Regrouping With Rocket

"We're gonna be smashed!" Meowth exclaimed in terror.

"Charizard, go!" Cassidy cried out, releasing her charizard. The charizard leapt out with a roar and looked back. A look of alarm crossed its face and immediately it dove towards Cassidy, Butch, Jessie, James, and Meowth. Cassidy leapt out of the basket and onto its back. "Hurry!" she called to the others.

"That thing can't take all of us!" Jessie said. It was bigger than your average charizard, yes, but not by that much.

"Nope, but it can take a couple of the lightest," Butch said, suddenly grabbing Jessie around the waist and throwing her upwards as she gave a surprised scream. She caught the charizard's foot and gasped, looking back in shock, unable to believe what had just happened. Apparently, James and Meowth couldn't believe it either, or Cassidy. James suddenly snapped out of it and grabbed Meowth by the scruff.

"Hey, what's de big ideahhhh?!" Meowth cried out as James threw him at the charizard too. Jessie gasped, catching him.

Cassidy reached down, grabbing her rival's arm and pulling her onto the dragon's back. "Butch, James!" Cassidy shouted, diving for them determinedly, teeth clenched.

"Fly away, all of you! That thing can't take anymore weight!" James shouted at them.

"Not without you two!" Jessie shouted. "Maybe it won't be able to stop us from falling, but at least this charizard can slow our decent! You have a better chance this way now just grab on!" The charizard suddenly pulled up, almost dropping its riders.

"Charizard, what are you doing?!" Cassidy yelled. Suddenly a wind shot by. They looked down and saw the aerodactyl that had been pursuing them. It had just dive-bombed them and was now coming back for another try, cutting them off from reaching their partners!

"James, Butch!" Cassidy, Jessie, and Meowth cried out together.

PKMN

Suddenly something tore passed the charizard and the aerodactyl both, nailing the aerodactyl as it passed by and sending the pokémon into a cliff with a screech. It continued diving right down to the ruined balloon and drew alongside it. Butch and James gasped. "A skarmory!" Butch exclaimed.

"Jump for it Botch!" James exclaimed, leaping onto its back.

"It's Butch!" Butch shouted before following James. Quickly Skarmory shot up again, coming up alongside a shocked Charizard, Jessie, Cassidy, and Meowth.

"Wait a second, that Skarmory is…" Jessie said.

"Hey numbskulls, need a hand?!" a voice called out. They looked up and started. Hovering above the crevasse in a Team Rocket helicopter stood none other than Attila and Hun!

"No way," Butch said in amazement.

Cassidy gritted her teeth, turning her charizard. "Head for the helicopter!" she ordered. Immediately it did so, flying upwards. Skarmory followed quickly. As soon as they could, Jessie, Cassidy, and Meowth leapt from the charizard and into the helicopter, Cassidy quickly turning and recalling it. James and Butch followed, leaping off Skarmory when they too were beside the open doors. Attila called back his pokémon, tucking it away.

"The aerodactyl's comin' back for anudda try!" Meowth exclaimed in alarm, pointing.

"Go Pierce, now!" Hun ordered the pilot.

"Huh?" Jessie and James said, looking up front. Sure enough, there sat Pierce smiling back at them in amusement.

"Pierce!" Jessie said in surprise.

"It's been a while," James added, grinning.

"Small talk later, escaping supposedly extinct prehistoric Pokémon now," Attila said, scowling.

"It would make an excellent prize for the boss," Hun remarked.

"It's probably already owned by Professor Kaminko, so odds are we couldn't capture it anyway," Jessie said. "How about instead we focus on survival?"

"I'm on it," Pierce said, pushing the helicopter to full speed. It wasn't going to be a match for Aerodactyl, but it didn't need to be. All they needed to do was get into cover. Pierce flew the copter right towards a cliff not far ahead.

"Pierce, what are you doing?!" Butch demanded.

"Trust me," Pierce answered.

Butch gasped in alarm as the cliff came up fast. "Didn't think this would be the way we went out!" he said, holding Cassidy who looked equally terrified. Even Jessie and James were starting to look nervous. Suddenly the mountain began to move. Rather part of it did. Jessie, James, Butch, and Cassidy watched, lips parting in shock, as it just opened up! Pierce flew the helicopter inside and the cliff began to close behind them quickly. They heard the aerodactyl slam into it and screech in rage before trying to dig its way in. The helicopter set down and they all leapt out, turning to face the apparently camouflaged door. For a while longer the aerodactyl tried to force its way in, but soon it exhausted itself and stopped, screeching in anger before seemingly flying away.

PKMN

Butch, Cassidy, Jessie, and James stood there, hearts pounding, and held their breath. "Any sign of the aerodacty?!" Pierce finally called out.

Lights blared on and the four agents winced, covering their eyes before looking quickly up. "Scanners indicate it's gone," the voice of a generic Rocket scientist replied.

"Good," Pierce replied. He turned to the four shaken agents. "Are you all alright?"

"Sh-shaken and confused, but otherwise fine," Jessie answered.

