.
Pokémon Whisperer
"Jessie, don't you find it a little strange Butch and Cassidy were willing to give us a head start?" James asked as they rode through the canyon.
"Strange? How so?" Jessie asked.
"Well it's not like them to give us the advantage," James replied.
"Dey probably figure we're too big of losers to pull dis t'ing off wit'out 'em, so dey felt fine lettin' us go ahead. Deir mistake," Meowth said, paws behind his head.
"Right. We'll get Mew without them and really brag it up to the boss," Jessie said, grinning and clenching a fist.
"Our names will go down in Team Rocket history!" James agreed excitedly.
"Mew!" something said.
"Huh?!" they all exclaimed together, quickly looking up. There, floating above them, was none other then Mew!
"Deir it is! Get it!" Meowth exclaimed.
"Mimikyu, go!" Jessie ordered, releasing Mimikyu.
"Inkay, you too!" James said, releasing it. "Use psybeam!"
"Mimikyu, shadow claw!" Jessie commanded.
Both Mimikyu and Inkay attacked together, striking Mew who cried out in pain, flying back a bit. "Alright, good move Inkay!" James cheered.
"Direct hit Mimikyu!" Jessie said, grinning wickedly and clenching both her fists. "Now shadow ball!"
"Inkay, tackle," James ordered.
Both pokémon went at Mew again. "Mew!" Mew said, retaliating immediately and striking both Mimikyu and Inkay hard, sending them flying and dazing them with that single attack. Jessie and James started in alarm, gasping. Uh oh.
"Mimikyu, return!" Jessie ordered, recalling it.
"You too Inkay," James said.
"I'll give it a go. Fury swipes!" Meowth said, leaping towards Mew with teeth bared. Mew turned on him quickly.
"Meowth, no, don't!" James exclaimed, seeing Mew charging up a powerful psybeam.
"Mew!" Mew exclaimed, letting it go. It struck Meowth full force and the scratch-cat screamed in pain, flying back.
"Meowth!" Jessie and James exclaimed together, immediately forgetting Mew and leaping off the rapidash, racing towards their injured teammate.
Pushing through some thick briars Meowth had landed behind, Jessie and James searched for him. "You know, this constant losing is becoming a little redundant," James groaned.
Fury darkened Jessie's features and she screamed as loudly as she could, pulling her hair. "That's it! I've had it! We're getting that Mew if we have to…"
"Wait, there's the little fur ball!" James said in alarm.
"Huh? Meowth? Jessie asked, snapping back to herself. She gasped on spotting him on a rock, struggling to sit up while groaning. It looked as if he'd struck his head! "Meowth!" she exclaimed. Quickly she and James hurried towards him.
"Meowth, look at us!" James pled to the dazed scratch-cat. He was in bad shape it seemed. Really bad.
"Meowth, are you alright?" Jessie demanded, helping the pokémon into a sitting position.
"Meowth," Meowth replied, looking confusedly from Jessie to James. Fear suddenly sprung to his eyes.
"Easy, you'll be just fine," James assured.
"Meowth!" Meowth exclaimed, leaping away from the two and landing on all fours. He looked back at them, hissing dangerously with hackles raised.
"Meowth, what are you doing?" Jessie demanded.
"Oh no, I believe he's turned feral!" James exclaimed.
"What? But how?" Jessie asked.
"He probably hit his head on the rocks too hard!" James replied. "He doesn't even seem to remember us." Jessie and James turned uncertainly to their partner. Meowth growled dangerously and hissed again. "Meowth, come now, don't you remember us? Your friends?" James carefully asked, slowly approaching. He cried out in terror as Meowth leapt, attacking him with fury swipes! He fell back, scratches decorating his face, and Meowth landed on the ground. The next instant the scratch-cat was racing away at top speed!
"Meowth, get back here!" Jessie insisted. The two immediately returned their pair of rapidash and gave pursuit on foot.
