10

Cassidy typed furiously as Butch made them a meal in their campsite. "So, just how useless was he?" Butch eventually asked.

"He is the only one with the pokemon we need to get there - but other than that, he wasn't really any help," Cassidy said. She finished making notes on the day's events, then snapped the device shut. "It really should have been you with me. But I'm sure you were happy with how things turned out, weren't you?"

"I was," Butch admitted.

"Hm," Cassidy said, smirking with some amusement. "Don't get used to it. Tomorrow I'm going at this thing with full force, or at least as much as we have. Get all your pokemon ready."

As Cassidy gave the order, she decided it was the right time to care for her own pokemon. After getting the necessary medicines, Cassidy first healed her Houndoom from the day's battle, then returned it and took out Pikachu's pokeball. She threw it out, then observed the tiny pokemon as it appeared. It didn't look too hurt at all, then again, Cassidy hadn't let it finish a full battle.

Its mood was another matter, though. Pikachu frowned, narrowing its eyes at Cassidy. "Let's take care of any injuries," she said, taking out a potion.

"Pika!" Pikachu shouted. It powered up an electric attack, but instead decided on iron tail as Cassidy came close. Seeing Pikachu jump up, Cassidy raised her arm to protect herself, and was struck. As she fell from the impact, Pikachu powered up an electric attack now, and fired it purposefully toward its 'master' in rebellion.

Instead, Butch's primeape took the attack. "That's enough of this shit," Butch said. "Primeape, focus punch!"

"Primeape!" Primeape acknowledged the order, and swung wildly toward Pikachu.

Pikachu shouted as it was hit by the powerful fighting type attack. "Pika pika," it said roughly as it got up. This pokemon was going to feel the full force of Pikachu's fury, as was any other pokemon either of these two would send out to battle. Pikachu would knock them all out, without even trying to get away.

"Stop it now!" Cassidy shouted in her own fury as she stood up. Pikachu considered what might be the best way to show its refusal of this woman's orders as it glared toward her.

Cassidy didn't glare back, only looked toward her human partner, apparently having been shouting at him instead of Pikachu. "Pi?" Pikachu said.

"I'm not going to sit around and let this stupid pokemon attack you," Butch said.

"It's none of your business," Cassidy said, still clutching the arm where Pikachu's attack had hit. "Pikachu is my pokemon, and you can't just attack it like this. I'll take care of doing anything I need to train it all by myself, you just go."

"But-"

"Get away!" Cassidy ordered.

Quietly, Butch took a step to the side, though he still kept an eye on the scene as he continued his other tasks, taking out the ingredients for dinner.

Cassidy walked over to Pikachu, putting her hand down and trying to pretend her arm didn't sting. "He doesn't know what happened today. But I do. Let's go somewhere else, I'll get you healed."

Pikachu decided to let Cassidy pick it up. She took it to her tent, and then sprayed it with the potion she'd intended to in the first place. Pikachu let her without comment, deciding not to attack. It realized now that as much as it wanted her to be, she wasn't responsible at all for why it was in pain.

Cassidy smiled as she finished. "You know what Pikachu? It isn't enough to want to be valued by others. We have to make others value us."

"Pika," Pikachu said quietly, turning away.

Cassidy sighed, her smile distorting before it fell. "But sometimes, well," she continued. "No matter how much we do, selfish people can refuse to value us as much as we deserve, or even at all. We can try and try all day and night, then give and give all we have while loving them with all our heart, but they still think we're something that can be thrown away. Even after they've taken all we have to offer."

Pikachu took in the words. Just hearing something it could relate to its plight, its pain lessened slightly.

Cassidy patted the miserable pokemon's head. "Times like those, we can't control what those kind of people do. There's only one thing we can do, really."

Pikachu looked up curiously. "Pika?" it asked.

"Make them regret it."

James casually turned over the item he'd acquired, taking a closer look at it. He noticed Honedge had stopped eating, and now observed James himself. "Will you still want to stay after you're unsealed?" James asked.

Honedge paused to respond. Meowth warily glanced its way again. "Don't plan on running out on us," it said.

"It won't right now," James said. "But we are just doing each other a favor, right? So when it's done, you'll want to go?"

