"Is it really that bad?"
The Wizard thought about it, and after a moment, took the ingredients from Ron's hands.
Although he wasn't too pleased about Ron's assessment of his cooking, since Indeedee's food was genuinely good, the Wizard didn't say much more. He nodded at Ron, turned around, and carried everything back to the Wizard's Tower.
He was preparing to pack up and head back to the Sinnoh region with Indeedee.
Halfway there, he turned back and said to Ron, "I probably won't be back for another half month. Will that be a problem?"
"As long as Indeedee is okay with it." Ron said, then thought for a moment and handed Indeedee a Farm Warp Totem. "You can come back whenever you want."
"Indeedee~" Indeedee looked at the warp totem in its hands and called out to Ron.
"I'll head back then." Ron said. He thought for a moment, transferred some money to the Wizard's Pokédex, and then turned to leave.
Once Ron was far away, the Wizard glanced at the warp totem in Indeedee's hand, his mouth twitching.
"Making it seem like I'd hold you hostage." The Wizard said, a bit dissatisfied.
Though he actually kind of wanted to. Even though he didn't have particularly high standards for food, Indeedee's culinary skills were genuinely far superior.
"Indee~" Indeedee snapped its head up and waved the warp totem at the Wizard.
"Alright, I get it. Call me whenever you want to come back." The Wizard continued. "If we get separated, you can just use that to get back."
"Indeedee~"
Meanwhile, on the other side. Team Rocket headquarters.
A group of people surrounded the warp totem that the Team Rocket members had brought back, examining it.
"What is this?"
"No idea, but there are some patterns on it. Could it be some kind of ancient Pokémon or technology?"
"Ah, the boss is here."
Giovanni walked up to the warp totem in a few steps and looked at the Team Rocket executive beside him.
"That man used this thing to disappear right in front of you?" Giovanni asked, staring at the strange pillar.
"That's right, Boss." The executive answered.
Giovanni rubbed his chin and studied it for a while. The detection team nearby hurriedly brought over a pile of equipment and began scanning around the totem pole.
"No energy fluctuations nearby."
"Can't detect any energy information at all. This is just an ordinary pillar." The researcher stared at the computer screen for a long time before speaking.
"That's impossible! I saw with my own eyes that man touch this pillar and vanish in a flash of light!"
The executive beside him quickly swore an oath. "I really saw it with my own eyes!"
Just as everyone was discussing this, someone suddenly shouted, "Hey, there—there's an energy fluctuation! A powerful, unknown energy is approaching!!!"
Before the words could finish, a white flash appeared in front of everyone.
Immediately after, a purple figure stood bewildered in the middle of the detection equipment.
The Team Rocket members were stunned for a split second, and then a squad of well-trained operatives surrounded him.
Giovanni stood not far away, hands behind his back. Since the Wizard hadn't made any move yet, he was staring unblinkingly at the man who could make a Caterpie use Dragon Pulse.
Given that they already knew this man's strength, recklessly making an enemy of him was clearly not a wise decision. However, since his prior understanding of this man was limited solely to the executives' reports, Giovanni planned to wait and make his decision after the Wizard made a move.
"——Where is this?"
While Giovanni was still weighing his options, the Wizard examined the strange people in odd outfits surrounding him, feeling confused for a moment.
"Indeedee?" Indeedee glanced at the Wizard.
"I didn't set the coordinates to——ah, someone picked it up and brought it here?" The Wizard muttered while picking up the totem from the floor. "I clearly hid it——really."
Saying this, the Wizard pocketed the totem and grabbed Indeedee's hand, about to leave.
"Indee, in." Indeedee stared solemnly at Giovanni and the gradually closing-in Team Rocket members. Just as it was about to use its Farm Warp Totem to take the Wizard back to Pelican Town first, the Wizard frowned, vaguely sensing something.
"Careful."
Giovanni spoke first.
In that very instant, the Wizard drew his staff. With a bizarre green light flickering, the Team Rocket members surrounding him collapsed to the ground one by one beneath that green glow.
Giovanni paused. He had just turned to flee when his body went limp and he collapsed to the floor.
In the moment before Giovanni lost consciousness, he saw the Wizard slowly walking away, holding Indeedee's hand.
