It was one of those mornings where nothing ever seems right, goes right, or even feels right for that
matter, cold, gray and unforgiving. In the early hours of the day, mist enveloped everything,
choking the world with its thick blanket, forbidding sound and movement, and punishing those
who dared disturb its placidity with an even thicker layer. It was horribly easy to lose your way in
the abyss, and when the event finally did occur, the stillness caused anything to shrink back, and
refuse to help, for fear of the same fate. Fate? Fate is even crueler than such mornings as some
people have experienced first hand. Fate, it seems, works in curious ways as well. Occasionally, it
does whatever it takes to ensure the outcome of its whim. No one is an object, and sometimes
fate is cruel, other times it is benevolent, and on the rare occasion, it is the kindest it has ever
been, concealed in tragedy.
Jessie awoke that morning in a particularly foul mood. She fumbled her way into the kitchen,
where the dishes from the previous night's dinner still lay filthy and haphazardly piled in the sink,
hardly the Saturday morning she had pictured and yearned for all week. She cursed under her
breath as she stepped on a fork lying on the floor with a bare foot and kicked it angrily underneath
the half open refrigerator. Meowth lay asleep hanging from the open door, the last remaining milk
carton dripping quietly on the floor.
She scowled and resigned to her fate, gently kicking James who lay asleep at the table. He
jumped suddenly, snorting at the sudden intake of air and gently lifting his head from the pages of
his book. He looked dazed and confused, the glasses that had been resting on the bridge of his
nose now haphazardly hanging from his ears. Jessie smirked and continued on her way. All the
time she had known James, she had caught him with his glasses on a mere few times. He hated
them with a passion, and he only really needed them to read, and only in dim lighting, so those
were the rare occasions when he wore them.
James swatted them hastily from his face as it darkened a slight shade of red.
"Slick James Bond," he turned around and glared at the barely awake Meowth.
"Ah, shut up furball," James replied sliding gently from his seat. "So, what's on the agenda today
Jess?" he asked as he sauntered over to the refrigerator.
Jessie flipped the switch on their ancient coffee machine and yawned loudly. "I dunno, he's giving
us a better assignment today, at least that's what he told me," she replied leaning her elbows on the
counter as the sounds of morning slowly began to ward away the eerie silence of the still morning.
James shrugged and dejectedly closed the heavy white door, casting a glare as icy as the floor
beneath his feet at the feline. "Pig," he mused.
Meowth shrugged and shot him a toothy grin. "Dere was nobody dere ta stop me now was dere?"
he asked sarcastically.
"Fine, you win," James said and moved for the mugs in the cabinet above the sink.
Jessie chuckled, nothing cheered her more than a good quarrel in the morning. "You guys are
pathetic," she said glancing out the window. Her formerly cheerful expression returned to the
bleak one of first thing in the morning. Outside everything was a dismal shade of gray, dark
ominous clouds hanging low over the landscape. "Looks like rain," she said removing the
completed pitcher of coffee off of the machine. She poured it swiftly in one motion into the two
awaiting cups. Her hand stopped short, noting that the carton of milk that James usually held ready
for her was not there. "Hey James? Where's the milk?" she asked slightly disturbed he had not
completed his part of the long time tradition of the morning.
"In Meowth's gut," he answered winking.
Jessie frowned and shrugged. "Pig," she echoed to James' previous derogatory comment.
He looked to Meowth to ensure that the name would stick with him, and the cat stuck his tongue
out in response.
"I guess we'll have to drink it black, after all, we should be getting the mission soon, it sounded
real important on the phone," Jessie said gingerly sipping the strong liquid, "I could use the
caffeine."
James chuckled and started for his bedroom to change, but was stopped by a sharp rap at the
door. All movement and sound ceased, as if the moment were suspended in time, a knoll of
premonition of what was to come. "I...I'll get it," James muttered and walked stiffly to the door.
Jessie frowned deeply and chewed a fingernail nervously as James disappeared to the front door
of their small cabin.
James turned the knob slowly, afraid to break the thick silence that seemed would lash out at
anyone who dared. He swallowed hard and opened the door the slight crack that the chain on it
allowed. A gun barrel followed, resting gently against James' forehead as a white folder was
roughly shoved into his hands. "You two have been asked to take on what could be the most
important mission of Team Rocket history. Do you accept?" the gruff voice asked quickly, and
straight to the point.
"Seeing as I can agree, or have you blow my brains out right here and now, I'll say yes," James
replied snatching the folder inside.
