Wow, this is going much better than I thought! What I originally wanted to do as a four- part story has grown so much and the chapters are so long to boot! I'm also getting more and more into the feel of the show by means of puns and visuals and from the feedback I've been getting I see I'm succeeding. My mood has also changed. Since my life made a complete turn around and I'm the happiest I've ever been in the last five years, this story is starting to reflect that. Well, that and the fact that I'm a total Pokemon freak and a permanent member of Team Rocket. What? Don't believe me? Well, let's just say that James is forever with me as a tattoo on my left arm, but that's another tale for another time, but 'tis fact not fiction. Anyhoo…I hope you enjoy this latest installment. I still have no true clue where I'm going with this story and how to end it, but I'm having fun with it and I'm sure that's all that counts and since you're still with me on this I must be doing something right. Enjoy and as always please leave reviews to help boost my delicate ego. Geez, I sound more like Jessie every day.

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"James! You…you're all right!" Jessie cried and almost in an instant both the Pikachu and Meowth were at her side to see if the claim were true.

James gawked at her then wiped his mouth with the back of his gloved hand, completely shocked by what he awoke to find Jessie doing to him. "What's the big idea? Why were you kissing me?"

Jessie's face brightened into a fierce blush and she dropped her gaze downwards. "Ummm…I wasn't kissing you. You were mumbling something and I was trying to listen to what you were saying. You just sat up suddenly and bumped against me that's all."

James looked at her suspiciously then winced as lingering jolt of electricity caused his body to shudder and he lay back on the ground with a groan. Jessie moved towards him and touched his shoulder making her partner flinch again before he opened his green eyes and stared up at her in confused hurt.

"James, I went looking for you early this morning and found you down here knocked out cold. Meowth talked to this Pikachu of yours and found out all that happened with those wild Pokemon attacking you. Are you feeling all right?"

He couldn't answer, his mouth just didn't seem like it wanted to work right. Instead he closed his eyes and waited for his body to stop hurting. Above him his Weezing floated looking just as concerned as the little Pikachu who bounded up to James and began to nuzzle his hand with her nose. "Pi?"

James tried to smile and forced his hand up to give the small creature a reassuring scratch between the ears before he dropped his hand back to his side. Meowth glanced at Jessie and saw she was frozen to where she sat. He wasn't sure how to read her emotions. She seemed very upset, but at the same time she was embarrassed at getting caught for the forced kiss she had placed on James' lips.

Seeing she wasn't going to say anything, Meowth started, "Wow, James, I knew you was mad and all, but ya didn't have to go out and get in a fight wit' some wild Pokemon. What was ya tryin' ta do? Take on da entire population or somet'in'?"

This seemed to have snapped Jessie out of her stupor and she bopped the cat on the top of the head. "You moron! That rat told you that James was trying to capture a Pikachu and those others just attacked. Don't you ever listen?"

Jessie then shoved the feline out of her way, scooted closer to James and brushed his hair out of his face. "That's what happened, right? You wanted a Pikachu and those others just got angry?"

James shrugged, but didn't answer. He wasn't in the mood to explain anything right now. He just wanted to rest and regain his strength. His head hurt as well as every muscle in his body. However, his quietness served to only further annoy Jessie and she pinched his shoulder hard making him flinch. "James, answer me! I can't help you get better if you won't tell me what's wrong and what exactly happened to you."

Her partner suddenly sat up, green eyes full of an angry light she's never seen in him before. "Do you know something? None of this would have happened if you didn't ask for a Pikachu. I went to get you one because you said that was the one thing I could do to impress you. The least you could do is act a bit more appreciative!"

"Oh no you don't! Don't go blaming this on me. You were the one that chose to go off on your own for a Pokemon. I didn't force you to do any of this. You chose to leave like some big shot and you got yourself hurt as a result. This is your fault, James, not mine."

"Well, if you didn't scream at me last night maybe I would have stuck around, but why should I stay where I'm not wanted?"

"Who said anything about me not wanting you?"

James arched an eyebrow at her comment. "Excuse me?"

