Chapter Five - The New Partners


The next morning, Jessie and James each woke in their own rooms, and dressed in clean uniforms. They walked left their room at the same time, and proceeded to Giovanni's office to meet their new partners. They arrived at the office before long, and knocked. The gruff voice of Giovanni told them to come in.

Jessie and James entered the office, and saw Giovanni sitting behind his desk. His hands were folded. "You're five minutes late." he snapped.

James nervously looked at Jessie through the corner of his eye. "Sorry, Sir, just a little lag in getting going." Jessie said quickly.

Giovanni dismissed Jessie's comment with a wave of his hand. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't care. It's time to meet your new partners."

Two agents who had been standing by the wall stepped forward. One was a young man of average build with short, closely cut black hair. He wore a white Team Rocket uniform much like James. The other was a young woman, about 19 or 20. She had long dirty blonde hair pulled into a tight ponytail, and wore a tight red uniform dress. James looked at her and couldn't believe his eyes. A Red Rocket? One of Giovanni's elite? What was she doing being teamed with a White Rocket? He shook off the thought as Giovanni's voice continued. He gestured to the boy. "Jessie, this is your new partner Billy. He's an expert at Fire Pokemon."

Billy smiled at Jessie, hardly hiding the fact that he was staring at her curves and miniskirt. He stuck out his hand and grinned, a lustful, evil grin. "Hi, Jessie... I can tell you'll be a great partner." James was suddenly overcome with the urge to punch this guy in the face.

Jessie simply scowled at Billy without a word and grunted a quick reply. Giovanni had half- expected this, and chose to ignore it. He grabbed an envelope from his desk and tossed it to Jessie. "Here's your mission." he said. "You're going after a trainer named Max Waterfield. His grandfather left him a ranch of Eevees. As you know, Eevee can be turned into any one of three excellent fighting Pokemon. I want you to get those Eevees by any means necessary."

Billy nodded curtly. "Right, boss." he said quickly.

Suck up, Jessie thought. She turned to leave with Billy in tow. As they crossed through the door, Billy suddenly gave Jessie a slap on the butt. James' mouth dropped wide open as he saw it happen. If Giovanni had not been there, he would have killed Billy on the spot.

In the hallway, Jessie closed the door to the office tightly behind her and looked at Billy with a smile. "Oh, Billy?" she said seductively, eyeing him dreamily. Billy fell for it and came closer.

"Yeah?" he asked in a dreamy voice.

Jessie grabbed his shirt and pulled him till he was an inch away from her snarling face. "If you ever do that again, I'll need a new partner because I'll kill you with my bare hands." Billy gulped nervously. "Understood?" Jessie snapped.

"Un- Understood" Billy stammered. He didn't need any other warning. This girl was nothing like what he was used to. Normally girls fell for him right away, but it looked like this one was a real ice queen. Well, maybe an expert of Fire Pokemon could melt that ice...

Meanwhile, Giovanni was introducing James to his new partner, Annie. It turned out that Annie had been a Rocket since she was 12, and was now a weapons expert and a skilled sharpshooter. That was why she was a Red Rocket. In contrast to Billy, who had been all too eager to get on good terms with his new partner, Annie looked at James' white uniform and looked at Giovanni with an annoyed look on her face. She still spoke with respect in her voice, but James realized she spoke with a confidence he and Jessie had never had around their boss. "Sir, why am I being teamed with a White Rocket? My training is superior to his." James felt a bit angry, since Annie was talking like he wasn't even in the room, but he decided to just be quiet and listen.

Giovanni looked at Annie, irritated. "You are being teamed with James because it's what I've ordered. I think he'll benefit from your experience. Besides, for this mission I need an experienced field agent and a weapons expert."

"But sir... shouldn't I go with another Red Rocket? After all, my training...."

"Silence!" Giovanni roared. "I've made up my mind. Are you questioning it?"

"Of course not, sir." Annie replied quickly.

"Good!" Giovanni snapped. "Now then, this is your mission..." he began, picking up another envelope off his desk. Like Jessie and Billy's mission, it involved a large-scale bit of Pokemon thievery. This mission involved the stealing of some endangered Pokemon from a ranch patrolled and guarded by a force of Officer Jennies.

No wonder they need a weapons expert, James thought.

No wonder he put me with a White Rocket, Annie thought. He needs someone expendable for something like this.

Giovanni finished the briefing and dismissed them. James and Annie turned and walked out the door, hardly saying a word to each other as they continued down the hallway towards the Team Rocket Motor Pool. When they arrived, Annie signed out a Hummer with a large red "R" on the doors and hood, and then checked out two sniper rifles from the arsenal. James was amazed. He knew that Team Rocket used such weapons on occasion, of course, but he had never used one like this before. It just wasn't usually done by White Rockets. As they climbed into the vehicle with Annie behind the wheel, she spoke the first words she had said to James since they had met.

"Now, listen up. I really don't want to be your partner. To have a red Rocket working with a Black Rocket is ridiculous enough, let alone a White Rocket. But since we don't have a choice, we might as well make the best of it. Now, The location of the ranch is already marked out on this map." She tossed a map that had been in the envelope to James. "Just navigate for me, and when we get close enough, we'll take the ranch by surprise. Got it?"

James stared at her. This girl was worse than Jessie going through PMS. "Got it." He replied.

Annie rolled her eyes. "All right, lets get this show on the road." She said curtly as she turned the key in the ignition.

