"Well that's the last one, then we'll move them to an appropriate place, I'm glad to finally get away from this 'important' party" Proton had a disgusted face looking at the cruise ship and then focused on Nick.

"Well, we're done, mission accomplished, you must go report to the boss, star rookie" Without another word he left.

"It was a pleasure working with you too" Nick went to find where to spend the night to go in the morning

………………………………………………………………………………………………… ..

In the Pokémon center, Nick freed his companions.

"Good work today too, tomorrow we will rest early and decide if we train in the afternoon"

The team responded and then Nick assessed / congratulated him individually until King and Rue arrived.

"Rejoice for the last of us to evolve." Nick stroked his Nidorino.

“Nido” King was happy, if somewhat embarrassed.

"Pigeotto, Pige" (You must train harder) Fey just nodded wisely

"Bi, drill, Bi" (Well, friend, well) Hunter as always buzzed happily

"Ekan" (Whatever) Rue wasn't very happy about how she didn't finish her match.

"Rue" Nick stood in front of her, obviously looking directly at him

"I'm not going to punish you, you won and learned a new move." The Ekank smiled arrogantly.

"But I'm not going to applaud you either, you failed one of the basic rules of a confrontation, we must never lose our cool, no matter the circumstance" Nick put his hands on the head of his Pokémon.

"Leaving aside that you would have fallen to the ground floor if you managed to make a hole with digging, in that state it would have been easier for your rival to defeat you, we must keep a cool mind to know which movement to use"

Rue still didn't seem very convinced.

"I'm not saying you don't have feelings or repress everything, but don't get carried away by them, we are a team" Nick caressed Rue and left her to reflect.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………… ..

The next morning.

"Guys, yesterday was a busy day, but it's time for you to meet the new team member." Nick pulled out a Pokeball in front of his troop.

"Pi.Geotto, Pi" (I hope you didn't take it from another girl) Fey had a serious look.

"Bi, drill, Bi" (More, friends, fun)

"Nido, Rino" (I hope it's nice)

"Ekan, Ekan" (As long as he's not a weakling)

Nick released the Pokémon and a blue seal with a pink ball nose appeared.

"Popplio" he cooed out of the sphere.

"I can't say what it is, just that it's not from this region and it looks like a water type." Color aside, blowing up water bubbles with my nose was a fitting clue.

"Po" The Pokémon looked fearfully around.

"Fear not, we are your new family." Nick lifted him slowly to appease her.

"Bear with her, if she is a girl, the nurse Joy informed me along with the fact that she is relatively young"

"Nido, Nido" (I hope the next one is male) he whispered to Beedrill.

"Bi" (Why?)

"I'll call you Maid, say hi to your teammates." Nick left them alone to hang out while he completed some earrings, like looking for food from his Pokemon.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"And what is your story, little one?" Fey tried not to scare her.

"H-how?"

"I think it refers to how you ended up here: Fey keeps repeating how she was a little girl's pet, Hunter was won on a bet, Rue was legally caught and I left my trainer" King continued.

"Yeah, you 'quit'" Rue scoffed.

"You weren't there!"

"Eh, I-I got separated from my parents during a storm and weird human caught me." She got a little melancholy when she remembered.

"Don't feel bad, we will take care of you and sometime we will reunite you with your parents" Fey wrapped her with her wings.

"T-Thank you, ma'am." Fey tried not to get angry.

"It's young lady, I look big and imposing from my training" she tried to calm down, but Rue's laugh didn't help.

"The" lady "is right, we will take care of you, when we finish with you she will be a strong fighter" Rue flexed her tail, ignoring the Pidgeotto.

"Strong, great," Hunter added.

"Give her her space." Fey tried to cover her from the ruckus, but behind her, Maid had a small smile.

(They seem like a nice group)

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Nick returned to the base to report his mission to his boss.

"I heard that his performance in his last missions was commendable, well done, if he continues like this, we will have no choice but to promote him"

(Or it might not give me that much work) He obviously wouldn't say that to Giovanni's face

"You arrive in good time, we have an urgent matter to attend to"

(When not?) Nick mentally sighed

“Apparently, Fuji from the Lavender Town has become very resentful of our feat and has taken action with his own hands; He is not a master trainer, but with his experience he has knocked out all the soldiers in Lavander; The last he heard was that he barricaded himself in the Pokémon tower. He needs to be incapacitated and detained so he doesn't get into our Cubone skull business. ”The boss said calmly, no matter how shady he sounded.

(Why do people need something like that? Especially to have their own market)

"Normally I would send one of my administrators, but they are busy on other missions ... and I prefer not to think that some are cowed by ghosts"

"..."

"This is another opportunity to prove your worth, go as soon as possible and take this, the tower always has very thick fog" Nick received a kind of glasses

"That's it, go teach Fuji why he shouldn't mess with Team Rocket."

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Not a day off" Nick guessed Ronnie would love this.

Thanks to the underground passage, and if you don't stop too long, you will arrive in Lavender City by nightfall.

"Sometimes I wish I didn't have the training policy." Nick wished to simply use flight, but he had to stop on route 7 to look for small Pokemon for his new member to acclimatise.

“Miao” It didn't take long for him to find a Meowth… for some reason he had an expression similar to a Slowpoke.

"It doesn't look very strong." Nick would swear he has seen them bigger, but he remained vigilant, his first encounter with one did not go very well.

"Let's make it quick, there's a way to walk." Nick pulled out Maid and Fey.

"Po"

"Pidgeotto"

"Ready, for your first fight"

Maid didn't seem very sure of herself.

"Don't worry, it's just a test and you have her in an emergency." He pointed at Fey.

"Geotto, Pi"

Maid seemed to gain confidence and tried to intimidate the Meowth, who didn't seem very interested.

"Well, what can he do? Give us everything"

"Po" Popplio fired a jet of water and soaked the cat, who finally reacted and lunged towards her ... slowly.

"Water gun, perfect"

Before he arrived, Maid growled at him, but the cat didn't seem to notice and tried a scratch.

"Avoid it!" The seal evaded him thanks to the slowness of the attack and responded with a pound.

"Owth" Despite not being very strong, the cat fell backwards to the ground, with no signs of getting up, but not due to unconsciousness.

"Heavens, this Meowth must have been a Slowpoke in a past life." Nick just stared at the cat frolicking.

"Well I guess you won." Maid started jumping for joy and blowing bubbles as Fey squawked happily.

"He has something else before we go"

Maid nodded, straightened, closed her eyes, and a loud sound came from her mouth toward the cat.

"Meowth!" The feline seemed happy despite being in pain.

"Interesting, it is not a sing, it could be a hyper voice, but I will confirm it in the Pokémon Center" With the objective accomplished, he was ready to continue his journey and return to his Pokemon, but he noticed how the Meowth approached.

"At least you are resistant"

The feline simply looked at the Pokeballs on his belt and touched one causing it to fall and expand to later get into it.

"Biri, Biri, clip" He had captured it.

"..." The three present were speechless

"And smarter than you look" At least now he had an excuse to go to Day Care and visit to Link.