[Pokémon] Team Rocket: Built On Lies

[GioRocket]

Team Rocket: Built On Lies
"Set after the events of Operation Tempest, Giovanni's next scheme plans to send the whole world into ruin. But how will Team Rocket cope when they realize that Operation Tempest changed Giovanni forever..."

The main characters in this story will be Jessie, James, Meowth and Giovanni but down the line most Team Rocket member who have been affiliated with the group in the anime will be included in some way, though probably not to the degree of my big 4.

The ages of my main characters I am judging that Jessie and James were 17 back in Generation 1, giving it a year for each passing Generation which would put them at 22 now. Giovanni...I dunno, 30/40ish...

This is my first real fanfiction so I will be making mistakes, so I welcome criticism, constructive or otherwise, tell me you hate it, I dont mind, I just want to get better at this

And so it begins...



Chapter 1: Coming Home

“Rocket Log - Lead Scientist and Second in Command of the Rocket Empire, Dr Zager speaking: I am greatly disturbed by the events which have just unfolded here tonight. This was finally the night when Operation Tempest would unfold. It was all going so well, right according to plan and was following my predictions to the letter, though things soon became complicated. The Boss decided to go off course. In his quests for supremacy our Boss, Giovanni, got carried away, and he took on much more than he could handle.

In his attempt to control the entire Unova region, Giovanni got lost in greed. Nobody is really sure of the true powers of the Reveal Glass, the item has been shrouded in mystery for years, but I do know one thing, it somehow took control of Giovanni's mind. The symptoms of this happening seemed to be similar to how Psychic Pokémon have been able to take control of a humans mind. It is known throughout all of Pokémon law, that when humans let their mind come in close contact with Psychic Pokémon, their brains cannot handle that kind of pressure. Psychic Pokémon physiology is so much more complex than humans, and when a human merges with the intense algorithms of a Psychic Pokémon’s brainwaves, the human brain is just too primitive to deal with that pressure and cannot cope. It seemed that is what happened to Giovanni, but I can't be certain.

This has happened to Giovanni tonight, now the connection between Giovanni and the Reveal Glass was able to be broken by the three Rocket Officers: Jessie, James and Meowth, hopefully before any permanent damage could be done. The Boss seems to be normal now, but there is a great chance that he may have suffered a great trauma to his brain. When we get back to Kanto it is of the upmost importance that Giovanni be informed, I will have to break the news to my Boss that he may be dying...

Hopefully, as Giovanni's connection with the Reveal Glass was able to be broken quickly that any lasting damage will be able to be dealt with. Myself, Jessie, James, Meowth and the Boss were the only survivors in this failed mission. This mission, Operation Tempest! That which was supposed to be our biggest mission, our grandest stand...all gone. When we return to Kanto, I'm afraid to say that I can't see a way in which Team Rocket can survive.”

---

The main objective of Operation Tempest was simple: conquer. Team Rockets plan was to take control of the Unova region, the highest populated and the richest country in all the lands. To achieve this risky objective, which Giovanni himself wanted to spearhead, for reasons still unknown, Team Rocket needed to bring forth the power of ancient legend. The first aim was to kidnap the Legendary Pokémon known as Meloetta, a small but powerful Pokémon, stories of which have been passed down through generations. Legend has it that the voice of this psychic Pokémon was able to fill people's hearts with joy for the rest of their days, however when sorrow polluted to world, Meloetta lost its voice. Only Team Rocket would use such a pure and innocent Pokémon for their own twisted schemes. Once Team Rocket had captured this Pokémon, which Jessie, James and Meowth had somehow managed to achieve successfully, Team Rocket would use the fabled voice of Meloetta to awaken and open the Abyssal Ruins.

The Abyssal Ruins, a vast underwater temple, housed an item known as the Reveal Glass. Meloetta and an ancient civilisation had watched over the Abyssal Ruins and moreover the Reveal Glass for years and years. It was in the Reveal Glass was the true power Giovanni was looking for. Over the years, attacks on the Abyssal Ruins, to steal and manipulate the Reveal Glass, had started to become more frequent, however it was only Team Rocket who managed to awaken the true power of the Reveal Glass.

The Reveal Glass, supposedly a mythical item which has the powers to "tell the truth" and when looking into this glass your “true form” is said to be revealed. Though something else, with much darker consequences, is housed within this glass. There is an unknown quality within the Reveal Glass, a quality which has the ability to control any Pokémon of your choosing, should you say the Pokémon’s name into this glass. Of course this was all just legend, fairy tales. It was this legend which made the Reveal Glass so intriguing, it was this legend that Giovanni wanted to manipulate, and manipulate he did.

Thanks to Jessie, James and Meowth kidnapping Meloetta, Giovanni was able to gain access to the Abbysal Ruins. Thanks to Doctor Zager, Giovanni was able to use a recording of Meloetta's voice to access the Reveal Glass. And thanks to the Reveal Glass, Giovanni had the power of any Pokémon in existence in his hands. Giovanni is a clever man, he and Doctor Zager had spend months upon months deciding which would be the perfect Pokémon, who would have the power to bring an entire region to its knees. After many fierce debates, battles between the two highest ranking Rocket Officers, it was decided that one more legend would have to be awakened.

Landorus, Tornadus and Thundurus. Three of Unova’s most powerful and destructive Pokémon. Many folktales have surrounded the three Pokémon, up until recently it was thought that they didn't even exist, just purely myth. Landorus, the being of land, the Earth, said to have the power of every element of nature under its control, a true force of nature. Tordanus, the being of the heavens, the skies, able to whip up destructive hurricanes with a simple swing of his tail. Thundurus, the final point in the triangle of power, Thunderus controls the state of matter between the earth and the heavens, with indescribable powers of lightning at his command. The three legends were said to have fought viciously for generations, every natural disaster ever to happen was thought to be when one legend was able to defeat the others, there are shrines built on every site of a disaster, with the locals praying to the three gods, praying that such destruction would never happen again.

It was these three Gods whom Giovanni spoke their name into the Reveal Glass. Team Rocket had had previous dealings with the trio of legends, but the mission failed when they realised there was no way to keep these three monsters under control. However, now thanks to the Reveal Glass, Giovanni had the power. Once Giovanni spoke the names "Landorus, Tornadus, Thundurus" into the Reveal Glass, all the myths came true. Unova was shattered into pieces. Tornados, tsunamis, earthquakes ripped open the entire region, almost blowing the whole of Unova off the map. For a while, everything was going according to plan, Team Rockets greatest and most optimistic mission was actually working!

However, something changed. Giovanni changed.

Giovanni ordered the three legendary monsters to destroy. That was never a part of the mission. The initial outburst of power was just a scare tactic, they would then use the three Legendary Pokémon to bring Giovanni to power, but Giovanni didn't stop. He told the three beasts to destroy Unova. Destruction was never the aim of the mission, not fully. The aim was to use the three legends to bring society to its knee, for Team Rocket to be the be all and end all, for Team Rocket to control the world. But that isn’t how things turned out. Something within the Reveal Glass changed something inside of Giovanni, it has been said that the glass shows a person’s “true form”, whatever that should mean, but surely that was just an old wives tale, right? Right? When Giovanni looked into the glass, did he see pure evil behind his eyes; did this vision of himself drive him to insanity? Whatever happened in the Reveal Glass drastically changed Operation Tempest, not for the better. Because of Giovanni's insanity, and Giovanni's insanity alone, Team Rocket failed in taking over the world, Team Rocket failed Operation Tempest.

---

On route back home to the Rocket Base in Viridian City from the site of Operation Tempest, the sounds of the powerful engines of Giovanni's private jet was blaring through the still night air was the only noise out in the silence of the environment that night. Team Rocket’s jet was disturbing many of the wild Pokémon’s natural habitats tonight. But not in the way they wanted, not in the way they expected and not in the way that was supposed to happen. Not that disturbing the natural environment was upsetting any of the passengers on board going back to Kanto, for the weight of the world was pressing down on the shoulders of the 5 Rockets on board. None more so than the only female Rocket on board.

A frantic Jessie was pacing the floors of the rather spacious aeroplane, “We lost..."

"Looks like it," James replied downtrodden, though seemingly much more at ease than Jessie was, staring out of the window of Giovanni's personal jet.

We lost, again." Jessie almost shouted this time.

"We did." James’ relaxed nature wasn't really helping to calm down Jessie.

"How the hell are you so calm about this?" Pulling James face away from the window going right up face to face with her partner, with venom in her voice.

The final member of the infamous Rocket trio also seemed less fazed by the events of Operation Tempest. "Shouldn't we be used to losing by now? After all the times we followed that Pikachu around you would think tha-"

"SHUT UP, MEOWTH!" Screaming the words, it was good fortune that Dr Zager and Giovanni had left them alone, it is doubtful they would want to hear yet another squabble from Jessie, James and Meowth.

"We lost! Again! How can it be so possible!? We fight every opponent, we throw our strongest arsenal at them and yet we fall short every time..." Pacing, incensed, Jessie could no longer hold back on Team Rockets latest failure.

"Jessie?" Meowth tried to interrupt but she was far from done.

"Every mission...every day, every night, every chance that is given to us we managed to just humiliate ourselves!"

"Jessie, stop." Unsuccessful again...

"What has happened to us? We used to be special, we just to be the bane of Kanto's existence, remember? Back before we ever set eyes on that damn Pikachu. We were revered, Kanto’s most wanted, we were feared!" Slamming her hands on the walls, the furious Rocket agent was almost pulling her hair out. "Now look at us, what we have become, after all these years we couldn't even catch a damn Pikachu, we could have just given up, called it a day, one Pikachu couldn't be so important, right?"

"You know the Boss told us to keep going after the Pikachu, he recognises how special he is. Well, he does now anyway." Once again, Meowth was trying to reason with the now hysterical Jessie.

"Because he expected us to catch it! Because he didn't think three of his agents would fail to catch something that children can catch in Viridian Forest! And we never did, and we never will! You know why?"

"Just leave it alone, Jess," Meowth didn't care for her crisis of confidence. "The Boss doesn't even care about Pikachu anymore! He forgave us for not catching it; he even gave us a promotion."

"He promoted us because we told him we defeated Team Galactic and the Pokémon Hunters all by ourselves in Sinnoh," They may not have been the greatest agents in Team Rocket history but when it comes to lying the Rocket trio were second to none.

"Exactly! I must admit, that was excellent work on our part, Galactic is finished and Hunter J is dead, he he, the perfect lie...Team Rocket was built on lies, I see no problems here."

"No problems? No problems! So you’re saying nothing when wrong with what happened just now?"

"I'm not sayin-"

"The Boss almost died out there!"

