3: Jessie and James vs. Cassidy and Butch
Standing tall, two agents brushed off their pristine white uniforms as they approached Team Rocket's hidden home base. The tall building in the hidden outlying area was proof of the prestige of the organization they worked for. When they'd joined, it had started out as a much smaller one surrounded by some decrepit shacks, but in the years working there, expanded to this much thanks to their various successes. The agents could be proud as they walked up to it, knowing they were a part of, had made major contributions to, the group that was gaining power. Team Rocket would continue to progress, even to the point of eventually owning the world.
"Hey!" A man holding a box full of equipment approached them, a woman folding her arms next to him. "Jessie, James. Where the hell have you two been?"
"Were you not informed?" James said, blinking purposefully.
Jessie smirked and shook her head. "I suppose they weren't, James," she said. "It was a top secret mission, given by the boss himself. There wouldn't be any need to let any peons know."
"We've been busy actually working," the blonde woman in black, Cassidy, scowled further, shaking her head. "We could have used more help setting up these experiments."
"Go complain to the boss then. That is, as long as you don't mind how annoyed he'll be about you being so nosy about how he directs his most valuable field agents," Jessie said.
The man that had accosted them put down the box. "You sure you're that valuable? You don't have any pokemon, or do you?" He took out a pokeball, pushing it in front of their faces.
"Well Butch, I normally wouldn't brag," Cassidy began, opening a bag and showing a pokeball of her own. "But it's a good point. Maybe there's not enough pokemon yet for all agents, but I'm sure the most valuable agents would have at least one."
James pouted, and Jessie's expression twisted before she turned away. "We're on our way to report our success," she informed. "I'm sure we're about to get a raise and a promotion based on how pleased he'll be. Let's go, James."
The white-clad agents walked past their rude teammates, entering the largest building from the front door. They went up the stairs and down the hall to where they knew the boss's office was. On top of the secretary's desk was a pokemon. "Hey, it's you two again," it said.
A pokemon that could speak a human language was an oddity for sure, but Jessie and James just relaxed at seeing it. Though such a monster had probably never been seen before, Team Rocket had a lot of valuable assets like this. Besides, they'd spoken to the pokemon many times before. "Hello, Meowth. Is the boss around?" James asked.
"He's been dealing with the gym leader thing. I guess some brat gave him more trouble than usual, and then he had some battles. He'll be back today, so he'll be wanting to see me-owth!"
"And us," Jessie added. "We got the information he wanted, right here." She nodded to James, who took out a set of folded papers.
"That'll put him in a better mood." Meowth grinned. "Why don't we play some games while we're waiting?"
"You mean gambling?" James said. "I am short of cash."
"Yeah, and why do you want money? You can just use 'pay day', right?" Jessie asked.
Meowth frowned, putting up a paw as it looked away. "Um, yeah, some meowth can. This meowth never learned it!"
"Huh? Why not? That's the first thing for a meowth to learn, isn't it?" Jessie goaded, leaning down to look the pokemon in the eyes.
"No, it's a little harder than that," Meowth said.
"Right. I recall it was a technique more experienced meowth learn," James added.
"You don't have enough experience yet?" Jessie asked.
"Um, forget about that." Meowth scratched its head nervously. "I know! How about a riddle? What's something that's sometimes full, but won't ever overflow?"
"A sippy cup?" Jessie suggested.
"No! I've got it! It's the moon," James said.
Jessie groaned, sitting down and leaning on the desk. "That was the answer to your last one."
"It's right though," Meowth said.
Hearing some footsteps, Jessie and James both stood up and at attention. Sure enough, the boss was in sight, a grunt next to him holding a bag. "I wasn't expecting to see you two so soon," he said in place of a greeting. "Come in."
As the boss walked into his office, Jessie and James followed. Meowth sprinted past them, jumping on the desk. "Boss! I missed you so much! Did everyone treat you well? If not, they'll have to answer to me-owth."
