"They probably won't go after them, right?" Ron hesitated as he opened his backpack, looking at the items he brought while deep in thought.
On the other side.
Abigail, Haley, and the others were still continuously making their way toward Laverre City.
After successfully obtaining the Lumiose City Gym badge, their next stops were the Pokémon Contest in Laverre City and the Laverre Gym.
They hadn't walked far when Abigail suddenly shivered for no reason.
It was the middle of summer right now. She looked around a few times, rubbing her arms uncomfortably.
"What's wrong?" Serena asked with concern from beside her.
"I don't know, I just feel a chill down my back," Abigail said, rubbing her arms again. "Even though it's so hot—never mind, let's drop it. By the way, Ron should be on his way to Laverre City too, right?"
She turned to Haley. "I wonder what Mom will bring me."
"Will there be Blackberry Cobbler?" Bonnie asked from the side.
She still remembered the taste from the last time Abigail shared some with her.
"There probably will be," Abigail thought for a moment. "After all, it's my favorite. Mom will definitely make it."
Hearing this, Bonnie cheered.
"Honestly—" Serena laughed and rubbed Bonnie's head.
Even though Bonnie had traveled on her own for a while now, she still acted exactly the same as when they first started, being completely reckless.
Realizing she had crossed a line, Bonnie scratched her head and awkwardly apologized to Abigail.
"It's fine, I was going to share it with you anyway," Abigail smiled and patted Bonnie's head. "It's something for everyone to share, after all."
As they chatted and laughed, the group reached the outskirts of a town.
Figuring that Ron was also coming from the direction of Lumiose City, they pondered for a bit before deciding to rest at the town's Pokémon Center for the night.
Just after entering the small town, that weird feeling washed over Abigail again. She sharply looked toward a corner and saw a woman sitting there, holding a newspaper, seemingly reading it with great interest.
"So weird—" Abigail was just about to think deeper into it when Bonnie grabbed her arm and dragged her into a jog toward the Pokémon Center.
"Hurry up! We're going to miss lunch!"
"Ah, okay." Abigail took one more look at the woman, shook her head, and followed Bonnie's pace.
"This little girl is quite sharp, she almost exposed me." The woman put down her newspaper and contacted the person on the other end of her communicator. "Are you sure this is the right person?"
"Yes, the people in this small town are absolutely not simple." The person on the other end was the Team Rocket member who had recently failed to attack Ron and Abigail.
"You're not doing so well either," the woman sneered. "You can't even handle such an ordinary little girl."
"Give me a break. Don't ever underestimate the Gengar in her hands. Not a single one of Ichiro's or my Pokémon is a match for it," the man on the other end couldn't help but say.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." The woman shrugged. "So what you're saying is, we capture them, and then force that guy to hand over the things he has to us, right?"
"Exactly," the man named Ichiro said. "If we can figure out what he has and hand them over to the Boss, it would absolutely be a massive achievement."
"How massive?"
"On par with capturing a Kyogre and offering it to the Boss," Ichiro couldn't help but say.
Hearing this, the woman's expression also grew serious. "Really?"
"Of course. Once you see what he has, you'll realize its value!" Ichiro continued. "Even though we didn't test it thoroughly, that frog is incredibly strong. And that staff—oh right, and that Bellossom."
"—?" The woman raised an eyebrow. After hearing the specific descriptions, she completely lost interest, but remembering her mission, she still agreed. "Alright, let's leave it at that. I'll think of a plan tonight. Since that Gengar is really that strong, we'll have to outsmart them."
Saying this, the woman stood up, folded her newspaper, and walked off into the distance.
On the other side, Ron.
Worried that the two men might cause trouble for Abigail and the others, Ron couldn't help but signal his Gogoat to pick up the pace.
Although he was still confident in the items in his possession, the things hadn't reached the girls yet. If anything went wrong, it would be hard to explain to Caroline and Emily.
With this in mind, Ron said, "Gogoat, full speed ahead."
"Meh—"
"I'll treat you to a Poffin when we get there."
"MEH!!!"
Meanwhile, in Pelican Town.
After being let off the hook by Indeedee, Jessie and James were currently busy working in the barn.
"What do we do now, meow?" Meowth asked as it swept the floor.
"I don't know."
"But no matter what, we still have to go back to headquarters, right?" James said. "Mime Jr. and the others are still there. Even if we have to steal them back, we have to."
"That's true, meow." Meowth swept the floor a couple of times. "Then let's ask Ron when he gets back."
"Wouldn't that be too much trouble for him?" James couldn't help but say. "Because of us, Team Rocket might target him, and now we're asking him to help us steal Pokémon from headquarters—"
Jessie, however, appeared incredibly confident about this.
"If it's just about stealing our Pokémon back, we completely don't need Ron for that, right?" Jessie said. "With just the three of us, we can absolutely steal them back without anyone noticing!"
From their words, it was clear the two of them already had intentions to settle down.
For Team Rocket, most Pokémon within the organization were shared. Although some that were caught personally would be used as permanent partners, the members ultimately only had the right to use them.
However, Jessie and James were an exception.
To explain why, the reason was actually a bit embarrassing.
It was that the Pokémon they caught simply didn't meet Team Rocket's standards. Whether it was Jessie's Lickitung or James's Mime Jr..
Furthermore, because they constantly failed their missions, and the powerful Pokémon borrowed from the organization kept getting blasted off by little kids for various reasons, the organization refused to keep renting Pokémon out to them.
Because of this back-and-forth, they ended up forming deep bonds with those Pokémon.
If they were going to quit the team, there was no reason to leave them behind in Team Rocket.
With this in mind, Jessie and James started brainstorming intensely on how to steal their Pokémon back.
Indeedee, who was passing by, paused. It turned its head to look at the two whispering to each other, as well as Meowth, who occasionally threw in some sneaky ideas.
"—Indeedee—"
Seeing that it was for the sake of their own Pokémon—Indeedee chose to act like it hadn't heard anything. Continuing to walk with its paws behind its back, it resumed patrolling the farm.
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