Competition
"All right Meowth, come to me," James said that night after they'd eaten and made a fire. Meowth struggled to rise. Jessie shook her head at the two. She supposed she should really do something to help. She went to them, supporting Meowth's back. Meowth used that added help to get to his feet and smiled up at her. She smiled back. He began tottering his way over to James, trying to keep his balance with his arms spread out. He reached his trainer without falling and grinned victoriously. "Good job, Meowth! A little while longer and you'll be running," James praised, clapping his hands together once.
"Ya t'ink?" Meowth hopefully asked.
"Well there's a shade of you we haven't seen for a while," Jessie remarked. He was starting to sound like his old self, thank goodness. Small two or three word sentences he could say quite fluently at this point, after all, and in those moments she could tell he was still the same Meowth, albeit with no memory of them or his time in Team Rocket. One step at a time though, she supposed. It would be an uphill battle, but they'd win it.
Just then they heard a noise and gasped, stiffening. They were silent a long moment, senses peaked. "Something's out there," James remarked.
"I know," Jessie replied. The two rose to their feet guardedly. "Who goes there?!"
Laughter rang out and both Jessie and James gasped, clinging to each other fearfully. "W-what was that? Ghost pokémon?" James asked in terror.
"It's, it's…" Jessie began.
"Prepare for trouble," an all too familiar voice said.
"And make it double," another stated.
"It's worse!" Jessie and James wailed together in dismay.
"To infect the world with devastation," the female voice said as she stepped into view with a cold smirk on her lips.
"To blight all peoples in every nation," the male declared as he too stepped into view, grinning wickedly.
"To denounce the goodness of truth and love," the woman said.
"To extend our wrath to the stars above," the man said.
"Cassidy."
"Butch."
"We're Team Rocket, circling earth all day and all night!" Cassidy said.
"Surrender to us now or you will surely lose the fight!" Butch finished.
"Raticate!" Raticate exclaimed.
PKMN
Jessie and James growled, clenching their fists and looking ready to leap into a fight. "Meowth? Who dese?" Meowth questioned.
"It's Cassidy and Chuck!" Jessie replied.
"Chuck?! It's Butch you morons, get it right! Butch, Butch, Butch, Butch, Butch!" Butch protested vehemently, jumping up and down as if he were a child throwing a tantrum.
"How very mature, Buck," James said, rolling his eyes.
"You know perfectly well that it's Butch!" Butch shouted furiously.
"Whatever, let's just deal with Messy and Lames and get back to our mission," Cassidy said, stepping in front of her steaming partner.
"How dare you?!" Jessie demanded, scowling. "In case you've forgotten, you stuck up little snob, our mission is your mission!"
"Yeah," James backed.
"What mission?" Meowth asked bluntly. Jessie and James fell over with groans.
Butch, Cassidy, and Raticate all blinked blankly at Meowth. "Something's wrong with your pokémon," Butch said.
Jessie fumed, standing up. James sweat-dropped, sighing. "Thank you for pointing that out, Mr. Obvious," Jessie bit. "If you must know we were defeated by Mew a few days ago and poor Meowth hit his head. He went wild and couldn't remember a thing. James was forced to capture him so we could deal with the situation."
"Congrats, Lames. First pokémon you've caught in forever. Too bad he was your teammate," Butch nipped.
"So wait, does this mean that Meowth is technically James's pokémon now?" Cassidy wondered.
"As opposed to both of ours? Oh, I suppose. At least for now," Jessie replied, looking down at Meowth. Hmm, come to think of it perhaps Meowth had always been more James's pokémon than anyone else's. Ultimately Meowth had always been wild of course, and had simply chosen to stay with them, but in terms of interaction, looking back on all the time Meowth spent at James's side in comparison to hers, it seemed quite plausible. Right now, that wasn't important, though. Right now, they needed to deal with Butch and Cassidy.
"The scratch-cat's probably better off livin' with amnesia than remembering how much of a failure his trainer is," Butch insulted.
"What a loser," Cassidy agreed, smirking coldly at James.
"If you aren't careful, Cassidy, you're going to regret it," Jessie warned, immediately leaping on the defensive.
