*Just a little fun and heartwarming story I wrote up focusing on the Team Rocket trio! * :)
It was a bright and sunny day in the small town of Postwick in the Galar region and the Team Rocket trio was in their best mood yet! The Meowth balloon floated across the sky as Jessie, James, and Meowth waited for the perfect opportunity to snatch up some Pokémon for the Boss.
"What a lovely day, and we still haven't found any Pokémon worth stealing yet," James sighed as he adjusted the focus on his binoculars.
"We've got to keep looking!" Jessie exclaimed not taking her eyes away from her binoculars. "There's bound to be a really good Pokémon worth stealing around here somewhere."
Meowth laughed as he carefully surveyed his surrounding through his binoculars. "You two are just too picky when it comes to finding Pokémon to steal!"
Jessie put her binoculars down and gave a side-glance at Meowth. "We all know that our mission is to find only the best Pokémon to give to the Boss."
Meowth nodded not looking away from the scene within his binoculars. You're right about that, but I was thinking, we should keep in mind every Pokémon's potential. There's plenty of really valuable Pokémon out there that we could be missing if we only went by looks."
James nodded. "Meowth does have a point."
"You're right. We'll just snatch up a Pokémon the first opportunity we get!" Jessie beamed.
The Team Rocket trio continued searching with renewed confidence.
Before too long, James spotted something of potential. "I think I might have found a Pokémon," James said as he once again adjusted the focus on his binoculars. "I wonder what kind of Pokémon that is. It looks like some sort of unusual teapot."
Jessie immediately shifted her focus to where James was looking. "Where?!"
After a few adjustments through the binoculars, an elegant and mysterious looking Pokémon resembling a teapot came into focus. It sat on a patio table behind a house resting in the darkness of the shade with not a care in the world.
Meowth thought intently. "I saw that Pokémon somewhere before like a magazine or something. As unusual as it looks, it's bound to do something great."
Out of curiosity, James leafed through a small booklet containing the Galar region Pokémon. "It's a Polteageist, a ghost type Pokémon. According to this, it can offer a sweet and aromatic cup of tea to a trusted trainer. "
Excitement grew as the opportunity to snatch up a potentially valuable Pokémon awaited them.
"What are we waiting for?" Jessie exclaimed. "I didn't see anyone around, did you? Let's snatch up that Polteageist!" And with that, Jessie adjusted the flame on the Meowth balloon so it carried them in the direction of the mysterious teapot Pokémon.
Once they found a secure and discreet place to land the Meowth balloon, Jessie, James, and Meowth carefully approached the back patio in which they had spotted the Polteageist. It rested within the shade just as they had spotted it.
"Alright," Jessie said keeping her voice barely above a whisper. "There it is! It doesn't have a clue about us. Let's grab it and go before somebody comes!"
"Right!" James and Meowth exclaimed.
Overhearing the excitement and wanting to assist with the plan, Wobbuffet released himself from his Poké ball and hurried to offer assistance in stealing the Polteageist.
The trio carried a burlap sack to scoop the Pokémon in and run. Jessie, James, and Meowth snickered excitedly at their mischievous plan. This was too easy!
"I'll keep an eye out in case somebody comes around from the front," Meowth suggested.
"Good idea," Jessie said as she turned to Wobbuffet. "You can take care of the other side of the house."
"Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet saluted eagerly as he and Meowth hurried to their places to keep watch.
Jessie took a deep breath as she crept carefully towards the Polteageist hovering the burlap sack ready to snatch it up. "Alright Polteageist," she whispered. "I've almost got you."
James waited on edge as he watched Jessie sneak up behind the mysterious Teapot Pokémon. He wanted to cheer and offer encouraging words to his Team Rocket partner but knew better and kept as still and quiet as possible.
Jessie was mere inches away from the unsuspecting Polteageist. Just as she was about to throw the sack over Polteageist and scoop it up, there was a low and aggressive sounding growl followed by a demanding bark.
Jessie and James froze in their tracks at the sight of an unsuspected Arcanine that stood before them. It barked intimidately at them, seemingly demanding to know what they were doing there.
