Author notes:

A parter? What gives? I know, I know it wasn't my intention...this was originally going to be one very long chapter but I decided against it at the last minute and decided to split it up.

Once again Ash maybe out of character especially during a dialogue scene with Serena. As I was rereading it and editing it he came off too spiteful in my opinion and in my fanfic world its fine but when it comes to the anime itself I don't recall him going this dark...I could be wrong...I do remember seeing clips about there being a dark Ash but I don't know any of the details but I figured if he was able to have a dark side like that then maybe I could bring it out a little more. So hopefully his out of characterness isn't too bad.

I don't know if other writers for anime do this but when I write the dialogue I tend to imagine the lines spoken in Japanese. So whenever you see random lines like "yes, yes" I'm imagining "hai, hai." Same thing goes for the lines like "don't worry" "Sorry" "Thank you." I always think it in Japanese...I don't know why but whenever I hear it in that langue it sounds more heartfelt to me...idk...maybe I'm just weird that way.

Helmos Inn: Based off of Aroania Mountain, which is sort of near Arcadia, Greece. Helmos is just another name for it.

Vosche Town: is a combination of Vosges and Bruche. Vosges is a mountain range that borders France and Germany. Bruche is the name of a river in that area and is apart of the Rhine. While the journey to this town was a rocky one and this mountain range in real life is not, I chose this area as my inspiration because of the waterfalls and overall beauty of the river and mountains in this area. Its so rich and had a very mystical sense to me and that was what I was looking for when I was creating this town. I wanted it to be as mysterious as the journey searching for the unknown.

Chapter 20: It's Amazing Meowth! Part I

Meowth ran down as fast as it could into town to find the place it was looking for before the twerps can catch up to it. It was told the client was running an inn and it was the only one in town. Meowth found it quickly and the doors were wide open as it ran inside. Wind chimes rung to its presence as the man behind the counter looked up to greet his visitor.

"Welcome to Helmos Inn." Meowth couldn't believe it, the man behind the counter was Milo. The young man with long black hair smiled warmly at Meowth as his vibrant violet eyes adorned his dark olive skin. Meowth didn't know what to say but quickly regained its composer as it brought out the mask.

"Oh so you brought it over, thank you very much." He said warmly as he walked over to receive it.

"I'm so glad you found your way here, I hope my riddles weren't to much for you. If you don't mind I need the medallion back too." He said, as Meowth still couldn't hide his surprise.

"Unbelievable, than that means your Clio's brother." Meowth said astoundingly.

"That's right." He smiled happily.

"Than I must ask, are you an agent for Team Solaris?"

"Yes I am but don't worry, we have no interest in forcing a Pokéteer to join our team. If you wish to join us than we want you to do it willingly. The loyalty of a Pokéteer is a precious thing that shouldn't be tainted. Anthony asked me for my help since Kalos is indeed a very dangerous place. But I guess I don't need to tell you that, I'm sure you already ran into some problems on your way here."

"You could say that again. Do you know anything about those men?"

"Hmm, well they've…" Milo stopped as he saw Meowth tense up with its ears twitching. Milo quickly put the mask and medallion away as Ash and the gang walked in.

"Milo!" They exclaimed.

"Ash! Welcome to Helmos Inn. So you decided to visit Vosche Town as well, that's just wonderful." He greeted them kindly.

"How has the winner of the Pokéathlon been doing?"

"I've been doing great!"

"Tch." Meowth's remark to his response caused Ash to glare at it, but then again he did remembered it was because of Meowth that he won.

"I don't believe it!" Dr. Pan gasped.

"Is that what I think it is?" He pointed to the small white statue of a woman in a long heavy dress with her head down and a veil that was draped over her hair. One hand was over her heart while the other was caring a bundle of wheat. The statue was just sitting there on the counter of the front desk but it was no mistake in Dr. Pan's mind, a replica of what he has been searching for but in far better condition compared to the one he found.

"That's a Statue of Rina, how did you come across that?"

"Oh you mean this? It's considered to bring protection to the home. Most of the people in town have one." Milo answered casually.

