Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon though I wish I did. The only things I own are Cleo and this plot. Part One A quick note This story is set three years from where the manga is now. Jessie and James are both 20 years old, Butch is 21, Cassidy is 19, Mondo and Cleo are both 17, Brock is 18 and May is about 17. Cassidy's Point Of View I couldn't believe The Boss was sending us to do this, to kill Jessie and James, it was like a nightmare come true. Now don't get me wrong, they ain't no friends of mine, not anymore at least but that didn't mean I wanted them dead. I looked across at Butch, he was frowning slightly concentrating on his driving, it had snowed the night before and it made driving dangerous especially out here in the middle of nowhere. I didn't know what he thought about all this but I didn't think he was too happy with the whole idea. I sighed, we were nearly there, the cabin that the two were staying in, The Boss had arranged that, to make it easier to clean up afterwards he said. The jeep stopped suddenly and I glanced around. We were there. I pulled by gun out of it holster and pulled the safety off, and looked across at Butch who was doing the same. He saw me looking at him, and winked. We walked towards the cabin, one of those old log affairs with a plume of smoke coming from the chimney, the snow crunching under our feet. I tried the door, it was unlocked. I pushed it open and the two of us walked in. I looked around, Jessie was on the bed, James on the couch and Meowth sleeping by the blazing fire, they looked so peaceful. "Get the cat" I whispered to Butch, as quiet as possible, not wanting to wake them up. He nodded and tip-toed forward, pulling out the Ultra Ball The Boss had given us. He tossed it at Meowth, hitting him on the head, the ball opened, sucking him in, it rocked for a few minutes but there was no way Meowth would be able to escape. We glanced around again quickly, looking for their pokeballs, they were on the table, I picked them up and clipped them to my belt, they wouldn't need them where they were going. I looked over at Butch and nodded towards Jessie, indicating that he should wake her now, as I stepped forward to do the same to James. I pushed my gun against his temple, before shaking him roughly, he muttered something about doughnuts and Jessie. I shock he again harder, and his eyes sprung open and he gasped in surprise, feeling my gun against his head and seeing me. I smiled down at him, "Hello James," I said, "get up very slowly and you won't get hurt, yet anyway." I smiled down at him again. He gulped, but did as I said, standing up slowly, his green eyes darting around looking everywhere but at me. I kept the gun against his temple and lead him to the middle of the room, before stepping back to stand next to Butch who had done the same with Jessie. The pair stood before us, shaking like leaves, to afraid to move and unusually for Jessie, afraid to speak. Butch looked around the cabin, before saying, "You know Cass, It would be a crying shame to dirty this place up with their blood." I looked at him, what was he up to now, "What'd you mean by that?" He grinned before replying, "It's just that it's going to take forever to clean their blood out of the furniture, so I was thinking that maybe you should take them out in the forest to do it, then we won't have to clean anything up." He laughed softly, and I could tell by the look on her face, Jessie wanted to say something, but James put his hand on her arm to stop her. I looked at Butch, he winked at me and suddenly I knew what he wanted to do, I nodded and motioned with my gun towards the door. The pair walked past, Jess head up glaring angrily at the pair of us, James head down looking at the floor, fear radiating out of him with every step. I followed them out and lead them deep in the forest, until we reached a small clearing. I told them to get in the centre, and pushed them down on their knees. Jess tried to stop me, but James pulled her down next to him. He looked up at me, his eyes filling with tears that what were beginning to overflow and run down his cheeks. It was strange, I wanted nothing more then to wipe them away and tell him everything was going to be OK, but I couldn't do that. I shook my head, trying to lose that thought I guess I still have some feelings for him after all. I lowered my gun until it was level with his head, he made a small whimpering sound, his hands clutching tightly to Jessie's. I nodded softly, before raising the gun and firing into the air, once and then again. They both jumped when I fired, and then with shocked looks on their faces, staring at me. "Go," I said, motioning with my gun, "get out of here before I change my mind." They both, climbed quickly to their feet still holding hands. Jess let go of him and quickly ran into the trees, but James stopped at the edge of the clearing before looking back at me, "Thank you Cass." he said softly before dashing after Jess. I stood there for a few minutes thinking about what I had done, The Boss would kill us if he ever found out about this, but right then I didn't really care about that. I felt strangely happy and I guess I felt that I had done something to make up for the hurt I had caused them in the past. I left the clearing and walked back to the cabin where Butch was sitting in the jeep, waiting for me. "It's done" I said softly, climbing into the jeep. He nodded before answering. "I heard," he smiled at me before adding, "do you think there'll be OK?" "As long as there're together, they'll be OK." I answered. He nodded, started up the jeep, and we headed back to face The Boss. End Of Part One Part 2 James Point of view Jessie was waiting for me a few feet from the clearing, she'd sat down in the snow, knees pulled up, head resting on them and I knew she was crying. I bit my lip, I could feel my own tears stinging my eyes, I wiped them away I had to be strong for Jessie's sake. She needed me right now. I sat down next to her, feeling the snow cold against the thin cotton of my uniform. We had worn our uniforms to bed the night before 'cause it had been so cold even in the cabin, but they wouldn't keep us very warm out here, especially Jessie's. Anyway as I was saying, I sat done next to Jess and placed my hand on her hair stroking it gently. She looked up at me and wiped her eyes, probably angry that I'd seen her crying, she hates it when people see her acting weak. I looked around before saying "It's gonna be OK Jess. We're gonna be just find." I was only trying to comfort her but I don't think I did a very good job 'cause she jumped up and started screaming at me, "How can you say that James, are you stupid or something, we've got no supplies, no food we don't even have our pokemon It would have been better if she'd shot us, then to let us freeze to death out here." With that she stomped of into the trees, heading away from where the cabin had been. I just sat there, I mean what could I say to that I couldn't believe that we would be better of dead and deep down I knew Jess didn't really believe it either. I got to me feet and chased after Jess, she hadn't got too far. She was leaning against a tree, just standing there looking lost and to tell the truth scared to death. I walked up to her and slipped my arms round her waist. Now usually this would earn me a slap round the face, but now she seem glad of the contact and she lent against me. She rested her head against my shoulder before