R&R, please. I own nothing
"Pikachu, now! 100. 00... hey," Ash was really surprised when Jessie began to cry as a little girl. "What's wrong with her, guys?"
James didn't answer. He just hugged his partner trying to comfort the red-haired girl.
Meowth, on the other hand, was more talkative.
"Fo yous info'mation, silly boy. We are good guys today."
"Hm? What is that supposed to mean, kitty?" Ash and Pikachu giggled. Team Rocket as good guys - that IS funny.
"Stop it!" James yelled. "You made Jessie cry and giggles now. Shame on you! And yes, we are good guys."
"Oh come on, I saw..."
"You, idiot!" Jessie suddenly stopped whining and yelled too. "We were starving today. We had no money for food. That's why we had to work as bounty hunters today. There is a pokemon here, in that forest. It is a really really really bad and evil pokemon. hundreds trainers had tried to get it but they all failed. What is worse - the pokemon killed 45 trainers. Do you understand now? A wild evil pokemon, a killer. It is wanted. Of course we made a deal with Officer Jenny: if we brought her the pokemon he would give us food. We captured the pokemon - that is our job, we are professionals! - and that is what you saw, idiot! We had pokemon in the cage, but the pokemon was arrested, we were not stealing it! And now your yellow rat destroyed the cage! We won't get food and the killer is free. Nice work, Ash. Do you want a medal?"
The last words, said in sarcastic tone, hurt Ash even more.
"Hey... guys, I... I didn't know."
"Pika pi" the rat was sad.
"That's your problem, kid. You don't beleive that people can be good. You don't know about that well-known fact. You are such a twerp. Let's go, boys, we have to capture the killer. AGAIN!"
"Jessie, wait."
The TRio looked at Ash.
"What is it now?"
"Look, I am sorry for your cage, OK? Look, I... I... Let me help you guys. The pokemon is free and that's my fault."
"Forget it." James shooked his head. "It's too dangerous. You can be hurt or even killed. We are good guys today, so we forbid you join us."
"We forbid you, we forbid you." Ash mimicked when OFTR [ Our Favourite TRio] left him. "Who do they think they are!"
"Pika?"
"Yes, Pikachu. Even if they dont want us to help them, we will."
Four hours later Ash wasn't optimistic that much.
He found the pokemon in 20 minutes but it turned out that pokeballs don't work - why else Team Rocket would use the cage?
So Ash tried to electrocute the pokemon but it used fire and Pikachu lost. At first Ash wanted to call the TRio for help but he decided to be a tough guy, he didn't want them to see him failed.
So Ash started to work. Thanks to the TRio again: they were trying to steal Pikachu with so variety of methods that Ash was the best bounty pokemon hunter in the whole world. Theoretically, of course.
So, 4 hours passed and Ash is not an optimist anymore.
He tried almost all tricks: holes, fake female pokemon, robots (yes, Ash saw and had to deal with so much robots that he was able to construct ones as a result), bazooka, traps with food... and every time he failed. He was even blasted off twice. OK, more than twice, but Ash is a proud boy, so the total number is his secret.
Meanwhile OFTR was doing [hey, ladies and gentlemen, just take your favourite rocketshippy one-shot and copy here].
But Ash is a hero, is the leading character. So, of course, gods of luck smiled him somehow and one more hour later he captured the pokemon.
A bit later he met Team Rocket and gave them his cage with the killer. He was glad to see how surprised they were.
In the middle of the night Ash woke up because he remembered something. When the TRio said him 'thank you and good bye' they went to East. But local Officer Jenny worked on West. Why did they go as far away as possible from her? And realization came to him. They really stole the pokemon. When Pikachu ruined their cage and let the pokemon be free, they created a fairy tale with Jessie's fake tears and sobs. So, Ash belived him and... HELPED THEM TO STEAL THE POKEMON.
As a proud boy Ash punished himself immediatly - Pikachu were electrocuting him the rest of the night.