Chapter 116: The Rockets trio who were sold but helped count the money
Since the Orange Islands have many uninhabited islands, Ash's group made a special stop in Vermilion City for supplies before departing.
The Team Rocket Trio bought many things, most of which were Pokémon food.
Misty saw several bright golden special items at the top of the pile and said, "These look like lottery tickets, don't they?"
"Lottery tickets? At most, these things can only be exchanged for a few packs of tissues or soy sauce," Ash said indifferently.
He had seen too many of these marketing tactics in his previous life; the so-called grand prizes were mostly deceptive.
Even if someone won the grand prize, nine and a half out of ten were shills, and the remaining half were not human.
"That's right, these things are not reliable.
Let's put the items on the bench over there and check if anything is missing," James suggested.
After putting down their things, the Team Rocket Trio saw two supermarket staff members on the other side of the supermarket entrance, presiding over the lottery.
Misty felt an itch to try her luck after watching others draw, so she said, "These lottery tickets are a waste if we just leave them.
It wouldn't be a loss to exchange them for some tissues.
Ash, let's go try our luck!"
"Huh?"
Ash felt a bad premonition seeing this familiar scene.
Could this also be a Team Rockets trap?
He remembered that in the original story, idiot took Team Rockets' airship, and due to Jigglypuff's intrusion and the ship's disrepair, they almost perished.
He found that any ship associated with Team Rockets, except for the small boat of friendship that could capsize again and again, could not escape the fate of destruction.
The St. Anne's (Titanic) was like that last time, and so was that airship.
"Congratulations to this guest for winning the special prize!"
Just as Ash had predicted, Misty drew the grand prize as soon as she tried, and the reward for the grand prize was three airship tickets to Daikan Island.
At the same time, in the dense forest not far from the airship dock.
The Team Rocket Trio received a call from Giovanni.
"Jessie, James, Meowth, I now order you to transfer to the Team Rockets Corporation's Airship Department," Giovanni said.
"Airship Department?"
Jessie and James's eyes widened, full of disbelief.
In their understanding, the Airship Department had always been an important source of income for their Team Rockets.
"Your recent missions have been completed very well.
The Airship Department is an important source of income for our Team Rockets and cannot be entrusted to unreliable people…."
"Boss~~"
Giovanni's few simple words moved the Team Rocket Trio to tears.
What the Team Rocket Trio didn't know was that Giovanni's real reason for entrusting this department to them was that the Airship Department had been experiencing continuous accidents in recent months, leading to successive losses.
Eventually, no customers were willing to take their airship.
Ash's group, who drew the three tickets, were the last batch of customers.
For the sake of honest operation, Giovanni could only send the Team Rocket Trio to the soon-to-be-disbanded Airship Department to deliver the last batch of customers.
As for whether they could safely reach their destination, Giovanni didn't care in the slightest.
Ash's group followed the map on the back of the tickets and found the airship dock.
"Wow, it's so big!" Misty exclaimed.
"This ship…."
Looking at the dilapidated airship, Ash was already prepared to abandon ship and run at any moment.
"Don't you think there's something wrong with this ship? It's so old; can it really fly to Daikan Island?"
Brock even doubted if the ship could even take off.
"Are you planning to take that airship?"
Two people in work clothes and safety helmets walked over.
"That's right, we won airship tickets to Daikan Island, and the address marked on the ticket is here," Misty said, holding the ticket.
"You're so brave, we can't keep up at all!"
The two staff members showed shocked expressions.
"Is there something wrong with that airship?"
"Well, that airship is called the Ship of Misfortune.
Legend has it that there are Pokémon living on it that cause trouble!"
Listening to these two, Ash just felt they were making excuses to make passengers leave voluntarily.
They must have known the ship was in disrepair and were afraid of accidents happening to passengers.
"Attention, please! We've kept you waiting, guests!"
Just then, James and Jessie, wearing blue work uniforms, appeared before Ash's group.
Ash looked at their outfits and said, somewhat speechless, "Jessie, James, it really is you!"
"Ash? Why is it you guys?"
James and Jessie were also very surprised that the passengers were Ash's group.
Ash saw that Meowth wasn't with them and asked, "Since you two are here, then Meowth must be the one piloting the ship, right?"
"How could that be? We have professional airship pilot licenses! Come, come, guests, this way," James loudly shouted while pushing Ash's group onto the ship.
"Stop.
You want us to board your ship? No problem, provided Meowth inspects it first.
Your Team Rockets' ship, the St. Anne's last time, is a cautionary tale.
I don't think you two want to lose your lives," Ash suggested.
"Huh?"
Jessie and James's minds were full of question marks.
Mentioning the St. Anne's made Misty feel a bit scared.
"Listening to Ash, maybe we should just take a ferry instead."
In the sea, she had Water-type Pokémon with her, so if the ship sank, she still had a chance to survive.
But in the sky, if the ship had problems and fell, releasing Pokémon would just add another corpse, which wasn't worth it.
James deeply agreed with this.
"That's right, let's take a ferry."
"No, no, no, we'll have Meowth inspect it right away.
We promise to safely deliver you to your destination!"
Boss Giovanni finally gave them a mission, how could the Team Rocket Trio disappoint Giovanni?
Even if it meant sending Ash's group to the ends of the earth, they had to complete it desperately.
If they messed up the job, and the higher-ups didn't approve their activity funds or pay their salaries, how would they catch Pikachu?
Loving Book So Far Check Out 80+ Chapters In Advanced At Pa Treon:
patreon.com/FicTonic1