"Indeedee isn't going to believe that kind of talk, meow." Before Meowth could even finish, Jessie smashed a fist into its head.
"Meow—" Meowth immediately covered its head and lowered it grievously. "I was telling the truth, meow."
"Indeedee, Indee."
"Hey, Meowth, what did it say?" James asked in a low voice.
"It told us to go eat, meow."
Meowth looked at Indeedee with tears streaming down its face. "You're truly a good person, meow."
"Indeedee."
Indeedee turned around and walked toward the cabin over there.
Although it was a little angry that Team Rocket had tried to run away without a word, it hadn't heard any malicious schemes in their inner thoughts. More than anything, out of concern for the farm and fearing their presence might negatively affect things, Indeedee ultimately chose to let the matter slide.
As for them escaping...
Unless Ron gave his permission, they wouldn't be able to find any way to leave Pelican Town anyway, so there was no need to worry too much about that.
Rather, Indeedee's anger stemmed entirely from the fact that this happened while it was left in charge of the farm.
"Are you really not mad, meow?" Meowth asked, jogging to catch up.
"Indeedee, Indee." Indeedee turned its head to look at Meowth.
"You said that if we want to bring our Pokémon over from the other continent, we just need to tell Ron, meow?" Meowth scratched its head. "As for other things, Ron has everything handled, meow."
Jessie and James, following behind them, exchanged a glance.
While Meowth was still chattering away to Indeedee, Penny arrived at the farm's entrance.
"Indeedee."
"Good morning, meow!" Meowth greeted her on Indeedee's behalf. "Are you here looking for Ron, meow?"
"Yeah, has he—already left?"
"He's already gone, meow. He might even be in Kalos by now, meow," Meowth replied after a moment's thought.
Penny sighed in slight disappointment. "Why did he leave so early?"
"I don't know, meow. He headed out bright and early." As Meowth spoke, Indeedee let out an "Indeedee" beside him, so Meowth translated, "Indeedee is asking if you've had breakfast yet, meow. Do you want to eat with us?"
Penny shook her head, waved at Indeedee, and left the farm.
James, meanwhile, was still pondering with Jessie about bringing their Pokémon to the farm, whether they should settle down here, and quitting Team Rocket.
On the other side, Ron.
Ron was steering his boat across the sea.
He had noticed Team Rocket tailing him early on, but Ron didn't take it seriously at all.
After all, without his permission, there was no way to travel from Pelican Town to Kalos. So, after just a single glance at the incredibly conspicuous little boat on the horizon, Ron activated his Warp Totem, taking himself and his boat straight to Kalos.
Come to think of it, it was more convenient to borrow a boat from Willy. That way, no matter where Ron was, he could instantly teleport back to the boat in Pelican Town, instead of having to sail to the Coumarine City port like he did now, and having to use the same method to return.
After docking the boat on the shore, Ron stepped right off.
He then took out his map, studying it in his hands while pondering his next steps.
Froakie rested leisurely on Ron's shoulder, observing its surroundings.
Come to think of it, it had been a while since it spent time alone with Ron.
Aside from sleeping by Ron's pillow at night, Froakie had been spending all its other time grinding and leveling up with the Fairy Rose in the mines.
The upside was that it genuinely felt its strength had improved significantly. The downside was that its screen time in front of Ron was even less than Sailor's, who spent every day collecting forage and fishing.
"Froakie~"
"What's wrong?"
Froakie waved its hand leisurely.
Hearing this, Ron didn't pay it any mind and continued walking.
Abigail's Gym Challenge had progressed to her sixth gym in Laverre City. After finishing her battle against the Lumiose City Gym Leader, Clemont, she was currently heading toward Laverre City.
By this calculation, if Ron took public transit to Lumiose City, rented a Gogoat, and then hurried to Laverre City, he could catch up to them the day after tomorrow at the latest.
Although he could have used the Pokémon Transport System to send the items to the Laverre City Pokémon Center and asked the Nurse Joy there to pass them on, because of the sentiments attached to the dress and the things Caroline had prepared, Ron chose to deliver them in person.
Deep in thought, Ron entered Coumarine City and followed the map to find the train station bound for Lumiose City.
"Froakie?" Sitting on Ron's shoulder, Froakie inexplicably sensed that several gazes were converging on them. It quickly sat up straight and looked around.
After so many days of training in the mines, it had become extremely sensitive to these things.
After a quick sweep, it spotted two men not too far away, secretly watching them from over the top of a newspaper.
"Is that the guy?"
"Should be right. According to the intel, it's him."
The man raised his newspaper and then pulled out a photo. It showed a shot of Ron's back from when he was traveling with Haley last time.
"The Froakie matches, the backpack is the same, and he came from the sea too," the man said, turning to his partner, who was also observing Ron. "What do you think? Should we keep tailing him, or just grab him directly?"
According to their intel, this guy only had a Froakie and a Fairy Rose on him. He didn't look like he could pose any threat whatsoever.
"Let's observe a bit longer first. Did you forget that little girl's Gengar? Don't underestimate them."
Recalling the experience of getting single-handedly wiped out by that Gengar, the man fell silent.
Reaching a consensus, the two sneakily followed Ron onto the train.
Just as Ron sat down in his train seat, an elderly man sat down next to him.
"Hello there, young man." The old man greeted Ron, then noticed the Froakie on his shoulder. "You've raised your Froakie quite well. Are you not planning to participate in the Pokémon League?"
"I am, but I've been busy with some things lately," Ron replied. He then looked up from his map and turned to the old man.
"I see. How many badges do you have so far?"
"One," Ron answered.
"Then it seems you've cleared Viola's challenge. That's pretty good." The old man introduced himself cheerfully, "I'm the Coumarine City Gym Leader. You can call me Ramos. Whenever you have some free time, come challenge the Coumarine Gym! Of course, since it's a Grass-type gym, you might be at a slight disadvantage."
Ramos stroked his beard.
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