"Where did that Arcanine come from?!" Jessie yelled throwing the burlap sack to the side in fear.
Meowth and Wobbuffet rushed over to Jessie and James at the sight of the Arcanine. At this moment, the Polteageist took this as an opportunity to flee and find another suitable resting spot.
"I did not see that Arcanine when I was watching the front!" Meowth exclaimed.
"Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet exclaimed stating that he didn't see any such Arcanine either.
The Arcanine stepped towards them barking ready to unleash a fire attack.
A distant yet audible voice came from inside the house. "What's Arcanine barking about?"
Already caught by this Arcanine and not wanting to be caught by whoever might have been home, the trio immediately retreated.
"No need to use flamethrower!" Jessie exclaimed as James swiftly scooped the burlap sack up.
And with that, the trio darted out of there and didn't look back until they were safely in their Meowth balloon. "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!"
Jessie, James, Meowth, and Wobbuffet panted in relief as the Meowth balloon lifted into the air and floated away from the area.
"That was close!" Meowth said catching his breath.
"I still don't know how you and Wobbuffet couldn't have seen that Arcanine!" Jessie exclaimed.
"My guess is that it was there the whole time resting in the shade. We just didn't notice it because we were so focused on getting that Polteageist," James suggested.
Jessie sighed defeated as she recalled Wobbuffet into his Poké ball. They were so close in getting that Pokémon! "We'll just have to try for the next Pokémon then."
"But first, why don't we head back to our hideout to rest after that close call," James said.
"Good idea!" Meowth agreed as they all slid down onto the floor of the balloon.
"We can come up with an even more ingenious plan there," Jessie suggested brightening up to her usual confident self.
Once the trio returned to their hideout, they took it as an opportunity to catch a break before they went on and concocted up another one of their master plans. Jessie propped her feet up and leafed through a magazine featuring the latest news of the Galar region while James and Meowth took on a friendly game of checkers.
Jessie laughed amusingly at one article as James studied the board to make his next move with Meowth watching carefully.
James paused suddenly and glanced across the room. He thought he heard something - a soft high-pitched noise that sounded like a – no that was silly!
"Hey, James," Meowth said. "Whatcha looking at? It's still your turn."
James shook his head brushing off the little noise he was sure he heard. "I thought I heard something, but it must have been my imagination!" James beamed assuring himself as he finally made his move.
Meowth took a quick glance around the room almost expecting to hear whatever James had heard.
Just when Meowth was about to resume his attention to the board, he caught sight of something shuffling in the burlap bag. He froze, his eyes fixated on the bag.
"I think you heard something alright, James!" Meowth exclaimed keeping his voice low as he motioned toward s the bag.
James shifted his attention over to the burlap bag, the one that they intended to use to scoop up that Polteageist. His eyes widened as he, too, saw something move. They had failed at stealing that Polteageist so there shouldn't be any Pokémon in the bag.
James and Meowth froze in complete suspense unable to take their eyes off the moving bag.
"Jessie!" James said finding his voice as he urged for his Team Rocket partner's attention.
With her back towards the bag and her focus on the magazine, Jessie was completely oblivious.
"What is it, James?" she said completely casually as she flipped the page.
"I think you better check this out! There's something!-" Meowth began but then stopped. He and James both saw it at the same time crawling out of the bag. First, his little hands, then his little body, and finally his little feet.
"Jessie! Jessie!" James and Meowth shouted.
Jessie closed the magazine annoyed. "Oh, what is it already?"
"J-Jessie," James stammered as he pointed towards the bag. "I think we accidently caught a baby!"
Jessie froze and slowly turned to look at the bag. Did she hear James right? She gasped, utterly speechless for once as James and Meowth were. There, crawling and inching his way across the room as if he were on his own mission was a baby – an absolutely adorable baby.
The baby noticing the trio looking at him albeit in shock and confusion tilted his head up and smiled at them.
No one in the trio was immune to the cuteness and charm of the baby. Returning smiles briefly replaced the trio's looks of shock.
"What an absolutely adorable cutie!" Jessie exclaimed seemingly smitten by the baby.
