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Jessie hunkered low on her stomach on the ground, her infrared binoculars perched on her nose. After a moment, she set them down and propped her head up in her hands. Peering down at the small map folded out in front of her, she narrowed her eyes in concentration, mentally going over the plan again and again, every detail flashing before her eyes. She had memorized everything about this mission, from where her other teammates were positioned, to every possible contingency that could occur. It was a complex mission and she had no idea if it would be successful. It would take all of her years of discipline and training to pull through.
Jessie stiffened suddenly as she sensed, rather than heard, a person approaching. Her fears were eased when she heard the gentle call of a spearow. A teammate. Moving as silently as falling snow, James slid on the ground next to her, his warm body pressed against her side.
What are you doing here? her eyes asked. James just shrugged. He pointed to a position on the map and began making silent hand motions.
I got a message from the KGR, he replied silently, gesturing with his hands. Jessie smiled to herself. The silent language she and James shared was one they had created long ago. It was like sign language, but the motions were often indistinct and none had any consistent meaning. To the average person, it might just look like normal fidgeting. The Boss had found it to be very interesting. They had tried teaching it to others, but Jessie figured too much of it was intuitive - she and James knew each other so well, it often seemed as though they could read each other's thoughts. She quickly dismissed that idea.
And? she prompted him, mentally shaking herself out of her silent revelry.
The AMBP group is heading towards UM.
Damn, replied Jessie. I was hoping they would come this way.
They still might, James motioned.
Yeah, right, scoffed Jessie. She sighed. We'll never get to see any action at this rate.
Well... James grinned. He made a swift movement, taking Jessie in his arms, hardly causing a leaf to shake. He brushed her hair out of her face and without a moment's hesitation, engaged her in a deep, passionate kiss. Surprised, Jessie began to pull away. James usually was the passive one when it came to situations like these; Jessie almost always had to initiate. The confidence in his movements was startling and Jessie found herself more than a little confused. Besides, wasn't James the one who always said they should focus more on their missions and not get distracted? Shouldn't they...
Jessie closed her eyes as James pressed his body against hers, gradually relenting to his advances. He was so warm. Winter really was starting to slip in around here. They had come out of the mountains a few days ago, but the evening chill seemed to be right on their tails. Even now, in mid-afternoon, the wind had an icy-sharpness to it. Before James had sat down next to her only moments before, she had begun to detect that winter smell Meowth had talked about. Now, that was the farthest thing from her mind.
"I love it when you wear this outfit," whispered James as he began to kiss her neck, one hand resting on her bare stomach below the top of her Team Rocket Uniform.
"I almost always wear this outfit," replied Jessie hoarsely.
"Not recently," he murmured. It was true. It was only on rare occasions did they wear those identifying white, red, and black uniforms - social events, new member recruiting, that silly pikachu thing, stuff like that. Never for anything serious.
Jessie let out a small sigh. James had reached around her back and was rubbing her shoulders in that unique fashion of his. He knew what that action would do to her. "James," she hissed, "we're going to get in a lot of trouble."
"I'll make it double," he replied with a grin, kissing her again.
"I'm being serious," she said, a note of pleading entering her voice. I wish he would stop doing that, she thought to herself as he began to run his fingers through her hair, his other hand rubbing her shoulder as he kissed her again. It was so hard to concentrate. It had been weeks since they had been alone together. Still, they really shouldn't be doing this right now. But is was hard to say no, with James being so amorous.
"James," she said, marshalling all of her confidence, "we have to stop." The minute those five little words escaped her mouth, James backed off a bit and just held her close, rolling her over so that she was still leaning against him, her back to his front. He wrapped one arm loosely around her waist while the other continued to knead the knots in her shoulder she'd got from crouching on the ground. It wasn't fair. For three weeks they had been stuck in a large group mired in all sorts of seriousness. This was the first chance they'd had to be alone and the mission protocol for this silly teamwork exercise forbid them to have any fun. Suddenly, an idea popped into Jessie's head. She turned her head and met James' eyes, smiling at him.
"Did you say AMBP was heading to UM?" she asked him, a hint of mischief in her voice.
"Yes," replied James, a smile touching his lips.
"Well," said Jessie slowly, "it seems to me since we have already broken our silent cover that we are a liability to the rest of the Team concerning the mission."
"Oh, I agree whole-heartedly," nodded James, understanding where Jessie was going with this.
"So, our only option is to fall back from the mission and head towards the rendezvous point."
"Definitely."
