"Alright, alright, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that." Abigail recalled the frog back into the Frog Egg.
"It's a different situation," Abigail continued, picking Froakie back up and whispering into its ear. "It's not even a Pokémon—it's normal for it to be different."
"Froakie?"
"Out of all the Pokémon, you're definitely the absolute best."
"Froakie." Froakie thought about it. Just as it was about to accept the compliment, Haley suddenly spoke up: "Then what about Bellossom?"
"In that case, you're number two."
"—" Thinking about Bellossom, Froakie reluctantly accepted this ranking.
"What about Amber?" Abigail glanced at the Gengar nearby. "Number three? Sorry, Amber is my Pokémon after all."
"What about Orthworm?"
"Froakie!" Before Abigail could say anything, Froakie leaped up and jumped back onto Ron's shoulder.
"Froakie."
"You're the best."
"Froakie?"
"Yes, you're even better than Bellossom."
"Froakie."
"Yes, you're even better than Indeedee."
Ron showered this early contributor to the farm with extreme favoritism. He shamelessly lied through his teeth while walking toward the massive tree in the center of town.
"You're so fake," Abigail teased.
"Froakie?" Froakie stared at Abigail's face and started charging up a Water Gun.
"Okay, okay, I promise you're the best Pokémon on the farm," Ron said, blocking Froakie's attack.
"Gengar?" Abigail looked at Amber and smiled. "You're my best Pokémon too."
"Gengar!"
Meanwhile, back at the farm.
Unsurprisingly, it didn't rain today. Even though they had checked the weather forecast yesterday, because its fishing trip had been a total bust, Sailor clung to a tiny sliver of hope, wishing that today's weather wouldn't follow the rules and praying that even a single raincloud would drift by.
But there weren't any.
Outside, the sky was perfectly clear.
"Indeedee?" Indeedee called out, carrying a plate of food over to Sailor.
"Ratta—"
"It says—" Meowth instinctively started to translate, then realized everyone present was a Pokémon, so it swallowed its words.
"Indeedee." Indeedee called out again.
Does it really only bite when it's raining?
"Ratta."
Sailor nodded heavily.
Indeedee thought for a moment, then said, "Indeedee, Indee."
"Ratta?" Hearing that Penny's Clefable knew Metronome, Sailor perked its head up.
Metronome was a slightly unusual move. To be precise, it was like a gacha skill—it could randomly pull any move from the entire pool of Pokémon moves. In other words, if they got lucky, they might actually manage to roll Rain Dance.
"It's still a bit difficult to rely on Metronome to specifically get Rain Dance, you know," Meowth couldn't help but say. Before it finished speaking, it noticed the pleading look in Sailor's eyes.
"Don't tell me you want me to go to Penny's and borrow her Clefable?" Meowth asked in disbelief.
"Ratta!" Sailor enthusiastically patted its chest.
Because of its obsession with fishing, plus the quite a bit of savings it had amassed from digging through trash cans previously, treating Meowth to a meal was absolutely no problem at all.
"Let's go."
Meowth walked over to Sailor's side. "But is this really necessary, meow? Metronome won't necessarily hit the right move, you know."
Even though Metronome cycled through all moves—which meant that if it was used enough times, it would eventually roll the move they wanted—the entire move pool had close to eight or nine hundred skills in it. To cycle through the entire pool once was practically impossible.
Thinking this, Meowth opened its mouth, looked at Sailor, who was dead set on this, and swallowed its words back down.
Since it was Saturday, Penny happened to be playing with the kids at the playground. From afar, Meowth waved a paw at her.
"Good afternoon, meow," Meowth greeted as it approached.
"Meowth, Sailor, what are you two doing here?"
"Because Sailor wants to borrow your Clefable, meow."
This sounded a little weird. A Pokémon wanting to borrow another Pokémon. Penny stood there for a moment, puzzled. Seeing this, Meowth hurriedly explained.
"Ah—Metronome? It knows that move?" Penny thought for a moment. "Hmm, I suppose that's fine."
Saying this, Penny took out her Poké Ball and let Clefable out.
The moment Clefable came out, the kids swarmed around it. Leo was still a bit unfamiliar with Pokémon and hesitated in place, but Jas immediately threw herself into Clefable's arms.
"Clef!"
"Teacher, can we come too?" Jas looked up and asked. Having eavesdropped on their conversation, she looked at Penny with eyes full of longing. "I've never seen a Pokémon use a move before!"
"Alright." Penny hesitated for a second but agreed. "I'll go with you guys then."
Meowth looked at the expectant group and couldn't help but scratch its head.
'How long is this going to take to draw the right move, meow—' Meowth complained inwardly. But because it had to act as the translator, it followed Sailor down to the lake anyway.
"Ratta, ratta," Sailor said, pointing at the lake.
"Use Metronome toward the lake, meow," Meowth instructed.
"Clef?"
"You're not its Trainer, it's not going to listen to you—" Meowth paused, then turned to look at Penny.
"Oh, right. Clefable, use Metronome on the lake!"
"Clef~"
Saying this, Clefable waved its paws. In an instant, a white light enveloped Clefable.
"Clef~"
The next second, a Razor Wind shot out and struck the water's surface.
"There's no way it'll hit on the first try normally, meow," Meowth said, patting Sailor. "Honestly, it's only a few days away. Ron will be back soon. Once he's here, you can just learn Rain Dance yourself."
"Rain Dance? Are you asking Clefable to use Metronome for that?" Penny asked in confusion.
"Yeah." Meowth realized it hadn't explained the situation to Penny yet. "We need to use Metronome to roll the move Rain Dance, meow."
Saying this, it took some time to explain the mechanics of Metronome to Penny.
"I see."
"So it's fine even if we waste a little time, meow."
The words had barely left its mouth when Penny pointed at the water and said, "Clefable, use Metronome—"
The next instant, a white light flashed, and a small raincloud began to gather over the lake.
"Ratta!"
Amidst Sailor's cheers, Penny said with a hint of pride: "When it comes to pulling the right 'ticket', my luck is actually pretty good."
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