Prologue
"Prepare for trouble!"
"And make it double…"
The two Pokémon thieves stepped out
of the shadows, advancing on their prey with evil grins. Jesse tossed her long hair disdainfully,
crossing her arms over her chest imperiously.
"To protect the world from
devastation!"
Her partner James pressed his back
against hers, hands on hips.
"To unite all peoples within our
nation," he said in a smooth, cultured voice, piercing the three Pokémon
trainers with his green gaze.
Jesse winked cutely, giving a
thumbs-up. "To denounce the evils of
truth and love!"
James made a grasp towards the sky
with one fist. "To extend our reach to
the stars above!"
"Jesse!" The feisty redhead spun on her heel, landing in a modelers' pose.
"James!" The blue-haired bishonen grabbed his partner's petite waist and
dipped her gracefully.
With cat-like grace, their last
member leapt into the scene in a dramatic battle stance. "Meowth, that's right!" he crowed
challengingly as a cascade of colored waterworks went off behind the three
villains.
Silence.
Jesse tilted her head up from her
uncomfortable position and glared at her un-enthusiastic audience.
"Hey, aren't you brats going to make
some snotty remark or something?"
James looked irritated. "We put a lot of work into that production!"
Ash and Misty simply stared at them
with bored expressions. Tracy blinked
wide-eyed.
"Are they always this flashy?" he
asked Misty.
Jesse ground her teeth in irritation
and jumped into battle stance.
"Ah, enough chit-chat! Arbok, get those weaklings!"
The large purple viper shot out of
it's Pokéball, charged for action. It
leaped at the three trainers and did a wrap attack on Tracy.
"Yaaaagh!!" cried the young Pokémon
watcher in terror.
"Weezing, go!" commanded James,
throwing out his own Pokéball into the fray.
"Poison gas attack!" The dopey
looking two-headed Pokémon crowed obediently and shot out a stream of noxious
looking gas, leaving the three trainers choking in it's wake.
Jesse laughed evilly. "Smoking, isn't it? Arbok, poison sting
attack now!"
"Chaaa-bokuh!" cried the giant viper
Pokémon, shooting a stream of needles at its opponents.
Ash stumbled under the attack but
looked up to glare at the three laughing Pokémon thieves.
"Pikachu, thunder attack now! Get Team Rocket!" he yelled to his loyal
Pokémon, pointing at the three villains.
"Pi!" growled the little electric
rodent, nodding its head in agreement.
"Pi—kaaaaa—CHUUUUUU!!!"
Jesse, James and Meowth were engulfed
in a brilliant flash of electricity.
"YAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHH!!!" they
screamed as the volts shot through them.
Suddenly the tongues of licking electricity met with Weezing's poisonous
gas.
"Looks like Team Rocket's—blasting
off agaaaaaain!!!" cried the trio mournfully as the explosion propelled them
into the air. Soon they were merely
specks on the horizon; there was a 'ping' of light and they were gone.
Ash cried out in victory, hopping
around excitedly from foot to foot.
"We did it Pikachu!! Yay!!"
The little electric rodent grinned
brightly at its master. "Pi—ka—CHU!"
Misty rolled her eyes. "I would hardly call beating Team Rocket a
great feat."
"Toge! Toge, briiiiii?" trilled Togepi, looking down at Tracy in concern
from Misty's grasp, who was lying dazed on the ground.
"What a healthy Arbok," groaned the
Pokémon watcher in a dazed voice. "I
wonder if Team Rocket would let me sketch it?"
Then he collapsed in exhaustion.
Ash and Misty blinked.
*****
The trio landed in a town not so far away.
"Oooooohh!" groaned James
pitifully. He had landed on his
head. Righting himself, he sat down on
the sidewalk lotus style looking forlorn.
"I think I need to teach Weezing
some more non-flammable attacks," he whined.
Meowth sat up, rubbing his head with a paw.
"Ach, we were so close dat time!" he
complained. Jesse stood up, dusting
herself off determinedly.
"Those stupid brats are really in
for it this time!" she growled angrily, shaking with rage. James jumped up beside her, making a fist.
"Right! We'll come up with an even better plan and get them next time!"
His stomach growled loudly. He looked at his partner sheepishly.
"Maybe we could eat first though…"
Jesse looked at him. "I don't have money…do you?" The blue-haired bishonen pulled out his
pocket linings. A couple of moths flew
out. Looking desperate, the two humans
turned to their Pokémon partner who was busily cleaning himself. He looked up at them when he realized they
were both staring.
"Hey, don't look at me! I don't even got pockets!"
The two sighed dejectedly, James
getting little Anime rivers.
"I'm so hungryyyyyyy!"
Jesse looked upset. "If we don't have any money, we can't get
rooms! We're going to have to sleep
outside again!" Her eyes started to wobble
emotionally.
Meowth fell over in exhaustion. "We're hungry and broke again!"
All three groaned in dejection.
Suddenly Jesse grinned
mischievously. "We may not have money but I know a way we can get
some!" Her partners looked at her with
interest.
"How, Jesse?" asked James. He frowned cutely. "Don't tell me we're going to work
again like we did on that awful island."
She shook her head
disdainfully. "Don't be ridiculous,
James. And we're not going to sell fake
badges either."
Meowth looked peeved. "Then what are we gonna' do, Miss Smarty-pants?"
The redhead ignored his remark,
whipping out three, small black bags.
"We're going to get money the Team
Rocket way, of course!"
James and Meowth grinned evilly in
realization.
"Ooh, Jesse you're a genius!"
complimented James in a deep voice.
Jesse blushed and laughed in embarrassment. All three grabbed a bag.
"We'll meet back here with the loot
in an hour—capísh?" she asked. Her
partners nodded.
