"You brats really think you can stop us?" Cassidy cackled. She held a couple of the lock-boxes with the pokeballs, and Butch held an empty black bag.
She snapped her fingers. "Hutch, make quick work of them!"
Butch gave an annoyed grunt at the incorrect name and lunged towards Ross, Rowan, and Rochelle with a black bag.
They split and ran in 3 different directions, confusing Butch and infuriating Cassidy. She growled and chased after Ross. Butch ran towards Rochelle. Rowan looked around desperately, and grabbed a rock and threw it at Butch, hitting him in the back of the head.
"OW!" cried Butch, rubbing his head and turning around. Rowan grinned at him and ran. Butch ran after him, ignoring Rochelle.
Rochelle then caught up to Cassidy and pounced on her from behind, landing on her and causing her to drop the lock-boxes, and they broke open, scattering pokeballs everywhere.
Rochelle quickly jumped off of her and ran off as Cassidy started to get up, wincing in pain.
A bunch of the pokeballs rolled towards Ross, who grabbed them and quickly tossed one each to Rowan and Rochelle. They instantly released the pokemon.
"Go, whoever you are! Please help us!" called Rowan.
"We need your help!" Rochelle pleaded.
An Inkay emerged from Rowan's pokeball, and a Gourgeist from Rochelle's.
Rochelle blinked. "Attack! Do something! Get them!" she shouted.
Rowan looked at the Pokemon. "Inkay, use your Psybeam! Gourgeist, use Shadow Ball!"
Ross scoffed. "Show off."
Butch and Cassidy's pokemon instantly countered. Inkay's Psybeam was overpowered by Mightyena's Hyper Beam, and Gourgeist's Shadow Ball was overpowered by Sableye's Shadow Ball.
Ross groaned and eyed the rest of the pokeballs in his arm. "Ooh! This one is GOLD! I choose this one, it's gotta be good!"
"Carp carpcarpcarp carp carp…." a Magikarp appeared, flopping vigorously.
"What?!" Ross groaned. Butch and Cassidy shared an uproarious laugh, which angered Ross even more. "WHY DO I GET A STUPID POKEMON THAT CAN'T DO ANYTHING?!" he shouted as he kicked it.
Everyone watched his outburst in silence, and stared as the agitated carp Pokemon started to glow. The glowing form got bigger, and bigger, and they all watched in horror as it evolved into a large and very angry looking Gyarados.
Ross trembled.
"Uh….." He quickly pointed at Butch and Cassidy. "It was THEM! Attack THEM!"
The Gyarados stopped and looked at the two adults in black clothes with gloves and boots, and at the three small children in formal wear, gave what looked like a shrug, and sent Butch and Cassidy flying with a Hyper Beam.
The three watched the Rockets fly off until they disappeared into the sky with a little ping. They all let out a collective sigh and smiled at each other before running over to the truck.
Just as they pulled open the heavy doors, a black bag rolled out in front of them with some force and landed hard on the ground. They all giggled and hurriedly opened it to reveal a groaning Jessie, James, and Meowth. They looked up at the children and instantly everyone was having a big group hug.
"I'm so glad you're okay!" sobbed James. "We were so worried!"
"How dare you three do something so dangerous! Don't you know you could have been seriously hurt? Those guys are Team Rocket, you know!"
Rochelle looked down and stepped back. "Yeah. We knew…"
Rowan and Ross both nodded and looked at their parents with uneasy looks. Rochelle looked at them, and they looked at her with the same uneasy look, and Ross made a tiny "go on" motion with his hand. Rochelle gave them an incredulous look, before turning to face her parents again and taking a deep breath.
"We know about Team Rocket. And…...we know….." she fumbled for words. "Mom, Dad….I was snooping in your closet to peek at Christmas presents last year….."
Jessie, James and Meowth turned pale.
Rochelle's oceanlike eyes started to fill with tears. "I'm sorry I looked."
James gave her a hug. "It's okay…"
Jessie's eyes narrowed as if she were in pain. "We were just trying to protect you."
Meowth shook his head. "It wasn't right of us ta keep lying like dat."
Ross and Rowan came and rubbed their little sister's back.
"So it is true. You were in Team Rocket." said Ross.
"You were….bad guys?" asked Rowan.
"We….did bad things." said Jessie.
"If it's any consolation, your dad here was never really a bad guy."
"Thanks." James said with a kind smile. "Wait." he pondered.
Jessie smiled. "It was a rough time for us….but we all became the best of friends."
Rochelle looked at them still with her innocent eyes. "But you were bad guys…."
Jessie looked at her oldest daughter. "Sometimes life doesn't go as you planned. None of us planned to be bad guys from the start, and we made a lot of mistakes, but...I wouldn't have done any of it differently." She smiled at James and Meowth.
James smiled. "You know…..when you go on your Pokemon journeys…." he started hesitantly. Jessie and Meowth gave him a surprised look. James sighed. "Just know we'll support you in whatever you want to do. I think you're ready for the responsibility….You did save us, after all." He finished with a smile.
They had another group hug and then Meowth interrupted the family moment with a realization.
"Hey, we can still make it for the reception!"
Jessie and James gasped. Jessie grinned. "Yes, dinner and drinks!"
James nodded before chuckling. "Old habits die hard." he quipped.
The family made sure all of the pokeballs were in the truck before driving it back to the reception hall. They made their way straight to the front where Ash and Serena were sitting. Ash looked handsome and mature in his tuxedo, and Serena was gorgeous in her gown.
Ash saw Jessie, James and Meowth walking towards him with that certain confident swagger like they were up to something. He growled and stood up. "What are you three up to now?" he asked, exasperated. Jessie grinned. "You'll see, twerp."
James took a microphone and turned it on, speaking with his suave supervillain voice.
