The First Gym Badge

The episode starts with Team Rocket digging a hole in the middle of the path to Pewter City. Trying to trap Jessie, Meowth, and Domino as Cassidy and Butch recite their motto to themselves.

"To infect the world with devastation."

"To blight all people in every nation."

"To denounce the goodness of truth and love."

"To extend our wrath to the stars above."

"Cassidy."

"And Butch, of course."

"I don't get why you two are always talking and I'm stuck doing all the work! It's supposed to be the other way around!" Mondo complains while digging the trap by himself, cutting off the motto.

"We got little time, if they're heading for Pewter City, they have to cross through here," Cassidy explains.

"And they'll fall right into our trap," Butch added.

"Come on! Dig it deeper, and we'll cover it up so well, they'll never guess it's a trap." Mondo says as Team Rocket continues digging and they cover it up perfectly that it doesn't look like there's no trap at all. "Hah! Perfect!"

Cassidy starts looking around and completely forgot where the trap is at. "Wait a minute… WHERE IS IT?!"

Butch does the same and he forgot the location of the trap as well. "Shit! WHERE IS THE TRAP?!"

Mondo also forgot the location of the trap as well. "Aw geez!"

Team Rocket starts looking all around the area where the trap could be. As the trio stops to think they notice the ground is giving away below them. They look down. Silence from the trio, knowing they fell right into their very own trap as they feel while screaming. Once they fall in, they get covered in dirt.

The title screen appears.

"The First Gym Badge!"

"Continuing her quest to become a Pokémon master, Jessie, with Domino and Meowth, finally reaches out of the Viridian Forest."

Jessie notices Pewter City and she smiles happily that she finally reached Pewter City. She leaps onto a big rock to view Pewter City more clearly.

Domino follows behind her with a big smile on her face as well. "FINALLY, Pewter City!"

Meowth looks tired from being in the forest a lot. "I need a real good cat nap right now."

"For a while, I thought I was gonna be stuck in that forest for the rest of my life," Jessie said, really relieved that her statement wasn't the case.

"Uh-huh. Same." Meowth agreed.

A stranger with a mustache is nearby from the three sitting on the ground. "Pewter City is gray, the color of stone. This town has always been famous for stone."

Jessie noticed the stranger and looked at him in confusion. "Who's this old guy?"

"Never met 'em," Domino answered.

Meowth looks at the stranger's mustache and nods in approval. "What a mustache he has."

"Greetings. The name's Sasaki, and some of you are about to smash my lovely merchandise." The stranger with the mustache revealed his name to be Sasaki.

Jessie realizes the big rock she's currently standing on, must be his merchandise. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" Jessie quickly hops off the rock and notices rock Pokémon sculptures on the stairs. "Wait, so that means you sell rocks?"

Meowth also noticed the Pokémon sculptures. "Pfft. How lame."

Sasaki shakes his head no. "No. I sell Pokémon sculptures out of rock! Hahaha! You sure are silly kids. What a riot."

Meowth rolls his eyes. "You still sell rocks, so that's lame."

"Want to buy some?" Sasaki asked Jessie and Domino.

"No thanks, I'm traveling trying to become a Pokémon master!" Jessie answered back with confidence.

"And I don't really collect Pokémon sculptures." Domino also answered.

"Well, some of your Pokémon may be worn out," Sasaki looks down at Meowth. "Especially that very peculiar walking and talking Meowth. Never seen a cat boast such crude remarks."

Meowth once again rolls his eyes at Sasaki. "Yeah yeah whatever old man."

Sasaki stands up and turns to the three. "Why don't you all follow me? I'll show you the way to the Pokémon Center." Sasaki starts walking toward the Pokémon Center.

Jessie looks at Domino and Meowth. "You see? Looks can be deceiving, he's actually a nice guy!"

"Are you sure?" Domino questioned suspiciously.

Sasaki comes back, holding out his hand. "By the way. That'll be 1,000 Pokédollars for nearly smashing my work of art."

Jessie, Meowth, and Domino all fall in disbelief at what Sasaki just said.

"YOU'RE CRAZY!" Meowth yelled out.

The scene cuts to the Pewter City Pokémon Center.

Jessie walks up to the counter with her Poké Balls in her hand. "Please heal my Pokémon."