PKMN
Jessie and James panteed as they walked, trying in vain to follow Meowth's footsteps. "Wait, I hear something," James hissed, ducking low. Jessie followed suite, listening. After a moment they heard a rustle. Exchanging looks they nodded together and slowly parted the bushes. There, just ahead, lay Meowth sleeping away contentedly. Letting his injuries heal naturally, they supposed. "There you are," James said. The two slipped from the bushes and slowly approached.
Meowth opened a sleepy eye, spotting them. Lowly he growled in his throat. When the two humans kept coming towards him, he raised his head hissing. He stood, arching his back as his hackles went up. "Careful, we don't want him bolting again," Jessie said.
"Here Meowth, Meowth. Here, kitty, kitty, kitty. Don't you remember me? Your old friend James?" James cooed. Meowth meowed angrily, scratching at James when he got too close and starting to back away.
"Come now, Meowth, enough playing. We need to set up camp, eat something, and go to sleep," Jessie insisted, frowning. Meowth hissed, getting into a battle stance. Jessie and James gasped, backing away and standing ready to fight. "Great, with our luck we'll probably have to fight and capture him. He's gone wild, remember?" Jessie said. She checked her pocket and frowned. "Hmm, it looks like you'll have to do the capturing. I seem to be out of empty pokeballs."
"Capture Meowth? But I couldn't possibly…" James began.
"He's a pokémon, isn't he? Catch the poor thing and let's get this over with so we can figure out what to do," Jessie impatiently insisted.
James hesitated, looking back at Meowth. "Very well, but it just doesn't feel right. Carnivine, come on out!" James ordered, throwing down a pokeball. His carnivine appeared instantly and wrapped itself tightly around him, biting his head. James cried out in alarm, struggling to get it off. Jessie frowned, sweat dropping. "Not me, Carnivine, Meowth!" James insisted.
Carnivine released his trainer and turned on the Meowth, looking confused. "Carnivine?" it asked.
"Don't ask," James said. "Carnivine, use vine whip!"
"Carnivine!" Carnivine agreed, instantly utilizing the move. It shot towards Meowth at a breakneck pace, but nimbly Meowth dodged and attacked with fury swipes, knocking Carnivine back.
"Seviper, go, use poison fang!" Jessie ordered, releasing her seviper.
"Seviper!" the seviper said, lunging at Meowth. Meowth took the brunt of the hit, crying out in pain. Quickly, though, he recovered, staggering up.
"Seviper, use wrap!" Jessie ordered. Seviper went to pull off the move, wrapping around Meowth. Unfortunately, Meowth was able to get a paw free and scratch the serpentine pokémon viciously! Seviper hissed in pain, releasing the feline.
"Inkay, go!" James ordered, throwing down his next pokémon.
"Inkay!" the pokémon said, appearing.
"Inkay, use ink spray on Meowth!" James ordered. Meowth meowed angrily, preparing to fight back, but before he could, Inkay's attack had reached him, rendering him blind. "Inkay, Carnivine, return!" James ordered the two. That was surprisingly easy, he realized. Inkay and Carnivine obeyed.
"Seviper, return," Jessie ordered, summoning back her poison type.
"Pokeball, go!" James said, thrusting a pokeball at Meowth. Immediately it trapped the disoriented and weakened pokémon inside of it!
PKMN
James walked up to the ball and picked it up. He sighed ruefully. "This just doesn't seem right."
"It was either capture him or have him run again. We would have never found him if he'd fled," Jessie replied.
"I suppose, but somehow it just doesn't feel right for Meowth to be owned by either one of us," he replied.
"As soon as he's back to normal it'll be fine," Jessie replied. "Until then, though, dealing with him promises to be a real pain."
"Don't you worry, Jess. I'll take full responsibility for Meowth. Hopefully sooner than later we'll get him back to normal," James assured.
