Chapter Sixty-Two: Cooperation with Team Rocket

After the rocket incident, which had been thrilling but ultimately harmless, everyone continued on toward Lily Town. Along the way, Ash caught a semi-legendary Pokémon, Gible. If it had been a Psychic-type Pokémon, perhaps Cheng would have fought Ash for it.

After arriving in Lily Town, Dawn participated in a Pokémon Contest, and soon afterward, the group set out for their next destination. Following a period of travel, they reached Gardenia Town.

Gardenia Town was breathtaking, with its vast fields of flowers and, naturally, a multitude of Pokémon. There, amid the sea of blooms, a Pokémon could be seen.

“Look over there!” Dawn pointed toward a Pokémon lying motionless among the flowers.

It was Meowth, whom they hadn’t seen in ages.

Ash picked Meowth up and found it was badly injured.

“Are you okay, Meowth?”

“Let me take a look.” Cheng knelt down to examine Meowth’s wounds. They were only superficial, yet Meowth had already lost consciousness. Cheng could hardly imagine what force could have hurt Meowth so badly, especially given how often it had been battered by Pikachu.

Cheng and Brock provided basic first aid and bandaged Meowth’s wounds. Looking at the injured Meowth, Cheng recalled a previous incident.

Let us turn the clock back five days.

After the Team Rocket rocket malfunctioned, they were once again destitute, unable to fund their efforts to capture Pikachu. At this point, Meowth thought of Cheng.

“What did you say? You want us to work for that kid?” Jessie and James exclaimed in surprise, unable to believe Meowth was proposing they accept Cheng’s employment.

“No way, we’re the famous Team Rocket! How could we just take a job from someone else, especially a kid?”

“Exactly. We refuse.”

“He’s not a kid, and besides, we’re out of funds,” Meowth insisted.

Jessie and James touched their empty stomachs and eventually relented.

“Fine, but first tell us what you want us to do, and what the payment will be.”

“All right, I’ll go ask now,” Meowth said, and connected to Cheng’s communicator.

“Hello, is this Meowth?”

“It’s me. Are you still offering that job?”

“Of course. Have you decided to accept?”

“Yes, but we want to know what you want us to do, and negotiate payment first.”

“No problem. I need you to find an area near Lily Town with lots of Pokémon for capture. Once you find it, let me know. Payment will depend on the location you find. But rest assured, the pay is generous—you’ll get at least 100,000 League credits. If you find a place with tons of Pokémon, a million is not out of the question.”

Cheng exaggerated a bit, since he couldn’t really pay that much, but a minimum of 100,000 was no problem.

“What do you think, Jessie, James?” Meowth asked the two beside him.

“Let’s do it,” Jessie decided, and James didn’t object.

“We agree,” Meowth confirmed.

“All right, let me know when you find the place.”

Cheng hung up and glanced at Ash and the others, who hadn’t noticed him.

Cheng wanted Team Rocket to find a place with many Pokémon so he could catch them. Originally, he hadn’t planned to capture so many Pokémon, but the system had assigned a tempting task.

“Special Task: Capture Pokémon
Psychic-type Pokémon will belong to the host; non-Psychic-types will be bought by the system at twenty percent of the original price.
Duration: ten days
Time remaining: five days
Rewards will be based on the number and quality of Pokémon.”

Twenty percent was double the usual rate, and with a final bonus as well, Cheng was delighted. He decided to accept the task and, to capture more Pokémon, employed Team Rocket.

Cheng had considered using the Psychic Pokémon base privilege, but eventually decided against it.

He took the opportunity to ask the system about the whereabouts of his Pokémon, but the system only gave the same evasive answer as before. Cheng had no choice but to hope they were doing well.

A day later, Cheng received Meowth’s communication—they had found a location. Judging from the map they sent, it wasn’t far, so Cheng decided to eat quickly and head out.

He found an excuse to tell Ash and the others he’d be away for a few days, and they agreed to meet at Gardenia Town.

After leaving Ash’s group, Cheng headed toward the spot Team Rocket had located.

In a distant forest, two people and a Pokémon were waiting.

“Hey, do you think that kid won’t show up?” James, with his bluish-purple hair, asked his teammate.

“He’ll come, I believe it,” Meowth replied.

“But it’s been so long and he hasn’t appeared.”

Team Rocket waited behind a tree, watching the path Cheng would take.

“What are you looking at?” A voice came from behind them, startling them.

“How are you behind us?”

“I took a shortcut,” Cheng replied. The map had made the distance seem short, but in reality, it had taken much longer. To save time, Cheng had taken a shortcut, but had encountered several Pokémon along the way, which slowed him down.

“All right, this is the place we mentioned—the task is done, pay up!”