"We'll have to be careful and stay out of everybody's' way," said Jessie, standing up. She helped James to his feet and started brushing off the leaves that had found their way on her uniform. "We aren't scheduled to meet with the rest of the Team for another three days."
"Yes," agreed James. "If they discover we've failed in our part, it will only cause them to lose confidence in themselves. I couldn't bear with the thought of being responsible for the failure of this team building exercise." James stretched and sighed, taking Jessie's hand in his own as they started walking. "A pity, though..." he lamented.
"What's that?" asked Jessie.
"Well, like you said," replied James with a wink. "I guess we won't be seeing any action at all."
"Truly a shame," sighed Jessie, wrapping her arm around James' waist. "We'll have to come up with some other way to keep ourselves occupied," she concluded, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. Together, they walked out of the woods.
"I'm wearing them out," said James as way of explanation, brushing a strand of hair out of his face.
"Okaay..." said the clerk, picking up the tags. Her eyes never left James, even as she rang them up. "That'll be $95. Cash, check, or charge?"
"Charge," he answered immediately, whipping a card out from his wallet and dropping it on the table. The clerk took it from him and ran it through the machine. Silence fell between the two as they waited for clearance. The computer made a happy beeping noise and spitted out a receipt.
"Okay, Mr. Meowth," she said. "If you'll just sign on this line... uhm... do you need a bag for your other clothes?" She gestured to the folded pile under James' arm.
"Oh, right!" exclaimed James. She handed him a plastic bag and he shoved them into the bottom. After getting his copy of the receipt, he waved cheerfully at the clerk and started for the door.
"Oh, sir! Wait!" cried the clerk. James spun around. The young woman grabbed a strange device from her desk and rushed over to him. "The security tags are still on," she explained. "You can't get them off without using this machine. It'll set off the door alarms."
"Sorry," said James, sheepishly. "I forgot." Reaching down, he gave the security tag on his shirt a few expert twists, followed by a click. The tag came off in two pieces in his hand. After doing the same thing to his new pants, he handed the tags to the surprised teller. "Thanks again!" said James, walking towards the exit, his bag with his uniform slung over his shoulder. The teller just stood there, looking after him.
"But you can't get them off without the machine," she protested to dead air.
"Well, what do you think?"
James turned to Jessie's voice and caught his breath. She was a vision of loveliness. She wore a form-fitting, navy-blue, knit top with short sleeves and a white stripe tie-dyed across her chest. She also had on a pair of black pants and a pair of strappy sandals. Tied around her waist was an elegant black sweater and her hair was in a loose braid, falling to almost past her waist. Her rich, blue eyes glittered brightly and reflected her perfect, red-tinted half-smile.
"Beautiful," he said softly, once he was able to get his voice back.
"You flatter me, beloved," she said with a smile. "If anything, I look slightly more trashy than I usually do."
"You never look trashy," stated James firmly. Jessie flushed lightly and gave James a hug and a gentle kiss on the forehead. She seemed about to say something when they heard some hooting and whistling right behind them. Turning, James saw the group of teenage boys laughing and making a scene about their small, public display of affection.
"Kids," said James with a hint of disgust, taking Jessie's hand in his own. Together, they walked away from the throng, deeper into the mall.
"Hmmm," murmured Jessie. "If they thought that was impressive, they should see what we do when we're off duty." James chuckled lightly.
"What do you want to do now?" asked James, once they had gotten far enough away. "It's been a long time since I've cruised a mall." He walked over to the directory and peered closely at it. "I don't think I've even heard of half of these stores."
"We could go to Victoria's Secret and you could watch me try things on," said Jessie, demurely.
"Actually, I think I'm kinda hungry," replied James with as straight a face as he could muster. "I don't want to lose my appetite."
Jessie looked at him for a minute until she was sure she saw the merriment in his eyes. Punching him on the arm, she leaned close to his ear. "You're going to pay for that," she whispered sweetly, turning and walking away to the food court.
"It was a joke!" James called after her. "Jessie, it was a joke!"
"What?" she asked. James didn't say anything. Finally, Jessie sighed. "James, I'm not going to hit you. Will you just calm down?" With a sigh, James forced himself to relax. Not too much, but just a little. Jessie rolled her eyes. "What are we going to do after we finish eating?"
James just shrugged. "We could run up some more bills on Meowth's credit card."
Jessie shook her head. "Nope. We're over the spending limit now."
"How did that happen?"
Jessie smiled. "Let's just say The Cabin's going to get a nice hot tub very soon." James smiled back. He loved hot tubs.
