It's the Final Countdown!

The episode starts with Lawson and Lance outside the hotel.

"Wait, how did you get out of the stadium without Samantha noticing you?" Lawson questioned.

"I had a wax figure of myself in the skybox, so I put it where I was standing before sneaking out of the Indigo Stadium," Lance answered.

The scene quickly cuts to the Indigo Stadium in the skybox where the wax figure of Lance is standing in disguise before cutting back to Lawson and Lance.

"So how are we going to find these hostages?" Lawson questions once more.

"I think Samantha put them in her hotel room, let's go and ask the hotel receptionist what room she checked in," Lance suggested.

Lawson and Lance both head inside the hotel and walk up to the desk of the receptionist. "Hello, what would I like to do-" the receptionist realizes Lance is on the other side of the counter. "L-Lance?!"

Lawson groans in response as Lance just chuckles and bows. "It's nice to meet you, ma'am. Can you do us a small favor? We have a question for you."

The receptionist immediately nods. "Of course! Of course! You can ask me anything, Lance!"

Lawson gets in front of Lance and asks the question for himself. "Has anyone with the name Samantha checked in here?"

The receptionist starts typing into her computer, looking at it for a little before answering. "I'm sorry, but it appears no one with the name Samantha has checked in here."

Lawson widened his eyes in shock. "A-are you serious?!"

"I'm afraid so." The receptionist answered with a frown.

Lawson looks back at Lance who appears to be thinking. "Looks like she's smarter than I thought," Lance says before looking at the receptionist. "I need you to evacuate everyone from this hotel."

"But why Lance?" The receptionist asked.

"Because… there's a bomb in the building," Lance answered.

The title screen appears.

"It's the Final Countdown!"

The scene cuts back to the Indigo Stadium with the dangerous battle between Jessie and Samantha that is currently happening with both trainers down to four Pokémon and both of their legs are patched up with bandages. Samantha still has her Hitmonlee out as Jessie has a Poké Ball in her hand, getting ready to send it out.

"Come on Jess, you gotta battle like your life's on the line, which pretty much is," Meowth says.

"Blastoise, I choose you!" Jessie sends out her Blastoise to battle against Hitmonlee.

Blastoise materializes. "Blastoise!"

Samantha commands the first move of the round. "Hitmonlee, use Double Kick!"

"Hitmonlee!" Hitmonlee's feet start glowing white while it's dashing towards Blastoise.

"Blastoise, withdraw into your shell!" Jessie countered.

Blastoise quickly withdraws into its shell as Hitmonlee ends up kicking Blaatoise's shell twice.

Jessie immediately commands her next move. "Now use Hydro Pump from the inside of your shell!"

Jets stream of water comes out from Blastoise's shell, hitting and dealing damage to Hitmonlee, flinging the kicking Pokémon back to its side of the battlefield.

Samantha growls. "Your Blastoise can't hide in their shell forever! Hitmonlee, use Mega Kick and aim right through the hole of Blastoise's shell!"

One of Hitmonlee's feet glows metallic light blue and the kicking Pokémon starts dashing toward the shell of Blastoise once more, aiming directly at the hole entrance.

"Blastoise, withdraw out of your shell and use Hydro Pump once more!" Jessie countered.

Blastoise quickly withdrew out of its shell. "Blastoise!" The shellfish Pokémon releases more jets of water directly at Hitmonlee with its cannons.

"Now Hitmonlee! Jump up in the air to dodge it and use Jump Kick!" Samantha countered back.

Hitmonlee jumps up in the air, avoiding Blastoise's Hydro Pump and kicking the shellfish Pokémon right in the skull as the kicking Pokémon was descending from the air and dealing damage.

Jessie growls. "You used a switched move strategy to throw me off!"

Samantha chuckles and shrugs. "It's a legal strategy after all."

"Okay Blastoise, use Skull Bash!" Jessie commanded.

"Blastoise!" Blastoise starts dashing toward Hitmonlee while directly aiming its head toward the kicking Pokémon before leaping at Hitmonlee.

"Now Hitmonlee, jump onto Blastoise's shell!" Samantha countered.

Hitmonlee quickly jumps in the air to dodge one of Blastoise's moves again but lands on the top of Blastoise's shell this time.

Jessie grins. "I got you where I want you! Now Blastoise, use Rapid Spin!"

Blastoise quickly withdraws into its shell and starts spinning constantly. Hitmonlee starts struggling to control its balance, but as Blastoise hits the battlefield wall, the momentum causes Hitmonlee to hit the wall full force into the head, dealing a lot of damage.

Samantha gasped. "No, Hitmonlee!"