"We'd better," Jessie grimly said, gazing at the pokeball in James' hand. "Oh well, I suppose little can be done tonight. Let's eat and get a good night's rest. Tomorrow we start tracking down Mew again." James nodded in agreement, tucking the pokeball away.
PKMN
Meowth sat blinking blankly up at James. "All right Meowth, let's start at the top again. Take my hands," he insisted. Confused, Meowth sat back on his haunches and lifted his paws. James took them and gently coaxed the pokémon to his feet. "Now, one foot in front of the other, slow and steady. I've got you," James said, gently leading Meowth and guiding him to step forward one step then another. After a few minutes, James carefully let go and Meowth continued to stagger towards him.
"Meowth!" Meowth cried out, falling. James quickly caught him.
"Good work, Meowth. We're getting there," James praised. "It's only a matter of time before you learn to walk and speak again."
"Meowth," Meowth cheerily replied, closing his eyes and scrunching his face cutely. Purring, he began rubbing against James, prompting his friend to stroke his fur. James grinned and began scratching the cat behind his ears. Meowth's purring became louder and he leapt onto James's lap, waiting to be pampered. James carried him back to Jessie and sat, continuing to pet the scratch-cat while Jessie mapped out their route.
"How's it coming?" Jessie wondered.
"Oh, quite well. He's beginning to get the hang of it, but he has a long way to go yet," James replied.
Jessie nodded, looking at Meowth. Would he ever be the same again, she wondered? He'd better be. If anyone could do it, though, she supposed James would be the one. Jessie reached out and patted Meowth's head, prompting the pokémon, who had been napping, to sleepily blink up at her, mewing before closing his eyes once more. "You seem to have quite a way with feral meowth's." Of course, James seemed to have quite a way with half the pokémon they came across. To say nothing of the ones he owned, each of which loved the man to pieces. Even some wild ones formed bonds with him. He was sort of a pokémon whisperer, really. Or rather he could have been if he so desired to. This, however, particularly stood out to her. How he treated Meowth was different, in a way. Maybe it was because he was their friend, but she got the sense there was more to it than that.
"Truth be told, Jess, I've dealt with a wild meowth before," James replied. "You could say I even befriended it. That was years ago, though."
"Really?" she said, curiosity aroused.
"Oh yes," James replied. "I was but a young teenager, then…"
Past
It was rainy and cold. He hated it when it was rainy and cold. Of all the times for the rain to decide to fall, it would be when he was on the move again. Better rain than snow though, he supposed. He shivered, remembering when he'd first tried to travel in the snow, back when he'd just run away from home. It was best not to think about that time so many years ago. He looked up at the clouds. It was pouring, and he was soaked to the bone and shivering. Luckily, he recognized this area. There was a warm place nearby where he could blend in, a youth home. He would stay there for tonight then move on later.
Just then he heard a pitiful mewing sound and paused. A mewing sound? He looked around the field, squinting through the heavy rain. He heard it again and began to follow the noise. It seemed to be coming from nearby. There was a fence up ahead, so perhaps there? It came from that direction. It became louder and more insistent and pitiful. He hurried quicker, eyes becoming concerned. He followed along the fence. All at once he stopped, gasping in shock. There at the base of a fencepost was a basket. He ran towards it and knelt next to it, peering inside. His eyes widened and he caught his breath. Inside, all alone and pitiful, sat a baby Meowth! "Oh no!" he exclaimed, quickly scooping the tiny thing up into his arms and gazing down at it. Its eyes flickered weakly open and fell on him. It mewed meekly and James felt tears burning his eyes. He closed them tightly and held the kitten close to his face, nuzzling it. It was tiny and it was thin. Who knew for how long it had been here? It was hardly old enough to even fend for itself. It would probably die, he knew, it was near to it already, but if nothing else he could at least be there with it so it wouldn't have to die alone.
"Meowth," it whined.