"I mean…ummm…you're part of the team. Meowth and I are your partners and we need you no matter what it seems like at times."

Meowth just sighed and smacked his paw against his head. Humans could be so dense at times. Why wouldn't she just admit what she really meant? Was it that terrible for her to tell him that she cared for him more than just a friend?

"Besides," Jessie continued. "I wouldn't have screamed at you if you and Meowth didn't wake me up with all your jabbering last night. I need my beauty rest you know. I can't maintain these ravishing good looks by getting woke up every five minutes. What in the world were you doing hovering over me anyway?"

James blushed, but refused to answer and turned his attentions back to the Pikachu who was now nuzzling his hand again demanding more attention from him. He felt Jessie's blue eyes practically boring a hole in his head and he knew he better think of something quick to respond to her before she explodes.

"I could ask the same of you, Jessie," he responded calmly. "You woke me up now with quite a start and you don't see me going off on you for that. I could ask you the same thing as to what it was you were doing, but it's obvious you were kissing me and don't you deny it. I know a kiss when I see one."

Jessie just rolled her eyes. "Oh please! James, no one's ever kissed you before and your mother doesn't count so what would you know about that subject."

"Apparently a lot more than you do. At least my mother kissed me." he retorted getting an icy look from her.

"Don't you dare bring my mother into this matter!" Jessie snarled. "You know perfectly well what happened to my mother and at least she didn't drive me to the point of insanity where I had to run away from home!"

"Meowth! Dat's enough!" Meowth angrily cried and jumped in between the both of them, his long claws bared. "Man, ya t'ink youse two was married or somet'ing now cut it out before I gets dis here Pikachu ta Thundershock da both of youse. Or maybe a good Fury Swipe'd shut youse both up."

Jessie loudly harrumphed and crossed her arms in front of her chest before turning her head to the side to avoid James' angry glare. James, on the other hand, pushed the stray wisp of blue hair out of his eyes and grumbled something about him wishing he were never found and wishing that she'd just go away and leave him alone as this was exactly the reason why he was contemplating on leaving Team Rocket.

After a few uneasy moments of silence Meowth stepped towards Jessie. "Dat's better. Jess, yer partner over der is not well and was injured pretty good and all youse can do is argue about some lousy kiss dat you know you both want."

"How dare you!" Jessie snarled and turned on the feline, raising her hand as if to strike, but Meowth jumped out of the way and bared his claws again.

"T'ings would be so much better if ya'd just stop it wit' da ego trip all ready! In fact, I t'ink dat now dat James is back in da wakin' woild, me and dis here Pikachu are gonna go and tend to dat fire and leave youse two ta figure out what it's gonna be. Ya gonna argue about stupid stuff or youse gonna woik t'ings out and behave like civil human beings if dat's possible."

"Pi pika pikachu! Pika pika!" the electric mouse added her own two cents about the entire matter making Meowth grin and pat her on the head.

"Ya got dat right, pal," he replied and led the Pikachu over to the small pile of sticks he had gathered off to the side in order to get a fire started leaving Jessie and James alone in their childish pouting.

Jessie was beyond foolish pride and she knew she was in the right and that she shouldn't be the one that should break the silence. After all, it was James that brought up the touchy subject of her missing mother. He may still have his parents around, but the way they treated him he would have been better off alone like she was. She knew her mother loved her very much and it wasn't Jessie's fault that she had vanished.

No, James was the one that should apologize since he was the one that dealt such a low blow to Jessie. Now it was on a personal level. It was on a level that Jessie never imagined James would take. To think I almost enjoyed kissing that idiot! She thought angrily to herself. He isn't fit for such affections with such horrible things coming out of that mouth! The nerve of him! I never should have wasted my time to look for that dimwit!

James knew he shouldn't have said what he did to her, but he wasn't about to apologize for his actions either. She always had to yell at him and belittle him every time something didn't go her way. Spoiled brat, he thought. She's always got to do things her way and when things don't go right she blames them on other people. I must be insane for wanting contact from her and I should have got my head examined for almost kissing her last night. Thank goodness Meowth stopped me when he did.

