By the time it got dark, the Rocket trio felt and heard their stomachs rumbling in perfect unison.
"You guys don't got nuthin to eat do ya?," inquired the cat pokemon.
James started to rummage through the backpack until his companions could no longer see his head or shoulders. "Ah huh!" came a triumphant cry as he emerged from the bag holding up his prize.
"What did you find James?" asked Jessie excitedly.
" Grape flavoured bubble-gum!" announced James brandishing it around proudly.
Meowth and Jessie fell backwards off the log anime style before Jessie snatched it from him an hit him over the head with it "We wanted real food you doofus!"
"But grape is my favourite flavour…" said a now deflated James.
" Oh well, it's better than nothing," Jessie then proceeded to unwrap the outer layer and give a strip of gum to each of them.
They all then in perfect unison blew a bubble and watched it pop all over their faces before given another perfectly timed sigh.
It was about 9.30 pm when the tired, hungry Rockets finally decided to turn in for the night. Jessie started to open up their tent, and James was about to pour some water on the fire when they heard a lot of rustling not far from the camp.
"What is dat?" whispered Meowth looking around in fright.
"Do….do Ursaring live in the Kalos region?" asked James as both he and Meowth grabbed onto Jessie in a fear hug.
"I don't know….I..I don't think so," whimpered Jessie joining in on the hug shivering with the other two.
The rustling sound stopped and the trio breathed a sigh of relief when suddenly...
"WOBBUFFET!" yelled a blue blob of a pokemon who had just suddenly decided to release himself from his ball at the most inopportune moment.
"AHHHHHH" screamed the trio wrapping their arms around each other even tighter before Jessie noticed who it was broke free of the hug and rolled her eyes at her goofy pokemon.
"Nobody invited you to join in this pyjama party, " said Jessie recalling the pokémon.
"Whatever it was, let's hope its gone on its merry way now," breathed James still a little shaken by the commotion.
"Yeah," agreed Meowth. "I'm pretty sure Wobbuffet just cost me one my nine lives and I don't think I've gots many more ta spare."
"Hello?" called out a timid voice in the darkness.
"It's da Ursaring!" cried Meowth dramatically.
"You idiot Ursaring don't talk!" grunted Jessie.
"Neither do Meowth, supposedly, and yet here I am" quipped Meowth, proudly stretching his arms out as if ready to take a bow.
"Is someone there?" called out the voice again.
"Yes, unless you're an Ursaring in which case then no…no we're not," called back James getting himself a light wack to the back of his head with Jessie's fan that she pulled out randomly from behind her back.
"Ummm… Well... I'm definitely not an Ursaring," started the voice again in a slightly amused voice. " As the voice continued they could tell it's owner was getting closer, "I'm just a girl who got separated from my friends and I could really use some…" a familiar looking small blonde girl emerged from the darkness and into the light of the campsite"…help."
Bonnie looked at the members of the campsite. She looked like she had been quite distressed from her ordeal and her clothes indicated she had fallen over more than once. The trio stared back speechless as they wondered whether this situation called for a rendition of the motto or not. For a moment, in typical twerp style, Bonnie didn't seem to recognise the trio as after all they were not in their uniform, but then she noticed the big red "R" on the side of the tent and after registering the Meowth, and unique hair colours of the humans, slowly but surely the penny suddenly dropped.
"Oh…it's you guys," her eyes visibly going from relief from finding people that may help her to disappointment at realising she was in the company of Team Rocket. Her enemies. "Never mind then I'll find my own way back to my friends." And with that, she started slowly walking away from the campsite back into the dark forest.
"Well, dat was odd!," commented Meowth after she left.
" Odd indeed, since when does Science Twerp let Mini-Twerpette out of his sight long enough for her to get lost?" mused James.
"Oh well….it' not our problem….. is it?" said Jessie not nearly as confidently as she had intended it to be.
"She looked kinda scared….." pointed out Meowth.
"Is it just me or was she slightly limping?" inquired Jessie.
"I know I wouldn't want to be lost and alone in these creepy woods by myself at night," added James.
Jessie looked at her two male companions seeing that they looked genuinely concerned for the young girl that was now well out of sight of their camp.
"Let's go find her," sighed Jessie sensing that they all had silently come to the same conclusion.
They grabbed a torch and headed in the general direction of where the Mini-Twerpette had headed, but to their dismay, they couldn't see her.
Eventually, Meowth caught a faint sound with his sensitive ears. It sounded like gentle sobbing.
Meowth silently motioned for his human companions to follow him towards the sound, which seemed to be coming from down the hill and sure enough; they found Bonnie crouching near the river crying softly into her hands.
"Umm… hey there Mini-Twerpette," said James softly crouching down to her level and putting a gentle hand on her back causing Bonnie to jump in surprise and quickly wipe away her tears hoping they didn't see her little meltdown.
"What do you three want?!" replied Bonnie, in as confident a tone as she could muster causing James's hand to fall off her as she pointed an accusing finger at the trio.
" We…ummm…thought dat you might like to stay at our camp for a bit…until you find your twerpy friends," answered Meowth.
"Why so you can kidnap me and use me to get to my friends and their pokemon?" inquired Bonnie with a cocked eyebrow seeming to have regained her composure.
"Ooooo we didn't think of that," whispered James in Jessie's ear earning himself a wack from Jessie's fan.
" Look you little twerp, you may be surprised to know that even we have limits and kidnapping children isn't our game…." clarified Jessie.
"We just thought it would be rather cruel of us to leave a poor defenceless little brat…." Bonnie glared, "….ummm I mean sweet little girl like you lost and alone in the woods," continued Jessie.
"What makes you think I would trust you? I can look after myself" huffed Bonnie.
"Well fine then don't," said Jessie simply, "come on guys, we'll go back tour nice warm campfire and leave this little girl to take care of herself." Jessie then started to walk back to camp. James hesitated while glancing at Bonnie with concern, and then followed.
" Jessie! We can't seriously leave her by herself out here! If the ursaring don't get her maybe the cold will," James whispered sharply, so she knew he was serious.
"Shhh…of course not James," replied Jessie in a low whisper putting a finger to his lips, "…that would be irresponsible…even for us. She may be a twerp, but she's still just a little kid. She'll come running after us in three…two…one."
"Hey guys," yelled out Bonnie's voice as she ran with a slight limp to catch up with them.
Jessie gave James a 'told you so' wink before turning around to Bonnie illuminating her in the torchlight.
"I…I ummm…I suppose I could come back to your campsite…for..for a little while.." she muttered with her hand resting awkwardly behind her head. "But no funny stuff!" she warned.
"Wouldn't dream of it Mini-Twerpette," winked Jessie as they headed back to the Rocket's campsite together.
I'm not sure about ages but for the purposes of this fiction I've decided Jessie and James are 22 and 23 respectively and Bonnie is 8.
