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Double Trouble 4: Mew Returns
A Mew Mission
Giovanni sat in his chair, summing up the four agents, and one pokémon, he was in council with; namely Butch, Cassidy, Jessie, James, and Meowth. He hummed, considering his words, then finally spoke. "Jessie, James, Meowth, your mission with Mondo was executed well, but one well-executed mission does not a success make." The three winced. "Jessie, do you know why I have tolerated your team's past failures time and time again?" Giovanni soon asked. She was silent. It was a rhetorical question and she wasn't to answer. "It's because your mother was one of the greatest operatives to have ever graced Team Rocket's ranks. I suspect that you have that potential somewhere in you too, but the more you let me down the less likely that appears to be."
"Yes boss," she muttered, wincing at the mention of her mother. James frowned at Giovanni but said nothing. He was no fool. At least not that much of one.
"And you, Cassidy. The only reason I keep you here is because your team's success rate, by some miracle I can't fathom, is surprisingly high," Giovanni said.
"Yes boss," Cassidy grumbled, glaring down at the floor.
"Now…" he began, settling back in his seat. "Some time ago I proposed a mission to Attila and Hun. Due to their ordeal with Team Plasma, however, they're still in the recovery phase. They declined the task, or rather declined to handle it alone. However, as per Hun's suggestion—because I respect your superior's opinions very much—I've decided to give you all the chance to take the opportunity to redeem yourselves."
"Hun's suggestion?" Butch, Cassidy, Jessie, and Meowth asked all together in confusion. The four of them, and James, exchanged looks before snapping back to attention, saluting. "Yes boss!" they all said together. At least they weren't about to be fired or burned. Or they hoped they weren't.
"Good. Attila and Hun returned from the Black Hills with reports of a mew sighting in that location. Perhaps the mew that your mother, Jessie, was pursuing before she… Suffice it to say, I want Team Rocket on this immediately," Giovanni said.
"We won't let you down, boss," Jessie and James said together, saluting again.
"Afraid you will, Jessie dear. Branden and I have this in the bag," Cassidy replied.
"It's Butch!" Butch yelled furiously. "How is it even possible to get Branden out of Butch?"
"Be glad she didn't use anudda word usually applied to female canines," Meowth said.
"Raticate!" Raticate exclaimed furiously, lunging at Meowth in defense of Butch.
Meowth scowled, dropping into a fighting position and protruding his claws. "Bring it on!" he challenged.
"Enough!" Giovanni yelled. "This is not a competition."
"What do you mean not a competition? If you're sending two teams after the same prize…" James began.
"I'm sending one team after one prize," Giovanni said, smirking slyly.
"Now who's lost it? We can't… Oh no…" Butch said, eyes widening in realization as he paled. There was the briefest of pauses. The next second, they had all fallen to their knees begging and pleading for their boss not to punish them like this.
Giovanni was frankly surprised at all the alternatives they were willing to suffer before being stuck together; torture, solitary, suspension, getting fired, being held up to ridicule and shame and humiliation, being burned, and that was just to start. He looked coldly between the two pleading teams. Shaking his head and sighing, he face-palmed, feeling his stress levels skyrocketing. Some days... "Just take the pokémon you have stored here and go!"
Jessie and James immediately lit up. "Really?!" they asked in hope, eyes sparkling.
"Yes, go! Don't let me down," Giovanni ordered.
Jessie and James squealed in delight, dancing around excitedly, hardly able to wait to be reunited with the pokémon they'd stored in headquarters before Unova and since! All their old pokémon plus all their new? It would be a pokeparty! Butch and Cassidy sweat-dropped. Giovanni watched, less than impressed.
PKMN
"Let's see now. Seviper, Yanmega, Gourgeist, ooh this is so exciting!" Jessie said, grabbing the three pokeballs. She laughed, hugging them close and rocking them.
"Mime Jr, Carnivine, Inkay, this is the happiest day of my life!" James said, grinning widely and hugging his own close.
"Yeah? Great for you," Butch said.
"Now hurry up and let's get going," Cassidy agreed.
"Humph, fine," Jessie said. "Oh, we can't forget these." She reached into the tray of rapidash pokeballs that Attila and Hun had brought back, and handed Butch, Cassidy, and James one each before taking her own.
"Now let's get out dere and find ourselves a mew!" Meowth said, leaping up in the air. Quickly the group raced out to start on their way…
PKMN
Four rapidash came to a stop on a bluff overlooking an endless, breathtaking view. On their backs sat four riders, five counting the meowth seated in front of one of said four. The wind blew lightly against them, tossing their hair. Their gazes were set determinedly on the horizon. "This is it?" Butch asked incredulously.
