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The Evils of Truth and Love	By : Ceefax Category: Pokemon > General Views: 4774 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 2
- 3
The Evils of Truth and Love.

By Ceefax.

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or settings, and I'm not making any money off of this.

***

Part three - The Stars Above.
Jesse was woken by the cold. Upon opening her eyes she discovered that the chill enshrouding her body had been caused by the setting of the sun, the cold breeze that was gently rustling the leaves of the trees surrounding her, and the fact that she was dressed only in her underwear. She sat up suddenly, eyes wide with shock, and looked wildly around. James lay spread-eagled beside her, similarly attired, with Meowth curled up on his chest. The pokémon rose and fell gently as her partner breathed slowly in and out. Their bags were piled nearby and she rummaged through hers to find something to wear, but her uniform had disappeared. Behind her James began to stir, so she quickly pulled on her biker outfit.

"Wass hapnin?"

"I think we really have been fired," she told him. "They've taken our uniforms."

"But it suited me," he whined.

Meowth stretched and yawned. James screamed and flailed at the pokémon as sharp claws were forced into his bare chest. He finally dislodged the cat by rolling onto his hands and knees.

"Well, excuse me," Meowth snapped. "It's just a reflex, I can't help it."

James grabbed him by the throat and shook him. "This is all your fault! If you'd have kept your mouth shut, we'd still have our jobs!"

"You're the ones who can't catch that pikachu! That's what you were fired for!"

They both shut hastily up when they saw Jesse approaching, but she didn't hit them. Instead she pulled Meowth away from James and sat down between them, staring sadly at her feet.

James got up and grabbed some clothes. When he sat down again, his partner had not moved. "Jesse? Are you okay?" he asked, hesitantly reaching out for her.

"I can't believe it's all over," she sniffed. James' lip began to tremble. They simultaneously flung themselves into each other's arms. "No more Team Rocket!" they wailed.

"Hey, hold on, you guys," Meowth interrupted. "Why're you so upset?"

They stared blankly; then...

"We don't have to put up with those kids beating us all the time..."

"Jesse!" James yelled in sudden realisation, "we don't ever have to dig another hole!"

"I can dedicate more time to perfecting my beauty," she mused, smoothing back her flawless hair. They grinned at one another and did a strange, spontaneous dance. "No more Team Rocket! Yes!" They hi-fived.

Meowth looked smug. "Shall we get some dinner to celebrate our new-found freedom?"

"Has the boss released you as well?" James asked him. "You could probably sell a talking pokémon for a lot of money," he continued to Jesse. "I wouldn't just let him go."

"I don't know," Meowth said, a worried look spreading across his face.

"What about that special bond between a pokémon and it's master?" Jesse teased.

"You remember," James continued, "the one no human can truly understand?"

"You don't think he's sold me to you guys, do you?" Meowth asked, not amused. Jesse and James dived for their wallets.

"Nope, all there," James announced, collapsing with relief.

"Me neither." Jesse slumped beside him.

"Then what'm I supposed to do?" Meowth whined.

James struck a wise-old-master pose. "Pokémon without master like tomato with wheels."

Jesse hit him, but with a playful tap rather than her usual bruising thump. "Go back to your master, Meowth. He only sacked us."

"But... guys..." He swallowed hard. "What're you going to do without Meowth?

Jesse put her arm around James. "What we shouldn't have done with Meowth."

"Huh?" James asked.

Jesse went slightly pink, smiled shyly, and moved one hand downwards a little. "Think about it, James."

Dawning realisation, accompanied a look of slight worry.

Meowth gave a dramatic sniff. "Well... bye then. It's been," choked sob, "nice working with you..." He walked away, his shoulders hunched up and his feet dragging. For about twenty metres. Then he abruptly straightened up and spun around. "What'm I sayin'? It has not been nice working with either one of you! You're just a pair of self-obsessed morons, who can't even dig a hole right! I've come up with a lifetime's worth of perfect plans and you two have ruined every last one! I never wanna see you again!" He turned his back on them and stomped off, nose and tail in the air, leaving Jesse and James staring open-mouthed.

"What was that all about?" James asked. "What did we ever do to him?"

"I seem to recall that he screwed up our plans on a regular basis."

"Who the hell does he think he is, anyway?"

"Just because he can talk he reckons he can think as well."

"Let him go and wreck the boss's plans. We'll see how he manages to capture pokémon with that worthless furball under his feet."

"Team Rocket doesn't need useless little freaks like that!" Jesse cried triumphantly, striking a pose.

"Um, Jesse..."
***
Meowth's explosive mood had dissipated by the time he had walked back through the woods and the city, reaching Team Rocket headquarters as the sun began to rise, then been kept waiting in Giovanni's outer office for three hours. His initial plan - to march straight up to his master, unveil a new and brilliant plan for capturing Pikachu that would work perfectly if he was only assigned a couple of competent assistants, then promptly be declared the boss's favourite pokémon and his legal heir - had been abandoned in favour of shameless begging and crawling.