"Quiet, you two," James scolded, though of the three he seemed to be the one most at ease. "Fight amongst ourselves won't settle anything."

"Nothing will settle anything anymore, James, can't you see? We're finished." Jessie was incredulous at her comrade. "You saw how invested he was in that mission, when does he ever get his hands dirty? He did this time, and he failed, we failed!"

“You know what, Jess, think about what happened back there. I don't think we actually failed this mission." James' statement was one point of view...

Jessie’s was another, "Are you senile? Do you have Meloetta stuffed under your shirt?"

"Jess, calm down, when I say we didn't fail, I didn't mean Team Rocket, I mean us. Us three. Team Rocket didn’t get Meloetta but think about what we gained. We saved the bosses life out there!" James made a fair point, it was Jessie, James and Meowth who broken the connection between Giovanni and the Reveal Glass, who knows what damage that connection could have done Giovanni, who know what damage the connection already has done to Giovanni.

"Yeah, so? Any agent would do that; any agent would give their life for his." It was true, Giovanni is a powerful man, it is unknown how he managed to acquire such power, or how he does it, but there have been rumours swirling around the ranks of Team Rocket of the ones who disobeyed Giovanni. Disappearing, never to be heard from again. Once you are in Team Rocket, there is no getting out. You listen to and protect the Boss at all costs or die in mutiny.

"James' right, we have major bragging rights here. I know the pledge every agent has to take before becoming a fully fledged member, but how many people can say they have actually saved his life! For the first time in years we hold the cards," the sly cat commented.

"Like you said Jess, he never gets his hands dirty, not like this. He's a puppet master, not a soldier, this'll be the first time anybody has had a hold over him." Was James suggesting rebellion?

"I guess, but now what? What's our next move? Overthrowing the Empire?" Jessie realised that maybe they were right, challenging the Boss was rarely a good idea but surely they deserved something! Though overthrowing the Boss would be an almost impossible mission.

"Don't be ridiculous, can you imagine us in control of Team Rocket? The only thing we'd accomplish is bad hair and even worse mechas..."

"SHUT UP MEOWTH!"

"Of course, three people overthrowing an empire it a little too much of a stretch, but we could easily get a pay rise out of this, even another promotion!"

"Maybe you're right; the Boss may even let me do contests again." Her whole complexion suddenly brightened up, Jessie was giddy at that thought, once a Sinnoh Grand Festival semi-finalist, all until Giovanni found out and put an end to that dream. No personal pursuits were allowed under Giovanni's order. If they hadn't thought on their feet and told him they took down Galactic and J single handed in time he could have had them "disappear" indefinitely.

"Exactly! He may even take our Pokémon out of captivity and give them bac-"

"Wait, do you hear that?" Meowth interrupted. A strange quiet, almost strangled scream a drifted through the plane.

"Hear what? I don’t hear anything. I can't wait to see Carnivine and Mime Jr again; they'll get along so well with Yamask." James was miles away now, oblivious to the strange sounds coming out of the other side of the aircraft, with daydreams of all his Pokémon together again. Now they were back in Kanto, there seemed to be no reason to keep all of Jessie and James's Pokémon locked away anymore.

"That noise, I hear it too," Jessie commented, it sounded like there was talking coming from the other side of the aeroplane. "Let’s check it out."

Travelling around the Giovanni's luxurious plane was quite a sight to behold, it was an enormous aircraft. Given the sheer size of the plane, the fact that the Rocket trio could even hear the ruckus coming from the other side was pretty surprising. Trying not to sample all of the expensive gadgets in the plane, room after room of plasma TV screens, massage chairs, a grand piano, zebra print wallpaper, soft carpeting underfoot, Meowth wondered how much this jet set Giovanni back.

"The Boss sure spares no expense with this stuff, just what you would expect from a Crime Lord, I guess." Meowth observed as they passed huge portraits of Giovanni in various different environments, "Hey the Boss looks pretty good in all these paintings, looks like all my fantasies about him were pretty close to reality..."

Jessie rolled her eyes, "Can we please not talk about your disturbing homo-erotic dreams right now..."

Coming up to another large room, the three Rocket Agents overheard a mumbling inside, and saw something which was almost inconceivable to them.

"We had it, I had it..."

Other than Doctor Zager who was piloting the aircraft, Giovanni was the only other passenger of the vessel. Giovanni was speaking these words? The tone of his voice was a far cry from the usually cool and calculating Rocket Boss. Giovanni had excused himself from Jessie, James and Meowth shortly after declaring his intentions to return to Kanto, not to mention his epiphany that his own greediness almost caused his own destruction which came seconds before the order to come home to Viridian City.

"How did...what happened?"

Giovanni was crouching down, huddled in the corner of the grand room. With his trusted Persian by his side, was he on the phone?

"Why am I here?"

Giovanni was hunch over, crouching in the corner of Team Rockets flagship aircraft. There was no phone in his hand; he must have been...talking to himself.

"Where is Meloetta!" His incoherent chattering was getting louder, or getting louder again, considering they heard it before.

"Operation Tempest, our greatest mission, my greatest mission!" His hands were clutching his head, almost pulling his hair out as he continued to scream and shout pounding and pounding hard on the walls

"I ordered destruction!" The Crime Lord was shouting now, his internal struggle was throwing himself into a frenzy.

"B-Boss? Are you alright?" Choosing to interrupt Giovanni might not that been the smartest thing to do, but watching him get angrier and angrier seemed like a much worse alternative.

“You three! You failed me, you always fail me!” He rushed across the room to the three suddenly terrified Agents, stopping abruptly, face to face with them, looking them dead in the eyes.

“No, Boss, that isn’t true, you see-” Backing away, Jessie was searching for anything they could say to calm him down.

“SHUT UP, you don’t deserve excuses, you can’t say anything, you failed me and you failed at this like you fail at everything in your life!” He was insane, frantic at the thought of his own personal mission failing beyond repair.

“Boss! We did everything you told us to!” It was true, technically. They succeeded in kidnapping Meloetta and orchestrating the events of bringing the Legendary Pokémon to Giovanni, it was hard to admit but the failure of the mission lied squarely on the shoulders of Giovanni.

“No, no, no, no,” Shaking his head viciously, bouncing of the walls, Giovanni was clearly unstable here, they had never seen the Boss in such a state, he was a cool and calculating individual. Not the insane monster that was raging before their very eyes.

“It’s true! We didn’t do anything wrong here.” Panic now riddled through them, for once failure wasn’t their fault and now the Boss was seemingly planting his own failure on them, which to be honest was mostly foolproof, most people would think it was the accident prone Jessie, James and Meowth who screwed up anyway.

“Oh? You did nothing wrong? Nothing wrong! Then why isn’t Unova under my control now? Why? Why? Why?” Seething, he was totally out of his mind. Something must have happened during the link with Meloetta Jessie and James were now realizing, unbeknownst to all of them, Dr Zager’s prediction was coming true.

“But, but, s-sir, we”

“I asked you a question, agent!”

“It wasn’t our faults, sir...we did-” Stumbling over their words, trying to say anything that would calm the Boss down.

“You have no excuses, you failed me, and you failed Team Rocket! You’re finished! You’re through! I should kill you right now!”

“Boss, no! It wasn’t our fault! It was-” Finding any way out of this conversation seemed impossible, they were scared out of their wits! They needed to get him back to normal, and fast, if any over the other higher ranking Rocket officers were to see him like this, he would be finished.

“Wait...wait...” A stoic calm suddenly overcame the Rocket Boss. It was like a light switch had suddenly turned off inside him. The raging monster was now a tranquil statue stating off into the distance. “In fact...I will...Persian, kill them! Hyper Beam, now!”

The scariest words Jessie, James and Meowth had ever heard had come in the most serene, velvety tone from the now clearly unhinged Boss. Giovanni wasn’t like this; such a public display of outrage, of insanity, against his own agents no less. He acted the composed, heartless businessman, but deep down, you did get some semblance that he cared for his agents, all of them. It was his own empire after all; he must have cared in some way. They had to do something, anything, to stop this. This wasn’t the way Team Rocket’s demise was supposed to happen.

With Giovanni's loyal Persian charging up one of the most devastating attacks he could learn, Jessie, James and Meowth had seconds to save themselves...

Jessie thought on her feet the quickest. “It was Zager, it was Zager, it was all Zager, sir!” Screaming the words before Giovanni’s psychotic pet had the chance blow the whole aeroplane out of existence.

Giovanni heard that. “Persian stop! STOP! What did you say to me, agent?”

“It was Zager who messed up. HE was the one who gave all of the orders for the mission; it was HIS plans, HIS predictions.” A relieved Jessie relayed the statement to her Boss, it was more lies, but it had just saved their lives.

“So it was...you are right, it was Zager, it was always Zager.” Staring off into space once more, it seemed that Jessie’s excuse had worked in getting him to calm down.

"Wait, no. Jessie it-" James tried to protest but got a swift kick in the shins from Meowth.

“Zager is my Unova representative. How did he fail me? Why did he fail me...?” Giovanni seemed to be lost in thought now, such mood swings...he really had lost his mind.

"Boss, Dr Zager didn't do any-" James protest got another interruption via an elbow to the ribs from Jessie.

“What have I done? How could I put so much trust into him? He failed us, he almost destroyed Team Rocket!" Giovanni was whipping himself into a frenzy again.

B-Boss, no, Zager didn't do-" Trying again James spoke up once more.

"Shut up, James!" The Boss shouted at his underling, within any other circumstances James would have been quite pleased Giovanni had spoken his name, or even knew his name for that matter.

"He must not trust us, he must be working for the other ones...he must be destroyed.” Giovanni had a wicked smirk as he said that last part. "Come on Persian...we have work to do." With Persian in tow, The Boss rushed out of the room, screaming and shouting for his Second in Command.

"Boss, NO!" Trailing after him, the Rocket trio couldn't let the Boss destroy one of their own.

Travelling once again through the jet, this time pleading with Giovanni to calm down and think things through, the Boss was too lost in his own thoughts to consider or even notice his three underlings. With Giovanni distracted, James could finally speak his mind without being abused.

"What did you blame Zager for? He did nothing wrong." James was much closer to Zager than Jessie and Meowth were, he wasn't happy that the latest lie had been at the expense of Doctor Zager.

"So what? It took the heat off us didn't it?" Looking out for number one was always Jessie's way.

"You saw the mood the Boss was in, he could do anything right now." The Rocket trio were awkwardly talking quietly while trying to keep up with Giovanni as he searched the large aircraft for Doctor Zager, surely he must have known Zager was piloting the jet.

