Chapter 21: It's Amazing Meowth! Part II

Meowth refused to make any effort to join the gang for dinner. Since its hiding spot was discovered, Dr. Pan came in asking if he could finally see those trinkets Meowth has been carrying. Meowth told him that it no longer had them and that they were now back where they belong. Dr. Pan tried to press it for more details but Meowth quickly dismissed him causing Dr. Pan to leave in a dampened state. It was relaxing in the tearoom once again until it heard a stampede running through the halls. Not wanting to stick around Meowth ran outside to hide on the rooftop since the tearoom was clearly no longer safe.

Ash almost forgot about that little detail as he slammed the doors open demanding it return the mask and medallion. His anger was in full bloom blinding him to what was in front of him as he stomped into the room.

"I've had it with you! Let Dr. Pan see them! They don't even belong to you!" "Pika!" He shouted but soon realized that the room was empty. The other voices were muffled but Meowth could hear Dr. Pan pleading with Ash not to make such a fuss. Luckily, it was late and his friends reminded him that they were there to help with the disappearances. Meowth retuned to the comfort of the tearoom when they were out doing their stupid twerpy search, but once they came back it quickly vanished to hide it out on the rooftop once again.

The moon was nearly gone as Meowth enjoyed the night breezes. Suddenly, the wind started to feel oddly cold for some reason as some of the lights that lit the sidewalks started to flicker. The young woman from last night reappeared amongst the fog. 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, before turning her attention away. Meowth's body was shot with a strong vibration that was intoxicating as it watched.

"Who are you?" She turned her full attention back onto him at the question and motioned for him to come down. For whatever reason Meowth did just that, this time as he reached her she was still there.

"Who are you?" Meowth tried to ask but its voice failed as if the sensation blocked its ability to talk normally.

(I'm worried.) She said as Meowth looked up at her filled with concern, it wanted to ask her so many questions but its voice…

(My name is Rinora, please help me, I'm so worried about the Pokémon and children.) She walked away into the fog and without hesitation Meowth followed her.

It was morning as Ash and the gang woke up and had breakfast. They came back with nothing last night and were a little sour about it. Milo reassured them that it would all be fine and that they could leave taking the ferry today. He reminded them that the ferry only comes once a day so if Ash wants to get to his gym battle than they should hurry and catch the ferry before its to late. He reassured them that once his friend Diggory returns they would take care of it with the other trainers in town.

"Please I don't want you to feel obligated to help us." He said.

"I'm sure all those days in the mountains have really put you behind in your journey for the league." It almost felt like he was trying to push them out the door as nicely as possible.

"But we don't mind staying here to help." Clemont spoke up as they all nodded. "Do you think Meowth may have went missing? I haven't seen it around since yesterday."

This was true, the last time anyone has seen it was Dr. Pan asking for the medallion and mask. After he returned to the group all depressed Ash stomped his way into the tearoom ready to give it a friendly reminder of what happens to thieves. But unfortunately Meowth wasn't there and everyone begged him not pursue it any further, for they didn't think it stole those items, reminding him that Meowth did say it got the medallion during its scavenger hunt and the mask was just being returned. To the best of their knowledge it may have already returned those items…hopefully. Ash eventually calmed himself down as they went out to find any piece of evidence of who could be behind the disappearances. When they returned Meowth was still missing. Despite his dark desires for the creature, Ash did want to make sure it was at least safe.

As they walked through town with Milo as their guide, they couldn't help but feel onlookers were glaring at them. They reached the docks to where the ferry would be and low and behold there was Meowth sitting at the far end of the pier gazing at the water's horizon.

***Stomp, Stomp***

Meowth heard two thundering stomps behind him and slowly turned to look at a very disapproving Ash.

"You better have a good explanation for your absence since yesterday!" "Pikachu!" Meowth didn't respond as it looked up at Ash with its hallow expression, it then turned its attention back onto the water's surface that was blanketed by the fog. If the fog wasn't so thick today they would have seen the waterfall that was in the distance. Milo's calm demeanor was obviously being tested as Ash's little demand started to create a scene. He ran up to the two and placed a concerning hand on Ash's shoulder to stop him from continuing on the conversation that was only going to make things worse.

