Showdown in Flames

The episode starts with Jessie and her friends still in the recovery room of the Pokémon Center on Cinnabar Island.

"After a tough loss from the Cinnabar Gym Leader, Blaine, Rapidash found itself in the recovery room after having its horn broken off from crashing into the wall of the Gym."

Jessie looks down expressing sadness. "I can't believe I let this happen as a trainer."

Domino looks at Jessie with a confused look. "What do you mean, Jessie?"

"That I let Rapidash suffer through their horn getting broken off when I could've just recalled Rapidash when they were stuck in that wall," Jessie responded with a sad tone.

"But Jessie, if you recalled your Rapidash, that would've been counted as a forfeit." James pointed.

Jessie looks at James, looking annoyed. "Yeah, so what?!" She says with a frustrated tone. "I would rather forfeit than have one of my Pokémon end up in the recovery room!"

James apologizes and looks away. "Right… sorry for asking."

"So what now, Jess?" Meowth asked.

Jessie looks at her talking Pokémon. "I'm going to find Blaine and demand a rematch! I'm not winning this for a Gym Badge, but I'm going to win this for Rapidash!" She stood up and was about to leave.

However, Rapidash heard what its trainer just said and immediately cried out. "Neigh!"

The title screen shows.

"Showdown in Flames"

Jessie looks at her fire horse Pokémon. "What is it, Rapidash?"

Rapidash continues crying out to its trainer, trying to tell her something. "Neigh!"

Meowth translates. "Rapidash says that they want you to wait for them to recover before you challenge Blaine again."

"Why Rapidash?" Jessie asked.

"Neigh! Neigh!" Rapidash replied.

Meowth translates once more. "Rapidash says that they want to be the one to beat that Magmar, so that's why they don't want Jessie to challenge Blaine until they fully recover."

Jessie asks Rapidash another question with a concerned face. "Rapidash… why do you want to beat that Magmar so much?"

Rapidash remains silent and doesn't respond. It just simply turns around, avoiding contact.

"Rapidash, come on!" Jessie exclaimed.

Domino begins thinking. "I am curious too. Why does Rapidash have some sort of hatred for Magmar?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, but I believe Jessie should know why Rapidash does," James says, looking at Jessie and so do Domino and Meowth.

"Why does Rapidash want to beat Magmar so much?" Jessie says quietly to herself and begins to think.

Jessie has a flashback of her facing Archer in the Silph Co. building as the scene cuts to that very flashback.

It shows Archer chuckling. "Thank you so much for making my Magmar even more powerful, you silly, silly girl! Magmar, Fire Punch once more!"

Then the flashback shows Magmar punching Rapidash, causing the Pokémon to fling back and colliding against the wall.

The flashbacks end with Jessie calling out her Pokémon with a scream. "RAPIDASH, NO!" Then it officially ends and it cuts to the present time.

Jessie immediately looks up, finding out the answer. "I-I know why."

"Then tell us, Jess!" Meowth says.

Jessie looks at Rapidash, remaining silent, and then shakes her head. "It's best that I don't tell you why. I'm sorry, but I don't think Rapidash will appreciate it if I do. Please respect my decision."

Both James and Domino nod in response.

"Of course Jessie, we do," James says.

"Yeah, if it's that personal, we won't ask," Domino added.

Meowth remains silent until Domino flicks him on top of his head. "Ah! Okay! Okay! I respect your decision too. Geez!"

"Thank you all, but…" Jessie sadly looks at Rapidash. "Rapidash, I know you want me to hold off the rematch until you recover, but with Blaine's situation with not accepting a few challengers, my time might be limited before the Gym might close down." She stands up and starts walking to the exit door of the recovery room. "I'm sorry…" Jessie then leaves as her friends follow her.

Rapidash was lying there in the recovery bed, the Pokémon looked disappointed in itself. "Neigh…"

It cuts to the Team Rocket trio who were secretly spying on the gang from the window with binoculars up in the tree right next to the Pokémon Center.

"The twerpette's gonna ask that annoying Gym Leader Blaine for a rematch!" Cassidy stated.

"Maybe we should try to steal his Magmar as revenge for foiling our plans yesterday!" Butch suggested.

