Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Alright, here they come!” Meowth shouted down from the trees.

The flock of wild Doduo was barreling up the hill at full speed.

“Ready?!” 

“Ready!” replied Jessie and James as they stood behind the bushes on opposite sides of the path, each holding the end of a rope.

“NOW!”

The two of them pulled on the ropes as hard as they could, springing a large, hefty net right on top of the hoard of Doduo; miraculously, without missing a single one.

Before he could even witness their success, James - who had ended up on the side of the path bordered by a steep slope - had stepped back just a bit too far, letting go of the rope in the process. He yelped as he began to slide down the tractionless, gravely incline; frantically clawing at the slope to no avail until he was finally able to catch himself on a ledge.

Wait… On a ledge?!

He could feel his grip slipping, and when he peeked down at how far he still had left to go, his stomach dropped.

“Guys? A little h-”

And so did he.

“Did you hear something?” asked Jessie, pausing after hearing what almost sounded like a scream. But whatever it was had been mostly drowned out by the chattering of Doduo in the background.

“Nothin’ but ungratefulness!” said Meowth as he crossed his arms and turned away, reigniting the argument they had gotten into.

“Oh, come on! Any moron with eyes could’ve seen those Doduo coming and said something!”

Tensions between the trio had been higher than usual due to the lack of funding from the Boss, and even the success of their plan wasn't enough to stop an argument over who was most deserving of the credit. Neither of them had yet realized that they were missing a crucial third of their bickering. 

After briefly blacking out, James woke up laying flat on his back at the bottom of the cliff. Groaning, he sat up. He was aching all over from the fall, which was par for the course, but something was… Wrong. There was a strange, almost pins-and-needles sensation in his right leg. Come to think of it, his lower leg did almost look like it was oddly bent where it shouldn't be… Then he quickly realized it wasn’t numbness he was feeling, but pain. A nauseating amount of it.

This was bad.

“If it weren’t for my perfect timing, the net wouldn’t have dropped at all - especially not on all those Doduo at once!” Jessie said matter-of-factly.

“You were only one half a’ the timing!!” exclaimed Meowth.

James had dragged himself backwards and was resting his back up against the rocky cliff face, at a loss for what to do. He was almost certain what this meant, but when did something like this ever happen? He didn’t exactly want to believe it. 

He looked up at the cliff and shouted, hoping that maybe his teammates would hear him.

“Jessie!! Meowth!?”

No response.

“Jessie!!? … Anyone!?”

Aside from a startled flock of Taillow rising up from the trees, still no response.

“It's no use, they're probably too busy arguing to hear me… ” James thought to himself, not knowing how right he was.

He sighed, realizing that he’d have to get himself out of this situation. The obvious answer as to what was wrong with his leg was that it was broken. … But, maybe, he was too quick to jump to conclusions? He figured now was as good of a time as any to test and see if this was just a bad sprain, or if his intuition was right. At least, that’s what he told himself for motivation. 

Using the rocky wall as leverage, he carefully began to rise. Slowly, he got his left leg under him, but the right was proving to be a problem. It ached more and more while he attempted to bend it, and when he finally tried to stand, a bolt of intense pain shot through it - like a concentrated thunder shock -  only, several hundred times worse than the intensity he’d ever felt before. Tears welled in his eyes as he cried out in pain and fell against the wall, struggling to stay upright and keep all his weight on one foot.

It was definitely broken.

“If I didn’t suggest the weighted net, you wouldn’t a’ picked it!” Meowth shouted.

“To be fair, the weighted net was James’ choice” Jessie replied. “I was the one who said we should set it up on this hill, right James?”

Jessie waited for a response.

“... James?”

James wiped the tears from his eyes and took a look at the surrounding forest. If he could just find something to support himself on, then maybe he could start getting somewhere… But the nearest tree was about three meters away, and the rocky wall he was leaning on wasn’t getting any closer.

Then, he spotted a medium-sized tree branch on the ground and got an idea. If he could get to that branch, he could use it as a makeshift crutch. With all his weight on his left leg, he left the support of the cliff face and attempted to shuffle-

Never mind. 

He winced, voluntarily falling back against the wall. There was no way he'd be getting to that branch.

James laid against the cliff face, wallowing in misery and despair. This was only their first plot of the day, and by freak accident, he had taken the fall for it - literally. Out of all the potential outcomes though, did he really have to go and break a leg? If they had rationed their luck like they had been rationing their food, maybe this wouldn’t have happened. But to do that, they would have to have had luck in the first place; and clearly, any luck he had right now was absolutely rotten.

Then, he had a sudden realization. Of course, things weren't as hopeless as they seemed: he had pokemon! More specifically, he had Cacnea. On one hand, he could send Cacnea to bring him the branch, but on the other… It was Cacnea, and if there was ever a time he didn't need its over-enthusiasm, it was now. The positives well outweighed the negatives, however.

