Disclaimer: Blu Rose doesn't own the Pokémon series, only this fic.

Summary: A stereotypical "isekai incident" led to someone being reborn as, of all people, Jessie of the Team Rocket trio. Not wanting to lead a life of crime and failures, she leaves James and Meowth to become an honest Pokémon trainer. Unfortunately, her friends can't comprehend that.

X-X-X

I entered the Pokémon Center feeling triumphant. I strode up to the counter, behind of which stood a Nurse Joy. Her eyes lit up with recognition, confirming that she was the same one who greeted me some days ago when I first came to town. "Oh, it's you! Judging by that smile you've got, I assume you beat the gym leader?"

"You know it!" I exclaimed. My mouth curled up into a confident smile as I went on, "It wasn't easy, but my Pokémon were able to tough it out!"

"Congratulations, then. Now, if you'll allow me to heal your Pokémon for a moment…" I handed over my shrunken Poké Balls to the nurse and watched her enter the backroom.

My eyes drifted over to a pair of wanted posters that had been plastered next to the door, so no one who came to heal their Pokémon would miss them. On the right, a young man with short, purple hair. On the left, a young woman with long, red hair styled in an outrageous fashion. Both wearing white uniforms emblazoned with a big red R. My eyes lingered on the female of the pair longer than they should have. I unconsciously combed my fingers through my long hair, brought a set of the red strands in front of me, and focused on them. Should I cut my hair shorter? Maybe dye it? So far, no one recognized me as her, but I supposed I shouldn't be surprised. No one ever managed to see through their paper thin disguises in the entirety of the series, so even just wearing my hair down, dressing in different clothing, and forgoing any lipstick helped to cement my identity as a totally different person.

Nurse Joy returning through the doors brought me out of my thoughts. I smiled and held my hands out to receive the four Poké Balls she was carrying. "Here you go, Jessica. I hope you have a safe trip," she said with a bow of her head.

I mumbled my thanks to her and hurried out of the building, worried that the nurse might note the similarity between me and the criminal on the wanted poster. I made a beeline for the road out of town afterwards. Another town was close by—only an hour away. Even if going that way meant getting farther from the closest gym, I wouldn't have to worry about sleeping outdoors. The last time I did so, I caught a cold and was sore all over because I didn't have proper camping gear.

But at the very least, if something were to prevent me from reaching the next town before it got too dark, I had my Pokémon with me: Poliwag, Machop, Doduo, and my Ekans was especially dear to me, because he was technically the one I started out with. In my last life, neither Ekans nor Arbok were what I considered very interesting Pokémon. There were always better snake-like ones or Poison types whose stats and moves were more impressive. But this world wasn't limited to the rules of a video game where probability and numbers were the most impressive things, just like how I wasn't limited to simply being Jessie of Team Rocket.

Whenever I remember that day, I get mildly upset. I had fallen while I was at home alone, hitting my head on one of the sharper edges of the table, and that must've killed me. When I came to, I was a smoking, charred mess and slightly tingly all over, lying amongst the dog pile of myself, James, Meowth, and our Ekans and Koffing. It took me a while to realize my situation, and naturally, I freaked out. It was like a plot to one of those "reincarnation" stories that congested several fandoms or webnovel sites—the sort where the main character had been reborn as a villain. And worst of all, at least to me, it was one of the characters of the Pokémon anime that I'd simply grown tired of after several seasons—as she was in the very first seasons of the show set in Kanto. I didn't care how well-loved Team Rocket was. I didn't want to spend the rest of my days as a recurring cartoon villain who was always getting blasted off into the sky. So I left Team Rocket—both the group and Jessie's partners in crime—and set about becoming an honest Pokémon trainer, challenging gyms and whatnot for kicks until I figured out what I really wanted to do in my new life.

The only annoying constants were James and Meowth. They had no reason to believe that something wasn't wrong with "Jessie's" head, rather than believing my naturally crazy statement that I wasn't the person they knew, so they did their best to try and bring me back into the gang. I thought that if I avoided the places where the anime's story took place, I could avoid them along with Ash and Company, but just like how I didn't have to stick to the plot, neither did they. Bringing "Jessie" back to her senses had become their top priority, and so I had to deal with their shenanigans in place of the "twerps". Each time, I was forced to defeat them, hoping that I could pound it into their thick heads that I was "Jessica" and that they should move on. Actually, thinking about it, it had been days since they last appeared before me with some dumb scheme or disguise. Perhaps they had finally given up and—

I realized I spoke too soon when the ground beneath me rose and I found myself hanging from a tree limb in a net. The pair responsible jumped out of the bushes, looking positively giddy over having caught me…again. Meowth was the first to speak, saying in that odd urban accent of his, "I knew it would work! Sometimes the simplest methods are the best ones!"