"Please Ash, don't make a scene here. Look the ferry will be here any minute, so why not say your goodbyes on nicer terms?" Ash turned to him surprised that he was still pushing the idea that they should leave.

"We told you already that we're not leaving until we find everyone's missing Pokémon." He stated in a matter of fact tone and was loud enough for everyone to hear.

"We don't want your help, xenos!" Someone in the crowd shouted.

"Leave our town!" Another barked.

"Xenos?" Ash questioned as he and his friends listened to the crowd chanting for them to leave. The crowd was filled with animosity as they glared and shouted their insensitive slurs. Ash was so confused as to why this was happening. He then turned his attention back onto the scratch cat itself who was still in a daze looking at what appeared to be the waterfall. The idea of Team Rocket being behind it crossed his mind but the fact that kids were missing and knowing Meowth's current predicament, plus its spaced out behavior ruled out those possibilities rather quickly. He didn't need to see the emptiness in its eyes to know that it was once again gone. It's been like this the whole time as it traveled with him…distant, melancholy and above all quiet, not saying a word about anything.

"Here watch this." Bonnie said slyly as she approached it carefully and poked its cheek causing it to flinch at the sudden touch.

"Meowth start!" Startled at first Meowth just looked at her with its blank stare but then returned its attention to the water.

"That's odd, it worked before and I had your full attention too." She said sadly as her friends watched. It was never like this before. It would snap at them, shout insults or empty threats but now it was just nothing like its mind was put on auto pilot mode even for social interactions. Did Meowth just give up? Why is it like this?

"People, Please." Milo spoke to the crowd of agitated townspeople. "I assure you we will get to the bottom of this crisis."

"Those brats must be in on it! They must be looking for more than just our Pokémon!"

"We are not behind it! We would never do something like that!" Ash shouted back defensively. "Pika!"

"Then what are you doing with a Rocketeer!?"

"What?" The gang gasped. Before anyone had a chance to respond Meowth walked passed them and stood in between the twerps and the Team Solaris crowd.

"Rinora told me that there will be an attack tomorrow night." It informed them monotonously.

"Did you say Rinora?" Dr. Pan questioned.

"Meowth how do you know this? Who's Rinora?" Serena inquired, puzzled by what the little feline was saying as the townspeople were letting its warning sink in. Meowth side glanced her with its melancholy blank expression but then quickly averted its eyes.

"Please, you can tell us."

"Meowth," Ash spoke softly.

"My Fellow Comrades," Milo spoke up regaining everyone's attention.

"Let us all return to our daily schedules. The sun will always shine its light onto us and Rinora has always protected our town, we have nothing but the upmost gratitude for our blessed skies. Please leave everything to me, our Pokémon and children will return to us safely." He then turned to the gang who were as perplexed as one could imagine.

"Look the ferry is almost here." He pointed out as Meowth turned to see the ferry making its way to the docks with its hallow expression. Without saying anything it started to walk back to Helmos Inn.

"Stop!" Ash huffed in a shallow tone.

"Wait…I'm so tired of all the secrets. Just tell me what's going on with you." His feelings of rage were mixed up with confusion as well as feelings of concern. He can't stand Meowth but he also can't help but feel worried, why was it acting like this? It's so far removed from this world that it's almost robotic. Meowth didn't stop as it kept going at a slow pace so Ash ran in front of it, blocking its way.

"You're not going anywhere…I want some answers." His voice sounded hoarse as if he was trying to figure out where he stood in all of this. He felt resentment towards it, this was clear but he still wanted to help it find Jessie and James. He helped it in the past so many times so why must this time be any different. If it was just in his conscience to do so than why should that even matter? The little voice inside him screamed at him, saying that he would want to help it no matter what. Hypnotized or not Meowth was a Pokémon that was lost and alone. It needs his help no matter how hard it tries to push him away. He looked into the emptiness of its eyes; Meowth was just standing there staring off into space with its aimless expression. The shadows within his own heart were fighting to take control as he stared into its ghostly blue eyes.

"You deserve this!" The darkness echoed, Ash gasp at himself for thinking such a thing and he even said it out loud too. How could he? How could he let such dark desires win?

"You should leave." Meowth's monotonous voice broke Ash out of his internal conflicts.

