4
Duty

Wandering around Castelia City, Jessie, James, and Meowth were still on the job. No one said that job would be easy. They hadn't found a trace of who they were pursuing. They were getting tired and irritated without making any progress at all toward their goals. Meeting up in the plaza, they all frowned, realizing that their partners hadn't found anything either.

Jessie sat down by the formerly impressive and currently irritating fountain. She looked around at the trees and happy kids playing. No nice scenery would impress her now. Unova was becoming a huge disappointment.

"It's kind of difficult to find just one twerp in such a big place," James said.

"I think he's gone," Meowth said, nodding. "That gym's closed. He changed his plans and went someone else."

"But where?" Jessie asked. "We were watching for him, weren't we?"

"I think I have some idea where," Meowth said. "There's other gyms all around this region."

"We can't just run around chasing him and hoping he'll be around," Jessie snapped.

"What else should we do, Jessie?" James asked.

"Something," Jessie said. "I believe in our plan to get the creator pokemon, but in the meantime, we have nothing to show from coming all the way here. Why don't we steal some other pokemon to send back to the boss so at least we've done something in the meantime?"

"That's a good idea," James agreed.

"Yeah, the boss will be impressed to see the Unova pokemon that are super rare to him," Meowth said with a nod. "So how about we keep searching for Pikachu and steal some pokemon along the way?"

"That's exactly what we'll do," Jessie said. "We'll just get some random pokemon to let the boss know we've been doing our job here before we roll in with the big prize later."

"Right!" James and Meowth said.

James turned to Meowth after they'd all agreed. "Meowth, where do you think that twerp and Pikachu went?"

"Hm," Meowth began, putting a paw to its chin to think. "Well, south, over Skyarrow bridge, there's a couple gyms that way."

"Oh!" James exclaimed. "I wanted to go see what that bridge was like."

"We aren't here for sight-seeing," Jessie pointed out.

"I know," James said. "But some trainers will be. We'll be able to find some twerp with regional pokemon easily!"

"And then we'll get their pokemon just as easily," Jessie said.

"Yeah! So let's get going already!" Meowth said.

The rockets walked through the city, eventually reaching the bridge. They strolled across the footbridge over the traffic, looking at the large groups that passed their way. There were several families there. "Doesn't look like there's any serious trainers around," Jessie commented.

"Yeah, we can wait until we see something impressive before we-," Meowth began.

"Oh, Jessie, Meowth, look!" James said. He grabbed Jessie's hand and pointed to the sky, where they saw some pokemon flying over.

Jessie looked at it. "Maybe we need some pokemon like that," she said.

"It would make it easier to get around, huh," Meowth said.

"We can still get a new balloon ready, right?" James said. "This view would be even better from up there, wouldn't it?"

Jessie felt a bit of annoyance. She'd told him they were working, right? They weren't here just for fun. But looking at his enthusiastic expression, Jessie relaxed somewhat, realizing how stressed she'd been getting. Maybe it was okay to just take a moment. Jessie looked out over the water and just relaxed.

Then she realized James was still holding her hand. They had exchanged physical affection like this quite often. They would casually touch each other on the hand or shoulder, even hug, without even thinking about it. But Jessie was thinking about in that moment. She pulled her hand away. James looked at her questioningly. "Is everything okay, Jessie?" he said.

"We're here to work, James!" Jessie said.

"I know," James said.

"So let's get moving!" After Jessie had chided him, she stormed ahead.

"Jessie," James whined, calling out to her. He slowed down as she didn't reply. She seemed angry, and he wasn't sure if it was because of something he'd done.

Meowth caught up with Jessie as James lagged back, giving her some space. "Hey, Jessie," he said.

"What is it?" Jessie asked.

"Did something happen between you two?" Meowth said. They hadn't really been fighting, but Jessie had scolded him more often, mirroring the scene that had just happened as of late.

"No, nothing," Jessie said calmly. "We all just need to be more serious."

"Yeah, okay," Meowth said. Jessie would be Jessie. It wasn't completely out of character that she'd be angry at something that didn't have to do with them and then take it out on them. Meowth kept walking forward without further comment.

"Hey, Meowth," Jessie began.

"Yeah?" Meowth said.

"What would you say to someone who was interested in James?"

"Interested in? Like romantically?" Meowth asked.

"Yeah," Jessie muttered.

"Um... I guess the same thing you would," Meowth said.

"Oh, really?" Jessie said. "And what's that?"