saying "I'm sorry James, I know you were only trying to help, it's just that I don't know what to do, I don't know how we're going to get out of this mess and that scares me" I grinned at her to say I understood before replying "We've got out of worst situations then this before." She nodded, "But our Boss didn't want us dead then did he?" she reminded me. I sighed this was not going to be easy, in fact nothing was going to be easy ever again not with the whole of Team Rocket out to get us, but I didn't want to think about that now, if I did I'd just quit right now and I couldn't do that Jessie needed me to get us out of this here forest. I looked around to see if I could see anything we could use as a shelter, but there was nothing nearby. "Come on, we'd better start walking, if we want to get out of here." She nodded but didn't let go of me, for which I was glad of, it was rare for us to hug like this now days and I'd missed it. We started walking, still holding on to one another, I don't know how long we walked for, but after a while we came to a river, there was no bridge no way to cross so we decided to walk along it, least it had to lead somewhere didn't it? We followed the river, not talking just taking comfort in being alive and being together something we always did in times of trouble. Then I saw something that made my heart leap for joy. A Pokecenter we were saved. We let go of each other and pulled of our team rocket top's, those big red R's were a big give away for who we were and anyway I guess we'll not really in Team Rocket anymore. Jess handed me her top and I rolled the two into balls and tossed them into the river, they were quickly washed away. I guess that probably wasn't the smartest way of getting rid of them, but at that moment all I wanted to do was get inside that Pokecenter and get warm. We walked in and the Nurse Joy behind the counter smiled at us and asked if she could help. I nodded and told her how we had got lost in the woods after our stuff had been stolen by Team Rocket. It wasn't as if I was really lying either, well not much anyway. After that she was all over us, wrapping the pair of us up in blankets and given us huge mugs of hot chocolate to drink. We smiled and said thanks and she left us sitting at one of the tables. Jess put her mug down and looked at me, "What are we going to do now James? We've got nothing left no job, no pokemon, no nothing." I sighed, I'd been trying not to think of our missing pokemon and though I hated to admit it I even missed Meowth. But this wasn't the time for misgivings, I put my own mug down and took Jessie's hands in my own and smiled at her. "We have each other," I said, not looking at her face but at our joint hands, "and that's enough for now, we can figure the rest out as we come to it." She grinned and nodded softly "I guess your right, we'll get through this and we'll do it together." I can't explain how good it was to hear her say that, we had been slowly drifting apart for the past 3 years ever since we'd stopped chasing Ash about. It had been as if all the fun had slowly leaked out of our relationship and maybe just maybe this rude awaking was just what we needed to get us both back on the right track again. At that point Nurse Joy walked over and asked us if we would be spending the night at the centre, we nodded and she handed us a couple of extra blankets. I wrapped Jess up in one of them before pulling the other over my shoulders. Jess smiled at me before resting her head on my lap. I blushed, she just grinned up at me, and soon much to my surprise she was asleep. I couldn't believe she had done that, for the first time in 2 years she seemed really relaxed around me and that was the only good thing about this whole day, but for me that was enough. So I sat there stroking her hair softly and wondering what to do next, I thought about it for sometime but I kept coming back to the same answer. The only question was would he help us? and if yes would Jess accept his help? I sighed softly and tried to get into a more comfortable position without waking Jess, I rested my head against the back of the seat closed my eyes. I would phone him in the morning and hope for the best. I fell asleep thinking of Jess as always. Part Three Meowth's Point Of View I was in a cold, dark place, a place I hated, a pokeball. There is nothing worse then being trapped in one of these things. I couldn't believe those two, I suppose they thought it would be funny, well ha ha I wasn't laughing. When I got out of this thing I'd show them the meaning of pain, a few Fury Swipes round the head should do it. Now don't get me wrong I think the world of Jess and Jim but sometimes they could be really dumb, this was one of those times. Then I could feel the pokeball opening, feel myself being sucked out, this feeling is almost as bad as being in the ball itself. I got ready to launch myself at them as soon as my body had formed again before realising that I wasn't in the cabin anymore, I was in The Boss's office. He stood holding the ball I'd been in, that stupid Persian sat beside him grinning at me as if it knew something I didn't. I looked around and noticed that they weren't here with me, what was going on?. I turned to look at The Boss, He was smiling down at me and I felt fear grip at my heart, when The Boss smiled you knew something bad was gonna happen. "I sorry to inform you that your partners are dead." he said to me in that strangely distorted voice of his and I felt panic grip my heart, no they couldn't be dead could they? "How? What happened Boss?" I asked him trying to keep the fear out of my voice. "There was a fire, burnt down the whole cabin, only you and the other pokemon survived." He said coldly and I knew he was lying but why? "How'd I get in that ball?" I asked softly. "Don't know," He answered, "One of them must have thrown it at you, to try and save you." He smiled at me and I felt sick, I could see the Persian trying hard not to snigger and suddenly I could guess what had happened. He had them killed, I tried to hold back the tears but I couldn't they rolled down my face soaking my fur. The Boss smiled again and I could tell he was enjoying this, "Now," he said, "I'm going to assign you to a new team." "What?" I asked in a choked voice, "Who's?" "You will go with Mondo and his partner Cleo." I nodded, that wouldn't be to bad I guessed, Mondo wasn't a bad kid and he'd be upset about this too, he idolised Jess. "What about the others?" I asked. "Their other pokemon have been given to Butch and Cassidy as a reward for a job well done." I nodded, I understood what he was telling me, I now knew who had killed by friends. Suddenly there was a knock on the door, The Boss pressed a button on his desk and the door swung open. Mondo walked in, his hair was a mess, eyes red from crying, he smiled softly at me before turning to greet The Boss. "Sir you wanted to see me?" The Boss nodded before answering, "I want you to look after Meowth for me, I know together you will be able to come to terms with your loss." Mondo nodded, walked over to me, picked me up and hugged to his chest. I buried my head into his chest and sobbed softly. He thanked The Boss for the honour of being able to look after me and then we left the office, as the door swung shut behind us I could have sworn I heard the pair of them laughing in there. Mondo carried me down to his room, where his partner was waiting for us. The Boss had paired them up 2 years ago we