Note: Sorry for the delay, guys. The action's going to pick up a lot after this chapter, so I hope you're excited!

"There is no way I'm going to give Meowth a phone call!"

/

Meowth adjusted his Hawaiian-print shirt before sipping on a ginger soda in an overpriced souvenir volcano-shaped mug. Self-exile on Cinnabar Island wasn't too bad. The former Rocket team made out like bandits in the Celadon casino by strategically placing Meowth behind the dealer. Jessie, wearing a mustache, had done the "gambling" while James, in a sequined red dress, served as a distraction. Before they could get eighty-sixed from the joint, they hightailed it to the Cinnabar Pokemon Center, where their winnings could cover them for deluxe room and board for a year—a home base while the three figured out their next move against infinite energy.

A deluxe room came with perks. Like a private videophone, which was no longer visible because Jessie had used it as a drying rack. This wasn't a problem, as they weren't expecting any calls, until Meowth noticed that James's shorts were ringing.

"Yo Jess, James, should I answer dis?"

Jessie walked over and cleared the screen from assorted laundry with a grand gesture. "Huh."

James frowned. "It's the twerp's Pikachu."

"Dat weirdo. I'll answer it." Meowth sighed and clumsily pressed the green button marked RECEIVE.

"Meowth?" Pikachu gave a nervous chuckle and placed his right paw behind his head. "I, uh, need a favor—"

"How in da hell did you get this number!"

"What? You're not exactly lying low…Tell me, how many talking Meowth are there? And the shirt? You had to go with the crazy colors? Come on."

"Ugh. Good thing James debugged the room...and the phone."

James smirked. "You're welcome."

"You were wired?"

Meowth rolled his eyes. "Team Rocket wires everything, Pikachu. Now, anyway, I don't want to you to dink we stopped going after you for some personal reason. It was for oder reasons."

"I…uh…didn't notice you were gone?"

"Den why are you calling?"

Pikachu took a deep breath. "Okay. So. There's this thing called—"

"We already know."

"What?"

"We were dere dat day when your friend went all Pokemon: Soylent Green Version on ya." Meowth gestured to Jessie and James, who stood behind him. "We were still trying to catch you. You'd fill our level quota for a year. But what Squirtle said hit someding inside of me, so we looked some stuff up."

"And…"

"And…hey, what videophone are you using? Is anybody listening in?"

"Huh? We're in Venusaur's human friend's house. There's nobody but us here." Pikachu tilted the monitor to show Wartortle, Venusaur, and Charizard.

"All right, just needed to make sure."

"What did you find out?"

Meowth, fumbling with the collar of his shirt, looked away from his screen and to his human partners. "She's asking what we found out when we looked into—"

Jessie took a deep gulp. "We found out that…a lot of Pokemon who were stolen…" She lowered her voice. "They ended up going to a facility in Lavender Town, a Silph Co. branch, for 'research'."

"So we quit Team Rocket," James added.

Meowth regained his composure. "So." He put both paws on the table. "What do you want? I'm guessing you're not being a goody two-shoes, dat you're not warning me about the dangers of being a low-level normal type." He reclined in the chair. "I bet, after all dese years trying to get you to Rocket HQ, you wish I was battery juice."

Roaring laughter came from the phone. A large orange face—Charizard's—filled the screen. "She totally does!"

A yellow blur pushed Charizard offscreen. "You're not helping!"

"Hey, water under da bridge. Heh, like da time you wished I would sleep wid the Tentacool on da St. Anne. I know, I know." Meowth raised a brow. "So what do you want, Pikachu?"

"Meowth, I—no, we—" Pikachu gestured to the group behind her. "—We need you to talk to humans and tell them the truth about infinity energy."

"…You want me to go door-to-door or someding? I'm not da missionary type." He crossed his arms. "Look, we're already making plans of our own here."

"So what are you going to do?"

"Uh, we're working on it…"

"That's what I thought. Well, we have a plan, but it needs you to work." Pikachu sighed. "If you really want to do right by Pokemon, by everybody, meet us in Viridian forest 7:00 a.m. Sunday. No later." She reached to disconnect the call, but paused. "Thanks."

Venusaur broke the silence. "Do you think he'll come?"