"Don't worry, Meowth, you're going to be just fine," James assured softly. A false promise, he knew, but it was all he could do to try and give the little one some hope. It was male, he noted. Gently he smiled at it and tucked it into his coat tightly. He began walking again, feeling the creature shivering against his shirt. It was freezing. He held it tighter, gently petting its fur in a reassuring gesture.
PKMN
He sat in the warm youth home by the fireplace, gently stroking the small meowth. He'd managed to obtain a bottle of milk for it. It was too young to eat solid food. Eagerly it sucked at the bottle with no signs of stopping. It was purring loudly, though, gazing up at him curiously. James smiled softly at it. Soon it had finished off its bottle. James wrapped it up again and lay down to go to sleep. His smile faded away. He doubted it would be alive in the morning. A tear slipped down his cheek and gently he nuzzled it. "I'm sorry I was too late to save you," he whispered to it. It continued to purr, oblivious to the fate that would befall it.
James woke up the next morning and yawned. He felt a shifting against his chest and gasped, looking down. There was the baby meowth, still very much alive and in fact looking healthier! He gasped, sitting up. "Meowth," it mewed in protest, sleepily opening its eyes and glaring reproachfully at the human who had dared arouse it.
"You're alive!" James exclaimed in glee. He laughed, holding it so tightly it mewed in pain. James loosened his hold, grinning at it. It mewed again and rubbed its stomach, demanding more sustenance. "Right away," James said, catching on with a nod. He scrambled up and hurried to get another bottle of milk, feeding the baby meowth once more.
PKMN
For about a month he travelled with the little one, tending to it and getting up its strength. It was a bit healthier now and had taken to running alongside him. James knew, though, that he couldn't keep it around much longer. Not with the life he lived. He'd long ago run away from home. He hadn't had a cent to his name when he left, he didn't have a cent to his name now. It was all he could do to feed himself, let alone the kitten. If he had another pokeball he would use it, but he didn't. The only one he had was the one with which he'd caught his carnivine years ago. Carnivine was a plant type pokémon, though, so James hardly needed to worry about feeding him. Generally, the sun sufficed when it couldn't get meat or insect types, and pokémon food was a treat, not part of its primary diet. The scratch-cat, on the other hand, was a whole other story. When next he reached a pokémon center, he left the sleeping meowth to a nurse's care and left.
Present
"It was a painful thing to do, leave the poor thing behind. I hadn't felt so bonded with a pokémon since my beloved Growlie," James remarked sadly.
"One experience with a meowth kitten hardly seems enough to explain why you handle our Meowth so well," Jessie remarked.
"Patience, Jessie, I'm getting there," James replied. "You see, that wasn't the last I would see of that kitten. The next time we met, three years later, I was sixteen, and it had grown up. We crossed paths in the city of the stars, if I recall correctly…"
Past
James leapt from the roof of a store onto the next one, panting for breath as furious voices screamed at him from behind. He kept running, not daring to look back as he clutched his prize, a fish casserole he'd almost managed to sneak from a restaurant, until the cook had deemed it an appropriate time to turn around and catch sight of him. He quickly dodged into an open stairwell and tore through the building, bursting out of the front doors. He kept running until all sounds of pursuit had vanished.
Panting, he clutched the food tightly. He looked down at the dish and winced. He hardly had the appetite for it anymore, but though he didn't feel hungry his body knew better. He needed to eat, and soon. He sighed deeply and made his way back to a charm school, or etiquette school or whatever it was, that he'd discovered. Sneaking around in there after dark, searching for anything of use to him, he'd found an abandoned loft. He'd turned it into a temporary refuge and home for himself. He sat on the alley steps outside of the building and began to eat in silence and solitude. Just then he heard a garbage can being knocked over. He quickly looked in that direction. His eyes widened as from out of it rolled an incredibly thin and wretched looking meowth! He caught his breath as it looked woefully towards him. He knew that meowth! The meowth started, obviously shocked as well.
"Me-Meowth…?" the pokémon said, cautiously approaching with eyes wide.