Meowth couldn't help but to find himself agreeing. "He is cute. I'll give him that."
James still in shock of a baby being inside their hideout could only stare.
Jessie paused as she thought of one very important and obvious question. "Hold up! There isn't supposed to be a baby in our hideout! How did this baby even get here?"
Everyone glanced towards the bag, the only way the baby could have gotten in.
"It looks like it must have crawled inside our bag when we weren't looking," James said.
Meowth nodded. "Yeah, probably when that Arcanine came after us, sometime after you dropped the bag, Jessie."
Jessie thought. "Wait a minute! James! You were the one who carried the bag back to our balloon. How could you not know that there was something in there?"
James nervously scratched the back of his head baffled himself as to how he didn't even notice that there was something in the bag. "I suppose I didn't notice because we were too busy running from that Arcanine."
Jessie nodded thinking intently. "Well it obviously must belong to that house where we tried to snatch up that Polteageist."
James sighed, "Great, instead of scooping up a unique and unusual Pokémon for the Boss, we capture ourselves a human baby."
The trio froze reflecting on James' last statement.
"The Boss!" Meowth cried. "What will the Boss think?"
Jessie eyed the giant video screen nervously as if Giovanni would make an appearance at any moment. "We can't let the Boss see this baby here. We have to get him out of here."
Meowth began to look around the room nervously. "It would help if we actually knew where he was."
The trio slowly peered around their hideout, almost on edge to what they might find. There wasn't cause for too much concern, right? This was a human baby. What harm could it possibly do?
Suddenly James shouted rushing over to a corner of the room where the baby had found a box full of bottle caps under a shelf. With one pull, the baby had flipped over the box of bottle caps giggling at the sight as they poured out all over the floor. "My prized bottle cap collection! Those aren't toys!"
With that, James snatched the box away from the baby and began scooping up the bottle caps strewn across the floor. The baby made a little whimpering sound quivering its lip then began to cry.
"Now look what you did, James," Meowth shouted over the crying baby.
James sighed. "I didn't really think he would cry. And besides, he had no business in messing with my bottle cap collection."
Jessie rolled her eyes. "Come on, James! It's a baby! What did you expect he would do?"
Meowth put his paws up to his ears. "Yeah, well, somebody better find a way to get that baby to stop crying!"
James thought. "Well I have heard that babies like to be held." He reached down and picked up the crying baby. Almost immediately, the baby stopped crying as it curiously observed as babies do, the one who picked him up. The baby smiled a little smile as it latched its tiny hands onto James' shoulder.
The trio smiled relieved. James especially couldn't help but to smile. He had to admit, the baby was cute after all even if it had gotten into his prized bottle cap collection. The baby glanced around wide-eyed at everything in sight the trio's hideout had to offer. His eyes landed on Jessie's super long magenta colored hair and then to her green stud earrings. Fueled by curiosity, the baby fussed and squirmed in James' arms trying to reach for Jessie's earrings.
James immediately pulled the baby away and looked at him perplexed and a bit nervous. None of them had ever dealt with a baby before or a crying baby at that.
"Look at him! He obviously wants me to hold him!" Jessie beamed as she eagerly snatched the baby from James' grip.
As soon as Jessie was holding the baby, he smiled and let out a playful laugh. Just then, the baby reached up to Jessie's earrings and began to pull. "Ow! Ow! Heeey!" Jessie cried as she pried the baby's grip off her earrings.
"I think he was only after your earrings, Jessie," Meowth said amusingly.
"Nobody messes with the most gorgeous member of Team Rocket!" Jessie muttered to the baby in her most intimidating voice.
The baby stared for a moment at Jessie and then giggled as if she had told him some sort of joke.
The trio sighed a little amused and even more confused at this peculiar baby.
"We better get this baby out of here and back where he came from," Meowth said urgently as Jessie placed the baby on the floor. "Remember, our team rocket missions and all things to do with Team Rocket are to be taken seriously."
"That's kind of hard to do with this baby here," James said.