"I don't know. Ever since our attempt to steal Meowth yesterday, police officers have been around Cinnabar Island a lot today." Mondo says.

Right on cue, a police cruiser passes by on the road and the trio notices it.

"See? I think we should lay low for today." Mondo suggested.

"Come to think of it, I feel like I do need a day off after getting blasted off almost every single day," Cassidy says.

"Fuck it, let's take the day off for today. Who's gonna notice that we did?" Butch grins.

Both Cassidy and Mondo grin as well. "No one!" They both said.

"Then let's check into a hotel!" Butch said, standing up.

Once Butch stood up, the branch of the tree supporting Team Rocket snapped as the trio started falling and screaming until they hit the ground and started groaning in pain. It cuts to the gang outside of the Cinnabar Gym.

Jessie grabs the door handle and tries to open it, but it's locked. "Great, locked…" then she knocks on the door. "Blaine, are you there? I want a rematch!" A few seconds pass and no one answers the door.

"I'm guessing he's back at the Pokémon Mansion." Domino assumed.

Meowth groans and starts complaining. "Why does he always go there and not stay inside the Gym? That's so stupid!"

"If Blaine keeps this up, the Cinnabar Gym will definitely be closed soon. Come on, we should head back to the Pokémon Mansion." James suggested.

It cuts to the double doors of the Pokémon Mansion opening as Jessie and her friends step inside and the door shuts behind them. They started walking and looking around.

"I wonder what happened to this mansion and why it's like this? It's burnt down, an absolute mess, and infested with Pokémon." Domino says as some Rattata and a Raticate pass by as soon as she says that.

"It's probably got to do with something with that volcano." James assumed.

"VOLCANO?!" Jessie, Domino, and Meowth all yelled out in shock.

This causes James to sweat from being nervous and back up a little bit. "Y-yeah, there's a volcano on Cinnabar Island and this Pokémon Mansion is the closest building to it."

"No one told me there was a volcano on Cinnabar Island?!" Jessie says, panicking.

Domino also starts to panic as well. "Wh-what if it erupts and we all burn alive?!"

"I don't want to be a cooked Meowth!" Meowth added from panicking too.

James tries to calm his friends. "Guys, calm down. This volcano hasn't erupted in years and I'm sure if it does we will know and evacuate the whole island. Now let's go find Blaine."

It cuts to the gang arriving at the room where they first found Blaine and there he was just standing and looking out the window with his arms crossed.

"Blaine!" Jessie exclaimed before she and her friends sprinted towards him.

"What do you want now?" Blaine asks with an annoyed tone.

Jessie grits her teeth at Blaine's attitude but responds anyway. "I want a rematch with you at the Cinnabar Gym, Blaine!"

Blaine scoffs. "And why should I give you a rematch? I was there for what happened to your Rapidash. If you cared about your Pokémon, you should've immediately recalled Rapidash as soon as they got stuck in the wall and forfeited the battle, but you didn't. You commanded them to free themselves so that you can continue to try to win the Volcano Badge. You're just like the rest of them, you care about winning more than your Pokémon."

Jessie was even more mad about Blaine's statement. "I do care about my Pokémon more than winning!"

"Oh yeah?" Blaine turns around to face Jessie. "Then tell me why you are here wanting a rematch and not there at the Pokémon Center by Rapidash's side?"

Jessie's anger goes to sadness, realizing Blaine has a point as she looks down. "I-I… just want to win for Rapidash, because I do care about Rapidash a lot."

Meowth interrupts. "Rapidash also said to not ask Blaine for a rematch until they fully recover!"

Domino and James both whack Meowth on the backside of his head. "You're not helping!" They both said.

Blaine looks at Jessie, still having his arms crossed. "So let me ask you again, Jessie. Why should I accept your rematch?"

Jessie looks up back at Blaine with determination in her eyes. "Because I'm not asking you for a rematch because I want to win the Gym Badge, I'm asking you for a rematch so I can avenge my Rapidash from what YOUR Magmar did! I do care about my Pokémon more than winning and I will prove it by beating you for Rapidash!"

