“Can I come?”

  …….

  “I’ll be on my best behavior. I went with you last time! C’mon, please let me go.”

  Ethan released a huff of air out of his nostrils as he sat up and stared unenthusiastically at Ralts, who was wearing a poorly formed metal tiara. He’d spent the morning putting the finishing touches on his little stand for his upcoming trip to Floraroma Town. Somehow, he had expected the little physic fairy to be picked up by her mom within the day. You know, like something a normal mother would do. Apparently, assigning normal parenting to pokemon was his own fault. It’d been three days already, and she hadn’t even stopped by. According to Ralts, it’d be a few more until her mom would bother to track her down.

  Joyce and Jennifer had left long ago, but Smeargle did visit Joyce in Eterna City every other day for his therapy sessions. His little painter had asked, and there was a zero percent chance Ethan was going to say no. While therapy wasn’t personally for him, that didn’t mean it didn’t have a place.

  “No. Also, we aren’t teleporting there. It’s going to be a long trip, and I am not being paid to baby sit you.” Ethan laid back down and finished screwing in the last of the screws needed to keep his stand… well, standing.

  “This is….” Ralts stilled and balled her little hands. “So… that is your excuse. You refuse simply because no coin lines your pockets for the trouble? Is a journey with me by your side not its own reward? Has your sense of duty withered so completely that only monetization stirs you to action?” She leaned forward, and glared through her bangs. “Pathetic. I had thought you a man of purpose and righteousness, not a servant to coinage.”

  “First off,” Ethan started as he shuffled out from underneath the now completed stand. “I don’t even know if anyone uses coins anymore. Secondly, I am poor. Money makes the world go around. Thirdly, I can only take six pokemon.”

  “Ah-ha!” Ralts hurriedly shuffled forward, climbing up his leg to stand on his thigh. “But I am not your pokemon!” She said proudly.

  “Is that supposed to be some sort of insult?” He asked, deadpan.

  With a dramatic slash of her hand, like that of a princess making a declaration from ages past, she excitedly spoke again. “Since I am what is referred to as a wild pokemon, then your insignificant human laws cannot bind me. I will join you, along with six others. You cannot be blamed for having seven pokemon since you do not hold claim over my person!”

  Ralts hopped down and made her way to the door, acting like she had ‘won’ their conversation. “I will eagerly be awaiting our departure. Come, my noble knight and trusty steed!”

  “Tinka!” Tinkatink, who had been helping with the creation of the stand, shuffled after her newfound friend, only turning around to say, “Ta ba ba!” Skiddo didn’t move an inch from her resting spot, completely ignoring Ralts and Tinkatink as they left the room.

  Once the sliding door was shut, Skiddo stared at Ethan without moving her head, her eyeballs practically as low as they’d go in her eye sockets. So… It was a very awkward stare, to say the least.

  “Thbbbbbbbbbbpt.”

  Skiddo blew a raspberry, her tongue spluttering through the air.

  Ethan laughed loudly as he stood and moved to pick up his lazy goat. “On that, we can agree.” Skiddo remained utterly boneless, flopping in his grip as he carried her outside into the midway sun. He placed her next to his patio once he exited the meadows and watched as she stood up, circled around like a dog, moved over half an inch, then plopped back down into a ‘more comfortable’ spot.

  Half an inch away.

  He made his way up the stairs while mumbling under his breath. “Ungrateful…”

  —---------------------------

  After stuffing his magical bag of holding to the brim with supplies, Ethan made his way towards the Rocket’s cottage. They were coming along on this trip, and from the discussions they’ve had, they knew what they were doing when it came to traveling and hawking wares.

  James had sat down and showcased his knowledge when he’d given Ethan the rundown of what ‘The Plan’ was going to be. Ethan wasn’t sure about when he was left out of ‘The Plan’ but he had been. Things like, ‘People buy with their eyes’, ‘A free sample isn’t a giveaway, it’s an invitation.’, ‘You’re not selling a product, you’re selling you.’ along with a bunch of other procedures and practices that were sure to work well for his first time operating a ‘business’.

  James had seemed a tad too enthusiastic about selling some fruits, veggies, berries, and candy, in Ethan’s humble opinion.

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  Jessie and Meowth were happy enough to let James ramble and get all of ‘The Plan’ laid out. Instead of helping with the business side of their soon to be stand, they brainstormed outfits according to Floraroma Town’s clientele. Again, it went mostly over his head, and no matter what they came up with, Ethan wasn’t going to buy outfits—Let alone wear one.

  As he strolled up the path leading to the cottage, Ethan worked his way around the small home to the backyard—Which was technically just another part of the ranch, it wasn’t fenced in. There on the open ground, half inflated, was their ride to Floraoma Town.

  Stretching eighty feet long, fifty feet wide, and having numerous patches stitched across the beige head of a Meowth, the infamous air balloon of Team Rocket was in the process of being inflated. Growlie sat near the opening, unleashing a small torrent of flame out from his mouth into the big balloon, heating the air inside while two small but powerful fans sent more in to inflate it.