"Right, we won't be able to steal anything with this brat around." Jessie added as she grabbed the burlap sack to scoop the baby in.
The baby crawled around in no specific direction pausing every now and then to look at whatever he found fascinating.
Just then, a very familiar sound came from the TV.
The trio froze. "It's the Boss!"
Making a split decision and taking advantage of being out of the video screen's view, Meowth rushed over to the baby, grabbed him behind the arms and pulled him behind the couch and out of view of the Boss
"I came to ask for a progress report of your mission so far in Galar."
At the sound of Giovanni's voice, Meowth rushed over and stood next to Jessie and James taking on his most confident and convincing composure.
"We've come across a substantial amount of interesting Pokémon that would be extremely valuable to Team Rocket." Jessie spoke confidently.
Giovanni stared at the trio expectantly. "It's been going on two weeks and you three have not sent in any captured Pokémon to headquarters."
"We were actually in the middle of a plan to capture these rather unique Pokémon," James added matching Jessie's confident composure.
James turned around as movement caught the attention of his peripheral vision. As casually as he could and not to raise Giovanni's suspicion, James took a quick side step away from the screen and rushed over to the baby. He quickly pulled the baby back behind the couch before he could be caught in the camera's view, reached for the first thing he saw – a blanket off the couch - that would keep the baby occupied at least until the Boss ended the video call, and hurried back beside Jessie and Meowth.
Giovanni glared at James but brushed off his unusual behavior. "Aside from capturing new Galar Pokémon, I want you three to investigate the gigantamax and dynamax phenomenon of Galar. Observe, and report back to me everything you have investigated about these new phenomenon."
The trio nodded trying to remain as serious as they could manage.
"You better believe that we will find everything there is to know about gigantamax and dynamax," Meowth said confidently.
Jessie and James nodded affirmatively.
Giovanni suddenly shifted his attention to something behind them and narrowed his eyebrows trying to get a better look. "What's that?"
The trio froze, almost too afraid to turn around. When they did, there was the blanket moving across the floor. This baby was impossible! They had to think of something really convincing and fast!
"That's um… our new Pokémon we captured!" James exclaimed as he scooped the baby up ensuring that the blanket hid him. He place the baby once more behind the couch.
Giovanni stared at the trio suspiciously. "You caught a new Pokémon, and you didn't alert me first thing?"
"We wanted it to be a surprise!" Jessie said convincingly settling on the first idea that came to her mind. "But we'll send it over to headquarters in due time, Boss!"
"Let's hope you three see to it," Giovanni replied firmly, a bit annoyed at the trio's strange behavior. "I will be expecting a frequent update. Goodbye."
The trio let out a huge sigh of relief as the video screen went blank.
"Nice going, you two," Meowth said reflecting on their lack of progress so far. There they were with no Galar Pokémon to send to Team Rocket headquarters whatsoever with a mischievous baby that almost got them into trouble! "Now we really have to be sure to capture a Pokémon for the Boss!"
"Oh, Meowth!" Jessie retorted. "Your big Meowth got us in trouble plenty of times before. Besides, after we get rid of this baby, we'll have plenty of opportunity to capture new Galar Pokémon."
James hurriedly picked up the bag. "We better hurry and take him back home. Next time, we might not be so lucky."
"Right," Jessie agreed as she picked up the baby proceeding to place him in the bag. "In you go now!" she said cheerfully. However, the baby shook his head and kept a firm grip on Jessie's shoulder. He obviously did not want to go back inside the bag.
The trio sighed a bit frustrated at yet another dilemma thanks to this baby.
"We can't put the baby back in the bag," James said. "He might cry again and we really don't want that."
"We can't just carry him out in our arms either," Meowth said. "Seeing Team Rocket with a baby, people will get suspicious."
The trio took a moment to think up some master plan to get the baby out of their hideout.
Jessie suddenly lit up with a master plan of her own. "Come on you two! This shouldn't be difficult for us. We're Team Rocket, the masters of disguise!"
"That's right!" Meowth beamed.
The trio formed a mischievous smile as they decided on a clever disguise.
