Illustration by Shigeru1313. 
Poetic Justice
by Cori Falls
@->->- 
"Come on guys, hurry up! We're supposed ta be at the restaurant by seven!" 
"We know, Meowth!" Jessie replied. 
"Youse guys better not be havin' a pre-dinner quickie in dere!" 
Jessie's face turned as red as her hair. "We're not!" she shouted. "But I think 
we will now, just to piss you off!" 
I couldn't help but laugh as I listened to the exchange. 
Jessie smirked at me and let the towel she was wearing drop to the floor. Then, 
she ripped away the towel that I had wrapped around my waist and playfully 
shoved me onto the bed. "Come on, James! We can't let him talk to us like that!" 
she said as she climbed up and straddled me. 
"Indeed, we can't," I agreed, wrapping my arms around her waist. As she laid 
herself on top of me, I closed my eyes and enjoyed the sensation of her silky 
skin brushing against my own and her soft lips showering my neck and chest with 
warm, velvety kisses. The fragrance of the rose-scented shampoo and body wash 
we'd just used in the shower lingered on our hair and skin, and as I buried my 
face in Jessie's crimson mane, I breathed in the heavenly aroma and felt myself 
becoming aroused. When I opened my eyes again, however, I caught a glimpse of 
the clock on the nightstand and saw that it was quarter past six. 
The reality check instantly cooled my stirrings of desire. 
"But I don't think being late for dinner and making Gary wait for us is the way 
to get back at Meowth," I sighed. 
Jessie looked at the clock and frowned. "You're right," she muttered. "Guess we 
won't have that pre-dinner quickie, after all." 
I held her to me a moment longer and brushed my fingers against her flushed 
cheeks. "We'll do this later tonight, when we have more time...and more 
privacy," I promised. 
Jessie smiled again and gave my ear a playful nip. "We'd better!" 
My heart fluttered, and I felt my own cheeks growing hot. "Count on it!" I 
gasped, supressing every urge I had to ignore the time and make love to her 
anyway. 
Jessie reluctantly climbed off of me and put on her bra and a pair of green 
string-bikini panties. Then, she rummaged through her backpack for a moment and 
brought out a short green dress and a pair of high heels. Once my arousal 
subsided, I got out of bed as well and put on a pair of blue boxer shorts. While 
Jessie was picking out her accessories, I went through my own clothes and 
decided to wear a pair of jeans and a dark blue long-sleeved shirt. After 
getting dressed and brushing our hair, Jessie put on her make-up and emerald 
earrings and a sheer green wrap to shield her bare arms and shoulders from the 
cool winter air, and I dabbed a bit of aftershave on my face and buffed my black 
boots. Then, we took a couple of minutes to admire our reflections in the 
mirror. 
"How do I look, James?" Jessie asked. 
I put my arms around her again and looked at the way her dress was clinging to 
her and showing off every curve of her luscious body. "You look beautiful...as 
always," I breathed. "How about me?" 
She examined me for a moment and nodded approvingly. "Very handsome...as 
always!" she answered, reaching up and tousling my mop of blue-violet hair. 
Satisfied that we were looking our best, the two of us joined hands and left the 
bedroom. 
"Well, youse guys certainly took yer sweet time!" Meowth growled when he saw us. 
"Damn horny teenagers...." 
"Hello to you, too," I replied. 
Jessie stuck her tongue out at the cat. "Oh, knock it off, Meowth! You can't 
rush perfection! Besides, there's nothing wrong with being fashionably late!" 
"Dere is when it involves makin' Me-owth wait for dinner!" he retorted. "And it 
ain't nice ta make Gary wait, either!" 
"Relax, Meowth. It's only six forty -- we still have plenty of time," I told 
him. 
"Yeah, but it'll prolly take us fifteen or twenty minutes ta get ta town," said 
Meowth. 
"Then why are we just standing around, bitching about being late?" Jessie asked 
as she grabbed her purse and headed for the door. "Let's stop arguing and get 
going!" 
"My sentiments exactly," I agreed, following her. 
With that, the three of us left the cabin and piled into our Jeep. And as I 
began our drive into town, I smiled and reflected on what a wonderful day it had 
been so far.... 
@->->- 
It was January 29, 2002 -- my nineteenth birthday. And it had been, by far, one 
of the best birthdays I'd ever celebrated. 
When I woke up this morning, Jessie surprised me with breakfast in bed. It 
wasn't anything fancy -- just some blueberry muffins and Irish creme flavored 
cocoa that she'd whipped up from instant mixes, but she'd made everything 
perfectly. And to me, even a gourmet meal at a five-star restaurant couldn't 
compare to the love Jess had put into her cooking. 
After breakfast, Jessie and Meowth sang Happy Birthday to me and gave me my 
presents -- Meowth got me a DVD of A Knight's Tale, and Jessie got me a little 
blue negligee (which she'd explained was the "gift-wrap" for my real present). I 
was anxious to see Jess put on that negligee and let me unwrap my present, but 
Meowth and Wobbuffet wanted to watch the movie, so that's what we spent the rest 
of the morning doing. 
At noon, Mondo stopped by for a visit. We hadn't seen him very often in recent 
months since he'd been spending most of his spare time with his new girlfriend, 
Felicia, but he'd remembered that it was my birthday, and he was there to 
deliver a slew of cards from himself and Felicia, Annie and Oakley, Cairdea, 
Emanuela and Simone, and even the boss. He also offered to treat us to lunch in 
the nearby village of Maroon Town. 
Maroon Town was one of those little "stopover" places in Johto that had lots of 
restaurants and motels and its own pokemon center, but no pokemon gym. According 
to our field-guide, the only real point of interest the town had was KPMN -- a 
radio station which broadcasted a variety of music and talk shows. 
After checking out the various restaurants, we decided on a place called 
Luigi's. It was a fast food restaurant that specialized in Italian cuisine -- 
decidedly upscale from a typical burger joint, but much more reasonably priced 
than an actual Italian bistro. A perfect place for a birthday lunch! 
Once we'd placed our orders, we filled up on drinks at the soda fountain and 
found a table. Then, a waiter brought us a basket of breadsticks. And a few 
minutes later, he returned with our food -- Mondo got a personal pizza with 
pepperoni and mushrooms, Meowth got an oven-toasted Italian sub, Jessie got the 
vegetable lasagne, and I got the stuffed shells florentine. After lunch, we 
returned to the cabin, and Jessie and Meowth brought out the chocolate and 
yellow marble cake with chocolate frosting that they'd baked that morning and a 
large tub of tiramisu ice cream. When we finished our cake and ice cream, Mondo 
left since he had a date with Felicia later that evening, and Meowth decided to 
go for a walk with the rest of the pokemon in order to give me and Jessie a 
little privacy for the rest of the afternoon. 
And what an afternoon it was! I finally got to see Jessie model her new lingerie 
for me (and I had even more fun "unwrapping" her from it)! Then, I lit some rose 
incense, and she treated me to a sumptuous full-body massage and three hours of 
the most wonderful sex I'd ever had in my life. (I know I always say that when 
Jessie and I make love, but it's the truth -- every time we share our bodies, it 
keeps getting better and better!) 
Now, we were on our way back to Maroon Town. Last night, we got an e-mail from 
Gary -- he was in town with his grandpa for the week, and when we wrote back and 
told him that we were staying in a Team Rocket cabin just a few miles away, he'd 
offered to take us out to dinner for my birthday! 
@->->- 
We arrived in Maroon Town at six fifty-five. As I pulled into the parking lot of 
the restaurant where we'd agreed to meet, we saw Gary coming up the sidewalk. 
"See, Meowth. We got here just in time," I told him. "You didn't have anything 
to worry about!" 
Meowth smiled. 
Once I parked the Jeep, we got out and met our friend at the front door of the 
restaurant. 
"Hey, guys! You got here just in time!" Gary exclaimed when he saw us. 
Jessie draped an arm around my shoulders. "That's exactly what James said," she 
chuckled. 
Gary nodded and shook my hand. "Happy birthday, James." 
"Thanks." 
"So, how does it feel to hit the big one-nine?" he asked. 
"Not that much different from the big one-eight, to tell you the truth," I 
replied. Then, nodding towards Meowth, "Though it does feel good to know that 
he's only got one year left to call me a damn horny teenager!" 
"And it's only eleven more months for me!" Jessie, who'd celebrated her 
nineteenth birthday in December, chimed in. 
"Dey grow up so fast!" Meowth sniffled. 
"They sure do," Gary laughed as he opened the door and gestured for us to go 
inside. 
Since it was a Tuesday night, the restaurant wasn't crowded, and the hostess was 
able to seat us at a booth in the non-smoking section right away. And after only 
a couple of minutes, a waitress was there to take our orders. 
"Welcome to The Chili Pepper! My name is Amber, and I'll be your server this 
evening," she announced. "Can I start you off with any drinks or appetizers?" 
"Yeah! Lemme get a cola and some a dose boneless buffalo wings!" Meowth replied. 

"Better make that a double order of wings," I told her. "Only make my drink a 
cherry cola." 
"I'll have the buffalo wings, too. And an iced tea to drink," said Gary. 
The waitress looked at Jessie. "And should I make that an even four orders of 
wings?" 
Jessie shook her head. "None for me, thanks. I'll just have a house salad with 
fat free raspberry vinaigrette dressing and a diet cola." 
"And what about the entrees?" 
"We haven't decided yet," I said. 
"No problem. I'll check back with you in a few minutes." 
"So, Jess, what's with the salad and diet soda?" Meowth asked once the waitress 
was gone. 
Jessie blushed. "Well...now that money isn't a problem for us anymore, and we're 
actually getting three square meals every day, I have to watch what I eat! Don't 
want to lose my figure, you know!" 
"Like that'd happen!" Gary said, dismissively waving his hand at us. "You guys 
get more excersise in one day than some people get in an entire year! I don't 
see any of you getting fat anytime soon." 
"And even if you did, it wouldn't matter to me," I told Jessie as I wrapped my 
arm around her slim waist. "Honey, you could weigh 500 pounds, and you'd still 
be the most beautiful woman in the world to me!" 
Now Jessie was blushing more brightly than ever. "Flatterer," she said, giving 
my nose a gentle tweak. 
I leaned closer and planted a quick kiss on her lips. 
Across from us, Gary and Meowth exchanged smiles and chuckled as Jessie rested 
her forehead against mine and caressed my cheeks with her fingertips. 
Before long, the waitress returned with our drinks and appetizers and asked 
again if we were ready to order. After perusing the menu for a moment, Gary 
decided on the chicken and shrimp fajitas, Meowth got the blackened catfish 
platter, Jessie asked for the grilled chicken sandwich with honey mustard sauce, 
and I chose the citrus-grilled chicken and shrimp. 
"So, what brings you and yer grandpa ta Maroon Town, Gary?" Meowth inquired as 
he dug into his boneless buffalo wings. 
"One of my grandpa's colleagues lives here. Professor Willow has her own talk 
show on KPMN -- she interviews pokemon trainers, gives lessons on pokemon care, 
and such. It's a really popular show, but she had to take a trip to Houen to 
work on a research project this week and can't go on the air," Gary explained. 
"So, grandpa offered to take over and do the show for a few days." 
"Dat's cool," Meowth remarked. 
Gary nodded and stirred some sugar into his tea. "When I called grandpa the 
other day and found out he was going to be in the area, I decided to come and 
give him some help," he continued. 
"That was awfully nice of you," said Jessie. 
I smiled at her and noticed that she was eyeing my plate of boneless buffalo 
wings. "You want to try one, after all?" I asked. 
"If you don't mind." 
"Of course not," I replied, picking up one of the wings and putting it in her 
mouth. 
"Tasty!" she commented once she'd finished eating. Then, she took a forkful of 
dressing-laden lettuce, tomato, green pepper, and bacon bits and gave me a bite 
of her salad. 
"Thanks, Jess," I said. 
Jessie returned my smile and brushed her lips against mine. "You're welcome." 
"Dere dey go again," Meowth muttered to Gary. "I gotta watch dese two share food 
and play kissy-face at every single meal!" 
"I think it's sweet," Gary told him. Then, to me and Jessie, "It's so refreshing 
to see such a perfectly matched couple." 
I gave Jessie another kiss before releasing her. "Believe me, Gary, things 
weren't always perfect in paradise -- Jess and I have had more than our share of 
ups and downs. But we've made it through so many hard times together, it's 
cemented our relationship forever!" 
"I'll say! Jess and Jim have really come a long way since dey first became a 
couple -- I'm so proud of 'em!" Meowth agreed. "Dey've grown outta bickerin' 
over trivial things, and even on the occasions when dey do have a disagreement 
or misunderstandin', dey hardly ever let it degenerate into an actual argument 
anymore." He thumped his paw against the wooden table top. 
Jessie took another bite of salad and dabbed her lips with a napkin. "I think 
our old job had a lot to do with all those arguments and fights we used to 
have," she sighed. "The constant harassment and degradation, never knowing if we 
were going to have enough money to last until the next pay day, going for days 
on end without food...." Her voice trailed off. 
"To say we were under a lot of stress would be the understatement of the 
century," I said, finishing the thought for her. 
