James walked into the Pokemon center bedroom. They usually avoided non-Rocket sanctioned Pokemon centers and hospitals at all costs, but Jessie was in terrible shape after their latest blast off.
Jessie was lying there, nearly unconscious. Every now and again, she would let out a light groan.
"Ooohhh..." Jessie groaned.
"It's...it's going to be okay, Jessie?" James said. There was a lot of uncertainty in his voice.
"James? James?" Jessie said, her voice was straining, like she was in pain.
"Yes, Jessie?" James asked.
"Please, please...go...go get a nurse..." Jessie said before letting out more bitter groans.
Without another word, James ran to get Nurse Joy.
A minute after James left, the Pokemon center door opened.
"Blissey? Blissey? Bliss?" a Blissey said, a look of concern on her face.
Jessie's eyes fell on her, and she noticed her broken pendent.
Blissey, my Blissey Jessie thought weakly.
The two locked eyes with each other, and their facial expressions softened.
"Blissey Bliss?" the Pokemon asked.
The Pokemon gently removed Jessie's blankets to reveal blisters and burns covering her midsection.
"Blissey? what happened to you, Jessie?" the Pokemon asked.
Jessie didn't know what the Pokemon said, but she read the concerned expression on its face.
"I...I think I'm dying..." Jessie said, breathing heavily.
"Blissey?" the Pokemon asked, this time with even more concern on its face.
"I'm sorry...for...for...what...I did to you the last time I saw you...I hope you realize, I...I did it to help you...if...Nurse Joy ...found ...out...about...the...food..." Jessie said weakly.
"Blissey Bliss I forgive you, Jessie," the Pokemon said.
Jessie felt a warm paw covering her hand and rubbing it gently.
"Blissey don't die, Jessie," the Pokemon said. Blissey put her paw on Jessie and tried to perform soft boiled. Jessie noticed the egg in Blissey's pouch glowing. Jessie felt a soothing warmth coming from the Pokemon. This move would recover a Pokemon, but it only made Jessie warm and restful. Her wounds remained, but they hurt less.
Just then, Meowth walked in on Jessie and Blissey.
"Blissey Blissey Blissey!" the Pokemon said, frantically waving its arms.
"She says you're hurt pretty bad. We need to get a human nurse," Meowth explained.
"James is..." Jessie groaned. She then passed out.
Just then, James and Nurse Joy walked into the room.
"Sorry I'm late...oh no! You need to go to the hospital right away! How long has she been like this?" Nurse Joy's usually calm voice and demeanor melted into mild shock and outrage when she saw Jessie's wounds, "call 911!" Nurse Joy shouted.
A few minutes later, an ambulance came, and Jessie was put on a stretcher. James rode with her, but Meowth agreed to stay with the Pokemon.
"Blissey Blissey? Who did this to her?" Blissey demanded, her paws ready to do a double slap attack if she didn't like the answer.
"It was the twerps..." Meowth said.
"Blissey? Who? Was it people or Pokemon?" Blissey growled.
Just then, the door burst open.
"Nurse Joy, I need you to heal my Pikachu. It was just involved in a very bad battle!" Ash said.
"Blissey Bliss his Pokemon tend to be involved in "very bad battles" quite often!" Blissey sighed in disapproval.
"Yeah, tell me about it. Don't look now, but those are the twerps I was talking about," Meowth said in a low tone.
"Blissey? Bliss? All of them? All of them attacked her?" Blissey asked, growling.
"No, not all of 'em, just the one with the blue vest and spiky hat hair," Meowth said.
"Blissey Bliss? Did he do it alone, or were there Pokemon involved?"
"Nya-just da Pikachu on his shoulder," Meowth said.
Blissey puffed herself up, scowled, and walked over to Ash and Pikachu.
"Oh, cool, a Blissey!" Ash said.
The Pokemon just scowled darkly at Ash. Ash smiled and laughed nervously.
"What's wrong? Uh, not in a good mood?" Ash asked.
Without warning, he was slapped across the face hard, hard enough to knock him down to the floor. The Pokemon then started growling and chattering angrily.
