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The sun rose, filtering through the tree branches, casting a warm glow on the forest floor. It was the beginning of a perfect summer day; birds were singing, a brook was babbling nearby and small, puffy clouds dotted the summer sky. Jesse woke up, stretching, and bonked James in the nose.
"Yeah, that one there, and could you put a little Hawaiian umbrella in it? Zzzzzzz." mumbled James, still asleep. Jesse crawled out of her sleeping cocoon-like sleeping bag and jumped down to the ground and stumbled over to stream to wash out her mouth and take care of other necessities. When she returned a couple of minutes later, fully dressed in her traditional Team Rocket outfit with the matching gloves and boots and the stylish 'R' on the front, she found Meowth and James were still sleeping peacefully.
"Wake up!" she yelled, and booted them both. Meowth went flying with a Brooklyn-accented yell to smack into a disgruntled Weepinbell as James, being heavier, merely skidded back a few feet to smack against the ground. As Meowth fought to get away from the Weepinbell, James leapt back up, yanked a bright red rose from a pocket and assumed a stud-like pose.
"Bonjour, mademoiselle," he said in a deep voice. Jesse rolled her eyes.
"We have to get a move on. The Boss wants us to get that Pikachu, and if we don't, we're history."
"So what do you want to do about it?" asked James meekly in his normal voice. "I mean, we've tried again and again, but we haven't caught it yet!" Jesse paused.
"Well, we'll just have to keep trying. I know!" she jumped up and grinned quite evilly at James. "We can steal the Pokeballs while the Twerps are asleep. And then we can attack them with Arbok and Wheezing to get them out of our way forever. This is a snap!" Much cheerier, Jesse munched on a couple of potato chips that was the only thing she was planning to have for breakfast and rolled her sleeping pouch up to a convenient size. James did the same, occasionally throwing back his head to get his shoulder-length lilac hair from getting in his face. Jesse tossed her things to Meowth, who caught them in the chest and was thrown backwards from the momentum, and Jesse strolled casually out of the clearing.
"Jesse, wait up!" called James, chucking his things at Meowth who still struggled to get up and was knocked back down again as a new pile of cloth hit him. "Jesse, won't they be awake?"
"James, you worry too much. The Twerps will be asleep; it's barely dawn." She nodded towards the sun that was barely peeking over the horizon. "They'll be asleep for hours yet." She looked back to James.
"That's exactly what we should be doing," muttered James as he tripped over a tree root and fell. Jesse sniffed and walked over to some bushes beside Camp Twerp. She motioned James over, who fell into one of the bushes, and went back to spying on the kids. No response from enemy grounds. Jesse crept up to Ash, Misty and Brock, gently, but swiftly, unhooked the Pokeballs from their belts.
'This is way too easy,' thought Jesse. 'I mean, we haven't been blasted off or anything.'
"PiiiiiikaaaaaCHUUUUUUU!!!!!" yelled an enraged Pikachu from directly behind Jesse.
'Uh, oh!' thought Jesse as Thunderbolt coursed through her body. Waves of pain flashed through her, then all was dark. Just as Jesse collapsed, James, throwing caution to the wind, ran to her.
"Jesse!" he shouted, hugging her charred body to his chest. "Oh, Jesse!"
"Piiiiiiiiikaaaaa-"
"NO!" yelled James to the Pikachu, who stopped in mid ka. "Haven't you already done enough damage?! You've already killed Jesse!" Pikachu looked incredibly alarmed, and waddled over to Jesse.
"Pikapi?" he asked in a small voice.
"Go AWAY!" yelled James, burying his face in Jesse's hair, wishing he could do something, anything to bring her back.
"Pikachu?" asked a raspy voice. "What's wrong?"
"Pikapi pika pi chu!" squeaked the mouse-Pokemon.
"What do you mean, Team Rocket?" asked Ash. He swiveled around to where Pikachu was pointing. Ash yanked his hat backwards and scooped a Pokeball off the ground. "Charizard! I choose you!" he yelled, and threw the Pokeball a few feet away from James and Jesse. Charizard appeared in a flash of bright red light and gave a low growl. James only continued to cry, holding Jesse tightly to his body, completely ignoring the huge dragon that was threatening to toast him. Ash gave him a confused look. "Hey, Team Rocket-person, ummm, what happened?"
