Prologue

Midnight. On a hill rests an old tavern. It is almost in shambles, and the paint chips away bit by bit. But some people don't care where they are as long as they can have a good beer. The bartender silently washes empty mugs, while loud chatter and swearing fills the room. Piano music softly plays, and a poker game draws people to watch. Smoke from cigarettes wafts in the air and floats out the door. The light in the room is not that bright, since there is only one bulb hanging from the ceiling. 

This is where the lowest life-forms on earth gather. This is where the bums, sleazes, and villains come to drown away their troubles and compete with each other in a good arm-wrestling match. One man's junk is another man's treasure, so it seems. This is a shaky pub to most men, while it is a palace for the rest. 

On this night, a hooded figure enters the room. The face nor costume of this person can be seen, but the tenseness in its body tells the rest that they arenot happy. The figure walks up to the bartender. 

"Gimme something...Sour. I've had a rough night!" 

"Yes, sir...At once!" The bartender reaches for a glass, but the person bangs their fist on the table. 

"Sir? I'm no 'sir'..." The hood is thrown off and there stands a young woman.
"Do I look like a man to you?" She grabs the bartender by the collar and lifts him at least two inches off the ground. Her teeth gleam, and her dark, purple eyes harden. 

"N-No, ma'am!" the bartender replies, his voice shaking with fear the entire time. "Please...P-Put me down." He is thrown out the door. 

"Where the hell are my brothers?" the woman asks herself, as she tosses her bushy brown hair out of her face. "They promised they would be here..." 

A man approaches the woman. "Hey, baby! What might a pretty little thing like you be doing in a place like this?" 

Her eyebrows twitch. She socks the very forward man square in the jaw. Then she kicks him in the place where it hurts most. "Don't you try hitting on Bloody Mary ever!" Many of the tavern's inhabitants slowly move to the back of the room. The woman brushes off her hands and throws off her hood and cape.  Underneath is a big, red 'R'. 

Someone gasps. "She's part of Team Rocket!" 

"We gotta get outta here!" another screams. 

"I've heard their Boss is no picnic," the first person says. "We'll all lose our Pokémon!" There is a scramble of feet and soon the woman is left alone in the room. 

"I may have a good reputation," she says to herself. "But not everyone from Team Rocket is as intimidating as I." She walks around the bar table, grabs amug, and pours herself a glass of beer. She would have to wait until her brothers came to give them the bad news. 

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Chapter 1 - "Traitor in the Midst" 

"Jack, I'll never let go! Never!" 

Jessie sat in her room watching 'Titanic'. She was clutching a Pokeball-fabricated pillow and bawling her brains out. "Gosh, this is so sad!" she cried as a tear fell on to the pillow. "Jack deserves to live! Why can't that awful sleaze Cal die?" Then, she thought for a moment. She was a villain rooting for the good-guys. That wasn't right. She wiped her eyes, jumped up on
her bed, and waved around a few fans with little 'R's on them. "Go Cal! Make Rose love you!" 

There was a knock at the door. "Hey you...Meowth!" 

Jessie groaned as she opened the door. "What do you want, Meowth?" 

Meowth growled at her. "What are you doing in here? We've got work to do. Ever hear of a Pokémon called 'Missingno?'" 

Jessie wasn't listening. Her eyes turned back to the movie. "Oh...But I hate Cal. Jack is so much more suave and daring..." 

James burst in. "WHO'S suave and daring?" 

Meowth and Jessie both got sweatdrops while James grew little veins on his forehead. "A person in da movie," Meowth sighed. "She's not even listening to Meowth..." 

James walked over to the TV. "Huh?" He saw a man float to the bottom of the ocean. "GACK! That's the man who you compared with me?!?" 

Jessie's eyes sparkled. "Yes..." 

Meowth and James fell over Anime-style. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Down the hall from Jessie's room was James' room. Even farther down the hall was a group of other Team Rocket members. Farther still was a little group of five doors, all very close together. Each door and a little '5' inscribed on it, as if it were carved with a pocket-knife. Inside one of the rooms, through the middle door, shouting could be heard. 

"You incompetent fools! I waited for you for three hours last night. Where in the Pokéball were you?" 

Standing in front of four young men was a beautiful woman. She had dark, purple eyes and wavy brown hair. All five of them wore similar Team Rocket attire. The men in black pants, black shirts, white gloves, and white boots.  The woman wore a black shirt, a white skirt, long white gloves, and boots, and round black earrings. All the shirts had red 'R's on them. You could say their outfits were exactly like Jessie's and James', only inverted. 

"We're sorry, Mary," one man said. He had pointy purple hair and black eyes.  He was the only member of the group that wore a barret-like black hat with an 'R' on it. "We kinda got held up." 

"Held up?" the woman asked. "Jack, do you know what I went through last night? I was 'held up'!" She pulled out a long stick. On one of the ends of it was a chain. The chain contained a scary looking spiked ball. This also had an 'R' on it. 

"Mary!" another man with black hair tied in a short ponytail cringed. "Put that thing away!" 

Another man with blonde hair and brown eyes blocked his face. "Siblings shouldn't hurt each other!" 

Mary laughed, pleased that she frightened the men "Siblings ALSO shouldn't keep each other waiting..." She put her weapon down. "Listen, brothers, I've got weird, yet terrible news." 

The four brothers watched their sister and sighed with relief after she put the ball-and-chain down. "What is it?" asked Jack, the first brother. 

Mary's face hardened. "You know that idiot Jessie? The one who gets all the good jobs and always messes them up?" 

The final man, although looking more like a young boy nodded. His green hair bounced and his green eyes twinkled. "Oh, yeah! Isn't she the one going out with James? And isn't James the guy you like?" 

"TACK!" Mary exclaimed angrily, swinging at the boy with a clenched fist. She hit him in the stomach and knocked the wind out of him. "You are the youngest and least strongest of us, brother-dear. How would you like to have your heart shown to you?" 

The young boy gulped. "N-N-No, Mary-san. I was just trying to see if I got the right person. Team Rocket is so big, you know..." 

"We know, Tack. We know..." 

Tack got a sweatdrop. "Would it have been better if I had said, 'Oh, yeah!  Isn't Jessie the one with the only talking Pokémon?'?" 

Mary smiled. "That's much better, Tack..." 

"Tell us what happened," the black-haired man said eagerly. 

"Don't be so excited, Mack," Jack said. "This isn't GOOD news..." 

"No, it isn't," Mary groaned. "Anyway, I overheard Jessie talking to James a couple nights ago..." 

"She was just going to get a good look of James that evening," Tack whispered to the blonde-haired man. He laughed. 

"What's so funny, Zack?" Mary questioned. 

Mack and Jack laughed as Zack and Tack got huge sweatdrops. "Nothing," Zack replied. 

"Zack, you're the third oldest!" Mack laughed. "You're twenty years old and you act Tack's age." 

Zack growled at Mack. "Tack is sixteen! I'm not stooping to his low. Besides, you're only eighteen. What makes you think you can boss me around?" The two glared at each other. 

Jack looked at Mary and she looked back. "As the two eldest, we're the most mature." 

Mary sighed and a little mushroom cloud popped out of her mouth. "Being twenty-four ain't easy." 

"Twenty-one's no picnic either when you're first considered an adult and you have brothers who act like children." 

Zack, Mack, and Tack glared at Jack. "Hey..." 

"CAN I FINISH WHAT I WAS GOING TO SAY?!?" Mary yelled at the top of her lungs.

A very meek "Ok..." was heard. 

"Ok...I heard those two talking. It seems Jessie is part of some royalty called the Moon Kingdom. She's not a villain at heart!" 

"WOT?" the brothers gasped. 

"I don't know the whole story, but it looks as if Jessie is a real Princess.  Her...That ugly #####, of all people! Something must be done about her..." The brothers all nodded in agreement. "If she really is good, then she could give away many of Team Rocket's secrets. We've got to get rid of her." The brothers nodded again. Team Rocket didn't tolerate traitors. 
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Chapter 2 - "Of Pokémon and Men" 

The fresh summer breeze surrounded a beautiful park. The park was a lush green place, with flowers and birds enveloping the area. Two young people walked in the park. The were a sweet couple, and everyone passing by could tell these two were happy together. 

"Darien! Look at that beautiful, red flower!" 

"It is beautiful, Serena. However, its beauty cannot compare with my Queen's."

"Oh, Darien...You're making me blush." 

Darien and Serena laughed. They were so happy together, just as they were on the Moon Kingdom in the Silver Millenium and just as they would be in the Future of Crystal Tokyo. They walked arm-in-arm through the park down little passageways and paths. They stopped to feed some ducks at a nearby pond with the leftovers of some bread Lita had made. Lita had assured them they were welcome to take it since she was going to make another loaf this evening. They
were everything a couple should be. They loved each other and were willing to sacrifice anything, even themselves, if it would benefit their partner. 

Darien smiled. "I haven't felt so much love since our last visit to the Moon Kingdom." 

Serena felt a little hurt. "Darien, that was over two years ago! I thought I had been giving you all my love..." 

Darien cut her off by kissing her. When they stopped, he replied with, "I meant that we've been really busy and haven't had much time to be alone together." 

He was right, Serena thought. Much had happened in those years since she had first met Jessie and they had seen their full past. Reenie had gone home after an incident with a Pegasus named Helios. Luna and Artemis had discovered they were meant to be. Many new friends and foes had arrived. There were the Outer Senshi. They were new Sailor Scouts from the Outer planets of the solar system. There was Alex and her sister Michelle. Both of them were Sailor Scouts. Alex was Sailor Uranus, and Michelle was Sailor Neptune. There was
Susan who was the mysterious Scout, Sailor Pluto. Last, there was little Holly who was evil. Still, she had been turned good. Now, she was Sailor Saturn, the youngest Scout since Reenie had left. Of course, Serena's same friends Amy, Lita, Raye, and Mina were still great friends and Scouts. They were always around in a tight spot. Yes...A lot had happened. Now, she was finally alone with Darien. Suddenly, she stopped dead in her tracks. "This...Park..." 

"What is it?" Darien asked. 

"Can't you see? This was the same park where we first met Jessie, James, and Meowth..." Serena's eyes wobbled. 

"Oh..." Darien said. "You're right." 

"I wonder what has become of them," Serena thought aloud. She hadn't seen her good friend for two years. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Speaking of Jessie, James, and Meowth, Team Rocket was making their way to visit their Boss. "What does that old bag want now?" James groaned. 

"Jessie quickly covered his mouth and looked around frantically. "Shhh! He has cameras around everywhere," she whispered. "He could have heard you!" 

Meowth got a big sweatdrop. "Well, it won't be Meowth's fault!" 

When they entered Giovanni's lair, the door slammed behind them. The room was pitch black, like it usually was when he was around. His chair had its back faced to them. 

"You called, sir?" Meowth asked. 

"It's about time you three showed up. I've been waiting five minutes!" 

"Yes, sir..." Team Rocket murmured. Did he expect them to be there in less than a minute? 

"I expected you to be here four minutes ago!" 

Guess so. 

"What seems to be the problem, sir?" Jessie asked. 

The chair swiveled around and Giovanni faced them. He had a huge cigar in his mouth. It was the first time Team Rocket had EVER seen him smoke. "Well, I'm glad you brought it up, Jessie," he sneered. "It actually has to do with you..." 

Jessie gulped. James and Meowth looked to Giovanni, to Jessie, and back to Giovanni again. "But why did you need James and Meowth, sir?" Meowth questioned. 

Giovanni sucked in on his cigar. Then he blew it out into James' face. James coughed. "You two? I just wanted your partner to be humiliated..." 

Jessie got little veins on her forehead as Meowth and James snickered silently. "Dat's easy...We ALWAYS humiliate her." 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

James and Meowth were moved to the very back of the room so Giovanni could speak with Jessie, man to woman. "Jessie, I've been getting complaints." 

"Complaints, sir?" Jessie's hands were at her side, but she couldn't help the fidgeting. 

"You know Mary, don't you?" 

"Bloody Mary?" 

"Yes, that's right." 

"I believe so. I've never really talked with her that much." 

Giovanni took another puff on his cigar. "She's told me that she doesn't think you're doing your job." 

Jessie let her eyes wander. She couldn't dare look Giovanni in the face. With all the Ash goof-ups she had never won, it was a surprise they were only bringing it up now. "But, sir..." 

"Mary thinks you're not pulling your weight around here." He leaned foreword a bit. "Just how many Pokémon have you snatched in the past month." 

Jessie counted on her fingers. "Total...James and I got...Three." 

"THREE?" Giovanni fumed. "And what were they?" 

"...A Level five Pidgey, a Level three Weedle, and a Level ten Butterfree..." 

Giovanni fell over Anime-style. He was not impressed at all. "JESSIE!" he yelled as fire surrounded him. "Team Rocket should be better than that!" 

"Yes...I know, sir..." 

Giovanni settled down a bit. "I've always thought of you and James as my best Rocketeers." Funny Anime tears fell down his cheeks. "Now, Mary will be proved right. I don't want that..." 

Jessie got a sweatdrop. "Of course not, sir. I don't really want Mary to be right, either." 

"Good..." Giovanni grinned. "So try harder. I want my star-pupils to be you two!" 

Jessie beamed. "Yessir!" 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Outside, Jessie, James, and Meowth were discussing Jessie's little chat with the Boss. 

James' eyes wobbled. "We're his stars!" 

Jessie got stars in her eyes. "I always knew we were great." 

"True geniuses are never appreciated!" They both glared at Meowth. 

Suddenly, they heard a 'Hello,' come from across the hall. There stood Bloody Mary, weapon and all. She walked straight up to the trio. "So, Jessie,. have anice talk with the Boss?" 

Jessie groaned and looked as if she would strangle Mary. "Actually, it was okay..." 

But Mary ignored her and walked right up to James, throwing her arms around him. "Hey there, James. How are you?" 

Jessie got more fumed. 

James innocently replied. "Uh, well I guess I'm okay. How 'bout you, Bloody Mary?"

"Just call me, Mary," Mary said soothingly. "Well, I'd feel a lot better if you joined me in my room this evening for dinner..." 

"Dinner? As in, food? I'm starved!" 

Mary smiled. "Yeah, me too. We could have a lot of fun together, you and I..."

"Fun? As in a game of Marbles?" 

Jessie was getting tired of this. She walked up to the both of them and grabbed James by the collar. "Games are not what she meant by fun, James!" 

"Oh, but there are MANY games that you can play with two people." 

"Yeah!" James exclaimed. "I like 'Go Pokémon'!" 

"Not today or any day, Mary," Jessie growled. "Come Meowth! Come James! The Boss gave us work to do and we've gotta do it." She marched off dragging James with her. 

Mary's eyes seemed to flash red. "Some other time, then." 

