James and Cassidy managed to regain their consciousness almost at the same time. And if their teammates happened to land deep into the forest, they were not that lucky (if this word can be relevant in such situation) and were lying about just a meter away from a high abyss.

"Mh… what happened…? Hey, are you okay…?" the girl mumbled, motionlessly lying on her stomach.

"I'm fine… Well, at least as fine as I can be with a hole in my body…" the guy replied from the behind. With their minds still being slightly blurred, they couldn't fully identify each other's voices.

"Oh, right, that shot… I'm sorry this happened to you…"

"Come on, thanking to you, I'll be alright, Jess…"

"Glad to hear this, Bob…"

"Wait, why the hell have you just called me-?.." both started together, but suddenly stopped, at the same time as well.

Weakness immediately flew away, and they abruptly sat up, staring at each other with wide-opened eyes. A long moment of tensed silence and terrifying realization filled the air.

"Heh… if he was here, he'd definitely be happy that you've said his name right…" James slightly smiled, but followed by Cassidy's both angry and confused leer, got serious again.

"He's Butch, actually," she hissed.

The guy was about to mumble something to himself but made only an unexpected hoarse moan instead. After one wrong move, the wound started pulsing again, causing the strongest pain he's ever felt. Panting, he shut his eyes and grabbed his belly.

"Pfft… no wonder Jessie couldn't even properly help her partner," Cassidy snickered.

"Hey… don't you think it's so easy… to bandage someone… especially in a rocking car…! She did her best…!" being constantly interrupted by his own gasps for air, he still intended to defend his teammate.

Strangely, but only silence was the answer. Not really because of his words, though, but mainly of the sudden thought that her archenemy and the person she cares about the most in this world being apparently stuck with each other. And this was the only time in her life when she wanted Jessie not to be a loser. He did need help. Not as much as James, but a massive bleeding was not the best scenario either.

Meanwhile, feeling the pain gradually becoming less acute and strong, after a short hesitation, the guy hadfinally decided to take the risk and start getting up. "She said something about moving the bullet… Well, this can cost me a few litters of blood and, maybe, a whole life, but I have to find Jessie and Meowth. Alright, Jim, just be careful — no abrupt moves and leading forward. This will definitely be hard, but try not to die…" Mentally talking to himself, he surprisingly quickly rose on his feet. Not saying a word, Cassidy wanted to do the same thing, but just as she tried to move her legs, an awful ache made her sag and bite her lower lip, almost causing it to bleed. On her left ankle, there was a huge purple-reddish bruise she somehow hadn't noticed before.

"Need help?" seeing her unsuccessful and desperate attempts to overcome the sufferings, he resolved on showing at least a bit of compassion, though the words still appeared to come out pretty dry. However, as he expected, her reply was not that friendly.

"I can take care of myself…!" she sputtered and slapped the hand he extended to her.

"Broken?"

"Of course, not! Don't you see that I can move it?!.."

Not willing to peril his lifeeven more, he slowly stepped away and stared ahead, waiting. He didn't even know what made him do such a thing, but for some reason, he knew he couldn't just leave her like this. She was a human, after all. Aggressive, bossy, arrogant, and bitchy, but still a human, and a girl as well. Moreover, according to her current condition, he didn't really want to have her possible death on him.

Meanwhile, Cassidy didn't have time for daydreaming. Filled with thoughts of how to reduce the pain and at least get up, she finally had her sight caught by a long branch, lying almost beside her. Without posting, she reached outfor it, stuck it into the ground, and leaned on it with all her body weight, having quietly groaned. James turned around. And with the help of her lining gaze, immediately understood that, for his own health's sake, he should just stay away right now.

"They shouldn't have landed too far from us. Don't know whether it will work or not, but dogs should have good sense of smell, right?.." Trying her best not to collapse on the ground again, she leaned on the nearest tree, and, hoping for her idea to work, put her free hand into the pocket.

"Alright, come out, Houndo-!" but instead of Sableye's, Houndour's, and Raticate's pokeballs, her fingers felt nothing but the thick cloth of her dress. Panic instantly overwhelmed her. "Come on, you must be here! I remember taking all three of you with me! You… you couldn't have fallen out by a simple danmed fall!.. That's ridiculous!"

Alas, none of her screams and pleadings brought back her pokemon. She sighed, angrily and helplessly at the same time, and unconsciously turned her head to the guy. For that short moment they met their eyes, and both could clearly see sincere worry and fear in them.

"Cacnea is gone too…" James said quietly, being all hundred percent sure that Cassidy didn't care about it at all.

"Let's… let's go… We won't get anything by lying here, whining, and complaining."