"Indeedee?" (Were they bad people?)
"I don't know. Maybe they thought there was something off about me and wanted to study me." The Wizard said, turning his head to glance at Giovanni.
The next instant, Giovanni completely lost consciousness.
Holding Indeedee's hand, the Wizard found the exit to Team Rocket headquarters. Standing at the door, the Wizard fell into confusion once more.
"——Where is this now?" The Wizard took out the Pokédex and examined it for a moment. Seeing no prompts on it, he frowned. "No map either——"
"Indeedee." Indeedee called out.
"Let's find someone nearby to ask." Saying this, the Wizard let out a long sigh and led Indeedee into the nearby forest.
Meanwhile, in Pelican Town.
Ron arrived at the farm, glanced at Bellossom, who was busy scraping moss off everyone, found a dagger from a nearby chest, and sat down by the pond.
The long line of Geodude waiting to have their moss removed exchanged glances. After a while, one of them hesitantly stepped forward in front of Ron.
"Geodude, Geodude!"
The Geodude approached Ron with the air of someone marching to their execution.
Ron paused, then chuckled after a moment, and began scraping the moss off the Geodude with the dagger.
Although stone was its actual body, because it frequently rolled down from the mountains to the foothills, losing a few pieces here and there wasn't a big deal for a Geodude. It wouldn't sustain any serious injuries.
So even being scraped a little was tolerable. The only problem was that, for Geodude, being rounder signified greater age. If it were scraped flat, then all those years of effort would have been for nothing.
But there was no helping it. To quickly remove this itch-inducing moss, these sacrifices were necessary.
Thinking this, the Geodude closed its eyes.
"Geodude! Geodude!!"
The Geodude psyched itself up and lay quietly at Ron's feet.
Then, it faintly felt the blade drawing across its body, accompanied by a slight tickling sensation.
"Geodude?"
It slowly raised its head and saw Ron carefully using the small knife to scrape the moss off its body.
"Geodude——"
The commotion here immediately attracted the attention of the other Geodude who had already been watching. The group of Geodude exchanged glances and promptly transferred en masse from Bellossom's line to Ron's line.
"Geodude!"
"Geodude, Geodude!"
"Bellossom?" (Not scraping anymore?)
Bellossom looked at the line in front of it, and after a moment, sheathed its sword and left without a word.
It wasn't like Indeedee, who would feel unwanted just because everyone stopped lining up on its side or something like that. For Bellossom, every second counted. If it wasn't needed here to help, then it was going to the mines to slaughter monsters!
Thinking this, Bellossom shouldered its sword and departed in style.
The farm fell quiet for a time.
Because of the overtime work during yesterday's Green Rain, Ron had given everyone a day off. Most of the farm's work was temporarily at a standstill right now.
The only things left were a line of Geodude patiently queuing up, and the sound of a knife scraping moss that occasionally drifted from the pond.
Not far away, Magearna quietly watched this scene.
"It's really nice, meow." Meowth sat down beside Magearna.
"Magearna~"
Magearna agreed.
Time flashed forward to the next day.
Sailor, who had been fishing all night, was currently sneaking peeks at the situation inside the cabin.
Seeing that it was Ron cooking at the kitchen door, it finally breathed a sigh of relief and slowly made its way inside.
Reaching the washroom, Sailor washed its face and glanced at its bloodshot eyes. It was debating whether to rest for a bit after eating, or just move in with Willy and stay there until the Fishing Derby was over before coming back.
While Sailor was still lost in thought, Ribbon tugged at its paw.
"Rattata?" Sailor jumped, but relaxed when it saw it wasn't Indeedee.
"Rattata." Ribbon handed the 200g that Indeedee had given it to Sailor's paw.
"Rattata?" (What's this for?)
Looking at the money in its hand, Sailor glanced outside and asked why Ribbon was the one delivering this money.
"Rattata, Rattata, Rattata——"
Ribbon briefly recounted the whole story. Learning that Indeedee had left for Sinnoh to travel with the Wizard because of Sailor's avoidance, Sailor couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt.
"Rattata?"
"Rattata!" Ribbon said, a bit huffily. "Rattata!"