"And we had a nasty habit of taking that stress out on each other...especially 
me," Jessie continued. "I'm so glad that part of our lives is over." 
"We all are, Jess," I told her. 
Meowth nodded. "Dat's for damn sure!" 
"I'm glad you guys got outta that job, too," Gary remarked as the waitress 
returned with our entrees, refilled our drinks, and cleared away the empty 
appetizer plates. He paused for a moment and wrapped some chicken strips and 
vegetables into one of his tortillas. "The way you were being treated was 
disgusting! Believe me, there's some people out there I'd love to give a good 
ass-kicking to for the things they've done to you!" 
"Yeah! Like dose twerps!" Meowth grumbled as he munched on some of the tortilla 
strips in pico de gallo that had come with his catfish. "Nobody was more 
irritatin' den dey was!" 
Gary made a face. "I can definitely relate to how annoying Ash is," he said. 
"The way he always goes apeshit and tries to pick a fight whenever he sees me 
gets seriously old. I'll admit I used to antagonize him back in the old days, 
but I've moved on since then. I just wish he could do the same." 
Jessie rolled her eyes as she arranged the chicken breast, lettuce, tomatoes, 
and pickles on her toasted whole grain bun and drizzled it with honey mustard 
sauce. "Fat chance of that happening," she snorted. 
I squeezed some lime wedges over my chicken and shrimp and took a few bites. 
"Yeah. In Ash Ketchum's little world, you're always going to be the dastardly 
rival he's competing against, and Jessie, Meowth, and I are always going to be 
the evil villains that are out to get him," I agreed. "Never mind that you've 
long since dropped the rivalry issue...and been way out of his league since day 
one anyway, and we've been doing our damndest to avoid him...." 
Jessie took a bite of her sandwich and mixed her black beans and rice together. 
"James is right -- that twerp is never going to change. I have the feeling he'll 
always want to pick fights with us whenever our paths cross...." 
"Alright, dis is gettin' depressin'!" Meowth interjected. He shoved a forkful of 
catfish into his mouth. "Let's talk about somethin' else -- I'm sure Jimmy don't 
want us ruinin' his birthday dinner with a buncha painful memories about the 
twerp and our shitty old job." 
Gary wrapped some shrimp and vegetables into another tortilla and nodded. "I 
couldn't agree more, Meowth. On a brighter subject, how's your new job going?" 
"Very well," I told him. "Now that we're not following the twerps anymore, they 
hardly ever show up and interfere with us while we're working -- we've been able 
to catch lots of pokemon for our boss!" 
"In fact, that's what brings us to Maroon Town!" Jessie added. "We'd heard a 
report that there were a bunch of wild Hoppip, Skiploom, and Jumpluff in the 
area, so we came and caught some yesterday! We should be getting a big bonus in 
our paychecks next Friday...." 
"It's kinda ironic," Meowth remarked. "Our job transfer was basically a demotion 
since we don't have as many responsibilities as we used to, but we're performin' 
a lot better and gettin' paid a whole helluva lot more den we ever did on our 
old assignment!" 
"Well, I'm glad to hear it," said Gary. "You guys are good trainers and hard 
workers, and you really know your stuff...much more so than most of the legit 
trainers I've ever encountered. If anybody deserves to be successful, it's you 
three." 
I couldn't help but smile. After so many years of being told that we were stupid 
and incompetent, it felt good to hear a confirmation that all of those old 
messages of failure were wrong. 
"We could say the same about you, Gary," Jessie told him. "I have a feeling 
you're going to do really well...not just at the Johto finals, but with whatever 
you do in life." 
"And we'll be rootin' for ya every step of the way!" Meowth exclaimed. 
Now Gary was smiling, too. 
Once we'd finished our dinner, the waitress returned and cleared away all of the 
empty plates. "Would any of you like some dessert?" she asked. 
My mouth watered as I flipped through the dessert menu at the center of the 
table and saw a picture of a key lime pie wedge smothered in whipped cream and 
strawberry sauce. "Well...we have more marble cake and tiramisu ice cream back 
at the cabin...but it's been ages since I've had key lime pie...." 
"Then go ahead and order some!" Gary told me. 
I raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?" 
He grinned. "It's your birthday! Go nuts!" 
"Yeah! Who sez we can't have two desserts?!" Meowth agreed. 
"Yeah! What the hell?" Jessie giggled. 
"Alright, then! I'll have the key lime pie, please," I told the waitress. 
She nodded. "Anybody else?" 
"I'll have the strawberry cheesecake," Jessie replied. 
"I'll have the flan," said Gary. 
"And I'll have the apple tart a la mode," said Meowth. "Oh, yeah! And get us a 
round a virgin strawberry daiquiris ta wash it all down!" 
"You want whipped cream on those daiquiris?" 
"Of course!" 
The waitress smiled and took her leave. "Okay! I'll be right back with those!" 
Once she was gone, I placed a hand to my forehead and sighed. "Jeez, the bill 
for all of this is going to be astronomical...." 
"Don't worry about it, James -- this place is a lot more reasonably priced than 
most restaurants," Gary assured me. "Besides, it's your birthday!" 
"I know, but we should still chip in," Jessie told him. "At the very least, let 
us pay for the desserts and the tip. It's not like we can't afford it." 
"Better let her do it, Gary," Meowth chuckled. "Jess may be sweet, but it ain't 
a good idea ta argue with her." 
Gary shook his head and laughed. "Okay, we can split the bill if you insist." 
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do," Jessie said smugly, folding her arms across 
her chest. 
A few minutes later, the waitress returned with our desserts, our virgin 
daiquiris, and the bill. Just as I'd expected, the total was fairly steep, but 
with Jessie and me paying part, it wouldn't be enough to put a real dent in 
anybody's wallet. 
And those desserts were worth every penny of the extra money! My key lime pie 
was smooth and creamy and just the right blend of sweet and tart...and the 
whipped cream and strawberry sauce added just the right touch! 
"So, did you enjoy your dinner?" Gary asked as he began on his flan. 
Meowth broke off some of the flaky crust of his tart and dipped it in the 
vanilla ice cream. "We sure did!" 
"Yeah! Thanks, Gary!" Jessie said between mouthfuls of cheesecake. 
"Hey! I just got a great idea!" said Gary. "How would you three like to come 
back to the hotel with me and meet my grandpa? You can hear all about the talk 
show we've been doing, and...." 
Jessie and I exchanged looks. 
"Don't worry," he continued. "Grandpa saw you at my birthday party last November 
-- he knows I wouldn't have invited you if you weren't nice. And I told him the 
whole story about you last month." 
"So, he's cool with you bein' friends with a buncha Rockets?" Meowth queried. 
Gary nodded. "Like I said, I explained everything to him. He knows you're good 
people. Now I'd like to formally introduce you to him." 
"I think that's a wonderful idea, Gary," I replied. "We'd love to meet your 
grandpa." 
"And we'd love to hear more about the radio show -- it sounds fascinating!" 
Jessie chimed in. 
"Great!" Gary exclaimed. "Then that's what we'll do!" 
@->->- 
Once we finished our desserts and non-alcoholic daiquiris and paid the bill, we 
all got into the Jeep, and Gary gave us directions to The Gold Standard -- the 
hotel where he and Professor Oak were staying while they were in Maroon Town. It 
was a surprisingly lavish resort-type hotel that was built around a hot spring 
at the southern edge of town. It had an indoor swimming pool, a gym and a 
mini-mall in the lobby, cable TV in every suite, and the hot spring provided it 
with a beautiful natural jacuzzi! 
"Man, dis is one sweet setup!" Meowth remarked as the four of us crossed a stone 
bridge over a little fishpond and got into a glass elevator. 
"Yeah! I never would've expected such a small town to have such a fancy hotel," 
I agreed. 
Gary pushed the button for the eighth floor and smiled. "It's the hot springs -- 
Maroon Town's best-kept secret. Lots of rich people like to come here to enjoy 
them, so the locals built this hotel to give them somewhere to stay while 
they're in town," he told us. "It's not the kind of place the average pokemon 
trainer or somebody who's just passing through would stay, though. The only 
reason grandpa and I are here is because KPMN is paying our expenses. Since 
grandpa is doing the show for free and took time out of his own schedule for it, 
they wanted him to have the very best accomodations!" 
Jessie became starry-eyed as she looked down at the fountains and botanical 
gardens in the lobby. "I'd do the show for free if I got to spend the night in a 
place like this, too!" she sighed. "It's like heaven on earth!" 
I put my arms around Jessie's waist and rested my chin on her shoulder. "Don't 
be getting any ideas, honey," I chided her. "We may not be broke anymore, but we 
still can't afford anything this fancy!" 
Jessie smiled wistfully at me. "I know, sweetie. But a girl can dream, can't 
she?" 
I returned her smile and kissed the tip of her nose. 
Once we reached the eighth floor, Gary led us to the suite where they were 
staying and swiped the key-card in the lock. When he opened the door, we saw 
Professor Oak sitting at the table in the dining area, going through a stack of 
notes. 
Professor Oak looked up from his reading and smiled when he heard us coming 
inside. "Hello, Gary. Did you and your friends have a good time?" he asked. 
Gary nodded. "We sure did, grandpa. How about you?" 
"The producers of Pokemon Talk and I went to a nice Chinese restaurant for 
dinner," he replied. "They're very pleased with how I'm running the show in 
Professor Willow's absence. In fact, they're even a little disappointed that I 
won't be staying on when Willow returns the day after tomorrow!" 
Gary smiled. 
"Since tomorrow is my final show, they want us to do a live broadcast in the 
park," Professor Oak continued. "That way, I can have a more comprehensive 
question and answer segment, and it'll give us a chance to interact more closely 
with the audience and their pokemon. There's even going to be a lunch buffet 
afterwards!" 
"That sounds like a great idea!" Gary remarked. 
"Sounds like it'll be a lotta fun, too!" Meowth chimed in. 
When he heard the cat speak, Professor Oak took off his reading glasses and 
scrutinized the three of us for a moment. "You must be Gary's friends." 
We nodded. 
"Looks like it's time for a formal introduction," Gary announced. "Grandpa, this 
is Jessie Parker, James Woodson, and Meowth. Guys, this is my grandpa, Professor 
Samuel Oak." 
Professor Oak got to his feet. "I'm very pleased to meet all of you," he said as 
he shook hands (and paws) with us. 
"Likewise!" we replied in unison. 
"Actually, I believe I've met you three before -- you're the Team Rocket agents 
who used to follow Ash," he went on. "It's strange. That boy is always telling 
me horror-stories about how evil you are, but Gary has had nothing but nice 
things to say about you." He paused for a moment and smiled wryly. "Don't worry 
-- when it comes down to Ash's word versus Gary's, I'll take Gary's word any 
day...and not just because he's my grandson!" 
Jessie, Meowth, and I breathed a collective sigh of relief. 
"Gary explained that you aren't real criminals...that circumstance forced you to 
join Team Rocket, and that you're working hard to make a better life for 
yourselves. He also told me how you saved him from a couple of dangerous pokemon 
poachers last June and how you protected him while you brought the poachers to 
justice," said Professor Oak. "That says more to me than all of Ash's 
bad-mouthing." 
Now we were smiling. 
Suddenly, the professor's eyes widened. "Goodness me, where are my manners? 
Please, come inside! Have a seat!" 
"Told you there was nothing to worry about!" Gary chuckled as we followed 
Professor Oak to the living room and sat down on the couch. 
"So, what brings you three to Maroon Town?" Professor Oak inquired as he and 
Gary seated themselves in the chairs across from us. "Did you come to hear the 
show as well?" 
"Actually, we didn't know anything about the show until we spoke with Gary 
tonight," I replied. "Jessie, Meowth, and I were here to catch wild pokemon, and 
when we e-mailed Gary and found out he was in the area too, we decided to pay 
him a visit." 
"And since today is James's birthday, Gary offered to take us out to dinner!" 
Jessie added. 
Professor Oak smiled at me and shook my hand again. "Many happy returns, James! 
How old are you today?" 
"Nineteen, sir," I told him. 
"Ah. A fine age," he said. He leaned closer and studied me a moment longer. 
Then, a light sparked in his brown eyes. "I don't mean to pry...but you wouldn't 
happen to be related to a James and Rose Morgan, by any chance, would you?" 
I nodded. "Yes, sir. They're my grandparents." 
Professor Oak's smile grew even wider than it already was. "I knew it! You look 
exactly like them. Jim and Rose were good friends to me and my wife -- I'm so 
glad to see that their grandson and mine have become friends as well." 
"I'm glad we became friends with Gary, too," I agreed. 
"I remember seeing you when you were just a baby," Professor Oak went on. "Jim 
and Rose were so proud of you -- they brought you with them every time they came 
to visit me and Vivien! You used to play with all of the little Eevee pups in my 
lab and the Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur I was raising for beginning 
trainers...." 
Jessie put her arms around me and rested her head on my shoulder. "Awww! That 
sounds so adorable!" she exclaimed. "I bet James was the cutest little boy!" 
I smiled shyly at her and blushed. 
"I think it's wonderful that you knew James when he was a baby," Jessie 
continued. "It seems you've played an important role in his life -- you had a 
hand in how he met me, after all." 