"Giovanni trusts you two, you're our most reliable agents. Good luck, and try not to get killed,
someone might miss you," these were the final words from the Rocket, who fled immediately
afterward.
James held the folder tightly and trodded mechanically back into the kitchen, throwing it lightly
onto the table and sitting down heavily. "Damn, damn it all to hell," he muttered under his breath.
Jessie nodded in agreement and sat down next to him to examine their newest suicide mission.
They did not chase the kid and the Pikachu anymore, that had merely been vacation time, their
normal assignments were normally quite difficult, and lately, had gotten downright life threatening.
The twerp and his friends had ventured too far away from base for them to comfortably pursue,
so now they had set up a permanent residence in the inconspicuous suburbs or their center of
operations, Saffron City.
"Well James, shall we prepare for trouble?" she asked in a shaky voice.
"Yeah, and make it...Uh, what's one hundred times?" he asked sarcastically.
"Hopefully not our odds of death," Jessie replied bitterly.
James nodded silently and pulled the contents out of the folder, a look of near panic spreading
over his face.
"James? What is it?" Jessie asked.
"No time, the bastard gave us no time!" he shouted as he finished reading the short briefing letter
from Giovanni.
"What?!" Jessie exclaimed snatching the thin, watermarked paper from James' grasp. She quickly
scanned for the mission start time and raised her eyes to meet the emerald ones that watched her
every move. "Well, we'd better get ready, we'll need all the time we can get," she said and
assumed her usual role of organizing the materials for ease of the job to be done.
Meowth leapt deftly onto the counter and read over her shoulder, a smug grin coiling his lips. "So,
we're gonna to destroy an entire organization."
-
Jessie stared at the front of the night-blackened building, her stomach turning in anticipation.
They'd had only the day to prepare, having gotten the assignment early that same morning and in
Jessie's professional mind, the whole thing was completely disorganized. "Come on James, where
are you?" she whispered anxiously.
James lay on his back, squeezed into an air duct just above the main floor of the several story high
building, the words of Giovanni's letter ringing in his ears. This whole organization was a resistance
threat, headed by none other than the notorious traitors Butch and Cassidy. They'd wanted
revenge after Giovanni had decided to let them stay in jail for punishment, and after they had
escaped, built their Team Resistance from scratch. They wore similar uniforms, with a knife
grotesquely stabbing through the crimson 'R'. This was a team built on insanity driven revenge, and
wouldn't be too much trouble to denounce in James' mind.
He touched the small gun at his hip gently, just to ensure it was still there, and pulled a small digital
timer from his pocket. "Sorry guys, this is what you get for messin' with the boss," he muttered and
swiftly taped it to the inside of the duct. He looked at it remorsefully and punched in a few
numbers. "I can't believe he gave us only 20 minutes to escape," James thought to himself as he hit
the last key on the small pad and with a quiet beep, the timer on the Team Rocket trademark
detonation device began slowly counting downwards.
"Hey, did ya hear that?"
James froze at the sudden voice of a guard below.
"Yeah, it was comin' from there!" A single shot followed the outburst, barely missing James' leg.
He closed his eyes and swallowed hard, praying that they would not fire again. "Jessie, if I don't
make it...Don't cremate me," he thought to himself as another shot narrowly avoided his side.
"Dumb ass, there's nothing up there," the other guard hissed cruelly.
"Shit, now Butch will have my dick for ruining his air conditioning," the other replied and a loud
argument sparked between them as they walked down a nearby hall.
James sighed in relief and wiped the beads of sweat gathering on his forehead. "Someone up there
still loves me, and god help me if I ever resort to sailor speak like those two peasants. Butch and
Cass have really lowered their standards," he whispered grinning, and rolled over to execute his
escape for the next part of the plan.
Jessie scowled and looked at her watch for the fifth time in about three seconds. "Where the hell is
he? He's never late!" she whispered anxiously.
"Maybe he's lyin' dead in an office somwheres?" Meowth offered.
Jessie snarled and whapped him roughly with the back of her hand.
"Boo," she jumped as she felt a light tap on her back, and a dramatically lowered voice, whirling
around. James stood behind her, a smug, child-like grin on his face.
"Jesus! Do you want to make me shoot you?" Jessie asked gripping her pounding chest.
"Hmm, no, I think I've had enough brushes with death tonight. Shall we take care of the ring
leaders of this circus then?" he asked lightly.
"Brush with death? You'll tell me later, but now, we've got to take care of our old friends before
that bomb goes off," she replied deftly taking off running for the back of the building.
"Come on Meowth! We're gonna have us a good ol' fashioned assassination! Yeehaw!" James
whooped in a tragically poor western accent.
