Ron fell silent upon hearing this.
After a long while, he took a deep breath and asked, "Are they—that gossipy?"
"There's nothing else to do in a small town anyway, meow," Meowth pondered for a moment, answering while drinking water.
"Indeedee! Indeedee!" Indeedee eagerly tried to chime in.
"You don't need to translate that," Ron said. He turned and walked out of the cabin, heading straight for the nearby coop.
"What's he going to do, meow?"
"Indeedee, Indee."
"Looking for a Rabbit's Foot?" Meowth's drinking action paused. "Will it grow back if it falls off?"
"Indeedee?" Indeedee tilted its head, thought for a moment, and shook its head. "Indeedee."
"You don't know either, meow." Hearing this, Meowth looked down at its own paws, suddenly feeling an inexplicable chill on them. It jumped down from the chair. "Then I'll head back too, meow—"
"Indeedee."
After saying goodbye to Indeedee, Meowth slowly walked toward the house where it lived with Jessie and the others.
Before it could even open the door, it heard an unbelievable murmur from insidem "It's really healed."
"What is it, meow?" Meowth pushed the door open and saw James lifting his shirt at that moment, repeatedly examining his back in the mirror.
"What's wrong, meow? Didn't you guys go for a physical today, meow?" Meowth asked while yawning and walking toward its little bed.
"Right, the doctor at the Pelican Town clinic, I think his name is Harvey." James turned toward Meowth, showing his back to it. "Look here, this is the scar I got when we got blasted off last time and got snagged on a tree branch. It's completely gone!"
"Meow?" Meowth paused its movements and turned its head to look at James.
"And this one, this was from the Team Rocket assessment—" James pointed to his back. "It's healed too, not a single mark left."
Meowth actually knew about this.
It vaguely remembered that James was wrapped in bandages almost all over his body back then, and it had left behind some scars that couldn't be repaired.
"The medicine from this morning, meow?" Meowth leaned in to examine it. "Then the effect is really amazing, meow."
James looked again and again, then finally let his shirt down. "And it was free, too."
The concept of free medical care hardly caused any ripple in Meowth.
After all, no matter where they were, as long as it was a Pokémon, if it got injured, it just had to run to a Pokémon Center. As long as it didn't expose the fact that it could talk, ninety-nine percent of Nurse Joys would help treat it.
Moreover, because of a Pokémon's unique physiology, it had never been left with any scars. Even that time Jessie was baking bread and accidentally burned its paw, it just went to the Pokémon Center once and was completely healed by the next day.
However, it still followed up with a sigh of emotion: "Then that's really incredible, meow."
James nodded and sat on the bed.
"Should we go back?" James suddenly said.
"Go back, meow?" Meowth plopped its butt down next to him. "Actually, Meowth also thinks it's better to leave early—unless—"
It didn't finish, but James instantly guessed what Meowth was going to say.
Unless—they quit Team Rocket and stayed here.
Just like Butch and the others, officially leaving Team Rocket.
"Meowth doesn't know, meow." Meowth tilted its head back, lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling. "By the way, James, why did you join Team Rocket again, meow?"
"—I don't remember." James lay down too, also looking at the ceiling. "What about you, Meowth?"
"I—wanted Boss Giovanni to value me, meow." Meowth padded its paws behind its head, only saying this after a long while.
But now, it seemed like it had been a long time since it last dreamed of being valued by Giovanni.
On the contrary, its dreams had started to include Sailor, Indeedee, Maru—it had new, beautiful dreams.
"I see."
The room fell into a brief silence once again. Before long, Meowth's purring sounded. James turned his head, glanced at Meowth, and reached out to pull Meowth into his arms.
When Jessie finished her shower and walked to the bedside, she saw the two of them snuggled together.
"Seriously—" Jessie sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. "Leave this place—or quit Team Rocket—"
Thinking this, she couldn't help but rest her chin on her hands, staring at the fluttering snow falling outside the window.
On the other side, Ron rummaged through the coop for quite a while before remembering that Shane seemed to have found a rabbit's foot in the coop one day and handed it to him.
Rummaging based on his memory, unsurprisingly, he found that Rabbit's Foot in a chest.
"How did things end up like this—" Ron rubbed the rabbit's foot in his pocket as he returned to the cabin and lay down on the bed.
"Indeedee!"
"Good night," Ron said, closing his eyes.
The next day.
Maru came to the farm early in the morning. To test her first Rotom-series robot, Ron had specially cleared a small patch of land in the greenhouse to test the robot's agricultural applications.
Because there were already sprinklers for watering, the robot's duties were more focused on sowing and harvesting.
Ron handed Maru the leftover Starfruit seeds from his last trip to Ginger Island, then casually handed her a freshly baked Hazelnut bread for breakfast.
It was the last of the farm's stock. Normally, based on the farm's hazelnut supply, they could just make more hazelnut butter when it ran out, but after Jessie specially made a stuffed bread for Evelyn last time, these supplies were pretty much used up.
"Thanks," Maru took it.
It was freshly baked and still a bit warm. Holding it in her hands, she glanced around the greenhouse: "This greenhouse is really nice. It's so warm even in winter."
Saying this, Maru ate her bread while handing the Starfruit seeds to the Rotom robot's hands.
"Current task—Sowing, Roto!" the Rotom robot chirped, then cupped the seeds and walked over to the empty patch of land.
"Isn't it a bit slow?" Watching the Rotom till the soil and bury the seeds, she couldn't help but turn and look at Ron.
"It does seem a bit slow."
"Slow? Roto?" The Rotom raised its head, looking at Ron and Maru. Then, it turned its head back and sped up its movements.
"Current task—Accelerate, Roto!" the Rotom robot shouted, its hand movements growing faster and faster.
"This should be just right—" Maru stuffed the rest of the bread into her mouth, clapped her hands, and called out to the Rotom robot.
Before she could even finish her sentence, the robot over there continued to yell: "Too slow! Accelerate, Roto!"
Immediately after, burnt smell drifted over from the Rotom robot's arm.
------------------------------------------------------
40+ Chapters Ahead: patreon.com/EphemeralShadow
There's something for free patrons too! Free Patrons receive 1 chapter in advance :)