But he could only put this plan into action if he actually got to talk to his master, who was apparently in a very important, and surprisingly lengthy, meeting.
***
"Jesse, I'm hungry. Hungry and jobless..."

"Calm down. We've got enough money to last us a while. We're going to be all right."

"Oh, Jesse, please don't abandon me..."

"I'll never leave you, James..."

They snuffled in each other's arms until Jesse decided she had enough mucus on her shoulder. "James?"

"Yes, Jesse?"

"Do you want to share sleeping bags tonight?"

He smiled shyly and nodded.

When they finished organising the sleeping arrangements and he was lying on his side with his head resting on her shoulder he said: "have you got any ideas? About what we're going to do now?"

"I did have a few ideas..."

"Well, go on, then."

"How does 'Salon Jesseé?' sound?"

He grinned widely. "Good idea. We'll have to do something about the name..."
***
"But, boss, it wasn't my fault!"

"Persian was always very even tempered until you came back. Now you two are fighting constantly. If this doesn't stop I'll have to start keeping one of you in a pokéball."

"Please, boss, you know I'm claustrophobic! I didn't start the fight, I swear! She just jumped at me!"

"She's been jumping at you a lot lately, hasn't she, Meowth?"

"Yeah! Seems like every time I turn around I get a set of claws in the face... hey... hey, she does! I'm not lyin', I swear!"

From behind him there came the heavy, velvet silence of Persian's paws meeting the floor. He turned around and met the cool, confident gaze of his latest adversary.

"Mrrrrorrr."

"Yeah, and so's your old man," Meowth muttered.

Giovanni gave them both a fatherly smile, malice glinting in his dark eyes. "Why can't you two just get along? Meowth, remember you're going to be a persian one day."

"Sure, on the day I get my brain removed."

"What was that, Meowth?"

"Nothin' boss."

"And Persian, remember when you used to be a meowth? Would you have wanted to be constantly fighting against stronger pokémon?"

"Mwrrrr, rowwrrrr."

Meowth looked furious. "You... you cheap pussy!" he yelled, flying at his rival. Within seconds they were nothing but a ball of dust on the floor, from which an extremity would occasionally emerge. Giovanni watched with slowly building rage.
***
"What do you think, Jess?"

"Well... It's not really as big as I'd like," she mused, talking directly over Cecil's head to address her partner. The short-statured estate agent opened his mouth to begin an exposition on the potential for expansion, but James effortlessly interrupted.

"I don't like the look of those walls. We should really get someone to look at the plaster before we consider it."

"Mm. The location isn't brilliant, either."

"What was the asking price again?"

Cecil opened his mouth, but Jesse cut in. "Entirely too much. I liked that one across town, didn't you?"

"Oh, yes. Much more central. Much more roomy." He pushed up his small, circular sunglasses.

Cecil finally broke in. "The asking price is quite flexible, I assure you. I'm authorised to go down to half now, and if that's not acceptable..."

"I think someone wants to get rid of this place pretty badly," James said, with a gleeful smile.

"We'll give you two hundred for it," Jesse said.

"Madam! The land value alone is over five hundred!"

"But when you include demolition, materials, rebuilding..."

"It's a very generous offer, really."

"We're gong to be in debt if we take this place now."

"And there are plenty of other options..."

"In fact," Jesse decided, "forget that offer. I don't think this place is practical."

"No, madam, surely you don't want to make such an important decision so quickly. We recommend, to all our customers, that they take plenty of time to consider the situation and to find..."

"No. Sorry. Not at that price."

"One hundred is the lowest we can possibly go."

"Seventy five would work better for us," James said, examining his silver sparkly nails.

Cecil pursed his lips. "Ninety."

"Eighty," Jesse countered.

"Eighty five."

"Eighty two."

"Eighty four."

"Eighty three."

"Done." He extended an eager hand to James. Jesse shook it.
***
Barely half an hour later they emerged with a crisp, new, deed of ownership. "He really was desperate to get rid of that place," James noted.
"I told you we wouldn't have to spend all our money," Jesse said, smugly.

"You're great at haggling, Jesse."

"We just make a good team. But what was all that about the walls, rich kid? You've never seen dry rot in your life."

James laughed so hard he almost fell over, and Jesse took his elbow to steady him. They walked along arm in arm. "It's going to be great," James said, dreamily. "We'll have so much fun without Meowth."

"He did take the whole thing a bit too seriously."

"He just wanted to be back in the boss's good books."

"I wonder how he's getting on?"

"Probably driving everyone crazy. That's what he's best at."