Meowth rolled his eyes and bounded after his companions.
The office was not difficult to locate, the building was a simple office establishment, and the trio
located the traitors with merciful ease. They crouched furtively in the same air duct James had
been in only moments before, and he had shuddered when they passed the bullet holes where he
had nearly lost his life. "Look, there's the bastards," Jessie said pointing through a nearby grate.
Butch and Cassidy both sat behind ominous desks, laughing at something, both of their venomous
voices sending a shiver down Jessie, James, and Meowth's spines. "Butch, we're so close now!
That old coot will rue the day he betrayed us!" Cassidy cackled.
Butch smirked and stuck the end of a pen in his mouth, chewing it absent-mindedly. "Revenge is
so sweet," he agreed.
James grinned and cocked the handgun he held aimed at Butch's head. "Enjoy it while it lasts
punk, ready Jess?" he whispered. "On the count of three. One...Two...Three!" all fell silent and
two silenced shots echoed in the small air duct. Butch and Cassidy stopped all motions suddenly,
as if time itself stopped for this very moment. No one dared to breathe as two sets of eyes rolled
dramatically backwards as their owners fell forward, blood dripping from two neat holes between
them.
"Nice aim James," Jessie mused gently blowing the lazy smoke away from the barrel of her gun.
"Not so bad yourself," he added.
They both could not help but grin as they heard a shrill shriek from the office below, followed by
angry shouted and obscenities from fellow workers of Team Resistance. Little did they know they
had chosen a bad place to execute their quarry. "Up there! The grate on the air duct!"
Both their hearts stopped as gunfire echoed around them. "Shit! James this way!" Jessie cried
diving on her stomach from the direction they had come.
James reached out to her, trying to warn her that they had come from over the hallway, where the
Rockets were amassing. "No! Jessie!" was all he managed to squeak as she stopped suddenly, a
bullet grazing her shoulder. She cried out in pain and clutched it, exactly the wrong thing to do.
"Right above you men! Fire!" a voice yelled.
James drew in a shaky breath and dove forward, shoving Jessie out of the way as the pipe was
riddled with bullets. Sound did not register in Jessie's brain as she felt James hold her about the
waist pulling her away from where her life was in peril. She could hear her own heartbeat, and her
own panicked breathing, and in all the confusion, James cry out in sheer agony, and then silence.
She lay where they both had fallen, listening to the conversation below. Amid the congratulations
and praise for the accurate gunman, the soft pat of liquid dripping to the ground was just barely
audible. "Oh god, please no," she breathed getting up. James lay still next to her in a disheveled
heap, exactly where he had fallen. "James, no," she whispered shaking him gently. He did not stir.
"Oh god don't do this to me. James!" she hissed, tears gathering in her eyes. "Bastards, I'll kill
them all! I'll god damn kill every one of them!" she sobbed turning James onto his back.
No wound was visible, which caused her to sob harder as she placed a hand tenderly behind his
head. She pulled it back covered in blood. Alarmed, she gently moved to his side, turning his head
to where she had placed her hand to confirm her suspicions, blood leaked in a steady stream from
a neat hole just above his ear. Jessie covered her mouth, stifling an anguished wail and turned
away from the body of her best friend.
"Jessie! He's got a bullet in his brain, he's dead! We gotta save our own skins now!" Meowth
called quietly, tears evident in his voice.
Jessie gritted her teeth and gently cradled James in her arms.
"What are ya doin' Jess?" Meowth asked anxiously, "dis buildin's gonna blow!"
Jessie let the tears fall, running a free finger through the blood soaked blue hair. "I won't let his
body stay here he...He was our best friend, he deserves better," she whispered.
The feline nodded in understanding, offered no more protests and solemnly led the way out of the
building. They exited through the very same vent they had come through initially, running as fast as
possible toward the woods bordering the city.
A loud explosion rocked the small area as anything and everything that hinted at rebellion was
destroyed with two things. Two, well-aimed gun shots, and a single bomb James had set up earlier
in the basement. Jessie felt a pang of extreme loneliness as she ran, carrying the limp form of a
young man she had the pleasure of calling her friend. The one that had been through everything
with her, ever since they had met at school, both social outcasts, and made fast friends. They had
shared everything, closer than either of them knew. The tears flowed freely, and even more
unabashed as she recalled the pleasantries of the morning, how light-hearted it had been. She
smiled vaguely, that was how she would remember James.