"You're a very bad woman, my dear," he said with a shake of his head.
"I know."
James reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He half expected a tiny moth to fly out of it and was pleasantly surprised when he saw almost $30. He closed his eyes and pondered what they could do with thirty bucks. A smile crept slowly across his face.
"Tell me, love," he began. "Have you ever played mini-golf?"
"I'm almost afraid to see where that golf ball came out," she said, her face scrunching up slightly at the thought. She looked back at the charizard. "You know," she said slowly, "that's a pretty bad likeness. I mean, look at its face. It's all distorted."
James put his hand around her waist and looked up at the animatronic, giant, fire-breathing lizard pokémon. "Well," he said with a grin, "your face would look like that too if you had golf balls coming out of your a-"
"Excuse me," came a voice from behind them, cutting off James in mid-sentence. "Mind if we play through? We're in a bit of a hurry."
Jessie and James turned to see a yuppie couple behind them. "Sure," said James with a smile. "Go on through."
"See, Margot," said the young man. "I told you if wouldn't be a problem."
"Fine, Brenden. Just play," she sniffed.
"Got it. The Pokétroupe that performed at Michael's hospital," he stated with a smile. Jessie turned to look at him as she continued to chew on the straw of the drink she was holding.
"Huh?" she said.
"That group was playing at Michael's hospital a few months ago," explained James. "He said they were very good." Together they watched them for a few moments. All in all, they weren't bad. The seel did a few ball tricks and a raichu wowed the crowd with light tricks - there was even a very familiar sandshrew doing some water aerobics in small pool. Watching the troupe gave James a sudden, insistent urge to call his little brother.
"I'll be right back," said James quickly. He stood up and worked his way back through the growing crowd. Jessie just nodded. It really was a fascinating show. She wondered if she couldn't incorporate some of those tricks into new attacks.
James, in the meantime, was having a bit of difficulty getting to the vid-phone. The Troupe had drawn quite a crowd in the few minutes they had stopped to watch. After squeezing past a very large woman and her six screaming children, James breathed a sigh of relief, having finally made it to the edge of the crowd. Another sigh soon followed when he discovered no line for the phone. Before anyone could beat him to it, he squeezed in the booth and shut the door.
$1.25?? he thought as he looked at the phone. Damn company had raised the rates again. James patted his pockets and produced his wallet. After a minute, he found what he was looking for. It was a nondescript device, really. Just a flat unmarked plastic card, no bigger than your average credit card. However, it was also one of the perks of working for the Team Rocket Organization. He lifted the phone off the receiver and swiped the card through a hidden slot on the side of the phone. When he had heard The Boss had closed a deal with the phone companies, it made him very happy. Now if he would only buy the cable companies as well...
"Operator," came a clear voice from the phone, cutting of James' revelry. It wasn't a real person, but a very sophisticated computer that relayed all the calls. James was acutely aware that the Organization was keeping records of all his calls and probably recording them as well, but James had never felt he'd had anything to hide.
"Connect me to Gabriel St. Jobe Medical Hospital, clearance code 34K-95FK," stated James in an even, monotonic voice.
"Clearance Denied."
James blinked. Denied? In all his years since he'd been given the phone card, he had never gotten a 'clearance denied' message.
"Why is the clearance denied?" he asked, but the phone had clicked off. He tried using his card again, but he was completely locked out of the system. With a soft curse, he walked out of the booth.
"How's Michael?" asked Jessie. She was leaning against the side of the booth, her hands behind her head. The show had let out a few minutes earlier and she had been waiting for James.
"Couldn't get through," he replied. "I think the system's down."
"I vaguely remember Spunks saying something about how they were revamping the whole thing," said Jessie, thoughtful. "Could that be it?"
James nodded. "I bet it is. I completely forgot about that." He smiled at Jessie and looked up at the black skylight above them.
The day seemed over too quickly. Jessie and James walked arm in arm back through the mall. Most of the stores were in the pre-closing stage. As they approached the department store, they heard a warning voice over the loudspeaker claiming only fifteen more minutes before the lights would go out.
"Gives us time to shop for one last item," Jessie said quickly, grabbing James' hand and dragging him through the store.
"But I thought you said our... er... Meowth's credit was maxed out," replied James. Jessie ignored him.
When they turned the corner, James' jaw nearly fell on the floor. There were women everywhere, digging through dress racks and fighting over finds. Spinning around he saw a bright, yellow sign that read, "75% OFF SALE! TODAY ONLY!!" Although the store was nearly closed, people were everywhere, searching for bargains.
