Jesse slowly lifted her head and looked around. James and Meowth were next to her...but where was she? It began to come back. They had been trying to steal Pikachu (again) when something had gone wrong (again) and the brats had beaten them (again). They had ended up being launched off of a catapault by a nasty Voltorb. James was beginning to wake up as well. Maybe he had suffered one concussion too many, but he could never remember what they had been trying to do when they were blasted off. That was probably why he always did the same dumb things. He looked over and saw Meowth and Jesse and knew that they must have failed again.
After they had all figured out where they were, they went to the nearest restaurant. They had to call the boss, and besides, they were hungry!
While Jesse went to talk to the boss, James and Meowth stuffed their faces. By the time Jesse got back, they had eaten two bowls of soup, three shrimp cocktails, some assorted sandwiches, and her ice cream sundae. She picked at the crumbs as they sat back, content.
James, finally noticing Jesse's glum look, asked her what was wrong.
"The boss said he was firing us- and assigning Cassidy and Butch to our next mission!"
James, stunned, didn't know what to say. "He always said he'd fire us, but I never thought-"
"That's obvious!" said Meowth. "You never think!"
Jesse and James were ecstatic. The boss had agreed to give them one more try. If they failed, he would not only fire them, but expose them as criminals.
James carefully read the directions (again). He still didn't quite understand them.
"Jess, what exactly does all this mean?"
"I should think it's obvious," came a voice quite different from Jesse's. James whirled around and came face to face with Butch. Cassidy was standing behind him.
"Is your name Jesse?" demanded James.
"Obviously not," answered Butch in his froggy voice. "We're your new partners- to make sure you don't mess up again."
"We don't need babysitters!" said Jesse viciously. "We can do this by ourselves, thank you very much!"
"The boss doesn't seem to think so, Jess." replied Cassidy slyly. "He assigned us to you as, in your own words, babysitters."
"Well, just don't get in our way," growled Jesse.
"Now, back to your question James," said Butch with a sneer. "It means that we have to go catch a group of Ledyba. We'd better get on our way."
Together, they marched off in the direction their map indicated, glaring at one another. James and Jesse hid under a bridge with Butch and Cassidy watching. They didn't understand Jesse and James' obsession with catching Pikachu, but since they had spotted the twerps, they saw no reason to stop their new partners from making fools of themselves. Butch and Cassidy proved to be right- James and Jesse fell out from under the bridge as one of their schemes backfired.
After they had fished the two bunglers out from the river they had fallen into, Butch and Cassidy told them the plan they had come up with. Jesse and James would find out where the Ledyba were and then report back. Together they'd figure out how to capture them.
"Why do we have to do all the work?" James whined.
"Because you're the ones who are being tested by the boss," Cassidy explained in a patient voice.
James and Jesse ran off and did what was planned. When they returned, though, they had the Ledyba with them!
"Wow, you actually-" Butch began, but he was elbowed in the ribs by Cassidy. "I mean, good job, I knew you'd do it!"
"It was easy," Jesse said calmly. "Those twerps never saw what was coming."
"Yeah, and I managed to steal their lunches too!" James said with his mouth full.
"Anyway, we'd better get these Ledyba back to the boss before Jesse and James mess-" Butch started to say to Cassidy, but he was elbowed in the ribs again. "I mean, before those kids find us."
Cassidy nodded. "Butch and I will go get the van," she said to Jesse. "All you and James have to do is get them to it."
Cassidy and Butch left, leaving Jesse and James with the Ledyba. "Now, do what I say," said Jesse with a smile. She raised the whistle she had stolen from the Ledyba's owner to her lips. The owner had used it to control the Ledyba; how hard could it be? She blew, and...nothing happened. Meowth, too, tried it. Arbok began to dance.
Next thing they knew, they were tied to a tree. The twerps were there!. With Team Rocket caught off guard, they had no problem recovering the stolen Ledyba. They took them and left, leaving Jesse and James to the humiliation of calling to Butch and Cassidy for help.
Butch came back two hours later. "Where were you!" he hissed. "We've been waiting who knows how long!" James explained as Butch untied them.
As he finished the story, James glanced at Jesse. "The boss is not gonna like this," he said gloomily.
To be continued...