When the blast had subsided, and all lay still in mourning over the countless lives lost, Jessie and
Meowth stopped, breathing heavily from exertion. Jessie found she could no longer hold James,
and carefully laid him down in the soft grass, crossing his arms over his chest respectfully.
"Goodbye old friend," she whispered.
"Jess...Why?!" Meowth moaned throwing himself onto the ground.
Jessie said nothing, but took the Pokemon into her arms tenderly, quieting him.
"I take it James here didn't make it, to be honest I wasn't sure if any of you would, I must say I'm
pleased you two did." Both Jessie and Meowth looked up to see Giovanni standing over them as
they sobbed.
"Boss, as much as I respect you, I need to get this off of my chest. You stupid, lying, irresponsible
dick sucking piece of shit! James is dead and it's all your fault!" she screeched standing up.
Giovanni raised an eyebrow and motioned to the bushes behind him, much to Jessie and
Meowth's confusion. They sprang to life, a thin wiry looking man leaping from them, resembling a
dog, concurring to be at his master's disposal whatever the situation may be. "Check him,"
"But sir, note the bullet wound in his skull, it's highly unlikely that-"
"I said check him!"
"Right away." The man that was now obvious who was a doctor knelt at James' side, taking his
wrist.
"God as if it's any compensation! He's gone! I know it, you know it too! Who survives being shot
in the head?!" Jessie yelled angrily.
"James does, call for back-up he's still alive!" the doctor cried suddenly.
Giovanni grinned at Jessie, producing a cellular phone from the inside of his jacket.
"No...T...That's impossible!" Jessie sputtered.
"Hurry boss, we're gonna lose him soon! He's just barely here. Man, he must really have
something to live for," the doctor mused taking a few medical provisions from his pocket.
Jessie stumbled backwards, resting against a tree in absolute terror. "No, James is dead, I saw
him get shot, I felt the blood! It's still on my hands for Christ's sake! So much of it, so much
blood, so much death, why take my James from me? Who could be so cruel? So many lies,
Giovanni, he set this up, it's all his fault! James is dead, and then he has to complicate things by
trying to tell me he's alive? Bastard...James is dead, he died saving my life, bravest person in the
world, but he's gone he's gone he's gone!" her mind screamed at her as loud and as incoherently
as it possibly could before her vision swirled with color and slowly faded to black.
-
"Jessie? Come on Jess don't you leave me too! Please wake up! Jessie!" Jessie could discern a
voice, just barely audible in the black void of her mind. Light began filtering in slowly, causing her
to squeeze her eyes shut harder and groan. A dull pain throbbing in her shoulder awakened her,
and she slowly slid her eyes open. Vision was blurry at first, and Jessie could only discern a
blinding white light over her, and a very familiar concerned voice.
"M...Meowth?" she whispered opening one eye.
"Welcome back to da world of da livin'," he replied grateful she had awakened.
Jessie's face instantly fell as she painfully opened both of her eyes fully. "I wish I wasn't here," she
said quietly.
"Jess, dat's crazy, don't talk like dat," the cat said apprehensively.
"Why not? I could be with James then,"
"But Giovanni said-"
"Screw what he said, James died. He got shot in the head Meowth, no one survives that," Jessie
spat cruelly.
Meowth sniffed furtively and turned away from his friend, and looked to the pale green door as it
slowly creaked open. Giovanni entered, a smug grin on his thin lips, and Meowth hissed,
regressing back to his feline instincts.
Giovanni held a hand up to him, composed as always and turned to Jessie. "Ah I see we've
awakened, now, shall I tell you the good news or the bad news first?" he asked.
Jessie lowered her eyes spitefully and looked away. "Bad," she muttered.
Giovanni cleared his throat. "The bad news is the media somehow got a hold of some dirt on
Team Rocket, our names are all over the news, and apparently, one guy escaped from the
explosion, he's in a coma, but when he wakes up, we're screwed," he said relating the small
incident that had occurred.
"Well don't count on me to assassinate him," Jessie spat.
"I've got another duo working on it, but wouldn't you like to hear the good news?" he asked in a
much lighter tone than before.
"I doubt anything is good at this point," Jessie answered.
Giovanni smiled coyly and shook a finger mockingly at her. "Oh ye of little faith, I do believe this
news will brighten your day considerably," he said.
"Fine," Jessie replied through clenched teeth.
"James is alive, we got him here just in time, and he's resting comfortably now."
Jessie's eyes widened visibly as she struggled to sit up. "No lying this time? He's alright?" she
asked.
"Well, not alright per say, but he certainly is alive," Giovanni replied.