"Everything's fine," Giovanni said as he met Meowth's eyes, affectionately patting it on the head. He then looked to Jessie and James. "And so?"
"Here you are, sir," James said, placing the papers on his desk before standing at attention again.
Giovanni picked up the documents and studied them, grinning before he folded them and placed them back in front of him. "Well done. With this, we should be able to take care of our competition in pokemon science. I imagine our own scientists will be making some announcements."
"We should celebrate!" Meowth declared.
"Celebrate stolen achievements?" Jessie said, her laugh after she spoke suggesting she didn't hate the idea.
"Why not? It was their fault for naysaying us. They'll know better for next time, if they can get a sponsor for their next endeavors," James said.
"Yes, indeed," the rocket boss agreed. "So, as far as your next assignment goes... Well, you two weren't here when I explained it a week or so ago. I'm expecting all field agents to gather more pokemon for the team."
"You are?!" James exclaimed with a wide grin. Seeing the warning eyes of Jessie and Meowth on him, he looked down. Of course, this was 'for the team', not for him, specifically, no matter how much he wanted a pokemon. "Pokemon are power, so it's wise," he said.
"Yes, of course," Giovanni said.
"Would you like us to catch some?" Jessie asked.
"Catch some? Not now, possibly later. It's more trouble than it's worth," Giovanni said.
"Why?" James said. "I mean, wild pokemon are mostly weak, but we'd happily train them."
"I'm sure. But pokeballs are expensive, then their distribution is almost monopolized by people like that professor from Pallet Town. We're trying to replicate the production process, but we haven't been successful quite yet."
"How annoying," Jessie commented. "They think they can keep us from getting pokemon, don't they? Let's prove them wrong."
"We will," Giovanni said confidently. "So, right now, we're going to double efforts to gather more pokemon from talented trainers."
"'Gather'," Jessie repeated, giggling to herself.
"You can count on us, sir. We'll pour all our efforts into that," James promised.
"Hm." Meowth frowned. "How you gonna count on these two with anything related to pokemon, boss? They don't even have one pokemon between them."
"Huh? You think we can't?" Jessie asked irritably, glaring toward the feline pokemon.
"We've done everything the boss has asked of us!" James pointed out.
"You have," Giovanni said, opening a drawer. "But Meowth makes a good point as well."
"Even without pokemon, don't worry about us," Jessie assured nervously, waving her hand.
"Right! We might not be able to get other trainers' pokemon by disabling them through battle, but we'll find other ways," James continued.
Jessie nodded in agreement. "Yes! We'll think of a plan - many plans, and get countless pokemon for you. Just like with our plan just now." She waved a hand at the table to remind her boss of their recent success.
"Yes! We're masters of disguise, the directors of deception! Don't discount our value," James said, trying his best to sound more confident than desperate to prove his worth.
"I have no doubt of your abilities," Giovanni said. "And you have been valuable. Valuable agents deserve to be rewarded." From the desk, Giovanni took two pokeballs. Jessie covered her mouth while James gave a shout of delight. "As I see you've guessed, I've saved these pokemon just for you. Soon we'll have many powerful pokemon, but there's no need for agents of your caliber to wait. Pokemon are power, pokemon are the tools to Team Rocket's future, and you should have some."
"Thank you, sir!" James said, wiping his eyes.
"We'll be able to do even more for Team Rocket now," Jessie added.
"That was my hope," Giovanni said, pushing the pokeballs forward. As Jessie and James took them, he nodded. "Go ahead, see them now if you'd like."
Jessie released her pokemon. "A snake pokemon," she observed as it appeared.
"The species is called ekans," James pointed out.
"Right, that was it," Jessie said as she leaned down to see it closer. "Nice to meet you, Ekans."
"Ekans," the pokemon hissed as it slithered close to its new master.
"Ekans wants to do its best for you too," Meowth informed.