hadn't really seen much of Mondo since then, this wasn't how our reunion was suppose to be like. His partner was sitting on his bed holding a couple of beers, she was a pretty girl, long blonde hair platted down her back and bright green eyes that reminded me of James. Mondo put me down on the bed and took one of the bottles of the girl, she smiled down at me and said, "You must be Meowth right? I've heard so much about you from Mondo." "Yeah I'm Meowth. Glad ta meet ya, just wish it could be under happier circumstances." She nodded, "I know what you mean, I always wanted to meet the great Jessie and James, I guess I won't have a chance now." The great Jessie and James, who had she been listening to, we had never been the great anything apart from maybe failures. We sat there for a while, the two humans drinking their beer, me sitting in between them thinking of my lost friends and crying softly. Suddenly there was a knock on the door, Mondo sighed and got up, opened the door and gasped in surprise. I glanced over at the door and growled softly, Butch and Cassidy were standing there. Well let me tell you, I was ready to charge over there and Fury Swipe them out of existence, but I couldn't 'cause of Mondo. I couldn't let him know what had really happened it would break his heart if he knew. Cassidy smiled softly and said, "We just thought we'd come down and tell you how sorry we are. We just heard the news you see." "I thought you didn't like them." Mondo replied, good for him I thought. Cassidy seemed confused for a moment before answering. "We didn't but that doesn't mean we wanted them dead." She then removed one of the pokeballs from her belt and handed it to Mondo, "I know that The Boss gave this to us, but I think Jessie would rather you look after it." "What is it?" he asked. "Jessie's Arbok." Cassidy replied softly. I looked at her in shock, she was giving up a powerful pokemon strange, very strange. Mondo clipped to his belt and nodded, "I think Jessie would appreciate the thought. Thank you." Cassidy nodded, "Well we've got to go, another mission, you know what it's like. Take good care of yourselves." With that they turned away from the door and started walking down the corridor. I stared after them, what was that all about? It was as if they were really upset about all this but that couldn't be right could it? I sighed this was getting very complicated all of a sudden. Mondo sat down on the bed again and patted me on the head. I hated it when he did that but at the moment it was strangely comforting. Cleo disappeared into the small kitchen that each room had and come back with a couple more bottles of beer. She handed one to Mondo before sitting down herself. We spent the night like that, those two drinking, the three of us talking about Jess and James. We laughed at the funny stories, cried too lots of times as we reminded each other of things we'd forgotten. Cleo adding things she'd heard from other people, good and bad stuff, the rumours, everything. All in all, it was a good way of saying goodbye to the two people who had been the best friends a Meowth could ever have. I think I must have drifted of to sleep because when I was aware again the sun was shinning in from one of the windows. I looked at my new team mates. They were fast asleep, wrapped in each others arms, I smiled softly they looked so sweet like that and I hoped that where ever Jess and Jim where they were happy. I knew that one day I would get revenge on those who had taken my friends away but for now I would be content in travelling with these two at least they understood my loss as well. I wiped at my eyes which had began to fill with tears once more, climbed upon the two sleeping humans and cried myself to sleep once more. End of Part 3 Part 4 Brock's Point Of View I was woken by the sound of the phone ringing from the next room, I slipped out of bed careful not to wake May. She moaned softly in her sleep but didn't wake. I crept out of the room and into the living room where the phone was and answered it. "Hello" I said, wondering who could be calling me this early in the morning, certainly not Ash or Misty they never got up this early. "Hi, I need to speak to Brock Stonewell, it's urgent." The voice was strangely familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. All I could tell was that it was male. "Speaking, who is please?" I asked. "James." the other person replied, and I nearly dropped the phone I was so surprised. He wasn't someone I'd been expecting to phone me. "James," I said, keeping my voice neutral, I hadn't seen the guy in three years so I wasn't sure what his motive was, "How can I help you? You said it was urgent?" "It is, me and Jess we're in trouble." "What sort of trouble? Not the law I hope?" He laughed before answering, but it sounded strained, "We're Team Rocket, we're always in trouble with the law, but that isn't the problem right now. The Boss tried to have us killed." I stared at the phone for a couple of seconds unsure if I'd heard him right before replaying. "What happened?" "He sent Butch and Cassidy to kill us, but they let us go." I could detect a hint of panic in his voice and I knew what he was going to ask, so I got in first. "You can come stay with me for a while if you like, May won't mind and I can always use an extra couple of hands round the place." "You sure?" I could sense the relief in his voice. "Yep, come on over." I replied "Um, one other thing, I've no idea where I am." I sighed and said, "What does the place look like." "Well like any other Pokecenter really, but the sign outside has green and red lettering. If that's any help." Of course it was, I prided myself in knowing where all the Pokecentres were, although not for the same reason as when I was younger. "You're about five miles from where we are in Pallet Town." I answered. "OK," he replied, " We'll be there by tonight hopefully and thanks for helping us out like this, I really appreciate it. I don't know what I would have done if you'd said get lost." "You saved my life once, it's about time I repaid that debt." He laughed again, this time sounding more like the James I remembered. "Well thanks again, see ya soon." With that he put the receiver down, I put my one back down too. Before sitting down on the couch, as I began to think of the past. Things hadn't worked out between me and Professor Ivy, so I'd phoned Professor Oak to find out where Ash had gone , he'd told me that Ash was collecting Orange league badges and then going on to compete in the tournament. I decided I would meet up with Ash at the tournament headquarters, I took my leave from Ivy's and hired a boat in which I would travel. Unfortunately for me, I forgot to check out the boat before setting out. About three days into the journey, the boat sprung a leak, I patched it up as best I could but before long the boat was leaking again. I knew I was in trouble as I had no water pokemon, I mean I could swim a little but not nearly enough to reach land from where I was. So I desperately started to bail the water out of the bottom of the boat in a vain attempt to keep it a float. This went on for a few hours, but I was fighting a losing battle and the boat soon filled with water and sunk. I could see land in the distance and I started to swim towards it, my arms aching from all that bailing. I swam as far and as fast as I could but I knew I wasn't going to make it. I could feel myself slipping away into blackness. The next thing I knew I