Jesse gave an uncharacteristically girlie giggle. "I'd like to see him scratch the boss's face when his precious plans get screwed up."
***
Meowth tried to put his paws over his ears, but it didn't work. He tried to moan with frustration, but that didn't work either. He really hated being trapped in a pokéball; it was hideously cramped, and he had no body. Existing as a beam of red light had been sort of cool at first, but he had tired of it very quickly. Then he had begun to hate it. Then his master had decided to keep him in a pokéball.

His red and white universe suddenly rolled over. It would be enough to make him cry, if he had any tear ducts. Persian was playing with him again.

His non-existent stomach was trying to tell his non-existent brain that he felt nauseous, which was only adding to the overall confusion. *It's not fair,* he thought, miserably. *What did I ever do to her? Why do I get stuck in the pokéball?*

"Persian?" came the muffled voice of his beloved master. "Are you playing with the pokéballs again? Look, I've got you a ball of your own to play with."

"Mwwror." Meowth was smacked vigourously from side to side.

"Come on, it even has a little bell in it..."

"Mrr."

"Persian, give me the pokéball."

Meowth felt the disorientating sensation of being lifted.

"Good girl."

Followed by the sound of a deep contented purr and the tinkle of a little bell.

A vivid image ran through Meowth's mind. Jesse's long, elegant, gloved hand dropping a ball of wool in front of him, and the hours of satisfaction that followed. He tried to scream.
***
"Welcome to Salon Jesseé!"

"You're our very first customer!"

"Do I get any special deals, then?" asked the tall, slim, green-haired woman standing in the doorway.

Jesse and James brayed blatantly false laughs. "And who are we beautifying today?" Jesse asked, ignoring the question.

"I hope you can do sensible styles as well," the very first customer asked, ignoring Jesse's question. "That koffing in the window looks a little extreme."

"That's what I said, but he didn't listen," James protested.
"Of course we..." Jesse began, then broke off to give her partner a confused look. "How did you know what it wanted? We lost our interpreter, remember?"

"I can tell what he wants," James said, defensively. "We're very close."

Jesse pulled a worried face. "I don't even want to know about you being close to Koffing."

James scowled at her, and there was an indignant "koff!" from the front of the salon. The customer was trying desperately to stifle her laughter and not ruin her cool image. She swallowed hard. "I thought you could do something with my meowth. He's a bit shy, though."

She pulled a tiny bundle of fluff from it's hiding place behind her ankles. "Meowth?" it asked, blinking it's huge, pale eyes at the pair of extravagantly dressed stylists.

"I'm not sure exactly what I want," it's owner continued, "just make it something I can walk down the street with, okay?" She turned to James. "Maybe you could try empathising with it."

James blushed prettily. The customer turned and left, and Jesse and James turned to one another. "Do you remember when Meowth was that small?" James sighed.

Jesse smacked him round the head. "We didn't know Meowth when he was that small. Now go and do your job."

"Why can't you do it?"

"Because I'm busy."

"But you're not doing anything."

"James..." She stared. He began to wilt under her gaze.

"But I miss him more than you do," he muttered.

"Meowth?" the baby meowth asked, looking up at the two new people with confusion.

She propelled James towards one of the chairs with a fan swipe, then dropped the young Meowth into his arms. It looked up at him, shyly extended a paw and gently patted his cheek. He burst into tears.

"Jesse! It's too cute!"

"Meowth?" It stood up, resting it's front paws on James' chest and licked his face to try to comfort him, only succeeding in making him cry harder.
Jesse took the pokémon from him and sat it in the padded reclining chair. "Why do I have to do everything around here?" she snapped, pushing the sobbing James away. "Make yourself useful and fetch me the shampoo."
***
As his panic increased, Meowth once again forgot about his physical situation. He tried to kick at the sides of the pokéball and yowl at the top of his lungs. Nothing.

Forcing himself to calm a little, he attempted to reason with himself. *He knows you're here,* he thought, soothingly. *He won't leave you. Oh my God, I'm so hungry... What if he never lets me out, I'll starve in here...*

Just as he was in the process of convincing himself that he didn't actually have a stomach so it wasn't possible to starve to death, the world split open, and he felt himself squashed back into shape. He fell to his knees and gasped for air with his newly reformed lungs. Giovanni stood over him, waiting. Meowth crawled to him and grasped his ankle. "Master... please... food..."

Giovanni bent down and gently stroked his ears. Despite his whimpering stomach, he rubbed his face against Giovanni's hand and purred. "Meowth, how could you be hungry already?"

"But it's been years..."

Giovanni gave a patronising chuckle and tickled Meowth's belly. "No it hasn't. I've got a little job for you."

"But I'm gonna die... I need food... get me pizza... pizza..."