Professor Oak looked intrigued. "Really? How so?" 
Jessie closed her eyes and smiled. "It was nine years ago now. Spring term 1993 
at Pokemon Tech, Type Identification 101, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday session 
at eight AM. It was the first day of class, and you'd come from Celadon 
University to give a guest lecture. I remember, you'd asked the class which type 
of pokemon was weak against fire, and a boy who was sitting a couple of rows in 
front of me raised his hand and cried, Ooh! Ooh! Pick me! PICK ME!!! It was the 
cutest thing...and when you asked your next question and called on me, I was 
able to catch his attention. James and I got to talking after class, and we 
ended up becoming best friends...and eventually falling in love -- we've been 
inseparable ever since that day!" 
"Yes...I remember that lecture...that enthusiastic little boy in the front row," 
Professor Oak muttered after reflecting on Jessie's words for a moment. His eyes 
widened again. "So, that was you? What an amazing coincidence!" 
"I suppose I should thank you, Professor Oak -- you introduced me to the love of 
my life!" said Jessie. She cuddled closer and planted a kiss on my burning 
cheek. 
"Okay, I think we're embarrassing James," Gary chuckled, taking note of how red 
my face had become. "Why don't you tell them more about Pokemon Talk, grandpa?" 
"Yeah! Let's hear more about dis talk show!" Meowth said. 
"Well, it's pretty simple, actually," came Professor Oak's reply. "I've been 
starting each show with a segment that focuses on a certain pokemon. Next, Gary 
and I move on to a segment about training tactics for the featured pokemon and 
tips on how to raise them. Then, we open the phone lines and answer questions 
that the listeners have. And finally, I close each show with a reading of some 
of my pokemon poetry. We'll be following that same format tomorrow, but I'd like 
to do something special as well since we'll be doing an outdoor broadcast with a 
live audience. Something more visual and interactive...something we wouldn't 
normally have the chance to do in a regular studio setting. In fact, that's what 
I was working on when you showed up -- trying to think of ideas for tomorrow's 
show. I was also trying to write some more pokemon poetry for tomorrow's 
reading, but I seem to have a case of writer's block -- the words just aren't 
flowing tonight." 
Gary placed a hand on Professor Oak's shoulder. "Don't worry about the poems, 
grandpa -- the creative process is really unpredictable. Poetry and prose aren't 
exactly the kind of things you can come up with on demand, you know." 
"I know," he sighed. "But I want tomorrow's show to be special...." 
"I wish I could help ya, pops," Meowth told him. "But I don't know nothin' about 
pokemon poetry -- I specialize more in plain rhymes and dirty limericks." 
Jessie reached over and grabbed the cat by his whiskers. "Behave, Meowth!" she 
warned him. 
Gary snickered. 
"Maybe I could help," I offered. "I love writing poetry." 
The four of them turned to face me. 
Jessie raised an eyebrow. "James, you never told me you were a poet!" 
I nodded. "When I was in grade school, I won the Golden Tongue Poetry Award 
three years in a row...." 
"Only three years?" Meowth asked jokingly. 
"Only students in grades three and up were eligible to compete in the annual 
poetry contest," I explained. "I won the awards in third, fourth, and fifth 
grade. I never got a chance to enter the contests in middle or high school 
because I ran away from home and enrolled in Pokemon Tech shortly after I 
started sixth grade." 
"How come you never told us about any of this, James?" Jessie queried. 
"Because you never asked me about it, Jessie dear," I replied. 
Jessie released her hold on Meowth's whiskers and gave me a playful shove. "Did 
it ever occur to you that you can volunteer information like that?!" she 
countered. 
I blushed again. "Well, I didn't want to brag about it...." 
"Dat's our Jimmy," Meowth sighed. "Too humble for his own good." 
"Well, now that you've got us intrigued, tell us more, James!" Jessie prompted. 
"What can I say? I've enjoyed writing poems ever since I was a tot...almost as 
much as I enjoy drawing," I told them. "I've written a couple of Odes, Sonnets, 
and such...." I paused for a moment and put an arm around Jessie's shoulders. 
"But since Jess, here, has given me a taste for all things Japanese over the 
years, I'd have to say my favorite form of poetry is Haiku. I've always admired 
its simplicity -- how so few words can express a thought, or a feeling, or a 
vision so beautifully." 
"I've always enjoyed Haiku as well," Professor Oak remarked. "In fact, I draw a 
lot of inspiration for my pokemon poetry from the form and simplicity of Haiku. 
I just haven't been able to come up with anything for tomorrow's show, that's 
all." 
"Well, I've written tons of Haikus...many of them about pokemon -- I can 
practically write them in my sleep!" I said. "I'd be happy to contribute some of 
them to the poetry segment of your show, if you like." 
The smile returned to Professor Oak's lips. "I'd like it very much if you read 
some of your poetry. Thank you for offering, James." 
"My pleasure!" 
Jessie gave me a gentle nudge with her elbow. "So, you can write Haikus in your 
sleep, can you?" 
I gave her a sly smile. "Would you like to hear some?" 
"I thought you'd never ask!" 
My smile became a grin. "Okay! How about this...." 
Mountains of silver, 
Mansions of gold -- I forfeit 
For my Jessie's love. 
Jessie became starry-eyed. "Ooohhh! I like that!" 
"Or this...." 
Crimson maned princess, 
Soft and gentle as a rose. 
I cannot resist. 
Now Jessie was holding her hand over her heart. "Oh, James!" 
I placed a hand to her burning cheek and continued.... 
Fiery angel 
Of ruby and sapphire. 
My heart's desire. 
"Heh. Ya better stop, Jimmy-boy!" Meowth snickered when he saw how brightly 
Jessie was blushing. "One more Haiku like dat, and yer gonna make her underwears 
explode...again!" 
Suddenly, Jessie's dreamy expression contorted into one of anger. "Shut up, 
Meowth!" she snapped. 
"Oh, that reminds me!" Professor Oak interjected. "Meowth, I've wanted to talk 
to you for the longest time. I've always found your ability to speak to be 
absolutely remarkable! Would you mind telling me how you made such an 
accomplishment?" 
Meowth's mischievous expression became pensive. "I'd love to...." 
Professor Oak and Gary listened intently as Meowth told them the story of how 
he'd traveled to Hollywood when he was a kitten and taught himself how to talk, 
read, and walk upright in order to win the love of Meowsie. They were intrigued 
by Meowth's dedication and discipline...and it broke their hearts to hear how 
Meowsie had still rejected him in the end and how his achievements had only 
caused him to be labeled a freak by humans and fellow pokemon alike. By the time 
he'd finished his story, both of them were in tears. 
And as Jessie and I listened, we were moved to tears as well. Even though Meowth 
had told us about his past before, it still hurt to hear about all of the hard 
times our little buddy had been through before we met him. 
"Don't worry, guys -- dis story has a happy endin'," Meowth said when he saw 
that the four of us were crying. "For the longest time, I thought I was 
alone...doomed ta spend the rest of my days lost in a world where nothin' 
mattered and nobody cared. But just when I was about ta lose all hope, somethin' 
changed -- I found friendship. Jessie and James was just like me -- dey'd always 
been misfits...outcasts...hated, misunderstood, and ostracized by dere peers. 
But dey'd found unconditional friendship and love in each other, and when dey 
met me, dey didn't fear me or judge me like everybody else had -- dey thought I 
was cool! Dey welcomed me inta dere friendship, and I've been with 'em ever 
since! Sometimes I bust dere chops, and sometimes dey bust mine right back, but 
I love 'em with all my heart and soul, and I know dat dey love Me-owth, too. 
When all is said and done, Jess and Jim are my best friends in the world -- I 
wouldn't trade 'em for anything!" 
Now Jessie and I were crying more than ever. We were so touched by what Meowth 
had said about us that we were at a loss for words! 
Professor Oak pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed the tears from 
his eyes. "That was one of the most amazing stories I've ever heard!" he said 
once he was able to find his voice. "I'm so glad I finally got the chance to 
hear it...." 
Gary brushed his own tears away and smiled again. "Grandpa, wouldn't Meowth's 
story make a great feature segment for tomorrow's show?" he ventured. 
"Yes, it would!" Professor Oak agreed. "Meowth's determination to overcome his 
limitations is nothing short of inspirational! And his friendship with Jessie 
and James is a beautiful testament to how humans and pokemon can live together 
as equals! What do you say, Meowth? Would you like to go on the air tomorrow and 
tell our audience about how you learned to talk and became friends with Jessie 
and James? I think a lot of people could benefit from hearing what you have to 
say." 
Meowth's face turned pink. "R-really?" he stammered. 
Professor Oak and Gary nodded. 
"We'd love it if you were on the show, Meowth," Gary told him. 
The cat grinned. "In dat case, ya don't hafta ask Me-owth twice!" 
"I just had another great idea!" Professor Oak exclaimed, turning his attention 
to Jessie. "When you three were at Gary's birthday party, I saw you and James 
performing some kind of dance with your pokemon. What was that?" 
Jessie raised an eyebrow. "The Pokemon Dancing? I...I learned it from my mom. 
Why do you ask?" 
"All of the guests at the party seemed to enjoy it very much -- it was a 
beautiful performance," Professor Oak told her. "It must have required a great 
deal of empathy with your pokemon to move in such perfect harmony with them." 
Now Jessie was proudly beaming. "It did -- James and I had to work with Arbok 
and Victreebel for weeks to get the moves just right!" she explained. "Pokemon 
Dance follows a lot of the principles of Zen -- you have to be as one with the 
pokemon in order to move as one with it. I've found dancing to be a much more 
satisfying way to train my pokemon and bond with them than by just getting them 
to battle." 
Professor Oak nodded approvingly. "Research has consistently shown that 
non-battle activities such as dance do wonders for a pokemon's health and mental 
well-being, but I wasn't aware that Pokemon Dance was an actual artform." 
"It's Japanese in origin, hence the Zen element," Jessie informed him. "My 
grandma was from Japan. She learned the dance when she was a little girl...then 
she taught it to my momma, who taught it to me. Then, I taught it to James...." 
She paused and smiled shyly at me. "....And someday, I'll teach it to our 
children, too." 
I smiled back and took her hand in mine. 
"Fascinating! I'll have to look into that," said Professor Oak. "But in the 
meantime, would you like to give a live demonstration of Pokemon Dance tomorrow? 
It would be the perfect visual element for our outdoor broadcast!" 
Jessie blushed. "Oh! Of course! I...I'd love to!" 
"Then that settles it! You three are going to be our special guests on Pokemon 
Talk tomorrow!" Gary cheered. 
"This is great!" Professor Oak exclaimed, returning to the dining area and 
jotting down some notes on a piece of paper. "Now I have a program for 
tomorrow's show! I hate to be rude, but can you please excuse me for awhile? I 
have to submit this to the station by midnight, and...." 
"That's okay. We know how demanding deadlines can be," Jessie told him. 
Professor Oak came back to the living room and shook our hands again. "It was a 
pleasure meeting the three of you. Thank you so much...for being such good 
friends to my grandson and for being so helpful to me!" 
"Don't mention it, pops!" Meowth replied. 
"Yes, the pleasure was all ours!" I added. 
Gary grinned. "Hey, grandpa, do you think Jessie, James, and Meowth could get 
their own suite for the night?" 
"No, we couldn't possibly...." I protested. 
"Don't worry about it," Professor Oak said, cutting me off. "Gary is right -- 
all guests on KPMN's shows get to stay here while they're in town. If you're 
going to be our guests tomorrow, then they'll pay your expenses -- it's station 
policy." 
Jessie, Meowth, and I exchanged smiles. 
"I'll make arrangements while I'm at the station," Professor Oak continued. 
"When I get back, Gary and I will escort you to your suite!" 
I gave Jessie a hug. "Well, what do you know, sweetheart? It looks like you'll 
be having your night in paradise, after all!" 
Jessie squealed happily and returned my embrace. 
"Uh, guys? If we're gonna spend the night here, we're gonna need ta go back to 
the cabin first," Meowth broke in. "We need ta get all our stuff, and the 
pokemon...and the cake and ice cream!" 
"You're right -- we can't leave the pokemon there...though I'm sure Wobbuffet is 
enjoying having the place to himself this evening," said Jessie. 
Gary nodded. "Yeah. You can do that while grandpa and I go to the station and 
make arrangements. We can meet back here in an hour or so." 
"Sounds good to me!" I told him. 
@->->- 
After making a trip back to the cabin and retrieving our pokemon and our 
belongings, Jessie, Meowth, and I returned to The Gold Standard and met up with 
Professor Oak and Gary in the lobby. As they showed us to our suite (which was 
right next door to theirs), they explained that the producers of Pokemon Talk 
were really excited about all of the things that had been planned for tomorrow's 
broadcast, and they were looking forward to meeting us. 
Once we'd gotten settled in, Meowth and the other pokemon gathered in the living 
room to watch some cable TV. But Jessie wasn't in the mood for TV, so she and I 
changed into our bathing suits and went downstairs to enjoy the jacuzzi! 
And now, the two of us were sitting together in a private pool of the hot 
spring, relaxing in the warm waters and staring up at the starry night sky. 
