Episode 92: It's Not Rocket Science!

In an all too familiar scene, Team Rocket is locked in combat with Ash, Brock, and Brenda. Oh no, not again! Will there ever be a time where our heroes are not pestered by Team Rocket? I suppose asking that is like asking if there will ever be a day where the Sun doesn't rise.

Ash orders, "Pikachu, use Volt Tackle!"

"Pika pika pika pika pika pika…"

James grins. "Perfect! Now's the time, Haking! Use Sludge!"

"Hak hak haking!" Haking spits a small, but accurate shot of sludge at Pikachu, which lands right on Pikachu's eyes, blinding it.

With the sudden loss of sight, Pikachu suddenly stumbles and trips over its own feet, tumbling head over heels. "Pika!"

Ash shouts, "Pikachu!"

Meowth grins. "This is just right!"

Brenda shouts, "That's as far as you get, Team Rocket! Rabbolt, use Bounce!" Rabbolt leaps forward to attack.

Jessie snaps, "We will be accepting no further twerpish interference! Repiv, use Wrap!"

"Repivvvvvv!" Repiv leaps at the lunging Rabbolt, and wraps around it, immobilizing it entirely. Rabbolt struggles to break free, but to no avail.

Meowth rubs his paws together with glee. "Pikachu is ours!"

Brock shouts, "You forgot about me! Meteorfight, use Meteor Mash!"

James proclaims, "We didn't forget about anything this time! Haking, use Sludge Bomb, extra sticky!" Haking attacks with more sludge, this time is covers the incoming Meteorfight completely, forcing it to the ground. Meteorfight quickly discovers that the sludge now covering it is so sticky that it glues it to the ground.

Jessie, James, and Meowth all take a moment to laugh and savor their success. Meowth proudly proclaims, "For once, destiny is on our side, and we didn't even have to force it!"

James shouts, "Now, let's grab our well-earned Pikachu."

The three of them encroach upon the blinded and confused Pikachu, ready to grab it and run. Just before they can, a loud and incessant beeping noise begins. Team Rocket freezes up.

From his pocket, James pulls out some sort of portable device with a screen. His eyes widen. "Guys, it's a Code Red!"

Jessie and Meowth yell in surprise, "Code Red!?"

Jessie looks to Pikachu. "But…Pikachu…"

James quotes, "In the event of a Code Red, the alerted Team Rocket operatives must cease all activity at once and immediately contact headquarters."

Jessie doesn't like this one bit. "Fine…" With that, Team Rocket dashes out of sight.

Ash, Brenda, and Brock are left alone, completely bewildered by what just happened. Brenda suggests, "How about we just forget that ever happened."

Feigning ignorance, Ash asks, "Forget what happened? Nothing just happened."

Brock agrees, "Yeah, I don't know what you're talking about, Brenda."

Jessie, James, and Meowth prop the portable screen up on a boulder, gather around it, and press a button to activate it. For a moment, the Rocket R appears on the screen, then Giovanni's secretary, Matori, appears on the screen. She says sarcastically, "Wow, you three actually managed to respond the Code Red. Color me surprised."

Jessie angrily rants, "Let me tell you, four eyes, we were in the middle of an extremely important operation, and about to capture a Pokémon of great value. If it weren't for your Code Red, Team Rocket would now be in control of one of the most powerful Pokémon to ever exist."

Matori laughs. "Sure you were. In case I needed to remind you, since your unauthorized arrival in Tenno, you have not sent a single Pokémon back to headquarters. You're lucky that Mr. Giovanni so desperately needs operatives in Tenno, or you would have been fired long ago."

Jessie antagonistically sticks out her tongue at the screen.

Matori demands, "Excuse me? What was that I just saw?"

James and Meowth quickly jump in front of Jessie to block her from view. James asserts, "It was nothing, nothing at all."

Matori rubs her forehead, as if she has a headache. "Fine, whatever. Mr. Giovanni has new directives for you three. He'll communicate them himself." She presses a button, and the display changes, now showing Giovanni sitting at his desk, with Persian on his lap.

