Title: To Extend Our Reach to the Stars Above
Author: Shadowcat
Okay, here is the fourth story of the "Team Rocket Motto" Series. This
will probably be the LAST story in the Series, as I have little desire
to continue it further. I do love this Series, I have had a lot of fun
writing it, but I don't really want to continue it, it seems fitting to
make "To Extend Our Reach to the Stars Above" the final piece in the
saga. I was considering doing stories for "Jessie!", "James!" and
"Meowth! That's Right!", which would be kind-of diary-entry
reflections about living in the ravaged world and their experiences
from their individual perspectives, "James!" being only about the very
earliest days of "The R", because of his fate. I do not know if I will
write these stories or not, for in order for me to want to write them,
I will need to get good ideas for the lines, "Team Rocket Blasts Off at
the Speed of Light" and "Surrender Now or Prepare to Fight!". The
lines: "To Protect the World From Devastation", "To Unite All Peoples
Within Our Nation", "To Denounce the Evils of Truth and Love" and "To
Extend Our Reach to the Stars Above", I feel, are the four best lines
in the Motto, and, thus, the "Team Rocket Motto" Series should consist
of stories based upon only those four lines. Also, not doing the
entire Motto makes it seem a little more mysterious and errie to me,
which is the feeling that I want the Series to have. Well, we'll see
if I come up with any other stories, my dears, but this will probably
be the LAST of the Motto Series. Enjoy the End of the Saga!
Disclaimer: As with the rest of the Team Rocket Motto Series, this is
somewhere in the range of PG-13. And I don't own Pokemon, though I
wish I did. Read the previous three stories, "To Protect the
World...", "To Unite All Peoples..." and "To Denounce the Evils..."
before this, otherwise, you will be totally lost.
"Frantic, faction, focus
The world breathes
And out forms this misconception we call man..."
_Creed, "Say I"
Chapter 1 - Awakening
Jessie awakened in dappled green light. She was in a forest. She
heard garbled voices.
"Is she up YET?! If she sleeps in any longer, we's gonna miss our
chance ta nab Pikachu!"
"Should I wake her up?"
Jessie slowly began to sit up, surprised that she could. *Didn't I
just get shot?* She found that she was wrapped in a red sleeping bag
and she felt no pain from wherfrom where she remembered the bullet penetrating
her body. She voices she heard-*They sound like...Meowth and ...James?
How could it be?*
"Good morning, Jessie. Ready for breakfast?"
Jessie shrieked in surprise. She was staring into the forest-colored
eyes of James-and he was alive-not the ghostly form that she had last
seen him in! Meowth was next to him.
"Yeah, yous been sleepin' in all mornin'! We need ta get goin' sos
wes can capture Pikachu!"
Jessie reached out her hand slowly to touch James' face; "You're
alive! How-how can this be?"
"Jessie? What are you talking about? Of course I'm alive!"
Jessie looked at her surroundings and came to a logical conclusion.
"Oh, James, Meowth! I had the most horrible dream! And you were both
there-and Ash and Brock. The Boss made a disease and it nearly wiped
out everybody in the world. There were Factions of the survivors and
James...you died! Oh! It was terrible!"
James and Meowth listened intently as Jessie related her dream to them
in its entirety, up until the point where she had been shot in the
raid.
"That's awful!" James replied, light tears falling from his eyes after
listening to Jessie's ordeals and shaking slightly still from her
description of his death.
"Man! Dat was some weird dream!" said Meowth; "Now are we goin' ta go
after dat Pikachu or are wes goin' ta sit around all day?"
Jessie arose, ate some breakfast, and brainstormed the
Scheme-Of-The-Day with James and Meowth.
"Prepare for Trouble!"
"Make it Double!"
"To Protect the World From Devastation!"
"To Unite All Peoples Within Our Nation!"
"To Denounce the Evils of Truth and Love!"
"To Extend Our Reach to the Stars Above!"
"Jessie!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket Blasts Off at the Speed of Light!"
"Surrender Now or Prepare to Fight!"
"Meowth! That's Right!"
