyes glued to the two of them. Tomorrow I'm planning to bring them to town with me. I'm curious to see how it's changed, or if it's changed at all, really. It would be nice to see some of the old townsfolk again.
(he looked up for inspiration, then jotted down his last paragraph) Well, I gotta get going. I'm gonna need my rest for tonight, and it isn't going to get to sleep with one of my visitors snoring up a storm to the left of me...so until next time, see ya.
--Cliff
Satisfied with his work, the quilava carefully closed the book and placed it back on the shelf. Wow, I forgot how good it felt to be able to write so freely again..., he thought happily as he waved away the flame on the torch and headed to bed. He knew the snoring wasn't going to be the only thing keeping him up...the issues he was having with his new guests also picked at his mind. Would they trust him? Could they? When?
He knew it was no time to question, but he just couldn't keep letting the thoughts spill out of his brain. It looked like nothing was going to get accomplished just by thinking about it, so tomorrow, he was going to try to act in a much more "un-suspicious" way, perhaps to prove that he was no harm to them? With a last yawn, he shut his eyes for the night and wrapped himself into a tighter circle. No matter what problems he did, they would never get accomplished unless he went to sleep.
So on that final note, he dozed off.
...
Uh, yeah...second apology. PMD2 isn't the only thing that's been taking over my life, but I've had projects and concerts and all the works...anyway, hope you enjoyed that chapter, though it's kind of boring since I'm still lingering on the beginning (I know...I'm such a slow writer T.T). Like I predicted, Meowth's chapter is once against split from his friends', and if the story continues flowing this way, it probably will be for most of it.
Anyway, stay tuned...our favourite talking feline and his new ivysaur friend will be up next. :)