A bowlful of pokémon food was put in front of him. He dived in. His master watched him eat until the bowl was empty and Meowth was full. "I want you to battle for me, Meowth."

Meowth looked worried. "I'm, er, a little out of practise, boss. Maybe you should get someone else."

"Oh, no. You'll do fine. It's just a friendly match. You remember Persian, don't you?"

Meowth just stared, his brain refusing to process the hideous words he was hearing.

"Meowth?"

"I don't wanna fight Persian, she's mean..."

"I just want to get her levels up a little. She won't hurt you."

"Yes, she will."

"No, she won't."

"Yes, she will."

"Meowth! Don't argue with your master."

"She will though."

"I'll tell her to go easy on you. What's the problem, anyway? You were boasting about winning battles when you arrived. I thought Jesse and James had finally... licked you into shape."

Meowth blushed a delicate pink and stared at his paws.

"Now, I'm sure you wouldn't want Persian to hear about your extra-specific exploits. All I want is a friendly little match between two of my pokémon. Do you have any problems with that?"

"No, boss," Meowth muttered, miserably.
***
*This is a friendly little battle?* Meowth wondered, looking up at the long rows of deserted seats, the uppermost drowned out by the dazzling, intimidating lights that illuminated the stadium.

Persian sat opposite him, coolly washing a paw, apparently not fazed in the slightest by the elaborate set-up. She looked up at Meowth and narrowed her eyes. He scowled back. Giovanni's voice echoed out from the surround-sound speakers mounted overhead. "Ready?"

Persian slid smoothly to her feet and yowled her readiness. Meowth gave a worried smile in the vague direction of the commentary box.

"Persian! Scratch attack! Now!"
***
Meowth came round to the glare of the spotlight.

"That was a very short match, Meowth."

He closed his eyes again. "I wanna go home..." he moaned.

"But, Meowth, you are home..."
***
Stifling giggles, Jesse slowly tiptoed up behind James, who was completely immersed in the his work. The young kangaskhan whose toenails he was painting - it was only four years old and stood about waist high - squinted nervously at her. She waited until he had completed the last brushstroke and was leaning back to admire the result, then she jabbed her fingertips into his ribs and screamed "James!" into his ear.

The polish made an interesting pattern on the ceiling, and James hit the ground heavily, narrowly missing the cowering kangaskhan. "What the hell are you doing?" he cried, not even trying to get up.

"I didn't realise you were that far out if it," Jesse gasped when she recovered from her laughter.

"I think you broke my back," James gasped, beginning to join in with Jesse's infectious giggles.

"You almost... hit the ceiling..." Jesse managed before she collapsed again. The scared kangaskhan made a break for the back door, shaking off it's toe separators as it went. The Salon Jesseé staff were still having hysterics and didn't even notice the disappearance of their client. Jesse had reached the stage where her chest and sides were aching and it was getting more and more difficult for her to catch her breath. She squeezed her eyes closed and forced herself to calm down, drawing in deep breaths of air to ease her suffering lungs. She finally got herself under control, opened her eyes, took one look at James and started howling again.

"Stop... laughing... at me..."

"She rolled over and hugged him. "But it was funny..."

"No, it wasn't."

"I'm sorry," she giggled, hiding her face in his hair, "but it was funny."

James tried to push her away, but she clung to him, easily thwarting his efforts. "Will you get off me?" he snapped.

"No. Besides, you know you like it."

"I'm sorry?"

She grabbed him. His eyes doubled in size and he let out a small squeak. "See?" she said, grinning evilly. "You do like it."

"Jesse!" he squealed. "What're you doing?"

She let him go and sat back. "Well, okay, if you don't want to..."

He hastily leaned towards her and rested his hands on her knees. "At least let's pull the shutters."

She smirked. "I didn't know you were so shy."

"But Koffing's grinning at me... and Ekans is looking smug."

"James, they're just pokémon! What's wrong, you think Koffing's going to be jealous?"

He scowled and pulled away from her. "Maybe Ekans'll get jealous of you."

She heaved a deep sigh and got to her feet. "Don't be stupid, James." She turned to walk away.

"Jesse, don't.." he began, reaching out for her.

"So, you do want to," she purred, smiling down at him.

He dropped his eyes. "Just no pokémon, okay?"

"Shut up, James. Ugh, I never want to think about Meowth again."

"You didn't mind thinking about him before," James muttered. She kicked him in the head. "Ow! Jesse!"

"What's the matter? Did you hurt yourself?" She sat down beside him.

"Very funny," he complained, putting his head on her shoulder. She stroked his hair, smoothing it back from his forehead.

"Ekans, get the shutters," she called. Her pokémon hooked its tail into the catch, and the slatted metal shutters rolled down, plunging the salon into semi-darkness. James eagerly reached for Jesse, and she drew him into a hug. "Hey, where'd the kangaskhan go?" she asked, looking curiously over James' shoulder.