Jessie nodded, looking up to the ceiling briefly, and whispering something indecipherable under
her breath before swinging her legs over the side of the hospital bed.
"Jessie what are ya doin'?" Meowth cried as she stumbled forward, landing in Giovanni's arms.
"I'm going to see James, and I need to talk to that worm of a doctor," she replied steadying
herself.
"Jessie, he's not even conscious as of now. Get back into bed," Giovanni urged. Jessie shoved his
hands away roughly, and stormed out the door into the hall.
Suddenly realizing that she had no clue which room James was actually in, she briefly turned back
to go back inside. She frowned deeply, afraid that Meowth or Giovanni might stop her, and
instead, hailed a passing nurse.
"May I help you miss?" she asked sweetly.
"Uh, yeah, do you know what room James LeBlanc is in?" Jessie asked looking apprehensively
down the hall.
"Sure, he's in 616A, on this floor, lucky fellow he was!" the nurse answered.
"Thanks," Jessie said and mechanically made her way down the hall through the seemingly endless
rows of pale green doors.
Jessie had always feared the Team Rocket hospital. People she had seen come in often did not
come back out. She had seen everything, from wounds from being tortured, to mission accidents.
She had never imagined neither her nor James involved in any of them, and her heart beat in a
faster rhythm as she slowly stepped into the deathly silence of room 616A.
The only things that greeted her were the dull beeps and squawks of various monitors and
machines in the room. James lay motionless in the bed in the very center, its metal frame pushed
against the wall. The wormy doctor from just after the accident sat at his side, adjusting the white
bandage around his head. He looked up from his work, finally satisfied and smiled warmly as he
noticed Jessie standing in the doorway. "Come sit Jessie, we need to have a little talk," he said
motioning for Jessie to take the metal wire chair next to him.
She proceeded cautiously, feeling each step as she placed it carefully, rolling her foot as not to
make any sound. She took the chair from the side of the bed, and placed it closer to James than
the Doctor's, sitting swiftly. "So, he's alive eh?" she mused stroking James' cheekbone
affectionately, finding it still warm with life.
"He survived everything we put him through as well, he's tough, and the bravest person I've ever
seen," the doctor replied.
"Yeah, I know," Jessie said wistfully, "so, what's going to be wrong with him?"
The doctor looked at her, a confused expression the only communication. "What do you mean?"
he asked.
Jessie looked annoyed, and slid her hand into James'. "Is he gonna be blind, deaf, retarded?
What? Everybody who gets a brain injury has some problem," she explained.
The doctor sighed and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "James was very, very lucky.
He'll still have all his senses, his mind will be as sharp as ever, but I'm afraid you're right, he
damaged this region of the brain here," the doctor explained pointing to where the bullet had
entered his skull, "this area controls speech. It's practically functionless now the damage is so
extensive to this part, and he'll more than likely be mute for the rest of his life."
Jessie felt her stomach sink with this cruel twist of fate. "Never be able to talk? But what about-"
"He may regain some of it with therapy, but it'll never be the same," the doctor sensed what
question she was going to ask and answered it. Jessie fell silent, not even realizing how tightly she
was holding on to James' inert hand. "Well, I'll leave you with him, he should wake up fairly soon.
When he does, explain it to him, and just be as kind as you can," the doctor said getting up. Jessie
barely heard him as she slipped from reality, into a state of mild shock.
James had always been an eloquent speaker. He rarely used foul language and had an impressive
vocabulary in Jessie's mind, and had always been proud of it. She often over looked how essential
and forsaken the ability of speech was, but now that she thought of James silenced forever, she
realized how important it was to his being, and to everyone in the human race. It was like stripping
a Nightingale of its song, and a bird with such a beautiful one, is the epitome of despair.
"I'm so sorry James, this is all my fault," she whispered. She tenderly rubbed the back of James'
hand, wishing she could hear his voice just once more. She never realized how much she actually
enjoyed hearing it, until she was faced with the concept of never hearing its gentle tones again. It
was usually jovial, and even when he was serious it always had an underlying lighter tone.
Naturally this did not surprise Jessie. She had always known he was a child at heart, and that was
one of the things she liked best about him.
Her heart skipped a beat as James' eyes squeezed shut harder before fluttering open just slightly,
the once brilliant emerald green irises faded, and dull. "James?" Jessie asked placing a hand on his
forehead.
He looked up at her acknowledging her presence and opened his mouth to speak. A pang of hurt
tore through Jessie's soul as a look of terror spread across her friend's face as no sound exited his
lips.
"Don't even try James, just lie still, and I'll explain everything."
