Jessie sipped her coffee as she stepped onto the balcony. The trainer inn at Fuschia City was one of the nicest around, and the room she, James, and Meowth were sharing was on the east wing, giving them a terrific view of the sunrise.
As she watched the fiery orb slowly creep above the horizon, painting sky and city alike in a lovely shade of pink, she suddenly felt a pair of arms encircling her waist.
"Good morning, beautiful," James muttered into her ear.
"Good morning, handsome," she echoed as she turned and planted a kiss on his lips.
James smiled and pulled her closer as they watched the sunrise together. "Wow! Look how pink everything is! No wonder they call this place Fuschia City!" he remarked.
A cool early-morning breeze began to blow, rustling their silk robes and chilling them slightly. Thankful for the closeness and warmth of her lover, Jessie sank deeper into his embrace and rested her head on his shoulder.
"Looks like it's going to be a lovely day," she commented. "I'm glad we decided to come here for awhile -- I get so sick of always following those brats around!"
"You and me both!" said James.
Jessie smiled as she set down her coffee mug and put her arms around him. James responded by hugging back and kissing her.
It was definitely going to be a good day.
@->->-
"Ring-ring-ring! Ring-ring-ring! Phone call! Phone call!"
"Ring-ring-ring! Ring-ring-ring! Phone call! Phone call!"
"Ring-ring-ring! Ring-ring-ring! Phone call! Phone call!"
"Gnnnnnnhhhh?" Meowth groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. "What the?! Dis'd better be good!" He'd been having the greatest dream about a giant ball of catnip, and he was none too thrilled at being awakened from it.
"Ring-ring-ring! Ring-ring-ring! Phone call! Phone call!"
"Ring-ring-ring! Ring-ring-ring! Phone call! Phone call!"
"Ring-ring-ring! Ring-ring-ring! Phone call! Phone call!"
"Hey, Jessie! James! Will one a ya answer dat?" he said as he pulled a pillow over his ears to block the sound of the ringing phone. God, dat thing's annoying!
"Ring-ring-ring! Ring-ring-ring! Phone call! Phone call!"
"Ring-ring-ring! Ring-ring-ring! Phone call! Phone call!"
"Ring-ring-ring! Ring-ring-ring! Phone call! Phone call!"
"FINE! I'LL DO IT MYSELF!!!" he shouted as he threw his pillow across the room and jumped down from the couch to answer the phone. "Lazy good fer nothin' humans...."
"Hello?" Meowth said as he picked up the receiver and switched on the vid-screen.
"Meowth. Where are Jessie and James? I have an assignment for the three of you," the shadowy figure of Giovanni said once the screen came into focus. The Persian seated next to him hissed, and he responded by stroking her head and scratching behind her ears.
"Probably still sleepin'," Meowth replied, wondering how the boss knew they were in Fuschia City instead of trying to capture Pikachu, like they were supposed to be. "Hang on a sec. I'll go get 'em."
@->->-
"Hey! Are youse guys decent?" Meowth called as he knocked on the bedroom door. The cat respected his friends' privacy, and last thing he wanted was to walk in on the young lovers if they were in the middle of an amorous moment.
When he received no response, he slowly pushed the door open. And when he didn't hear them scream at him to get lost, he stepped inside.
He found Jessie and James standing outside on the balcony. They had their arms around each other, and their lips were locked in a passionate kiss. The wind had picked up, and since Jessie hadn't styled her hair yet, it was being blown everywhere, engulfing the two of them in a crimson cloak and intermingling with James's blue-violet hair. Behind them, the sun was rising and making them glow with a celestial pink aura. It was one of the most beautiful sights he'd ever seen.
Meowth was reluctant to interrupt such a beautiful moment, but he knew that sometimes duty had to come before beauty.
Especially when Giovanni was on the phone.
"Ahem!"
Jessie and James broke from their kiss and turned to face Meowth.
"What do YOU want?!" Jessie snapped, angry at the cat's sudden intrusion.
"Yeah! This had better be important, Meowth!" James added. He wasn't too happy about it, either.
"It is," he told them. "The boss wants ta talk to ya. Now."
Meowth watched as Jessie and James exchanged nervous looks. They obviously didn't know how Giovanni had discovered they were taking a few days off either.
@->->-
Once Jessie and James were dressed in their Team Rocket uniforms, they went into the living room and picked up the phone.