Honedge shook itself from side to side as it spoke.

Meowth smirked. "Yeah, of course it'll have nowhere to go after it's pissed off all its buddies."

"You can stay with us then. That is, if you want," James said reassuringly.

Honedge flew up happily, then back down, eating the rest of its berries. James put the seal-breaking item back in his pocket, then wandered away and found Jessie. "Jessie," he said once he'd found her going through their supplies.

"Hey James, I think we're all ready," Jessie said.

"Right," James said. There was nothing else to prepare, so they could relax a little. James ran his hand down Jessie's own. He moved closer to her, ready to kiss her.

But Jessie pulled away as if he'd done nothing. "I'm... Well, I'm going to leave everything here then. I'll see you in the morning."

James nodded, not missing the rejection. As Jessie stood up, he decided not to let it go without comment this time. "Jessie," he began.

"Yes James?"

"Why are you acting like this?" he asked, trying not to seem too hurt as he spoke. He'd failed though, and winced, trying to prevent himself from overreacting.

"Like what?" Jessie asked, folding her arms.

"Like you don't even want me to touch you... Even now that we're alone."

Jessie glanced away guiltily before meeting eyes with James. "Sorry James. It's not that I wanted to hurt you or anything, I just don't want to hurt Butch either. He could misunderstand."

"Wh- You mean... That guy? Cassidy's partner?" James said.

"Yeah. I don't want him to get the wrong idea by what goes on between us and then get hurt. You understand, right?"

James shook his head in disbelief. "I don't care about him at all!" he declared. Then his eyes widened slightly as he met eyes with Jessie, realizing why she might be saying such confusing, seemingly irrelevant things. "Do you?"

Again, Jessie had paused, seeing James's expectant look. It was almost like hearing an affirmation might really hurt him. But she wasn't going to hide or try and misrepresent anything herself. "I do," she admitted.

James felt almost like he was slapped with that revelation. But maybe there was no reason for him to feel that way at all. "Not that much though, right?" he said.

"I don't know," Jessie said, putting a hand to her face. James was momentarily relieved, before she spoke again. "It might be a lot. He even said he'd marry me if I wanted to, you know. I don't know if I'd want to yet."

Another blow. Before he even realized it, James realized he'd let his emotions of devastation show on his face. Jessie appeared annoyed. "You-" James began.

"Why are you acting like this?" Jessie demanded. "You don't want me, so why would you care if some other guy does! We're still friends though, right? So why can't you just be happy that I might have found love at last?"

"Don't ask me that," James said, looking away as he tried to hide his reaction. Maybe he could have feigned happiness for her if he'd had some time to take it in, but it was too much to be bombarded with all at once. Besides, he did want to have her in his life.

"It doesn't affect you at all," Jessie continued. "You don't want to be with me, and he does. What's between us won't change. It'll be just the same as before."

"It already has changed," James declared, thinking of how Jessie had started to reject him, and how that all made sense now. "How could things not change? If you went and married him. And then you had kids with him afterward. You'd be gone, and wouldn't think of anything that happened before then at all." James glanced toward Jessie, who appeared somewhat concerned. "I still- I really do-" he began, but couldn't finish saying how he loved her. It would be seen as manipulative now that Jessie had a place she'd rather be, instead of a declaration to be celebrated and embraced. James turned away. "Just go and be with him... If that's what you want," he said now that his back was to her.

James heard her leaving. Once he turned around and saw she was completely gone, he couldn't control his emotions further, and tears started running down his face. James fell to the ground and sobbed. As he did, Honedge eventually came into view. As it did, James wiped his eyes. "I guess you saw what happened," he said. This pokemon had been tailing him pretty close since he'd found the item to break its seal.

Honedge bobbed up and down in affirmation. It waved its sash over James's shoulder in consolation.

"I must seem pathetic. I should be able to be happy for her," he declared, even as his heart ached just thinking about the idea.

Honedge now shook itself from side to side, rejecting what James had said. It began to trace some crude stick figure drawing in the dirt. James looked at them closer, seeing it somewhat resembled Jessie and Butch. Honedge then traced itself, along with a square shaped object. Afterward, Honedge ran its blade down the drawing of itself, erasing the representation of its seal. Then it suddenly cut a long line in the dirt between the sketches of Jessie and Butch. As it finished, its metallic cries almost seemed like laughing to James.