"This is why it took me so long to find something to wear," explained Jessie. "Now you, stand here," she said firmly planting him dead center of a number of racks. She casually walked over to small pile of clothes and dug through until finally, she found what she was looking for. Holding up a skimpy, light blue dress, she walked over to James and held it up to him. Clearing her throat, she leaned in closely and whispered only one word. "Payback."
"Yes, James. I think this dress would look absolutely wonderful on you," she said, quite loudly. A number of the women stopped what they were doing and looked at him. A few people started whispering.
"Je-Jessica!" he stuttered in surprise. "I really don't think..."
"What? Too much material?" she asked, slightly louder than before. She held it back and stared at it critically. "Maybe you're right. I just wish we had brought Alfredo here to help us find you a good dress for your coming out party." She leaned over and whispered loudly to a women who was standing nearby, agape. "His boyfriend has such wonderful fashion sense. I can't even hold a candle to it."
James seemed about to reply when a store manager walked up and addressed the whole crowd. "Hey everybody!" he said in a cheerful voice. "Hope you enjoyed the sale, but the store is closing now. If you could take your purchases to the front, one of our sales associates will be more than happy to help you! Hope you all had a super time!" The manager walked down towards Jessie and James and looked carefully at the outfit James was "being fitted" for.
"You know," he said to James slowly, "we have that little number in a green that would just really set off your eyes."
"Uhh... thanks," replied James, blushing. "I think I already have something in mind, though. Come along, Jessica," he said firmly, grabbing her arm and leading her out of the store.
The minute they got outside, Jessie collapsed in a fit of laughter and although he didn't want to, James felt himself joining in. They leaned against the brick wall of the building, looking for all the world like vagabonds on some kind of high. After a few minutes, they were able to get a hold of themselves.
"You have to admit," gasped Jessie, wiping a tear out of her eye, "that was pretty good."
"It was," replied James, snickering. He sat down on the ground next to Jessie, staring up a the full moon in the sky. Jessie leaned against him and together they listed to the pleasant sound of moths flying to their deaths and car horns honking underneath the burning halogen lights of the mall parking lot.
"We have two more days," said Jessie. James nodded. "Are you tired?" she asked.
"Not really. Why? You have plans for this evening?"
"You better believe I do," she said, standing up, a silky smile on her face. In one smooth movement, she dragged James to his feet and together they walked out to their, or rather the car that they had "borrowed" earlier that day.
"May I help, you... people?" he asked them, a high air in his voice. His eyes narrowed as a meowth crawled up on top of the table. "If you people can't control your pokémon," said the clerk angrily, "I'm going to have to ask you to keep... it in a pokéball."
The pokémon glared at the clerk then grabbed the front of his shirt. "The name's MEOWTH, you bastard. I'm not an 'it,' neither." The clerk made strangled sounds, but whether they were from lack of oxygen or surprise, no one knew. Meowth let go of the man's shirt and took a step back. "We's got a reservation, under the name of 'George Travanni.' Give me the keys." The man just stood there, leaning against the back desk. From the back room, an older man walked in. He barely looked twice at the motley group and instead focused his attention on the clerk.
"Mr. McBride, why don't you head into the back room," he said to the clerk with a gentle smile. "I'll handle these customers." The clerk nodded once and disappeared behind the heavy, oaken door. The old man fixed his attention on Meowth and shook his head. "I though I asked you to stop scaring away all of my employees, Cat," sighed the old man, a hint of merriment in his voice.
"Sorry, Remear," replied Meowth, amusement evident in his voice as well. "I couldn't help it."
"S' alright," said Remear. "'George Trovanni?'" he asked, reading the ledger. Meowth just shrugged. "Well, your rooms are already set up. Two of your associates came here two days ago." Meowth nodded and took the room keys from Reamer's outstretched hand.
"Thanks, Remear," he called over his shoulder as he and the rest of the group trudged up the stairs. They all remained silent as Meowth slowly opened the door to one of the rooms. Sitting in the center of the room, playing a game of Gin Rummy, sat Jessie and James, both looking quite pleased with themselves.
James looked up at the slightly charred group and smiled. "What happened to you guys?" he asked innocently. Kytty seethed.
"I CAIN'T BELIEVE YA'LL JUST LEFT!" she yelled, seeming ready to pounce on James. Gengiess garbed her arms and held her back. "THOSE KIDS ARE DEAMON SPAWN!!" she cried, struggling in his grip. Jessie and James looked at each other and grinned. Reece shook her head.