“Wait, don’t be hasty.”

“What’s wrong, trying to cheat us?” Meowth showed its only intimidating claw.

“Certainly not. I told you I’d pay based on the number of Pokémon, but I still don’t know what’s here, so I can’t pay yet.”

“So what do you plan to do?”

“Simple. Once I’ve caught the Pokémon, I’ll pay you.”

“No way! We still need to catch Pikachu!”

“Then there’s nothing I can do.”

“Damn it!” Meowth lashed out with a furious Scratch, but Cheng dodged carefully—Meowth’s combat skills were not to be underestimated.

“Come out, Chimecho—Psychic!”

Cheng had Chimecho use Psychic to restrain Meowth.

“Let me go, damn it!”

“Release Meowth now! Go, Cacnea—Bullet Seed!”

“Yanmega, Sonic Boom!”

“Come out, Mr. Mime—Barrier!”

Cheng summoned Mr. Mime to block the attacks. He had to admit, Team Rocket’s Pokémon were powerful, especially after their training with Pikachu.

“Mr. Mime, use Psychic.”

Yanmega and Cacnea were quickly restrained.

“Let them go, damn it!”

“Chimecho, Mr. Mime, throw them back.”

“Chime~”

“Mime~”

Team Rocket’s Pokémon and Meowth were tossed back.

“Relax, I’m not refusing to pay. Why are you so impatient?”

“What exactly do you want?”

“How about you help me catch Pokémon?”

“What?”

“Help you—catch—Pokémon?”

“That’s right. Help me catch Pokémon for a day, and I’ll pay you. At the end of the day, I’ll pay you for catching Pokémon and for your previous task, all at once. How’s that?”

“We need to discuss it.”

“No problem.”

Team Rocket hurried some distance away and began to confer.

Ten minutes later.

“No problem, we accept.”

“Good, let’s split up and act. We’ll meet here before dawn tomorrow. Here are some Poké Balls—use them as needed.”

Cheng took out a bag of Poké Balls from his backpack, about fifty in total.

“Okay.”

Cheng and Team Rocket went their separate ways. He wasn’t worried they’d run off with his Poké Balls or secretly keep any Pokémon—they needed money, not Pokémon. Except for certain groups, no one else could sell Pokémon.

After bidding Team Rocket farewell, Cheng ventured deep into the forest, catching any Pokémon he found worthwhile.

Time passed quickly and darkness fell; the wilds at night were far more dangerous.

Cheng used his psychic powers to navigate as he pressed onward, hoping to avoid encountering a Pokémon swarm—otherwise, it could be fatal.

Unfortunately, his fears were realized, though not immediately.

As dawn approached, Cheng returned to the rendezvous point to meet Team Rocket, but before he arrived, he spotted them—and some things trailing behind.

“Cheng, help us!”

Seeing what was chasing Team Rocket, Cheng turned and fled. Help? More like a death sentence. Over a dozen Ursaring were in hot pursuit—even legendary beasts would shy away.

As they ran, they reached a dead end—a sheer stone wall too high to climb, but Cheng could fly.

“Come out, Lunatone.”

“Lunatone, use Psywave to carve a hole in the wall.”

“Chimecho, use Psychic to lift me up.”

Cheng quickly entered the stone cavity, and Team Rocket caught up.

“Chimecho, Lunatone, use Psychic to bring them up.”

The cave was small, so Cheng recalled Chimecho and Lunatone and released Mr. Mime.

Why Mr. Mime? Because...

Boom!

An explosion echoed as rocks began to fall—the Ursaring were blasting the wall with Hyper Beam.

“Mr. Mime, Barrier!”

Mr. Mime held off the falling debris for now, but if this continued, they’d be buried.

“What did you do?”

“We didn’t do much—just caught a Teddiursa.”

“Teddiursa isn’t something you can just capture! All right, hand it over.”

“No way, we caught it ourselves.”

“Come on, we’re about to die, and you care about a Teddiursa? Just count it as mine, okay?”

“All right, here you go.”

Cheng released Teddiursa, returning it to the Ursaring, and they soon left.

“Thank goodness, they’re gone,” Cheng sighed in relief.

“So, what about the Pokémon you caught?”

“Here.”

Team Rocket handed over their captured Pokémon, and Cheng used the system to appraise their value.

He was shocked—the Pokémon Team Rocket caught were of exceptionally high grade. Cheng could hardly believe they’d managed to catch so many high-quality Pokémon without a system. Truly, Team Rocket was remarkable.

Cheng paid them ten percent of the original price for the Pokémon, then added two hundred thousand as their previous reward. Team Rocket was overjoyed.

After parting ways with Team Rocket, Cheng hurried to rejoin Ash and the others, continuing to catch Pokémon along the way.