was laying in the bottom of a boat, looking up into a pair of concern filled bright green eyes. I shock my head unsure of what I was seeing, wondering if I was dead and all this was a dream. Then he grinned at me and explained he had been out here fishing, trying to catch something for him and Jessie for dinner when he had spotted me going under water. He'd dived in and dragged me up and into the boat. I was shocked, unsure of what to say so I just said thanks. He had grinned again and rowed us back to shore, He'd asked what I was doing out here and explained that I was going to met up with Ash again. He laughed and told me exactly where Ash was at the time. I wasn't surprised he had known, they always seemed to know where we were. I thanked him for saving me, and for the info and then I did something that really surprised me. I gave him the number of the Pewter gym, he took it and looked really surprised. I grinned and said that if he ever needed my help to phone that number and my father would pass him onto me. He had pocketed the number, said thanks and we headed off in separate directions. I never saw or heard from him again until today. I sighed and stood up, thinking that I'd better wake May up and let her know that we were going to have guests. I just hoped she wouldn't be too mad. End Of Part 4 Part 5 Jessie's point of view When I woke up the first thing I noticed was that James was gone, he'd somehow managed to get up and tuck his blankets under my head without waking me up. I sat up, stretched and looked around seeing if I could spot him. He was standing by the counter talking to the Nurse Joy about something, so I got up and walked over to them. Joy turned and smiled at me, before turning away and disappearing into the back of the centre. James turned to me grinning, "Hi Jess, I've found us somewhere to hide out." I frowned slightly, where the hell could that be? I certainly couldn't think of anyone who'd help us but all I said was, "Who?" He looked down at the floor for a minute before looking back up at me and answering "Brock." I couldn't believe what he had said, why would he help us, after all, everytime we had met up all we did was cause him and his friends trouble. My shock must have shown on my face as he grinned and said, "Yeah, I was kinda shocked when he said he'd help us, but I couldn't think of anyone else to turn to." I nodded softly but I still couldn't figure out why he'd come up with Brock in the first place, I mean I couldn't think of any reason to call him and I said as much. His answer was even more cryptic, "Remember I saved his life that time, just before The Boss moved us to that other mission." To tell the truth I didn't remember and I said so. He frowned slightly and then blushed before saying that he now remembered not actually telling me about it. I sighed, that figured. I could do one of two things now, Shout or tell him it didn't really matter as long as we had someplace to go. I opted for the second option, He seemed shocked that I hadn't shouted at him, I'd done so for less over the past few years, but the he grinned and said we should start out if soon if we wanted to reach Brock's home before dark fell. I nodded and then Nurse Joy walked back out from the back rooms carrying a small backpack. She handed it to James who took it with a surprise look on his face. She smiled and said "There's some food and a couple of bottles of water, just enough to keep you going until you reach Brock's." James grinned at her, said thanks and slung the small backpack on to his back and with that we walked out of the centre. There was a small path leading from the front of the centre round to the back and we took that, it lead of along side the river and I tried not to shiver in the cool air. It must have snowed again as everything was covered in fresh white snow. As we walked I thought about what had happened, I still couldn't get over the fact that Cassady had let us go. It surprised me 'cause I had always believe that she no longer liked us at all, she certainly hadn't shown any signs of liking us anyway. Sometimes I couldn't figure people out, like James he was walking a little in front of me, whistling a nameless tune like he didn't have a care in the world, but even he must know our troubles had only just began. We walked on and I continued to think about James, it didn't surprise me, he was always on my mind for one reason or another. I knew I was truly horrible to him sometimes but it was my way of covering up how I really felt. When I shouted all I really wanted to do was kiss him, but I had no idea how he felt about me and I was to proud to risk it. Now I had nearly lost him, and I couldn't risk losing him again and never knowing how he felt about me. We had been walking for about three hours by now so I decided now would be a good time to stop and eat. I would tell him how I felt after we had eaten and see what he would say. We ate in silence, Joy had given us two bags of cookies and some doughnuts much to James delight. What can I say, James really likes his food. When we had finished I reached over to him and took his hands in my own. He looked down at our joint hands in some confusion, before looking up at me with a small smile, "What's up Jess?" he asked. I smiled back at him before answering, "I've something I need to tell you James." "What is it?" he asked softly, never taking his eyes from my face, I blushed slightly before saying that I was sorry for the way I had treated him the past three years. Damn it that wasn't what I'd meant to say at all. He sighed slightly, looking a little disappointed before saying that it was OK and that I didn't need to be sorry about that. Why was he to Professor Oak's Laboratory and I wondered why we were going there. It wasn't a very large building only one floor, I guessed the main body of the building had to be underground. We walked up to the front door and James knocked loudly. We waited for a couple of minutes and then the door opened, Brock was standing there. He hadn't changed at all. He smiled at us and motioned for us to come inside. End Of Part 5 Part 6 James Point Of View We walked into Brock's house and looked around, The front door opened into a small hall. In front of us were a pair of double doors, Brock opened these and we walked into a large living room with various doors heading out from it. Brock motioned for us to sit and we did so. Jessie took hold of my hand and held it tightly as we sat there, Brock sat down in a nearby chair and said, "I'm glad you were able to make it, I was beginning to get a little worried about you guys." "You were?" Jess asked she was shocked that he had been worried about us, I guess I was too. He grinned and said "Of course I was, James told me what happened." "Oh." Jess said, looking down at our joint hands. It was strange she was being so quiet. I guess she was scared she'd say something to upset Brock, that he'll kick us out and then we'd have no where to go. I looked across at him and said, "You don't know what this means to us, we really didn't have anyone else to turn to." "That's OK," Brock answered, he was about to say something else when I heard the front door open and a couple of seconds later the double doors opened. Standing there was a young woman I'd never seen before. She was about Jessie's height with long brown hair that went down to the middle of her back and brown eyes. She was carrying a couple of large shopping bags, Brock jumped up and rushed over to