"Nah, relax, the Boss and Zager go way back, he wouldn't do anything to Zager, in fact, aren't they related somehow?" Meowth chimed in, though his comment was pure speculation on his part.

"I doubt it, Zager is from Unova, that's why we've been reporting to him all the time we were over there." James had been told this by Zager, over their time in Unova, James and Zager had worked together much more than Jessie or Meowth had, why Zager had taken a liking to James was another mystery, but James throughout their time in Unova James had learned to respect Doctor Zager almost as much as he had respected Giovanni.

"But still, there is no way he'll do anything to Zager, they've known each other forever, he wouldn't hurt Zager, absolutely no way." The Meowth giving his opinion as fact...

Giovanni turned back to the trio, fire burning in his eyes once more, "Where is he?! I'm going to kill that lying scum!"

"Any other ideas, little man..." Under his breath James whispered to the now suddenly less confident Meowth.

"I think he is flying the plane, sir." Jessie affirmed to the Boss, though really it should have been obvious considering he was the only other person on board.

Finally arriving at the helm, Doctor Zager turned around and saw the rest of his teammates arriving in the pilot’s area.

"Ahh, Giovanni sir, I am glad you are here, we have just enter the Kanto region, when we land we need to have a...are you alright, sir?" The scientist was completely taken aback by the look on Giovanni's face. Intense hatred radiated out from the Rocket Boss.

"You! You did this to us. You set us up to fail, you traitor!" Not unlike how he berated Jessie, James and Meowth, the Boss was up in Zager’s face, totally beyond reason again.

"What? What are you talking about?" Completely taken aback, if anything it was Zager who should be furious at Giovanni for putting Team Rocket, not to mention the whole world in danger, had Jessie, James and Meowth not snapped Giovanni out of the power that control Giovanni’s mind, he could have ordered Landorus, Tornadus and Thunderus to destroy then entire planet!

Seething, the Boss gave his screwed up version of event, "Tempest failed because of your screw up, you mutinous son of a-"

Rolling his eyes, "Shut up, Gio..."

Seething, "What did you say to me?!?"

"I told you be shut up, sit down and listen to some sanity. "

"Wow..." Backing away, the three Rocket Agents suddenly felt like insignificant parts in a supreme power struggle, nobody had ever talked back to the Boss like that, not in Jessie's lifetime. It was known that Giovanni and Dr Zager go way back, given Zager’s senior position in Team Rocket, but nobody really knew the exact relationship between the two.

"Now look, if you want to blame somebody for the failure of this mission Giovanni, the only person who didn't do their job...was you." Finally somebody was speaking the truth in the form of Doctor Zager, but how wise were his words this time...

Giovanni looked incredulous, "Me? ME? I'm the problem?!" He was in truth, but nobody really had the courage to say that to him, except Doctor Zager.

"You." It was as simple as that, really...

"Hahaha, you're insane, you're lying to save your skin, what was your plan, Zager? Huh? Make Team Rocket fail our biggest mission so you can start up your own team? Is that was it is?"

The ridiculous suggestion had Zager completely taken aback, "What? That's insane, what are you talking about?"

"You're not one of us...You betrayed me and you betrayed Team Rocket. No more lies. Persian, do it, Hyper Beam now!"

"NO! Wait, you can't do this!"

"Do it, do it, do it now!" Giovanni screamed at his Pokémon.

The vicious beam roared from the back of Persians throat, arrowing towards the defenceless scientist.

BOOM!

Time stood still, hairs stood on end as five Team Rocket members became four. Persian’s wicked Hyper Beam attack struck Dr Zager, smacking him dead through the heart, destroying Team Rockets Second in Command in one vicious attack.

The four other Rockets were blinded as the beam powered straight through Doctor Zager. In Giovanni's mind, Doctor Zager was killed in dishonour...

Persian is not a weak Pokémon, not Giovanni's anyway. And Hyper Beam it has been said is the most powerful attack any Pokémon can learn. A blast like that wasn't going to just wipe out one thing.

The devastating Hyper Beam rocked the jet. Not only annihilating Dr Zager but ripping open the entire front half of the jet! The relentless force of Giovanni's Persian carried on, and on, and on, forcing through the windows, the engines, the helm, the once luxury aircraft was now nothing more than dead weight soaring through the air. Giovanni's mental instability didn't see through the fact that such a powerful attack would also destroy his own jet!

Giovanni, Jessie, James and Meowth inside the now empty husk were now dropping and dropping, hurtling down toward the floor, no idea where they would fall, no idea if they would live or die. Team Rocket’s very existence was dependant on one single death drop.

TO BE CONTINUED...

[GioRocket]

Chapter 2: Fighting The Forest

Rocket Log - Team Rocket Field Agent, James speaking:

Well...we're still alive. Somehow. Someway. Myself, Jessie, Meowth and even the Boss managed to survive such a crash landing. And people always said we were unlucky...

After screams, a lot of crying and all round panic had died down, we managed to figure out that the jet, well...what remains of the jet, managed to crash-land somewhere in Viridian Forest. With all the lush, thick vegetation in this forest, we luckily had a relatively soft landing. However, no celebration is in order.

Ummm, well, Rest In Peace, Doctor Zager, I guess. I was never very good at all this serious stuff but...he was murdered...by Giovanni. Murdered. Never in all my time in Team Rocket have I ever had the misfortune to witness such a horrific act.

Team Rocket isn't like that...Not anymore...we're thieves, not killers. That's how I always saw it anyway. Others might disagree; I know most of opinions about us seem to think that our creation was the darkest day in the history of the world. But I never saw it like that. I never saw us as the "bad guys". But now...how can I see Giovanni as a good guy?

I am finding it very difficult to look at our Boss in the same way after the events of Operation Tempest. Ever since his connection with the Reveal Glass back in Unova, Giovanni has been...different. His behaviour in the jet just wasn't right. He was far away from the man all of Team Rocket personnel respected.

Not only killing one of our own, but to put himself in jeopardy. He must to have known that the blast of Persians Hyper Beam was have destroyed the jet like that, he must have! He wasn't in his right mind, he can't have been. I wish Doctor Zager was here, I wish he was still alive! He would have known what to do now. What are we supposed to do? Follow the orders of a man who isn't in his right mind? Disobey him when he is so unpredictable? I am afraid for our safety; he was only seconds away from killing us back there. Though there is one thing we can be sure about...we need to get out of this forest."

-[R]-

It was the middle of the night when Giovanni's private jet crash landed somewhere in Viridian Forest. The trees were stretching up to the heavens far above, with a soft moonlight bathing the forest in a silvery glow. Team Rocket found themselves at some kind of clearing. With skyscraper-like trees completely engulfing them from all sides. There was a few small dirt roads winding through the bushes but other than that, there was very little visibility in all directions.

Jessie, James and Meowth made their way out of the still burning aeroplane and tried looking around to assess the situation. Making sure they were out of the hearing range of the Boss, the Rocket trio tried to figure out what was going to happen now.

"What are we going to do?" James looked behind his back to make sure Giovanni wasn't listening; he was currently playing with some electronic equipment from the jet. James hoped he wasn't trying to get the jet working again.

"Well, we need to get out of the forest really." Jessie answered looking around the thick forest vegetation, getting out would certainly be no easy task.

"A monkey could have figured that out, Sherlock. I meant what are we going to do about Giovanni. He did just kill someone..." James seemed more worried about the situation than the others were; he was closer to Zager than the others were.

"He's just a little stressed; it's been a long day..." Jessie's logic was fairly inaccurate; a lot of stressed people do not resort to mindless violence.

James crouched down, with his head in his hands, "I'm a little stressed! I haven't just suddenly decided to kill Meowth!"

Meowth was barely listening to Jessie and James little argument; he was more focused on the Persian that almost killed them all, "Hey! Why me?"

"Shut up Meowth."

Meowth warily took his eyes of the Persian when it suddenly noticed his gaze, "Well...I guess he seems to like us now."

"Yeah, for how long? The guy's a ticking time bomb; he could decide to kill us right now." Though James had to admit, Giovanni seemed a lot calmer with his attention focused on pushing some buttons on the jet.

Jessie was just as scared as James was, she could vividly remember the outburst Giovanni had when he almost ordered his Persian to kill them, "Well, maybe he'll be fine when we get back to Head Quarters."

Standing up, James was just as hopeful that would be the case, but there were a few more complications before they could think like that, "That's another issue, how the hell do we get out of here? This place is huge, and all the dangerous Pokémon that inhabit this place are probably tracking us right now! We only have Woobat and Yamask on us."

Meowth took a cautionary look around the clearing to see if anything was watching them, "Maybe they haven't seen us."

James wished that was the case but, "We fell out of the sky in a fiery aeroplane, who wouldn't see that!"

Jessie had had enough of this kind of talk; they needed to stay calm if they were to get up of this, "Ok, calm down James, god knows we don't need another psycho on our team." But then one more complication arose, from behind their backs, they heard The Boss coming at them.

"Agents!" Giovanni took a professional stance, standing right in front of the only three agents who had survived the disastrous mission in Unova.

"Giovanni, sir!" Quickly dismissing any insecurity, the Rocket trio stood to attention, they couldn't afford to act out of line considering how erratic Giovanni's behaviour had been lately.

"Under such deception from Zager, I apologize for my outburst, but considering recent events...there was no way I could let him live. Besides, it's not a big loss...scientists have always been pawns of the military." There was no doubt in the trios mind that Giovanni was severely downplaying the importance of Dr Zager's loss. "Our brother may have fallen, but we need to move on and it has become clear to me what needs to be done now." To give him credit, he did seem quite sombre in his speaking, could he be feeling guilt for his actions?

"Whatever you say, we will oblige, sir." Meowth was the first to reply, he was always the most attached to Giovanni, at one point in his life his whole world was focus on being Giovanni's "top cat". Maybe they were panicking for nothing, there did seem to be some sanity behind the dark eyes of Giovanni. This Giovanni seemed to be a different guy from the ranting and raving psychopath that was on the jet moments earlier.

Totally ignoring Meowth's statement, Giovanni took charge, "Right, the first order of business is getting out of this forest." His order was an obvious one but still at least he was acting somewhat sane.

"That would be the best idea, sir. Do you happen to know a way out of this place?" Jessie and James were more than happy to follow this Giovanni; he looked like he had elements of his old self. And on the plus side, he had lived in Viridian City all his life, maybe he knew the forest like the back of his hand.

Like the flick of a switch, Giovanni's composure changed, taking a deathly look at the three agents before him, "Do I know a way out? Me? You are the field agents here, out and about in all environments. You should know a way out!"

