Giovanni found himself wandering into the laboratory again. The birthplace of Mewtwo. It had been destroyed once, but he flew again to the remote little island to start anew. A fresh project. If he couldn’t capture the mot powerful Pokémon, or to make it, then he could at least learn all he’d ever wanted to. All any human wanted to. He stared into the chambers at the glowing substances that floated within. His pet growled fiercely at them. “Don’t worry, Persian. They won’t replace you.”
*
“We don’t really have to have a Ghost Pokémon, do we?”
“Yes we do.”
“But Jackie…”
“No more buts. Don’t tell me you’re scared of a little ghost.” Jesse sniggered at James. James tried to retaliate but a crowd of people was forming outside of the Pokémon Centre and Jesse ran straight after them, before he could say a word. “Here she goes again!”
“Roll up, roll up! See the amazing family of talking Pokémon!” Jesse and James stared at the advertisement poster. “Meowth?”
“Auntie Jesse?” Jesse looked down and saw a small kitten. “It’s me, Millie!” Jesse gasped in surprise, and gently picked up the furry bundle. Millie purred loudly. “I knew it was you. I said to Martin, I said ‘Isn’t that Unky Jim and Auntie Jesse?’ and he said no. But I was right, wasn’t I? I was right Unky Jim.” She finally stopped talking to take a breath, and Jesse saw it as an opportunity to interrupt.
“Where is Meowth?” The kitten pointed towards the stage. They looked up and saw Justina in a huge magician’s cloak with Meowth and Meowi next to her. “We had some money trouble, so Mommy and Daddy went into showbiz!”
“That’s really risky, especially coming here to perform,” James commented.
“We wanted to see you. HEY DAD!” Millie yelled. “I FOUND UNKY…JOHN!” Meowth smiled and hopped down from the set and ran towards them. Martin followed. “I told you so, Marty,” Millie said smugly.
“Hey youse guyz,” Meowth beamed. “Come on backstage.”
*
Nick had run for too long. He stopped halfway through the Rock Tunnel to face his opponents. They quickly caught up and the three stood there in silence. The four brown eyes gleamed cruelly. “I don’t like them, but I won’t tell you where they are. For Justina’s sake.”
“We didn’t expect you to,” Cassidy laughed. “That would spoil our fun.”
“The Boss wants you gone either way,” said Butch. Nick frowned as Cassidy reached inside her raincoat. “Kill me, and you’ll never be free of Team Rocket’s clutches.”
“Boo hoo,” she said, pulling the trigger. As he fell to the floor, his PokéBelt was safely nestled in a nearby bush. To be discovered soon.
James settled comfortably into Justina’s hammock inside their trailer. Meowth still couldn’t believe that they hadn’t known about his family’s success. He’d starred in three movies! “We’ve been laying low,” Jesse explained.
“Where was ya? In a cave?!”
“Keep it down!” whispered Martin. “Mommy’s in the middle of her solo outside.”
“How cute! Meowi…Mommy! Meowth…Daddy!” James giggled.
“So…” Justina tried to change the subject, “How have you been?”
“Bad.”
“Really Jesse? You look fine.”
She said, “We’ve been worried. What did Butch and Cassidy do at the Pokémon Centre? Why?”
“You think that’s bad? I received a letter. Nick’s mum is wondering why he didn’t return home for her birthday.”
“He’s missing?!” gasped James.
“Uh-huh.” She started to cry. James hugged her closely and looked at Jesse for any words of wisdom. She stood silently, stroking her chin thoughtfully. “We should confront Giovanni.”
“WHAT!”
“I think we should stand and fight him, James.”
“Are you fucking crazy! We’ll be killed. He’s too powerful. As for Butch and Cassidy, the only times we’ve beaten them, the twerp was fighting with us.”
Jesse’s eyes lit up at his words. “The twerps! They’ll fight Giovanni.”
“Huh?”
“Those goody-goodies would fight him, and maybe even win. If we accidentally tell them what he’s up to, they’d be right on his case.”
“We don’t know what he’s up to.”
“That’s where our little pal Mondo comes in…”
*
Mondo was only too happy to help Jesse. After all he did have a big crush on her. It didn’t take long for him to crawl through the air ducts to the laboratory. It was the first place Jesse told him to look for clues. He was surprised to find no one in there but decided it was worth having a sneak around the place. The chambers were empty now, but he found some interesting documents. He gathered all that he could and clambered back into the ducts.