"That you feel sorry for them. Because we know James just doesn't understand stuff like that at all, huh?" Meowth said.

"Sure, right," Jessie said. She definitely understand why Meowth would say that, but she wasn't sure it was true herself. James could act the part of her boyfriend or even girlfriend perfectly undercover. He knew exactly what to say and do then. But when it came to reality, he really did seem clueless at times.

"Lucky for you, Jess!" Meowth began, hopping on her shoulder and smiling. "You know all about him before you did something stupid like fall for him."

Jessie bopped Meowth on the head, right on its charm, and it lost its balance and fell off her shoulder. "Hey, I was just joking!" Meowth insisted. Jessie ignored it and kept walking ahead of them on the bridge.

After some turning around, they eventually reached the end. Jessie wandered around the lookout, then saw a lone teenage boy looking out at the landscape. As their eyes met, he nodded at her politely, then turned away. Jessie looked at what he was holding. It was one of those fancy pokedexes that she'd seen before. "Hey, kid," Jessie said. "Are you a pokemon trainer?"

"Yes," he said. "I'm Cheren, from Nuvema Town. I've just set out on my journey, I have one badge already. Are you-"

"Jessie," James called as he and Meowth caught up. He looked at the kid Jessie had been paying attention to upon arriving. "Who's he?" James said.

"Just some trainer. Do you have a lot of pokemon, kid?" Jessie asked.

"Four," Cheren said. "That's enough for a battle. You aren't a traveling pokemon trainer yourself, are you, Miss?"

"Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet brought itself out of its pokeball and confirmed for her.

"Well, yeah, maybe I am," Jessie said.

"Oh," Cheren said. He raised an eyebrow.

"What is it?" Jessie said, noting his skeptical reaction.

"Well, it seems like you're really too old to be a pokemon trainer like this," Cheren explained. "Did you start really late?"

"What are you even talking about, kid?" Jessie asked irritably. She wasn't 'old' at all. Some snotty kid who about the same age as Ash might think he was hot stuff as a new trainer, but that didn't give him the right to set an age limit and insult her like this.

"Well, pokemon training like this is best suited to youth. Correct? By the time you're your age, you should have either become a leader with pokemon training, or moved on to something else in life. Or both," Cheren said.

"What a snob," Jessie said. "I think Team Rocket needs to have his pokemon. Hurry up you two, let's get them."

"Right!" James said, taking out a pokeball.

"Did you want to battle?" Cheren asked. "I am up for a battle, if that's what you'd like."

"Don't flatter yourself. We're going to take your pokemon. Save yourself some trouble and just hand them over," Jessie said.

Cheren's brow furrowed in confusion. He'd only been half-listening to Jessie as he looked at her wobbuffet and decided what pokemon he'd use. "Yes, I know you might be more experienced, but I'm up for a challenge. Let's go, Liepard." Cheren sent out his pokemon.

Jessie became more irritated. "Let's beat this kid already. James, you come help."

"Right! Go, Weezing!" James said.

"Oh, you're her boyfriend, aren't you?" Cheren said. "It must be fun for you to travel together, but..." Cheren paused.

"But what?" Jessie said. Cheren still hesitated. "Go on, what were you going to say?"

"Well, there's no need for matching outfits like that, is there?" Cheren said. "Please don't take it into offence, but I do think it's a little tacky."

"What did you say?!" James said.

"Here he is with his nonsense again," Jessie said.

"These are our unique Team Rocket uniforms. They aren't tacky at all!" James said.

"He's one to talk, anyway. Does that outfit look good for traveling in?" Meowth said.

Cheren briefly glanced at Meowth, then decided to ignore it. "Sorry. I didn't know they were some kind of uniform. I guess you actually do have a job while you're traveling. That's a good idea. Well, you wanted a double battle then? Panpour, it's your turn as well," Cheren said, throwing our another pokeball.

Wobbuffet faced Liepard and Weezing faced Panpour. "What is this," Jessie said, shaking her head. Somehow they'd been goaded into a regular, fair pokemon battle. The kid didn't get that they were going to steal from him. Maybe they should have started out with the Team Rocket motto to let him know they were serious. It didn't matter much anyway, Jessie concluded. They could easily beat this newbie trainer and then have some random pokemon to send back to base.

"What now, Jessie?" James asked.

"Let's just do it," Jessie muttered. "Wobbuffet, counter!"