With a shrug James closed his eyes and knew it was time for him to get going back to whatever town was the closest. He did what he had to do by finding a Pikachu for Jessie so now he could carry on with his other mission of leaving Team Rocket. He reached for his Pokeball and called for Weezing to return. The gas Pokemon mumbled a protest wishing it could stay out and make sure James was going to be all right, but instead it allowed the red charge of energy from the Pokeball to take it back within its confines.

"Thank you for all your help, Weezing," James quietly spoke to the Pokeball before putting it back on his belt.

James then noticed he didn't have his other Pokeball with him and he wasn't sure where his Viktreebell was, but it didn't matter. He knew he could capture or steal another one someday. Perhaps the new one would listen to orders this time instead of trying to make a meal out of him.

Seeing that Jessie was still turned with her back towards him, James felt that his departure was going to be easier. If she didn't look at him he would not fall into submission from her gorgeous blue eyes. Those eyes could make or break a person and he couldn't allow them to change his mind on what he still had to do.

Pushing himself off the ground he stood on uneasy feet. His knees felt very weak, but he couldn't let that stop him. He had to leave before he would say or do something he'd regret. Taking a deep breath, James took one step forward then felt a burning sensation rip through him. The electric shocks he got still refused to let him out of their hold. James stiffened in place until the jolts stopped then he fell with a loud thud back onto the ground.

Now a new pain took its hold on him making him shriek shrilly, causing Jessie to turn around and glare at him. "Now what is your problem?" she asked darkly knowing he had got up and fallen, once again proving his stupidity. However, when she saw him writhing on the ground, face screwed into a painful grimace and his hands clutching his right side she knew something was dreadfully wrong. Forgetting about their little spat, Jessie was at his side in an instant. Putting her hand on his shoulder she nervously asked, "James, what's wrong? What happened?"

"I…I fell…" he started to say before wincing again in pain.

Jessie rolled her eyes. "Yes, I know you fell, but what's wrong?"

"I fell…on…my…bottle caps!" he whined, holding up his clenched fist then opening it allowing the caps to fall to the ground.

At first Jessie was taken aback by what came out of her partner's mouth. The reality of what he said eventually registered as one of the caps on the ground glinted in the sunlight. "You idiot!" she cried and grabbed him by the front of his uniform and shook him. "Here I am worried about you and you go and pull a stupid stunt like this! Bottle caps! I thought something was truly wrong with you!"

Angrily Jessie let go of James' jacket causing him to drop back to the ground with a thud. "I swear, James, you can be such a pain sometimes. I have to tromp through these woods at the crack of dawn to try and find you while ruining my hair and make-up in the mean time. Now you go and do this. I really don't know why I bother worrying about you so much when it's obvious you're not taking any of this seriously. All you'd rather do is joke around."

James didn't answer her knowing anything he'd say would come out wrong and no doubt get him a pounding from her. Instead, he busied himself trying to pick up the bottle caps he dropped all over the ground and put them back in his pocket.

"Were you really worried about me?" he asked softly after a few minutes of uneasy silence passed between them.

"Ummm…well, yes I suppose so," she replied feeling her cheeks beginning to redden in a blush. She turned away and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I mean, what would the boss think if I showed up at Team Rocket Headquarters without you?"

"Besides," she continued softly, her back still towards him. "I don't think things would be quite the same around here without you."

James stared at her and felt the corners of his mouth slowly beginning to tug upwards into a smile. She definitely was the devil in disguise sometimes. On minute she made you fear for your very life and the next minute she could be the best person in the world to be around. He still wasn't feeling all that wonderful at the moment so maybe sticking around a little longer until he was back to normal wasn't a bad idea. He could always leave in the morning if need be.

Almost as if reading his mind, Jessie turned around and mustered up a smile. She felt guilty for yelling at him while he was hurting, but somehow he knew just how to push her buttons and set her off. No matter how much she'd complain about him acting so dumb most of the time, she really couldn't see herself without him around. "Come on, let's go see what Meowth and that Pikachu are doing with the fire, ok?"