"Really? Then do you happen to know where the real one is? I'm an archeologist searching for her and all my research as led me to Montes Jura. We were just on the most incredible journey and we came across what I believe was once her home. Do you or anyone here happen to know where she could be now?"

"Hmm…I'm sorry but I don't have any recollection, there were artifacts like that in the mountains at one point but they were destroyed."

"What?" Dr. Pan was shocked at the news, "Who would want to do that?"

"Lets just say they're people who wish to impose their own beliefs onto others. Don't get discouraged, I can see the light in your heart and I'm sure you'll find what your looking for one day."

"Speaking of incredible journeys, do you have any rooms available?" Serena asked.

They received their room keys and were told dinner would be ready shortly. He told them that the inn was Pokémon friendly and that there was a play area for them. As they left to put their things away, Milo told Meowth that this inn also had a tearoom. Meowth quickly jumped at the chance of getting away as it scurried off to hide from the annoying twerps and their Pokémon. The tearoom was just like the one in Nomia Inn with a chabudai and zabuton in the middle of the tatami floor accompanied by a beautiful garden outside. Meowth closed the sliding shoji behind him so he could curl up on one of the comfy zabuton in peace. It was so tired but was also relieved that this will be the last day it travels with the twerps. The twerp even said it himself that he wanted to part ways. Meowth sighed happily to itself, it was like a weight was lifted off of its shoulders. It wasn't long till someone slid the shoji open and turned on the lights. Milo closed the door behind him before sitting himself on a zabuton that was across from Meowth.

"Well it seems that your traveling companions won't be your companions for much longer." He said cheerfully.

"Is Team Solaris like Team Oyama? Do you guys prefer not to be recognized by outsiders?"

"Sort of, we don't get involved in the quarrels of other teams but that doesn't mean we don't have our own. While Team Oyama is more of an underground network we do interact with unsuspecting individuals. But unlike Team Rocket we are not interested in expanding ourselves. We are more interested in preserving what has already been established. If you don't mind I would like to wait once your traveling companions leave. It would be easier to talk freely about our roles." He placed a hand to the side of his mouth to whisper playfully.

"Between you and me I think it would be best that we keep Team Solaris a secret from Ash. "

"You have no idea how right you are. Ha, Ha!" They both laughed in the comfort of the tearoom. Milo has such a gentle spirit, the minute Meowth walked into the inn Meowth felt relaxed despite the shocker of it being Milo of all people.

"It's been awhile since I laughed like this."

Meowth refused to be present for dinner with the rest of them. It confined in Milo not to reveal that it was hiding out in the tearoom. Milo was kind enough to follow through; when no one was looking he gave his yellow tailed Smeargle a plate of dumplings to bring to Meowth in the tearoom. Smeargle happens to be Milo's little helper when it comes to running the inn and was assigned to look after all the Pokémon's needs with Meowth being its number one priority under the direction of Milo. As the delicious smell wafted its way into Meowth's nose it sat up and saw the dumplings placed in front of it as Smeargle joined it for dinner. Meowth stared at them and they were the same dumplings that Clio gave him to try. A smile crept onto his face as he thought about his adventure with her. Meowth didn't hesitate as it took a bite of one of the delicious dumplings.

"Yummy!" It exclaimed but quickly covered its mouth forgetting it was trying to hide and not bring attention to itself. Smeargle walked out of the room and came back with more food while still remaining discreet about it. It was a small culinary feast on one little plate and it all smelled amazing. Meowth's mouth started to water as the smells drifted into its nose as its tummy started to growl. Relief couldn't begin to describe the feeling as it heard that most beautiful sound.

"I feel hungry." It whispered.

"I'm hungry…I'm hungry!" It said happily as it felt a tear of joy escape.

"I'm becoming normal again."

"Smear?" (You okay?)

"Don't worry, I'm not eating my feelings or anything, I'm just so happy." It said as it wiped away its tears franticly.

