Pokemon Fan Fiction / Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ Team Rocket's Secret ❯ Chapter 8

At first, Giovanni had no idea what to make of the sight before him. Two Nurse Joys, both smiling politely from behind the counter, standing in the same position, head tilted at the exact same angle. He'd never noticed how alike the Joys were before, and now that he could see, it was somewhat unnerving, even for him.

"Nurse...Joy?" he asked again.

"Yes?" they both asked.

He blinked. "Why are there...two of you?"

One of the Nurse Joys waved her hand up and down. "Oh, there aren't two of us! This is my sister, she's still training to be a nurse!"

The second Nurse Joy nodded. "We really don't look anything alike!"

"Uhh...right..." Giovanni stammered. "Did two kids come in here earlier today? One of them had short purple hair, and the girl had long red hair. She looks like a human Arbok."

Jessie barely kept her smile on. "I'm sorry, our only visitors today have been a boy with an onix and a girl with a caterpie."

"Really?" Giovanni wondered. "I'd better warn you, then, that these teens are members of the notorious Team Rocket, and will stop at nothing to steal every pokemon in town. If you do see them, contact me right away." He gave them his card, embossed with his name and gym.

"Oh!" Nurse Joy exclaimed, taking the card. "But I thought we had to call Officer Jenny about criminals?"

Giovanni shook his head quickly. "No no no. These will be too much for just one officer. My men are ready to capture these two before they cause any more damage."

Jessie did her best to look concerned. "Oh, thank you for the warning! We had no idea there were such dangerous criminals on the loose!"

Nurse Joy nodded. "We'll certainly keep our eyes open for them."

Giovanni took another look at the closed office door. If only he could get inside and make sure James and Jessie weren't hiding...He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pokeball. "While I'm here, I might as well get my Persian checked up on. He's been having a problem with hairballs lately and--!"

As soon as he opened up the pokeball, the Persian leaped out and ran around the room a few times, upsetting the waiting chairs, then dashed straight towards the office. He leaped up into the air at full speed, four paws forward, and pushed the door wide open.

"I'm so sorry, let me get him!" Giovanni cried, running after him.

"Oh my!" Nurse Joy exclaimed, purely from habit.

Please don't screw this up, James! Jessie exclaimed, purely from terror.

"What the...?" Giovanni gasped.

Jessie's heart skipped a beat.

"I'm sorry, sir, is this your Persian?" came a voice Nurse Joy would have sworn was from another Nurse Joy. They both peered inside and stared in amazement as James, still in disguise, held the Persian up by the scruff of its neck, his skin just out of reach of its sharp claws. Ash, Brock and Misty were crowded in the corner of the office, each holding their pokemon protectively, as they sat among the overturned equipment and books. Pikachu's hair looked ruffled, Vulpix's eyes were shut tight, and even Togepi looked stunned.

"Um...yes...thank you," Giovanni stammered. "But just how many of you are there?"

"Whatever do you mean?" James asked sweetly. "I'm just here studying up on surgical techniques."

Giovanni turned around and noticed the two Joy's staring at him with wide eyes and happy smiles. He looked back and saw that the third Joy was watching him the same way. With a nervous shudder, he mumbled a little apology and all but ran out of the Pokecenter.

"Did you find them, boss?" one of the Team Rocket members asked.

"They must have gotten farther than we originally thought," Giovanni replied. "Send more men out into the forest. Maybe they talked a few friendly pokemon into carrying them."

Back inside the Pokecenter, James and Jessie nervously waited at the counter as Ash ran towards the window and snuck a peek. "Well," James asked. "Are they gone yet?"

Ash nodded and shut the curtains again. "Yeah, looks like you're safe."

"For now," Jessie sighed, removing her hat.

"Ah-choo!" Officer Jenny stumbled out of the closet, her hands wrapped in a strangle hold around Meowth's neck. She dropped him to the floor, where he gasped dramatically for breath.

"What was dat for?" he griped, rubbing his sore throat. "You almost killed me!"

"You wouldn't shut up!" she snapped. "And if your boss had seen us hiding in the closet, he'd have known something was up!"

"He is hard to shut up, isn't he?" James smiled, taking off some of the costume. As he whipped off the skirt, they all gasped as his pants legs dropped conveniently to cover his legs.

"How did you...?" Misty wondered.

"I folded them up," James shrugged, readjusting the hems as he switched shoes. "No problem. The hardest part was the hair."

"And how did you do that?" Brock asked.

James winked. "Trade secret."

"So what do we do now?" Jessie asked Officer Jenny.

She sighed and sat down on the corner. "I think it's best if you stay here for the night. If I take you to the station, Team Rocket might find out where you are. Is that okay, Joy?"

"No problem, Jenny," Nurse Joy answered. "They can sleep in the trainer's overnight room."

"Good," Jenny smiled, "tomorrow the transport from Viridian should arrive, and we can get these two to a larger facility."

"Jail?" Jessie squeaked. "I'm too pretty to go to jail!"

"And I'm too young!" James cried, throwing his arms around her.

"I don't wanna go in a cage!" Meowth howled, hiding behind them.

Jenny rolled her eyes. "I told you, it's called 'protective custody'! That means we take care of you and keep you safe! You're not in trouble."

"Talk about overreacting," Brock sighed.

"Then...no prison food?" Jessie asked.

Jenny shook her head. "You'll probably be in a hotel with heavy security."

"Oh, I'll bet they'll have real catnip!" Meowth grinned.

"You hear that, James, we'll probably get cable television. James?" Jessie hauled him up farther in her arms and noticed that his eyes were shut. "James?" She worked one hand free to feel for a pulse, but before she could James mumbled something incoherently and adjusted himself. "Oh, you're just sleeping."

"He's bound to be exhausted," Nurse Joy nodded, "even after a full night's rest. He still needs a lot of sleep, and a few shots wouldn't hurt."

Jessie visibly paled at when Joy mentioned "shots" to her. "Well, you'd better do that while he's asleep. He's the biggest baby when it comes to needles. Just him, right?"

"Hah," Meowth laughed. "You're such a scaredy cat. They're just shots."

"Oh, shut up, Meowth!" Jessie snapped.

"Actually, you're fine," Joy smiled, "but Meowth could use a shot. After all, he was hit by tranquilizer darts twice."

"What?!" Meowth cried.

"Hush, you'll wake James," Jessie said. "Where should I carry him?"

"Follow me," Joy said, leading them to a small room in the back with half a dozen beds. "You should all be comfortable in here. You three are staying too, right?"

Ash nodded. "Yeah, they might need help if Team Rocket comes back."

Jenny smiled. "That's really nice of you. Plus, I'll still need you to give evidence later on. I have a feeling this is gonna get huge when it comes to trial."

Jessie set James down in a bed, unable to watch as Nurse Joy gave both him and Meowth a shot. "I think I'd better go to sleep, too," she sighed, yawning. "Tomorrow's going to be a big day."

Meowth sighed, wincing as he got his shot. "And we still don't know where our balloon is."

"It's in the forest," Ash blurted out.

"It is?" Jessie asked. "You saw it?"

"Yeah, we saw the hole you told us about," Misty nodded. "You'd better not go out after it now, or else Team Rocket will find you for sure."

"No, I'll get it," Officer Jenny said. "More evidence."

Too tired to worry much about it, Jessie nodded vaguely and removed her top shirt and shoes, sliding into bed beside James. Officer Jenny was only mildly surprised and Nurse Joy didn't seem fazed at all. She just waved Ash, Misty and Brock out, and they all started answering a round of questions from Jenny.