"Oh, great! It's Team Rocket!" Ash said, frustrated at having heard
their Motto for what seemed to be the seven-hundredth time.
"Who didja tink it was, brat? Da Scrubbing Bubbles? A' course it's
us!" Meowth shouted.
"We're really in no mood for you today;" Misty said with candid
snottiness.
"But we're in a perfectly good mood;" James replied; "Hand over the
Pikachu!"
"Yeah!" cried Meowth; "Before wes muss ya up!"
Ash, Brock, Misty and Pikachu stared up at the large tree stump where
Team Rocket was standing. Jessie readied a rubber-net shooting bazooka
that she had been expertly hiding. Then she suddenly collapsed to her
knees, wailing!
"I can't do it! Not after what the twerps-Ash and Brock-did for
me...I can't do this anymore!"
"But, Jessie!" James protested; "This is our big shot! We can't let
Pikachu get away now away now!"
"Yeah!" said Meowth; "What's gotten into ya! Dat was just a dream!"
Jessie looked up, rather confusedly, with tears in her eyes. "I know.
But it seemed so real!"
"What is going on?" Ash asked.
"I-" Jessie faltered; "I will try to explain."
Chapter 2 - Explainations
Jessie related her all-too-real dream, this dream that made her want
to change, to the "twerps" when she was seized with a terrible pain!
The world went white before her eyes as she collapsed to the ground
from the boulder where she was sitting!
"She's coming around!" a garbled voice said.
Jessie's eyes fluttered open. The deep brown eyes of Brock looked
down at her. Brock had a habit of always squinting his eyes, but on
the rare occasion that they were fully open they were a beautiful,
rich, dark-chocolate color.
Jessie felt a dull pain concentrated in her left shoulder. Brock
gently placed a damp ca damp cloth upon her head. Jessie slowly raised her
head up to take in her surroundings. Ash, Jonathan, and Mia were
there. It appeared to Jessie that she was in some kind of a hospital.
The realization that THIS was reality and that being back in the good
old days was just a dream hit her with a sharp twinge of wishful
sorrow. It had felt wonderful to stand proudly and say the old Team
Rocket Motto again with Meowth...and James.
"Uggh! What happened?" Jessie asked; "I remember...getting
shot...not much else."
"We're at the Vermilion City Pokemon Center;" enlightened Brock; "We
sped out of Magenta City last night with Rockets on our tail. We
managed to lose them in the mountain roads outside of Vermilion City
and we needed to get to some sort of hospital and the Pokemon Center
was all we could find. Jessie! We almost lost you on the way!"
"I found some veterinary equipment, crude, but I managed to extract
the bullet;" Mia said, holding up a shiny bit of metal in a pair of
forceps; "You've been out for several hours."
"No one got the cure, eh?" Jessie said groggy, beginning to feel
immense pain, a throbbing in her shoulder, now that she was more awake.
It was not as bad as the initial pain of the bullet's entry, as
soreness usually is less painful than original injury, but it was still
a flaring agony.
"No;" said Jonathan, we were all ambushed before any of us found the
right room."
"Then we have to make another plan and get it!" Jessie cried.
"Not yet;" said Mia, the group's medical expert; "You lost a lot of
blood, Jessie. You need to do some serious resting and recuperating
before we even try to travel back to Jamestown. Right now, you can't
even stand up!"
Ash appeared beside Jessie's bed, having walked in from another room
somewhere. His right arm had a white bandage wrapped around it.
"What happened to you, Ash? I don't recall you being hurt in the
raid. Just me and Mia."
Mia had white bandages similar to the one that Ash sported covering
her neck and part of her chest, extending under her shirt, the places
where Delilah the Persian had given her wickedly deep scratches.
Jonathan and Brock had helped her to treat her own injuries after she
had taken care of Jessie, the more extreme case.
"Like I said;" answered Mia; "You lost a lot of blood. We found that
Ash and you have the same blood type. He gave you a pint. It saved
your life."
"Jessie;" Ash said; "I have a couple of friends for you!"