"I don't understand how that pikachu can be so powerful," she said quietly, running her fingers through her knotted hair. Everyone walked into the room and collapsed on the floor, exhausted. Even Kytty seemed to be over her initial anger.
"I don't think the pikachu itself entirely is anything special," said Gengiess after a moment. "That boy fought us with a few other pokémon as well - all abnormally well trained given his age and their evolutionary status."
"I noticed that as well," said Umiko. "Most of his pokémon were unevolved."
Reece brushed some soot off her clothes. "Yeah, except for that big lizard."
"At least we can take some comfort in the fact that he got burnt up as well."
Kytty yawned and stood up. "We can talk about this later," she said. "I am so tared, I don't give a rattata's arse about that kid and his lackeys. I'm takin' a shawer and gettin' sum sleep." She disappeared out the door.
"Sounds like a plan," Gengiess yawned. He walked out the door to his own room. Umiko soon followed and so did Reece, leaving Meowth alone with Jessie and James.
"So, did youse two have a nice vacation?" asked Meowth.
"Yes," replied Jessie with a smile. "Very pleasant." Her face became slightly more serious. "Thank you for arranging it so we could sneak off like that."
Meowth shrugged. "I thought you two needed the break."
"Did you have fun chasing the pikachu with the others?" asked James, grinning.
Meowth grinned back. "I don't think any of those guys will say chasing the pikachu is a blow off job anymore. They put us through the works. We got soaked, attacked by leaves, caught in a dust storm, burned, and, of course, electrocuted."
"Not bad," said Jessie with a short nod. "Did you get thrown off into the sunset?"
"Not this time," replied Meowth with no amount of remorse. "'Course we didn't take the hot air balloon either."
"So," said Jessie, "what is the next phase of our real mission. The Defiers won't be expecting us now."
Meowth's face grew dark and his eyes quickly darted over to look at James. "Well," he began slowly, "we're going to go about it the normal way. Just a standard sneak attack. We'll grab the item and get out of there as fast as possible."
"But you said the item would be damaged by this cold weather," James pointed out. "I mean, the days are pretty comfortable, but the nights are frigid."
"That's the other thing I needed to talk to youse guys about," explained Meowth. "I'm gonna head out of town for a few days and get the supplies we'll need to transport the item. Spunks is already working on getting things together. While I go, you two will have to make sure the group gets to point 634-bc, okay?"
"634-bc?" asked Jessie. "I thought Reece said the item was in section 88ur4-98."
"She did," replied Meowth. "I just don't want to rush in there. You'll go to the first location, and I'll meet you there. Then we'll send out a scouting group so we can get a feel for the Defier Facility. Then we'll make our plans and rush the place."
James silently calculated in his head. "It'll take us three days to get to the first location and one day to send an investigative party out there and back," he said.
Meowth nodded. "We attack on the fourth night." Jessie mulled over the situation for a moment before standing up. She stretched her body and started walking towards the bedroom.
"Well, I'm going to get some shut eye," she said, not turning to look at them. She walked into the bedroom and closed the door. James watched Meowth for a minute before speaking.
"Are you okay?" he asked slowly.
Meowth blinked. "Of course I'm okay," he replied half-heartedly, with a fake little laugh. "Why wouldn't I be okay?" James' eyes narrowed.
"I don't know, Meowth. You seem really... depressed recently. Like you're in some kind of trouble."
"I work for Team Rocket," he said sarcastically. "I'm always in some kind of trouble."
"I'm serious, Meowth. Are you still upset about the boss choosing the persian over you? Over is it something more personal?" James leaned over and rested his hand on Meowth's shoulder. "We're friends, right? You know you can always talk to Jessie or me if something is bothering you."
"I know," sighed Meowth. "But, I'm fine. Really. To be honest, I've been worried about you. Jessie has been, too. Are you alright? Do you still have those nightmares?"
"Actually, I haven't really had one of those since... well..." James closed his eyes and thought back. He opened his eyes, his expression slightly haunted. "I haven't had a nightmare since we raided the Defier hideout and found out the item had been moved." Meowth sighed, but whether it was from relief or something else, James couldn't tell.
"Well, that's... good, at the very least," said Meowth. He began to absently clean one of his paws. James stood up and started walking towards the bedroom.
"There are two beds in here," he told Meowth. "Jessie and I have only been using the one, so you can use the other if you like. Try to get some sleep tonight, okay, Meowth?"
"Sure thing, James," said the cat with a smile, which faded as soon as James left the room.
"Four days..." he whispered.