A person, who looks exactly like Nurse Joy from Viridian City, happily accepts Jessie's Pokémon. "Sure! Right away, Jessie!"

Jessie stops her for a second. "Wait a minute, this is Pewter City right?"

The nurse raises her eyebrow. "Yes."

"Not Viridian City?" Jessie also questioned.

"Yes again, this is not Viridian City. This is Pewter City." The nurse replies.

Jessie is confused about how the nurse looks similar to Nurse Joy. "Then how?"

"The Joy in Viridian City is my little sister. I'm the older Joy." Nurse Joy finally explained.

Even after the explanation, Jessie is still confused. "That's really confusing…"

"Enough questions. I gotta be healed like I don't know… RIGHT NOW!" Meowth demanded.

"Alright, geez. Can you heal them, please?" Jessie asked.

Nurse Joys nods and heads to the back to fully heal Jessie's Pokémon.

"Hey Jessie, check this out!" Domino grabs Jessie's attention by pointing at a poster.

Jessie looks at the poster with a smug grin. "The Kanto Pokémon Regional Tournament! Sweet!"

Domino laughs. "HA! To compete, you have to win a total of eight gym badges. Think you can do that?"

"Of course, I can!" Jessie replies with a glare. "I'll show you! Who's the gym leader here?"

Sasaki walks towards Jessie. "He's a delinquent lad. His name is Jameson. Better known as James. And you certainly will not defeat him."

"Of course, I will, as soon as my Pokémon are healed, I'll have no problem. Take me to the gym, I'll beat him!" Jessie declared with confidence.

Sasaki is seen holding back laughter. "You will defeat him, right?"

Jessie clutches her fist. "Yeah!"

"HAHAHAHA! CAN YOU?!" Sasaki yelled out, loud.

"YEAH!" Jessie repeats, more loudly.

"DO YOU THINK YOU CAN WIN?! AGAINST HIM?!" Sasaki asked Jessie, loud once more.

Nurse Joy finally had enough of this yelling going on. "BE QUIET, THIS IS A POKÉMON CENTER WHERE POKÉMON ARE TRYING TO REST!"

The scene cuts to the three inside a restaurant and eating up food.

Jessie is still upset from earlier. "Ooo that Sasaki, trying to make a fool out of me!"

"You really think you can win? Gym leaders are not your average trainer, they're stronger and tougher!" Domino says, looking concerned.

"Some of them are try-hards. Maybe you'll get lucky." Meowth says.

Domino puts a smile on her face. "I'll tell you what Jessie if you ask REALLY nicely, I'll gladly help you out!"

Jessie starts stuffing her face with ramen noodles. "Oh please, I don't need your help."

"Why do you have to be so dumb and refuse help? But you have a point, I'd die if I got Domino's help." Meowth added in.

"IS THAT SO?!" Domino stands up angrily. "Without me, you will never beat James! Hmph!" Domino begins walking away.

Jessie and Meowth both noticed the bill for the food that Domino left them.

"HEY, YOU CAN'T LEAVE US WITH THE BILL COME BACK!" Jessie yelled out.

"YEAH! WHAT SHE SAID!" Meowth added in.

The scene cuts back to the Pokémon Center. Nurse Joy has Jessie's Pokémon all healed up and ready to go.

"Well, Jessie. I've healed the rest of your Pokémon." Nurse Joy says, exhausted.

Jessie gladly takes her Pokémon back. "That's great, thanks!"

The scene cuts again to the Pewter gym, both Jessie and Meowth are outside, looking at the building.

Jessie glanced at the gym building. "So this is the Pewter Gym huh?"

Meowth also glanced at the building, but doesn't like the look of it. "Looks really lackluster. Like, look."

The gym building looks rocky, it's like the entire building is made out of stones and rocks.

"Well, this town does love rocks after all," Jessie explains the reasoning behind the gym's lackluster design.

"All fun and games until an earthquake happens," Meowth says.

Jessie nods in agreement at Meowth's statement. "Let's just go inside." Jessie opens the doors as she and Meowth both step in. "Hello?" Jessie looks around

Meowth walks behind Jessie and holds his nose in disgust. "This place also smells. Is nobody here?! Like did someone die here?!"