James nodded. He took the tile out of his pocket, again casually observing it. Once he used this to break Honedge's seal, it would have the power to manipulate both people and fate to some extent. With its first rush of power, it gained the rare power to permanently cut any thread of fate. It could even eliminate the one between Jessie and James's now love rival, guaranteeing that Jessie wouldn't be with that guy, ever. James felt a rush of hope, immediately followed by a surge of sadness that he even had the urge to consider something like this.

James put away the item, not wanting to think about it for now. "Thanks, Honedge," he said. Even as he tried to forget the option, it continued to swirl in his mind as he thought of the two of them together. He could take away the anguish he was feeling at the moment, and make sure Jessie didn't abandon him for some guy she barely knew. James couldn't remove the option from his mind, keeping him awake that night as he continued to consider just how much he wanted to erase the current reality.

Jessie was surprised they had woken up before Cassidy even. She straightened her uniform as they exited the tent, sighing. After they'd packed up and otherwise prepared for the day, they had some time to kill, with her lagging behind them. Jessie tried to think of the job, but still found herself dreaming about other things. In-between the other nonsense they talked about, she decided to bring up something more serious.

"So you'd marry me, huh?"

Butch looked a little taken back by the question, but still didn't back away from his previous declaration. "Yeah. I mean, if you wanted."

"Of course," Jessie said. "Were your parents married?"

He seemed even more uncomfortable with that question, looking away. "That really doesn't matter."

"You'd marry me, but won't even tell me that much? It's not like I'm judging, either way."

Butch nodded. He wiped a hand across his face and swallowed. "They weren't," he said.

"Hmph. Neither were mine. Were they also a part of Team Rocket?"

"I told you, they don't matter," Butch said, becoming involved in adjusting the straps of the bag.

"Your parents don't matter?" Jessie repeated, frowning. "You don't sound very family-oriented, for someone that wants to get married."

"I wouldn't do anything like them. I'd be the opposite."

"No kids, you mean?" Jessie said. She hadn't really thought much about if she wanted them. They could be a lot of trouble, so maybe it wasn't a big deal if he didn't want any.

"Maybe I'd want some," Butch said. "I don't know. But if I had any, I wouldn't leave them."

"Oh," Jessie said, suddenly realizing why this might be a touchy topic. "They left you?" she asked the obvious.

Butch nodded. "My dad, from day one more or less. My mom when I wasn't too much older. I haven't seen them since I was eight or something. Maybe they're still out there, I don't really care."

"It can be tough," Jessie sympathized. "My parents weren't around either."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. They were both Team Rocket members. I don't know what happened to my dad, but my mom went missing. She died, probably."

Butch nodded. "So you grew up the same as me. Abandoned."

Jessie felt a rush of anger at Butch's quick judgment at a woman that had loved and raised her. "No! I don't know what happened to you, there's no way my mom abandoned me! My dad didn't either. They both just had their own stuff to do, and couldn't be around me as much they wanted. That's all! Even adults make mistakes."

"Hmph." Butch smirked, which made Jessie angrier. "I wish I could live in your world," he said.

"You don't think it's true? You realize my mother's probably dead and can't defend herself! She only wanted what was best for me."

"No," Butch said. "I'm sure you're right. I just wish I could be right along with you. I want to live in a world where abandoning someone can be just a mistake." Butch put his arm around Jessie, quieting her discontent. "If you ever thought I abandoned you, that would be a mistake," he assured in a whisper.

Jessie blushed, and returned his embrace. She dropped the subject, which now that she thought about it, wasn't something she much liked to think about either. Even the idea of being left behind by someone she loved was something that had ate away at her.

Yes, she'd considered for years that had maybe her mother really had just gotten tired of having a daughter around as burden, constantly fighting that idea. It was a real effort not to believe it when she was young. Even though now she found out without a doubt that it wasn't true, the memory was quite unpleasant. She'd had a similar feeling when she'd thought James would leave her for his rich family.