"Ask your damned Pikachu, why don't you!?" shouted James, tears streaming down his cheeks, soaking Jesse's hair and Team Rocket shirt. "He killed Jesse!"
"Killed?" Stunned, Ash stumbled forwards. He'd never really come face to face with death before. Even if she was an enemy, Pikachu had killed her for sure. Ash reached out to brush his fingers against hers. James scooped up Jesse, holding her by the shoulders and the back of her knees, glaring accusingly at Ash, backing up, pain and loathing shining in his eyes.
"No matter where you go, no matter what you do, always remember what you did," spat James. "You took a life; that of another person. May your conscience kill you for what you have done." And with that, he stalked off into the forest, leaving Ash to stare blankly after them.
James ran as fast as he could to the nearest town, Jesse's body so light he had to hold her tight to his chest to reassure himself she was still there. He ran for more than an hour, nonstop, and finally reached a Pokemon training center. He didn't know what town he was in, he didn't care, all that mattered was making sure Jesse would be all right. He ran into the Center, yelling,
"Someone, please! We need emergency medical treatment here! Please!" Nurse Joy came running around the corner, her looped red hair bobbing around her shoulders.
"I'm a trained professional, let me help," ordered Nurse Joy. She tried to wrestle Jesse from James' hold, but he refused to let her go. Nurse Joy gave him an exasperated look. "Young man, if you want her healed, let me take her!" James shook his head. "Show me where to put her. I'll take her there." Nurse Joy opened her mouth to argue some more.
"Please, miss, let me. She means everything to me." Nurse Joy blinked a few times and waved him into a small room.
"Put her there, on that bed. And shoo!" Despite James' attempt to remain inside, he suddenly wound himself outside the locked door with Nurse Joy and Jesse on one side and him on the other. He pounded on the door, ordering that Nurse Joy open it. He gave up after a minute, and sank to the floor, yanking his fingers through his hair. He couldn't lose Jesse, he simply couldn't!
The next day found James still pacing, his Team Rocket outfit dirty and unkempt, his hair a tangled mess and dark circles under his eyes. He spent the entire day just pacing back and forth. After the fiftieth time looking at his watch in the past ten minutes, the door slowly opened. James was there in a heartbeat.
"Is she okay? She has to be, right? She isn't-" He couldn't force himself to say the word. Maybe if he didn't say it, it wouldn't be true. There was no way his Jesse could die, not like that. Nurse Joy gave him a small, tired smile.
"She'll be fine. You can go in there for a while, but only for five minutes. She needs rest and less excitement and-"
"Yes, yes, I understand," interrupted James as he not-so-politely pushed the protesting Nurse Joy out of the room. James locked the door and turned around to find Jesse hooked up to IVs, a heart monitor and bandages covering her head and arms. Her clothes, barely more than tattered, ashy scraps, lay neatly folded in one corner while Jesse was wrapped in a paper nightgown and a blanket, not to mention seemingly miles of bandages. James tiptoed over to the bed and softly sat on the bed by the sleeping Jesse.
James sat there for a long time, simply staring at her. He had never realized she meant so much to him. But now that she had almost died- He had almost lost her. His eyes started to burn as he started crying again, but this time, there were tears of relief. Jesse would live, and James would have given anything for that before, and she wasn't going to die. Relief coursed through him. His soft sobs echoed through the small room, and Jesse opened her eyes.
"James?" she called out painfully, as if each breath were tearing into her chest. "Are you all right?" She coughed, her eyes watering from pain.
"No, I'm fine. Please, lie back down. I wasn't the one hit by a Thunderbolt." Jesse gave a weak, odd, raspy laugh which quickly turned into a cough. James slid farther up towards Jesse and pushed her gently back down. She tried to resist, but gave up and lay back into the soft, cushy pillows. She gave James a weak smile.
"You look worse than I probably do." she rasped and grinned. James gave a low chuckle, happy that Jesse would be all right. If she could laugh, she would make it. He slid farther up and hugged Jesse gently at first, then not so gently, shuddering as sobs wracked through his body.