Ash took two pokeballs off his belt and gently tapped them open. A
tiny Ekans lay curled up on Jessie's bed at her feet and Wheezing
floated happily (well, as happy as a Wheezing ever gets) above her.
"Wheezing! Ekans!" Jessie cried.
"We found them on your pokebelt;" Brock said; "Mia had to remove it to
treat you and found it strangely heavy for a belt full of EMPTY
pokeballs, so she opened them all up and found that Wheezing and Ekans.
I saw how they were and treated them with some Pokemon antidotes that
I found. I don't know exactly what was wrong with them, but some
Revive potion seems to have done the trick!"
"This is James' Wheezing. I found him and the Ekans in the lab that
Meowth and I investigated;" said Jessie.
"How can you tell?" Ash queried (about Wheezing).
"See these special markings?" Jessie replied; "It's my old Wheezing
all right, but I don't know where the Rocket Survivors got the Ekans
from. I think I will like training a snake again. Where's Meowth?"
"Outside, keeping watch in case our pursuers find us;" said Brock;
"Rest now."
Chapter 3 - Onix
The group of six stayed at the old Pokemon Center for a week, giving
Jessie time to recover before they took the slow jeep drive back to
Jamestown. She wished to return "home" and begin making plans for
another raid as quickly as possible, but Mia insisted that it was not
safe for her to have any stressors such as travel until she had stayed
off her feet for at least a week.
Brock drove through the dust-flats now, the cold, barren stretch that
surrounded Jamestown on all sides, cutting it off from the rest of
"civilization". The area had once been rich farmland, despite the cold
air. It had been a little warmer in that area too, once. After "The
R" struck, the fields lay fallow, then they were left to barrenness.
Much of the land had been over-cultivated by farmers who did not
practice environmentally wise techniques, and thus, the soil's
nutrients had been tapped out. Even wild plants, (save for a few weeds
and bushes) could no longer grow there.
Jessie sat up front, with Brock, and gazed out at the nothingness
around her. She was still weak and feeling an overall pain throughout
her body, the result of the massive blood loss. Her body was still
recovering from the shock. She also still could not move her shoulder
even a hair's width without wincing. Taking a bullet was not fun.
"What's that?" Ash asked in the back, having sighted something
unusual on the horizon.
"Loiks like a pile of boulders;" said Meowth.
Brock drove over to the strange object to investigate. As the five
humans and the cat-pokemon stepped out of the van to survey the massive
object before them, it became apparent what it was. Jessie stood,
staring at one end of it.
"An Onix;" said Brock.
"A DEAD Onix;" added Meowth.
"I wonder how it got here;" muttered Ash.
"Hmmm..." said Jonathan; "Onix aren't commonly found around here, they
weren't even in the 'Old Days', when there were more of them in the
world."
Onix too, had suffered from "The R", but, unlike many unfortunate
species of pokemon, were not left extinct or even near extinction.
There were fewer of them in the world, but their species remained more
common than many others as of late.
"There doesn't seem to be a trail..." Mia mused, noting the smoothness
of the ground around the carcass.
Brock stood at the creature's head, and gently ran a hand down its
cheek. It was as if he were petting it, like a trainer would do with a
living Onix. Jessie noticed a tear fall from his eye.
Brock remembered his Onix from when he was a child. It had died in the
earliest days of "The R"'s onslaught, when news stations were still
around to cover all the people and pokemon dying in the cities, before
most of civilization collapsed and the Factions were formed. It had
been his dearest friend as a boy, the second pokemon that he had
captured after he had found a wild Geodude and his strongest pokemon
when he was a Gym Leader. The only pokekemon that Brock had left from
those faraway kinder days was his Geodude and his Vulpix.
Jessie had Wheezing and Meowth, who wasn't really her pokemon, anyway,
for Meowth was more like a person. A little, furry person, but in many
ways more human than pokemon. None of Ash's old pokemon had survived,
not even his extra special Pikachu that Jessie and Meowth had so wanted
to capture.
It was funny, Jessie thought, how seeing that one tear fall from
Brock's eye could trigger such a wealth of memories in her. Both Mia
and Brock set to work examining the Onix, to possibly see what it had
died from. It could have been the new, mutated strain of "The R" that
Mondo had talked about. If it was, then it was possible that some
valuable information could be gleaned from this pile of fallen stone.
