Greetings! You have my deepest apologies for the tardiness of this chapter. I started working on it in December, but since then so many interesting turns of events have taken place in my life. They all ended up including the holidays, a sick cat, me finding feelings for a close friend of mine, dealing with the dentist to currently dealing with my friend's illness and his family dramas. Hopefully the next chapter won't take so long to get out. I'm not 100 happy with this chapter, I think it got a bit too dorky, but from what I was told it is cute and necessary for character development. I hope you enjoy it and as always I look forward to your reviews and comments.

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The rustling became louder and closer and as quickly as it started it suddenly stopped. An eerie calm filled the air making the situation all the more tense. The Rockets still clutched each other in fear, eyes shut tight, just waiting for the pending attack, but none came. No smashing of hooves or biting of teeth or piercing of horns. Instead a triumphant and familiar sounding "Charrrbokaaaa!" greeted them.

Jessie blinked open her eyes and saw a pleased looking Arbok about ten feet away from her, grinning a broad and pointed toothed grin. Jessie, however, was not happy. In a flash she was on her feet and in front of the purple snake. Poor James, on the other hand, was left grasping thin air for a brief second before he fell over backwards from Jessie's sudden absence.

"How dare you!" She growled then pulled a large mallet out of thin air and began to beat the hapless creature into the ground. "Here we are thinking some kind of vicious beast is coming to tear us limb from limb and it's only you being stupid? I'll teach you to almost give me a heart attack!"

James sat up and casually brushed himself off trying to divert his attentions from Jessie's tantrum. However, he managed to notice something wrapped tightly in the purple snake's coils. It appeared to be a brownish picnic basket of some kind no doubt filled with the food Arbok was told to go and find. It was unfortunate that Jessie in all her anger overlooked the item otherwise she might not be trying to make the poor Pokemon a permanent part of the terra firma.

"I wonder what could be inside of that basket?" James questioned, giving Meowth a nudge to show him the container he spotted still clutched by Arbok.

"Probably pound cake," Meowth replied dryly with a shrug.

After a few more whacks on Arbok to make sure the creature knew its outburst was not appreciated, Jessie paused to catch her breath. However, a second rustling could now be heard approaching, all though not as wild and frightening as before. This time Jessie was ready for whatever it could be and she clutched her mallet tightly awaiting the invader.

A chubby pink face cautiously appeared in the bushes and it blinked its black eyes scanning the scene. "Liiiii?" It nervously asked while stepping from the bushes and politely holding up a very large paper bag that smelled wonderfully like food to Jessie. Black eyes blinking in uncertainty if what it stole was going to be good enough for Jessie or if a mallet whacking was going to be its fate as well.

Seeing the innocent obedience and submission her Pokmon had, Jessie's sour tantrum dissolved quickly and a sappy grin took over her face. "Now dats a good widdle pwecious coming in wike a good widdle baby. Let's see what my sweet widdle Wickitung bwought, shall we?" Jessie beamed as she set down her mallet and took the bag from Lickitung.

James groaned at Jessie's disgusting baby talk to the pink creature. She went off about Meowth talking in such a manner, but here she was going on like that herself. He shrugged then put his water bottle to his mouth to take a drink and just about choked on it when he heard Jessie loudly squeal with sheer delight over the contents she discovered in the bag.

"Egg rolls!" she cried and held up a medium sized white box full of the fabulous smelling appetizers. They were still warm and smelled wonderful indicating they had to be freshly made. Jessie ignored the urgent hungry growl her stomach gave and continued to riffle through the bag and pulled out four large containers of which were crammed with noodles and rice respectively. She placed them on the ground then brought out a flat black container that made her wrinkle her nose in distaste.

"Ugh, sushi. Meowth, you can have this one," she mumbled while pinching her nose with her free hand and passing the container to the cat-type Pokemon who gleefully took it from her.

"T'anks, Jess, yer too kind!" he exclaimed while making his way back to James and the Pikachu, possessively clutching his prize.

Jessie then pulled out two thermos-like items that contained hot tea. Their lids were molded into cups for easy service. "Geez, Lickitung, did you rob a carry-out delivery guy or something?"