"Jessie hon, are you sure your partner isn't, you know…" Cassidy hinted. Butch laughed coldly.
"Ooh that does it!" Jessie snapped. "If I hear one more insulting word from either of you towards James, I'll make you wish you were never born!" she shouted, leaning over them with a vein throbbing in her forehead.
"Why worry about us, doll? You're gonna be listenin' to that dummy tryin' to teach your pathetic Meowth to speak the rest of the trip," Butch replied.
Jessie twitched and turned, glancing back at James who grinned innocently and waved. "It's, uh, for the best," she replied, grimacing at the thought. Who was she trying to kid? Hours of endless blathering didn't appeal to her in the least.
"James may bring your Meowth back from the wild, but who's going to bring you back to sanity?" Cassidy asked. Suddenly she sneezed loudly, almost jumping from the ground. Butch, teeth clenched in concern, quickly took her shoulders and patted one, looking worriedly at her.
"Ooh, that sounded awful. Are you sure you should be travelling so soon, Cassidy?" James asked in a bit of concern.
"It's been days! I'm fine," Cassidy insisted, pushing Butch away.
"I think she should have gone to a hospital," Butch said, frowning and crossing his arms.
"Was it that bad?" Jessie asked.
"She ended up with moderate hypothermia," Butch said, nodding.
"Ooh, that is bad," James said.
"I'm fine!" Cassidy insisted.
"If her lungs were exacerbated at all, you should watch her for pneumonia too," Jessie remarked.
"Way ahead of you," Butch answered.
"Ugh, would you all stop freaking out over this already?!" Cassidy shouted, vein throbbing in her head as she scowled. "I'm just fine!"
"Well forgive us for caring," James said with a pout.
Cassidy gritted her teeth, fists clenched. "Whatever, let's just get back to hunting this stupid mew," she said.
"My mother died trying to find that mew!" Jessie shot. "It's the farthest thing from stupid to me."
"You and James keep getting your asses handed to you by it, and you'll be joinin' your mom soon enough," Butch said.
"Oh bite me!" Jessie snapped.
"Well Jessie Jess, now that Buff and I are in the game again, the race is back on. First come first serve," Cassidy stated.
"Oh, don't worry. You won't have to strain yourself. We'll have caught up to Mew before Botch is able to smoke through his first cigarette and catch his breath afterwards," James said. Immediately he, Jessie, and Meowth bolted.
Butch twitched at the remark. Cassidy gaped in anger. "Get a move on, Butch; we have to get to that mew before they do!"
"It's… oh, that's what you said," Butch replied. Quickly he followed his partner.
PKMN
Jessie, James, and Meowth raced through the forest panting, scanning determinedly for any sign of Mew. They had to reach it before Butch and Cassidy, or their rivals would be getting all the glory for tracking and capturing it. "Ooh, it has to be around here somewhere," Jessie said in agitation.
"Jessie, look!" James exclaimed, pointing towards what looked like a tail vanishing over the edge of a cliff. They ran to it and looked down below.
"I don't see anything," Jessie said.
"Wait, there!" James exclaimed, pointing out a small figure in the distance floating along. Why it was still so near despite knowing it was being followed, he couldn't understand. It was almost as if… as if it were watching them…
"That's it! Quick, get a move on, James!" Jessie insisted, shoving him roughly. He cried out in terror, struggling to catch his balance at the edge of the cliff. He couldn't and toppled over with a cry of fear!
"Jim!" Meowth exclaimed in alarm.
"Oh don't worry, he's fine," Jessie said, waving it off. She picked up Meowth and began sliding down the steep cliff. James, who had splatted on the ground, groaned, struggling to lift himself on his arms while Jessie slid to a stop next to him. "Get up, James, we're running out of time," Jessie insisted.
"Yes dear," he groaned.
"What was that?" she asked coldly.
"Oh, nothing, let's go," James replied, innocently grinning at her. She harrumphed and the two began racing after Mew.
"We're almost there, it's right ahead!" Jessie excitedly said, pointing out the mew vanishing into a… corn maze? The three slid to a stop, blinking blankly at the tall stalks. "Well, this promises to be annoying," she said.
"What are we going to do?" James asked.
"Split up of course, you idiot," Jessie replied.
