Jessie and James followed the trail of paw prints and tears until they came across a bar run by a Slowbro, Meowth was sitting on one of the stools with a half-empty drink in his paw (rum, he's feeling down). Jessie and James walked up and took the seats either side of him. They could tell immediately that he was depressed, his whiskers were drooping, his ears were practically on his face instead of pointing up as they usually were and the odd tear still rolled down his tan fur. Having never seen him this way, nether of them were quite sure what to say, they were certain of one thing though, no matter what they said, nothing would help
James: …so, how are you buddy?
Meowth: *no reply*
Jessie: c'mon, how about we go steal something for the boss huh?
Meowth: *in a slurred voice*…what's da point? He wants pikachu and you heard da twerp, we'll never get her,
Meowth swallowed the rest of the contents of the glass whole, the Slowbro filled it up again and he took another swig
Jessie: whoa, whoa, take it easy!
James: slow down Meowth, that's not healthy!
Meowth: who cares about healty? What's da point in livin anymore?*takes another long drink*
James: *puts his arm round Meowth* c'mon buddy, don't be like that!
Jessie: yeah! There's other pikachu's out there!
Meowth: it's not about udder pikachus! Dere ain't anudder pikachu out dere da same as her!
James: well there'll be other pokemon! I know it seems big now, but soon you'll get over it and meet someone else!
Meowth: *taking a final drink before turning round and sliding off the bar stool* I don't wanna meet some udder pokemon, I just wanna be alone!
Meowth started to wobble away on two paws and Jessie and James ran after him
James: hey! Where are you going?
Meowth: I'm goin some place ta be alone, now take da hint an get lost!
Jessie was about to whack Meowth with her fan when James stopped her
James: *whispering* it's not him, it's the drink talking,
Meowth, desperate to have some time alone to think, took off running and, for a while, was ahead of them, until he ran into a wild Lucario. Jessie and James caught up to him just as he was preparing to battle the Lucario
James: Meowth, what are you doing?!
Jessie: that's a fighting-type Meowth! You don't stand a chance!
Meowth: grrrrr so, dere's one more ting dat I 'don't stand a chance' wit!
Without thinking anything more about it, Meowth lunged at the aura pokemon, fury swipes at the ready, but the Lucario quickly dodged and used aura sphere, a direct hit, knocking Meowth backwards
James: Meowth! Call it quits!
Jessie: you can't win! Just run!
Meowth continued to ignore them, refusing to except defeat again, he jumped forward, this time readying a bite but the fighting-type was just getting started and, once again dodging Meowth's desperate attempts, launched another 5 aura spheres, each hit causing more damage than the last. By the end of the attacks, Meowth was flat out on the floor
James: Meowth! Please, you have to stop!
Jessie: it's not worth it! Throw in the towel!
Meowth stubbornly pulled himself to his paws and gasped for a moment before putting everything he had left in one scratch attack, which finally hit, unfortunately, not soon enough. Scratch did virtually nothing, the aura pokemon smirked as he put out his dark paw and pressed it against the exhausted scratch cat's chest. Before anything could be done, Lucario unleashed a force palm on Meowth which sent him flying backwards, he slammed into a tree and the Lucario took off running, satisfied at winning the battle. James and Jessie rushed over to Meowth and James started shaking his shoulder
Jessie: Meowth! Meowth?!
James: Meowth?! C'mon buddy!
Meowth tried and tried but couldn't pry his eyes open, his arms were aching and couldn't be moved, he could barely move a whisker. James picked him up and they took off running for the pokemon centre
Jessie: James! Where are you going?!
James: we're not losing him! C'mon!
Jessie: *now running alongside* but we're team rocket, remember? The pokemon centre doesn't help us!
James: nurse joy's a sucker for a sob story, once she hears about him and pikachu she'll be begging to heal him!
Meowth, listening to every word along the way, realised that they were trying to take him back to the pokemon centre, where pikachu was. The last thing he wanted was for pikachu to see him like this, he tried his best to squirm but their words started to fade out, he put all he had into one last attempt to get away and, slowly, he lost the battle with consciousness