Her partner hesitated at first knowing that she could turn on him in an instant. Still, he could use the rest and comfort now and hoped it wouldn't turn into a distraction, preventing him from leaving when he felt better. With a grunt, James tried pushing himself to his feet when a jolt of pain coursed through his legs making him flinch and almost cry out, but he bit his lower lip to stifle it so he wouldn't get Jessie angry with him again for being so stupid and getting hurt once more.

Carefully and very unsteadily, James finally got to his feet and almost lost his balance, but was caught by Jessie who seemed to have materialized at his side the moment she saw him swaying. "Let me help you," she said gently while putting her arm around his waist to steady him. He eyed her cautiously for a moment before allowing her to lead him towards the small fire that Meowth had got started.

The scratch cat looked up and smiled when he saw them approaching. "'bout time youse two stopped with all dat yelling."

"Pi pikachu!" the electric mouse added joyfully, quite pleased to see James on his feet even though Jessie was supporting him.

Finding a suitable place to settle down, Jessie helped ease James to the ground before she took a seat near him. "Is this better?" she asked him while brushing off her skirt.

James numbly nodded and tried to lie back down on the hard earth, as sitting up seemed to cause him more pain. He squirmed and tried to get comfortable, but there was only so much one that was hurting could do to avoid pain on the ground. Jessie watched him struggle until he found a position he could be content with, but that didn't last long for now he had the task of keeping his head elevated. James put one arm behind his head and groaned from the effort before trying to lie on his side, but he suffered the same result.

Swallowing her pride and her concerns Jessie patted her legs and suggested, "Why don't you just rest your head on my lap? It's much better than watching you flop around over there like some dumb Magikarp out of water."

At first he hesitated not exactly certain he wanted that kind of closeness with her right now, but he knew if it would give his sore body some comfort he had nothing else to lose. Pushing himself to all fours, James slowly crawled his way to his partner then dropped down heavily at her side, fatigue finally beginning to overtake him. He then settled his head on her lap and closed his burning green eyes. It was an effort for him to do anything now and just that little bit of movement caused him to feel as if he just ran a mile.

Jessie smiled down at him and brushed the stray strand of blue hair out of his eyes. "There, is that better?"

James could only nod and he once again began to feel the urge for sleep trying to take him over. He yawned shamelessly and draped one arm over his stomach. I could get used to this, he thought, relaxing more against Jessie's lap. If only she could be this caring and civil more often.

Meowth smiled at the pair and hoped that this was going to be exactly what the two of them needed to realize things with each other and to stop denying it. The scratch cat sat down next to Jessie then leaned over to pat James on the shoulder. "Yer doin' all right der Jimmy boy. Just take it easy, you'll be better in no time."

James smirked. "I'm so hungry. I just wish I could have a doughnut," he responded with an overly dramatic fake sigh.

Jessie just rolled her eyes. "Gee, isn't that a surprise? James wants a doughnut."

Her partner just grinned then cracked his eyes open to look up at her. "Just rest, James," she smiled at him. "You'll be ok. I sent out Arbok and Lickitung to get some food. That walking weed of yours went out to find water and I don't know what's taking it so long since Meowth and I found a stream not too far from here."

"And I gots us a good fire goin' to keep us all warm and snuggly," Meowth interrupted, getting a stern look from Jessie for the baby talk. "Anyt'ing I can do for ya Jimmy?" he asked hoping to get away from the cold gaze of Jessie's.

"I am a bit parched, Meowth. Could you go find the black bag I brought with me? There should be a bottle of water inside unless it broke when I fell off that small cliff."

The feline nodded and walked off to find the bag, allowing the Pikachu James caught to take her place where Meowth was sitting. She nuzzled against James' arm until he strained his neck to look down at her. She gave a soft squeak of joy and bumped his arm again making him reach down and scratch her between the ears.

Jessie sighed watching them feeling a pang of jealousy. "I know you caught her for me, but I think she claimed you instead. I don't think she likes me very much anyway."

