Ash’s face of anger quickly turned into a face of fear once he saw the amount of Pokémon he was facing.
“Now, what were you saying?” smirked Simon.
“I don’t care how many there are! I will defeat you all!” screamed Ash; obviously, blind rage has possessed his mind. “Kingler! Go!”
“Kingler!” spoke the Kingler as it lunged toward the horde. Jesse decided to respond first with a Likitung.
“Likitung! Show that oversized crab just what you can do!” she screamed.
“Liki… Tung! It screamed before proceeding to lick out Kingler. Kingler hit the ground, paralysed.
“Kingler return!” shouted Ash, sending Kingler back to it’s Pokéball. Next, Ash sent Tauros. James responded… with Victreebell.
“Victreebell… go!” he spoke. Victreebell screamed, before sending Tauros down with a heavy lashing of Razor Leaf.
“Okay Tauros, you tried your best” Ash cried, which made Muk start to approach Team Rocket. “MUK! Stop them” bellowed Ash.
“MUK!” it spoke.
Simon darted in, “My turn…” he added, “Squirtle! Show Muk your ultra bash!”
“Squirtle!!! It replied, where it proceeded to launch itself high up into the air. Muk looked round, only to be taken out by a Squirtle skull bashing at over 200 mph!
“Muk…” it groaned.
“Okay, you tried, return!” Ash said, now he was out of Pokémon, oh, how he wished Pikachu were here.
“Looks like Team Rocket’s moving up again!” celebrated Jesse.
Ash began to run, and was pursued by Jesse’s Haunter and Simon, Kadabra and his Pikachu in tow. The Haunter took down Ash with a lick, and then Kadabra lifted up Ash, where Pikachu leaped high to the air!
“Pika…Chuuuu!!!!!!!!!!!” it squealed, sending out a strong thunderbolt to Ash. The electricity filled virtually all the floor, it was so intense, and it sent Ash flying to the other side of the corridor, where he impacted against the elevator door.
“Hmmm… Looks like Ash Ketchum is blasting off again!” said Simon to his Pikachu, jokingly.
“Pika!” is laughed, whilst Kadabra was using it’s telekinesis to bring Ash’s Pokéballs to Simon, along with a Pokédex. He looked at the stash and smiled.
“SIMON! COME QUICK!” Screamed James. Simon hurried into their hotel room, to see Jesse lying unconscious on the floor.
“What happened?” questioned Simon.
“I think that Pikachu’s thunderbolt also caught Jesse.”
“Quick, we got to get her to the hospital!”
At the hospital, things went from bad to worse. “There a combination of problems in Jesse, lack of sensible diet, frail body structure and that thunderbolt have cause problems with Jesse’s cerebral cortex. We can operate, but the waiting list is up to five months.”
“What about private treatment?” inquired Simon.
“That’s going to cost $3000.” The doctor replied. Simon and James started to look grim.
“I’m glad I can help then.” spoke a domineering voice from behind James, who leaped for the sky when he heard the voice.
“Ah, Giovanni, so glad you could come so quick,” said Simon. Giovanni was not alone, Persian and fellow Team Rocket member ‘The Eater of Worlds’ accompanied him, noting this Simon spoke to her, “Ah, Eater, so glad you came too.”
“Y…y…you called the boss?” said a nervous James.
“I’m always available for my favourite employees,” said Giovanni.
“F…favourite? I thought Butch and Cassidy were you favourites?” cautiously spoke James.
“Don’t talk to me about those two boneheads.”
“James, why don’t you go and get something to eat? I’m sure Giovanni need to sort out the payment of Jesse’s treatment,” added Simon, hastily. James rummaged through his pockets, then pulled them inside out to show that he was broke. Simon sharply handed James several bills. James quickly ran off. Simon then turned to The Eater of Worlds and said, “Could I speak to you outside?”
“Sure, responded The Eater of Worlds. The silently marched outside to the fountain outside the main entrance. Outside, they sat on the edge of the fountain, while Killer swam around in the water, interacting with the other Magikarp.
“Look, about those rumours, are any of them true?” quietly questioned Simon.
“I’ve been doing some checking, asking questions and looking in files, but I can't really say yet.” Replied The Eater of Worlds
“But, which way does it look like at the moment?” begged Simon, clutching her hands in his.
“At the moment, they seem to point towards…” That was as far as she got, because the doctor came out and asked to see Simon as soon as possible, in Jesse’s ward.
“I’ll be there as soon as possible,” asked Simon, “Eater, will you come too?”
“Just a minute, go on ahead.” She said. Simon quickly ran off. The Eater of Worlds sighed and muttered something under her breath.
“Was?” inquired Killer.
“Oh, es ist gar nichts.” She replied, sending Killer back to his Pokéball. She got up and meandered to the ward.
Inside, James was sitting by Jesse’s unconscious body, holding her frail looking hand, crying his eyes out. “What’s going on?” she asked.
“Jesse slipped into a coma about 5 minutes ago.” Quietly whispered Simon to The Eater of Worlds.
“That’s terrible” she replies, also at a low level.
“The doctors say they can still perform the surgery, but there is only a five percent chance she will survive and recover.”
Giovanni, upon hearing the news, had left, apparently with a tear in his eye. The Eater of Worlds walked over to the window, Simon just held his head down and muttered a prayer for Jesse. That was when the porters arrived, to take Jesse away for surgery.
“Please! Send her back alive!” James screamed, tears still flowing from his eyes. He began to pursue her, but Simon held him back. “NO! LET ME GO!” he bellowed.
“There nothing we can do now…” softly spoke Simon, “Nothing, but wait.”
“But… I love her.” He cried.
“I know.” Finished Simon, consoling James.