Hitmonlee slowly gets up and the kicking Pokémon is seeing stars from the impact it took from hitting the battlefield wall.

Jessie chuckles. "I used the switch-move strategy back on you. Now it's not so fun, huh? Alright Blastoise, withdraw out of your shell and use Hydro Pump!"

However, unfortunately for Jessie, Blastoise doesn't withdraw and stays inside for some reason.

"Blastoise?" Jessie questioned. "Come on, withdraw out of your shell!"

"Could it be that Blastoise fainted from the impact of hitting the wall from that Rapid Spin?" Domino assumed.

"Please no!" Miyamoto screamed out. "I don't want to see my baby get shot anymore! Come on Blastoise, get out of your shell!"

The referee sees Blastoise isn't coming out of its shell and raises the red flag. "Due to Blastoise not withdrawing out of its shell like its trainer commanded, I can only assume that Blastoise has fainted so the red corner wins this round!"

Jessie looks at Blastoise with disbelief in her eyes. Blastoise… no." And then she gets struck in the left arm by a gunshot. "OW!"

Miyamoto starts bawling her eyes out. "Guys, I don't know how long I can watch this!"

Professor Oak immediately turns to Miyamoto. "Miyamoto, if you try to do anything, not only you're putting your daughter in more danger of death, but my granddaughter too!"

"Professor Oak is right Ms. Jessie's mother, all we can do is just sit here, watch, and hope Jessie can win this," James added.

The scene cuts to where Leaf and Team Rocket are tied up with the bomb descending to the number three after Jessie lost another Pokémon, but it appears as Team Rocket is singing a song, with Cassidy singing the lyrics, Butch and Mondo are singing the beat, while Leaf is trying to pay attention to the television.

Team Rocket continues singing their song. "On the day I was born!" "Dun dun dun dun!" "The Nurse Joys all gathered 'round!" "Dun dun dun dun!" "And they gazed in wide wonder!" "Dun dun dun dun!" "At the joy they had found!" "Dun dun dun dun!" "The head Nurse Joy spoke up!" "Dun dun dun dun!" "Said 'Leave this one alone!'" "Dun dun dun dun!" "She could tell right away!" "Dun dun dun dun!" "That I was bad to the bone!"

Leaf interrupts them. "Would you three stop singing?! Don't you know that your lives are the one line with this battle?!"

"We Team Rocket have accepted that the twerpette isn't going to win against that Cheerleader brat," Cassidy replied.

"Yeah, she's too strong! No way the twerpette isn't going to beat her!" Mondo added.

"I mean I probably could take her obviously, but she does seem more like a challenge, yes." Butch nods.

Leaf sighs and quietly talks to herself. "Why couldn't just Samantha take me to a different room instead?"

The scene cuts to the hotel lobby where Lawson and Lance are with the receptionist. "Everyone is evacuated outside, Lance. Thank you for telling us about the bomb." The receptionist bows for thanks.

"No problem, but you need to go too," Lance says.

"Me and Lance are going to try to find the hostages and save them!" Lawson added.

"I wish luck on you both." The receptionist heads outside.

Lance starts thinking. "It seems like this Samantha girl is smarter than we thought. She must've used a fake name to check in the hotel, which is why no one in the name of Samantha popped up at the registration desk."

"Are we going to have to check every single room in this hotel?" Lawson assumed.

"Actually no we don't." Lance goes over to the computer on the desk and starts typing. "If I can access the check-ins, I can see which rooms are taken and which rooms are vacated. And we can look at the rooms taken. Luckily many people checked out of the hotel after their time in the league tournament had concluded."

Lawson sighs in relief. "Thank goodness we don't have to check every single room! I would've been very tired after a couple of floors."

The scene cuts back to the battle between Jessie and Samantha as Jessie finishes patching her left arm up with Meowth's help. "Thanks, Meowth," Jessie says with a smile.

Meowth nods with a thumbs up. "Don't mention it!"

Jessie recalls Blastoise back into its Poké Ball. "Blastoise, return!" She pulls out a different Poké Ball. "Alright Rapidash, I'm counting on you!" She sends Rapidash out to battle against Hitmonlee.

Rapidash materializes. "Neigh!"

Samantha laughs. "You gotta learn to stop playing with ponies, Jessie. Hitmonlee, use Double Kick!"

Hitmonlee is still dizzy after Blastoise's Rapid Spin. "Hitmonlee…"

"Hitmonlee, snap out of it!" Samantha says in disbelief.

Jessie uses the opportunity to command her move. "Rapidash, use Take Down!"

Rapidash charges directly at Hitmonlee and slams the kicking Pokémon with its whole body while taking little recoil damage.