"For the longest time I didn't have a normal appetite, I didn't feel hungry at all and would go for days without eating something. I felt like there was something wrong with me. I felt so out of place but now I'm starting to feel for the first time in a long time that everything is going to be okay." It continued talking as it franticly wiped away its tears that kept coming down.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what's coming over me, I'm not sad really I'm not. Sorry…I'm sorry." Meowth was so full in itself that it failed to hear the sniffles of someone. Bonnie and Dedenne watched through the tiny crack in the doorway as they listened to Meowth's tearful admittance of relief. They teared up themselves as they listened and were just about to walk in but heard their names being called preventing them to do so.

Smeargle heard their footsteps walk away as it got up to close the door fully while Meowth was still clearing itself up. They finished their meal while every so often Meowth couldn't hold back its emotions. Smeargle then motioned it to follow it out to the garden that was connected to the tearoom. Outside as the night breezes blew against their furs Smeargle started to paint using its yellow tipped tail against the stone paths that maneuvered their way around the plants. It made happy drawings of the sun and stars and brought out a bucket of red paint for Meowth to use so it could join in. They painted till their hearts content, laughing at their silliness. After they were finished Smeargle started to wash the mess they created and Meowth was more than happy to help. They walked back into the tearoom and Smeargle disappeared only to reappear with dessert. Meowth squealed as it saw the sweat treat before it. It was a lemon cheesecake; Meowth didn't hesitate as it dug into the sweet tartness of the scrumptious dessert.

"Hmm-mmm! This is so good! I just love anything with lemons. Ooo, lets not forget chocolate, if this thing had chocolate." Meowth dreamed out loud causing Smeargle to leave the room only to return with a cup filled with hot fudge to pour over its cheesecake, Meowth bounced up and down as it clapped in delight.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" Meowth was in sweet tooth heaven as the hot fudge mixed with the sweetness of the lemon danced with its taste buds.

They were preparing themselves for bed as Bonnie broke their silence.

"I'm telling you we mustn't leave Meowth behind!" She stated sadly as they all unpacked what they needed in a calmly fashion while Ash who was still visibly angry was getting out what he needed for the night roughly.

"It needs us, it really does. It acts tough and says all those mean things but it's hurting inside. You should have heard it, it was so sad. We just can't leave it!" "De, De." She explained what she saw sorrowfully, begging them especially Ash to rethink things through.

"I'm glad to here its appetite is back but that doesn't excuse its threats and bad behavior. We've done nothing wrong and yet Meowth refused to be open with us or to at least try to be a decent traveling companion." "Pikachu!" Ash said heatedly, he was truly happy to hear its appetite was back and all but Meowth's attitude throughout this whole ordeal has wore out his patience. He kept trying to let it lean on him, to let it open up to him and express itself freely but Meowth violently pushed him away. He eyed his wound that was deeper than any other as he rubbed it since the bandages were sometimes itchy.

"It was a reasonable deal." Serena spoke up causing Ash to look straight at her.

"Are you kidding me?" He said, "If we didn't interrupt it when we did during its confrontation with Mamoru do you honestly think it would have told us about it? It's refused to talk to us about anything. It's hiding something, it refuses to talk to us about anything and yet it's so clearly obvious that it's distraught about it all. If I had let it go to be on its own, what good would that do?"

"Everyone handles their problems differently. I said it before that we should have approached Meowth differently but you obviously took things into your own hands and pushed it further away."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Seriously Ash? We all knew it was bottling it up but you had to go and push it because you were too impatient to wait for it to open up on its own. Instead of it opening up it closed itself off completely and once it felt like there was no way out it snapped."

"That wasn't my fault, that's what happens when you keep everything to yourself. If I hadn't pushed it we would have never made any progress. I was trying to get it to feel comfortable; I told it that it didn't have to talk about its problems that it could have talked about anything. I tried to create small talk with it so that I could build from there but no matter what I did it refused."

"Sometimes just being there for someone without saying anything is all a person or in this case a Pokémon needs." She spoke calmly, "I think Meowth doesn't want to talk to us because it probably assumes that we won't have the answers it's looking for or it probably has an idea on what we might say. All it was asking was to have a break that was its way of opening up. It may have asked for it rudely but it was asking nonetheless. Sometimes having a moment to yourself is all one really needs."