"It's amazing," Jessie muttered. 
"What is, honey?" I prompted. 
She looked at me and smiled. "I was just thinking about that movie we watched 
this morning...." 
"A Knight's Tale?" 
"Yeah. It's amazing how much our own lives have in common with it," Jessie 
replied. "William was supposed to be a peasant forever...to always have his 
dreams just beyond his grasp. But he rejected the mold society thought he should 
fill -- he changed his stars and made his dream of becoming a knight come true. 
And I think we've done the same -- ever since we changed jobs, it feels like 
we've changed our stars!" 
"I think you're right," I told her. "It still amazes me how much our lives have 
improved over the past few months! Getting as far away from the twerps as 
possible and getting the boss to scrap the Pikachu Assignment was definitely one 
of the smartest moves we ever made. My only regret is that we didn't do it 
sooner...." 
"Oh, well. Better late than never, I suppose," Jessie sighed as she rested her 
head on my shoulder. 
I put my arms around her waist and planted a kiss on her forehead. "Didn't I 
always promise you that we wouldn't be stuck in that crappy job forever...that 
we'd move on someday soon and make a better life for ourselves?" 
Jessie smiled again and seated herself in my lap. "Yes, you did...and you always 
keep your promises, James." She put her arms around my shoulders and touched her 
lips to mine. 
In response, I returned Jessie's kiss and held her closer. The feeling of her 
warm, soft skin against mine and her fingers running through my hair sent a wild 
chill of excitement up my spine. As our kiss deepened, I felt Jessie remove one 
of her hands from my hair and start to writhe a little. When I opened my eyes 
again, I saw that she was unhooking her bikini top and taking it off. 
My cheeks grew hot. "Jess...." 
She silenced me by closing her mouth over mine once more. 
"Jess...." I whispered again when our kiss ended. 
She rested her forehead against mine and rubbed noses with me. "Hmmm?" she 
muttered. 
Before I could reply, I felt her hand reaching into my speedo. My voice became 
caught in my throat as I gasped with pleasure. 
Jessie blew softly into my ear and began nibbling on it. "I want you, James," 
she whispered hotly. "Meowth was right -- those Haikus you recited earlier 
really got me in the mood!" 
I cupped her face in my hands and gave her another kiss. "I meant every word of 
those poems, honey...and I want you, too. But we can't...." 
Jessie pulled away slightly and frowned. "What's the matter, sweetie?" she 
asked, cutting me off. "I thought you enjoyed making love in hot springs as much 
as I did!" 
"I do," I assured her. "But this isn't technically a hot spring anymore -- it's 
a hotel jacuzzi. I just wouldn't feel comfortable doing it in a public place 
like this." 
Jessie relaxed again and put her bikini top back on. "Okay. Why don't we go back 
to our suite?" she suggested. "Then, we can take a nice hot bubble bath 
together...and I can give you more birthday loving than you'll know what to do 
with!" 
"Sounds wonderful, Jess!" I replied, touching my mouth to hers once more. 
"James?" Jessie said as we reluctantly broke from our embrace and climbed out of 
the water. 
"Yeah?" I asked. 
"After you came up with those Haikus about me, I thought up a few about you," 
she told me. 
I raised an eyebrow. "Really?" 
Jessie grinned and put her arms around me. "One of them goes like this...." 
James Eric Woodson: 
Strong, smart, gentle, and handsome. 
Human perfection. 
I blushed again. "Jessie, that's so sweet!" 
"Here's another one...." 
Artist and poet 
With talent extraordinaire. 
A Renaissance man. 
Now I was grinning, too. "You're pretty talented yourself, honey!" 
She leaned closer and kissed the tip of my nose. "I'm not done yet...." 
Blue-violet splendor 
And glittering emerald. 
My handsome lover. 
My heart fluttered as I returned Jessie's embrace. "You keep talking like that, 
and I won't be able to make it to our suite!" 
Jessie's hands slowly crept down my back and closed over my butt. "Then we'd 
better hurry -- I'm suddenly feeling poetic!" 
"Indeed," I agreed, taking her hands in my own and kissing them. Then, I smiled 
mischievously at her and began running towards the lobby. "But you have to catch 
me first!" 
"Oh, I will, James...I will!" Jessie laughed as she playfully spanked my behind 
and gave chase. 
@->->- 
After a night of passionate lovemaking with Jessie (and a hearty round of 
teasing from Meowth and Wobbuffet when we got up the next morning), we met 
Professor Oak, Gary, and the executive producer of Pokemon Talk for breakfast at 
the hotel restaurant so that we could discuss our plans for the broadcast in 
more detail. 
Much to our surprise, the executive producer was none other than D.J. Mary -- 
the radio personality we'd met in Goldenrod City the previous year. Mary 
remembered us as the three who'd posed as the Dugtrio Trio ventriloquist troupe 
and done a live reading of a radio drama on the other station...but even more 
surprisingly, she didn't have any hard feelings towards us about what had 
happened! She explained that the live reading of Prince Goldenrod and the Master 
Stone had been so successful that the station had decided to do live drama 
readings every day. However, after subsequent readings, listeners began calling 
in, wanting to know what had happened to the three actors who'd portrayed "Team 
Socket." When the station manager had explained that Jessie, Meowth, and I 
hadn't been real actors and that we wouldn't be back, the listeners had 
complained, and the drama ratings had dropped off -- the only reason the live 
reading had been so popular was because people had loved our ad-libs! Mary also 
told us that after we'd destroyed all of the tapes in the storage room, they'd 
been forced to dig some old Black Sabbath, Guns 'n Roses, and Queen albums out 
of the basement so that they could have music to play...and the day of classic 
rock had gone over so well that they'd decided to reformat and change from a pop 
station to a rock station! 
Mary had been enjoying the station's new format immensely (and not having to do 
live readings of the radio drama every day had made her job much less 
stressful), but when she'd received word that her friend, Professor Willow, was 
getting her own show on KPMN, she hadn't hesitated to move to Maroon Town and 
change jobs in order to assist her. She was happy with her new job as executive 
producer of Pokemon Talk, and she was happy to see us again, too. Even though 
we'd kept her on her toes the last time we'd been on the air with her, she was 
intrigued by the program Professor Oak had presented to her last night, and she 
was confident that the outdoor broadcast would be a success. 
After a delicious breakfast of cheese danish and mocha cappuccinos, we went to 
the park to get ready for the show, which was scheduled to begin at eleven AM 
and end at one PM. While Gary helped D.J. Mary get the stage set up and greet 
the audience members who were arriving early, Meowth chatted with Professor Oak 
and introduced him to our pokemon. Meanwhile, Jessie and Arbok rehearsed their 
dance moves together, and I went through my notebooks and decided which Haikus I 
was going to read. 
An hour later, it was showtime. 
"Are you guys ready?" Gary asked as we followed Professor Oak and D.J. Mary onto 
the stage and took our seats. 
"As ready as we'll ever be!" I replied. 
Jessie nodded. "We're born performers -- this should be a breeze!" 
"Dat's right!" Meowth chimed in. 
Gary gave us a thumbs-up and seated himself next to Professor Oak. 
Once everybody was in position, D.J. Mary switched on her microphone and 
addressed the audience. "Good morning, listeners! You're tuned in to Pokemon 
Talk on KPMN...and we've got a very special show for you today! Since this is 
guest-host Professor Oak's last show, we're going to extend the question and 
answer segment and give the professor a chance to interact more closely with you 
and your pokemon. We're also going to have an exclusive interview with a talking 
pokemon, a live demonstration of the art of Pokemon Dance, and a reading of 
pokemon Haiku!" 
Everybody in the audience cheered and applauded. 
"Sounds like you're as excited as I am!" Mary continued. "So, without further 
ado, let's hand things off to Professor Oak! Professor?" 
"Thank you, Mary," he replied. "Well, as she said in her introduction, we have a 
very special interview today. Last night, I had the privilege of speaking with a 
pokemon who knows how to talk. His tale is one of courage, strength, sorrow, 
hope, friendship, and love...and he's here to share that tale with us this 
morning. Please give a warm welcome to Meowth!" 
Meowth blushed as he stepped forward and took his seat across from the 
professor. The audience began to applaud again. 
"Welcome to Pokemon Talk, Meowth!" said Professor Oak. "It's a pleasure to have 
you here this morning." 
"Thanks! It's a pleasure ta be here," Meowth replied. 
Several people in the audience let out an astonished gasp and began to mutter 
amongst themselves when they heard the cat speak. All of the children giggled 
and squealed delightedly. 
"Just so you know, this is not a ventriloquist act -- this Meowth is really 
talking!" D.J. Mary announced. 
Professor Oak nodded. "Meowth, will you please tell our listeners how you gained 
the ability to use human speech?" 
Meowth smiled. "I'd be glad to, prof. It all started when I was a kitten, and I 
saw a movie called That Darn Meowth...." 
Jessie and I joined hands and exchanged smiles as Meowth repeated the story he'd 
told Professor Oak and Gary last night. By the time he'd finished, the two of us 
were in tears again...and so were Professor Oak, Gary, D.J. Mary, and everybody 
in the audience -- there wasn't a dry eye in the house! 
"Thank you, Meowth," Professor Oak said, dabbing his eyes with a handkerchief. 
Then, to the audience, "And there you have it -- this Meowth is living proof 
that pokemon are mysterious and amazing creatures whose abilities we haven't 
even begun to comprehend! And his friendship with Jessie and James serves as a 
shining example of how humans and pokemon can live together as equals. 
"You know, there's an ancient legend that the great pokemon, Ho-oh, watches over 
this world, waiting for the day when the hearts of humans and pokemon are as 
one," he continued. "They say that Ho-oh only appears to people when they share 
a bond of unconditional love with their pokemon. Perhaps Ho-oh will return 
someday, if more people and pokemon could share a friendship like that of 
Jessie, James, and Meowth...." 
When Professor Oak said this, Jessie and I exchanged looks again and gasped. A 
few months ago, Wobbuffet told us that while we were spending the night in 
Ecruteak City's Tin Tower last July, a Ho-oh had come to the tower and watched 
over us in our sleep. Ho-oh had told Wobbuffet that he'd come to the tower 
because he'd sensed the presence of people who were worthy of his blessings, and 
he'd given Wobbuffet three of his feathers as proof. Jessie, Meowth, and I had 
slept through the whole thing, but when Jessie and I awoke the next morning and 
watched the sunrise together, we'd seen the Ho-oh soaring through the liquid 
gold skies. It had been such a beautiful sight, and it had filled us with a 
sense of peace...and hope. 
"So, Wobbuffet wasn't exaggerating!" Jessie whispered. "Ho-oh really did come to 
us because he admired our friendship!" 
"Maybe that legend is true, after all!" I whispered back. 
"Is dis a private conversation, or can anybody join in?" 
Jessie and I looked and saw Meowth standing at our feet. 
"Of course you can join in," I replied, picking the cat up and seating him on my 
lap. 
"Whaddaya whisperin' about?" he asked. 
"What Professor Oak said about the legend of Ho-oh reminded us of our own 
adventure," Jessie told him. 
Meowth nodded. "Yeah, I was thinkin' about dat, too. I was even tempted ta tell 
everybody the story of how we met Ho-oh, but I decided against it." 
"How come?" I queried. 
"Cuz, I got ta thinkin' about how Ash is always braggin' ta anybody who'll 
listen about how he saw a Ho-oh once, and how he always acts like he's all dat 
and a bag a chips whenever somebody mentions Ho-oh," he explained. "I dunno. I 
guess tellin' our own story on the air just seemed like the kinda thing he'd 
do...and goodness knows, I don't wanna do anything like dat twerp!" 
"Good call, Meowth," Jessie and I said in unison. 
"Thank you, Professor Oak. And thank you, Meowth, for sharing your wonderful 
story with us!" D.J. Mary said, snapping us from our discussion. "We have to 
take a break for these commercial messages, but when we return, the professor 
and his grandson are going to answer your questions! Stay tuned for more Pokemon 
Talk!" 
As D.J. Mary rolled the commercial tape, Gary left his seat and came to our 
side. "You did great, Meowth!" he exclaimed. "I'm so glad you came on the show 
today -- it was the perfect feature segment! Grandpa was right. People were 
really touched by your story." 
Meowth smiled shyly. "Ah, it was nothin'!" 
"Now who's being modest?" I chuckled. 
Jessie leaned down and gave the cat a kiss on his golden charm. "You're the 
best, Meowth! James and I have always thought so." 
"And now everybody else can see it, too," said Gary. 
Now Meowth was blushing again. "Aw, thanks, guys!" 
When the five minute commercial break ended, Gary took his seat again, and D.J. 
Mary switched the microphones back on. "Welcome back to Pokemon Talk," she 
announced. "If you're just joining us, we've heard the amazing story of Meowth 
the talking pokemon! Now, it's time for your part of the show -- if you have a 
pokemon question, Professor Oak and his grandson, Gary, will be happy to answer 
it! Does anybody here have a question?" 
Several children in the front row of the audience raised their hands. 
"Yes, you," Mary said, pointing her microphone to a little boy. 
"Professor Oak, what's the deal with that stick Farfetch'd always carries?" the 
boy asked. 
