Chapter 4: The Journey Begins

“What the hell is wrong with you?! What’s your problem!?” screamed Craig, slapping Jessie hard across her face, sending her to the floor.

Once they had crash-landed in a thick forest, Craig recalled his Machamp and stormed through the forest in rage heading for the nearest hideout. Jessie followed slowly behind, really not in the mood for him right now.
When they had both got to a hideout, Craig’s temper blew and was now in an almost maniacal rage with her.

“You know I don’t think it was your partner that was ruining all those missions, it was you! Whenever you’re around nothing ever goes right! You’re a total failure and I cannot believe that Giovanni has kept you on this long! You’re pathetic! Stupid! You’re driving me crazy!!! I can’t stand you!!!”

Jessie sat on the floor looking at the ground. Ever since James had died, Jessie knew that something in her had died to. The bossy, confident, never-giving-up-hope Jessie had gone. She just didn’t care anymore. Over the past two years all she could think about was James, and every time Craig went through this temper, she just sat there and didn’t say anything. She didn’t care. She had lost all hope. With James she felt she had a future, so what if she never told him she loved him, they were still best friends, soul mates, but now…now she was stuck with a guy she never knew she could detest so much, but her heart wasn’t in for fighting back. She let him shout at her, hit her, anything, she just wanted it over with so he would go away and leave her alone.
Suddenly in the middle of Craig’s rage, the videophone stared ringing. Craig stopped screaming at Jessie and took a deep breath to try and calm his nerves. He walked over to the phone and picked up the receiver. The video flickered into focus as the picture of Giovanni appeared on the screen.

“Boss.” Craig stood to attention.

“Have you captured that Pikachu yet?”

“Not yet Sir, but if we ever are going to capture it may I make a recommendation?”

Giovanni nodded.

“Take Jessie of the Team.”

Jessie looked up at Craig from the floor.

“Of the Team? Whatever for?” asked Giovanni, although he already knew.

“Sir she is preventing me from catching any pokčmon. When she does try to do something the plan goes wrong and fails, and there are other times, such as today, where she didn’t even do anything, just stood there and watched me do all the hard work. She is weak and doesn’t deserve to be an agent in Team Rocket.”

Giovanni smirked at him for a moment, then his face became serious.

“I want you to bring Jessie to Reater Island.”

“Reater Island? Isn’t that in the Orange Islands?”

“Yes, it will take you at least 2 days to drive to the nearest Port from where you are. Once there, I will have a special boat waiting to take you. Don’t come in your uniforms, this is a public Ferry Port and you can’t be seen that you’re in Team Rocket, understand?”

“Perfectly.”

“Leave immediately, you must not be late.”

With that said, the phone went dead. Craig turned around to see Jessie had got up and was now sitting away from him in one of the armchairs.

“You heard what he said, go get changed and be down here in 5 minutes.”

He walked up behind her and hissed in her ear;

“And don’t bother with the makeup, nobody is gonna want to look at a scrawny ditz like you.”

He turned on his heal and walked into the next room where his bedroom was. Jessie put her head in her hands and cried into the small photo she held. Her whole body felt like it was dying from the inside out. She let the tears flow as her body shook with an uncontrollable emotion. She was love sick, and it was literally making her sick. Over the last two years, she hardly ate, hardly slept, and even when she did, she had nightmares about James killing himself because he couldn’t live with her anymore. She desperately wanted to apologise to James, for everything, as if it would make him come back to life. She looked at the photo in her hand, the last photo she had of James.
Craig had made her throw everything out that she ever had from James. Every Birthday and Christmas present, every photo, every memory. At the time she was so depressed she couldn’t fight back against him, and she is still in that mood, even two years later.
Wiping the tears from her eyes, she walked to her bedroom and closed the door. She put her last photo of her love on her bed while she got changed out of her uniform. Now it seemed the Boss was going to fire her. She would have no money, nowhere to live, no one to love.

@~>~>~~

“Miss Price. Send Dr Harrel in.”

“Yes Sir.”

Giovanni removed his finger from the intercom and waited in his leather chair, stroking his Persian by his side.
His Office doors opened and in stepped another scientist in a white Lab Coat. The man walked up behind the desk and stood to attention.