He hadn't though. "Are you sure you're alright with leaving your fiancée behind? Aren't you worried you'll get too old for marriage if you wait?" she'd asked him about it one day.

"No," James had assured. "I want to be here, with you."

Jessie opened her eyes, snapping out of her relaxed state as she thought of James. The vision of him last night, back to her, trying and mostly failing to hide his upset came to mind. Was she abandoning him? Well, he didn't have any sort of right to have her around, anyway. And if he wanted her, he'd had plenty of chances to make that clear.

"Good to see you aren't lagging with our mission," Cassidy said, looking up from her device as she walked up to them, Pikachu at her feet. "I made sure James was ready too, so let's get on our way soon."

"I'll get ready," Butch assured, going for the supplies.

"Good. Jessie, you go get my things, won't you?" Cassidy asked.

Jessie scowled, but decided not to make too big a deal of Cassidy's haughtiness. She went over to grab the bags, following the request.

As she left, James approached. He glared at Butch, and tried not to let his disdain show. "Hey, James. Are you gonna be slightly less useless today?" Butch joked as he lifted up the bag of equipment.

And with that, James became even more angry with the guy. He wasn't the one James was really angry with... More the reality that Jessie that had decided on him. Even so, James couldn't stand to look at his rival, let alone talk to him.

Luckily, before James could sputter too much, Meowth spoke. "James isn't as useless as you're saying. He's the one that got us the pokemon we needed, and also..." Meowth paused before telling their rival too much. "Well, both my humans are pretty useful."

"You're calling us that now?" James muttered.

"Why not?" Meowth said.

"I wonder if Jessie will stick with you guys for long after this mess is done with," Butch said aloud.

"Of course she will!" Meowth declared. "I don't know about you and your partner, but Jessie is loyal to us."

"Maybe she wants out of Team Rocket and to have an actual life," Butch said.

"What's with this guy, always being down on our work," Meowth said to its partner. James looked away, still not wanting to participate in the conversation. "Team Rocket's the best! We're gonna rule the world and get rich," Meowth declared.

"Hasn't gotten me rich yet. I don't really care about that any more though. Not if something I really want is right in front of me. I wonder if Jessie feels the same," Butch mused.

"Why are you obsessing over her anyway?" Meowth asked poignantly.

"Hmph." Butch decided not to comment. He threw the strap of the bag over his shoulder and turned away.

"They like each other," James said. He noted how juvenile his language to describe the situation seemed, and shut his mouth again.

"Just because he's obsessed with her-" Meowth began.

"She wants him too. She told me yesterday," James said.

"No way! Wasn't she starting to get sweet on you? Talk her out of that nonsense, James!"

"I- She-" James sputtered while trying to respond to Meowth. He couldn't even think of what he might say. He hadn't know that Meowth had even noticed anything going on between them, and didn't really want to talk about that in front of his rival.

Hearing what Meowth and James were saying, Butch had turned back, still with that irritating smirk on his face. "I wanted to let her be the one to say it, but I guess she already told James that I'm the one she's 'sweet on'."

"Not true! I've seen her and James making goo-goo eyes at each other, and more. They'll get together any minute now, so don't think you'll take one of my humans away," Meowth insisted. "Right James?"

"Stop it, Meowth," James said. His face was turning red in humiliation. He wanted nothing more than to stop having this conversation, now.

"Jessie likes James way too much to go with you," Meowth declared despite James's nonresponse.

"I doubt she cares that much about him," Butch said.

"Jessie loves me," James declared. The second after he'd done so, he wished he hadn't. Both Meowth and Butch looked his way, studying his response.

Butch let his bag fall to the ground, still keeping his steady expression. "So you're saying she's playing us?"

"Um... I don't know," James said.

"Come on! Are you fucking her?"

"No," James admitted right away. "We don't do those kind of things."

Butch shrugged now. "I didn't think so. I've got nothing to worry about," he said, though he looked a little relieved after James had spoken.

James's face turned red, realizing that Jessie probably had sex with this guy already. That was something he'd been unable to offer her, and something he'd known she really wanted. But still- "That doesn't mean anything," James insisted, unable to give up the little bit of hope he'd been holding on to. "She could still want to be with me."

"No one's going to want to give up their life for an idiot like you," Butch said.