"It's-it's you," James realized, falling to his knees and forgetting his food. "It's you!" he cheered, laughing.
"Meowth!" the pokémon exclaimed, backing uncertainly away.
"Huh? What's wrong? Don't you remember me?" James asked, hurt coming to his eyes.
"Meowth," the scratch-cat replied, nodding. It remembered him, but James noticed the look in its eyes. It was the same look that had been gradually darkening his own for years now. Distrust. The meowth didn't trust people, not even him. He supposed he deserved that, for the way he'd left the pokémon behind three years ago without so much as a goodbye. He couldn't imagine how hard it's life had been since, but he'd so hoped it would be taken care of or adopted or anything, really.
"I'm sorry," James quietly said, bowing his head ashamedly. He looked back at the casserole and took out a good chunk of it. "Here kitty, kitty, kitty; look what I have for you." He gently held the morsel out. The scratch-cat eyed it and licked his lips longingly, but he didn't come near. Slowly James approached. The pokémon began to back away. "I'm not going to hurt you," James promised, laying the food down then backing away. He waited a long moment until the meowth finally approached the food and began devouring it. James smiled. He wanted to go to his old friend and pet him, if nothing else, but he knew that wouldn't be a good idea. Not when the pokémon didn't trust him. James rose without a word more, took his food, and climbed up to his abandoned loft. Curiously the scratch-cat watched after the human, cocking his head to the side. Soon, though, he shrugged it off and went back to eating. Goodness knew he needed it. He'd gone days and days and days without food, now. Any longer and he would have soon starved.
Present
"We were sporadic acquaintances during that time, the meowth coming to me only when he was on the verge of starvation. He didn't trust humans, you see. It was a rare occasion in which I saw him, mostly when he was badly injured or beaten, and the only times he came besides that was when the poor dear had nowhere else to go. I was always ready with a morsel or two, sometimes even a saucer of cream, and eventually the meowth began to eat from my hand when it came. Sometimes it would even sleep on my lap inside of my hideaway and just relish my stroking his fur. You know, Jess, sometimes I could swear he was trying to speak," James mused.
Jessie got the sense there was more to this story than James was saying, but she wouldn't bother to push. "Well, we'd better get some sleep. Tomorrow we start tracking the mew early," Jessie stated.
"I agree," James replied, stretching out beside the fire. Meowth sleepily opened an eye, mewed, then rose, approaching James and plopping down beside him before dozing off immediately after. "Goodnight, Jessie, goodnight Meowth," James said, smiling.
"Goodnight," Jessie answered, lying down as well. Soon enough the three were fast asleep…
PKMN
"Here you are Meowth, look at this," James said, flashing a shiny ball right in front of the awed looking Meowth.
"Meowth!" Meowth cheered, leaping up and pawing it from James's hands, batting it around playfully and laughing in delight as he rolled on the ground.
"Way to spoil him, James," Jessie bit, shaking her head with hands on her hips.
James frowned at her. "I'll have you know it will help in my training," he said.
"Your training?" she incredulously asked.
"I'm going to teach him to talk and walk again," James said.
"Do you have any idea the sort of commitment something like that would take?" Jessie demanded.
"Of course I do," James replied.
Jessie sighed, face-palming as she sweat dropped. She pulled out a map and looked it over carefully. "All right, this path goes a long way yet. We'll have to cross over this bridge to get to the other side, where we last detected Mew. From there we can pick up its trail," Jessie said, fingering the route they would need to take.
"Right," James agreed.
"We need to cover as much ground as we can before nightfall," Jessie said, rolling up the map and standing.
James took back the shiny ball. Meowth narrowed his eyes, annoyed, and growled in his throat. "Meowth," he said, glaring accusingly at James.
"Don't you give me that look," James warned. "Would you rather go back in the pokeball?" Meowth hissed angrily and settled down. He wouldn't complain again, James knew. "All right, now for speaking. Let's take it from the top. Repeat after me. A…"
Meowth looked up at him curiously then furrowed his brow "Ah, aie, A," Meowth replied. "Yes, good kitty, good boy! Meowth, you're going to get this yet!" James cheered, praising him by lifting him high into the air and tossing him up, grinning.