A sigh of exasperation left me as I mentally slapped myself in the head. "I can't believe I fell for that… This is why people should look where they're going." I then looked down at the Rocket duo and spoke flatly, "I really hoped you guys had given up on me by now, but like always, you disappoint me."

"Don't glare down at us, missy!" James snapped, pointing a finger up at me as he I looked down at them. "It's because of you that we have to resort to things like this just to talk some sense into you!"

"I don't wanna talk! Just leave me alone, you jerks!" I snapped back. "Can't you see that I want nothing to do with guys like you anymore?!"

"That ain't you, talking, Jess! If you were in your right mind, you'd hate how you've been acting!" Meowth spoke again.

A dry laugh left my mouth before my lips curled up into a smirk. "Good! Because Jessica hated what Jessie had been doing up until now!"

"And that's another thing! Saying you're leaving Team Rocket and changing how you look is bad enough, but acting like you're a different person is just going overboard!" James continued to verbally take his frustrations out on me.

My smirk dropped. "No, it's not. I'm not Jessie—not the one you knew, anyway. Just accept that and you won't feel so bad anymore!"

The purple-haired Rocket opened his mouth to say more, but his feline partner in crime tugged at his pants and interrupted, "Arguing's no use. She may not think she's Jessie, but she's still as stubborn as her. Time to whip out our secret weapon!" James just nodded silently in agreement, and then the two of them darted off into the bushes.

I started moving my body back and forth in the hopes of causing the branch that was holding me up to break, but the Rocket Duo came back, with James holding the most ridiculous thing. It was just a piece of cardboard with a black-and-white spiraling pattern on it, stuck onto a stick in the same manner as a pinwheel. "That's it? That's your secret weapon this time? Don't tell me your plan is to hypnotize me into thinking that I'm Jessie."

"That's right! If bopping you on the head or shocking you didn't work, hypnotism has to do the trick!" Meowth spoke with confidence.

"If you guys were using a Pokémon, I could understand, but that's just a toy. How could I possibly be hypnotized by that?"

"No need to be worried. You'll be back to normal soon…" And then he spun the device and held it up so I could see. "Just keep your eyes on this." I did just that. The sneaky feline smirked. "That's it. You can't keep your eyes off of this thing!" No, I could. I was just doing this to prove that this wasn't something they could fix with TV sitcom/cartoon logic. "Now, repeat after me: you are Jessie of Team Rocket. Your partners and pals are James and Meowth. Your dream is to help the boss achieve his goals and be rewarded with riches and power, so you can live an easy life!"

I continued to stare down at the pair, who anxiously looked up at me for some sign of their friend. "My name is Jessica." I watched them flinch as I continued, "My only friends and partners are my Pokémon, but I'd like for that to change someday. I don't have a dream right now, but what I don't want to be is a thief and criminal who steals Pokémon and breaks relationships between trainers and their partners just for the recognition of a creep who wouldn't notice or care if I disappeared." Throughout my retort, Meowth looked confused and James was red in the face from anger. "Again, my name is Jessica, not Jessie."

James whirled around to face his feline friend and cried, "Meowth! You said this was sure to work! Why isn't it working?!"

"I don't know! Maybe Jessie's superego here is more stubborn than we thought."

"Super and stubborn definitely describe her ego, alright…" I rolled my eyes at the male Rocket's saltiness.

Meowth turned the toy to face him, stared at it for a while, and then gave an "Aha! There's the problem! It's spinning in the wrong direction!" He used two of the…fingers or whatever on his paw to stop the circle from spinning, then he began to make it spin in the opposite direction before holding it up to me. However, James snatched it away and held it up himself. "Hey! Rude, much?"

"It's pointless. Nothing you do will…make…me…" I trailed off as the world beneath me started to spin. There were suddenly three of James and Meowth, spinning around. The only thing steady was the spinning pattern. I would've cursed if I was able to. This world may have been real, but it still ran on cartoon logic. If I could walk away from getting punched in head with a giant boxing glove and shocked with several volts of electricity with no permanent harm to my physical or mental health, of course something as cheesy as being hypnotized by a spiraling pattern would work!

