Pokemon

What Good is Winning When You Lose Your Heart?

By Lucky_Ladybug

Notes: The characters are not mine and the story is! This is a Christmas giftfic for Crystal Rose of Pollux. The setting is Classic Era.

It started out as a regular, run-of-the-mill battle against Team Rocket at night. Ash, Misty, and Brock had been camping out near a flock of wild Mareep when their enemies had suddenly tried to lift off with the entire lot. Naturally, Ash and company couldn't let that stand.

This time, however, Jessie and James were not about to be beaten so easily. After their Pokemon failed, James started throwing some of their infamous flash bombs. Jessie and Meowth quickly got into the act and helped fling them.

"Look out!" Brock yelled. He grabbed both Ash and Misty and dove to the ground as one of the bombs hit a large tree branch and tore it loose. Despite Brock's best efforts, the branch fell on them.

"Ha! We've got 'em pinned now!" Meowth exclaimed.

"Let's go get those Mareep!" Jessie added.

"You're not getting away with this!" Ash yelled. He scrambled out from under the branch. "Let's go, guys!"

Misty scurried up too. "Come on, Brock!"

Brock didn't answer.

"Oh my gosh, he's hurt!" Misty cried.

In the balloon above them, James stiffened at that pronouncement. "Hey," he gasped. "I think we really did hurt him. He's not getting up. . . ."

"He's probably just knocked out," Jessie said impatiently. "While the twerps are distracted, we can get the Mareep. They don't even belong to anyone! The twerps don't have a right to keep us from taking them."

"I guess they don't want us to help make Team Rocket's forces any bigger," James said. He gripped the edge of the basket. "What if it was my bomb that broke that tree branch?!"

"Does it matter whose it was?!" Jessie snapped.

"I didn't want to actually hurt anyone!" James wailed. "I was just trying to make them get out of our way!" He jumped out of the basket and to the ground.

"James?!" Jessie exclaimed.

"What the heck are you doing?!" Meowth yowled.

James ignored both of them and ran over to where Ash and Misty were lifting the tree branch off of Brock. "Is he badly hurt?!" he demanded.

"If he is, it's your fault!" Misty spat. "Go away!"

James dropped to his knees, praying not to find serious injury. He ran his hand along the back of Brock's neck and down his spine. "I don't think anything's broken, thank God," he said after a moment. "But the branch hit him on the head. . . ."

"And that could be just as bad or worse!" Misty cried.

"What are we going to do?!" Ash exclaimed. The full weight of the situation was crashing upon him. They were in the middle of nowhere and Brock was hurt. Even if it wasn't serious, they needed to help him, and Ash realized he wasn't at all sure what to do.

"Move over." A new voice had joined their conversation.

Everyone looked up with a start. Jessie had exited the balloon and was walking over with determination and purpose.

Misty was still suspicious and in disbelief. "Why?"

"I was trained as a nurse," Jessie said matter-of-factly. She knelt down next to Brock.

"Huh?!" Ash stared in shock.

"Yeah, but that was as a Pokemon Nurse," Meowth said as he scrambled out of the balloon and tied it down.

"Some things are the same or similar with people," Jessie replied.

"You guys are the ones who hurt Brock!" Misty insisted. "I don't trust you around him!"

Jessie looked to her. "Look, twerp. Do either of you have any medical training?"

"No," Misty retorted. "But . . ."

"Well, I do," Jessie interrupted. "I'm not going to hurt your friend worse. I really am just trying to help him. And what choice do you have right now but to trust me?"

Ash had been silent during this exchange, weighing their options. When at last he spoke, Misty was surprised by his words.

"Jessie's right. We don't know what we're doing and we might hurt Brock worse. They didn't have to come back; they had a perfect excuse to get away or try to take the Mareep again. I think . . . I think they really are trying to help."

Misty stared at him. She had to concede to that logic, although she was still leery. "Maybe you're right, Ash," she said. "But I'm still going to keep my eye on you!" she added to Team Rocket as a whole.

"That's fair," James said. He sounded far more subdued than usual. "I'm so sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen."

"Well, maybe you should have thought of that before you started throwing bombs!" Misty shot back.

James, knowing she had a point, withdrew and said no more.

The next moments were tense. Jessie instructed Ash to build a fire and Misty to bring some water from the stream. She and James got Brock settled with warm blankets. Pikachu and Togepi were happy to help provide warmth, as was Vulpix when she emerged from her Pokeball.

"I gotta say, I never thought this was how we were gonna spend the night," Meowth commented as he brought a small stack of assorted branches and twigs over to Charizard's fire.

"None of us did," Jessie retorted.

Ash and Misty stayed close once the fire and the water were taken care of. They took turns laying damp cloths on Brock's forehead and speaking to him softly, desperately hoping he would awaken.

"Come on, Brock," Misty said. "You've always helped us out so much and you're always there when we need you. You were protecting us tonight and that's why you're hurt. But you need to wake up now. It's lonely without you." She paused. "I grew up with older sisters, but I never had an older brother until you came along. It's been really nice."