"Yes, sir!" Panicked at the sudden turnaround of Giovanni's mood, the three terrified agents assessed the situation. It looks like they were screwed then. They had no idea where they were, they had only been in Viridian Forest a few times, five years ago, no less. It was in this fabled forest where they first met that damn Pikachu.

Seemingly calming down, The Boss started to look around the tall trees surrounding them, "Anyway, we don't need to find the way out, if we did find a way out we'd go straight into the open in Viridian City, and I'm sure we don't have long before news of our Unova activities reach here." To be fair, his logic was flawless.

"Good point, sir." Jessie, James and Meowth were watching every word they said, they had to keep him calm at all costs.

"A few years ago during my time as Gym Leader I had an underground network of tunnels built under the ground of Viridian City, it has been one of the main reasons why Team Rocket has been able to remain undercover all these years, with all of the agents coming and going through the underground tunnels as oppose to wondering the streets. The entrance into this network of tunnels begins in this forest." Impressive. Being Field Agents all of this time Jessie, James and Meowth had never been around Viridian long enough to know of these tunnels.

"That's brilliant, sir! Where is the entrance?" Maybe he wasn't totally insane, if there is still a small amount of the old Giovanni in him somewhere then maybe there is a chance things will work out smoothly.

"Well, to judge that, we need to figure out where we landed. Let's find our bearings then we should be able to get out of this forest and back to Base. The tunnels run under the ground and give easy access into Rocket Head Quarters and the Viridian Gym." He seemed to have everything figured out. It was almost perfect, they just needed the entrance.

"The entrance is an underground bunker somewhere on the outskirts of the forest. We'll split up and try to find it." A now calm again Giovanni seem to be ordering them about like normal.

"Veeeee...veeeeneee"

Just as Team Rocket was about to start their way out of their entrapment, they heard a noise coming from behind the remains of the jet.

They heard a sinister breathing noise coming from the edge of the clearing they found themselves on. Looking to the noise, they instantly backed up. Jessie, James and Meowth recognised exactly what was facing them now.

Making its way out from behind the jet, the huge Pokémon let itself be seen, after presumably watching them since their arrival in this deadly forest. Team Rocket saw an eight foot tall reptilian creature. A green-blue, rough, almost scaled skin covered a thick, muscular quadruped form. On its back was a large, red, fully bloomed plant, on the end of a tree trunk like body with six expansive petals shimmering down from the tree trunk sprouting from the centre of its body. Within this plant, the creature has the ability to actually manipulate nature! Every tree, every plant in this forest, was under the command of this Pokémon.

"Oh...god." Scared out of their minds not for the first time since leaving Unova, the Rocket trio backed down as far as they could go, to their dismay, the Venusaur was blocking the only viable exit out of the clearing. Giovanni however had a different look in his eye, he wasn't backing down. He saw an opportunity.

Coming face to face with the dangerous Pokémon brought out Jessie, James and Meowth's natural instincts. Would they stand up and fight like any worthy Rocket Officer, like any worthy Pokémon Trainer! Or would they...

"RUN!" Wanting nothing to do with the big, bad Venusaur, the Team Rocket trio did exactly what they were used too. Much to the disgrace of their Boss.

The outraged Rocket Boss looked at them in distain, he didn't train cowards, he trained warriors! Infuriated at their actions, Giovanni screamed at his underlings, "Run? You are Rocket Officers, god dammit! Call forth your weapons, take it down!"

Looking into the belly of the beast, Jessie and James eyed the problem facing them. Take it down? Could they? "Err, yeah, go Woobat!"

"Yamask, go!" In a flash of light, almost blinding the Venusaur, Jessie and James' Unova Pokémon exploded out of their Pokeballs and floated protectively in front of their trainers. Whatever Jessie and James' opinions on the matter, their Pokémon were more than ready for the challenge.

Yamask is arguably one of James' strongest Pokémon, as is Woobat one of Jessie's strongest. The strange Ghost type Pokémon has one of the more creepy back stories of any Pokémon. Its body is composed of a dark energy with wisps of this energy composing its arms, its head complete with big red eyes, and a tail. In its tail it carries a mask that is said to be the face of the person who the Yamask once embodied. Should legend be believed this Pokémon was once a human, and has to relive the memories of this person's demise over and over again. However, in spite of the strange stories which surround the Yamask, they are kind of, sort of cute, in a way...from some angles.

Flying to the side of Yamask was Jessie's Woobat. A small, shaggy, bat-like creature, with a blue-grey fur covering all of its body, even its eyes, making it totally blind but it able to navigate through ultrasonic rays. It has two black wings at its sides making its small frame quite quick and evasive. One strange feature of the Woobat is its nose, with nostrils in the shape of a love heart. Totally opposite to the Yamask, Woobat don't have any sort of legends surround them, except of its love heart nose, and should anybody find an imprint of this love heart of a cave wall is said to bring good fortune for the rest of their days...they made need that tonight.

Jessie and James stared at the Venusaur, almost afraid to make the first move, they certainly had the numerical advantage, handicapping the Venusaur at 2 on 1, but with the looks of this powerhouse facing them, they still seemed far from the favourites.

"I said take it down!" Giovanni shouted orders impatiently.

"Yamask, Shadow Ball!" Jerked into action, James ordered his Pokémon to take the offensive. With a ball of dark energy suddenly appearing in each of Yamask's hands. The creepy Ghost Pokémon flung the Shadow Balls at the Venusaur. With such a huge target area, the Shadow Balls hit the Forest Pokémon directly on the skull, causing the beast a momentary discomfort, yet the Venusaur was able to recover its composure way earlier than Team Rocket was hoping for.

Venusaur's eyes flickered with intensity, when suddenly two thick, brutal tree trunk like vines whipped out from its body, arrowing across the clearing aiming dead on Jessie and James. It had no issues with the Pokémon; he wanted to hurt the ones who had crashed his territory.

Thankfully able to dive out of the way, they just about avoided the scary looking Vine Whip, Jessie and James desperately planned their next move. They were realising they were seriously out gunned here.

"Woobat, use Gust!" Throwing everything they had at the Venusaur, they had to stop it attacking by any means possible. Woobat's small wings started working vigorously, and surely enough building up enough wind power that the clearing started to erupt in a swirling tornado of fallen leaves and tree branches, leaving the Venusaur, as well as Team Rocket more or less blinded by the swirling whirlwind of forest debris.

Leaving no time for a counter attack, James attacked moments later. "Yamask, Will-O-Wisp attack now!" A risky strategy with all the dry leaves and trees in the area, the whole place could alight!

The faithful Yamask conjured up balls of scalding, blue flames circling around its small body and with one swift motion, the fireballs streaked across the air, firing blind into the tornado that was engulfing the Venusaur.

From the centre of the whirlwind came a blood curdling scream from the Venusaur, he must have been hit! Ordering the Woobat to stop the Gust attack, the tornado died down and Team Rocket were able to see the damage they had done.

The Venusaur was still standing, it looked like it had avoided most of the attack, but was hit with a glancing blow to his side, with horrible burn marks and welts covering its thick skin, however the main damage was what was done to the plant on its back. The whole left side of the plant was not only burned but still on fire! Feeling the effects, the Venusaur let out a moaning cry of pain.

"Woobat, don't give it time to recover, keep hitting it with Air Slash!" The relentless Rocket agents were using ever advantage they could manipulate.

The weakening Venusaur was finally being affected by the numbers game, with the burn marks down his side and the relentless barrage of slashes coming directly at him, the Venusaur let out a deafening roar.

"Wow, wow, wow, guys watch out, it just called out for back-up!" Meowth translated the latest development. If there was more Venusaur's of this power, Team Rocket were screwed more than they are now.

The Venusaur closed its eyes, seemingly in great concentration, when suddenly the bulb on its back began to glow...

Jessie realized what was happening the soonest. "Crap, its charging a Solar Beam! Woobat quick, stop it, Air Cutter! Aim for its back!"

Panicking at the emergence of Venusaur's most powerful attack, James added to the offense. "Yamask help it, Shodow Ball on the plant!"

Within seconds the Venusaur was bombarded with multiple quick fire attacks aimed directly for one of its most sensitive areas.

Attacking from opposite sides, Jessie and James ordered the smaller Woobat and Yamask to fly around the Venusaur, circling faster and faster, not only building more and more momentum for their attacks but also making them more evasive, a technique taught to them by Dr Zager in Unova. With their deadly projectiles focused of the huge plant, which was still on fire, protruding from the beasts back the Venusaur was looking more and more in discomfort by the second.

"Don't stop guys, keep going!" With great force at their disposal, Woobat and Yamask relentlessly attacked the Venusaur, never giving an inch. If they were to succeed in stopping the Solar Beam, they might even win this; they had to keep the offensive.

Flying closer to the beast, Yamask and Woobat were relentless with their attacks. The hammering away strategy seemed to be going well, if they could stop the Solar Beam, they would have a great advantage, knocking out Venusaur's most powerful attack. To give Team Rocket another advantage, it was very dark in the forest, way past midnight; it would take a long time for this Solar Beam to charge up.

With a grunt the Venusaur leapt into the air, with agility that was surely impossible for something of such size. Landing back on his feet, the Forest beast looked outraged, but thank heaven for small mercies that the plant on his back had appeared to stopped glowing. But looking into its eyes, there was still a murderous intent.

"We did it! We stopped it!" Jessie and James leapt into each other's arms, with smiles on their faces, prematurely celebrating a small victory.

"Errr, guys...the battle isn't over." Meowth had never taken his eyes off the Venusaur. He was correct, the look on Venusaur's face showed that the battle was far from over.

The outraged Venusaur looked directly at his two opponents. Yet his concentration was not on the Pokémon who attacked him. It was on the people who crashed into his territory. With murderous intent behind his eyes, suddenly from under the huge leaves arched across his back, came thousands of smaller razor like leaves which were able to strike Woobat and Yamask without even looking at them.

Bombarded by the deadly leaves, Woobat and Yamask were floored with the pain.

Jessie and James ran onto the battle field quickly trying to figure out how hurt their Pokémon were. The Venusaur was glad for the rest, the fire on his back must have been cause him great pain, it let out a cry of victory at being able to defeat two Pokémon at once.

From the edge of the clearing was Giovanni, not participating in Team Rockets latest struggle, just silently watching. Unmoving, seeing how his agents fared against a stronger foe.

Finally he broke his silence, "Agents, do you have any other Pokémon?"

"N-no sir, they don't." Meowth answered on behalf of his team-mates, who were still lost trying to figure out how injured their Pokémon were.

Growling in response to the trio's latest incompetence, Giovanni took action. "Oh for god's sakes, I'll finish this then! Persian, fight!"

