Disclaimer: Don't own 'em, wish I did. Bugger off, and sue someone else. Trials and Tribulations: Chap 2: Long Way Down In the last chapter, Ash and Misty were about to *uhum!* and Brock and Nurse Joy to! What will happen? Lets just put it this way: You ain't getting no lemon! And to all those wondering where Team Rocket is, just keep those eyes peeled. _____________________________________________________________________ _________ Oh here you are, there's nothing left to say You're not supposed to be that way Did they push you out? did they throw you away? Touch me now and I don't care When you take me I'm not there Almost human, but I'll never be the same Long way down, I don't think I'll make it on my own Long way down, I don't want to live in here alone Long way down, I don't think I'll make it on my own I never put you down, I never pushed you away You're not supposed to be that way And anything you want, there's nothing I could say Is there anything to feel? Is it pain that makes you real? Cut me off before it kills me Long way down, I don't think I'll make it on my own Long way down, I don't want to live in here alone Long way down, I don't think I'll make it on my own I never put you down, I never pushed you away Take another piece of me Give my mind a new disease And the black and white world never fades to gray Long way down, I don't think I'll make it on my own Long way down, I don't want to live in here alone Long way down, I don't think I'll make it on my own -The Goo Goo Dolls For seven years, two people have been attracted to each other, but always denied it to themselves and to each other. This night, in this city, they finally admitted to each other the way how they felt. Being that they were young and hormonal, they decided to express their love in the best physical way possible: sex. The two, Ash and Misty were making out on the floor of their room, one arm wrapped around the other and their free hand probing the floor for one of the many condoms that were on it. The two were too busy to hear the *clink* on the window as a grappling hook found purchase on the window sill. They didn't hear the window being lifted, nor did they hear the small, marble like smoke pellet hit the ground, or the *PHISSS* it gave off when it emptied it's contents in to the air. A shapely red head clad in thigh high black boots, a micro skirt, and a white shirt with the distinctive large red R that gave way to her organization, open just enough to reveal the small black shirt that revealed her toned middle, climbed through the window. Her clear blue eyes tried to adjust to the darkness and the smoke that filled the room. The redhead looked next to her trying to find out where her partner and best friend was. "James, get over here!" she hissed angrily. "Alright, alright give me a sec! Geez!" a masculine voice sighed from outside. With a bit of a racket, he climbed into the room. In a uniform almost like his partners, though with long loose fitting pants stuffed into normal sized boots, and a tight black shirt tucked into his pant which was almost hidden by his white outer shirt that also had the distinctive red R emblazoned on the front, it nicely complimented his lean figure. He ran his fingers through his shoulder length turquoise hair, putting it back in place. His sparkling green eyes met those of his partner, and he nodded. "Meowth, music!" she whispered, agitated. "Hold your rapidashes! It's coming!" a Brooklyn accented voice whispered just as agitated. A clicking sound was heard and then the sinister music boomed into the room. The two Team Rockets gave each other the nod and then started their trademark motto, all the while doing silly posturing. "Prepare for trouble!" "Yes, and make it double!" "To protect the world from devastation!" "To unite all peoples within our nation!" "To denounce the evils of truth and love!" "To extend our reach to the stars above!" "Jessie!" "James!" "Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!" "Surrender now, or prepare to fight!" A cat like figure jumped through the window and landed in front of them and finished the motto off by saying, "Meowth, that's right!" The three looked at each other as they realize that no one had interrupted them or shocked them. "Maybe we're in the wrong room," James said as he started to cough from the smoke. Jessie wacked him over the head with her handy paper fan, as Meowth started to walk around the room. "Be quiet! The twerps might be asleep!" Jessie scolded to her friend. Meowth called out from the other side of the room, "Hey, if they aren't sleeping now they soon will be!" Jesse looked at James, as if he knew what Meowth was talking about, but James looked back at her also confused. They walked over to were Meowth was calling from. They started to laugh. Ash and Misty were thoroughly enjoying themselves and each other. As they kissed harder and faster, Misty started to remove Ash's shirt. Ash's