"Your attention please, ladies and gentlemen! First, we would like to extend our congratulations to the happy couple."
Serena looked on, confused.
Jessie took the mic. "And we apologize for this, but you all have been victims of an elaborate heist by none other than Team Rocket."
Ash clenched his fists. "Pikachu!" he called to his companion, whose cheeks started to spark angrily.
James took the mic back nervously. "But all is well, because my sons and daughter have stopped the evil villains and not one Pokemon has been stolen!" he finished hurriedly, eyeing Pikachu.
Ash raised an eyebrow. "Huh?" he looked and saw Rowan, Ross, and Rochelle going through the crowd with the pokeball cases, returning them to the various trainers.
Jessie, James and Meowth all gave Ash a nod before stepping back in fright as Delia Ketchum approached them angrily.
"You three are Jessie, James and Meowth from Team Rocket! You lied to me and posed as his friends, to get free invitations to the wedding!" She cried. Then her face softened. "But...thank you for everything."
Jessie, James and Meowth smiled nervously. "It was da least we could do, I guess."
Ash and Serena helped return all the Pokemon to their rightful owners. Ash turned to Ross, Rowan and Rochelle. "You three took down Team Rocket?"
They looked a bit shy, then explained what happened.
"That sounds like quite an adventure. You guys did great though. You'll be awesome Pokemon trainers, I know it!" They smiled.
Ash looked at Jessie and James and gave a small laugh. "What do you know….looks like you two finally did something good for a change."
Jessie and James smirked back.
The party went on, and the sky started to turn lovely shades of pink and orange. Serena took this as a signal to cut the cake, and do the bouquet toss.
A bunch of Tripokalon girls, Bonnie, a few Joys, and some other trainers formed a crowd behind Serena, who had her back turned to them and prepared to toss the bundle of yellow flowers. She bent forward, and then flung them backward with all of her might. All of the girls stretched their arms out eagerly, then recoiled in shock as from out of nowhere, James leapt in front of them, easily catching the flowers.
The noises of shock, disappointment, and annoyance from the crowd confused Serena as she turned around to witness the scene. Ash scowled at him. James shrugged at him arrogantly. "Sorry to bring all the attention to myself once again…." he sauntered, slightly drunk. He walked over to Jessie, who was also intensely confused by the whole situation. "But there is something I realized I really have to do."
He reached into his pocket and stealthily palmed something before getting down before her on one knee. All the annoyed expressions on the girls' faces turned into starry eyes. Meowth exchanged surprised glances with the children.
"James? You're not…" Jessie trailed off. The dreams and fantasies she had long had of being a blushing bride, being whisked away by a dashing prince, came rushing back to her. She shook her head and looked at James seriously. "You don't have to do this…"
"I don't. I want to." he said, smiling broadly as he presented his special ring to her. "You have made me so happy by staying with me through everything so far. I want to make you happy. This is your dream, right?"
Jessie blushed and looked at him, speechless. "But...we've already…."
James blushed. "I want to see you as a happy bride, like her." he motioned to Serena. "I want to give you your special day."
Jessie smiled. "Of course! I will be a bride to rival even the Kalos Queen!" she said dramatically.
Smiling, James quietly put the ring on her finger and stood up to face her. They embraced and kissed as everyone applauded.
The sky turned to a mellow shade of purple before going dark, only illuminated by the full moon and thousands of glimmering stars. Trainers were saying their goodbyes and congratulations to the couple before going on their way. Some of them would be traveling a short distance within Kanto, some of them would be staying at the Pokemon Center or starting that night on a longer drive home to Hoenn, Sinnou, Kalos, or beyond.
Jessie and James sipped some coffee, fueling up for the drive ahead. Jessie admired the heart shaped blue diamond now adorning her finger with a girlish grin. She looked up and caught James's gaze briefly and they smiled at each other. Meowth noticed their antics and rolled his eyes.
A girl in her early teens with long orange hair styled like a Gourgeist, wearing a tan and brown dress that also looked Gourgeist-themed approached their table. "Excuse me?"
The whole family turned to look at her. "Yes?"
The young teenager motioned to Meowth as she spoke. "Meowth translated for my pokemon here, they told me the whole story." Next to her were an Inkay and a Gourgeist. "Your children called out my pokemon and used them to take down those people from Team Rocket."
Jessie and James looked at the two pokemon. They had heard of various kinds of Pokemon from Kalos but had yet to see them up close.
"I was thinking, from next year I want to try a different style of competing in the Tripokalon." she turned to face Rowan, Ross and Rochelle. "If you don't mind, would you like to take care of these two for me? They seem to really like you three. I could officially give them to your parents, and you can take them on your journey if you want later."
The children looked at their parents eagerly. Jessie and James looked at the girl, and wiped tears from their eyes dramatically.
"This is the first time someone has given us their pokemon!" Jessie exclaimed.
"We'll take good care of them, I promise!"
The girl also started to get teary-eyed as she gave them the pokeballs.
"I know you will. Thank you."
She hugged her pokemon goodbye and her voice shook as she spoke.
"Inkay loves croissants...and Gourgeist can be a diva sometimes. I hope I can see you guys again someday!"
"You can come visit anytime." Jessie said warmly. She and James greeted the two Pokemon, shaking "hands" with them.
Ross, Rowan and Rochelle cheered excitedly. "We got an Inkay and a Gourgeist! Yay!"
James smiled "Wait until Roxie meets them! She'll be so happy!"
The family continued to celebrate until they were the last guests left, true to their nature, they ate and drank until they were the last people left in the hall and Delia had to awkwardly tell them to leave.
James couldn't stop smiling as he drove home with everyone sleeping in the dark car. Ash's words echoed in his head.
Yes. He had finally done something right.
The End.