“Go, Cacnea!”

He sent out Cacnea, then braced himself for its prickly embrace…

“Cacnea?” it said, looking up at him with a spiky arm held to its chin.

He let down his guard, surprised it didn't tackle him on sight like it usually did.

“Cacnea, I need you to bring me that branch over there” he said, pointing at the tree branch and doing his best not to sound strained.

Cacnea turned to look where James was pointing, then looked back at him. Its neutral expression turned to worry, clearly able to tell from the tremble and teary-eyedness of its trainer that something was amiss.

“Cacnea, cac?”

“Hm? Oh, don't worry about me. I just… Sprained my leg, that's all” he said. That was a lie, but Cacnea was obviously already worried about him and he really didn't want to make it worry any more than it already was.

Cacnea looked a little hesitant, as if it were unsure of what it had been told. Then it went over and grabbed the branch, handing it to its trainer.

“Thank you. Cacnea, return!”

James sent it back into its ball, but not before catching sight of the concern in its eyes. He wanted to tell it that everything would be fine, that this was no big deal - but he had already lied to it once just now, and he didn’t really feel like lying to himself as well.

Jessie and Meowth had begun searching the area.

“James!” shouted Jessie.

“Where are ya’, Jimmy?!” yelled Meowth.

Jessie looked around, frustrated. 

“Where could he have gone? He was just here a minute ago!”

“I dunno, but it's not like em’ to just wander off like that…”

Meowth checked around the side of the path James had been stationed at and noticed something unusual.

“Hey Jessie, come look at this!”

Jessie walked over to where Meowth was. He pointed down at the markings on the sloped side of the hill, like something - or someone - had recently slid down it.

“Ya’ think he might've fallen down there?”

“Well, it's either that, or he's gone to tell the Boss himself and take all the credit while we're stuck dealing with those Doduo.”

“Can ya’ cut it about the credit?! … Besides, ya’ really think he'd do somethin’ like that?”

They both paused for a moment, before simultaneously saying “Nah!”

“If he did fall down this slope,” Meowth added, “then we ‘prolly oughta’ go get em’, huh?”

“Of course, right after we-”

Jessie turned around, only to see an empty net with no Doduo in sight. Instead, a Lairon had taken their place. It was happily eating the metal cables the net was composed of.

“Meowth, where’s our Doduo…?” Jessie asked in an uncharacteristically calm tone for the situation.

“I guess they musta’ escaped when that Lairon started eatin’ the net…” said Meowth, matching her tone while quietly anticipating the ensuing storm.

“Next time…

How about you make sure the net is bite proof!!!”

“Had I known there was gonna be Lairon, I wouldn’a even suggested the weighted net! I’m not a psychic-type, I don’t got future sight!” 

Jessie sighed, putting her hands on her hips. Another day, another failure - no thanks to her idiot teammates. One blew the whole operation by even suggesting an edible net, and the one who ultimately picked it was MIA. But they were just getting started, there was still plenty of time for success to be had.

“Well, then I guess we better go find James” she said, marching off toward where they had hidden their balloon. “Then, after that, we can see about snagging that Pikachu.”

Breathing heavily, James rested against a tree. He wasn't sure how far he had actually limped, but it felt like miles. He was exhausted, and the pain in his leg had turned into a constant, agonizing throbbing. On a scale of 1 to 10, he was dealing with a 25 at the absolute minimum. His goal was to get back to the camp they had set up, but he wasn't even sure if he was heading in the right direction. Surely by now, his teammates had started looking for him…

“Hey, you over there!” a voice called out among the foliage.

James looked over and saw a man with short blond hair dressed in a reddish orange uniform complete with a wide-brimmed hat making his way through the bushes.

“Nincada, use cut!” he shouted.

“Nincada!” cried the pokemon as it used cut to slice through a dense patch of shrubbery.

The trainer rushed over to James, with the Nincada following closely behind.

“Are you alright?”

“If… Falling off a cliff and breaking your leg is what you'd call alright, then… I'm just peachy…” he replied.

“Well, my name's Dobson. I'm the pokemon ranger who’s currently monitoring this reserve.”

“I’m James…”

Dobson crouched down and looked at the injured leg.

“Hm… And you're sure it's broken?”

James nodded.

Dobson stood back up. 

“There's no Pokemon Center anywhere near here, much less a human hospital, so we'll have to call in emergency services. In the meantime, you'll need to come with me. I have a cabin not too far from here where you can rest until they arrive.”

James tried to lift himself off the tree he was leaning on, but even using the branch wasn’t enough at this point. He would've collapsed had the ranger not caught him.

