Pokemon Fan Fiction / Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Team Rocket's Secret ❯ Chapter 4

...Flashback...

"No, you don't repeat its name," James said somewhat impatiently. He was not a natural teacher. "You have to break up its name into syllables and then concentrate on what you're trying to say."

"How can I break its name up when there are only two syllables?" Jessie snapped. She was not a natural student. "This is impossible!"

"It is not," James insisted. "Look, you just have to think hard about what you're saying. A lot of what they say is the same, it's the meaning that matters. Just try again."

Jessie sighed, then looked back down at the oddish, who was wondering what this pair of nutty humans were trying to do. "Oddish...odd...ishodd...dishodd...?"

"Oddish odd dish oddish odd!" it said happily, shaking its leaves back and forth.

"What did it say?"

James and Meowth started to laugh. "It said it doesn't have a girlfriend yet, but you're not his type!"

To their surprise, Jessie yelled in triumph. "Yes!"

James gave her a strange look. "What's so great about that?"

Meowth nodded. "Yeah, Jessie, it's not good to lead a pokemon on like that."

"You don't get it, I was trying to ask it if it was going steady with anyone!" Jessie laughed, clapping her hands. "It really is just the meaning, isn't it? Doshidd...odd...oddish oddish oddish!"

"Odd oddish dishodd..." the oddish nodded. "Oddish!" Suddenly it turned and waddled off on its tiny feet.

"Wow, Jessie, that was pretty good," James admitted.

"Yeah," Meowth said. "Who knew there were female oddish wandering around the drainage ditches?"

Extremely pleased with herself, Jessie smiled smugly. "Well, I knew, and it seemed right to tell it. After all, it put up with you two for the past half hour."

"It put up with you, too!" Meowth hissed.

"James, this is great!" Jessie said to her teammate. "How did you learn how to do this?"

James smiled self-consciously. "It's nothing special, I just spent so much time with Growly back home I started to understand what he was saying."

"NOW!"

Before they could turn, a heavy mesh net fell over the three of them. While James and Meowth struggled to throw it off, Jessie whirled around and saw half of Team Rocket coming from around the corner. One of them held a net launcher, and beside him was the boss.

"Oh, James, but this is special," Giovanni smiled wickedly. "When all of my organization learns how to talk with the pokemon, we'll learn every secret, every hidden treasure, every special ability those little monsters have kept from me. I won't need that pathetic Meowth anymore."

Meowth gasped. He knew exactly what Giovanni's tone meant. Whatever the boss didn't want...went...back to the labs...

"Ack!" Meowth stuttered, slashing wildly with his claws. Amazingly, he tore a hole through the net just large enough for him to slip through.

"Run, Meowth!" Jessie yelled at him.

"But...I can't leave you..." Meowth cried, torn between freedom and his friends.

"Just go!" Jessie smacked him out of the net, then started to pull the hole as wide as she could.

"They're getting away!" one of the henchmen yelled. "Stop them!" Rifles were drawn.

Closing her eyes as she heard the loud crack of gunfire, Jessie jumped out, but when she turned to help James, there was a large dart in him with feathers on the end.

"Tranquilizers," she said to herself. There was no time to get him out, not without both of them getting caught.

"Go..." James muttered, eyes drooping. "Run...get out of here..."

"I'll come back for you," she promised, squeezing his hand before she turned and raced around the building. She ducked and dodged the tranquilizer darts raining around her until she rounded the corner, then dived into an open window. Without waiting, she kept going, out of the room, down the hall, and finally into a large storeroom filled with gigantic crates and boxes. Jessie climbed up over the boxes, ignoring the sharp splinters as she went higher until she was at the vent in the ceiling. She knocked the grate up and out, then hauled herself into the small air duct. The grate was quietly replaced.

Footsteps echoed through the hall, and a few came into the storeroom. Jessie held her breath and prayed that they wouldn't see the marks in the dust where she had climbed. A moment later, her pursuers left the room and closed the door behind them.

"I'll get you, James," she promised again. "And you too, Meowth. I'll get you out of here." Trying not to sneeze, she crawled through the air ducts, knowing exactly where they would take James.

Even though she got lost a few times, Jessie managed to follow the vents right to the laboratory. She knew where she was without looking. She could smell the disinfectant and hear the trapped pokemon scratching at their cages. And she could hear James moaning in pain while the boss talked to him.

"James, just agree to show us how to talk to these animals and we can stop all this unpleasantness."

"Let...me go..."

"Doctor..."

"Right, sir."

Jessie put her hands over her ears to escape the scream that shook the metal vent around her. Poor James...but she couldn't do anything until they were alone.

"Psst...Jessie..."

Afraid someone had spotted her, Jessie started to back up even as she glanced down the length of the air vent, but she relaxed when she saw who it was. "Meowth...don't do that!" she whispered furiously.