"Liepard, sand-attack. Panpour, fury swipes," Cheren ordered his pokemon as soon as Jessie had spoken. Liepard kicked sand into Weezing's face as Panpour repeatedly scratched it.

"Hey!" James said. "That's not fair! You shouldn't gang up on someone!"

"I thought you two would be familiar with the rules of double battles. This is perfectly acceptable," Cheren said.

"Just battle, James. Wobbuffet, hurry up and counter!" Jessie said.

"Weezing, sludge attack!" James said. As Wobbuffet performed the futile move at Jessie's insistence, Weezing spat its sludge all over both of Cheren's pokemon. Neither looked pleased, and backed away.

"I won't forget about the other side," Cheren said. He nodded to his pokemon. "Liepard, torment! Panpour, water gun!"

Liepard glared at Wobbuffet. "Wobbu...ffett," Wobbuffet said, frowning. "Wobbu, wobbuffet!" it said, obviously irritated. It was then hit in the face by Panpour's attack.

"Wobbuffet, why didn't you counter?!" Jessie insisted.

"Uh, Jessie," Meowth said, trying to inform her of what Wobbuffet had just said. Jessie ignored it, still absorbed in the battle.

"Now," Cheren said. "Fury swipes, pursuit!"

"Weezing, help Wobbuffet out! Tackle!" James said.

Both of Cheren's pokemon concentrated their attacks on Wobbuffet. Weezing slammed itself against Liepard, but Liepard soon recovered enough to follow Cheren's commands for his pokemon to repeat their attacks.

"Wobbu...ffet," Wobbuffet said as it lay on the ground, obviously unable to battle.

"Wobbuffet!" Jessie shouted.

"Liepard, Panpour, now again, attack the other one," Cheren said. In the now two-against-one battle, they soon knocked out Weezing as well. "Good job," Cheren said as he called back his pokemon.

"Weezing!" James said.

"I know it doesn't seem fair, but I did follow all the rules of the double battle. If one of the opponent's pokemon is knocked out, it's perfectly acceptable for both to attack the remaining one," Cheren explained. "Well, it was an interesting battle. I was worried at first because you both had evolved, powerful pokemon. I know Wobbuffet can be troubling, but it turns out I've just gotten stronger."

"That brat..." Jessie began. She stood up and reached for another pokeball. "I'll show you strong! I'll defeat all of your pokemon and then take them away!"

"No thank you," Cheren said. "I don't have time for a rematch at the moment. But here," he said, reaching in his bag and pulling out some healing items. "I guess you two must be busy with whatever your job is. I'll save you the trip over the bridge and back to the pokemon center."

"Oh, thank you," James said.

Cheren nodded at James. "You know, you aren't very good. Don't quit your job or anything," he advised. "But thank you for the battle, anyway," Cheren said, and gave a slight bow to them before entering the building to get on the bridge.

"Don't thank him!" Jessie chided. James was already using the healing items on his weezing. "Fine," Jessie said, ripping open the one he'd given her. "We'll heal them up and THEN go get that twerp's pokemon," she said.

"Right," James said, trying to hurry at the same time and trying to make sure Weezing was alright.

"Just let it go," Meowth said with a shrug. "That twerp was right, we don't want to back tracked, we have to stay focused. There will be plenty of other trainers like him everywhere, I bet."

"Yeah, fine," Jessie agreed, though she still frowned. If they saw him again, she'd definitely steal his pokemon, she decided to herself. But in the meantime, she knew they should just move on. "We'll just grab the next trainer's pokemon," Jessie said.

"In the next place, we can hide easily after we do," Meowth said. Heading away from the water, they stepped into the thickening forest.

They plodded along, the forest growing thicker and thicker. Along a stone bridge, they saw a group of trainers. "Hey, how about them?" James said.

"It's a waste to just grab random pokemon. We know Pikachu is exceptional, who knows about these other clods," Meowth said.

"But we still need to have something to show for our time here. So why not," Jessie said. She can James jumped out. "Prepare for-" Jessie began.

"Hey, kids," Meowth began. The two trainers, who must have been twelve, gazed from Jessie and James to down at him.

"Hey..." one said.

"Is it really talking?" the other asked. His gaze went from his friend to Meowth to Jessie and James, wondering who would answer the question.

"That's right," Meowth said. "I was wondering if you guys had seen this other twerp I'm looking for. He's a little older than you, he wanders around with a pikachu-"

"Ash!" the other said. "Yeah, we met him. He beat me in a battle," the kid admitted sheepishly.