"And me, let's see." James posed as he threw the pokeball out, toward the door where it wasn't likely to hit anything. "Oh!" he exclaimed, his voice going high. The pokemon that appeared was round, floating in the air. "A koffing! How amazing!" James rushed forward and hugged it, perhaps a little too tightly as it released gas from several pores.
"The window," Giovanni said, going for it himself. He opened one, and Meowth another.
James returned the pokemon, coughing himself. "I apologize, sir."
"It's fine," Giovanni said.
"You're too kind, boss! Is that all, then?" Jessie asked.
"No, there's one more thing," Giovanni said, looking Meowth's way. "Why don't you take Meowth here as well?"
"Huh?" Meowth responded before the other two could. "But boss, you want me here, right? What will you do without me?"
"I want to use all my agents to their full capacity. That includes you, Meowth. I want to see how valuable you'll be in the field."
"B-But I'm valuable here, right?" Meowth frowned. "Won't you be lonely without me helping you every day?"
"Perhaps, but I'll manage. For the glory of Team Rocket, we should all do our best."
"But boss, I thought I was helping you already!" Meowth put its paws to its eyes, trembling. It felt a gentle pressure on its shoulders, then looked around, seeing Jessie and James grinning at it.
"The boss thinks we're good enough for you to help us, hm?" Jessie said.
"A talking pokemon who can understand other pokemon? How lucky are we to work with one," James added.
"You are," Giovanni assured. "And Meowth is useful in other ways than that. It's the one that first suggested I send agents to acquire this specific information, seeing the opportunity our organization would have to get ahead." Giovanni tapped the paper on his desk.
"Oh!" James exclaimed, his eyes going wide. "You knew that much, Meowth?"
Jessie tapped the pokemon's shoulder firmly. "Stop blubbering, then. We'll be counting on you," she said.
Meowth sniffled. "Right," it said.
Outside, there was no more need for James to contain his squeals of delight. He let them out as they stepped outside the large building, grinning widely as he gripped the pokeball. "The boss really recognized us! Our own pokemon!"
"I guess I never thought about it, but are you the boss's pokemon?" Jessie asked, looking down at Meowth who had followed them out.
"Not really," Meowth said. "I'm loyal to the boss, but more like you two are. A loyal agent. The boss did a lot for me. I'll pay him back."
"I had already been planning to, but with this gift, we'll have to put in even more than a hundred percent. Maybe two hundred," Jessie said.
"Um, Jessie, a hundred percent is everything, so we can't go beyond that," James pointed out.
"Nothing's impossible for Team Rocket," Jessie said, smiling as she held her own pokeball close. "We'll go even beyond that. Three hundred percent!"
"Why not? There's three of us, after all," Meowth said with a smirk. "A hundred percent each. Three hundred percent."
"That's not how the math works," James muttered, but then noticed his teammates smiling, unaffected by such cold calculations. "Well, why not. Three hundred percent it is!"
"So where to now?" Jessie asked, then groaned as she saw the group they'd just run across heading their way, unable to be avoided. Then again, why should they? Jessie straightened her posture and approached them. "Just look," she said, holding out her pokeball. "It seems the boss has seen fit to reward his most valuable agents." Cassidy and Butch stared back at her humorlessly, so she laughed. "We'll be even more prepared for whatever's to come."
Cassidy closed her eyes, pursing her lips. "It is better to distribute the pokemon than to leave them in storage. They become weaker without being trained. That's just a waste," she said.
"Yeah. Even if the trainer isn't up to par, it's better than nothing," Butch added.
"The boss sees that the same as we can, so I'm sure he'll be distributing every pokemon we have, possibly without the same discretion as before," Cassidy said. She stepped past Jessie, her partner following.
"Hey!" Jessie shouted, looking at the two that went their way. "Are you mocking us? You think we're not good enough to be trainers?"
Cassidy looked back her way, giving a silent sigh. "Do I have to say it? I mean, you've both never been trainers before, have you?"