"There's nothing for you to gain here…you're so condescending…you're insufferable, there's nothing for me to tell you for you already know. You know that Jessie and James are missing and I'm trying to find them and that's all there is to it. You may have helped me in the past but those were quick fixes, this is different. I want to rejoin Team Rocket, I need to be in Team Rocket and I don't want that to ever change. But you're so condescending twerp that you will never understand my desires for something that you hate. It's been such an insufferable journey with you twerp, just leave your obviously not wanted…by anyone." Meowth didn't whine, it didn't cry, it didn't even sound sad. It was done, defeated, finished with what felt like everything. It spoke emotionlessly as its tired ghostly eyes stared blankly at him. Meowth was finished talking and moved around him, leaving a bewildered group behind.

"I'm Not Leaving!" Ash shouted breaking their overwhelming silence but Meowth didn't stop to acknowledge him, it just kept walking as its mind drifted even further away.

Upon returning to Helmos Inn Meowth walked into the tearoom and closed the shoji behind him. He heard commotion outside in the garden, as he walked out he saw Smeargle and an Espurr. Smeargle was enjoying its break by painting on its huge canvas that was against the wooden fence that bordered the garden. Espurr was just watching it paint and it seemed rather bored. It perked up once it saw Meowth come out to join them. Ecstatic by the new face it ran up to him.

"Espurr! Espurr!" (Its you! Its you!)

"Uh…yes?" Meowth was taken out of its daze completely by the sudden cheerfulness of Espurr.

"Espurr! Espurr! Es, Es, Purr!" (Oh my! Oh my! You're a Rocketeer!) Unsure how to respond to her excitement, Espurr continued to ramble.

"Espurr, Espurr, Purr, Purr, Es, Es, Esp, Espurr, Es, Espurr, Purr, Purr." (I'm a Solateer and I work for Team Solaris. Are you here to help us with the disappearances? Please say yes, I've always wanted to work with a Pokéteer from another team. We are always working with those blockheads from Team Oyama, doing the same thing over and over again. I tell you if I see another rare stone or jewel I'm going to explode. I really want to help with the disappearances too, but they say its to dangerous for a Pokéteer but then I said 'Dangerous? Ha, I'll give you dangerous!' And then I blasted the room with a little psyshock! Ha, Ha!) She laughed it off sadistically; Meowth couldn't help but think there was something wrong with her. Espurr's demeanor quickly changed as it glared at to what was approaching Meowth from behind. Everyone came outside to join them and Ash was far from done.

"Espurr, I see you found your way into our garden again." Milo said kindly. Espurr didn't respond as it continued to glare at all the humans with a pouty expression.

"Does it belong to someone?" Clemont asked.

"You could say that, ha, ha." He laughed softly. He then quickly lifted his hand and caught a small pebble that was thrown towards his face. Everyone was in awe by his incredible reflexes but couldn't help but look in Meowth and Espurr's direction as Espurr pretended as if nothing happened while Meowth just watched the scene unfold filled with concern for its own safety due to the erratic psycho.

"Don't look at me like that." He thought nervously.

"Its so cute!" Bonnie exclaimed as she was about to hug it senselessly but Espurr made sure that didn't happen by scratching her.

"OW!" Bonnie cried at the pain she received on her arm as Espurr stood proud of its actions. Clemont rushed to his sister's aid, reminding her about respecting a Pokémon's space while their friends asked if she was all right.

"Pika!" "De, De!" They shouted ready to attack.

"Es, Es Purr!" (Bring it on!) Espurr said motioning for them to come at her.

"No, No please don't start a fight." Milo said trying to calm Espurr down as did Smeargle who was pulling Espurr away while Ash and the others calmed Pikachu and Dedenne down.

After he dealt with Pikachu, Ash bent down to face Meowth at its level.

"Meowth," Ash sighed. "Please, I want to talk to you."

Espurr pulled Meowth to her side forcibly as she stood behind Meowth and gestured with her paw by saying, "Es, Es." As if it were shooing him away. Espurr proceeded to pull Meowth away from the humans but Milo stopped it from doing so.

"I know what we need, lets go inside and have some tea." He suggested happily.