The chubby pink creature broke out into a light sweat as it watched Jessie pull out some wooden chopsticks wrapped in bright red paper that had the words 'Wong Way's Eatery' written on it proving that the Pokemon did indeed steal it from a delivery person. Lickitung became worried Jessie would become upset with what it had done and was going to bash it with a mallet like poor Arbok, but instead it found itself in a tight hug.

"You did so wonderful! It's no wonder a perfect girl like me would have such a perfect Pokemon like you! You brought our favorite food and it's still warm and…" she broke off as she noticed the dejected look her Arbok had as it still lay on the ground where Jessie had pulverized it for scaring her and James with its unexpected stampede through their camp site.

The female Rocket frowned and made her way over to the huge purple snake. Trying not to seem as if she had a change of heart for bashing it, she asked sternly, "And what did you decide was worth stealing and rampaging back here like a fool for?" Jessie snarled and roughly yanked the picnic basket out of the snake's coils and peeked within.

James craned his neck with interest as the fantastic smells that came from the bag Lickitung had brought wafted over to him making his stomach growl loudly. Now with another food basket about to be examined James wasn't sure how much longer he could hold himself back from lunging at the food and gorging himself. "What is it, Jess?" he asked curiously, seeing his partner just froze in place still staring inside the basket.

Moments later she turned his way, her blue eyes wide and sparkling. "Oh, James! Look!" She pulled out a large chocolate cake and held it up for him to see. "Someone's not going to have a happy birthday now are they?" She wickedly laughed, setting the cake next to the basket so she could see what else was inside.

In one corner was a plastic bag containing four shiny apples and four bottles of water. On the other side of the basket were about a dozen rice balls wrapped in a checkered cloth and a small packet containing various flavors of hard candies. "Wow, we really hit the jackpot on this!"

Jessie turned to Arbok and clutched the Pokemon into a tight hug. "I'm so sorry I beat on you like that, but you acted like a stampeding herd of Tauros so what was a girl supposed to do, hmm?" Jessie then patted the snake affectionately on the head and kissed the tip of its nose. "You and Lickitung are such good little thieves and it's no wonder since you have such a wonderful teacher like myself to guide you."

James just groaned and rolled his eyes as he pushed himself into a seated position and waited to get permission to get the food and dig in. By past experience he knew Jessie had to serve herself first before James could even start, but he was in no hurry, he just was thankful they finally were going to eat something decent for a change. Suddenly Jessie appeared in front of him, her hands placed firmly on her hips. "Speaking of thieves, where is that walking weed of yours, James?"

"How should I know, Jess? You were the one that sent it out on a mission, not me. I'm even surprised it listened to you in the first place without trying to chomp your head."

Jessie scowled at him then walked back to the bag of food Lickitung had stole. She repacked the food back into it, grabbed the picnic basket full of desserts then plopped down on the ground next to her partner. Wanting things to be neat and perfect as usual, Jessie began to arrange the food items in front of her and James so they could take in the sight of such a great meal before devouring it.

Scanning over the dishes, Jessie noticed they had more than enough egg rolls than they needed so she tossed some to her two Pokemon and one to the Pikachu who sniffed at the strange thing curiously before nibbling at it. Much to James' surprise, when she was done with that she actually passed the egg rolls to him and told him to help himself. Stunned, James blinked at her sudden act of unselfishness.

"Well, come on, dig in!" she cried and gave his shoulder a playful slap. He beamed at her and helped himself to one of the egg rolls then began to scoop rice into a bowl as well as some noodles. As James continued to prepare his ill-gotten dinner, Jessie called her two Pokemon back into their Pokeballs so they could get the much-needed rest they deserved for their heist.

Meowth on the other hand contentedly worked on the sushi he had while the Pikachu still nibbled on the egg roll Jessie tossed to her. The scratch cat watched the electric mouse and grinned to himself, pleased that James was able to capture and befriend the small creature on his own. If Jessie weren't impressed with that action by her partner then nothing on the planet would ever please her.

The cat then looked over to his two human partners and grinned again seeing how close they were sitting and how fondly James kept looking over at Jessie. Maybe dis was a good t'ing, the Pokemon thought to himself. If James didn't leave to find the Pikachu and if he didn't get harmed in the process, Meowth figured Jessie would still be her old crabby self and they'd still be arguing about stupid things. Sometimes bad things bring people closer together and this was almost beginning to be proof of that.

