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Raindrops pounded the Johtonian countryside. The roar of thunder could be heard from miles around. Team Rocket took cover beneath a dilapidated bridge. They ate their meager supper in complete silence, huddled close together. Every now and then, they’d look over at the Pokémon they captured, struggling to break through the iron bars of their cage.
Geodude.
Not a particularly rare or valuable Pokémon. But they needed to send something to the Boss, or else they wouldn’t be able to afford to eat in the coming weeks.
Jessie kept mulling over the sales pitch in his mind. “Ah, you see, this is no ordinary Geodude, sir! This Geodude belonged to a gym leader! You’ll find that it’s quite a strong specimen.”
Right now, Geodude’s strength certainly wasn’t apparent. Weakened first by Team Rocket’s Pokémon and then by the rain, he pounded his fists feebly against the door of his cage, murmuring mournfully.
“Geo…geo…geo…geo…”
Wobbuffet stood beside the cage, perfectly still, entirely silent. For as much as Jessie disciplined him for being a blabbermouth, he could be surprisingly stoic at times.
The three passed around a box of week-old onigiri and a canteen of lukewarm water. Jessie offered some to Wobbuffet. He didn’t respond. He was quite low maintenance, really. He never had much of an appetite, which was fortunate, as they really could not afford another mouth to feed. They probably would have abandoned Wobbuffet long ago if he ended up digging into their food supplies. Or, at least, that’s what Jessie claims. In reality, she didn’t have the heart to ditch him. He could be a nuisance, yes, but he also brought a sense of levity to their tragic lives.
They could really, really use some levity right now. But, fickle as ever, Wobbuffet refused to cooperate.
“Geo…geo…geo…”
“Should we…give it some food?” James eventually asked, breaking the silence.
“...No.” Jessie said.
“What if it’s hungry—?” James said.
“I don’t care.” Jessie said. “We’re not feeding it. You know what will happen if we start feeding it, don’t you? We’ll start getting attached to it. Then, we won’t have the heart to hand it over to the Boss.”
“...Jess is right.” Meowth said. “Just try and ignore him.”
“That’s…a bit difficult.” James said
“We need the money.” Jessie said. “We need to eat. Tomorrow, we’ll cash in this Geodude, then head straight to the grocery store. Then, you’ll both be happy that we went through with this. We’ve just gotta stay focused until then. Stay focused on what really matters!”
“Hey, don’t look at me, I’m a hundred percent on board with this plan.” Meowth said. “We ain’t doing anything too bad. The way I see it, the twerps have got a million Pokémon. They won’t miss this one in particular too badly. Besides, I barely see ‘em use this Geodude.”
“I must admit, I nearly forgot they had a Geodude with them until today.” James said.
They had been tracking Ash, Misty, and Brock all day, waiting to strike and steal a Pokémon from them when they stopped to set up camp. By pure happenstance, they ran into Geodude on their way to the twerps’ campsite. Brock had sent him out into the woods to collect some firewood. Victreebel made quick work of Geodude with Razor Leaf. For once, a heist of theirs went off without a hitch. Before anyone could even notice Geodude was missing, Team Rocket vanished.
That was over six hours ago. The sun had set and the storm clouds had moved in. They saw Ash’s Noctowl circling around overhead. Yet, despite everything, Ash and company hadn’t managed to catch up to them yet. And it was starting to seem like maybe they never would…unless Team Rocket wanted them to.
“It’s…a bit surprising, really.” Jessie said. “Usually, they’re able to track us down so quickly when we steal a Pokémon. I keep expecting them to show up, but…”
She trailed off momentarily. She took a swig of water, then continued.
“...Well, tomorrow, we’ll wake up bright and early.” Jessie said. “Ecruteak’s not too far. Once we get there, we’ll phone the Boss, transfer this Geodude to him, then claim our reward.”
“Right.” Meowth said.
“...Yeah.” James said. “Sounds like a plan.”
None of them spoke with conviction. But what could they do? It wasn’t pleasant, but they had to stomach this.
Just one little Geodude, they kept telling themselves. It’s just one little Geodude.
…And the rain kept falling.
__
“GEODUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE! GEODUDE, WHERE ARE YOU!? GEODUUUUDE!”
Brock called out to his missing Pokémon. No matter how loudly he screamed, though, the sound of his voice was mostly drowned out by the storm.
“...Brock.” Ash said. He and Misty followed closely behind Brock, deciding to brave the storm together. Misty held up an umbrella, to keep them all as dry as possible—not that it did them much good. “...What should we do now? It’s so dark…we can barely see a thing out here.”
“...I’m not going back to the campsite without Geodude.” Brock said. “We’ve gotta find him! …He…He was my first Pokémon. The Pokémon I’ve been raising ever since I was a little kid. If I never saw him again, I’d…I just can’t accept that! We have to find him!”
Ash and Misty exchanged glances. Then, they both nodded.
“We’re right behind you, Brock.” Misty said. “We’ll stay up all night if we have to. We’re gonna find Geodude. Don’t you worry!”
“Yeah!” Ash said. “C’mon, guys, we all gotta raise our voices! We gotta be as loud as possible! GEOOOOOODUUUUUUUDE!”
“GEOOOOODUUUUUUDE!”
“GEOOOOOODUUUUUUUUDE!”
__
“geoooooooduuuuuude…!”
They could hear it vaguely in the distance. It was muffled by the sound of the rain and thunder. Yet still, they could hear it.
“That’s the twerps.” Meowth said. "Sounds like they're headed in the opposite direction..."
“geooooooduuuuuuuuude!”
“G-Geo…!”
Geodude heard his trainer’s voice. He opened his eyes and took a deep breath. He suddenly began to attack the bars of his cage again after wearing himself out. He bashed his whole body against the door, trying to force it open.
“Wobbbbbbaaaaa…”
The sound of the twerps yelling stirred even Wobbuffet, it seemed.
“...Jessie…” James said. “...What do we do now?”
“...We don’t have a choice.” Jessie said. “I’m going to make sure you two get to eat. We all have to make sacrifices. We all have to do some unpleasant things to survive.”
“...If it means feeling this crummy, I think I’d rather starve.” Meowth said.
Jessie closed her eyes. She listened to Geodude and the clattering of the cage door. She sat there and listened for a long, long time. Then, she stood up.
“Geo…! Geo…! Geo…!”
“Jessie…?” James said. “What are you—?”
“...There are plenty of other Pokémon out there for us to steal.” Jessie said, walking over to the cage and kneeling down in front of it. “Besides, this one’s not even that valuable…”
__
“Geo! Geo! Geooooo!”
“G-Geodude…? GEODUDE! Is that you!?”
Team Rocket watched from the shadows as Geodude reunited with his trainer in the pouring rain.
Jessie’s mind raced. She was trying to think of something—anything she could say to the Boss to buy them a little extra time and a few more weeks’ worth of grocery money.
…Well, regardless, they’d be fine. Probably. They’d muddled their way through worse situations than this before, hadn’t they?
Yes, as long as they stayed together, they would be just fine.
“Geodude! You came back! I knew you’d come back to me!”
“Geoooooooooo!”