As the former Breeder and Doctor worked, Jessie went back to the jeep
to lay down for a nap, something that she was doing frequently in her
weakened state.
Chapter 4 - Confrontation
"Huh?" Jessie asked wearily as she was stirred from her slumber.
Brock nudged her as he got back into the driver's seat of the jeep. He
hadn't meant to wake her and had crawled in next to her very carefully.
"We don't know what killed the Onix;" Brock sighed; "Mia collected
some stone samples from its hide to analyze when we get back home."
"Oh, that all?" Jessie mumbled. She laid her head on his shoulder.
Jessie was jolted out of her peacefulness by a sudden skidding stop of
the jeep! She sat up, stiffened, and looked straight ahead. Two
people had ridden out right in front of the jeep on fiery pokemon! One
figure was on a Ponyta, the other astride a Rapidash! Between them
stood a large white feline! They had ridden out so suddenly, seemingly
appearing from nowhere, that they almost caused Brock to flip the jeep
in surprise, which was their intent.
"Prepare for Trouble!" a young woman shouted.
"Make it Double!" shouted the man mounted upon the Ponyta.
"Ha! Jessie the Traitor and her pitiful band of rouges! How
delightful! Just who we've been looking for! Prepare to meet your
fate!" The woman with the reddish-blond hair sneered.
"Get out whatever pokemon you have;" Jessie whispered to her friends;
"This could get bad. Those are Billie and Cody, some of the best
trainers of the Rocket Survivors..."
"Ho! Ho! What do we have here?" the sienna-haired man cackled; "Why
if it isn't little Meowth! Why'd you run away, kittycat? You were to
father a great race!"
"Wit Delilah?" Meowth cried; "Never! She's insane! You have warped
her mind! Yous don't care fer pokemon! None a da Survivors do! Alls
yous guys care about is bein' strong, and hurtin' others. Da Rocket
Survivors is worse than even da old Team Rocket. Dere's more ta life
than power!"
Jessie looked at her little felle feline friend in astonishment. She had
never expected anything so thoughtful to come from the pokemon's mouth.
Back in the "Old Days" he had been just as power-hungry as she was,
perhaps even more so. Now, like she, he could see beyond glory and
power, to see that other things were more important. Like she, the cat
could be cruel and conniving at times, but did not have a murderous
heart, not like those who still remained with the Rocket Survivors.
Meowth stared on, looking at Billie and Cody and also at Delilah the
Persian, whose eyes were glowing a menacing red, and who was salivating
and snarling in anticipation for a big battle. The cat was insane,
driven so by Oakley, Billie, and Cody, buy careful "training" and
massive abuse. She would have been a fine, perhaps even nice pokemon
had they not taken her from Jessie. She was so far gone into insanity
that Meowth could not even understand her "nya" language, a language
common to Persians and Meowths. Her "nyas' had become indecipherable.
Meowth's mind flashed back. He realized that he had something eerily
in common with his old friend, James. Meowth and Jessie found out
about how his rich parents had wanted him to marry a girl that he
didn't like, a girl that used to try to change him and beat him with a
whip. Meowth didn't want to breed with this insane and now
cruel-hearted Persian, something that the Rocket Survivors were trying
to force him to do, by forcing him to evolve and forcing him into a
breeding-pen with her.
"Oh how precious!" sniggered Billie to Jessie; "You and your new
little boyfriend!"
She had noticed Brock protectively wrapping an arm around Jessie.
"Guess you were lonely from not having your little James around
anymore-too bad he couldn't be here to see this! You smoosing with
that squinty Survivalista freak! Bet the wimp would be rolling in his
grave...if he had one!" Cody laughed.
Jessie stiffened at the mention of James, and stifled a growl that was
rising in her throat. Cody saw the expression on her face and knew
that he had struck a particularly painful nerve.
"Yous leave James outta dis!" screeched Meowth; "He was our friend!
An' he's not involved in dis fight!"