They sat at the chabudai in the tearoom with Espurr sitting relatively close to Meowth on one side and on the other Smeargle at the request or rather demand of Espurr. A teapot filled with green tea was placed in the middle surrounded by an assortment of sweet treats and Meowth wanted them all but reminded itself to have a little self control. Smeargle happily served Meowth and Espurr giving them some pieces of chocolate and…is that a lemon square? Meowth was in heaven as it happily picked up its fork beside its plate and began to eat it as if it were a human. It was in total bliss, happily eating its tarty sweet treat completely unaware of the soft glances of relief to see it eat something. Bonnie told them that its appetite has returned but actually seeing it for the first time really warmed up their hearts.

It wasn't long after teatime that dinner was being served. Since Meowth refused to join them and with Milo's blessing they were able to move it into the tearoom.

"Its Nomia Inn all over again!" Meowth thought dreadfully. They even had their Pokémon join them, which made Meowth even more unhappy.

"Is he seriously still trying to get us to like each other?" Smeargle was kind enough to bring Meowth and Espurr those amazing dumplings and what made it even better was that the three of them were the only ones to have them.

"Hey I didn't see any dumplings out there." Bonnie mentioned as she came back from the little buffet that was set up outside in the garden. Meowth continued ignoring the humans as it happily enjoyed its delicious dumplings. Some of the Pokémon took notice too and were also wondering the same thing. The way Meowth and Espurr were enjoying their exclusive treat was making them want to try some too.

"Pika, Pika Pikachu?"

"De, De, Dedenne?"

"Pan, Pan?"

"Chespin!" It reached to grab one but Espurr slapped its paw away from her plate.

"Es, Es, Espurr!" It said snidely.

"Meowth, That's Riiight!" Meowth chimed in. Ash was just about to reprimand Meowth for not sharing but a gentle hand placed itself on his shoulder. He turned to Serena as she told him to hold back.

"Its finally starting to eat normally, we can always fix its bad behavior tomorrow." She whispered to him. Ash sighed, as he had to agree with her, who knows how long it's been since it had a full stomach, the lesson on sharing will just have to wait. While his dark feelings still lingered he couldn't help but smile as he watched Meowth enjoy itself.

As everyone was still enjoying their dinner, Smeargle came in with pieces of that heavenly lemon cheesecake with chocolate shavings and raspberries sprinkled on top for the two Pokéteers and itself to enjoy. As Smeargle placed their pieces in front of them, Ash quickly intervened and took Meowth's piece away shattering Meowth's little delightful state.

"Hey get your own!"

"Where were you last night?" He asked point blank causing everyone to tense up, they wanted to know as well but felt probing it was the last thing they should do right now, especially after everything that has happened. However Ash always seemed to have his own plan in mind despite the lack of logic behind it.

"I want some answers, then you'll get your dessert back." It was definitely a risky move but he felt that this was his best chance. If a bag of cookies could get it to pretend to belong to someone for a day, than why not?

"Es, Es." Espurr shyly pushed her plate in between them so they could share her piece and glared at Smeargle to do the same.

"Es, Es."

"Really?" They nodded.

"Thank you, it's been so long since I had someone on my side for once!" Meowth exclaimed with glee. It then glared at Ash with a cunning smirk.

"Looks like you lose you Stupid Twerp!" Ash slammed his fist hard onto the table causing everyone to flinch as his frustration was getting the better of him.

Milo brought in some tea for everyone along with come chocolate and other sweet things like the lemon squares from before as his attempt to ease the tension in the room. Meowth's eyes glittered as if it saw something sparkly, which Smeargle took notice and was more than happy to serve Meowth and Espurr the amazing delight.

"Whose Rinora?" Ash asked shattering Meowth's happy moment. The delicious flavor of the tart became bland as Meowth thought about last night. He didn't want to talk about it; he didn't know how to talk about it.

"ES, ES!" Espurr exclaimed astonishingly, which kind of startled everyone especially Meowth.

"ES, ES!" It said again, Meowth wasn't sure what to say but decided to nod sheepishly as its response.

"ESPURR!" It screeched its excitement as it bounced up and down on the zabuton. "Es, Es, Espurr, Espurr, Purr!"

"Pi?" "De?" They asked confusingly as the other Pokémon listened in confused by the commotion.