"W-what do you need, boss?" Jessie asked, trying to hide the quavering in her voice.
"I see that the three of you have taken a slight detour from your mission...." Giovanni began.
Jessie, James, and Meowth sweatdropped.
"....And it's most fortunate that you have," he continued. "I need you to do something very important for me."
Jessie and James smiled at each other, glad that their boss wasn't angry with them after all...and that he was entrusting them with an important mission.
Meowth breathed a sigh of relief. "Anything for you, sir! Whaddaya need us ta do?"
"Two of your teammates are currently running a counterfeit breeding facility in Fuschia City. I want you to go and shut it down," Giovanni explained.
"Why would you want us to do a thing like that?" Jessie queried.
"They're abusing the pokemon," he said. "All of the pokemon that I've been receiving from them are either sick or injured, and therefore, of no use to me. I will not tolerate such incompetence!"
The Persian hissed again, as if to emphasize the point.
"You mean you'd trust us with a mission like this?" James asked. "Even after the Butch and Cassidy breeding center fiasco?"
Jessie scowled and smacked him with her paper fan. "Don't remind him of that!" she snapped.
"Yeah!" Meowth growled, unsheathing his claws and preparing to give him a good Fury Swiping.
"But that's precisely why I want you on this assignment!" Giovanni said before an argument could ensue.
The three Rockets gave him a quizzical look.
"I was planning on shutting down their breeding facility for the exact same reason," he told them. "They, too, were abusing all of the pokemon and delivering damaged goods. You three didn't screw up by breaking in -- you simply did the dirty work for me...."
This made them smile again. "Yeah. Yeah...just...doin' our job, boss!" Meowth said proudly.
"We'll do it, sir," Jessie told him. "If it's one thing we can't stand, it's pokemon abuse!"
"Yeah. We may not have a very good turnover, but at least we take care of our pokemon," James chimed in.
Giovanni nodded. "Like I said -- that's why I want you on this assignment. I value quality over quantity."
Jessie, James, and Meowth grinned. The boss had just complimented them!
"I thought you were still after Pikachu, but when I called Mondo and asked him to fetch you for this mission, he informed me that you were already in Fuschia City," he continued. "I don't know how the three of you do it, but you always seem to be in the right place at the right time."
Their grins grew even wider. Two compliments from Giovanni in one day! That was a rare thing, indeed!
"You can count on us, sir!" Jessie exclaimed.
"Yeah!" said James. "We'll take care of this!"
Through the shadows, they could see a white flash of teeth as Giovanni smiled at them. "Excellent," he said. "Now go. And don't fail me." With that, he disconnected, and the vid-screen went blank.
"Did ya hear dat?!" Meowth cried. "The boss wants US on dis important mission!"
"He could've had any agents he wanted on this assignment, but he chose us!" Jessie sighed happily.
"Maybe we were wrong about him," James remarked. "Maybe the boss likes us, after all!"
"Yeah!" said Meowth. "And dat's exactly why we can't screw dis one up -- he's countin' on us!"
Jessie and James nodded. "Right!" they said in unison.
With that, the three of them left the inn and headed for the breeding center. Once again, their day off had been interrupted, but this time, they didn't mind. It wasn't every day that Giovanni showed so much faith in them, and they were determined not to let him down.
Chapter 1 -- Mission: Possible
Finding the counterfeit breeding center was a simple matter. Jessie, James, and Meowth had seen the place when they'd arrived in Fuschia City the night before -- a seedy building on the outskirts of town. They'd thought it odd that a pokemon spa would be so run-down and in such an out of the way location, and now they knew why.
"May I help you?" an ugly Nurse Joy with a five o'clock shadow asked in a falsetto voice as the three of them entered the lobby.
It was all Jessie could do to keep from laughing. My James makes a much better looking woman when he wears female disguises! she said to herself. Then aloud, "Yes. We'd like to check our pokemon in, please," she replied, managing to keep her composure.
With that, she and James handed over Meowth and the poke balls containing Lickitung and Victreebel.
"Thank you," the fake Nurse Joy said.
Once he disappeared behind a curtain, they could hear muffled laughter and, "Hey, Bonnie, we got a few more!"
"Like I said, Clyde, these people are a bunch of idiots!" another voice replied.
Jessie and James exchanged smug looks. "Who do these two think they're fooling?!" they whispered in unison.