Blaine has a moment of silence as the gang continues looking at him. After a few seconds of silence, Blaine responds. "Very well." Jessie was about to respond until Blaine interrupted her. "BUT, since this is a rematch, I'm making it more difficult for you. This battle will be a three-on-three. Neither the Gym Leader nor the challenger can substitute their Pokémon during battle. Do you agree with those rules?"

Jessie nods. "I agree."

"Good. Then meet me at the Cinnabar Gym for your rematch." Blaine walks out of the room as Domino, James, and Meowth just stare at him.

Jessie continued looking at the same spot where Blaine once stood as her friends looked back at her.

"Jessie?" Domino asked.

Jessie then turns around and starts heading towards the exit. "Let's go." She says with a very serious tone and exits the room.

James, Domino, and Meowth are looking at each other with a weirded-out expression.

"I think this is the most serious she has ever been since being on her side since day one," Meowth says.

It cuts inside of a hotel building where a concierge is behind the desk and doing paperwork. The door opens and the Team Rocket trio, not in their uniforms but instead in regular clothing, walk into the counter while carrying bags.

"We like to check in the hotel please," Cassidy says.

"All rooms are taken, sorry." The concierge replied while not looking at them and continued doing their paperwork.

The Team Rocket trio all look at each other before Butch speaks up.

"Maybe you could, I don't know, perhaps check again?" Butch pulls out a dollar bill and slides on the desk with a grin on his face.

The concierge looks at Butch with an annoyed expression on their face before picking up the hotel phone next to them. "Security!"

It cuts to outside where security throws Team Rocket out of the hotel building and they go back inside. Team Rocket stands back up and dusts themselves off.

"What a rude hotel!" Cassidy says, annoyed.

"There's gotta be at least one hotel that's not taken." Mondo thought.

"What are the odds of every hotel being taken anyway?" Butch added.

It cuts to a montage of the Team Rocket trio going to almost every single hotel in Cinnabar Island and being told that every single room is taken and being kicked out.

Cassidy answers Butch's question before the montage. "Apparently higher than we expected." 

Mondo notices another hotel and points at it. "Hey guys, look!"

Cassidy and Butch both look where Mondo is pointing and they see the hotel. However, they frown when they see that the hotel looks busted down and not as nice as the ones that they were kicked out of.

"Wow… what a very nice hotel." Butch sarcastically says.

"And also look!" Mondo runs up to a sign on the window and reads it. "'First-time visitors get one free night!' What a nice deal! We should totally check in here!"

It cuts to the Team Rocket trio sitting on the two beds of a filthy hotel room. Cassidy and Butch both have annoyed looks on their faces with their arms crossed, but Mondo has an embarrassed smile.

"Better than sleeping on the streets, right guys?" Mondo says with a chuckle.

It now cuts to the gang arriving at the front entrance of the Cinnabar Gym. Jessie looks down with her pink hat covering her eyes. She sees Rapidash in the recovery room in her mind before looking back up and entering the Gym without saying a word.

"She didn't even say a word… Did Blaine's words affect her so much?" Domino asked, growing concerned.

James nods. "I guess so. Come on, let's head inside and watch the battle go down."

"Serious Jessie?" Meowth chuckles. "Now I'm interested to see this rematch!"

Domino, James, and Meowth soon enter the building. It cuts to Blaine and Jessie standing on opposite sides of the battle, getting ready to start their rematch. Blaine has his arms crossed, while Jessie is staring directly at him with no expression at all. Domino and James are watching from the sidelines while Meowth is right next to his trainer.

"Ready, Jessie?" Blaine asked.

Jessie responds to the Gym Leader with a nod. "Ready."

Blaine pulls out a Pokémon. "Growlithe, you're up to the battlefield!" The Gym Leader sends out his first Pokémon of the battle.

Growlithe materializes. "Growl!"

Jessie then proceeds to pull out a Poké Ball. "Wartortle, I'm starting the battle with you!" She sends out Wartortle.

Wartortle materializes. "Wartortle!"

Blaine commands the first move. "Alright Growlithe, start this battle out with a Flamethrower!"

"Growl!" Growlithe opens its mouth and releases a red-orange stream of fire from its mouth at Wartortle.

Jessie quickly commands back at her Wartortle. "Wartortle, withdraw into your shell!"

"Wartortle!" Wartortle panics and quickly withdraws into its shell. The Flamethrower hits the turtle Pokémon and it barely affects Wartortle as the Pokémon then withdraws out.

