Charmed
by Jillypuff
Rating: PG13
Part 5
The charm on Meowth's forehead
flashed. A warm golden glow seemed to surround it.
"Yeowwww!" Meowth howled,
clutching his charm. "That smarts!"
Jessie jerked her hand back. "I
burned my fingers!" she wailed.
James just stood there, feeling like
an idiot. "Um, guys?" he ventured.
"What?" snapped his
partners in unison, both of whom were obviously still in pain.
"Did it work?"
Jessie looked around. "I don't
see anything different," she replied. She glared at the cat. "All
this fuss and it doesn't even work?
What the hell!" She grabbed her fan and aimed for Meowth's head, but James
grabbed her elbow.
"Stop it, Jessie! It's not
Meowth's fault," he reminded her. Jessie glared at him and jerked her arm away.
James was hurt, but didn't say anything.
Meowth snarled at Jessie. "Serves
you right!" he hissed. The cat sulked off to the corner and began to groom
himself.
Just then, the videophone rang. Jessie, still
directing a scowl towards the world in general, went over to answer. "What is
it?" she asked grumpily.
"Do not take that tone with me, Jessica," came the
silkily smooth voice of Giovanni from the phone. His image flickered up on the
screen, that of a man in his late 30's, with the trademark Persian on his lap.
His face was cloaked in shadows, as always.
Jessie froze in place. Her partner could quite
clearly see she was mortified.
"Now then, to business," the boss continued. "Do you have the books?"
"Yes, sir," James replied.
He gestured towards the stack of books on the table.
"Very good," the older man said
approvingly. "Perhaps I misjudged you three after all." The trio smiled at the
compliment, something they had not heard in a long time.
" I have important news for you and
your partner, James," Giovanni informed him. He looked very foreboding. "Due to
urgent private matters, I will be away for a few weeks from the base. Seeing as
you and Jessie are senior members of the team, I am reassigning you temporarily
to HQ. You will be running things while I'm gone. Understood?"
James' jaw almost hit the ground at
that, but he quickly recovered. Next to him, Jessie gave off a quick salute.
"Yes, sir! We won't let you down!"
she said crisply.
"What about me, boss?" Meowth asked
plaintively.
Giovanni eyed his Pokémon. "I have
been neglecting you of late, haven't I? You will accompany myself and Persian
on our trip." He turned his attention back to the humans. "I expect to see you
at the Viridian offices at eight o'clock tomorrow morning. Until then." His
image faded from the screen.
The three just gaped at each other
for roughly a minute. Then all hell broke loose.
"It worked! Ohmigod, ohmigod, it worked!
We did it!" Jessie shrieked happily.
"We just went from worst to first!"
James piped up.
Meowth was running around, purring
"I'm gonna be top cat again, I'm gonna be top cat again…"
Suddenly Jessie stopped.
"What's wrong, Jess?" James
inquired, noting her distress
"It's not permanent," she pointed
out sadly. "You heard the boss. It's only for a few weeks."
James smiled at her and put an arm
around her shoulder.
"Who cares? Let's just enjoy it
while it lasts," he whispered to her. The female Rocket smiled and snuggled up
to him, doubling James' level of bliss.
This is as good as it gets,
he thought happily.
* * *
In his office in the Viridian City Gym, which had been rebuilt after Jessie and James' last visit, the head of Team Rocket laughed.
"Such foolishness," he murmured to Persian. "As if I would actually let those pathetic wastes of space run my precious organization for five minutes, let alone weeks! Well, no matter. Soon, we'll be safe, as well as free from the taint they place on the name of Team Rocket."
Persian
purred and curled up in her master's lap.
To be continued…