"Bliss! Blissey! Bliss! this is a Pokemon center, so I'm required to treat your Pokemon, but I am not your friend," the Pokemon growled.
"Pikachu?" Pikachu asked weakly.
Pikachu was very quickly treated and transferred to a recovery room.
Blissey walked in the door with some medicine.
"Pikachu! Greetings!" Pikachu said.
Blissey simply scowled at the Pokemon.
"Okay, maybe not in the best of moods today, huh?" Pikachu said.
That remark won Pikachu a double slap attack,
"Ow...what did you do that for? I'm-I'm trying to recover..." Pikachu said.
Blissey offered the medicine in a quick robotic fashion and then scowled at Pikachu.
"Did you attack a human recently?" the Blissey asked. It was more like an angry demand.
"A...a human?" Pikachu asked innocently.
Blissey continued to scowl at Pikachu.
"Yes, a human. One of my friends is seriously injured and her friend says that you and your trainer are the ones who attacked her!" Blissey growled.
"No! That can't be right?" Pikachu said.
"When you were training, are you sure one of your attacks didn't bounce off and hit someone standing on the sidelines?" Blissey asked.
"Pika...I'm pretty sure. Ash can be kind of intense..." Pikachu said with a nervous laugh.
Blissey gave him another double slap attack and scowled at him.
"I'm going to go ask the other Pokemon if they saw you attack a human, and if they did, you and your trainer are in big trouble..." Blissey said.
Trouble For some reason that word had an eerily familiar ring for Pikachu. And make it double.
Team Rocket. I did attack a human! Pikachu thought frantically.
The little mouse Pokemon let out a worried "chaa..." as it lay its head on the pillow. Pikachu winced as it remembered the previous day's events.
"We've got your Pikachu!" Jessie yelled.
James was laughing and looking confident. Meowth was smiling some kind of Cheshire cat grin.
I was...I was in some kind of electricity proof cage. One of Ash's Pokemon freed me when they weren't looking. I made my move. We were just going to burst their balloon and send them "blasting off again" like we usually do, but then, I looked at Ash. I had never seen him so angry before.
"Pikachu, I'm sick and tired of these people trying to ruin everything we do. Get rid of 'em this time. Show no mercy!"
He gave me some kind of awful looking grin that kind of mirrored Meowth's. Show no mercy? I started to feel Ash's anger surging through my own body like it was my own. I felt my face contort into that horrible smile Ash had on his face. I knew that he...he didn't really mean "show no mercy." He didn't want me to hurt them for real, but I...I couldn't control myself after that. I was so angry that I became something feral. I started thinking about all of the gym battles they stopped us from completing, the times they interrupted us at tournaments, the way they make themselves a constant nuisance in our lives, the way they deceive innocent Pokemon into doing their dirty work. I couldn't take it anymore. I was seething.
I let loose a huge thunder attack, probably bigger than I've ever unleashed before. When they were in a pile, unable to move, I unleashed another and another. I caught James and Meowth scurrying away to their balloon.
"Pika Pika chu? Leaving so soon?" I asked Meowth with a wicked grin on my face. Meowth looked at me with a scared expression and then continued running. I sent my electric attacks to the ground and tried to fry them as they were running. I turned it into a game. I-I was just so tired of all of it. I wanted to injure them this time. I wanted them to spend some time thinking about what they did to us day after day.
"How do you like this? Do you want to steal and hurt Pokemon now? Do you think these attacks are strong enough for you? Do you?" I asked, taunting them.
I noticed Jessie hadn't made it to the balloon yet. I walked over to her and gave her a wicked smile. She smiled nervously at me and tried to pull herself up to get away. I offered her my tail and then tried to fry her clothes with my powerful electric attacks. I noticed that I had an audience of other Pokemon. They were...were they cheering for me?
"Ho-ho! That'll show Team Rocket!" some of the other creatures around us said. It briefly crossed my mind that no one was against this.
Without the command from my trainer, I felt my tail starting to glow for an iron tail attack. I launched myself right into Jessie's stomach before I knew what I was doing. I iron tailed her, and I felt...something give. Startled, I backed away. Jessie slowly made it to the balloon while holding her stomach.