With these words roughly spoken, she leaned on her improvised cane and proudly (as proudly as her condition could allow her to) headed into the forest. However, the problems didn't end here. Orange and yellow leaves have already covered the ground in a thick layer, making it barely possible to see what's underneath them. After the girl took a couple of so-called strides, something rapidly jumped from under her feet. An offended Zigzagoon testily hissed, sleepily yawned, shook offthe leaves, stuck to its fur, and quickly disappeared in the woods. Reflexively, she recoiled and was about to irritatedly scream at the poor animal, but couldn't keep the balance and instinctively leaned back, hoping for some support. Unfortunately, these actions were followed by a traitorous crunch of the branch. Being able to only shockedly stare ahead, she soon found herself rocking near the cliff's edge, ready to take the final step. Having closed her eyes, she started falling back, but suddenly felt someone tightly holding her hands. A moment later, both James and Cassidy were already speechlessly panting, unconsciously holding each other's shoulders.

"You should… look what you step on…" his voice was relieved and strict at the same time.

"Y…yeah… Thanks…" after realizing all the awkwardness of this situation, she let go of her savior's frameand tried to stand herself.

"You okay?"

"I guess so… It's not that painful for not being able to walk," in spite of wagging from time to time, for her own great surprise, she could relatively normally stay on her feet. Smirking to herself, she raised her eyes to the guy and shuddered. "Uh… You're… bleeding even more…"

"Mh?" he glanced down and saw that the blood has already soaked through his bandages and could be seen on its upper layer. "Nah, I'm fine… Can handle this…" James waved, trying to seem strong.

"He could've died because of this…" as this sudden thought crossed her mind, goosebumps displeasingly covered blonde's skin. "Maybe… he's not that much of a weakling as I thought… And not that bad, after all…"

Meanwhile, James even too determinedly made his way to the trees they used to lie underneath. With girl's quizzical gaze locked on him, he raised one arm and slapped some branches above his head a few times. After a quiet rustle of the leaves, a plain blue backpack, similar to the ones all Team Rocket agents always received along with their uniform before the missions, fell down on the ground. Cassidy instantly realized that it was hers. With his own rather tiny and extremely light, compared to the fallen one, bag still hanging on his shoulders, the guy had already heavily signed and unwillingly clenched its upper holder, when some rushing hobbling steps were heard from behind. The next moment girl's slender fingers took an uncommonly firm grip on one of the straps, which seemed a little bit too long for a moment, even though she clearly remembered adjusting them for her height.

"Give it to me," some soft notes still could be heard in this harsh command as she pulled the backpack to herself.

"Huh? But-…"

"Listen, I'm not telling you anything about your one, carry it as long as you want to, but at least leave mine for me. I'm not dying. Moreover, you're not in the condition to lift anything too heavy," she perfectly knew how many things she had taken for their two-week operation — as any self-respecting woman would. Surprised, James has opened his mouth to protest again but was stopped by girl's index finger poking into his chest, and her rough and a little awkward: "Now, ask me at least one question, and I'm gonna punch your freaking wound."

With these words and an abrupt strong yank, she finally received her rucksack back. By inertia, both rocked but fortunately didn't fall. Satisfied, Cassidy surprisingly didn't put it on, but knelt beside it and started palping its sides in search for a zipper.

"You may be under disguise, but I have to cover the uniform with something," she explained, having felt a little cold metallic thing in her hand. "Alright, where's my-?.. No… please, just… Come on, really?!.." she already had no strength to shout and ended up helplessly groaning when instead of her favorite dark red jacket she pulled out a couple of crumpled T-shirts, obviously a few sizes bigger to fit up for her. A slightly nervous chuckle escaped her lips. "And why am so lucky today?.."

"Ah, yeah, turn around, sure," James' sudden apologetic voice brought her back to reality.

"If you haven't noticed yet, these are not my things," Cassidy said after flinching and glaring up at him, trying to stay as calm as possible. However, the next thing she heard has completely nullified all her efforts.

"Well, isn't it common to share some clothes within couples?"

"You know-…" Cassidy began but immediately stumbled, having fully realized the question. "Wait, what?! I-! W-we're not-! W-who the hell told you we were…" she made a short pause, feeling heat rushing to her cheeks and frantically trying to swallow a huge lump stuck in her throat, "…a-a couple?!"

"You are not?" sincere amusement in his voice made her flush even harder due to both anger and embarrassment.

"No, we are not! W-what on the earth gave you such thoughts?!"

"Um, you just worried about him so much in the van…"

"As if friends can't worry about each other…" the girl grumbled, but he didn't seem to care much about her comment, as his lips curved in a sly smirk.

"And, for example, the fact, that you're denying this so furiously right now."

