Kanto - The Lines Were Thick
Things were far simpler in Kanto. At least, on a surface level. Relationships were far more complicated than anyone wanted to admit and Meowth was no exception to that. He, Jessie, and James weren't the same unit they were now. Kanto was a time where they were, at best, closer than normal co-workers. Kanto was a time where Meowth kept his distance from whatever pokemon Jessie and James had. Kanto was a time where he thought of his two partners in crime as beneath him, rather than as friends and comrades.
Kanto was the time where the lines between him and Pikachu were clear.
The mouse was a complete train wreck full of seemingly unresolved issues that Meowth didn't even want to touch with a ten-foot pole. He had enough worries of his own, so spending any time thinking about Pikachu outside of "how to capture him" was unnecessary. But Meowth was, by nature, a curious pokemon. He liked solving mysteries. And Pikachu, oddly enough, seemed to come with a lot of them.
The first actual conversation Meowth had with Pikachu was, oddly enough, at a bar stand. In the wilderness. Back at the island of those crazy, mechanical, giant pokemon… The pokemon had all been separated from their trainers, just as Meowth had been separated from his "partners". For some odd reason, the Slowking that was running the stand seemed to have endless heaps of sake. Ekans and Koffing had quickly indulged, sobbing without abandon about the prospect of Jessie and James leaving them behind. Meowth wasn't quite sure they even could drink, but feeling as if he wanted to indulge himself, he decided not to question it.
Meowth grabbed one himself but didn't drink immediately. Instead, he just stared at the sake in his cup, slowly swirling the liquid inside with his paw. The twerp pokemon kept to themselves on the other side of the table, at least until Bulbasaur got a bit too drunk and Squirtle wisely decided to take him aside to where the other two overly drunk pokemon were crying their hearts out at the chabudai set aside next to the stand. 'Ah.' Meowth thought. 'So that's the drunk corner.'
That left him with Pikachu and Charmander. A single empty seat was between him and the electric mouse, who suddenly seemed very much aware of who was close by and uncomfortably twitched. Meowth, for his part, suddenly remembered the only reason why he was still standing with the rest of the Pokemon and not actually abandoned and tied to a tree.
Meowth swiftly scooted into the seat next to Pikachu, who tensed immediately. Charmander glanced at the cat warily from the corner of his eyes, but didn't comment, instead opting to take another sip of his…was that orange juice?
"So…" He began with a Cheshire-like grin on his face. "What's up with youse?"
Pikachu narrowed his eyes and leaned against the counter, with his ears pinned back against his head. "Nothing. Why are you asking?"
"What, I can't ask a fellow 'mon how he's doin'?"
"No." Came the blunt reply. "You're a liar."
Meowth winced. Ouch. But, ironically, that was the truth about the scratch cat pokemon. He didn't deny it. It was part of his whole survival strategy for as long as he'd been living. Performances were his specialty and lying was just a small part of that.
He put a paw over his heart and softened his facial features, adding an appropriate amount of wobble to his lips to make it seem as if he was close to tears. "Why, Pikachu." He began, in an astonished tone. "You wound me."
Pikachu glared.
"Tsk, tsk…" Meowth wagged a finger at the mouse. Charmander was beginning to raise an eyebrow at their interaction but still said nothing. Good. It was about time one of the twerp Pokemon knew not to interfere. "I only wanted to come and extend a paw of gratitude to ya."
Pikachu's glare gave way to suspicion. "For what? Untying you earlier?"
'Dammit.' Meowth's eyebrow twitched. 'Ah, well. Opportunity galore!'
"Oh, of course, Pikachu!" Meowth sighed wistfully. He leaned against the counter and pressed the side of his face against his fist. "If ya hadn't come back for me back there…I woulda been a goner, for sure! And here I was under the impression that ya didn't like me."
"I don't," Pikachu said simply. Then he looked away. "It's…it's what Ash would've done."
'Interesting.'
"I thought you and the twerp didn't like each other very much."
Pikachu snorted. "Yeah, so did I." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "He…he grew on me, I guess."
'Bingo. Now we're startin' to get somewhere.'
Meowth tried his best to give an innocent smile. "What say you about me growing on you?"
"Ew." Charmander frowned, speaking for Pikachu, though the mouse's scowl already said everything Meowth needed to know.
He shrugged. Worth a shot. Although, he didn't expect Pikachu to be so willing to say 'yes' to that question or even humor the idea in the first place. "I mean it, Team Rocket would really be a great place for ya-"
"Stop it," Pikachu snapped. "Stop trying to recruit me for your stupid organization. I'm not joining. I'm not interested. I'm not even going to consider it for a single second. I don't want anything to do with a bunch of people who are constantly trying to stuff me in cages, nets, and whatever else the hell you can get your grubby hands on. It's bad enough you're trying to go after me, but…you drag my friends into your stupid, idiotic, moronic schemes all the time, too. So, stop talking."
Meowth blinked. Then he let out a low whistle and began a slow clap. "Wow. I didn't know ya twerps knew how to say words like 'stupid'. I'm impressed, Pikachu."
Charmander rolled his eyes while Pikachu groaned and put his face in his paws. "Why don't you just leave Pikachu alone?"
Meowth winked. "Team Rocket never gives up. That's somethin' ya twerps can understand, at least, right?"
"Okay," Pikachu mumbled into his paws. He took a deep breath and turned to face the cat. "Here's something I don't understand. Why is a Pokemon so ready and happy to capture other Pokemon for a gang of humans?"
The smile fell off Meowth's face instantly. 'Oh, you are NOT taking control of this conversation, rodent.'
"Ah, ah, ah," Meowth said mockingly, wagging his finger directly in front of Pikachu's face again. Pikachu nearly flinched backward from the sudden movement. "That's not fair, Pikachu. If I have to share somethin' about myself, yer gonna have to do exactly the same. An eye for an eye."
