Chapter Four: Weezing’s Message


Jessie sat alone in her room, holding the picture of James and sobbing. She hardly even noticed when her door opened and Meowth walked in. "Still no word, huh, Jess?" he asked quietly.

"Three days, Meowth! Three days!" Jessie said between her sobs. "He’s been gone for three days and he still hasn’t called. Not a word to let me know if he’s all right or anything! How could he do this?!"

Meowth swallowed hard and looked at the floor. "You know, the Boss is gonna start wondering why he ain’t getting field reports about Pikachu-" he began nervously.

"Screw him!" Jessie snapped. "Screw the Boss! I don’t give a damn if we never catch Pikachu! I just want to know why James is doing this to me! Why hasn’t he called? Oh, Meowth, how can James be doing this?" With that, Jessie began to sob again.

Meowth looked at the sobbing form of Jessie. She was heartbroken. An anger grew inside him, an anger at James. Why would he be doing this? "I’ll be back in a bit, Jessie." he said. Jessie didn’t even bother to acknowledge him as he turned towards her room door and left. Meowth began to march to the communications room. He knew what to do. He would contact the camp and find out just what was going on with James, why he was breaking Jessie’s heart like this.

Meanwhile, in the woods outside Viridian City, three Pokemon trainers sat eating a picnic lunch. Misty swallowed a bite of food, and said, "Isn’t it strange?"

"Isn’t what strange, Misty?" Ash asked, wondering what had gotten to Misty this time.

"Team Rocket." Misty replied.

"I always thought they were strange." Ash replied.

"Pika." added Pikachu in agreement.

"No." Misty said, annoyed. "I mean they haven’t shown up in four days. It’s just weird. They usually show up every other day."

"Now that you mention it, it is strange." Brock said, pausing in the middle of eating his donut.

"Hey, if you two want Team Rocket to attack, fine. But personally, I’m enjoying the break." Ash said, lying back on the ground with his hands behind his head. Suddenly he heard a sound. Looking at the sky, he began to see the approaching form of Weezing. He stood up quickly. "Whoa, it’s a Weezing! I gotta catch it!"

"A Weezing? Ash, doesn’t that mean Team Rocket could be here?" Brock asked.

"They would’ve shown themselves by now." Ash replied. He drew a Pokeball and pointed to Weezing. "You’re mine, Weezing! Pokeball, Go!" he tossed the Pokeball into the sky.

Above, Weezing caught sight of Ash throwing the ball. A battle with that twerp would be a lot of fun right now... no, Weezing thought. My master is depending on me. Got to get to Jessie and Meowth first. With that, Weezing emitted a noxious smoke screen from his mouth, and Ash, Misty, and Brock were caught in a nasty black cloud.

When the cloud cleared, Weezing was gone. Between coughs, Ash realized that his Pokeball was lying on the ground open and empty. Angrily, Ash snatched his hat off and tossed it on the ground.

Brock came by him and put his hand on Ash’s shoulder. "It’s just as well, Ash.. That Weezing looked like it was trying to carry out an important job... I don’t think it would ever let itself be captured."

Ash looked at the ground, angry and disappointed. "I know." he replied. "I just wish I could have caught it."

"Best to let it just go, Ash." Misty said.

Muttering, Ash began to pack up and get ready for the group to leave.

Meanwhile, Weezing flew onward to Viridian City HQ. This was a much harder trip than he had thought, and he hoped he could make it back in time...

Inside the Viridian City HQ Communications room, Meowth glared angrily at the "Hold" screen on the videophone system. He had already had to play around with the main Team Rocket computer database just to find a way to reach Red Rocket Base Camp Delta.

Now he had reached the camp, asked to speak with James, and had been told he wasn’t at the camp. Angrily, Meowth had said that he wanted to speak with whoever was in charge, and now he was on hold for the Chief Trainer.

Suddenly, a beep sounded and the hold screen vanished. Seth was on the screen now. Seth eyed Meowth, sizing him up through the screen. "Yes?" he asked simply.

"You Seth, the Chief Trainer?" Meowth asked, trying to sound intimidating.

If Meowth was expecting Seth to be surprised or impressed by the fact that he could talk, he was to be disappointed. Seth’s expression didn’t change a bit as he listened to Meowth and replied in a smooth, calm voice, "I am. Is there something I can do for you?"

"Yeah. I’m looking for a Red Rocket. The name’s James, agent number 253?" Meowth asked, trying to be civil despite his growing annoyance.

"Ah, yeah. The White Rocket with blue hair." Seth replied.

"That’s him." Meowth replied. Finally, he was getting somewhere. "Your front guard who answered the phone said he wasn’t there."

Seth leaned back casually. "He’s not." He replied.

"What? But he was promoted and he went to your camp!" Meowth protested.

Seth put on a bored face. "He couldn’t take the training. Said he was quitting Team Rocket. Left two days ago."

"But…." Meowth continued. "Why would he do that?"

"I wouldn’t know." Seth said impatiently. "Now, if you don’t need anything else, I have things to attend to."

"Uh… No, that’s OK." Meowth said. The video screen went black. Meowth considered what he had just been told. James quit Team Rocket? No, that didn’t sound right at all. But why would the Chief Trainer lie? He knew something was really wrong here but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Muttering, he left the communications room and walked to the main HQ doors to get some fresh air outside. Maybe that would help him think. He stepped out the front doors and into the bright sun, squinting as he did. It was another bright and sunny day in Viridian City. Meowth looked up at the sky, hoping to get some kind of idea of what to do next. Suddenly, he saw a familiar shape in the distance. Putting his paw above his eyes, he squinted at the form. It looked so familiar….