"Oh, really," Meowth said. "You wouldn't know where he is now, would you?"

"Um... He was going to Striaton Gym," the kids said.

"That's really out of our way," James said.

"Good thing I asked," Meowth said.

"And now that you've asked, we'll just take," Jessie said. She and James leaned down and grabbed the Pansear and Pansage that the kids had out.

"Hey, wait! Those are our's!" a kid protested.

"Too bad, twerp," James said.

"That's right! Team Rocket owns the world! What's your's is our's and what's our's is our's!" Jessie said.

"Let's go," James said. The other two nodded and they began to run away.

Running through the rustling leaves, they saw a flash of light, and one of the kids had released a large pokemon carrying heavy stone pillars. "Conkeldurr, get them!" he said.

"Ahh!" Meowth shouted as he saw it, and sped up its speed as it ran away.

Jessie and James were momentarily surprised too as they looked behind them. Pansage took the opportunity to bite James's hand. James shouted in pain, and dropped the pokemon. Pansear blew a fire attack toward Jessie, who also dropped the pokemon and then reached to see if her hair was okay. They both turned to the boys angrily.

"So those kids want a fight, huh?" Jessie said.

"Meowth's sure not staying to fight," Meowth said, and began to run away.

"Me neither," James said, looking at the large fighting-type pokemon. "Go, Weezing! Smoke screen!"

They all ran away, off the path and into the woods as the kids shouted after them. Looking around and listening, they figured that they were safe. "You guys could have thought that one through a little better! Those kids might have had more to tell us," Meowth said.

"They told us where the twerp and Pikachu were headed to, what else is there?" Jessie said.

"Maybe I'd know if you two didn't jump the gun," Meowth said.

"Maybe if you two didn't run away like cowards from some little brats, we'd have some pokemon already!" Jessie said.

"Should we just let our pokemon lose again, then?" James said.

"Who said we'd lose!" Jessie said. "You can't just give up when it gets hard! We need to try more and more! Our pokemon were ready for a fight! Let's get back there!" Jessie shouted, and stomped off in a random direction.

"I know that," James said. "But Jessie-"

"That pokemon seemed pretty tough," Meowth said.

"Well, all the more reason we should get it then, right?" Jessie said.

"Excuse me," a girl said as they walked forward.

Jessie observed the girl in front of them, a blonde teenager with a fire-type pokemon in front of her. "It's some twerp," Jessie said.

"The twerp has some pokemon," Meowth said. It exchanged glances with Jessie and James knowingly.

"A talking pokemon?" the girl said, seeming to jump in surprise.

"That's right, I talk," Meowth said with a shrug.

"Forget that, Meowth. We should be thinking of what we need to do," Jessie said.

"That's right! Hey kid, do you have any pokemon?" James asked.

"Yeah," the girl said happily. "I have Pignite here plus three more." Jessie and James both reached for their pokeballs. "Did you want to battle?" she asked.

"No," Jessie said, shaking her head. She wasn't going to get pulled into the trap of a fair 'battle' for the second time today. "Instead, how about you prepare for trouble!" Jessie began the motto with an appropriate pose.

"And make it double!" James followed suit.

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all peoples within our nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

With their final pose, Meowth jumped out in front of them. "Meowth, that's right!" it said.

Wobbuffet released itself from the pokeball. "Wobbuffet!" it added.

The girl still seemed confused, unsure of what was going on. "Um..." she said.

"Okay, twerp," Jessie said. "Now it's time to hand your pokemon over." The girl seemed shocked, frozen from the confrontation, and didn't take much initiate in defending herself. Ordering Wobbuffet, Jessie found it easy to disable her pokemon. Once it was defeated, James covered it with their last net, and Meowth went to grab her bag containing her other pokeballs.

After getting the netted pokemon in the pokeball, they ran off, the trainer girl shouting after them. Jessie didn't feel great about getting the pokemon of the weakest kid they could find, but they really did need the pokemon. The boss had to know they weren't just messing around, and that despite their many recent failures, they were agents to be counted on.

Going toward Nacrene City, the group stopped in their tracks. There were the two boys they'd attempted to steal from, talking to a police officer. "Let's go the other way for now," Meowth said. The other two nodded in agreement.

"So, what now, Meowth?" Jessie asked.

"Yeah, how do we get these pokemon to the boss?" James asked.

