"It’s so strange." Nurse Joy said, "So many trainers have brought their Pokémon here, all suffering the same side effects from some sort of hypnosis attack."

Meowth meowed loudly, then sat up, "Huh? Where am I?"

Jaycee petted him cautiously, "Meowth, you’re at the Pokémon Center." She turned to Nurse Joy, "Will the Pokémon be alright now?"

Joy nodded, "Oh yes, I made this antidote myself, especially for this condition."

Soon all the Pokémon were alright again, and Jaycee returned the ones that would go, to their Pokeballs. Meowth followed her out of the center, and James brought the balloon down long enough for he and Jaycee to get in.

"Thanks for that, Jaycee." James said, "Are the Pokémon all right now?"

Jaycee nodded, "Yeah, they’re fine. I know you can’t go in there, Nurse Joy would have the police onto you in a flash."

James sighed, "The perks of my occupation." He muttered. He brightened, "Now let’s go find Jessie! I bet she’ll be at the head quarters."

Jaycee nodded, "Yeah, guess so." She looked at her feet, "James, did you believe what I told you before?"

"The thing that worries me is that I do." James said, "And the fact that you may be telling the truth, well…"

Jaycee played with her hair nervously, "But I was. I wouldn’t lie to you. I know I did before, but, well, I..."

James looked out over the land below, "Well, you must be telling the truth. I mean, how else could you have known all that stuff. but…"

Jaycee prompted him, "But what?"

James turned to her. He seemed serious, and that was strange, "Well, I don’t believe that you could be in love with me."

Jaycee swallowed, "Why not? I can’t help it."

"How can you be? If what you said is true, I’m just a, a villain in some cartoon show in your world. How can you love that?"

Meowth looked dead confused, "Did I miss something?" he asked.

Neither Jaycee nor James answered him, "I don’t know." Jaycee said, "I don’t understand it either. You just seemed like so much more."

James looked at her, hard, "But I’m not anything more anyway. I may not be a cartoon character in this world, but I’m still just a villain. I don’t see how you could have given up your world just to be with me, when that’s all I am."

"oh, but you’re not really a villain." Jaycee protested, "You’re caring, and you’d never hurt anyone. The only reason you’re in Team Rocket is because, well I guess you need the money. And by failing all the time, it just makes you more determined to succeed."

James turned away from her, "You don’t know that." he said. "You may think you know me, but you don’t Jaycee. You know only what you see on TV, you don’t have any idea who I really am."

"I did miss something, didn’t I?" Meowth asked, still being ignored.

"I know that Jessie treats you badly." Jaycee said, "I know you deserve much better than her."

"Don’t propose to tell me what I deserve!" James retorted, "Right now, I just want to find her, okay?"

He turned to Jaycee, his face almost pleading. Jaycee realized he just didn’t want to deal with this right now, "Sure." She said softly.

They were silent until the sun set, and it began to grow dark.

"don’t you think we’d better stop for da night?" Meowth asked, "We’ll find Jessie in the morning. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m tired."

James nodded without speaking. He took the balloon down. Jessie, where are you? He wondered.

-------------

after going to the Pokémon Center, and having their Pokémon healed, Ash, Misty, Brock and Krystal were sitting at their camp site. Pikachu played happily with Togepi, and Krystal was petting Brock’s Vulpix.

"That was so weird." Ash said to Misty.

"What was?" Misty asked.

"At the Pokémon Center." Ash explained.

Misty nodded, "Yeah," she agreed, "Our Pokémon were back to normal as soon as Nurse Joy gave them some revive. I guess it was just hypnosis or something."

Ash shook his head, "No, no." he said, "I mean, how Brock didn’t even go gaga over Nurse Joy in there."

Misty had to agree.

"So, Krystal, you said you were looking for someone?" Brock asked.

"Yes," Krystal explained, "my friend, I think she’s here."

"What’s her name?" Brock asked, "Maybe we know her."

"Jaycee." Krystal said.

-------------

"You said we were going to a restaurant, but all the way over here in Celadon City?" Jessie asked, as Giovanni led her into the posh looking restaurant. She moved cautiously away from him a little, still feeling uncomfortable about him being that close to her. They were soon seated, and Giovanni looked across at her over the white table cloth, set with silver cutlery and sparkling wine glasses.

Jessie gulped, "So, are you, uh, gonna tell me what this is about?"

"Well, as I said on the helicopter, I’m looking for a business partner." Giovanni said.

"Yeah." Jessie said, nodding, "And then you said it was me."

Giovanni nodded, "I lie quite often, well, for a living actually, but I wasn’t lying about that."

"Boss, I, don’t know how to say this…" Jessie said, sweat dropping.

Giovanni cut her off, "Please, call me Giovanni, Jessie."

Jessie knew she was probably turning pink, "Look, I can’t take this, um, position." She paused, "ah, what does a business partner do anyway?" she hadn’t thought much about this, but the idea of working close to Giovanni had scared her.