Billie shouted back; "Ah, Jessie, James, and Meowth, the Three Losers
of Team Rocket. Hmm...'The R' took care of James, so I guess it's up
to us to eliminate the other two, right, Cody?" the woman turned to her
partner, who nodded; "They were never cut out for The Cause, anyway.
We shall make certain that neither Jessie nor her precious little band
gets back to Jamestown! Go Delilah!"
The six of Brock's Band piled out of the jeep, prepared for a massive
pokemon battle, or to try to find a way of escape. Jonathan and Mia
had no pokemon. Ash only had Arcanine, whom he called out for war.
Jessie grabbed the balls containing Wheezing and Ekans, but knew that
the tiny Ekans would probably not do in this fight. With the
ruthlessness of Billie and Cody and the obvious viciousness of the
Persian, Ekans probably would not even survive, in fact. Brock called
out Vulpix and Geodude.
Delilah leapt, heading straight for Jessie, who she caught by the
throat! The cat had reacted to her master's order so quickly, she had
given Jessie no time to react. This wasn't a Pokemon Battle! The
beast had been trained to attack people!
"Jessie!" Brock screamed! Flames rose all around. Ash's Arcanine was
trying to Flamethrower Billie and Cody and was being counteracted by
their Ponyta and Rapidash, which they had dismounted!
"Get offa her!" Jessie heard through the haze of pain that she was in.
Delilah had caused no damage, as Jessie barely held the cat at bay
with her right arm, but the beast had pinned her with one paw right on
her wounded shoulder!
"Merrowwww! Hiss!" the Pee Persian screeched as Meowth kicked it off his
prone friend. Jessie returned to her feet only to see Meowth and
Delilah circling each other, snarling, trying to decide who was going
to strike first. Their respective tails were twitching in a slow dance
and their eyes glared pure hatred at one another.
Amidst the swirling flames of the firefight that was occurring, a
gunshot sounded!
"Yelp!" Went a fox-like cry as a small creature landed at Jessie's
feet in the confusion!
"Vulpix!" Brock yelled, rushing to his fallen pet. She yipped
vigorously, revealing that she was still alive. Blood seeped from just
under her right hind-leg. Brock called her into a pokeball; "It's up
to you, Geodude!" Brock called into the smoky obscurity.
"Hop in the jeep!" cried Jonathan, who sat in the driver's seat! We
can't win! Their pokemon are too strong and they have guns! They're
distracted! Now's our best chance to lose them!"
"Right!" Ash replied, quickly recalling Arcanine.
"Meowth! Come on!" shouted Jessie to the talking cat, who was still
in a stalemate with the Persian! He cat-a-pulted into the back and
Jonathan floored the gas pedal!
"Hey! You can't get away from us!" Billie and Cody shouted, climbing
onto the backs of their steeds and following the speeding jeep!
"How are we going to escape in this open country?" Ash asked, as
their pursuers were attempting to shoot out their tires with their
hand-pistols. Fortunately, they were not close enough to accomplish
it.
"There's a small canyon with weird rock formations up ahead;" said
Jonathan; "We can lose them there! See?!"
Everyone looked ahead to see strange spires looming out over the
horizon.
The six heroes made it into the canyon, and with some slick and
careful driving, Jonathan managed to hide them and lose their pursuers.
They drove out of the canyon by starlight,light, leaving Billie and Cody
still searching for them.
Then a thought struck Jessie with absolute horror!
"Brock...;" she whispered; "When Billie was insulting us, she said
something. She said that she would make sure that none of us would get
back to Jamestown!"
"That means..." Ash began.
"They know where our city is!" cried Jessie; "They might have attacked
it while we were in Vermilion! Our friends! Mondo!"
Chapter 5 - Causualty
Jessie, Brock, Ash, Jonathan, Mia, and Meowth drove slowly into
Jamestown. Joy Happenstance ran out to meet them as they approached.
The scene was surreal as several people, the many members of Brock's
Band, staggered from wounds and worked to rebuild some damages to a few
of Jamestown's buildings. The city was very much intact, but it was
obvious that something unpleasant had occurred not too long ago.
