Misguided

Summary: This was inspired from a quote in 'The Island of Giant Pokémon' about why Ekans would not hurt the other Pokémon.

Pokémon not bad guys. Pokémon do bad things because master bad.

That is what Ekans said when all the Pokémon were lost on the Island of Giant Pokémon; when Meowth was trying to coerce Ekans and Koffing into attacking the Pokémon that belonged to the twerps. Looking at the other Pokémon, Ekans didn't see them trying to attack it and Wheezing, or even Meowth. Instead they were working together to make their way back to Ash, Misty and Brock. This was no time for rivalry or fighting.

Ekans was desperate to get back to Jessie even thought it had pretty much just admitted she was bad. Unlike the rest of the Pokémon, Ekans understood Jessie and saw beneath her silly, weak outer exterior. All everyone else saw was a superficial woman doing a bad job of being a member of Team Rocket. And maybe it was true. Maybe she did commit crimes, and maybe her strategies never worked. Maybe she could never see anyone's perspective except her own. Maybe she was more interested in her appearance than raising her Pokémon and wanted nothing more than to be rich and glamorous.

But that was only a tiny part of her, the only part of her that she wasn't afraid to show to the rest of the world. People never saw the vulnerability concealed beneath the surface, or her deepest feelings of failure as she wondered how her life managed to get so far off track. They didn't watch her cry at night as she wished she could turn back the clock and do things differently. They didn't see how Jessie really cared about Ekans even though it seemed like she treated it badly all the time. They didn't understand that Jessie had no other option to keep doing what she was doing, because it was the only way she knew how to survive.

It didn't matter that Jessie was bad because she loved Ekans, and Ekans loved her back. In fact, Jessie wasn't even truly bad, just misguided. That's why she and James would never make it any higher up in Team Rocket, because the top was where the true bad boys were. That's why their schemes to capture Pikachu were so crazy and badly thought through: Jessie and James didn't have it in them to be really, truly cruel. And Ekans would keep hoping that maybe one day they would come to their senses, abandon Team Rocket and rebuild their lives as good people once again.

While Ekans held onto this hope, it was adamant that it would not be cruel to the other Pokémon because in its heart, Ekans wasn't truly bad either. Maybe one day it would have a chance to be friends with other Pokémon rather than an enemy out to get them. Maybe it would battle for the right reasons and earn respect for its trainer rather than animosity.

Maybe there was hope for Ekans to be a good Pokémon because its master wasn't truly bad.