10. Paths meet…
Meowth couldn't have been in any more pain if his tail had been stepped on and he'd been kicked AND had all of his whiskers pulled out individually, or if all of these things had happened simultaneously. Togepi was walking towards Misty. He didn't think it was possible to feel so bad - it was like being shot in the chest… no it was more like having a very long sword slowly driven through his body. It seemed to go on forever, until something hit an override switch somewhere and brought tears to his eyes. He managed not to break down, but it was difficult.
"Well… I guess dis is it. Bye, Togepi."
Misty bent to pick up her pokémon, mentally stopping herself from caving in and giving it to Meowth. This was more than she could bear. Suddenly, Togepi grabbed her hand and pulled her over to Meowth, then took his paw in it's other, and held them both.
"Priiii Togepriii!" Meowth let a tear fall. Misty was confused.
"What did he say?"
"Togepi wants to stay wid both of us!" He was jumping up and down with joy, looking exactly like the cat who got the cream, and he was well aware of how clichéd it was.
"But that means… we have to get along…"
"I don't care! As long as I can stay wid Togepi!" The egg pokémon chirped gleefully and looked at its two new owners. Misty sighed, and forgetting her own problems, picked up Meowth and put him on her shoulders, then Togepi, and began to walk towards where she knew Ash would be…
Ash had finished telling his mother what had happened. First she had been angry with him, but she soon calmed down when she saw how angry he was with himself. She had eventually calmed him down, reassuring him that things like this happened all the time, and that Misty and Brock were bound to forgive him. They both admitted that it was silly of all three of them to let themselves get separated. She couldn't think of a way to take his mind off Pikachu and he eventually settled with "He'll find a way back."
Ash, after this, immediately decided to find either Pikachu or Misty, but his mother suggested he got some sleep. For once, he agreed and went straight to bed.
Meanwhile, Misty, Meowth and Togepi were making their way to Pallett Town. Meowth, despite his previous happiness, seemed to be depressed, so Misty decided to find out why. She was beginning to feel sorry for him… but there was no way in Hell she was going to let him know that.
"Hey, cat. If I'm gonna spend time with, you'd better cheer up! What's wrong?"
Meowth sighed heavily. "Nothin'."
"Must be something."
There was a pause of indeterminate length, another sigh… "I miss Jessie and James."
"I thought you hated them."
"No. I said dat I tawt dat dey hated me. But I still miss 'em. Dey may have been idiots but dey were MY idiots… and dey were my closest friends."
"You really believe that they hate you?"
Meowth pondered this query with interest. "Well… Jessie was always hittin' me. And James and me were always arguin'."
There was another pause, this time from Misty. "I think they value you more than you think." She very deftly added, nonchalantly: "I'm pretty sure that Ash hates me, though."
"What?!" Meowth was genuinely surprised - he thought that Team Twerp just got along unquestioningly.
"We had a fight. A BIG fight." she said. "He hit me. I ran off… that's why Togepi was with Brock. And incidentally that's how us two ended up in this mess."
Meowth was shocked to say the least. "He HIT you? I never saw dat comin'!"
"Neither did we." She meant the 'we' to include all three of her gang. They walked on in silence (Togepi was asleep), until Misty spotted a familiar house and approached it slowly. "Here goes nothing…" she said, as she raised a clenched fist and knocked on the door.