Hitmonlee gets sent to the ground, and the kicking Pokémon gets up, shaking his head to snap themselves back into reality.

"Are you back to Earth? Good, use Double Kick!" Samantha commanded.

Hitmonlee starts dashing toward Rapidash while its feet start glowing white.

"Rapidash, use your Agility to avoid it!" Jessie commanded.

Hitmonlee tries to kick Rapidash, but the fire horse Pokémon disappears out of thin air from its very fast speed and appears right behind the kicking Pokémon. Hitmonlee quickly looks behind them to kick Rapidash, but once more, the fire horse Pokémon disappears and reappears right behind the kicking Pokémon.

Jessie quickly commands her next move. "Now use Fury Attack!"

"Neigh!" Rapidash starts striking Hitmonlee over and over with its horn, dealing damage after damage.

"Hitmonlee!" Hitmonlee cries in pain and gets flown back to its side of the battlefield.

"Come on Hitmonlee! Get your head in the battle and use Foresight!" Samantha commanded.

Hitmonlee's eyes start glowing red and the kicking Pokémon just stares into Rapidash.

Jessie raises an eyebrow but commands her next move. "Use Fire Blast!"

Rapidash quickly disappears and reappears right behind Hitmonlee again, opening its mouth and releasing flames shaped like the kanji, but Hitmonlee completely avoids it by jumping out of the way.

"Now use Jump Kick!" Samantha commanded.

"Hitmonlee!" Hitmonlee quickly kicked Rapidash right in the face while the kicking Pokémon was descending from the air, stomping Rapidash to the ground.

Rapidash tries to get up from the ground, but its horn is completely stuck as the fire horse Pokémon can't raise its head from the ground. "Neigh!" "Neigh!"

Domino gasped. "Oh no! Rapidash's horn got stuck on the ground!"

Azurill looks worried. "Azurill! Azurill!"

Professor Oak grits his teeth. "Jessie better think of something fast or Rapidash is wide open for attacks!"

James starts biting his nails because of how nervous he is. "I-I can't watch!" He covers his shades before slowly uncovering them a little to look at the battle.

Miyamoto looks about to cry. "Come on, Rapidash!"

"Rapidash, you got to get unstuck! Come on!" Jessie called out.

Rapidash tries to get its horn unstuck, but each attempt fails again. "Neigh!"

"Now's your chance, Hitmonlee! Use Mega Kick!" Samantha commanded.

"Hitmonlee!" One of Hitmonlee's feet begins glowing metallic light blue and then the kicking Pokémon kicks Rapidash with great force.

"Neigh!" Rapidash cries out in so much pain before falling to the ground and fainting from the battle.

"Aw shucks! This is bad!" Meowth says, worried.

The referee holds up the red flag. "Rapidash is unable to battle! The winner of this round goes to the red corner!"

Once more, a gunshot is heard, striking Jessie in the right arm. "DAMMIT!" She screamed out in pain. "Meowth, I need help patching my right arm up!"

"On it!" Meowth grabs the first aid kit and begins bandaging Jessie's right arm.

It cuts to where Leaf and Team Rocket are as the bomb in the room countdowns to two. "Do you think the twerpette is losing on purpose to finally get rid of us?" Butch asked.

"This must be the case!" Cassidy assumed. "Since she's battling very badly right now."

"Come on guys, that's just ridiculous," Mondo says, denying.

"Your buddy is right! Have you forgotten that if Jessie loses this battle, she dies too?!" Leaf reminded them. "Besides, she knows I'm in danger and I know she's giving it her all."

"Oh really? What makes you say that, huh?" Cassidy asked.

Leaf looks away to hide her blush from the trio. "No reason…"

Back to the battle, Meowth finishes patching up Jessie's right arm. "Finish!"

"Thank you so much, Meowth!" Jessie looks at her purse where she keeps her Poké Ball. "Electabuzz, I need you!"

A white beam shoots out of Jessie's purse and Electabuzz is sent out and materializes without the need for Jessie to throw their Poké Ball. "ELEBUBUBU!"

"Hitmonlee, use Mega Kick!" Samantha commanded.

"Hitmonlee!" One of Hitmonlee's feet starts glowing metallic light blue, dashing right towards Electabuzz.

"Dodge it, Electabuzz!" Jessie countered.

Electabuzz jumps to the left to avoid Hitmonlee's Mega Kick.

"Now use Swift!" Jessie commanded.

Electabuzz opens its mouth and yellow stars shoot out of it at Hitmonlee, striking the kicking Pokémon and it cries out in pain. "Hitmonlee!"

Samantha grits her teeth from getting angry. "Come on Hitmonlee! Get your head in the battle and use Jump Kick!"