“I don’t think… I can make it that far…” he whimpered.

The ranger propped him back up on the tree and thought for a moment. He scanned the surrounding forest for any wild pokemon he could recruit to help, then spotted an Ursaring eating some berries.

“Perfect. Capture on!”

Dobson got a bit closer and activated his capture styler, launching the capture disc at the pokemon. After he circled the disc around the bewildered Ursaring for a few moments, he successfully captured it.

“Capture successful! Alright Ursaring, please carry my friend here. - But be gentle, he’s badly hurt.”

“Ursa” it said, before picking James up.

“Now follow me. The cabin is just over here."

A short walk later, they arrived at the cabin. Dobson opened the door and the Ursaring carried James inside. 

“Go ahead and put him on that bed over there” the ranger said.

Ursaring did as it was asked and placed James on the bed.

“Alright. Ursaring, Nincada, thanks for your help!”

The ranger dismissed the wild pokemon, who calmly returned to the forest. He then entered the cabin and shut the door behind him.

“First things first, we need to get a splint on that broken leg” Dobson said.

“That's not going to hurt… Is it?”

“I can't say it won't hurt, but we need to get it stabilized. I do have something I can give you for the pain though.”

“Could we start with that…?”

Dobson approached the bed carrying a glass.

“Here, drink this.”

With some help from the ranger, James sat up and took the glass full of a green liquid. He sipped from it, expecting it to be some kind of tea, but was met with an unpleasantly grassy taste.

“Excuse me, but… Is this a glass of lawn clippings?”

“It's a drink made from herbs found in this forest. It'll help with the pain, but you'll need to drink all of it.”

As James reluctantly drank the rest of the beverage and laid back down, Dobson rummaged through a cabinet and soon came back with an armful of materials for a splint.

“Okay, so it's the right leg, correct?”

“Mhm…” 

Dobson gently felt James’ lower leg. While he wasn't a medical professional, he had enough first-aid training and experience to fairly confidently tell his tibia was broken.

As he started setting up the splint for his leg, the ranger began to make some small talk.

“You know, quite a few people have gotten injured on this reserve.”

“It's… Good to know I'm not the first, I gue- ”

James cried out in pain when Dobson lifted his leg to tuck a small folded blanket lengthwise under it as a basis for the splint.

“A warning, next time….?” James asked, gritting his teeth.

“Sorry, that should be the only time I'll have to lift it up like that. Anyway, something I've noticed though, about the people who usually end up injured, is that most of them are doing things they're not supposed to. Mainly poaching.”

“Really? How terrible!” replied James, feigning surprise.

Either the herbs in that drink must've been working, or he was just that tired; either way, he was suddenly starting to feel very sleepy.

“I know, right?” Dobson said. “Speaking of poaching, not too long ago I received an aerial report that a bunch of Doduo had been trapped in a net. I was actually on my way to check it out when I spotted you.”

“That's… Just awful! I hope those crooks get what's coming to them…”

“Don't worry, I'm sure they will. In fact, I think one of them is just about to.”

The way Dobson said that stuck out a little. In what way, James couldn’t fully comprehend at the moment. His eyelids were getting awfully heavy.

“Huh…? …What makes you say that…?”

And he was out.

As the hot-air balloon drifted through the sky, Jessie and Meowth had their eyes glued to the forest below, peering through binoculars for any sign of their blue-haired comrade.

“Ya’ know, considering how that side of the hill just turns into a straight drop, maybe James coulda’ gotten hurt?” inquired Meowth.

“Well, he's obviously not still at the bottom, so he couldn't have gotten hurt that bad” Jessie dismissively replied.

Meowth lowered his binoculars and looked gloomily down at the treetops.

“Hmm… I dunno. To be honest, I've been gettin’ a bad feelin’ ever since we realized he was missin’...”

Jessie had also been getting a bad feeling, but she just chalked it up to their plan going wrong after everything seemed to be going right. Sure, James was missing - but all they had to do was find him. What was there to be worried about?

“Don't be ridiculous, Meowth. Just because James isn’t here right now to be all whiny doesn’t mean you have to fill in for him! … But, we should probably hurry up and find him. At this rate, we're going to lose track of the twerps again…”

Chapter Text

James slowly awoke under a bright light in an otherwise dark room. He tried to move his hands to shield his eyes, only to realize that they had been tied to the arms of the chair he was now sitting in. Even his one good leg was tied down - though his broken one, which was in a splint, wasn't. It still ached, but at the moment, it felt more numb than anything. Sitting in a chair across from him, just barely in the light's radius, was the pokemon ranger.

“W- What's going on?” James asked, struggling a little against the restraints.

“I don't know,” Dobson replied, “maybe you can start by telling me what Team Rocket is doing in the Hoenn Region?”