Hearing her, the Pikachu stopped nuzzling against James and bounded onto his stomach making him gasp sharply from the sudden weight on him. She then blinked her beady black eyes up at Jessie and cocked her head to the side. "Kachu?"

"I think she wants to make up for that, Jess," James said softly as he closed his eyes, which were starting to burn once again and the urge to sleep was trying to overtake him as well.

Still not sure on what to make of the Pikachu, Jessie just stared at it, no doubt mistrusting of any electric Pokemon thanks to the twerp and his yellow rat. At first she hesitated in touching it, but the gentle look on the Pikachu's face assured her she wasn't going to get zapped. Carefully reaching out, Jessie patted the Pikachu on the head and resisted the urge not to whack it one as payback for it jumping on her head earlier, which in turn caused her to kiss James in an undignified way.

Just thinking of that caused her cheeks to redden in a blush, but she wasn't quite sure as to why. Was she embarrassed that the Pikachu did what it did causing her to kiss James or was she embarrassed that he woke up? Or, perhaps she was just upset with herself for almost enjoying it? Jessie scowled and turned her attentions back to Meowth who was dragging the black bag behind him.

"Here ya go, Jimbo!" he cried happily and dropped the bag so he could climb inside and look for the bottle. Meowth soon emerged holding the unbroken bottle between his paws, smiling broadly. "Meowth! Looks like you're in luck. Ain't even got a scratch on it."

Jessie reached to take the bottle from the scratch cat and she twisted off the cap. She paused and turned the cap around between her fingers and a small smile tugged at her lips. "Here, James, I think this is one you don't have in your collection," she mentioned and placed the cap on James' nose.

He blinked his eyes open and removed the bottle cap and held it up to his eyes to examine it. "Hmmm…well, I certainly don't recall seeing this specimen before. Thank you, Jessie." He smiled at her, holding her gaze with his tired eyes and for some reason this caused her to blush all the more.

Quickly she diverted her attention back to the water bottle and passed it to him practically cramming it in his hand. "Drink this, you should feel better."

James didn't answer her. He kept looking at her, amazed at how quickly her mood changed and how caring and gentle she was actually being towards him. Most certainly he wasn't used to this kind of treatment from her let alone anyone else. He also couldn't recall a time where Jessie was so demure about anything like she was at the present.

He then spotted the rose he left behind in the hot air balloon that morning still tucked behind Jessie's left ear. It was his calling card letting her know he was leaving, but would soon return. Holding the bottle in one hand, James reached up and softly touched the rose. "I guess you do care, don't you?"

Before a severely blushing Jessie could answer, Meowth interjected, "Meowth, dat's right and she had it dere ever since she found it early in da morning when she noticed you was gone. If youse ask me I t'ink it must be lo…"

"Shut that big meowth of yours!" Jessie growled and socked the cat hard on the top of his head. "He doesn't want to hear your babbling."

"Oh, but I do!" James snickered, propping himself up on his elbows much to the protest of his aching body. Jessie just bit her lip and glared hard at Meowth making James smirk all the more. He shook his head and was just about to put the bottle of water to his lips to take a sip when the little Pikachu jumped off of him and arched her back while small sparks of electricity began to fly from her cheeks.

"James? What's it doing? What's wrong?"

She got her answer when a great rustling and crashing could be heard in the bushes behind them and whatever was making that noise sounded very large and in a big hurry. In an instant Jessie and James were clutching each other in a tight fear-hug, dreading what was approaching them.

The little camp was more or less defenseless at this point with nothing more than a young Pikachu to defend them since Meowth had no abilities other than Fury Swipe. James was too scared to reach for his Weezing and even if he wasn't afraid he was in no condition to send it into battle for a trainer needed to be in top mental as well as physical shape to win.

The crashing became louder and closer and the Rockets clutched each other tighter. James squeezed his eyes shut hoping that maybe this thing would just storm by them and give them no grief. He had enough for one day, but if things were to go badly at least he was going to be held securely in Jessie's arms no doubt to the bitter end.

To be continued…