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••• The Episode •••
In Happy Town, Jessie and her partners stood proudly before the twerps and Nurse Joy. When all the Pokémon Center’s food was in their balloon, Team Rocket boasted about their evil methods. That story was so dramatically absurd, yet Jessie smirked at how easily the twerps fell for it.
But, more than that, protecting Blissey’s career was top priority. That naïve friend stole all the Center food, and now Team Rocket had to clean her mess… or disgustingly watch Blissey lose her job.
No, she was not losing it, and Jessie and her partners were going to make sure of that.
Jessie smirked at James and Meowth for their support.
As for the confrontation, things were going as planned. Jessie took the lead in provoking the twerps, laughing at each reaction she got from them. The twerp, specifically, expressed that delightful anger towards Team Rocket, popping a full smirk on Jessie’s lips.
However, a high-pitched call: “Blissey! Blissey!”
No, you fool! We can’t have them know our friendship. You’ll lose everything! Stop!
Yet, her friend kept going forward, arms open for her.
In no way would Jessie give up without a fight. “Lickitung! Arbok! I choose you!”
Her two loyal Pokémon stepped into the battlefield, their battle cries ever so fierce.
But that was not enough; Jessie had to prove she was not fooling around, by “attacking” Blissey. She shut her eyes at that idea, but went through it anyway; she commanded her Pokémon to attack.
Lickitung and Arbok went in for the attack. Not only that, they also injured Blissey. Two hard blows at its body. Yelling, Jessie was quick to scold her Pokémon.
Despite the marks, Blissey stood up, its face stained in brown. Instead of retreating, it dared advance towards Jessie, again!
And the twerps stood there, making silly remarks about Blissey and its “brave attitude”. Jessie wanted to shut them silent so badly!
Her anger was only boiling up.
••• Point of Divergence •••
“Buh-lissey, blissey,” Blissey cried, slowly walking towards Jessie, its arms still open for her.
“Pii?” Close to Ash, Pikachu was gaping at Blissey’s attitude.
“How can she still try to take on them, after all that?” Misty pondered.
“Toge?” In her arms, Togepi chirped with a head tilt.
“I don’t care, as long as she beats them,” Ash replied, his hand still on his belly.
Brock and Nurse Joy observed without a word.
As Blissey neared, Jessie froze. At that rate, her friend would surely find its way to the losers’ ground. She would never be admitted in a Center again, all because she did not get over the friendship.
Jessie was guilty of the same thing.
She pointed a look at her partners. They had to think of something, fast.
James was the first to step forward, clapping once. “Ahem! While you were distracted, we cleverly designed a brilliant way to seal your Pikachu! It’s flawless, you’ll-“
“Yeah, yeah, enough beatin’ the bush for it!” Meowth shoved past him, holding a grabber. He yanked its two levers, firing two red hands at Pikachu.
Those ended up closing on dirt; Pikachu had dodged to the left. “Pikaa!” It yelled, its paws bent on the ground.
“Oh, naw! Those gadgets do us dirt all the time!“ Meowth complained, pulling back the soiled grabber.
“Great job, Pikachu!” Ash praised, his hand still glued to his belly. “Thunderbolt attack!”
Right on time. Jessie kept a straight face, that whole mess finally reaching its end. In her last moments, she glanced at a gaping Blissey.
That nurse Pokémon would thank her in the future.
“Piiii-ka-chuuuuuu!” Pikachu uttered, unleashing an electric beam upon Team Rocket.
Screaming. Trembling. Scattered thoughts. Blurred vision..-
“BLISSEY! Bliss-blissey!” Blissey screamed, panically stepping in and waving its arms at Pikachu.
The latter flinched, then it halted its electricity flux. “Pi? Pika pipi-kachu!” It frowned at Blissey.
Jessie began panting, her knees bent. Her partners did the same.
“Hang on. I still don’t see clouds around us,” James commented.
“That’s ‘cause the thunder’s ‘ready struck, genius,” Meowth retorted, small sparks leaving his body.
“What happened? Why did Pikachu stop?” Ash questioned.
“Maybe Blissey doesn’t want us to attack them,” Brock inferred, a hand on his chin. “Almost as if she likes them.”
No! Stay quiet, twerp!
“That can’t be right! How could anyone ever like Team Rocket!?” Misty snapped.
“Blissey, my dear. I know you must be frightened right now,” Nurse Joy said, placing a hand on her chest. “As a nurse, you wouldn’t want anyone hurt.”
“Bliss? Blissey, blis-blissey blissey,” Blissey said, raising its paw in Jessie’s direction.
She writhed in a groan.