"Capísh!"
The young man laughed to himself,
bouncing the coin purse between his hands proudly.
"Ha! Today was a real winner!
Those suckers! They didn't even
realize there was three extra Aces in that deck!" He laughed again, expertly flipping a trio of Aces out of his
sleeve with a flick of his wrist.
"This calls for a little champagne,
Slick my man!"
He rounded the corner into a dark
alley, whistling to himself in congratulations. Suddenly a shadow detached itself from the darkness, slinking
towards him inkily.
"What the…?!!" he growled, reaching
for his knife. The shadow came into the
light, forming itself into a beautiful young woman. She had long, midnight black hair wrapped in a loose ponytail
over one shoulder and intense blue eyes.
They had a mesmerizing effect on the young card player, like a pair of
deep blue whirlpools. She advanced on
him timidly, dressed in a low-cut white dress with a tight black bodice and
over-skirt. The card dealer smirked
lecherously, watching her move in the tight-fitting dress.
"Well hello there, pretty thing!" he
remarked, looking her everywhere but in the eyes. The young woman didn't seem to notice, watching him coyly from
under her lashes. "What's a beautiful
girl like you doing in a place like this?"
The woman advanced on him, clasping
her hands imploringly. "Please,
sir! I need your help!"
The young man smirked darkly. "What kind
of help?"
The young woman looked at him
desperately, blue eyes quivering.
"I…I'm in need of money, sir. If
you could just loan me a few dollars…!"
The card player snorted disdainfully,
tossing the coin purse in one hand tauntingly.
"Give you money?! I don't just give out handouts, you know.
You'd have to make an exchange, baby!"
The young woman didn't seem to
understand his undertones, advancing even further to beg him yet again. "Please, sir! Couldn't you just this once?
I have nothing to exchange!"
The man looked amused. "Look, doll. I don't give no one money.
Not even gorgeous creatures like yourself. You're just going to have to 'persuade' me…"
Something flashed in the woman's
eyes. Before the card player could even
blink, he was staring into the barrel of a pistol at point blank range.
"How's that for persuasion?" she
asked in a haughty, feral voice, grinning at him evilly. The card player gulped.
"Ha, ha, ha! What a catch!"
Jesse laughed to herself proudly,
counting the coins out in her palm. She
had gone into the cover of the trees at the side of the road to count her
night's 'earnings'. She laughed again.
"Along with whatever those two got,
we should be able to get a room and
take-out!"
There was a rustle in the trees
behind her. She spun, facing the
darkness nervously.
"Who's there?!" she demanded in a
gruff voice. Only silence rewarded her
efforts. She bit her lip nervously,
backing up unconsciously.
Suddenly a black-garbed figure
dropped from the branches behind her, grabbing her around the waist with one
hand and covering her mouth with the other.
She cried out, her voice muffled by her attacker's hand then angled
sideways in his grasp to aim an elbow into his ribs. Her attacker cried out in surprise and released her, barely
avoiding her strike.
Jesse stood poised to defend
herself, glaring at her attacker as she tried to catch her breath. The black-garbed man blinked at her in
surprise for a moment, then looked at her more closely as if in
recognition. She blinked and stared
back.
Those
eyes…, she thought. Then she
noticed the telltale strand of blue violet hair between them.
She straightened up, her defenses
down. "James?"
The man cocked his head at her. "Jesse?"
Jesse sighed in relief, then
realizing he had jumped her, walked over and smacked him over the head. "What the hell were you doing,
imbecile?! Did you want to get your ass
kicked or something?!"
James rubbed his head dully and
pulled off his mask, shaking out his hair.
"I didn't know it was you!
Really!" He looked at her,
curious. "How did you know it was me?"
She pulled off her black wig,
smoothing down loose strands of her intense crimson hair and straightening the
bun she had it in.
"Well first it was your eyes. Then it was your hair," she remarked curtly,
tugging on the loose strand sharply. He
pouted cutely and flicked it in irritation.
"Damn," he cursed.
She crossed her arms sternly. "But back to business; how much did you
get?"
James looked putout. "Not very much…" He pulled a handful of coins and bills from his pocket.
Jesse looked irritated. "James, how much is that?" she demanded
dryly.
James paused nervously.
"…Five dollars…"
Jesse's eyebrow twitched.
"Five
dollars??!!!"
"We can get two burgers with that…"
"FIVE DOLLARS?!! FIVE DOLLARS?!! ALONG WITH WHAT I GOT WE BARELY HAVE ENOUGH FOR A DECENT ROOM!!!"
James smiled meekly. "Maybe Meowth made more…!"
Jesse made as if to strike him then
blinked. "Meowth! Where is that stupid cat?"
"I don't know! Don't ask me!" whimpered James frantically,
cowering with his hands over his head in protection.
Jesse looked at her watch. "It's been nearly an hour since he was
supposed to get here."
James looked up from his fetal
position in concern. "Do you think we
should go look for him?"
Jesse gazed into the gloom, eyebrows
furrowed somewhat. She shook herself
and turned back to James.
"Nah, let the stupid cat be!" she
replied haughtily. "Let's just go find
a motel. He can find us on his own if
he's going to make us wait for him!"
James looked unsure but nodded
anyway. "Right." He smiled suddenly. "Can we rent a motel with cable?"
Jesse rolled her eyes. "We'll be lucky to get one with plumbing with the change we scrounged
up, James…"
She threw some clothes at him. "Here, change into these."
He held them up and looked at them
curiously. "Why?"
She rolled her eyes again and pulled
an outfit of her own out of her black bag.
"Oh, no reason. Just the fact that a man dressed as a bank
robber might look a little suspicious…"
* * *