"Not specifically," James admitted, studying the pokeball he held as he frowned.
"Right," Cassidy continued. "It's not mocking you to just state facts."
"Facts are facts," Butch said, smirking despite his partner's claim they weren't mocking.
Cassidy's face remained serious. "Don't worry, I know the boss is thinking the other side effect to distributing all pokemon is that any sub par employees will also level up. You'll get better."
Jessie clenched her fist and her jaw, giving a sound of annoyance. "Get off your high horse. Maybe neither of us have ever had our own pokemon, but we have plenty of knowledge and experience when it comes to pokemon, got it."
"Is that right?" Cassidy said, peering toward the building with a bored expression.
"Yes, that's exactly right." Jessie gripped the pokeball she'd just been given and held it out. "If you don't think so, you won't mind a battle, will you?"
"A battle! Our very first one!" James smiled, getting in position.
"You sure you can handle taking care of that pokemon, James? I don't think it'll like you sending it out just to lose," Butch shouted.
"Of course I can." James turned his confident gaze toward Butch. "I'm sure we can win."
Cassidy silently sighed, turning back toward Jessie and James. "Well, training isn't a waste of time, though Butch is right that your pokemon might not trust you as much if their first battle with you is one they'd certainly lose."
"Ekans, let's move!" Jessie stood next to James and threw out her pokeball along with him.
"Koffing, get ready!"
"Raticate!"
"Primeape!" Butch and Cassidy released their own pokemon not long after. They all appeared on the makeshift field together.
"Raticate, tackle!" Cassidy ordered.
"Koffing, smoke screen," James followed. His new pokemon spat out the stream of smoke.
Jessie waved her hand as she saw the effect of the pokemon's technique, but then noticed it was mostly directed her opponent's way. She ought to continue with this battle herself. What kind of attacks did this pokemon know? Other ekans she'd run across had trouble with wrap. This ekans might not perform that attack as well with the effects of James's pokemon's own technique. However, it still had sharp fangs. "Ekans, bite!" Jessie ordered.
"Primeape, mega punch!"
Raticate's attack missed, while Jessie and Butch's pokemon both hit each other with the attack. Ekans flinched only momentarily, while Primeape yet out a yelp, beating its chest before Ekans moved away. Butch and Cassidy yelled at their pokemon to repeat the attacks.
"Koffing, sludge attack!" James ordered.
Seeing her pokemon was relatively near the opponent, Jessie quickly decided on the next move. "Ekans, wrap!"
Cassidy and Butch's pokemon both missed their attacks in the haze, while Jessie and James's both hit. Ekans wrapped around Raticate, preventing it from moving any further. Koffing belched its sludge attack in front of it, easily hitting both opponent pokemon.
"Ugh..." Cassidy moved back, wincing as she saw a spec of the sludge had hit her boots. She scraped it off with the other, returning her pokemon. Seeing Primeape shouting as it waved its fists around and struggled to see, Butch did the same.
"Does this mean... We won?" James's expression went from stumped to ecstatic. "We did! Good job, Koffing!" James ran to hug his pokemon. It expelled gas as he did, though less than the previous time, so James continued to hug it.
Jessie carefully observed Ekans, who had also been hit by Koffing's attack. It was fine overall, so she nodded at it before returning it to its pokeball. As James did the same, she turned to her rival. "Looks like we can handle our pokemon just fine," she said.
"Yeah, not bad!" Meowth said as it walked nearby Jessie's feet. "Sure you two never trained any pokemon before?"
"We haven't, but you can see why we were chosen to have these, hm?" Jessie said. She noticed her two rivals staring at Meowth. "Oh, that's right. The boss also trusted us with his very own meowth," she bragged.
"Well, Team Rocket's very own meowth," James corrected.
"Hmph." Cassidy closed her eyes and turned away. "Well, I'm sure like us, you'll be very busy then. Let's go, Butch."
