Disclaimer: Just the other day, something occurred to me...what's the point in putting up disclaimers that don't even make sense? Can't I just put the same old "I DON'T FRICKIN' OWN POKEMON" on every chapter like everyone else? Ugh...the need...for abnormality... /

Haha, I would have LOVED to...you know, end that cliffhanger on the other chapter...but I wanted to torture you more because I'm evil like that. EHEHEHEHE! :P So I'm guessing you were wondering what was going on with our dear Meowth...and Flower, of course. Well, you're about to find out...so with that in mind...R.E.A.D. :3

...

"Meowth, get up."

"Grrrrrrrroooommmmpphhhhhhh..."

"Get up, I say."

"Mrrrrrrrowwwwwwllll..."

"Come on, cat...I'm warnin' ya. Get up now, before I have to use force."

Meowth grumbled again, tossing his face back into the pillow. "Five more minutes." he mumbled, waving his paw in the air to get rid of whatever was disturbing him from his peaceful slumber. "Jus' five more minutes...five more minutes..." His voice trailed off as he wrapped his arms tighter around the pillow, not at all willing to let it go.

"Meowth, please." came a feminine voice, in which he quickly registered was Flower. "Dameon's getting a tad impatient, I think."

"A tad?!" growled the gruff male voice beside hers. "I've already wasted a three good minutes of time trying to wake the guy up! This is all so pointless!"

"Dameon..."

Due to Meowth's disobedience, the ghost type now began lifting the sleeping cat into the air using some kind of psychics.

"Mmmm...cinnamon swirl..." he muttered, tossing around for a while until he noticed something strangely different--it appeared both his blanket and pillow seemed to have disappeared completely. His arms began searching in the empty air for the lost belongings, but after not finding anything, he opened his large eyes to see where the heck they went. "What...? Blanket...pillow..." he mumbled as if still in a dream. The psychic powers continued lifting him so high, he hit the ceiling. At this point, the dumbstruck feline finally realised he was no longer on the ground and was now twirling in the air as if the world had suddenly lost its gravity. After a few seconds to absorb this information, Meowth did the only thing he could possibly think of doing at that very moment in time.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

His scream filled the small room, which only followed by more spinning. He started struggling fiercely to release the grip the powers had on his body, but to no avail. "Lemme down, lemme down, would'ya?!" he cried out, his helpless body circling above the tiny room.

"Ack! I think he's up now, Dameon!" Flower quickly told the gengar as a large sweatdrop slowly rolled down the side of her head.

The purple pokemon just grinned, a large, toothy smile stretching across most of his face. He moved both paws to the left in sync, in which Meowth's body quickly followed suit, hopelessly controlled by the psychic powers. Meowth scanned the area around him, back and forth, wondering what was going to happen next. Then, with a sudden whip of the ghost's paws, Meowth fell right out of the sky and landed in a crumpled heap in front of both pokemon--and not to mention, causing a pretty big crash in the process. Flower winced at seeing this and ran up to aid her new friend.

"Meowth...you okay?"

The cat managed to lift his head from some rubble that looked to be a piece of the room's wooden floor. "Now dat's da kind of wake-up call I wasn't hopin' for..." he mumbled. He groaned and his head slammed back into the floor, probably signaling that he wasn't yet ready for the new day to begin. Flower just chuckled, her vines protruding from her sides and grabbing Meowth's arms to help him up.

Dameon shook his head in amusement. "You know, Calix doesn't very well like to be kept waiting, so unless you want to see him angry, my advice would be to start pulling yourselves together." he warned, before flipping what seemed to be a bit of stray fur out of his eyes. "Besides, breakfast is getting cold and I doubt either of you want to start out your day on a rather disappointing note..."

Meowth's ears perked almost immediately. "Breakfast? Ya mean dey soive food here?"

Flower looked at Meowth in confusion, almost certain that he had been aware of the fact.

Dameon shrugged in response to Meowth. "Well, yeah. Eggs, pancakes, berries...the works. What, do you think we go around starving every day?" He laughed.

Meowth gasped in sudden realisation as if something in his brain just clicked. "Oh, boy! I remember now! Da Cafe! I gotta go downstairs and get me some grub!" Before either Flower or Dameon could protest, Meowth had jumped to his two feet and shot himself straight down the hall quicker than a thunderbolt attack.

