Chapter Text
All Jessie had ever wanted was to survive.
She had a few vague memories of her mother—a smile, and a warm hug, and doting hands—but nothing substantial. What she remembered most clearly was the feeling of being loved.
She had only felt that two other times: once, when Chansey gave her half of the egg medallion; again, when she and James made up after joining Team Rocket. What had happened in the bike gang, stayed in the bike gang, as far as they were concerned now.
All Jessie had ever wanted was to survive, and now, that stupid bitch Matori was taking all of her hard-worked plans and tearing them to pieces.
“Forget the boy and his Pikachu, Giovanni has much bigger plans for you now that the Ultra Beasts have shown their true power,” Matori said, pushing her glasses up on her nose. The screen flickered for a moment, but stabilized. “The next wormhole that opens, we’re sending you through.”
“…what.” Jessie deadpanned. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see James’s jaw on the metaphorical floor. Mimikyu was snickering in the background, and Matori looked proud, that bitch.
“That’s crazy talk, nya,” Meowth said, clambering up onto the chair to get closer to the screen. “Even the twerp and his twerpy friends only barely made it back. It’s a death trap!”
“The boss believes it’s safe. Are you questioning the boss?”
Jessie ground her teeth in an attempt to refrain from cursing Matori out. What did she know? Just because she’d flown into Alola once on that stupid cushy helicopter of hers didn’t mean she knew anything.
“Of course not,” she ground out. “But,” she paused.
“What?” Matori snapped.
“Ultra Space is dangerous. Incredibly dangerous. If we’re going in, we want our old Pokémon back.” Jessie glared at Matori, but a plan was forming in her mind.
James gave her a questioning side eye. She nodded, almost imperceptibly.
“That’s reasonable. Go to the Pokémon Center on Route 16 on Ula’Ula at 9 PM tonight. An operative will be there with your team members.” Matori typed something into her computer, then turned back to them. “That is all. HQ out.”
The screen flickered and then shut off.
There was a long silence, as James sunk to the floor and Jessie tried to make sense of what had just happened.
“She wants us to… go in the wormhole,” he muttered.
“Didn’t you hear? Giovanni wants us to go in the wormhole.” Meowth licked the back of his paw, rubbing his ear.
Jessie knew the Pokémon was just as worried as she was, even if he didn’t show it. His more feline traits tended to come out when he was nervous.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said, stepping up. We need to get to Ula’Ula as soon as possible. It’s already getting late.”
James turned to look at her, releasing Mareanie and hugging her as close as he could without poisoning himself. “What was that about, Jess?” He asked. “I didn’t expect you to take orders from Matori so easily. Not that I’m complaining about getting to see Inkay again, but…”
“Oh, James, James, James,” Jessie drawled, returning Mimikyu with a flick of her wrist. “I’m not going anywhere near those wormholes, and neither are you, or Meowth, or Wobbuffet.”
“What do you mean? It’s the boss’s orders.”
Jessie knelt down in front of where James had propped himself against the wall, looking into the eyes of her long-term partner and friend. “James,” she said, slowly. “None of us are going through that wormhole. And that means that all of us are actively defying an order from Giovanni himself.” She paused for a moment to let her statement sink in. “I think,” she said, standing and slipping Mimikyu’s Luxury Ball into her pocket, “that perhaps… our time with Team Rocket is coming to an end.”
~
Ash had no idea what he was going to do next.
He’d finally won a league—a brand-new, semi-unofficial league—but it was still valid, according to Professor Kukui, which technically made him the Alolan Champion. Most of the Pokémon world wasn’t taking it very seriously, but some were, as evidenced by the 17 missed calls from Gary and 14 missed calls from Charles Goodshow. Probably wanting to battle and congratulate him, respectively. He had waved Rotom off every time, not wanting to talk about it quite yet.
Not until he had a new plan in place.
Sophocles was going to Hoenn. Lana was going in search of Manaphy, of all Pokémon, though Ash was sure that if she knew what he knew about the Seafaring Pokémon, she wouldn’t be so excited about it. Even Lillie and Gladion were going in search of their father and his secrets. Ash, on the other hand, still had no idea what to do next.
“Ding ding ding! Incoming call from: Iris.” Rotomdex flew up to Ash, a ringing phone symbol on its screen.
“Don’t answer it, Rotom,” Ash said. He wasn’t in the mood to be made fun of today, regardless of how much he knew Iris didn’t mean it.
“Call declined.” The phone symbol disappeared, replaced by Rotom’s face. “Ash, that is the 22nd call you’ve declined to answer in the past 24 hours.”
“I know, Rotom,” Ash said, watching Pikachu climb on Melmetal across the room. “I’m just not in the mood to talk today.”
He heard the squeak of the front door and a familiar, “Hey Ash! I’m home!”
Ash jumped up from the couch, waving Rotom off once again. “Professor Kukui!”
“Pika pika!” Pikachu leapt off of Melmetal and scrambled up Ash to settle on his shoulder. “Chupika?”
“What do you want for dinner, Ash?” Kukui asked, glancing at the clock. It was almost 5:30 already.