"Oh," Meowth said. "Well, that's something you two should have thought of before you went all gung ho!"

"Ug," Jessie was irritated. She thought they'd gotten a little ahead, but instead they were getting even more and more behind, even going in the opposite direction that they were supposed to.

"We couldn't get in the pokemon center to transport them, could we?" James said.

"We'll just send them by regular mail! How hard could that be?" Jessie said.

"It might take a long time," Meowth pointed out.

"So it'll take a long time," Jessie said. She was ready to explode at the next person who told her that their very first step ahead had been useless.

"Jessie," James began.

"What is it?!" Jessie said.

"Uh," James looked away, seeing her annoyance. "Maybe we should build another balloon. It would make things easier to get around."

Jessie smiled and nodded. "Right! That should be our very next step! Then capture Pikachu, and then travel all around Unova and use it as a beacon so we can get Zekrom and REALLY impress the boss!" Jessie said.

"There's no way it wouldn't impress the boss!" James said.

"Yeah!" Meowth said. "Cassidy and Butch might have captured legendary pokemon, but never a freaking god level one!"

Jessie grinned as she realized he was right. "It's true. We'll overshadow them completely."

"And then use Zekrom to capture Reshiram, and then use both of them to conquer Unova, all for the boss," Meowth said.

"We'll be promoted to the very top, where no one's ever been before," Jessie said.

James shouted in delight at the thought. "Yes! We're going to be the greatest Team Rocket members of all!"

Jessie felt the happy energy of the group, and felt some relief herself. Since they'd come to Unova, it seemed like it had been even more frustrating than usual. But their talk had her full of energy and inspiration to accomplish this task. "Alright! Let's get moving!" she said.

"Right!" Meowth and James said.

They moved forward on the path, hoping that the scene on the other side of the forest would have cleared. They saw someone approaching, and then moved off the path. Whoever it was kept getting closer, and the group soon recognized her as the girl they'd just stolen from. After catching her breath, the girl frowned, looking at them with a sort of puppy-dog expression. "Please give me back my pokemon," she said.

Jessie just smirked. It annoyed her that the girl would think that this kind of thing would sway them. "You think you can order us around, twerp?"

"No," the girl shook her head. "I know I can't make you do anything. Even when I had my pokemon, your's was better. Now I can just ask you to please give back my pokemon. I need to protect them."

"Too bad," James.

Meowth nodded. "Your pokemon now belong to Team Rocket!"

That's right, Jessie thought, Team Rocket had a right to use pokemon it didn't own to further its own agenda, because its agenda was to own the entire world. They weren't going to give this girl's pokemon back just because she'd looked at them pathetically and asked sweetly. Jessie's gaze turned toward the other girl, who'd just arrived, a large pokemon by her side. It wasn't as disgusting-looking as the one before had been, so Jessie wasn't too concerned, and could see that James and Meowth weren't either. The newbie's friend was probably a newbie too, they all figured.

The new girl walked up to them, her stature and demeanor nothing like the blonde's. "You guys are jerks, huh?" she said confidently.

"Hm?" James took notice of her.

Jessie shrugged. "You're not the first to say something like that, kid."

"Bianca's really nice. You made a mistake. If you were going to mess with someone, you should have picked someone else," the newcomer continued.

"We don't care about who's 'nice'," Jessie said. It was naïve to think that just being nice would get them anywhere, she thought.

"Yeah! All pokemon belong to Team Rocket in the first place!" James said.

"That's right," Meowth confirmed. "So kid, why don't you hand over your's?"

The other girl just smirked at them. "Yeah, I didn't mean you should have left her alone before she's just so nice," she clarified, holding up her hand for some reason. "It's because she's the girl that I love, and I think I'm out of your league. Fraxure, go! Attack that meowth, dragon rage!"

"What?" Meowth froze up as the larger pokemon approached. "Oh, no. This pokemon isn't around for that kind of fight! Jessie, James, you two better get ready!"

"Go, Arbok!" Jessie said. "Arbok, wrap!" she said, pointing at Fraxure. She'd take care of this pokemon the same as she'd taken care of her friend's. But Arbok was soon defeated as the girl calmly ordered her pokemon to attack. Jessie was irritated, and sent out Wobbuffet to clean up. As Jessie ordered Wobbuffet to get ready to counter any attack, her opponent just stood there, folding her arms and looking confidently at them, though she did nothing.

"It isn't going to attack?" James said.