"Dodge that also, Electabuzz!" Jessie countered once more.

Hitmonlee jumps up in the air, extending its foot, and tries to kick Electabuzz while descending, but the electric Pokémon can avoid the move by catching Hitmonlee's leg right in mid-air. "Hitmonlee?!" Hitmonlee tries to get out of Electabuzz's hold on its leg by kicking the electric Pokémon right in the face.

This only made Electabuzz angry, as the electric Pokémon's eyes started glowing red from anger. "ELEBUBUBU!"

"Now that you have Hitmonlee right in your grasp, use Thunder!" Jessie commanded.

Electricity starts to build up around Electabuzz's antennas. "ELEBUBUBU!" The electric Pokémon shouts an angry battle cry before blasting powerful electricity at Hitmonlee, fainting the kicking Pokémon and letting go of its leg.

The referee holds up the green flag. "Hitmonlee is unable to battle! The victory of this round goes to the green corner!"

The gunshot is heard and Samantha gets struck by the bullet on her left arm as she is holding her left arm with her right arm now. "Got to keep battling for M.A.R.S.," Samantha says quietly to herself before grabbing her first aid kid and bandaging her left arm that got shot.

"Look at Electabuzz, it looks super mad." Domino pointed out.

"Hopefully, Electabuzz's anger will give it the strength it needs to make a comeback in this battle. Jessie needs it." Professor Oak stated.

Miyamoto nods, sniffling. "I-I hope Electabuzz can pull through."

"Electabuzz was the first ever Pokémon Jessie has caught, I think the two Pokémon from Jessie's party that's gonna give it their all are Electabuzz and Meowth," James stated. "That's what I believe."

Azurill starts clapping cheerfully. "Azurill! Azurill!"

Samantha recalls Hitmonlee back in its Poké Ball. "Hitmonlee, return!" She pulls out a different Poké Ball. "Lickitung, I choose you!" Samantha sends out Lickitung next to battle against Electabuzz.

Lickitung materializes. "Licki! Licki!"

Samantha immediately commands the first move. "Lickitung, use Disable!"

Lickitung's eyes glow blue, and then Electabuzz soon glows blue around its body as Thunder is now disabled for a few turns before all the blue fades away.

Jessie grits her teeth, talking inside her mind. "I can't use Thunder for a few turns. I guess I have to win this round without it!" She commands her next move out loud. "Electabuzz, use Screech!"

Electabuzz screeches very loudly at Lickitung. "ELEBUBUBU!" This causes the licking Pokémon to shed sweat and lower its defense by two stages.

"Don't let that Electabuzz scare you! Lickitung, use Wrap!" Samantha commanded.

"Licki! Licki!" Lickitung begins to extend its long tongue around Electabuzz, trying to wrap it around the electric Pokémon.

"Electabuzz, grab the tongue before it fully wraps around you!" Jessie countered.

Electabuzz was able to grab Lickitung's tongue, stopping the move from finishing.

Samantha grits her teeth. "I got you where I want you! Lickitung, use Lick!"

Lickitung was able to lick Electabuzz right in the face as the electric Pokémon had a grip on it. Immediately causing Electabuzz to let go and hold their face in pain. "ELEBUBUBU!"

Samantha uses this opportunity to command her next move. "Now use Slam!"

"Licki! Licki!" Lickitung jumps up in the air and starts descending to Electabuzz.

Jessie screams out to warn her Electabuzz. "ELECTABUZZ, ABOVE YOU!"

Electabuzz uncovers its face and looks up, but it is too late as Lickitung slams Electabuzz right in the air, dealing damage to the electric Pokémon as Electabuzz starts struggling to get Lickitung off of them.

"Electabuzz, use Swift!" Jessie commanded.

Electabuzz shoots yellow stars from its mouth right at Lickitung's face, causing the licking Pokémon to cry out in pain and hold their face. "Licki!"

"Use Wrap by wrapping your tongue around Electabuzz's mouth!" Samantha commanded.

Lickitung extends its tongue by wrapping it to cover Electabuzz's mouth, preventing the electric Pokémon from using any moves that come from Electabuzz's mouth.

Samantha smirks. "With your precious Thunder disabled and now also Swift and Screech by Lickitung's tongue, you can't attack my Lickitung, Jessie!"

Jessie's eyes widened, realizing Samantha was right. "She's right! I can't use Thunder and with that tongue, I can't use Swift too!"

Domino frowns. "I guess this is the end for Electabuzz and Jessie will be down to only one Pokémon…"

Miyamoto stares directly at Domino in disbelief. "It can't be! Jessie has to think of something!"

