The Silver Apples of Life
Part Two

The leaves rustled overheard Jessie, James, and Meowth as they followed the trail of apple cores. James glanced down at one of the cores.
"Oh, there's a piece of my life just eaten away!" he wailed.
Jessie frowned and whacked him on the back of his head.
"Will you get a grip!?"
James rubbed the back of his head and scowled at her. Before he could say anything though, Meowth spoke up.
"Come on, Jessie. He has a right to be upset dis time. His life IS on da line, after all."
Jessie's expression softened.
"You're right, I guess…"
James' scowl faded as his gaze fell upon another apple core. He sighed miserably. Jessie reached over and placed a hand on James' shoulder.
"Don't worry, James. I won't let you die…"
James smiled at her.
"…Meowth and I both, I mean," she quickly added.
James nodded, still smiling, then winced as a pain shot through his shoulder.
"Ouch!"


Meanwhile, Giovanni slowly stroked his Persian. He was becoming impatient.
"What's taking those idiots?"
Persian stretched and yawned.
"How long does it take to get a single apple…" He muttered.

Jessie, James, and Meowth looked down. The trail had come to an end. They looked up and saw three boys a few trees ahead, hanging and leaning on one of the trees.
"Hey, dat must be dem!"
"How exactly are we going to stop them?"
"Easy! We threaten them until they leave!"
A sweatdrop rolled down the side of James and Meowth's faces.
"You really think that will work?"
"Of course it will! Come on!"
James and Meowth exchanged nervous glances before following Jessie towards them.
Serian looked up from his apple as the three came into view.
"Hmm…Come to buy some apples?"
"Not quite. We're here to stop you."
"Stop us?"
"Yes. Eat one more apple and you'll regret it!"
"Dat's right! You won't be able ta eat anything when we're done wit ya! So drop da apples and scram!"
"Uh, yeah, what they said…"
Serian looked at Derren and Verne and smirked.
"Whaddya say, guys? Should we do what they say?"
Verne and Derren looked at him questioningly.
"Why would we do that, Serian?"
Serian rolled his eyes.
"Morons…Guys!"
He nodded towards Jessie, James, and Meowth.
"Let's take 'em out!"
"…Take us out…"
The three guys smirked and raised their fists.
"We didn't mean it, we didn't mean it! Stay here as long as you like!"
Jessie looked at James.
"James, you coward!"
"Hey, I just wanna live a long life…"
"But ya won't live for very long if we don't stop dem from eatin' da apples!"
Serian lowered his fist and raised an eyebrow.
"What are you talking about?"
Meowth glanced at his two companions.
"Looks like we'll have ta tell 'em da truth…" He faced the guys. "All right, look…Dese trees here are special trees. Dey represent da life of every person on da Earth, so yous threes need ta stop eatin' da apples. 'Cuz once you eat all da apples off one tree, dis guy over here," he motioned to James. "is gonna die, you see. So…we needs you to stop."
Serian, Verne, and Derren stared at him for a few seconds, unblinking. Meowth looked at Jessie and James.
"Dere. I think I got through ta them."
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!"
The three boys erupted into a fit of laughter. Meowth sweatdropped.
"…Or maybe I didn't…"
Serian calmed himself down and looked at the cat.
"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! Where did you ever come up with something like that?"
"I didn't come up wit it! It's da truth!"
"Why would we make up something like that?!"
Serian glanced around at the apples.
"Oh, I don't know…To take the apples for yourselves, perhaps? I wasn't born yesterday, you know."
Meowth frowned and looked at Jessie and James.
"Now what?"
Jessie crossed her arms.
"They won't believe us no matter what we say…"
"Hey, I have an idea!"
"You? Okay, James. Let's hear your idea."
"Well, since they won't believe us, maybe they'll believe someone else!"
"Like who?"
"The little troll guy!"
Jessie and Meowth smiled.
"Hey! That's actually a good idea, James!"
He smiled too.
"So does that mean you'll listen to my ideas for catching Pikachu?"
"Let's not get carried away, James."
Meowth cupped his mouth with his hands.
"Hey! Little troll guy! Where are ya?!"
The Troll jumped down from a tree and scowled.
"My name is not 'little troll guy', it's Troll of the Trees! Is that so hard to remember!?"
Verne and Derren looked at him.
"Hey! It's a little kid!"
"Hello, little kid!"
The Troll narrowed his eyes at them.
"Kid?! I'm not a kid! I'm the Troll of the Trees!"
"What kid do you know that has a beard?!"
Derren and Verne exchanged glances.
"Uhh…a kid dressed like a troll!"
"Yeah! I was a troll once for Halloween!"
Serian shook his head.
"Tsk, tsk. Not only do you make up a story to get us away from the apples, you pay some little kid to dress up like a troll for you. How low."
"Grr! I AM a troll! I'm Troll of the Trees!"
Jessie looked at the Troll.
"Maybe they'd believe us if we took them to one of their trees."
The Troll nodded.
"Good idea. We'll do that. Follow us, boys! We've got something to show you!"
Serian shrugged.
"Why not? We've got nothing better to do. Right, boys?"
"Uh, right!"
"Just let me get an apple for the road…"
Serian reached up and grabbed an apple.
"Ouch!" James yelped.
"Stop it!" Jessie hissed.
Serian smirked at Jessie and took a bite out of the apple. Jessie growled under her breath. The Troll started off into the trees.
"Follow me!"
Team Rocket followed after the Troll, with the others close behind.