"Well now it can have all the time to itself it wants! I'm done trying to help it!"

"Pikachu!" It chimed in happy to hear that their previous traveling arrangements were indeed coming to an end.

Ash was still angry as his heart was filled with resentment towards it. However after he talked to Serena and his friends he was in bed thinking about that scratch cat. He thought about why he was so angry at it, was it really just because of what it said? It said those threats before and he was willing to let it slide due to knowing it was Meowth's way of trying to push him away but that time it sounded for real. He thought that he was slowly able to forgive Meowth for all the trouble it caused in the past but as it turned out that was never really the case.

"I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE…I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU ALL!" The image of Meowth trembling in angst as it screamed its banter before it disappeared on them was etched into his memory. It finally snapped but he knew pushing it to open up would eventually lead to something like that.

"I guess I was expecting for something a little more heartfelt than a screaming banshee." He admitted to himself. His feelings of resentment were still there but his feelings of wanting to help it were there too. He wants to protect it but he also…just can't stand the sight of it.

"If anyone should be hating anyone, its me who should be hating you!" Deep within the darkest part of his heart he couldn't help but feel that he was a bit glad to see Meowth feeling the same way he always felt when Team Rocket stole Pikachu.

"You deserve it!" He gasped quietly at the dark thought that escaped his unconsciousness.

"How could I?" He thought slightly disgusted with himself, how could he ever wish that onto anyone?

"Seeing isn't just for the eyes." Meowth's voice echoed as he thought about that moment in the cave.

"Didn't Saul say something like that?" He thought as the old man in his grey yukata clouded his mind.

"If you do find it, try to listen and it will do the same for you. With an open mind you will find your answer." Saul told him before they left to find Meowth.

"Like you it is also confused, it has questions of its own that it's desperate to find the answers to." He told him.

"Things happen for a reason, it was something that I could never understand…I want to understand." Meowth's voice soon followed after his remembrance of his discussion with Saul.

"I think I'm starting to understand." He then remembered their time in the cave; he remembered how content it was with itself as it told him that. Maybe…just maybe…

It was the middle of the night and this time as tired as Meowth was it just couldn't fall asleep. It was up on the rooftop of the inn looking over the rustic Asian style town. Vosche Town is a quiet little town that is snuggled in the valley surrounded by mountains with its own little forest. The waterfall could been seen in the far off distance, it was long since it was falling from a very high location but somehow the maze led them above it and from there was a path that snaked its way down to the ground. The waterfall fell into a basin that was surrounded by dark lushes trees and bushes and the water from the basin started to flow away bordering the town on one side. It's so peaceful here as Meowth looked up at the stars and the disappearing moon thinking about everything. In a few hours it was going to be twerp free, its heart jumped with excitement at the thought. It also sounded like Milo knew more about those men so it was going to learn more about them as well. Finally it was going to get some answers, it was so happy as its heart danced in the starlight.

A cold gust of wind started to blow hard against its fur, sending it chills. The wind felt odd for some reason, some of the lights that lit the sidewalks in town started to flicker as a thick fog started to blanket the town and an odd woman appeared out of nowhere. She was young in a long plain off white dress with long white blonde hair that seemed whiter for some reason. She was looking at a house with a sad expression and then turned her attention up to Meowth who was watching her from the inn's rooftop. She looked at him sadly with big ghostly bluish grey eyes as she placed a hand over her heart and reached out with her other hand. Meowth's body was shot with a strong vibration that was intoxicating as it watched. For whatever reason Meowth jumped down to run up to her, as he reached where he saw her, she was gone but in the distance amongst the fog it saw her figure walking away and decided to follow her.