The answer was more than hesitant. She had no desire to think of her already mixed emotions, not to mention speaking about them, especially with the one she was forced to be with at the moment. After a short moment of staring blankly and motionlessly at her hands, she finally let out a loud, long grunt, closed her eyes, and mentally counted to ten, calming her racing heart down and normalizing the uneven breathing. Any word she'll spill, even a choked whisper, will play against her in this situation. Knowing this, Cassidy zipped the rucksack back, stood up, swiftly slung it on her shoulders, and, having said simple: "Think how-ever you want," as indifferently as she only could, proudly limped into the woods, not caring about the propose of her changing the clothes she had a minute ago. James only snickered softly, walking behind her, in a safe distance of three-four meters.

The last things Butch remembered almost clearly were a tight grasp on his arm, a short fall to the trees, a bunch ofpowerful hits on all the possible branches, and finally, on the ground.It took him forabout quarter an hour to relatively regain his consciousness and try toweakly open his eyes. Due to a reflex to an already a bit forgotten bright sunlight, it didn't have much of success, though. The soft grass was unpleasantly tickling the face, making him eventually sleepily moan and rise on his elbows. This position, however, didn't last long, as agreat pain in the shoulder immediately returned, and he fell on his back again.

"Oh, finally. You know, it's already got pretty boring being here on my own," he suddenly heard from the left. Jessie was standinga few meters away from him, leaning on the tree,her arms crossed on her chest. A thin bloody line on the side of her head almost matched with the magenta hair and wasbarely visible on it. "Get up already, we have to find the others as quickly as possible," she added coldly, thoughthoughts of James' wound hasn't left her mind for a single second so far.

"Mh?.. What?.." having somehow managed to sit, rubbing his eyes, Butch was still trying to recall the recentevents.

"Let's go, goddamnit!" girl's voice slightly rose in its usual irritated manner. "We don't have all day to lie hereon the grass and enjoy the sun, Butcher!"

"To start with, I'm not Butcher!" this neverending argument returned him to reality for good and all. "And in case if you have forgotten, I'm kind of injured-!"

He was about to demonstrate his shot arm, but the moment his gaze fell on it, silenced. It was tightly and accurately bandaged under his now bloody black T-shirt and the uniform jacket, the sleeve of which was simply hanging on his shoulder. Jessie quietlyproudlychuckled, enjoying guy's confusion. After a long moment of staring at his wound, in the end, he also smirked, closed his eyes, and began getting on his feet.

"Why so kind to me?" he asked sarcastically.

"Well, no matter how hard it is for me to admit, butwe, like, owe you two for saving our lives," she replied, approaching but not giving him a hand.

"Heh… thanks," he mumbled, yet a bit unwillingly.

"Wow, the very first time in my wholelife!"

"Consider it the last one, too."

Two mocking, but for some reason also joyful smiles never left their faces. To be honest, both hated this as much as they loved it. It has already become some sort of a ritual— to exchange some offensive punchlines every time they met, saw, or even looked ateach other.

"Furthermore, I don't wanna have a complaining and whining man beside me," Jessie continued her thought, getting serious again. "Though, I should've already got used to it long ago…" the last sentence escaped fromher mouth much quieter,and despite its context, caused a tender smile with no glimmer of angertoappear on her still a bit dirty face; that smile you often have when remembering something extremely joyful.

"Who told ya I would've been whinin'?" Butch countered offendedly, and it sounded nothing like a question at all.

"You would've been, believe my words,"she rolled her eyes and chuckled as it was an obviouswell-known fact.

"We'll see about that…"

Having heard his annoyed hiss, the girl simply shrugged and let him have it his way this time. She could scoff athimand look atthis pissedoff face all day long.During those coupleof silentminutes, while Butch was shaking off the dirt and dust, and checkingly touching the bandages, her eyes were locked on him. Somehow, even thoughshe's never missed a singlechance to insult him,he hasn't made her feel even half of the disgust that Cassidy has. For a moment,a crazy, for the first sight,thought of him being not that bad ran across her mind, but she just mentally laughed at such an unjustified abruptchange of her heart.

"Hey," he unexpectedly spoke to her, "if you have one,why don't ya use a flying pokemon to search for the others?"

"I…" this definitely took her by surprise. Inside her head, she angrily yelled at herself for not having done such an obvious thing earlier. "Actually, I was just gonna do so," she murmured, trying to hide the embarrassment. However, just as she reached to her pocket to release Dustox, a slight panic came over her, getting bigger with every second. "Wait… Where could they…? Maybe in the other one…? No, no, no, I couldn't have lost them, could have I…?" having turned around and desperately searching through all the possible places where her pokeballs could haverolled into, Jessie wished with her entire heat to find at least one, at least Wobbuffet, only not to leave hereone-on-one with this guy.