The Venusaur was visibly wilting under the strain of the inferno blazing on its back, and the fact that he had yet another hurdle left to climb.

Persian leaped onto the makeshift battlefield, full of confidence, not batting an eye at the fact he was at a huge size disadvantage. There was a sick smile of the Persians face, eye to eye with the Venusaur.

"Persian, end this! Use Foul Play!"

Persians smile grew into a wicked smirk at the order of the manoeuvre. Persian knew that this was no ordinary move, not the way Giovanni had trained him to use it.

Giving the powerful Venusaur one final death stare Persians eyes started to glowed purple, looking dead in the eyes of the Venusaur. The Venusaur's demeanour changed instantly, suddenly looking terrified. Then from the jewel on his head came a blinding light, distracting everybody in the clearing, and leaving the Venusaur totally out of sorts. Then shooting out of the mysterious jewel on Persians head came an impossible sight.

From the position they were in off to the sides, tending to their Pokémon, Jessie happened to catch a glimpse of the strange bright light and suddenly her brain exploded in pain! Falling to the floor, Jessie was huddled up in the leaves and the mud, clutching at her head and screaming in agony.

-[R]-

Jessie was thrust into the depths of her own mind, suddenly finding herself on the top floor of the towering skyscraper that was Team Rocket Head Quarters.

"Jessie..." A quiet voice beckoned her into the room at the end of the hall. Giovanni's office...

Jessie walked into the grand arena that was Giovanni's office at the top of the Team Rocket skyscraper. The only light coming from the full moon peering through the vast window's of the Crime Lords building. Giovanni's silhouette, along with his Persian, was seated behind the desk, both their eyes mysteriously illuminated in a purple glow.

The calm and sultry voice echoed around Jessie's brain, echoing her to come closer...

"You failed me again..." A great pain coming from the voice of the Team Rocket leader.

"N-no, sir..." Desperation flowing through her body, she had to tell him what really happened, he sounded so upset.

"I do not need excuses..." His voice was so quiet, so mysterious, so sad...

"But s-sir, I didn't-" She had to make him understand!

"You failed me and you failed Team Rocket!" The words that are spoken to every disgraced Team Rocket officer at their termination with Team Rocket...

"Boss, no I-" Tears in her eyes, streaming down her face, desperation clinging to her words.

"Please, be quiet Jessie, it is over...Persian, now..."

The jewel of Persians head shone brighter and brighter, blinding Jessie, bringing her back...

-[R]-

"Jess? Jess! Are you ok?", James and Meowth were bearing down on her, with a panic stricken look on their face.

"W-what?" Completely lost as to what happened, Jessie tried to get her bearings, looking around the clearing, she saw the impossible.

There were two Persian! The second one seemingly sprouting out of the mystical jewel on Persians forehead! This second Persian was not like the real one. It was almost like a holographic image, it was transparent, like it was made of glass. And this glass like Persian sharply raced towards the Venusaur, and then to the shock of everybody bar Giovanni, the Phantom Persian ran straight through the Venusaur's skull. It was -inside- the Venusaur!

With the Phantom Persian actually jumping inside the Venusaur, in an instant the Venusaur's demeanour changed, it was scared out of its mind! It went from deadly and murderous to vacant and scared, the Phantom Persian had taken over its brain! Venusaur had lost all control over his body.

Jessie tried to stand up, with help from James and Meowth, she unstable got back up and made a beeline for Giovanni, "B-Boss, what's going on? That doesn't look like any Foul Play I have ever seen."

The move was finished and the real Persian, or more specifically Giovanni had complete control over the Venusaur.

"Look at this, agent, look at it!" He was completely ignoring Jessie, he explained regardless. "My Persian has been trained in the dark arts to such potency that he now has the ability to take complete control over the opponent, or anything I ask it too."

"What? That...can't be true." The Rocket Trio just watched that had no idea what to do, what was going on. Taking over somebody else, something else. That wasn't possible, surely.

But one glance at the Venusaur told them that it was. The Venusaur was stood like a statue, unmoving, but his eyes were the dead giveaway. He was scared to death.

Giovanni was watching the Venusaur in a trance, with a sadistic smile on his face. "Hahahaha, play with it, Persian. Humiliate it! Show it the true power of Team Rocket!"

Persian had a glint in his eye, having total control over the monstrous Venusaur. The Venusaur was terrified; he had never felt like this, he couldn't even move his eyelids. When with forces outside of his control, the Venusaur suddenly started to move. He stood up on his hind legs, that was a physical impossibility for its species!

"Boss, w-what are you doing?" The trio were powerless, but what could they do? The Venusaur was defenceless, it was surreal.

"Hahahahaha, make it dance, Persian! Make it dance!" Giovanni was laughing like a maniac at the horrific puppet show that this battle had become.

It wasn't happening, surely it couldn't be happening, and Jessie, James and Meowth had never seen anything like this. They were stunned into silence, watching the deadly beast become a plaything for their Boss.

It wasn't right. It was barbaric. Cruel...

"B-Boss, what is this? Foul Play doesn't work like that, does it?" Meowth tried to get through to the Boss. His evolved form was turning one of Viridian forests strongest Pokémon into a toy, stripping it of its dignity.

"No it isn't, Persian and I have been perfecting this move since he was just a Meowth, Foul Play is a move we have been perfecting for years, and we have been able to get it into such an intensity that Persian now has total control over his opponent!" Willingly showing off his Persians strength, through more or less repeating the same thing he said the Jessie, it seemed like he wasn't going to give away just how he acquired this power. The Boss looked straight at the Meowth, with a hungry look in his eyes. "Just imagine...one day, you could hold this kind of power at your fingertips."

Gulping nervously, Meowth backed away. He had no idea what to say to that.

"That's so insane." Jessie and James had never taken their eyes of the Venusaur, in total awe, they watched as their once unstoppable foe in Venusaur, was now pathetically dancing some kind of jig under the command of Persian.

"Persian, let's end this. Kill it!"

The Venusaur had a helpless panic in his eyes and grunted something before...

In a heartbeat, Persian gave a nod of his head the Venusaurs skull exploded! Blood and gore flew out in all direction, just falling short off the trio who backing away in total shock.

"What the hell?! How did-"

A sinister smile crept onto the lips of Giovanni, "Like I said...total control of the opponent." Proud of his and Persians handiwork.

Jessie James and Meowth were in a stunned silence, the power, the control. It was all so...wrong.

Giovanni started walking towards the Venusaur, circling it, like he was looking at some statue in an art gallery.

Making sure they were out of his hearing range, the Rocket Trio discussed what just happened. "It's not right, to take over its mind, its whole being...can you even imagine what that's like?"

"N-No..." Jessie answered distantly, with a pain prickling in the back of her mind.

"I know we wanted to beat it...but not like this, it's just feels so...wrong. It was only protecting its territory." James couldn't believe the mind controlling powers of Giovanni's Persian. "It was only fighting for its home, it was honourable, fighting for his territory, it wasn't doing anything wrong, not really."

There was nothing honourable in what Persian just did, effectively mind raping the foe, it just didn't sit right with the trio. Jessie, James and Meowth were far from righteous, but this was just so wrong, it was far past what they were capable of. But in the presence of Giovanni, they were supremely out matched not just in power, but in conscience.

Such brutality, such force, how could anybody combat that?

Thankfully Giovanni was out of hearing range to hear the trio's moments of insecurity. They weren't killers, this was so out of their comfort zone, they were far from saints but this was just way too far.

And the worst part of this all was that they had to act with total ease in front of their boss. They couldn't let him know how repulsed they were by the "mind rape".

"G-Good job Boss, that was...incredible..."

Bringing his attention away from the dead beast, fascinated eyes suddenly turned dark when he saw the trio."It shouldn't have had to be done. You should have handled the Venusaur yourself. Your Pokémon are poorly trained."

"Yes, Boss, w-we'll work on it." Flinching at the final part of that statement, the trio fell back in line. It is funny how quickly things can change. Yesterday they followed the Boss out of respect. Right now they were following him through fear...

"You'd better! If you don't get the job done next time...you're finished."

Feeling like children being scolded by their headmaster, the trio just bowed their heads and waited until Giovanni ordered the next plan of action.

"Right, let get out of this damn fo-"

Giovanni's booming voice got cut off by a load rustling coming from all around them. The bushes, the tree all began to shake unnaturally.

Within seconds, the deserted clearing suddenly came alive. Out of nowhere, hundreds of Bulbasaur and Ivysaur materialised out of the forest, from all sides of the clearing, surrounding the four Rocket Officers.

They looked angry. No wonder. They had seen Giovanni and Persian kill their Leader.

They wanted revenge and in a flash, millions and millions of Razor Leaf attacks rained down on Team Rocket. Shredding their clothes, cutting their skins. The Razor sharp leaves were slashing the Rocket Officers to ribbons!

Under the pressure of the attacking raining down from all directions, Giovanni screamed in pain. "Stop them, stop them now!"

The order was for Persian but desperate to redeem themselves in Giovanni's eyes, it was James who answered the call. "Yamask stop them." Groaning in agony, he had a plan, desperate and stupid plan. "Will-O-Wisp, all over the ground, burn this whole place down before they can do worse."

The faithful ghost barely heard him, after the vicious beating the Venusaur had given him and Woobat. Struggling to get up from the floor, the Yamask tried to do exactly as he was told, and as he was struggling on the floor he just about managed to light up some blue fireballs, the same attack that had caused great pain to the powerful Venusaur earlier, and he started flinging the fireballs in all directions, left, right and centre, totally blinded by the Razor Leaf attacks raining down on them.

Even in bad shape, the Ghost Pokémon did well; he doused the whole clearing in fire. The grass alighted within seconds; the fire was spreading like wildfire, literally!

The Razor Leaf attacks had stopped, the clan of forest Pokémon shying away from the deadly fire now engulfing the clearing, leaving Meowth able to look around and see what was happening, "James...you didn't think this through, did you?" They were trapped.

They were surrounded by fire. And it was spreading...

Spreading from the grass, to the bushes, to the trees and the dangerous strategy had actually worked. Venusaur's clan had scattered away from the fire, the fire, of course being fatal to their breed.

The next set of problems arose for Team Rocket as the fire was spreading throughout the forest, trapping Team Rocket in a deadly ring of fire.

Finally able to stand up from the relentless Razor Leaf attack, Giovanni looked around, seeing the towering inferno that was blazing from all around them. The tall trees that had once surrounded them were now just scary looking walls of fire, rising up way above their heads.

