Hello :P It is Wednesday so I am back with a new update. I wrote this one at the beginning of the year and it is based on an episode of 21 Jump Street, the original 80s TV Series. Seeing as I am rewatching the series with my mum, I remembered this chapter and wanted to upload it. In the episode, Tom Hanson has to do the same task James was set to do in his dream in order to get into a fraternity. Now I picture the tasks they had to do in the episode would be similar to the other things Jessie and James would do during their Team Rocket training :3 I hope you enjoy!

Ages:

(Past during the dream)

James: 15

Jessie: 15

(Present)

James: 32

Jessie: 32

Misty: 25

"No no no, you're doing it all wrong!"

The assessor of the group let out a sigh and shook his head, watching the young man that was unknown to me, fumble. The adolescent male who had failed the tricky task of putting the correct piece of cutlery didn't seem bothered by his mistake and just shrugged, gritting his teeth in a more determined manner.

I saw the intimidating assessor move over to the young version of a person I knew very well. The lavender haired young male watched his elder's every move as he reached for an egg that was on the counter and crack it into a cup. He handed it to the young teenager.

"Drink it." He commanded, causing the person he was addressing to stop leaning his arm on the counter and look up at him with big, green and confused orbs.

James furrowed his brow, not taking his eyes off him.

"Why me?" was all he uttered, taking a sideways glance to look at his peer who had actually made a mistake. The fellow male in red Team Rocket uniform just narrowed his eyes and smirked at the littler guy who was being punished.

The assessor sighed at his question, clearly thinking that since he had been there a few months, he should know the procedure and not question his elders and betters.

"Your fellow friend in this organisation has made a mistake. Now you take the fall for him." He gritted his teeth slightly at the submissive young boy's confused eyes and thrusting the cup into his hand.

James just looked down at the raw egg in the cup before back up at the looming male.

"But why?"

After a repeat of the teenagers words in a mock, high pitched squeak and the assessor's glare to shut them up, he turned back to James. He let out another sigh, still not softening to the lad with privileged backgrounds.

"It teaches you that we are all one. We are here to train to do a job under the same organisation and we all serve the same purpose and the same man."

A green haired male in the back nodded eagerly at the assessor's words and stood on his tiptoes, calling out to where James was standing.

"It also teaches loyalty. It singles out the people who are likely to betray the team or those who will refuse to do something to help their peer."

James just nodded slowly but didn't look at the person addressing him, still staring at the raw egg in his cup.

"Yes, very good, Hutch." The assessor sighed, just recognising the voice as he continued writing something down on his clipboard.

Before the other male could correct his reviewer, James lifted the cup to sniff the contents before letting out a gag. The other male's in their red uniform let out a laugh but the assessor looked stone faced.

"Drink it."

James chewed his bottom lip and looked right at him, his hands clenched into fists.

"I really can't."

Looking at this young boy, for some reason I could feel every inch of his pain. His past traumas cutting at his flesh like knives. The fear that he would be discovered and have to go back home. The ringing of the screams from his parents in his ears. The hope inside his belly that he would somehow succeed at his training. And the determination that maybe, just maybe, he could make something out of himself.

The assessor just shook his head and tugged the previous contender away from the counter before shoving James in his place.

James furrowed his brow, wondering what was to be expected of him. His question was soon answered.

"It's your turn to put the cutlery in the right positions. If you don't make a single mistake, then neither of you have to drink the egg. But if you make just one mistake, then I'll add another egg to the cup and you have to drink it all."

The lavender haired adolescent nibbled his lip upon hearing what he was expected to do before tightening his ponytail and nodding.

The assessor read the instructions to him.

"Use your right hand to put the forks in the left slot. Pick up spoons in your left hand and put them in the middle slot. When I say knife, pick up a knife and put it in the right slot using your right hand. You must keep track of how many go in each slot."

James wiped his brow as the assessor counted down from ten. Soon enough, the names of cutlery were called out and the teenage boy put them in the correct slot, using his correct hand.

I sighed quietly to myself. To my surprise he did not make a crash, didn't have to do any hand swapping. He didn't make any mistakes.

The monitor narrowed his eyes at this, for some reason not seeming to like that he was skilled at the task he was being tested on.

"How many spoons are there?"

James chewed his lip and shut his eyes for a moment, hesitating. He soon opened his eyes and came out with an answer. His tone was flat and to the point, not showing any signs of confidence nor regret.

"Nine."

The monitor sucked in his breath through gritted teeth, shaking his head.

"No, sorry. It's eight." He shrugged at the younger male but his expression wasn't the slightest bit sorry or sympathetic.

Some of the boys looked saddened for James but most of them snorted. James just frowned and looked at his monitor.

"I said nine."

The older male sighed once again from writing something on his clipboard, glancing at James.

"I know what you said but the answer was wrong."

The young male's dull, green orbs gave off a slight spark and he shook his head back at his elder.

"Sir, I said nine and I know I'm right. Please check again."

The monitor conferred with his assistant and being unable to resist James' polite words, agreed to check again. The assistant took the spoons out of the slot and began counting.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight-" he trailed off and the other boy's let out a quiet gasp when they saw one spoon left in his hand.

James just raised a slight eyebrow, waiting for one more word from the assistant.

"…..Nine." he hesitantly mumbled, not wanting to look at his boss.