"What's it saying?" Bonnie asked excitedly for Espurr's excitement was rather contagious. Meowth didn't want to translate for it was somewhat confused itself.

"Rinora is a maiden of the moon, she protects Vosche Town." Milo explained.

"So I wasn't hearing things!" Dr. Pan exclaimed as thousands of hypothesizes flooded his mind of all the possibilities as his blood boiled with excitement of all of what he could discover in this town.

"I'm confused." Ash stated, as the rest of them were not following.

"Rinora is the full name of the woman depicted on the Statue of Rina." Dr. Pan answered. They gasped at the connection.

"But then how could Meowth have seen her?" Serena asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

"Well from what we discovered besides Meowth and Baltoy working closely together."

"Huh?" The annoying man gained Meowth's full attention at the mentioning of Baltoy.

"What's he saying? What discoveries?" Before he continued, Dr. Pan couldn't help but notice the sapphire blue eyes that stirred with curiosity.

"Those eyes…" He could have sworn that he saw something sparkle inside them but decided to move along with the topic at hand.

"We found some legends that depicted Meowth being able to see things that can't normally be seen. According to some texts, it was considered good luck to have a happy Meowth guarding their shrines and temples."

"See what can't normally be seen?" Clemont questioned as they all looked skeptically at the scratch cat Pokémon in question.

"Legends?" Meowth mumbled to itself with its blank expression as if it were trying to comprehend it all as well. It started to slouch and its eyes turned from beautiful sapphires to tainted ghostly blues in a matter of seconds as it drifted off. It couldn't help it, it couldn't stop itself from overthinking all the possibilities, all the "what ifs", all the "maybes", and all that has happened.

Was it bad for them to talk about it? It left them so fast as it looked at the teapot in the middle of the table with its vacant expression. Suddenly footsteps could be heard storming their way through the halls. The shoji slammed open and there stood Diggory with his wicked smirk.

"Alright time for that rematch!" He shouted as his Zangoose came charging from behind and jumped onto the table's edge in front of Meowth with its claws pointing in its direction.

"ZanGoose!" It hollered.

"Your On!" Ash jumped up with excitement as the sound of a challenge always had the power to brighten up his mood. "Pika!"

"Lets show them what we got Meowth!"

"Huh?" Meowth finally snapped out of it only to come face to face with Zangoose who was squatting like a sumo wrestler so it could glare at it directly.

"Gah! Where did you come from?" Meowth exclaimed, almost destroying Ash's excitement.

"You were gone even during all of that?"

"Essspurrrr." It growled annoyingly.

"Back off, I know it doesn't belong to you!" Diggory said rudely which only aggravated Ash. Meowth was growing nervous to where this all might lead to as he watch the obnoxious spiky haired man walk towards it. Diggory crouched down quickly in front of it and grabbed it by the chin so he could look into its eyes directly. Just like the Flare from before, he was way to close for comfort.

"Essspurrrr." Espurr pouted due to the situation as it growled annoyingly, how dare an agent do that to a Pokéteer! Diggory's arrogant smirk quickly faded as he pushed Meowth away.

"Tch!" He got up and started to walk out, "Forget it! I don't want to battle with weakling like you!"

"What was that!?" Ash shouted, "How dare you say that! Just give Meowth a chance...it will beat you!" He said defensively.

"Tch, boy are you stupid, I want to battle a Pokémon when it's in top form and to top it all off its injured. I refuse to battle a Pokémon when its not at its fullest!" He stated proudly.

"Injured?" They looked at Meowth who flinched under their gazes as if it was caught with its paw in the cookie jar.

"Don't listen to him, he's an idiot! I'm not injured." It quickly tried to recant Diggory's statement.

"Esspurrr!" It continued to growl, upset with the way things were going. It obviously had a strong dislike for humans, but when it came to Diggory that was a different story. The minute he walked in it was already ticked.

"Where is it?" Serena demanded which shocked Meowth slightly since she's been rather passive this whole time.

"Show us right now!" Ash added as they surrounded it with disapproving glares.