"Jesse, I thought I had lost you!" he choked out. Jesse winced at the pain that James created from holding her too tightly, but bore with it. She shushed him, and his cries slowly stopped. "Jesse." Jesse looked deep into his eyes, and her breath caught. James brushed her lips with his own, ever so lightly, almost like a butterfly kiss.
James flushed slightly; it amazed him how it took him so long to realized that he really liked Jesse. He pressed a little deeper. Jesse sighed and tried to deepen it further, but James pulled away.
"I'm glad you're okay," he said shakily, a fiery red blush staining his cheeks. With that, he all but fled out of the room, knocking a disapproving Nurse Joy out of his way, leaving Jesse to her own confused thoughts.
In the meantime, Meowth finally managed to get out from under the pile of clothes and sleeping bags and he stalked off to find Jesse and James.
"Jesse! James! Where are dos two when ya most need 'em?"
Ash was in shock. Had Pikachu really killed Jesse? He simply sat at the place where the grass was charred, leaving dirt and burned grass. Nothing would move him. Pikachu had run up to him, grabbing his hat, trying to get a reaction, but there was none.
"Pikapi." said Pikachu sadly to Misty.
Three days later, Jesse, in a new Team Rocket suit identical to the last one, walked out of the Pokemon Center almost as good as new. James told Nurse Joy to bill Giovanni, the head of Team Rocket, for Jesse's treatment, knowing he would really catch it if he didn't get any Pokemon good enough to pay Giovanni back. And so, Jesse and James walked back in the general direction of the Twerp Gang, bent on revenge and some good Pokemon.
They traveled at a much slower clip than before, walking all day to where the camp was. Just as night fell, they nearly walked into Twerp Clearing. The kids' fire was out, and they were sleeping. Jesse, again, crept forwards, limping slightly off her right arm, but James motioned her back, shaking his head. Jesse, too tired to argue, uncharacteristically agreed and stayed by the bushes. James slinked forwards, clutching an empty Pokeball he had recently bought.
A soft pika-snore came from Ash's side; Pikachu was nestled up against him, sleeping. Taking careful aim, James tossed the Pokeball at the sleeping Pikachu. Without even waking up, Pikachu disappeared in a flash of red light, and dropped to the ground softly. James inched forwards, and picked up the Pokeball, putting it in a small backpack. Encouraged by this, he deftly began to strip the rest of the gang of their Pokeballs.
He tossed another Pokeball at the snoozing Togepi, who disappeared as well. James collected the Pokeballs and kept them together in his backpack. Jesse struggled up to meet James and struck a smug pose.
"Prepare for trouble."
"And make it double."
"To protect the world from devastation."
"To unite all peoples within our nation."
"To denounce the evils of truth and love."
"To extend our reach to the stars above."
"Jesse."
"James."
"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light."
"Surrender now or prepare to fight."
"Meowth! Where'n hell have you two been? Why, I oughta-" Jesse gave the returning Meowth a quick boot, sending him flying into the by-now-very-pissed-off Weepinbell. Ash, Misty and Brock leapt up, Ash and Brock in their boxers, Misty in a cotton nightgown. Ash wasted no time.
He reached to his belt, yanked out a Pokeball and threw it, yelling for Charizard to come out. Charizard came out and toasted the Rocket Team, and the group could finally get a good night's sleep. That's what he meant to do, anyway.
What actually happened was he reached to his belt and couldn't find a single Pokeball. Misty, seeing Ash was in trouble, got out Starmie and squirted the annoying Team Rocket to kingdom come. Well, that was her intention.
But, when she reached to her belt, all her Pokeballs were gone!
"Arbok! I choose you!" croaked Jesse, throwing Arbok's Pokeball. The purple snake-Poke'mon appeared, hissing.
"Charbok!" it hissed.
"Arbok! Poison bite!" Arbok circled the terrified group, gathering them together, and drew back to get Ash in the chest. "Arbok, forget the poison bite, use tail whip!" Arbok whipped around and smacked Brock, Ash and Misty with a painful smack across the chests. As Ash flew over the horizon, Brock and Misty close behind him, his eyes wide with amazement, he murmured,
"Looks like we're blasting off!"