"Oh god, now what?" Once again the trio were terrified. The fire was getting to them, it was getting overheated, and the smoke was making it difficult to breathe

Then suddenly, from through the walls of fire came multiple vine whips. Latching onto Meowth's arms and legs, flooring the cat as binds now held onto his whole body. Scarily, they started dragging him closer and closer to the towering inferno surrounding them.

"Ahhh, guys, help! Help me!" Shocked at the sudden development, Meowth had no time to prepare for what was happening, struggling against the binds that were holding his whole body and slowing getting closer to the fire.

"Meowth!" Simultaneously, Jessie and James jumped for their team mate and were somehow able to grab a free arm. Now engaged in a deadly tug of war with a whole clan of Pokémon, which they couldn't afford to lose. If they lost, Meowth would be dragged through the scorching heat.

With a sudden jerk from the vines, Jessie and James lost their hold and were driven to the floor. Looking up they were helpless as they watched a nightmare unfold before them.

Meowth screamed in agony as his body was pulled through the burning fires, scalding every cell in his body. Pain flared through the cat's body and mind. Stealing him away from his team-mates. Then in moments, he was gone.

"Meowth, no! We've gotta get to him." Running to the place where he disappeared, Jessie and James got as close to the fire as they dared. They were helpless.

Though it was Giovanni who surprisingly leapt into action, ordering his faithful Persian to wipe out the flames with a Water Pulse attack. Which slowly but surely started to bathe the flames from all sides.

Now with the visibility back to normal, Team Rocket could see the truth. Meowth was gone. Lost in the forest, kidnapped by a clan of Pokemon who had just watched his evolved form brutally murder their leader.

"Come on, we gotta go find Meowth!" James shouted as him and Jessie starting running through dying embers in the forest, taking their best guess as to where the Venusaur's family and gone to, Jessie and James had to find their team-mate.

Standing his ground, Giovanni watched as his underlings took flight, "Where are you going, agents?"

"What? Err, we have to find Meowth." Slowing down, they explained to Giovanni, who still hadn't moved.

"Have to? No, no, no, no, you don't have to do anything unless I order it." Giovanni spoke with conviction; he clearly wasn't on the same wavelength as two thirds of the Rocket trio.

"What are you saying? We have to go and get Meowth!" Time was of the essence and they really didn't want to be wasting time when Meowth could be in danger as they spoke.

The answer that came crushed whatever spirits they once had. "I am saying, James, that we are going to leave Meowth behind."

Jessie and James stared at the Boss. This couldn't be happening. "But no, but, he is one of us, we can't leave him behind." Desperately pleading with Giovanni.

Shrugging his shoulders, Giovanni took a very nonchalant view to the latest events. "Why not? I fail to see the value in a Pokémon who cannot battle..."

It was Jessie and James' turn to be outraged, and Jessie's usual hot headed tenancies came into play. "What? No, Meowth isn't just a Pokémon; he is an agent, one of us!"

"Oh, he is just an agent? Well, I have hundreds of agents under my command in Viridian City. Losing just one "agent" will be of no difference to us." Paying no attention to Jessie's shouting, Giovanni laid back approach to Meowth's kidnap carried on.

Panicked cries erupted from Jessie, "We've got to go and get to Meowth! They're gonna kill him in revenge for Venusaur!"

James wholeheartedly agreed with Jessie and backed her up against the Boss. "They took Meowth because they saw his evolved form kill their evolved form! Why did you kill it? We could have caught it; we usually would have caught it."

Giovanni was not taking kindly to his authority being challenged by mere Field Agents. "I don't have to answer to you, agents. Plus, were you not trying to kill the Venusaur before, with your own Pokémon?"

Jessie and James were totally taken aback by the accusation. "What? Err y-yeah, no, I think, no, never mind about that! Meowth is gone! We need to get him back before they do anything to him!" James answered.

The Boss's voice took a sinister tone; no Field Agent had ever challenged him like this. "You will leave Meowth behind and follow me back to Viridian. Understand?

"Giovanni...we can't leave, no, we will not leave without Meowth." Clasping each other's hand, they held their ground, Jessie and James stood together mutinously.

Taken aback, Giovanni faltered, "You're...disobeying me?"

Simultaneously, Jessie and James looked at each other, then back to the Boss. "For Meowth." Jessie and James suddenly dashed off in the opposite direction; they would not leave a man behind. They ran through the burning forest ignoring the shouts and screams coming from behind them.

"You're crazy, you defy me? I am the Boss! I made you what you are! You're nothing without me, you're nothing without Team Rocket!" Screaming after Jessie and James, who were running to save their comrade, their brother. "You disobey me and you'll never wear Team Rocket colours again!" The Boss was indignant, they were committing mutiny!

Running in the opposite direction, running away from Giovanni, even running away from Team Rocket as a whole. For Meowth. Jessie and James ran in search of their fallen team mate. They were a trio, and no less.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Authors Note: This chapter was originally going to be much longer but I decided to split it in half to update the story faster, the second half of this little arc will be in chapter 3. Plus, I thought that would be a pretty badass way to conclude a chapter, correct?

If you are feeling particularly generous, a review would be awesome. Venusaur vs Team Rocket was my first attempt at any kind of Pokémon battle so any feedback on that would be great

[GioRocket]

Chapter 3: Lyin' Kings

Rocket Log - Team Rocket Field Agent, Jessie speaking:

Alright, so maybe we were a little hasty.

I mean, defying the Boss...what were we thinking! We are screwed! We're dead! He'll never forget this; he'll make us disappear, he'll kill us and make it look like an accident. He'll destroy us!

I'll never win the Grand Festival, never grow up. James will never...ummm...do whatever he does.

But I suppose that isn't something we can think about right know. We did defy the Boss for a reason. Not because we were on some crazy, stupid hero trip, but because of Meowth. We need to get him back before something happens. How we are going to do that, we haven't quite figured out yet. Our only Pokémon are still weak from the battle with Venusaur, so we are now travelling through the Viridian Forest with no Pokémon, no defence, no hope, searching for a clan of Pokémon who could destroy us in seconds. And as if that doesn't sound bleak enough:

We are now enemies of the Rocket Empire...

-[R]-

The dark night sky was brightening as the sun was starting to come up and peer through the tall trees of the Viridian Forest. The sun was the only measurement of time in the forest as Jessie and James had left all of their gear in the remains of the jet back where they had crash landed. So with only their Pokémon on them, they traversed the forest, searching aimlessly for Meowth, still having no idea where the clan of Ivysaur had taken him.

This was not their only worry however; the search for Meowth had come at a price. Their affiliation with Team Rocket.

A stressed Jessie was marching around a natural pathway through the trees, shaking her head. "Oh god, oh god, oh god, what have we done! What did we do?!"

Trying to keep up with the pace Jessie was gathering, James was in as much shock as she was, though at least attempting to stay a little calm about it, "Errr...well...I don't know...it all happen so fast..."

Turning to her teammate, Jessie's temper was getting the best of her yet again. "Why did we do that? We just left Team Rocket!? We are the stupidest people alive!"

Trying to think things through, James had only one answer, "Well, I think we did it for Meowth...who knew we cared so much about him."

Rubbing her temples, Jessie realised her crazed state of mind probably wouldn't help matters, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, your right, let's just find him and then worry about everything else later."

"Yes, let's not talk about until we find Meowth."

30 seconds later...

"You know Giovanni isn't going to let this go, don't you? You know what he does to people who disobey him!" Jessie's plan to not talk about it seemed to be going well.

"I thought we weren't talking about this..."

"How can we not talk about this? Team Rocket is our whole identity, we are nothing with them."

Scolding her, James was tired of the defeatist attitude, "We will be if you keep talking like this! We don't know anything yet, if these were normal circumstances then Giovanni might have sent somebody after us, but Giovanni isn't quite...normal, is he? Not since Unova anyway. Maybe we can find a way out or something."

"And if we can't?" There was a small shred of hope that they could work their way back into Giovanni's good books, a very small hope.

"Then we run! Run fast; run far…like we always do."

"That's the big idea?" Almost laughing at the horrible situation they were in, Jessie knew there was little way out.

"Yes, you're right, we're screwed...now please, let's just find Meowth then we can deal with everything else later." James begged her to continue the search, before walking down a fork in the beaten pathway with no idea of it was the right way or not.

Following her teammate down the road she agreed. "Ok...ok..." Jessie tried to think a little clearer as they tried to assess the situation. "So, errr, how are Woobat and Yamask?"

"Not great, they'll live, but they are probably useless for the next few days." James was no doctor but even he could tell they were well and truly beaten by that Venusaur.

"Ahh, they'll live? That's nice for them, it's just us who are in the fatal situation then."

"Exactly!" Trying not to let the stress get the better of him, James gave the short answer.

"Are you sure the Ivysaur clan went this way?" Jessie wondered as they walked down yet another strange pathway.

"Not one little bit..."

"Right, well that's a good start." Trying to keep under control, Jessie opted for the sarcastic answer. At least James was being honest. "You know, we could be wondering into another clan right now, somebody else's territory..."

"Indeed we could." The short answers from James were doing Jessie's temper no favours.

"And that's another thing, when we get to Meowth, how exactly are we going to battle all of those Pokémon when we have nothing to battle with?"

"I am hearing problems but not solutions." It was now James temper that was getting the better of him.

"I am just stating the facts, my friend." The very bleak facts, in Jessie's eyes.

"Well, don't be so negative." Meowth is usually the one to stops them when they are at each other's throats like this.

"Negative? Team Rocket is going to kill us! Please, oh, please show me something to be positive about!

"...we have each other."

"I said positives, moron." James' little joke probably wasn't helping.

"Ouch...ok, well let's just randomly wander the forest hoping we can find them." Smirking, James had long since realised that Jessie didn't actually mean these words.

And so they carried on. On and on they went, making their way through the difficult terrain of the Viridian Forest.

-[R]-

The search for Meowth had beaten Jessie and James into submission. It had been over a day since the events of their separation from Giovanni, and still no signs of Meowth. The longer they searched, the more worried they got.

A day alone in the forest, not many people could survive that without a team of trained Pokémon, the only reason Jessie and James had survived so far was because they were very highly skilled in the arts of running away and hiding.

Deciding to give up for the night and pursue the search in the morning, Jessie and James found a cave for shelter, they wanted to keep going all night but they realized travelling in the dark wasn't the best idea.

Having found a place to stay for the night inside the cave around an hour ago, Jessie and James were sat around a dwindling fire in the middle of this dark cave, Jessie seemed to be staring off into space in a world of her own while James was sat up drawing on the cave wall with a stone.

"Right, I have a plan." James suddenly announce as he stopped drawing on the cave wall.

Startled out of her daydreams, Jessie looked towards the drawings, "You have a plan?"

"Of course."