"Joy? What happened?" Brock asked.
"Some of the Rocket Survet Survivors attacked, while you were away.
They...no one was killed...but some of us were carried
off...they...raided some of our supplies. We don't have gasoline any
more, they took it all. Many of us...were...hurt, but nothing too
bad;" Joy choked out her answer.
"What of Mondo?" asked Jessie.
"Your friend? He was one of the ones...taken. I'm so sorry.
We...were going to mount a counter-attack...but we wanted to find you.
Eddie took some of his people...to look for you...they were supposed to
return after three days...but haven't."
"We must mount a counter-strike!" demanded Jessie; "They have our
friends! They have Mondo...and God only knows what they plan to do
with him! He's a Traitor now, like me...it will be worse than what
they do with their typical prisoners....Trust me."
"You weren't successful, in getting the new cure?" asked Joy.
"N-no;" Ash said, coughing; "Uggh...where did this cough come from?"
A counter-strike was a complicated thing. Brock and Jessie spent the
next three days planning it out. In the meantime, Mia took care of
Brock's wounded Vulpix and analyzed the rock-hide samples from the dead
Onix that the group had found out in the desert. Jessie would have
loved the planning to go faster, as she felt an urgency in rescuing
Mondo. The Rocket Survivors probably would not execute or begin
torturing the prisoners right away, as Jessie remembered that they
preferred to plan a big spectacle for that, often keeping their
captives in the great underground prison until the perfect punishment
for defying The Cause had been devised for them. Brock's Band had
learned that the Magenta City cave-prison had been repaired and
fortified since Jessie's escape, therefore, it was most likely that the
captives from the Jamestown raid, including Mondo, would be there.
The greatest obstacle would be for the members of the counter-strike
team to get to Magenta City without using the jeeps. As Joy had told
Brock and Jessie, the Rocket Survivors had seized every container of
gasoline that was stored in Jamestown. Brock's jeep, all of the
vehicles that Brock's Band had, did not have enough in their tanks,
even if the gas was put together into one tank, to make it even halfway
to Magenta City.
Ash suddenly fell ill. Jessie cared for him in her own house, as she
had for Mondo, giving Ash the very same bed as she had provided the
former Rocket Assistant. What was truly frightening was that Ash was
displaying symptoms of the dread "R", yet in somehow greater ferocity.
Ash had already had "The R" and had survived, much like Jessie had a
long time ago, becoming immune. Mia took some blood from the young
man. What she saw under her microscope confirmed everyone's suspicions
and their horror.
Mondo had been correct about the existence of a new disease. Ash had
"The R", but a slightly different version of it. He had succumbed
quickly, becoming bedridden within just those few days since he had
that "little cough". The same virus was detected within the hide
samples from the Onix. It was going to be "The R" all over again,
everyone feared, and, this time, perhaps no one would survive.
Joy, Mia, and Jamestown's other doctors and nurses, both those who
cared for humans and those who cared for pokemon, tried what they could
for Ash, even using some of the plant-derived cure for the original "R"
on him, to no effect. Arcanine kept a constant vigil at his master's
bedside, sometimes sitting at his feet on the bed, sometimes laying
sprawled atop the boy to ward off his constant chills.
The counter-strike was called off. Instead, Brock decided that he
could not leave his friend, Ash, to go on another mission. Also, he
decided that his Band needed to concentrate upon discovering a cure.
Even if the Rocket Survivors s had a cure, it would probably be too late
for Ash when they finally acquired it. All of the Band agreed with
Brock, fearing even more casualties from a strike upon the Rocket
Survivors, instead deciding to focus on their own problems for the time
being.
Jessie was furious when she heard the decision.
"Don't you know that they'll kill the prisoners? They'll kill Mondo!
And our other friends!" She screamed in her house when Brock came back
after the Vote had come down; "Get out! Get out of here! Get out of
my face!"
"I want...to see Ash..."
"Get out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Jessie screeched one last time, throwing
and iron frying skillet she had grabbed from her kitchen at him! She
collapsed on the floor next to Ash's bedside, sobbing.