A pang of panic jolted through him, snapping him out of the lingering grogginess from whatever was in that drink. James realized he'd been captured. Not only did this guy know who Team Rocket was, he knew enough to detain him. … But, maybe this was just a scare tactic, he thought? After all, he had actually helped him to an extent. Dobson probably called the police on him and was stalling in the meantime. If that's what this was, he could play the stalling game too.

“What's it to you?!” he snapped back.

“It's my job to protect nature from criminals like you, that's what” said Dobson. “You broke your leg while trapping those wild Doduo, didn't you?”

“Maybe I did, maybe I didn't!”

“Don't play dumb with me, I know it was you! How many more of you are there?”

“Can we just save the interrogating for when the police arrive?!”

“... You think I called the police?” Dobson said, sounding almost insulted at the notion.

James paused, reconsidering his prior assumption.

“Well… I doubt you called an ambulance.”

Dobson stared into James’ eyes with a menacing look.

“I didn't call anyone” he said; his tone was cold and emotionless. “I caught you, now I get to decide what happens next.”

The ranger’s ominous words sliced through James’ foolhardy confidence as to what this situation actually was. And just like that, he was starting to get freaked out. Maybe if Jessie and Meowth -

Wait. They had no idea where he was. He was a sitting Psyduck.

“So… What are you going to do, then?” he asked with quiet apprehension.

“I'm going to ask you some questions, and you're going to answer.”

So it was still an interrogation. That wasn’t so bad, James thought.

“Tell me James, do you like pokemon?”

“Is this a trick question?”

“Answer it.”

“Yes, of course I like pokemon…”

“Now tell me, how many pokemon have you stolen?”

James thought for a moment. Had they ever successfully stolen a pokemon? Then he remembered.

“Well, technically only one; a Togepi. …But it was rejected for being too weak.”

“Lier.”

“No, really, I'm being honest!”

Dobson sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. He knew better than to expect real answers from a criminal, but he’d be seeing this interrogation through to the end anyway.

“Have you ever hurt a pokemon, James? I don't mean in a battle. I mean, going out of your way to injure or weaken a pokemon through other means.”

“Well, I wouldn't say I go out of my way to…”

“So you have hurt pokemon before?”

“Considering you know what Team Rocket is, I'm sure you can make an educated guess, right?” James sheepishly responded.

The ranger sighed. Avoiding the question. So this was going to be one of those types, wasn't it? The only thing more annoying than a loud and proud poacher was a cowardly one.

“Who's asking the questions here?” Dobson inquired.

“You are…?”

“Then answer me. Do you hurt pokemon? Yes or no.”

“W-when you put that way-”

Dobson leaned forward in his seat. He was several feet away - hardly in his face - but to James he might as well have only been inches from him.

“Yes. Or. No.”

“... Yes…” he finally managed to say.

He couldn't say he hadn't; since if he said no, the ranger would know for sure he was lying. Still, with the way Dobson phrased the question, it felt pretty bad to admit to something like that.

How Team Rocket went about stealing pokemon wasn't exactly humane, but it wasn’t like they did it for no reason. It was going to a good cause; that cause being fame and fortune, promotions, and the betterment of Team Rocket. All of those things were good causes… Technically. So, sometimes they weakened pokemon a little with weapons and machines instead of battling? It wasn’t really that different to wearing down a pokemon in battle. In fact, he was pretty sure it was more efficient. At least, hypothetically. When put in the framing of “hurting pokemon”, however…

He quickly followed up his answer with a caveat.

“But it's not like I have a say in the matter!”

Dobson didn’t respond at first. Instead, he quietly got up from his chair, moved it within two feet or so of James, and sat back down. If James wasn’t sweating before, he certainly was now.

“Oh, is that so?” the ranger asked.

James wasn’t about to break into actual introspection of his circumstance to defend himself - he was already stressed out, he didn’t need to get all depressed as well. Plus, Dobson seemed to be looking for straightforward and concise answers, and the easiest way to go about that was simply to throw his teammates under the bus. They weren't here anyway, so what was the harm in pinning all the blame on them? Especially if it meant looking better in the eyes of this ranger before he decided to… Do whatever it was he was planning to do. Hopefully just give him a good scolding and let him go.

“Honestly, I can hardly stand seeing innocent pokemon hurt…” he said, playing up a (phony) sense of sincerity in the only way he knew how; by turning it into melodrama. “You see, if it weren’t for my awful cohorts, I-”

His performance was cut short, however, when Dobson delivered a swift kick to his shin - the broken one. James shrieked in agony.

“I've heard it before. Save your Totodile tears” said Dobson, unfazed.