Out of sheer force of habit, James looked at Annie and grinned. "Prepare for trouble!" he said suddenly.

Annie looked at him strangely. "What?" she asked, bewildered.

"I said, prepare for trouble." Annie still looked confused. "It's the motto." James said quickly.

"The motto?" Annie repeated, amazed. This guy just got weirder by the minute.

"Yes!" James said, astounded that a Red Rocket didn't know a Team Rocket motto when she heard it. "Prepare for trouble, and make it double! To protect the world from devastation, to unite all peoples within our nation, to denounce..."

"Shut up!" Annie snapped. "I don't have time for your idiotic poetry! We have a job to do!" With that, she slammed the vehicle into gear and tore out of the Motor Pool.

James folded his arms across his chest and slumped in his seat angrily. Just as well, he thought to himself. Doing the motto without Jessie really stunk, anyway.

Meanwhile, Jessie and Billy were off on their mission after a quick check for supplies. At least we got to keep the balloon, Jessie thought, as they lifted off. However, Jessie couldn't help but look up at the large head of Meowth that made up the balloon and realize how much she missed the rotten little fur ball. She looked over at Billy, who had at least laid off of the comments and grabbing, though he still stared at her with clear lust in his eyes. It was then that she realized James had never done such a thing, nor was he likely to ever do that. He truly respected her, not like this pig. She just avoided eye contact with him as much as possible, and kept her eyes on the ground passing underneath them.

Sadly, she remembered how many times she and James and Meowth had shared this balloon, how many times they had watched the ground go by together, how often they had watched the sun rise and set from the sky. It was like their private world where any magical thing could happen. Now, she was the only original inhabitant of that world left, and the new residents were anything but promising. Billy stared at her, leaning against his side of the basket. At his feet, his Flareon slept lazily. When they had lifted off, she had almost expected it to start talking like Meowth, but it had just laid down and yawned. Oh, how she missed James! And now he was somewhere out there, teamed with a Red Rocket of all things. If only she had a way to get back to him… No, she thought to herself. I will get back to James. I know I will. There's no way I couldn't get back to him…

Jessie's thoughts were interrupted by Billy. "Penny for your thoughts, babe?"

Jessie turned to face Billy, annoyed. "Don't call me babe." She snapped angrily.

"OK, OK, Sorry, Jessie." Billy said quickly. "I was just wondering what could be worrying someone as pretty as you."

Jessie shot an icy look at him. This guy just never quit. "None of your business." She said coldly.

Billy looked at her, annoyed. "Look, Jessie, I am your partner. I know we got off to a rough start… and I'm sorry, by the way. But if we're gonna be partners, you've got to trust me and know you can talk to me."

Jessie maintained her icy look. "Apology noted." She said curtly. "But forget it about me talking to you anytime soon. I don't trust people easy."

Billy shot a look of disgust at her. She would hardly be worth the trouble of thawing out, even if it could be done. He folded his arms across his chest. "No wonder your old partner dumped you." He muttered.

Jessie's eyes flashed with rage. "What did you just say?!?" she spat.

"Oh you know, your old partner, that James guy… the one who turned in reports to the boss so he wouldn't have to be stuck with you anymore."

"You don't know James!" Jessie screamed, shaking with anger. "Don't presume to tell me why he did what he did!"

"Oh, I can see why he did it, all right." Billy continued arrogantly. "You know, when I met you, I figured he had to be gay or something. You know, half of Team Rocket is sure he is. But now I know that even if he is gay, he only dumped you to get rid of you. You're just a nagging pain in the butt."

Jessie's eyes flashed. "Just shut up!" she roared, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.

Billy smiled coldly. Some ice queen, he thought to himself. It'd be easier to break her than he had thought. She'd be eating out of his hand in a week. "Oh, like you'd do anything if I don't" he replied smugly, again folding his arms across his chest and leaning against the side of the basket.

Jessie glared at him with eyes full of hate. "Oh, no?" she asked.

"Nope." Billy replied. "Not a damn thing."

Jessie silently reached into the corner of the balloon and picked up a familiar object. Her hands wrapped around the handle of her mallet and she shot daggers at Billy.

"Ooohhh, big girl." Billy said tauntingly. "And what are you gonna do with that? Build me a house?"

Jessie was disgusted. Filled with anger, she picked up the mallet and said quickly, "No. This." She swung the mallet in a wide arc, hitting Billy in the side of the head. Unlike James, who was used to such things and able to recover quickly, Billy was totally unprepared for the blow, and tumbled over the side of the basket, falling to the ground below with a scream. He landed on his legs, breaking both of them nicely.

Jessie didn't feel the slightest bit of guilt as she leaned over the side of the basket and called to Billy, "Did you see that one coming, Billy boy?"

On the floor of the basket, Flareon woke up and realized that Billy was gone. It looked over the edge with a questioning look, and saw Billy on the ground below angrily sobbing. Jessie eyed the Pokemon nervously. Was it going to attack her for hurting its master? Flareon looked at Jessie, than back down at Billy, and decided that the whole thing wasn't worth getting excited over. It did the closest thing to a shrug that it could manage and went back to sleep.

Below, Billy called to Jessie, "Well, don't just leave me!"

"I won't !" Jessie called to him. "I'll tell the boss to send someone for you… sooner or later."

The balloon continued to fly as Jessie redirected it back to headquarters.