“Pii ka-chu pipi-kachu?” Pikachu glanced at Jessie, then back at Blissey.
“Blissey blissey.” Blissey nodded at Pikachu, then turned towards Jessie again.
“Ugh, we don’t know what they’re saying!” Misty glared at Meowth. “Where’s the Pokémon translator when we need him?”
“Sorry, translation’s by appointment only,” Meowth dismissed, a drop of sweat falling down his face.
Nurse Joy hung her head. “My dear. You’ve been working here for a very long time. Your assistance has been so wonderful for the Pokémon.” A sigh from her. “But being around people like them might not end up well for the Center.”
Exactly! Jessie raised her head, arms crossed.
“Bliss?” Blissey glanced at Jessie.
“What, you think your little nurse pet’s my type?! Come on, tell me you clowns have a better joke than that!” Jessie snickered.
However, Blissey turned towards her, slowly walking forward. “Blissey, blissey,” it said soothingly, arms open for her.
Jessie backed away. “What?! No! Stop!” She stretched her palm in Blissey’s way. “Arbok! Lickitung! Get that thing rolling-“
“Bliissey. Blissey bliss-sey,” Blissey chimed in, its voice even higher-pitched than before.
“Cha-bokk?” Arbok widened its eyes, glancing uncertainly at Jessie.
Lickitung left its mouth agape, standing still by Arbok’s side.
“Toge-prii!” In Misty’s arms, Togepi chirped happily.
“Piika,” Pikachu wailed, ears fully drooped.
“She cares about you,” Ash remarked, clenching his fist in front of his stomach. “You lied about her! She stole all the food, and you let her!”
“Blissey, I…“ Nurse Joy’s voice came cracked as tears flew down her face. “..I keep trying to look out for you. But I..-“
Sobbing, she sprinted into the Pokémon Center.
“Nurse Joy!” Brock shouted.
“Bli… blissey?” Blissey stood still, watching as Nurse Joy ran. It then glanced at Jessie, eyes raised.
With her back to the balloon, she clenched her fists. The Pokémon Center, the nurse hat, the broken pendant, all shattering before her eyes.
She shook her head vigorously.
“You don’t get it,” Jessie snapped, grabbing her Poké balls to return Arbok and Lickitung. “You think it’s fine to come back to me. But it’s not. This is just a one-way road to utter loss.”
Jessie then looked away. Deep down, she saw it all as her own fault. She shouldn’t have stayed overnight in the Pokémon Center; she shouldn’t have let that pinky blob do Team Rocket work. In all of that, she was the one who disrupted her friend…
Argh, what kind of irony was that? That she had failed as a nurse, and now she ruined her only school friend’s career?! No, her emotions were boiling up too fast!
Jessie yelled and fled from the scene. No looking back, no shedding a single tear; she couldn’t show weakness to those around.
Meowth gasped first. “Heeey! Wait up, Jess!” He called, running after her.
James followed them. However, he stopped to look back at Ash and company. “Uh, we don’t need that food anymore. You can have it,” he conceded in a rushed voice, then dashed away.
•••
Ash and his friends watched as Jessie ran to the nearby forest, with James and Meowth following.
Once they disappeared from sight, Ash and company glanced at a downcast Blissey. A small distance from it lied the stolen provisions, still tied to the Meowth-shaped balloon.
“Let’s take the food back to the Center,” Brock suggested. “Nurse Joy needs it. Right now, that’s what matters.”
“I’m with you, Brock,” Ash replied, his stomach still rumbling.
Meanwhile, Misty and Pikachu slowly walked towards Blissey, their eyes raised in a frown.
“Come on. Let’s go inside.” Misty offered her hand.
“Pikachu,” Pikachu added, its eyes softening at Blissey.
“Blis… blissey,” Blissey chirped, taking Misty’s hand.
With that, the group began unloading the food net, carrying the food to the Center storage. Minutes passed by, as they traveled in and out of the building. While hunger was getting the better of them, Ash and his friends first had to finish the food retrieval.
Only then, they started eating. However, most of the time, their glances landed on Blissey. From its inquisitive look, little could be made of that.
••••••••••
“I’m sorry to tell you, but… I can’t keep you here,” Nurse Joy pronounced.
The Center doors opened automatically. Blissey cried as Officer Jenny pulled it outside of the building. Once Blissey was out, the doors slammed closed.
“Bliiss-seey! Bliisseey!” She cried in a shudder.
A tinkling noise began. Blissey halted to look at the split pendant wrapped around her. The Pokémon’s paws pressed it lightly. The pendant of friendship with her old colleague. But also the pendant that cost Blissey her place as a nurse.
Blissey closed her eyes, her paws curling around the pendant.