hand was still on the quest to find the elusive condom, when he heard an English accented voice say "There ya go buddy." and placed the protection in his hand. With a quick thank you, he went back to his business. As Misty was about to remove her shirt, it finally dawned on him. "Uh *kissing noise* Misty, *kissing noise* it's Team Rocket *kissing noise*" he managed to sputter out. "What!" she managed to yell out as her face turned as red as her hair. She slipped back on her shirt and jumped up. Ash followed suit and they both yelled, "It's Team Rocket!" By that time, the three villains had broken down laughing, Jessie on the bed, and Meowth on the floor rolling and James just standing there. "What do you guys want?" Ash asked exasperated. "Yeah why don't you just leave us alone?" Misty added. "So the two of you lovebirds can get back to your business?" the three rockets said in unison, batting their eyelashes. Misty was about to beat them all down when, Ash just held her back. "No, I have a plan that will make everybody happy, and we could get back to, uh........, what we were doing!" With that, he stepped forward with a very confident smirk on his face. "That's the pot calling the kettle black!" he said directly to Jessie and James. "What, huh, what's he talking about?" was the reply. He walked over to them, and looked them over. "So you mean to tell me that the two of you aren't together yet?" Jessie started to laugh a little to high pitched as James started to make threatening gestures at Ash. "Me with him! Don't insult me!" Jessie almost shouted at Ash. "Uh, yeah, what she said..." a crestfallen James said. Ash looked at James and noticed the hurt written all over his face. #Uh-oh!# he thought, as he tried to patch things up, #Were's Brock where you need him? ______________________________________________________________________ ___ In room number two, Pikachu was busy sleeping until he was awakened by some odd moaning and someone saying "Yes, Yes, YES!" #Bout time# he thought to himself, recognizing Nurse Joys voice. #Now if only they could keep it down.....# Pikachu thought as he rolled over and put a pillow over his and Togepi's head. ______________________________________________________________________ ________ "Hey, uh Jessie, you ever talked to your partner about this?" Ash asked. Jessie looked at James. James tried to recover but wasn't fast enough. With that one look, she knew. Jessie stepped back in shock, anger welling up in her. "You do don't you! You bastard! You never told me a thing! Not a damn thing....." with that, she left through the window. Meowth tried to go after her, to stop her, to do something, but was stopped by James. "No, Meowth, she is right. It doesn't matter anyway, she doesn't feel the same way about me," with that he closed his eyes as if holding back tears. "James don't speak like that! You know Jessie, it's just probably the shock! That's all. Hey, James?" He asked his friend as he noticed that James wasn't answering him. Ash walked over to him. "Hey look, I'm really sorry..." Ash began as he started to put his hand on James's shoulder. Suddenly, James opened his eyes, red with rage, and an uncharacteristic scowl on his face. He brushed the hand of his shoulder. "It's your fault!" he yelled at Ash. James gave him a straight kick in he gut, then spun around and smashed his elbow in the side of Ash's face, bruising it. Caught completely by surprise by the attack, Ash went down on the floor. Misty whipped out her mallet and tried to hit James upside his head with it, as James was about to pick up Ash. He leapt out of the way, doing a no hands back-flip. The mallet instead came down on Ash's gut, knocking the air out of him in a loud "WOOOF!" Meowth tried to leap on top of him, but was smashed into the wall hard, and the pokemon passed out. James went back over to Misty and applied bone cracking pressure on her hand, forcing her to drop the mallet. He threw her into the wall, knocking her out. Ash leapt up, kinda pissed off that this guy laid hands on his girl. Ash started to attack James, launching a stiff uppercut at him. It caught James square on the jaw, sending him reeling back. Stars started to cloud his vision, but he shook them off.... just in time to get a karate chop to the base of his neck, bringing him to his knees, and then a spinning jump kick that made him sprawl out onto the floor. James leapt up, digging down and using his hurt and anger to get him back up. He threw a lazy kick at Ash, and just as predicted, Ash caught it. James hopped on his other foot and gave Ash the hardest punch he could muster straight at his nose. It went wide but caught the other guy right on his temple, almost knocking him out. On sheer willpower alone, Ash fought the losing battle with the darkness that beckoned him. He tried to shake the dizziness off, and jumped away from James, trying to recover. James was also in bad shape, but he could have taken more pain if he had to. #Dammit, this hurts like hell!