"Ah, that's easy!" Professor Oak replied. "Why don't we let one of our guests 
field this question?" He turned and smiled at us. 
After a moment, I smiled back and turned on my microphone. "I'd be happy to 
answer that one, Professor Oak," I said. "The stick that Farfetch'd always 
carries is called a leek. It's a type of green onion used in stir-fries, miso 
soup, and for seasoning a variety of meats. Farfetch'd doesn't use the leek as 
food, though -- it uses the onion shoot as a weapon." 
"Oh, cool!" the little boy exclaimed. 
"You're absolutely correct, James," said Professor Oak. "Farfetch'd uses its 
leek as a weapon. Does anybody else have a question?" 
A little girl raised her hand. "How come people keep saying Sudowoodo is a 
rock-type pokemon? I always thought it was a grass-type!" 
"I'll answer that one," Jessie said, turning on her own microphone. "Sudowoodo 
may look like a grass-type pokemon, but it is, indeed, a rock-type. It has the 
ability to use Mimic and copy the attacks of any pokemon it battles, which adds 
to the confusion of what type it is...but like all rock-types, it hates water. I 
remember, when James, Meowth, and I first saw a Sudowoodo, we mistook it for a 
grass-type, too. The Sudowoodo looked exhausted, so James wanted to refresh it 
with a drink of water from the cute little Squirtle watering-can he uses on our 
Victreebel and Sunflora! But when Sudowoodo saw the water, it got absolutely 
terrified and ran away!" 
"Jessie is right," Professor Oak concurred. "Although Sudowoodo exhibits the 
physical characteristics of a grass pokemon, it has the same strengths and 
weaknesses of a rock-type. Even the name indicates that it's not a grass-type -- 
the prefix, pseudo, means false." 
The girl nodded. "Oh, okay! That makes sense!" 
Professor Oak smiled at us again. 
Suddenly, another little boy raised his hand. "Professor, do Clefairy come from 
outer space?" 
"Well, over the years, there have been a lot of rumors and hearsay stories about 
Clefairy being aliens...but as of yet, there's absolutely no scientific evidence 
to substantiate these claims," Professor Oak told him. "As I stated earlier, 
there's still much we have to learn about pokemon, so we can't rule it out as a 
possibility. However, I'm afraid I can't give you a definitive yes or no answer 
to that question at this time. Does anybody else have something they'd like to 
ask?" 
"Yeah! When should I evolve my Eevee, Professor Oak?" another little girl 
queried. 
Professor Oak grinned. "I'm sure my grandson would be happy to answer that one! 
Gary?" 
Gary nodded. "I sure would, grandpa! The decision of when and how to evolve your 
Eevee is a big one, and it depends on a lot of different factors," he replied. 
"If you want your Eevee to become a Vaporeon, a Flareon, or a Jolteon, then you 
can use an evolution stone on it pretty much whenever you like." He paused for a 
moment and scratched behind Umbreon's ears. "But if you want a friendship 
evolution like Espeon or Umbreon, here, it's a bit more complicated -- a 
friendship evolution requires a deep bond of trust and love with your pokemon. 
If you train your Eevee during the day, it'll become an Espeon, and if you train 
it at night, it'll become an Umbreon. But whether you decide to do a friendship 
evolution or not, it's important to always be aware of your pokemon's feelings. 
If you're in tune with your Eevee, you'll know when it's ready to evolve...and 
what it'll become." 
The girl hugged her Eevee and stroked its soft, brown fur. "Thank you, Gary!" 
she said. 
"I couldn't have answered any better myself," Professor Oak said proudly. "Any 
more questions?" 
"Yeah! How come Quagsire aren't affected by electric attacks?" some other 
children asked. 
"Dat's easy!" Meowth told them. "Quagsire have characteristics of both 
water-type and ground-type pokemon. Normally, water pokemon are weak against 
electricity, but Quagsire's ground characteristics give it a natural defense." 
The children nodded. "Ohhhhh." 
For the next hour, Professor Oak, Gary, Jessie, Meowth, and I answered the 
audience's questions. And once the live audience had run out of things to ask 
us, D.J. Mary opened the phone lines and gave us the chance to answer some other 
listeners' queries. Then, Gary, Jessie, and I brought out all of our pokemon, 
and we did some live demonstrations of battle tactics and care, feeding, and 
grooming techniques. 
When we went to commercial break again, Jessie excused herself so that she could 
get ready for her dance number. After a couple of minutes, she returned, wearing 
her light pink kimono with fuschia Arbok silhouettes on it. She'd also taken off 
her boots and was now barefoot. 
"You look beautiful, Jess," I whispered as she took her seat next to me again. 
She leaned closer and planted a kiss on my cheek. "Thanks, sweetie." 
"We're back, with more Pokemon Talk!" D.J. Mary announced. "That sure was an 
exciting interactive segment! And now, we have another special treat for you -- 
we're going to witness a live performance of Pokemon Dance! Professor, would you 
do the honors of introducing our next guest?" 
"I certainly will, Mary!" Professor Oak replied. "Our next guest is a young lady 
who learned the art of Pokemon Dance when she was a child. She was kind enough 
to agree to give a demonstration of this dance, so please give a warm welcome to 
Jessie Parker and her Arbok!" 
Jessie's cheeks turned pink as the audience began to applaud. 
I placed my hands on her shoulders and gave them an affectionate squeeze. "Break 
a leg, sweetheart," I told her. 
Jessie smiled at me and nodded. Then, she slowly got to her feet, and she and 
Arbok went to center stage. Once the applause died down, she took the microphone 
and addressed the audience. "Thank you," she said, clearing her throat. "Before 
I get started, I think a little introduction is in order. Pokemon Dance is an 
artform that originates from Japan, where Zen Buddhists used it as a form of 
meditation and training pokemon in a non-violent manner. Admired for its 
complexity and grace, it was later adopted by royalty and nobility as a form of 
entertainment. Pokemon Dance isn't a dance with specific steps that can be 
memorized -- each dance is unique because each pokemon is unique. Mastery of the 
dance comes from knowledge of the nuances of your individual pokemons' 
character...from understanding the way that they move and training yourself to 
move in time with them. Observe as Arbok and I demonstrate just one of the 
infinite dances that are possible!" With that, she nodded to me. 
Taking the cue, I turned on our CD player, and an instrumental called Blue 
Fields from Final Fantasy VIII started to play. As the soft, melodic music 
began, Jessie and Arbok swayed gently back and forth, keeping in perfect time 
with one another. And as the song continued, the two of them didn't miss a 
single beat with it...or each other. When Arbok brought herself to her full 
height and unfurled her hood, Jessie stretched herself out and unfurled a pair 
of paper fans. When Arbok coiled herself up, Jessie twirled herself about, 
moving her arms in a gentle sweeping motion. When Arbok uncoiled and laid 
herself flat against the ground, Jessie twirled in the opposite direction and 
slowly laid down on her stomach. When Arbok raised her head, Jessie brought 
herself into the cobra position used in yoga, and they looked into each other's 
eyes for a moment. Then, Arbok brought herself back to her full height, and 
Jessie did an arabesque to roll over and bring herself back to her feet. As soon 
as Jessie was standing again, she unfurled her fans once more and stretched 
herself out, and Arbok began winding around her. Once Jessie was bound in 
Arbok's coils, she brought her arms down and crossed them in front of her, 
resting the fans on her shoulders and concealing her face behind the voluminous 
sleeves of her kimono, as if she were prey that the snake had caught. And as the 
music faded away, Arbok slowly unwound herself, and she and Jessie bowed to each 
other. 
When the song ended, the audience began to roar with cheers and applause. Jessie 
smiled shyly at them, and she and Arbok took another bow. 
"Thank you, Jessie and Arbok, for that beautiful performance!" said Professor 
Oak. "Tell me, how long did it take to perfect that dance?" 
"The dance itself is mostly improvised, to be honest," Jessie replied. "The art 
comes from being aware of what your pokemon is doing and being able to match its 
moves. But it took me and Arbok several weeks of practice to get synchronized 
like that." 
Professor Oak nodded approvingly. "Wonderful! Your dedication to your pokemon 
really shows, Jessie." 
"Thank you, sir." 
The audience applauded again as Jessie took another bow and returned to her 
seat. 
"I wish all of you listeners who couldn't make it today could've been here to 
see this performance -- it was amazing! Poetry in motion!" D.J. Mary announced. 
"But the poetry isn't over yet, folks! When we return from this next commercial 
break, we'll hear some pokemon Haiku! Stay tuned!" 
"Was I really that good, James?" Jessie queried as she took off her kimono and 
put her boots back on. 
"You were incredible!" I assured her. "When I was watching you dance, you looked 
just like a princess!" 
Now Jessie was blushing again. "Thanks, sweetie," she whispered. 
I put my arms around her and rested my chin atop her head. 
"So, are you ready for your poetry reading?" she asked. 
"Yeah," I replied. "I've written hundreds of Haikus over the years, but I've 
narrowed today's selection down to fourteen." 
Jessie looked up at me and smirked. "I still can't believe you never told me 
that you like to write Haiku!" 
"Well...I...." My voice trailed off, and I felt my cheeks growing hot. 
"Meowth was right -- you're too humble for your own good," she continued, 
reaching up and giving my nose a gentle tweak. 
I took her hand in my own and kissed it. Then, I rested my forehead against hers 
and gazed into her beautiful blue eyes. 
I probably could've sat there forever, getting lost in those sparkling sapphire 
pools, but all too soon, the commercial break ended, and I heard D.J. Mary 
giving the floor back to Professor Oak. 
"Normally, this is the part of the show where I wrap everything up with a 
recital of some of my pokemon poetry, but we're going to do something different 
today," Professor Oak told the audience. "Instead, one of our guests is going to 
share some of his pokemon Haiku with us. So, please give your undivided 
attention to James Woodson!" 
When Professor Oak brought his introduction to a close, the audience started in 
with another round of applause. 
That was my cue! 
Giving Jessie another quick kiss, I gathered my notes and went to center stage. 
"Well, as Professor Oak said, I'm going to be sharing a sampling of my pokemon 
Haiku with you today," I began. "For those of you who don't know, Haiku is a 
simple form of Japanese poetry. The poem consists of three lines -- the first 
and third line contain five syllables, and the second line contains seven 
syllables. Haiku doesn't have to rhyme -- all it has to do is convey an image. 
For example, here's a Haiku I wrote about Meowth...." 
Shining charm of gold 
And wits as sharp as his claws: 
Our best friend, Meowth. 
"Awww! I love dat!" I heard Meowth say. 
I smiled at him and continued. "The subject of the Haiku doesn't always have to 
be mentioned by name within the verse -- sometimes you can convey what the poem 
is about with pure description. Like these next two about Arbok and Weezing...." 

Amethyst cobra, 
Hood spread in a warning stance. 
All should fear thy sting. 
Two heads to see all, 
Floating on the autumn air. 
You smile through the smoke. 
"I also enjoy composing Haikus that capture the nuances of an individual 
pokemon's character, as these two about our enthusiastic Wobbuffet and 
affectionate Victreebel illustrate...." 
Unexpectedly, 
A true blue friend salutes us. 
A welcome surprise. 
Victreebel goes forth. 
Warrior of gold and green 
Love-bites me each time. 
"Here's one I wrote about Ninetales...which is what Jessie's cute little Vulpix 
will evolve into someday!" 
Changing with a stone, 
Vulpine eyes turning crimson. 
A fierce beauty born. 
As if on cue, Vulpix jumped into Jessie's lap and wagged her six fluffy tails. 
"Vuuulll!" she exclaimed. 
Jessie smiled and stroked the curly hair atop the fox's head. 
I coaxed Growly to my side and stroked his soft fur as well. "And here's one I 
wrote about my Growlithe, Growly...." 
Loyal guardian 
With breath of sacred fire 
Keeps demons at bay. 
When he saw me petting Growly, my little Articuno flew over and perched atop my 
head. All of the children in the audience clapped and giggled as the baby bird 
flapped his wings and cheeped happily. Everybody else in the crowd "ooohed" and 
"aaahed" over him. 
"Yes, I love you too, Articuno," I told him as I reached up and stroked his 
ice-blue feathers. "And this next Haiku is about you...." 
Noble bird of ice, 
Titan of the Northern wind, 
Shadow blue on snow. 
Everybody in the audience applauded again. 
Wow! They're really enjoying my poetry! I said to myself. Then aloud, "I have an 
idea! With these last six Haikus, why don't I read them, and you can try to 
guess which pokemon they're about?" 
"Yay!!!" all of the children cheered. 
Glancing quickly over my shoulder, I saw Jessie, Meowth, and Gary smiling at me. 
And Professor Oak was nodding approvingly and giving me a thumbs-up. 
I returned their smiles and turned my attention back to the audience. "Okay! 
Here's the first one...." 
Cuddly pink lizard 
Deals out deadly tongue-lashings 
To unwary foes. 
Several children raised their hands when I finished reciting the poem. 
"Yes, you," I said, calling on a little boy. "Do you know which pokemon that 
is?" 
He nodded. "Lickitung!" 
"That's right!" I told him. "It was about Lickitung. Now here's another one...." 

