**This is an idea I've had mulling around for a while. Bear with me as I get it on paper. This is set in a slightly alternate universe, so please excuse the liberties I've taken with the setting/story. This is only the first chapter of many. Enjoy. :) **
Chapter 1: Monument
Our noses were always the first thing to rust over. I hoisted myself up onto the granite slab that served as the base for the bronze replicas of myself and my partner. The air suddenly felt colder, crisper as I found myself nose-to-nose with James again.
"I'm just here to get rid of this rust," I said to his statue, reaching up with a sleeved wrist to polish the metal face. It wasn't perfect, but then, the sculptor had never met us, either. His eyes weren't quite right, but the likeness was enough to take me back to those days long gone whenever I came to this place. I allowed myself a moment with my old friend. Studying his cheeks, the hair that feel around his face, his smile. They did get his smile right. I breathed a heavy puff of breath, and the visible air hung around his face for a moment, brightening the bronze. I smiled back at him.
Gravel crunched on the distant path behind me in the woods Opelucid City, and I hurried off the statue. Pulling my jacket close around me and wrapped my scarf tightly around my face, I continued nonchalantly down the path, hoping my red blaze of hair wouldn't give me away. Lucky, today, as the two young visitors hurried right past me. I listened as they argued over who would be the first to get a photo with the statue of The Heroes Jessie and James. I usually tried not to pay attention to those who fawned over our likenesses, but today I took a minute to turn and watch from down the path. The boy read aloud excitedly from the plaque below "our" feet.
"For their infinite courage, and for their ultimate sacrifice," He called out to his companion as she scrambled up James' leg, "We of Opelucid City offer Jessie and James eternal gratitude with this statue."
"I am eternally grateful," The girl called back, draping her scarf around James' neck, and then around her own, binding them close. "for this handsome stud!"
Her companion shouted his displeasure at that, playfully pulling her off the statue, and climbing up himself.
How long had it been now, since they erected this statue? It felt like an eternity to me, but really it must have been close to 10 years ago. These kids could have only been seven years old on that awful day. The gravel crunched under my heel as I turned back down the hill. A long ten years ago...
I've never liked trips to Team Rocket Stations. They lend themselves to critique of our less-than-perfect performance, both from peers and from management. James has always sort of liked them, though. I think somewhere, deep down, he was always waiting for that one mission that will rocket us to the mafia fame that he knows we're capable of.
This one was in Lacunosa Town. Hidden beneath the one of the massive stone staircases that wrapped around the city was a little doorway that lead to the huge expanse of the gymnasium-like Rocket Station. Every city had one, and I always wondered what the locals in each town would think if they were ever to find out we were operating under their noses as we were. I imagined Lacunosa may not even care – they're about as laid back as they come. Maybe this was why the hundreds of Rockets that poured into the Station were less than discreet about their presence. The gruff laughter of our comrades, those who ranged anywhere from sixteen years old to thirty something, echoed beneath the stairwell as they filed into the meeting space. Funny, I noted, it had been so long since we'd had one of these meetings, I found myself identifying more with the older Rockets now. The men with the stubble and a cigarette hanging out of their mouths suddenly seemed familiar and close. Probably because these were the men and women that we had been seeing for the thirteen years that we had been involved with Team Rocket. One of them clapped James on the back as we made out way into the dark meeting hall.
"Hey kiddo! Still after that Pikachu?" He seemed quite pleased with that quip, laughing so hard his barrel of a chest rose and fell in a great heaving motion.
James sort of stumbled under the man's grip. "I think we'll have him soon, Bill!" He countered, but Bill was already on his way to tease another old recruit. James looked to me with a shrug, and I could only roll my eyes. We both knew we were the laughing stock around these meetings.
With an ear-pierced shriek from the PA system, a Black Rocket stepped up to the podium at the head of the room.
"Alright, ya shits!" He boomed, tapping on the microphone for added effect. "Quiet down, we've got important business to talk about." He straightened the shoulders of his starched black Rocket uniform as he waited for the motley crowd to settle into place.
Someone in the crowd shouted "Get on with it!".