"Agility!" Blaine commanded.

Growlithe starts disappearing and reappearing around the battlefield from its incredible speed. Wartortle tries to keep up with where Growlithe is but ends up losing track and getting confused.

Jessie tries to counter with her next move. "Hydro Pump and try to hit Growlithe even with their fast speed!"

Wartortle opens its mouth and releases a powerful stream of water, trying to hit Growlithe, but the puppy Pokémon keeps dodging and dodging every time from its speed.

"Take Down!" Blaine commanded next

"Growl!" Growlithe then sprints towards Wartortle and tackles the turtle Pokémon with its body.

"Wartortle!" The Pokémon cries in pain from taking damage.

Jessie grits her teeth. "Counter that back with a Skull Bash!"

Wartortle gets up and charges at Growlithe unexpectedly and bashes the puppy Pokémon with its skull.

"Growl!" It was Growlithe's turn to cry out in pain from taking damage.

"Growlithe use Dig!" Blaine commanded next.

"Growl!" Growlithe starts digging in the ground with its paws and now is completely underground.

"Wartortle, use Hydro Pump and aim at the hole that Growlithe made!" Jessie countered.

"Wartortle!" Wartortle opens its mouth, releases a powerful stream of Pokémon, and aims it at the hole that Growlithe made. A few seconds pass and it's nothing but silence.

Jessie raises an eyebrow. "Did it work?"

Blaine smirks. "Now!"

Growlithe appears from the bottom where Wartortle is standing and strikes the Pokémon with a powerful tackle right under the turtle Pokémon as Wartortle is sent flying in the air and lands on the ground.

"WARTORTLE!" Jessie called out.

Wartortle stood there lying on the ground from taking too much pain. "Wartortle."

Domino and James both frown at what they are watching.

"I guess this might be the end for Wartortle," Domino says.

"Yeah… poor turtle," James added.

All of a sudden while Wartortle was lying on the ground, the Pokémon began to glow white, which caused everyone to gasp in shock.

"N-no way!" Meowth exclaimed.

"Wartortle is evolving!" Jessie added.

As the glow was there, Wartortle began changing as the Pokémon started getting extremely big, which included its height and shell. Two cannons started to appear on the back and then the glow slowly faded away as Jessie's newly evolved Pokémon cried out. "Blastoise!"

Jessie immediately pulls out her Pokédex to identify this Pokémon that evolved.

"Blastoise, the Shellfish Pokémon. Evolved form of Wartortle. A water type. Abrutal Pokémon with pressurized water jets on its shell. They are used for high-speed tackles."

Blaine's expression goes from shock to no expression as he continues focusing on the battle. "Agility!"

"Growl!" Growl keeps disappearing and reappearing across the battlefield from moving super fast.

"Alright Warto- I mean Blastoise!" Jessie corrects herself. "Hydro Pump!"

"Blastoise!" Blastoise blasts powerful jets of water from its cannons on its shell. Despite Growlithe's extremely fast speed, Blastoise manages to hit the puppy Pokémon.

"Growl!" Growlithe was hit by the super-effective move and immediately faints from the battle.

"AH!" James shrieked from seeing Growlithe faint and looked down in sadness.

Domino looks back at James and raises an eyebrow. "What's wrong, James?"

"It's just that, Blaine's Growlithe reminded me of sweet Growlie." James starts crying in tears as Domino pats him on the back for comfort.

Blaine recalls his Growlithe. "Pokémon evolving during battle, the oldest trick in the book."

"Hey, it happened to me too and coincidentally it was also a Wartortle evolving into a Blastoise. Besides, I know I trained my Blastoise a lot with care and love." Jessie responded.

Blaine pulls out a different Poké Ball. "I don't think love and care isn't gonna handle my next Pokémon. Ninetales, go!" Blaine sends out his next Pokémon.

Ninetales materializes. "Ninetales!"

"Hmm." Jessie still has her Pokédex in her hands and points it directly at Ninetales.

"Ninetales, the Fox Pokémon. Evolved form of Vulpix. A fire type. Very smart and very vengeful. Grabbing one of its many tails could result in a 1000-year curse."

