A/N: Sorry for the delay, guys! I've been looking for a new job, and it's been eating up a lot of my time.

05/23/2016: Just realized I had a big continuity error...I forgot about Wobbuffet. :( He's in here now.

The Abra Jessie and James had left behind in the woods teleported into view, levitating in front of the rubble that used to be Team Rocket Headquarters.

"Wish you had shown up when we were inside the building…" Jessie dusted off her shoulders, her shirt marred by singe marks.

"But still good timing!" James put his hand to the Abra's head. "Can you take us back to Rock Tunnel?"

"So this is how you guys have been getting around!" Mondo shook his head. "I can't believe it. Giovanni had us all convinced that you were using cutting-edge technology to avoid detection."

Jessie put Mondo's hand on the Abra's back. "No. This is pretty much it." She then held on to the Abra's foot. "We're ready when you are, Abra!"

"Let's go!" Wobbuffet saluted the small psychic-type.

In a flash, the four landed in Rock Tunnel. The Abra winked out again, leaving them on their own. Their footsteps echoed through the cavern.

James put his hands in his pockets. "It's really quiet in here…do you think they're all still battling?"

A small voice called out from a distant corner. "Get a load a you two!"

"Meowth!" Jessie and James ran over to the source of the voice and hugged him, leaving Mondo behind.

James mussed up the fur on Meowth's head. "Geez, get a load of yourself." Meowth seemed smaller, scrawny, and James pulled back. "How long have you been awake? How is—?"

Wobbuffet picked up the cat in a tight hug.

"Nice to see you too." The cat sat down with a slight wince, a little out of breath. "A week or two. And, uh, I've been better, heh." He squinted at Jessie and James and gestured towards their disheveled state. "But what's all dis?"

"Headquarters blew up." Jessie crossed her arms and leaned back against the cavern wall. "Mondo's here too."

"Hi Meowth!" Mondo called, waving as he walked closer.

He waved a paw back in greeting. "So you stopped da boss? Da t'ree a ya? Wow."

"Ehh, not exactly," James mumbled.

"Whaddya mean, 'not exactly'"?

"He…" James took a deep breath and spat out the rest of the words. "He, uh, he escaped and left us for dead."

"Got away scot-free…" Jessie leaned forward and flipped through a notebook that was flipped open next to Meowth. Each page was filled with hundreds of slash-like symbols. "What's this?"

Meowth grinned. "Dat...dat is somet'ing I've been working on." He picked up the notebook. "Check it out. An alphabet for Pokemon. It's hard for us ta write da human letters, ya know."

James put his finger to the markings. "You did all this? While, you know—"

"Good distraction. It's not like I had anyt'ing else ta do." Meowth leaned back, arms behind his head. "The Ketchum lady—Delia—was nice an' all, but it's nice ta be outta dat bed. I actually just got here about an hour ago. We drove here through Cerulean, very scenic."

"So you didn't see the battle, either." James looked back towards Rock Tunnel's entrance.

"What battle? Is dat where everybody is?"

Jessie nodded. "Almost everybody. Ash and Pikachu are on a special mission in Cerulean."

"Cerulean! I was just there! Woulda been nice if someone had dropped off my walkie-talkies in Pallet." Meowth drummed his paws against a rock. "So are ya gonna get Giovanni? I gotsa score to settle wit him."

"Of course we will." James rubbed his chin, eyes closed in thought.

One corner of Jessie's mouth turned upwards in a half-smile. "Are we known for giving up?"

Mondo raised his hand as if he was asking a question in a classroom. "Sorry to interrupt, but…the man literally gets away with murder. All the time. What makes you think you can find him?"

Meowth shrugged. "I dunno. Where would an ex-mega-crime boss hide out?"

Eyes widened in realization, Jessie and James turned to each other and answered in unison: "Cinnabar Island."

"Well, let's go then. No point in losing momentum." Jessie stretched. "I just want to grab a few things."

"You guys really don't stop, do you? We just got blown up!" Mondo shook his head and raised his hands in desperation. "Can we at least get the night off?"

"You don't have to go if you don't want to." James clapped Mondo on the back.

"I kind of do want to go..."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Jessie stood before them, carrying a backpack and duffel bag. She started heading out of the cave, her mutters echoing, "Where is that Abra…"

The three humans and Wobbuffet began to walk towards the entrance of Rock Tunnel, but Meowth lingered. He struggled standing up.

As the Abra appeared before him, James stopped and called back into the cave. "Meowth, are you sure you're up for this?"

"Absolutely." Meowth broke into a slow, unsteady jog to catch up.

Would this—heaviness—ever leave? Ever since he had woken up in the Ketchum home, he had felt as if gravity had decided to be particularly cruel to him. Even breathing required more effort.

What would have happened if he had never answered Pikachu's call? Or, if he had just said, "No"? Or, if he had walked out at any point before the boss had cornered him?

Why, he'd still be on Cinnabar.

But he'd be on Cinnabar, and other Pokemon would still be harvested, and well, they wouldn't have survived. He survived. His life—these very thoughts—were the result of a freak accident instigated by a decades-old rivalry. Luck. Chance. The same luck that saved him from being tossed aside a long time ago. So when an overpowered mouse had called, he had been able to answer.

Would he have done everything again? Absolutely.

/

"What do you mean, you 'can't get it started again'?" Giovanni sat up, swinging his legs off of an antique desk carved with decorative figures of Arcanine and Ninetales. "Fix it!"

The voice on the other end of the telephone came out garbled. Giovanni frowned and responded, "Yes, I know what the starter is. Find another starter. A Pidgey or something."

