Chapter 7: Meowth's First Battle
Peter and his Pokémon had reached the fishing pond around noon and had began to make camp. Peter had been sitting patiently staring at the pond for a while. Charmander was playing with Eevee as Oddish was soaking up some water. Nido-G had taken a nap by a patch of tall grass. As for Meowth, it was being rather annoyed waiting around. "Can you hurry up!?" it complained. Peter just sat there still focused on the pond. "Hey! Are you listening?!" it cried out.
"Yes I am and I can't make this go any faster," Peter replied. "Besides, if you want to eat, you have two choices. Wait here or catch a fish yourself,"
"How 'bout we just head to Vermillion! The Pokémon Center is right in plain sight," Meowth exclaimed. Peter then looked at Meowth with a smile.
"To be honest, our party isn't able to defend themselves right now," Peter stated. "Charmander's tail has a low flame, Eevee is getting tired, Nido-G can't keep jogging behind you when you lose pace, Oddish needs more sunlight," Before he could finish, Lapras had popped out of the water throwing fish to the shore. Peter began to scoop up the fish as he continued. "The only ones capable of a battle are you and Lapras," He said as he threw a fish to Lapras. Lapras caught the fish as it smiled with content.
"So two Pokémon is better than none. Besides, the last battle gave us some money to spend," Meowth exclaimed. Peter shook his head as he began to make a campfire.
"It won't be easy to win any battle if you just decide to stay behind my leg all the time," he replied. "If you engage in battle, then I can at least have more confidence in you to be my Pokémon leader,"
"Pokémon leader?" Meowth began to think about what Peter said. "You mean I would be top cat?"
"You can kiss that goodbye if I can't rely on you in a Pokémon battle," Peter exclaimed.
After lunch, Peter had gathered a few more fish for the road as he recalled Lapras. "It'll take a few more minutes," Peter said to Meowth. "We can have some fish to eat while we travel,"
"Um... Peter?" Meowth said humbly.
"What is it?"
"I've been thinking. You know... About what you said,"
"You mean being my Pokémon leader?"
"Yeah. I want to be a leader. So I wanna prove it to you," Meowth seemed to be more open to Peter since he brought up being leader. He look serious about it to boot. Peter was happy that Meowth wanted to better itself, so he gave a nod to Meowth.
As they were about to leave, Nido-G turned his ears to the opposite side of the pond. Peter looked into the direction and saw a Scyther. Peter's eyes widened as he couldn't believe the oppertunity. "Okay Meowth. You're about to get your chance at being a leader," he said confidently.
"What now!?" Meowth said in shock. Peter pointed to the Scyther that was taking a drink. Meowth began to cringe at the Pokémon.
"This shouldn't be a problem. You can do this," Peter said. Meowth just hid behind Peter. "You're not afraid of it, are you?" he asked.
"Me? Afraid? No way!" Meowth exclaimed. "It's just that I read that you shouldn't battle on a full stomach,"
"You must read a different magazine than me. You want to be a leader, then you have to fight hard," Peter pointed out. Meowth thought about it for a moment and then decided to be brave.
"Okay! You just watch me beat that chump!" Meowth said boastfully. Peter then picked up a rock and threw it at Scyther. The rock hit it on the head as it was drinking. It looked up to see Peter and Meowth ready for a fight. Scyther was mad as it hovered over the pond. Meowth looked a little nervous as it approached. Peter then gave the command. "Let's start off with a scratch attack, Meowth!" he ordered. Meowth grinned as it readied its claws. "Scratch is my specialty," It claimed. Meowth ran up to Scyther with a hard swipe to its body. Scyther stepped back as it flinched a bit.
"ALRIGHT! You can hit it with a Pay Day attack now!" Peter shouted out.
"But I don't know Pay Day!" Meowth shouted back. Peter thought it odd that Meowth didn't know such a basic attack for a scratch cat type Pokémon. "What do you know?" he asked.
"I know how to scratch, fury swipe, and talk!" it replied. Peter was in disbelief but understood the situation. "Let's give it a Fury swipe before it..." Peter could not finish the order as Scyther rushed past Meowth and straight to Peter. Peter was knocked down by its speed and was suddenly pinned down. Scyther seemed uninterested in Meowth which caused Peter to wonder why. "Meowth! Help me!" he said as he held Scyther's blades away from him. Meowth looked at Peter and then began to walk away. "What are you doing?" he asked Meowth.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm gonna find my fellow Rocket friends," it said slyly. Peter was begining to weaken a bit. "What?! You can't leave me!" he shouted. Meowth still continued to walk away. "What about being my team leader? Are those guys really interested in you?"
Meowth paused for a moment as he thought about what Peter said. "They did dump me for a Sandshrew..." it thought to itself. Peter couldn't hold off Scyther anymore as he felt his strength leave him. As Scyther began to raise it's blade for a final attack, a sudden flash came from behind it as it felt weakened. Peter pushed Scyther away as he noticed Meowth in front of him. "I thought you wanted..."
"They're a bunch of losers, anyway," Meowth said. Peter was relieved but then realized Scyther was still about. It came up from behind Meowth ready to strike. Peter grabbed his Pokéball and threw it at Scyther. Meowth stumbled and fell hard on it's right arm. Peter scored a direct hit to Scyther as it struggled a bit then stopped. The catch seemed to be unbelievable, yet Peter was more concerned for Meowth. "Are you alright?" he asked. Meowth seemed to favor its right arm as it may be broken.
Peter decided to camp out before reaching Vermillion. He wrapped Meowth's arm up in a sling before finishing up supper. Meowth didn't seem hungry as Peter thought he would be. Instead, Meowth asked a question. "Why?" it all it could think of.
"Why, what?" Peter replied.
"Why did you help me? After what I did..."
"I would have done it for anyone else. Besides, you're my Pokémon."
Meowth didn't understand too much what he meant by it. "Nobody helped me out like that, though,"
Peter looked at Meowth and felt bad for it. "I want you to know that you mean alot to me. Like Nido-G and the others, I want only the best for you," he said comfortly.
"The best? Is that why you made me team leader?" Meowth wondered.
"I see alot of potential in you Meowth. You can do so much more than just being a thief or a bum. You can be a champion," he replied. Meowth liked the idea as it ate the fish.
"Not only that... I want you to be happy," Peter finished.
"I know. I'll be better than ever as soon as my arm feels better," Meowth said as it continued to eat. Peter knew now that Meowth meant it. He then fixed his sleeping bag and settled in for the night.
End of chapter 7
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