Meowth looked up at her. "Meowth wouldn't bet on it, sista. Dose two are inseparable!" Then he scratched her clear across the face. "And Meowth'd rather James go out with Jessie dan you, got it?" He walked off after Jessie and James. 

Mary rubbed her swollen cheek. "Then, this truly means war..." 
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Chapter 3 - "Filing Fun" 

"James, you are such an idiot sometimes!" Jessie yelled. "Bloody Mary was inviting you into her room for...For...For God knows what!" 

"What?" James asked. 

"Nevermind..." 

After a couple seconds, Meowth joined them. "Dat girl has really got a problem," he sighed. 

Jessie nodded. "And she's got some nerve, too!" Imagine! Some lousy woman trying to steal away HER James. That had to be stopped... 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

"Outta my way you ignorant ox!" Mary growled as she pushed over a Team Rocket member in her way. She was moving at a very fast pace, heading to a destination. Mary pulled out a communicator. "Jack! Jack! Come in." 

There was a slight bit of static and then her purple-haired brother appeared on the screen of the pocket-sized communicator. "Yo, sis! What's up?" 

"Meet me in the filing room...And step on it!" 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Serena leaned against the tree where she had stood atop two years ago and introduced herself to Team Rocket. A small tear trickled down her cheek. "She probably hasn't even thought of me since we said good-bye," she thought.  Serena remembered that sad day when she and Jessie sat in her room talking.  Serena had begged her friend to join her side. Jessie wanted to remain with Team Rocket. She didn't blame her. After doing one thing all your life, it was hard to change. So much had happened in the course of those two days. 

"Serena!" Darien said as he joined her. "What are you thinking about?" 

Serena smiled and shook her head. "Oh, nothing. Just my life." 

Darien hugged her close. "Don't worry. Everything always turns out right." 

Then she buried her head in his shirt and sobbed. "But not for the bad-guys, Darien! Nothing good ever happens for them." 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bloody Mary pulled open a drawer and started rustling through a few vanilla-colored file folders. "Let's see here...J...J..." 

Jack was also looking. It was pitch black in the room and they were using flash-lights. "Hey, B.M., if you come across my name, tell me!" 

"Dolt! We're not looking for you. We're looking for Jessie..." Then she came across one folder and pulled it out. 

"Is that it?" Jack asked. He saw Mary get big red hearts in her eyes. "Mary?" 

Mary sighed. "It's James'..." She clutched the folder to her breast. 

Jack pulled out another folder and whacked Mary over the head. "I thought we were looking for Jessie's!" 

Mary quickly shoved James' folder back into the file-cabinet.
"Yes...Yes...You're right!" She began searching frantically again. 

Suddenly Jack pulled out another folder. "I've got it!" he shouted triumphantly. 

"Quiet!" Mary whispered as she joined Jack. "The boss might hear us." She snatched the folder out of Jack's hand. "This may have the key to bringing her down..." She opened the folder and read everything inside it. There were all of Jessie's statistics; Sex, Age, Eye-color, Hair-color...Yet... 

"Any info?" Jack asked. 

Mary threw the folder on the ground. "Nothing! There's zero-information in here about her past-life." 

"I doubted there would be," Jack grumbled. 

"What?" 

"Mary, obviously, do you think Team Rocket knows about Jessie's Past as a Good-guy? Sure...There's you, me, our brothers, Meowth, and James. Why would they have that in her file?" 

"You're right, Jack. For this one, we've gotta go right to the sources." 

"But who ARE the 'sources'?" 

"For one thing, there's Jessie." 

"I'd doubt she would give us anything." 

Then Mary grinned mischievously. "But I suppose I could get something outta James..." 

Jack groaned. "Yeah...More than information..." 

"SHUT UP!" Mary said as she punched him. Jack checked his nose. It was bleeding. "He's not that smart and could easily be persuaded to help us." 

"I gotcha," Jack moaned as he held his nose. 

"C'mon!" Mary said as she grabbed Jack's arm. "We gotta get outta here before
we're caught."
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Chapter 4 - "Source #1 - Finger Foods" 

In the Rocket cafeteria, a very hungry James was packing away the food. One would think he were storing it for the winter, or something. Jessie, annoyed, watched him, her shoulder upon the table and her head in her hand.
"James...Are you done yet?" 

James looked at her, a cup of rice and chicken teriyaki in one hand, and chopsticks in the other. "C'mon, Jessie! I'm not even halfway done yet." 

Jessie's head pounded on the table. "Sometimes..." 

Meowth came up to the table with a tray of fish and catnip. "Well, Jessie, aren't we da overactive one? A guy's gotta eat, ya know!" 

"Yeah!" James said, his mouth full of Ramen Noodles now. "Ush men have bigger shtomachs den you women." 

Jessie pulled herself off the table and stood up. "Well, I'm not staying here to watch you two stuff your fat faces! I have a movie to finish." She stormed out of the cafeteria. 

James watched after her, continuing to chow down. "Shuut yourshelf!" 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Mary and Jack cleverly made their way out of the fileroom. They hid their flashlights in their Pokébelts, and Mary stuffed the files down her shirt. The two of them whistled a happy tune and looked innocent. Other Team Rocket members passing by watched them. 

"That Mary," one said to his buddy. "She may be cute and mean, but she's got a weird side to her..." 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Meowth finished his food ten minutes after Jessie left. "C'mon, you pig! We got work to do." James ignored him, happily chomping down on a few Pocky* sticks for dessert. Meowth got a vein on his forehead. He leapt up and slashed James across the face. "Did you hear me?" 

James looked up with big wobbly eyes and funny Anime-like tears. "Ouch. That hurt!" 

"We're leaving now, if ya didn't know..." 

"But I'm still hungry!" 

"Forget da food! Da Boss wants us to live up to our name. Time to go find Pokémon to swipe!" 

Reluctantly, James sighed and stood up. Meowth ran off ahead of him to find Jessie. As James was about to exit the cafeteria, someone ran inside and pushed him over. "Watch who you're shoving!" James yelled angrily. Then he realized just WHO had knocked him down. "Mary...?" 

Mary gasped and ran to the fallen James' side. "Oh, my! Are you hurt?" she gasped. "I'm so sorry." With each word, she added a honey-coated tone for emphasis. 

James looked at her aghast. He then jumped to his feet and stood up. As he dusted himself off, a dainty hand extended itself out to him. James blinked.  Mary batted her eyes. James got a sweatdrop. Mary got blush. James finally took her hand and helped her up. "I'm the one who should be sorry, I guess," James said. He smiled. "I didn't know who bumped me..." 

Mary's face saddened at this. She turned away from James and chewed on her gloved thumb. "Is my reputation THAT bad...?" 

This made James' heart melt. He patted her shoulder. "No! No! It's not that.  What I meant was..." His stomach growled. "Eh..." 

"Are you hungry?" Mary said turning back around with dew-drop eyes. "I could buy you something..." 

"Yes!" James exclaimed. Bloody Mary was actually going to buy him food? She had never been this kind to anyone. James tried to recall what Jessie had said about Mary. He remembered she had said something to the extent of Mary being terrible. However, Jessie was wrong. Mary wasn't that bad! Courteously, James offered his arm to Mary. She took it eagerly. It was the gentlemanly thing to do, and he needed practice. Jessie wanted him to become a 
gentleman for her. 

Mary felt the blood rush to her face. It seemed she were walking on air. James and Mary! That was how it should be. Once Jessie was out of the way...She remembered. She was here to get information from James, not just a romantic lunch. The two sat down at the table. "Whaddaya want?" Mary asked. 

James looked at the same menu he had looked at just minutes before this scene.
"Hmmmm..." 

While he was looking, Mary thought of a subtle way she could approach James before dumping questions on him. She would have to start with the main thing itself. "So...You and Jessie an item?" She hated the way that sounded. 

James looked up from the menu and blushed. "That was a very forward question."

Mary shrugged and smiled sweetly. "Oh, well, you know..." 

"No. I'm afraid I don't," James said a little angry. He put his menu down on the table. "Care to explain, Mary?" 

Mary had to wriggle her way out of this one. She made her eyes water. "Oh, James...It's terrible!" 

"Huh?" 

Mary pounded her fists onto the table. Tears came running down her cheeks. "I just needed to know. Jessie's in big trouble." 

James jumped out of his seat. "Trouble?!? With who?" 

"With...With..." Mary thought. "...With...Ash Ketchum..." 

"Ash?" 

"Yes...That's right." Mary wiped her eyes on a napkin. "Ash is setting a plot to kill Jessie." 

"OH MY GOD!" 

"I need to know as much information as I can to help her..." 

James sat back down and took Mary's hands in his. His eyes were wide. "Are you sure about this, Mary?" 

Mary nodded. "Yes!" she wailed. 

"Then..." James looked away from her for a moment. "I will tell you everything I know..." 

This was it, Mary thought. James would be the key to bringing Jessie down.  Good thing he was so gullible. "Yes...?" 

"Jessie..." 

"Yes...?" 

"Jessie is..." 

"YES...?" 

"Jessie is...Afraid of roller-coasters." 

Mary's face turned blue. "What...?" 

James nodded and pounded his fist into his other hand. "That must be it! Ash wants to put Jessie on a death-defying roller-coaster!" 

Mary fell over Anime-style. James grinned proudly. Mary jumped back up and faced him. "That's all you know?" 

"Yes! Now I'm sure Jessie will be saved!" 

This was all too much for her to bear. "I see...Well I'd better stop Ash Ketchum then." Her voice was bland. She got up out of her chair with no character and shuffled her feet out the door. "Great..." 

James sat happily at the table. He had just saved Jessie's life! He was so proud of himself. Then, he looked at the menu down in front of him and his stomach growled again. "Mary," he called. "You forgot to buy me lunch!" 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* 
*Pocky - A type of Japanese cookie. It is a wafer stick that is dipped in flavored icing, usually chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry. 
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Chapter 5 - "The Hunt For Meowth" 

Alone in her room again, Jessie lay on her bed sobbing. 'Titanic' was the best movie she had ever seen! Jack was such a romantic and artist. And Rose knew what true love was when it was face-to-face with her. She defied her fiancée and her own mother to remain with the man she truly loved. Love...Such a wonderful thing! Jessie rolled over onto her back and stared up at the
ceiling. She recalled this morning and the incident with James and Mary. Mary was nasty. She knew darn good and well that James was already taken... 

Meowth entered her room again, almost slashing the door in two. "Has James come back yet?" 

Jessie glared at Meowth. "Entering again without my permission? You don't have any manners, Meowth!" 

"Dat doesn't matter now!" Meowth groaned. "James is missing. He was supposed to be right behind me." 

Jessie jumped to her feet and put her hands on her hips. "He's probably still porking out at the cafeteria!" she said, seeming somewhat annoyed. "Let's go find him." 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Bloody Mary met up with Mack near the cafeteria. "That did not go well at all..." she sighed. 

Mack nodded. "Figures. James isn't exactly who you would call an Einstein..." 

Bad move. Mary lifted her brother off the ground by his stubby ponytail, sustained him there for awhile, then brought him down hard upon the floor. She wiped her hands off on her skirt. "No matter. There's still another we can ask." 

The bashed-up Mack moaned in pain. "Who might that be?" 

"...Meowth..." 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

James still sat in the cafeteria reading the menu. He was the only person in the room, besides the cookers in the kitchen. Mary had promised to buy him food and she had left. That was a problem. He was still hungry and had absolutely no money left. He sighed, and a little mushroom cloud popped out of his mouth. 

Meowth and Jessie walked into the cafeteria. "There he is," Jessie calmly remarked. They walked over to James. "Ummm...Lunchtime is over, if you were wondering." 

James looked up at Jessie. "But, Mary..." 

"MARY?!?" Jessie fumed. "What was that woman asking of you?" 

James jumped to his feet. "Ash is trying to kill you!" 

"What?" 

He nodded. "Yes. He was going to use a big roller-coaster." 

Jessie's eyes twirled. "R-r-roller-coaster?" She dropped to her knees. "I feel dizzy..." 

Meowth eyed James. "And just who told you dis?" 

"Mary!" James gasped. "She was asking me to give her as much information on Jessie as I could so we could stop Ash's plan and save her life..." 

"INFORMATION ON ME?" Jessie roared as she stood up and grabbed James by the collar of his shirt. "You were going to give that trash information on me?" 

James cried. "But Jessie, if I hadn't, you would've died!" 

"Something screwy's goin' on here..." Meowth said to himself. "First da incident with James, and now dis? What could dat girl be up to?" He walked out of the cafeteria to find Mary. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Mack and Tack were wandering through a path that lead to Cerulean city. Tack looked at Mack. "So...Exactly what were we doing again?" 

Mack, now covered with Band-Aids and wearing a sling, moaned. "Mary says our next source to ask would be Meowth. We're going to find something to help us do that." 

"Something?" Tack asked. "A Pokémon?" 

Mack nodded. "Yes. One that talks, so we'll be equally matched." 

"What kind of Pokémon?" Tack asked, excited about the new plan. 

Suddenly they heard something. Mack motioned for Tack to be silent and follow him. The two entered some tall-grass. They saw a tiny Pokémon sitting by a river. From the looks of things, it was a Meowth. 

"Perfect!" Mack whispered. "Another Meowth would be more intimidating..." He pulled out two Pokéballs. 

"What if it doesn't talk?" Tack questioned. 

Mack waved him off. He stood up and threw one of the Pokéballs forward.
"Pokéball, go!" 

The ball landed right next to the Meowth. Out popped a giant Scyther. 

"Scyther!" 

"Scyther?" Tack gasped. "It'll kill that Meowth!" 

The Scyther attacked the Meowth with it's razor-sharp arms. The Meowth dodged, scattering coins everywhere. Scyther was not impressed by that attack. It slashed the Meowth across the stomach, causing it to faint. 

"Easy!" Mack exclaimed. "Good job, Scyther. Return!" Scyther was sucked back into its Pokéball. Mack threw the other one and captured the Meowth. "Let's see what we got!" 

Tack jumped up and down joyfully. "Open it up! Open it up!" 

"Meowth, I choose you!" The Meowth popped out of the ball. The two young men were in shock. "It's a girl!" Mack exclaimed. 

The little Pokémon sat there, her big eyes shining brightly. On her two antennae-like whiskers were little pink bows. The coin on her head was gold, but in the shape of a big heart. Her cheeks were full of blush and she had a pinkish-brownish stomach. "Meowthy!" it purred. 
[ Return to top ]

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Chapter 6 - "And They Call It Pokémon Love" 

"Meowthy!" 

"It doesn't talk?" Mary grumbled. 

Mack and Tack both smiled sheepishly. "We could teach it to," Tack suggested. 

