Chapter 1: The Long Way Down

He wasn’t as petulant or immature as he seemed to everyone. On the contrary, he 
knew his true self to be a man willing of great sacrifice. The man that she knew 
however, was a façade, a means of hiding from himself…and from her. He had 
become so accustomed to this way of living his life that he often thought this 
was the way things would always be, but he could not convince himself he would 
be able to survive it much longer.

James rose slowly to his feet, the ashy dirt surrounding the makeshift campfire 
clinging filthily to his white slacks. He stood there for a moment, gazing 
sleepily at the dying embers of oak wood in the pale moonlight and gently 
removed his gloves, shoving them precariously into his pocket. The night was too 
warm and his nerves too rattled to feel comfortable in his uniform. He needed 
space, to step out away from his thoughts and from this…place. His mind drifted 
back to earlier that evening every time he closed his eyes, and all he wished 
was to simply forget what he had heard. The Boss had called, and he had been the 
one to answer. “You are being transferred. I have grown tired of your 
incompetence and am giving you one week to report back to me. We will decide 
then where your…talents, are most needed.” He hadn’t told Jessie yet and did not 
know how he would be able to leave her. He hadn’t even let himself think about 
it in the hours past because he simply could not imagine his life without her.

He sighed, softly fingering the crumpled paper he had removed from his back 
pocket. He’d written a million of these; they were letters, all saying the same 
as the one before. 'I love you Jessie. I always have. Will you forgive my 
weakness? Will you forgive me for not being strong enough to tell you sooner?' 
He contemplated this briefly, finally tossing the rutted letter into the glowing 
fire, watching it catch the last of the flames in its delicate fiber until 
disintegrating into a black ash. “I am too weak.” he thought to himself 
sorrowfully. It was getting late though, and the morning would come early for 
him and the team, so leaving his heart in the fire, he quietly made for his 
sleeping bag. Jessie lay sleeping only a few feet away, slumbering soundly with 
her back towards him, her bright red hair peeking out from beneath her bag. 
James smiled. Silently unzipping his sack he climbed in, drowsily resting his 
head on his pillow. He watched as Jessie breathed in and out in her sleep. He 
wished he could lie next to her, to hold her as they both slept, but he knew 
this was the closest to her he would ever be.

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“James! Wake up!” Jessie yelled, startling him from his sleep. 

“We have to be going soon, we’re already behind schedule.”

James rubbed his eyes groggily, groping for his boots while Jessie hastily 
through the rest of their belongings into the back of their jeep. 

“I can’t believe you let us oversleep! You know we’re already on thin ice with 
the Boss.”

James remained silent at this comment, thinking back to what the Boss had 
ordered the previous night. He climbed out of his sleeping bag and quickly 
pulled on his boots, trying to distract his thoughts with the day ahead.
Jessie looked absolutely beautiful at his moment, as she had every morning all 
these past years. Her hair was down in its natural curls and her emerald blue 
eyes sparkled brightly in the early morning sun.

“JAMES!” she screamed from the jeep, glaring at him with her usual  of anger. He 
knew the day ahead was going to be long, and did not have a desire to tempt fate 
by taking his time. So, quickly rolling up his sleeping bag and hurrying towards 
the jeep, they set off.  

Jessie looked over at her partner as she wound her way out of the clearing and 
into the forest. He had propped his right elbow on the door seam, resting his 
cheek on his palm as he looked out over the grassy field. He was her partner; 
she knew that better than anyone else. He had been here with her everyday for 
years, staying at her side through so many bad times and so few good. She loved 
him, and was more than aware of that, but she also knew she was too proud to 
tell him. She had acted as if she cared little of what he thought of her, but in 
truth, it was all the she had ever been concerned with. She spent most of her 
days wondering whether or not he loved, or even cared about her. It was girlish 
of her to do so, but the feelings and questions were never far from her mind. 
“How could he possibly feel the same way towards me as I do him?” she thought to 
herself. She had always assumed it was not so. If he did, he was stupid to love 
her. She was…a difficult woman, and it hurt her to know how cold she had been to 
him in his times of need. It especially struck her deeply when she thought back 
to all the instances he had gone out of his way to show affection and friendship 
towards her when she had needed him the most.

It gave her hope, though, to say the least, that maybe she wasn’t entirely 
incapable of being loved. “Silly thoughts.” she whispered under her breath, and 
set her mind to the task at hand: finding a way out of this place and onto the 
main road. They had a job to do. 

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“Jessie?” James asked some time later, the jeep jerking and bumping over the 
rocky and rugged thoroughfare. “Do you have any idea how we are supposed to go 
about this mission?”

She didn’t. All that the Boss had told either of them was that both Butch and 
Cassidy had defected from Team Rocket, taking with them some highly valuable 
information. What exactly it was…well, who knew. 

“No James, I don’t.” she replied. “I only know where to start looking. The Boss 
said the last place they were seen was Saffron City, and that was more than 
three days ago already. They could be anywhere by now.”

“Fantastic.” He muttered to himself, counting the telephone poles flashing past 
the speeding jeep. “We don’t really have a plan then, do we?”

She turned and looked at her partner, her eyes gleaming in the midday sun. “No 
we don’t.”

“This could be bad.” James moaned, sinking his face into his hands.

Jessie knew what he meant. Butch and Cassidy were not two people to be dealt 
with frivolously, as they had a reputation they delighted in and worked 
tirelessly to maintain. Unfortunately for the two of them, it relied on their 
rather sardonic predilection for violence than merely their association with 
Team Rocket. It was quite possible that one of them…she promptly changed her 
mind.

“It doesn’t really matter, does it James? We’re here now and no matter how 
things turn out, we are partners and we have to get through this together.”

How he cherished hearing her say together. 

“You’re right Jess. I’m sorry for even bringing it up. Do you forgive me?” he 
asked playfully.

“Of course not!” she blurted out with a grin. 

James smiled to himself, thinking that perhaps things might not end up so bad at 
after all, and set his gaze ahead to Saffron City.

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