It has been nearly two months since Jessie and James and Grace had succeeded in capturing a few dozen pokemon for the boss. Victory had been sweet for them. Giovanni was very glad that they had finally done a good job. They were just so ecstatic that one of their plans finally came through for them. However, it had been nearly two months and the hype surrounding their victory had slowly dissipated.

Meanwhile I was in Kauai with had been friends for almost 13 years now. I had been working at Ala Mona Center. I was also expecting my second child too. I also had a 2 year old son named Pepper.

Meanwhile

We can't keep loosing Jessie," James whined, "what are we going to do? We messed up too many times already—he's getting impatient with us."

"Don't you think I know that!" Jessie said downright irritated. She was about to smack him when her exhaustion got the best of her as she collapsed on the ground.

James had flinched, attempting to guard his head from her blow. But when no pain came to him, he looked up slowly.

They had been working themselves exceedingly hard for the past three weeks, not wanting to come back to Team Rocket Headquarters without getting more pokmon. They weren't even going to go after Ash's pikachu, seeing how they always fail; but when encountering them on the road, they thought they might try their luck.

Jessie sat staring into space. What are we going to do? The boss is getting more than impatient with us. I want to feel the pride of success again. I want to win. I want the boss to treat us like his best again. Butch and Cassidy looked so jealous then. She smiled but only for a second.

"Jessie, are you alright?" James asked.

She looked up at him with his torn uniform, dirty face and messy hair. She frowned. Failure was written all over him. They were failures.

"Jessie?"

"Maybe she got a headache,"Grace said.

She got up and dusted herself off. "We've got to go back to Team Rocket Headquarters."

"But the boss!" James said fearfully.

"We're a mess!" she yelled. "If I had a mirror right now, I'd be so angry!" She looked over at Meowth then back at James. They looked pitiful and she knew that she indeed looked as pathetic as her partners did. With a more dejected voice she said: "Let's get going…we need to get cleaned up, think up some more plans, and get more equipment."

"And food!" exclaimed James. He wasn't happy about having to see the boss but at least they would get a warm meal and that always made him happy. It seemed to put a smile on Grace face. Jessie smiled at them. James giggled, glad that she wasn't annoyed with his silly remark. Little did he know she was just too worried about what the boss would do to care about something so trifling.

They arrived at Team Rocket Headquarters at night. A few teams were reporting back at the same time, hurt and dirty from battles as well. Non had captured any pokémon and all were dejected and worried about the boss's disappointment. Jessie, James, and Meowth were surprised by this change of events. Usually they were the only ones to report back with their stories of failure, now other teams that were used to doing well were beaten badly and looking pitiful.

"Eww! Maybe the boss won't be so angry with us after all!" James cheered.

"Yeah," said Meowth, "maybe he'll be too concerned with everybody else's failure to care about us."

"You idiots!" Jessie stormed, "he'll be ten times as angry knowing that even his most successful teams have failed him!"

They went to their apartment and got themselves cleaned up. It was dinnertime and they ate profoundly. Traveling around with canned foods can really make one really hunger for piping hot food.

Graces also went home to see her husband and four kids.

The phone rang, while they were about to go to bed. They all looked up at the videophone in utter dread. They knew they were in hot water. James backed away next to Meowth who was behind his bed. Jessie sighed then answered it. Butch's face appeared on the screen. He told them that the boss wants to see them.

Grace also answered after her kids were in bed for the night.

What for?" asked Jessie. She knew why but the smug sound in Butch's voice piqued her.

"He's talking to all the teams that failed and you're next," Butch said, "so don't dawdle! The boss hates to wait!" He hung up the phone abruptly. "Well duh," she said dryly.

After changing back into their uniforms, they went to Giovanni's office. Inside, James treaded a little way behind Jessie as they walked in, while Grace strode completely behind him.

Why must I be in front? Why can't I hide? Jessie hated being the one to get the brunt of Giovanni's anger. She wished for once that James would have a backbone and protect her from the boss's fury.

Giovanni was petting his persian, who was rubbing up against his leg. "So you two have not captured any pokémon…and have been gone so long," he began in a severe tone. "I wonder why that is. One would think that after being gone for such a long time that you'd at least bring me back something. But…then again you have been known for such failure time and time again."

"We've been working very hard," Jessie tried to explain. "Ash and his pikachu are too strong for us." She knew it was a pathetic excuse but she needed to defend them or at least get some sympathy.

"I don't see how a little boy and his yellow rat can be so difficult to deal with!" Giovanni yelled as he glared at her irately.

She shrank back with fear. James and Meowth cringed. Oh, Jess, you shouldn't have said anything—let him yell at us but don't make him more angry with you. "P-p-perhaps if we get better equipment m-m-maybe we could succeed," James dared to say in attempts to take the attention off of Jessie. She looked at him, surprised by her partner's nerve.

Giovanni stared at James with a concentrated seriousness. He stayed that way for more than what was conformably acceptable. James tried to turn away but the severity of Giovanni's glare froze him.

Giovanni finally altered his gaze. He rubbed his chin with consideration, then said: "you have seen the other teams…they have all come back in failure. And my most worthy teams have been infiltrated and unable to succeed in their missions. Someone is giving away our secrets and stopping our attempts to capture rare pokemon …among other things." He glared at them for a moment.