James was the first to step outside. He wore a brown trench coat while Jessie, holding the baby, wore a simple yet fashionable floral dress. Meowth donned a pair of sunglasses a shirt, pants, and a wig.
The Meowth balloon was only mere steps away, but no matter how short the distance, the trio knew better than to take a risk in being caught.
As soon as the balloon lifted off the ground, Jessie, James, and Meowth removed their disguises revealing their usual Team Rocket uniforms. Now they could breathe a sigh of relief. In just a matter of time, they would be free of this little baby, a baby that seemed to be more trouble than he was worth.
"I'm so glad he'll be going back home, so we can continue on with our mission," James said as he carefully looked through his binoculars in search of the baby's home.
"And we'll capture ourselves a Polteageist one way or another!" Jessie replied.
"If they think an Arcanine is going to stop Team Rocket, they're in for a big surprise!" Meowth added.
Suddenly about half way til they reached their destination, the baby decided that he did not like riding in the hot air balloon now.
"Not again!" the trio shouted as the baby began to cry again. The baby's wailing sounded even more intolerable since they were now in their balloon with very limited space.
"Meowth, you haven't done anything yet to stop that baby from crying!" Jessie shouted shielding her ears from the sound of the wailing baby.
"Me? I don't know anything about babies, Pokémon or human!" Meowth shouted back shielding his ears as well.
"Come on, Meowth," James said in a loud and encouraging voice. "Give it a try."
Meowth took a deep breath not the least bit interested in the idea. "Well, alright! I'll give it a try, but just this once!"
He sat down in front of the baby and smiled his best smile. "Whatcha crying about?" he said in the most friendly voice he could muster despite being annoyed.
The baby caught sight of Meowth's smile and immediately stopped crying.
But for how long? Meowth thought to himself doubtful that they heard the last of the crying baby.
The baby stared at Meowth intently then smiled a little smile as baby's do when they spot something fascinating. He raised a hand and reached towards Meowth, gently touching a whisker. "Meow? Meow?"
Jessie and James found themselves smiling as well, their hearts warm as they watched the baby babble and smile at Meowth.
"He really likes Meowth," James said.
"I had no idea Meowth had it in him," Jessie shrugged.
Meowth froze, speechless. How the baby smiled at him was touching and made him feel important. Meowth abruptly brushed off the feeling. The baby was on his way home. He couldn't get too attached to it.
"Listen, kid. Someday, if you prove yourself worthy, maybe you'll find yourself joining Team Rocket," Meowth told the baby. The baby stared at Meowth taking in everything he said. Whether the baby understood what he was saying, Meowth, Jessie, nor James would ever know.
The baby's not crying now as long as I'm talking to it, Meowth thought. Just a little more to go until he's back home and off our hands!
"And you gotta be tough especially working for a boss like Giovanni," Meowth continued. "He's expects only the best from us, and gives us plenty of really challenging missions. But we're Team Rocket and we don't give up!"
"Rocket?" the baby replied.
The trio couldn't help but to smile at the baby's response. Of course the baby picked up on a new word while he was in their presence.
"Our main mission is to catch rare and valuable Pokémon for the Boss. There's this one Pokémon that we've always been after and we haven't given up on capturing it yet. It's a Pikachu who belongs to a twerp by the name of Ash Ketchum. I remember seeing that Pikachu just like it was yesterday. My pals, Jessie and James and I were in Viridian City and had just broken into the Pokémon Center to seek out rare and valuable Pokémon to steal…"
"What's Meowth doing?" Jessie asked a bit amused.
"It sounds like he's telling him a story." James said.
Jessie and James continued watching quite amused at Meowth telling a story to the baby. Hey, anything to keep the baby from crying, right?
Meowth continued with the story. Then as soon as he finished with the blasting off part, he thought of another story. One that was very special to him. "Say, I don't think I told you about how I learned how to talk? It all began when I was a little Meowth abandoned with no home and no friends…"
Meowth paused and looked back at the baby. The baby had fallen asleep! Meowth didn't know whether to be relieved or annoyed.