Suddenly, the sound of slashing claws ripped through the air, and the laughter gave way to blood-curdling screams.
"Now, guys!" they heard Meowth shout.
That was their cue.
"Weezing, go!" James shouted, throwing his other poke ball through the curtain. "Smog attack!"
Before long, the two Rockets came running out of the back room, coughing and choking in a black cloud of smog.
"Wha-what's...going...on?!" they gasped once they had caught their breath.
Jessie and James chuckled. This was their cue, too!
"Prepare for trouble!"
"And make it double!"
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To unite all peoples within our nation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jessie!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"
"MEOWTH! Dat's right!" the cat chimed in.
With that, Jessie and James pulled off the everyday clothes they were wearing and revealed their Team Rocket uniforms.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" the girl demanded.
"Yeah! We're from Team Rocket, too!" the guy, who was still wearing his Nurse Joy frock, cried.
"We're here to shut you down," said Jessie. "Boss's orders."
"It's nothing personal," James told them. "He just doesn't like the way you're running things, that's all."
Bonnie gritted her teeth and lobbed a poke ball at them. "Primape! Get rid of these nuisances!" she shouted.
Jessie laughed and threw her own poke ball. "Go, Arbok!"
"Char-bock!" the cobra hissed as she emerged and met Primeape's charge.
Before Primeape could go into his battle-frenzy, Arbok bound him in her coils and began to squeeze. When he struggled against her, she sank her fangs into him and injected her deadly poison. After a couple seconds of thrashing, Primeape fainted.
"NOOO!" Bonnie screamed.
Clyde's eyes widened as the realization of who they were up against dawned on him. "Let's get the hell outta here!"
"No way!" she snapped. "We've still got plenty of pokemon to...."
"Bonnie, it's Jessie, James, and Meowth!" he cried.
When she heard this, Bonnie sweatdropped and ran a hand through her sea-green pixie cut. She remembered all too well what had happened to their friends, Butch and Cassidy, after a similar incident. "Oh, shit!"
Jessie put her hands on her hips and laughed as the two terrified Rockets tried to make their escape. "Arbok! Glare attack!"
Arbok's eyes began to glow. Suddenly, Bonnie and Clyde found that they were paralyzed.
"Now give them your Body Slam!" she commanded.
"CHAAAAR-BOCKA!!!" the pokemon hissed, slamming them with her tail and sending them flying.
"Team Rocket is blasting off!" Bonnie and Clyde shouted as they were launched out of the building and into the sky.
@->->-
Once they were gone, Jessie, James, and Meowth surveyed the inside of Bonnie and Clyde's breeding facility.
"Sheesh! No wonder the boss wanted this place shut down!" James remarked as he looked at all of the sickly pokemon crammed into tiny cages. "This is terrible!"
Jessie nodded and grabbed the key to the locks on the cages, which was in a drawer beneath the front desk. "What a disgrace!" she agreed. "I honestly don't know what they thought they were accomplishing here -- this is an insult to the boss...and the Team Rocket innovative spirit!"
"Yeah!" said James. "Our Salon Roquet idea may have tanked, but at least we didn't hurt anyone -- we just made everybody's pokemon look pretty...and we turned a nice profit, too!" He closed his eyes and smiled as he remembered how much fun he and Jessie had running the beauty salon. Maybe we can try it again someday....
"Well, Salon Roquet WOULD have been a success if SOMEBODY hadn't opened his big meowth and blown our cover!" Jessie grumbled.
James frowned as her words snapped him out of his daydream. He and Jessie turned and scowled at Meowth.
"Oh, will ya get over it, already?! Dat happened almost a friggin' year ago!" Meowth hissed. "Let's just get dese pokemon sent ta the boss!"
Jessie grinned and gathered an armful of poke balls. "Yeah! He's going to be really pleased when he sees how many pokemon we've got for him!" she giggled.
"Wait," James said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Don't you think we should heal them first?"
Jessie blinked. "Why?"
"Well, that's the reason he sent us here," he reminded her. "He doesn't like receiving sick or injured pokemon, so wouldn't it make him even happier if we sent him healthy ones?"
"Hmmmm...that's a good point," she replied.
"Damn, Jimmy! Dat IS a good idea!" Meowth remarked.
