11. …and paths separate.
Jessie and James finally got back to their cabin and ran inside, slamming the door for no otherwise apparent reason than it seemed fitting considering the speed they were moving. They immediately hurried to the table and Jessie put the unopened bag of money in the middle. They sat on opposite sides of the table, staring at the bag for a long time. It was very, very small. Either it was very few coins of high value (unlikely), or very few coins of little value, and they reckoned it was probably the latter. Whichever, it still wasn't much for their hard work in finally capturing Pikachu.
After a long pause, Jessie grabbed the bag and tipped its contents on the table and they regarded them with interest. As they suspected, the coins were of a low value. She began to separate them into two piles, not at all surprised to discover that there was an odd number (which, ironically, would have divided equally between them had Meowth been there.) She placed the spare coin in the middle and pushed James' pile of money towards him. They resumed their 'let's-stare-at-the-money' game for a few seconds, until James finally moved and placed the coin silently on Jessie's pile. She diverted her gaze from the now empty space on the table-top, to look at him curiously. What…?
Then they simultaneously realised it had been a full five minutes and neither of them had said anything. James finally spoke up.
"I can't believe how little we got paid." he said. Jessie resisted the urge to smack him as he once again managed to say something stupid in a very poignant moment. His words, as usual, failed to match his actions.
"Just be glad we got what we did." she said.
"Huh? What do you mean?" She stared at him for a long time, not saying anything and regretting her last comment. I know that look. he thought. Something's wrong with this picture.
"When the Boss finds out what I did…" She dropped her head and stared vigilantly at the suddenly very interesting knots in the wooden surface of the table.
"What did you do, Jess?" He mentally cursed himself - he'd done it again! She didn't answer. "Jessie?" Still nothing. "Jessica!?" She damned herself silently, scratched the back of her neck again (which, he noted, she'd been doing all day), and then looked at him. What the Hell's going on NOW? he thought, trying to read her expression and failing.
Giovanni fingered his new pokéball. Something just didn't seem quite right; his Persian kept sniffing the ball suspiciously and growling. True, it was Meowth's pokéball, but they wouldn't be stupid enough to give him back, would they? He suspected they valued their lives too much. However, he still didn't trust them, and his previous plan of just sending the pokéball straight to the lab for testing was aborted. He opened it.
There was a flash of red light… and then… nothing. He slammed his fists on the desk, uttered a random and rather foul expletive, and turned an unhealthy shade of red. They were going to pay for this…
Jessie still hadn't spoken. James asked his question again, more firmly, since variations on her name weren't working, and saying each word slowly and precisely. "Jessica. What. Did. You. Do?"
She sighed loudly, gave a 'hey-what-the-hell' look and said: "Well…" Then she bent forward and shook out her hair. With the magic of anime, Pikachu fell out of it, looking vaguely dazed. He rolled along the table, came to rest at James, stood up and grinned at him.
"Pika!" Then he fell over sideways.
"Jessie - the Boss is gonna be SO mad."
"I know." James wasn't so sure. "I KNOW!"
"Why? Why did you do this?" She certainly wasn't going to answer that one. It was something she hadn't considered for a start, and secondly, she wasn't sure he'd like the answer anyway. James was getting remotely sick of her attitude by this point, and he jumped up and ran to her side of the table, arm raised unintentionally threateningly.
"DAMMIT, JESSIE -" he never finished his sentence as she whipped her head around to look at him. It was a look that could wipe out a small continent.
"I SWEAR James, if you hit me, you'll be leaving this cabin in an AMBULANCE!" He knew she wasn't joking, too. He lowered his arm again.
"I wasn't going to hit you."
"You're damn right you weren't." They both realised that they were veering off the subject somewhat. Pikachu noticed this too.
"Pika…"
"SHUT UP!" they both shouted. Pikachu ran off and cowered under a chair. James glared at him and then turned back to Jessie.
"You still haven't answered me. Why?"
"Why do you think?"
"I don't know, that's why I asked."
"Because I'm sick of this!"
"What?"
She indicated the cabin with a hand. "This!" She pointed to the pathetic collections of money on the table. "And this!" Then she waved an arm to indicate their uniforms. "And THIS! I'm sick of all of it! Everything! I hate my job, okay!"
"Are you saying you wanna quit the Team?"
"YES!" she yelled. He could be so stupid sometimes… well, all of the time, actually.
"Why didn't you say anything sooner?"
"Because I was under the impression that maybe if we did get around to actually catching that little rat one day, we'd get a small fortune each, and THEN I'd be able to quit. It was what kept me going, that and the fact that it was a job, but the more times we failed, the less I enjoyed being a villain. I've wanted to quit for the past four years! But how would I ever get another job now with my reputation!? The only way would be to change, right? So that's what I'm doing. Starting now." She was finished, anger vented for the time being. There was a pause.
"You do realise that we could both end up dead because of this?"
"No. I will. You're still on the team. I'm the deviant." She tried to keep the sarcastic tone out of her voice, but it didn't work.
"I knew something was wrong. You've been acting weird ever since we caught Pikachu."
She laughed to herself, then said to no-one in particular. "Oh, great! I'm on Giovanni's hit list, and James is delusional…"
"I mean it, Jessie. You carried Meowth when he asked. That was when I noticed it… you cried for him, too. You even admitted that you missed him!"
"So?"
"So what happened to the all-resilient Jessie? Never cries, always fights, and definitely never lets her emotions show."
