Chapter 40. The Trio, Actually Mascots
Outside the building, on a big tree, the trio were wearing raincoats.
Meowth: "Meow, the Pokémon Center looks like it has a lot of injured Pokémon, meow."
James: "Yeah, Meowth… Wait a second, those twerps are there too!"
Jessie: "Where's Natsume? Is that researcher in the Pokémon Center?"
Natsume: "I think he probably isn't."
"If he isn't, that's great, meow, then we can relax—"
Meowth's voice grew quieter and quieter, and in the end, the three stiffly turned their heads.
"Hi!"
Natsume, holding an umbrella, was crouched atop the Poké Ball Rotom, just floating there in midair.
"Why do you pop up like a ghost every time!"
Startled, the trio fell straight out of the tree.
Natsume guided the Poké Ball Rotom down and came to stand before the trio.
The Team Rocket trio treated him as a mortal enemy and were about to pull out their Poké Balls.
"Want to boost your performance numbers?"
Natsume spoke as he took out a tray with several dozen Poké Balls in it.
"I can give you all these Poké Balls."
"Empty?"
James eyed Natsume warily.
"Let me check, meow."
Meowth pulled out a device and scanned the tray in Natsume's hands.
"They all have Pokémon inside, meow!"
Meowth looked very excited.
"Hold on—what's your aim here?"
Jessie and James grew even more cautious.
"I'll explain."
A voice came from behind the three.
They turned to see a girl under an umbrella, as exquisitely pretty as a doll.
"Another twerp…"
James took half a step back.
For some reason, the aura on the Honora felt familiar to him.
"Here's the situation."
The Honora cleared her throat, hoping to use this chance to show off her ability to summarize in front of Natsume.
After hearing her out, the Team Rocket trio nodded in thoughtful unison.
"That's too much, meow—Meowth looks down on that kind of scum!"
"Yeah, saying it like that, those Pokémon in his hands would be better off entrusted to Team Rocket!"
James carefully accepted the tray from Natsume.
In the next instant, a sudden light burst into the trio's eyes.
"Finally… finally, meow!"
"We're finally open for business!"
"It wasn't easy!"
The trio hugged their heads and sobbed.
"Natsume."
The Honora tugged on Natsume's sleeve, as if she had something to say.
"Go ahead."
Natsume looked at her.
"Let's release the Pokémon.
Selling them to Team Rocket doesn't feel right… They do have some illicit rackets."
The Honora spoke hesitantly.
In the very first book Natsume gave her, he had emphasized that a Pokémon researcher must hold the line.
But now she realized that Natsume's line seemed a little flexible.
"If we release them, there might be loyal Pokémon like Charmander that run back to that scumbag."
"Then when you run into that scenario, how will you handle it?"
Seeing the Honora's reaction, Natsume nodded inwardly, then tossed the problem back to her.
A conflicted look crossed the Honora's face.
After a moment's hesitation, she walked over to Team Rocket.
"I'll buy these Pokémon!"
The Honora took out a black card bearing a Master Ball design and handed it to Team Rocket.
"Wait a sec, meow."
Meowth produced a special account logger.
"It only counts toward our performance if it runs through Team Rocket's account, meow."
One hand swiped the card, the other handed over the balls.
"Looks like you paid too much, meow."
"Meowth, why would you say that out loud!"
Jessie's fist thumped down on Meowth's head.
"But she really paid too much.
If the numbers don't match, the Boss Giovanni will ask, meow!"
Meowth raised the handheld logger.
"Wow, we got an extra one million Pokédollars."
James rubbed his chin, putting on a very deliberate look of surprise.
It was just that, in the rainy dark of night, no one could see it anyway.
"As for the extra money, I want you to go teach a lesson to the person I just mentioned."
The Honora lifted her chin at Team Rocket.
"As members of Team Rocket, I imagine you're quite good at that sort of thing?"
"Okay, no problem!"
"Meowth is furious just hearing it—we've been wanting to clobber him."
"Hahaha, money's here, money's here!"
Like they'd been shot full of adrenaline, the Team Rocket trio sprinted off in the direction the Honora pointed.
"Natsume, how was my handling of it?"
The Honora turned back, looking to Natsume with hopeful eyes.
Natsume didn't answer.
Instead, he brought up the Team Rocket trio.
"Do you know why I dared sell those Pokémon to those three?"
"Why?"
The Honora looked at Natsume in puzzlement.
"Because Team Rocket also has plenty of legitimate businesses—pet shops and the like."
The Honora nodded.
Compared to being strays, if they went to pet shops and the like, that was indeed pretty good.
Compared to ending up with that scumbag, it was far better.
"But how does Natsume know that the Pokémon in those three's hands will definitely flow into Team Rocket's legitimate businesses?"
"That blue-haired one is James, the son of a Team Rocket major shareholder."
Natsume continued:
"That red-haired one is Jessie, the daughter of Giovanni's mother's best friend."
And not only that—Jessie's mother had joined with Giovanni's mother to found Team Rocket.
By lineage, Jessie counted as the daughter of Team Rocket's founders.
It was just that, while tracking Mew's whereabouts, Jessie's mother had gone missing, and Giovanni's mother had grown heartsick and passed away.
Although the two women's original intent in founding Team Rocket had been simply to make money—
Now, with Giovanni—who straddled both the underworld and the overworld—at the helm, Team Rocket had been grown and expanded into a true interregional powerhouse.
Hearing this, the Honora's pupils quivered.
She knew very well what place the two people Natsume had named held in Giovanni's heart.
"For people like them, Giovanni would never let them come into contact with the truly dark rackets of Team Rocket."
Natsume gazed off in the direction Team Rocket had run, lost in thought.
How to put it—because of Jessie and James's special status—
Giovanni couldn't treat them the same as other Team Rocket members.
So he wove them a "dark-villain dream."
The darkest side of Team Rocket they were ever allowed to touch at most was snatching other people's Pokémon and then fencing them.
In a sense, the trio counted as Team Rocket's mascots—so mascot-like that their direct superior was Giovanni himself.
"So the Pokémon sold to those three will definitely flow into Team Rocket's legitimate businesses.
Got it?"
When Natsume finished, a resentful stare came from beside him.
"Then why didn't you say so earlier, Natsume."
The Honora lifted the tray in her hands; her meaning was obvious.
"I'll transmit them back to Professor Oak's laboratory."
Natsume patted her head.
Up to now, through watching how the Honora handled herself and everything else, Natsume's impression of her had improved quite a bit.
But—what a hassle—
"You contact Professor Oak.
I'll go find Ash and the others."
With that, Natsume handed his phone to the Honora.
"Okay!"
The Honora's eyes lit up.
Was this going to let her meet the grand-mentor?
Natsume had acknowledged her again!
"Rotom, let's go!"
Natsume spoke, then guided the Poké Ball Rotom to fly off toward Route 24—toward Charmander's location.
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