“Janitors?!” Jessie, James, and Meowth exclaimed together, staring, shocked, at the man in the AC.
“I’m sorry!” the man replied, stepping back, terrified. “I don’t decide these things. It’s for the senior management!”
“DO YOU EXPECT ME TO CLEAN UP WITH THESE BEAUTIFUL HANDS?!” Jessie shouted at him.
“Well..” the man started.
“Calm down, Jess!” James said, grabbing her arms, and pulling her back. “At least it’s only for a few weeks.”
Looking relieved, the man pointed to a pile of brown overalls in the corner. “There’s your new uniform. And the gloves, bags, and brooms are over there,” he said, pointing to a closet on the other side of the room.
The trio walked other to the overalls, each picking one up, and holding it in front of them in distaste.
“Look at dis!” Meowth snorted. “Someone’s drawn da Team Rocket R’s on here in pen!”
“Mine isn’t even an R” James sighed, looking at his. “It’s a P. They must have ran out of ink.”
The man, coughed loudly, and the new janitors turned to him. “Um..” he said, startled, as he wasn’t expecting them to look at him. “You should get to work,” He pointed at the clock. “The Boss wants the whole of the ground floor sparkling in three hours!”
Jessie, James, and Meowth didn’t reply. They glumly walked over to the closet, and took out their supplies.
“You should change into your new uniforms too,” the man added. “I’ll go wait outside.”
After waiting for the man to leave, Jessie turned to James and Meowth. “Well,” she said, “Aren’t you going to get changed?”
“Oh, right,” they both said together. James took off his belt, and began to unfasten his pants.
“Hey!” he cried, looking at Jessie. “We can’t take our clothes off in front of you! You’d see my underwear!”
Jessie giggled, blushing. “I’d hoped you wouldn’t notice!” she said, “I’ll go change in the closet then.”
James and Meowth exchanged odd looks, and then continued to change into their overalls.

Soon, all three had changed, and were busy cleaning the headquarters.
“Do you think we should make a new motto?” Jessie asked them. “We’re not really protecting the world from devastation anymore.”
“And we’re hardly a reason to prepare for trouble,” James added. “How about…” he searched his mind for a moment. “Prepare for garbage?”
“Or,” Jessie thought out loud, “Prepare for trash?”
“For minimum wage cash!” James continued.
“To protect the halls from dust and grime!”
“To fill our bags with muck and slime!”
“To denounce the evils of marigold gloves!”
“To extend our brooms to the webs above!”
“Jessie!”
“James!”
“Team Rocket sweeping up at the speed of light!”
“Surrender now dirt or prepare to fight!”
“Meowth! Umm… dustmite!”

Meanwhile, Ash and friends are still searching desperately for the Team Rocket HQ.
“It could be anywhere,” Ash sighed. “Have you guys got any better ideas?”
“Let’s get our flying Pokémon to help us!” Brock decided, “Come out and help us Crobat!” He let out the bat Pokémon, and after waiting for Ash to release Noctowl ordered the two Pokémon to search for the HQ from the air.
“I guess until then we should just wait here for them to come back,” Misty said, watching Crobat and Noctowl disappear.
The Pokémon soon came across what looked like a large building in the distance, and quickly landed in front of it, to observe. It looked very hi-tech and a sign above the door read “Da Team Rocket HQ”.
Noctowl let out a hoot of triumph and they both hurriedly returned to their masters.

Inside the Team Rocket HQ, the scientist was still hard at work on training Pikachu.
“So you don’t like us here at Team Rocket?” he jokingly asked the poor Pokémon, dangling from his gloved hand. Sparks began to form at Pikachu’s cheeks, and despite his protection, the scientist threw Pikachu into a small room, each wall covered with the Team Rocket logo.
“Now,” he continued, shutting the door, “Obedience gas,”. He pushed some buttons on the door, and within seconds, the room Pikachu was in filled with a dark red gas.
After a few minutes, the gas faded, and Pikachu was standing to attention, it’s eyes fixed on the scientist. However, this was not a look of anger, more like honour.
An evil smile spread across the scientist’s face. “Enjoy the movie,” he laughed, pushing another button. “After several viewings and a lot more gas you’ll be totally obedient to us.” He let out an evil laugh, before leaving the lab.