Jessie, James, and Meowth all salute. "Sir!"

Giovanni asserts, "The time for Team Rocket to further its Tenno agenda has come. I have been planning for months now, and it is up to you three to enact the first phase."

Jessie, James, and Meowth all look to each other, giddy with the excitement of a personal assignment from The Boss.

Giovanni continues, "As I told you when you first reported from Tenno, Team Planetary has been actively blocking nearly any move I make for power in the Tenno Region, leaving it as one of the only regions in the world with no official Team Rocket presence. As some of the only Team Rocket operatives to ever successfully infiltrate the region, it is your job to work from within to weaken Team Planetary's infrastructure."

"Sir, yes, sir."

"Once this message terminates, you will be sent a map. Follow it to a rendezvous point, where you will meet with another team of Rocket operatives that you will work alongside to complete this mission. They have already been briefed on the mission. This mission is of the utmost importance, and I will tolerate absolutely no less than perfection. Am I understood?"

"Sir, yes, sir!"

"Good. Now go forth and take Tenno for Team Rocket. Giovanni, out." His image leaves the screen, replaced by a map.

Jessie, James, and Meowth all look to each other, extremely excited by the prospects ahead of them. James speaks first, "An official assignment? It's been so long!"

Jessie declares, "The Boss has finally realized the well of untapped potential that we represent."

Meowth holds a fist into the air and proclaims, "Today is the dawn of a new era for Team Rocket! With us on an official mission, the Tenno Region will fall to Team Rocket's might in no time! Move out, troops!"

Jessie and James cheer, "Yeah!"

Jessie, James, and Meowth are traveling on foot to their destination. James, reading the map, stops and says, "This is it. We're supposed to meet our partners here."

Meowth asks, "Who do you think The Boss assigned to work with us on this mission?"

Jessie says, "Maybe it's that dreamy Pierce." She envisions the mysterious Rocket operative that they worked with in Unova.

James suggests, "Maybe it will be Attila and Hun." James thinks of the duo that nearly captured a Raiku.

Meowth shakes his head, "No, The Boss would only pair us up with the best. I bet it's the Elite Officer, the Iron Masked Marauder!" Meowth envisions the large tough man that captured a Celebi in one of his Dark Balls.

Jessie and James both seem to like this idea quite a bit.

It's then that Butch and Cassidy come into sight. Jessie demands, "Hey! What are they doing here!?"

Cassidy asks, "Didn't you get the briefing? We're partners on this mission."

James accuses, "You two aren't partners! You're dead weight!"

Butch chuckles. "Funny, because that's exactly what I was thinking about you three. We're the only Team Rocket agents in Tenno. That's the point of this mission, or did you forget?"

Meowth grumbles under his breath, "So much for the Iron Masked Marauder…"

Cassidy, sounding annoyed already, shouts, "Oh, just stop the bickering and listen up. This mission is of the utmost importance to Team Rocket. Our mission is to infiltrate a local Team Planetary field station, hack into their computers, and upload a special virus into their mainframe. Here's the plan."

Having recited the plan, Cassidy asks, "Now, any questions?"

Jessie looks up and says, "Yeah, this plan sucks."

Cassidy shouts angrily, "That's not question!"

James asserts, "Maybe it's not, but it's still true. There's no way this plan will work!"

Butch counters, "Coming from the numbskulls that never once had a plan pulled off."

Meowth, taking offense from this, comes in saying, "I'll have you know that our latest master plan was quite the success!"

Butch retorts, "Let me guess, a plan that you just made up on the spot!"

Meowth grumbles, "That's not the point…"

Then Cassidy says, "It doesn't matter if you don't like it, that's the plan, and we're doing it."

Jessie asks, "Says who?"

Butch answers, "Says Mr. Giovanni. He put us in charge of this operation. He explicitly stated that you are to follow our every order on this mission."

James objects, "There is no way I'm taking orders from a guy named Beth!"