For some reason, though, I started feeling awful, like like I was the criminal and not them. I tried to ignore it. I knew these attacks wouldn't hurt Pokemon too badly, but they would feel them after the treatments wore off. The same...the same should go for humans, too, right?
Ash wasn't finished, though.
I stopped attacking and tried to warn him in Pokemon language, "I think they've had enough," but he didn't really understand me this time.
"Now, Pikachu," my trainer said with that look in his eye he had the day he threw Primeape into that pit with them, "thunder!"
I obeyed. There was an explosion, and they were hurled into the air. This time, though, no one said anything. Instead, I heard crying and moaning. Briefly I felt sorry for them.
Ash laughed. "Good job Pikachu," I heard him say.
I smiled, thinking maybe maybe I just taught them a lesson, but what what if I did more than that? I had this dark sick feeling in my tummy.
Pikachu awoke from its flashback in a cold sweat. It looked around and remembered where it was.
Oh yeah, the Pokemon center. Why does my head hurt so badly? Pikachu asked himself.
Blissey's angry words echoed in his ears and he felt his stomach tighten.
"Chu..." Pikachu said to himself.
Meowth was walking towards the hospital where Jessie was supposed to be.
"Blissey Blissey!" the Pokemon called.
"It's late. Why don't you go back to the Pokemon center?" Meowth asked.
"Blissey Blissey I want to check on Jessie," the Pokemon said.
"I'm not sure, but I tank we might have a hard time jus gettin in. Some places don't allow Pokemon if dey ain't in dere balls," Meowth said.
"Blissey Bliss..."
"I hope dey make an exception, too, but dey ain't no guarantees," Meowth said.
The two Pokemon made it to the hospital where Jessie was. Meowth walked in on four legs. It was rare for him, and he hoped no one would notice. Blissey ambled in behind him.
"Huh? who let a Meowth in here?" someone asked.
"Get out of here, you mangy fur ball!"
Meowth bristled and flinched. He felt his claws getting ready for a fury swipes attack.
No. No. You haf ta control yourself.
The cat Pokemon made his way to the front desk.
"Meow? Um, I'm sorry. I...we...we were jus wonderin if we could see our friend," Meowth finally said.
The lady at the front desk looked up and saw the cat Pokemon.
"Please, she's badly injured," Meowth said.
"Hey? Did that Meowth just talk?" the girl at the front desk said.
"It sure did!" the other girl at the front desk said.
Oh brother, here we go with this again. Meowth thought.
"Look, can you all admire me another time? My friend is here and she's very sick. I know you don't usually allow Pokemon in human healing places, but please, please, let me see her. This this might be my last time to see her," Meowth said, tears in his eyes.
"Blissey!" Blissey cried.
"This Blissey is concerned about her, too!" Meowth said.
A nurse passing by cleared her throat.
"We're going to make an exception this one time, since the Blissey works at a Pokemon center and the Meowth can talk," the nurse said to the lady at the front desk.
"Hey, if those are the rules. I guess I'm okay with it," the woman at the front desk said with a shrug.
The people in the waiting room became a gaping audience.
"Hey, they would allow these Pokemon if they were assistance Pokemon, so...why not?" the lady at the front desk said. The room fell silent as they watched Meowth and Blissey follow the nurse.
"You know, you could have just worn a disguise," the nurse said with a smirk.
Meowth thought he recognized her voice.
"D-domino?" Meowth asked.
"In the flesh," she said with a smirk.
"What are you doing dressed as a nurse?" Meowth asked.
"Blissey?" Blissey asked.
"That's none of your business," Domino said.
"Does it haf ta do wit Jessie, because if it does, then it is," Meowth said.
"The boss got word that a member of our organization was in bad shape. He wanted those of us who were working close to check it out. This disguise is mission related. That's all I can tell you," Domino said.
"Oh, fur a minute dere I thought you cared," Meowth said.
"About the mission only, Meowth. Using civilian hospitals is a risk that should be avoided at all costs, and if someone part of the organization dies, their deaths have to be confirmed," Domino said, "we can't have people faking their own deaths to leave Team Rocket and join rival organizations. We have to guard our secrets at all costs."