"OK, well please enlighten me, wise sage." Her hopes were far from soaring as she saw the horrible child like drawings scrawled across the wall.

Ignoring her sarcasm, James powered through, "So we get Meowth back, right?"

"Right..."

"Then we get out of the forest, right"

"I suppose..."

"Then we are on the run from Team Rocket?"

Jessie was once again getting irritated at the situation they were in. "This isn't a plan; it's stating the obvious..."

"Right so if we are on the run then we will need all of our Pokémon back, won't we?"

"Ugh, I never thought of that...they are at Team Rocket Head Quarters!" Putting her head in her hands, the future was looking pretty bleak right now.

"Yeah, so we are going to have to get them back, somehow..."

Looking incredulous at her partner, Jessie asked the question she really didn't want to know the answer too. "Are you saying we need to break into Head Quarters and smuggle our Pokémon out?"

"Yes...and then we flee the county! Simple!" James was saying these things with a light tone that was severely downplaying the serious implications here.

Staring at him like he was crazy, Jessie only wished she could take the almost nonchalant view of things that James was. "Right and what is the plan for us to do all of this without getting killed?"

"Err, that I haven't thought about..."

"That is a great plan..." Jessie rolled her eyes at the truly horrible plan. "So, where do we start?"

"Find Meowth..." Running his fingers through his hair he thought about the next course of action. "Let's just get some sleep, maybe we'll have better luck in the morning.

"Fine, fine..." Jessie agreed as they settled down for the night inside the Viridian Forest.

-[R]-

The cave was quite cold considering the humid temperatures of the Viridian Forest, giving the duo a slight respite from the sweltering conditions during the trek through the forest. Utterly exhausted from not just the amount of distance they had covered but also from the failure of having no results in the search, not one sign of Meowth or the clan of Ivysaur and Bulbasaur, who had taken him.

They had actually managed to get a few hours sleep, though it was only typical that the moment they let their guard down, the moment they stopped looking, the clan of Ivysaur and Bulbasaur emerged.

Jessie and James were awoken by sounds coming from outside the cave.

It was footsteps. Many footsteps.

They cautiously made their way to the opening of the cave. "Do you hear that?" Jessie led the way, moving slowly to the front.

Now fully alert from the uncomfortable slumber they had been in, Jessie and James were trapped inside the cave, edging closer and closer to the opening of their shelter.

Peering outside the caves entrance, they saw them.

Eyes.

Hundreds of eyes.

With their own eyes adjusting to the minimal light Jessie and James had found exactly what they were looking for. Or more specifically, what they were looking for had found them!

Without having a moment to react, hundreds of Vine Whips rained down on the duo. Violently trapping their arms and legs, and just like they had seen with Meowth, and they were dragged maliciously out of the cave.

Kicking and screaming, Jessie and James weren't strong enough to combat the strength and numbers of the vines lacing around their limbs, there was no way out.

Out of their protection of the cave, they were dragged into the dark depths of the forest, scared for their lives as they wondered where the clan of Ivysaur were taking them.

-[R]-

Awaking from consciousness, Jessie and James allowed their eyes to adjust to their new surroundings. They found themselves among a cluster of trees, tied at their arms and legs in a crucifix position, tied to horizontal tree limbs, by seemingly unbreakable vines.

Looking around they saw that they were not the only captors here, they saw many beaten and battered forest Pokémon tied rather eerily in the same crucifix position to trees with vines onto horizontal tree branches. The saw a Fearow, a Vileplume, Tangela, Butterfrees, and a litter of the smaller, less powerful Pokemon on the ground. The forest continued on and on in all directions, escape was clearly way out of reach.

This strange kind of prison was much too small for the amount of prisoners that were actually in here, Jessie and James and the other Pokémon were crowded and packed together awkwardly to the trees. Yet rather strangely there was no Ivysaur or Bulbasaur to be seen.

"Awww, well if it isn't my knights in shining armour."

Turning to their side, they found what they had been looking for! Meowth was there in all his glory, a little burned and bruised from the fire but he looked generally ok.

Hopes souring, Jessie and James were relieved to see their team mate, "Meowth! You're alive!"

Looking a little shocked, Meowth replied to their attitude, "You thought I was dead? I see you we're really looking on the bright side of this situation weren't you?"

"When you got dragged through the fire and flames we kinda thought the worst! At least we found you!" Just reunited and he was already insulting them.

"No, you didn't find me, you got caught as well! How is that finding me?"

Well, at least we're together now." Indeed they were, all together, along with some other forest Pokémon, bound against their will by vines in the middle of the forest.

"Yeah, yeah, everything's just peachy!" Irritated that the ones who were supposed to come and save him had got caught themselves, Meowth resigned himself to the fact that he and his team mates weren't getting out of here.

Looking around, James was baffled at the strange set up they found themselves in. "Hey, what's going on here? What are the Ivysaur up to? What's with all these Pokémon?"

Trying once more to break out of his vines and failing horribly, Meowth explained everything he knew. "I dunno, they haven't said anything to me, they just dragged me from you guys, knocked me out and I woke up here. They keep going away and then coming back here dragging these Pokémon behind them. Then they tie them up to these trees like they have with us..."

Jessie was staring at all the beaten Pokémon, "I suppose we know why they captured us, Giovanni killed their leader, but what about all these other Pokémon? What did they do?"

"Beats me... Hold on a second, where is the Boss?"

"Ahh, that's the things...you're gonna laugh at this." James quickly tried to think up an excuse.

Meowth narrowed his eyes, looking at James, "What?"

"We kinda...left Team Rocket."

"WHAT?!"

Jessie cut in trying to explain the break up, "Well, when we tried to run after the clan when you were kidnapped, Giovanni stopped us and said if we left to catch you, he would destroy us..."

"What were you thinking?! So we are out of Team Rocket now?" Showing no gratitude for their show of unity, Meowth couldn't believe what was happening.

"Yeah...we are out of Team Rocket and with the way Giovanni was talking, they are probably going to hunt us down and kill us..."

"Wow, you two really suck at being the heroes, you know that?" Meowth hung his head at the hopelessness of recent events.

"Shut up Meowth! We can make this work." It seems James was back to being the morale officer in this group. "Is there any way we can get out of this? Have the Ivysaur been around? What have they been doing since you've been here?"

"I don't know, they just keep coming and going every few hours, they bring back all these Pokémon all battered and bruised." Meowth explained everything he knew.

"Well, with them not being here at least it has bought us some time, how are we gonna get out of here?" Jessie asked the all important question.

But before anybody could answer, they came.

Materialising from the forest, the clan of Ivysaur and Bulbasaur marched into the makeshift prison, carrying yet more prisoners. A Syther, a Pinser, a Pidgeot, these looked like powerful Pokémon, yet they were overwhelmed by the sheer number of Ivysaur and Bulbasaur restraining their limbs. They were tied one by one to the trees, just like the Rocket trio were, crucifixed in position.

Then from the back of the clan, lagging behind, two Bulbasaur came into the prison separately from the rest of the group. Holding above their head, trapped in their Vine Whips...was a wild Pikachu.

"Oh great, as if we haven't had enough of those things." Hanging her head, Jessie spoke under her breath. Though, looking at it again, this Pikachu seemed to be in a lot worse condition than the other Pokémon here were.

The Pikachu's yellow fur was almost completely charred black, with cuts and bruises networking all around its small frame. It was totally unconscious, for all the trio knew it could have been dead as the a gang of Ivysaur laced their vines around the Pikachu's limbs and tied it to the trees.

Then all the Ivysaur and Bulbasaur, the must have been hundreds of them, gathered together, watching and waiting.

"What's going on?" James asked after a few minutes of the clan standing around doing nothing.

"I think...I think they are waiting for the Venusaur." Meowth answered as he heard a few of the younger Bulbasaur grunting for the Venusaur.

From the middle of the pack, an Ivysaur seemed to take charge and started walked around all the prisoners, eying them all individually.

Then this seemingly new leader climbed up onto the trunk of a fallen tree above the ground and began to address the rest of the clan with grunts and moans in its own language.

Jessie and James quickly turned to Meowth, "What is it saying?"

Meowth translated as best he could, "Err, w-we 'The Protectors', are gathered here now to right the wrongs of our forest, these offenders have committed crimes against the forest...they will pay for their sins."

Listening to the speech from the clan's new leader, James guessed, "So they think they are some kind of protectors of the forest?"

"It sounds like it..."

The trio just watched as the clan just seemed to look at each other waiting for another order to be given.

"Look at them." James eyed the clan as they just seemed to be looking around at each other waiting for something to happen. "Look how uncoordinated they are, they don't know what they are doing without the Venusaur."

A roar suddenly erupted from the gang of Ivysaur and without a moment's notice, the vines of the clan shot out of their bodies, latching onto the Scyther they had just brought in, and without warning all their vines whipped in opposite directions, literally tearing the Scyther in two different directions!

Its scythes and legs were ripped out of their socket and detached from the Scythers body! The moans of the Scyther erupted as it twitched on the ground dying, as the Ivysaur and Bulbasuar began chanting as if screaming for more.

"Woah...guess they don't have any morals about killing people." Shocked at the brutal punishment the Ivysaur were dealing, Jessie wondered if that was what was in store for them.

"Why would they? Look at them, they're ruthless, aggressive, strong, they are probably the strongest entity in this forest, even without Venusaur just because there is so many of them...no wild Pokémon can challenge their authority..." Meowth was starting to understand what was going on here.

"But why have they collected these Pokemon? We may have wronged the forest, but what have they done?" James was just as shocked as Jessie.

"With all the power the clan has, the Ivysaur seem to think they have taken over the forest...they have the power, without a leader to channel it." Meowth continued as the gang of Ivysaur left the Scyther to die and then they waited for more orders, which didn't come.

As the trio watched and waited for something to happen, the group of Ivysaur shot out their vines once again and wrapped around another Pokémon at random, a Pidgeot this time, pushing and pulling its body in all directions, the Pidgeot was helpless as it was beaten and broken by the Ivysaur.

Cringing under the uncomfortable sight before them, James was still trying to understand. "They're killing wild Pokémon for no reason?"

Meowth answered, "Without the Venusaur to control them anymore, they don't know what to do, it's just chaos...the inmates run the asylum, he was their parent, he made the rules, but now..."

"There are no rules." James finished.

The chants for more were satiated when the vines from some of the other Ivysaur latched onto some of the smaller Pokémon, the Pidgeys, Ratatas, Spearows and they dragged them around, throwing them left and right, they were just bullying the defenceless Pokémon, attacking them without reason.