"Yikes… be careful not to grab any of its tails, Blastoise." Jessie puts her Pokédex away and commands the first move of the round. "Skull Bash!"

"Blastoise!" Blastoise starts dashing at Ninetales and slams the fox Pokémon with its head.

"Ninetales!" The Pokémon cries in pain from taking damage.

Blaine commands the next move. "Flamethrower!"

Ninetales opens its mouth and releases fire right at Blastoise.

"Blastoise, use Hydro Pump quick!" Jessie countered.

Blastoise quickly releases powerful streams of water from its jets right at the fire that Ninetales released from its mouth. Both moves collide, but Blastoise's Hydro Pump easily overtakes Ninetales' Flamethrower, but the fox Pokémon quickly moves out of the way before getting hit by the super-effective move.

"Double Team, Ninetales!" Blaine commanded.

"Ninetales!" Illusion copies of Ninetales quickly surround the battlefield.

Blastoise looks around the battlefield and starts getting confused. "Blastoise?"

"Blastoise, try to hit Ninetales with an Ice Beam!" Jessie commanded.

A light blue ball of energy begins forming in Blastoise's cannons and shoots it directly at one of the Ninetales. Unfortunately, Blastoise hits an illusion and disappears.

"Quick Attack!" Blaine quickly commanded.

All the illusions disappear and the real Ninetales quickly strike Blastoise, dealing damage to the shellfish Pokémon.

"Blastoise!" Blastoise cried out in pain. The Quick Attack causes Blastoise to tip over on its shell. "Blastoise!" The shellfish Pokémon is trying to flip over back on its side.

Jessie sheds a sweat on her head from being worried. "Come on Blastoise, get back on your feet!"

Blastoise tries to tip back over on the ground unfortunately cannot once more as the shellfish Pokémon is now stuck.

"Oh no!" Jessie shouted.

Blaine grins. "Oh yes! Ninetales, give it another Quick Attack!"

"Withdraw, quick!" Jessie countered.

Ninetales dashes toward Blastoise, but the Shellfish Pokémon quickly withdraws into its shell as Ninetales ends up hitting the hard shell of Blastoise.

"Ninetales!" Ninetales cried in pain while it bounced back from attacking its shell and taking damage.

"Ah!" Blaine shrieked.

Also unfortunate for Blaine and his Ninetales, the Quick Attack causes Blastoise's shell to tip right back over on the correct side.

Jessie smirks. "Hydro Pump!"

Blastoise withdraws out of its shell and shoots outflows of water from its jets right at Ninetales.

"Dodge it, Ninetales!" Blaine commanded.

"Ninetales!" Ninetales quickly moves out of the way to dodge the Hydro Pump just in time as the move was so close to hitting.

Jessie grits her teeth and snaps her fingers. "Drat!"

"Now use Flamethrower!" Blaine commanded once more.

Ninetales opens its mouth and streams of fire come out of it and start heading towards Blastoise.

Jessie immediately counters. "And we will use Hydro Pump to counter it once more, Blastoise!"

Blastoise gets in position to send flows of water from its jets right at Ninetales, but no water comes out. "Blastoise?" Then the Flamethrower hits Blastoise and it starts surrounding the shellfish Pokémon like a twister. When it finally stopped, Blastoise was burnt to a crisp and it slowly fell and fainted from battle.

"Blastoise!" Jessie called out. "I don't get it, how did Hydro Pump not work there?"

"Because there's a specific amount of times a Pokémon can use a move until it's fully healed up," Blaine answered. "If you cared about your Pokémon, you would've known that."

Jessie grits her teeth as she recalls Blastoise and pulls out a different Poké Ball from her purse. "Electabuzz, I choose you!" She sends out Electabuzz into battle.

Electabuzz materializes. "ELEBUBUBU!"

Jessie commands the first move of the round. "Thunder!"

Electabuzz starts firing multiple bolts of yellow electricity from its body right at Ninetales.

"Dodge them quickly, Ninetales!" Blaine countered.

"Ninetales!" Ninetales starts dashing left and right, jumping out of the way, and ducking, dodging every single electric bolt Electabuzz fires at it.

Jessie groans. "I hate dealing with fast Pokémon!"

Blaine commands the next move. "Ninetales, use Flamethrower!"