The assessor just cleared his throat, unsure what to say. The lavender haired young boy moved his gaze from the assistant to the other man. He looked his elder straight in the eyes with a blank expression on his face. He didn't show any look of cockiness, just with a gaze of new found reassurance in his own abilities.

I was shocked to see the monitor's mouth quirk into a slight smile. Perhaps he was beginning to soften towards the lavender haired young boy. Perhaps he could see there was more depth to him and that maybe he did have a future of some kind.

He must have seen James' slight smile back as he narrowed his eyes, cracking two more eggs into the cup.

"Drink it all the same"

James groaned and to my surprise, most of the other boys groaned too. That was except for the boy who had previously been doing the challenge. He stuck his nose haughtily in the air.

"It's like Clutch said. You have to do it for your fellow rocket. Suffer so your friend doesn't have to."

The lavender haired male pushed the cup away from him and looked at the floor, mumbling out.

"None of you are my friends."

After the boys all let out a noise of clamour, the green haired male in the back was still irked that his name hadn't been used correctly twice in a row and so sneered at young James.

"Yeah that's because you have no friends, blubber boy."

Upon hearing this, something snapped inside James and he gritted his teeth, bravely squaring up to the fellow male.

"I'd have two friends in this room if females and cat pokemon were allowed in."

Before any sort of fist fight could happen between them, both the boys in training were tugged away from each other.

I groaned to myself when I saw that because of James' outburst, he was made to drink all three of the raw eggs in the cup.

My body went stiff slightly as suddenly my vision went black. I could feel a strange sensation of going through a tunnel when suddenly, I could see again.

James was darting through long halls, his back to the wall and looking around for anybody else. He rushed into a room and shut the door, clutching onto his stomach.

I feared for the young boy, I really did. But I really didn't have to when I saw yet another familiar face.

The magenta haired teenage girl smiled at the boy, beginning to talk to him after she took off her headphones.

"Hey James. What did you get up to today?"

The teenage boy's miserable face lit up when he saw her and he stretched slightly before going back to rubbing his stomach.

"I had to do that thing where you put cutlery in the right section and eat a raw egg if you mess up. Do you do that here, in the female's part?"

Jessie nodded, sitting up and beginning to brush her hair down with her fingers seeing as it was the end of a long day.

"Yeah we do that too but I've never had to, thank god. I'd be awesome though."

James just smiled at her, the bridge off his nose getting slightly redder as he took his ponytail out and ran his own fingers through his hair.

"I had to eat three raw eggs."

Jessie just wrinkled her nose upon hearing this before beaming when Meowth joined the scene.

"Meowth, go get James something for his stomach. He had to eat three raw eggs."

After the pokemon rambled on for a moment about how it's been ages since he had egg, he disappeared to follow the magenta haired female's orders. When she left, James slid down to sit up against the wall next to the door.

Jessie smiled at the quiet male and reached over from the edge of her bed to pick up something. James watched her every move, his brow furrowed with confusion and his eyes getting brighter with curiosity.

The teenage girl handed him a familiar guitar, a small smile on her pretty face.

"There you go. You left it here last time you hung out."

James' smile grew even brighter as he put the guitar on his knee and moved his hands to the right place.

Jessie smiled back at him and sat on her bed against the wall, putting her headphones around her neck.

"You need to practice all the time when you have spare time. You know, like you did at PokeTech?"

The lavender haired male played a few strings on his guitar before looking back at her, nodding and smiling at her words.

Jessie let out a sigh of relaxation, putting her headphones on her head.

"It can help you wind down."

My vision grew hazy once again and my ears tingled with the sound of young James playing his guitar. All of a sudden, I was snapped back to reality. I woke up with a gasp and glanced over to see Jessie and Misty smirking at the sleeping James.

"Do you think he's been napping the whole time we were looking around the house?" Jessie asked her husband's best friend, her hands on her hips in an amused way.

Misty just shrugged and laughed, taking out her cellphone to snap pictures of the older male.

"I don't know but you should totally draw a moustache on him."

"Oh yes, just like his dear father." Jessie let off her own giggles before darting off to find a marker pen.

I smirked to myself at their actions but soon went back to frowning, looking at James' face carefully.

Was what I was dreaming about what he was dreaming about? I knew that I hadn't heard that story in that much detail before so how did I know? I wasn't sure. James had a hard life and he always speaks of Team Rocket as if he wants to forget about it but it was good to know he has some happy memories deep inside him. I was glad that things worked out for him and he went from an unhappy and controlled child to a man that was very much in control and content with his life and who he was. Watching two of the most important women in his life mess around with him while he slept, I realised one very important thing.

Life isn't so hard when you have amazing friends to share it with.

The End.

There you go! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed :3 This is a little bit different but I had fun writing it. I really enjoy coming up with what life was like during Team Rocket training because there's only a few canon details and for the rest I can really use my imagination. I have a headcanon that males and females had to live separately when Jessie and James first joined at 15 but when they were 16, the rules changed and it was mixed dormitories. So for the second year of their training, Jessie, James and Meowth would live together in a dorm. I also have a headcanon that James taught himself guitar in PokeTech/Team Rocket training to pass the time when he's not learning/training :3 Thanks again and I will be back on Wednesday so see you then!

AmyBieberKetchum signing out :3