“How could you have been friends with that heartless crook!?” A harsh voice came from the Pokémon’s side; Blissey raised her eyes at the sight of Misty. “You had a life and a job, and you let her take that away from you!”
Blissey winced.
“You did nothing wrong, Blissey. But some kinds of friendships just can’t happen.” Kneeling by Blissey’s other side was Brock. “Jessie knew that, and she tried to keep that from harming you.”
A force pulled Blissey backwards, taking away her pendant. “What’s this? Are you still friends with her!?” The voice belonged to Ash, who slammed the object to the ground. “You made a mistake, but now it’s over! Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!”
Within moments, a Pikachu fell out of the sky, landing inches away from the pendant. The Pokémon charged up its body, an electric aura enveloping it. “Piiiika-chuuu!”
In a blur, the pendant was engulfed in electricity.
“Toge-priii!” A Togepi came into existence, cheerfully waving its arms.
“BLIISSEEEY!” Blissey yowled, tears jumping away from its eyes.
Within the unceasing cloud of thunder, only ashes of the pendant remained.
“You should move on, Blissey. Jessie wasn’t for you,” Brock advised from his kneeling position.
Nonetheless, Blissey kept crying over the ruined pendant. “BLIISS-SEEY!”
Those same scenes kept going on and on.
Their friendship, powdered with the pendant.
She ought to know, that was for the best.
Yet..-
“Jessie…”
The voice came muffled, barely audible. It wasn’t from either of the twerps, so who?
“Jessie..?”
In a moment, the world froze. No more crying from Blissey, no more Pikachu frying the pendant, nothing.
In a moment, it all vanished in a violent tremor.
••••••••••
“JESSIE!”
“Earth to Jess! Ya gotta pull back!”
Gasping, Jessie widened her eyes. James and Meowth were her first sight. “Gah! What is it now??” She glared at them both.
“You’ve been wincing far too much! That’s not good for you!” James was kneeling in front of her.
“Ditchin’ yer pals mid crisis ain’t good for that team stuff, either!” Meowth placed his paws on his hips.
Jessie sighed sharply. She then stood up with some struggle. “We’re done here. The twerps won’t stay around that center all day,” she spoke as she began walking up a path. “We’ll set things right; Pikachu stands no chance against us!”
Her partners glanced at each other before following her. “Uh, not that I’m against that, but what about Blissey?” James questioned.
“Didn’t you hear what I just said?!” Jessie snapped. “We’ll catch Pikachu. No more distractions!”
“No, Jess! We can’t leave it like this! How could she ever forgive you if you walk away now!?” James raised his voice.
“‘sides, pinky’s in trouble, an’ we gotta set t’ings right, ‘cause ya started t’is whole t’ing!” Meowth added, folding his arms.
Jessie glared at them, yet her jaw tightened. In her mind, Blissey was sitting on the floor, holding a yellow powder in its paws; the Pokémon turned its look at her, eyes washed with tears.
That gullible creature was better off not seeing her again, ever.
“That’s useless. She doesn’t want me anymore,” Jessie replied, unclenching her fists.
Her teammates froze on the spot. “What are you saying!?” James questioned.
“We’re leaving now,” Jessie dismissed, already making her first step. She was not letting them prolongue that pointless argument.
However, she halted at her first sighting. Ahead of her, Blissey stood. Worst of all, the twerp troop surrounded it. It better had been another one of her visions.
The apparition of Blissey stepped forward. “Blissey.” Its smile was soft at Jessie.
Her partners stood beside her. “The twerps are here!?” James said.
“Toge-prii!” Togepi chirped from Misty’s arms.
“What’re youse doin’ lurkin’ around?” Meowth questioned.
“I was about to ask you the same,” Misty said back. “Why are you crooks still here?”
Of course they were real. Disgusting. “Where we go to is none of your business!” She placed her hands on her hips.
Beside Misty, Blissey dropped its jaw to form a tiny ‘O’. “Bliss?”
“Stop.” Jessie immediately pointed at Blissey.
That nurse Pokémon dared step forward again.
Ash raised his eyebrows. “Wait, was she the one Blissey was looking for?!”
“It still sees Jessie as a friend,” Brock inferred.
If it wasn’t going to accept the truth, then… then Jessie ought to make it.
“Let’s get this straight, little nurse. I’m the prideful evil member of Team Rocket. Face it; our time together is over.” She paused for a breath. “You have a glorious destiny ahead of you. Don’t waste it on someone like me. Are we clear?”
“Bliss,” Blissey cried. While it shook its head, its half of the pendant tinkled vigorously. “Blis-seey blissey, bliss-blissey blisseey!”