Jessie quickly counters. "Light Screen, Electabuzz!"

Ninetales opens its mouth and intense fire comes out of it and starts heading towards Electabuzz. The electric Pokémon puts its hands in front of its body and a yellow glass-like screen of energy appears in front of them. The Flamethrower still hits Electabuzz and damage is dealt, but Electabuzz's special doubles.

Domino turns to James. "I don't get it, James. Why did Jessie let Electabuzz get hit by that Flamethrower?"

James looks back at Domino and answers her. "Jessie ordered Electabuzz to use Light Screen, which is a move that doubles the user's special attack moves if getting hit by a special move like Flamethrower."

Domino realizes and turns back to watching the battle. "Oh! I see what she's doing now."

Blaine grins. "Time for a 'shocking' move I haven't used yet on my Ninetales." He chuckles at his joke. "Use Dig like Growlithe did!"

Jessie gasped. "That Pokémon can learn Dig too?!"

"Ninetales!" Ninetales digs into the ground of the Gym battlefield, making Electabuzz confused and looking around.

"Elebububu?" Electabuzz scratches the back of its head in confusion while looking around.

"Oh no!" Jessie exclaimed.

Blaine chuckles. "Go ahead, use a move before my Ninetales hits your Electabuzz with a super-effective move like Dig like it's gonna hit anything anyways!"

Jessie starts thinking in her head. "What can I do? I can't substitute Electabuzz, otherwise, it would count as a loss." Jessie then looks at Blaine and speaks out loud. "I'm not using a move, go ahead. Because I care about my Pokémon, Electabuzz will still be able to fight!"

Blaine shrugs. "If you say so. Ninetales, now!"

The ground starts shaking around Electabuzz as the electric Pokémon starts panicking then Ninetales pops out under Electabuzz and hits the Pokémon with the super-effective move as it goes flying.

"ELEBUBUBU!" Electabuzz cries in so much pain from taking so much damage then lands hard on the ground and lays there.

Blaine grins. "Electabuzz is down and out of the battle!"

The gang all look with worried expressions on their faces seeing Electabuzz lying there and not moving a muscle.

"Come on buddy… get up," Meowth says, looking more concerned for the electric Pokémon than others.

Jessie sadly has Electabuzz's Poké Ball in her hands now and is about to recall the Pokémon. "Electabuzz, retu-" She then notices Electabuzz moving and smiles with her mouth open. So does Domino, James, and Meowth as well.

Electabuzz fully gets up, just barely able to battle, and is breathing heavily. "Elebububu…"

"What?!" Blaine said in disbelief. "How?!"

Jessie points at Blaine's Ninetales. "Thunder!"

Electabuzz charges up and sends a powerful electric attack right at Ninetales which strikes the fox Pokémon.

"NINETALES!" Ninetales cries in so much pain from the powerful electric move and automatically faints from the battle.

Blaine still had a disbelieving look on his face until his face became serious. "Ninetales, return!" He recalls Ninetales.

"Thank you so much, Electabuzz! Now return!" To Jessie's friends' shock, she recalls Electabuzz.

"What are you doing?" Blaine asked. "You just forfeited one of your Pokémon!"

Jessie looks at Blaine with a serious expression. "Because I know Electabuzz took a lot of damage from that Dig and I'm not gonna let Electabuzz get hurt anymore!"

Blaine starts looking at Jessie with his mouth open. "Maybe she does care about her Pokémon more than winning." He thinks to himself, before pulling out a Pokémon. "Magmar, go!" Blaine sends out Magmar.

It cuts to the recovery room Pokémon Center where Rapidash is resting and sleeping, but as soon as Blaine's Magmar is sent out, Rapidash's eyes immediately shoot open. It cuts back to the battlefield.

"Magmar!" Magmar cries out after being sent out to the battlefield.

"So Jessie, what will your Pokémon be?" Blaine asked.

As Jessie starts thinking, it quickly cuts back to the recovery room with Nurse Joy opening the door.

"Rapidash, it's time for your-" Nurse Joy turns around and notices that the recovery room is empty and no Rapidash in sight. "Rapidash?!"

It cuts back to Jessie thinking about what her last Pokémon will be. "Who should I choose?"