Jessie couldn't be more pleased as they walked away. Maybe Cassidy wouldn't bother with her annoying passive-aggressive statements for a while. Jessie enjoyed seeing their retreat, looking down only as Meowth pat her leg. "Hey, let me introduce you two to our newest teammate," Meowth said, leading them behind their main secret base of operations. In the shadow of the larger building, several smaller buildings were spread out with dirt paths between them. "Maybe he's not here," Meowth mused, motioning toward the lock on the door.
"Who would be back here?" James asked.
"Oh..." An adolescent boy carrying two boxes walked along the path, stopping as he noticed the group. "Master Meowth?" the boy said, crouching down to greet the pokemon. "Did the boss need anything?"
"Nope," Meowth shook its head. "I'm a wandering field agent now, so I'm here for myself."
"Oh? The first pokemon with such a title! Master Meowth can do anything." The boy grinned after his praise, and Meowth smiled back in response.
"Did you come here for a reason other than for this kid to suck up to you?" Jessie asked.
The boy stood up and Meowth frowned. "Of course not! You two should know this guy. This is Mondo, he's been helping distribute supplies. Mondo, this is Jessie and James, that duo I was telling you about before. I'm working with them for a while."
"Oh!" Mondo exclaimed. "Yes, I've heard of you! The lovely Miss Jessie, and her partner James. I'm so pleased to meet you." Mondo crouched down, smiling at Meowth. "They're just as cool as I imagined!" he commented. As he spoke, Jessie nodded in approval of his words while James tossed his hair.
"You're new then?" Jessie said.
"Yes, I'm ready to do all I can for Team Rocket. Please, let me know if there's anything at all I can help you with," Mondo offered.
"Pleased to meet you, Mondo. I imagine we'll be relying on you a lot in the future," James said.
"Please do," Mondo said with a nod. He then rushed up to the locked building. "I closed it just in case, but if Master Meowth needs anything... If any of my respected senpai in Team Rocket need anything... I'll get it right away."
"Actually, we might need some things," Jessie said.
"Yes. We've got a new mission, don't we?" James said.
"And new pokemon to take care of," Jessie added.
"What's your mission? No, wait-" Mondo turned away. "It might be top secret, I'm not trying to pry."
"It's alright," Jessie assured. "You should know, if you're going to supply us. We're going to get more pokemon. Just like us, pokemon exist for Team Rocket's betterment."
"Of course! Maybe I'll even get my own one day." Mondo looked up as he imagined it, before glancing back at his teammates. "So, where exactly will you go? How long do you think you'll be gone? Any particular equipment to help you, well, enter certain places?"
James glanced down at Meowth. "Didn't you think of the opportunity for us to get that information for the boss?" he asked.
"Yeah. It was easy enough to see how they could help us and hurt the competition," Meowth confirmed.
"I wonder what else you can see," James said.
"Huh?" Meowth frowned, wondering if it was being made fun of.
"I see what you're getting at, James," Jessie said.
"Right. Can you think of any good 'opportunities' for us now?" James asked.
"Oh!" Meowth hopped up on James's shoulder. Now the pokemon was able to meet the humans in the eye. "You bet, I've got plenty. Glad you asked."
As Mondo opened the shed, they went inside to discuss.
End Notes:
Jessie, James, and Meowth, happy and successful. Also good with their boss. Will it last? Hm, wait and see.
When I've used Mondo (canon character from Japan only Team Rocket audio drama if you're not aware) in other stories, I've struggled with replacing 'senpai' with something else that fits. In this story, I decided even though it's dub names, 'senpai' will be used. It's entered the more mainstream English vernacular in recent years. That's mostly thanks to the 'notice me senpai' meme rather than being used in the same contexts as in Japanese, but yeah. If it bothers anyone, well, oh well, it's just a word.
Next chapter: Pikachu vs. Ash
(Yep, Ash gets his first pokemon at last.)