"Sure we could," Mary sighed. She bent over and scratched Meowthy under her chin. Meowthy purred loudly. "Oh well...Meowth will at least be able to talk to it." 

Mack cringed. "But what if Meowth doesn't fall in love easilly?" 

Mary winked. "I know men. They fall for anything..." 

"Hey!" 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Meowth wandered around the halls looking for Bloody Mary. She had something really mean up her sleeve, and Meowth was determined to find out what it was.  What was it she knew that he didn't? 

By that evening, Meowth had checked every inch of Team Rocket's HeadQuarters.  He decided to take a breather. He stepped outside into the night air. "Mary's sure elusive," he thought to himself. It was already dark outside. There was no noise, except for maybe a few crickets and Zubats chirping, or a few Pidgeys singing. Meowth rested his paw against a tree and leaned against it.  He sighed, looking at the stars. Suddenly, and without warning, something fell
out of the tree and landed right on top of him. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Jessie was in her room again, rewinding her movie. She wanted to watch it again...Either that or find another Leonardo Di Caprio tape! A knock was heard. Jessie groaned. If it was Meowth again, she was going to give him a piece of her mind. "Whaddaya want, Meowth?" 

"Can I come in?" a voice answered. 

It was James. Jessie sighed in relief and opened the door. James entered. "Of course! I'm sorry...I thought you were Meowth. He's been bugging me lately." 

James looked down at the ground. "Jessie, I have something to tell you." 

"Yes?" 

"Well, I'm awfully sorry about Mary, and everything else that happened today." He looked at her with eyes of a small child. 

Jessie smiled. "Oh, it wasn't your fault. Don't blame yourself. Mary's an idiot." 

He looked away from Jessie again. "Umm...I also have a confession..." 

At this, Jessie prepared for the worst and bit her lip. "Uh huh...?" 

"When I ran into Mary in the cafeteria this afternoon, she offered to buy me lunch. Jessie, I didn't want to believe you about Mary being bad. I truly thought she was nicer than we thought," James then looked Jessie right in the eyes. "But, after I thought about it for a while, I realized that it was bad of me to think that!" He took her hands. "I will always trust you, Jessie.  You're the one who keeps me together." 

Jessie blushed heavilly and looked lovingly at him. "Thank you, James-chan." 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Serena tossed and turned in Darien's bed. "No! Leave my friend alone!" she cried. "Help! Help!" 

Darien, who was sleeping on the couch ran into the room. "Serena!" He took her in his arms and shook her by the shoulders. "Serena, wake up." 

Serena opened her eyes, and tears began to fall. "Darien," she sobbed. "I had a horrible nightmare!" 

Darien hugged her. "What, Serena? What was it about?" 

"I, as Neo Queen Serenity, was sitting in a puddle of blood," Serena cried louder. "Everything hurt, Darien! You were hanging off a cliff, and a woman was standing near me holding a big chain-like weapon. Then...Then she took Princess Jessie by the throat and beat her with the weapon. I tried to move, but...Everything hurts!" She collapsed on the bed. 

Darien sat there, disgusted. "What the Hell could that mean?" he asked himself, sweat streaming down his face. He quickly, but thoughtlessly, headed to the sink and doused a washcloth with cold water. Then he went back into the bedroom and patted Serena's face with it. "It's alright," he told Serena, and himself. "It will all be okay..." 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

"Ahhhhh!" Meowth rolled out from underneath the being. He drew his claws. "You wanna fight Meowth?" 

Two large eyes looked up at him. An innocent voice spoke. "Why, no I don't...I'm awfully sorry I fell on you." 

Meowth gulped. In front of him stood the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. Redness filled his cheeks, and his heart ached. "M-m-meowth...?" 

The girl Meowth giggled. "My name is Meowthy!" 

"Hiya-hiyaya..." Meowth was speechless. 

"What's your name?" 

"Meowth...Dat's right..." 

Meowthy edged closer to him. "Well, I guess that would be right. But you can talk, can't you?" 

Every step Meowthy moved closer, Meowth moved farther away. Soon he was backed-up against the tree. "Y-you can't talk?" 

Meowthy was right next to him now. "No, I can't," she said. "Maybe you could teach me. It's been ages since I've seen another of my kind, let alone a talker." 

"Of course," Meowth said, pressing harder onto the tree. She was so beautiful!

"Oh, thank you!" she purred, rubbing against Meowth. Meowth felt like he was a balloon ready to pop. Then Meowthy bopped one of his antenaes back and forth.  He sweated more rappidly. She then went in for the kill. Meowthy kissed him on the cheek. This was too much for Meowth to bear. He jumped into the air and landed out of Meowthy's grasp. 

He smiled. "So, see ya tomorrow, I guess?" 

"Yes," Meowthy said cutefully and seductavely. 

Meowth got a goofy grin and tried to walk back indoors, but hit against the wall. He finally found the door and waltzed in. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Mack and Tack high-fived each other. They had been watching Meowthy and Meowth from behind some bushes. "I knew Meowthy would be a perfect choice!" Mack exclaimed. 

Tack laughed. "You mean a purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrfect choice!" he said as he got a Meowth face. 

Mack hit him over the head. "You are lame!" 

"For one in so much pain," Tack said holding his newly-begun black eye.  "You can sure hit hard. 

Mack's face turned purple. "OUCH!" he cried as he held his slinged-arm, the one that he had punched with. "That wasn't smart!" 

"No...It wasn't." 
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Chapter 7 -"This is Where Things Get Complicated" 

Jessie and James sat cuddling under a big blanket in Jessie's room. "I wonder where Meowth is," James said. "He's usually in bed by this time." 

Jessie stood up, taking the blanket with her. James fell over sideways.
"You're right, James." She looked up at her clock on the wall. A Pidgeotto popped out like a cuckoo-clock. It clucked twelve times. Jessie gasped. "It's midnight!" 

James got up. "I guess I'd better go then..." 

"Oh, no you don't," Jessie laughed. "You stay right where you are!" 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Meowth walked on air to his cat-bed in James' room. His heart fluttered and his mind kept producing images of Meowthy. He smiled and purred.
"Oh...Meowthy..." He completely forgot about Mary and everything else that had happened today. He was not aware of what time it was, where he was, or who he was. All that mattered to him was Meowthy. 

Aimlessly, he reached for the doorknob on James' door. He opened it and walked in. "Sorry if I disturbed you, James," Meowth sighed, dropping onto his bed. When there was no groan or any other answer, Meowth walked over and jumped on James' bed. Empty? "He must still be at dinner," Meowth groaned. He rested on the bed. How nice it was to be in a human's bed! He hadn't been in one since...Since... 

What was he doing? Meowth sat up and shook his head. "What are you doing, buddy?" he asked himself. "You can't fall in love with a Pokémon. You're a human, damn it!" He recalled the day he was changed from young Matt into Meowth. It was terrible. His screaming in pain while Giovanni laughed at him.  Meowth's eyes wobbled. He buried his face in his paws. No, no! He couldn't fall in love. Not with Meowthy! 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Mack and Tack had reported the good news to Mary. "Meowth is doing the dirty work for us," Tack said. "He's gonna teach Meowthy how to talk." 

"Excellent," Mary smiled. "The more time he spends with her, the better." 

Jack and Zack nodded. This plan was going great. Besides that, their sister was happy. When Mary was happy, no one got hurt. 

Little Meowthy walked into the room. "Meowthy," she said, announcing her arrival. 

Mary's arms outstretched wide to the Pokémon. "Oh! Good job, Meowthy!" But Meowthy ignored her and walked straight into Mack's arms. The brothers all got sweatdrops. Mary clenched her fists. "What?" 

Mack petted Meowthy gently. "You're forgetting who caught her, Mary-san. I'm Meowthy's owner." 

"Not for long!" Mary said, grabbing Meowthy out of Mack's arms. Meowthy screeched. "She had better get used to me. I'm the leader of this group." 

"But, Mary..." 

Mary slapped Mack across the face. "No buts, ingrate! Meowthy belongs to me!"  She stormed out of the room taking Meowthy with her. 

Tack patted Mack's shoulder. Mack's eyes wobbled. "I loved that Meowthy..." 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, Serena went over to Raye's temple to ask her about interpreting the dream she had had. Raye listened attentively, shuddering slightly. "Serena, we're all in danger," Raye said calmly. Serena whimpered.  "I'll talk to the Fires about it first, but I think it's a little obvious." 

"I thought so," Serena cringed. "Ask them about the enemy, too." 

"You mean the woman with the weapon?" 

"Yes," 

Raye knelt in front of her Fire. "Oh, sacred Flames, please give me the meaning of Serena's dream." A dark shadow filled the room and fire surrounded the two girls. Raye's eyes turned full. "Princess Jessie will die." Raye interpreted. 

"What?" 

"And Prince Endymion will help kill her. Then he will suffer greatly for it."  Serena's eyes widened. Raye continued. "You will not be able to do anything, Princess. Your love for Darien will hold you back from doing what is right, and your friendship with Jessie will shatter. All...Will...Die!" Then Raye fell into a heap on the floor. 

Serena trembled as she crawled over to Raye. "Raye-chan..." she gasped. "That can't be..." 

Raye opened her eyes. They were hollow and normal again. "Where am I?" She looked at the shocked face of Serena and knew that the Flames had given her Power to understand fully. "What did they say?" 

She couldn't speak. She couldn't move. Serena just sat there, clutching the Imperium Silver Crystal locket that was on her bow. She looked at Raye with blank eyes. "Jessie will die..." 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

"Let's go eat breakfast!" 

"James, it's still early..." 

"But, Jessie, I'm hungry!" 

"You're always hungry." 

James ran out the door of Jessie's room to his own room at eight thirty in the morning. He had to get dressed and washed-up before the crowd got to the cafeteria. He opened the door to his room and turned on the light. He was surprised to see Meowth curled up in a ball on HIS bed. 

"Great," he muttered. "I'll be trying to get cat-hairs outta my bed for decades..." 

Meowth heard him and wearily opened his eyes. "James...?" James stood there in his Rocket pants and black tee-shirt. His boots and gloves were off and he looked pretty mad. "So, you finally decided to stop stuffing your face?" 

"What are you talking about, Meowth?" James said, gritting his teeth. "I haven't been stuffing my face! And why ask ME questions? You're the one in the wrong bed." 

"Well, if you weren't in da cafeteria, where were you?" 

James smirked. "With Jessie!" 

Meowth got a billion sweatdrops. "And he tells me I'M sleeping in da wrong bed..." he thought to himself. 
[ Return to top ]

---

Chapter 8 -"Source #2 - Big Mouth" 

Despite his 'human' instincts, Meowth went on seeing Meowthy everyday. He began teaching her to talk, and she learned like a good pupil. Meowthy was caught for this purpose. Her main objective would one day be to kill Meowth, yet, after spending so much time with him, she wasn't so sure she wanted to anymore. 

Meowthy was trained to be evil. After her lessons with Meowth, Meowthy would return to Bloody Mary for intense training on being a real Team Rocket killer.  She was learning from the best, and she had a home. But Meowthy wasn't happy.  She was only living to kill another of her kind. Not only one of her kind, but one she was rather growing fond of. 

The first time she met Meowth, she had been given the job to seduce Meowth and wrap him around her finger. Meowthy had done that willingly, knowing her full objective. Then she thought back on it. What she was doing seemed wrong. But she wasn't going to object! Bloody Mary would kill her! Meowthy wanted to live. She was only supposed to think about herself, right? 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

A week after Raye's interpretation of her dream, Serena decided to tell Darien about it. She knew she shouldn't put anymore weight on his shoulders than he already had, but what if he really was in danger? What if someone was out to kill him? Or worse? 

Serena stood at the doorway of Darien's apartment. She held up her hand to knock, but brought it down again. Why couldn't she do it? She had told Darien many things before. Now, she couldn't warn him to be careful? How silly! She smiled, knowing she was only protecting him, and knocked. Darien answered and greeted her with a smile. 

"Come on in, Serena!" 

"Darien...About that dream I had..." 

Darien cringed as if he were in pain. "Please, Serena!" he shouted. 

"Darien?" Serena stepped back. Darien usually never rose his voice to her.  Serena's eyes wobbled. "Darien, I'm trying to help us..." 

Darien saw that he had hurt her. His eyes softened. "I know you are. But I'm sure it's nothing." 

"What?" 

"Please don't bring it up again." 

Why was he acting so weird? Serena nodded sadly. Maybe he didn't want to believe anything bad like that was going to happen. Did he already know what the dream meant? 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Meowthy approached Meowth that night, same as every night. This was the night!  This was when she was going to get the information she needed...The information to destroy Jessie! She walked out to the tree, the place where she and Meowth first met. Meowth was there waiting for her. 

"Hello, Meowth." 

Meowth looked up and smiled. "Meowthy-chan!" he exclaimed. He ran up and hugged her. 

Meowthy's eyes narrowed. "How about we put teaching aside for one night?" 

"Huh?" Meowth gulped. "What'dya mean?" 

She wrapped her tail around him. "Oh, I think you know very well what I mean," Meowthy purred. "We need to talk..." 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Mary and Jack were walking through the halls of Team Rocket HeadQuarters.  Destination; Cafeteria. They were going to try James again. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

"...About your masters." 

"My masters?" Meowth questioned. "You mean Jessie and James? Dey aren't my REAL masters. I'm my own master!" 

"That's all well and good," Meowthy said. "I've always loved a Pokémon who could look out for himself." Meowth blushed. "But I want to talk about those two anyway." 

Meowth groaned. "Why dem? Dose two are idiots! Numbskulls! Dere's many other stuff we can talk about." 

"No," Meowthy hissed. Meowth was shocked. He'd never heard Meowthy with this tone of voice before. "It must be about them..." 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

The cafeteria wasn't that crowded. In fact, there were only about ten stragglers present. What luck! Jessie and James happened to be there. 

Mary looked at Jack. "You take care of Jessie. Get her out of here quick." 

"Gotcha," Jack sneered. He ran up to Jessie and grabbed her arm. "Hey! The Boss wants to talk to you now!" James was about to get up to join his partner.  "Not you," Jack said hurriedly. "Just Jessie." 

"What's going on here?" Jessie demanded. 

"Hurry!" Jack said. He began dragging the reluctant Jessie out of the cafeteria. James tried to run after her, but Mary immediately stepped in front of him. 

"Hi, James!" 

"Not now, Mary!" a wiser James growled. "I have to find Jessie. And anyway, I don't talk to trash!" He pushed her out of his way and started walking away.  Something hit him in the back of the head. Everything went black. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Meowth was confused. What was Meowthy getting at? What did she want? "What'cha wanna know?" 

Meowthy took the direct approach. "I want to know about Jessie's past life on the Moon Kingdom!" 