Butch's eyes widen in anger. "Beth!? That's a girl's name!"

James asserts, "Exactly my point!"

Butch stomps his feet with rage. "It's Butch, you idiot! The name is Butch!"

Meowth asks, "Seriously though, why is it you two in charge? We have far more experience dealing with Team Planetary."

Cassidy pulls out a data chip. "This is why."

Jessie tilts head. "I don't get it."

Cassidy explains, "Remember back when you three stubbornly competed with us to capture that Jigglypuff? This is the reason why we needed it. The Pokémon could have put the guards of a Team Planetary warehouse to sleep, so we could move in, unencumbered."

Remembering this event, James suddenly shouts, "That's exactly what we were trying to do! Get off your high Horsea!"

Butch points out, "We were the only ones assigned to do that. I bet you three didn't even know what the warehouse was."

James is too embarrassed to admit that Butch is right.

Butch nods. "I thought so."

Cassidy continues, "Inside that warehouse, we had access to a Level One Planetary Computer. That allowed us to download this data. Now this data will serve as the basis for a trojan program that will allow us a backdoor entrance into a Level Five Planetary Computer."

Meowth plays this off as nothing. "Is that all? We could do that in our sleep."

Cassidy scoffs at this notion. "You three? Really? You couldn't even take proper control of a website, let alone hack into one of the most secure computer systems ever created. You don't have the first clue about hacking."

James take offense from this last statement, "I'll have you know, I know plenty about Haking! In fact, you could call me a Haking expert!" He thinks of his Pokémon, Haking, while saying this.

Cassidy doesn't believe him. "Yeah right. Now, I'll say it again, the boss put us in charge, so we're doing our plan. So suck it up, and let's get moving already."

Jessie, James, and Meowth are clearly not happy with this, but they don't complain any further, at least verbally.

Who's that Pokémon!?

Its swordlike tail serves two purposes - it slashes foes and douses them with secreted poison. This Pokémon will not give up its long-running blood feud with Zangoose.

In the middle of nowhere sits a single small building with the Planetary logo on its front, the Team Planetary field station. Two men dressed in some sort of worker's outfits approach the front door. The one with blue hair, actually James in disguise, knocks.

A Team Planetary grunt opens the door. "Yes? What is it?"

One with yellow hair, Butch, answers, "Hello, we got a call from dispatch that your air conditioning is acting up."

The grunt looks confused. "No, we've had no such problem. Who are you guys?"

James answers, "We're Planetary technicians sent to repair your AC. I'm Jameson."

Butch adds, "And I'm Bill."

James covers his mouth and whispers to Butch, "Hey, Bill, we're supposed to use false names, remember?"

Butch, seething with anger, turns to James, ready to shout at him.

Before he can, the grunt asks, "Are you sure you're at the right field station? We have reported no such issues."

Butch takes a breath to control his anger, and looks back to the grunt. "Well, orders are orders. How about you let us take a look? That way we can at least tell dispatch we did our job."

The grunt eyes them suspiciously, then shrugs. "Sure. Why not?" He steps aside for them to come in.

Once inside, James breathes a sigh of relief. "That actually worked."

Butch snips, "Of course it worked."

Behind them, the grunt asks, "What worked?"

Butch and James both feign innocence and say, "Nothing, nothing at all."

The grunt isn't sure in the slightest what to make of these two. He shrugs again and asks, "What do you need to look at?"

Butch says, "The main air intake vent, if you please."

"Yeah, that's back this way. Follow me." He leads them through the building, which looks completely nondescript. Nothing about it suggests that it's a base belonging to a crime organization.

James whispers, "Are you sure we're going to find a class five computer here? It's completely unremarkable."

Butch groans and whispers back, "Did you not pay attention to the briefing at all? All the good stuff is below ground. Up here's just the façade."

The grunt stops. "This is it."

James asks, "This is what?" Butch smacks his side. "Oww!"

"The intake vent, you buffoon."

"Right, of course. The intake vent."