"Who cares?" he murmured, nuzzling her ear.

"It's owner probably will," she told him, jumping hastily to her feet. James froze, the image of dark, towering, tattooed bulk floating before his eyes. "The back door's open," Jesse snapped. "James, how could you let it get away?"

"You jumped on me," he protested.

Just as they were about to engage in one of their rare arguments, a soft call of "kangaskaaaan," came echoing from the back of the salon. They both stared, wide-eyed, into the deep shadows.

"I see it," James hissed.

"Where?"

"There, under the sink."

"Don't scare it..."

He turned and looked at her. "Why would I scare it? You're the scary one."

"Shhh..."

"Kangaskhan..." James softly cajoled. "Come here, little Kangaskhan..."

"It's not that little..."

"Shh, Jess. Come on, good Kangaskhan.."
"Kangaaaa!" it wailed, running towards James with it's short arms held out. It cannoned into him, knocking him flat.

"Jesse," he wheezed, "get it off me..."

"I'll just shut the door. I'll be right back."

"Jesseeee..."

"Stop whining, I said I'd be right back." There was a faint snick as the door was locked.

"I can't breathe... I can't move... help me..." He heard a dry rattle from behind him. "Jesse? What're you doing?"

"Kangaskhan, are you hungry?"

"Khan?" It raised it's head from James' chest. He heaved in a relieved gasp.

"Come on, Kangaskhan, lovely fresh pokémon food," Jesse called, shaking the bowl. Kangaskhan leapt to it's feet. James hastily rolled away as the pokémon ran happily for it's meal, narrowly beating Koffing and Ekans to the bowl. They both looked up expectantly at Jesse. "You've already eaten." They both looked down, sadly. Ekans began curling pathetically around her ankles. "Oh, all right," she said, grabbing another two bowls.

James limped up to her side. Kangaskhan took the last ball of food and nibbled daintily at it, just as Koffing and Ekans began to gulp down theirs. James put his head on Jesse's shoulder and clasped his arms loosely around her neck. "That really hurt," he moaned into her ear. She put her arm around his waist and gave him a comforting squeeze. They stood in silence, watching the pokémon eat, until, with a loud clang, the door swung open, letting in a bright beam of sunlight.

"Kanga!" Kangaskhan cried gleefully as it ran towards its master.

"Kangaskhan! Don't you look pretty!" the seven foot biker greeted his pokémon. He scooped it up and hugged it. "What do I owe you guys?"

Jesse went to the till. "Hmm, polish, waxing, manicure, pedicure... Twenty five altogether." He handed over the money. Jesse smiled and thanked him.

"Geez, buddy, you look beat," their customer commented, looking at James who, deprived of Jesse's support, was leaning against the wall.

"It sat on me," he replied, weakly, pointing at the pokémon.

"Yeah, she'll do that." He affectionately tickled the kangaskhan behind the ears. "It just means she likes you."

"Oh, good."

"Thanks guys, this is really great," he said as he walked to the door. "I'm going to tell all my friends about you." Kangaskhan waved a stubby paw. "Aww, ain't that cute!" it's owner declared. "Bye, guys!"

Jesse and James waved back, identical forced smiles on their faces. The door clicked shut. Jesse walked wordlessly forward and turned the sign to 'closed'. James came up behind her, put his arms around her waist and carried on kissing her neck.

"James?" she said softly, covering his joined hands with hers, "I know you miss Meowth, but you have to admit, it's been much more peaceful with him gone. And a lot less painful."

"Mmm. Have you noticed, we haven't made any bad puns since he left, either?"

She grinned. "That's great! We should have kicked him out a long time ago."

"We should have just left ages ago." He moved his hands slowly upwards. She leaned back, taking most of her weight on him.

"Shouldn't we go upstairs?" she murmured, referring to their small apartment above the salon.

"No need," he replied, letting go of her, grabbing the reclining lever of the nearest chair, and pulling it backwards until the chair lay completely flat. "After you, madam."

She curtsied. "Why, thank you, kind sir." She climbed into the chair, letting her already ridiculously short skirt ride up still further. James joined her, taking his weight on his hands, which were firmly gripping the armrests. He smiled at her and leaned down to softly kiss her lips. She wrapped her arms around him, gently stroking his back through his deep red shirt.

"I didn't think you'd want to," he whispered into her ear. "After that whole thing with Meowth I was afraid you wouldn't want just me..."

"You're so stupid, James," she said, carefully keeping her voice gentle and affectionate. "I thought I'd made myself pretty clear..."

He lowered himself on top of her and buried his face in her hair. "I'm sorry Jess... I really didn't know what you wanted..."