"Something wrong?" again, Butch's words made her stronglyflinch. Paleness changed to an unwanted blush.

"It seems… seems that I've dropped all my pokeballs somewhere when we were falling down…"

Surprisingly, she didn't hear any mock from him. Instead, he instinctively patted his own pocket, but having felt nothing but his lightning, shuddered.

"Sweet… stuck with another nasty girland withno pokemon… Am I in some cheapmediocre adventure film with nothing but danmed cliche…?"he grumbled under his breath, then,trying to calm himself down, heavily sighedand slowly ran his hand through his messyhair. "I just hope all ofyou areokay, guys… and you too, Cassidy…"

A sudden police siren wailing interrupted their thoughts. And according to its major loudness, the distance between themwasnotbigatall.Bothstronglyshiveredand nervously gulped.

"Alright, we really have to move on."

Jessie shortly nodded and made afew steps ahead, but her compelled partner didn't move.

"You coming?"

"Yeah. Just a sec."

Abit irritatedly, she turned around, but then, with one of her eyebrows raised, only curiously stared at him. Having taken off his jacket, he began trying to turn it inside out with his uninjured arm.

"What are you doing?"

"They do know my face, but still, I don't wanna have a 'Hey there, I'm that wanted guy from Team Rocket, imprison me for all theeternity!' sign on me," Butch replied, tossing already plainclothes over his shoulders.

"I must admit, this was prettysmart…" the girl thought but didn't make a sound,except for a little indifferent snicker.

"Come on," he muttered, having tossed his backpack, which has beenlying beside him for all this time, over his good shoulder andbeing already a couple ofmeters ahead of Jessie. She silently followed.

"Damn, is it just me or it has reallybecome heavier…?! I don't remember takingthatmany things with me… Nah, probably I'm just tired. No wonder, though."

While having these thoughts,he reflexively reached out to his pocket again; a burning desire to soften the current situation with a couple of cigarettesbuilding inside him by leaps and bounds. However, as soon as he had already been about to lighten one, a strong slap landed on his hands, making him flinch and almost drop the lighter.

"Hey!" he turned to the source of his frustration.

"You're not smoking with me around," it didn't sound like she wasjoking anymore.

"Aw, ya care 'bout me? How sweet of ya. But you don't have to," Butch teased, but didn't try to smoke once again.

"You care about your health yourself. Passivesmoking will harm this beauty," the girl demonstratively waved her hair back with one hand. "I don't wanna have my lungs fullof your smoke and my body smell like cigarettes instead of perfumes."

"This hasnever bothered Cass, so you can get over with it, too."

"Don't compare her and me!"

"Well, and what if I don't listen to you?" after such daring and even a little bit too childish protest, he was praised with her evil glance and pursed lips.

"You'd better do," Jessie hissed and strongly clenched his bare forearm, almost cutting its flesh to blood with her nails. And considering that he had already felt too much pain for today, the guy grudgingly gave up and returned the lighter and a cigarette into the pocket, having defensively raisedhis arms afterwards.

"Alright, alright, I've put them back, see? Cut it out," after thishe had finally got free from her close grip.

"That's more like it…"

"Brute force, huh? No wonder those two are under her thumb…" rubbing five red and slightly tinglingmarks,he whispered under his breath, but even so, the phrase managed to reach his companion's ears, sharply turning her expression from victorious to angry and frustrated.

"Excuse me, what?!"

"You've perfectly heard me. We hadn't met often recently, but what I'd seen was quite enough.And don't even start telling me it's not true."

This time it was turn for Butch to proudly chuckle, ending their conversation, and pick up the pace, letting Jessie,confused andred-faced, have some time withher ratherconcerning thoughts of their relationship among the trio. Theywere,are, andwillbe bestfriends. They could havearguments and disagreements in some things, but even with this, they've always ended up remaining the closest ones to each other.Well, at least she wanted to believe she was not the only one thinking so. However, as she unconsciously reminded herself ofhow many of their conflicts hadstarted because of her jealousy, selfishness, and wicked ideals,goosebumps trailed down her back. An awfully sticky feeling of guiltshe has already experienced today tightly grasped onher heart.

A thought of calling Butch a henpecked himself has crossed her head a few times, but she was too busy trying to make up her mind. And in a couple of minutes,she eventually had to swallow her pride and accept, that he was somewhat right. But, of course, not a single sign of it appeared on her face, even when she caught up with him again, clenching the straps of her bag andacting as nothing important has happened.

Thanks for reading! Don't be shy and like/follow/comment the story if you liked it!

• Coming next: nine pokemon with completely different attitude are trying to persuade themselves that they're being searched.