Author's note: The unique way of jumping in time to the past and back to the present is inspired by David Grossman book "Somebody to run with". It might be a bit difficult to keep track of the storyline, but everything is explained in the next chapter.


Epizoda A


The black figure entered the dark hall. Carefully evading the lazer-beams, it moved slowly towards the lightened spot in the middle of the hall. She could see it, so close, all she had to do was screw out the glass and pull it out. She reached out and took it, lifting it up in front of her eyes.
"Perfection..." she whispered, and it wasn't clear what she was referring to- the big shiny diamond in her hand, or her reflection on it.

-

10 YEARS BEFORE that night, James and Meowth were digging a hole, a trap for Ash and his friends, of course.

"Would ya stop throwing mud on Meowth?" Meowth yelled at James, who was clumsy as usual.

"We've been digging this hole for hours, I can hardly see anything anymore", James complained.

"Wrap it up, I can see the twerps coming!" Jessie, who was standing next to the hole, quickly helped her friends to climb out. They covered it with mud and grass and went hiding behind a tree.

"Woah! 5 tags already! I'm the best Pokemon-trainer in the whole world! Right, Pikachu?"

"Pika! Pika pi!" they heard Pikachu and Ash having an inteligent conversation as always.

"You were just lucky, Ash", that was Misty, of course, ruining his fun.

Team Rocket peeped from behined the tree, and saw the twerps coming closer to the covered hole... stepping on it... and walking away...

"I knew I can't trust you two!" Jessie yelled at James and Meowth, "You messed up a great plan!"

"I don't understand what went wrong..." James bent down to look into the hole... and fell into it.

"Well done, James!" Meowth came closer to the hole, looked down to see James... and fell into it too.

"God, I have to do *Everything* myself" Jessie thought, tried to help them out... but slipped and fell down the hole herself...

-

3 MONTHS LATER, James slowly got out of his bed and quickly packed a bag, trying not to wake up his partners. It's been 2 months since the boss had decided to separate Jessie, the rocket with the most potentiacl as he called her, from her "useless" partners.
2 weeks after Jessie was gone, Joan was teamed up with James and Meowth. She was nice, James really tried to give her a chance, but she wasn't Jessie. James knew that there's no point staying in Team Rocket without Jessie, after all- she was the reason he joined it in the first place.
He walked towards the door and put a short letter next to Meowth's little bed.

He was almost out of the door when he heard Meowth: "James? What'cha doing?"

"It's Ok, go back to sleep", James said, and when Meowth started snoring again he quickly slipped outside. He hoped that his "departure" won't get his old feline-friend and the new girl in troubles.

-

9 1/2 YEARS LATER, Jessie entered the boss' office to get the details about her new mission. Beeing called by the boos was no longer a frightening nor unusual experience, especially for Jessie, one of the best Team Rocket members, and the boss' favourite.

"I'm here, sir."

"Ah... Jessie. I have a special mission for you this time. In a few weeks, the famous Pokemon master Ash Ketchum will celebrate his wife Misty's 23rd birthday. He is going to throw a big affair for her, and give her a birthday gift- a 10 million dollars worth diamond.

"10 millions? Lucky girl..." Jessie thought.

"Here's the disc with all the other details. This mission is very importent, I need that diamond."

"Don't worry, sir. It will be done." Jessie nodded, took the disc and left the office. The names of her new victims sounded familiar, but she couldn't remember where she had heard them before.

It was only when she uploaded the mission's file and looked at Ash and Misty's pictures, that she remembered who they were. She smiled to herself: "Pokemon master, huh? Nice going, twerp..."

-

9 YEARS AND 7 WEEKS BEFORE, James was lying in the corner of a street, covered with an old blanket. He'd been living on the streets for a few weeks, since he left the team. He was hungry and cold, but had nowhere else to go. He didn't want to go home to his parents and he was too afraid to stay in one place, maybe the boss' men are after him. There was almost nothing left in the bag that he packed but a couple of dirty shirts and pants and a big knife for his protection.

He was lying under the blanket that night, thinking of Jessie. He wondered where she was and if she knew that he's no longer in the team. Suddenly he noticed a few men, dressed in black, coming in his direction. He pulled out the knife though he knew it would be usuless against all of them. They started closing in on him, and James paniced- he had to escape, those men could be Rockets! Suddenly, he could hardly believe it himself, he jumped high above one of them, knocking him down, and started running as fast as he could. Without looking back he could tell they were after him, so he kept running. When he finally stopped, he found himself in a strange neighbourhood, looked around and recognized one of the buildings- his old roommate from the Poke-tech, Teddy, lived there. Should he ask his help? He hasn't seen Teddy for years... but he didn't feel safe on the streets, especially now that his knife and blanket were gone.

He went up the stairs, and knocked on the door. He heard someone coming closer to the door, but no answer. Suddenly, James realized that he looked like a filthy homeless, no wonder Teddy didn't want to open up.

"Teddy... It's James..." he could hardly recognize the squeaky voice coming out of his mouth, since he hasn't used it for weeks, "James, from the Poke-tech..."

The door opened to a crack. "James...?"

James pushed the door and stormed in, finding himself standing in front of Teddy, who was holding a gun up to James' head.

"Put the gun down, Teddy, it's me- James- your old roommate..."

"Oh my god... James? What happened to you? What are you doing here?"

James told him everything, and asked for his help. Teddy exused himself and went out to another room to make a few phone calls, and when he returned he scratched his head and said: "Well, James, there's only one thing you can do..."

-

9 YEARS AND 6 WEEKS AFTER that night, detective Jo Green entered commander Martin's office.

"Well", the commander looked nervous, "you must have heard that Mr. Ketchum, the rich Pokemon master, is having a big affair next week, and will present the rare diamond "Jungle eye" during the event. Its value is 10 million dollars. We believe that `The shadow` will be there, trying to steal it."

"The shadow..." detective Green repeated the name to himself. He'd been working on this case for over a year, trying to capture "The shadow", one of the greatest thieves in all times. Jo Green followed his every move, trying to track him down- he always came close to capturing him, but never close enough and the thief managed to escape. That's why he was nicknamed "The shadow", nobody knew who he was and nobody could track him down.

"Remember, Green, we need him ALIVE. So no tricks", The commander knew how frustrated detective Green was, after a year of false attempts to track the theif down. "The shadow" was linked to Team Rocket organization, and commander Martin needed the theif alive so that he could find out details about his boss, the wanted Criminal. At that time "Team Rocket" was no longer into stealing Pokemon from 10 year old kids, it was now a vicious crime organization which was behind the thefts of jewellery, arts, large amounts of money, and every expensive and rare object you can think of.

"Don't worry, I'll bring him in this time", Green said, smiling evilly.

-

Jessie held the diamond up and smiled. It was the largest piece of jewellery she had ever seen, and the mission went perfectly. She put the diamond in a small leather bag and was about to put it in a speacial pocket inside her black coat, when she heard a voice behind her: "Freeze!"

She was still smiling. A stupid cop was not going to stop her from taking off with the rare "Jungle eye" diamond, so she reached out and pulled a gun out of her black boot.

"No way, `Shadow`", Jo Green thought to himself, "You're not getting away tonight!"

And he shot her.