The grunt only grows more confused by these two. He says, "Look, I've got a lot of work to do, so how about I leave you two here to do your thing."

Bitch nods. "Yes, that would be perfectly fine. We'll manage here alone."

The grunt nods. "Right." He walks away. He approaches another grunt and whispers to him, "I'm getting the strangest feeling about those two. Keep an eye out for anything suspicious, okay?"

The other one nods. "Right."

Butch and James begin to unload tools, looking like they're preparing for a job. Butch removes the grate from the vent. "Okay, let's deposit the payload."

James, with much effort, heaves up a very heavy-looking bag. "Jeez, Meowth, how much have you been eating?" Once the bag is level with the entrance to the air duct, James unzips it, dumping Meowth into the duct. Meowth crawls off.

While crawling through the ducts, Meowth complains, "I still don't get why it has to be me crawling through these ducts."

Via a communicator in his ear, Cassidy says, "Because you're the only one small enough. Now get over it, and get that backdoor open."

Meowth grumbles to himself. After crawling for a while, Meowth kicks open a vent and drops down into the room below him. It's completely empty, but appears much more fitting for a villain's secret base, including a large computer in the back of the room. "Okay, I'm in, and nobody's here." He walks up some stairs, and opens a door on the ceiling above him. It's the sort of door that leads into a basement from outside. Once it's open, he whistles.

Jessie and Cassidy appear from behind some bushes and race down into the door, closing it behind them. Cassidy says, "Good, now you stand watch while we download the virus."

Meowth suggests, "Hey, I happen to be pretty good with computers, how about we switch jobs?"

Cassidy shakes her head. "No, we've got to stick to the plan, and the plan says that you're on watch duty." She and Jessie head to the computer.

Meowth complains beneath his breath, "Sure, I'll stand watch. It's not like I'm the best of all of us at computers or anything like that."

Cassidy approaches the computer and pulls out the data chip. "Alright, now just to upload the data."

Jessie snatches the chip from her hands. "I'll be doing the honors."

Cassidy looks to Jessie with annoyance. "Excuse me. What was that?" She takes the chip back.

"Since I'm The Boss' favorite, it only makes sense that I be the one to complete this mission." Jessie grabs it back.

Cassidy laughs. "As if. Obviously, Giovanni likes me the most. I'm his favorite operative in all of Team Rocket." Cassidy take it back again.

"Sister, you're not even on The Boss' radar." Jessie grabs it once more.

"Ha! You're one to speak." She attempts to grab the chip again, but Jessie yanks it away. "Why you little! Give that back!" She lunges for it. A tussle breaks out between the two.

Upstairs, a loud thudding sound, the result of Jessie and Cassidy's fight, can be heard. A grunt notices the noise and begins to head towards the stairs. James urges, "We should go and try to distract that grunt."

Butch shakes his head. "No, this plan has no room for improvisation. If we do something off-plan, like interacting with the grunts, we could blow the whole mission."

James isn't convinced, "Jessie, Meowth, and I have often found that the most important part about a plan is the ability to adapt it as you go. I think we should do that here."

"Nope. Not worth the risk."

"Come on Burt, we've got to do this."

Butch is immediately annoyed. "Burt? Come on! There's two names you could be using, and you get both of them wrong?"

James looks to him with confusion. "What's the matter, Buck?"

Butch cringes and anger begins to build. "Buck!?"

"That is your name, right Bret?"

Something snaps in Butch. He shouts at the top of his lungs, "My name is Butch!" He leaps at James and physically attacks him, putting the two of them into a tussle as well.

Nearby, the grunt from before turns towards them and begins to say, "I thought you said your name was- What are you doing!?"

Another grunt runs up to him and reports, "Sir, there have been reports of loud noises coming from the basement. No one has been authorized to go down there."

The grunt's eyes widen as he puts two and two together. He shouts, "These two are intruders! We have more downstairs! Get them out of here!"

Within moments, James and Butch, too busy fighting to notice their surroundings, are surrounded by grunts.