"P-please calm down, Ms. Jessie's mother." James rubs the back of his nervously.

Professor Oak is staring directly at Jessie with his arms crossed. "Come on, Jessie, you got to think of something."

Jessie was gritting her teeth, staring at Electabuzz with its mouth closed by Lickitung's tongue, thinking of what to do. "What do I do?! I got to think of something!" She says quietly to herself.

"Just give up and forfeit the round, Jessie! Take the bullet right in your gut already! Don't worry, it will be like getting hit by a cannon!" Samantha laughs.

And that word that Samantha just said causes Jessie to think of an idea. "'Cannon…' Cannon!" She commands Electabuzz what to do next out loud. "Electabuzz, I need you to listen to me. I want you to build up all the electricity you possibly can in your antennas!"

Electabuzz starts doing what its trainer just commanded it to do, building up electricity from its antennas.

"Lickitung, now cover Electabuzz's antennas with your tongue!" Samantha commanded.

Jessie immediately interrupts what Samantha is trying to do. "I wouldn't do that, Samantha! Lickitung's tongue can only cover either Electabuzz's mouth or their antennas! Go ahead, cover Electabuzz's antennas and I can simply have Electabuzz use Swift right towards your Lickitung!"

Samantha's eyes widened, realizing Jessie was right. "She's right! Maybe Electabuzz is just putting up an act to trick me!" She says in her thoughts before recalling her previous move out loud. "Lickitung, ignore what I said earlier and keep your tongue covering Electabuzz's mouth!"

As Lickitung continues covering Electabuzz's mouth with its tongue, Electabuzz continues building up electricity from its antennas and then the electric Pokémon shoots something up in the air.

Samantha was confused as she barely saw what was shot out from Electabuzz's antennas, as it was very fast. "What was that?"

Jessie smirks. "If I were you, I would command Lickitung to get off of Electabuzz and let go of their mouth right now." She wanted to cross her arms, but it hurt even trying to do so, so she didn't.

Samantha scoffs. "And let you have the opportunity to attack Lickitung? As if!" With Jessie still smirking, Samantha has a confused expression on her face. She looks at the battlefield and then Lickitung gets hit by a blast of powerful yellow electricity from the air. "LICKITUNG!" Samantha screamed out.

"LICKI!" Lickitung cries out in extreme pain before slowly fainting to the ground as Electabuzz gets up unwrapping the licking Pokémon's tongue from its mouth.

The referee holds up the green flag. "Lickitung is unable to battle! The winner of this round goes to the green corner!"

The gunshot is heard, striking Samantha in the right arm as she winces in pain while holding onto it with her other arm. "What was that, some lightning strike?! The skies are clear!"

Jessie shakes her head no and chuckles. "Remember when I commanded my Electabuzz to charge up electricity? If I couldn't use Thunder then say hello to another powerful electricity move of Electabuzz, Zap Cannon! Thank you for the idea by the way!"

Domino smiles. "Wow! When it looks like it is about to be over, Jessie finds a way to still come on top!"

James nods, also smiling. "That's our Jessie, alright!"

"Remember, Jessie still has two Pokémon to go before making this out alive." Professor Oak reminded them.

Miyamoto is staring at the battlefield, determined that her daughter can win this battle. "Come on, Jessie, you can do this!"

Samantha recalls Lickitung back in its Poké Ball. "Lickitung, return!" She starts growling at Electabuzz before pulling out a different Poké Ball. "That damn Electabuzz! Poliwrath, you better take down this Electabuzz!" Samantha sends out Poliwrath next to battle against the electric Pokémon."

Poliwrath materializes. "Poliwrath!"

Jessie immediately commands the first move of the battle. "Electabuzz, use Zap Cannon!"

Samantha counters with her move. "Poliwrath, use Hydro Pump!"

"ELEBUBUBU!" "POLIWRATH!" Both Pokémon use the respective move that they were commanded. With Electabuzz blasting powerful electricity from its antennas and Poliwrath releasing powerful jets of water from its spiral stomach.

As both moves collide, Electabuzz's Zap Cannon obliterates Poliwrath's Hydro Pump, but Poliwrath quickly jumps out of the way to avoid the Zap Cannon.

Samantha commands the same move. "Poliwrath, use Hydro Pump again!"

Jessie also follows up with the same move again. "Electabuzz, use Zap Cannon again too!"

Once more, Electabuzz sends out more powerful electricity from its antennas and Poliwrath sends out more jets of water from its spiral stomach. Both moves collide again, but this time, Poliwrath's Hydro Pump gets the upper hand, but Electabuzz jumps out of the way to avoid the upcoming Hydro Pump.