Pikachu, as it stood, was not any more pleased at Meowth over the proposition and his ability to consistently hold onto his glare was actually starting to be impressive. "Okay, then." For a moment, Meowth felt a victory. "I guess I'll just never know the answer."
Then he deflated.
His interest was now piqued, however. "So yer the private type, eh?"
"I just don't like sharing my business with anyone."
"Especially not to you," Charmander muttered into his glass. Meowth's ear twitched, but he opted to ignore the fire lizard for now. But good lord, that thing had an attitude. He was almost afraid to find out what the lizard would be like if Meowth were directly engaging with him, one-on-one. Almost, of course. Curiosity may kill the cat, but Meowth was certain that he was always gonna be the exception to that rule.
Meowth sighed. "Fine. I'll share my answer first and then ya can decide for yerself whether or not ya want to indulge my questions afterward. Deal?"
Pikachu didn't reply, but he did look off to the side for a moment so Meowth took that as the go-ahead.
"First, and most obvious answer, not a lotta Pokemon like me very much from the get-go."
Charmander snorted into his glass.
"Obviously," Pikachu said with a frown. "You're not very trustworthy."
"No," Meowth said curtly. "That's not the main reason why. I'm not the only Pokemon willingly working for Team Rocket. These other 'mon don't like me either, despite us workin' for the same team. Ya wanna know why?" He leaned forward and grinned. "It's because I talk like this."
"Like…a human?"
"Like a human," Meowth confirmed. "I'm considered a freak. I ain't the same as you twerpy pokemon. I walk on two legs regularly, I talk like a human, and after doin' both for so long, eventually ya start to get treated as somethin' in-between. Humans ain't gonna accept me so easily, either. I'm a "talkin' Meowth" first before anythin' else."
Pikachu and Charmander were both silent. The latter looked uncomfortable and turned away, going back to sipping on his juice. Meowth was grateful. He had intended to only talk to Pikachu in the first place, anyway. The sooner the Charmander butted out of the conversation, the better.
"...I didn't know."
Meowth blinked. "Eh?"
Pikachu wouldn't meet Meowth's eyes. He stared down at his drink instead, with an unreadable look on his face. "I didn't know others thought about you that way." He said quietly. "That's upsetting. I'm sorry."
For once, any silver-coated words died on his tongue, and all Meowth could do was stare at the mouse who seemed to be expressing some odd form of remorse on his behalf.
"Thank you," he said breathlessly. And he meant it this time.
Pikachu gave a small, encouraging smile. "Pokemon should stick together. Maybe keep that in mind the next time you try and capture an innocent Pokemon for Team Rocket."
Meowth's mind was still stuck on Pikachu's - frankly, quite weird - reaction to Meowth addressing the fact that he talked like a human aloud. Now that he thought about it, Pikachu never made any comments about it before, outside of being slightly surprised when they first met. It wasn't like the other twerp pokemon hadn't made any comments about it, either. Bulbasaur had a few words for him, none of them kind, as justified as they probably were. Squirtle showed no qualms about scrutinizing Meowth over his speech. Charmander, while quiet about it, didn't hide his judgemental looks, and he certainly seemed more than a little uncomfortable at the conversation between his electric-type teammate and the scratch cat Pokemon at the moment.
"Right," he said absently. He shook his head and gave Pikachu a devious grin, feeling his earlier confidence returning. "So, eye for an eye. How about it?"
Pikachu gave him a dirty look. "Nice try."
Meowth snickered. "It was worth a shot."
Silence fell after that. Meowth didn't mind, but he had to admit he was slightly disappointed he couldn't find ways to pester Pikachu anymore, especially when the mouse decided to go check on his drunk teammate and - oddly enough - Ekans and Koffing. Meowth watched in fascination as Pikachu comforted Ekans, reassuring the snake that no matter what happened, he'd personally make sure that the snake would be able to reunite with Jessie. Ekans didn't mention the problems that would arise with that and neither did anyone else.
Eventually, Pikachu had managed to get Ekans to calm down, and then quickly turned to do the same magic on Koffing. Same promises, same level of sincerity, same soft smiles and gentle pats. It was a stark contrast to the scowls and insults the mouse usually brought with him during their interactions. Albeit, Meowth supposed that made sense, given how they usually would be trying to kidnap the electric type, rather than sit down and converse with him.
'Maybe that's where we've been goin' wrong?' Meowth wondered. 'Not tryin' to figure Pikachu out before tryin' to capture him? Maybe…maybe Pikachu can just be persuaded to join up with us. If we can somehow just figure out what makes this mouse tick…'
Naturally, that job would fall onto him, but he wasn't sure if he should share this brainwave with Jessie and James, if and when they eventually reunite. They'd probably dismiss him, no doubt, insisting that it was either their way or the highway.
But there was nothing stopping him from taking up a solo mission to try and get Pikachu to join Team Rocket rather than be forced into it.
The only problem he faced was where they stood.
Pikachu only saw him as an enemy and anytime they'd interact, there would be barely any time to actually have a conversation like this time. The island of giant pokemon was an exception to what was normal. So, if Meowth was going to make this work, he'd have to make every interaction from that point onward count.
It was a shame, then, that the next time they interacted was in the Orange Islands.
But Meowth would never forget that day, because that was the day when the lines began to thin.
A/N: So, I decided to go ahead and make a short story surrounding Krazyshipping, but...not in the way people might think. This was written as a sort of way to address the more problematic side of Krazyshipping and the issues that might pop up with a relationship between the two characters involved. Still, I'd love to hear feedback and any suggestions to make the relationship between Pikachu and Meowth develop better than what I have here currently. There will be seven chapters in total, one for each region. Please let me know what you think! :3