“Pi? Pi-pika?” Pikachu narrowed its eyes at Blissey, its mouth hanging open.
“Will ya cut it ‘ready, Jess!?” Meowth showed his claws at her. “Yer pinky pal don’t care ‘bout yer wicked or any o’ that garbage. She lost her job to go back wit’ her old pal, an’ whaddya tell her?! «Go ‘way, ya worthless fool»?!”
Jessie’s boot was one foot away from kicking that stray. But then, a pause; she might actually regret doing that. Instead, she quickly drew back her leg.
Walking close to Blissey, Misty huffed. “Blissey, let’s go back to the Center. There’s gotta be another way.”
“Hold on. She was kicked out of the center, no?” James asked, facing the twerp parade.
“Actually, Nurse Joy said she could stay with her,” Brock explained. “But Blissey ran off, and we followed her.”
Pause. Well, in that case, Jessie didn’t really shatter Blissey’s career into pieces. At once, Jessie’s nightmarish visions faded away. Only the broken pendant remained.
“I just don’t get how Blissey can be so friendly at Jessie,” Ash pondered.
She couldn’t help but start recalling those old memories. “Blissey, go back. Get your job back while you still can.” Her eyes were lowered at Blissey.
“Bliss.” Blissey shook its head again, taking a step forward.
“You couldn’t even wrap medical tape properly back then. Every patient ended up looking like they got tangled in string.” Jessie’s gaze remained lowered.
“Blissey.” Blissey nodded, walking closer to her.
“But you got better. Every time I helped you, you worked twice as hard to get it right next time.” Jessie took a deep breath.
“Blissey.” Blissey’s nod made the half pendant tinkle softly.
Jessie faltered before reaching into her pocket. She felt the cold, metallic touch coming from her half of the pendant. And yet her hand froze there; that pendant meant months of hard work and friendship between her and that nurse Pokémon. One wrong move could turn it all into..-
Just pull it, Jessie.
In one breath, she pulled it out of her pocket. Everyone’s gazes were on the object, even the twerps’. They all saw it now, so whatever. Without a word, she moved the half pendant to Blissey’s other half.
The pieces fit together, giving shape to the pendant once more. Everyone just stared at it. All that silence was burning Jessie from the inside.
“Blissey!” Blissey chirped at once.
“We worked together for this life, my dear Blissey. You and I know it.” Jessie held the pendant together for a few more seconds. With a slow motion, she pulled back her half.
“Blissey, blissey!” Blissey bounced a few times, a grin on her face.
Beside them, James threw his hands in the air. “Yay! Friendship wins again!”
“Took youse two long enough, eh,” Meowth smirked, folding his arms.
If her teammates would stop making a scene all the time…
Meanwhile, the twerps and Pikachu came closer to the trio. “So… does this mean you two made up?” Ash asked, scratching his head.
“Looks that way,” Brock said.
“I suppose even crooks like you can have a heart,” Misty chimed in, placing her hands on her hips.
Jessie subtly nodded at herself. When she glanced at Blissey, she looked at its hopeful eyes. From that alone, she concluded that bringing it back to the Pokémon Center was no longer an option. That little nurse was too insistent on her to just give up now.
Hold on. A basic Pokémon Center had a human and Pokémon pair working together. Now with Blissey around, Jessie could finally pursue her old passion again. Was it her true calling?.. Duh, of course it was!
Jessie pocketed her pendant half, turning its look at Blissey. “Listen up, little nurse. You wanna follow me everywhere? Fair enough, come with me.”
Right away, Blissey dashed towards her. “Blisseyy blisseyy!” It launched itself at Jessie’s arms.
“Not now!” Jessie warned, but it was too late. That heavy Pokémon had the indecency of putting its entire weight on her! Somehow she managed to balance herself and Blissey together. “Don’t you dare do that again.”
“Bliss,” Blissey chirped as it jumped down to the ground.
Meanwhile, Misty huffed. “I don’t think this’ll end well, but I see that Blissey has already made her choice.”
“Well, if it’s what Blissey wants, I guess it’s okay,” Ash said with a grin.
“Pi-ka!” Pikachu cheered.
The twerps, James, and Meowth kept trading words for a while longer, with Blissey bouncing and chirping most of the time. Ignoring the chatter, Jessie proudly raised her chin. In the future, she and Blissey would found their own Pokémon Center, where crowds and crowds of trainers would stop by and admire the two of them.
With that passion burning, Jessie called her partners and Blissey. They had things to do, Team Rocket or not. James and Meowth even traded goodbyes with the twerps, despite that being useless. From there, Team Rocket trio and Blissey departed for a new white tomorrow.