Both Jessie and Samantha command the same move for the third time in a row. "Electabuzz, Zap Cannon!" "Poliwrath, Hydro Pump!"

Electabuzz and Poliwrath both use the same move for the third time in a row with Electabuzz sending more powerful electricity from its antennas and Poliwrath releasing even more powerful jets of water from its spiral stomach. Both moves collided for the third time, but this time, the power was equal as each move ended up combining and hitting both Pokémon. Electabuzz and Poliwrath both end up fainting at the same time.

The referee holds up both red and green flags. "Both of the trainer's Pokémon are unable to battle. Which means that this round is a draw!"

Two gunshots were heard this time and each bullet ended up hitting both Jessie and Samantha right in the gut, taking each trainer down to one knee and groaning in pain.

"Jessie, are you alright?!" Meowth immediately runs up to Jessie's aid.

"I'm fine, Meowth… just… help me bandage my stomach…" Jessie says, not sounding good at all.

Persian immediately breaks out of its own Poké Ball to check on their trainer. "Persian, Persian?!"

"It's okay Persian, just help me with the bandages…" Samantha also doesn't sound good as well.

The scene cuts to where Leaf and Team Rocket are at. As Jessie is down to her last Pokémon, the number on the bomb displays a one now as both Leaf and Team Rocket are scared. "It's up to Meowth now to save us!" Leaf says.

The Team Rocket trio closes their eyes. "Hey guys, if we do die, I just want to say that I should've been a better leader to you two."

"I should've been a nicer member to you two!" Butch added.

"And I should've been a better member!" Mondo also added.

Back to the battle, Meowth finishes patching Jessie's stomach up with bandages. "There, all done, Jess!"

Jessie doesn't feel good at all as instead of standing up, she's still on one knee. "Meowth… I don't know if I have the strength to command moves… I think you're going to have to do this on your own, pal."

Meowth gulps. "But Jess… what if… what if I lose! You and Leaf will die! I don't know if I can do this without you ordering what move I should use!"

"Meowth… I know you can do this, I believe in you. If you do end up losing, I know you're going to give it your all and it was nice exploring with you, partner." Jessie slowly smiles at Meowth, petting the talking Pokémon's head.

Meowth sheds a tear before looking serious now. "I'm not going to lose, Jess! Trust me!" He turns around to face the Persian, hopping onto the battlefield.

Samantha is also talking to her Persian. "Give Meowth hell like last time you battled him, Persian!"

Persian immediately nods. "Persian!" The classy cat Pokémon hops down to the battlefield with Meowth, staring down at the talking Pokémon.

"You're going down, you dumb Persian!" Meowth's claws start glowing white before dashing at Persian and swiping left and right, signaling using Fury Swipes. "Taste my claws!"

Persian keeps dodging every single swipe left and right. "Persian!" The red gem on Persian's head begins glowing and red waves start heading towards Meowth.

"Is that Hypnosis?" Meowth immediately closes his eyes. "Don't look at the gem, Meowth, don't look at the gem!"

Persian uses this opportunity to slash Meowth right with its glowing white claw to deal damage.

"OW!" Meowth goes down to the ground from Persian's Slash attack. "That was a cheap shot!"

Persian pounces onto Meowth, hissing directly at the talking Pokémon. "Persian!" Persian's claws start glowing white.

Meowth realizes what Persian is going to do, it is the same thing that the classy cat Pokémon did to Eevee and that was using Fury Swipes over and over. "Oh no you don't!" Meowth's tail quickly glows metallic and strikes Persian to its side with an Iron Tail.

"Persian!" Persian cries in pain and gets flung back, causing the classy cat Pokémon to get off of Meowth.

Meowth's tail starts glowing metallic once more. "Time to take you down!" The talking Pokémon jumps up in the air and is about to strike Persian with Iron Tail once more.

"Persian!" Persian quickly jumps out of the way to avoid Meowth's Iron Tail.

Meowth ends up striking the ground with Iron Tail from descending to the ground. "Almost had you!"

Persian's glows begin glowing white and start dashing towards Meowth.

Meowth's claws also start glowing white as well. "You want a claw battle? I'll give you a claw battle!" Then the talking Pokémon starts dashing towards Persian.

Both Persian and Meowth start swiping with one another back and forth before Persian jumps up and tries to pounce on Meowth, but the talking Pokémon dodges it by jumping to the left. Meowth tries to swipe Persian, but the classy cat Pokémon also ends up dodging by jumping to the left as well.

"Look at this battle. Even without the commanding of their trainers, both Meowth and Persian are still determined to finish each other off." Domino stated.

"Each Pokémon knows what would happen to their trainer if one of them faints, so it makes sense why they're so determined," James added.