On silent paws, Meowth ran up to her and pushed his head against her hands. "Jessie...I don't wanna be here..."

"Then why did you come?" she growled, holding him despite her harsh tone.

"I thought they'd bring you two here," he answered. "At least you're okay...but how are we gonna get James out of there?"

There was another scream, and they huddled together in fear. "I don't know," Jessie whispered. "Unless...Meowth, can you get down into the lab?"

Meowth looked at her like she was crazy.

"If you let out all those trapped pokemon," she explained quickly, "the ones in the cages, so they can cause a diversion--"

"I think I can," he interrupted. "And then you can get James--"

"And we can get the heck out of here," she said. "Where's the vent open up in this room?"

"In the corner," he told her. "Come on."

Jessie followed him along the vent, careful not to make any noise. There was one more scream, and she used that to mask her crawling as she sped up a bit. She helped lift the grate, and when he saw that everyone's back was turned to him, Meowth jumped down and ran to side wall. One by one, he unlocked each of the dozens of cages, cautioning each pokemon not to run out until he gave the signal.

Jessie held her breath as she watched. From her vantage point, she could see several doctors and team rockets dressed in black, and Giovanni to the side. Whenever they moved, she could catch a glimpse of James laying on the table in the center, arms and legs strapped down as one doctor kept pumping a strange blue liquid into him. James groaned again. He had lost the strength to scream.

"Hurry up, Meowth," she mumbled to herself. "Please...do it now..."

A loud yell, the sound of glass breaking, and then all of the pokemon were running for the door or running wildly around. Flareons and jolteons zapped anything nearby, while the hive of beedrills swarmed over the doctors. Everyone inside fled, leaving James helpless on the table.

Jessie dropped down through the grate and rushed over, ignored by the pokemon which were chasing the doctors. With a grimace, she pulled the needle out of James' arm and undid each of the straps.

"Jessie...?" James moaned, eyes shut tight. "How--?"

"I promised I wouldn't leave you behind," she said, trying not to sound as scared as she felt.

"That...was quick, though..." he smiled despite the pain.

"Hey, Jessie!" Meowth shrieked, pointing wildly at the door. "Come on, let's go!"

"Coming," she nodded, carrying James with her. "Now what do we do?"

Meowth stared at her. "I thought you had a plan!"

"Hey, I'm making this up as I go," she argued.

"There they are!" someone cried.

"Get them!"

Meowth jumped up onto Jessie's shoulders, tail twitching. "You'd better think of something quick, or else it's back to the lab."

"The balloon!" she remembered. "It's still behind the trees, right?"

"Yeah, unless they found it," Meowth answered.

"Pray they didn't," she replied, taking off into the tree line.

"Hurry up, they're gaining," he hissed, looking back. "Aaah! They got their darts out again!"

There was a loud pop, and Jessie winced, afraid she would be hit. When she felt nothing, she picked up her pace. "Meowth, how far back are they?"

No answer.

"Meowth?"

His little body dropped down onto James, a small dart sticking out of his paw. Doing her best not to let the sick feeling in her stomach overpower her, she broke into a sprint, leaping over fallen trees and streams as if her life depended on. She knew it probably did.

"There it is!" she yelled, then remembered neither of them could hear her. Her arms were getting heavy and her steps shorter. A volley of darts hit the trees around her, and she went faster. At last she reached the balloon. Fortunately they always left it inflated. She tossed her sleeping charges inside, knowing there wasn't any time to be gentle. Jessie turned the flame on, and they rose into the sky, just out of Team Rocket's reach.

As the wind started to carry them away, she knelt and pulled the dart out of Meowth's paw, then tried to shake him awake. He merely hung limp in her arms.

"Jessie...are we safe?" James whispered, half awake.

She looked over the side and saw a small army after them, on horseback and in cars. "I don't think so," she groaned. "But the wind is picking up, so maybe we'll get far enough..."

"Ditch the balloon," he said firmly.

"What?!" she asked in disbelief.

"Ditch it," he repeated. "It's...not fast enough...if we abandon it, maybe...they'll follow it instead..."

"It might work," she conceded. "And it looks like we're over the boss's ponyta collection..."

Bang!

The noise was enough to wake Meowth, and they all looked up to see the gaping hole in the balloon.

"Looks like the decision's been made for us," Jessie sighed. She slung Meowth over her shoulders, then put helped James up. "Think you can talk a ponyta into carrying us?"

"I'd better," he grunted, doing his best to hide the agony in his body. "Are we close enough to jump?"

"We're only a few feet up now," she lied. With a push, they leaped into the twenty feet of empty space, landing miraculously in the pond full of magikarp. Behind them, relieved of the weight, the balloon rose again, disappearing into the horizon. Jessie helped James to one of the ponyta and put him on its back even while he was explaining their situation. A moment later, they were galloping only a few steps ahead of the rest of Team Rocket.

...End Flashback...