Jessie just shrugs at Meowth's statement. "I have no idea."

All of a sudden Jessie and Meowth hear loud slurping as they look at where the noise is coming from. The lights come on, and a person with a black cap, some shades, and delinquent clothes slurping a Blue Raspberry and Wild Cherry slushie is revealed.

"Who goes there?" The delinquent asked.

Jessie looks at the person's clothing and everything and immediately recognizes who this person is. "So you're James! I'm Jessie from Pallet Town and I challenge you to a gym battle!"

James gets up with one slushie in his hand. "It's your first gym battle right?"

Jessie nods. "Yes, it is my first gym battle."

"I hope you realize that gym battles are awfully different from regular battles. For my gym, you will only use two Pokémon. You got it?" James explained.

Jessie just looks at James, dumbfounded by not knowing these gym rules. "Oh…"

Meowth is looking at James' hair and is confused. "Why is your hair blue?"

"It's lavender." James corrected.

Jessie joined in. "Actually, it looks more purple to me."

James realizes that the Meowth with Jessie just spoke. "Wait… did that Meowth just t-talk?!"

"Oh yeah, he can do that." Jessie rubs her head with a chuckle.

"How long have you had it, Jessie?" James asked, curious.

"About five days," Jessie answered.

"Oh. Let's just get this over with." James sighs and snaps his fingers, turning on the rest of the lights.

Jessie looks around, seeing the rest of the lights turning on. "Whoa."

The rock field rolls in from the sides of the building as Jessie and Meowth look and realize that their legs would be crushed if they don't run to the other side of the battlefield. They do so and barely make it to the other side as the rock field is completed.

"That could've crushed our legs! Why didn't you warn us, what the hell?!" Meowth yelled out.

James has a confident smirk on his face now. "Let the match begin!"

"Alright Meowth, I choose you!" Jessie declared.

"Well, here I go!" Meowth steps onto the battlefield, ready to battle.

"Onix, go!" James throws a Poké Ball to the battlefield as Onix is sent out and roars loud.

Meowth looks up at the Onix and is terrified and backs up a little bit in fear. "How can a pile of rocks roar like that? Jess, I already got a bad feeling about this one!"

"This is your battle, Meowth. Come on!" Jessie yelled out in annoyance.

"Hah! Meowth's got his own tongue!" James joked with a chuckle.

This only made Meowth mad. "ALRIGHT, LET'S DO THIS!"

Jessie calls out her first move. "Scratch!"

As Meowth goes in for a Scratch, Onix dodges the move by moving out of the way.

"Now Bind!" James commanded Onix.

"Wha-" Jessie says in confusion.

Onix starts coiling around Meowth.

"ACK!" Meowth screamed out.

Onix starts choking Meowth while Jessie has a very worried expression on her face.

"I'M LITERALLY CHOKING HERE!" Meowth yelled out once more.

"MEOWTH RETURN!" Jessie tries to return Meowth, but she can't, because Onix is blocking it. "It's being blocked, I can't return it…"

"I think you should surrender…" James suggested.

Jessie seeing Meowth choking on Onix's Bind and then his face turning blue was enough for her. "CUT IT OUT, I DO!"

"Wise choice." The bell rings as James returns Onix.

The scene cuts to outside, which is currently dawn, as Jessie holding Meowth, looking sad from losing her first-ever gym battle.

Meowth is just relieved that he didn't die out there. "I will never face off against an Onix ever again."

Jessie looks down in sadness. "I can't believe I took my first loss as a Pokémon trainer. I was already on a winning streak from battling those three bug catchers in the Viridian Forest."

"Ya win some. Ya, lose some." Meowth says, trying to cheer Jessie up a little.

"James is way better than me, I'll never beat him at all. Maybe I should just go back to Pallet Town and quit trying to become a Pokémon master." Jessie says with her head down in sadness.

"Jessie…" A familiar voice is heard behind Jessie as she looks behind and it's Domino.

"Yeah?" Jessie sniffles from tearing up.

"Look, I know a way you can beat James, I said I'll help you if you ask me nicely," Domino says, actually feeling bad.

Jessie takes a big sigh and accepts the help from Domino. "Alright, please tell me how to be James?"