"In that?!" James demanded in alarm. "But Jessie, it's dark out." Not to mention the maze was creepy in and of itself.
"That just means it probably won't see us coming," Jessie replied, racing in.
"What if we can't find each other again?!" James called after her.
"It's corn, James, not brick!" she called back before disappearing. Meowth bounded swiftly off down another path. James groaned. This was a bad idea, he knew it was. What was a corn maze doing in the middle of nowhere? It didn't sit well with him. It just seemed… wrong.
PKMN
Sure enough, five minutes in and James was racing through the corn in terror. He had been right, he had been right! It was a trap! Whoever had set it up wasn't playing around either. He heard pursuers not far behind him. He had to shake them before he was pounded into paste! "Jessie, Meowth!" he called desperately. He heard an all too familiar scream. "Jessie!" he shouted in fear. He had to get to her! He rounded a corner and gasped, sliding to a stop. A dead end! He heard the pursuers drawing nearer. He gasped and dove into the corn, thanking his lucky stars that this maze wasn't made of stone or something that couldn't be penetrated or pushed through. Quickly he slipped through it, attempting to reach either the next path over or freedom.
It was another path he crawled onto, gasping for breath. He rose, looking guardedly around. It was quiet. Jessie! He had to find her! He started running quickly, panting. "Meowth!" he heard something exclaim in fear.
"Meowth, Jessie?!" James shouted.
"Jessie, Jim!" the all too familiar voice of Meowth exclaimed as the scratch-cat pokémon leapt from some corn up ahead.
"Meowth!" James exclaimed in delight and relief. He raced towards his friend, arms open wide to receive him.
"Jimbo!" Meowth exclaimed gleefully, pouncing into James's arms and knocking him back. James hugged him tightly as the two laughed excitedly, his friend purring and nuzzling him.
"Good kitty, good boy!" James praised.
"Aw man, I'm almost goin' feral again," Meowth said on realizing what he was doing. He'd come a long way. The last thing he wanted was to regress. "Boy, I'm tellin' ya Jimmy, I'd better get my memory back soon."
"You're speaking full sentences! Meowth, that's wonderful," James said.
"I am? Boy, de fright musta triggered somethin'," Meowth said, lighting up with a grin. Finally, some major progress!
"Wait, where's Jessie?" James asked, worry coming to his eyes.
"You didn't find her?" Meowth asked fearfully.
"I heard her scream," James said.
"Me too," Meowth replied.
"Then let's not just stand here, we need to find Jessie!" James said.
"I'd rather escape," Meowth flatly replied.
"If you had your memory back you wouldn't be so eager to leave her," James chastised. "Come on, let's go."
"Wait, I hear a Hitmontop!" Meowth said in alarm, eyes filling with fear. "Aw man, where are these things comin' from?" The Hitmontop came around the corner and the two gasped.
"Hitmontop!" it exclaimed on seeing them. It went on the attack, tearing towards them. James and Meowth cried out in fear.
"Hitmontop, return!" they heard a familiar voice call.
James and Meowth gasped as the Pokémon vanished.
"It can't be," James said. He and Meowth exchanged looks then quickly ran around the corner. No sooner had they rounded it when they barrelled into something. All parties screamed.
Leaping to their feet, everyone got into fighting poses. "Huh? James!" the one they'd slammed into exclaimed in shock.
"Bill!" James exclaimed.
"It's Butch!" Butch yelled.
"Never mind. You and Cassidy ran right into this place too, didn't you?" James demanded.
"You have no idea what a battle I just had. It ain't nothin' short of a miracle Hitmontop came out on top," Butch said, nodding in confirmation.
"What's chasing us?" James asked.
"A whole lot of unfriendly pokémon," Butch answered.
"Let me guess, you and your team split up too?" Meowth said.
"Stupidly," Butch replied, nodding.
"Did you see Jessie?" James worriedly asked.
"I heard her scream," Butch replied gravely, concern coming to his eyes. Despite Jess and Cass's rivalry, he wasn't on bad terms with James's partner. Likewise, James wasn't on bad terms with his. "Oh boy, what is this place?"
"I don't know. Jessie had the map of the area," James replied.
