Seeing this, Sailor glanced at Meowth and reached out a paw to tug at its raincoat.
"Ratta?"
"It's fine, meow. Meowth will just take a shower when it gets back," Meowth said. Remembering its perfunctory gesture just now, it added, "You can definitely catch that fish, meow."
"Ratta." Sailor pulled its hat down, glanced at the TV in the Pokémon Center, and then hurriedly rushed back to the lake to continue fishing.
"Rain Dance huh." Meowth said, watching Sailor leave. It had just extended a paw to dart into the rain when it saw Maru walking over, having just gotten off work.
"Meowth, don't you have an umbrella?" Maru asked, jogging over to the eaves and holding her umbrella over Meowth's head.
"Nope, meow."
Originally, Meowth had been sitting obediently in the cabin, helping Indeedee prepare dinner. But Sailor had burst into the cabin in a panic, grabbed Meowth without a word, and dragged it to the Pokémon Center, gesturing wildly as it explained its desire for a Rain Dance TM.
"I see. Are you heading back to the farm now?" Maru asked.
Seeing Meowth nod, she continued, "Then I'll walk you back to the farm."
"Really, meow? Wouldn't that be too much trouble?" Meowth asked.
Maru waved it off. "It's fine, it's just a slight detour. In this heavy rain, it wouldn't be good if you caught a cold."
"Then thank you so much, meow." Remembering the sneezes from earlier, Meowth didn't refuse. Looking incredibly touched, it was just about to offer its paw to walk alongside Maru when she scooped it right up into her arms.
"Let's go, you won't be sheltered from the rain if you walk beside me," Maru said. She handed the umbrella to Meowth's paws, then pulled a handkerchief from her pocket, wiping the rainwater from Meowth's fur as they walked.
"Thank you, meow." Meowth held the umbrella with both paws, looking up at Maru.
Seeing Maru so earnestly wiping the water from its fur, Meowth blinked hard.
"What's wrong?"
"Not many people are this nice to Meowth."
Jessie and James were obviously good to it too, but such careful, attentive care was pitifully rare. Of course, the main reason was probably that the two of them treated it as an independent teammate, interacting with it as an equal.
Meowth couldn't really say which side was better or worse; it just really enjoyed this warm moment.
In a way, it was perhaps just like its dream of becoming the Boss's Pokémon.
Just as it was thinking this, a sudden gust of wind blew over. Meowth quickly clutched the umbrella tightly with its paws.
The next instant, Maru stuffed the handkerchief back into her bag and reached out to hold Meowth's paw.
The raindrops pattered against the umbrella, making a crisp sound.
"Thank you, meow."
"You're welcome."
Saying this, Maru squeezed Meowth's paw, marveling at how soft it felt in her palm. She looked down at Meowth's round head, hugged its soft body tightly, and walked toward the farm with an excited expression.
Time shifted to the next day.
Just as planned, Ron and his group arrived in Laverre City before noon.
"So this is Laverre City," Abigail said, staring at the massive tree in the distance and widening her eyes. "That tree is huge—"
"Right under that tree is the Laverre Gym," Serena introduced. "The Gym Leader is Valerie. I remember it's a Fairy-type Gym."
"I see." Abigail looked up at the distant tree, then noticed a signboard nearby.
"What's that, a fashion show?" Abigail stared at the signboard. "It looks like it... is it tomorrow?"
She then checked the date on her Pokédex.
"It is tomorrow." After confirming, Abigail suddenly remembered Ron's plans and turned to look at him. "By the way, Ron, are you heading back right after this? Or are you staying in Laverre for a day?"
"I'll head back after lunch," Ron replied.
There were still quite a few things to do in Coumarine City, so he didn't have time to waste here.
"Aren't you going to challenge the Gym while we're here?" Haley asked from the side. "Otherwise, when you want to enter the competition later, you'll have to make a special trip all the way back here."
Hearing this, Ron, who had been about to turn around and leave, stopped in his tracks.
"Froakie!" Froakie, who had been slumped on Ron's shoulder, suddenly sat up straight and patted Ron's shoulder vigorously. "Froakie!"
"—" Ron paused and turned his head to look at Froakie. "You want to challenge the Gym?"
"Froakie!"
Froakie nodded excitedly.
Under Bellossom's care, Froakie had grinded quite a few levels in the Skull Caverns recently. Now was the perfect time to test itself.
Ron listened to Froakie's inner thoughts for a moment and confirmed, "You want to challenge the Laverre Gym all by yourself?"
"Froakie!"
Froakie nodded repeatedly.
Based on its experience fighting the wildly flying Bruxish and the mummies that wouldn't go down without a bomb in that mine, Froakie felt that taking on the Laverre Gym would be a piece of cake.
"No items?"
"Froakie."
"Alright." Ron thought about it for a moment and agreed. "Let's do it this afternoon then."
"You're only sending out Froakie?" Serena and Bonnie asked in surprise.
Because they hadn't seen this Froakie battle yet, the two had no idea about its combat prowess. Plus, since Froakie hadn't evolved yet, judging purely by appearances, they didn't think it could win a Gym battle at all.
However, having witnessed what Bellossom could do, their skepticism lowered a little bit.
Even though they couldn't read minds, their inner thoughts were practically written all over their faces. Froakie pulled out the Everstone from its foam bubble and waved it at them.
"What's that rock?"
"An Everstone," Ron explained. "It's saying that it hasn't evolved because it doesn't want to, not because it can't."
Coupled with Froakie's actions, this explanation made the two girls snort with laughter.
"I see. Sorry for underestimating you."
"Froakie!"
"But it's still weaker than that frog, right?" Bonnie said, pointing at the Frog (trinket) on the ground.
Froakie, who had been about to retort, silently sat back down on Ron's shoulder.
The four of them immediately burst into laughter.
Ron had just laughed twice when the trembling of his shoulders caught Froakie's attention. It quickly patted Ron's shoulder twice with its paw.
Ron froze, swallowing his laughter. He looked up to see the others also trying to hold back their smiles.
The next instant, Abigail burst out laughing.
"Froakie?"
"Froakie!!"
Amidst everyone's laughter, Froakie grabbed its Everstone and hopped right in front of the Frog.
It was going to take on that damn Frog!
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