That was easier said than done, because now those “Totodile tears” were streaming all down James’ face. He lurched forward as the newly revived pain in his leg rocked him to his very core. It felt as if he'd just broken it a second time, only this time without the boon of blacking out beforehand.

“Any sign of em’ yet?” Meowth asked, sounding exasperated.

“Still no…” Jessie tiredly replied. “Just stop asking me that already, if I see something I'll say something.”

As she said that, Meowth finally saw something.

“I think I see somethin’.”

Jessie quickly moved over to his side of the gondola.

“What is it?” she asked, looking through her binoculars.

“It looks like a cozy little cabin. Maybe James found his way there?”

“Well at this point, he better be in there… We've wasted half our day looking for him!”

As James sat there in the chair, doubled over in pain, Dobson waited. After at least a minute or two of sobbing, it looked like he was getting a grip on himself, so the ranger lobbed another question.

“Since you've admitted to hurting pokemon, let me ask you this: Why do you hurt pokemon?”

The response was delayed, but James eventually composed himself enough to answer.

“H-... How else are we s-supposed to steal them?! In an ideal world, pokemon would give themselves over to Team Rocket willingly, but… That's not how it works!”

“In an ideal world, Team Rocket wouldn't exist.”

Maybe that was true, but James didn't really care much for this stupid interrogation anymore. He wasn’t interested in what this ranger had to say, and he got the feeling that neither was the ranger. All he wanted to know was when this was going to end.

Dobson continued.

“Is it for money, for power… Or do you just enjoy hurting pokemon?”

To Dobson, this was a trick question. He already knew he’d answer dishonestly, he just wanted to see how this low-life would try to Zizgagoon his way around it.

James hesitated. It wasn’t so much that the question stumped him, he just didn’t know if anything he had to say mattered at this point.

“Do you like hurting pokemon, James?” Dobson reiterated, this time more condescendingly.

“N-no, of course not… I may be a criminal, but I'm not a monster!”

The ranger smirked. This was the third poacher to say something like that. The predictability was becoming palpable.

“Considering how you treat pokemon that aren't yours, then it must be safe to assume you abuse your own pokemon too, correct?”

Even with his judgment clouded by pain, James knew now wasn't exactly the best time to fly into a righteous fury - considering how far the situation had escalated - but Dobson's phrasing of that question really got under his skin. It wasn't just contentious, it was outright slander; and he wouldn't stand for it.

“W-what kind of question is that?! I'll have you know I would never do anything to hurt my pokemon! I don't care what you think, but that's the honest-to-goodness truth!”

“Fair enough. As a pokemon ranger, one of my skills is the ability to read the demeanor of a pokemon and tell exactly how it feels. I guess we'll find out if what you just said does have an ounce of truth to it.”

Dobson reached into his pocket and held up a pokeball. 

James' eyes widened. Despite the pokeball looking like any other, he knew it was his. He would've rather had another kick in the leg than whatever this was going to be.

“Please… Do whatever you want to me, just… Leave Cacnea out of this!”

“So, it's a Cacnea? Alright then. Go Cacnea!”

“Cac-ne-a!” it exclaimed as it was sent out of its pokeball.

The moment the cactus pokemon saw its trainer, it immediately tackled him, wrapping its arms around his neck in a hug. It had been so worried prior that it didn't think to curb its excitement - much less consider where it was. It was just happy to see him again.

James' eyes were shut tight, but not from the painful embrace. For once, its intentions were more than welcome, even though the execution could've done with a few less thorns. Rather, he didn't want to see the look on Cacnea's face when it realized what was going on.

Dobson’s eyes, on the other hand, were wide open. He simply could not believe that this pokemon was hugging its trainer. He'd never seen anything like that before, not out of all the other times he had interrogated a poacher. Everything about its demeanor was telling him it was glad to see this crook, this pokemon abuser - there wasn’t a shred of fear, aggression, or resentment. It was impossible. Maybe it had been conditioned to do this? But why would James have deliberately trained a cactus pokemon to hug him? It obviously hurt. The math wasn't adding up… But, Dobson was just missing some variables. Maybe this particular pokemon was the only one this Team Rocket scum had ever shown any ounce of compassion for. That had to have been the case.

The ranger had seen enough.

“Cacnea, return.”

“Cac-?”

The moment it realized an unfamiliar voice had said those words, the pokemon had suddenly become aware of its surroundings, but it hadn’t had time to process anything before it was sent back into its ball. The ranger put the pokeball back in his pocket. He'd be releasing it later.

James opened his eyes and looked nervously at the pokemon ranger for his reaction. However, the way his hat was tilted cast a shadow that made it impossible to make out.

This was usually the part where Dobson would chastise the poacher for their treatment of pokemon, then dole out the punishment they deserved, but… He wasn’t sure what to say. He wasn’t going to not punish him, he just couldn't think of anything to say.