Just then they heard growling and spun quickly. Approaching them was a group of Houndoom! "Uh oh," Butch said.
"We'd better run for it!" Meowth exclaimed. He screamed and turned, bolting.
"Right behind ya," Butch replied, darting after Meowth.
"Botch, wait for me!" James exclaimed in fear, hurrying after the two.
"It's Butch and you know…" Butch began. He was cut off by a scream as a hole opened beneath his feet! James cried out in terror, unable to stop in time to avoid it!
"James!" Meowth exclaimed, leaping back and trying to save his… friend? It resulted in nothing more than him being pulled down as well.
PKMN
Meanwhile, Jessie was panting and running as fast as she could away from an aerodactyl. Where were these pokémon coming from? More importantly, what was it that seemed off about them? She dove into the corn and held her breath as the aerodactyl zoomed by. "Get your own hiding spot," a voice sharply whispered.
Jessie gasped and turned quickly. "Cassidy," she hissed. Raticate was there too, which was just in line with her luck. At least Cassidy hadn't given away their location, though. She hated to say it, but that was a plus in her rival's corner.
"Where's Butch? Have you seen him?" Cassidy asked, obviously worried. Concern had filled her eyes, drowning out the disdain and annoyance. She didn't have time to argue with her enemy right now. Not when her partner was missing.
"Butch? No, I… Wait, James and Meowth! Tell me you've run into them," Jessie said.
"No," Cassidy answered as the two young women crawled from the corn and rose, dusting themselves off.
"Rat, raticate," Raticate worriedly chattered.
"We have to find them," Cassidy stated.
"I suppose it'll have to be the both of us," Jessie reluctantly agreed. All at once they heard two screams and gasped, turning quickly. "James!" Jessie exclaimed.
"Butch!" Cassidy called, breaking into a run. Quickly Jessie and Raticate followed.
PKMN
James and Butch groaned, sitting up. Meowth whimpered in pain, but luckily he'd landed on top of the two men. "Whoa, where are we?" Butch wondered.
"It looks like a secret passage," James replied, looking around and tentatively walking a few steps. Butch followed, Meowth springing to the ground and starting to lead the way, forcing himself to move on his hind legs like James had taught him. It would be good practice, he decided. His feline eyes could see in the dark better than either of the humans, so he was by default the trailblazer.
"Wonder where this leads?" Butch remarked.
"Hopefully to Jessie and Cassidy," James concernedly replied, catching Meowth as the pokémon nearly fell to the ground, losing his already unsteady balance. He balanced Meowth out again and urged him along.
"And Raticate too," Butch agreed, a thousand different scenarios playing through his mind and very few of them good.
"We're almost at de end," Meowth said, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other. He could see a dead end up ahead, but above it he could see cracks of light that hinted at either a trapdoor or some easily pried up floorboards. Whichever it was, they were in the clear.
"Good. I hate tight and dark spaces," Butch said, looking around. More specifically tight and dark spaces that were caves.
"Claustrophobic?" James questioned, vaguely surprised at this.
"None of your business," Butch replied, shivering. "Ugh, really hoping there aren't any bat pokémon in here." James raised an eyebrow at this and a cruel smirk crossed his lips, his eyes becoming devious. Biff hated bat pokémon, did he? Well, he knew what he would be trying to get next.
"Meowth, we're here," Meowth said, pointing up.
"Good. Let's get out," Butch said. "Give me a boost."
"Me? Why me? You're stronger," James said, albeit hating to admit it.
"Because you couldn't lift these boards if your life depended on it," Butch replied. "Probably be too afraid to ruin that manicure of yours."
James looked at his nails blankly then frowned coldly at Butch. "Fine," he relented. He bent, allowing Butch to stand on his shoulders. Shakily he stood up again, knees knocking as he grimaced. He'd held Jessie on his shoulders for quite a long time before collapsing, once, but she'd been sitting, and she was far lighter than Butch was. Butch shoved upwards forcefully and James cried out, collapsing. Butch yelped in pain, falling on top of James.
"Ugh, you useless waste of space! Aren't you even the slightest bit a man?!" Butch demanded.
