Once they were inside, things were a bit nicer. The first thing that caught Ash's eye was the large kitchen stocked with food. The young Pokemon trainer's stomach let out a loud growl, and he looked away in embarrassment when the sound caught the attention of Jessie and James.

"Oh my?" Jessie asked.

"Sounds like you're hungry?" James asked.

"Maybe a little..." Ash mumbled.

"You can help yourself. We keep a stocked fridge," Jessie said.

Ash looked at the kitchen and winced and gave a small grimace. That sure looks good, but it probably belongs to the cabin's other inhabitants.

"Uhhh..."

"And if you're worried about who it belongs to, don't. It's our food," James said.

"And we don't mind sharing with you," Jessie said.

Ash and Pikachu smiled a bit.

"Really?"

"Pikachu?"

"Yeah, sure help yourself," James said cheerfully.

Ash ran into the kitchen, opened the cupboard, and began to search around. He found a box of cereal, a bowl, and some milk and quickly made himself a bowl of cereal. Then, he dug into it eagerly, shoveling large bites into his mouth with a spoon.

"This is great!" The young Pokemon trainer shouted with his mouth full.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu was holding a spoon and eating out of his own bowl with as much enthusiasm as his trainer.

James leaned against one of the kitchen walls while watching Ash and Pikachu and let out a sigh.

"I take it they didn't feed you well at headquarters?" James asked.

Ash stopped eating for a moment at the mention of Team Rocket. He felt his stomach tighten a little, and he suddenly felt a sense of danger. Pikachu appeared to feel it, too. Ash wasn't sure why he suddenly felt this way, though, after all, he was among friends, well sort of; he didn't know Jessie and James that well, but they seemed friendly and trustworthy, didn't they? Trying to shake off the uneasy feeling, he swallowed hard and decided to answer honestly.

"N-no, they didn't," Ash said in a low voice. It was almost a whisper.

Ash watched as James slowly nodded his head. "I see."

James raised a gloved hand and waved him off, flashing a nervous smile.

"You can continue eating. Sorry for disturbing you," James said.

That uncomfortable feeling started to go away. Ash relaxed a little.

"N-no, you're okay," Ash said.

"In that case-"

James walked to the table where Ash was sitting and pulled up a chair across from him. Ash stole a quick glance; James was holding a bowl of cereal, probably the same kind of cereal, too, since there was only one flavor available in the cupboard.

"You know, Jessie and I heard about what they did to you, but it's okay if you don't want to talk about it. I just wanted you to know you can...if you want to," James said.

Ash sat at the table holding his spoon in the air. Part of him did want to talk about it, just to share the pain with...someone, but he wasn't sure if he trusted anyone enough with that secret. He had to be the strong one in his family since his dad disappeared, after all. Ash started slowly, trying to think of a way to dismiss it without hurting James' feelings.

"Well...that was a pretty clever rescue plan you guys made," Ash said. The young Pokemon trainer forced a nervous smile.

"Yeah...I guess it was." James's tone was a little monotone, almost tired or bored.

"You know, this is good cereal," Ash said, trying to change the subject. James's odd attitude was making him uncomfortable.

James took another bite. "I'm glad you like it. It tastes like cardboard to me," James quipped dismissively.

Ash gave a weak laugh and James followed with a weak laugh of his own. Why did this feel so awkward?

Once Ash finished his cereal, James cleared the table and put the dishes in the dishwasher.

"Well...good night," Ash said as he dismissed himself from the kitchen.

Ash walked down the small hall a bit aimlessly; he didn't know where he was going because he'd never been inside the cabin before, but he wanted to avoid anything that reminded him of his time with Team Rocket, and right now, James did, for some reason. Maybe it was the uniform? Yeah, that was it. Ash shuddered; he didn't want to see that uniform ever again. Maybe someone had some other clothes he could wear?

James watched Ash walk away and stood over the sink mentally kicking himself for trying to breach such a sensitive topic with a kid he barely knew.

I shouldn't have listened to Jessie; I should know from my own experience that people need time to process and heal after trauma. What did she expect? That the kid would just open up and cry on our shoulders? People don't work like that, Jess, and I should have known better. James thought.

