Chapter 33: Team Rocket

Raphael. That is all.

*

"Wait a minute, Itsuki, did you just say Ho-Oh just now?", Serena asked, still marveling at the Rainbow Wing that was now in between my fingers and no longer in my palms.

Without saying anything, I went back inside, only to retrieve my Pokedex from our stuff. Coming back out, the two saw with interest as I fiddled with it. Thankfully it seems the Pokedex has already categorized all existing Pokemon to date so far, as Professor Oak mentioned when he gave it to me before our journey started.

We don't have to catalog Pokemon into the Pokedex, which was one of Professor Oak's dreams. He did say this was accomplished mostly during Red and Blue's journey, along with many people they met.

And now on ours, we get to reap the benefits, and anyone else starting out nowadays. All we need to do is scan Pokemon, and it'll automatically search the Pokedex database, filling in any missing info the Pokemon has. And once a Pokemon is caught, it'll automatically record your moves and such.

For me, I was going through the database, arriving in the gen 2 list. Thankfully searching in it was pretty simple, and it had many search fields one can search by.

And sure enough, Ho-Oh was there. It had an image of it and everything. Serena and Lillie became stunned by Ho-Oh's look, as I let it play its description.

"Ho-Oh, the Rainbow Pokemon. Ho-Oh possesses seven colored wings, and depending on the angle at which they are struck by light, it shines one of those seven colors. This Pokemon is said to live at the foot of a rainbow, and a rainbow is created wherever it flies in the skies. If Ho-Oh appears before a group of Trainers and leaves behind one of its Rainbow Wings, these feathers are said to bring eternal happiness to its bearers. Some also interpret this as a right to challenge Ho-Oh, as Ho-Oh deemed their bearers to be worthy.", the Pokedex concluded.

"Wow...", Serena uttered in shock, listening to the Pokedex's reading.

"So according to the Pokedex...did Ho-Oh just acknowledge you by giving one of its feathers? Are you one of those "bearers" its referring to now?"

"Hmm, I did feel like this feather was aiming right at me, so I think so.", I answered Lillie, admiring the beauty of this feather. It was a lot more pretty up close than what it was shown in the games. It acted as if it had its own aura.

Seeing this, a glint of light streaked across Serena's eyes and a look of happiness appeared in her eyes as she clasped her hands together.

"Wait a minute, if that's the case does this mean a legendary Pokemon just acknowledged our relationship? It does say it'll bring us eternal happiness!", Serena said replied happily.

"Haha,, that does seem to be the case."

"We'll always be together...", Lillie gently smiled.

"Mmm. Well for now, this feather won't do much to us, but it will play a role in the future. Maybe once I'm strong enough I can challenge Ho-Oh too.", I replied with a smile as well.

"And as such, I'll put this feather away, and see if Gramps can look into it once we arrive at the Pokemon Center."

"Sounds good. We made it about halfway before that storm started. I'm sure we can make it to Viridian City before noon."

"We will see about that. I managed to spot a good first challenge for Raph here not too far off. If my guess is right there should be a rather strong Spearow there."

"Raph?", Lillie asked with interest.

"New name for Squirtle. Short for Raphael. Pretty cool, no?"

"I guess? Is that supposed to stand for something?" Serena asked, just being confused over Squirtle's new name.

"Haha, it is, but I doubt you two would get it.", I answered with a laugh. 'This isn't my old world any more so a certain group of mutant turtles don't exist here...', I inwardly retorted.

"Anyway, can you two help me pack away the tent?"

"Sure!"

"Okay."

As Serena and Lillie started to go back inside, I soon got another weird feeling. It wasn't anything majestic as the feeling Ho-Ih gave me a few moments ago. If anything, it was far from it. It was more disturbing, as if someone was peeping on you. It was strange, as I couldn't see anyone around us. Only the roaming Pokemon coming out to enjoy the sun and Viridian City far in the horizon north of us.

I looked at a certain direction toward the city for a moment, which caused Serena to turn back at me.

"Itsuki?"

"Get inside, quickly.", I spoke out with a serious tone. Seeing that, Serena and Lillie nodded their heads and quickly head back inside the tent with me following them.

Thankfully in situations like these, Teacher Hobbes did train me physically as well, so if something does happen, I can protect these two. Don't underestimate a butler just cause of their looks, haha!

(A/N: Hmm, learning Aura in future?)

Meanwhile, in the outskirts if Viridian City...