Little gold flower 
Dancing in the morning sun 
Greets each day with joy. 
"Okay, which pokemon was that?" I asked, pointing to a girl who'd raised her 
hand. 
"Sunflora!" came her reply. 
"Correct! That was a Haiku about Sunflora," I told her. "Now try this one...." 
Ivory-tusked hunter 
Finds mountain's secret treasures 
Like the Dwarves of old. 
When I finished that poem, the children thought for a moment. 
"Is it Donphan?" a boy asked. 
"Yes, it is!" I told him. "Now here's another one...." 
Generous penguin, 
What surprises do you hold 
In your gift-filled bag? 
"Delibird!!!" A little girl squealed before I even had a chance to call on her. 
I laughed. "Yes, that one was about Delibird. You kids are really good at this! 
But these next two Haikus are trickier -- they're not about pokemon that Jessie 
and I have. I'll give you a hint, though -- they're both about legendary 
pokemon. See if you can figure this one out...." 
Titan of fire, 
The flame that burns the brightest 
Shatters the darkness. 
After a couple minutes of thinking, a boy raised his hand. 
"Do you know which pokemon that is?" I asked. 
"I think so," he said. "Is it...Moltres?" 
I nodded. "You got it! Now, here's the last one...." 
Ice blue and purple 
Avatar of the North Wind 
Races through the night. 
As soon as I finished the poem, a girl raised her hand. 
"Which pokemon is that?" I asked her. 
"I think it was Suicune," she replied. 
"You're absolutely right!" I exclaimed. "I couldn't stump any of you, could I? 
You're a smart bunch!" 
All of the children smiled proudly as their parents hugged them. 
"Well, I'm all out of Haikus, so I guess time is up," I said. "I hope you all 
enjoyed hearing my poetry...I know I sure enjoyed writing it and reading it for 
you!" 
The adults in the audience applauded again, but there was no missing the 
disappointment on the childrens' faces. 
"Actually, we've got about five minutes of air-time left, James," D.J. Mary 
interjected. "If you want to read some more...." 
She didn't even get to finish her sentence -- all of the children started 
cheering and clapping again and drowned out her voice. 
"Alright! Looks like I'll be reciting a few more poems!" I chuckled once the 
applause died down. "But let's play a different game this time. Since I don't 
have any more poems with me at the moment, why don't you name a pokemon and see 
if I can come up with a Haiku about it? For example...." I turned and looked at 
Jessie. "Jess, give me a pokemon." 
"Okay! How about...Espeon?" she suggested. 
I closed my eyes and thought for a moment. "Espeon...Espeon...." I muttered. 
Then, an idea came to me. "Got it!" 
The lilac beauty 
Gazes into the future 
With third ruby eye. 
"Ooohhh! I like that!" Jessie exclaimed. 
"Heh! Yer pretty good at dis, Jimmy-boy!" said Meowth. "Now do one about 
Charizard!" 
I smiled at him. "Okay!" 
Fearsome lord of flame, 
A dragon's countenance thine. 
Swift as falling night. 
"Whoa! That was awesome!" Gary remarked. "Reminds me of Smaug!" 
"I had Smaug in mind when I came up with that one," I told him. 
"Cool! Can you do a Haiku about Umbreon?" he asked. 
"Sure!" I replied after thinking for a second. "How about this?" 
Though an Eevee born, 
Yellow rings on ebon coat 
Changed with moonlight's touch. 
Gary grinned. "That's great!" 
"Bree!" Umbreon said, as if to agree. 
"You've got a real talent for improvisation, James," Professor Oak commented. 
"Do you think you could do one about Ho-oh?" 
I nodded. "Of course!" 
Lord of pokemon 
Watches the earth from above. 
A vision of hope. 
"Beautiful!" he sighed. 
"I'd love to hear one about Persian!" said D.J. Mary. 
"Then you're in luck," I told her. "I actually came up with this one about our 
boss's Persian the other day...." 
The stealthy huntress 
Stalks through her master's office 
On soft padded feet. 
"Now, does anybody in the audience have any requests?" I asked. 
A Nurse Joy who was at the back of the crowd stepped forward. "Can you please do 
one about Magikarp?" 
"Do one about my Eevee!" the girl who'd asked the question about evolution 
earlier in the show pleaded. 
"I wanna hear one about Houndoom!" a little boy exclaimed. 
"And I wanna hear one about Pochena!" another boy cried. 
"Please do one about Xatu!" said a little girl. 
I held up my hands and silenced them. "One at a time, please! Okay...so, that's 
Magikarp, Eevee, Houndoom, Pochena, and Xatu. Pretty tall order, but I'll see 
what I can do." After thinking about the five pokemon for a minute and 
double-checking the syllable patterns of the verses that came to my mind, I 
began.... 
Gentle little fish 
Splashing in the crystal sea 
Masks a fearsome beast. 
What will you become? 
Flame, ice, lightning, sun, or moon? 
Only time will tell. 
A sleek canine form 
Oft seen leaping shadow-swift 
Holds darker fire. 
Phantom of the north 
Emits a lonely howl 
Heralding the night. 
Majestic eagle 
Sees past, present, and future 
From his totem perch. 
When I finished the five poems, everybody in the audience cheered. But as the 
applause died down, I heard three familiar voices emanating from the back of the 
crowd. 
"I don't understand these poems! They don't rhyme!" a boy with a grating voice 
whined. 
"They're Haikus -- they don't have to rhyme!" a young man scolded him. 
"High-what, nows?" the boy asked. 
"Grrr! Just be quiet!" a girl with a shrill voice snapped. "I'm trying to 
listen...and I think they're nice!" 
I buried my face in my hands. Oh, shit.... 
My fears were confirmed when I saw the twerps making their way towards the stage 
a moment later. 
"Heeeeeey, Professor Oak!" Ash cried when he got to the front of the crowd. "We 
heard a commercial for your radio talk show, so we came to see you!!!" 
Professor Oak placed a finger to his lips. "Will you please keep it down, Ash? 
We're still on the air...and you're interrupting my guest's poetry reading!" 
Ash stared up at us with his usual clueless expression. "Ohhh." 
Luckily, Jessie and I weren't wearing our Team Rocket uniforms today -- Jessie 
was wearing a purple sweater and a black mini-skirt, and I had on a pair of blue 
jeans with a black shirt and jacket -- so Ash had no idea who we were. But when 
Brock and Misty saw us, recognition sparked in their eyes. (Fortunately, 
however, I wasn't all that concerned about Brock and Misty. Ever since Jessie, 
Meowth, and I stopped following the twerps, those two haven't really had a 
problem with us. Ash is still as much of a jerk as ever...and I fear that will 
never change, but at least his friends have gotten off our case.) 
"Sorry, Professor Oak," Brock apologized. 
"Quite alright," he replied. 
"Hey, if you're still taking requests, can you do a Haiku about a water pokemon 
like Vaporeon?" Misty asked me. 
"Sure," I told her. "How about this?" 
Vision of aqua 
Merges into liquid form 
With a mermaid's grace. 
Misty became starry-eyed! "Pretty!" 
"Heeeey, mister! Can you do one about my Pikachu?!" said Ash. 
I felt a drop of sweat forming on my temple. Jeez, he still doesn't recognize 
me?! What a dumbshit! I thought. And as I looked at the vacuous expression on 
his face, I got an idea for a Haiku about his pokemon.... 
Small electric mouse 
Corrupted by vile trainer. 
A scourge to us all. 
When I finished reciting the Haiku, Brock and Misty gasped. Ash, meanwhile, just 
stared up at me with a dopey grin, still unaware of who I was...and that I'd 
just insulted him and Pikachu. 
"Yes...well...I think that's about all the time we have today!" D.J. Mary 
interjected. I could tell from the look on her face that she remembered how Ash 
had attacked us the last time we were on the air -- she wanted to get me out of 
the spotlight and away from the twerp so that history wouldn't repeat itself. 
"Thank you, James, for sharing your wonderful poetry with us. And thank you, 
listeners, for tuning in to Pokemon Ta-" 
"Wait a minute!!! Did she just say James?! AUGH!!! IT'S TEAM ROCKET!!!" Ash 
screeched. 
"Took him long enough, didn't it?" Jessie grumbled as she and Meowth came to my 
side. 
"WHAT ARE YOU LOSERS DOING HERE?!?!?!" Ash demanded. 
"Now hold it right there, Ash!" Professor Oak snapped. "Jessie, James, and 
Meowth are very nice people! They're here because I invited them!" 
Ash cast a venomous glare at me and Jessie. "Quit trying to act like you're 
nice, cause you're not!" he shouted. "You losers may be able to fool Professor 
Oak, but you DON'T fool me! I know you're just here to take over the show, 
kidnap everybody's pokemon, and steal all the food!!!!!" 
Professor Oak scowled. "What the?! I've never heard such nonsense before in my 
life! My guests are doing nothing of the sort! Now PLEASE sit down and be quiet, 
Ash!" 
"YOU'RE NOT GOING TO GET AWAY WITH THIS, TEAM ROCKET!!!!!!!!!!!!" Ash screamed. 
"I'LL MAKE YOU LOSERS PAY!!!!!!!!" 
As the twerp continued his tirade, all of the children in the audience began to 
cry, and their parents herded them away from him. 
Jessie clenched her fists. "Now look what you did, you little asshole! You upset 
the children!" she shouted. 
Brock and Misty grabbed Ash by the arms in a futile attempt to bring him under 
control. 
"Jessie is right -- you're scaring the kids!" Misty yelled. 
"And Professor Oak said Team Rocket were his guests -- he wouldn't have them on 
the show if they were causing trouble, Ash!" Brock reproached him. 
"SO GIVE IT A REST!!!" they shouted in unison. 
"But they're Team Rocket!!!" Ash whined, breaking away from them and charging 
towards the stage. 
"Alright, I've had enough of this!" Gary snapped, getting up from his seat and 
stepping in front of us before the twerp could start a fight. "Ash, if you don't 
shut the hell up and leave my friends alone...." 
"GARY!!!" Ash screeched, cutting him off. "What are YOU doing here?!" 
Professor Oak buried his face in his hands and shook his head. "Oh, good 
lord...." 
"I challenge you to a pokemon battle, Gary!" Ash yelled. "I KNOW you cheated 
last time, and I'm not gonna let you get away with it again!!!" 
Gary ran a hand through his spiky auburn hair and sighed. "Fine. If it'll make 
you go away." Then, to his pokemon, "Go, Umbreon!" 
"Um-breon!" the jet-black pokemon cried as he charged forth and assumed a 
fighting stance. 
Ash grinned and lobbed two of his poke balls. "ALL RIGHT!!! Pikachu, Bayleef, 
Noctowl, I choose you!!!" 
Gary turned to me, Jessie, and Meowth and gave us an incredulous look. "He's 
sending out three pokemon against my Umbreon, and I'm the cheater?! 
Ooooohhhhhkay!" 
"Heh. Welcome ta our world," Meowth said sardonically. 
Jessie placed a hand on Gary's shoulder. "Don't worry. If that little 
shit-weasel wants a three on three battle, then we'll give him one!" 
"Yeah!" I agreed. Then, I turned to Professor Oak. "You may want to get 
everybody in the audience away from here. Ash is dangerous -- he doesn't care 
who he hurts or what he destroys when he battles us." 
Professor Oak nodded and left the stage. Brock and Misty joined him. 
Once they'd helped the parents herd their children further away from the battle, 
Jessie and I exchanged looks and nodded. 
"Wobbuffet, go!" Jessie cried. 
"Get in there, Growly!" I shouted. 
Wobbuffet saluted us and went to Umbreon's side. "Wobb!" 
"Grrrooowwww-lithe!" Growly howled as he bounded forth. 
"Fine! I'll beat you too, Team Rocket!" Ash sneered. "Pikachu! Give them a 
Thunderbolt!" 
I winced at the sound of the twerp's voice. It disturbs me how Ash always sounds 
like he's getting off when he commands his pokemon to attack us. 
Pikachu leered at us as he began to crackle with electricity. 
"Wobbuffet! Use your Counter attack!" Jessie commanded when the little rat sent 
forth a bolt of electricity. 
Wobbuffet saluted us again and began to glow with an iridescent sheen. As the 
Thunderbolt struck, it bounced harmlessly off of him and went rebounding back to 
Pikachu. 
"AUGH!!!" Ash wailed as Pikachu was zapped with 10,000 volts of his own 
electricity and knocked unconscious. His face contorted in anger once more. 
"That was a cheap shot, Team Rocket! Bayleef! Get them with your Vine Whip!" 
"Baaayyy!" Bayleef cried as she lashed out with her vines in an attempt to 
strangle us and our pokemon. 
"I'll handle this one," I said cooly. "Use your Flamethrower, Growly!" 
"Grrrooowww-lithe!" Growly barked. He jumped in front of Wobbuffet and Umbreon 
and exhaled a jet of flame that engulfed Bayleef, vines and all. 
When Bayleef saw that she was on fire, she began to panic and run around in 
circles. 
"AUGH!!! NOOO!!!" Ash whined. "Bayleef! Shake it off, and hit Team Rocket with 
your Razor Leaf! Noctowl, use your Confusion on that Growlithe!" he commanded. 