The trio of Rockets and one Pikachu continued their banquet for a little over an hour. The food was certainly not going to waste with this hungry bunch. With this feast came good manners and eliminated any previous negative feelings. Meowth also took it upon himself to make sure that all the used plates and chopsticks were stored neatly inside of the empty bag so as not to attract the attention of any wild Pokemon that might smell the small feast that had just taken place.

James thought he would never have enough of the food and he literally gorged himself leaving just enough room for the cake and rice balls for dessert. Now being completely stuffed and content he lay on his back, head resting once more on Jessie's lap, picking his teeth with the sharp broken end of a chopstick. He couldn't think of another time where he felt completely satiated like he was now. The aches in his body seemed to have disappeared for the moment and the drowsy feeing he had now was no doubt from having a full stomach, not lingering effects of the Sleep Powder.

Jessie was still nursing a bowl of rice, but she was starting to slow down from the feast she and her partner shared. She didn't eat as much as he did, but was beginning to reach her limits. Meowth was lying curled up near the fire with the little Pikachu at his side. She was still clutching the apple core she munched on earlier as if it were too good to let go. The other Pokemon were resting in their Pokeballs leaving Jessie and James pretty much alone to relax.

At length, Jessie finished her rice and set the empty bowl down with the rest of the empty containers. She then glanced down at her partner and brushed the stray strand of hair out of his face. "Feeling better now?" she asked him softly while still stroking back his blue hair.

James nodded and held the broken chopstick between his teeth and gave her a crooked grin. "This was the best, Jessie. I could really get used to times like this."

She frowned a little knowing that as wonderful as that sounded they both knew it couldn't happen as much as they would like with the lives they lead. Following the twerps around was bad enough as was getting blasted off constantly by his yellow rat. They had to pick and choose their campsites carefully so they wouldn't be discovered and half the time what little money they earned ended up being wasted on some dumb plot to capture Pikachu.

Even now, as nice as this was, Jessie knew that in the morning they'd have to head back to their hot-air balloon and hunt down the twerp again. That is if James were feeling better anyway. She wasn't about to force him back through the woods if he couldn't keep up without being in pain in the rear. "Just try not to get too used to it, ok? You know we have a job to do and if you're up to it we're going to have to head back to the balloon in the morning."

James swallowed hard and removed the chopstick from his teeth, flicking it off to the side as he pushed himself up to a seated position. He knew this was going to come up and he knew now was probably a rotten time to mention his plans for departing Team Rocket, but he couldn't let her believe that he was going back to Headquarters with her. "Jessie, I have something I need to tell you," he began, guilt suddenly gripping him and making his stomach clench.

Jessie's smile slowly disappeared as she saw the look on his face and tone in his voice. Worry began to fill her as she sensed what he had to say wasn't going to be something pleasant in the least. "What is it, James?" she asked, a slight hint of irritation in her voice.

Her partner opened his mouth to answer, but instead he just gaped, looking over her shoulder. "What's wrong?" she nervously asked, but never got an answer from him. Instead a high pitched scream came from behind and Jessie knew immediately what it was and scurried to get out of the way as James' Vicktreebell bounded into the camp and attempted to pounce on James' head.

"Knock it off! Leave me alone!" he cried and scrambled to get out of the way. Luck was on his side as he cleared the huge plant, but the Vicktreebell was not known for its grace and fell over onto its front, gallons of water pouring out of its bell-like mouth and all over the fire quickly extinguishing it.

"Meowth! Hey, what was dat for? What did ever I do to ya?" Meowth screeched while leaping out of the way of the tidal wave of water. After he landed on drier ground, Meowth pounced and gave the plant a Fury Swipe for putting out the fire he worked so hard to get started.

"Piiiiiiikaaaaa!" was all the small Pikachu was able to cry as the water swept over her in its unexpected torrent. She wasn't able to react as fast as Meowth and ended up becoming a soggy victim to the wave.

"James, call that stupid thing back now!" Jessie angrily yelled.

Hurridly James reached on his belt for the correct Pokeball, but it wasn't there nor was it in his pocket. At first he thought he lost the ball in his series of mishaps leading up to this point, but he suddenly remembered something. Giving Jessie an annoyed look he said flatly, "You called it out, remember? You have the ball. You call it back."