Domino places a hand on Jessie's shoulder. "With a water-type. You see, James is a rock-type gym leader and rock types are weak against water types. With a water-type Pokémon by your side, you have a better chance of beating James!"

"But I have no water-type Pokémon with me, Domino," Jessie explains.

"That's where I come in. Here." Domino hands a Poké Ball to Jessie.

Jessie looks at Domino in confusion. "What?"

"This Poké Ball contains my Starmie. I'll let you borrow Starmie to help you against James." Domino says with a smile.

Jessie continues looking at the Poké Ball containing Starmie in her hand, she thinks for a little bit. She gives it back to Domino.

"Huh?" Domino says in confusion.

"I'm sorry Domino. I want to beat James with my very own Pokémon, otherwise, it wouldn't feel like I actually earned it or a victory in general." Jessie walks away, about to head to the Pokémon Center to rest up for the night with Meowth following.

"I knew you would say something like this since you're so stubborn. That's why I have a Plan B!" Domino says, as Jessie and Meowth both stop.

"Plan B?" Jessie asked.

"Ah screw this, I'm really tired. I'm heading to the Pokémon Center!" Meowth walks off.

Domino hands Jessie her fishing pole. "Go to the river and then you can catch a water-type there, I'll let you borrow my fishing pole."

Jessie accepts Domino's fishing pole as her mood is much better. "Wow, Domino you're the best! Thank you so much!"

"Just don't burn and destroy it.." Domino said in annoyance as she started heading to the Pokémon Center.

"Heard ya loud and clear," Jessie replies with an awkward chuckle.

The scene cuts to midnight. The location is at the river where Jessie is seen fishing. She has been fishing for an hour.

Jessie groans in annoyance. "If this was gonna take long, I would've refused! UGH!"

Jessie's fishing pole starts moving, signaling she got something on her fishing pole. Jessie is shocked. "I GOT A BITE!"

As Jessie reels in Domino's fishing pole, a reddish-orangish fish-like Pokémon comes out from the water and starts flopping on land.

"What's that Pokémon?" Jessie pulls out her Pokédex from her purse to identify the Pokémon.

"Magikarp, the water fish Pokémon. In the distant past, it was somewhat stronger than the horribly weak descendants that exist today."

"'Weak?' Yeah right!" Jessie yawns from tiredness. "I'm too tired to battle it, I'll just throw a Poké Ball and hope for luck." Jessie pulls out an empty Poké Ball from her purse and throws it at Magikarp.

Magikarp gets hit by the Poké Ball and goes in. The Poké Ball shakes three times before clicking, signaling a successful catch.

"Woohoo, I caught a Magikarp!" Jessie poses in celebration.

However, the Poké Ball starts glowing white out of nowhere and Jessie looks in confusion. All of the sudden, Jessie's Poké Ball containing Magikarp disappears.

Jessie starts looking around in confusion, trying to figure out what happened. "Wh-where's my Magikarp?!" In a panic, Jessie immediately rushes to the Pokémon Center.

The scene cuts right to Pallet Town in Professor Oak's lab. We see Professor Oak sleeping in his bed, snoring kinda loud. All of the sudden, a loud ring can be heard.

That woke Professor Oak up as he falls on the floor from his bed and immediately answers his phone. "Who's calling?! Do you have any idea what time it is?"

It's Jessie from the other end. "Sorry Professor, it's just I caught a Magikarp earlier and then the Poké Ball containing it just started glowing white and then it vanished!"

"Oh, that's easy to explain. Jessie, you already have six Pokémon in your party, right?" Professor Oak asked.

Jessie nods at Oak's question. "I do, professor."

"That means you have a full party. Trainers can only hold six Pokémon at a time. Any other Pokémon they catch with a full party, the Pokémon will get transported to where you got your first Pokémon at. Which is at my lab!" Professor Oak explained.

"Oh, I see now! May I see Magikarp?" Jessie asked, still concerned.

Oak nods in agreement. "Of course!" Professor leaves for a little bit and then comes back with a Poké Ball in his hand. "This is your Magikarp I have in my hand. All safe and sound!"

Jessie smiles from seeing Magikarp okay. "I like to switch Magikarp with one of my Pokémon, please."

"Which Pokémon do you like to switch your Magikarp with?" Professor Oak asks.