"I'm not injured." It said defensively but then a sudden slap on its shoulder from Pancham came out of nowhere. Pancham smacked it hard on the shoulder, it was one of the few who knew it was injured. Only a small handful of Pokémon paid closely attention to it. They noticed how it would always rub it at night and how it was always careful not to strain it. They kept it to themselves, for some it was out of respect while others were curious to see how far it would go to hide it. While most didn't like it being around they had to admit that its resilience was impressive.

"OWW!" Meowth cried in pain as the soreness spiked due to the harsh contact.

"Why I outta…" It then scratched Pancham in the face, which created a ruckus amongst the Pokémon as they were ready to aid their friend, but were quickly subdued by their trainers trying to calm them down. Amongst the commotion Meowth felt a gentle hand land on its good shoulder, it turned to see Milo's genuine smile.

"The cat's out of the bag now, Ha, Ha." He chuckled as he spoke calmly, he knew too? Why didn't they notice? He proceeded to touch its wounded shoulder.

"Its tender but its not broken or anything. Some heated bandages will do just fine, after that try stretching it out to loosen the muscle that is sore." His hands were warm as Meowth felt his light heal its pain through his big, delicate hands. After he was done, Meowth's shoulder felt a million times better, Meowth was almost disappointed as he removed his comforting hands.

"Tch…how disappointing and I was looking forward to it too." Diggory mumbled under his breath.

"Yo Milo, I'll be staying for the night!" He declared as he walked out into the hallway.

"Yes, yes." Milo said calmly.

"Wait! Stop!" Ash stopped him from going any further as he ran in front of him in the hallway, away from the tearoom.

"What did you mean by all that? What else is wrong with it?" He asked troubled with what else he could have been missing. He wanted answers and Meowth refuses to tell him anything. How could this jerk notice its injury and not any of them? What else were they missing?

"You seriously can't tell? Boy you're a brat! Well…Meowth are notorious for hiding things so I guess it can't be helped. I only brought up its injury because I figured it would be best for it to get it checked out. We have spas and treatment facilities in town that are much better than some wannabe Nurse Joy."

"So there really is something else? What is it? Please tell me, I keep asking it to talk to me but it refuses, it refuses and shuts down like its gone from the world. I know I have my own resentments that I need to work on but I just can't turn my back on it. I want to help it, please just tell me." He grabbed Diggory by the sides of his muscular arms shaking him to tell him everything. His head was down as his voice became shaken with grief. Diggory was a little surprised to see this kind of reaction, but at the end of the day Ash was still a xenos in his eyes.

"Open your eyes, kid. A true Pokémon master wouldn't take any backdoors. Try to figure it out yourself." What he said really struck a cord within Ash. He looked up at Diggory as his tears started to fade away. Diggory removed himself from Ash's grip and proceeded to walk away leaving an overwhelmed Ash behind.

"A true Pokémon master?"

Author notes:

Espurr: I don't normally talk about my own characters but for the love of Espurr I loved writing her so I hope you enjoyed the little eccentric furball as much as I did. BTW...I know Espurr can't learn any rock/ground type moves so the little pebble throwing wasn't a move it was just Espurr being a brat...I felt I should mention that just in case someone cries foul.

Rinora: The name was inspired by three virgin martyrs named Menodora, Metrodora and Nymphodora.

Cats and temples

One popular breed is the Birman and was said to be the companion cat of priests. Another example is on your next google search if your interested in learning something...type in cats in temples and the first few things that pop up would be Japan's shrines to cats. And of course there is the ancient Egyptians and their goddess Bast.

When it comes to cats seeing spirits...there isn't any texts or myths that I could find (or that I can remember off hand at the moment) but I will say this: I guess it could go without saying that I do believe there are spirits, etc. and that we could connect with them in someway. (This is a personal belief.) I would always catch my cat looking up at something or meowing at something that wasn't there and she wasn't looking up at the ceiling it was as if she was looking up at a human. One time I saw her looking up as the sunlight from my bedroom window shined on her. She was so focused on something that I passed by her twice before I walk up to her and said her name for her attention. She turned around to me and it almost felt like I caught her in the middle of something...about a week later she died from natural causes. So due to my experience and of course my personal beliefs I do believe that cats have a six sense. I probably sound like a crazy cat person right now to some but on a somewhat happier note she was my childhood pet and the funny thing is I got her when I was ten and obsessed with the Pokemon anime...its ironic how things work out.