"What da...? How da hell did you know about dat?" 

"Tell me!" Meowthy screamed. She flipped Meowth onto his back. Her claws dug into his chest. "I'll kill you." 

"Meowthy, what's wrong with you, tonight?" A row of claws slashed him across the face. "Meowthy..." The other side. "Please..." Again and again she slashed him. 

"Talk, you idiot! You can talk! Tell me!" Meowthy had no idea why she was doing this herself. She kept scraping Meowth's face. As she did, she began to cry. "TELL ME BEFORE YOU DIE!" Meowth suddenly fell limp. He didn't move.  Meowthy stopped slashing him. "Meowth...?" She got off of him and sat at his side. "Meowth-chan...Meowth...MEOWTH!" She shook him. "Get up!" What had she done? Why did she do this to the Pokémon she loved? "If you had only told me.  I wouldn't have had to do that..." She fell over and began to sob. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

"Jack, what's going on?" Jessie said, yanking her arm free. She stood there and crossed her arms. 

Jack turned around and smiled evilly at her. "You don't know anything," 

Jessie glared at him. "What do you mean?" 

"You're just as ignorant as your boyfriend!" Jack laughed. "Soon, you won't need to worry about it. The Rockets Five know everything..." 

He drew his arm back to punch her, but Jessie was too quick. She grabbed him by the arm and flung him onto the ground. She then stepped on his stomach hard. "Damn you! What are you talking about?" 

Jack said nothing, but continued grinning madly. Jessie dug the heel of her boots into his gut. Jack still didn't reply. Jessie released him and allowed him to stand. Jack brushed himself off. "You'll know soon enough." 

"I see," Jessie said. She started walking away and was punched in the back by Jack. He laughed and ran off. Jessie fell on the ground in pain. It was obvious Mary and her brothers were out to kill. It was a good thing James... "James!" Jessie exclaimed. She had forgotten he was left alone in the cafeteria with Mary. She picked herself up off the ground and started running
and limping back to the cafeteria. When she entered, everyone was gone.  "James..." Jessie cried. Tears fell down her cheeks. He was in trouble. 
[ Return to top ]

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Chapter 9 -"Awakening" 

"James...James...Get up, James." 

James' eyes fluttered. "Jessie...?" He opened his eyes fully and found himself face-to-face with Bloody Mary. He uttered an appalled gasp. 

Mary smiled as she walked around the tied-up James. Her weapon was slung over her shoulder. She giggled. "And how are you, James, dearest?" 

"Dearest?" he yelled. "I don't like you, Mary!" He turned away from her. 

Mary giggled again, walking around and meeting James in the eyes again. "I know," she said. Then she took his chin in her free hand. "But I like you, and there's nothing that can be done about that, is there?" 

James' eyes narrowed and he jerked his head back. "Maybe not, but you're not gonna change me. I've figured out your little plan and I will NEVER help you hurt Jessie." 

"You're so cute when you're angry!" Mary squealed. She pushed James a little and stood back up, walking away from him. "I think you'll change your mind when you see what I have in store for you," 

"You can do what you want with me, Mary, but I won't falter." 

Bloody Mary turned around and looked at him. "You? Who said I was gonna do anything to you?" 

"Huh?" James saw where Mary was standing. He also took this opportunity to look at his surroundings. They seemed to be in an old warehouse that was probably used for sawing lumber. There were a few scary looking saws and many axes. Now, the place seemed to be abandoned. He looked back at Mary. She was standing before a large, magenta curtain. Above her was a golden cord. She winked, took the cord in her hand and yanked down on it. The curtain opened. 

"James, this is behind door number one!" 

"MEOWTH!" Dangling by a rope was a half-dead Meowth. His coin was broken in half and his eyes were both black-eyes. Across his stomach were large slashes, almost like other claw marks. His fur was matted with blood and dust. James' eyes widened and began to tear up at the sight of this. "Meowth-chan..." 

Meowth opened one of his black-eyes. He seemed to smile at the sound of James' voice. "James...You're alright." 

James glared at Mary. "What the Hell did you do to him?"

"That's door number two!" Mary exclaimed. 

A small Pokémon stepped out of the shadows. It was Meowthy. She looked dark and both her eyes were reddened from crying. "Meowthy..." 

"Who...?" James asked. "A girl Meowth?" 

Meowth looked down at Meowthy with his opened-eye. It was cold and hard. "She's not a girlfriend, James. Dat's for sure." 

Meowthy looked up at him, her large eyes wobbling. "I'm so sorry, Meowth-chan," she sobbed. "But it was my duty!" 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Jessie ran as fast as she could. She had never run so fast in her life. She headed down the hall and burst into her room. James wasn't there. She checked his room, but he wasn't there either. One by one, Jessie checked the four Rocket Brothers' rooms. No sign of James. Then she came to the middle door. He had to be in Mary's room. She placed her hand on the knob and turned. Locked.  No matter. Nothing would keep her from James! She backed far away from the door then rammed into it with full speed. The door broke open. 

"MARY!" Jessie yelled. "Hand over MY James!" She looked around. There was no Mary or James. Tears welled up in her eyes. "Where is he?" 

Laughter was heard behind her. Jessie swung around and was face-to-face with Jack, Zack, Mack, and Tack. They all grinned at her. 

"Looking for Lover-boy?" Zack asked. 

"More like Loser-Boy!" Jack laughed. The others joined him in laughing. 

Jessie glared at them, her eyes full of hate. "Where's James?" she asked roughly. They continued to laugh. She closed her eyes and clenched her fist.  "TELL ME!" she screamed. She swung her arm and hit Zack, knocking a tooth out of him. 

The other brothers gasped. The twenty-year old man looked at his tooth on the ground. Then up at Jessie, who continued to stare him down. "What the f*** was that for?" 

Jessie smirked. "Oh, such language shouldn't be said to a girl!" 

"You're no girl," Mack said. "You're a monster..." 

Jessie grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "Me? You're saying I'm the monster? What's with you and that God-awful sister of yours, huh? Why are you guys trying to get rid of me? You dare call me a monster when the likes of you five are worse than demons in Hell?" 

At this, the other brothers leapt at her and pinned her to the ground. Mack got up and brushed himself off. Jack held the back of Jessie's neck. He squeezed hard, choking her. "Don't you mess with us, Jessie. You're finished.  It doesn't matter what Power you have inside of you, you shall never beat us."

Jessie coughed. Her face was starting to turn blue. She couldn't breathe or move. There was no way to loosen herself or hit one of the brothers. She was on her stomach. Her heart began to beat slower and slower. Jessie felt herself weakening every second. She tried to scream, but nothing was there. 

The brothers all were laughing at her. She could see their dark faces smiling, their mouths wide and teeth gleaming. THEY were the monsters! Jessie remembered the look on Mary's face today when she had last seen her. It was just like her brothers. Then she remembered the night before with James. The two together, wrapped in each other's arms. A tear ran down Jessie's cheek.  "James-sama..." she managed to breath out, although it was barely audible. 

She had to give up. It was time to go now. There was nothing to be done. Her air-supply was gone. Jessie's eyes rolled and she passed on. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

"What? Huh?" Jessie's voice echoed all around her. She seemed to be floating in a black void, almost like space. She was in her Princess Jessica outfit, the band around her forehead. "I must be dead." she thought aloud. 

"Jessica..." 

Princess Jessie looked up. In front of her was a glowing Light. "Mother?" 

"Yes," the Light nodded. "I am Queen Jessica." It floated over to Princess Jessie. "You gave up so easily." 

Jessie looked down. "I couldn't do anything." 

The Light looked angry. "Yes you could have! You still can," it shouted. "You are my daughter. You have Powers beyond your wildest dreams. You haven't discovered them all yet." 

The Princess looked confused. "Powers? Like Serena?" She looked at her gloved hands. They didn't look special. 

"They're not from here," Queen Jessica laughed as she took her daughter's hands. "It's in here." She placed Jessie's hands on her own heart. 

"My heart..." Princess Jessie whispered. The band around her forehead fell off and the Crescent Moon beneath it glowed brilliantly. "I see!" she smiled. She then let out a blood-curdling scream. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Jack's eyes widened. "What th...? NO!" The brothers were thrown aside. They bounced as they hit the wall hard. 

Jessie's eyes shot open. The Crescent Moon on her head glowed with a blinding light. "You can't finish me yet!" She stood up and faced the cowering brothers. "You all will die!" 

"No!" they all screamed. Tack lunged for the door and opened it. He ran outside and the brothers followed him. 

Jessie stood there. The light on her forehead dimmed and soon disappeared. The Crescent Moon also faded. She smiled a little. "I couldn't leave everything yet." Then, she darted out the door in search of her love. 
[ Return to top ]

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Chapter 10 -"Mary's Plan Takes Action" 

Darien drove his car along a small winding road. Serena boredly stared out the window. 

"Are we there yet?" she whined. 

"Serena, you've been asking that every ten minutes." 

"But I'm starving, and I really have to go to the bathroom!" 

"It's a long way to the Museum of Tokyo." 

Serena groaned. "I don't see why we're going to see a boring old museum anyway." 

"You know certainly well why," Darien scolded. "I'm thinking of getting a part-time job there and I need to check it out. You also need something to take your mind off this dream you had. There isn't a reason to be freaked-out over something when you don't even know what it means." 

Again, the blue-eyed girl grumbled to herself. Then she turned to Darien. "If you're not scared about it, then why do you cringe and act real nervous whenever I try to bring it up?" 

"I don't act nervous." 

"Yes, you do!" Serena protested. "Raye knows what it means and I believe her.  Something bad is gonna happen to you and Jessie." 

Darien pulled his car over to the side of the road and parked it. He unbuckled his seatbelt so he could look at Serena face-to-face. "Serena, I'm telling you this one last time. There is nothing to be scared of! You had a bunch of donuts the day before you had that dream. Eating many sweets before bedtime can give you nightmares." 

"But I ate them in the morning. They were breakfast pastries..." 

"Not another word," Darien said holding his hand up. "We gotta go. I'm very late." He put his seatbelt on again and turned the ignition key. The car wouldn't start. "Oh, give me a break!" Darien growled. "Not now." 

Serena watched him. She started giggling. "Darien, your foot's still on the break..." 

Darien looked down at his feet. "So it is..." he said. "I knew that!" Before long they were on the road again. The two were laughing at the car-incident. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Up the road, a car swerved from left to right. Inside were many people laughing and drinking. They paid no attention to the road, nor the cars in front of them. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Serena smiled. "Feeling better?" 

"Yeah," Darien said. "I'm sorry I yelled at you." 

"That's okay." Serena continued looking out at the road. She saw an old car heading straight toward them. "Darien!" 

Darien also saw the car. "What are those idiots doing?" The car kept coming closer. Darien tried moving but the lanes were very small. Right beside the car was a fence which prevented people from falling off the cliff they were driving on. "They're not even on the road. They're going to ram into us!" 

Serena screamed. The car zoomed faster and kept charging his car. "They're drunk," Serena yelled. "Get out of the way, Darien!" 

"I'm trying!" Darien looked all around him for an escape route. He didn't want Serena endangered. It was no use. Darien swung his wheel to the left and crashed into the fence. The fence broke and his car tumbled over the side of the road. Darien and Serena held each other tightly. They were done for. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

"What are you going to do with Meowth?" James demanded. 

Mary walked back over to James. "That all depends on you, love. If you give us the information we need, Meowth won't get hurt anymore than he is. If you don't..." She then walked back over to Meowth and took her weapon with both hands. She got ready to swing it at him. Meowth cringed. 

"No!" shouted James. "Don't hurt Meowth!" 

Meowth looked over at James sadly. "Don't give her any information, James. No matter what she does to Meowth, you can't give in." 

James' eyes wobbled. "But Meowth, I don't want her to hurt you." 

"If she doesn't hurt Meowth, she'll hurt Jessie," 

Meowthy watched all this with tears in her eyes. What had she done? She never should have agreed to turn Meowth over to Mary. That was just cruel.

"What's it gonna be, James?" Mary asked sweetly. 

James looked from Meowth to Mary. He bit his lip and sighed. "Don't hurt Meowth. I'll tell you everything I know." 

"It better not be about roller coasters." 

"It won't be." 

The injured Meowth glared at James. "You idiot! You're killing your girlfriend!" 

James ignored him and turned back to Mary. He began spilling out the whole story of the Moon Kingdom - Of Queen Serenity, Queen Jessica, the Princesses, the Sailor Scouts, Prince Endymion, and Queen Beryl. Although it had been two years since he had been in the Moon Kingdom Ruins, he remembered it as if it were yesterday. A memory like that can never be forgotten, not even by idiots.  He cried a little as he told this story, knowing he was endangering everyone, including Jessie. When James finished, he lowered his head. He could not look
Meowth in the eyes. 

Mary's eyes flashed red and she smiled evilly. "So, this Prince Endymion is still alive?" 

"Yes," James nodded. 

She calculated everything in her head. If Mary could get Jessie and Darien together, then she could have James. Also, Serena would come after Darien.  Once knowing her best friend had stolen him away from her, Serena would kill Jessie with her Sailor Moon Powers. She laughed. "Thank you, James." She then bent down and kissed him on the head. 

James grimaced. "Don't thank me," he sobbed. When Mary walked away, he muttered to himself, "Oh, ick!" 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Darien's car lay in a heap on the ground. It was upside down and smashed. A small hand reached out of a broken window. It grabbed a stick nearby and jammed it in the crack of one of the doors. Then it pulled, using the stick like a crowbar. Slowly the door opened and the person belonging to the hand crawled out. It was Serena. She coughed and, when out of the car, stood up.  She brushed herself off and looked down at herself. Only minor injuries. A few cuts here and there, although her hair left something to be desired. She was lucky. Serena ran to the other side of the car and pulled open the door, allowing Darien to crawl free. He wasn't too bad either. 

"I can't believe we're alive," Serena whispered. "Where are we?" 

The two glanced around. They were in a big canyon. Beside them was a huge building. Darien walked over to the side of it. "It's a factory." 

Serena walked around to the front of the iron building. She suddenly gasped and called Darien over to her. "It's not a factory..." She pointed up to the top of the doors. A big, red 'R' towered above them. "This is Team Rocket Head Quarters!" 
[ Return to top ]

---

Chapter 11 - "Digging For Clues" 

Mary exited the warehouse. She was very excited at how well her plan was going. Suddenly, she saw her brothers running towards her. 

"MARY!" 

"What the Hell? Weren't you guys supposed to ambush Jessie?" She held her hand out in front of her, and Jack bumped into it. Then Zack, who was behind him, bumped into Jack. Mack and Tack followed after, respectively. 

"We tried," Jack said, gasping for air. "But she used her Powers and knocked us against the wall." 