"What's goin' on here?" Meowth demanded.

"Well you didn't honestly think with a prize like Mew Giovanni would send only you four out, did you?" Pierce replied. "I was sent to this location with the rest of Beta Team to spearhead the revival of an abandoned Rocket outpost in order to be able to scan for and keep tabs on Mew. This is that outpost."

"Giovanni dispatched Hun and I, Annie and Oakley, and Tyson and Domino here to help you four look for the slippery sonofabitch and back you up if needed," Attila said. "The canyon was your turf. Me, Hun, and Tyson were sent to keep an eye on the plateaus and fields. Annie, Oakley, and Domino are out on the hills. Tyson's the one who saw you four being chased by that thing. He radioed Hun and me to tell us to back you up." He looked at Butch. "Good thing too or you and James would be smears on the ground."

"I've survived worse. I can't say the same for Botch," James said, folding his arms and tuning away from his rival with nose in the air.

"Huh? Why you…" Butch began, scowling.

"Now that you're here, we're going to need you four to file some incident reports," Hun cut off. They all sweat-dropped and groaned, bodies sagging in dismay.

PKMN

"Can you believe those creeps? Shovin' a buncha paper work off on us they can't be bothered to do," Butch complained.

"But Bill, how can they file incident reports on our incidents?" James asked.

"It's Butch!" Butch shouted.

"We're probably not being punished, you know. They all saw we needed to recuperate so they're letting us recuperate," Cassidy said as she and Jessie returned with food, before sitting and going back to their own paperwork.

"Well our incident reports are going to be less than impressive to the boss," Jessie said. "We've been failing more than succeeding. We've done nothing of note and have barely even touched Mew. Can you imaging what he's going to say?"

"Mew was big enough for him ta send in de backup. He probably don't expect a success story," Meowth pointed out.

"And if he does?" James asked.

"Sucks to be us," Meowth replied, grimacing.

"Have you even tagged the thing?" a voice asked from behind. They turned quickly.

"Tyson!" Jessie said in surprise.

"Don't change the subject," Tyson replied.

"No, we haven't tagged it. You'll see why that's so when you read our incident reports," Cassidy said, gesturing to the papers. He marched over, snatching hers. "Hey!" Cassidy protested. "It's not finished yet!"

Tyson held it out of her way, reading through it. "Took a swim and caught a cold, huh?" Tyson asked, unimpressed.

"That's what she wrote?!" Butch demanded, scowling. "The girl took a plunge off a waterfall and nearly drowned! We did CPR on her for almost four minutes tryin' ta get her back, then she ended up hypothermic and Jessie and James had ta keep going without us while I made sure she pulled through."

Tyson's expression hardened as he glared accusingly at Cassidy, who looked like a stantler caught in headlights. Nervously she swallowed. "How long ago?" Tyson asked, putting the paper down.

"About a week ago now," Jessie supplied.

"Hmm. Guess there's no point getting her checked out by a doctor anymore, then," Tyson remarked. "Then again if she calls hypothermia and near-death a swim and a cold, maybe she should get her head examined after all. Don't sugar-coat, Cassidy. We don't have the patience to sort through your lies."

"Yes sir," Cassidy said, glaring murderously at her partner who met her gaze defiantly.

PKMN

Cassidy ended up being looked over by a doctor. She was less than impressed and complained the whole time, but it was for the best it turned out, because to Butch's chagrin she'd been hiding the fact she'd had a broken wrist from him. It was now wrapped, and she now had painkillers, and after a huge blow up between her and him, she was finally sleeping. Probably the first half-decent sleep she'd had in a while. She was being monitored just in case, but it wasn't invasive so wasn't really a problem.

Jessie sat in communications, listening for any reports of Mew being sighted. So far nothing was coming in say for regular progress updates. By the time Domino, Annie, and Oakley, the last searchers out there, called in to say they were headed back, there had been no news at all about that slippery little pokémon. Ooh it burned her. She sighed sadly, looking down and placing the headset where it belonged, folding her hands in her lap. "Something wrong Jess?" James questioned, approaching her.

"I can't believe we lost it," Jessie replied.

"Mew? Oh, don't worry about it, Jessie. We'll pick up its trail again," James said. "Maybe it would be best if we try only to place a tracer on it instead of capturing it, though."

"Perhaps," Jessie replied. It would be something of an accomplishment at least.

James frowned at her in concern. "Jessica, what's wrong?" he asked, kneeling beside her and taking her hands, looking concerned. "You usually aren't this sullen about losing a target."

"That target might be the only way I learn…" she began before trailing off. James frowned curiously then caught on. His eyes immediately became sympathetic. Her mother…

"Oh Jessie," he said, sitting next to her and hugging her gently.

She was quiet, staring sadly at the headset. "Maybe she's gone after all," she said. That was what had been officially determined, in the end. The transmissions they'd believed had come from Miyamoto could have just been repeats or flukes or interference or any manner of things.