James smiled and brought some potions and antidotes out of his backpack. "It's about time my genius started getting some appreciation around here!" he laughed.
@->->- It took a few hours, and some very judicious use of the medicine, but eventually, Jessie, James, and Meowth tended to all of the pokemon. They may not have been in perfect health, but it was decidedly better than when Bonnie and Clyde had been "caring" for them.
"Well, I guess dis'll hafta' do," said Meowth.
"I guess," Jessie echoed as she picked up one of the pokemon she had tended to -- a Vulpix.
"Vul-pix!" the fox said as she licked Jessie's hand.
"Hey! I think she likes you, Jess!" James commented.
Jessie smiled and stroked Vulpix's mane of curly red hair. She's so adorable! And Vulpix is the supermodel of pokemon -- she reminds me of...myself! she thought. "You know, I don't think I want to send this one to the boss."
"Then don't!" said James. "We'll be giving him so many pokemon, it won't matter if you keep one for yourself!"
"Yeah! We won't tell, so how's he gonna find out?" Meowth added.
Jessie smiled again and held Vulpix closer. "Yeah. Yeah, I think I will keep her," she said.
Vulpix had been seriously injured during her stay with Bonnie and Clyde, and Jessie had worked hard to cure her. She'd bandaged all of the fox's wounds herself, and when James and Meowth weren't looking, she'd even taken some extra curative potions and pokemon food for her. Over the course of the afternoon, she'd grown quite attatched to Vulpix...and the feelings were mutual.
Jessie hugged her new friend. "Welcome to the team, Vulpix!" she said.
@->->-
Once they'd gathered the rest of the pokemon, Jessie and James put them into the transporter so that they could be sent to Giovanni. While they were doing this, Meowth got on the phone and called him.
"What is it?" Giovanni growled as the lines of static on the vid-screen slowly materialized into his image.
"Mission accomplished, sir!" Meowth said proudly. "Bonnie and Clyde's breedin' center is officially outta business!"
Giovanni smiled. "Excellent."
"And, we patched up the pokemon as best we could," he continued. "Jessie and James are sendin' 'em right now."
Giovanni's smile became a shark-like grin as the poke balls began to arrive in his transfer station. "Well, I'll be damned," he said. "You three actually did something right! Why don't you take the rest of the day off as a reward?"
Meowth facefaulted when he looked up at the clock and saw what time it was -- 5 in the afternoon. "Thank you. Yer too kind," he grumbled.
Chapter 2 -- Promises
Jessie awoke the next morning to pink sunlight streaming through the window...and a pair of strong arms wrapped around her. She couldn't help but smile -- it was her favorite way to wake up!
She didn't normally tell this to anybody, but she loved it when James held her -- it made her feel safe. No matter how bad things got, the knowledge that he was with her was always a comfort. Why else would she cling to him in moments of danger?
Her smile grew even wider as she studied her sleeping partner's face. Normally, most guys looked like little boys when they slept, their seriousness and maturity masked by peaceful repose. Not so with James. When he slept, the light of innocence that always sparkled in his emerald eyes was hidden from the world, and so was his adorable child-like wonder. When James slept, he was all man. And he was beautiful.
Jessie snuggled closer to him and traced the outline of his facial features with the tip of her finger. Then, she leaned in and kissed his lips. "I love you, James," she whispered.
Slowly, he opened his eyes and returned the kiss. "Hey, Jess," he said. "You still up for that day off?"
"Of course!" came her reply.
James propped himself up on his elbow and grinned. "Whatever shall we do first?" he asked innocently.
Jessie smirked. "Well, if you have to ask...." she said in mock-annoyance.
James took her in his arms and kissed her again. He didn't have to ask -- he knew exactly how to get the day off to a great start.
The two of them slowly undressed each other as their kiss deepened. As James laid himself on top of Jessie, she ran her fingers through his silky hair and caressed his back and shoulders. When she touched him, she felt his body respond to her. He brought out one of his red roses, and for a few minutes, he gently brushed it across her face, holding it to her nose and allowing her to inhale the sweet fragrance. When James finally took the rose away, his mouth closed over Jessie's lips once again, and he joined his body with hers.
Jessie smiled as she gazed into James's beautiful green eyes. There was nothing she enjoyed more than being close to him. The two of them had finally admitted their true feelings for each other that spring, and they'd become lovers shortly after that. Jessie had never given herself to a man before James, and she'd never trusted a man so completely as she did him...but James had proven himself time and time again to be worthy of her trust.