The Black Rocket leaned over the podium, pointing an accusing finger into the crowd. "Hey! Do you want to keep your job? Huh? Then I suggest you shut up!" The crowd grumbled with laughter as the Black Rocket cleared his throat. "Alright, enough funny business. Here's the deal. We're going to have Giovanni step up to the mic in a minute and tell you what the plan is. On your way out, you'll all grab a packet of information on what the task is." The crowd rumbled with displeasure. "Hey! Trust me, you're going to want this to refer back to later on. This is a pretty complicated thing we've got going! So just quit your whining and make sure you get the papers on the way out. Alright? Good. Now, without further ado, Mr. Giovanni!"
The Black Rocket stepped away from the podium and quickly snapped to attention with his right hand extended to the brim of his black cap in salute. The rest of the crowd assumed the same pose, and an impressive crack rang through the hall as feet fell into place. I couldn't help but crack a smile at James' salute – so serious – his green eyes trained firmly ahead on The Boss. As he took the stage. He nudged me with an elbow in an effort to say "stop laughing". So I did.
Giovanni always looked 100% put together, and today was no exception. He was considerably taller than the Rocket who had the podium before him, and his stocky build wasn't the only thing that the crowd found intimidating. The Boss, Giovanni, was known to be truly ruthless – sometimes snatching people from the crowd and forcing them to fight each other, just for fun. But today it seemed like fun was far from his mind. Deadly serious, he took a moment to adjust the microphone before beginning his speech.
"Good evening. At ease, recruits," The 'snap' resonated again as hands went back to their sides. I made a point of knocking James in the head with my hand on its way down. He scowled back.
"I want you all to pay great attention to the words I am about to speak, for this evening we will all embark on one of the most important missions of your career,"
"'Fetching me a hamburger, I'm hungry!'" I mocked Giovanni's deep voice under my breath. The recruit next to James shot me a disapproving look.
"In 24 hours, we will all have arrived in Opelucid City, where we will carefully and methodically enter upon Lucid Labs, which - as some of you may have already heard on previous missions – is where a new fossil Pokemon is currently being developed. This Pokemon holds great power, a power which most of you are too dull to truly comprehend. But I hope you can comprehend what obtaining this Pokemon will mean for Team Rocket, should we succeed,"
"Honor and strength!" The crowd chimed in with Team Rocket's motto, James with them.
Giovanni chuckled softly. "Yes. Honor and strength. And inevitably, our rule over the land of Unova!"
Again, the crowd roared with cheers, and it seemed genuine. Apparently James wasn't the only one who thought that this mission would mean something for us. Part of me entertained the thought of success. Finally being able to work our way up the ranks – stay in fancy hotels instead of dingy abandoned cabins, eat expensive meals at marble tables in lieu of ramen noodles over a campfire. I could live with it.
Giovanni gave a few more words of encouragement to the masses before leaving the podium again. Another Black Rocket stepped up to give us our assignments. Starr and Belle had traps on the 4th Floor. Henry and Dutchess were in charge of hostages on the 5th floor. Alli and Clay would be dealing directly with Pokemon capture. As the names rattled off, I watched James grow more and more anxious as to where we would be assigned. The hope for a good position only seemed to intensify as the list of names grew longer. He shot me a furtive glance when it seemed like they were just about out of names. With the last two Rockets having been assigned to "Priority Pokemon Handling", our options seemed promising.
"Jessie and James, entry patrol on floor 10,"
"What?" James turned to me in disbelief. "We're watching the doors?"
"Did you expect anything less?"
"I don't think there is anything less," Dejected, he joined the mass of Rockets as the speech finished, and we began shuffling back out the entryway beneath the stairs.
We were assigned to work with the other Rockets working on our floor, so we met the some twelve other recruits waiting for us just outside Lacunosa the next morning. One of them whistled loudly as we came close.
"Uh-oh, here comes trouble!"
"And make it double!" Another Rocket chimed in, and the whole group burst into laughter.
"Can it, assholes!" I shouted back at them. "We're stuck here just like you are!"
"Fine," the first one retorted, spitting out the stub of his cigarette and stubbing it out with the tip of his boot. "Let's just get walking. I'd like to make it to Opelucid in time to grab a beer!" And the others hollered back their agreement. I hung back behind the group as we walked, and James stayed close. At least we were all White Jackets, here. I knew I would end up in a fistfight if we had to walk 10 hours with a bunch of cocky Black Rockets.
James tripped over a root as we walked, his nose buried in the paperwork from the meeting. I grabbed it from him, tossing it into the treeline.
"Come on, you don't need that,"
"Jessie!" He clamored after it, picking up the ruffled stack of papers and dusting it off on his leg. He huffed, and I knew he was picking his words carefully to keep from angering me further. "It's just...they think we're nobody."