"I don't think this is a regular kid, you guys," Meowth said.

"Maybe not," Jessie said. "It doesn't matter, anyway. Wobbuffet, get ready to counter," Jessie said. Still, both pokemon just stood there. Jessie clenched her jaw in annoyance that her opponent seemed to keep up the haughty attitude even as her pokemon idled, only dancing around. "Come on, just attack if you're going to attack already!" Jessie demanded.

"I will," the girl said. "But you know it'll probably hurt your pokemon, there. I guess you don't know who I am, but I'm a pretty powerful, well-known trainer around here."

"You think you're some kind of hotshot?" Jessie asked.

"Hey, I'm not saying this to brag, just so I'm not bullying you without you knowing anything."

Ug, Jessie thought, she was so full of herself. Wobbuffet would teach her though, sending back double the force that her pokemon attacked it with.

But the pokemon still didn't make a move. "That's her's, right?" the younger girl said, motioning toward Meowth, who still held the girl's bag. "Just hand it over and we're good."

Jessie clenched her fist. "You think you can beat us, twerp? Just try it," she dared.

The girl pointed forward in response. "Dragon tail," she said, finally ordering her pokemon.

The force was too strong. It didn't just hit Wobbuffet, it hit all around them and sent them flying. The bag Meowth had been carrying was snatched away by another pokemon. "We're blasting off," the group shouted unhappily.

"Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet said.

They hit the ground. "Ug," Jessie said.

"I lost it," Meowth said.

"Our pokemon to send back to the boss!" James fretted.

"Don't even think about it," Jessie said. "We weren't being focused enough. We have a plan to capture the most powerful pokemon in this region. Who cares if we messed up with something small like this! We're going to be successful when it actually counts."

"Right," James said. He nodded at looked at Jessie with a determined expression.

Meowth also mirrored the sentiment. "Right! Let's get everything we need so we can just float away once we meet up with he twerp. We might have to do a little temp work or something for funds though..."

"Whatever it takes," Jessie said.

In a few days time, they'd earned some money, and bought or otherwise acquired what they needed. In a secluded part of Pinwheel Forest, they sat finishing the hot air balloon. James smiled as he was putting the finishing touches on it. He'd be happy to be more easily mobile again, and also that they'd made the first step in their plan.

"Maybe the twerp's gone from that one city by now," Jessie said.

"We'll find him, Jessie," James said, and smiled at her.

Jessie nodded, then wandered away, leaving James to finish up the work. She began to feel a fluttery, somewhat pleasant, somewhat unsettling feeling in her stomach. Just from having him smile at her, Jessie thought to herself. Sure he smiled nicely sometimes and cheered her up sometimes. But he could also be really mopey and depressive. No, she didn't like James at all, Jessie assured herself.

"You ready to go?" Meowth said.

"Nothing's wrong," Jessie said quickly.

"Um, what?" Meowth said. It hadn't said anything was. "What's with you?"

"Nothing!" Jessie insisted.

"If something's up, you'd better tell us," Meowth said.

"It's nothing like that," Jessie said. "I'm just worried I might be crushing on James." Jessie glared at Meowth, ready to smack it if it laughed.

Meowth could see how testy she was easily, and put up its arms. "Ah, Jessie, are you sure?" it asked.

"No, not really," Jessie said. "Maybe it's just because he was talking about how he's not even with who I thought was his stupid girlfriend. I don't know. If I was, how do you think it would go?" she asked.

"Um, well, since you've known him this long and you're still thinking this, maybe it'd work out," Meowth said. It saw Jessie smiling softly at its response. "But, you know, things might get weird, too. It would mess up our teamwork if it did. So you should just forget about it! Alright?" Meowth looked toward Jessie, who wandered toward James, apparently only having heard the first part of what it had said, and shook its head. Hopefully things wouldn't get too weird.

"James, how could you have forgotten how to do this?" Jessie demanded as she approached him again.

"Isn't it fine this way?" James said.

Meowth sighed in relief. It was business as usual. No, Meowth couldn't see things getting too weird between its friends.

They finished up and took off. They floated above pinwheel forest, seeing the thick trees and simple stone path. Looking around, they all noticed the same thing at once. "Look!" they said at once, pointing ahead. Though it was in the distance, they noticed the tiny figure easily. It was Ash, Pikachu on his shoulder. They exchanged pleased glances.

"Looks like this could be easier and quicker than we thought," Meowth said. Jessie and James both nodded in agreement.