"Oh? It looks like we've been spotted-nya.", A voice said, who could currently be seen wearing a pair of high tech binoculars, looking outward unto the rolling hills.

"Seriously? Even though we can't see anyone? We need to make sure no outstanding figures enter Viridian City today or else our mission tonight may get jeopardized.", An older male voice said, who could be seen kneeling down in tall grass next to the other figure.

*We were informed there weren't going to be many travelers today too. Meowth, can you see if the people you see are Trainers or not?", A third more high pitched voice spoke out, revealing it to be a female.

"It's hard to tell-nya. Looks like its only a group of three and they went back in their tent shortly after looking our way. I didn't see any Pokemon."

"Hmm a group of civilians, then? Quite gutsy of them to venture out into a route alone without a vehicle.", the male voice said.

"The guy seems to be a bodyguard from looks of it seeing how he's built. Might be guardin' that pretty lady while the other is her friend-nya. I could've sworn I've seen that pretty lady on the news before, but they left too quickly before I could get a good look.", the first voice said, revealing to be a Meowth that could talk the human tongue.

"I see. Meowth, do you see any other individuals on this route, or are we clear?"

"All clear James-nya.", Meowth said, revealing the second figure to be James.

"Good. Let us rendezvous at the north side. We'll continue our patrol. As long as it's clear, our plan tonight will go underway without a hitch.", the third voice said, revealing the figure to be Jessie, who was also crouched down.

"Yes. The Boss successfully integrated da shadow Pokemon into our Team Rocket thanks to that mission we accomplished in the past. Now we get ta have a bit of fun. We'll set this Pokemon Center ablaze-nya." Meowth grinned, putting away the binoculars.

"Let's go.", James said, commanding the two.

"Ha-nya!", "Ha!", Meowth and Jessie responded with a salute.

If one looked closely as the three vanished into the shadows, they were indeed the Team Rocket trio. Yet they didn't appear to be the typical trio from the anime. They weren't wearing their B rank white uniforms. Far from it. Both James and Jessie wore black A rank uniforms. What separated these two from normal grunts were the white long sleeve gloves and white boots they had on, containing a single a single red stripe.

And if one looked closely at James's uniform, it appeared a bit different from Jessie's. His had a yellow stripe going around the top of his jacket, which further split into two yellow lines going around the red R in the middle. James's jacket was very similar to that of Petrel's.

And Petrel was one of the Rocket Executives. So what did that mean? It meant that James was also a fellow Executive, only responding to Giovanni! Both Jessie and the Meowth are now direct subordinates to James, after the two found Meowth several years back.

And it seemed Team Rocket underwent a makeover thanks to Miror B's visit so many years ago, and shadow Pokemon may be on the rise in regions outside of Orre.

As for me personally, I don't have any idea that such an event was happening before me. I did feel we were being observed at for several minutes. I couldn't tell who they were, but that feeling faded after that so I could tell they were gone.

And knowing we are coming to Viridian City, one thing was at the back of my mind. And with that feeling just now, one word came to mind, Team Rocket.

I do not know how they are in this world. But it's possible we could cross paths. Until that happens, we will just blend in with the crowd. I'm no trouble magnet like Ash is, haha!

Thankfully the Pokemon were resting inside the tent still, so even if we were observed, the ones who saw us don't know we are Trainers. Realizing that, they probably left, since that feeling vanished not long after.

As for Serena and Lillie, a look of worry were in their eyes as they watched me near the entrance.

"Itsuki, is something wrong? You've been like that for a while.", Lillie asked with worry.

"It's nothing. Perhaps I was looking into it too much. Let's pack things up."

"Alright."

"Itsuki, if there's ever something wrong, don't hesitate to speak up, okay?", Serena also asked with worry.

"Haha, of course. Sorry for rushing you two in like that. You don't have to worry about it."

*Okay!", Serena replied, and smiled. I saw her approach me, and gave me a quick kiss.

Lillie blushed a bit seeing this and as Serena parted from me, Lillie followed suit and also gave me a quick kiss.

The three of us then got busy and packed away my tent, bringing us back into the open once more. I made sure enough time passed so we wouldn't get interfered with.

By the time we set off, it was now 10am on January 8th. We would still probably make it in time to enjoy a late lunch.

But before that, a flock of Spearow were calling my name. Let's see what Raphael can do!

*

Do you want me to continue using ~nya with Meowth's voice? It basically sets his accent lol.

Don't forget to drop those stones!