"Exactly, you're being way too much, meow!" Meowth chimed in. It washed its paws before asking, "By the way, what are you guys talking about, meow?"
"Rattata! Rattata!"
"Mm-hm, hm-hm, Indeedee has a crush on Sailor——hm-hm, and even bought Sailor a bouquet, meow." Meowth had just nodded when it remembered what the flowers they were talking about actually meant. Upon realizing this, Meowth fell into a brief silence.
"You really think that thing was for you, meow?" Meowth asked.
"Rattata." Sailor nodded, indicating it had heard it with its own ears.
"——Is that so, meow. Haha." Meowth forced a couple of dry laughs, remembering the things Indeedee had done before. After a moment, it added, "Well, then it got what it deserved, meow."
"Rattata?"
"Nothing. Yes, that bouquet was for you. Meowth even went with Indeedee to buy it, meow." Meowth patted Sailor's shoulder and left with a deep, contemplative expression.
"Rattata!" Ribbon continued to huffily denounce Sailor on Indeedee's behalf.
She felt this was truly a disgrace to Rattata kind. Even if Sailor really didn't like Indeedee, it should have ended things properly and with dignity! Not chosen to drive Indeedee away by running away!
"——Rattata." Sailor left the washroom with a heavy conscience.
A table of humans and Pokémon, each lost in their own thoughts, sat quietly eating breakfast.
Ron didn't notice anything amiss. He just felt that today's breakfast was indeed a bit quieter than usual. Maybe because Indeedee wasn't here, missing the Pokémon that usually livened up the atmosphere?
Ron wasn't sure, but he accepted it well enough.
Ribbon, meanwhile, ate while shooting accusatory glares at Sailor, preparing to tell all the other Rattata about Sailor's behavior later.
Because Indeedee was responsible for everyone's meals every day, for the gluttonous Rattata, Indeedee's importance was clearly far greater than Sailor's. After the meal, it wasn't long before all the Rattata learned the truth about Indeedee's departure from the farm.
It was all Sailor's fault!
The Rattata looked at Sailor with shared indignation, suddenly feeling indignant on Indeedee's behalf.
"Rattata!!"
Meanwhile, in the Kanto region.
The lost Wizard, with Indeedee in tow, finally reached a nearby city. With the help of a helpful citizen, they boarded a flight back to the Sinnoh region.
"Indeedee." Indeedee lay against the window, staring at the clouds outside, as well as the occasional Charizard and Dragonite flying by. "Indee." (So high up.)
The Wizard glanced at Indeedee's back, momentarily slipping into a daze.
Although Indeedee acted remarkably mature during meals, and was quite sensible while traveling with him, at times like this, the Wizard could faintly realize that Indeedee was actually still just a child.
Thinking this, he patted Indeedee's head.
"Indeedee?"
Indeedee turned its head. After hearing what the Wizard was thinking, it sat back in its seat with a dark expression.
"In, indeedee!!"
It was already a mature Pokémon!
Indeedee thought huffily.
Not understanding what Indeedee was upset about, the Wizard smiled and looked away.
Indeedee sulked, then inexplicably sneezed.
Meanwhile, in Pelican Town.
Under the Rattata's collective condemnation, Sailor fled the farm as if running for its life.
It happened to be raining today. When Sailor reached the beach, it ran into Willy chatting with an old sailor who had just gotten off a boat.
"Look, this is the Mermaid Pendant I brought." The old sailor said, handing the Mermaid Pendant to Willy. "All these years, you never thought about getting married?"
"No plans for that." Willy said.
"Then what are you going to do with that Stardrop passed down from your ancestors?" The old sailor asked.
"Give it to him." Willy pointed at Sailor nearby. "He's inheriting my legacy. Don't judge him by his appearance—his fishing skills are top-notch!"
Sailor didn't have the energy to care about Willy's praise right now. It sat down by the sea with a heavy sigh, and silently cast its fishing rod.
"Really?" The old sailor looked at Sailor with skepticism.
The next second, Sailor's bobber started moving.
The distracted Sailor glanced up. After a long while, it weakly pulled up the fishing rod.
Unsurprisingly, the fish was long gone.
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