Dameon sweatdropped. "Well, someone's enthusiastic..."

Flower just smiled. "Yeah, I better go catch up with him before he gets himself into trouble." she raced towards the door. "Thanks Dameon!"

The ghost-type shrugged. "No problamo. That's what I'm here for, isn't it?" He said through a giant set of teeth stretching across the perimeter of his face. Flower left, and he smiled even larger. "And now...for Charizard..." His grin continued to consume his face as he brought out a large pail of water from out of nowhere and trudged into the fire type's room in pursuit of awakening the beast.

Meanwhile, Flower had stumbled into the hallway, making her way to the cafeteria. It wasn't too difficult a task of course, as she knew the entire HQ (excluding the off-limit areas) like the back of her teal-coloured paw. She was mainly concerned about Meowth, hoping he didn't get himself lost in the large building. Since she was, in a sense, somewhat like an assistant to Meowth, she felt she might as well be held responsible if she lost him and could possibly get punished by the higher authorities if she wasn't careful.

Still, she couldn't help but smile at his mischief, a lot like her own when she first came to live with the scientists at the HQ. "Oh, Meowth..." she whispered, shaking her head in amusement as she bounded down the hallway.

The cafeteria was never really a long way off. She came to the clearing in no less than a couple minutes and sighed in relief to see that Meowth had indeed, found his way to the correct destination. Well, I guess the smell of food could lead anyone into the right direction, she thought, and laughed. She padded on in and grabbed a seat next to the cat in front of a long table. At the moment, he was busily gorging his way into a large stack of pancakes and didn't seem to notice the ivysaur sitting curiously at his side. That is, until she spoke up.

"How's breakfast?" she asked.

Meowth almost choked due to surprise, holding a paw to his throat to help the food make its way down the narrow hatch. "Hey, don't sneak up on me like dat!" he cried, still coughing.

Flower flinched, taken aback. "Oh, I'm sorry!" she hastily apologised, her ears instantly flattening against her head.

"Hey, I didn't mean it like dat, kid! Sheesh, yer actin' like ya just committed a crime or someting!" Meowth grabbed a glass of orange juice and took a couple gulps of the quenching liquid to help wash down the remains of pancake. Then he smacked his lips and looked to the leaf-type pokemon, wondering why she just sat there and stared at him like that. He tapped his fingers on the table, not sure of what to say. "Hey, uhh...ya want some?" he offered after a little bit, pushing the remains of his breakfast in front of her.

Flower's face seemed to brighten up completely. "Sure!" she squealed in pleasure, and without a thought to spare, she dug her face into the pancakes and began eating--much to Meowth surprise--in quite a messily manner.

Meowth leaned back in his chair watching Flower eat, mostly thinking off to himself again. It must've been ages since I've had such a delicious meal, he realised, a paw resting gently on his stomach. I neva knew how awfully good it felt ta be...well, ta be "not hungry"! He smiled in satisfaction, wiping some drips of maple syrup off his whiskers. Yes, it did feel different...but great, too. Having his belly filled completely to the top was something he rarely got to experience as most of the time he'd never really get the chance to eat so much in one measly serving. And the food itself--wow! It awed him to no end! The taste of those buttermilk pancakes was one he'd been drooling over for years and it was only until now when he finally got to savor it. He couldn't express how happy he was as he sat there after being part of such a scrumptious and filling meal. But then he frowned, again thinking about his friends he had to leave behind. Aw, I sure wish Jessie and James were here to share dese pancakes with me...I bet dey would'a enjoyed it just as much as I have... He shook his head quickly. Stop doin' dis, Meowth! You can tink about dem later, but right now you have ta focus on da mission, da mission ta save da woild! He put his head in his paws and sighed pitifully as he remembered the rigorous training he was going to get. It was going to be hard to explain that he didn't know any powers, but it would have to come out at some point...he just wished it didn't have to be so complicated.

Flower heard his sigh and turned her head away from the pancakes. "You okay, Meowth?"

"Hoih?" He looked at her, almost surprised that she was there, then moved his eyes back down to the floor again. "Eh, I'm fine. Just tinking some more I guess..."

Flower shrugged and continued eating and Meowth continued thinking. Hmmm, it still makes me wonder what kinda mission dis is anyway, he quired. Maybe I hafta fight a big, strong legendary or somethin', like Lugia, Suicune, Moltres or even dat Mewtwo, Meowth began to nervously sweat at the thought. Oh gee, I hope not!