Dat's really kind of paranoid, if you ask me. Meowth thought.
"In utta words, it's jus business," Meowth groaned.
Once they reached the hospital room, they found Jessie was fading fast. She was coughing up blood and had an irregular heartbeat. The wound on her torso was sore and infected.
"Ooohhhh!" Jessie groaned. The groans were loud and unsettling.
She couldn't stop moaning and groaning in pain.
Domino, Meowth, and Blissey stood in the room, their ears being assaulted by a chorus of bleeping machines, labored breathing, and groans.
Jessie caught Domino's eye and gave her a look of surprise.
"D-Domino?" Jessie asked, easily seeing through nurse the disguise.
"Shhh! Use the name written on the wall," Domino growled.
"S-sorry, I can't see it," Jessie wheezed.
"It says, "Nurse Wallace," Meowth informed her.
"Oh, okay, nurse, may I have a glass of water?" Jessie asked, giving a smirk, despite looking terrible.
"I'm only here to make a report to the boss," Domino whispered.
"Then, could you get a real nurse, please?" Jessie asked.
Jessie groaned and held her stomach and winced. She started breathing fast.
"It sounds like you're in a lot of pain," Domino said flatly. It was more of an observation, not a consolation.
Domino removed the blanket to see several stitches in her stomach area, as well as several painful dark bruised areas.
"Wow, did you get in a battle with a whole family of Ursaring?" Domino asked.
"Dat kid wit da Pikachu did dis ta her," Meowth informed them.
"A Pikachu did all of this damage?" Domino asked, a hint of surprise in her voice, "we might want to snag that one for the boss, then."
Jessie winced at the remark.
"Dat's what got us here in da first place," Meowth whispered.
Domino ignored him.
"Yeah...well, I have enough for my report," Domino said flatly, "report back to headquarters immediately after all of this is over, regardless of the outcomes."
Domino looked at Jessie.
"Good luck, Jessie," Domino whispered.
Meowth was a little put off by the coldness, but the kid seemed just a little empathetic. She was hiding it really well the whole time, but it was still there. It was good that they didn't send someone like the current Team Rocket admins to make the report. Petrel and Proton would have actually enjoyed her suffering, for example.
The cat Pokemon shuddered.
Some members of this organization are real sickos. Meowth thought.
Just then, James came in in a nurse's outfit.
"Jessie, I brought you some cold water," James said quietly.
Meowth just looked at James and rolled his eyes. Part of him wanted to use fury swipes and take the ridiculous disguise off of him.
Dis guy's tryin ta fool people jus fa the fun of it! Meowth thought.
"What do you think you're doing?" Meowth asked.
"I thought I would put on a disguise so that they wouldn't recognize me," James said with a dopey grin.
"Impersonating a doctor or nurse is against da law, genius, an we ain't supposed ta be callin more attention ta ourselves" Meowth growled, "now, go change before I rip it off of youse."
James winced as he looked at the cat Pokemon's sharp glowing claws. Quickly, James stumbled to the bathroom and reappeared about a minute later in rare civilian clothes. They were instructed not to wear their Team Rocket uniforms.
"How's she doing?" Meowth asked.
"The doctor says...I...I would rather tell you outside, Meowth," James said.
Jessie rolled over.
"Come on James, I can take it. How long do I have?" Jessie said with a smirk. Her confident smile soon turned into another wince, though.
"I really do think we should step outside," James said, ignoring Jessie, "in fact maybe I should let the doctor tell you himself."
James and Meowth stepped outside Jessie's hospital room. James started having an uncomfortable memory from earlier that day.
Excuse me, are you her immediate family? the doctor asked.
James nodded even though they weren't actually related. He was the only family she knew, after all.
"I'm afraid I've got some bad news. It looks like the iron tail attack combined with a thunder attack when it sliced her open. She's going to take a long time to recover...if...if she ever does recover. I'm afraid the electricity damaged some vital nerves. She may not ever be able to walk again," the doctor said, "but that's not the worst part, she's got a very bad infection, and it hasn't been responding to antibiotics. If we can't get that under control she may only last a few hours," the doctor said.