A long winded explanation met his ears. Giovanni hunched over. "The backups are gone too? And you're saying you can't make a new starter without power! Well, my electricity's working." His lips pressed together into a thin line. "More than what's already on the grid? Yes, the nuclear plants are really shut down." He sighed. "I see your dilemma."

He stood up to face a window with a tattered curtain. "Put together a team of top men to figure this out. Top men. Figure it out. Now."

Giovanni clicked the outdated phone off. The old Cinnabarian mansion, deserted for decades, smelled musty with a hint of smoke. Next to the window, a paw print—Mewtwo's—marked the wall. Giovanni sat back down in the plush executive chair, holding his trembling hands out. Persian rubbed against his legs, and Giovanni reached to scratch the white cat under its chin. "Riots could start any minute now, Persian. My. Head. Will. Roll."

A crashing thump interrupted his thoughts, and familiar voices followed.

"Prepare for trouble—"

Giovanni turned around. Jessie and James stood back-to-back, a cloud of dust and ash behind them. Mondo posed awkwardly beside them. "You two! And Mondo? And your Wobbuffet? How did you—"

Meowth walked forward with hesitating steps. "We came t'rough dat hole in da ceiling."

"And you!"

"In da flesh."

Giovanni laughed. "I have to say I'm surprised. You ran out of your nine lives a long time ago, Meowth."

"What can I say. Here I am." He coughed out the last word.

Giovanni glared, examining Meowth head-to-toe. "You've seen better days."

"No thanks to you." Jessie spat. She pulled out a pair of handcuffs, and the metal shone in the dim light.

James took the handcuffs from Jessie and grabbed Giovanni by the wrist. "We're overthrowing you." He paused. "Again."

With his free hand, Giovanni put his hand on a pistol attached to his belt. "Watch it."

"No…no, you watch it." Mondo aimed a pistol straight at Giovanni's head.

"Persian!"

Mondo looked at the Pokemon, who was ready to pounce. "You move, and I shoot."

"No Offers Jenny are around to arrest you, so we'll have to make do." James wrestled Giovanni's free hand downwards and secured his wrists in the cuffs.

Mewoth's brows furrowed as he stared Giovanni in the eye. "So what's da—"

Everyone's heads turned as the heavy, ornate door to Giovanni's hideout slammed open. Light poured into the room around a small silhouette.

"Oh. The door's lighter than it looks." Pikachu entered, her steps slow but methodical. Lightbulbs brightened and then burned out as she passed them, one-by-one. Ash followed behind her.

At the sight of Meowth, her eyes widened, and her pace quickened. She bounded upon him in a hug.

"It's good ta see ya, too." His hair stood on end from static. He patted her back. "Why are ya here?'

She pulled away and narrowed her eyes. "I found something out."

"The twerps always interrupt us at our best moments." Jessie sighed and shrugged. "Do what you need to do, Pikachu."

She nodded. "You knew what was in there. They all knew. And no one stopped it. No one thought of a better way."

"I don't understand—" Giovanni yanked his cuffed hands away from James. "—a word she's saying."

Pikachu nodded at Meowth.

"She's sayin', 'You knew what was in dere. Dey all knew. No one t'ought of a better way.'" Meowth's head gave a slight tilt, and he turned back to Pikachu. "What was in where?"

"You know how the bioenergy fuels infinity energy."

"I know dat intimately well, Pikachu."

"Do you—did you…was there anyone with you when you were in the machine?"

"I believe Gary Oak was dere. He's da one who got me out, right?"

"No, no. When you were in—" She emphasized the word. "—the machine. Was there another Pokemon with you…another Pokemon's energy?"

"I don't remember anyt'ing. I was blacked out."

"Outside of Cerulean City, at the main facility…there was a…place…that transformed the bioenergy into electricity. It had, like, a bioenergy 'key.' And it was the energy of a Pokemon. And it had been there since—since infinity energy started. I could tell. It had been there for a long time. I don't think it was aware…but, it was in pain."

A silence fell over the room.

Giovanni broke it. "I assume she's told you about the 'starter.' You don't understand—"

"I think you're the one who doesn't understand." Pikachu climbed on the desk and inched closer to Giovanni. "It could feel. And it was hurting. For years…decades, even. I don't even know what it was, just that it was another Pokemon. Alive. How could anything make that 'understandable'?"

Meowth continued translating. His voice overlapped with hers.

"It was for the greater good. It always has been." Giovanni stood motionless, unblinking.

"Greater good? For who? It was good for you. It gave Team Rocket lots of money. It gave you lots of power. But it wasn't good for everybody." Pikachu scratched her head. "And it's not like there weren't any alternatives."

"Infinity energy is the most efficient—"

James leaned in towards Jessie and gave a quick aside: "A little inefficiency isn't the worst thing in the world…we know that pretty well."

"It was one where you could control the supply. The sun? Water? Wind? You can't control that. But you could steal Pokemon, and you could do it well."

The door slammed open again.

"Hey, this door is really light." Wartortle paused for a second, then nodded at Pikachu. "Thought you could use some help." He stepped aside to reveal a mob—a familiar mob. It was a group from Rock Tunnel.

"Persian! Defend me!"

"Don't move, Persian." Mondo kept his gun pointed at Giovanni. Glowering at Mondo, Persian slinked away.

Giovanni muttered under his breath, "Worthless piece of…" He looked Pikachu in the eye. "So kill me. Get it over with."

A lightning bolt struck centimeters away from his hair. "For everything, dying's too easy." Pikachu sighed and addressed James: "Let him go."

She turned her back to Giovanni. "Just know that wherever you go, you're an enemy of Pokemon."

Meowth repeated these words, and James let go of Giovanni's arms.

Giovanni ran towards the door, eyes widened and legs wobbling.

Pikachu closed her eyes and sat down on the floor.