It would take a long time to sort through all the papers James figured, but they had to. They divided them up evenly and each of them started to read their files. The kittens were asleep way before they had come anywhere near solving the mystery. But just after dusk Justina jumped up excitedly. “Listen to this. ‘Recent studies show that the group of Felis Normalis that Dr. Mitchell has been raising have been doing better than we could’ve hoped for; They have already been able to recognise and repeat 20 words’.”
“What does dat mean?” asked Meowth.
“It means…Giovanni is raising his own talking Meowthes!” The others gasped. Justina grabbed Meowi and searched her neck. “Meowi complained of a sore neck and that she was feeling faint after we saw Butch and Cassidy near the Centre.” She spotted the small mark. “Here’s why. They took a blood sample. They must’ve cloned her!”
Meowth started to panic, “Everyone in Team Rocket has a blood test before joining. Dey have me on file too!”
Jesse wasn’t completely convinced. “What would the Boss want with talking Meowthes? He didn’t like the one he already had.”
“Hey!” Meowth felt insulted, though he knew she was right. He’d figured out the Boss’ ulterior motive. “I tink I should tell ya why da Boss tawt I was da top cat at foist.” They all listened carefully. Meowth’s life had been pretty mysterious to them. He never spoke about his past.
“Well, when I foist joined Team Rocket da Boss tawt I was da best ting since sliced bread. Da one ting da Boss wants, is ta find out all da mysteries of Pokémon. Owning one dat could talk was a fantastic find in his eyes. But I didn’t have a clue about wild Pokémon. I was a street Meowth. I’d never even seen a forest. So I was sent to work with Jesse and James. Da only humans who treated me how I wanted to be treated.” He smiled thankfully at them. “But Meowi is a wild Pokémon. He wondered what a street Meowth and a wild Meowth could have in common. And what those other rare talking Pokémon have in common too.”
“A special gene!” James exclaimed. Jesse was shocked. She had no idea that he had a brain. “ Very few Pokémon learn how to tap into it, but those who do are valuable. There are some things that separate humans from animals. The aposable thumb, the ability to walk upright and most importantly…speech. The discovery of Pokémon made us realise that we aren’t that different. Some have hands, some stand and now, some speak,” James concluded triumphantly.
“If the Meowthes he has are released into the wild and then collected again, who knows what he’ll find out. One thing that Meowi and I agreed on when I taught her to speak, was that she didn’t have to tell me anything she didn’t want to,” said Justina.
“Well,” said Jesse, “Let’s go find the twerps.”
*
As Jesse had predicted, Ash and Misty headed straight for Saffron City, to the building where Giovanni was. “Come on Misty, hurry up.”
“Ash, wait! Togepi is heavier than it looks.” Before Ash could answer her, the ground opened up and they fell through a chasm. James and co. (who had been stalking them) followed them into the pit. Officer Jenny was immediately at the scene. But immediately was too late.
“You stupid kids!” Jesse shouted at them. “We give you one job…”
“What are you doing here?” Misty asked. Jesse didn’t have time to answer because two familiar faces appeared through the darkness.
“To infect the world – ”
“Oh no, not Butch and Cassidy,” Ash groaned. “What do you want?”
“Not Pikachu, for once. We want the kittens,” said Cassidy.
“Kittens?” Ash exclaimed as he and Misty rolled around on the floor laughing. Even Pikachu giggled at Meowth. Meowth responded by fury-swiping them all. Cassidy snorted with impatience. “I’ve got no time for this. Hand them over. Now!” Ash saw this as the perfect opportunity for a battle and called in Pikachu. As the battle between rat and mouse ensued, the humans and the Meowthes crept away towards the exit. Butch and Cassidy were distracted by Ash and Pikachu and took no notice.
When they had reached the laboratory, they found that the cloned Meowthes were back in their chambers, asleep. “What do we do with them?” wondered James.
“I’ll look after them,” said Mondo.
“Oh Mondo! You’re the best!” Jesse said, hugging him. He was so pleased that he could only babble in response. They set to work; Justina worked on guessing the password to unlock the chambers, while the others came up with an escape route out of the building.