His pondering was--once again--interrupted by the speech of another. "You two finished with that?" Meowth and Flower looked up and spied a nidorina with chef's toque, offering to take the empty plate of pancakes off their paws.

"Oh, yes, Nidorina. Thank you." Flower replied, sliding the plate to the poison pokemon, thus allowing her to pick up the scraps.

"Eh, no problem, kid. That's my job." she said with a smile, taking the plate and cleaning the syrup up with a moist washcloth. "So...Meowth..." (the cat turned her way at the mention of his name) "Did you have a good sleep last night?"

Meowth sweatdropped, remembering the heist from the night before. He'd surely get in trouble for bringing that up...so instead he just chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "Yup, good and dandy!"

"Sweet dreams, I'm sure?"

"Heheh, yeah...couldn't be sweeter..."

Nidorina beamed. "That's nice to hear." After finishing with the scrubbing of the plate, she set it down on a tiny stack atop a food service cart and left just as quickly as she had arrived. "You two have a wonderful day." she told them in a brightened tone as she wheeled away. "Good luck with your training!"

Flower looked to Meowth and nodded before reminding him why he was there in the first place. "She's right, Meowth. We should get going; Calix is probably waiting for us outside."

Meowth grumbled to himself and managed to nod weakly in her direction. Well, here it comes. What he had been trying to avoid ever since it was first brought up. And now...it was finally going to happen. Sweat nervously raked his forehead as he jumped from his feet and followed the ivysaur to what he felt would be his ultimate doom, thinking about the consequences all the way. When everyone figured out his disability of not being able to battle, he was in for it, no joke. What would they possibly do with him? Maybe, if he was lucky, they'd just dump him off somewhere and allow him to leave without getting hurt. Or maybe, if he was really really lucky, they'd send him back home and everything would be able to resume back to normal. Meowth smiled at the thought. He could just get sent back with his old friends and continue living his life as a rogue without having to worry about a whole world to save. In fact, there were so many other pokemon that could do the job better than him, so it didn't seem like such a bad idea after all.

The two of them neared the door to the outside world. Meowth knew that the lucario was probably waiting for them--him, especially--to show off some of his moves, moves that he didn't even have. It was going to be tough facing the reality put in front of him, but after getting some scars and bruises all his small peach-coloured body, there was a chance he could possibly ask for forgiveness. The pokemon at the HQ seemed nice enough...if they figured out he wasn't truly this Stronger One they speak of, he thought it'd be likely that they'd let him off and return him back where he belonged, leaving the responsibility for someone else who was...well, more responsible.

Both the feline and grass-type stopped when they came to a small field just a couple ways from the building. Dis looks just like da battlefields I've seen throughout my journeys in da real world, he thought to himself, gulping audibly. Except dis time, I'm gonna be da one gettin' da pulp beaten outta me...and dere aint gonna be nothin' I can do about it eidda.

"Hey Meowth, are you feeling alright?" Flower asked from beside him. "You've been so quiet and anxious this morning. Is this about training?"

Meowth bit his lip, wondering whether or not he should tell her exactly what was up. He could tell her. It wouldn't be such a big deal, would it? He bit down even harder. No, he couldn't. Flower trusted in him so much. She looked to him as her idol and the new and only friend she had. If she were to know that he was just a normal old meowth--a weaker than average one at that--then she'd be disappointed and definitely wouldn't look to him in the same light as before. Heck, if things got really bad, she'd start hating him for being a lying phony and maybe even stop being friends with him. And Meowth couldn't risk that, especially when she was the only real friend he had at the moment. He sighed, wondering why it just couldn't be so simple!

"Uh yeah...I'm OK. Must've eaten dose pancakes a bit too fast..." He replied, rubbing his stomach. No Meowth, you're doing it again!, his mind screamed. You have to stop lying to her! What's so hard about telling her the truth, anyway?! He slapped his head, trying to make the voices in his head go away, or at least simmer down a little. "Eheheh..."

"Hey."

Meowth snapped around to the deep voice, seeing exactly what he feared. The lucario towered over them, the sun shining down brightly on his steely-blue fur. The expression worn on his face was hard to determine--he didn't seem to be happy, sad, or even angry. All he did was stare down at the two of them, unblinking with his two glowing red orbs.