"She almost killed us, Mary!" Tack yelled. 

Mary blinked. "So, Jessie DOES have Powers..." The terrified brothers nodded. 

Mack grabbed Mary's arm. "And she's following us!" 

"She'll find this hideout of ours." Zack said. 

"No matter," Mary sighed. 

Jack looked at her as if she were crazy. "Whaddaya mean 'No matter'? She'll ruin our plans!" 

His sister shook her head. "Nope. I've got all the dirt I need to take Jessie down." She motioned for her brothers to huddle and told them of Jessie's past.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

James sat in the warehouse by himself. He was a pitiful sight to look at - Sitting on the dusty ground with a rope tied around him, tear stains on his cheeks, bloodshot eyes, a big gash from Mary's weapon in the back of his head, and a dirty uniform. He sobbed and moaned, repeating "Jessie..." over and over again. 

Meowth, who looked no better than James, dangled by the rope he hung from. He watched James disgustedly. There were reasons for this. For one thing, James was a member of Team Rocket. To see him moping around was not very good for their image. For another, he had betrayed Jessie. "You both disgust me," Meowth finally said to both James and Meowthy. Meowthy looked up at him again.  James still didn't meet Meowth's eyes. The two didn't say a word. Meowth continued. "Both of you only care about yourselves. You risk your moronic
lives for your own happiness and den expect people to praise you?" 

This was a little too much for James. Meowth was usually never the voice of reason. To hear him say things that actually meant well made his heart break.  James finally looked up at his Pokémon companion. "I wanted you to live, Meowth. You're my friend." 

"And who is Jessie?" Meowth hounded, making James feel more guilty. "Listen to me, James. I used to only think of Meowth. No more. No less. Everything I did was for MY well-being. I wanted to be Top Cat and rule over supreme. But den..." A tear fell from Meowth's eye. "...I found love." 

Meowthy nearly jumped out of her skin. She could not hold it in anymore. Her tears flowed like raindrops. "Meowth..." 

Meowth ignored her. "At least, I thought I found it." Meowthy looked down.  "But, I must say, love is da greatest thing to a Pokémon...And human in da world. You can never find anything more precious. It's not something to waste, James. Dat's why I'm telling you this! True love only comes once, and dat's it. Once Jessie is gone, you won't have anyone. And what's worse, is Mary will
have you." 

James thought he would die. Everything Meowth said was true. His body trembled and his eyes were glossy. "I'll never find anyone like Jessie..." he whispered. 

Alone, in a corner, Meowthy cried hard. "And I'll never find anyone like Meowth..." 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Darien and Serena carefully pushed open the door of the Head Quarters. They tip-toed in, trying not to make any noise. 

"Let's hope no one finds us," Darien whispered. "I'd hate to bring out the caravan." 

"We have to find Jessie," Serena whispered excitedly. She was finally going to see her friend again. "Is there a directory in here somewhere?" Then she saw a shadow coming toward her. "D-D-Darien..." She said as she shook in her shoes.  Her finger trembled as she pointed in the direction of the figure. 

"Not now, Serena!" Darien said. "I'm looking up their names in this Team Rocket phone book." 

"Eep!" Serena shrieked as the figure came closer. 

"What?" Darien said as he turned around. He saw Serena pointing. He looked over, but saw nothing. Then he looked down and saw a little brown creature with a big red nose. 

"Diglett!" 

"Huh?" Serena said. 

"Diglett!" 

Darien smiled. "It's one of those Pokémon creatures Jessie and James were talking about." 

"Diglett dig!" 

Serena gasped. "Whew! That was a close call." 

The Diglett poked its head back underground and started burrowing away. "Diglett dig! Diglett dig!" it chanted. 

The couple laughed. "That was cute," Serena smiled. "It kind of resembled an Earth mole." 

Darien went back to searching for Jessie's name. "Here it is!" he finally said. Serena ran up behind him. "Room 111." 

"Let's go then!" Serena exclaimed, grabbing Darien by the arm. He pulled away.

"Umm...Serena..." 

"What's wrong?" 

"Oh, nothing. I just thought that since you two hadn't seen each other in a long time, you'd might want to catch up." 

"But Darien, we've never been here before. Don't you think that's a little dangerous?" 

Darien shook his head. "I'll be standing here on guard. I'll come and get you when someone comes." Serena nodded happily. Darien then took her chin in his hands. "Has Tuxedo Mask ever let you down?" He then kissed her. When they separated, Serena waved and ran off to find Jessie. Darien smiled and leaned against the doorway. His museum trip would have to wait. Serena was more important. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Tack sneaked back to Team Rocket Head Quarters. Rumor had it that two intruders had found their hideout. It was a good thing their Boss, Giovanni, had just installed the new Team Rocket Detect-O-Meter. He chuckled to himself, thinking of the horrible tortures he could perform on the guests. After all, teenagers always love to have fun. 

He crawled through one of the open windows and silently made his way toward the front door. He heard chanting. 

"Diglett dig! Diglett dig!" At Tack's feet was the Diglett Serena and Darien had seen. 

"Diglett!" Tack exclaimed, picking it up. "What are you doing out of your Pokéball?" The Diglett started talking to him in its Diglett-voice. "You saw the intruders?" 

"Diglett!" Diglett nodded. 

Tack put it down. "Okay, you can go now. Thank you, Diglett!" 

Diglett marched off again. "Diglett dig! Diglett dig! Diglett dig"
[ Return to top ]

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Chapter 12 -"Source #3 - The Thorn of a Poisonous Rose" 

Serena approached the door of room 111. This was it! This was where her dear friend was. Serena smiled and knocked on the door. She waited for a while, but no answer came. Serena knocked again, harder this time. Still no answer. " She must be out," Serena thought sadly. "Oh, well. I can wait..." Serena sat outside the doorway, awaiting Jessie's return. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Jessie ran through every hallway, searching for Mary and her brothers. They had completely vanished. She checked the library, the laboratory, the cafeteria, the gym...No trace of anyone. After running for a long time, Jessie stopped to catch her breath. She leaned against a wall. This search was making her exhausted, and all she wanted to find was James. Heck! She'd even be satisfied if she ran into Meowth along the way. 

Once five minutes had passed, Jessie resumed her search. She checked every place she had already been to again, and started looking in less likely places. Nothing. Jessie was ready to cry. It seemed her chase was endless and she hadn't found anything. She decided to go back to her room for a while and strategize a plan. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Meowth still hung from the rope. His crying was the only sound that could be heard in the empty warehouse. There were the occasional sniffs from James and Meowthy, but Meowth's sobs made them too devastated to even cry. Meowth made a small sigh. "Everything's hopeless..." 

That's when James snapped. His face got angrier and his body tightened. James was not too smart, but he was strong. He gathered all his hate for Mary and combined it with his passion for Jessie. With this strength, he managed to break the ropes he was bind with. When Meowth heard the snap he looked up.  James walked over to him and grabbed hold of the cord. He yanked it in two, allowing Meowth to go free. 

"There is hope yet." the determined Rocketeer said. He began walking to the exit. Meowth followed him. 

Suddenly, Meowthy stepped in front of them, attempting to block the door.  "Where do you think you're going?" she said in a shaky human-voice. "You can't leave..." 

"Dat's what you think!" Meowth said as he slashed her across the face. Meowthy fell to the ground. James kicked open the door and started heading back to Head Quarters. Before Meowth left, he looked at Meowthy. "I'm sorry. But it was MY duty..." He then ran off, leaving her alone and sad. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Darien stood at the entrance of Team Rocket Head Quarters waiting for Serena.  He found himself reading the directory of names just so he wouldn't get bored.  Then, he started to hear a familiar sound that he had heard not so long ago. 

"Diglett dig! Diglett dig!" 

"Hey, little buddy," Darien said as he knelt in front of Diglett. "Come back to keep me company?" 

"Diglett!" it chirped, in the only way a mole can chirp. 

Without warning, a hand grabbed Darien around the neck. He tried to fling whoever it was off of him, but another pair of hands grabbed him around his legs. A group of Team Rocket members knocked him down to the floor. One gagged him. Darien struggled as his arms were tied behind his back. 

"So...THIS is the famous Prince Endymion." A woman's voice said. Darien looked up and saw a woman Rocketeer. She laughed. "How do you do, Darien? My name is Mary, but mostly everyone around here calls me Bloody Mary." 

"You'll soon find out why." Tack grinned. He turned to Diglett. "Thanks, Diglett-chan!" 

"Diglett!" 

Darien could not believe this. He had been tricked by such a small creature.  If only he and Serena hadn't given it their names! Darien tried to say something, but he was muffled by the gag. Mary reached down and pulled it off of him. 

"I'm sorry. Did you say something?" 

"What I said was..." Darien braced himself. "...You know Jessie, don't you?" 

Mary laughed again. "Oh! You mean the substitute Moon Princess? Of course, and I know a lot more, too. I also know you are the super hero Tuxedo Mask and Serena is Sailor Moon." 

"And just how did you get this information?" Darien spat out. "No one knows about us!" 

"There are a couple," Mary innocently replied. "And I find them and squeeze the juice out." 

"But who would be so stupid as to tell you?" Darien thought aloud, to himself and to Mary. 

"James..." 

"He didn't..." 

"He did!" 

Darien felt betrayed. "I thought he cared for Jessie." 

Mary shook her head. "Nope! He dumped her for..." She smiled at her four brothers. They stared back at her, aghast. "...Me." 

"You? He likes you?" 

"What's wrong with that?" Mary growled as she kicked Darien in the jaw.  "Frankly, I think he has good taste." 

"You're lying." 

"No, I'm not!" Mary laughed. "He found out what losers you were and decided to join the winners. Speaking of losers, you're going to get aquatinted with Jessie again..." 

"What do you mean?" Darien asked, his eyes narrowing. But he was re-gagged and lifted off the ground by the brothers. They carried him off to the laboratory.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

"Get it open!" 

"I'm trying, Meowth! I'm trying!" 

A fist and paw full of claws crashed through the door of the Head Quarters.  James and Meowth broke it open and ran inside. They scanned the area, looking for clues. 

"Looks like dere was a struggle here," Meowth commented. "Da ground is covered with dirty footprints." 

"And look what I found!" James exclaimed proudly, holding up a beautiful red rose. "This is a clue!" 

Meowth shook his head. "You probably dropped dat a while ago..." 

James pulled another rose out of his pocket. "No, I didn't. See..." 

The Pokémon took both of the roses in his hand. "Well, if dis one ain't yours, den whose is it?" 

James thought, which was a very hard thing for him to do. He grasped the sides of his head with his hands, he sat on the ground, he banged his head on the floor. "Hmmmm..." 

"Don't hurt yourself." Meowth groaned. 

Suddenly, James sat up. "I've got it! I know who this rose belongs to." 

"You do?" Meowth asked excitedly. "Who?" 

James looked proud. "It's...The flower salesman's!" 

Meowth fell on the floor, Anime-style. 
[ Return to top ]

---

Chapter 13 -"Tuxedo Mirage" 

By herself, Serena started to get antsy. By now, she was totally starving and was about to have an accident. She stood up and began to walk around. She didn't care if she was in a dangerous foreign place. She didn't care if she was liable to get caught. All she cared about was finding the restrooms. Then, the cafeteria. So, Serena set off through the halls of Team Rocket Head
Quarters for a small adventure. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

After Serena left, a tall man walked up to Jessie's door. He put his hand on the knob and gripped it as if he were exhausted. He then opened the door and lazily shuffled in. He then shut it behind him quietly. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Seconds after, Jessie was walking down the hall to her room. She was devastated for she hadn't found James anywhere and was running out of time. Glad to be back, she opened the door to her room and screamed. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

James' ears perked up. "That was Jessie!" Meowth looked up at him. James started climbing the stairs to Jessie's room. He tried to open the door, but it was locked. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Bloody Mary grinned. "Game. Set. Match." 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

"Prince Endymion!" Jessie gasped. "What are you doing here?" 

Darien smiled at her. "Jessie, I'm so glad to see you again. Please, call me Darien." 

"How did you find me? How did you get into my room?" 

"That doesn't matter," Darien sighed. "What matters is that we are together again." He moved towards her. 

"Darien?" Jessie whispered. "What are you talking about?" She started backing up against the wall. Something was not right here. 

"I've come to make a confession," he said softly. "I must confess my love for you." 

"WHAT?!?" 

He took her hands in his. "Jessie, you've been all I wanted. Princess Serena of the Moon Kingdom does not matter anymore. All I want is you." 

"Darien..." She could not believe what she was hearing. Darien was in love with her? When did all this happen? "You love me? And, Serena...?" 

"I told you. She is no longer my love." Darien smiled sweetly. He knelt down before her. "Please, Jessie, say you will be mine." 

This was too scary. Jessie pulled her hands out of Darien's grasp and looked at him sternly. "I can't believe you're throwing Serena away like this! Besides, I'm already taken." 

Darien stood up again. "Already taken?" he laughed. "By that loser, James? He's dumped you!" 

Jessie's eyes wobbled. "What? He couldn't have..." 

"Yes, I'm sorry," Darien said. He stopped laughing and looked at her sadly. "I just saw him with a woman with brown hair and violet eyes. I think she was part of Team Rocket..." 

"Mary!" Jessie exclaimed. She was about to collapse when Darien caught her.  "No...James..." 

"I suppose I should have told you sooner," Darien guiltily sighed. Jessie buried her head in Darien's jacket and sobbed. He gently caressed her and petted her head. "I'm so sorry." 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

James was desperately trying to open the door. Meowth tried helping. "She usually never locks her door," James began as he pulled on the knob. "Except at night." 

"I told you not to tell Mary anything!" Meowth scolded. "Now she knows just what to do." 

"Sorry," James growled. "I didn't know what she had in store..." 

"Ummm...Excuse me..." 

James and Meowth turned around. They both saw a familiar girl standing behind them. "Do I know you from somewhere?" James asked. 

Meowth scratched him across the face. "You idiot! Dat's Serena, da Moon Princess, remember?" 

"I forgot..." 

Serena smiled. "It's good to see you two again. Where's Jessie?" 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

It couldn't be possible. No! Not her James. Not her dear beloved partner that she had known for long. Jessie looked up at Darien with tear-streaked cheeks. "No..." 

"Yes," Darien nodded. He then took her by the shoulders and held her out in front of him. "But, you don't deserve him, Jessie! You're a classy girl...Woman..." Jessie hung onto his every word. "You deserve a Prince, worthy of your stature. You deserve a man who can at least count to ten
without screwing up." She smiled a little at that. Darien kept going. "You need a hero, one who can fulfill your every needs. One who will come to your rescue when you scream. Jessie...You deserve me." He then took her in his arms and kissed her. 