James stood there feeling helpless; he really wanted to help the kid, but just Ash's body language during their previous conversation said, "stay away; I don't trust you," and prying would only cause trouble. The only thing they could do was be there for him...if that was even possible given their circumstances.

The former Team Rocket member closed his eyes, willing away painful memories. He couldn't help but see a lot of his childhood self in the kid, from being a young hopeful Pokemon trainer to being at the mercy of people who couldn't care less about his personal well-being. James could certainly relate, but there was no way to communicate that to the kid, not now anyway. A lot of what he heard about the situation, Ash didn't say, and the former Team Rocket member didn't want to make the kid uncomfortable.

Another sigh escaped his lips. They'd probably lead the kid to the Pokemon Center in the morning, and that would be the end of their journey together. Normally, it wouldn't bother him so much, but it was just rare to get close to people in this harsh world, and friends were often hard to find. Someone with Ash's experience may have an especially hard time in the world; James knew he and Jessie did at his age...and still did, if he was being honest.

The dishwasher clicked. James mindlessly opened it and began unloading the dishes. He smiled as the steam hit his face. How good it felt to be able to use his own hands; he remembered when a simple exercise such as this was a privilege his parents denied him, telling him to leave it for the servants instead. Such activities were deemed "beneath him." Looking back, James was sure they were grooming him to be helpless, dependent, unable to take care of himself, unable to survive on his own. Well, the joke was on them. He taught himself all of those things, loved doing chores now, and could run a house almost all by himself.

Oh, the trials I had to face to get to this point James thought.

"I didn't grow up to be some helpless playboy aristocrat like you wanted me to be Mommy and Daddy," James said to himself. The smile on his face was now a huge evil grin. Excitedly, James let out a squeal and started laughing maniacally. The laughter got louder and louder as he continued to relish the moment.

"James? What's going on?"

The former Team Rocket member stopped laughing and whipped around to see his partner Jessie standing in the kitchen doorway. She was wearing a rather unflattering set of plain black pajamas. What happened to the pink ones with Clefairy on them?

Jessie wore a scowl on her face and a pink nightcap on her head, her strange hairstyle taken down for the night and her luscious red hair flowing down her back and cascading over her shoulders.

James smiled sheepishly.

"Nothing," he said with a little too much confidence.

Suddenly, his partner yawned.

"I...was trying to sleep when I heard you cackling like a Mightyena," Jessie said.

"Sorry..." James apologized, still showing a little too much excitement.

"You might want to keep it down; the kid is sleeping, and I don't think either of us wants to scare him off," Jessie said.

"No, no, I don't want that, do you?" James asked.

"No," Jessie whispered.

"We've sacrificed too much to help this little brat, unfortunately, I feel invested now," Jessie said quietly.

"But you wanted to, didn't you?" James asked.

"I...honestly didn't think it would lead to us getting kicked out," Jessie said in a whisper.

James rolled his eyes subtly.

"Well, Jessie, we're here now, and I suppose we should make the best of it. Team Rocket rejected us, and that's that," James said.

"I guess you're right. I guess there's no way back now. James, what are we going to do with the rest of our lives?"

After Jessie choked out the last sentence, she started crying softly.

James pulled her close to console her. He gently rubbed her back in circular motions.

"Team Rocket was our destiny; we still owe the recruiters so much," Jessie said.

"There, there, Jess, we'll-we'll figure something out," James said softly.

"If-"Jessie made a loud sniffling sound before continuing,"if we could have just ignored the kid, turned a blind eye to the admins' plan, we could have kept our jobs," Jessie said in almost a whisper.

James gave a solemn nod as he listened to her worries.

"But Jessica? Dearest? What good would it have been if we lost our humanity over it? People are valued by their capacity to care, Jess," James said calmly.

"Who's going-going to care about us?" Jessie asked, her voice still soft and breaking.

"We'll find a way, Jess. We'll find a way." James tried to reassure her, but he wasn't sure it was getting through.

"I hope you-you're right. I-I'm so tired, James. I'm so tired of thing-of things never working out for us."

The former Team Rocket member sighed and looked at his partner.

"I'm tired too, Jess. I'm tired, too."