Ash paused, looking at Pikachu, who nodded. “That Hoennese stir-fry that you made the other week?” It was really good stir-fry. Probably some of the best he had ever tasted. Professor Burnet had said that the secret was Alola’s fresh pineapple.
Professor Kukui nodded, and went to dig in the fridge for the ingredients as Ash pulled out the Pokéchow from the cupboard and started systematically pouring it into bowls. He had been officially banned from the kitchen after the mall incident, but he didn’t mind, because he loved all the Pokémon.
“And there’s for you, Melmetal,” he said, handing over a large piece of scrap metal after the last of the Pokéchow had been distributed. They had started buying scrap metal in bulk from a forge on Akala, and Melmetal loved it.
Pikachu hopped off his shoulder and over to his own bowl, munching excitedly.
“Hey, Ash,” Kukui called, his head still inside the fridge. “I think we’re out of carrots,” he said. “Could you run downtown and buy some before Burnet comes home?”
“Sure,” Ash said, watching Pikachu, who quickly scarfed down the rest of his food and clambered back onto Ash’s shoulder. “Rotom, are you coming?”
“Bzzt! Of course!” The dex said. “I will instruct Ash to buy only the best carrots!”
“Oh, and pick up some malasadas while you’re out!” Kukui called after them.
~
Ash didn’t return for several hours. Kukui ended up making the stir-fry without carrots, and when Burnet came home and inquired about Ash and Pikachu, he simply had to shrug and tell her the truth.
He and Burnet had already finished their meal by the time Ash came bursting through the door, a box of malasadas in his hands and a bag of carrots in Pikachu’s mouth.
“Sorry I’m so late, Professors,” he gasped, holding up the box. “I couldn’t find the malasada truck anywhere so I ended up going to Mallow’s family restaurant but it was super busy there ‘cause like, it was dinner time, and then Mallow came out and we started talking and I totally lost track of time,” he blurted out.
“It’s alright, Ash,” Kukui reassured, taking the box of donuts from him. “The food is fine without carrots. Would you like me to heat some up for you?”
“Yes, please,” Ash said, setting Pikachu down and taking a seat across from Burnet. Kukui took the leftovers out of the fridge and poured them back into a pan, turning up the heat.
Burnet opened the box of malasadas and peered at them. “What flavors are these?”
“Um,” Ash said, and Pikachu hopped up on the table, pointing at one.
“Pi,” it said. “Kachu.” It pointed at the others. “Chu pika pi.”
“Oh that’s right,” Ash said, nodding. “Guava, mango, cream, and basic.”
“Thank you, Ash,” Burnet said, taking one of the mango-filled donuts.
“It was so weird,” the boy said. “Normally, you can find the malasada truck at one of their usual spots. But today, it was just like, poof! They’d disappeared!”
Pikachu nodded.
Kukui tossed the stir-fry in the pan. That particular truck had opened right around the time Ash had arrived in Alola, so only a few months ago, but they did make really good malasadas, so they had quickly gained popularity. It was unlike them to be closed on a Friday night at 6.
He shook his head. “They’re probably just taking the day off,” he said, serving Ash’s food up on a plate. “Everyone needs a break sometimes, right?”
“Right,” Ash echoed. “A break.”
~
Jessie had Seviper curled around her neck like a dangerous, poisonous scarf, and neither were particularly inclined to leave that position any time in the foreseeable future. Carnivine had bit James’ head as soon as he released it from its pokeball, something that seemed to concern Bewear greatly, before James reassured it that it was fine and he was used to it. Mime Jr and Stufful were playing under the watchful eye of Bewear, and Inkay flipped in circles next to James.
“So, Jess, if we’re gonna do this, we gotta do it right,” Meowth said, Wobbuffet behind him. “What’s the plan?”
“We cut all ties to HQ and disappear,” Jessie said, staunchly. “Before we were Team Rocket, James and I were a lot of other things. We’ll figure it out as we go.”
“I don’t know, Jess,” James said, worrying one of his bottle caps between his fingers. “I’m good at disguises, but I’d still feel better about defecting if we weren’t just going to be out there roughing it.”
“James is right,” Meowth said. “Giovanni is good, and the Matori Matrix will do whatever he says. We’d be caught in no time.”
“Ugh, fine,” Jessie grumbled. “What was your great idea, then?”
“Ok, hear me out.” Meowth held up his paws. “We have info. Not everything, but we don’t need everything. We have enough. If we’re gonna defect, we might as well do it right.”
“Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?” Jessie asked, almost disgusted at the idea, but then she remembered Matori’s weasel-like face and all traces of disgust disappeared.
“But who would we go to?” James asked, seemingly seriously considering the cat’s plan. “Lance? We’d get Hyper Beamed on sight.”
“Of course not, you’re right, and besides, Kanto’s not the safest place for us if we actually do this,” Meowth pointed out. “I was thinking someone a lot closer, who could maybe get in touch with Lance—or other authorities—for us.”
Jessie and James locked eyes in a fatal glance, coming to the same conclusion at once.
“The twerp.”