James hid his anguish well with anger, and refused to say anything further. Still, his mind was racing, thinking about what his love rival had said. Giving up her life? Would that be what being with him was like? And maybe Jessie had really chosen already. From everything that had happened so far, it did seem obvious who she wanted to be with now. As much as James wanted to deny it, he had no room at all to do so. Even as Jessie approached the group again, James only looked away.

Cassidy nodded in thanks as she grabbed her bag from Jessie. Her teammates didn't appear ready to work together, but she could deal with that along the way. Now she had to make sure another member of her team was ready with its motivation. "Pikachu?" she asked, leaning down to address the small pokemon.

Pikachu looked up at Cassidy with slight interest. Fitting in so well with this group was a little strange. Still, it paid attention to what its now-trainer might say.

Cassidy pulled out a pokeball, adorned with Team Rocket's logo. "Aegislash is powerful, but I'm sure I can still catch it with one of these. After it's weakened. You'll help with that, right?"

"Pi," Pikachu said nonchalantly, staring past Cassidy.

Cassidy gripped the pokeball, and then put it away. "I'm trying to capture this thing for my boss. For me, I'd just be glad to have you with me. I really want you on my team after this is all done, just so you know."

Pikachu didn't respond, not that she could have understood even if it had tried. What she wanted was irrelevant. What Pikachu wanted, it didn't want to dwell further on.

"I suppose you think that kid will decide you aren't useless after all when we get this overpowered pokemon for ourselves," Cassidy said. She waited for Pikachu to respond, but it didn't. She closed her eyes, looking away. "Well, I guess you won't know until after we try, hm?"

"Pi," Pikachu said, grimacing as it was forced to further consider the situation. Aegislash was an appropriate target for its frustration. Just attacking Team Rocket's pokemon like it had done the other day meant nothing. Defeating Aegislash might mean something. It may as well join its former enemies in doing so.

Cassidy picked Pikachu up. Pikachu allowed her to without comment. Being held like this and carried around for a bit was nice, actually. As Pikachu started to relax, it looked at her arm, noticing the large red mark. "Pika?" it said in alarm.

"Don't worry about it," Cassidy said. "That's all a part of pokemon training."

Pikachu's eyes widened as it realized that its attack the previous day had been the cause of the injury. Part of pokemon training? Pikachu didn't want to be a part of something like that. It didn't want to hurt and hate before either it eventually decided to obey or the human eventually decided to abandon it. Even though that was exactly it had done. Not just with this Team Rocket member, but several times before.

Even so, this human hadn't treated it so bad. She hadn't told it to straighten up or else it would have nothing. Though if it did something this bad, abandonment was something it might have to expect. "Pika," Pikachu said apologetically, touching the injury as it did.

Cassidy gave Pikachu a hug with a smile on her face. Afterward, she wandered over to James. "Get that pokemon ready. It's about time we go."

James let Honedge out of its pokeball. It spun around, raised itself up before floating down to eye level with the humans. James took out the key, gripping it tightly in his hand. "After today, I promise I'll break that seal," he said to Honedge. Honedge clinked its excitement about the prospect in response. "Then you can just ask if you want to be released."

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Meowth said. "If what that guy says is true, then we'll lose Jessie, and she has the most pokemon. Maybe you should keep this one."

"Um.." James looked away in his discomfort.

"Are you sure she'd really leave? I bet you can convince her not to," Meowth said.

"That's-" James began.

"What are you two talking about? Aren't you ready yet?" Jessie asked.

James shuddered in surprise upon noticing that Jessie was so close, but Meowth was unaffected. "We were talking about you! You want to dump us to go off with that guy over there once we're done here? Don't you think that-"

"That's enough, Meowth," James said quietly. He glanced up at Jessie afterward. "I'm ready."

Jessie nodded in return. She frowned as she thought of the topic that Meowth had brought up. If she did want everything Butch said he could offer, that would mean she'd have to leave them, and everything she'd worked for behind. She could stay in Team Rocket, too, she insisted to herself, but even then things wouldn't stay the same as they had been.

Though these thoughts had struck her for the first time, Jessie put aside her considerations as the group officially assembled for their mission.