"According to the report," Jessie confirmed.
"It's nothin' but hills and pasture and forest!" Butch said.
"A perfect location for a legendary pokémon tryin' ta hide," Meowth pointed out.
"Humph, let's just get down there and get this over with," Cassidy impatiently said, eager for the nightmare to end.
"I find it really quite beautiful," James remarked approvingly. It was certainly out of the way. Little would bother to bother the people who lived around these parts. Perhaps this is where he should have run to escape Jessebelle. The others glared at him. "What?" he asked innocently.
"Whateva', let's just find Attila's uncle's place already. We don't got a lotta time before it's gonna be gettin' dark. Might as well make arrangements wit' de guy before he gets ta thinkin' we ain't comin'," Meowth said. Attila had arranged for them to be able to stay at his uncle's while they were here. It had taken a bit of convincing, so they'd best not inconvenience the man further than they had already just by being here.
"Perhaps we should stir up a little trouble in this humdrum place," Jessie remarked, eyes sparkling.
"Definitely," the others agreed immediately.
"Prepare for trouble," Jessie sang.
"Make it… well, this won't work," James remarked, looking around at the group and frowning, unimpressed. With quadruple they could hardly do the motto, and even if they used double to refer to double teams, their two mottos would have quite a time meshing together.
"Maybe if we combine our Sinnoh mottos?" Cassidy suggested.
"Well, it's worth a shot," Jessie agreed.
"Alright. Ahem… Listen, is that a voice I hear?" Jessie said.
"It's speaking to me loud and clear," James said.
"On the wind," Jessie said.
"Past the stars," James said.
"In your ear!" Meowth said.
"It's a shrieking whine, a blast from the past!" Cassidy said.
"Spinning like a Gyro Ball and moving fast!" Butch chimed.
"To the moon…" Cassidy added.
"And beyond…" Butch said.
"What a blast!" they all said together.
"Administering justice with lightning speed!" Cassidy said.
"Bashing the bad guys, should we feel the need," Butch continued.
"Bringing chaos at a breakneck pace," Jessie chimed.
"Dashing hope, putting fear in its place," James sang.
"So here's a newsflash from across the wire," Cassidy said.
"The real Team Rocket is now on fire!" Butch stated.
"Cassidy!"
"Butch!"
"Jessie."
"James."
"A rose by any other name is just as sweet," Jessie said.
"When everything's worse our work is complete," James stated.
"We're putting the do-gooders in their place," Cassidy said.
"The true Team Rocket," Butch said.
"In your face," they all said together.
"Meowth, dat's de truth!" Meowth said.
"Raticate!" Raticate finished.
"Hmm, could use some tweaking, but it ain't half bad," Butch mused, shrugging.
"It's what we have, if nothing else," Jessie agreed.
"Right. We can work on polishing it up later," Cassidy said.
"There's the ranch," James said to them, pointing and getting their attention back on the mission. They looked over and lit up a bit, grinning. Finally, home base. They rode their rapidash down and towards the ranch.
PKMN
It took them about half an hour to arrive at the destination. The sun was setting, and it was getting dark. They were tired from the long trip, so it was a relief to see a supposedly friendly place. They dismounted their steeds and led them to a barn nearby, putting them in for the night. They exited said barn and looked towards the ranch. "Ready for this?" Butch asked.
"Here's hoping Attila did his job and our arrival isn't going to be too much a surprise to this uncle of his," Cassidy said.
The four humans, and two pokémon, approached the front door. Jessie reached out, knocking. They stood a bit nervously, hoping the man was home. After a moment they heard footsteps, then the door creaked open. They found themselves staring up at a large man, a good balance of muscle and fat. His blonde hair was greying, and he eyed them with wary suspicion. They could see the family resemblance between him and Attila. He had the same build, more or less, and the same hair and a few of the same facial features. The man finished eyeing them up and met their gazes. "I suppose you four are my nephew's coworkers from Vanni Corp?" he asked.
James swallowed and answered, "Yes sir. And these are two of our pokémon, Meowth and Raticate."
"Raticate, return," Cassidy said, returning Raticate just so their group would seem a bit less daunting.
"Attila called ahead about us, I believe?" Butch said.
"He did. Huh, you aren't at all like I'd pictured you, but any friend of Attila's is welcome here. Come on in, all of you," the man said, dropping the stern act and becoming a lot warmer towards them. "Long as you don't cause trouble for me, I'm happy to let you stay here for vacation."
