From the Cutting Room Floor: Criminal
By Allan North
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a scene that I had considered writing for Criminal, but had
decided that it wouldn't really fit in the story. However, my own writer's drive has
gotten me to thinking about it, and I wanted to write it just for the heck of it. This scene
begins at the end of Chapter Eight: Reunited Also, the tense is different from the rest of
the story, with this scene being written from James' POV.
************************************************************************
I was ecstatic. Never had I been so blessedly happy to hear Giovanni's voice
grunt out an order like that… "Get going!" oh, the words had been a wonderful thing to
hear… for they had symbolized a new era for Jessie and I. An era where our partnership
had been renewed, our strength restored, and our attraction no longer a secret. All these
thoughts and more flooded through my mind as I kissed Jessie there in the hall, loving
the feeling of her in my arms. When the kiss broke, we gazed into each other's eyes,
and I knew that she had felt the same as I about the kiss.
Meowth's voice brought us back to the present. "All right youse two, we better
get back to woik."
Jessie glared at our cat like friend, but smiled anyway. "You always know how
to kill a moment, don't you, Meowth?" she said in a mildly annoyed tone. Meowth
simply folded his arms and smirked.
"It's a rare talent." He replied.
Jessie produced her paper fan from nowhere and smacked Meowth on the head.
She sighed. "I suppose he's right. Come on, James, we've got work to do."
I looked at Jessie and smiled as Meowth rubbed his head and glared at the two of
us. "I'll meet you in the motor pool in about 20 minutes, Jessie."
Jessie looked at me with confused eyes. "Why 20 minutes?" she asked.
I smiled at her. "There's something I need to do." I replied simply.
Jessie's smile dimmed slightly, but quickly returned. "All right." She said. "I'll
see you in 20 minutes." She and Meowth then turned and began to walk to the motor
pool, ready to fill the balloon with supplies and take off to find that rotten little Pikachu.
I waited and watched as they left, Meowth cracking suggestive jokes about the
two of us all the way, until they turned a corner and were out of sight. There was
someone in Team Rocket I had to talk to before we left….
It didn't take me long to get to where I was going. I was outside the Team
Infirmary in a matter of four minutes. I walked in through the frosted glass doors and
walked past the desk where the chief nurse, a corrupt Joy wearing a black leather version
of the typical outfit of a Joy with a small red "R" in the corner, sat quietly flipping
through patient's charts. I walked by her, simply muttering that I was there to visit
someone. She obviously couldn't have cared less, and waved me through with hardly a
glance. I walked through another door and looked at the rows of hospital style beds,
most of which were empty. Various Rockets occupied some of the beds, and I silently
reflected on how lucky Jessie and I must be to have never wound up in here no matter
how many times we had blasted off. At the end of the row on the left side, I saw the
Rocket I was there to visit. It had to be him… the only one in the whole room with both
legs in traction.
As I ran over my brief history with him, I steeled myself to give the impression I
wanted to give. I was still overcome with the urge to punch him, but knew I couldn't in
this place, at this time. Perhaps someday, but not now… Now was a time for a more
contained meeting. I walked to his bedside and saw he was engrossed in an issue of
Pokemon Trainers Exxxposed, a well-known dirty magazine that consisted mainly of…
photos of female trainers. It took him a minute to realize I was even there.
"Billy Weston?" I asked.
Billy lowered his magazine to look at me, obviously not remembering who I was.
"Yeah?"
"My name's James… James Morgan?" Now the recognition clicked.
"Oh, yeah. Randwhyte's old partner. You were smart to get out of that team."
He said nastily.
My stomach churned with distaste "Why's that?" I asked, feigning ignorance of
what he meant.
"She's a bitch. A dangerous, nasty, psychotic terror." Billy said arrogantly.
"I know what you mean." I said, hardly able to get the words out even if I was
lying. "I heard you had an accident with her." In my mind, Jessie's full account of the
details burned as I pictured the scene in the balloon in my mind's eye.
"An accident!?" Billy snarled. "I'm sure that's what she'd like people to believe."
"What do you mean?" I asked innocently.
"She did this to me! Knocked me outta the balloon on purpose!" he yelled.
I want to smile so badly. I hold it back, faking concern for this slime.
"Goodness. Why would she do that?"