"You could have just asked me."

"I was afraid you'd hit me."

"I wouldn't have hit you," Jesse soothed, easing him up and sliding her hands between their bodies to begin unbuttoning his shirt.
***
Meowth leapt away from Persian's outstretched claws, dropping down onto all four feet to sprint away from his nemesis.

"Meowth!" Giovanni boomed. "Will you stop running and fight?!"

"Meeeeowth!" he squalled back, losing his grip on language under the stress. Persian hissed with frustration and took off after him, the two pokémon sprinting around the edge of the brightly lit arena, occasionally changing direction as Persian attempted to catch up.

Above them Giovanni gave an irritated sigh and cracked open his pokéball. "Meowth, return."

Seeing the beam of bright energy arching towards him, Meowth gave a squeak of fear and ducked under the first row of seats. "Meowth!" Giovanni bellowed. "Get back here right now!"

"No! I quit!"

"You can't quit, you're a pokémon!"
"I don't care! I QUIT you sadistic BASTARD!"
Absolute silence. Meowth ran desperately for the exit.

***

"Ohh, Jess, that was incredible." He shifted slightly, trying to stop the arm of the chair from digging into his back. "You're the most beautiful woman in the world," he murmured into her hair.

She turned her head and kissed his ear. "I've often thought so."

"Can we go upstairs? I can't feel my foot."

She stretched and yawned. "Good idea."

***

"This troubles me greatly, Meowth. I thought you were a loyal pokémon."

Meowth, totally encompassed in rope except for his head and feet, and gagged with a strip of duct tape, could only struggle weakly at his master.

"You've betrayed me, Meowth. You know how important the bond of trust between a pokémon and it's master is. I'm afraid I'm going to have to sell you. I've already been approached with a number of offers. He broke off, and a faint smile played about the corners of his mouth at the thought of the money he'd been offered for the talking pokémon. "I should
really find Jesse and James and have a few words with them. Is this what they taught you?"

"Mmmmph mmm-mmm mmer mph."

"Really? How fascinating." He leaned forward and tore off the gag.

"Arghh! Watch the fur!"
"I do apologise," Giovanni purred, with a sarcastic little bow.

"At least Jesse and James didn't treat me like an animal!" Meowth yelled, kicking furiously.

"No," his master replied, thoughtfully. "I'd say they treated you far too human."

Meowth ignored the insinuation. "Just because pokémon can't talk back doesn't mean you can treat them any way you want!"

"Yes, it does. They're all mine, Meowth. As are you. Besides, if you practised, and became proficient at battling, you wouldn't think it was mistreatment." He turned and swept out, slamming the door behind him.

Left alone, Meowth began to struggle in earnest, only to quickly discover he could not escape. His arms were firmly pinned, so although he could extend his claws and feel them dig into the rope, he could barely move them, and it would take him days to claw through so much as one strand. He couldn't reach up far enough with his feet, and he couldn't reach down far enough with his mouth. He could do nothing but hang there, spinning gently, and stare out of the window.

He watched the sunset. The dark orange disc was almost half gone when the door behind him clicked open. He swung himself around and saw Persian ambling confidently across the carpet towards him.
"Hey! Hey, pal, untie me, would ya?" Persian didn't reply, simply stalked in a tight circle beneath Meowth's dangling feet. "C'mon... we're both pokémon, right? We're the same, we should stick together. C'mon, be a pal."
Persian sat down in front of him, curling her tail around herself. "Rowwwrrr, mrrrrrwror, rrr prrrr."
Meowth's eyes widened in shock and his face reddened. "NO! He put you up to this, didn't he? I don't even like you! There's no way I'm doing... that."
"Pur."
"I'm not doing it! You can tell him I'm not providing him with any more pokémon to abuse."
"Rrrrrr mrrrrer purrr rowrrrrrr mrrrr mrowrrrr rrr."
"I didn't! I never! I don't care what he told you, I didn't do that! I wouldn't, no pokémon would, you know that! Don't you?"
"Rrroowwrrr."
"Yeah, right."
Persian looked away haughtily, got to her tiny, delicate feet, and started for the door.
"No, wait! You'll really let me go if I do?"
"Purrr."
"You promise?"
"Purrr."
"And you won't tell the boss I've gone?"
"Pur."
He closed his eyes and heaved a despairing sigh. "All right, then. I'll do it."
Persian pushed herself upright and began clawing at Meowth's ropes.
***
By the time Jesse emerged from the shower, the sun had almost completely set. James lay stretched across the bed in the twilight, his eyes closed with happy exhaustion. She slapped him lightly on the arm. "Your turn."
"But I'm asleep," he complained.
"Go and have a shower. It'll soon wake you up, I used all the hot water."
"Thanks, Jess."
"My pleasure."
***
The last of the rope fell to the floor, along with Meowth. He shook his head to clear it and glanced out of the window. Now there was just a tiny sliver of sun visible over the horizon. He turned back to Persian, standing firmly between him and the door, a look of determination on her face.