her and took the bags. She smiled at him and he whispered something to her before walking of into the side rooms. She took off her coat, hooked it up and then walked over to us. I was a little worried as she still hadn't said anything to us yet, I just hoped that she didn't mind us being her. She then smiled and said, "Hi, you must be Jessie and James. I'm May Oak, Brock's told me a lot about you guys." She then stuck her hand out for a shake, I took it and said "Yep that's us, What's Brock been saying about us?" She grinned, let go of my hand, shook Jessie's and sat in the chair that Brock had been sitting in before answering, "Oh nothing bad, Just that he used to know you from when he was on his Pokemon journey with Ash and that you sometimes helped them when they were in trouble." I didn't want to tell her that most of their troubles had been caused by us, so I just nodded. I wondered why Brock hadn't told her the whole truth. I was also wondering where Professor Oak was after all this was his lab but he didn't seem to be here. I was just about to ask her where he was when Brock walked back into the room carrying a large plate of doughnuts and anything I might have said was lost to the fact that I was hungry. He grinned at us and handed Jessie the plate, she took it and placed it in between us before taking one. I took one too, and ate it as quickly as possible before taking another, this one I ate more slowly. Jess smiled softly at me and shock her head, she knew how food affected me especially doughnuts. Brock smiled, lent over and kissed May on the cheek before sitting down on another nearby chair. We finished the doughnuts of in recorded time, and mostly we just talked about the past, stuff like that, getting used to each other before Brock brought the conversation round to more serious issues. "What's the likely hood of your ex-boss finding out your still alive?" he asked, I gulped, I hadn't thought about that, Jess patted me on the knee before answering "Butch and Cassidy won't say anything 'cause then they would be in danger to. So the only way he'd find out is if we're spotted by another team." They both nodded softly and May said, "We'll have to go about changing what you look like, Brock says you used to wear a lot of disguises so I'm sure we can think of something. Secondly you can work for us, we'll pay you of course and you can stay in the spare room if you wish. I think that's everything, if we can work this out things will be just fine." Jess smiled and I knew things would be OK, and that Jess agreed with May and Brock's ideas. I nodded and replied, "I think that we'll like working here but there's no way you guys are going to get me in a dress again." Brock started laughing, May looked shocked and Jess just shock her head and tried hard not to laugh as well. I blushed slightly, I guess Brock never told her about some of our more drastic disguises. Brock manage to get himself under control and said, "Don't worry James, I don't think we'll have to go that far although that would certainly put them of the scent." and he started laughing again. I was beginning to wish I hadn't said anything now. Jess was losing the battle with her laughter, she grinned at me and said, "What's the matter James, I thought you made the cooolest girl after all." With that she started laughing too. I buried my face in my hands so they couldn't see how red I was becoming, I was never going to live that down was I? After a couple of minuets the two of them got themselves under control again, Brock explained to May about our crossdressing disguises and she agreed that it was kind of funny. At least he didn't mention the episode with the blow-up breasts, I still had nightmares about those things. May grinned at me and said, "Don't worry no dresses but I have got some hair dye, that lavender colour is just too rare so we're have to change that to something more common," she then turned to look at Jess, "we'll have to do something with your hair as well. Dye it perhaps or at least style it differently." Jess nodded but I could see she wasn't to happy about that I knew how much she loved her hair. I nodded also although I wasn't happy about it either, I loved my hair too after all, but needs must and all that. May nodded again and said, "It's getting late now we'll sort it all out in the morning, it'll give you time to think about what you want done," She stood up and started pointing at the doors saying, "the kitchen's through there, the door next to it leads down to the research area and outside to the breeding areas. Over to the left are the two bedrooms each one has a built in bathroom so you won't have to worry about sharing with us. It is OK for you to share a room isn't it?" I nodded, "Yeah we've been doing that for years, so that's no problem." She grinned at us and saying goodnight before heading of to her bedroom. Brock yawned softly and said that he also was going to bed. He then got up and disappeared into the same room May had gone into. Well that was a surprise, I didn't think the two of them were sleeping together not that it was any of my business or anything. Jess looked at me and said softly, "I guess we'd better head to bed too, we'll gonna have a long day ahead of us tomorrow." I grinned at her and nodded, suddenly nervous although I wasn't sure why. We both got up and headed into the other bedroom where we were greeted by another shock. Someone had gone to a lot of trouble preparing this room for us. There were vases of roses all over the place, even the bedcovers had roses on them. I smiled softly, I'd have to thank them in the morning. Jess smiled at me and then began to undress, removing her skirt, top, boots and gloves before slipping under the covers. Blushing slightly I removed my black T-shirt, white trousers, boots and gloves till I was only wearing the boxers she'd brought me last Christmas. They had little Growliths on them. Still blushing I climbed under the covers and she snuggled up to me still not saying a word. I looked down at her and kissed her softly on the lips and she kissed me back. We lay together then, me on my back, her resting her head against my shoulder our bodies pressed as close together as possible. She smiled softly at me and said, "So James do you think we can be happy here?" I kissed her before replying "Yeah, I think we'll do well here as long as we're careful." She didn't ask what I meant, she knew. She yawned then and I reached over and turned out the lamp. I wrapped my arms around her holding her close and as we drifted of to sleep she told me she loved me once again. End Of Part 6 Part 7 Jessie's Point Of View When I woke up, James had already got up, this was beginning to get a habit with him. I slipped out of the bed and went to collect my clothes which I had left on the floor the night before but they were gone. I looked around in confusing thinking that maybe James had picked them up and put them on a chair but they weren't in the room. All I could find was a long white skirt that went down nearly to the floor and a black T-shirt, knowing I couldn't leave the room in my underwear I put them on and was surprised to find that they fit. I left the room, and went to find James. He was in the kitchen chatting to May and Brock who was cooking breakfast. He wasn't wearing his clothes either but a pair of brown jeans and a light blue T-shirt the same colour as my eyes. I guessed the clothes belonged to Brock so the ones I were wearing must have been