Billy looks around for a second. "Wanna know the truth?"
Intrigued to see what he'll come up with, I nod.
Billy lowers his voice. "I think she's gay." He replies.
The laughter is so hard to hold back. "Why do you say that?" I ask.
"Well, I was only trying to start something up with her… you know, it's a great
way to relate to your partner… but I guess you wouldn't know about that."
My reaction is changing from amusement to rage. "Why not?" I say, my hand
fighting the urge to ball into a fist.
"Well, you're gay yourself, aren't you?" Billy asks, obviously not caring if he's
offending me.
Inwardly, I roll my eyes. If Jessie and I had a nickel for every time some agent
has asked THAT question about me… So many people wonder if I am from my dressing
and my ways, but they just don't understand…. I redirect my attention to Billy. "Nope.
Never have been."
Billy looks disappointed, as if he had a bet riding with someone on the question.
"Really. Huh. Well, I guess you were just smart enough to just never start anything with
her, huh?"
Silently, I regret what he has mentioned. "I guess." I reply.
"Like I said, you're smart. I mean, look what happened to me. I pity the poor
guy who gets stuck with her next."
I look at him now with a concealed smile. "Actually, the Boss has put me and
Jessie back together."
Billy looks at me with a mix of amusement and concern. "Be afraid. Be very
afraid. That's all I have to say." He replies darkly.
I'm about to reply when the corrupt Joy comes up behind me. "Scuse me, but I
gotta change Agent Weston's dressing." She says to me.
"All right." I reply. "I'll just be a minute."
The Joy nods and looks at Billy, noticing his magazine. "Weston, what have I
told you about reading that stuff in here?" she asks.
Billy smiles, a nasty, lust-filled smile, the smile I can imagine him giving Jessie
in the balloon. "Sorry, toots." He says, flashing the Joy a seductive look. "Hey, how
about a sponge bath later?"
Joy looks at Billy with mild annoyance mixed with a return of mild lust. "We'll
see." She coos as she walks away to get the fresh dressing for the wound under the
window on Billy's cast.
"You spring right back, don't you?" I ask.
Billy grins at me. "Can't keep me down. Besides, have you gotten a good look at
that Joy? Much hotter than her cousins… especially with that uniform…"
I return the grin, not meaning it in the least. As far as I'm concerned, the two
weirdos deserve each other. "Yeah. Well, listen, I gotta go."
Billy looks at me. "Good luck. I mean that."
"Thanks. Oh, and by the way, Jessie's not gay, she just has a little problem." I
say lightly.
"Yeah? What's that?" Billy asks.
I lower my voice to a growl, and my complacent smile vanishes to leave a look of
anger and disgust. "She's allergic to pigs." I snarl.
Billy is stunned into speechlessness. He looks at me with confused eyes.
My smile returns as I straighten up to leave. "Anyway, sorry about your bad
luck. Feel better, man." I say, sarcasm dripping in my voice. I turn to leave and look at
Billy again, pointing my finger at him and clicking my tongue. "Feel better." I say
again as I slap his cast hard, but not hard enough to be noticeable to the Joy.
Billy howls in pain from the slap on his cast as I walk out of the infirmary, my
hands in my pockets and a smile on my face.
A few minutes later, I am in the motor pool helping Jessie and Meowth into the
balloon as Mondo holds the release lever, ready to pull it and let the balloon go drifting
away through the large doors and out into the world again.
"So what was it you needed to do, anyway?" Jessie asks me.
I signal to Mondo, and he pulls the lever, releasing the balloon and waving
excitedly. "Bye, Master James! Bye, Miss Jessie! Bye, Master Meowth!" he calls.
"Good luck!"
"I smile at him as we drift out the doors and up. It takes a minute for Jessie to
say something. "James?"
"Hmm?"
"You never answered me. What was it you had to do?" she asks.
"Oh, nothing." I reply. "Just had to visit a sick… agent."
Jessie smiles. "I see." She says simply. Somehow, I can sense she knows
exactly what I did. I put my arm around her, and she leans into me as we fly away from
Viridian, once again searching for those twerps from above.
As we fly away into the distance, I am not sure if I really hear it or not, but I'd
bet anything I hear a barely audible whisper from her lips, saying to me quietly,
"Thanks."
I smile and squeeze her tightly. I'm home.