"Oh...hi..." Meowth had been planning the words to say in his head all morning but all he could muster now was a quiet, timid greeting.

Calix didn't look like he needed an answer anyway. "Took you a while, didn't it? You'll never have enough time on your paws unless you get up early, young trainee." He tossed his head. "Ah well, you'll get used to it soon enough. In fact, after a few sessions you may begin looking forward to this, I can almost guarantee it."

Lookin' forward ta it? Ha, now dere's a laugh, the tan cat thought. That lucario didn't have a clue, did he? Meowth shook a little, fidgeting around with his paws. He had been rehearsing for this. It was finally time to admit what a pathetic loser he really was. Time to let the truth flow out of him like the syrup pouring down the buttermilk pancakes he had for breakfast. Meowth took a deep breath...it was now or never.

"Calix, I--"

"Let us begin training immediately." The jackal-like pokemon cut him off before he could utter another single word. "The sooner we start, the better. Now..." He took his place on the battlefield and Meowth just stood close-by, his knees wobbling like jelly. Meowth's nervousness appeared to go unnoticed by Calix, who only looked down at him as he continued instructing. "Meowth, first things first. Before we get into the serious battling, I'd like to see the skills in which you already have. As you may know, Flower is a pretty experienced battler, so I am already aware of much of the powers that she possess. She'll train alongside you later and will most likely help in aiding you when you take on tougher foes."

Flower beamed from across the battlefield. Meowth just sweatdropped.

"But as for now," Calix went on, looking back at him with those focused ruby eyes. "I just want to see what kinds of things you are capable of doing at the moment. From there, it will be much easier to come up with different strategies and the such. So, when you're ready," he gave Meowth a little more room. "Step forward and show us what you can do." He then just stood there in a casual position with his arms folded against his chest, waiting on the shivering feline.

Oh crap, Meowth thought, sweating. He's eyin' me down like I'm his natural prey or sometin'. What should I do? I can't just stand here like a zombie...oh, but dose eyes! I swear, dis guy is more intimidatin' den da boss when he don't get his mornin' coffee--and dat, Meowth, has got ta be one of da scariest tings you'se ever seen!

Meowth looked at Flower hoping she would be able to get him out of this mess, but she only cocked her head out of puzzlement. He then looked to Calix, but all he got from him was a mouthing of the words, "Go for it". Meowth's sweat began coming down faster until he came to the point where he almost wanted to run away and scream in frustration. Instead, he only stood there in the middle of the battlefield, not even twitching occasionally or giving the slightest gesture that he was about ready to start training.

Then, he became aware of two long, black feet landing down in front of his face. Calix was staring him down with the complicated expression painted across his face. "Meowth, there's something on your mind, I can sense it." He told Meowth, who only winced at the words, not wanting to make a fool of himself. "Is something troubling you?"

Meowth sighed. Well, this was it. Without even thinking first, the truth he'd been covering up--consisting of the fact that he didn't know any moves--flowed out in fast whispers, one's that could not be heard from the side of the field in which Flower stood. She only blinked a little, curious to what Meowth could be saying, but Calix had managed to catch onto every word of the squabble. When Meowth was done, staring down at his toes in shame, the lucario nodded to himself as if he understood completely, but said nothing in response.

Meowth looked up nervously, trying to find anger in the canid's reddish eyes. OK, I really blew it dis time, he realised. Now he knows. He knows how weak and stupid I really am. Dat I really a'int da "Stronger One", or whatever. But dat's alright, I guess...da only ting that matters is dat I told him. OK? Da truth's out. But maybe..., he perked up a little at the thought, maybe now dat he knows I'm da wrong pokemon, he'll send me back with Jessie and James! He smiled, suddenly feeling a lot brighter. So what if I'm not da strongest little meowth dat's gonna save da woild? I'm proud ta be in Team Rocket. It's been my life ever since I was a young foiball. Catching Pikachu may not be fun, but hey, it's what I do best! And dat's sometin' I'm very proud of!

Calix made what sounded like a grunting noise as Meowth began to slowly walk away and the cat just looked up at him for a split second before passing Flower as he stopped to bid farewell.

"Meowth, what's going on?" she asked, clueless.

