~CHAPTER TWO~


-TWO YEARS LATER-


"A…Are you serious??"
"Quite serious. But last time I checked it wasn't any of your business."
"O - Of course, madam. Right away."
The man trembled as he stared at the immense pile of cosmetics stacked on the counter. He adjusted his glasses, and ran his fingers though his hair, which was almost gone.
"Qu - quite. I'll just ring these up, then, eh?"
The woman stared through squinty eyes and sunglasses at the man, who was having a hard time hanging on to the lipstick tube he was trying to scan. When he finally managed to have them all scanned into the computer, he put them in bags. Three bags full. Of cosmetics.
"W-will that be all, ma'am?"
"…No. This too." She handed him a pack of gum. It wouldn't scan.
"Er…price check on the Mint-o-fresh gum…" the man said through his intercom. He soon remembered that he was the only one that was working there at the time, and sighed. He tried to go into the back room, but the woman grabbed him, and made him stay put.
"Howabout we skip that part, then..." The man said, gulping. "That'll be…128.92." The woman smiled and lowered her sunglasses down onto the tip of her nose.
"Will it now?"
"Y…yes."
"Hm. I could've sworn I saw a sign outside that said everything was free for pretty girls."
"W-well…you must've been mistak - "
"I KNOW I saw it, "good sir". Would you like me to take you outside to go see it?"
The man trembled uncontrollably.
"…no, that won't be necessary, n-no…"
"Good. I thought not. I'll just be going now." The woman winked at the feeble old man, and exited the shop. The man wiped his sweating brow, and called the police. Now, just to remember what she looked like…




"Can we leave yet?"
"Yes. I got what I wanted."
"Don't you think it's a bit absurd, to get all of that just for a three day trek? And not even getting some chips while you're at it?"
"James?"
"Yes Jessie?"
"DON'T QUESTION ME!!"
"Yes, Jessie…*grumblegrumble*"
"What was that??"
"Er, nothing."
"Hmmm……"
Jessie and James walked briskly down the streets of Cerulean City, their conversation now at a standstill.
As soon as they had walked far enough from the shop, they slowed their pace a bit. Jessie removed her sunglasses and searched through her bulging paper bags to find a mirror, and admired herself in it.
"Well. That was close." James said.
"Tell me about it. If I'd gone any faster, my hair would've been frazzled." Jessie said. James mumbled something incoherently. "What was that, now?"
"Never mind. Hey, where's Meowth??"
"You're right, he's gone…"
Jessie removed her sunglasses and peered around, while James proceeded to stare into mailboxes and underneath cars and in discarded tin cans around the street. Cars honked at them as they checked under manholes, and people swore at them as they peered inside their briefcases and purses.
"Maybe he's not here…" James surmised.
"Brilliantly deduced, James…" Jessie said, sighing. They sat down next to a fire hydrant and rested. James' stomach threatened a grumble, but Jessie glared it down. She got out her pocket mirror again and checked over her face, just daring any blemishes to show their ugly heads.
'I'm so hungry….', thought James, 'if only I had a hot dog…'
Unluckily for Jessie, it was at that precise moment that she decided to redo her lipstick. It barely touched her lips before James had it in his hands, drooling.
"Hot…dog…" James said, cackling. Jessie quickly smacked him on the back of the head with her fan.
"Well, idn't dat nice. All James wanted was a liddle lipstick…"
"MEOWTH!" Both James and Jessie exclaimed.
"Where've you been? We've been looking all over for you!" James said.
"…literally…" Jessie added. It was then that they both noticed the huge, juicy hamburger in Meowth's hand. Meowth's eyes widened.
"Now, stop dat…dis is MY hamboiga…." Meowth stammered. Just as Jessie and James were about to pounce, something strange walked by.
The thing itself wasn't strange, exactly. The strange part was the fact that it was there at all. The thing happened to be a girl, who slowly walked by, hands in her pockets.
"Hey, uh, you look…familiar…" Meowth said, thanking his lucky stars she'd walked by. The girl stopped and stared.
"Excuse me? Did you…say something?" she said to Meowth, eyes widening.
"It's you." Jessie interrupted abruptly, stepping in front of the girl. Her eyes got bigger.
"Psst, Jess, who is this little runt?" James whispered a little too loudly into Jessie's ear. Jessie took one look at the girl and stepped back away from James, not wanting to be caught in the line of fire.
"RUNT? I'LL SHOW YOU HOW MUCH OF A RUNT I AM, JAM - …James?" the girl said, stopping in mid hammer-swing.
"Yes, Misty, he's James. Remember us? I mean, it's only been two years…" Jessie said, smirking at her. Misty lowered her hammer and stared at her.
"Two years…yes…a lot's happened since then. Or rather, a lot of nothing…well, you see, I didn't recognize you without your uniforms."
"Well, we gave dat up a long time ago, you see." Meowth said.
"What, Team Rocket, or crime?" Misty asked, smirking back at them. The guilty trio looked at each other, and Misty laughed. "Still the same old team roc - er, Jessie, James and Meowth."
"Well, not quite the same. We don't steal pokemon anymore!"
"Well, that's good. Ha, I'm glad to hear that you're not gonna steal Pikach…" Misty trailed off, staring at her feet. "That is, Glad to hear that you're not gonna steal my pokemon."
Jessie and James looked at each other, and sighed. "Yeah. So how's that been?" Jessie asked.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Misty said, still looking at her feet. Suddenly she looked up again, defiantly. "And I don't care. So. How've you guys been?"
Meowth, obviously lost in this conversation, desperately tried to draw attention to himself again. "We've been great! Saw da woild! Traveled all over!"
"Yes…we have been "great", as he likes to say." Jessie said, staring at Misty. Misty defiantly stared back, but eventually broke the connection to look at James.
"Well, uh, do you want to come with us to Vermillion?" James offered.
"Well…sure. I might as well. We can…catch up on things."
"Just like old times, then? Well…not really, but we'll be traveling again, right?" Jessie said, happily. Misty smiled.
They had just started walking when James suddenly snapped his head to look at Meowth, as if just remembering something.
"Hm. Now…there's the business of the hamburger…"




"Hello? Oh, sir…I didn't know it was you…Y-yes, I haven't forgotten our protocol, I'll remember next time - yes, after one ring, and not before, I know all about that - look, sir, don't worry, it won't happen again - insolence? But…yes sir. I'm sorry. I'll do better next time.
"Yes? Oh…you mean someone's been tapping our calls? Impossible! No way! - Yes, sir…I believe you, I mean, no one's more credible than you in this business…alright. Do you know who it is?...yes, I was only trying to make conversation, of course you don't know…well…why did you call?
"But…those three? They haven't been a problem for years!…oh, it's not THOSE three, but - THEM?…what do you propose to do? Wait, sir, let me get some paper first…now what was that again?…oh…of course. Classified, yes sir. Wait…oh no…someone's tapping this phone call! Sir, I can't talk anymore, I have to hang up, I'll make sure we can meet in person to talk about the three - "
Click.




And this marks the end of the re-write. The next chapter up will be completely new, and as I nearly forgot where I was going with this story, it should be interesting!
-I. Krag