Chapter 4. Who Are You, Meow?
"Ash, if you don't want to die, pedal faster!"
In the curtain of rain, Ash felt the weight of the raindrops on him suddenly lighten.
He turned and saw Natsume, who was holding a Rotom Phone in one hand and an umbrella over him with the other.
"Hey, Natsume, stop saying weird stuff!"
Ash's legs were already a blur on the pedals.
He was giving it everything he had.
But when he heard Natsume's words, he somehow squeezed out a little more speed.
Even though Ash didn't understand what Natsume meant, he knew one thing for sure.
The sooner they got to the Pokémon Center, the sooner Pikachu would be out of danger.
Pedal faster, and you can't go wrong.
"You have to hold on, Pikachu!"
Viridian City, dusk.
In the guardroom, Officer Jenny was frowning at a wanted poster.
On the poster were a man and a woman in distinctive uniforms.
The most eye-catching thing was the big "R" printed on the chest of each uniform.
"Seriously, why would Pokémon thieves show up in Viridian City—hmm?"
Suddenly, Officer Jenny's eyes sharpened, and she stood up, staring straight into the distance.
"To think I'd run into them this quickly."
She opened the guardroom door, stepped outside, and braced herself on high alert.
At Viridian City's gate, one tall and one short boy were sprinting for their lives toward her.
Behind them loomed a fierce, raging figure giving chase.
"Natsume, who's that standing at the checkpoint up ahead?"
"Officer Jenny. Police. Remember to show her your Pokédex in a moment."
With his question answered, Ash pedaled even harder as the distance closed rapidly.
Behind Ash and Natsume, Misty also spotted Officer Jenny blocking the checkpoint, and delight lit up her face.
Those two thieves were about to be brought to justice!
As the gap narrowed, Officer Jenny could make out the faces of Natsume and Ash.
When she saw the wounds all over Ash, her gaze sank.
As they drew closer, the sight of the barely breathing Pikachu in the bicycle basket stoked her anger even more.
"Officer Jenny, this is my—"
"I understand. You two, get inside!"
Unexpectedly, Officer Jenny only gave Natsume and Ash's Pokédexes a brief glance and immediately let them pass.
"Officer Jenny, stop those two thieves!"
From afar, Misty shouted in excitement.
But to Misty's surprise, Officer Jenny didn't try to stop them at all and let Natsume and Ash enter Viridian City.
Was her voice too quiet?
Misty quickened her pace without thinking.
"Go, Growlithe!"
Just as Misty got close, Officer Jenny threw a Poké Ball and sent out a puppy-like Pokémon.
Misty, who had been charging forward, came to a sudden halt.
"Hmph. Not only did you show up in Viridian City at this critical point, but one of the people attacked is even a Pokémon researcher!"
"You've got some nerve!"
Officer Jenny stared at Misty like she was facing a major threat.
Misty: "???"
No, they're the thieves!
On a Viridian City street, Natsume glanced back at Misty being stopped and shrugged.
Ash was desperate, and so was he.
Back when Ash was on the road to Viridian City, Natsume had already used his research institute privileges to give the local authorities a heads-up.
The moment Officer Jenny recognized his face, she waved him and Ash through.
Before long, thanks to the mighty pedaling of the Pallet Superhuman, the bicycle performed far beyond its price range, and the Pokémon Center soon came into view.
The price to pay, however, was that the moment Ash dismounted and scooped Pikachu into his arms, the bike collapsed into a pile of parts.
"Nurse Joy, please save my Pikachu!"
Ash dashed into the Pokémon Center, shouting in panic.
Outside, Natsume stared at the bicycle reduced to a carpet of parts and fell into thought.
In the original plot, without him, this bicycle would have been caught in Pika God's Thunderbolt, charred black, and Misty would latch onto Ash.
Now, even without Thunderbolt, the bike still turned into loose parts.
Natsume clicked his tongue and shook his head, took out a little notebook, and began jotting things down.
He ultimately concluded that the world's plotline had a self-correction mechanism.
"System, does this count as seeing through fate? That's gotta be an SSS-rank project at least, right?"
[+1.]
The system stuffed a single dollar into Natsume's backpack.
An unranked, flop of a project.
"…"
Natsume fell silent, then turned and walked into the Pokémon Center as well.
Inside, Pikachu had already been wheeled into the emergency room, and Ash was waiting anxiously outside.
"Ash, want to call your mom?"
"Okay, Natsume, but Pikachu—"
Ash's face was full of guilt and worry, clearly in no mood to make a call.
He looked up at unhurried Natsume and couldn't help speaking.
"Natsume, how can you not be anxious at all? If—"
"Duh. It's not my Pikachu. Of course I'm not anxious."
"…"
Ash swallowed the rest of his sentence—"If only I could be like you"—back down.
"Ring ring ring! Ring ring ring!"
Beside them, a phone started ringing.
It was Ash's Pokédex.
Among Natsume's patents, one was adding mobile-phone functionality to new Trainers' Pokédexes.
"See? Delia's calling you."
Natsume pointed at Delia Ketchum's icon displayed on the Pokédex and turned to Ash.
"Mm."
With a heavy heart, Ash answered the call.
Seeing that, Natsume turned toward the outside.
It was getting late.
Time to rest.
Natsume went up to the Pokémon Center's second floor, where rooms were provided for Trainers.
Pika God would be fine, and his S-rank project was about to make progress.
But the most important thing right now was to scratch open the ten scratch-off lottery tickets he'd been saving for years.
Rubbing his hands together, Natsume hurried into the room, eager with anticipation.
Bathe, change, burn—wait, he'd forgotten to bring incense.
By the window in his pajamas, Natsume looked out at the night.
The cold wind blew, and his heart felt bleak.
A ten-pull without ritual would be soulless.
No way.
He had to go out and find incense.
Decision made, Natsume left the room.
Night had fallen.
Bathed in moonlight, a giant Meowth-head hot air balloon drifted across the sky.
Inside the balloon, two men, one woman, and one cat were huddled together, discussing something.
If Officer Jenny were here, she would recognize them as the Pokémon thieves on the wanted poster.
They were in the heat of the moment, discussing with gusto.
James: "Hahaha, under cover of night, we'll scoop up all the Pokémon at the Pokémon Center!"
Jessie: "Yeah! With so many injured Pokémon, there's bound to be a few rare ones!"
Meowth: "That's right, meow. If we send the rare Pokémon to Boss Giovanni, he'll pay meow coins, meow."
Natsume: "Exactly. If Boss Giovanni's in a good mood, he might even let me research Mewtwo. That'd be at least an S-rank project!"
Meowth: "Right, meow, Boss Giovanni will also let you—who are you, meow!!!"
In an instant, with a blood-curdling cat yowl, the meeting ended.
The Team Rocket trio recoiled from Natsume as if they'd seen a ghost, scrambling to the far end of the balloon.
"You—you, who are you!?"
Jessie and James snapped out of it at the same time, staring at Natsume in terror.
He couldn't be a ghost, could he?
They were floating in midair.
How could someone board without them noticing?
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