"I changed." she admitted. "And here it is straight from the horse's mouth: I quit." With that she folded her arms defensively and sat back down, apparently sulking. James was at a loss as to what to do next. He wandered around the room for a few seconds in silence, ending up at the chair where Pikachu was hiding and watching with interest. He picked up the pokémon and placed him on the table. Then he collected up all of the money and tipped it back into the bag. Finally he sat down again in his original chair. The two of them stared at Pikachu from opposite sides of the table and thought about how much trouble this one little pokémon had caused. They wondered whether they actually DID hate the kids they had come to know as Team Twerp, or whether it was just an act, like all the rest of it.
After what seemed like an interminable length of time, James spoke up.
"Me too." It had been so long since either of them had said anything that Jessie had forgotten what this was in relevance to.
"Pardon?"
"You said you quit. Me too." He thought he was doing the right thing. Evidently he was wrong. Jessie lightly banged her head on the table, then laid it on her folded arms in exasperation. She let out a sigh.
"Then it's settled. We're both dead."
"Not if I can help it." he said. "We need to go. Now. Before they can find us." She looked up from the protective haven of her own arms. "But first we need to return that Pikachu to the twerp."
She smiled, ever-so slightly. "You mean it?" He nodded. "Good. I thought I was going soft…" He laughed and held out a hand to help her up. Instead of taking it she leapt up and threw herself at him in a mad hug. "Thank you!" Then she let go, completely embarrassed.
"Come on. We've got to move. We're fugitives now!" With that they abandoned their cabin, carrying only a thoroughly confused Pikachu and a small bag of money, and leapt into the jeep, driving off at full speed…
Several minutes later they were still travelling in the jeep they had pilfered from Team Rocket Headquarters, discussing where to go.
"We need to go somewhere that he'd never think to look." said Jessie.
"Unfortunately, we can't go inside his heart." Did I really just say that…? James regretted that the instant he had said it. Jessie looked at him - it was remarkably profound for him.
"Where does that twerp live?"
"Why?"
"He'd never think to go looking there and if we're gonna give back this Pikachu it seems like the most logical place to go."
"You're right." said James. Where DID that kid live? "Isn't it Pallett?"
"Yes, that's it. Pallett."
"I think we passed it."
"Oh." Silently she turned the jeep. "Ash Ketchum, prepare for trouble."
"Hey. We've quit, remember?"
"Old habits die hard and one last time won't hurt! Come on… you know you want to!" she said. After a pause he joined in.
"Make it double…"
"To protect the world from devastation." Jessie accelerated the jeep in triumph, and James was thrown back in his seat.
"To unite all peoples within our nation." he whimpered. Jessie slowed down again.
"To denounce the evils of truth and love."
"To extend our reach to the stars above."
"Jessie!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light." Her voice was cracking but she tried not to let it show.
"Surrender now or prepare to fight…" He was quiet, almost contemplative. They paused and waited for Meowth to say his line… then it dawned on them that in their moment of mayhem he wasn't there to celebrate with them. Jessie tried not to sound too upset by it.
"Oh well." There was an uncomfortable silence. She broke it, trying to sound chipper. "Look at me… first I decide to give back the rodent and now I'm getting all sentimental over that stupid cat." They laughed at their own expense and drove on in silence.
They arrived at Pallett Town shortly after. At the boundary of the city, James suddenly shouted "Stop the jeep!" and Jessie ground to a halt.
"Why?"
"I've been thinking about that money."
"Well if it isn't food…" she began.
"That's not what I mean."
"Oh. You want that other coin? Well, okay, makes no odds to me…"
"That's not what I mean either. It's just that if one of us was to keep it, all of it, it would go a lot further than if we divided it." She couldn't believe her ears. "Get out." In shock, she did as requested, and he shunted himself into the drivers side and rolled down the window. Jessie couldn't believe he would just take the money and run. However, her fears were soon replaced by another one when he threw her the bag of coins.
"Wha-"
"Take it."
"But -"
"Take it. I'm going to get my inheritance. I don't know how and I don't know how long it'll take me, but when I do, as soon as I've got it, I'm going to come and find you. You keep that money and sort this Ash business out. You'll be better at explaining it anyway, and see if you can find Meowth. Apologise from both of us."
"But what about your parents and… HER?"
"I'll figure something out. Just go. Take Pikachu with you." She obediently, but somewhat in a daze, took Pikachu from the back of the jeep. "It'll be far easier to stay alive if we're separated. You know how Giovanni likes to execute his deviants together. Even if one of us does get caught, it'll buy some time."
She was utterly amazed. She knew he was right but she didn't know exactly why he was doing this.
"Why, James?"
"Because there has got to be a better way to live than this. We may have quit but I don't want to spend my entire life on the run. Maybe we can buy him off our backs." He stopped. "I promise I will come and get you."
His absolute and uncharacteristic sincerity brought tears to her eyes. She approached the jeep and placed her hands on the window frame, peering in at him. He suddenly pulled the ever-present rose from a pocket and threaded it through her hair without a word, then placed his hands over hers on the window frame.
"You're really going? I can't believe it."
"I'm not going forever."
"But what if you can't find me? Then what?" It was pointless trying to hide her tears now.
"I could never lose you." he said with finality, and hesitated only slightly before planting a kiss on her forehead. "Goodbye, Jess."
Before she could reply, he had already driven off. She had no idea how difficult this would be, this saying goodbye and she watched the jeep disappear down the road. She wanted to run after him, to catch up with that jeep and go with him… it had to be better than feeling helpless on the side of the road. In fact she wanted to do more than run after it, she wanted to scream after it, in the hope of stopping him. She almost did it, going through every possible thing she wanted to say, all of the possible things she COULD say, and then deciding that none of them sounded particularly intelligent. Resisting the urge to burst into tears, she turned around with determination and headed towards Ash's house.