“Pikaaaaaa!” A high pitched wail echoed through the hallway.
“Pikachu lost!” Jesse cried. They couldn’t believe it. Butch and Cassidy were somehow stronger than before. And they had little chance of beating them. “What’ll we do?” Mondo pointed to the air ducts, “Up there. It’s our only hope.”
Crawling along, Jesse realised that short skirts were not a good idea on rescue missions. Then again, she’d never rescued anyone before. She suddenly understood, in horror, that they had turned…good! “Typical,” she muttered. “When you think things can’t get worse, you find out that you’re no longer bad!”
“Did you say something, Jesse?”
“Be quiet James!” They finally reached the end. Just as they were hopping down, a silhouette formed on the wall beside them. Jesse turned round, and the person it belonged to was someone very unexpected.
*
“Miyamoto?” breathed Justina in bewilderment. She’d heard of this legendary member of Team Rocket, tragically killed by an avalanche while trying to find the legendary Mew in the mountains nearby.
Jesse couldn’t believe her eyes. “Mom!”
“Mom?” they all gasped.
“Jesse…dear,” she began, unsure of how to explain her disappearance. But she spotted Ash. “You!”
“Me?”
“You look just like your father.”
Ash was puzzled. “How do you know my father?”
“Why, he’s the leader of Team Rocket.”
“WHAT!!!!!!!!!” they yelled.
“Of course,” she grinned, “He’s Jesse’s father too.”
“That twerp is my half-brother?!!!!!!!!!!!” screamed Jesse. Miyamoto decided it was time to tell all. She explained about Mewtwo and the cloning of Mew, and how she was sent originally to find a Mew but when she ‘died’ they decided to use cells and chambers instead of a live Pokémon. She faked her death because she longed to be free of Team Rocket, and for Jesse to be too. Rather than tell her daughter of her plans in case she was put in any danger, she told a friend of hers, Mrs Delia Ketchem, to look after her until it was safe for Miyamoto to come back for Jesse. But before Mrs Ketchem could reach the house, Jesse had already learned of her mother’s death and she ran away. Pokémon Technical was the first place she thought of going. Miyamoto had described to Jesse how exclusive it was, and how one day she hoped Jesse would attend it. Miyamoto didn’t search for her in case Giovanni found her. Instead she hid in the mountains with Bruno of the Elite Four. Jesse understood and forgave her mother. “I’m only glad,” Miyamoto said, “That you were able to find a friend like James. He didn’t bother you about your past, and vice-versa.” He shrugged shyly. Ash sat in the corner rocking back and forth. “I’d never seen Giovanni,” he murmured worriedly. “How was I to know?”
Jesse laughed, “You weren’t, bro!”
“Don’t call me that!”
“Justina, I’m sorry. I think this belongs to a friend of yours…” Miyamoto held up a PokéBelt. Justina hung her head sadly.
“OK,” she said summoning herself. “Now that all these big mysteries have been solved, what’ll we do? Where will we go?” asked Justina, defiantly, taking the belt from her.
James answered her. “I called my parents before we came here. They said they’ll take us in if we need to lay low.”
“Why would dey do dat?”
“They said that as long as I was getting married, and would produce an heir, they couldn’t care less about Jessebelle. They didn’t care who the girl was as long as I was married.”
“What did Jessebelle ‘ave to say about dat?”
“Who cares!”
*
James’ parents liked Jesse and Miyamoto. Their lust for money and power impressed them. They liked Justina, Meowi and the kittens as they were polite and well brought up. And they thought Meowth was funny, so there were no arguments. James was happy to see Growly again. But Ash and Misty did not stay. Ash was still trying to get over the initial shock and Misty wanted to brag to her sisters how she was girlfriend to the most economically powerful boy in the world.
Jesse and James watched the sun go down. They were pleased with the way things had turned out. Behind them, James’ mother was rushing round preparing what the wedding would look like, what they would need, who they were inviting etc. The pair smiled thoughtfully. “Jesse, how long do you think my parents will wait before they start pressurising us about something new?”
“You mean like, an heir?”
“Yeah.”
“Not long,” she grinned, patting her stomach. “Not long.”
NOT AGAIN!