"Psst, Jessie!" Meowth by her side gets Jessie's attention. "Pick me! I'll wipe that duck look off on that dumb Pokémon's face!"

Jessie chuckles and then nods. "If you insist. My last Pokémon will be-"

Before Jessie can call Meowth's name, the doors of the Gym fling open, grabbing everyone's attention as they see Rapidash right there. "Neigh!"

"RAPIDASH?!" The gang all yelled in shock.

Rapidash slowly walks towards Jessie and looks at its trainer. "Neigh!"

Meowth translates. "Rapidash says that they want to face Magmar."

"Rapidash, but you're hurt and you should be in the recovery room! I won't do it!" Jessie shakes her head.

Rapidash continues staring at Jessie as she looks back at her Pokémon, feeling bad and then Jessie quickly changes her mind and sighs. "Fine. Meowth, is it okay that I use Rapidash for this battle?"

"Aw come on! I wanted to- ugh, fine!" Meowth rolls his eyes in annoyance.

Jessie nods at Rapidash and Rapidash nods back at its trainer and then walks onto the battlefield as both Magmar and Rapidash have an intense staredown.

Blaine starts this round with the first move. "Magmar, use Smokescreen!"

"Magmar!" Magmar opens its mouth and releases thick black smoke that surrounds the Gym battlefield.

"Agility, Rapidash!" Jessie countered.

Rapidash starts moving with extreme speed and keeps moving through the smoke until the smoke clears up.

"Mega Kick, Magmar!" Blaine quickly ordered.

"Magmar!" Magmar jumps out of nowhere and powerfully kicks Rapidash right in the head, immediately breaking the injured horn right off the horse Pokémon.

"Rapidash!" The Pokémon cries in pain and flung back, but Rapidash immediately gets back up even with a broken horn.

"Rapidash… you're still going?" Jessie said, before putting on a serious face. "Fire Blast!"

"Magmar, use Fire Blast too!" Blaine quickly countered.

Both Magmar and Rapidash both open their mouths and release a flame shaped like a kanji. When both Fire Blasts hit, the battlefield gets surrounded by smoke.

"Remember Rapidash, Magmar can easily guide itself through the smoke!" Jessie warned. "Agility!"

Rapidash once more starts sprinting through the smoke until it clears.

"Mega Kick!" Blaine commanded.

It was Déjà vu as Magmar once more jumped out of nowhere to kick Rapidash square in the head, but this time, Rapidash managed to dodge out of the way from its extremely fast speed.

Blaine growls. "Grr…"

Jessie chuckles. "I guess the tables have turned! Horn Drill!"

Rapidash dashes towards and hits Magmar with its head, as Magmar gets hit back, but remains standing.

This confuses Jessie. "Horn Drill didn't automatically knock out Magmar?"

Blaine laughs. "Don't you know that Magmar broke Rapidash's horn with its Mega Kick earlier? That makes the effects of Horn Drill useless and more like a Tackle!"

Jessie grits her teeth. "Then I guess we have to win without it!"

Blaine scoffs. "Yeah right! Magmar, use Confuse Ray!"

"Magmar!" Magmar's eyes glow red and it stares right down at Rapidash and now Rapidash becomes confused.

"Crap!" Jessie exclaimed and immediately thought of an idea. "Rapidash, keep using Agility over and over as you're confused. Don't let Magmar get you!"

"Magmar, don't let that happen and end this battle with a Mega Kick!" Blaine quickly countered.

Magmar dashes at Rapidash and tries to kick the Pokémon, but the horse Pokémon quickly moves out of the way even when it's confused. 

"Magmar!" The spitfire Pokémon shouts in anger before trying to kick Rapidash again, but Rapidash moves out of the way again from its very fast speed.

"Come on Magmar, hit it!" Blaine exclaimed.

Magmar jumps up in the air and tries to kick Rapidash, but Rapidash barely dashes out of the way, dodging it once more. This causes Magmar to hit face first in the ground, get its face buried in the ground, and try to get out.

"Magmar!" Magmar cried in worriedness, trying to get its head out of the ground.

"Oh no!" Blaine exclaimed once more. "Magmar, get out of there!"

Jessie clutches her fist. "Take down, now!"

