"Good grief, I really never have seen one."
Ambrose said it in astonishment, circling the Meowth several times over and never once managing to spot anything wrong with him.
Eh... no, that was not right either. A Meowth that talked was itself the greatest wrong thing about him, the greatest oddity of all.
"Cousin, Meowth is a special case. He's on the Boss's books as well."
James explained hurriedly, going into where Meowth had come from.
Hearing that made Meowth prouder still, and he lifted his head and threw out his chest.
He, Meowth, would one day be the first pet among the Boss's followers. He could talk, he could build things. His abilities were tremendously powerful, you know.
"Oh. Right, I see."
"Eh? As flat as that??"
Meowth was somewhat taken aback. Hang on — he, Meowth, a Pokémon the Boss himself had taken notice of, and that was all the reaction he got?
Did this plump human have any idea what that was worth? Any notion of the standing he, Meowth, enjoyed?
Ambrose genuinely did not care about any of it. On Giovanni's books? His own boss was a subordinate Giovanni set great store by — men or supplies, whatever he asked for he got, and however much of it. How far did that leave a mere name on a list behind?
It hardly needed saying.
Meowth simply had no idea of it, and thought himself out of the common run. In fact he was out of the common run; only, set beside a figure like Vance, the uncommon came out ordinary enough.
"And this is?"
Going round Meowth, Ambrose looked next at Jessie.
"Since you ask us so sincerely."
Jessie answered without thinking about it, rather with the feeling that she could not help herself.
"Then out of the goodness of our hearts we'll tell you."
James picked it up without thinking either.
"?? What are you two playing at?"
It left Ambrose thoroughly puzzled.
The pair of them, meanwhile, seemed to have got well into their stride.
To stop the world from being destroyed......... I'm Jessie. And James. And I'm Meowth.........
"Oh — oh. Jessie, is it. Tell me, this business of yours, is it some kind of ceremony?"
Ambrose was entirely at a loss. He had only asked her name, hadn't he? All that trouble, all that dragging-out — what was the use of it?
"Heh heh. It's our declaration for every job from now on. Doesn't it have a proper villain's style to it, cousin? Doesn't it match the code of conduct for Team Rocket members??"
James cried it out.
"Er... a little bit."
Ambrose had been left rather dazed by the performance. This cousin of his, and his companions — why did they seem not quite right in the head?
It felt... it felt thoroughly adolescent, with a peculiar Meowth thrown in on top.
Ambrose had seen a great deal of the world, and even he had gone somewhat numb. Never mind, never mind; he had better take them along to Vance.
They had come down from headquarters, after all, and one of them was his own cousin, so Ambrose did want to give them a leg up.
"Come along with me. You'd better meet our Branch Chief."
Ambrose said it, and walked on ahead.
James and the other two followed behind.
"Oh, by the way, cousin, what sort of man is the Branch Chief? You're Deputy Branch Chief — he must think a great deal of you, mustn't he?"
James said it, sidling up to him.
"He's all right. He's all right."
Ambrose nodded, unruffled. Think a great deal of him? He came near to working him like a donkey.
At the other end, Vance had word that Ambrose was on his way up with company.
"That was quick."
Vance thought it over and decided to receive them himself after all; he could as easily have left it to Emery and the others. He came out of the training room and waited quietly in his office.
"Let me have a look at the files. Who is it who's come?"
Only then did Vance open the files to see who headquarters had sent.
Three files came up on the computer screen soon enough, and what they said put an odd look on Vance's face.
"It's those three!"
The familiar faces were there, and full particulars with them. One look and Vance knew.
"James, Jessie, Meowth. Why would those three come here?"
Vance scratched his head, at a loss. As for how it had gone in the original story, he did not bother thinking about that; there had been no Vance in it to begin with.
"Then I'd better see them properly. See whether these three 'talents' are the same as they used to be."
Thinking back over the three of them and that painful battle record, Vance was rather keen to see them.
He waited a while, and then there was movement outside.
After a knock, Ambrose pushed the door open and came in, with two people and one Meowth behind him.
As they came through the door, Vance took the three of them in.
Mm... The look of them was much as it had been in the anime. Jessie had already grown out her long red hair, James kept his short, and the gold coin on Meowth's forehead was polished to a shine.
"This is our Branch Chief."
Ambrose looked back at the three of them and made the introduction.
"So he's the Branch Chief. He looks quite young."
Vance was not wearing his real face just then, of course, only that thoroughly unremarkable one of his, which did look young.
"Good day to the three of you. Welcome to the branch. It isn't as convenient here as headquarters, but it has its points."
Vance got his greeting in first.
"Now then, introduce yourselves, so that I know who I'm dealing with."
At that, Jessie and James both gave a start, and then something tripped in them and they stepped forward into a pose.
"Since you ask us so sincerely."
"Then I'll—"
"Stop."
Vance cut the incantation off flat. He had been sick of that speech before he ever transmigrated; he did not need to hear the rest to know exactly what was coming.
Cut off like that, the two of them felt distinctly put out; but seeing the superior in the chair, his face grave and some particular quality in the air about him, the two of them straightened up on the instant.
"My name is James."
"I'm Jessie."
"I'm Meowth."
The three of them answered plainly and simply.
"Mm."
Vance gave a slight nod. That was more like it. All that palaver over nothing.
"In future, when you're in front of me, say what you have to say straight out. None of these performances and none of this waffle."
"Sir."
"Yes, Branch Chief, sir."
Ambrose, off to one side, said nothing; he found himself a chair, sat down and watched quietly.
Having taken the measure of the two of them, Vance turned his eyes on Meowth.
"A Meowth that talks. That's a rare thing."
His face was as still as a deep well, perfectly composed.
*Meowth — he's a Branch Chief and no mistake. Not a flicker of surprise on him.*
Meowth thought it to himself. The look of the man was rather like the Boss, Giovanni, the time he had gone before him.
The same composure, not the least surprise. The question was whether his talents, Meowth's talents, would be noticed.
Would this one think highly of the three of them, the way the Boss, Giovanni, did?
"You learned it, didn't you, Meowth. You weren't born able to do it."
"Meowth — how did you know that?"
Meowth said in surprise.
"A guess. Still, what you are is rare enough. A great many Pokémon practise and practise and never manage human speech, and you learned it."
"Then Meowth is pretty impressive, isn't he."
Meowth rubbed his head and said it with some embarrassment.
"You three needn't be nervous. Find yourselves chairs and sit down. We're only having a talk."
Vance had seen Jessie and James holding their faces tight — his cutting their incantation short, perhaps.
"That's right, only a talk. The Chief's easy enough to get on with."
Ambrose put in from one side.
With him speaking up, James and Jessie loosened as well, found places and sat down, waiting quietly for Vance's questions.
Perhaps it was the gravity Vance showed and the unaccountable pressure that came off him, perhaps it was his standing as their superior, perhaps only that this was the first meeting — whatever it was, all three of those flighty creatures were a little constrained.
In Vance they were reminded of how it had been the first time they stood before Giovanni.