"J-Jessie...." Ash croaked.
"A-Ash? What is it? Do you want me to get you some water?" Jessie
replied.
"You...should go....Find your friend. Even if you have to go alo go alone.
Brock's afraid. He's afraid of losing more friends. The...R-R-Rocket
Survivors...m-might have a cure. It may be too late for me...but y-you
should go, Jessie...find the cure....don't...let...me...die in vain."
Tears welled up in Jessie's eyes and fell to the floor. She was not
sure if Ash was completely in his right mind. His fever was very high
and would be quelled by nothing. He was probably beginning to get
delirious. His words, however, struck Jessie, in a place deep within
her soul. Perhaps it was only that she standing before Ash's bed at
this movement reminded her of the last few moments of James' life.
"T-take Arcanine. He can help"
The fire-wolf raised his head from where it was laid next to Ash's
cheek. He moaned in protest.
"Arky, you have to do it. Please, go with Jessie, she needs you right
now more than I do."
The pokemon reluctantly obeyed his master, climbing off the bed to
stand at Jessie's side, awaiting ing her instruction. Jessie stole away in
the night with Arcanine, telling no one of her plans. Joy Happenstance
was to soon be in to check on Ash anyway, so she could take over his
care once she found her gone.
Chapter 6 - Justice
Jessie traversed the cold desert and forest for a week before reaching
old Magenta City. She had packed enough food and clothing for the
journey the night she had decided to take her sudden departure. She
spent roughly half the time walking and half the time riding astride
Arcanine, who was just large enough to carry her. She had evaded some
members of Brock's Band out in the desert twice. They had been sent to
take her back to Jamestown, willing or not, by Brock. Jessie had to do
this, and no one was going to stop her!
She reached the city in daylight, and so retreated to the nearby
woodland to keep herself hidden until nightfall. Strangely enough,
Jessie noticed, during the earliest hours of darkness, none of the city
was lighthted. This was highly unusual. The generators were typically
turned off at 10pm, but usually at least a few were running between 7
and 10.
When she felt it was the opportune time, Jessie slowly stalked with
Arcanine into Magenta City. They strode past the big billboard that
read "Welcome to ROCKET City, Welcome to the New Order."
Jessie quietly sneaked into the old Poke National Bank tower by a
different route than her previous Raiding Party had before. Her
shoulder was still sore from that last visit to this dread place.
Everything was silent, dead silent. A shudder ran down Jessie's spine.
She and Arcanine silently climbed flights of stairs until they were on
the Eighth Floor. Jessie still believed that the cure that the Rocket
Survivors had could be found here, as Mondo said. Jessie avoided the
room where she had discovered Ekans and Wheezing, remembering the room
number. She stepped lightly down the hallway, looking for the best
room to search first.
She almost tripped over something in the darkness. She bent down to
look at it, her eyes trying still to adjust to the dim light. It
appeared to be a large pokemon. Upon closer inspection, a feline. It
was Delilah the Persian! Jessie kicked her, she was dead! Jessie
wondered at this enigma. She then proceeded down the corridor, leaving
the mystery of dead cats to ponder sometime later, for she could waste
no time, not wanting to be found out and captured or killed on the spot
by some of the Rockets.
"Grooooooannnn" Jessie heard coming from a room on her right. It was
not marked with any label or number; "Grooooooooaaaaan!" she heard
again!
Jessie knew that she should not let curiosity get the better of her,
but she feared that maybe one of her friends might have been in there,
that perhaps it was a lab were they had been tortured for information
and left laying upon a steel table to die. Jessie and Arcanine stepped
into the room silsilently, not making the slightest sound, even when
opening the door.
It appeared to be an office, well furnished, with a great oaken desk
at its far end. A lone figure sat in a chair at that desk, his head
resting upon the desk's surface. He was emitting low, agonized moans.
"Oakley?" Jessie questioned, recognizing the young man as she gently
placed her hand below his chin and raised his head up.
"Yes..." he whispered.
"What?" Jessie asked, perplexed, her single word asking a wealth of
questions.