By Allan North
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is a scene that I had considered writing for Criminal, but had
decided that it wouldn't really fit in the story. However, my own writer's drive has
gotten me to thinking about it, and I wanted to write it just for the heck of it. This scene
begins at the end of Chapter Eight: Reunited Also, the tense is different from the rest of
the story, with this scene being written from James' POV.
************************************************************************
I was ecstatic. Never had I been so blessedly happy to hear Giovanni's voice
grunt out an order like that… "Get going!" oh, the words had been a wonderful thing to
hear… for they had symbolized a new era for Jessie and I. An era where our partnership
had been renewed, our strength restored, and our attraction no longer a secret. All these
thoughts and more flooded through my mind as I kissed Jessie there in the hall, loving
the feeling of her in my arms. When the kiss broke, we gazed into each other's eyes,
and I knew that she had felt the same as I about the kiss.
Meowth's voice brought us back to the present. "All right youse two, we better
get back to woik."
Jessie glared at our cat like friend, but smiled anyway. "You always know how
to kill a moment, don't you, Meowth?" she said in a mildly annoyed tone. Meowth
simply folded his arms and smirked.
"It's a rare talent." He replied.
Jessie produced her paper fan from nowhere and smacked Meowth on the head.
She sighed. "I suppose he's right. Come on, James, we've got work to do."
I looked at Jessie and smiled as Meowth rubbed his head and glared at the two of
us. "I'll meet you in the motor pool in about 20 minutes, Jessie."
Jessie looked at me with confused eyes. "Why 20 minutes?" she asked.
I smiled at her. "There's something I need to do." I replied simply.
Jessie's smile dimmed slightly, but quickly returned. "All right." She said. "I'll
see you in 20 minutes." She and Meowth then turned and began to walk to the motor
pool, ready to fill the balloon with supplies and take off to find that rotten little Pikachu.
I waited and watched as they left, Meowth cracking suggestive jokes about the
two of us all the way, until they turned a corner and were out of sight. There was
someone in Team Rocket I had to talk to before we left….
It didn't take me long to get to where I was going. I was outside the Team
Infirmary in a matter of four minutes. I walked in through the frosted glass doors and
walked past the desk where the chief nurse, a corrupt Joy wearing a black leather version
of the typical outfit of a Joy with a small red "R" in the corner, sat quietly flipping
through patient's charts. I walked by her, simply muttering that I was there to visit
someone. She obviously couldn't have cared less, and waved me through with hardly a
glance. I walked through another door and looked at the rows of hospital style beds,
most of which were empty. Various Rockets occupied some of the beds, and I silently
reflected on how lucky Jessie and I must be to have never wound up in here no matter
how many times we had blasted off. At the end of the row on the left side, I saw the
Rocket I was there to visit. It had to be him… the only one in the whole room with both
legs in traction.
As I ran over my brief history with him, I steeled myself to give the impression I
wanted to give. I was still overcome with the urge to punch him, but knew I couldn't in
this place, at this time. Perhaps someday, but not now… Now was a time for a more
contained meeting. I walked to his bedside and saw he was engrossed in an issue of
Pokemon Trainers Exxxposed, a well-known dirty magazine that consisted mainly of…
photos of female trainers. It took him a minute to realize I was even there.
"Billy Weston?" I asked.
Billy lowered his magazine to look at me, obviously not remembering who I was.
"Yeah?"
"My name's James… James Morgan?" Now the recognition clicked.
"Oh, yeah. Randwhyte's old partner. You were smart to get out of that team."
He said nastily.
My stomach churned with distaste "Why's that?" I asked, feigning ignorance of
what he meant.
"She's a bitch. A dangerous, nasty, psychotic terror." Billy said arrogantly.
"I know what you mean." I said, hardly able to get the words out even if I was
lying. "I heard you had an accident with her." In my mind, Jessie's full account of the
details burned as I pictured the scene in the balloon in my mind's eye.
"An accident!?" Billy snarled. "I'm sure that's what she'd like people to believe."
"What do you mean?" I asked innocently.
"She did this to me! Knocked me outta the balloon on purpose!" he yelled.
I want to smile so badly. I hold it back, faking concern for this slime.
"Goodness. Why would she do that?"
Billy looks around for a second. "Wanna know the truth?"