"Oh, no you don't!" Gary interjected. "Hit Noctowl with your Zap Cannon, 
Umbreon!" 
"Alright, Growly! Let's finish off that Bayleef!" I said. "Use your Dragon 
Rage!" 
As Noctowl's eyes began to glow with an eerie blue light, bolts of electricity 
rippled through Umbreon's black fur, and he sent forth a blast of lightning. The 
attack slammed into Noctowl at full force and knocked him out of the sky. 
Meanwhile, Growly was powering up for his next attack, and Bayleef had managed 
to extinguish the flames and was back in action. When she fired a barrage of 
razor-sharp leaves at us, Growly exhaled another blast of fire and roasted 
Bayleef and her incoming attack to a crisp. 
Ash's face was now purple with rage. "NOOO!!! THIS ISN'T FAIR!!!!! YOU 
CHEEEEEEEATED!!!!!" he screeched. He grabbed three more poke balls from his belt 
and released his remaining pokemon. "I won't let you losers get away with this! 
Cyndaquil! Hit them with your Flamethrower! Totodile! Use your Water Gun! 
Phanpy! Tackle!" 
Jessie reacted quickly. "Wobbuffet! Mirror Coat!" 
As Cyndaquil and Totodile sent forth their attacks, Wobbuffet began to glow 
again and sent the Flamethrower and Water Gun back on them. When Phanpy saw the 
two pokemon get knocked out, he called off his own attack and cowered behind 
Ash's legs. 
"Why are you hiding, Phanpy?!" Ash whined. He leaned down and tried to push the 
baby elephant forward again. "It's Team Rocket! They're a bunch of evil losers! 
Go get them!!!" 
"You can't force your pokemon to battle if it doesn't want to, Ash!" Gary 
reproached him. "That's not what a good trainer does!" 
"Shut up, Gary! I won top sixteen at Indigo League AND an Orange League 
championship, and YOU were defeated in round four and didn't even enter Orange 
League! I'm a better trainer than you are!" Ash snapped. 
"Oh, get over yerself, ya lousy little pissant!" Meowth retorted. "Nobody gives 
a shit how ya did at Indigo and Orange League!" 
Ash began to stomp his feet. "Don't let them talk to me like that, Phanpy! Use 
your Taaaaackle!" 
Phanpy shook his head and backed away. 
"We're not going to command our pokemon to attack an opponent that can't or 
won't fight back," I told him. "This battle is over, Ash." 
"It is not! You cheated!! You all cheated!!!" Ash insisted. 
"No! You lost, plain and simple!" Jessie shot back. "Deal with it, twerp!" 
"Team Rocket and Gary aren't supposed to beat me! This isn't faaaaiiiirrrr!!!" 
Ash whined. With that, he threw himself down and began to kick and beat his 
fists on the ground, acting for all the world like an overgrown two-year-old. 
As he continued to throw a temper-tantraum, the phone suddenly began to ring. 
D.J. Mary picked up the call on line one. "Hello? This is Pokemon Talk on KPMN." 

"Yeah, hello?" the caller said, his voice emanating from the loudspeakers on the 
stage. "Uh...I really loved today's show, but what's the deal with that jackass 
who's interrupting the poetry reading and attacking Professor Oak's guests and 
Gary? Don't you guys have security over there?" 
Mary's face turned seven shades of red. "Oh, no!" she gasped. "I forgot to turn 
off the microphones -- we're still on the air!" 
No sooner than she'd said this, lines two, three, and four lit up with calls as 
well. 
"Hello, this is Pokemon Talk on KPMN," she said nervously as she answered the 
call on line two. 
"Yeah, great show today, Mary," the second caller said. "I loved that talking 
Meowth, and the dancing girl, and the pokemon Haiku was beautiful. But who's the 
spoiled brat that showed up at the very end and ruined everything?! If that was 
part of the show, it wasn't funny!" 
"Uh...n-no, ma'am, I assure you, it was NOT part of the show," Mary stammered. 
An enormous sweatdrop formed on her temple as she picked up the call on line 
three. "Hello, this is Pokemon Talk on KPMN...." 
As Mary continued to answer the incoming calls and address everybody's 
complaints about Ash, Brock and Misty returned to his side and hauled him back 
to his feet. 
"You hear that, Ash?! Everybody thinks you're a jerk!" Misty shouted. 
"Well, I'm not! Team Rocket and Gary are the jerks!" Ash said defensively. 
"Not today, they're not!" Misty retorted. 
"Come on," Brock said to her. "Let's get him out of here before he makes an even 
bigger fool of himself." 
Misty nodded. 
As she and Brock started to lead Ash away, he broke free from their grasp and 
ran up to the stage again. 
"Stupid Team Rocket and Gary! I'LL SHOW YOU!!!!!!" he cried. Once he was on the 
stage, he charged towards us, windmilling his arms about and throwing spastic 
punches. 
Jessie raised an eyebrow. "This twerp doesn't know when to quit, does he?" 
I held up my hand and placed it on Ash's forehead, stopping him dead in his 
tracks. And as I watched him continuing to take swings at us, I suddenly got an 
idea. "Hey, guys, I just thought of a new game," I said. "Why don't we see how 
many Haikus we can make up about Ash? I'll start...." 
Ash the loud-mouthed twerp, 
So full of sound and fury. 
He smells like shit, too! 
"I like this game!" Jessie laughed, a mischievous light sparkling in her 
sapphire eyes. "And I think I've got a Haiku, too...." 
Ugly, stupid boy, 
Ash gives a whole new meaning 
To the word "shit-faced." 
Now Gary and Meowth were laughing, too. 
"How about this one?" Gary offered. 
Ash Noober Ketchum: 
Mean, lazy, and arrogant. 
He's a hopeless case. 
"Or dis!" Meowth snickered. 
With head up his ass, 
Ash thinks he is a master. 
I think not, twerpo! 
By the time Meowth finished his Haiku, we were all roaring with laughter and 
couldn't continue. 
"AUGH! You're so mean to me!" Ash whined. "I'll make you losers pay for this!" 
Not wanting to hear another tirade, I reached down and flicked the twerp between 
his eyes. I'd barely touched him, but the impact sent him reeling backwards and 
made him fall on his butt. "Get a new threat, dip-shit," I told him. "Then get 
lost." 
But Ash refused to listen. When he got back to his feet, he started screaming 
and ranting at us again. 
Luckily, we didn't have to put up with it for long -- Professor Oak returned a 
moment later. 
"Ash, you...." he began. 
"Professor, Team Rocket and Gary are picking on me!" the twerp cried, cutting 
him off. "And I just KNOW Team Rocket is here to cause trouble! We've GOT to 
stop them! And...." 
Professor Oak gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. "Ash, will you shut the 
hell up?!" he snapped. 
Ash gawked at him as if he'd just been slapped across the face. "P-Professor 
Oak, y-you c-can't be serious!" he stammered. 
"I'm perfectly serious, Ash! Shut the hell up!" Professor Oak repeated. "I tried 
to have patience with you, but my patience has run out! I won't tolerate people 
frightening little children and insulting and threatening my grandson and his 
friends! Somebody could've been hurt by your actions, and you behaved very 
irresponsibly as a trainer during that battle! You should be ashamed of 
yourself!" 
"But...but I was just trying to get rid of Team Rocket!" Ash insisted. "They're 
EVIL!!! They cheated in that battle, and so did Gary...." 
Professor Oak buried his face in his hands. "I might as well be talking to a 
brick wall," he sighed. 
As Ash continued hurling accusations at us and insisting that he hadn't done 
anything wrong, Delibird walked up to him and tugged on his blue vest. 
"Huh? What do you want?" he asked. 
Delibird reached into his bag and produced a small package wrapped in yellow 
paper and tied with an orange ribbon. 
"Ha, ha! You really ARE losers, Team Rocket -- your pokemon is giving ME a 
present!" Ash laughed as Delibird handed the package to him. "It must have given 
me this because it knows I'm a pokemon master...." 
"We'd better stand back," I muttered to Professor Oak, grabbing him by the 
sleeve of his coat and pulling him away from Ash. 
"What? Why?" he queried. 
"You'll see," Jessie replied as she pulled Gary away. 
Meowth, Delibird, and all of the other pokemon backed away as well. 
"I wonder what Team Rocket's pokemon got for me!" Ash said smugly. When he 
untied the ribbon and ripped the paper away, the package detonated in his hands 
and sent him blasting off. "AUGH! No faaaaaaiiiiiirrrrrr!" he whined as he 
vanished over the horizon. 
Professor Oak sweatdropped. "Dear me...." 
"Grandpa, are you okay?" Gary asked as he came to the professor's side. 
Professor Oak dusted the soot from his white coat and nodded. "I'm fine. What 
about you?" 
"We're okay, too," he replied. 
"We're sorry it had to come to that," Jessie sighed, placing a hand atop 
Delibird's head. "But with the way Ash was acting, we really didn't have much 
choice...." 
"You don't need to explain yourselves to me," Professor Oak told her. "Ash's 
behavior was simply atrocious -- there was no excuse for him to treat you three 
and Gary the way he did." 
"What about the children?" I asked, changing the subject. "How are they doing?" 
"They'll be fine," Professor Oak assured me. "Ash really upset them, but nobody 
in the audience was hurt, thank goodness." 
"Glad ta hear it," said Meowth. 
After a moment, Brock and Misty approached us. 
"You're right, Professor Oak -- the way Ash acted today was inexcusable. We 
apologize for that," Brock said. "Misty and I will have a talk with him 
later...after he's cooled off some." 
"Please do," Professor Oak sighed, bringing out his handkerchief and wiping the 
sweat from his brow. "I couldn't tell him anything while he was so hell-bent on 
attacking Gary and his friends...." 
Misty turned her attention to me, Jessie, Meowth, and Gary. "I really wish Ash 
would chill out and realize that you guys aren't a threat to him," she remarked. 

"Yeah, join the club," Meowth snorted. 
"I've said this before, but I'm saying it again -- Ash is dangerous. You two 
really should consider getting the hell away from him," I told them. 
Brock and Misty nodded. 
Once they'd taken their leave and went to find where Ash had blasted off to, 
Professor Oak looked back at the four of us. "Out of curiosity...when Ash was 
commanding his pokemon, I could've sworn I heard him telling them to attack you. 
Was that just me, or....?" 
"No, you heard correctly -- he was commanding his pokemon to attack us," Jessie 
replied. "That's how he always battles." 
Professor Oak shuddered. "I've seen him blast you off a couple of times, and 
I've heard horror-stories from Gary, but I was hoping they were just isolated 
incidents, brought on by clouded judgement or extreme situations. I...I had no 
idea he did this kind of thing all the time. And...that he'd resort to such 
violence in the presence of children...." 
"Oh, believe me, Ash has no qualms about using violence in front of little 
kids," I grumbled. "One time, he crashed our balloon in the middle of a 
schoolyard during recess, and then he got Pikachu to electrocute us and blast us 
off while a bunch of preschoolers and kindergarteners were watching! Granted, we 
were stealing pokemon at the time...and that was wrong, but jeez. He could've 
found a way to get them back that didn't involve putting children in danger...." 

"Jeezus, that's really despicable," Gary growled. 
"It certainly is," Professor Oak agreed. A grim look crossed his face. "Using 
pokemon to attack humans without just cause is in violation of one of Pokemon 
League's cardinal rules. If Ash does this sort of thing on a regular basis, he 
could have his trainer's license suspended or revoked. I'll let it slide this 
time since nobody was hurt, but if he pulls a stunt like this again, please 
don't hesitate to tell me. I can't allow such behavior to continue." 
"We will," Jessie promised. 
"Thank you, professor," I said. 
"Don't mention it," he replied. 
"Ah, let's not let dat twerp ruin our day," Meowth commented as he jumped onto 
my shoulder. "I say we forget about him. And what better way ta do dat den with 
a lunch buffet?!" 
I smiled at the cat. "That sounds like a splendid idea, my dear Meowth!" 
"I couldn't agree more!" Jessie concurred. 
@->->- 
Once we'd rounded up everybody who was in the audience and calmed the children 
down, Professor Oak and D.J. Mary went to the KPMN van and brought out the 
catered luncheon buffet. When Gary, Jessie, Meowth, and I took our plates and 
got in line, several of the children gathered around us. 
"I really loved your Haikus, Mr. James!" a little girl told me. 
"And I loved the dance you did with your Arbok, Miss Jessie!" another little 
girl told Jess. 
"We love you too, Meowth!" a bunch of girls and boys said to Meowth. "You're 
such a cool cat!" 
"I'm glad that big bully with the dirty face didn't hurt you earlier," a little 
boy remarked. 
"Yeah! And you kicked butt in that battle!" said another little boy. "Your 
Wobbuffet, Growlithe, and Umbreon were so awesome!" 
"Thank you!" we all replied in unison. 
Jessie gave me a gentle nudge with her elbow as we filled our plates with 
grilled chicken, fresh fruits and vegetables, and fresh-baked bread. "Those kids 
loved you, James -- you were great," she said. 
"You really think so?" I asked. I felt my cheeks turning pink. 