"T-there was;" Oakley wheezed; "No...n-n-no cure."
Jessie stood stunned.
"There...was the new 'R'...we...I...and my med. staff...tried to find
a cure. I t-told...the other Rocket....Survivors....that we h-had a
cure....b-but it was a lie....my Onix...in the desert ....on the way
from...J-Jamestown....died....he ....had it....gave it....to ...me.
The rest...got....it...from...elsewhere. None
left....none...of....us.....us...except...me....So much for Team Rocket
Extending Our Reach to the Stars Above...The Cause...is...dead....."
Oakley fell silent before he finished his explanation. Jessie stood in
shock and silence. She closed her eyes in reverence for her fallen
enemy and former friend.
Jessie and Arcanine slowly made their way down the main Eighth Floor
hallway, tears streaming down Jessie's cheeks. She walked, as a
zombie. Another death witnessed, a kind of strange poetic justice had
been wrought, it seemed, upon Oakley and his followers, the true end of
Team Rocket, of the Rocket Survivors. But this meant, that there was
no hope. Jessie had come seeking a cure that never was. There was no
hope left in her anymore. None for Ash, perhaps none for the world, as
she anticipated the new "R" running its wildfire course, only, this
time, there were not many people left standing from the original "R".
It was entirely possible that the new strain would finish off Humanity.
Jessie heard something coming from another room. She went toward the
sound, one of the labs, opening the door to see what she would find
there.
"Jessie!"
"Mondo?!"
Chapter 7 - Resolution
Mondo, Jessie, Arcanine, and a few people from Brock's Band that
Jessie and Mondo had released from the Rocket Survivors' great
underground prison made the slow trek back to Jamestown. Mondo
explained how he and others were going to be used in experimentation to
discover a cure for the new "R", only to not have much done to them due
to their captors suddenly falling ill before they could begin the
tortures.
Upon returning, they told their stories to their friends in Jamestown
amid both very muted celebration and deep grief.
Ash had miraculously survived the new "R". But others had begun to get
sick. Through many weeks and a few casualties, a new cure and a
vaccine against the new menace was developed by Brock's Band. The
vaccine part had Ash as a vital key, he being one who had survived and
developed an immunity. He hated to have Mia draw small amounts of his
blood, but those samples had become instrumental. Soon, other bands
and what remained of the Factions (besides, of course, the Rocket
Survivors, who had all either become traitors or died) learned of the
keys of the cure and vaccine to the new virus.
Months passed. Jamestown, and the world, in fact, seemed to have been
beginning anew. Brock proposed marriage to Jessie and she agreed. On
a fine April afternoon, he answered the Priest's final words to the
Vows by kissing her deeply. The friends of the Bride and Groom, all of
"Brock's Band" rose an enormous cheer.
What none of the celebrants knew was that there were four beings
watching the events from Jessie's rooftop.
"I'm glad that the Lord granted us this special favor;" one of the
spirits said to the other; "Though I kind of wish that I was where
Brock is right now."
"Poor Ash. He looks so lonely. I hope that he finds Happiness. That
he will, perhaps, find someone."
"You know that that is in the Lord's hands, Misty."
Another figure spoke; "James, Misty, it is time to go."
James and Misty's two respective guardian angels motioned for them to
take their hands, so that they might take them back Home.
Jessie almost thought that she saw lightning flash in the sky as she
glanced behind her shoulder at her little house, a house that she and
Brock would now be sharing, though it was a cloudless day. She kissed
him deeply again, and gazed into his open eyes, staring back at her.
This, seemed, to Jessie, an end to a sorrowful and violent chapter of
her life, but the beginning of a new, beautiful saga.
THE END
Author's Endnotes: Thus ends the "Team Rocket Motto" Series. Or does it? I really am not
sure if I am completely happy with this ending. Was it "too happy" for
such an eerie story series? This was WEIRD, I know. It began as a
weird story and ends appropriately. I fear that if I write any more to
this, that it will just get stranger. It is probably best to end it
here, with "To Extend Our Reach to the Stars Above". A strange end to
a bizarre saga.
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