The baby looked so peaceful and innocent sleeping. Quite unlike the mischievous baby that he had been in their Team Rocket hideout. Maybe this baby wasn't so bad after all. However, it was time to get this baby back to where he belonged.
"Look!' James pointed looking through his binoculars as he spotted the house where they had attempted to steal a Polteageist. "There's his house. We're almost there!"
Now they could finally continue with their Team Rocket missions without being interrupted. The trio stared at the baby as he continued to sleep. They really couldn't help but to smile.
Jessie landed the balloon in the same spot as before. "Time for you to go home," she said as she picked up the baby, waking him up. "You can join our team when you're much older."
The baby smiled and leaned forward excitedly in Jessie's arms at the comforting and familiar sight of home.
Jessie, James, and Meowth carefully observed their surroundings before stepping out of the balloon. With baby in arm, Jessie along with James and Meowth crouched down inside a bush in the baby's yard where they would not be seen.
Jessie placed the baby down on the ground so that he was in the grass and facing his house. "Off you go!" Jessie said cheerfully expecting the baby to crawl off right away, through the yard and back to his house.
The baby started to crawl back to his house but did an about face crawling back to the trio. He eagerly reached up his arms . "Bye! Bye!" The words were soft and sweet.
Jessie, James, and Meowth were at a loss of words once more by the baby's behavior. Every single one of them felt a strong sense of love from within their hearts. This baby seemed to really like them! Why the baby liked them was anybody's guess.
"If I didn't know better, I think he wants to say good-bye to us," James said.
Jessie, James, and Meowth exchanged glances with James walking up to the baby scooping him up. "It was simply a pleasure meeting you, even if you did mess up my bottle cap collection," James said giving the baby a quick hug. "Good-bye now. Perhaps we'll meet again."
Jessie held the baby next. It was time to say good-bye and she found herself feeling surprisingly emotional.
Get a grip, Jessie! It's just a baby you'll most likely never see again, Jessie thought fighting back tears.
"Okay, I don't know who you think you are just sneaking yourself into our Team Rocket hideout! But-" Jessie paused at a loss for words for once.
The baby looked up at Jessie and smiled. "Rocket?" he said softly and smiled.
"But I'm going to miss you!" Jessie cried giving the baby a warm hug. She immediately straightened up taking on a more serious composure. "So you better be the best baby you can be and don't go crawling into anymore bags!"
Meowth walked up to the baby and plopped himself down beside him. "Listen, kid," Meowth smiled as he put an arm around the baby's shoulder. "You got spunk! And to crawl inside our bag and into our Team Rocket hideout takes skill and guts!"
The baby stared at Meowth, eyes wide and full of wonder taking in everything he said. "Meow? Meow?"
"Please don't make me all emotional now!" Meowth cried as he gave the baby a tight hug. "Good-bye!"
The baby took one last glance at the trio then turned back to his home. He laughed obviously seeing a familiar face. "Arc-kin!" the baby babbled excitedly reaching up.
The trio froze. Oh no! Not that Arcanine again!
"I think that's our cue to get out of here!" Jessie exclaimed
"We wish you the best of luck, little one!" James shouted taking a quick glance back at the baby.
"Just promise us you won't sneak into our bag again, okay!' Meowth shouted.
"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!"
The baby reached up and petted the soft luscious fur of the family pet Arcanine. The Arcanine nuzzled the baby gently. He looked up yet again and smiled his biggest smile and laughed his biggest laugh.
"Mama!" he said eagerly reaching his arms up.
"There you are, Phoenix! Now how did you get outside?"
Baby Phoenix smiled innocently and then reached out yet again. "Da!" baby phoenix babbled as a man walked out of the house and reached over giving baby Phoenix a soft pat on the head. "You look like you've been on some sort of adventure!" he said jokingly.
Baby Phoenix looked off into the distance and pointed. "Rocket!" he said loud and clear.
His mom and dad looked at each other perplexed.
"Where did he learn that word?" his mother asked.
His dad shrugged. "Probably something he saw on T.V."
The baby only smiled reflecting on the short yet eventful time he had spent with the Team Rocket trio – Jessie, James, and Meowth!