Jessie did not know what to do. She was paralyzed by the beautiful words Darien had said. Now, he was kissing her soft and passionately. It didn't seem right. Yet...Isn't this what she had always wanted? On the Moon Kingdom in the Silver Millenium, all Princess Jessie had wanted was to get Prince Endymion to notice her. She was jealous of his love for Princess Serena. Now, she finally got what she had wanted, but why didn't she feel happy? 

Suddenly the two stopped. They heard pounding on the door. "What's that?" Jessie asked. Darien looked up worriedly. They were entering! 

"I'm sure it's nothing," Darien said hurriedly as he kissed Jessie again. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

"One...Two...Three!" James ran into the door with full force. Serena and Meowth helped him. Finally, it cracked. The three burst in, and were in shock over what they saw. 

"DARIEN!" 

"JESSIE!" 

There were the two in each others' arms, kissing and cuddling. Serena burst into tears while James stood aghast. Meowth hissed. "What's all dis?" 

Darien looked up at Serena. "I don't love you anymore!" Serena sobbed and fell to the ground. 

James grabbed Jessie away from Darien. He slapped her clear across the face.  "You...After all I did for you!" 

Jessie fell on the floor in a heap. She touched the part of her face where James had struck her. Tears fell from her eyes. 
[ Return to top ]

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Chapter 14 - "Black and Blue and Red Roses All Over" 

Jessie lay on the ground, awestricken. "James," she managed to murmur aloud. He had just hit her, and sting of the shock hurt more than the bruise itself. "I didn't...It's not what you think!" 

"I'm going to believe that one," James said sarcastically. "You think saying you're sorry can make it all better, don't you, Jessie?  That you can run to me in tears and I'll be there to comfort you with open arms..." 

"No..." 

"Shut up!" 

Darien glared at James. "How dare you speak to Jessie like that, you imbecile. You should have more respect for her." 

James slowly turned around to face Darien. "You...I don't want to see your lousy face! Don't tell me about respect." He gestured to the heartbroken Serena. "Look at her and tell me about my respect for women!" 

Serena had had enough of this. "Leave me alone!" she yelled. Then she went over to Jessie to comfort and to be comforted.  Jessie did hold her friend in her arms and cried with her. This was too much for the men. They both turned away from them, much to Meowth's disgust. 

Then Darien whirled around and pushed James into the wall. "Alright, I'll show you my respect for you." 

James was a little taken aback by this. He was pushed so quickly, but he managed to pull himself up. He faced Darien, who had a smug look on his face. James did not like that look at all. He ran towards Darien with full force and knocked him straight into Jessie's mirror. The mirror shattered, and Darien was covered with scrapes and glass. The heat was on! 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Meowthy leaned against the tree where she had first met Meowth. How she hated herself for betraying him! She had used him for a plan she didn't even know how evil would turn out. During the course of this plan, she had also become evil. But now...Now Meowthy felt that being evil wasn't all it was cracked up to be. If being evil meant hurting the one you loved, she'd just assume
throw herself in a nearby river! 

She really did love him, didn't she? That was the question she kept asking herself over and over. If she did not love him, then whywould she be feeling so much grief and pain now? During her training, she had thought the only person she would ever love so much would be her trainer, Bloody Mary. But, she felt a different love towards Meowth. However, it was obvious Meowth didn't reflect her feelings. Why would he now, after all that she had done? 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

James looked up at Darien with a face covered with red scars. He took out both roses he had kept in his pocket. "So, this extra rose belonged to you, and not the flower salesman's!" Meowth got a huge sweatdrop. 

"I don't know what you're blabbering about, but you've given me an excellent idea," Darien smirked. He pulled out a black rose and threw it into the air. "Tuxedo Mask Power!" Darien then changed into Tuxedo Mask. "How's that for you, Pokemon idiot?" 

James laughed. "So, you couldn't fight me as regular Darien. Was I too much for you?" He rammed his elbow into Tuxedo Mask's ribs, sending him flying across the room. 

Tuxedo Mask landed and jumped right back onto his feet. He grabbed James by the small strand of hair in front of his face and threw him to the ground. Then he stepped on his gut. "Thank you for rolling out my welcome mat." 

James coughed and then managed to grab Tuxie's legs. He wiggled them which caused his opponent to fall. James pinned grabbed Tuxedo Mask's shoulders and pinned him to the ground. Then he snatched the thorn rose out of his hand. "It ends here and now, Rosey." James plunged the rose into his left eye. Tuxedo Mask screamed out in pain. 

Serena yelled and tried to run to her love. Jessie held her back. "James! Stop it!" she cried. 

Tuxedo Mask kicked James off of him and sat on his knees. He rubbed his eye which was now bleeding very badly. James then picked Tuxie off the ground by his hair and threw him against the wall. 

"Are you ready to admit defeat?" James said coolly. 

Tuxedo Mask didn't move. He cowered in the corner, clanging to his face and holding his eye-socket. "N-no...Go away. Where am I?" 

"Pitiful," James sighed, tossing the black rose to Serena's feet. 

Serena looked at the rose. "Black?" she whispered. All the memories of Evil enveloping Darien flooded back to her. Every time Darien had been turned Evil, his roses had changed from red to black. Darien had not betrayed her! He was being controlled.  "Darien!" she screamed as she rose to her feet. "Moon Eternal Make-Up!" 

Jessie watched her as Serena turned into Eternal Sailor Moon. "Serena, what is it?" 

"Starlight HoneyMoon Therapy Kiss!" she screamed. Tuxedo Mask was hit with her Energy. Eternal Sailor Moon then rushed to him. He slowly transformed back into normal Darien and the black rose wilted. "Are you alright, Darien-chan?" 

Darien looked up meekly at Eternal Sailor Moon with his one, good eye. "Serena?" 

"You were under a spell, my love," she said as she kissed him on the forehead. 

"I love you, Serena!" 

Team Rocket stood in disbelief. "It was Mary!" Meowth hissed. "She did this to get James again." 

James sadly looked to the ground. "I didn't know. Then...What have I done?" He fell to his knees. "Because of me..." 

Jessie got up and walked over to his side. "Because of Mary," she interrupted. "It was her doing." 

"She hurt us all," Meowth said. "She hurt Serena by using Darien as his pawn. She hurt Darien by using you. She hurt Jessie by Darien also. And she hurt you by using Jessie and Darien. Then..." His voice trailed off. "...Mary hurt Meowth..." 

James wasn't listening. He could not believ what he had done. To him, Mary was not important. "What I did was no excuse..." 

"Oh, my dearest James," Jessie smiled. "We all forgive you. And we shall get Mary back!" She then took him in her arms and kissed him. 
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Chapter 15 - "Another One Bites the Dust" 

Bloody Mary sat alone in the cafeteria sipping a Coke. For about fourty minutes she had enjoyed listening to the sounds coming from upstairs. Glass shattering. People screaming. Sounds of horror as each piece of a body was broken or squashed. Of course, that meant James would be hurt also, but she would fix him up. Oh, yes she would... 

However, the sound she heard now was not good. It was a sound she disliked very much. And that was the sound of silence.  What happened to the fighting? Where were the sounds of crunching bones and ear-shattering yells? Something up there was not right. Mary thought it best she go and investigate. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

James remained in Jessie's arms, sobbing like a small child. Jessie just smiled and comforted him. "It was not your fault, my love." 

"But, Jessie," James sniffed. "Look what I have done to Darien. And your room has seen better days hidden underneath the bed!" 

"Endymion will be fine, James-chan." 

Speaking of which, Eternal Sailor Moon was busilly trying to heal Darien as best she could. He was very weak, for he had lost much blood in the battle. Darien turned to James with a smile. "I never knew you had it in you, Rocket-man. You're pretty strong!"

James sort of laughed at this. "I was angry..." 

The door was thrown open. "So was I!" 

"Mary!" Meowth gasped. "How dare ya show your sorry face here!" 

"I agree," Eternal Sailor Moon stated. 

Mary tossed her brown hair aside and laughed. "So, Jamesy, you didn't finish off Prince Endymion like I hoped you would. Instead you crawled back to the trash." 

Jessie's eyes narrowed. "You dare call me trash, you little whore?" 

Meowth leapt at Mary, intending to slash her. Mary just laughed and hit him before he got there. "Puny Meowth! You're no match for my Meowthy." 

Meowth growled. "Leave Meowthy out of dis." 

"But you love her, don't you?" Mary grinned. 

The small cat-like Pokémon looked to the ground. Yes, he did love her. But she was evil and had turned against him. Now, she was probably sitting at the warehouse laughing at his every move. He turned away from Mary. "You...You wouldn't even know da word 'love' if it hit you in da face." 

"What?" Mary backed away a little bit. "Me? Not know love?" 

"You don't even have a heart!" Darien snarled. 

"Silence!" Mary said as she pulled out her weapon. "Team Rocket has no feelings of sympathy. My heart may not be gold like the sorry lot of yours', but I do know love...Because I love James and I will make him mine!" 

"She's insane!" Meowth yelled. 

Mary cornered the small group against the wall. She rose her weapon high over her head and was ready to bring the spiked ball down upon them. Then Meowth ran out from underneath her legs. Mary turned around to chase after him, but Eternal Sailor Moon knocked her out of their way. The five-some ran out of Jessie's room, down the hallway, and trampled down the stairs. 

"We've got to get out of here!" James shrieked. "I'm really scared of that Mary." 

"We all are," Jessie panted. 

Suddenly, they heard the sound of a snapping. James was pulled backward by a long whip, and Mary was at the other end. "Not so fast, jerks!" she laughed tightening the rope around James' neck. James tried to breathe, but the circulation to his lungs were cut off by the whip. He tried pulling at it, but it tightened with every struggle. 

"James!" Jessie cried. "Stop it, Mary! You're choking him." 

"Exactly," Mary said, again raising her weapon. "If I cannot have James, then no one can!" She laughed insanely and brought the weapon down. 

"No!" Jessie ran towards James and pushed him out of the way, taking the blow herself. 

James saw her fall in a red, lucid pool. 
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Chapter 16 - "Precious Cargo" 

"Oh my God!" Eternal Sailor Moon yelled as Jessie crashed to the ground. Her head was totally bashed in from the spiked ball.  Mary's weapon had crushed her skull. 

James tore the whip from around his neck and ran to Jessie. He grasped her and held her limp body in his arms. "Jessie, you saved me, but..." 

Bloody Mary stood atop the staircase laughing menacingly. "Oh well! Who would've thought that Jessie would do herself in?" 

"You planned it that way, Mary!" James growled. "You used me as bait to kill Jessie." 

"Well, James-chan, you really didn't think I would kill you, now did you?" James continued to glare at the grinning Mary. 

Eternal Sailor Moon pointed her index finger at Mary. "You, Bloody Mary, have damaged the love of these two people. I shall not forgive you! I am the pretty Sailor Soldier of love and..." 

"Cut the crap, kid!" Mary interrupted. "I don't care about your dumb, little speech. By the way, didn't your mother ever tell you it wasn't polite to point?" 

"Didn't your mother ever teach you manners?" Darien snapped back. 

"Even though you're weak, you still got some spunk in you, 'eh, Tuxie?" She lurched forward a bit. "And now, James, with no competition, I can have you all to myself." 

"Don't bet on it!" James yelled. He turned around and started running away with Jessie cradled in his arms. Eternal Sailor Moon, Darien, and Meowth all followed. 

Mary grinned again. "Run all you want, my dearest James, but you shall never escape me..." She pulled out two Pokéballs. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Bloody Mary's four brothers sat in the warehouse playing a game of Poker. 

"Your move, Mack." 

"Uh oh, I'm high..." 

"Ummm...That's a good thing, Tack." 

"It is? Well, I'm just learning!" 

Unobserved to them was Meowthy's re-entrance. She walked over to the rope where Meowth had hung from nearly two hours ago.

"Your bet." 

"But I have nothing to bet." 

"Tack, you gotta bet something." 

"Uhhh...Okay! I bet my pants..." 

"I don't think I want those." 

"Well, how about...My hat!" 

"You don't have a hat. Only Jack does." 

"Well, I want a hat." 

"You're too young, Tack." 

"I'm sixteen..." 

Meowthy pawed at the rope. She remembered the sweet nights she and Meowth had spent together. He taught her how to talk, read, and write in the human language. She sighed a heavy sigh. It was so heavy, in fact, that it made the Rocket Brothers look up from their game. Mack, who was Meowthy's original owner, put his cards down and walked over to her. He asked her what was wrong, but she just sighed again. He petted her, rubbed her neck, scratched behind her ears. All the time, Meowthy was silent. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

James led the group to an elevator. He literally pounded on the buttons. "C'mon, you stupid thing! Up! Up!" When it finally came, they hustled inside and quickly shut the door. 

"We'll have to escape from da top floor," Meowth suggested. "Maybe we'll lose Mary." 

Through all this, James kept tapping Jessie's face gently to see if she would come to. She just remained still. The elevator climbed higher and higher. Soon, the small bell was heard and they all ran out. They ran down the hall until they came to a window. 

"We have to jump," Darien sighed. He was still weak and was leaning against the wall for support. 

Eternal Sailor Moon smiled. "I'll help you, Darien-chan!" She walked over to the window and tried pulling it up, but it wouldn't budge. "It's stuck!" she whined. 

James walked over to it and kicked the glass out with his foot. "Hurry! We gotta get out before Mary finds us." 

Eternal Sailor Moon led Darien to the window. She explained she would jump first and catch him. So, out she flew and landed.  Darien followed close behind and jumped halfway into her arms. 

"He's okay!" Meowth said to James. "Now, it's Meowth's turn." Meowth sprung out too and landed on his feet, as cats always do.  Then he looked up to the window. "C'mon, James. Let's go!" 

"Just a sec!" James called back. What was he to do? He couldn't leave Jessie behind and he couldn't jump with her in his arms.  That would be dangerous. He considered gently tossing her down to Darien or Eternal Sailor Moon, but that was also bad. What if he missed? What if they didn't catch her? 

So, it was settled. Jessie had to come with him. James tore off a shred of his Team Rocket uniform. Then he draped Jessie's arms around the back of his neck. He tied her hands together. It was almost like he had a cape, but Jessie was more of his cargo. She was precious and could not be damaged. He then followed suite, making sure he landed on his front side. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Meowth had already disappeared from the group. He had to see Meowthy again, even if it meant death. He had thought he was mad at her, but something drew him back towards the warehouse. 