Meowth gulped, and straightened his spine defiantly. "Let's get this over with."

***

James wandered out of the bathroom, one hand feeling the way, the other towelling off his hair. His shins bumped the edge of the mattress, and he pulled the towel off his head. He was confronted by the sight of Jesse lying stretched out on her side, dressed only in a pair of super-duper-fully-automated-anti-pikachu gloves and a look of smug superiority.

She rolled lazily onto her back, reached out a delicate hand, and grabbed him by the wrist.

His protesting cry of "Jess, please, I don't think I can..." was quickly muffled.

***

Meowth ran blindly through the streets of Celadon city. It was pitch black between the widely placed streetlights. Although he was surrounded by houses, none were lit. Persian's high-pitched yowling still rang in his ears, and it hurt to move, he was covered in so many scratches, but he kept going. He raced towards the city's commercial centre, running from his former master to the only sanctuary he could think of.

Unfortunately he had no idea where he was actually going.

He stopped and scrambled up onto a porch roof, craning on his tiptoes to get the best view of the surroundings. He still seemed to be on course for the gathering of large buildings, many with signs still illuminated. He leapt down and trotted onwards, slowing his pace a little in deference to his aching sides and paws.

As he got closer, the tangled mess of light began to form words and images. He gasped with hope as a huge pink 'J' appeared, and managed to force himself back up to a run.

When he reached the building, he simply sat for a while, staring up happily at the sign, and getting his breath back. "Who's the top cat?" he whispered to himself. "Gettin' away from the bad guy, findin' his way through the city to a place he doesn't know, even though it's the middle of the night, all without any help from humans. And if I could open a tin of pokémon food with paws, I wouldn't even be here now." He paused briefly to preen, then, without much hope, tried the front door. It was locked. He quickly scaled the gate that blocked off the alley beside the salon. The back door was also locked, but the pokémon flap was swinging free. He pushed it open, and entered.

Koffing and Ekans looked up in surprise. They were having a surreptitious midnight snack in the corner. Meowth waved a lightly lacerated paw at them. "Hi, guys. Did you miss me?"

His friends converged on him, and they had a group hug. Or an approximation of a group hug, as only one of the participants actually had arms. They finally pulled apart, and Meowth wiped away the tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. "Aw, I missed you guys, too."

***

Jesse was perched on James' lap, her lips pressed against his, and her fingers buried in his cool, damp hair. Her anti-pikachu gloves had long since been hurled to opposite corners of the room. He pulled back, reclaiming his tongue, and kissed down her throat to the upper slopes of her breasts, slowly leaning her further and further back.

She allowed herself to be lowered to the mattress. James continued to kiss and lick at her breasts and shoulders, one hand sliding downwards over her stomach.

***

Meowth left Koffing and Ekans to their picnic and bounded up the stairs to surprise his other former teammates. As he neared the bedroom door it became obvious that he wasn't going to have to wake them up. He peered around the door, a thoughtful smile on his face.

Jesse was lying on her back, with her face turned towards him, but her eyes closed. He tip-toed forward to the edge of the bed, hoping that James wouldn't look up. He then rested his paws on the mattress's bouncing surface and grinned, evilly.

"Why didn't you wait for Meowth?" he asked, loudly.

Jesse and James both screamed, flew apart, and pedalled back across the bed. Jesse snatched up the blanket and wrapped it around herself. James just hid behind her.

"Don't sweat it, sweetheart, I've seen it all before," Meowth told Jesse, with a casual wave of a paw.

"Meowth!" she squeaked, then cleared her throat and tried again. "Meowth, what're you doing here?"

"Yeah, inexplicable bonds, Meowth," James chipped in from over Jesse's shoulder.

"Did he free you?"

"What do we care?" James asked, confused.

"Because I don't want a load of Giovanni's goons showing up at the door asking for the boss's meowth back, idiot."

"Well, he kinda didn't," Meowth said, shuffling his feet.

Jesse jumped up from the bed. "Out! Right now!" James yelped and grabbed the blanket.

"No!" Meowth howled, grabbing onto the doorframe as Jesse tried to drag him out of the room. "You can't throw me out, I haven't got anywhere else to go..."

"You should have thought about that before you ran away from your master! Let go..."

"Please, Jesse, don't send me away. Think of all the fun we had, huh? D'you remember in the hotel that time, when James didn't even realise..."

"Hey! I'm right here, remember?"

"And you could try helping me," Jesse complained, abruptly changing direction and leaning back into the room as she attempted to prise Meowth's claws out of the wood.