James waited at the nurse's station. Finally, he saw the man in the white lab coat approaching.
"How is she doing, doctor?" James asked.
"The infection hasn't spread but it also hasn't responded to antibiotics. It could go either way," the doctor said flatly.
"What does he mean 'either way?'" Meowth asked.
"Oh, and we don't allow pets in the hospital," the doctor said while looking at Blissey and Meowth.
Pet? pet? Did he just call me a pet? Meowth thought.
"Next time, either keep them in a Poke Ball or keep them outside," the doctor said as he walked away.
James sighed.
"Well, I guess dat's our cue ta leave. Please tell us how Jessie's doin if anyting changes," Meowth said.
"Keep your burner on," James said.
"Blissey? what's a burner?"
"Meow meow it's another word fur phone," Meowth said in Pokemon language.
Blissey and Meowth carefully walked out of the hospital. They had managed to get away with only a few stares and odd looks.
Meowth stopped and started panting for air once they were outside.
"Blissey? Bliss? Blissey? Are you okay? I can perform soft boiled to help you out if you want," Blissey asked.
Meowth tried to stop panting.
"No, I'm okay. It's just dat I was tryin' ta get outta da human hospital as fast as I could. I didn't want 'em ta throw us out," Meowth said.
"Blissey bliss blissey bliss sea at least you have the ability to talk to them in their language. I can't even tell them why or what," Blissey said.
"No guarantees you'd learn it, but I could try ta teach you if you want," Meowth said. The cat Pokemon was feeling extra generous and strange. The idea of losing Jessie was making him rethink his life choices. Right now, he really just wanted to make some new friends.
The Blissey giggled.
"I think I'm okay. At least Nurse Joy seems to be able to understand me," Blissey said.
"Speaking a Nurse Joy...I'm kinda gonna need a place ta stay...do you tank maybe Nurse Joy will let me stay at the Pokemon center?" Meowth asked.
"I don't see why not, but I've been wrong before," Blissey said. Images of the Johto Pokemon center and accidentally giving all of the center's food to Jessie and her friends flashed into the Pokemon's mind.
Blissey nervously played with the pendent around her neck. Meowth noticed it.
"Stop dwellin on da past," Meowth said.
"I'm glad you three were there. If it wasn't for you, I would have lost my job," Blissey said, "I'm sorry for messing up in the first place. I'm glad you were there to bail me out."
"Don't tank me; tank Jessie," Meowth said, only realizing where he had taken himself after the words came out of his mouth. Tears were filling the cat Pokemon's eyes as he remembered Jessie.
They arrived at the Pokemon center. Meowth was still crying.
"Blissey, what's wrong with that Meowth?" Nurse Joy asked.
"I'm sorry. I'm jus sad because one a my friends is sick," Meowth said.
Nurse Joy's mouth briefly hung open.
"You can talk?" Nurse Joy asked, slightly stunned.
Oy, if i had a dollar fur every time someone asked me dat, I'd be rich. Meowth thought.
Nurse Joy noticed tears in Blissey's eyes.
"Blissey, what's wrong with you?" Nurse Joy asked while cradling the Pokemon's head in her arms.
"Da person in da hospital is also an old friend a Blissey's, too" Meowth said.
Blissey pulled away from Nurse Joy and nodded her head.
"We were wonderin if maybe you could let me stay here until my friend gets better?" Meowth asked his damp eyes pleading.
"Blissey Blissey," the Pokemon said, agreeing with him.
"I don't see why not," Nurse Joy said, "of course, I may need some help around here from time to time."
Meowth sighed. A little work in return for food and shelter wasn't a bad trade.
"Blissey! blissey! wonderful! now you can tell me everything that happened to Jessie after nursing school," Blissey said.
Meowth smiled.
Oy, dat's a set a stories dat's best saved fur later, way later. Meowth thought.
Blissey clapped her hands together. There was a huge smile on her face.
"Blissey seems happier than usual. You must be good friends," Nurse Joy said absentmindedly.