He ran with all his might. When he reached the door, he entered slowly and cautiously. There sat the small Pokémon. She was crying. Meowth walked over to her. "Meowthy..." Meowthy turned around to see her love standing there. She ran into his arms. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Finally outside, the group managed to catch their breath. But they were not alone for long. At that moment, they heard a loud roar. Two sinister-looking Pokémon crashed through the wall of Team Rocket Head Quarters. One was a Charizard. The other was a Gyarados. And, riding on top of Gyarados' head, was an even more evil creature. It was Bloody Mary herself. 
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Chapter 17 - "Lady of the Mysterious Night" 

"Prepare to be annihilated!" Mary laughed. "Gyarados, Dragon Rage! Combine with Charizard's Fire Spin!" 

Gyarados rose its head. Charizard lifted its tail and opened its mouth. Eternal Sailor Moon clung to Tuxedo Mask in fear and James turned his body around so Jessie would not be hurt any more than she already was. They were all scared and knew they couldn't get out of this one. 

James gulped. "Good-bye Meowth..." 

"FINISH THEM!" The attacks combined in tube-like shape spewing out fire and water. The three prepared themselves for death. 

Suddenly, a flash of gold light surrounded them. It blocked the attacks and sent them straight back at the Pokémon, killing them.

James knelt down on his knees and untied Jessie from his back. When he held her, he noticed her Crescent Moon glowing brilliantly on her forehead. Jessie's eyes opened slowly. James was shocked. Jessie was alive! 

"Put me down, James," Jessie commanded softly. He did as he was told, and Jessie stood up. 

"What the...?" Mary's eyes widened in horror. "Jessie's alive?" 

Eternal Sailor Moon felt her stomach churn. "J-J-Jessie-chan?" 
The injured Jessie looked back at her and smiled. "Serena..." 

"This can't be," Mary said to herself in panic. "How could she have survived. I killed her with my own hands!" 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

From the warehouse, the Rocket Brothers, Meowth, and Meowthy witnessed the glowing light. 

"What could dat possibly be?" Meowth gasped. 

Meowthy shook her head, her eyes wide with fright. "The end of the world?" she asked in human-talk. 

"The end of the world?!?" Tack whimpered. He ran and hid under a table in the warehouse. "We're all gonna die!" 

"Idiot..." Jack murmured. 

"No..." Meowth said. "It just might be..." Meowthy looked at him. The brothers listened intently. "...It's Princess Jessie!" 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
At once Jessie transformed into Princess Jessie, her magenta hair flowing down to her waist and her golden dress billowing in the breeze. Her Crescent Moon continued to glow, as did her whole body. "It's time you witnessed my real Powers, Bloody Mary."  She said coolly. "Because I'm not about to let you hurt anyone else." 

Mary's body almost seemed to tremble, however, she tried to cover her fear with a strong voice. "Princess or no Princess. You can't stop me from getting what I want." 

Jessie began to glow more brighter than before. Her dress turned from gold to sea-green and her hair grew longer. Many pearls and other sequenced jewelry added to her costume. Everyone watched in awe. "I am Neo Queen Jessica, Princess Jessie's future self." The Crescent Moon on her forehead disappeared. A new symbol of a Crescent Moon with a Star in the middle took its
place. "I am the Queen of the Star of the Moon, ruling along-side Neo Queen Serenity in Crystal Tokyo." Eternal Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask looked at each other in shock. James felt his eyes begin to water. He was so happy Jessie, his Princess, was alive. 

Again, Mary laughed, attempting to hide her pain. "No matter. I can still finish you off..." But a blast into the side of the cliff made her think twice. She screamed and glared at Neo Queen Jessica with wide, petrified eyes. 

"This is the turning point for you, Mary," Neo Queen Jessica said harshly. "No longer will your evil ways keep us running." She rose her arms in the air and a small Crystal formed in her hands. It was as small as, and looked like, the Silver Imperium Crystal, only it was red and white. It took the shape of a small Pokéball. 

Eternal Sailor Moon knew of Crystal Powers all too well. "Stop, Jessie!" 

"Why should she stop?" James asked. "She'll kill Mary." 

She nodded sadly in reply. "Yes, but she will also kill herself." 

James fell to his knees. He looked up at Neo Queen Jessica who looked mournfully at him. "What?" 

"Yes..." Jessie said. 

"I don't want to lose you again." James cried. "I'd rather die for you!" 

Neo Queen Jessica left Mary for a moment and walked to James. She knelt beside him. "This is something I must do, James-sama. If Mary isn't stopped, she'll get worse and continue to get more powerful." Jessie hugged him. "Let me do this."  James only sobbed. Neo Queen Jessica turned back to Mary and, again, rose her arms into the air with the PokéCrystal floating
between her palms. 

Bloody Mary backed up against the wall. "Please, you don't want to do this." 

"You really are a coward," Jessie coughed. "You can join the rest of them in Hell!" Energy started gathering all around her and the Crystal. "Rocket Flame Escalation!" Jessie cried sending forth the Energy. Mary screamed as she was enveloped in flames of gold and green. The edge of the cliff began rumbling. 

"We have to get out of the way!" Tuxedo Mask cried. "The whole cliff will shatter us." He pushed Eternal Sailor Moon and began running. When he noticed James was not following him, he ran back and drug him along. 

"No!" James said reluctantly through sobs. "Let me stay!" But he was pulled along. 

"Good-bye, James," Jessie said, a tear falling down her cheek. "I will always love you..." And the rocks were upon her. 
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Chapter 18 - "Frozen Memories" 

James sat in Jessie's room alone that evening. The place was still in shambles, on the account of the battle that had waged earlier. He was devastated and everything he looked at reminded him of her. Her. Jessie. Why did all this have to happen? James wished everything was just as how it had always been. He wanted to be just plain Team Rocket again. He wished Jessie had never been a Princess on the Moon. He wished he'd never met Serena or Darien. He wanted all the magic to go away. He just wanted to be a normal Pokémon poacher, even if he was evil. James remembered how things were before Jessie was discovered to be royalty. Those were the days: Laughs, Pokémon Battles, mocking little kids, trying to snatch Pikachu. Yes, that was how
things always should have been. 

Footsteps were heard running up the stairs. James looked over to the open doorway and saw Meowth and Meowthy enter. He had thought Meowth was upset with her. Maybe he changed. James sobbed harder. Even Meowth had a love! 

"James...?" 

He did not move. He just sat on Jessie's bed crying. Meowthy looked at him sadly. "Meowthy is sorry," she said in her harsh-English voice. "Meowthy did not know what Mary do. Mary very evil." At this she leaned her head on Meowth's shoulder and let a few tears fall. 

James half-listened. He did not really care about anything or anyone else but Jessie at this point. He felt lonely and lost, like a small child wandering helplessly in the woods. The child tries to call for help, but no one is around to hear him. This was how James looked, abandoned. 

Meowth noticed how pale his friend looked. He told Meowthy to stay put and walked over to James' foot and jumped up on his lap. "I know it's hard..." 

Finally moving, James shook his head furiously. "No!" he yelled, standing up so Meowth tumbled off his lap. "You shall NEVER understand!" His voice lowered a bit, but still kept its same intensity. "I have just lost Jessie, the one person I care about most in the entire world. She is gone and will never come back..." He sat back down on the bed again and cried. Meowth and Meowthy
watched him and tears gathered in their eyes. "Just leave me alone." James said. The Pokémon sadly exited. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Serena and Darien had Susan pick them up from Team Rocket Head Quarters. She saw the tearstains on their faces.  "Sometimes, even I cannot change the Future," Susan sighed regretfully as she drove her car on the highway. "Sailor Pluto knows everything that happens, has happened, and will happen, but she cannot change it." Her beautiful purple eyes became
misty. 

Darien kept his eyes down the entire time. A lot of this was his fault. He had been brainwashed by Bloody Mary and raised havoc.  He had given Jessie much pain, and now, she was dead. He glanced over at Serena who sat in the front with Susan. Her face could not be seen, but he could hear her muffled sobs. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Having lost their battle, the Rocket Brothers walked out to the piled boulders in front of Head Quarters. Mary had been killed by Jessie. Her plan had backfired on her. However, they were both dead. So much for listening to older siblings! 

Jack ran to one of the boulders and began lifting it. The others watched him curiously. "Mary...? Where is she? Where's her body?" Jack told his brothers that she deserved a proper funeral. They nodded in agreement and began looking for their sister. 

As they were digging, a few rocks stirred. It seemed there was moving underneath the rubble. Tack put down one of the rocks he was lifting and walked over to the shaking. Could Mary be alive? At once, he lifted the boulder. Light beamed out, knocking him aside. 

"What the Hell?" Jack asked as he looked over. The edge of the cliff started shaking again. 

"Oh my God!" Zack gasped. More rocks and boulders started tumbling again. "We're gonna die!" 

The brothers screamed as the boulders came crashing down on them. They suffered the same, cruel fate as their sister had. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Meowth sat with Meowthy outside the doorway. He looked at her. "I wish dere was something we could do to help..." 

"Yes," Meowthy said with a monotone voice. 

He then sighed and leaned back against the wall. "But it's not like we have Powers. We're plain Pokémon, nothing magical about us at all." Then Meowth remembered Matt. He may have been a human, but he was just a normal one. That also triggered the thought that he loved Meowthy so much. He couldn't keep any secrets from her. "Meowthy," he began as he took her paws in
his. "I must tell you something..." 

Meowthy looked up at him. "Yes?" 

"I love you a lot, and I don't wanna keep anything from ya. Da truth is, I'm not really a Pokémon at all." Her eyes widened. "I haven't even told Team Rocket dis, but I am really human. When I was a boy, I was kidnapped by Giovanni and turned into the only talking Pokémon. Meowth was what I became, but my real name is Matt." 

Meowthy laughed a little, unbelieving. "What? Meowth, why are you telling me this?" 

"Because I love you, and I don't want you ta think I'm weird, or anything." He voice trailed off. 

Her eyes were as soft as her voice at this point. "Meowth, no matter who or what you are, I cannot stop loving you. When I first saw you, my heart jumped, and I felt as if it started beating with yours." Meowth and her both blushed. 

"I've kept all dose frozen memories of my childhood inside of me for so long," Meowth said as he began to cry. "I've never forgotten what it was like to be human, and I never want to. But, I also never want to lose you, Meowthy." 

The two huddled together and purred. Even Pokémon could be human. 
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Chapter 19 - "Touched By An Angel" 

Serena sat in front of the pretty dresser in her room. She was in her usual bunny-pajamas and was combing out her golden hair, which hung loose and was not up in her normal style. She ran her comb through it, making it softer and lighter. Serena kept her focus on her mirror, not able to take her eyes off the reflection of her large blue eyes. Jessie had had blue eyes. 

A creak was heard as her door opened. Serena did not turn around to look. Luna entered with a calm, yet sad expression on her feline face. She walked over to Serena and jumped on her dresser, talking to her reflection. "How are you doing, Serena?" 

The young woman did not respond. She sat there, brushing her hair. She never glanced away from the eyes for a moment. Why would Luna care? She did not understand... 

"Serena," Luna began again. "Susan told me everything. I know you must feel awful. You lost one of your friends, and..." 

"You don't know!" Serena suddenly screamed. She stood up and knocked Luna off the table. Luna landed on her side with a thud, making a small meowing noise. Serena realized what she had done and knelt down beside her friend. "Luna," she cried. "I'm so sorry!" She took Luna in her arms and cradled her. "I didn't mean to..." 

Luna growled a little as if in pain. "I know, Serena. You're very upset." 

Serena nodded as tears fell from her eyes like raindrops. "Jessie was as important to me as my other Scouts. She was like an older sister to me during the Silver Millenium." 

"I know, Serena-chan. I know." 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Darien was in his kitchen making himself a pot of hot coffee. It had been a long day, and he figured he would probably be up all night anyway, mourning. Why did he always fall victim of being involved in an evil scheme to hurt others? It always happened.  Either some evil woman was totally obsessed with him, or he was brainwashed into doing something he'd rather not do. He loved Serena so much and hated to hurt her. 

But Tuxedo Mask was nothing! He could not do anything. He was just some rose-throwing freak who could only talk and not do anything. Darien was more helpful than he ever could be. He pulled his mask out of his pocket. It still had a few blood-stains on it from the massacre. BLEACH could fix that... 

As he walked down the apartment stairs to the laundry room, Darien heard many people chattering and a large commotion outside. He walked out the doorway and turned to a woman next to him. "Excuse me, but what's going on?" 

The woman looked at him with large eyes. "My boy, it was...It was..." She turned away and continued looking upward. "...It was miraculous!" 

Darien figured he wouldn't get anything more out of her. He looked around the crowd and saw Andrew close by. "Andy!" 

The video game store owner took his eyes off the sky and saw his friend. "Darien! You won't believe what I just saw flying past your window!" 

"My window?" Darien gasped. "Everyone's looking..." He looked at all the heads of the crowd. It was true that they did seem to be staring at Darien's apartment window in awe. "What was outside my window, Andrew?" 

Andrew sort of smiled and his olive eyes were bright with enthusiasm. "I think it was an...Angel." 

"What?" 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Serena's mother turned on the television set and changed channels to the news. She was washing dishes and wanted to hear about the world while she busily worked. She hummed a little tune to herself as she saw the broadcaster come on. 

"Well, we have a very interesting story this evening," the reporter announced with a puzzled look. 

Serena's younger brother Sammy entered the living room. "Hey, mom..." 

"Shhh!" Mrs. Tsukino said. "I want to hear this." 

"It seems as if many witnesses walking by this apartment all saw a natural phenomenon." 

"That looks an awful lot like Serena's friend Darien's house," she said. 

"Everyone here claims to have seen a beautiful golden Angel." 

Sammy rolled his eyes. "You can never depend on what garbage the news'll throw on these days. That's why I watch cartoons..." 

"HUSH!" Mrs. Tsukino howled as she bopped Sammy over the head with a large, wooden spoon. "This is beautiful." 

"One witness describes what he saw." 

An old man came into view on the screen. "It was a gorgeous, young woman dressed in golden light and surrounded by large feather wings. She was very graceful and seemed to watch the window of that apartment." He pointed up to Darien's window. 

The broadcaster nodded. "Thank you. This is the man who's window was, shall we say, 'touched by an Angel'." Darien was now on the screen. Mrs. Tsukino and Sammy gasped. "Mister Shields, did you see the Angel?" 

Darien shook his head. "No. I had no idea about any of this up until a few minutes ago." 

Mrs. Tsukino went to the bottom of the staircase and called for her daughter. "Serena, I think you'd better come see this..." 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

"Jessie! Where are you?" 

"Help me, James!" 

"Jessie! Jessie!" 

"If you don't stop Bloody Mary, I'll die!" 

"No! No..." 

James opened his eyes and felt his surroundings. Soft. Cushion. Bed. He sighed and sat up. It was only a dream. Still, Jessie was alive in that dream. He looked around Jessie's torn-apart room. Everything around him was a part of Jessie. His hand reached for something on her dresser. It was a Pokéball. Arbok. 