Jessie, James, and Meowth were still busy cleaning. “This is going to take forever!” Jessie growled, mopping furiously at the dirty floor.
“My back hurts!” James whined, reaching desperately to remove a cobweb from the ceiling.
“How are we gonna finish in the hour we have left?!” Meowth exclaimed.
“Well..” James began, but was cut off by an alarm.
“ALERT! ALERT! Jenny inspection! ALERT!” an urgent message boomed out of the speakers, “Remember the plan!”
“Plan?” Jessie, James, and Meowth looked at each other in panic.
Soon, the main doors burst open and five Officer Jenny’s marched in.
“OK, we’ve got you now Team Rocket!” they cried in unison.
Two male Team Rocket members, no longer in uniform, but in business suits approached the officers.
“Welcome to Team Rocket Computer Industries – The Most Hi-Tech computers in the galaxy,” they said, “Would you be interested in seeing our lastest model?”
“Wha-?” the Jenny’s looked shocked. “We..we..are very sorry! We thought you were the evil crime organisation, Team Rocket!”
The two members laughed, “Oh no, we just sell computers!”
The Jenny’s laughed too, and began to walk out when they noticed something. “Hey! You! Why are you wearing the Team Rocket logo?” All the officers then ran over to Jessie, James, and Meowth.
“Umm..well..” James mumbled, “Mine’s a P..”
“Err..exactly!” Jessie cried, “Umm, R-R-P, the rigorous retail policy we have here at Team Rocket Computers!”
“Team Rocket Computer Industries..” James whispered.
“I don’t care!” Jessie screamed at him, “It’s not even a real company anyway!”
“What did you say?” all the Jenny’s asked her.
“She said that…” Meowth began, but the Jenny’s cut in.
“A talking Meowth!” they cried. “You are Team Rocket! You’re under arrest! Come quietly or there’s going to be trouble!”
“T..t..trouble?” Jessie and James said.
“It’s you who should prepare for trouble!” Jessie cried.
“And, make it…” James looked around. “A lot more than double!”
“To protect the world – hey don’t put those things on me!”
“To unite all – I’m too good looking to go to jail!”
“Haven’t yous got to read us our rights first?” Meowth questioned them, obviously with a plan.
The officers sighed and then allowed Jessie, James, and Meowth to stand up straight again. James moved his ‘cuffed hands behind his back to his side a felt a Pokéball. He managed to take hold of it.
“OK,” a Jenny began, “You have the right to remain,”
“Violent?” James cut in, awkwardly throwing the Pokéball. “Missy, help us!”
The Misdreavus appeared, and began to swoop down on the Jenny’s repeatedly.
The other Rockets took this opportunity, and released their Pokémon too. One of the business dressed officers released an Ariados. “Ariados! Wrap them up!”
A sticky web shot out of the spider Pokémon’s mouth, and wrapped the officers up tightly, who were then escorted away by two other Rockets.
All the Rockets glared at Jessie, James, and Meowth. Both embarrassed and terrified, they cried “Sorry!” before running away.

Ash, Misty, and Brock approached the Team Rocket HQ their Pokémon had found.
“Yes!” Ash cried. “I’ll get my Pikachu back soon!” He ran at the HQ, not waiting for the others, opened the door, went inside and stopped. The inside looked like the forest outside! He turned around. The Team Rocket HQ was just a cardboard cut-out!
Ash fell to the ground, tears forming in his eyes. “Pikachuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!”

Inside the real HQ, Pikachu’s ears pricked up, and was thrown out of any effects the obedience gas still had on it. It thought it heard Ash’s voice calling its name, but shrugging this off as its imagination, Pikachu began to think, and soon had devised a plan to escape. It pretended it was still in a trance, and waited for the scientist to return.
Eventually, the scientist did return, muttering about the failure of the Jenny inspection, but his mood became instantly happier when he saw Pikachu salute him.
“What?” he thought out loud. “Pikachu obeying after just one viewing? Interesting. Pikachu, thunder!”
The Pokémon obeyed, and the little room soon filled with electricity.
“Perfect!” the scientist cried, running to the phone. “Sir, the Pikachu is ready!” he told the Boss excitedly.
“Excellent,” Giovanni replied.