May's. I asked them what had happened to my clothes and Brock said that they had decided it would be a good idea if we wore different stuff now we were going into hiding. I nodded in agreement, he was right of course but they could have told me first. James walked over to where I was standing and slipped one of his arms round my waist pulling me closer to him and I snuggled up to him. The smell of cooking bacon was filling the kitchen making my stomach grumble which got a laugh out of everyone. When the food was done we sat round the small table in the living room, and ate a large breakfast of bacon, eggs and fried bread, it was delicious and I told Brock so. He just blushed and said thanks. After breakfast James and Brock went to wash up May asked me if I had decided how I was doing to change my hair. I nodded and told her I would get it dyed brown and leave it down. She nodded and said that was a good idea. When the boys came back she asked James what he was going to do. He grinned and said he was going to dye it yellow. She agreed that this was a good idea as well and then she said she wanted to show us what we would be doing while we worked here. I said that was a probably a good idea. So we got up and she lead us down into the labs, inside there was a large computer and rows and rows of shelves covered in pokeballs. I gasped softly, James too, we'd never seen so many pokeballs in one place before. Brock grinned and said that all these pokeballs belonged to trainers who had got there pokedexs from Professor Oak or from May. I grinned that meant Ash's pokemon had to be here somewhere, Brock guessed what I was thinking as he told me Ash had taken all his pokemon out of storage here after Professor Oak had died leaving him and May in charge. I was shocked I'd had no idea the Professor was died, I asked him what had happened and he told me that he'd been killed by pokemon thieves a couple of years ago. James looked at me in horror, he knew what that meant, he'd been killed by Team Rocket but why? It was very rare indeed for The Boss, I mean our ex-boss to send teams to kill non-members so why had he done it? Well we both said how sorry we were, May smiled and said thank you and then began to tell us what we would be doing everyday. She said that after breakfast we would come down here and run the pokeballs through the computer to check that the pokemon in side were still healthy. While one of us were doing that the other would be releasing them upstairs so that Brock could feed them and then she would be observing the pokemon and see how they reacted to each other out in the fields around the labs. Then we would all have dinner, and then we would all go out to the fields to feed the pokemon and make sure they were all OK. Then after tea we'd have the long job of returning all the pokemon to their balls and putting them back on the shelves. To be honest it really didn't sound to bad at all, I would get to work with James and pokemon the two loves of my life and I told her so. She smiled at me and said we'd start work tomorrow and that for the rest of the day we would work on our disguises. I smiled this would be fun. As we started back up the stairs it was like walking into a new life, a better life then I had ever had before and I hoped we had both found somewhere we truly belonged. End Of Part 7 Part 8 3 Months Later Butch's Point Of View I was having dinner in the Team Rocket cafe when Cassady came and told me that The Boss wished to see us. I nearly choked on my sandwich, The Boss hadn't spoken to us in person since the day we'd returned from 'killing' Jessie and James. This didn't sound good. I quickly finished the rest of my sandwich and the two of us headed upstairs to The Boss's office. I knocked on the door and waited for The Boss to open the door. I glanced across at Cassidy, she was looking at the floor shaking slightly. I reached out and stroked her back, she looked up at me and I smiled at her in what I hoped was a reassuring manner. Then the door swung open and the two of us walked in to the office. The Boss was sitting behind his desk, the Persian sitting by his side. He was stroking it's head and it was purring slightly. He looked up at us when we walked in and smiled as the door shut behind us. We walked forward until we were standing in front of his desk and I said, "You wanted to see us Boss?" He nodded and said "Yes. It's about that little job you did for me 3 months ago." He smiled again and I knew we were doomed. "What about it?" I asked softly. Usually I don't do the talking but Cassidy was too nervous to say anything so it was up to me, I just hoped my voice wouldn't get on The Boss's nerves. The Boss picked something of his desk and I when I saw what it was I really began to panic and I could see Cassidy was too, It was a white Team Rocket top, James top. He held it up so we could see it and said "What I can't work out is if you shot them both in the chest is how this top has no holes in it or no blood on it care to tell me why? although I can guess." When he had finished I glanced across at Cassidy, she had gone deathly pale, I was about to say that it had been my idea to let them go when Cassidy spoke "It was my idea," she said softly, "Butch didn't know anything about it, he thought I killed them too." I stared at her, what the hell did she think she was doing? Didn't she know that The Boss was probably, no, would kill her now. The Boss smiled again and said, "Is that right?" Cassidy nodded and glared at me till I nodded too. I felt sick but what could I do?. The Boss nodded again and pushed a button on his desk, the door swung open and he motioned that I was dismissed. I started to walk towards the door, I could her Cassidy crying softly behind me and The Boss rummaging around in his desk, probably looking for his own gun and something inside me snapped. I spun round on my heels and grabbed hold of Cassidy pulling her towards me, she looked at me in shock for a moment before finding her feet and the two of rushed to the door. We just made it out in time before the door slammed shut. I knew we had to get out of the building as quickly as possible, so I dragged Cassidy towards the fire escape and we started running down the 5 flights of stairs to the exit.. I could here The Boss's voice coming over the loud speakers, telling everyone there were a couple of traitors in the building and to shoot on sight. Cassidy was crying softly as we run and I wanted nothing more to stop and hold her, tell her everything would be OK but we couldn't spare the time to stop so we run on. A few minutes later we were almost at the ground floor, and I thanked god for all the hours we'd both spent in the gym keeping fit. We burst though the bottom doors into the blinding sunlight, hoping against hope that we had got out before anyone else had got down here. Luckily we were although I could hear people coming out of the main doors around the front of the building so I dragged Cassidy into the surrounding forest, we kept running until we couldn't run any more. We crawled into some bushes and sat huddled together, trying to be as quite as possible. I could here other members walking around near where we were hiding, I held my breath and pulled Cassidy closer to me, hoping that they wouldn't find us. Suddenly the bushes were pulled back and I found myself starring into Meowth's face. The cat pokemon grinned at me and I started feeling sick again, I knew he hated us for what he thinks we did to