No Silver Lining - Part 1: The Foundling
The temporary lull of downtown that occurred during early dinnertime was present without exception today, noticed Meowth as he eyed a fruit vendor relaxing behind his booth counter. The scratch-cat Pokémon was watching from the alley directly across from the vendor. The man was, plainly put, extremely fat, and who at present time was lazing in a folding chair while reading a newspaper. A wide variety of fruit was spread in the bins in front of him, practically unattended.
He was waiting for the opportunity to make his move.
Having realized with disgust that he'd been hiding -- cowering, even -- under the bridge while drowning in self-pity had been a better motivator than hunger would ever be for Meowth. The mere thought that he'd sunk so low had driven him into town with purpose. He had, however, opted to make the trip on all four legs to avoid any more attention. It was strange, both good and bad. Bad because he suddenly felt a lot shorter, was used to walking upright, and missed having two free paws, but good because he didn't stand out as much and the fact that he'd never realized how tough bipedal movement was when you had other options !
The wind picked up and gusted strongly. The fruit vendor's newspaper was blown from his grasp, and as he made a clumsy grab for it, Meowth made his move, leaving the alleyway and seizing the hasty opportunity. The vendor missed the paper, over-reached for it, and toppled from his chair like a bucket of wet jelly, cursing. The folding chair, which had been none too sturdy beneath his considerable weight to begin with, snapped into pieces. The vendor threw out a hand to stop his fall, but only succeeded in catching the wooden fruit bins. They, in turn, splintered and released a flood of produce into the street.
Meowth had grabbed a pair of apples before the vendor knew what had happened and was on his way, laughing. It was the fool's own fault, anyway ! The cat rounded a corner on two feet, carrying an apple in each paw, congratulating himself --
-- and ran smack into Pikachu, who was taking the corner from the opposite direction. Both Pokémon were thrown back and the apples went rolling, one dropping down a sewer grate and one into the middle of the road, where it was crushed by a passing vehicle.
"Hey, watch where yer goin' !" Meowth snapped angrily, only to realize three things.
One, he'd just given himself away, but it didn't matter because, two, he'd just run into Pikachu, and three, that Pikachu was not alone. (Was he ever ?!) Ash was only a few steps behind, and pulled up short at the sight of Meowth.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
"Pika. Pika-pi ?" Are you all right ? The electric Pokémon asked, breaking the silence.
For a second, Meowth was too surprised to answer. "Yeah," He finally said. Behind him, he could still hear the street vendor bellowing furiously, and he wasn't the only one. Ash took one look at the spilled fruit and turned a glare on the cat.
"Did you do that ?"
"Not my fault if 'de booth falls down wit' a little wind." Meowth answered snappishly. What was it with this kid, anyway ? Having lost his dinner and his element of surprise, the angry Pokémon started to stalk away, seething.
"Go back to Team Rocket, you're less trouble that way !" Ash called after him, not in the best of moods.
... Confusion-hurt-astonishment-rebuke ...
... Anger-pain-distress-misery-loneliness ...
Ash reeled as two sets of Pokémon emotions washed through him at the same time, both rather negative and difficult to experience at the same time. It faded quickly; shared emotions never lasted very long, but the last two feelings from the both -- rebuke from Pikachu and loneliness from Meowth -- remained lingering. Suddenly, he was painfully aware of just why Pikachu had been upset with him at Cobalt Gym. Because…
Because…
Because, as cruel as it sounded now that he thought about it, he hadn't really cared what happened to Meowth, because of what Team Rocket had done in the past. Most of his life, he'd helped Pokémon who were lost, or hurt, or having trouble with something or another. Now he just… didn't care ? And (metaphorically) kicked them when they were down ?
Was it any wonder Pikachu was suddenly so disappointed with him ?
Appalled by his behaviour, Ash hurried after the cat Pokémon. "Meowth, wait."
"Go away." The cat hissed, not stopping. The twerp's stinging words still rang fresh in his ears. He intended to put as much distance between himself and Ash, Pikachu, and the whole mess of Cobalt City as possible.
"Hang on a minute." Ash said, stepping in front of the Pokémon to enforce his stop. He received an uncomplimentary glower and a reluctant halt.
"Pika-pi. Pi-pi-pikachu." Don't go. Let him talk. Pikachu added.
"Fine. Talk." Meowth snapped.
"Did you mean what you said about not being able to go back to Team Rocket ?" Ash questioned, and received a single nod. He thought about asking why again, but that question had produced no answer at the PokéHospital and was not likely to now. So instead, he asked, "Where are you going to go now ?"
"I don't know." Meowth replied shortly. "Why do you care ?"
"Pi-pi-chu. Pikachu." You could come with us. Pikachu offered, shooting a glance of curiosity at Ash as he did so. Ash blinked at the suggestion but didn't say anything to contradict it.
Meowth's first impulse was to say no, his second to forcefully say no, his third to use Scratch attack and his fourth to laugh. But he did none of these, because he… didn't really want to ?
What was he thinking ?! This was Ash Ketchum, 'The Twerp' that they'd chased for years to steal his Pikachu, the kid that had caused he, Jessie, and James to fall from the Boss's favour more times than they could count, the one they'd finally stopped chasing because Giovanni had threatened to fire them -- and meant it !
And now they were offering him their company ?
They'd mistaken his private incredulity for indecision and Ash added, "Maybe just until you know where you're going ?" Meowth wasn't sure, but he thought there was a hint of sarcastic amusement in his tone.
He wanted to say no, but… he really didn't want to be alone. The feeling had surfaced abruptly, stinging like salt on a fresh wound.
If he said no, he'd be alone. Again.
And that would be worse than any company Ash Ketchum could provide.
They must have made an odd tableau, Ash thought, with him standing in front of Meowth and Pikachu at his side, waiting for some answer Ash wasn't sure they were even going to get. He spared a glance at the fruit vendor across the street, who had begun putting his booth back into order, and the few people who had begun to appear on the sidewalks because the dinner-time lull was over now.
"All right."
The words startled Ash out of his observations. "You're coming with us ?" he said in surprise, as though the idea had only just now come up.
"For a while." Meowth clarified.
"Well… don't you care where we're going ?" Ash questioned.
"No," Meowth said with tired finality, "I don't care."