Slowly, he took out a knife from a pouch on his belt.

When James saw the knife, his blood ran cold. This whole time he had been hoping that this was just a particularly brutal attempt to get him to feel sorry for his actions (which was proving to be at least moderately effective). But, post shin-kick, a nagging thought in the back of his mind had grown louder. It was clear now, without a shadow of a doubt, that the ranger had no intention of just letting him go.

“Y-you… You a-aren't planning to use that knife, are you?” he asked, his voice trembling.

Dobson scooted his chair closer and leaned forward. Meanwhile, James scooted as far back in his seat as he physically could manage.

As James saw the knife coming toward him, he looked away. After a few seconds of expecting the worst, he squinted back over and realized Dobson was actually just cutting the ropes that were holding him to the chair.

He wasn’t sure what to think at this point. But whatever he was supposed to be thinking, he knew it couldn’t have been relief.

Once Dobson had cut the ropes, he got up from his chair.

“Stand up.”

“I-I’m not sure I-”

“I said stand up.”

Slowly and shakily, James started to rise from his chair, trying his absolute best to keep pressure off of his broken leg.

Dobson watched in silence until James was finally upright.

“We're going to fight. If you win, I'll let you go on the condition that I never see you again. And if you lose… It'll be the last thing you ever do.”

The ranger took a fighting stance.

James gulped, then reached into his pocket only to recall that Dobson currently had his only pokemon.

“Wait… You have my Cacnea. How am I supposed to-”

Dobson flung a right hook, hitting James squarely in the shoulder. He stumbled backwards, but caught himself on the chair.

“I said we're going to fight.”

“H-hey, this isn't fair! I barely have a leg to stand on!”

“You say that like you deserve a fair fight.”

James was still in the middle of standing back up when Dobson threw another punch, right to the side of his face. This time, he went down.

“No one who steals or abuses pokemon deserves any kind of fairness.”

The fall caused a sharp pain to shoot through his leg, but he managed to will himself up on his hands and one knee. He hadn't even gotten the chance to attack back yet, and even if he did, he really didn't have the energy to.

“C-can't we work this out…? S-some sort of truce…?”

Dobson kicked him, causing him to fall on his side.

The answer was apparently no.

After landing the balloon, Jessie and Meowth walked up to the cabin's door.

“Think we should knock foist?” Meowth asked.

“Are you serious, Meowth? It's a cabin in the middle of the woods. If they don't want anyone coming in, then they'll lock it.”

Jessie tried the doorknob, and found that it was, in fact, not locked.

“And if they leave their door unlocked,” she cheerily said as she stepped inside,”then they must be completely fine with random strangers barging in!”

Just from inside the doorway, they could see almost the whole cabin. It didn't look like anyone was home.

“Looks like it's empty…” said Meowth.

Jessie sighed.

“Alright, this is starting to get annoying… If I didn’t know any better, I might actually be kind of worried! Let's just see if they have anything in the fridge and get out of here.”

“… Wait, what's that over there?”

Meowth noticed what looked to be a set of stairs in the corner of the cabin and went over to it.

He gazed down at the dark stairway, which led to a closed door. Just looking at it, he got an eerie feeling that made his fur stand on end. Adding to the unease, he swore he could hear sounds coming from behind the door, but he wasn't sure what they were.

“Uh, Jessie…?”

Jessie had walked over and was staring down at the steps herself.

“What? So this cabin has a creepy basement - big whoop. Besides, if James was anywhere here, that's the last place he'd be.”

As she looked at the door though, she too was starting to get an anxious feeling. She couldn't put her finger on it, but something was just… off - about this whole cabin, even.

“Yeah, but… I still think we oughta’ check it. Ya’ know, just in case…” Meowth said, half hoping Jessie would tell him it was a stupid idea so they didn’t have to.

“Fine… But when we see there's nothing down there, we're leaving” she said, masking her fear with annoyance.

Jessie took the lead, and they started down the steps. Once they got to the bottom, the muffled noises became more apparent. As quietly as possible, she turned the doorknob and cracked the door open. 

In the dark room, lit only by a single conical light hanging overhead, was some guy in reddish orange attire and a wide-brimmed hat absolutely whaling on a partially curled up heap on the floor.

Jessie and Meowth were in shock. Neither of them wanted to believe what they were seeing. Or who they were seeing.

“Is that…” Jessie whispered.

“It is…” Meowth whispered back.

They flung open the door and rushed in.

Before Dobson could even turn around, he was being tackled by unknown assailants.

“You get off of him, right now !!” Jessie shouted.

She and Meowth dragged the ranger off of James, but he struggled his way out of their grasp and whipped around to face them.