Jess and James. He looked behind him and I fought about running for a minute but I knew that in the state we were in we wouldn't get very far. He motioned his team mates over and in a couple of seconds Mondo and Cleo were looking down at us. They looked shocked, I don't think they knew it was us they were looking for. Mondo glanced around as if he was looking to see if there was anyone else about before asking us what it was we'd done to have The Boss declare us traitors. I was shocked, why hadn't they capture us? Why hadn't they called out they'd found us? Cassidy had started to cry again, burying her head in my shoulder as I answered their question. Meowth's mouth dropped open in surprise at what I said, Mondo just looked shocked like his whole world had crumbled around him. Cleo put her hand on his arm and said "We should help them." I looked at her, why did she want to help us? It wasn't as if she even knew Jessie and James, but then maybe she was doing it for Mondo's sake. Mondo looked at her and nodded, before reaching out to us and helping us to our feet. Cassidy smiled thankfully at them and as they lead us though the forest away from the base I knew that for now things were going to be OK. End Of Part 8 Part 9 Meowth's Point Of View I trailed behind, lost in thought as Mondo lend our little group towards where he'd left his jeep. I couldn't believe what Butch had just told us, could Jessie and James really still be alive? I couldn't think of any reason why they would risk their lives for two people they claimed to hate, but then I couldn't think of any other reason The Boss would call them traitors either. It was all rather confusing. We reached the jeep in record time and we all climbed in, Mondo and Cleo in the front, Butch and Cassidy in the back and me on Cleo's lap. Mondo started the jeep up and speed of before asking if anyone had any idea where we should go since we were now all on the run from Team Rocket. That thought scared the hell out of me, I knew what The Boss would do with us if he either caught up with us. I glanced over at Butch and Cassidy, they were whispering quietly to each other before Cassidy turned to Mondo and told him to take us to Pallet Town. I looked at them in confusion, why the hell would they want to go there? so I asked them. Cassidy looked at me before saying "Your see when we get there." That answer didn't help me any. So I decided to ask them he question that had been bugging me ever since we had found them. "Why didn't you kill Jessie and James?" Mondo made a funny choking sound from the drivers seat, and Butch glanced quickly at Cassidy, she nodded and said, "I was trying to make up for the past." I supposed that made some kind of sense, I knew that Jessie and Cassidy had been friends once, and James had once said he'd known her too back then, I guess it takes a lot to kill people you were once friendly with. I nodded letting the subject drop and Cassidy sank thankfully into Butch's arms. They seemed very close all of a sudden, but I guess a brush with death can do that to you. I curled up on Cleo's lap and lost myself in my own thoughts as we drove along. A couple of hours later we arrived at Pallet Town and I still hadn't worked out why we were here. Mondo parked the jeep in a small car park and then we followed Butch up towards what was once Professor Oak's Lab. Why were we going there? This mystery was just getting deeper. Butch knocked on the front door and a couple of minutes later it opened to revive a young woman I'd never seen before. She had medium length brown hair and brown eyes and when she saw us her happy expression changed from one of happiness to one of extreme annoyance. I wasn't surprised I can't think of anyone who'd be happy to see four Team Rocket members turn up on their doorstep. "What do you want?" she asked us angrily. Butch sighed slightly and was about to say something, but Cassidy placed her had on his arm and said, "Please can we come in? We mean you no harm and we really need your help." The woman sighed softly, but some of the anger left her face and nodded, moving out of the way so we could all get in. As soon as we were all in she shut the door quickly and led us through another pair of doors into a huge living room. I could smell food cooking and my stomach rumbled reminding me I hadn't eaten since breakfast. She motioned that we should all sit down and the four humans slumped down on the sofa looking kind of nervous. I hopped up and placed myself on the sofa arm and waited to see what was going to happen now. The woman seated herself in a chair opposite to the sofa and said, "Why did you come here, the real reason." Butch looked at Cassidy slightly before replying, "It's true we do need help, but the real reason is that we have to warn Jessie and James." "About what?" "The Boss knows they're alive." The woman looked shocked at that and glanced at the back doors before returning her gaze back to us. "How did he find out?" "He found their old costumes." Cassidy answered. The woman shook her head and sighed softly, "OK, you can stay here for the rest of the day but I want you gone by tomorrow. I don't want other Rocket's tracking you here. Do you understand?" Cassidy nodded softly, "Thank you." The woman nodded and said, "You can call me May. Your welcome to eat with us if you wish. I don't mean to seem harsh but I must protect my family you understand. I've already lost my grandfather to Team Rocket I won't lose anyone else." She was Professor Oak's granddaughter then, I still couldn't work out why she was being nice to us now, or why we had come here to warn Jess and James but she'd offered us food and right now that was all I could think about. I smiled at her and said "We'd love to eat with you." She glanced at me in shock before saying, "Wow, you can talk?" I nodded, "Yeah amazing ain't." "That means you're Jessie and James's Meowth, right?" I nodded softly, although I wasn't really theirs but what the hell, it made thinks easier just to agree. "This changes things slightly," she said, "wait here." With that she got up, reached out and stroked my head, before turning and disappearing into one of the back rooms. I looked at my four companions, Mondo looked confused as did Cleo, Butch was hugging Cassidy who was smiling softly. I knew I'd done the right think by speaking up and that for now at least we were safe. End Of Part 9 Part 10 Cassidy's Point Of View As we sat there waiting for May to return, I snuggled against Butch and wondered what had come over him all of a sudden. Sure we were going out together but we'd never been really close, I never would have believed he'd risk his life for me. I guess you really don't know someone till you're in real danger. The door May had disappeared through opened and she entered the room, but what really surprised me was who followed her in, Jessie and James, even with the new hair colours I could tell it was them. Mondo gasped, it was one thing hearing they were still alive and another actually seeing it was true. Meowth jumped of the sofa arm and run to them, he jumped up and Jessie caught him in her arms holding him close to her. James looked at us and them wrapped his arms round the pair of them, pulling them close to him. All three of them were crying softly, tears of joy I guess, happy to be reunited once again. I could hear Mondo crying softly, Cleo trying to comforting him. I looked up at Butch and he winked at me and I knew he didn't regret not killing them. May