They'd had an extremely rough summer in the Orange Islands -- having to contend with the twerps being meaner to them than usual, the oppressive summer heat in a tropical climate (not the best conditions in which to pedal a submarine), Butch and Cassidy trying to get back at them for helping to shut down their breeding center, James nearly getting killed when he got hit by a boulder and dropped off of a cliff, the new twerp siccing his Scyther on them and giving them mohawks when they were just capturing some wild Scythers, Jessie getting attacked by Jessiebelle's Vileplume and falling sick because of its Stun Spores and then getting attacked by Jessiebelle herself...the list went on and on. There were several occasions when their stress levels had reached critical mass, and they'd almost destroyed not only their budding romance, but their lifelong friendship as a result. But no matter how bad things got, in the end, they'd stayed together, using the adversity as a learning experience to bring them closer. If anything, Jessie trusted and loved James more than ever after all of the hardships they'd faced!
And now, as James made love to her, she found herself thinking about just how much she needed him. Even though it had been a bad summer, she was convinced that it was her relationship with James that had helped her get through it. If he hadn't been there for her, she knew she wouldn't have made it. But he was there for her. He always had been, and he always would be. He'd always been her best friend, and on the night they became lovers, he'd made a promise to her -- he'd promised that no matter what happened, he'd never leave her. James had even promised that he'd ask her to marry him -- they were engaged to be engaged!
Jessie's smile grew even wider at the thought of James asking her to marry him. She knew that everything he'd promised would happen someday.
James never broke his promises.
@->->-
Meowth had breakfast ready for them when they finally decided to leave their room. He hadn't made it himself, of course (James was the only member of the trio who actually knew how to cook), but he had called room service, and they'd brought up a large tray loaded with all of their favorites.
"Mornin', guys," he said as he spread some lox and cream cheese onto a large bagel and added a generous dose of milk to his coffee.
"Good morning," James replied, grabbing a glazed donut and shoving it into his mouth.
Jessie drowned her French toast with maple syrup and stirred some vanilla cream into her coffee. "So, what are we going to do on our day off?" she asked.
"Fuschia City ain't far from the ocean. We could go ta the beach, or somethin'" Meowth suggested.
"Or we could go exploring in the Safari Zone," said James.
Jessie smiled. Those both sounded like great ideas.
While she was considering these options, James and Meowth began to argue. Predictably, they turned to her, waiting for the tie-breaking vote.
"Pick the beach!" Meowth pleaded. "Youse guys can work on yer tans while I go fishin'!"
"No way, Meowth! We spent the entire summer in the Orange Islands -- I'm sick of the beach!" James snapped. "Besides, you can go fishing in the Safari Zone. And, Jess, we can go for a hike in the mountains...."
Jessie looked at the two of them. It was no contest, really -- she already knew who she was going to pick. "James is right -- we've just had four solid months of nothing but beaches, islands, and ocean. It's time to do something different. Besides, I'm in the mood for a Safari."
James grinned and clapped his hands. "Thanks, Jess!"
"Hmmmph! Youse guys always take each others' side!" Meowth growled.
"You're just being a sore loser," James said smugly.
Jessie put her arms around James and kissed his cheek. "Well, Meowth, he DOES have a certain advantage over you," she admitted.
James turned to her. "So do you, Jess," he said.
"Ah, son of a beach," Meowth grumbled as Jessie and James went into another liplock.
Chapter 3 -- The Hunted
Meowth acted peevishly for the entire walk to the Safari Zone. However, when they arrived and broke in by getting Arbok to tunnel under the electric fence that surrounded the perimeter, his spirits lifted. (The thrill of trespassing and "being bad" tended to do that for him.) And when he saw the size of the lake in the valley spread out below them, he became ecstatic.
"Maybe dis won't be so bad after all," he conceded.
Jessie and James exchanged smiles, thankful that the cat wouldn't ruin their day by giving them attitude.
@->->-
"Tranquilizer guns?"
"Check."
"Live-capture nets?"
"Check."
"Ultra balls?"
"Check."
"Emergency ammunition?"
"Check, check, check!" came Bonnie's reply. "Looks like we've got everything."
"Then let's get busy!" said Clyde.