Meowth scratched his head. "Well, it's hard ta explain." he started. "See, before I wasn't so sure of myself and I didn't know what I was gonna do about it. I had no idea what was gonna happen ta me and what I was gonna do about it. Everyting seemed like it was turnin' out in my favour, but I believe it might actually be da opposite. Dis role ain't for me, it's for someone else and I'm cool with dat."

Flower looked even more confused then before. "What on Earth are you talking about?"

Meowth shook his head in amusement. "Flower, I should'a known you wouldn't be able to handle dis very good but I tink you'll be fine with it once ya understand dat it may be better for me, you, and everybody else in dis woild ready to get some savin'. Tings don't always end up da way dey seem and I just wanted ya ta know dat even though sometin' great comes along in your life, dat it a'int always gonna be da opportunity you've been seekin' fer all yer life."

As Meowth kept going on, Flower stopped listening to him and began looking worriedly to something that seemed to be approaching him from behind, pointing shakily in hopes that he would turn around and look. Unfortunately, Meowth was getting too into his farewell speech that he failed to notice.

"But now, I tink I finally found out what da true meanin' of my life is," he continued. "Da meanin' of my life was sometin' I had with me all along, and dat's where I tink I need to be. I belong dere, doin' what I need ta be doin', goin' where I need ta be goin', understandin' what I need ta be understandin'..."

Flower crouched and began whining, still pointing desperately behind the chattering feline, and it was only then when Meowth stopped his preaching. "Uh, Flower, what's wrong?"

Flower whined louder and pointed her head the other way in order to urge him to turn around. Meowth blinked at her with his paws to his hips, looking perplexed. "Is...is dere sometin' behind me?" he guessed.

Flower nodded hastily. Hm..., Meowth thought. He began turning around to see what it was that was scaring her this way when he was met with a shadow hovering above him. Before he knew what was happening, a tall figure swooped down and attempted to grab him. For what, Meowth did not know. All he knew was that it couldn't be good.

With a sharp yelp, Meowth resided and dodged the two grabbing arms that had so shockingly interrupted him and screeched to a halt on the ground. "What da?!" he half-shouted in bewilderment. Having just caught his breath from the last surprise, he commenced getting up to his feet when he was met by Flower's voice.

"Meowth, look out!"

The two arms were once again reaching for him and Meowth yowled in horror, trying to dive away from the enemy. With his cat-like agility, he was able to evade them a second time by lowering himself beneath their grasp and cutting in from between its legs. When this was accomplished, he began running away as fast as his two feet could take him, which wasn't very far in the long run. He hadn't gone too long when his midnight-black ears soon picked up the sound of someone trampling after him--however, he was too scared to peek behind him and lock eyes with the beast. So instead, he did what came naturally.

"Flower! Flower!" he screeched, flailing his arms. "Help me!"

The ivysaur gasped. "Meowth!" She tried to get up close to aim her razor leaf attack, but it was cleverly dodged when the attacker twisted and turned to skirt the leaves and fire them back at the stunned grass-type. The leaves pummeled back into her green body and she tumbled backwards, mainly from shock and as if from out of nowhere, a steel-cage lowered and hopelessly trapped the ivysaur.

"Oh no! Flower!" Meowth said, stopping absentmindedly to see if she was alright. His distraction from the chase gave his enemy the short amount of time he needed to turn the situation to his advantage. He quickly grabbed onto the cat's scrawny arms and pinned them to the ground with his giant black paws, looking him straight down at him with a gleam in his red eyes.

Meowth's own eyes widened at seeing the familiar face. "C-Calix?" he stammered.

The lucario smiled down at him, only know it only seemed a bit more wicked than it was before. Meowth tried to get up from the fierce hold, but his struggling was to no avail and the jackal pokemon continued pressing down on them.

Meowth cried as he struggled. "Calix, w-what are you doin'? What's happenin'?" Meowth wasn't sure what to do when the lucario wouldn't answer him. He just couldn't believe that Calix would turn to the dark side. Instead of asking, he began demanding, kicking his brown feet in the air as he did so. "Stop! In da name of da Stronger One, I order ya to stop! And if ya don't do it you're gonna get inta big trouble, and dat's da kind you a'int gonna like. So I demand ya to stop right dis very instant!"

Calix paid no heed. Alternatively, he brought up his right paw and held it in a fist in front of Meowth's non-existent nose. What looked to be something like a small, blue, gaseous orb expanded from out of his paw, growing bigger and bigger as if being charged in power. Meowth whimpered and tried to close his eyes to get ready for the impact of the attack.