"We ARE nobody, James,"
He looked indignant. "No, we're Jessie and James – the greatest team Team Rocket has ever seen!"
I laughed, and he frowned.
"Don't you remember? After we got assigned to each other when we first joined the Team?"
My eyes followed a Pidove as it flew down the trail ahead of us. "Yeah, I remember."
"You don't believe it, do you?" He sidled up closer to me as we walked, so he could talk quietly, "What if we proved it to them? What if we found something so amazing to do during this mission that they would never forget our names? What do you think?"
I sighed, "Just do what your told, James. And then we can get on with our lives."
He stopped talking for a while, widening our distance from each other as we walked. The group ahead of us erupted with laughter, and a few turned back to sneak glances at us.
"I just think," James went on, his eyes trained on the group ahead, "I just think we can do better. I think we're more than this."
He turned to look for my reaction, and I huffed,"just walk." He turned away, busying himself with the paperwork again.
I would never admit it to him, but after thirteen years with Team Rocket, I was starting to question what we were doing here, at all. He was right – we could do better. But what did any of it matter anymore? I felt like we were destined to be the bottom of the totem pole. I wanted so badly to be more than what we were. I never would have imagined that after thirteen years, I would still be wearing a white jacket. Sometimes I wondered if maybe it was him. Maybe he was the reason I was still out in the woods day after day chasing some kid's Pikachu. Sometimes I wondered what would be different if I had been assigned to someone else. Someone more fit, more clever.
Consumed by the paperwork again, James fell square on his face on the trail. I walked on past him. Sometimes, I just wondered. It couldn't hurt to wonder.
When the sky turned from orange to black, we stopped, and set up camp. Around the fire, James stayed quiet, no longer prodding me with questions about how to make the mission better for us. I was thankful for the peace. The others in the group sloppily slurped up their fire-heated dinners from tin cans, loudly sharing stories about previous missions.
"And he sends out a goddamned Swadloon," It was the asshole from that morning. I guess his name was Samson. I overheard him talking with some of the others while we were looking for firewood that night. He suddenly burst into laughter so hard, he almost couldn't finish the rest of his sentence. "A goddamed Swadloon! And my Machoke just walks right over and punches it right in the face!" The group erupted in guffaws, and I couldn't help but join in. James wasn't laughing, still enveloped in the plans for the mission.
A black-haired recruit slapped his knee, doubled over with laughter. "I always knew Delilah's Machoke has some spunk in it!"
As soon as the wood "Delilah" came from his mouth, the laughter silenced. Samson bowed his head. The others exchanged furtive glances. After a few moments, a younger recruit spoke up: "Come on, man, we were having a good time."
"What happened?" Suddenly, James wasn't so wrapped up in the book anymore. His green eyes shone in the light of the fire, searching Samson for an answer.
The black-haired recruit stammered for words, "Listen, it's probably not-"
Samson put a hand up to stop him. "No, it's alright." He squirmed a bit where he sat on the ground, steeling himself. "Delilah was my partner. She...she died. About two months ago."
James put his book down.
Samson gave something of a half-smile. "We were in Dragonspiral Tower. Trying to get some info about Zekrom. Or Reshiram. Either one, it didn't matter. The Boss sent us. Well," he let out an exasperated breath. "We ran into Team Plasma. She fired at them, and they - well – they killed her."
I guess that was all the information he wanted to give, because that's where the story stopped. James studied the ground.
"I'm sorry,"
He chuckled, smearing the back of his hand across his cheek. "Don't be. She would've hated seeing me all blubbery like this."
Talk about a mood killer. The other Rockets went back to finishing their canned dinners quietly, and eventually crawled to their sleeping bags as the fire began to die down. James and I sat awake, not talking, for what must have been almost an hour. When the last of the embers went out, he stood up to head towards his sleeping bag. I heard him stop behind me. He stooped down to give me a quick hug around the shoulders.
"Jess, I-"
I put a hand on the arm that lay across my collar. "Don't."
"Right," He stepped away, and went to his sleeping bag.
Hours passed, and I dreamt of being home with my mother. Our shack of a home had wind whistling through the broken slats of wood that did their best to act as walls. She was always so happy, smiling and laughing with me and we formed snowball into imaginary feast. We had nothing and she was always smiling, always smiling. Even in my dreams.
I woke up wondering when I let her smiles get away from me.