For the grand finale, the vines wrapped around the smaller Pokémon, wrapped around again and again and started squeezing the life out of the Pokémon until they stopped protesting and gave into the pain.

The obvious parents of the smaller Pokémon were crying out for their children, being forced to watch as the life left the bodies of the small Pokémon.

Sinister laughing sounds erupted from the Bulbasaur, the children of the clan, as they watched the gang of Ivysaur bully and abuse the weak Pokémon as they were picked off one by one.

"This isn't good for us." Jessie stated the obvious as they watched this sickening display. "What do you think they'll do to us?"

"The Ivysaur in charge wants to leave us till the end, apparently..." Meowth's statement did nothing to ease his team mates mind.

"Pika! Pika!"

The Pikachu roared in protest as it suddenly awoke from consciousness. Fighting at the binds and screaming at his captors. He let loose a violent spray of electricity in all directions, all around the prison, shocking clan as well as the prisoners, as it tried to fight what the Ivysaur were doing. Its rebellious streak ended as quickly as it started as it was whacked back down relentlessly with some Vine Whips from the Ivysaur until it lost all consciousness again.

Just as the Ivysaur were about to attack another Pokémon, the leader of the clan suddenly shouted out, and directed the attention of the group far off into the depths of the forest.

The trio couldn't see or hear anything for a few minutes but then they finally discovered what the Ivysaur clan was worrying about.

From afar, the Rocket trio heard a disturbance. And in the distance they could see trees being ripped out from the roots and being thrown away with ease. The commotion was bulldozing through then entire forest! And it was coming straight for the Ivysaur clan.

A Hyper Beam erupted from the disturbance, aimed directly at the prison. The clan scattered, with a few slower member of the species being totally annihilated by the destructive beam.

As it was coming closer and closer, Jessie, James and Meowth saw exactly what was coming, much to their surprise.

It was a Persian, racing towards the clan, letting off Hyper Beam after Hyper Beam in all directions with murderous intent behind its eyes, looking and searching for every last member of the clan. Following the Persian came two more powerhouses, a Golem and a Machamp, uprooting trees and bulldozing through the prison.

Coming from behind the three Pokémon came the Boss! His military jacket ripped to shreds and mud smeared across his face, the wild eyed Giovanni looked around the now devastated prison searching for the Ivysaur. "KILL THEM ALL!"

Razor Leafs engulfed the prison as the Ivysaur clan tried to fight back, shredding clothes and skin and more importantly for the prisoners, tearing the vines that was holding them in place. The captured Pokémon scattered for safety, running in all directions. Jessie, James and Meowth dropped to the floor hoping to avoid all the razor sharp leaves flying about over their heads.

Under ordered from Giovanni the Machamp ripped out yet another tree and started swinging the massive tree trunk uncontrollably around like a baseball bat, aiming for the fleeing gang of Ivysaur. While the Golem was rolling around in all directions with surprising speed, devastating everything in its way, flattening every conceivable object and knocking out many of the clan.

The Ivysaur clan started to come out and fight as they charged on the three Pokémon attacking their territory. Leaves and vines and beams were flying all over the place as war erupted in the forest.

Chaos ensued as everything was getting attacked by anything. The Boss was getting attacked, his Pokémon, the clan, the trio were all getting mauled by the number of high pressure attacks filling the area.

Everybody ran for safety as the war was getting out of control. The clan of Ivysaur fled the area, Giovanni ducked for cover behind his armada of powerful Pokémon, and the trio ran as far away as they could from everything they could see.

-[R]-

Running and running, Jessie and James kept on going as fast and as far as they could, wanting nothing to do with the clan of Ivysaur or even the Boss!

Stopping for a breath and thinking they were far enough away from danger, Jessie and James huddled over trying to catch their breath and thank their lucky stars that they had escaped from the Ivysaur prison.

Looking around where they had stopped, Jessie realised something. "H-Hey, where's Meowth?"

"I thought he was right behind us!" James could kick himself for not realising Meowth wasn't with them.

"But-" Jessie started but was interrupted.

"Hey, guys, wait for me!"

From between the trees out came Meowth, his slower pace was accounted for the fact that he was carrying the Pikachu from the prison over his shoulder!

Confused at Meowth appearance, Jessie questioned the cat, "What the...why did you bring that?"

Panting with the stain of carrying another Pokémon while running away. "I, errr, I got an idea..."

From the same group of trees Meowth came from, Giovanni came stomping in, with the crazed look in his eyes.

Quickly standing to attention, the trio addressed the Boss. "Hey, Boss, sir, thanks for saving is back there."

"Where are they?!" Ignoring them completely, he roared his question.

"Who?" A little startled at Giovanni's wild appearance, the trio tried to keep their formal stance.

"The Ivysaur! They tried to attack and kidnap me! They'll pay for what they did!" Finally he looked at Jessie and James.

A little deflated, the trio realised, "So you weren't trying to save us?"

"Enough! You have no right to talk to me anymore! You're finished!" Giving them a final sneer as he turned back the way he came. As he was walking away, Meowth leapt into action.

"Hey, HEY, Boss! BOSS!" Meowth shouted at the Boss, stopping him in his track, while holding the unconscious Pikachu over his head. "We caught Pikachu!"

Turning back, Giovanni looked over his shoulder, a completely disinterested look in his eyes, "You caught a Pikachu?"

"Nope, nope, we caught THE Pikachu! Back in Unova, while you were dealing with the Legends," Meowth took a sneaky glance back at his two teammate, "The three of us overran Ash and caught his Pikachu!"

Giovanni's eyebrows shot up in astonishment at Meowth's statement. "What?"

"What!?" Though he wasn't as shocked as Meowth's own teammates as they broke their formal stance and looked down in shock at what Meowth had just said!

"We finally caught Ash's Pikachu! We caught Ash's Pikachu!" Dancing and running around in a celebration, Meowth's bizarre lie threw the Boss, not to mention Jessie and James, into bewilderment.

"But-but how?"

"Err, well, it doesn't matter, we caught his Pikachu! We caught his Pikachu! Look!" Totally ignoring the Boss's question, Meowth shoved the Pikachu into Giovanni's chest as the Boss grabbed a hold and looked dumbfounded at 'Ash's' Pikachu.

With Giovanni's full attention on the Pikachu, Jessie and James dragged Meowth away from him.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Grabbing him by each arm, Jessie and James roughly brought him up to their eye level.

"Saving our skins, that's what I'm doing!" Taking a brief look over at Giovanni, who was engrossed in examining the Pikachu, Meowth answered the hostile questioning.

"But this is insane; surely he'll know that isn't Ash's!" Jessie was convinced Meowth had just made everything ten times worse.

"How? He never actually met it, did he?" Meowth had different ideas, clearly taking advantage of Giovanni's instability right now with a risky lie.

Jessie felt like throttling Meowth for putting them in this situation, they should have talked this through before even thinking about lying like this. "But, the order to catch Ash's Pikachu has been going for 5 years, surely he'll know that isn't it and is just some random Pokémon."

"Are you sure? If he buys it he'll let us back in, right? We will forever be known as the ones who caught Ash's Pikachu!" It sounded very good, but...

"What about when the Pikachu wakes up and is just some weak little thing? Or what about if Ash comes back to Kanto with his Pikachu on his damn shoulder!"

"Well, I-huh, I never thought of that..." His confidence suddenly deflated as Jessie had created some holes in the lie with ease.

"Oh my god, this is ridiculous! We are so screwed, again!" Rubbing at her temples once more, Jessie couldn't believe what Meowth had done. They had lied to Giovanni many times, the instances with Team Galactic and Hunter J the most recent, but they had always thought it through as a team and made sure there was no way they could be found out.

"Well, to be fair, Jess, we were kinda screwed anyway..." James suddenly decided to side with Meowth, if Giovanni bought it, then they could get back in Team Rocket.

"That's true, Jimmy's right! From now on, we have to swear blind that is the real deal! That Pikachu is Ash's Pikachu! Right?" Jumping on James shoulder, Meowth looked at Jessie, as they both tried to convince her to join the lie.

Torn between truth and lies, Jessie had had been left no choice but to go along with the plan, "…ugh, fine, fine, ok, it's not like things can get any worse."

Finally working as a trio again on the same page, all at once, they all slowly turned around, looking at the Boss and 'Ash's' Pikachu. They were trying to gauge his expression, did he buy the lie? "G-Giovanni, sir, is everything alright?" With trepidation in their voice, they asked the million dollar question.

Looking confused, Giovanni tore his eyes away from the unconscious Pikachu in his hands, "H-how did this happen?"

Meowth jumped down from James shoulder and ran towards the Giovanni and the Pikachu. "Errr...how about we tell you the whole story when we get back to Base? We could all use a rest now, couldn't we?" Meowth jumped onto the Boss's shoulder, doing anything he could to side with Giovanni.

"Yeah, yeah, we'll explain when we get back to base, and we are all a team again now, aren't we?" Jessie and James hopefully and desperately using Giovanni shock at the outrageous lie to elbow their way back in.

Giovanni seemed to be fighting a battle of his own inside his head. "Err, well, I...ugh, Ok, very well."

They did it! It worked! They're back in Team Rocket! Jessie and James could barely contain themselves from leaping for joy.

As the trio managing to stay cool on the surface, Giovanni addressed them as the agents the now were. "Before the Ivysaur attacked me I had managed to find the entrance to the tunnels, c'mon, it's this way." Beckoning the agents he more or less fired one day ago back into the heart of Team Rocket.

And they walked down the beaten path, together. Reunited. For now...

Jessie, James and Meowth couldn't believe their luck as they followed the Boss out of the Viridian Forest and back into the ranks of Team Rocket.

-[R]-

After travelling for about an hour with Giovanni leading the way, the Rocket trio were skipping and dancing along the dirt roads, when they were sure Giovanni wasn't looking anyway, but just as they were celebrating they heard something they didn't want to hear.

From up ahead, Giovanni pulled out of his pocket some kind of communications device he must have taken from the jet. The trio moved as close as they dared to try and hear what he was saying.

"Miss Matori, this is the Boss! Matori, I want you to notify our scientists to be ready and waiting for when I get back to Base. I want all scientists notified that we have captured a Pikachu which needs to be put under inspection."

Jessie, James and Meowth shared a terrified glance at each other as the weight of their lie pressed down upon them as they watched a stone face Giovanni send orders to his secretary.

"Also, Matori, I want you to call all Rocket Officers back to Base, I repeat, ALL Rocket Officers back to Base. I have an announcement that all officers will need to hear.

"Calling ALL Rocket Officers back to Base! Tomorrow is the start of a new era in Team Rocket history. I am turning this organisation upside down! All Officers to Base!"

TO BE CONTINUED...