"Meowth!" Flower's voice called from inside the trap from which she was still getting up from her mild fall. "You have to do something!"

Meowth concentrated on her voice. Do sometin', huh? Well, what am I supposed ta do like dis? I'm done fer! He focused at the glowing blue sphere of energy hovering between his eyes when suddenly, Calix brought it up, right about to strike it into his tiny body. Just as fate was about to play itself out, Meowth gave one more futile attempt to break free and without realising it, raised his free arm and slashed the lucario across the face.

"Grrooou!" The fighting type threw his paws to his face where there were three scratch marks visible, giving Meowth enough time to roll to the side and bring himself back up. After taking quick breaths to regain himself from the incident, Meowth glanced down at his right paw with the trio of long, sharp claws extended from it. Flower chirped from inside the cage and Meowth bounded over to her in response.

"Meowth, that was amazing! The best slash attack I've ever seen, if I do say so myself." she complimented, gesturing toward the cat's paw.

Slash attack? That was slash attack?

He knew he had used similar things to what he thought to be scratch and fury swipes in his past, but slash was something he was not so familiar with. Wait a second...scratch? Fury swipes?

Meowth looked down at his paws with gleaming eyes. Maybe he did know some attacks after all. So what if they were just different claw strokes? They were still powers, and a power was a power. Back in his world, he would often scratch at things that bothered him--most often times his human partners when they got on his nerves--but he never really though of it as a "real" pokemon move, more like an action that could be taken for granted.

"Well, uh...tanks, I guess." Meowth said, blushing a little as he caressed the back of his head with his left paw, feeling embarrassed over such praise.

A roar came from behind and Meowth nervously faced Calix as he got up from where he was scratched on the muzzle and inched towards he and Flower. There was a look of malice in those eyes that clearly warned he did not like to be messed with. He towered over both small pokemon, revealing the blue orb from his paw once again as a sign that he was willing to continue the fight, and roared once more.

Meowth took a step forward. "If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get but I better warn ya, I can get pretty angry...and if dis a'int my mad face, I doubt ya'd wanna see it anytime soon." He brought both paws into a fighting position, claws out and ready to go.

"Meowth, be careful." Flower whispered to him. "Calix is part steel type, which means normal moves don't have very much effect, and the fact that he's also part fighting can mean some nasty hits to a normal type like you."

"Hmph...don't worry, Flower." the cat grunted. "I'll...I'll take care of 'im fer ya." He was a bit stunned at both his sudden willingness to fight and also to protect Flower. Meowth usually became nervous over a larger opponent and didn't like to fight most of the time to begin with, and then of course, the way he stepped up and defended Flower as such was also unlike him, due to the fact that he hardly even knew her.

However, he didn't let his thoughts drift him away from the battle. In fact, he decided to make the next move and started it back up again. "Thought dat hurt?" he mocked. "Let's see how ya like ta get a dosage of my...FURY SWIPES!" He jumped onto the lucario's face with paws spread wide and slashed it up for all he was worth, once to the left, then to the right, left, right, left and right again. Calix moaned painfully from the sharp blows but managed to smack him down with a mighty compulsion. Meowth landed in the ground, creating a huge indent in the process.

Flower stared in awe with a worried looked planted on her face. "Whoa, that was force palm!"

Calix laughed a bit darkly as his view turned to the grass-type in the cage, then back to Meowth who weakly clobbered out of his silhouette in the earth.

"C-calix...why...?" he stammered, not feeling quite as confident as he had before. After witnessing an attack from a powerful pokemon like that one, who would?

"Meowth!" Flower shouted, determined to break out and help the cat. She tried a couple more razor leaves, but they did nothing to the cage whatsoever, so she tried sticking her head out though the narrow gap in between the bars, only to almost get stuck. It was no use. Meowth would have to deal with the lucario on his own. She slumped down, suddenly feeling very sorry for dragging Meowth into the situation. "Oh...please Meowth, you can do this..." she begged softly.

Calix uttered another sinister cackle, almost as if waiting for Meowth to finally pick himself up. However, while laughing, Flower thought she managed to catch something new in his eyes...wait, was that a wink? Calix winked at her? Flower didn't quite understand, but she nodded and kept quiet. Calix seemed to know what he was doing...and she would have to trust him.