Downstairs, Meowth shouts, "Guys, we've got company incoming!" Jessie and Cassidy are too busy fighting to hear this warning.

Within moments, both Butch and James, and Jessie and Cassidy are surrounded by Planetary Grunts, and all of them have sent out Pokémon, such as Protostar, Lunatone, Solrock, Minior, and Elgyem. They all attack at once, and all five Team Rocket agents are sent blasting out of the building by the attacks. They all shout in anger, annoyance, and resentment, "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!"

It's Seviper!

All five of them land with a loud thud on the ground. Cassidy gets up and shouts angrily, "Well thanks a lot! It's because of you morons that we completely failed!"

James takes offense from this. "Excuse me, I don't know about you, but I was doing everything I could salvage your precious plan!"

Butch laughs at the notion. "All you wanted to do was change the plan and ruin everything!"

"Earth to Billy, it was your refusal to improvise that ruined everything!"

"That's it! I've had with you!"

Jessie shouts, "No, we've had it with you! Clearly The Boss should have sent us in alone on this! We would have succeeded alone!"

Cassidy cackles, "Just like you succeed at everything else!? As if! It's simple, you fail at everything!"

Jessie pulls out a Pokéball. "Care to test that theory?"

Cassidy also takes out a Pokéball. "I thought you'd never ask!"

James and Butch also take out Pokéballs.

Meowth watches all of this with much disdain. He shouts, "Guys! What are you lugs doing!? We're supposed to be on a mission!"

James shouts, "If you're not going to side with your partners, then stay out of this, Meowth!"

Butch shouts, "Yeah, stay out!"

James shouts at Butch, "Hey! Stop agreeing with me!"

All of them throw their Pokéballs. Jessie and James send out Repiv and Haking, while Cassidy sends out a Vipyre, and Butch sends out a new Pokémon. It has a long and wispy body made entirely of green and purple gases. Overall, it almost looks like a formless column of toxic smoke. At the top of smoke, where it's at its thickest, a sinister face sits. The Pokémon appears similar to the Pokémon Noxic.

Jessie and Cassidy both order at once, "Wrap!" The two snake Pokémon lunge at each other and twist and contort around the other, attempting to get the upper hand.

James orders, "Haking, use Smog!"

Butch also orders, "Hazeard, use Smog!" The two poison gas Pokémon attack each other with putrid smog, contaminating the air around them. Haking and Hazeard both suck up the smog created by the other, enjoying it, rather than being hurt by it.

Seeing this won't work, James orders, "Try Sludge Bomb instead!"

Butch also orders, "Use your Sludge Bomb this time!" The two Sludge Bombs collide and splatter about.

Meanwhile, Jessie orders, "Repiv, Poison Sting!"

Cassidy shouts, "Vipyre, Flamethrower!" The two evenly matched attacks collide and cancel.

Watching all this disheartens Meowth. He sighs, walks over to a nearby rock, and sits down to ponder this predicament. He says to himself, "I get it. Botch and Cassidy-"

In the midst of battle, Butch shouts, "The name is Butch!"

Meowth continues, "Butch and Cassidy are two of the most annoying people in the world, but we're all Team Rocket, and The Boss gave all five of us this mission. What are they doing?" He sighs again.

Then a voice says to him, "Raticate."

Meowth looks to the side to see Butch and Cassidy's Raticate approaching him. On instinct, Meowth extends his claws, ready for a fight.

Raticate shakes his head. "Rat raticate."

"What? You're not here to fight?"

"Raticate rat, raticate."

"So you agree with me? You think this in-fighting is silly?" Meowth retracts his claws and lowers his guard.

Raticate nods. "Raticate…"

Meowth nods back. "Yeah, I hear ya, bub." He stands up, and with renewed determination declares, "Time to put a stop to the madness." He walks towards the fight and shouts, "Hey, what would The Boss think about this!? Think about what he would say to you right now! He would say 'What are you four doing fighting!? I gave you one of the most important missions in Team Rocket history, and all you can do is fight each other!? Clearly, I picked the wrong agents for this mission!'"