Jessie thinks for a little bit about what Pokémon she wants to switch with. She finally comes up with a decision. "I like to switch my Kakuna please."

Professor Oak nods. "Very well. Place your Poké Ball that contains Kakuna in the transporter and I'll do the same with Magikarp here."

Jessie and Professor Oak both place one of the Poké Balls in the transporter as the machine transports the two Poké Balls, as Jessie now as Magikarp and Professor Oak has Jessie's Kakuna.

Jessie grabs her recently caught Pokémon "Got it!"

Professor Oak has her Kakuna in his hand. "And I have your Kakuna, Jessie. Before you sign off, there's an easier way to switch your Pokémon. Open up your Pokédex, Jessie."

Jessie does what Professor Oak instructed and opens up her Pokédex.

"You see those two white buttons on your Pokédex?" Professor Oak pointed out.

Jessie looks at her Pokédex and sees the two white buttons on it. "I do, Professor."

"Press those white buttons and you can easily shuffle your Pokémon around. That way, you don't have to come to the Pokémon Center every time you wanna switch out your Pokémon." Professor Oak also explained.

"Got it loud and clear Professor. Goodbye!" Jessie waves goodbye to Professor Oak.

"WAIT, I THINK YOU SHOULD-" Jessie ends the call before Professor Oak could finish his sentence. "Train that Magikarp first…"

The scene cuts back to Pewter City, in the Pokémon Center where Jessie is at.

"Now I'm ready to beat James!" Jessie clutches her fist in excitement.

Nurse Joy arrives to see what's this noise coming from and notices Jessie. "Jessie, can you go to your room, please? It's really late right now and you should be in bed."

Jessie looks at the clock and notices it's 1:00 am. "Right, sorry Nurse Joy!" Jessie chuckles as she goes to her room.

The scene cuts to an afternoon in the gym.

Jessie opens the doors of the gym with Meowth by her side. "Guess who's back, back again, Jessie's back, tell a friend!"

James raises an eyebrow. "Eh?! You are more determined than I am to win."

Jessie has a confident smirk on her face. "This time I got a trick up my sleeve!"

James crosses his arms. "Hm? Let's see it then!"

"I'll save it for your Onix! But as of right now, go Elekid!" Jessie sends out Elekid.

James is at a loss for words because the Pokémon Jessie sent out is an electric type and feels really bad for her. "Oh my goodness. Go Geodude!" James sends out Geodude.

"Elekid, use Thunderbolt!" Jessie commanded.

Elekid uses Thunderbolt and strikes Geodude, but it appears that Geodude is not affected by the move at one bit.

Jessie is really confused that nothing has happened. "What?"

"Your cute spark plug can't affect Geodude. Or any rock type Pokémon for that matter." James explained.

Jessie was dumbfounded as usual. "Oh…"

Meanwhile, in the crowd, Domino and Meowth are both watching this match. "Come on Jessie, use your head," Domino says.

Meowth shakes his head. "That ain't gonna happen one bit."

"You know what, anything is possible in my book! Elekid, show Geodude that you can overcome all odds!" Jessie commanded, trying to hype up Elekid.

Elekid hops up and down in excitement as Geodude just stares in annoyance as it uses Rock Throw at Elekid.

"Dodge it, Elekid!" Jessie yelled out.

Elekid manages to dodge the Rock Throw, but Geodude throws another rock. Elekid gets hit this time and falls over.

"Come on Elekid, you're not weak! You took down a thousand Spearows, I believe in you! Give that Geodude another Thunderbolt!" Jessie commanded once more.

Elekid gets back up and uses Thunderbolt on Geodude once more, but again, Geodude wasn't affected by the electric-type move.

"It's useless having an electric-type fight here!" James yelled out.

"Ugh. Elekid return!" Jessie returns Elekid to its Poké Ball. "I guess I'll have to pull out my secret weapon early. Go Poké Ball!" Jessie sends out her Magikarp and it starts flopping on land.

"Karp, Karp, Karp!"

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Domino yelled out in disbelief.

Meowth facepalms from Jessie's stupidity. "She's gonna get destroyed."