  James was standing watch, a small smile on his face as he made sure filling the balloon with hot air was going according to plan. Meowth was checking over their gear, (which Ethan was 99% sure they weren’t supposed to have.) and Jessie—

  “Uh, what is that?” Ethan suspiciously asked, staring into the… amalgamation of clothing the redhead was fiddling with.

  Jessie turned, her deep scarlet hair not even budging from the motion. He assumed that her hair was practically stone when it was done up in her, admittedly fashionable appearance. In her hands, she held up a weird get-together of what appeared to be both Jessie and James’ Team Rocket uniforms zippered together, creating a double-jacketed half circle.

  Both uniforms were zippered together, using the main zipper to clip onto the other uniform. The sleeves were also zippered together by hidden sections within the sleeves themselves—Sleeves which also had zippers to remove the sleeves by the shoulders. It was a confusing bundle of clothing, which looked like a five-year-old got their hands on.

  Jessie didn’t answer his question and instead held out the bowl-shaped bundle of clothing towards him. “Reach in and think of grabbing some sunglasses.”

  Playing along, Ethan stuck his hand into the confines of the bundle as Jessie enclosed his arm with the fabric, making it so he couldn’t see inside. He thought of sunglasses, and felt something in his hands. Something on his face must have shown his surprise as Jessie smirked and opened up the bundle again, revealing a pair of shades within his grasp.

  “What the—” Jessie snatched the glasses from his palm and slipped them onto her face. Next, she waited a few seconds before turning and storming off, releasing an aggravated ‘tsk’ as she did.

  What did I do? Ethan wondered, baffled at her sudden change in demeanor. Uneasily, he made his way down toward James, hoping that at least he could quell some of his worry. James obviously saw him coming, and spared a final glance towards Jessie, with the most ‘I told you so’ face Ethan had ever seen, then focused on Ethan as he asked a very important question. “This isn’t going to explode, is it?”

  “You do know how these work, right? What would even cause this to explode? It’s air, not hydrogen.” James plainly gestured to the fans blowing air into the balloon with a very judgemental stare.

  Ethan wasn’t an idiot. He was just cautious.

  Deciding to put the ‘Blasting off again!’ into the ‘exaggerated children’s TV show’ category in his mind, Ethan nodded and completely ignored him. “When will it be ready to go? Also, how long do you think it’ll take to get to Floraoma Town?”

  Having enough grace to see the sharp change of subject, James stood and started setting up the basket that would carry them to their destination. “It’ll be ready in another twenty minutes—give or take a few.” James looked into the clear blue sky up above. “Judging by the wind, we’ll be moving at ten miles per hour. I don’t know how far away Floraoma Town is off the top of my head, but you can do the math.”

  Ethan nodded along. James was the expert here, so he’d have to trust him. Slowly, Ethan peeked over his shoulder to find Jessie rummaging through the weird bundle of clothes, pulling out a wide assortment of items. “Did I do something wrong?” He quietly asked the man beside him.

  James slung an arm around his shoulder, pulling him down to whisper conspiratorially. “We had a bet. I bet that you didn’t know about our outfits and how they worked.” He flashed a shit-eating grin of a smile. “I obviously won. Now, she has to w-a-l-k…” James spared Growlie a quick glance, making sure the fire pup didn’t catch on. “...Growlie while we’re in town.”

  “Alright… But, how does that work anyways? You just zipper your uniforms together and gain magic powers or some shit?” Ethan balked.

  “Our uniforms connect to make a Silph CO. bag. A massive one filled with supplies for our mi—I mean, our previous work. Genius, really. Nobody can steal it, and nobody knows it’s there to begin with. Meowth keeps track of what’s inside.” He explained, causing even more questions to rise in Ethan’s mind.

  “But…” Ethan looked back to the bundle of… You know what, he’s going to call it what it is. The shenanigan clothes. “Wouldn’t everything, like, spill out when it’s no longer together? Where is everything stored when you’re wearing your uniforms?”

  James released his shoulders, letting them separate. “Beats me. I know it works though.”

  Ethan’s eyes trailed along the hot-air balloon in complete bafflement. “You stored this whole damn balloon in there? With the basket? And the fans? Plus whatever other toys and odds and ends are in there? How big is that jacket-bag?”

  James shrugged as he tilted the carry basket, which was lying on the ground, upright. The strings connecting it to the balloon itself grew taut, and the balloon itself started to slowly rise into the air. “No clue. It’s massive though.”

  Ethan was about to move on from the mind-breaking subject, when he narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “You have a laptop in there, don’t you? That’s why none of you asked to use mine!”

  James pretended to ignore him as Meowth began whistling with innocence from the sidelines, obviously having overheard. Ethan threw up his hands as he turned to walk away. “It doesn’t matter. Interpol knows now. I’ll eat a shoe if my phone isn’t bugged.”

  “I’ll be back in twenty minutes for our trip. Will you guys be ready then?” He asked as he walked away, earning a bunch of affirmatives. Growlie even yipped, joining in.

  Half way back to his house, Ethan’s phone vibrated in his pocket. He checked the text message, finding it was from Looker…

  The only thing he sent was a thumbs up emoji.

  Ethan held up the phone to his mouth and whispered. “You’re too old to be using emojis.”

  The next text he received was nothing but a frowny face.

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