This catches Jessie, James, Butch, and Cassidy's attention. They and their Pokémon all freeze in place.

Meowth continues, "Admit it or not, The Boss put all of us on this mission for a reason! If he wanted nothing but strict adherence to plans, he would have had just Butch and Cassidy do this. If he wanted nothing but winging it and making things up as we go, he would have had just Jessie, James, and me do this. We're all Team Rocket here, and we've all been given a mission! So how about we stop fighting like petty schoolchildren, and get into that computer!"

Cassidy asks, "But how are we supposed to get into the computer now? The plan has already been ruined."

Meowth grins. "That's where our improvisation skills come in."

James asks, "But they'll be prepared for us this time. What do we do about that?"

"That's Butch and Cassidy's plan-building skills come in handy." Meowth looks across all of them. "Now how about you all call a truce, and work together for the good of Team Rocket and The Boss?"

Jessie, James, Butch, and Cassidy slowly look to each other, and then sigh. All at once, they say, "Fine."

Meowth nods. "That's the spirit. Now, let's get our newly improvised plan together."

As the plan unfolds, Meowth voice-overs with a narration of it. "The first step will be to actually sabotage their AC. They may not allow more repairmen in without prior notice, but if we can get them to actually call for us, then they'll have no choice."

While hiding behind a tree, Cassidy calls upon Vipyre, which uses its Flamethrower on an vent on the outside of the station.

Meowth continues, "Now, once we've convinced them that their AC is broken, they'll call in for help right away. It's too hot of a day not to. We have to make sure we intercept this call."

Jessie, dressed as a repairwoman, stands in front of the portable video phone. The Planetary Grunt from before is on the other end. He's sweating profusely. Jessie assures him that everything will be fine.

"Once that's done, Jessie and Cassidy will take over the part of repairmen, or rather women, so as to not be recognized. Once into the lion's den, it's vital that we never forget that the plan may need to change on the spot."

Jessie and Cassidy approach the front door and knock. The grunt from before answers the door and says, "Thank goodness you got here so fast. I don't know how much more of this heat I could take. Hey, you'll never believe this, but a couple of hackers snuck in here earlier, pretending to be from dispatch. How crazy is that?"

Jessie answers, "Very crazy."

Cassidy adds, "Hilariously crazy."

"Anyways, I'm going to have to check your bags, you know, as a security precaution. Don't want anyone sneaking in, right?"

Cassidy, appearing somewhat nervous, nods. "Yeah. Right. Whatever you say." She glances nervously at Jessie.

Jessie grins, not seeming worried at all. She urges Cassidy to show her bag first. The grunt unzips it and takes look. Seeing nothing but tools, he hands it back to her.

Jessie prepares to hand over her bag, but suddenly points behind the grunt and shouts, "Hey, what's that!?"

The grunt quickly turns his head to see what she's referring to. "Huh? What? I don't see anything."

While he's looking away, Jessie swaps her bag with Cassidy's. Then she says, "My bad, I thought I saw something move in there."

The grunt shrugs. "Whatever." Jessie now hands him Cassidy's bag, which passes inspection for the second time.

"Alright, you two are free to head on in. Please, get that thing working."

Jessie smiles. "In no time at all."

As they walk in, Cassidy says into a communicator, "Phase one, complete."

Just as Butch and James did before, they deposit Meowth into the air duct, and he climbs his way through. He seems much more content with the role this time.

Once in the basement, Meowth runs to open the doors again, but finds that they're padlocked shut. He says into his communicator, "I'm not going to be able to get you guys inside. I'll have to do the hacking without any lookouts."

James advises, "Just make it fast. We'll wait out here to break in by force to provide backup, should you need it."

Jessie adds, "And we'll keep an eye out for anyone heading downstairs from up here."

Meowth affirms, "Right. Here we go." He walks up to the computer, inserts the data chip, and begins typing away.

