"Meow~"
"Meow!"
"Meow meow meow—!"
Rubbing his head, Hayato Sora stepped forward. "Alright, alright, stop arguing! Someone's still sleeping in the house."
Serena and Cinccino were sleeping in the guest room next door. Waking them up would be bad.
He quietly pushed the door open and took a quick look. The two of them were hugging each other, sleeping soundly.
Hayato Sora returned and pointed ahead. "You. Explain."
Under the unfriendly gazes of the other Pokémon, the Alolan Meowth stepped forward.
"Meow~ meow!"
"You met on a cruise ship?"
"Meow!"
Alolan Meowth nodded. At the time, it had been fleeing from Gumshoos chasing it, so it escaped onto a ship.
Unfortunately—or perhaps fortunately—the ship happened to depart right then.
And just like that, it left its homeland.
Terrified and unsure what to do, the Alolan Meowth didn't dare wander around and simply lived aboard the cruise ship.
Later, the ship docked twice. Through various accidents, a Galarian Meowth and a regular Meowth also ended up boarding the same ship.
"Where did you get this Spatial Satchel?"
Hayato Sora lifted the bag in his hand. It wasn't cheap—the newest model cost more than 10,000 Poké Dollars.
The regular Meowth beside him cried out.
"Meow~ woo!"
"You picked it up from a trash can… is that it?" Hayato Sora asked suspiciously.
The sly Meowth immediately jumped up, waving its claws wildly in protest.
"Meow!"
The satchel really was something they found. Along with it, they had also found a small Pokémon.
If it weren't for feeding that huge glutton, the Meowth would never have gone around stealing food!
With just a bit of probing, Hayato Sora had already obtained quite a bit of information.
So the three Meowth even had an accomplice.
He tapped the table lightly, signaling them to quiet down. His expression became unusually serious.
"Do you know how much loss your actions have caused the ranch owners? According to the Pokémon Alliance's Pokémon Law, you could be locked in a Pokémon prison for ten years. By the time you get out, you'll already be old and frail."
Hayato Sora's words made the Meowth shudder.
In their minds, they imagined themselves hunched over with canes, exhausted after taking just a few steps.
"Meooow—!"
(No! I don't want to be locked up for life!)
The regular Meowth's mental defenses collapsed first. Tears poured out like a flood, forming a small stream across the floor.
The other two Meowth weren't much better.
Their faces turned pale, their expressions lifeless, heads drooping in despair.
Their Meowth lives were over.
Hayato Sora coughed awkwardly.
He had only intended to scare them a little to make the interrogation easier.
Apparently… he had gone a bit too far.
"Don't cry yet. Things aren't that serious."
Taking a sweet custard egg tart from Cyclizar—who had just fetched it from the refrigerator—he handed it to them.
"If you have extenuating circumstances, your sentence can be reduced."
Once the ropes were removed, the Meowth looked at the tempting egg tart, confirming that the human didn't seem dangerous.
The Meowth held the tart and began nibbling at it carefully.
The sweet flavor made them show blissful expressions. Their earlier fear quickly faded away.
The human in front of them didn't seem so scary anymore.
When the Meowth finished the tart and carefully licked the flower nectar stuck to their paws so none of it went to waste, Hayato Sora finally spoke again.
"So, what did you do with all the food you stole?"
With the trust built through food, the gray Meowth glanced at Cyclizar on its left and Kangaskhan on its right before answering honestly.
"Meow woo!"
"You fed it all to another Pokémon?"
Hayato Sora asked again.
"Was it a Snorlax?"
Judging by the amount of food the Meowth had stolen this time, it was enough to feed more than ten Pokémon for over a month.
Originally, that food had been prepared for the Lapras herd.
But they had left earlier than expected, so the food had been stored in the granary.
"Meow~"
The Alolan Meowth shook its head.
Not that big.
"A Munchlax?"
The Meowth shook its head again, then pointed toward the Galarian Meowth, indicating that it had seen the Pokémon before boarding the ship. They were from the same region.
It had a huge appetite, was small in size, and came from the Galar region.
Putting all the clues together, there was only one possibility left.
A Pokémon first discovered in Galar.
A dual-natured Pokémon with Electric and Dark typing.
Morpeko.
"Wait here a moment."
Hayato Sora picked up his paper Pokédex, flipped toward the back pages, and pointed at the illustration of a hamster-like Pokémon with yellow coloring, happily waving while holding food.
"Is it this one?"
The Alolan Meowth leaned closer to look.
It nodded first—then shook its head.
"Meow!"
"The color's wrong?"
Hayato Sora turned the page.
"How about this one?"
"Meow!"
The Alolan Meowth nodded vigorously.
That was exactly what it looked like.
And it could be extremely fierce.
"So that's it…"
The poor thing had been starving into its Hangry Mode.
Now Hayato Sora finally understood why the Meowth had been stealing so much food.
Morpeko was a rodent Pokémon modeled after a hamster.
Because its cheek pouches constantly generated electricity, it was always hungry.
But since its stomach was small, it had to keep eating constantly.
In fact, its daily food intake rivaled that of a Snorlax.
For three Meowth to support Morpeko's appetite was truly asking too much of them.
If they hadn't been unable to find food, they probably wouldn't have resorted to stealing from ranchers.
They even specifically stole cheap flavored feed—sweet feed and salty feed.
They never touched the Berries.
This was new information Hayato Sora had obtained from Gario over the past few days.
The Meowth actually showed some restraint.
The losses they caused were still within what ranch owners could tolerate.
"Morpeko…"
Hayato Sora murmured, then looked at the three Meowth.
"I can let you go for now. But you need to bring Morpeko here to the ranch."
"Meow—!"
The Alolan Meowth immediately stepped back warily, as if saying: Don't even think about threatening our companion.
The Galarian Meowth rubbed its claws together, preparing to attack.
The regular Meowth nervously wiped the coin on its forehead and stared at Hayato Sora.
"Pretty loyal," Hayato Sora thought.
He then explained his reasoning.
He couldn't simply trust their word.
He needed to meet Morpeko in person.
The clever Alolan Meowth seemed to understand and let out a quiet question.
"Meow?"
"If you run away and get caught again," Hayato Sora said with a cheerful smile, "you'll be sentenced to twenty years instead. Straight to prison until you die of old age."
Then he added casually,
"And little Morpeko will probably be adopted by another human. You'll never see it again."
"Meow—!"
The three Meowth all jumped back in shock.
Terrifying!
After a moment of whispering among themselves—
they reached a decision.
The regular Meowth and Galarian Meowth would stay at the ranch as hostages, while the Alolan Meowth would go bring Morpeko.
They watched as the Alolan Meowth ran into the forest.
The two remaining Meowth waved vigorously, reluctant to see it go.
Hayato Sora crouched down and began kneading and petting them.
The regular Meowth's fur was soft and pleasant to stroke.
The Galarian Meowth, however, was completely different—its fur felt like stiff steel needles.
The two Meowth closed their eyes, looking as if they were prepared for the worst, allowing Hayato Sora to do whatever he wanted.
Rubbing his forehead, Hayato Sora chuckled.
"Are you two still hungry?"
"How about joining us for breakfast?"
PS: I've been releasing chapters daily . Honestly, it hurts seeing almost no support on Patreon after all that work.If you're enjoying the fic, even a little, supporting me would mean a lot. It helps a student stay independent .
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