She nodded. "You have a real way with children. You're going to be such a 
wonderful father someday." 
Now I was blushing more brightly than ever. "Well, those kids really liked you 
too, Jess," I replied. "I think you're going to be a wonderful mother someday." 
"Oh, no! Dere dey go, playin' kissy-face again!" Meowth snickered as Jessie 
leaned closer to me and touched her lips to mine. "Hey, people are tryin' ta eat 
here, ya know!" 
When Jessie and I finished kissing each other, we stuck our tongues out at 
Meowth and continued making our way along the buffet table. 
@->->- 
After lunch, Professor Oak returned to his hotel room to take a nap since the 
events of the afternoon had worn him out (and Ash had given him a headache), but 
he offered to treat us to dinner at The Gold Standard restaurant, and we made 
arrangements to meet him there at seven thirty. Meanwhile, Gary decided to stay 
with us for the rest of the afternoon. 
"So, where are you guys off to next?" he inquired as we walked down the streets 
of Maroon Town and window-shopped at the various stores that could be found 
along the main strip. 
"We're not sure yet," Jessie told him. 
"We'd like to head up to Blackthorn City to try and win the Rising Badge 
sometime, but we need to get in some more training first," I added. 
Gary winked at us. "Articuno, Delibird, Growly, and Wobbuffet will definitely 
give you the winning edge. I know that you'll do well when you get there. In the 
meantime, I know a great place where there's lots of psychic pokemon. Maybe we 
could go check it out after grandpa heads home -- I've always wanted to catch a 
psychic-type, and it'd be really awesome if you guys could catch some, too!" 
"That sounds like an excellent idea, Gary!" Jessie exclaimed. 
I smiled. "Yeah! I had a dream the other night that I caught a Natu. I've always 
liked Natu, so it'd be nice if I could catch one in real life...." 
Jessie draped an arm around my shoulders. "Who knows? You just might! Your 
dreams always have some kind of significance, James." 
My smile became a grin as I wrapped an arm around her waist. 
"When does yer grandpa leave, Gary?" Meowth asked. 
"Tomorrow morning," came Gary's reply. "Since Professor Willow will be here for 
tomorrow's show, grandpa wants to get back to Pallet as soon as possible -- my 
parents are away on a dig right now, and May's been running the lab all by 
herself for the past week." 
"Well, we were very happy to meet your grandpa, Gary," I said. "I'm so glad we 
were all able to get together like this." 
Meowth nodded. "Yeah! We've been havin' a blast!" 
"And it was a terrific birthday present for James, too!" Jessie added, moving 
her arms to my waist and resting her chin on my shoulder. 
I closed my hands over hers and gave her another tender smile. "It sure was," I 
agreed. 
"I know grandpa really enjoyed meeting you, too," Gary told us. "He never really 
saw you as evil or menacing, even before he got to know you...and now he knows 
that you're not, and he's seen for himself how great you are. That's a really 
good feeling...." 
"Well, it wouldn't have happened if not for you, Gary," Jessie replied. "Thanks 
for setting the record straight and showing him the real us." 
"Ya know, I think a big reason people have always been so biased against us is 
because of Ash," Meowth commented. "He's always bad-mouthin' us, and dat either 
colors peoples' opinions before dey even know us, or it turns 'em against us. 
But I notice it ain't really a problem now dat we ain't followin' him no 
more...and now dat we've got a friend who can help all the victims of Ash's 
asshole aura see the truth." 
"Asshole aura. That's a good one, Meowth!" Gary laughed. 
Jessie covered her mouth with one of her hands and snickered. 
"Hey! I just thought of a new Haiku!" I interjected. 
"Really? Let's hear it, James!" my three friends said in unison. 
I smiled. "It's about you, Gary...." 
Pallet's finest son 
Sees us as we truly are. 
Proud to call you friend. 
Jessie and Meowth clapped. 
"Bravo!" Meowth cheered. 
"It's so true!" Jessie remarked. 
Gary smiled sheepishly at us and blushed. "Thanks, guys. I'm proud to call you 
my friends, too." 
@->->- 
For the next couple of hours, we continued to window-shop at the clothing 
boutiques (Jessie loved to look at all the expensive designer fashions and then 
buy fabric for a fraction of the cost and make her own versions, which always 
ended up looking just as good...if not, better than the originals), and we even 
stopped at a used bookstore in the town square. Gary, Jessie, and I pointed out 
favorite books we'd had as children, and I bought a couple of Tolkien companion 
pieces for Meowth since he was almost finished reading Return of the King and 
was eager to learn more about Middle Earth. I even found an old, worn copy of a 
book of Japanese Haikus, which I couldn't resist buying for myself! 
When the bookstore closed at seven, we headed back to the hotel so that we 
wouldn't be late for our dinner with Professor Oak. And after a delicious meal 
of fondue, we all went back to the suite where Jessie, Meowth, and I were 
staying and finished the birthday cake and ice cream. 
"You know, I've never had tiramisu ice cream before," Professor Oak remarked as 
he polished off the last of his helping. "But it's quite delicious!" 
Gary nodded and took a bite of his marble cake. "I never knew it was an ice 
cream flavor until I met these three, either. I've learned a lot of cool stuff 
since I became friends with them." 
Professor Oak smiled. "I'm glad to hear that. And I'm very pleased with how 
today's show went, despite the commotion Ash caused. I can't thank you three 
enough for how successful the broadcast was! I'm just sorry Ash was so rude to 
you." 
"It's quite alright," I assured him. "Ash is always rude to us. I don't think 
we'll ever get used to it, but we've learned to tune it out over the years. It's 
no big deal." 
"Besides, that was hardly your fault -- nobody knew he was going to show up...or 
spaz out like that," Jessie added. 
"And the way ya told him ta shut the hell up was so Fu King sweet!" Meowth 
cheered. "Dat kicked ass!" 
Jessie and I shot the cat a warning glare. "Meowth!" 
Professor Oak grinned sheepishly. "Well...I don't normally lose my temper like 
that, but...." 
"....But it was an extreme situation," Gary said, finishing the thought for him. 
"Ash could've really hurt somebody, the way he was carrying on. Getting told off 
was the least he deserved, if you ask me." 
"Indeed," Professor Oak agreed. "And I meant what I said earlier -- if Ash 
attacks you with his pokemon again, then please let me know. Pokemon League 
doesn't need irresponsible trainers like that in its ranks." He paused for a 
moment and smiled. "Besides, Gary told me that one of the resolutions you made a 
few months ago was to only catch wild pokemon and not steal from other 
trainers...and I've seen for myself what nice people you are. So, if Ash does 
attack you, I know it's most certainly not for a just cause! Pokemon 
League...and I will be on your side if you ever need to file a grievance against 
him." 
I returned the professor's smile. "Thank you, sir. That means a lot to us." 
"And if you ever get more than six pokemon for your parties...or if you just 
want to give some of your pokemon a little vacation, then you're more than 
welcome to send them to my lab in Pallet," he continued. "I know they'll enjoy 
spending time with Gary's pokemon, and May and I will take good care of them." 
"You know, we just might do that sometime!" Jessie told him. "Thank you for the 
offer!" 
"You're welcome!" 
@->->- 
Once all of the marble cake and tiramisu ice cream was gone, we talked awhile 
longer with Professor Oak and Gary. But when they saw how late it was getting, 
they reluctantly said good night to us and returned to their own suite. They 
needed to be awake by six tomorrow morning since Professor Oak had a long drive 
back to Kanto, and Gary (who was eager to show us the region where psychic 
pokemon abounded) wanted to get an early start as well. But we'd agreed to meet 
Professor Oak one last time for breakfast at the hotel restaurant before 
checking out and continuing our travels with Gary. 
After the two of them took their leave, Jessie and I went for another relaxing 
swim in the hot springs. And when we got back to our suite, we called room 
service and ordered an ice-cold bottle of sparkling cider. 
Now, she and I were sitting together in the enormous spa-tub in our bathroom, 
enjoying another warm bubble bath. 
"This really turned out to be a wonderful couple of days," Jessie remarked, 
holding her glass of sparkling cider aloft. 
"It sure did," I agreed as I clinked my glass against hers. 
After our toast, we drained our drinks, and I refilled them from the bottle in 
the ice bucket next to the tub. 
"You know, Jess, I was thinking more about what you said last night...about how 
we've changed our stars," I continued. "You're absolutely right." 
She nodded. "Yeah. All of that blasting off, going hungry, being humiliated -- 
it all seems so long ago and far away now. It feels like that white tomorrow you 
always promised me is finally here!" 
"Not quite yet, it's not," I told her. "But the worst is definitely over...and 
it'll only get better from here!" 
"I know it will!" Jessie replied as she set her glass down and put her arms 
around me. "I love you, James," she whispered, touching her lips to mine. 
"I love you too, Jessie," I echoed as I kissed back. 
When our kiss ended, we pulled apart slightly and gazed into each other's 
eyes...and my smile grew even wider than it already was. 
"James, what's on your mind?" Jessie asked slyly. 
"I think you know," came my reply. 
A smile made its way across her lips as she held me closer and straddled me. 
"Yeah, I definitely know! Great minds think alike, after all!" 
"Indeed they do," I agreed, wrapping an arm around her waist and running my 
fingers through her crimson hair, pulling it loose from the bun atop her head. 
"But I was also thinking about something else." 
Jessie raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" 
"I just came up with another Haiku!" 
Her smile became a grin. "And what's this one about?" 
"It goes like this...." 
From dark we emerge 
One step closer to our goal: 
A white tomorrow. 
Jessie ran a hand through my blue-violet hair and rested her forehead against 
mine. "James, you truly are a man of many talents. You never cease to amaze me," 
she said. 
"Thanks, honey." 
She reached under the water, and I felt a surge of desire as her long, delicate 
fingers encircled me. "Now let's put one of your other talents to good use!" 
My heart fluttered as her warm, soapy skin brushed against mine, and the only 
sound I could make was a low moan of pleasure as our lips met again and Jessie 
gently guided me inside of her. But even though my voice failed me as we melted 
with passion in each other's arms, my mind raced with a thousand different 
Haikus about our love...enough beautiful poetry to fill an entire book! 
Who knows? Maybe I'll write them down someday.... 
The End
Author's Notes
As I've stated before, this story doesn't follow the formula of my WYDS. There's 
a reason for this. While the Master Quest episodes have had more 
Rocketshippiness (which I love *_*), they've also had more cruelty to J, J & M 
(which I hate >_<). Our heroes are still top-notch, but I have little tolerance 
for the show itself these days -- a few good TR scenes and a little extra 
Rocketshippiness don't make all of the abuse they put up with okay as far as I'm 
concerned. This is a big reason why my story arc and timeline no longer follow 
the canon of the anime. And since I'm no longer following series canon with my 
writing, all of the episode-based stories that I write for Master Quest and 
beyond won't be WYDS -- they'll be "What Really Happened" (WRH). That means I'm 
completely scrapping what the scriptwriters gave us and rewriting the episode 
from scratch so that it fits the canon of my timeline instead. I'm still finding 
ways to incorporate all of the good stuff from the show into my own timeline, 
but the bad stuff isn't going to be "real" anymore. For my purposes, the show is 
just a daydream that takes place in Ash's warped brain cell -- he's only 
imagining that TR is still following him, and all of the cruelty that they 
endure is just his sicko fantasy. Meanwhile, our heroes have transferred to a 
different position in Team Rocket, where they're getting better pay and more 
respect, and they're allowed to do their job in peace since they don't have to 
contend with the twerps anymore. 
Now, on to a slightly different subject. Since this story takes place a few 
months after my timeline splits from series canon, I make a lot of references to 
things that have been happening in my timeline (new pokemon TR have caught, 
their new assignment, and such). My friend, Shigeru1313, and I are working on a 
trilogy of stories that chronicle our heroes' adventures as we make the 
transition from the anime's timeline to our own, but it's going to be awhile 
before these stories are anywhere near completion since there's a lot of other 
projects we're working on at the moment (and we don't exactly get a lot of free 
time for writing our stories anyway +P). All of the little "gaps" will be filled 
in by this upcoming trilogy, and all of the references I make in this story will 
eventually make more sense. (The only reason I wrote this WRH before my 
canon-breaking stuff is because WB skipped WAY ahead when they showed "Will the 
Real Oak Please Stand Up?" and I wanted to write this story while the idea was 
fresh in my mind.) In the meantime, you can look at the Timeline page to get a 
general idea of what's been going on and when certain things happened. 
I'd also like to give a special thanks to Christine for the beautiful 
illustration of Jessie & James in the hot spring. And another special thanks to 
Jupiter for the shippy illustration of Jessie & James enjoying a bubble bath. 
And last, but certainly not least, a very special thanks goes to Shigeru1313. 
She helped me come up with a bunch of pokemon Haikus (she wrote the ones about 
Arbok, Weezing, Ninetales, Articuno, Charizard, Umbreon, Houndoom, and Gary that 
I included in this story), and our conversations were an excellent source of 
inspiration to me. I'd also like to thank her for the adorable picture of Jessie 
& James cuddling. This story is for you, Shigeru! I couldn't have done it 
without ya! *hugs* 
@->->- 
Back to the Library 
@->->-