“So there are more of you…” Dobson said. “I knew I should've locked the door. Come to pick up your friend, huh?!”

“Shut up!! This ends now!” Jessie retorted. “Go, Seviper!”

Jessie sent out her Seviper.

“Seviper, use wrap!”

“Se-viper!!” it hissed, before quickly coiling itself around the ranger, immobilizing him.

Jessie and Meowth ran over to James, who was laying on his side with his hands over his head. He had blood running from his nose and bruises all over his face - he'd been beaten pretty badly. Of course, they also noticed the splint on his leg.

“James?” said Jessie.

“We’re gettin’ ya’ outta’ here, okay?” said Meowth, shaking his shoulder.

He couldn't open his eyes. He was barely conscious; but he recognized their voices.

“C… Cacnea… He has… Cacnea…” he muttered.

Jessie looked over at the ranger, trying to piece together what was going on - besides the obvious. He didn't look like anyone they had seen before, nor did he look like he was affiliated with any kind of organization who would do something like this.

“Beating people to a pulp and stealing their pokemon… Just who exactly do you think you are, some kind of mugger?!”

“I'm a pokemon ranger, and I was rescuing that pokemon from the likes of you, Team Rocket! What happened here was justice, but I don't expect a bunch of criminals to be able to recognize that.”

“So you think you're some kinda hero for breakin’ people's legs, takin’ their pokemon, an’ clobberin’ em’ while they're down just cause they happen to be part of an organization that may or may not be out here doin’ illegal activities? That ain't heroic, that's just plain cruel!”

Never mind how the concept of karmic retribution was apparently lost on these miscreants, Dobson was taken aback by the talking Meowth.

“Huh?! Is training pokemon to talk really part of Team Rocket’s agenda now? I wonder why they’d teach such a human skill to beings they consider little more than sla-”

Meowth leaped at him with a claw swipe to the face.

“Can it! Or there'll be more where that came from!”

Meowth retrieved the stolen pokeball from the ranger's pocket and ran back over to help Jessie, who was in the process of carrying James up the stairs.

Dobson watched with contempt as they left.

Jessie returned to retrieve her Seviper a short time later, but not before walking up to the ranger and giving him a fiery glare. He looked back at her, not with fear, but with an unreadable look.

She would’ve slapped it off his face, but she couldn’t trust herself not to rip his head off in the process.

“What? Going to have your Seviper crush me?” the ranger asked, an irritating sense of smugness in his voice. “You pokemon-stealing villains do the same thing to people all the time, yet you act surprised when one of your own gets what he deserved.”

“News flash, you sick freak, I don't know what kind of villains you deal with on a daily basis, but your so-called ‘justice’ makes what we do look like charity work! No one deserves to have something like that done to them - except for maybe you ! Now let me make myself clear; I want you to get it through your thick skull that if we ever, ever see you again… You'll be wishing you never messed with Team Rocket!!”

Dobson didn’t even so much as change his expression.

Jessie sent her Seviper back into its ball and hurried up the stairs.

Chapter Text

Hours later, James woke up. The last thing he remembered was blacking out after Dobson started attacking him, and now here he was, laying in bed in a pristine white room. He was wearing patient attire and had a cast on his left leg, so this must've been a hospital. But how did he get there? And where were -

The door to the room half-opened, and an older gentleman who was clearly a doctor stepped in.

“Oh, would you look at that! Looks like your friend is finally awake.” 

The doctor opened the door wider, and there they were.

Along with him, Jessie and Meowth approached the bed; both of them were wearing concerned expressions.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

James sat up. Everything ached.

“Like I’ve been hit by a Tauros…”

“And you look like it, too…” Jessie said. “You've been out for two whole days…”

“Seriously…?”

Judging by the discolored marks on his arms, he’d rather take her word for it than see a mirror.

“Yeah, those Doduo really did ya’ in…” said Meowth.

“Doduo? … Now wait just a minute, what about that maniac pokemon ranger who-”

Jessie loudly interrupted him.

“Excuse me, doctor, but I think James is suffering from a mild case of amnesia! Could you step out of the room for a moment while we fill him in on everything that’s happened?”

“Well, okay, but it could be a sign of a serious-”

“Don't worry, if we need ya’ we'll let ya’ know!” added Meowth.

The two rushed the doctor out of the room, shut the door, then rushed back over to James.

“Yes, we know about the pokemon ranger, but you can’t just go around telling people about that!” Jessie shouted in a hushed tone.

“Oh, I thought you were going to tell me it was all a nightmare... By the way, what did happen back there?”

“We were gonna ask ya’ the same thing” replied Meowth.

“Well, after our plan failed and you disappeared on us,” Jessie fussed, “we spent hours looking for you only for you to turn up in the basement of some creep's cabin in the woods...”