# he thought to himself as he tried to glare at Ash. He knew there was only supposed to be one other guy, but how come it looked like three? Ash was in bad shape to, and he didn't really feel like fighting. He felt more like taking two Tylenol, and sleep for a couple days. Ash searched through the haze that was his mind, trying to think of a better and less painful solution. Finally it hit him. "James, Im sorry about everything, but I honestly thought that the feelings were mutual." "You know, once my head clears, I'm really going to enjoy KICKING YOUR ASS!" "Look, I mean it. I really thought you two were a couple or something.' James looked at Ash as if he were nuts. "And what made you think that?" "The way you guys looked at each other and treated each other. Even though you two argued a lot, and stuff, I figured that if Misty and I do it and we like each other, then you two must really like each other. Makes sense doesn't it?" James sighed, letting the anger and hurt fade away. "Well, I'm sorry too. I better go see how Meowth is doing." he walked over to Meowth and revived him as Ash did the same for Misty. "Hey, Mist how ya feeling?" Ash asked anxiously. "Whoa, I've seen better days, but I'll be fine," she answered. Ash hugged her and gave her a quick peck. Misty gently pushed him off, and walked over to James, a smile on her face. James backed up into the wall, nervously. Suddenly, he felt the worst pain any man could feel using a knee. He doubled over in pain, clutching his abused privates. The two other males turned away, with pained expressions on their faces. "Jerk," Misty said simply before going back over to Ash. "Uh, Misty we have a crisis. We've got to help out James with Jessie." "Oh, love, how romantic....." Misty sighed, as hearts and such appeared behind her. "Uh, right," Ash dead panned, "Look first things first: Damage control. We find Jessie." "Uh," James called, starting to recover, "Then what?" "Don't know. I'm making it up as I go along," Ash said as the rest face-faulted ______________________________________________________________________ ________ Jesse had trudged through the thick forest near Bass City to her destination: the Team Rocket encampment. It was a plain little clearing, with a small trainer they had rented, and a large fire they had set up and three sleeping bags around the merry blaze. Nearby, a small stream trickled by, providing fresh water. Jesse sat down on the ground near the fire. Numb. That was the best word that described how she felt. #Oh James,# she thought. Just thinking about him made her feel sorrow, sorrow that broke through the dam of the numbness that always kept her from feeling. #Now why did you have to fall in love with me?# Jesse checked herself, stifling such thoughts into submission, succumbing to the numbness again. She quietly made a measly dinner, ate, and got ready for bed. Putting one more log into the fire before she closed her eyes, she thought, "I'm sorry James, but I can't love you, no matter what. It's for the best." As she rifted off, the words sounded hollow, even in her own head. ______________________________________________________________________ ________ Five years ago. "Hey Jessie, stay behind a minute," Giovanni had told her. Kind of nervous, Jessie slowly sat down on one of the chairs Giovanni had in his office. James and Meowth looked at their friend, and hesitantly left the room. "Now, Jessie," The Boss began, in that sinister voice of his, "I've been keeping an eye on your team as of late. You've had a few flukes, a couple near wins, but still failure." Jessie had bowed her head, and tried to argue. "But, boss ..." Suddenly very angry, Giovanni slammed his fist on the table. "Dammit, stop with the fuckin' excuses! You know I was thinking of getting you all killed the other day!" Jessie, with her head still bowed, nodded. Giovanni continued. "Failure after failure your team has let me down. You and your team have disgraced your uniforms over and over. Now remember, the only reason why you and your associates aren't dead is because of your potential. So, that is why I will split your team." With that Jessie snapped her head up, almost taking out Giovanni's eye with her hair. Her yes were shimmering, full of tears. "Please, sir,"she begged," Don't do this! I will do anything you ask, just please don't separate us!" Giovanni leaned in closer, a sinister smile forming on his thin lips. "Anything?" he asked evilly. "Anything.." she bowed her head once more. ______________________________________________________________________ _____ Well we all know that the team stayed together. Hmm.... what will she do? Duh, she's going to... uh..... you know! Whatcha mean you don't know!?!??!?! Just read chapter 3! Geez! Send your suggestions, comments, and all out flattery ) : } to quas_ar98@yahoo.com and all flames to shoveitup your@ss.com! See ya!