Soon, the Troll led them to another grove of silver apples. He turned and faced Serian.
"This is your grove."
Jessie glanced around at them.
"Really? Could've fooled me…"
Serian looked at her.
"Why do you say that?"
She glared at him.
"I thought they would all be rotten."
Serian scoffed. Meowth went up to a tree.
"Okay! Let's show dese guys we're tellin' da truth!"
The Troll stood in front of him.
"Wait a minute! You can't do that! I have to protect these trees!"
"But we are protectin' 'em!"
"No, you're picking the apples!"
"Exactly! And dat's protectin' 'em!"
With that, he reached up and grabbed an apple. Serian remained still.
"I didn't feel anything."
"That's because it takes awhile before it actually starts to hurt," the Troll explained. "Just picking one apple isn't going to do anything."
Meowth grinned.
"Well den, let's get ta pickin'!"
Jessie, James, and Meowth (being experts on eating fast) began to eat the apples. They even called out their other pokémon to help.
Serian leaned against a tree and waited. Meowth looked at Verne and Derren.
"Come on! Help us out here!"
The two looked at each other.
"Uh, actually we're kinda appled out…"
Meowth sweatdropped.
"Sure, ya would be now, wouldn't ya?"
The two shrugged and went up to a tree. Instead of eating the apples, they began to pick them off and lob them at each other.
A few more minutes passed and then Serian suddenly felt a pain shooting through his leg, making him wince. He looked up at them.
"Stop! Stop, I believe you! Just stop!"
Team Rocket stopped and turned around and Jessie smirked at him. Verne and Derren, however, kept picking apples. Serian was close to tears.
"Knock it off, guys! Stop it! Stop!!"
Derren and Verne laughed.
"Come on, Serian! It's fun!"
They began to lob apples at him instead. Serian raised his hands to block the apples.
"Stop it you morons!!!"
Verne and Derren dropped the apples and blinked.
"Geez, Serian. Don't you know how to have fun?"
The Troll stepped in front of Serian.
"There. Now do you understand how much pain you have caused?"
Serian nodded silently.
"And how do you plan on making up for it?"
Serian thought for a moment and looked around at the trees.
"Well…this seems like a lot of trees for just one person…troll, I mean. So, I propose that me and my comrades help you protect the groves."
Verne and Derren stared at him.
"Huh?"
The Troll looked him over and nodded.
"All right, all right. We'll see how it goes."
The Troll then began to explain the job to Serian and the other two, and Team Rocket silently left the grove.

As they headed for the jet, Meowth looked up at James.
"Now, you know dat yous is da one who's gonna hafta tell da Boss why we couldn't bring him an apple."
James sighed and nodded.
"I know, I know."
Jessie placed a hand on James shoulder.
"I'll tell him, James. You've had enough pain today."
James smiled at her.
"Thanks, Jess…For everything you've done today."
He paused and glanced at Meowth.
"And you too, Meowth."
Meowth smiled at him.
"Hey, we're partners, aren't we?"
"Yeah…I just never knew I had partners who cared so much."
Jessie stopped and turned his face towards hers.
"Did you know I cared this much?" she whispered before gently brushing her lips against his. James blushed and she pulled away.
"No…I didn't know…"
Jessie winked at him.
"Well, I do!"
James smiled as she leaned in to kiss him again.
"Come on, yous twos. Save da mushy stuff for later!"
Jessie and James pulled apart.
"Okay, Meowth. Let's go!"
The three smiled at each other and entered the jet.
Serian leaned against a tree and watched Team Rocket's jet fly off. He ran a hand through his hair and smiled.
:: BONK::
He whirled around and glared at Derren and Verne.
"Hey! Drop those apples! No more throwing apples! We're protecting them…Hey, are you listening to me?! Get back here! Leave the apples alone!"
Serian ran off into the trees after his two friends. The apples shifted slightly in the wind and shined in the moonlight, humming a new silent song as the heaven of the apples was restored…
"I SAID, DROP THOSE APPLES!!!"
…For now, at least.

End.

Author's Note: Well, I hope you like this. For those of you who actually like Serian, Verne, and Derren as much as I did, I'll be writing a series about them in the groves that I'll post on fictionpress.com. If you want to know when they're posted, send me an e-mail. Thanks for reading!