"Thank you, sir," they all said together, except Meowth who stayed quiet.
PKMN
"I set up the spare rooms for your stay. You can arrange who's sleeping where on your own, I figure. One's Attila's old room, another's a guest room. Here's the guest room," Attila's Uncle said, opening a door on one of them.
"Dibs!" Butch said. He wasn't inclined to sleep in Attila's old room. Wasn't sure he wanted to know what was in there.
"Ditto," Cassidy said. "You couldn't pay me to share with Messy Jessie."
"Ooh, and I wouldn't want to share with you, you stuck up little snobette!" Jessie snapped. Cassidy scowled, vein throbbing in her head. Jessie's expression matched, and both Butch and James backed away. Cassidy turned, storming into the room.
"Uh, thanks for the room sir," Butch said starting after her.
"If you two want to eat, food's downstairs after you get settled," the Uncle offered.
"Great. See you in a bit," Butch replied, shutting the door.
"Eager, aren't they?" Attila's uncle asked.
"Eager? For what?" James asked naively. Jessie frowned, sweat-dropping, as did Meowth.
"Never mind," Attila's uncle said, raising a dubious eyebrow at James.
"No really. For what?" James asked.
"He thinks Butch and Cassidy are sleeping together," Jessie said.
"They are," James said, confused. Meowth scowled and scratched James angrily. James cried out in pain before it dawned on him what Jessie meant. "Oh!" he exclaimed. "No, no, no, it's not like that at all," he quickly said, rubbing the back of his neck and grinning innocently at Attila's uncle, eyes closed.
"He's right. Although I've no doubt Butch would certainly like to," Jessie said. "Now, where's Attila's old room, if we may ask?"
"Oh yes of course, follow me," Attila's uncle said, leading them onwards. Soon Meowth, Jessie, and James were getting settled as well.
PKMN
Eventually the group found themselves all seated around the table eating the food Attila's uncle had prepared. "Thank you for your hospitality, sir. We would be happy to pay you back. Perhaps by doing the dishes for you?" James said.
"You do all the dishes you want, James," Cassidy said. James sweat-dropped, grimacing.
"It's alright, really," Attila's uncle said.
"No, I insist," James said defeatedly. Someone had to do something to repay the man for all he was doing for them.
"Thank you, young man," Attila's uncle said, smiling approvingly at James.
"Biff will help too," Jessie said.
"It's not Biff, it's Butch!" Butch shot. "And like hell I'll…" He trailed off, catching the put-out look on Attila's uncle's face. "Uh, like hell I'll leave James to do it all alone," he quickly covered, grinning innocently before shooting a dirty look at Jessie. Cassidy looked ticked off Jessie had volunteered her partner too.
"Look at it this way, Bilch. Women find a man who knows his way around a kitchen incredibly sexy," Jessie flirted. Butch blinked and blushed. Cassidy's mouth dropped in outrage. She looked ready to beat Jessie to a pulp right then and there.
"Hard workers. I like you two," Attila's uncle said, warming towards Butch and James a bit more.
"Thanks," Butch replied unenthusiastically. Meowth snickered and let out a cry when Jessie hit him on the head. He frowned, glaring at her and rubbing his head but keeping quiet.
PKMN
"So, sir, we heard rumors the legendary pokémon Mew was spotted around here not long ago. By Attila in fact," Jessie said as she and Cassidy sat with the man, sharing tea and biscuits. Butch and James were sulking over the sink, James washing and Butch rinsing. Meowth had gotten suckered into drying, and was currently cursing Jessie and Cassidy under his breath.
"He mentioned believing he'd seen one to me as well, but I haven't spotted a thing so I'm not sure if it was just a figment of the imagination or real," Attila's uncle replied.
"Wow, wouldn't it be something to see Mew up close?" Cassidy said.
"It would," Attila's uncle agreed.
"Are you sure you don't have the slightest clue?" Cassidy asked with a pretty pout.
"Well… No, it's probably nothing," Attila's uncle replied.
"Anything helps, sir. Even if it's a wild goose chase at least we'll have gotten to see a little bit of these lovely hills," Jessie prompted.
"Well, I heard a rumor an unidentified pokémon was spotted flying into Serpent Canyon a day or two ago. That's about five miles from here heading north. It's been lingering in that gorge. Careful if you go check it out, though. Place is crawling with Ekans, Arbok, Seviper, and who knows what else?" the man replied.
"Ooh, thank you so much sir!" Cassidy said, grinning winningly at him. "You've been a big help."
"Of course. My pleasure," the man replied. James, Butch, and Meowth exchanged devious smirks, logging the information away.