Azurill cries out to cheer for Meowth. "Azurill!"

After Meowth and Persian both collide again with their claws, each Pokémon jumps back from the other. Meowth's fur starts flowing with electricity and blasts a Thunderbolt directly toward Persian. "Taste electricity!"

"Persian!" Persian's fur also flows with electricity and also blasts a Thunderbolt, directly to Meowth.

"AH!" Meowth remembers what Persian did to defeat him in his last battle against the classy cat Pokémon. Meowth quickly turns around as his tails glow metallic and Persian's Thunderbolt gets absorbed by Meowth's metallic tail. "How do you like that?" As Meowth turns around, he sees Persian's tail also metallic with electricity surrounding it, realizing that they had the same idea too. "Just great…"

Both Meowth and Persian start dashing towards each other and then both Pokémon end up striking each other's static metallic tails, flinging both Pokémon to end up hitting the battlefield wall.

Everyone in the crowd gasped upon seeing both cat Pokémon on the ground and not moving a muscle at all.

After a few seconds pass, Persian slowly gets up, still able to battle. "Persian…"

Samantha smiles. "Yes! There you go, Persian!"

However, as for Meowth, the talking Pokémon is still on the ground as Jessie starts sweating in fear. "Come on Meowth, get up!"

Back in the room where Leaf and Team Rocket are, all four are shouting for Meowth to get up despite no one can hear them. "GET UP, MEOWTH!"

Back at the Indigo Stadium, Domino, James, Professor Oak, and Miyamoto also shout as well. "GET UP, MEOWTH!"

However, despite the yelling, Meowth is still on the ground as Samantha looks at the referee. "Call the match, ref! It's obvious that Meowth is unable to battle!"

The referee is looking at Meowth, the hand that's holding the red flag is shaking, not wanting to raise the red flag at all.

Once more, Jessie yells directly at Meowth to get up. "MEOWTH, YOU GOTTA GET UP!"

"The battle is over, Jessie, and so is your life!" Samantha smirks before looking over at the ref again with a displeased look. "Call the match in my favor already!"

The referee starts slowly raising the red flag, opening his mouth, and getting ready to call the match despite the scared looks on everyone's faces until they hear a voice and immediately lowers the red flag back down. "NO!"

The voice was Meowth, who slowly stood back up, looking at Persian and still able to battle. "You're going have to kill me first if you think I'm let you beat me, Persian!"

Samantha's eyes widened from shock. "WHAT?! THAT MEOWTH CAN STILL BATTLE?!"

Everyone cheers upon seeing Meowth standing back up, as Jessie looks on with a smile and nods. "Go get them, Meowth!"

"Will do!" Meowth's claws glow sharper than ever, staring directly at Persian. "Let's dance, Persian!"

Persian's claws also glow to their sharpest, responding to Meowth's snarky comment. "Persian!"

Once more, both Meowth and Persian start running towards each other and slashing at each other back and forth with both Pokémon colliding with each other's claws, both Pokémon not allowing any hits.

Both Meowth and Persian jump backward from each other after a clash, staring each other down for a few seconds and then dashing toward each other screaming out their battle cries. "AAAAAHHHHH!" PEEEEERSIAAAAAAN!" Meowth and Persian both jump up in the air and slash each other with their claws at the same time as both Pokémon land back on the ground.

The crowd with Domino, James, Professor Oak, and Miyamoto; Leaf and Team Rocket back at the building; and then the trainers, Jessie and Samantha, are all watching, nervously seeing Meowth and Persian standing while facing away from each other. Meowth stumbles and is on one knee now, the crowd gasping in shock before Persian completely falls to the ground and officially faints from the battle.

The referee immediately raises the green flag. "Persian is unable to battle, which means the winner of this round and moving on to the Kanto League Tournament Finals is Jessie!"

Jessie slowly raises her fist. "I-I did it!"

Domino, James, Professor Oak, and Miyamoto all yelled out in delight. "SHE DID IT!"

Back in the room where Leaf and Team Rocket are, all four of them are also celebrating Jessie's victory. "SHE DID IT! SHE DID IT SHE DID IT!" All four cheerfully said.

What's more great news for them, Leaf and Team Rocket all heard the door being kicked down and there's Lawson and Lance, immediately headed towards the building. "There you guys are!" Lawson said in delight, as he and Lance went over to untie Leaf and Team Rocket from the chairs.

"We're free! I can't believe we're finally free from these chairs!" Leaf said in delight, finally able to stand up from being untied.

The Team Rocket trio all look at each other with satisfying looks, standing up once and also being untied. "Looks like Team Rocket survived from near death once again!" All three said together.