James looks at the Magikarp and sighs. "You know Jessie, I wish I could go easy on you, I would, but the league rules say I can't go do so to challengers. Alright Geodude, use Mega Punch! Please don't kill the poor Magikarp."

"Use Splash to dodge!" Jessie commanded back.

Geodude uses Mega Punch, but Magikarp splashes out of the way to dodge, but Geodude strikes Magikarp with Mega Punch with its other arm as Magikarp bounces them to James.

"Karp!"

"EEP!" James accidentally kicks Magikarp back to the battlefield.

"Karp Karp Karp!" Magikarp starts flopping on the battlefield like crazy after being kicked by James. It's mad and starts glowing white.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to! Why is it glowing…" James questions.

Magikarp starts slowly evolving. The white glow fades away as the reddish-orangish fish is now a blue water dragon monster. Geodude looks worried while staring at the water dragon. Even Jessie, Domino, Meowth, and James look worried as well.

"W-WHAT HAVE I DONE?!" James yelled out, frightened.

Jessie immediately pulls out her Pokédex from her purse to identify this Pokémon.

"Gyarados, the water flying Pokémon. It has an extremely aggressive nature. The hyper beam shoots from its mouth and totally incinerates all targets."

"Sweet. Alright Gyarados, use Hydro Pump!" Jessie commanded.

Gyarados uses Hydro Pump and the move destroys Geodude. KO'ing the Pokémon instantly.

James returns Geodude and sends out Onix. "Use Bind!"

Onix tries to Bind Gyarados, but Gyarados dodges the move by tackling Onix, and the Pokémon slowly falls to the ground.

"That's it Gyarados. Let's end this once and for all and use Hyper Beam!" Jessie commanded in confidence.

James starts sweating so much. "NO DON'T"

Gyarados uses Hyper Beam and hits Onix as the move causes a huge explosion, which the gym blows up. Jessie, Domino, Meowth, and James are all buried under rubble. The people of the city, including the police and medical team, show up to see what happened, including Sasaki.

"JAMES!" Sasaki shouted out.

Jessie and Meowth slowly start opening their eyes.

Jessie groans in pain. "Ugh, what happened?"

Meowth also groans in pain as well. "That Gyarados…"

It appears that Gyarados is still standing as Jessie returns it to its Poké Ball. "Uhh, Gyarados return… good job?" Jessie tries to get up, but can't and immediately falls back on the ground.

Sasaki is seen digging through the rubble and pulls out James under it and James looks like he's unconscious.

"IS HE ALRIGHT?!" Jessie shouted, worried.

"He's breathing at the very least." Sasaki sheds one single tear. "Alright, all of you. I am taking you to the hospital!" Sasaki gets the ambulance to take the four to the hospital.

The scene cuts to a hospital room, with Jessie, Domino, Meowth, and James on the hospital bed. Jessie, Domino, and Meowth are conscious, while James is still unconscious. Sasaki is there, right next to James' bed.

Jessie sighs, feeling bad. "I'm so sorry. I just wanted a gym badge."

"It's fine. I know he'll live. I just failed him as his father though." Sasaki says, revealing that he's James' father.

"Huh?" Domino says in confusion.

Meowth also perks up at this. "What? You mean to say…"

"You're James' father?" Jessie says, to confirm it.

Sasaki nods, officially confirming it. "Yes. I am. He ran away from home a couple of years ago, and I ignored him. I was just so busy with the family business. And then he went on to become a gym leader… No matter what, he keeps getting himself hurt."

"but it's my fault…" Jessie looks down, sad.

The scene cuts to outside. Everyone seems to be fully okay after the explosion.

Jessie is seen waking, looking down in sadness. With Domino and Meowth by her side.

"Jessie!" A familiar voice is heard.

Domino, Meowth, and Jessie immediately look behind her and see James running up toward her. "James!" Jessie said.

James approaches Jessie with a Boulder Badge in his hand and gives it to her. "You still won…"

"But I-"

"Oh come on." James interrupted Jessie's sentence. "This isn't for pity. You genuinely beat Onix and Geodude."

"Only because Magikarp evolved…" Jessie replies, still thinking she hasn't earned it.

"Still. You earned it. You've earned the Boulder Badge!" James said while smiling.

Jessie's mood perks up and happily accept the Boulder Badge. "I earned… the Boulder Badge!" Jessie poses in victory.