It was morning and Ash and the gang along with a reluctant Dr. Pan were ready to go. Dr. Pan was disheartened that they didn't want to stay and explore more but understood their reasons. He wanted to stay there a little longer but Milo insisted that he would be better off going with the gang. Milo told them there was a ferry that would take them to Anbero City and that Snowbelle City was only a day's walk away. Ash and Pikachu were hyped to hear some good news and were ready to put this mess behind them. Dr. Pan and Bonnie wanted to at least say goodbye to Meowth but it was nowhere to be found. Saddened by this Milo told them that it should probably still be in town somewhere and that maybe they'll run into it.

Milo had some errands to run and was kind enough to lead them to the pier. On the way they overheard some people claiming their Pokémon went missing the night before. Others claimed the same thing just happened to them while others said their child went missing.

"Milo! Milo!" They heard someone cry out. They turned to see another familiar face and due to their past they weren't to pleased to see the likes of him.

"I came as soon I as I heard." A young man with dark spiky amber blonde hair came running up to them.

"Hey! What are these brats doing here?" He demanded.

"Brats!?" "Pika!" Ash exclaimed.

"Calm down Diggory, they were just leaving." Milo spoke calmly.

"Why are you letting them leave? They're probably in on it!"

"Just what are you insinuating? We didn't do anything!" Ash shouted defensively earning themselves a crowd of people who gave them accusing looks.

"I assure everyone that Ash and his friends have nothing to do with the recent disappearances." Milo spoke calmly as he informed the concerned citizens.

"Ash here was the winner of the last Pokéathlon and was a humble guest just for one night at Helmos Inn."

"Where is that Meowth?" Diggory asked as he looked around.

"My Zangoose and I have been waiting for a rematch. I thought it was here too, what gives?" Despite all of his intertwining feelings, Ash's competitive nature had a knack to push it all to the side when a challenge came along.

"It was missing since this morning." Milo answered, preventing Ash from accepting the challenge.

"Do you think Meowth disappeared too?" Bonnie asked worryingly. "I've told you guys it needed us!" She cried accusingly.

"Calm down, Bonnie I'm sure Meowth is here somewhere." Clemont said comfortingly, but still they were starting to feel uneasy. "Do you think we would have enough time to look for it?" He asked.

"I assure you kids that Meowth is fine." Milo said reassuringly.

"If you don't hurry you'll miss the ferry and it won't return till tomorrow." They all then turned to Ash for he was the driving force to leave Meowth behind. Ash was about to answer but something caught his attention causing him to storm off.

It was almost the afternoon as Meowth was on its way back to the inn. Last night it followed the woman and she led it to the basin, which was where the waterfall thrashed into. The basin was surrounded by plant life and the ground was covered with soft grass. It was very calming, it felt very relaxed as it listened to the sounds of the waterfall and breathed in all the fresh air that only nature could provide. The valley that the town was nestled in had an unnecessary fog problem as it looked to find her but failed. It tried to get some sleep but it failed at that too so it decided to wait it out. As the morning sun approached over the surrounding mountain peaks, Meowth walked back to the inn so it could hide it out in the tearoom but something caught its eye. It thought it was imagining things but could have sworn that it saw white fur dashing into the bushes. Without hesitation Meowth followed it and spent a good amount of time searching for who it thought it might be. Meowth came out empty handed and decided that it was best to forget about it. He saw a crowd of people near the pier and as much as he was interested to see what was going on his need to want to learn more from Milo was stronger.

"I hope I'm not missing out on anything over there." As it was heading for the inn, Meowth was suddenly ambushed by an angry twerp who came running towards it out of nowhere it seemed.

"Just where have you been?" Ash demanded surprising Pikachu by his sudden change of impulse.

"Pika Pi?" Taken back by the sudden outburst Meowth was just about to respond but was bull rushed by Bonnie catching it off guard as she embraced it in a big hug.

"Your okay! Your okay!" She exclaimed as she hugged it tightly.

"Uh…why wouldn't I be?" Meowth was too taken back by the sudden interaction that it didn't register what was going on.

"We thought you were missing." Dr. Pan informed it.

"Missing?"

"Whoa! Your so soft!" Bonnie exclaimed as she and Dedenne started to feel up its fur, pulling at its ears as she scratched it and stroked its back.

