“Hmmm…?” When Jessie came to, she felt as if something was attacking her face. She opened her eyes.

An angry Spearow was pecking her nose.

“Yaaahhhh!!!” Jessie shrieked and swatted at the Spearow. The struggle caused her to lose balance, and she fell.

Luckily, she caught hold of a branch and pulled herself up. Out of breath, she looked around.

“Look’s like we landed in another tree, Jess.” James was a few feet away, sitting comfortably on a thick branch. Jessie took out a handheld mirror and inspected her nose. There was a very large scratch running down one side.

“My face!” she cried in despair. “My beautiful face has been ruined!”

“Calm down, Jessie.” said James. “Your face is always getting ruined.”

Jessie glared at him.

Down below, they could hear Meowth yowling and crying in Pokemon language.

“I wonder what Meowth’s problem is this time.” said Jessie, rolling her eyes.

“He probably broke a claw again.” James shook his head with pity for Meowth.

“Shhh. Someone’s coming.” said Jessie. Sure enough, Ash, Misty, and Tracy were coming down the road.

Meowth kept on bawling.

Suddenly, Ash stopped.

“What’s the matter?” asked Misty.

“I think I just heard something.” answered Ash.

“Piikaa?” said Pikachu.

Meowth yowled again. Jessie looked around.

“What are you looking for?” asked James.

“Something to throw at that loud-mouthed crybaby.” she answered.

“It sounded like a hurt Pokemon!” said Ash excitedly.

“We should help it, then.” said Tracy.

“I was planning on capturing it…” said Ash.

“Oh, please.” Misty rolled her eyes. “Ash, you’re supposed to weaken a Pokemon by battling it before you capture it.”

Ash smirked and stuck his tongue out at her. “It’s not against any rule to capture an already weak Pokemon.”

“Uh-oh.” whispered James.

Meowth yowled again, this time helping Ash to find him.

“It’s a Meowth!” said Ash, who took out an empty pokeball. Then, he threw it toward Meowth. “Pokeball, go!”

The next few seconds seemed to last forever. First, the pokeball hit Meowth square in the nose. Then, a bright blue light surrounded him, and by the time it was gone, Meowth was nowhere to be seen. The pokeball fell to the ground and began to shake violently.

Everyone stared at the pokeball. After a while, the pokeball suddenly lay still.

“Yeah! I did it! I caught a Meowth!” Ash shouted triumphantly.

“Pikaa pika, chuu!” said Pikachu.

“Did you see that?” whispered Jessie to James.

“The twerp caught Meowth!” James exclaimed.

As the next five minutes passed by, Jessie and James stared in disbelief as their rival danced around the occupied pokeball.

Suddenly, they jumped to the ground and began to sing and dance.

“Meowth is gone! Meowth is gone! La la la la la la!”

“We’re free! We’re free! Freedom for you and me!”

A thought passed through their heads.

“Wait a second…” started Jessie. “We’re supposed to steal pokemon, not lose them.”

“Yeah…” agreed James.

They immediately turned toward Ash and his friends and began to talk in whispers.

“We have to get Meowth back,” said James.

“Right.” said Jessie. “On my signal, we announce our presence.”

“Why does it have to be on your signal?” complained James.

“Because your idea of a signal is a marching band,” answered Jessie. “We don’t want to blow our cover.”

“We’re about to anyway!” James argued. “You said so yourself. You said, ‘On my signal, we announce our presence’.”

Jessie broke a branch off of the tree and stuffed it into James’ mouth.

“That should keep you quiet.” Jessie mumbled.

“Hrmmm! Mmm, mmm mmrr! Dmmnn mmm, Jssee!” said James.

Jessie sighed, pulled the branch out of James’ mouth, and whacked him across the head with it.

“Now,” she said. “On my signal.”

“Okay! Okay! On your signal!” said James.

It turned out that they didn’t need a signal.

The pokeball began to shake again. Ash picked it up and held it close to his face.

“I wonder why it wants to get out so badly,” he said.

The pokeball popped open, and Meowth immediately used fury swipes on Ash.

“Yahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!” Ash yelled and clutched his face.

“Dat ‘oughta teach you not to mess wit’ Meowth!” Meowth shouted at him.

“Wow.” said Jessie and James at the same time.

Meowth ran to Pikachu and poked one of his claws into each electric sac on Pikachu’s cheeks. Pikachu tried to shock him, but it was no use. His electricity was temporarily disabled.

“That’s our cue!” Jessie said to James, who was putting rubber gloves on.

James ran toward Meowth and Pikachu. Meowth forced Pikachu into a bag that James was holding, and let go of the electric sacs. Pikachu’s shocks still didn’t work, due to the fact that James was wearing rubber gloves.

“Ha ha ha ha ha!” James laughed. “Looks like we have ourselves a little ‘Pika prize’!”

“Hey, you mean…I captured Team Rocket’s Meowth?!” exclaimed Ash.

“Exactly.” replied Jessie.

“You’re not gonna get away with this without a Pokemon battle!” said Misty.

“Fine by us.” said James. “Weezing, go! Use your smokescreen attack!”

James sent out Weezing.

“Weezing!” said Weezing as it used smokescreen.

In a matter of seconds, the entire area was thick with smoke. Ash, Misty, and Tracy couldn’t see Team Rocket anywhere.

“I have an idea!” said Tracy. “Venonat, go!”

Tracy sent out Venonat.

“Venonat!” said Venonat.

“Venonat, use your radar to guide us through the smoke!” Tracy commanded.

But as soon as they were out, Team Rocket—and Pikachu—were nowhere to be found.

How’d you like this one? Was it better than the first? Was it worse than the first? YOU decide! Tell J1 what you think!

The vote for part 2 of “For the Best or For the Worst”:

What happens to Team Rocket on their way to show Pikachu to the boss?

a) They go directly to the boss.
b) They run into Butch and Cassidy.
c) Jessie and James capture new Pokemon.

You decide the outcome! What will happen to Team Rocket next? It’s up to you!