"Hooray!" James claps so do Domino and Meowth.

"I won my very first gym badge, this is so exciting!" Jessie says, happily.

"After what just happened, I'm definitely gonna stop being a sub in this gym leader business," James admitted as the three looked at him in confusion.

"'A sub?'" Domino asked.

"Yes. A sub! I'm not actually the rock-type gym leader. I've just been a substitute for a long time." James explained.

"For whom?" Jessie also asked.

"The Harrisons, they are a weird family. The dad is selling rocks, and the oldest son is just… a mess." James also explained as well.

"I hate to rain on your parade, but what's his reaction gonna be when he finds out his gym has exploded under your watch?" Domino pointed out toward James.

This causes James to stay silent for a bit and realize. "EEP! I have to run away! Take me with you!"

Jessie looks at James in confusion. "You want to come with us on our journey?"

"I-I guess! Plus I have a knack for running away!" James chuckles in embarrassment.

Sasaki walks up to the gang, especially eyeing James. James looks and notices Sasaki.

Sasaki sighs. "It's okay if you don't forgive me yet. If this is what you truly want, then go."

Without saying a single word, James immediately hugs his father as Jessie, Domino, and Meowth smile at the moment.

James finally lets go of the hug. "Alright. Let's go. Before anybody asks, Onix and Geodude aren't mine. They're Pokémon I had to use while subbing and they're being healed right now."

As the gang was about to leave, Jessie hears a vibration from her purse and pulls out her phone. It's a FaceTime call from her mom. "Uh oh…"

James looks at Jessie, curious. "Hm?"

"It's my mom, she must've heard about the explosion." Jessie assumed.

Even Meowth looks a little worried. "Ah, crud."

Jessie slowly accepts the FaceTime call. "Hey, mom-"

"JESSICA WHERE ARE YOU, ARE YOU OKAY?!" Miyamoto screamed out from being worried of her very own daughter.

"I'm outside in Pewter City-"

"OH MY GOSH, MY BABY GIRL IS HURT I'M COMING OVER THERE!" Miyamoto once again interrupted Jessie with her screaming.

"NO!" Jessie immediately yelled back. "Mom, I'm alright, don't worry, I was just visiting a friend of mine, James." Jessie slightly lied to her mother, so she wouldn't come as she shows her mother James and his father.

James awkwardly waved hello. "Uh… hi."

"Well, at least you're better," Miyamoto says.

"Thank you-"

Miyamoto cuts off James' sentence "Jessica, this is the exact reason why I couldn't let you go out on your Pokémon Journey when you were 10! This world is just too dangerous. I hope you realized that now!"

"Yeah yeah, I understand now mom. I'm going, love you." Jessie ends the FaceTime call with her mother. "Sorry about that, she's just way overprotective."

James nods. "Mm. I can tell."

"She scares me sometimes," Meowth added.

"So should we get going?" Domino asked.

James perks up in excitement. "Yes, we should! Let's go!"

"Heh. I like this guy already. He's more fun than Domino." Meowth says as he receives a glare from her.

James raises an eyebrow in confusion "Domino?" He looks at the blonde purple-eyed girl, because of her name.

"Do not make fun of my name unless you want to earn a second trip to the hospital." Domino threatened.

James backs away a little bit, frightened. "EEP! Alright, let's go!"

The gang waves goodbye at Sasaki, who waves goodbye back at them as they make their way out of Pewter City. Meanwhile Team Rocket drills back up to the surface.

"I told you I'd get us out of this," Butch says in confidence to himself.

"This was all-"

Jessie, while sprinting off, steps on Cassidy, interrupting her sentence and not noticing Team Rocket at all. James steps on Butch, not noticing them too.

"Fuck!" Butch swore in pain,

"Your fault!" Cassidy finished her sentence.

Domino, trying to catch up with the gang, steps on Mondo, not noticing them as well. "Guys, wait for me!"

Mondo yells out in pain. "OW!"

"Buried alive and trembled! We've hit rock bottom!" Team Rocket drops back into the hole after letting go of the edge of the hole.

"Well our heroes got another companion to join them and Jessie has earned her first gym badge. What more exciting things will happen in the future, as the journey continues!"