After a little bit, Cassidy happens to notice a grunt walking towards the stairs. She tugs on Jessie's shirt to get her attention and show her. She warns Meowth, "You've got a grunt incoming. Are you almost done?"

Meowth responds, "Not yet, I need just a little longer. Can one of you lugs get me a distraction?"

James responds, "We can handle that."

Moments later, the entire building shakes. The grunts, including the one heading downstairs all freeze, trying to figure out what's happening.

Outside, James and Butch are attacking the building with Haking and Hazeard. James encourages, "Again!"

Back inside, a grunt shouts, "It must be those guys from before! They're trying to break in this time!"

Another grunt shouts, "Everyone! Outside now! Defend the station!"

Jessie and Cassidy look to each other mischievously, and sneak out amidst the mayhem in order to join the fun.

Now outside, the four Rocket agents are surrounded by Planetary grunts. One of them demands, "Alright, just who are you people!?"

Jessie, James, Butch, and Cassidy all look to each other, happy to take the invitation. Simultaneously, Jessie and Cassidy declare, "Prepare for double the trouble!"

James and Butch follow up, "And you might as well double the double!"

Jessie and Cassidy, "To protect the world from devastation!"

James and Butch, "To unite all people within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Butch!"

"Cassidy!"

Just at this point, Meowth finishes up the last of his work. He quickly pulls out the data chip and runs upstairs to join everyone outside.

Jessie and Cassidy continue, "Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

James and Butch, "Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

Butch and Cassidy's Raticate appears to declare, "Rat, Raticate!"

And just on cue, Meowth leaps down and adds, "Meowth, that's right!"

"Wobbuffet!"

"Mime mime!

Everyone looks down to Meowth, who looks back up to them, grins, and nods. Everyone nods back.

Before anything else can be said, the grunts decide they've had enough and immediately order an attack, giving Team Rocket no chance to defend themselves. They fly up into the air.

In victory, they all shout, "Team Rocket's really soaring now!"

Things couldn't be more different this time compared to their last landing. All five of them are shaking hands and congratulating each other on a job well done.

Butch says to James, "I hate to admit it, but it was your improvisation skills that got us through that one."

James shakes his head. "No, without your plan, we would have never made it far enough to improvise in the first place." He then adds, "You know, you're alright, Butch."

Butch's eyes widen, and he's nearly brought to tears of joy. "You…got my name right…"

James is a little confused. "Of course I got your name right. How could I forget your name, Booth?"

Butch collapses to the ground. "Why can good things never last?"

Jessie says, "Now that we have that mission out of the way, how about you two take a nice deserved break? We'll worry about the chore of making the report to The Boss."

Cassidy smiles. "Wow, thanks Jessie, I-" Her expression suddenly changes. "Wait a second. You just want to contact Giovanni yourself you can take all the credit!"

Jessie fake laughs. "Of course not! What ever gave you that idea?"

Meowth pulls out the portable videophone and shouts, "Let's make a break for it guys!" He, Jessie, and James sprint off, in an attempt to make the call first. Butch and Cassidy chase after them, shouting words of hate.

I had a feeling that the newfound respect those guys found for each other wouldn't last long. Still, it's quite inspiring to see people work past their differences, even if they are bad guys. Though, I can't help but wonder, exactly what is it that Giovanni's planning?

Giovanni sits alone with Persian in his dimly lit office. Matori comes in. "Sir, I just received a field report from Tenno."

Expecting bad news, Giovanni asks, "Let me guess, they found a way to mess everything up?"

"Actually, the opposite. Somehow, those fools actually managed to pull this one off."

Giovanni appears pleased. "I suppose even a broken clock is correct twice a day. So, they managed to plant the virus?"

Matori nods. "Yes, sir. You now have complete backdoor access to the Team Planetary mainframe."

Giovanni taps his fingers together. "Excellent. Everything is in place. It is nearly time for Team Rocket's invasion of the Tenno Region to commence."

Stay tuned…

To Be Continued…