Upset that Giovanni had seen fit to shut down their breeding center, Bonnie and Clyde were desperate to redeem themselves. So, after blasting off the day before, they picked up (stole) some supplies from the Fuschia City Poke Mart and decided to break into the Safari Zone and capture some rare pokemon for him.
So far, their quest hadn't been going well -- they'd been in the Safari Zone all day, and they hadn't found a thing!
But that was about to change....
@->->-
I'm gonna catch ya, little fishie!
I'm gonna catch ya, little fishie!
I'm gonna catch ya, little fishie!
Cuz Meowth likes catchin' fish!
Meowth sang happily as he cast his fishing-line into the water. Jessie and James had gone for a walk, leaving him on his own, and he was enjoying the solitude and tranquility.
But that tranquility was suddenly shattered by screams, echoing through the mountains. The screams of his companions! Panic seized him, and he threw down his fishing rod, charging in the direction that the sounds had come from.
@->->-
"You know, James, this place is really lovely," Jessie remarked. "I'd never noticed before...."
"Maybe because we were always too busy trying to capture pokemon, and we never stopped to see the sights," came his reply.
Jessie sighed. "That seems to be the story of our life -- always too busy with work to stop and enjoy the things that really matter...."
James picked a purple flower and twined it in Jessie's long, red hair. "Not always," he corrected her. "After all, we usually have time for each other, and that's what really matters to me!"
"Me too, James...me, too!" she said, putting her arms around his neck.
He placed his hands on her waist and leaned in to kiss her, but before their lips met, they heard a hissing sound and felt something rush past their heads, missing them by mere inches. When they looked, they saw the shaft of an arrow protruding from the ground.
"I think someone's shooting at us!" Jessie whispered nervously.
As if in answer to her remark, another arrow hissed by.
"I think you're right!" James whispered back.
"LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!!!" they screamed in unison as they joined hands and began to run.
"Who'd be shooting at us?!" James cried as he dodged another arrow. "Officer Jenny?!"
"Not her style!" came Jessie's reply. "I'll bet it's that goddamned game warden again! He was pretty handy with a gun, as I recall!"
"Oh, great! Now he's taken up archery?!" James grumbled.
Another arrow whizzed by, tearing the sleeve of Jessie's jacket. Looking over her shoulder, she saw who their assailants were.
"THEM!" she shouted.
"Who?!" he asked.
"Bonnie and Clyde! They must want revenge for what we did yesterday!"
James looked around and saw the two of them standing on the ridge above. Clyde nocked another arrow into his bow and took aim.
The arrow rocketed through the air towards them, but this time, the aim was true. Being a skilled marksman, James knew that this one wouldn't miss its target, so he did the only thing he could....
"Jessie! Look out!" he shouted, shoving her away.
"James, what are you doing?!" Jessie cried as she hit the ground with a loud thud.
But before James could answer, he felt a searing pain rip through his right shoulder. "Shit!" he growled as he crumpled to the ground next to her.
An angry fire sparked in Jessie's sapphire eyes as she looked up at Bonnie and Clyde and saw them begin to laugh and do a victory dance. "Damn you!" she hissed.
"Jess...." James said in a weak voice. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine...which is more than I can say for you!" Jessie replied, grabbing him by the left arm and hauling him back to his feet. "Come on! We have to find Meowth and get you to a hospital!"
James nodded as he wrapped his good arm around her shoulders and leaned on her. But even with her support, he didn't have the strength to stand, and after a few steps, he collapsed again.
Another arrow flew towards them, and Jessie threw herself on top of James in an attempt to shield him.
"Are you crazy?! You'll get hit, too!" he protested.
As the arrow landed nearby, Jessie got an idea. "Let me borrow this," she said, grabbing one of the poke balls from James's belt and throwing it. "Weezing! Smog attack!" she commanded.
James nodded approvingly as the pokemon soared up to where Bonnie and Clyde were standing and surrounded them with another cloud of Smog. "Good thinking, Jess. That should buy us a few minutes...."
Jessie grinned wickedly as she returned Weezing to his poke ball and took out one of her own. "I'm not done yet!" Then, as she threw her poke ball, "Vulpix, Flamethrower!"
James smiled. He'd forgotten all about Jessie's new pokemon.
The little fox exhaled a jet of fire at Bonnie and Clyde, igniting Weezing's poisonous smog and causing a gigantic explosion that sent the two of them sky-high.