"Get off me you loud-mouth, uncouth, imbecile!" James shouted, anger giving him strength and allowing him to rise quickly, throwing Butch off him and against a wall. He scowled at his rival then leapt up, pulling himself out of the hole and dropping into a stealth position. Butch blinked blankly, scowled, then followed James. Reaching the surface, he too dropped into a stealth position. Meowth leapt up and perched on James's shoulders, looking around cautiously.
"Good evening," a voice suddenly said. The three sharply looked in the direction of the voice. They paled, eyes widening in horror, and screamed as loud as they could, clinging to each other in fear.
PKMN
Jessie and Cassidy looked sharply up on hearing two screams in the distance. "That was James!" Jessie exclaimed.
"And Butch!" Cassidy said. "Hurry, let's go!" Immediately the two began running in the direction from which the screams had come, shoving through the corn and ignoring the maze itself, though doing so brought a higher risk of crossing the attacking pokémon and being unable to slip away from them.
The two girls followed Raticate, who was leading the way as he followed his nose towards Butch and James. All at once they were out of the field. "Raticate!" Raticate said, looking ahead. The two girls gasped on seeing the huge house.
"Who knows what diabolical things are happening to them," Jessie said to Cassidy.
"I'm right behind you," Cassidy said, willing to put aside their differences for now. At least until they got their partners back. Those idiots. Leave it to them to get into a situation like this. The girls and Raticate ran towards the house and burst inside at the same time. They looked around and saw a flickering light beneath a door. Scowling, they darted forward. They kicked in the door and landed. "All right, give us back our partners!" Cassidy ordered viciously.
"On the double!" Jessie added. They started on registering the scene. Butch, James, Meowth, and a stranger were seated on comfortable chairs sipping tea and looking oddly at them, blankly blinking.
"Hey, wait a minute, what's going on here?" Cassidy demanded.
"Yeah! Aren't you two supposed to be in life-threatening danger?" Jessie asked, put out at what seemed to be a harmless situation.
"I apologize, girls," the stranger said, rising. "I can understand how you must have assumed as much, given the screams these two young men let out, but I assure you this is all a misunderstanding."
"We're listening," Jessie guardedly and suspiciously replied, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, well, you see, my name is Dr. Kaminko. I specialize in the creation of Robo-Pokémon. I apologize for my creations currently out guarding the grounds. It must have been quite alarming," the old man with odd hair and glasses said.
"Braiden and I…" James began.
"Braiden? That doesn't even make sense!" Butch protested furiously.
"Who cares?" James replied, glaring at him. "As I was saying, Bill and I were just informing Dr. Kaminko about Meowth's amnesia. He believes he may have a solution."
"Does he now?" Jessie asked, suddenly much more amiable. "Do go on, Doctor."
"Follow me," Kaminko replied, beckoning for the four humans and two pokémon to follow.
PKMN
They trailed the old man down into the basement where a plethora of inventions were arranged. He led them straight towards one that was out of the way. Kaminko stopped in front of it and said, "This machine is designed to make a pokémon lose its memory."
They all blinked blankly at him. "And that's gonna help the meowth how?" Butch asked.
"It turns out it actually restores memory. Huh, go figure. I really should work on that," Kaminko stated. The four Rockets exchanged concerned looks. This didn't sound safe to any of them. "All we have to do is lay Meowth on the table, attach the wires to his head, turn it on, then leave. Meowth will start to dream, old memories coming to light in full detail until his memory is fully restored."
"Will this, um, hurt him?" James worriedly asked.
"I hope not. I mean no!" Kaminko quickly covered. "No, of course it won't." James sweat-dropped, teeth clenched tightly.
"It's for Meowth's sake," Jessie assured James.
James looked uneasily at the nervous pokémon. "Well, I suppose if he agrees," he reluctantly relented.
"Why not? I got nothin' ta lose," Meowth replied, shrugging. He climbed onto the table and lay down. "Hit me with it, doc."
"Of course. This won't hurt a bit! In theory," Kaminko said, attaching the electrodes. He turned on the machine. Slowly Meowth's eyes began to drift shut. "Now we leave him. It will take some time. Feel free to stay the night."
"Thank you, doctor, we just might," Cassidy replied. After all, they'd best make the most of it.