glanced at the three of them, placed a hand on James back and whispered something into his ear. He nodded softly, released Jessie and Meowth and led them over to where we were sitting. Jessie sat down on one of the chair, Meowth curled up in her lap, May sat in the other. James smiled softly at me and reached and patted Mondo on the arm, telling him everything was going to be OK. I wondered if he knew what he was saying. James sat on the arm of Jessie's chair, placing on hand on the back of her neck, she glanced up at him and smiled softly before turning her attention back to us. I guessed they must have finally told each other how they felt, I mean you'd have to be blind not to see how much they cared for one another. Jessie sighed softly and said, "You OK Mondo?" He nodded softly, "I will be." he said, resting his head against Cleo, who rubbed his back softly. Jessie nodded softly before turning her attention to me and Butch, "How'd Giovanni find out we're still alive?" she asked. Butch frowned and said, "He found your old tops and worked it out from there. Don't ask me how he got hold of them 'cause I don't know." James closed his eyes and started to say something, but Jessie stopped him. He looked at her confused for a moment before nodding. "It doesn't really matter hoe he found out," She said, "what matters is what we do about it now." "You're right of course." I said, it felt strange agreeing with Jessie it wasn't something that happened very often. "But what can we do about it." I continued. "We have to prepare for an attack." Butch said, "And it will come, as soon as he finds out where we are." With that he pulled me even closer and I knew he was worried about what was going to happen. "What's the likely hood of him finding out?" May asked softly. I was about to answer when the front doors blew open with a loud bang causing everyone to jump. The smoke cleared to revile The Boss standing there with about five of his elite troops. Just the sight of them was enough to make me feel sick, no one ever got away from them. He smile at us all and said, "I have to thank you for leading us to our missing team members, I doubt I'd have ever thought to look for them here if it wasn't for you." As he said that the truth suddenly hit me, I should have know it was all a set up when we'd escaped so easily. He'd used us to find Jessie and James and like fools we had let him do it. As his elite troops began to spread out around us, I couldn't see anyway out of this for us. I buried my face in Butch's chest and prayed that it would be over quickly. End Of Part 10 Part 11 James Point Of View As Giovanni's troops circled us, I silently cursed myself for being such an idiot, if only I'd got rid of those tops better none of this would be happening. Now we were going to die and it was all my fault. I reached down and took Jessie's hand in my own holding it tightly in my own. She was shaking slightly I could feel it. The fear was building up in me and I knew that soon I would start crying but I would fight it as long as possible, I had to be strong for Jessie's sake. The troops had surrounded us now, their guns pointing at us just waiting for Giovanni to give the order. I glanced at him and nearly gasped in shock when I noticed a figure step up behind him, it was Brock, in all the excitement I'd forgotten all about him. Giovanni was just about to give the order when Brock pulled something out of his pocket and pushed against the back of Giovanni's head. I've never seen such a shocked look on any ones face before, I guess he'd thought he had everyone. "Tell them to drop their guns or I'll kill you." Brock said, pushing what must have been a gun against Giovanni's head a bit more. "Do it." Giovanni said and the troops dropped their guns. I breathed a sigh of relief perhaps we were saved after all. As soon as the troops had dropped the guns, Giovanni dropped to a crouch and quickly spun round landing a kick right in Brock's groin. He fell like a sack of potatoes clutching himself, dropping his weapon as he fell. I winced, that must have hurt. I then noticed that Brock's gun wasn't a gun at all but two bits of metal tied together with string. I sighed I should have known better then to think that we would survive this. The troops picked up their guns and Giovanni started to laugh. I'd never heard him laugh before and I never wanted to again, it was one of the worse sounds I've ever heard. Jess let out a choked sob and buried herself against me, I wrapped my arms around her, holding her close trying desperately to hold my own tears in. I was fighting a losing battle and soon I was sobbing into her hair, it wasn't fair thinks had just started to go right for us I guess some people just aren't meant to be happy. It was then that I heard the sirens, could it be the police? I could only hope so. Giovanni frowned he was probably wondering how they found out he was here, come to think of it so was I? The troops were looking at his expectantly, waiting for instructions. They have probably heard the sirens too. Giovanni motioned for them to escape and they all legged it out past Giovanni and Brock. I was shocked, was he letting us go. He sneered at us and said, "You may believe you have won, but you'll never be safe. There will always be someone out to kill you." He then turned and started to run out of the door but he was to late, an Officer Jenny was standing there gun ready and pointing straight at him. Behind her I see other Jenny's arresting the troops. My God we were really going to be OK. Jenny looked at Giovanni and said, "Come quietly don't make shot you." He snarled at her and turned to run out the back door, she sighed and fired shooting him in the leg just below the knee. He gasped and fell to the floor, clutching the wound. A couple more Jenny's came in, slapped on some handcuffs and none to gently dragged him out of the room. I just couldn't believe we had made it, we were safe. I looked over at the Officer Jenny who'd shot Giovanni and said "How'd you know we were in trouble?" She smiled and said, "When he blew doors off, it set of the alarm at the station." I turned to look at May, "What alarm?" She smiled at me, "I had an alarm fitted to all the doors and windows after my grandfather was killed. Didn't we tell you about that?" I sighed, "No." Brock picked himself of the floor and laughed softly, "It's probably a good thing we didn't, he probably would have guessed something was wrong if you two didn't start crying." I sighed again, I guess he was right. Officer Jenny took her leave of us saying she'd send someone up to fix the door. I looked over at my friends, Butch and Cassidy were hugging each other wide grins on their faces, happy to be alive. Mondo and his partner were grinning at each other. I turned to Jess and kissed her softly, she kissed me back and then I reached down and stroked Meowth who was still curled up on her lap. He blinked up at me and said, "Well we're safe for now, but what happens when he gets out of jail?" "We'll be ready for him." May said. Brock nodded and said, "And we'll do it together right?" I nodded and held out my hand, Brock took it and Jess placed her hand on top of our joint ones. Butch and Cassidy were next placing their hands on top of ours. Mondo and his partner came next and then May. I looked down at Meowth, picked him up with my other hand. He placed his paw on top of Mays. I looked down at our hands and knew that as long as we were together we'd all be OK. The End