“Have you got all the data and information you can about that Mew?” Giovanni asked.

“Yes.” The scientist replied.

“Good, I want you to release it.”

The scientist stared at him.

“Release it Sir? But this is the most rare and strongest pokčmon of all time. Surely you don’t…”

The scientist was interrupted,

“…I told you to release it. I don’t need it now I have James by side.”

The scientist paused for a moment then spoke.

“As you wish Sir.”

Dr Harrel turned on his heal and out the door. He walked back down the corridor and through reception. Opening another door, he followed a second corridor back to Lab where they were keeping Mew.
Opening the door, he picked up the glass container where Mew had been living the past two years, and took it with him out of the headquarters to the training field out back.
Walking a little way into the forest, Dr Harrel removed the pressurised seal and removed the glass lid. Putting the container on the ground, he watched as the rarest pokčmon of all flew out of the container and through the trees into the distance, without looking back and without a sound.
The scientist sighed and picked up the empty container, heading back to the headquarters.

‘What we could have done with that pokčmon.’ He sighed.

@~>~>~~

A few hours later, Craig and Jessie were well on their way driving towards Reater Island, or at least their hotel for the night. An un-comfortable silence accompanied them both as Craig sat in the drivers seat trying to think of something insulting to say to Jessie.

“So,” he started, “I wonder why he wants me to take you to this Island. I bet he’s gonna tell ya your fired then just leave you there.” He snided at her.

Jessie didn’t move. She just sat there looking out the side window at the trees passing by. Craig shrugged and turned back to the road. It wasn’t as fun if she didn’t answer to him.
The afternoon slowly turned to evening as the last glittering rays of sun sparkled through the trees.
Jessie sighed and leaned her head against the window. Her eyes were getting heavy and she needed to get some sleep.
Craig stopped the car at a Gas station to fill up the car and get a bite to eat. Jessie got out the car too, but she wasn’t hungry, so she wondered over to a small clump of trees by the side of the road, leading to a much larger forest.
She sat down against a tree and pulled her knees up to her chest. Suddenly, out the corner of eye, she spotted something moving in the undergrowth. Curious, she got off the ground and moved the undergrowth apart. Something shot up from underneath her, startling her so much she fell back on to the ground. Looking up, she saw a strange, small pokčmon hovering above her. It looked down at her with the cutest face she had ever seen.

“Mew, Mew.” It said, darting about.

As Jessie got up, it stopped moving and hovered in front of her face. It stared at her, almost recognising her. Jessie too felt as though she knew this strange pokčmon, although she couldn’t put a name to it.
Suddenly, the pokčmon changed its expression to one of worry and started saying it’s name in a panic, almost as if it was trying to tell Jessie something.

“What? What is it?” she asked.

“Meeeeeeeeewww!” it screamed in a panic and suddenly shot up into the air and flew away. Jessie watched it go and sighed.

‘Another rare pokčmon out of sight,’ she thought.

“Jessie! Come on we’re going! The hotel is still another couple of hours away and it’s your turn to drive!”

Forgetting about the small pokčmon, Jessie headed back to the car and got in the drivers seat while Craig stuffed himself with sandwiches and crisps.

A few hours later, Jessie pulled up in the ‘Angelwings Hotel’ car park and nudged Craig to wake up. After they had checked in, they both went to their separate rooms, and seen as they didn’t have anything to un-pack, went straight to sleep…at least Craig did.
Jessie sat on the edge of her bed and looked out the window, listening to the wind making the leaves rustle on every tree. She was thinking about the pokčmon she met outside the Gas Station. She was sure she had seen it somewhere before, but she just couldn’t remember. She wondered what it was trying to tell her, not that she could care if something somewhere else in the world was going wrong, she had enough problems herself.
Giving up, she climbed into the warm duvet and pulled it close under her chin. She put the picture of James she carried with her on the pillow. She laid her head by it and looked at the picture.
She missed James so much. He was the only one who ever understood her, why she acted the way she does, or at least did. She let a small tear run down her cheek onto the pillow before she closed her eyes and sighed. Tomorrow she was going to get fired, she was sure of it, and there was nothing she could do about it.

To Be Continued…