He got up and walked all the way down to the cafeteria. James had to eat something. He hadn't eaten anything for almost twenty-four hours. Maybe even longer. On his way down, there was no sign of Meowth or Meowthy. "At least they're happy," he grumbled aloud. When he reached the cafeteria, he found it empty, to his surprise. Sure, he was usually the first customer down to eat, but the cooks were always there ahead of him. "Hello?" James called. His voice echoed throughout the desolate corridors.  It seemed the whole Head Quarters had just vanished. Where was everyone? "Am I the only one here?" 

There was a long pause. Suddenly a voice answered him. "No..." 

James whirled around. No one was there. "Who...?" 

"I am here." the voice piped out again. It was sort of sad, and melancholy. 

Again, James turned toward the direction of the voice. Again, no one was present. "What's going on?" 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Serena had run as fast as she could to Darien's apartment. If there was something strange going on, she should know about it.  Was it a new enemy? The description of the character seemed somewhat familiar to that of Sailor Galexia. All she could think about were the words 'Golden' and 'Angel'. 

When she reached the apartment, most of the crowd had dispersed. Serena frantically ran up the stairs to his room. She knocked on the door. "Darien! Are you alright?" 

"Serena?" came a voice. Serena breathed a sigh of relief. Darien answered the door. "What are you doing here, Serena-chan?" he smiled. 

She pushed him out of the way and ran into the room, inspecting it closely. Darien watched her curiously. "Are you sure nothing has happened?" she asked suspiciously. 

Darien shrugged. "Nothing except for the Angel thing. You heard about that, didn't you?" 

"Yes. That's why I'm here..." 

"I didn't even know about it. I just heard others." 

Serena's eyes narrowed. "It's probably an enemy," she said. "I'll bet she was watching you because she somehow knew you were Tuxedo Mask. I think it's Sailor Galexia..." 

"Slow down, Serena!" Darien laughed. "If it is anything, I think it's good." The meatball-head looked at him questioningly. He smiled and nodded. "When they said Angel, it reminded me of you." 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

James turned in every direction looking for the person beckoning him. "Who are you...?" 

The voice danced in a mournful way. "Follow me, James." 

He followed, still asking questions and not once stopping to think about if he was walking into a trap of some sort. The voice kept calling to him in a sad tone, almost monotonous. He was led all the way back up the stairs into Jessie's room again. After he
entered, the door shut behind him tightly. He spun around and grabbed the knob. James began pulling, but the door wouldn't budge. "What do you want?" He looked around his shoulder and saw a golden light hovering above Jessie's bed. 

"Don't try to leave me, James, because I won't let you!" the voice replied, almost stubbornly. At once the light shifted into a familiar figure. 

James' eyes widened and filled with tears. He at once let go of the handle. "...J-J-Jessie...?" 

Jessie sat on her bed. She looked almost like her normal self, Team Rocket uniform, and all. However, on her forehead was the symbol of the Star inside the Crescent Moon and huge Angel Wings were on her back. "Hello again, partner. Prepare for trouble!" 

James fell to his knees and crawled over to her bedside. "Jessie," he sighed. "You're..." 

"...An Angel, yes." Jessie said gravely. "I am dead." James cried, leaning his head on her lap. She rubbed it gently. "But, how I wish I was alive again, and could be near you. I did what I had to, and Mary will no longer bother you again." 

He wept. "How could you do this to me, Jess? Even if Mary had taken me, at least you still would've been alive. Now you leave us both in misery." 

Jessie took up his chin. "Tell me you wouldn't have been in misery with Mary!" He didn't say anything. "That would have been better? Knowing we were both alive but could never see each other?" 

"But now I'm alive and can't see you..." 

A small tear fell down Jessie's cheek. "I know. But, I will always love you, James. No matter what happens." 

He nodded. The two spent what little time they had caressing that moment together. 
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Chapter 20 -"And One Lived On..." 

Meowth and Meowthy took up a fast scurry as they headed back towards Team Rocket Head Quarters. 

"Did'ja see it?" Meowth gasped. 

Meowthy nodded. "Yeah! You think it could be true? Could she...?" 

"I dunno," The two bolted up the stairs. "At dis point, I believe anything can happen." 
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James and his Angel seemed to hear the pitter-patter of tiny footsteps running up the staircase. Soon, there were a few knocks.  Jessie looked over at James worriedly. 

"I cannot let anyone see me like this." James didn't understand what she meant. She just shook her head sadly, blew a kiss, and disappeared. 

"Jessie?" James blinked. "Where did you go?" 

"James!" Meowth called. "Are you okay?" 

James opened the door and was almost knocked over when Meowth and Meowthy rushed inside. "Hello, Meowth." 

"Where is she?" 

"Who?" 

"Jessie!" Meowthy smiled. "She came up here. We saw her! She's alive." 

James sadly lowered his head. "No. She's not." The two Pokémon looked up at him unbelieving. "What you saw was the beautiful Angel of her. Jessie of Team Rocket is no more." 
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Serena and Darien stood on the apartment landing, holding each other close. They were silent for a long time, letting the events of the past month sink in. The Vision, the re-encounter with Team Rocket, the fight, and Jessie's death. Although they weren't really
crying, they felt great sadness in their hearts. They knew they were both helpless with the matter and did not have the power to do anything. The battle over Bloody Mary may have been won, but no one was really happy. 

This was always the hardest part about being a super hero. Having Powers or being overly special always got you mixed into great webs. Many of your friends suffered greatly for it. Serena recalled the times of death and sadness. She was in such a gloomy mood! 
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Feeling utterly exhausted and saddened, James fell asleep again. He had another dream about Jessie, however, she was Neo Queen Jessica. The dream was more of a reflection of what had happened earlier. He saw Mary being crushed by the rocks, and then Jessie joining her. She died without uttering a sound. 

James' eyes shot opened and he jumped out of the bed with a new explosion of energy. He ran out of the room, down the staircase, and outside to the great rock pile. He started digging through the large boulders near the place Jessie's life had ended.
Finally, he found her, bloody and brutally massacred. He gently lifted her out of the pile, trying not to break her up even more so than she already was. There was a great pain that surged through his body. "Jessie, you look terrible," he sobbed. James touched her face. So lifeless. It seemed like just the other day the two were laughing and riding in their big Meowth Balloon. They had a new plan to capture Pikachu this time and would not fail. Pokémon poaching now hardly seemed important. 

He took her to the empty cafeteria and lay her on one of the tables. Jessie, the only love of his life, was really gone! The realization was too much to bear. There was still hope, yet. James had the sense that Jessie was magical, in a way. Maybe she could come back. 

James knelt down on the ground, lowered his head, and clasped his hands together. He concentrated as much as he could on the Moon Kingdom. "Please, Queen Jessica, mother of Princess Jessica and Neo Queen Jessica of the Star of the Moon Kingdom, I beg you to hear my prayer. Please bring my Jessie back to me!" James waited for over twenty minutes, never moving from his position. Nothing happened. Yes, Jessie was really gone. 
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Meowth watched Meowthy as she slept on the soft, green grass spread out in front of them. The two were in a meadow near Head Quarters, surrounded by nothing but flowers and blue sky. He felt very peaceful out here. This was the place he could reflect on all that happened. His friend Jessie was no longer here, but he had Meowthy. 

Of course, the death was terrible, but it was time to move on. Now that Meowthy knew the truth about him, he felt relieved.  Meowth never wanted to leave her. All the past which had been sealed up inside of him was finally free! He didn't care if he was really a human or Pokémon. Meowthy was all that mattered to him. She sat there, by his side, purring and huddled among the
daffodils. She made him feel special. He certainly felt like the Top Cat when she was with him. 

Soon he would tell James of his past, but right now the boy needed to be left alone. Meowth put himself in James' boots and tried to understand how he would have felt if Meowthy was  uddenly...No! He could not bring himself to even dream of such a thing.  James needed solitude. That was most certain. 
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"Don't cry, dear boy. Please don't! It makes my heart grieve." 

James looked up from the cafeteria bench. He had been crying again with his head hiding in his arms on the table. Again, he was surrounded by a golden Light. He squinted his eyes and saw a figure. "Jessie?" 

"No, I'm not Jessica. My daughter is not here." James' eyes widened and he recognized the woman. It was Queen Jessica, Jessie's mother. She smiled at him, which James thought a little rare. Queen Jessica, he had thought, did not like him very much. She hadn't even wanted Jessie to marry him. "Right now, she is visiting another." 

"What?" James gasped. "Another person other than me?" 

Jessica got a sweatdrop. "You're not the only person in her life," she replied sheepishly. 

"Why are you here?" 

"You called me, didn't you?" 

He could not believe this conversation. "That was over an hour ago!" James shouted, with the funny Anime-ish pose of growing big and fire surrounding him. 

The Queen grinned and touched her two index fingers together a couple times. "Well...We had traffic..." James fell over Anime-style. 
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Darien had taken Serena home. He now was at his own apartment again sitting on his couch and drinking coffee. He was about to turn on the television when he heard a knock on his door. "Who could that be?" he grumbled. Darien really didn't want to be bothered now. As he walked over to the door, a light wind seemed to surround him. This was odd because all the windows and doors were closed. However, the wind was warm and soft. He stopped and turned around. 

There, enveloped in gold light and wrapped in large Angel's wings was Jessie. Darien rubbed his eyes to make sure he was not dreaming or seeing things. When he looked again, she was still standing there, serene and calm. Her symbol glowed brightly on her forehead. "Endymion," she said. "Do not be afraid. I am not here to hurt you or steal any of your Pokémon." 

Darien wanted to laugh a little at that, but he was too surprised. He got closer to her and walked all the way around her. She was really standing in his apartment! "Princess Jessica!" he smiled, and tried to hug her. Instead, he went straight through and landed on his face. 

Jessie laughed. "I'm afraid you can only look and not touch," she said winking. "Being dead is a real drag. I'm bored as Hel...Uhhh...Heaven." 

"I'm sorry," Darien said as he got on his feet. "But I'm glad you came to visit me." 

"Yeah," Jessie nodded. "It's not the first time." 

"What?" he gasped. "You were here before?" 

Angel Jessie rolled her eyes. "Think, Tuxedo-brain! Read last chapter!" 

"You were the Angel that everyone but me saw..." 

"Very good!" Jessie exclaimed giving Darien a golf-clap. "Endy, you figured it out." 

Darien laughed and scratched the back of his head. "You'll have to excuse me. I'm kind of upset today." 

"Because of me?" 

"Yeah. Everyone is." Darien'e eyes wobbled. "We all really miss you." 

"I know," she replied. "I've seen you all grieving." 

Darien quickly changed the subject. "So, why visit me before anyone else? Wouldn't there be others more important to you than me? After all, I helped Mary..." 

Jessie shook her head. "No, you didn't mean to help Mary. I came because I needed you to know there are no hard feelings." 

"What?" 

"Please do not blame yourself for anything. You must know that I am not mad at you or Serena, or any of the other Sailor Scouts.  Is that better?" 

Darien half-way nodded. "Uhh...Yeah." 

"Good!" Jessie grinned. "Now, I must go for good." Her eyes became heavy. She would have cried, but Ghosts couldn't cry. 

Darien did, though. "Good-bye, Jessie-chan. And thank you." Then she was gone. Darien looked at the floor. So, she didn't hate him. That was good to hear. 
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Queen Jessica and James sat for a long time talking about many things. They talked of Team Rocket, of James' past, of Jessie's past, the Moon Kingdom. At one point, Jessica even slipped up in telling him of Meowth's past. She sighed and told James to act surprised when Meowth told him. 

James felt a little better after talking with her. They had managed to get past their differences and learned to accept each other.  Both of them cared about Jessie (In different ways, of course) and had a few other small similarities. All in all, they finally agreed with each other that James was better than Leonardo di Caprio. 

Soon Queen Jessica turned away from him. "Ah, my daughter is finished. Now, I must go join her." 

James frowned. "So you're both leaving forever?" Jessica nodded sadly. "Then you'd better go before I have time to stop you. I hate good-byes!" 

"Alright then, James," Jessica replied. "Good-bye, son-in-law." James looked up at her surprised. She smiled and kissed him on the forehead. 

"But Jessie and I are not married..." 

"Oh, but you will be!" Jessica laughed and disappeared. 

"Wait!" James shouted. "What do you mean?" 

"BAKA!" came the very loud voice of Queen Jessica. James looked up towards the sky annoyed. 
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In Jessie's room, a small object glowed brightly. It was Jessie's PokéCrystal. It took on a mind of its own and rolled out the door and down the stairs. For its next trick, it needed to be near its Master. 
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"Mother? What are you doing?" 

"My darling daughter, it's not your time to be with me yet." 

"What?" 

"No, you still have a long time before you can rejoin me." 
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James heard a sound. It sounded like something rolling across the floor. He looked over towards the noise and saw the small Crystal rolling straight to him. He blinked. "What a day!" he groaned. "It makes my head hurt." The Crystal suddenly shot up into the air and floated above the destroyed body of Jessie. "What's going on here?" 
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"What's going on here?" 

"Give your mommy a hug, Princess. It may be the last time I ever see you." 
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The Crystal opened like a regular PokéBall. It poured out a Gold substance onto Jessie. 

"What do you think you're doing?" James growled at the Ball. "Stop it!" 

The PokéCrystal ignored him and continued to do its job. When James reached out to grab it, it floated away from him and came back down, hitting him on the head. 

"Ow! You stupid thing," he said rubbing his head. 

When the Crystal was done, it closed again and remained floating above the body. Both objects began to glow. James looked on in awe. 
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"Mother..." 

"Go to him, Jessica. He needs you more than I do." 

"Alright...I will!" 
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A finger twitched. An eyebrow quivered. Two eyes opened with new life. She spoke. "James..." 

His eyes wobbled and tears streamed down his cheeks. He smiled with delight. "Jessie!" 

Jessie sat up on top of the table. She almost sparkled, with no damages or marks on her. She jumped off the table and ran into James' arms. "It wasn't my time to go," she laughed. "Besides, I've still got a Kingdom to rule when I become Queen. I also need a King beside me." 

"Taking applications?" James sighed. 

They held each other close, not wanting to lose each other ever again. Jessie would 'never let go.' 

The End 
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Epilogue 

Team Rocket Head Quarters towered over the small rock pile. The inhabitants underneath were dead... 

A few boulders stirred. Suddenly they were pushed upward and out of the way by a white-gloved hand. The rocks continued to be dug away. Two large green eyes were visible. A face poked out of the pile. Then the rest of the body pulled itself out. 

The young man stood up and brushed his green hair out of his face. His brothers and sister were gone, but there was still a chance for him. 

Yes, he would have his revenge. 
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