"Your as soft as wool from a Mareep."

"Really?" Serena and Clemont asked. It finally clicked as Meowth pushed her and Dedenne off of him with enough force to push her to the ground.

"Quit Treating Me Like I'm Your Pet!" It shouted before proceeding to brush itself off. "Don't you twerps have somewhere to go!? What's taking you so long? Hurry it up and leave!"

"There you are!" An arrogant voice spoke up interrupting the not so loving reunion. Meowth stiffened to the familiar voice.

"I've been waiting to bat," Diggory stopped himself as he eyed Meowth.

"Tch…forget it, Yo Milo I'll return later. I have a few more things to take care of." Milo nodded politely and waved his friend goodbye, the kids found it strange how a calm and collected person could be friends with a loud mouth jerk like that was beyond them.

"That was odd." Meowth thought.

After that little commotion they couldn't help but feel that they were still receiving unwanted attention. Milo kindly suggested that they return to the inn, which they were more than happy to do so. Once at the inn, Meowth quickly disappeared so it could hide out in the tearoom away from the twerps. The garden outside seemed extra inviting for some reason so Meowth went outside and sat at the edge of the patio. It was so peaceful as it smelled the flowers and listened to babbling fountain.

"That woman…" Meowth thought as it remembered her preforming the pledge.

"There you are." Bonnie appeared with Dedenne as they both sat next to it. Dedenne was still a little bitter about being pushed away but Bonnie was more forgiving.

"What are you doing? I thought you twerps were going to leave."

"We were but after hearing about the disappearances we decided to stay and help."

"Of course you are, you twerps are so desperate to be heroes…it's sickening! But you guys will leave after your done right? We really are going to be going our separate ways this time right?" Meowth almost sounded plea full, it was somewhat hurtful the way it asked.

"Would it be bad if we didn't?" She treaded carefully.

"Yes it would." Meowth clarified.

"What if we stopped asking you all sorts of questions? What if we just didn't talk to each other and just enjoyed each other's company, would that be better?" Meowth side glanced her for she was trying very hard to create a compromise on behalf of the group.

"I'll be honest with you twerp, traveling with you and your friends has been a never ending nightmare. I don't blame you twerps for being skeptical all the time, I would be too but being surrounded by people and Pokémon that look down on you all the time gets…it gets…it gets lonely." It mumbled its last statement softly.

"I've said it before I want to stay with Team Rocket I don't care if you don't understand that. Its what I want and I will do whatever it takes to be with them. At the end of the day your only wasting your time if you think we will have a happy ending." Meowth finished its little speech; it was done talking and it returned to ignoring her existence as it stared off into space. Bonnie wished to respond but as a little girl wasn't sure what to say since her friends have their own opinions on the matter. She observed it from the side as it was still annoyed that she was still there but slowly its features soften as its gaze glossed over looking off into space. Bonnie was smart for her age to realize it was spacing out; she took the opportunity to poke its cheek. Meowth tensed up at the sudden touch, it flinched a little as its eyes widened slightly. It quickly looked at Bonnie who was a little to close for comfort. She smiled widely as she succeeded in getting its attention.

"Its like I found your start button." She giggled as she got up ready to return to her friends.

"I'm sorry that we made you feel lonely but I still believe that it would be better for you to travel with us. You don't have to talk to us and you don't have to do anything with us. You can take care of yourself; I just think even though we crashed into some really rough patches before, at least you won't be truly alone. We will just be there for you when you really do need us if the time ever calls for it." With that said she happily left it alone to be with her friends, Meowth was impressed by her caring thoughts. She was the youngest and yet she carried a very warm light in her heart that Meowth couldn't deny. What she said was touching and Meowth sort of wished it was said earlier.

It wasn't long till Milo joined Meowth outside. He closed the sliding door behind him so they could have a little privacy just in case.

"Sorry, I guess your traveling companions won't be leaving you anytime soon." He chuckled slightly as Meowth smiled.

"Is that idiot your partner?"