From the sky, Weezing saw Meowth outside of Headquarters looking up at him. At last he had made it back! He dove in as fast as he could, more than happy to see Meowth.

"Weezing! What are you doin’ here? Where’s James?" Meowth asked as soon as Weezing was close enough.

"Weez. Weezing Weez, Weez, Weezing!" Weezing replied.

Meowth’s eyes got wide. "What? James is in danger? Slow down, will ya?" Meowth said, barely able to understand what Weezing was trying to tell him. Normally, Meowth could understand any Pokemon, but Weezing seemed so panicked that it was hard to tell what was going on.

Somehow, Weezing managed to make himself clear to Meowth as he related the whole story; how it had all been a trick, and what was happening to James now. When he finished, Meowth’s mouth was hanging wide open. "Wow. So this chick Annie is so obsessed over him, she’s trying to kill him or make him quit, and if he doesn’t get killed, she’ll just toss him to Jessebelle?"

"Weez" came the reply.

"Jeez. And I thought Jessie was bad." Meowth said, rolling his eyes. "Come on. We’ve gotta get Jessie and get James outta there!"

Despite being out of breath from his journey, Weezing nodded. The two turned and ran through the door of Headquarters and ran down the hallway toward Jessie’s quarters.

15 minutes later, they had just finished relating Weezing’s story to Jessie. Jessie sat on her bed stunned. Her mouth hung open as she tried to get a fix on what was happening. "So that’s why he hasn’t called. Weezing, did you see any of this happening? How bad is it?" Jessie asked softly, dreading the answer.

"Weez. Weezing Weezing." came the reply.

"He says he hasn’t seen it happen, but he could tell it was really bad on James. Jess, it’s been two days since Weezing left to get us. Who knows how James is now?"

Jessie’s face showed her sense off hopelessness. "But- how can this be happening? How can this be going on at a Team Rocket camp? How could the head of the camp allow it to happen?"

Meowth suddenly remembered what had been said in the call to the camp. "Uh, Jess… I think I can answer that one."

"What?" Jessie asked.

"Well, before I met Weezing outside, I had called the camp to try to talk to James, and the Chief Trainer said he had quit and left the camp."

Jessie’s eyes narrowed to slits. "So it’s being covered up. Well, it ends now! Come on, Meowth, Weezing, we’ve got work to do!"

"What are we gonna do, Jess?" Meowth asked.

Jessie turned to face him. "Save James." She replied. She quickly marched out of the room. Meowth followed her closely, with Weezing following, eager to help rescue his master but wishing he had a Pokeball to travel in. After all, the last two days had taken a lot out of him.

A few minutes later, they had arrived at the motor pool. Sitting behind a desk was Mondo, who was on duty in the motor pool today. "Jessie! Are you ok? It’s been a few days since you paged me for help!" he said with a smile.

"Mondo, We have to get out of here. Is the balloon ready to go?" she asked, eyeing the balloon tethered in the corner.

Mondo looked at her, and could tell she was in a rush. "Uh, yeah. You just need to sign it out." He handed her the clipboard.

Jessie quickly grabbed a pen off the desk and scribbled her name. She and the others quickly ran to the balloon.

"Hey! Don’t you guys wanna pack some supplies or something?" Mondo called.

Jessie looked around the balloon. Mondo was right… there was hardly anything in here besides her mallet and a couple of Rocket Bombs. She looked at the corner by the desk and noticed a cooler. "What’s in there?" she asked.

Mondo looked down at the cooler. "Just some food and medical supplies for Butch and Cassidy." He replied. "They just had it sent down. They’re going out on a mission in a few minutes."

"Great!" Jessie replied. "We’ll take that!"

"Oh, come on, Jessie… I can’t let you take that… I’ll get in trouble!" Mondo said.

Jessie stepped out of the balloon. "Mondo, it’s an emergency. I really need that cooler." She said as she walked toward him.

"I’m sorry, Jessie, but I can’t-" Mondo began. He was silenced when Jessie kissed him on the lips. Mondo’s heart fluttered in his chest.

Jessie broke the kiss, and looked at Mondo. "Now, can I please have it, Mondo?" she asked hopefully.

"Oh, what the heck? Butch and Cassidy can repack." Mondo replied, still dazed from the kiss.

Jessie grabbed the cooler and ran back to the balloon. "Thanks, Mondo, you’re the best!" she called as she and Meowth pulled the cords that held the balloon down. The balloon drifted up and out through the large doors at the far end of the motor pool. Jessie directed the balloon up until they were over the buildings of Viridian City and began to direct the balloon in the direction of the camp, guided by Weezing’s directions.

Meanwhile, Butch and Cassidy walked into the motor pool. "Mondo, is our Jeep ready?" Cassidy asked.

"Yeah, but you know, those supplies you said you sent down never got here." Mondo replied.

Angrily, Butch slammed his fist into the palm of his hand. "Damn it!. Some people around here can’t do anything right." He muttered. "Come on, Cassie, let’s go repack and just bring it down ourselves."

Obviously annoyed, Cassidy followed her partner out of the motor pool. Relieved that they had believed him, Mondo sat back in his chair and smiled. Even if he had gotten in trouble, that kiss would have been worth it.

Revenge Chapter Five: The Rescue