"Stop bullyin' me, ya big bully!" Meowth retorted, bringing Calix's direction back to him. "I'll teach ya ta mess with me and my friend here...I'll teach ya so good you won't ever come back!" He got up closer to the canid pokemon to try to get a few more scratches in, however when Meowth got close, he was in for a real beating. With the speed of a running arcanine, Calix began to punch the cat repeatedly before letting him fly a bit far across the battlefield.

"Aiiiiiieeeeeeeee!" he screamed, his back slamming against a tree. He slid down, wincing at the pain in his back as he struggling once again to get up. "W-what was dat?!"

"That was...a close combat attack." Flower informed him from under her watchful eye and Meowth looked to her as she explained further. "When an opponent gets close, the attacker has the ability to throw lightning speed punches at him quicker than his opponent can think of anything to do about it."

Meowth growled. He had not predicted anything of the sort. Now he would have to be a lot more careful to avoid having history repeat itself. Okay, den if I can't get up to him like dat, I guess I'll have ta approach...from behind.

Meowth whirled around and dove to the other side of the fighting type, claws up and ready. Calix was completely aware of this and did nothing more than smirk. Flower gasped quietly as she realised what was about to happen. However, as she started to yell out and warn him, she got that same look from Calix again and she kept to herself, whining softly as if she couldn't bear the outcome.

Heh heh, I'll get 'im dis time. He a'int gonna have a clue about what ta do if I attack 'im from da opposin' side!, ran Meowth's wild thoughts as he aimed another slash attack at the pokemon's rear end. Unfortunately, he did not sense what exactly the lucario had in his mind and before he knew it, the blue and black pokemon spun into his path and struck Meowth's attacking arm with a large, hard object. Meowth cried out and reeled his throbbing arm away, dancing in pain.

"Bone rush." Flower whimpered, recognising the ground-type move straight away.

Meowth bit down on his tongue to keep himself from crying out anymore as he gently smoothed over his aching arm. First, a blow to the stomach, then a rough slam on the back and now his arm was pounding from the sting of the last attack. Battling was hard--and painful--work.

Calix's long black feet appeared in front of Meowth and he yelped and recoiled back, still holding onto his arm. "Don't come...any closer..." he warned, trying to sound threatening, though his voice was quivering madly.

"Meowth...no need to strike me back. You have shown me all that I needed to know." Calix replied, the first time he had spoken directly since he had so abruptly attacked Meowth.

"You...you don't fool me..." Meowth growled. He stopped rubbing his hurt arm and raised the other one, claws to try to scare the larger pokemon away. Despite this, Calix stayed put. Meowth's eyes widened in confusion as he noticed the lucario no longer had that evil look to him. In fact, he had that same old serious expression that he had on his face before. Then, his eyes slanted back down again. "You're...tryin' ta trick me..."

"Meowth, calm down. It's over. You're all right now."

As if on cue, the cage holding Flower shot up, releasing her from its captivity. She quietly rejoiced, then skipped up to where Meowth and Calix were.

"Meowth, you okay?" she asked, to get his mind off the lucario looming in front of him.

"Uhhh...yeah..." he lied, hastily trying to get up to prove it. When he got onto his first foot, he suddenly felt a mild pain shoot up from it and into the rest of his body, thus making him cringe.

"Meowth, careful!" Flower insisted, pushing him down gently. "You got pretty roughed up in that battle. Take it easy." She observed a couple of his wounds; as to be expected, none were too serious and could be easily fixed.

"Yeah, b-but..." Meowth looked worried gesturing towards his right. Flower automatically sensed he was scared because he believed the lucario would jump him again.

"Oh, you don't have to be afraid of him, Meowth." Flower assured him, helping him up slowly. "He was only trying to help."

Meowth's jaw dropped in disbelief. "But...he attacked me..."

Calix half-smiled down at the cat, almost scaring the daylights out of him. "Your friend is right, young trainee." he added wisely. "That was merely a test to confirm your strength, nothing more."

Meowth, back on his feet again, rubbed at his sore arm once more where he was struck with the bone. "A test?" he inquired, relaxing a bit in Calix's presence. "Did I pass?"

Calix tossed his shoulders. "I would say so."

"But, I don't get it...why'd ya attack me?" he questioned. "I mean, I know it was for da test, but why'd ya do it?"