James was quiet, just holding her reassuringly. He didn't know what to say. "You still have Meowth and me," he offered lamely. She giggled a little at that, and he took it as a good sign, smiling. "Come on. We should get some rest."

"Alright," she agreed, nodding and rising.

Next Day

Cassidy came out to breakfast late, stretching and yawning. She looked over at the table to see who all was there. Jessie, James, Butch, Attila, Hun, Annie, Oakley, Tyson, and Domino. "Morning Cassidy," Annie greeted, sipping from a coffee mug.

"Where's Pierce and the rest of Beta Team?" Cassidy questioned, sitting next to her partner who passed her some breakfast.

"Already doing their jobs," Domino replied. "We had to wait for you."

"Why didn't you just brief Mitch?" Cassidy asked.

"The name is Butch!" Butch snapped.

"Because before we head out we must strategize, and it's best to do that when all hands are on deck," Hun answered.

"Fine," Cassidy said with a sigh. "But how about we strategize over breakfast?"

"Now that you're here, yeah. We can start," Tyson replied, shrugging. "Attila, take the floor."

"Pierce figures he and Beta Team can get a lock on Mew. Once he does, it's up to us. I say we split up and spread out. Attempt to surround it and come at it from all directions," Attila said.

"Our goal doesn't have to be to catch it. Should we be able to get a tracker on it or collect some useful data, that will appease Giovanni well enough for a time," Hun stated.

"Three of us should be on data collection, three of us should be attempting to place a tracker and maybe some other data-collecting device, three of us should do the battling, and one of us should be the one to try and communicate with it," Domino interjected. "The three of us on data collection should be out of sight of Mew and avoid participation in any kind of battle."

"Sensors will be placed on each of us and our pokémon, so when Mew attacks we can get a reading on it," Tyson put in. "The three of us attempting to place a tracer should engage with Mew only when its attention is on the three doing the brunt of the battling, so the chances of actually placing something on it are higher. The one communicating with it has two chances to reach it. Once before a fight starts, once if things start going south."

"Now let's figure out some roles," Attila said, smirking and rubbing his hands together.

"I can be a data collector," James said.

"Coward," Butch said with a condescending scoff.

"I'll be another," Attila said, frowning at Butch.

"You? Are you kidding?" Tyson dubiously asked.

"No, I'm not," Attila replied, scowling at Tyson. "I can handle it fine!"

"Hun would be the better choice," Tyson said, ignoring Attila.

"Hun would be even better standing by as one of the three aiming to nail Mew with a tracker. Hun has one of the best aims of all of us," Attila argued. "Hun can do the tracking with Annie and Oakley. I'll do the data thing with James. Bilge, Cassidy, and you can get your asses handed to you by Mew, since not a single one of you probably has a clue when it comes to tech."

"Ugh, okay you know what? Just for that I'm gonna pick data collecting too, just to show you I can!" Butch snapped. He was actually pretty good with that technological stuff.

"So that leaves Cassidy, Domino, Jessie, and Tyson. One of you needs to play communicator," Hun said.

They were all quiet for a long time. "I… I want to," Jessie finally said.

"Huh? But Jessie…" Meowth began.

"I need to," Jessie specified, giving Meowth a serious look.

Meowth was quiet, looking both concerned and awed. Finally, he swallowed and nodded, eyes narrowing. "Den I'll have your back. 'Specially if ya need translatin'." Jessie smiled gratefully at him.

"Guess that leaves me, Domino, and Tyson to the main battle," Cassidy said. "Great. I'm gonna have to carry you both."

"Carry us?!" Tyson and Domino demanded together.

"We're facing off against a legendary pokémon. One of you has a grand total of two fearow in their arsenal, the other has and electrified tulip. Yeah. I'm gonna be carrying you," Cassidy said.

"We'll just see about that!" Tyson shot sharply.

Domino grimaced. Cassidy kind of had a point. "Uh, care to lend a sister a few of your Pokémon?" she sheepishly asked.

Cassidy blinked in surprise then smirked. "Tell you what, I'll lend you Tentacruel, Granbull, and Charizard," she agreed, pulling the three balls out and handing them over.

"Uh, thanks," Domino said, a bit surprise at how accommodating Cassidy was being.

"Hey, this is big, and if you, me, and Tyson are the ones on the front lines, it's best we're all prepared," Cassidy said. "To be honest, I wouldn't rely on my battle skills to carry us all anyway. I'm good, but not that good."

"Very well. We'll approach Mew's location from all sides. James, Attila, and Butch will stay hidden in the bushes prepared to receive and collect data. Annie, Oakley, and I will attack only when Mew is distracted, and first and foremost try and place a tracker on it. The sooner that's done, the sooner we'll be able to aid Cassidy, Tyson, and Domino in battle. Should Jessie fail to reach it the first time, fighting will be our plan B," Hun said.

"So now what do we do?" James questioned.

"We wait for Pierce and company to pinpoint Mew," Annie answered.

"Then we get up and go," Oakley added, smirking. "Best we all get ourselves ready to leave at a moment's notice." Rising, the group separated to prepare supplies.