Jessie opened her mouth to object, but a blush reddened her cheeks instead as she realized she did indeed have the Pokeball in question. Not losing her composure showing she did make a mistake, she pulled out the ball and demanded the plant to return. "Stupid thing," Jessie grumbled. "It did a lot of good getting water didn't it?"

"Oh, it got water all right," the scratch cat growled with disgust. "Unfortunately it got it in da wrong place. Now I gotta get another fire started so's we can dry off!"

James looked over to Meowth who was angrily fussing over the drenched fire, his tan fur standing on end. Then he noticed the little Pikachu trying to shake off the water that managed to drench her in the flash flood brought on by Vicktreebell. He then looked at Jessie who was tightly clutching the Pokeball, fear, frustration and relief all registered on her face.

At this point James couldn't help but snicker. First it started off as a snort, but then grew louder much to Jessie's dismay. "I don't see what is so funny about having an idiot for a Pokemon, but then again, look at its trainer." She smirked, tossing him the ball.

James caught the Pokeball then pulled his lower eye-lid down and stuck his tongue out at her. "Yeah, but at least my idiot doesn't get a beating from me for doing what it was told to do."

"Only because you're too much of a wimp to do anything about it," she retorted with a wink.

"I may be a wimp," he pouted while putting the Pokeball back onto his belt. "But at least I know when to enjoy a peaceful moment instead of making chaos out of it."

Jessie just rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, you really brought peace into my life this morning by disappearing like you did." She then brought out a paper fan and whacked him upside the head with it. "Honestly, James, you're going to give me a nervous break down."

"Better than gray hairs, I suppose," he coolly replied trying to hide his smile.

"Ugh! Don't you ever use the word gray and MY hair in the same sentence!" Jessie wailed and once again twapped him in the head with the paper fan. "I'm too young and gorgeous to look like some old Zubat with gray hair."

James just smiled tenderly at her. She was gorgeous, but he could never bring himself to admit something like that on his own to her. Half the time when he did agree with her about her looks it was out of fear for his life. The other half of the time was just in dumbfounded agreement to which she hardly paid any attention.

Putting away the paper fan, Jessie plopped down on the ground next to her partner and smacked his shoulder. "Besides," she continued, "You're the one that'll end up bald anyway and at least I can always cover up the gray. Bald is just, well, bald."

James cringed and ran a gloved hand through his blue hair almost as if checking to make sure he wasn't all ready starting to lose the locks. "Jessie, would you still want to be my partner if I did lose all my hair?" he softly asked before flinching at what he just asked realizing he was the one that was planning on leaving Team Rocket, gray hair or not.

"That's a stupid thing to ask!" Jessie exclaimed and slugged him on the arm again, this time a little harder than before causing him to wince. "I swear, James, you say the dumbest things sometimes. I'm starting to wonder if those shocks and sleep powder attacks didn't mess up your brain more than it all ready was."

Her partner said nothing, but instead nodded and pulled his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them while resting his chin on his knees. His head was starting to hurt again and his green eyes were burning, begging for him to shut them, but he fought that urge. He figured this might be the last night he'd spend with Jessie as a member of Team Rocket and he didn't want it to end so soon.

Jessie sighed and glanced over at him. He looked so dejected and she knew she shouldn't be so snappish at him, but he just acts so dumb! Scooting closer to him, Jessie's mood suddenly changed and her features softened slightly. "Can I get you anything? Maybe send Arbok out to find more food or something?"

James shook his head with a sigh. "No, I'm fine, I just wish Meowth would hurry up and get that fire going again. I'm starting to get a little chilled."

The scratch cat heard him and quickly turned around, his upper lip curled in a sneer. "Hey, if it weren't for dat stupid weed of yers dis fire woulda had been roarin' and warm right now. So's don't go blamin' dis on me, Jimbo!"

Meowth then sat back on his rump and began to smooth his tan fun while muttering under his breath that he never gets any appreciation for all he does and when something goes wrong it's always his fault. Seeing he was upset, the little Pikachu bounded to him and patted Meowth's tail causing the scratch cat to smile at her. "T'anks, yer da only one dat seems to have any compassion in dis outfit."