The canid smirked. "Well, I was informed by yourself that you didn't know how to use any attack moves, am I right? I doubt there was any way I could've gotten it out of you unless I threw you into a bleak situation as such. It was the only way to prove you wrong, see?"

Meowth looked down at the ground below him, embarrassed. "Yeh, I guess yer right. But still...ya really seemed like you were gonna attack me back dere. I mean, it was da scariest ting I've witnessed in a while and I betcha it really raised my blood pressure." He held at his heart. "So...ya know...if it a'int too much ta ask, could ya warn a guy before ya start rippin' 'im to shreds like dat?" Flower sweatdropped and laughed a little.

Calix stared at him with ruby-coloured eyes. "Now, why would I need to do that? After all, I've already figured out most of your basic attacks and strategies. It's evident you're going to need to put forth a lot of work, practice, and dedication if you want to be able to take on stronger foes, but of course, it is not at all impossible. I believe in you, Meowth. If there's anybody who can personally train you, it would be me. Consider yourself lucky--not every pokemon out there gets the special private lessons I provide. In fact, not many at all."

Another old question popped into Meowth's mind, and knowing it would bother him forever if he didn't find out the answer, he decided to ask while they were on the particular subject. "Dat brings up another little question."

Calix raised his eyebrows and Flower did the same, equally as curious. "And that would be...?"

Meowth pondered how he would put it into words before letting it out. "Well...I guess I just wanted ta know...uhhhh..." He lowered his head, feeling their eyes piercing into him. "Well, I mean...it's...it's kinda like dis..." He paused again and took a deep breath. "Why me? I mean, out of everybody else ya could've chosen...why did ya pick me for dis? Not to be offendin' ta myself or nothin', but I'm a'int da strongest pokemon around..."

Calix looked at Meowth as if he had five heads, but Flower answered for him. "Why, because you're the Stronger One, of course." she reminded him with a warm smile.

Meowth sighed, not getting the answer he had anticipated and sensing he would not get it very soon, either. He silently gave up for the time being and decided to play along. "Oh, well...guess ya have a point dere..."

Flower went into another one of her giggling fits. "Oh, Meowth...you never fail to make me laugh!"

Meowth blushed a bit.

"So...Meowth..."

The redness of Meowth's face vanished and he turned to the lucario who had broken the silence. "Yeah?"

Calix nodded toward the battlefield they stood upon. "Ready to continue with your training, or would you like a little break, first?"

"Hmmm..." Meowth looked to Flower, hoping she would give him her opinion on what he should do, but he only got a smile and a "it's-your-choice,-you-do-what-you-want-to-do" contemplation in response.

Meowth blinked, thinking. That last battle bruised him up quite a lot, though he didn't want to admit it. After all, it was his first real pokemon battle in a very long time. If he fought more, it might only add onto the pain, and who knew how much it would bring in one serving? Meowth shook his head. But den again, he thought, ta be weak seems like da wrong kind of attitude for someone who calls himself da Stronger One...

After thoroughly going through the decision in his head, he gave a tough smile, pumped his tiny fist and stood in a triumphant position that surprised the other two pokemon whose gazes were cast upon him. Gee Meowth, ya better be right about dis one... He bowed his head, sighed inwardly to himself, then gave a quick nod. He was ready.

"Let's train."

...

Where have I been? Gee, I'm sorry, guys! And this time I have absolutely no excuse for late delivery of this chapter. For some reason, I've never really been in "writing mode" all too much in the last month, however I have been in "daydream mode" quite a lot. The good thing about that is, that I pretty much have a good idea how most of this story is going to be played out. Which is nice, really. The hard part is just going to be getting it down onto paper...erm, I mean the computer! XD You know, I'd really like to be able to make it up to you by updating the next chapter quicker, and I will try but...no promises, or else I may have nothing to say if I...break them. I will try though, especially since I left the other chapter on a cliffhanger and...well, cliffhangers are the main reason why people on this site hate me. XP Anyhoo, I hope you enjoyed this last update, though the battle with Calix was kinda overly-dramatic. (Maybe it's just me, I dunno...I can never get myself to write anything of seriousness...) Like I said before, I will try to update sooner for the next chapter because of the cliffie, but you know me...I'm freaking unpredictable! But for the time being, I'll have to say g'bye and hope to see you again soon. Oh, and Happy Independence Day, for those of you who are American. So...eh...later! XD