Everyone, thanks so much for the reviews and all the suggestions! I'm pleased to say you'll be getting at least fifteen more chapters out of me!
I don't know how well this one turned out…
Pairing: PikachuxMeowth (This one is called Catandmouseshipping (no joke))
Though she knew it was useless by now, Pikachu ground her mousy teeth into tough rubber bars. Now, more than anything, she wished she was a multi-type. What wouldn't she give to know razor leaf or even ember? Even dig might be a bit helpful. She was just plain sick of being a plain electric type and she was just plain sick of cages.
Why did these nut jobs bother locking her up? Ash was coming to save her in a minute, like he always did. There was no way they would get away, especially now that they had stopped running. Couldn't they at least have the brains to weave through the forest instead of in a straight line? It wouldn't hurt to get Ash thinking how to save her for once. He could use some work on his mental prowess. He wasn't exactly the juiciest berry in the bunch.
But, all joking aside, she was stuck there, gnawing at those annoying rubber bars with the electricity starting to crackle in her cheeks. Arceus, how she hated her life.
He spoke in poketalk, as he often did when Jessie and James weren't around: "You're never getting out of there."
Correction: now she hated her life.
"Shut up, nimrod," She barked icily, shaking her head and biting down harder into the plastic. "Can't you see I'm working on something?"
"I can see that. I don't know why you're trying. You're going to be locked up in there forever and given to the boss!" The cat pokémon laughed and held up one paw. "So much for your worthless electric attacks! They don't help you much in a rubber cage, do they, Pikachu? You're not such a precious pokémon after all! You think you're all powerful, but even you have a weakness! Not so high and mighty now, are you?"
She took her mouth off the rubber, partly because he was getting on her nerves, partly because her mouth was beginning to taste like blood. "Alright, listen, I don't know where you get off calling me high and mighty. I may have taken on some traits of my so-called master, but the ego isn't one of them, neither is stupidity, for the record. I know when I'm supposed to fight and when to jump into Misty's arms and hide because she'll always keep me safe from Signor Stupid. And as for my worthless electric attacks, at least I can manage an attack, huh? How about you? Manage to learn anything besides your egg moves, hotshot?"
He stared at her, mouth dropping open and eyes blinking.
"I didn't think so."
"Now wait a minute, tough guy-!"
"Could you refer to me as a tough girl? Tough guy sounds so masculine," She chuckled lightly, settling down in her container, wrapping herself up in her tail and flicking her ears around. No footsteps yet. Ash, Misty and Brock must be one their way, but they weren't coming too quickly. They probably were caught up with an Officer Jenny or some other tagalong that didn't know how to run fast enough or somehow distracted them with random cries of: "It's Team Rocket…wait, no, that's a bird. Sorry everyone!"
Meowth cocked his head. "You're a girl? Don't girls have a dent in their tail?"
Her ears pinned back, muscled tightened and she cast a venomous glare in his direction. "I take it you're from out of Kanto. A lot of Pikachu females in Kanto don't have dents in their tail. I don't appreciate being called a boy. I like to think that I have quite the feminine grace and elegance that a male could never imagine. Besides, my voice is awfully feminine. At least, I like to think it is. Don't you think my voice is pretty?" One ear was up now, her eyelashes batted.
"Are you trying to seduce me?" He asked.
She grinned, more catlike than he was. "Of course I am, as long as it's working. Come closer, spend time with me. I guarantee that any time we spend together will be absolutely," She dropped her voice to a low smooth sound, "electrifying."
"You're worse with the puns than Jessie and James!" Meowth cackled. "Electrifying! And you say you didn't pick up all the traits of your master? I think you did pick up on that stupidity! Electrifying, that's the dumbest thing I've heard all day."
"Oh! Shut up!" She snapped. "So I haven't had much practice. I was captured before I really got the chance to settle down, and it's not like an attractive Pikachu just walks across your path. Well, one or two, but they weren't exactly interested. I'm not exactly the most…agreeable creature. I'm not mate material. I'm too much of a control freak, I guess. I'm strong too. Male Pikachus don't like that, you know what I mean?"
Meowth shook his head. "No idea. In Meowth prides, it's the females who rule the pride. Male Pikachus rule your pride?"
"Of course, that's the way it is for most societies."
The cat shook his head one more time. "And you battle for the girls. Stupid, that's what it is. Your men are always scarred from fighting for mates, all battered up. Why should someone injured be your leader? Girls are so much better. They're never hurt. They think of everything but mating; that makes them make much, much better decision makders. Really, they're so much better than males for that kind of stuff."
She blinked. "Wow."
"What?"
"It's just…I've never heard a pokémon speak like that about females before. Usually they just talk about us being the weaker ones because we're smaller and have the babies." Pikachu cocked an eyebrow at him. "You know, you're really not half bad. One of the nicest pokémon I've met. What's your name, anyway?"
Meowth stiffened, feeling his eyes go wide. It had been years since he had used his real name. No one ever wanted to know; he was just plain Meowth. In fact, he wasn't even sure if he remembered his old name anymore. It was distant, but it was out of his mouth before he even realized. "Aiden. That's my name."
She smiled, an almost dreamy touch to it. "Aiden. That's a nice name. You ought to tell them that. I wouldn't mind hearing you being called Aiden. It makes you more …real. You know, you have a heart. You shouldn't be so afraid to show it." Her face took on a confused look and she crawled as close as she could, pressing her nose through the bars to look at him. "Why are you with Team Rocket anyway?"
Meowth shrugged. "It's my family."
"What kind of family makes you do bad things?" Pikachu whispered. "Why would you stay with a family that's mean to you and never wins and is only interested in helping themselves? Why don't you go get a better trainer? Someone who supports you and listens to you when you do and don't want to battle and takes care of you when you're sick?"
He smiled proudly at her. "Though they don't show it, Jessie and James are just as great as Ash. We're just in a bad place right now. One day we'll be famous. Maybe we'll get out of Team Rocket. That's what we're really after." He looked up at the sky, sighing happily at the thought. "We're gonna be movie stars."
He looked back down. "Hey, kid, promise not to tell anyone we're nice guys?"
She shook her head. "I wouldn't dream of it."
Meowth looked to the left, then looked to the right, then put his hand on the latch. "I don't even know your name and still I…" He narrowed his eyes, looking up at her, more angry with himself than he could ever be with her. "Don't tell anyone that we're good guys, alright? If Jessie and James ask…I guess you're just a little smarter at getting out of these cages than we thought." His nail went in the lock and twisted, opening the door with a click.
Pikachu gasped, her expression an explosion of delight. She leapt gracefully to the ground and bounded off a few steps before stopping. Her front paw wavered, itching to move forward again, but she spun around and raced close to Meowth. She got up on her hind legs and gently licked his cheek. "Jasmine," She informed quietly.
Then she was gone, leaving Meowth to hold a hand to his cheek and gaping after her.
Yes, Jessie and Jimmy-boy were definitely going to yell at him…
…but it would be worth it.
Future Pairngs (probably not in this order):
1. Lombre and Mawile
2. Drew's Masquerain and May's Beautifly
3. Deoxys and Rayquaza
4. Jirachi/Celebi
5. Azelf/Glameow
6. Totodile x Bulbasaur
7. Team RaiderxTeam Charm (Gallade/Gardevoir, Roserade/Medicham, and Rhyperior/Lopunny)
8. Lugia x Ho-oh
9. Mew x Celebi
10. Suicune x Raikou or Entei
11. Lugia x Articuno
12. Raikou x Moltres
13. Umbreon x Espeon
14. Flareon x Vaporeon
15. Piplup x Turtwig