Intrigued to see what he'll come up with, I nod.
Billy lowers his voice. "I think she's gay." He replies.
The laughter is so hard to hold back. "Why do you say that?" I ask.
"Well, I was only trying to start something up with her… you know, it's a great
way to relate to your partner… but I guess you wouldn't know about that."
My reaction is changing from amusement to rage. "Why not?" I say, my hand
fighting the urge to ball into a fist.
"Well, you're gay yourself, aren't you?" Billy asks, obviously not caring if he's
offending me.
Inwardly, I roll my eyes. If Jessie and I had a nickel for every time some agent
has asked THAT question about me… So many people wonder if I am from my dressing
and my ways, but they just don't understand…. I redirect my attention to Billy. "Nope.
Never have been."
Billy looks disappointed, as if he had a bet riding with someone on the question.
"Really. Huh. Well, I guess you were just smart enough to just never start anything with
her, huh?"
Silently, I regret what he has mentioned. "I guess." I reply.
"Like I said, you're smart. I mean, look what happened to me. I pity the poor
guy who gets stuck with her next."
I look at him now with a concealed smile. "Actually, the Boss has put me and
Jessie back together."
Billy looks at me with a mix of amusement and concern. "Be afraid. Be very
afraid. That's all I have to say." He replies darkly.
I'm about to reply when the corrupt Joy comes up behind me. "Scuse me, but I
gotta change Agent Weston's dressing." She says to me.
"All right." I reply. "I'll just be a minute."
The Joy nods and looks at Billy, noticing his magazine. "Weston, what have I
told you about reading that stuff in here?" she asks.
Billy smiles, a nasty, lust-filled smile, the smile I can imagine him giving Jessie
in the balloon. "Sorry, toots." He says, flashing the Joy a seductive look. "Hey, how
about a sponge bath later?"
Joy looks at Billy with mild annoyance mixed with a return of mild lust. "We'll
see." She coos as she walks away to get the fresh dressing for the wound under the
window on Billy's cast.
"You spring right back, don't you?" I ask.
Billy grins at me. "Can't keep me down. Besides, have you gotten a good look at
that Joy? Much hotter than her cousins… especially with that uniform…"
I return the grin, not meaning it in the least. As far as I'm concerned, the two
weirdos deserve each other. "Yeah. Well, listen, I gotta go."
Billy looks at me. "Good luck. I mean that."
"Thanks. Oh, and by the way, Jessie's not gay, she just has a little problem." I
say lightly.
"Yeah? What's that?" Billy asks.
I lower my voice to a growl, and my complacent smile vanishes to leave a look of
anger and disgust. "She's allergic to pigs." I snarl.
Billy is stunned into speechlessness. He looks at me with confused eyes.
My smile returns as I straighten up to leave. "Anyway, sorry about your bad
luck. Feel better, man." I say, sarcasm dripping in my voice. I turn to leave and look at
Billy again, pointing my finger at him and clicking my tongue. "Feel better." I say
again as I slap his cast hard, but not hard enough to be noticeable to the Joy.
Billy howls in pain from the slap on his cast as I walk out of the infirmary, my
hands in my pockets and a smile on my face.
A few minutes later, I am in the motor pool helping Jessie and Meowth into the
balloon as Mondo holds the release lever, ready to pull it and let the balloon go drifting
away through the large doors and out into the world again.
"So what was it you needed to do, anyway?" Jessie asks me.
I signal to Mondo, and he pulls the lever, releasing the balloon and waving
excitedly. "Bye, Master James! Bye, Miss Jessie! Bye, Master Meowth!" he calls.
"Good luck!"
"I smile at him as we drift out the doors and up. It takes a minute for Jessie to
say something. "James?"
"Hmm?"
"You never answered me. What was it you had to do?" she asks.
"Oh, nothing." I reply. "Just had to visit a sick… agent."
Jessie smiles. "I see." She says simply. Somehow, I can sense she knows
exactly what I did. I put my arm around her, and she leans into me as we fly away from
Viridian, once again searching for those twerps from above.
As we fly away into the distance, I am not sure if I really hear it or not, but I'd
bet anything I hear a barely audible whisper from her lips, saying to me quietly,
"Thanks."
I smile and squeeze her tightly. I'm home.