It cuts outside of the Indigo Stadium where a bunch of police officers have the building surrounded. Officer Jenny gets a message from Lance. "Officer Jenny, the hostages have been freed, repeat, the hostages have been freed!"

"Copy that, Lance!" Officer Jenny looks at the other police officers. "Everyone, the hostages are now free. Let's go!" Officer Jenny and the other police officers start storming into the stadium.

Samantha is now on both of her knees, completely in disbelief. "I… can't believe I lost, I failed, boss…"

Jessie was celebrating with Meowth, until she realized what was about to happen and looked over at Samantha. "NO, SAMANTHA!" Jessie tries to get up to save Samantha, but the bullet injuries are too much for her and she falls back to the ground.

The sound of the directed gunshot was heard. From the bullet's P.O.V., it directly heads to Samantha's head, striking it. With Samantha still on her two knees, her body slowly falls to the ground, officially killed and officially dead. The crowd looks on in shock with almost everyone covering their eyes and parents covering their kids' eyes.

"SAMANTHAAAAAAAA!" Jessie reaches out her hand to Samantha's body, but she falls unconscious from the five bullet wounds she has, Meowth catches her before she can hit the ground.

"SOMEONE CALL AN AMBULANCE!" Meowth screamed out.

Persian slowly gets up, looking behind them and unfortunately seeing its trainer on the ground, not moving a muscle and blood name at her. "PERSIAN?!" Persian immediately rushes over to Samantha and starts nudging its dead trainer, hoping Samantha would look up at them and deny the worst, however, it doesn't happen as Persian starts mourning over its dead trainer. "Persiaaaaan! Persiaaaaan!"

Officer Jenny and the rest of the police officers arrive at the stadium, but it is too late to arrest as they see Samantha's dead body on the ground and Persian mourning. Officer Jenny speaks on her radio. "Criminal is dead, I repeat, criminal is on the ground and dead."

One of the police officers tries to walk towards Samantha's body but Persian immediately hisses at the officer. "PERSIAN!"

"AH!" The police officer immediately jumps back from Persian's hissing. "I think we're going have to neutralize the Persian."

Officer Jenny pulls out her tranquilizer aiming it directly at the Persian as she starts slowly walking towards Samantha's body. "I don't want to shoot you, Persian, but let us check to see if she's dead."

Persian starts howling directly at Officer Jenny and then hissing. Officer Jenny gets closer and closer to Samantha's body and Persian starts running after Officer Jenny, about to strike. Officer Jenny fires a tranquilizer right at Persian hitting the classy cat Pokémon and it falls asleep.

The scene cuts to blackness before the view of eyes slowly opens and it is Jessie walking up from the hospital with all of her friends, her mother, Professor Oak, and even Leaf right next to her. "Ugh… where am I?"

"JESSIE!" Everyone screamed out, immediately rushing over to Jessie's aid, Miyamoto hugging her daughter very tightly and giving her kisses on her cheek.

"Am I at the hospital?" Jessie questioned.

Domino nods and smiles. "After you fell unconscious, an ambulance came in and medics took you to the hospital here."

"The doctor was able to remove all five bullets in your body, in your legs, arms, and stomach," James added with a smile too. "So you're going to be fine, you just need to rest!"

"I-I am in your debt, Jessie. Y-you saved my life." Leaf says, shedding a tear.

"I also owe you too, Jessie, for saving my granddaughter." Professor Oak hugs Leaf who hugs back.

Jessie chuckles. "Thank you so much guys, but it wasn't just me, my Pokémon and Meowth deserve thanks too, they battled with determination and I couldn't be proud of them. Speaking of, where's Meowth and my Pokémon?"

"Nurse Joy came in earlier and took them to get healed, they will be back soon," Domino answered.

"Azurill!" Azurill happily cheers out.

Jessie realizes her mother is still kissing her cheek. "Okay Mom, that's enough!"

Miyamoto stops and starts crying. "I'm sorry sweetie, it's just… I thought I was going to lose my daughter."

"Oh… yeah, I understand, I would feel this way too, Mom." Jessie hugs her mother who hugs back.

The door is heard open and the doctor comes in, seeing Jessie is awake. "Oh Jessie, you're awake! You got something out in the hall waiting to talk to you! Lance!"

Lance soon enters the room, staring down Jessie as he speaks. "Jessie… there's something I want to talk to you about and it's not good news."

Everyone's eyes widened at what Lance just said, especially Jessie. The narrator began talking. "Jessie was able to pull through and make the finals of the Kanto League Tournament. But uh oh, it seems like Lance has some unfortunate news for Jessie. What could the terrible news be? Find out soon after the journey continues!"