5. Meowth's lucky find.
Brock had given up on where to look for either Ash or Misty. He'd stopped by the side of the road with Togepi, who seemed to be having a hard time.
"Togepriii."
"Yeah, I know." He sighed. "I miss 'em too."
Suddenly there was a crash behind him, and Togepi clung to his leg in terror as he turned to look. He was greeted by a scene of utter chaos. A massive, vaguely familiar piece of tan fabric was bumpily spread over quite a distance, with a few muffled shouts coming from underneath it. A female voice could be heard above all the rest.
"Good move, furball!" There was a loud thump and a decidedly cat-like yowling noise, and then the fabric ripped as two sets of claws tore through it.
"MEEEEEOWTH! Dat really hoit!"
Brock was instantly alert. "Team Rocket! I shoulda known! Give me back that Pikachu!" Jessie ignored him but noticed something.
"Where's the other two runts?"
"None of your business."
"Well in that case it's three against one and we've got the advantage, right James?" There was no reply. "RIGHT, James?" She could hear snoring from under the deflated balloon, so she ran over to the noise, revealed James sleeping contentedly, and smacked him. "JAMES!!!!"
"Wha…? Oh, hi Jessie. Are we on the ground?" She grabbed him by the foot and dragged him unceremoniously to where Meowth was waiting, tapping a foot impatiently.
"The brats are separated," she explained. "That means we won!" By now, Brock was getting annoyed.
"You'd already won before we split up. There's no need to rub it in. Leave me alone, can't you?"
"He's right, Jess. There's no point in us hanging around here. We might as well get to headquarters."
"Hmm, I suppose you're right. Come on Meowth."
The cat pokémon looked thoughtful, then approached Brock, who instantly guessed what he wanted.
"You're NOT getting Togepi." He picked up the egg defensively.
"We'll see about dat!" Meowth suddenly launched himself at Brock's stomach, forcing him to the floor and making him drop Togepi. Before he had time to fight back, Meowth had grabbed it, yelled "RUN FOR IT!!!" to his team-mates and fled.
Brock cursed himself. He'd lost Togepi. Misty was going to kill him… if he ever found her.
Meowth held onto Togepi for dear life, but couldn't run fast enough to keep up with Jessie and James.
"My legs are too short! One of yous will havta carry Me-owth!" Jessie quickly grabbed him without really thinking about it, as they ran as fast as they could. Meowth began to babble incoherently at his newly acquired pokémon, something along the lines of: "My little Togepi's come back. I knew I'd find ya! I'm a happy Meowth again." James, carrying Pikachu, couldn't believe the change in his two partners in crime. Meowth was concerned for someone other than himself, carrying that egg as though his very life depended on it. And Jessie… was willingly carrying Meowth. James decided not to probe with questions and opted to just keep on running.