“What are we going to do?” Jessie and James cried, hugging each other.
“Well, we’ll probably get fired and left to starve with no job and no cash!” Meowth told them.
“Well, whatever happens to us, I’ll always be with you Jessie,” James said, lovingly.
“James…” Jessie said, watery eyed, holding him tighter.
“Hey you three!” two voices cried. It was the Rockets dressed as businessmen earlier, now back in elite Team Rocket uniform.
“I’m Dwayne,” one said.
“And I’m Blaine,” the other said.
“We’re in charge of Team Rocket HQ security,” they said together.
“Well, James and I are lovers,” Jessie told them, taking hold of James’ hand. “And whatever you do to us, we’re sticking together.”
“What?!” James and Meowth cried. “Lovers?!”
“James!” Jessie cried, “We are lovers, aren’t we?”
James looked at her in shock, blinking.
“I love you!” Jessie cried desperately, tears running down her face.
James’ mouth opened as if he was going to say something, but no words escaped. Jessie began to cry even louder, let go of James’ hand, and then ran away.
After thinking for a moment, James decided to run after her, leaving Meowth with Dwayne and Blaine.
“Jessie!” James cried.
“Leave me alone!” Jessie shouted back.
“But..but..” James stammered. He reached out, and put his hands on Jessie’s hips, slowing her down until she reluctantly came to a complete stop.
He slowly turned her around, the tears still running down her face. “But, I love you too, Jessie.”
Jessie then smiled as if she was the happiest person in the world, and flung her arms around James’ neck.
James slowly moved Jessie a little way from him, so he could look into her now happy eyes. “I love you!” he said again, and shortly, their lips met for the first time, and they held each other tighter than ever before, Jessie running her fingers through James’ long blue hair, and James stroking Jessie’s face.
After several minutes, Jessie slowly pulled away. “I love you too, James!” she told him, and they began to kiss again.
“Aww, ain’t dat sweet?” Meowth joked, walking up to them.
“Hey!” James cried, “Meowth? You were spying on us?!”
“Well, only for da last five minutes!” Meowth laughed, “You guys really like dat kissin’ stuff!”
“Well, never mind that,” Jessie said, sounding angry, looking embarrassed, “What did Dwayne and Blaine say?”
“Dat dose Jenny’s weren’t real!” Meowth replied. “Dat was just a test to see how each member would react to dat situation, and see if any improvements are needed.”
“Improvements?” Jessie and James both asked together.
Before Meowth could reply, another message came out of the speaker. “Will Jessie, James, and Meowth report to the Boss’ office immediately,” it said.
“Firin’ the people dat mess up, I guess,” Meowth sighed.

The trio made their way to the Boss’ office, Jessie and James holding hands once again. On entering, the Boss looked angrier than ever before.
“You three are an absolute disgrace as janitors!” he bellowed. “The halls are dirtier than ever before! Especially the areas you cleaned! How is that even possible?!”
“Sorry sir,” the trio replied, glumly.
“It won’t happen again, sir.” Jessie said quickly, “The next time the halls will be cleaner than ever before!”
“I know they will be!” the Boss told them. “Because it’s no longer your job!”
“You mean, we’re fired?” James asked.
“Not exactly,” Giovanni replied. “It seems that the Pikachu you stole for me will be of great use. It is already totally obedient to Team Rocket, and a powerful fighting machine. You three can have your old jobs back again. After today’s Jenny Inspection test it seems you are too dangerous to be here permanently anyway. So, go out there and get me some more rare Pokémon!”
“Yes sir!” Jessie, James, and Meowth cried happily, and they left the room.
They changed back into their original uniforms, and marched triumphantly out of the HQ.
“It looks like,” Jessie began.
“Team Rocket’s causing trouble again!” they beamed simultaneously.

To be continued…