@->->-
As Meowth climbed up the ridge, he heard a loud bang and felt the earth shake. When he got to the top, he saw half of the cliff-face blasted to kingdom come...and his two friends lying on the ground below.
Wasting no time, he scurried down the hill as fast as he could. "Hey! Are youse guys okay?!" he cried.
"I am...but James was hit," Jessie replied in a shaky voice.
Meowth looked over at James and saw that his white jacket was covered with blood. An arrow was protruding from the back of his right shoulder.
"How...how did dis happen?!" he asked.
Jessie wiped the sweat from her brow and smoothed back her hair. "Bonnie and Clyde were here," she said. "Those bastards tried to kill us!"
Meowth frowned as he considered the situation.
"Well, don't just sit there! Help me get this arrow out of him!" she shouted.
Normally, Meowth just ignored Jessie or Fury Swiped her when she yelled at him like that, but he knew that she was only yelling because she was worried about James...and very rightfully so. "Okay. Lemme take a look," he said.
Jessie nodded and gently rolled James onto his side so that Meowth could get a better look at his shoulder. He moaned softly in protest. "Shhh...it's okay, James. You're going to be okay," she whispered reassuringly as she ran her fingers through his sweat-soaked hair and caressed his pale face.
"Hmmmm...it didn't go all the way through," Meowth remarked.
"That's bad, huh?" James asked weakly.
"Very," Meowth replied. "I'm gonna have to push it through in order ta pull it out."
James nodded.
"Now, I ain't gonna joke around with ya, Jimmy," he continued. "I'm tellin' ya right now, dis is gonna HURT!"
"Do it!" he said, his voice suddenly becoming more strong and firm than the cat thought possible.
"Hold him still, Jess. Make sure he don't move," Meowth said. "Don't want him ta get tore up worse den he already is...."
Jessie cradled James in her lap, putting one arm around his waist and cupping his chin in her other hand, forcing him to look up at her. "Don't think about what Meowth is doing. Just concentrate on me, James," she said softly.
"Yeah," he whispered, gazing into her sapphire-blue eyes.
"It's okay, James...it's okay...." she whispered back.
Meowth grabbed onto the shaft of the arrow and pushed with all of his strength. James tensed and gritted his teeth as the arrowhead pierced through the front side of his shoulder, and he began to tremble, but he didn't scream.
"Good...good...." Jessie said, caressing his face and brushing away his tears.
"Alright, James, dis is gonna hurt, too," Meowth continued. "Keep holdin' him, Jessie."
With that, he snapped the end off of the arrow shaft. James groaned, and Jessie continued to caress him and whisper soothingly into his ear. Grabbing below the base of the arrowhead, Meowth then pulled the remainder of the shaft out the front of his shoulder. James gritted his teeth again and began to whimper.
"We're almost done, James. You're doing really well," said Jessie. "Just keep looking at me."
"Hey, Jess, lemme get Vulpix, for a minute," Meowth said once he'd extracted the arrow.
Jessie brought out her pokemon again. "Vulpix, give him an Ember," she said.
Meowth held up the wooden shaft of the arrow as the fox exhaled a thin stream of fire. Soon, the tip became a red-hot poker.
"Okay, James," Jessie said. "Meowth is going to cauterize the wound so you don't lose any more blood. This is going to hurt too, but then we'll be done."
James nodded. "I know," he said in a shaky voice. "I can handle it...."
Wasting no time, Meowth pressed the tip of the poker onto the back of his shoulder. James closed his eyes and moaned when he heard the sound of sizzling and inhaled the smell of his own burning flesh. The moaning grew louder, reaching a crescendo when Meowth did the same to the wound on his front side.
When it was over, James collapsed into Jessie's arms.
"We're all done, James," Jessie said, holding him closer. "You were so brave. I'm very proud of you."
James sank deeper into her embrace and continued to tremble. "Jessie...." he whimpered.
"It's all over now," she said, smoothing back his blue-violet hair and kissing his forehead. "You're going to be okay, James...you're going to be okay...."
Meowth sniffed the arrowhead and frowned. "I wouldn't say dat if I was you, Jess," he told her. "He ain't outta the woods yet."
Jessie raised an eyebrow. "Why do you say that?"
Meowth sniffed the arrowhead again and held it out to her. "Poison," he replied.