As Rapidash looks at Magmar struggling to get its face out of the ground, the horse Pokémon starts imagining that they're in the Slipho Co. building and it's facing Archer's Magmar instead. Rapidash looks at Blaine and then imagines Archer right there, grinning evilly like in the battle Jessie had with him in the Silph Co. building.

"NEIGH!" That causes Rapidash to cry out in rage as it kicks its feet on the ground before sprinting towards Magmar.

Magmar finally gets its head out of the ground of the battlefield, but as it turns around, the spitfire Pokémon is met with a powerful slam by Rapidash. "Magmar!" Magmar gets flung backward, hits the ground hard, and faints from battle.

Blaine was looking at his now-fainted Magmar in disbelief. "No way…"

"We did it… we won, Rapidash!" Jessie starts hopping up and down to celebrate.

"Neigh!" Rapidash sprints towards its trainer and tackles her to celebrate with her with Jessie chuckling endlessly.

Domino, James, and Meowth all smile at Jessie's victory.

"Jessie did it, she won!" Domino says with a mouth-opened smile.

"That was such an intense Gym Battle!" James added.

Meowth nods in approval. "Not bad, not bad at all!"

It cuts to Blaine and Jessie standing in front of each other.

"Jessie, you definitely proved me wrong. You do prefer your Pokémon more than winning. As an apology and that you beat me…" Blaine reaches into his pocket and presents the Volcano Badge. "Here is the Volcano Badge to signify your victory in the Cinnabar Gym!"

Jessie nods and accepts the Volcano Badge. "I did it! I got the Volcano Badge!" She poses with the badge. Jessie then looks at Blaine. "Blaine, I don't want this badge because I really want to win it, I wanted this badge for Rapidash, because I care about them a lot."

Blaine nods in approval. "And you have shown me that. Jessie, you have officially earned my respect and since you showed me that trainers can care more about their Pokémon than winning, I will go back to accepting challengers from other trainers!"

Jessie nods back at him as Domino, James, and Meowth clap for the Cinnabar Gym Leader. It cuts to the gang in the Pokémon Center with Jessie on the phone with Professor Oak, who's on the screen.

"You want to send Rapidash here?" Professor Oak asked.

"What?!" Jessie's friends all said in shock.

"Yep!" Jessie nods. "Rapidash needs medical assistance because their horn is broken off and I don't want Nurse Joy to go through the struggle of placing it back again, so I decided that I think you can help with that, professor."

"Ah, yes. Please insert Rapidash's Poké Ball in the transfer machine and I'll immediately start fixing up Rapidash's broken horn." Professor Oak replied with a smile.

Jessie pulls out Rapidash's Poké Ball and inserts it into the transfer machine and then it gets transported to Professor Oak's lab who happily takes the Poké Ball.

"Please tell me right away when Rapidash is fixed up so I can have them back in my party!" Jessie says.

Professor Oak nods. "I will Jessie, don't worry!"

"With so much dedication, bond, and heart with Jessie and her Pokémon, she manages to come out on top and win the Gym battle against the Gym Leader Blaine. Now Jessie all needs is one more Gym Badge and she can finally enter the Kanto Pokémon League Tournament! Will she accomplish that goal? Find out soon as the journey continues!"

It cuts to the dirty hotel room where Team Rocket is currently staying in, trying to go to sleep, but can't.

"This hotel sucks, Mondo! I can't sleep in this shitty hotel!" Butch complained.

"Just try your hardest and go to sleep, maybe the sound of the ocean waves will make you go to sleep?" Mondo says.

Cassidy scoffs. "Yeah right, nothing will make us sleep in this filthy ass room!"

Out of nowhere, Jigglypuff jumps into the room from the window, immediately catching the trio's attention. "Jigglypuff!" It cries out.

"Jigglypuff?!" Team Rocket trio said back in shock.

Jigglypuff clears its throat and starts singing. "Jiiiiiiiiiigglypuff! Jigglyyyyyyy, yy-puff!"

Team Rocket immediately falls and the song puts the trio to sleep immediately as they start snoring loudly.

"Jigglypuff?" Jigglypuff looks at the trio sleeping and snoring, then it looks at you, the reader, and smiles. "Jigglypuff!"