Giovanni ordered red wine from the waiter hanging around the table like a Beedrill, and turned back to Jessie, "Well, you would accompany me to various meetings and such, and you would help me in my many duties."

"Fascinating." Jessie said dully, then swallowed, "Um, but why do you need someone to do that?"

"Running a business isn’t easy." Giovanni explained, "And I need someone to represent me when I can’t make it to meetings."

Jessie asked another question which had been nagging at her, "Why a woman?" she asked bluntly, "You only tested the women in the team, not the men. Why?"

Giovanni narrowed his eyes at her, which made her wince, "It’s the way I do things."

Jessie looked down at the table cloth, "But sir, I’m just a field agent, and, well, what about my partner, what will happen to him?"

A waiter poured them each a glass of wine, then scurried away.

"Jessie, do you realize how much money you will receive as my partner? I can offer you anything." He looked at her closely, her eyes still down, "I can give you the world if you let me."

Jessie looked up, and blinked, "Money, huh?" her dreams of being rich…they would all come true, "Well, I hadn’t thought of that."

Giovanni leaned closer to her, "Think of it, Jessie. You and me, the most powerful man and woman in the world."

Jessie swallowed, "I don’t know what to say." She said, blinking, "I don’t understand this at all."

She felt Giovanni’s hand on hers, "Say yes." He said.

Jessie pulled her hand away, She picked up the glass of wine "Yes." She said softly.

Giovanni grinned, and touched his glass to hers. Jessie hardly tasted the bitter sweet drink. What had she just done?

----------

Jaycee hadn’t cried herself to sleep since she had gotten to the island. But tonight she did. I’m such a fool she thought miserably, James isn’t interested in me at all. He doesn’t even believe that I love him. she rolled over in her sleeping bag, tears staining her cheeks, "But I do love you." She whispered, before falling into a dreamless sleep.

James lay on the other side of the fire, looking up at the sky. A tear ran down his cheek. He didn’t understand anything anymore. What was it about that girl? How could what she told him be true? He thought of his partner. Jessie was probably scared and all alone at Team Rocket Head Quarters. Worse, Giovanni had probably fired her. That must have been why he saved her. She was probably upset. She probably missed him terribly. He really hated to be apart from her. And there was Jaycee, trying to tell him that Jessie was some terrible person! James sighed, and fell asleep.

The next morning was one of those mornings no one likes to wake up to. It was cold, and dark. The clouds covered the sun, so that it seemed earlier than it really was. All Jaycee wanted to do was go back to sleep. But James was already awake, sitting in front of the fire, pulling on his boots. Meowth still slept soundly, although he had not had a good sleep, missing the warmth of Jessie which he usually had. Jaycee sat up, shivering in the cool morning air.

"James?" she asked tentatively.

James turned to her, his face expressionless, "Yeah?"

Jaycee bit her lip, "I, uh, are we going to find Jessie today?"

"That’s right." James said, nodding.

"I know you miss her." Jaycee said softly, "I guess when you’re friends with someone, like you are with her, it’s, hard to be apart from each other."

James didn’t look at her, "Yeah, it is." He stood up, "Let’s get going."

Meowth stirred, "What, no breakfast?"

James prodded him with his boot, "Meowth, we’ll eat when we get Jessie back. I know we didn’t have any dinner last night, but think how hungry she must be. I doubt that the boss would give her any food."

"Yeah, you’re right." Meowth agreed.

Once again, the three found themselves in the Meowth balloon. *(that’s it, I’m not putting a freaking ™ after it anymore, go to hell.)* soon they were heading in the right direction for head Quarters.

----------

Jessie wolfed down another pancake. She licked her fingers of the sticky golden syrup, and served herself another from the steaming plate. She had found the tray laden with toast, pancakes, juice and cereal waiting for her when she woke up. James would be so jealous if he could see her now, Jessie reflected. She smirked. She was beginning to like this arrangement. All she had to do was put up with Giovanni, and she was set for life. She looked down at what she was wearing. A satin night gown. The clothes she got here were pretty good too. She ate the rest of the pancakes, and drank the juice. She left the cereal. She had never been fond of such things. Then she made her way to her bathroom. Her own bathroom! She was still giddy about that. she had thought the door was just another wardrobe, but it was a bathroom! She wiped the golden syrup off her cheek – how did that get there? – then proceeded to have a shower. She definitely liked this arrangement.

-------

"You don’t like pancakes?!" Brock cried, "How is that possible?!"

Krystal smiled weakly, "well, I…"

Brock grinned, "Ah! How about some coffee? How old are you?"

"Um, how old are you?" Krystal asked.

"Fifteen, why?" Brock asked.

"YES!" yelled Krystal, jumping up, "Ha! They said you were twelve, but you’re not!" she began laughing maniacally. Then she composed herself, "I’m fourteen."