"Meowth!" Meowth cheered, getting excited at the praise. He was doing it right; whatever it was that his trainer was trying to teach him, that is. He believed this using his mouth and tongue was called walking and when he stood on his back paws and moved it was talking. No, that wasn't right; it was the other way around. This was called speaking, or talking, or both, and the other thing was called walking, or moving, or both. It was so confusing! He was determined to get it down, though.
"Now, let's try the next. B, say B," James prompted.
"Bay," Meowth replied.
"Not quite, but bay is a word too," James said. He pulled out a picture of a bay and said, "See? Bay."
"Bay," Meowth said, pointing at it.
"Excellent! Now, try the other one again. B, B," James prompted.
"B!" Meowth exclaimed.
"Yes! This is the letter B, see," James said, pointing it out. Bringing out another picture, he said, "Also this is called a bee, or rather beedril, with two E's." He pointed at the picture of the beedril that was on the card.
"Bee-bee-beedril," Meowth repeated.
"This is gonna be a long trip," Jessie moaned, rolling her eyes hopelessly as the two continued through the letters.
"F, Meowth, say F," James said.
"F!" Meowth replied. Say, he was getting the hang of this alphabet thing.
PKMN
Days of travel—and in James's case days of meticulous training later—they stopped to make camp again. "We'll get up at five. If luck is with us we'll be able to catch up to Mew," Jessie said. She had no idea how far behind it they were, but apparently it was much farther ahead than she'd first thought.
"We, up, five," Meowth unevenly said, making gestures with his hands for each word he spoke. "Luck with, able, go, pass, river."
"Oh I'm good," James said, grinning widely and praising himself for the progress he'd made. He had a malicious and incredibly painful sore throat now, of course, but it was worth it.
"Teach walk?" Meowth questioned James, looking up at his trainer. He felt that he knew him from somewhere before, and the one called Jessie too. They had said something about amnesia, which James had said made you forget, so that probably had something to do with why they seemed familiar.
"After we eat," James replied.
"I hate to say it, but James you outdid yourself," Jessie remarked, marvelling at how far along Meowth had come.
"You really think so? Of course we have quite a ways to go yet, but with a week or two of intensive training he should be walking and talking normally soon enough," James replied. "I've covered quite a bit of ground since he lost his memory."
"And have a raw voice and throat to show for it," Jessie remarked, hearing the scratchy tone of his normally smooth and sultry voice. She twitched. Wait, had she really applied the word 'sultry' to James's voice? She grimaced and chose to pretend otherwise.
"I hate to admit it, but you have a point. Maybe I should rest for a day or so," James remarked. Just then he brightened up. "Ooh wait! I'll make up an old family remedy Nanny taught me when I was small and be good as new by tomorrow, just you wait."
"All right, let's try this a different way. Stop talking! Since you decided to start teaching Meowth to speak again, all I've heard is you," Jessie bit.
"Would you like to teach him to talk?" James challenged, frowning.
"Hah, as if!" Jessie replied, rolling her eyes. "He's your pokémon now, not mine. You deal with him however you want. I desire no part in his training."
The two fell silent, watching Meowth staggering. He had gotten the hang of walking, if 'getting a hang of walking' meant feeling as if you were watching a one-year-old toddle along a floor. He tottered and fell more often than not, but he was coming along fairly quickly. Despite the short time that Meowth had had this amnesia, James had made the most of it and done well, Jessie found herself reluctantly admitting. There were very, very few trainers who would ever have the dedication and determination to teach their pokémon feats such as walking and talking. They wouldn't be bothered, generally, but James was spending every second he could muster training his friend—his pokémon now perhaps?—how to rediscover these things. It was kind of admirable, she had to admit.