“I’m sorry, was that supposed to sound like a complaint?” James wryly replied.

That’s because it is a complaint! If it weren’t for us, that deranged ranger would’ve turned you into paste!”

“Are you really blaming me for getting kidnapped and beaten up?! Maybe you should try falling off a cliff and breaking a leg, then see what happens!”

“Oh… Come on James!” 

Jessie reached over and gave him a hug. 

“We're just glad you're alright!” 

Meowth jumped up and joined in on the hug as well.

“Yeah, what would we do without ya'?”

“Aw, I love you guys… But could you dial it back a bit? You're… Bruising my bruises…”

The two backed off, but just then, Meowth realized something.

“Hold it!” He exclaimed. “Foist of all, ya’ mean that psycho didn’t break your leg?”

“No, it was the fall. Surprisingly…”

“An’ second, who was he anyway?”

“He said his name was Dobson. He found me after I fell off that cliff and offered to help, and he did at first, but… It all turned out to be a trap to catch pokemon poachers. I thought he was going to have me arrested, but instead he tied me up and proceeded to ask me a bunch of questions.”

“Ya’ didn’t reveal any a’ Team Rocket’s secrets did ya’?”

“No, it was all weird questions about whether or not I abused pokemon…”

“That’s stupid” said Jessie. “What does he get out of moralizing about how we treat pokemon?”

“Well, he might’ve had a few good points… Speaking of which, he took my-”

“Cacnea?” Meowth butted in. “We got it back from em’. That ranger sure was some hypocrite, talkin’ about saving pokemon only to try and steal yours!”

“Look, I couldn’t care less about what his point was” Jessie huffed. “That guy seems to think that anyone who steals pokemon is on the level of primetime thriller villains. He obviously watches too much TV! What I still don’t get is how a pokemon ranger in the Hoenn region would even know about Team Rocket.”

“Yeah, seems like nobody around here’s got any clue about us… Except the twoips.”

“Well, he did say pokemon poachers get injured all the time on that reserve. Maybe he found out about Team Rocket through one of them?”

“Wait…”

Jessie came to a horrifying realization.

“James… Do you have any idea what that means?!”

“...That they should hire better security?”

“No, you nitwit, he would only know that if he was involved somehow! Which means… you're probably not the first person he’s done that to. Think about it; do you really think he'd let poachers go if he hated them that much?! And of course he'd only target ones who are already hurt, that just makes it easier to…”

She turned away for a moment.

“Ugh, that lunatic totally just admitted to being a serial poacher poacher!”

“A poacher that poaches pokemon poachers?” Meowth asked. “Why bother doin’ that instead a’ just arrestin’ em’? Unless…”

“Maybe you’re the one who watches too much TV?” James replied. “… For the record, he did pull a knife at one point. But he didn't use it on me, as much as he easily could've… Besides, pokemon rangers are a type of law enforcement. If he did that, wouldn’t he be breaking the law?”

“Are you two really this dense?! He cares even less about the law than we do because he's a killer!”

They both looked on in stunned silence. They had been thinking the same thing, but neither of them expected her to say it. For Meowth, it was a confirmation of suspicion. For James, it was the same; but he desperately wanted to believe otherwise.

“But do we really know if that's true? Maybe he just got a little carried away this time, and all those poachers are alive and well, having learned their lesson?” 

“Ain’t it a little late to be gettin’ Stockholm syndrome?” Meowth asked.

“Actually, I think I'm right on cue.”

“Even if he weren’t gonna do nothin’ else, he still kidnapped ya’ - and that’s against that law, even if he is part a’ the force. And now that Jessie said it, with the way he was beatin’ ya’ up when we got there… I don’t think he was plannin’ on stoppin’ ‘til there was nothin’ left but a stain on the floor…”

The words Dobson said to him before the fight flashed in James’ head.

“ And if you lose… It'll be the last thing you'll ever do .”

At the time it was unsettling, but in the mix of pain and fear he remembered being in, Dobson could've said anything and it would've been frightening. Thinking about it now though, it was downright terrifying.

James stared blankly downward, harrowed by all that had happened - and could've happened.

“You're both right… I really could've been killed back there…”

Jessie put a hand on his shoulder.

“But you weren’t, and that’s what matters.”

He looked at her with cautious assurance.

“Right…” he nodded.

“Besides, if that ranger knows what’s good for him, we’ll never see him again.”

“Yeah, we taught him a few things about messin’ with Team Rocket!” Meowth added.

“That's good to know…  Say, they haven't sent us the bill yet, have they?”

“No, and we’re getting out of here before they do.”

“Could we at least milk the inpatient meal service for all it’s worth first?”

“Of course!” Jessie concurred.

“It’d be rude not to!” replied Meowth.