After bidding farewell to Ash and his friends, Pidgeot circled and landed in the small grove on the other side.
There, Jessie, James, and Meowth were sound asleep, snoring away.
As Aomori arrived, a Darkrai emerged from their shadows and waved to him.
"Well done, Darkrai," Aomori complimented. After watching it happily slip back into his shadow, he looked toward the main protagonist trio.
He had wanted to talk to them last time but didn't have the time. This time, it was convenient to take care of it.
Without Darkrai deliberately maintaining the Hypnosis, Jessie, James, and Meowth slowly woke up. They opened their eyes, saw Aomori and the two-meter-tall Pidgeot beside him, and fearfully raised their hands: "It wasn't my idea! It was James and Meowth / Jessie and Meowth / Jessie and James who wanted to steal your Pokémon!"
"Hey, you two jerks!" x3
"Only you could pull this off. The moment you saw me, you all simultaneously pretended to fight among yourselves to lower my guard. Too bad you're the famous trio! Who in Team Rocket doesn't know who you are?" Aomori's speech left them stunned on the spot.
"Ah ha, you saw right through us..."
"We're too famous, there's nothing we can do about it..."
"That's right, Meowth!"
"I presume you've already guessed my identity, so I won't hide it any longer." Aomori spoke with a straight face, uttering complete nonsense. "That's right. I'm part of a secret unit within Team Rocket, directly under Boss Giovanni, specializing in evaluating and assessing field teams."
"What?!"
"A secret unit?!"
"Assessment and evaluation?!"
The trio wore looks of shock.
"Ahem." Aomori ignored their surprise and continued, "If it weren't for the fact that Jessie, your mother was my former superior, James, your wealthy parents and I are on good terms, and Meowth, who Boss Giovanni often speaks highly of, I wouldn't have appeared so rashly to meet you."
The trio was shocked again.
"My mom was your former superior?"
"So you really know my parents?"
"Boss Giovanni still loves me, Meowth!"
"Wait! I didn't know any of that!" x3
Aomori's words completely dispelled their doubts. After a brief conversation, they were already quite familiar with each other.
James said sheepishly, "Aomori-san, could you put in a good word for us and give us a high evaluation score?"
"Yeah, yeah!" Jessie and Meowth nodded incessantly.
"You don't need to ask. I will write highly of you, but you also need to demonstrate results."
"Results... but we still can't catch that Pikachu," Jessie said dejectedly.
"Should we switch to an easier target?" James asked.
"No!" Aomori forbade them.
"Why, Meowth?"
"Your intuition is correct. That Pikachu is indeed a powerful, one-in-a-million Pokémon, and that boy has the potential of a Champion, something I just personally confirmed. Therefore, this mission is of the utmost importance, and only you three are up to the task."
"I see..." x3
"My suggestion is: increase the effort!" Seeing that they had taken the bait, Aomori struck while the iron was hot. "Your failures the last two times were caused by inferior machinery. Why don't you build one now, and I'll give you some pointers."
As a Mechanical Master, he was extremely interested in the process by which the trio built various machines in his past life, so he took this opportunity to observe.
"No problem!" Jessie declared with a wave of her hand. "James, Meowth, get to work!"
James and Meowth: "...Okay!"
Next, James and Meowth produced a large pile of materials from nowhere, then picked up hammers and began clanging and hammering away.
With Aomori's discerning eyes, he only saw them combining the materials in a very ordinary way, yet at the moment of completion, the mundane transformed into the miraculous. In just two hours, a giant robot, three to four meters tall, stood before Aomori.
Meowth wiped a bead of sweat. "This is 'Pikachu Catching Super Robot Number One,' Meowth. Not only does it have an anti-electric coating on the surface, but we also thickened the defensive material. The twerps' Pokémon won't be able to break this robot."
"Hmph. Not only that, but it's also equipped with a new, automated tracking catcher. Once deployed, it won't rest until the target is caught, and it will automatically return to the main body," James said proudly. "I put my all into this robot. It's absolutely foolproof!"
Jessie applauded at the appropriate moment: "Wonderful! Wonderful! Aomori-san, what do you think?"
I can't tell anything at all! Aomori struggled to maintain his expression, gravely walking forward to inspect it.
He circled the Meowth-head robot a few times, scrutinizing every spot. His careful demeanor made Meowth and James anxious until they saw four parts shock, three parts admiration, two parts self-reproach, and one part regret in his eyes.
Wait, regret? Did we not do well enough? Meowth and James' hearts tightened.
"Alas." Aomori sighed, filled with boundless disappointment. "The craftsmanship and power are both impeccable; it's a rare robot in this world. But there is one thing that I feel a small regret about."
"What, Meowth? / What is it?"
"Do you know what the most inspiring quality of a robot is?"
"Huh?" Meowth was still completely confused, but James seemed to be deep in thought.
"Could it be..."
"That's right! It's the ability to transform and combine. Every robot that people rave about possesses the ability to transform and combine. That single line, 'I'll form the head,' has given countless people unforgettable memories of boiling passion!" Aomori spoke with deep emotion, having fully immersed himself in the role.
"Yes! How could I have forgotten! It's unforgivable!" James buried his face in his hands, weeping in anguish.
Jessie and Meowth, however, were completely lost.
Thus, James, bursting with enthusiasm, single-handedly took on the task of modification, with Aomori, the guide, occasionally offering a pointer from the side.
Not long after, "Pikachu Catching Super Robot Number Two" was released. It added the ability to transform and combine. It could split into three different small robots and then transform and merge back into one large robot.
"Aomori-san, how is this one?" James was physically exhausted but filled with a sense of accomplishment.
Aomori didn't speak. He simply gave him a thumbs-up. Everything was communicated without words.
"Very good. If you continue like this, you'll catch Pikachu very soon."
"And then we'll get promoted, get a raise, and become regional department heads! We're so happy!" x3
Jessie, James, and Meowth waved, reluctantly saying goodbye to Aomori.
Aomori rode Pidgeot high into the sky. Once they were out of sight, he could no longer maintain his serious expression. He rubbed his cheeks, thinking: 'How is it that I can't learn this technique? Am I not dedicated enough? Is the art style wrong?'
But he didn't want to try again. With that settled, he set a course straight for Saffron City.
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You can read the ahead chapter on Patr if you're interested: p-atre-on.c-om/Overgod [Just remove the hyphen to access normally]