Ash wasn't as sure what to say. He sat in silence for a while, clenching his fists on his knees.

". . . It looks so wrong to see you lying hurt," he said at last. "Misty's right; you're always there to help us. You're the one who picks us up when we're down. You're hardly ever hurt, Brock. But now you are and we . . . we just feel so helpless. Wake up . . . please."

He shut his eyes tightly. He hadn't often seen any of his friends hurt. He hated it. And he hated how helpless it made him feel.

Pikachu laid a paw on his knee. "Pika-Pi . . ."

Ash looked down at him. "Oh Pikachu. . . ." He picked up the Pokemon and held him close.

Team Rocket sat apart from them, but nearby so they could monitor things. They mostly remained quiet. James seemed to be deep in thought.

Meowth finally looked to him. "Are you okay, Jim?"

"I'm not the one lying hurt," James countered.

"Yeah, but you're hurtin' anyway," Meowth said. "Your heart's hurtin'."

"I was aiming at that branch," James said. "I really do think it was my flash bomb that brought it down on the twerps. I thought it would pin them for a few minutes, that's all. I didn't want this. . . ."

"We're probably the only team in Team Rocket that would've stopped fighting for something like this," Jessie growled. "I know Butch and Cassidy wouldn't have stopped. Or Annie and Oakley. They would have considered it a great bonus for one or more of them to be hurt."

"So what's your point?" Meowth wondered.

"Cassidy was right that we're not in the same league," Jessie said. "But is that good or bad?"

"Honestly, I feel absolutely rotten right now," James said.

"And they wouldn't feel anything," Jessie said. "Team Rocket believes in loyalty to the team, but not to anyone else. Maybe . . ." She hesitated. "No, that can't be."

"What can't be?" James straightened and frowned.

"Maybe we're all still too soft and too good for Team Rocket," Jessie muttered. "Only we can't be, because we have nowhere else to go."

"If anything happens to that twerp, we'll be going to prison," James said. "Or at least I will. And I'd deserve it." He clenched a fist. "I could never be unfeeling like Butch and Cassidy. If that means I'm at odds with Team Rocket ideals, then so be it."

"Yeah," Meowth said softly, laying a paw on James' knee. "Me too."

". . . Me three," Jessie grudgingly conceded.

Another silence fell over the campsite. But at last Brock stirred, groaning under his breath. "Ohh . . . Ash . . . Misty. . . . Are you guys okay?"

The younger kids sprang to attention.

"Brock!" Ash beamed. "Are we okay?! You're the one who got hurt protecting us!"

"That's right!" Misty exclaimed. "How are you feeling?"

Brock started to rise, then grimaced and laid back down. "Not great."

James got up and came over. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

"We're all sorry." That was Jessie, swallowing her pride to come forward as well.

"Yeah," said Meowth. "We weren't tryin' to really get anybody hurt. We just wanted to stop you and stuff."

Brock looked at them in surprise. "What are you all doing here?"

"We stayed to try to help," Jessie said gruffly. "Meowth is right-things didn't go the way we planned."

"They were actually really good," Misty said. "Jessie even trained as a nurse."

Now Brock's stunned look went to Jessie. She just looked away, not wanting to talk about it.

"You shouldn't lay out here all night after being hurt," she said instead. "There's a cabin not far from here. We were going to spend the night there. You'd better come too."

"It's just about five minutes in the balloon," Meowth said.

"That sounds like a good idea," Ash said. "I never thought we'd be spending the night with Team Rocket, but it won't be the first time."

Misty nodded. "Let's go."

She and Ash and James helped Brock up. Squirtle put out the fire.

"So . . . what about the flock of Mareep?" Ash wondered as they headed for the balloon.

"Nevermind about the Mareep," Jessie retorted. "We'll worry about that later, if we worry about it at all."

Ash smiled a bit.

They reached the balloon and gently set Brock down in the basket. Misty knelt by him. "I'm so sorry this happened, Brock," she said in concern. "If we'd just seen the branch coming in time to all jump out of the way. . . ."

"I'm just glad I was able to protect both of you," Brock said.

"With all of your siblings, you must have had a lot of experience with protecting," Misty remarked.

"Quite a bit," Brock agreed. "Not usually so dramatically, though." He looked to James. "And I hope there won't be any more incidents where these two will need protecting."

James flinched. "I hope not too. I really am sorry. I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt."

"None of us did," Jessie muttered.

"It's easy enough to accept your apology when I'm the one who got hurt," Brock said. "If it had been Ash or Misty, it would be harder."

"That makes sense," James said.

Misty folded her arms. "It isn't so easy for me, but it does mean a lot that you guys came back to help."

Ash nodded. "That's sure something I wasn't expecting. I'm sure none of our other enemies would do that. So . . . thanks."

Team Rocket nodded. They all knew this was a truce that wouldn't last, but at least they also knew that in the future, they would try to be more careful. No matter what they might say, they knew they didn't really want serious harm to come to anyone, even their enemies.