"Ha, Ha, you must mean Diggory, he works for Team Solaris but we're not exactly partners, Team Solaris works a little bit differently. We don't pair up permanently we switch it up on a regular basis. If anything we're more like rivals." He walked over to get a closer look at one of the plants in the garden before he continued talking.

"We've been having some problems here as you may have heard. Pokémon and some children have gone missing in the night with no traces of where they could have gone. While I do appreciate the help from Ash and his friends they won't be useful. You see this town belongs to Team Solaris, most of the people here are agents or are closely affiliated with higher officials."

"WHAT?" Meowth exclaimed franticly, "Oh No! In town today…no wonder people looked at us weirdly!"

"Oh I'm sorry I didn't mean to frighten you. You don't have to worry, I told you before we have no interest in bringing you any harm. You see there's this group of people who have been causing us trouble, especially Team Oyama. I believe that they're behind it but the problem is we don't really know much about them. All we know is that they've made attempts to infiltrate other teams and tried to steal whatever Intel on the organizations they could get their hands on. Whatever their reasons are they have a strong hatred for all the teams."

"Don't tell the twerp that, he'll join them in a heartbeat." They both laughed at the idea, it was odd but Meowth couldn't help but feel genuinely calm about it all. There was just something about the man with vibrant violet eyes and long black hair that made Meowth feel at peace.

"I think I understand, it's more of a internal matter and the twerps tend to fall short when it comes to seeing the bigger picture. Do you think that they maybe behind Jessie and James disappearance?"

"I know they are." He stated confidently which kind of shocked Meowth out of his comfort zone and was about to ask the young man but the sound of the shoji in the tearoom opening stopped them from continuing their conversation.

Ash with Pikachu on his shoulder walked outside into the garden to join them.

"Hello Ash," Milo greeted kindly, he read the situation perfectly and felt that he should leave. Luckily, a phone from the inside started to ring and required his attention.

"Sorry but I must go and take the call, one must always be diligent when running an inn." He chuckled at himself as he winked at Meowth before disappearing from the scene.

Ash walked to Meowth's side who was still sitting on the patio's edge.

"We're going to be having dinner soon. Will you be joining us this time?" He asked emotionlessly.

"Will you be leaving tomorrow?" Meowth was just as emotionless.

"If we find the culprits behind the disappearances tonight than yes we will leave tomorrow as planned."

"Without me?"

Ash sighed to calm his rising anger, "I think we should talk."

"We're talking now!" Meowth snapped stopping Ash from saying whatever he wanted to say for Meowth has heard enough.

"You will be leaving without me, correct? No more of whatever stupid thing you were trying to do, right? You finally understand that traveling together was a mistake."

"No it wasn't!" Ash snapped surprising Pikachu as well as himself for admitting that out loud despite all his dark feelings.

"Pika Pi?"

"Traveling together wasn't wrong, it was supposed to happen, it's just like you said things happen for a reason. It was good that we found you."

"A good thing you found me? Tch…what a joke! If you weren't in Strasboro City at the time and I found Jessie and James before we ran into each other everything would have been exactly the way they were so quit acting like you actually care about my wellbeing!"

"Its good because we were given the opportunity to change all that for the better."

"I DON'T WANT IT TO CHANGE, TWERP!" It shouted, Ash looked at it for a minute to let its statement sink in but didn't let it deter him from speaking his mind calmly.

"In the beginning I probably was helping you out of pity." He started softly.

"I figured you were lost and they would have showed up within a day or two…but they never did. Like everyone else, I started to think if we could somehow convince you to quit Team Rocket for good everything would turn out for the better but you refused to try anything." His calm voice started to tremble as his anger started to take over.

"You refused to even acknowledge all the wrong doings you did, you refused to even apologize." He gritted his teeth as his rage slowly took over any rational thinking he had left.

"After everything you've done to me and Pikachu, I'm Glad that this happened to you!" He gasped slightly to himself; he couldn't believe he said that out loud and to Meowth's face. Meowth stared at him blankly and smirked.

"Well it's about time you admitted how you truly felt about me."