Hearing him, Jessie snapped her head in his direction and glared at him. "Oh, you're appreciated all right you fur ball! It's just when you start whining that no one wants to hear about it! So, knock it off all ready because it's getting old."

Meowth glared at her. "Oh yeah? Well, why don't ya just knock off da phony act of pity and tell Jimbo how upset ya really was when ya found out he was gone and might not be comin' back?"

Jessie's features changed once more and the reaction caused James to instinctively cringe to keep his head attached to his shoulders. He knew the look Jessie had on her face quite well and she was a literal ticking time bomb in this fashion and he wasn't about to be the one she blew up on.

The tall red-haired girl was instantly on her feet, gloved hands clenched tightly at her side. The sudden movement caused James to tip over and fall onto his side as he was leaning quite contentedly against Jessie just a few seconds earlier. However, James kept his mouth shut and his eyes closed knowing full well that any utterance or eye contact at this point would mean a big blow up on him instead and he did not want that in the least bit.

"What did you say, fur ball?" Jessie angrily growled, taking a challenging step forward towards Meowth.

The cat-like Pokemon just shrugged, keeping focus on his grooming. "I said ya outta just knock off actin' like none of dis drama's buggin' ya. Youse two are makin' me sick all ready with the entire t'ing. James is so scared of ya and won't admit how he feels for fear of getting dat head of his bashed in. If youse ask me yer both a bit loony and are a poifect match fer each other."

Jessie stepped closer to the preening Pokemon while James turned his head to watch and wait for the flare-up he knew was going to happen. He bit his lower lip to prevent himself from shouting out something to distract Jessie for fear of her building ire being turned against him. He knew the peaceful evening they began to have was quickly coming to a close no thanks to Meowth.

Trying to keep from being noticed, James timidly reached out and grabbed the black bag he had brought with him on his little adventure and draped it around his shoulders knowing that was the only way he was going to keep warm until the fire was up and burning again. He then turned his back fully on the pending argument in hopes that he wouldn't get dragged into it.

"Speaking of perfect matches," Jessie began as she took another step closer to Meowth. "How about you meet the bottom of my fist? I'm sure it'll fit just nicely against your skull!"

"Meowth! Don't ya come any closer!" he cried, jumping to his feet, baring his claws. "Nuttin' is woise den a wet cat ya know!"

"Yeah, well nothing is worse than an angry red-head!" Jessie retorted as she pulled out a frying pan out of nowhere and whacked the cat in the head with it.

"Me-ouch! Hey, dat was uncalled for ya big bully. Ya keep dat abuse up and I'll be forced ta show da boss pictures I got of James and ya spendin' da company money ta buy snacks wit' instead of putting it towards capturin' dat twerp's Pikachu!"

Realizing what he said, Meowth clamped his paws over his mouth hoping that Jessie didn't hear him, but by the fire burning in her blue eyes he knew otherwise. "What was that, Meowth?" she demanded.

"Uhhhh…nuttin' Jessie, just a slip of da tounge dats all. I ain't gots no pictures. Heck, when was I even able to buy a camera? I can't even use one of dose t'ings. I mean, look at my hands here, I ain't got opposable thumbs ya know!"

"You don't need a thumb to operate a camera you idiot! Now, give me those pictures!" she cried and lunged at the cat who skillfully jumped out of the way. "Hold still and get the pounding that's coming to you!"

Meowth knew he had to get out of her reach and fast. He was going to pay severely for his mistake and outrunning her was the only option he had presented to him at the moment. As he hesitated trying to think of an escape he saw Jessie raising the pan once again for another pounding on his head. Not giving her that chance, Meowth ran between her legs and into the woods leaving her shrieking behind him.

He knew it wasn't going to be long until she followed and he was exactly right for a split second later he could her the sticks and leaves rustling behind him as the female member of Team Rocket pursued him. Meowth knew he could outrun her and hide all night if need be, he just hoped that Jessie would be calmed down when he would return.

James, on the other hand, just sighed and clutched his knees closer to his chest trying to keep warm. Fortunately for him, Meowth did manage to get a small fire started before his little argument with Jessie. This could have been a very peaceful night if left alone, but as usual something had to ruin it. For now, James just closed his eyes and enjoyed his solitude knowing that it wasn't going to last.

To be continued…