"Hey, I think it's working! Her eyes are looking weird!" Meowth pointed out.

"Now then, fill in the blanks," James began with a stern expression. "To protect the world from devastation."

"To…unite all peoples…within our nation," I continued in a stilted tone, unable to stop myself.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!" The purple-haired Rocket went on, raising his voice.

I didn't want to say anymore, but I was unable to stop myself. "To extend our reach to the stars above."

He was smiling now. He happily exclaimed, "Jessie!"

"James…!" Don't do this. You're the nice one. Don't force me to do something I obviously don't want. Don't make me be someone I don't want to be.

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

"Suh… Sssss…!" I hissed as I finally found it in me to stop following along with their motto. Suddenly, I found my voice. "SHUT UP!" I shouted loud enough to make both of the Rockets flinch, and started to cause the net I was in to sway back and forth. "I'm not Jessie! I don't want to be! I'm Jessica now! Why don't you two idiots get it through your heads?! You think I like making you upset? You think I wanted to take her place—take her life? I didn't! But this is the way things are now, so stop your whining and get used to it!"

"We will not!" James shot back, shaking the hypnotizing toy in my direction. "You can come up with whatever cockamamie excuse that you like, but you're Jessie! We may not know what your problem is, but we'll fix it and get you back to normal!"

I really should've known better. Trying to convince them that Jessie wasn't coming back to them was just wasting my breath. So after a bit of maneuvering, I managed to reach one of my Poké Balls and sent out one of my Pokémon. Ekans appeared in front of James, hissing menacingly before rearing his head back to attack. James's first reaction was to move the hypnotizing tool in front of him to defend himself, so when Ekans lashed out with a swing of his tail, it was the toy that took the hit and got knocked out of James's hand.

James glared at me for a second before looking back at my Pokémon. He took out his own ball and sent out his Koffing. Its dopey smile dropped the moment it saw Ekans, just like it had all the other times I was forced to battle it out with James. The two had a brief conversation that I'm sure only Meowth could understand, but I had a feeling from the way the other Poison type pouted that it wasn't keen on fighting its old friend. But James ignored Koffing's feelings in favor of shouting, "Koffing, use Sludge!" The Poison Gas Pokémon's body swelled for a moment before it spat out a poisonous glob, hitting Ekans in the face and beginning the battle.

We went back and forth calling out commands, until finally, as Koffing flew forward to tackle into him, Ekans swung his tail and batted the rounder Pokémon at his trainer. James ended up getting hit in the face by Koffing and they both fell to the ground, only dazed, but no longer a threat. Meowth looked back and forth between his unconscious comrades and my hissing Ekans before raising his paws defensively. "Never mind him, Ekans! Help me get free!" I called down to the snake Pokémon. He looked up at me, nodded, and proceeded to slither up the tree to the branch that I was hanging from. He started biting at the rope, and in seconds, I fell down to the ground, landing hard on my bottom. Once I stood up and Ekans had slithered back down to my side, I turned to face the direction I'd been going in a moment ago. "Let's go, Ekans."

"Wait just a minute!" Meowth exclaimed as I began to walk off. "You think I'm just gonna let you waltz off without doing a thing?! Jessie!"

I sighed before looking at the cat from over my shoulder. He had his claws out, like he was ready to pounce and start scratching. "Fine. Ekans, use Wrap." I blinked and Ekans had coiled around Meowth, squeezing him tightly. He clawed at the snake in vain, and in seconds, his face turned blue and he simply fell unconscious. Ekans then slunk back over to me and raised his body. I petted his head and took a breath. Sometimes, I wondered if he knew that I wasn't Jessie, but managed to like me enough to not mind the sudden change. "I wish those two were as understanding of my decision as you are." I then returned Ekans to his ball, and with one last look at James and Meowth, I proceeded to walk off.

Was I a terrible person for not wanting to adhere to the plot? For essentially splitting up a group of good friends because of what I wanted? Don't get me wrong, my feelings for Team Rocket as characters is still negative, but I feel bad about what I've done—even if it was something mostly out of my hands. I could only hope that Jessie still existed in some sense in a different universe. Maybe one day, my life in this universe would end, and she could resume her life of villainy along with her friends. But whether or not that would or could happen, I would live the way I chose to—as Jessica.