"Please don't make Meowth go," the pokémon wailed, tears pouring down his face.

"Let go of the damn door you stupid cat!"

"Owwwww, Jesseeeee!"

There was a small splintering noise, and Jesse and Meowth went flying backwards to fall across James.

"Argghhh! Meowth! Claws!"

"Sorry, pal. Threat reflex."

"Jesse...?"

"What."

"Can we keep him...?"

"We've only just got rid of him."

Meowth tried to encourage his ally by rubbing his face against James' shoulder. He smiled in a worried, but happy way, and gently stroked Meowth's soft fur. "Oh, but, Jesse..."

"Whining isn't going to help. And neither's purring, Meowth."

James whispered something into Meowth's ear.

"What?" Jesse asked, glaring suspiciously at her bedmates.

Meowth jumped off James to land lightly on Jesse's bare chest. She yelped and shot upright, but Meowth hooked his paws, claws carefully retracted, over her shoulders and clung on. While she was distracted, James slid around behind her and rubbed himself against her buttocks. His erection had not suffered much from Meowth's interruption, but she wriggled away. "Will you both please get off me?"

James snuggled up closer. Meowth dropped into her lap and clung onto her waist in case she tried to get rid of him again. "please, Jess," James whispered in her ear. "It'll work, we could disguise him. There must be hundreds of meowths in the city, the boss'll never know..."

"Yes, wonderful, a plan that's entirely reliant on Meowth keeping his mouth shut. That'll work for sure."

"Please," James moaned into her ear, continuing his gentle rubbing.

Meowth began nuzzling at the undersides of her breasts. She batted him away. "I'm not doing anything with that cat."

James reached his arms around her. One hand quickly caressed Meowth's ears then pushed beneath him, while the other hand gently moved from one nipple to the other.

"James, I mean it," she snapped, "just cut it out. Meowth, get off." She bucked her hips, trying to dislodge him, but he hung on. James took advantage of her slightly altered position to push his forefinger fully inside her. She gasped, lifting herself from the bed, but James followed the movement. Meowth snuggled in deeper and lapped gently at the area just above James' hand, carefully using only the very tip of his tongue, not the rough barbs behind. She gave an almost pained cry, closing her eyes and rolling her head back against James' shoulder. He rubbed his face into her hair and pulled her earring away with his teeth.

Meowth and James met each others eyes briefly. James slid slowly sideways, letting her lie back against the soft mattress. She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him down with her. Meowth hastily wriggled out from between them as James wrapped himself around Jesse every bit as tightly as she was clinging to him. Determined not to be left out this time, he paced up to the head of the bed, clawed James away from Jesse's mouth, and began to lick at her in a vague imitation of James' earlier enthusiastic antics. She pushed him away.

"Ugh, Meowth, you taste like pokémon food, go away..."

James, meanwhile, slid happily back inside her, the uncomfortable sense of frustration that had been coiling within him since Meowth's triumphant homecoming beginning to dissipate and be replaced with desperate pleasure. Jesse pushed her hands blindly over his chest, up to squeeze at his shoulders, then down again. As he pulled slightly upwards to get a better angle, Meowth quickly darted in and began to suckle at her breasts, rubbing himself against her abdomen, the small irregularity of her belly button providing delightful stimulation.

She didn't seem to notice. She had twisted her head away and closed her eyes again. Meowth chose to believe that she enjoyed it, since she had given no indication of displeasure, and carried on.

Above them both, James was passing the point of caring about anyone else's enjoyment. He looked down at Jesse with gentle awe. She looked impossibly young and beautiful, her deep, dark lips parted slightly and her hand twining uncertainly in her hair. Meowth spoiled the view a little, but he didn't mind so much. He shut his eyes and rolled his head back, feeling his hair fall back and softly tickle his shoulder blades, a picture forming in his mind of Jesse sans Meowth.

Jesse squeezed her legs more tightly around James' waist and clutched at the edge of the mattress with her outstretched hand. She opened her eyes a crack and gazed up at her partner, but before she could begin any romantic musings, Meowth yowled like something dying. A wet warmth spread across her stomach, but she barely noticed, as James had thrust into her as hard and deep as he could with a choked off cry, and she also cried out as she came.

Meowth crawled away to flop down onto the pillows beside them, spread-eagled on his back with a wide, satisfied grin on his face. James started sniffling into Jesse's hair. "Oh, Jess, that was so beautiful," he whimpered, only to be interrupted by Koffing and Ekans bounding noisily into the room. They threw themselves at their respective masters with cries of sugar-filled delight. The abused bed creaked ominously.

As it collapsed backwards, shattering the floorboards beneath it, the only recognisable words that could be heard above the noises of destruction were "blasting off again..."
***
the end.
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The Evils of Truth and Love