Author's Note:

And here we are at the final chapter! I apologize for how long it took for me to get to posting this. I intended to get it up earlier, but my daughter got pinkeye a few days ago, which was... fun. Not. Lol.

Thank you all again for your wonderful reception to this fic! I appreciate it more than you know, believe me. :D You've made my dip into Pokemon fanfic, one that I expected to be very small and inconsequential, to be immensely rewarding and much more a part of my heart that I'd have ever anticipated. While I do have some other ideas for potential Pokemon fanfic, none are very well-defined, and at the moment I'm wanting to dedicate my spare time to a few more personal projects I've been neglecting lately. But should I ever write in this fandom again, I know I have lots of awesome, intelligent readers to look forward to. :)

Here's the last chapter. I hope you enjoy it, and thank you again for sticking with me!

…

Jessie waited in the shadows onstage, anticipation fortifying her as so little else could.

A logical part of brain knew that her life, on the whole, was in shambles. She was a fucking wreck, on a good day. And yet the past few days made it so easy to forget that unpleasant little fact.

Because at this moment, she wasn't a wreck. She was amazing. And the whole damn world knew it.

She was born to be on stage, to perform. It was the perfect pick-me-up that no doctor could dispense.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Pierre was saying from his podium, the spotlight on him for the time being, "it gives me great pleasure to announce the commencement of our freestyle performance round this evening!"

"Are ya ready?" Meowth asked Jessie, quietly yet encouragingly, Wobbuffet's and Gourgeist's expressions matching his tone.

"I was born ready," Jessie answered fiercely.

"…please give a round of applause for our first performer, Jessilee!"

The spotlight snapped to Jessie and her Pokémon, and she was ready. Blowing a kiss to the audience amidst wild applause, she proclaimed loudly, "You're my kind of audience! You all know class when you see it!"

Immediately following the spotlight falling on them, Gourgeist hovered high above them, and just as they'd practiced, Jessie flung Wobbuffet into the air, the blue Pokémon sporting an insane grin at the sensation. "Seed bomb, Gourgeist, and counter it, Wobbuffet!" Jessie instructed.

The timing was once again perfect, as Wobbuffet hit his apex just as Gourgeist let loose her attack, and the seed bomb bounced off of him in a canopy over Jessie and Meowth, much to the delight of the audience. Meowth clamored on top of Jessie and perched atop her head, but instead of throwing glitter, he instead expertly tossed out a deck of playing cards, brilliantly fanning out across the seed bomb shower.

"Leech seed staircase! And Meowth, fury swipe the cards!"

The roots of Gourgeist's leech seed began to take hold in the ground as Wobbuffet fell back down, and he glowed once more, letting the cards bounce off of him. As Jessie began to ascend her vined staircase, Meowth launched himself off of her head and, with great flair, swiped the cards as they hurtled back towards him, and just as Jessie reached the top of her staircase the cards shot out from behind her like a starburst. Gourgeist landed, catching Meowth just in time, and she and Wobbuffet held him up at the base of the staircase as Jessie posed at the top, her arms spread as wide as her grin.

The audience roared their approval, seed bombs and playing cards fluttering to the ground.

Jessie laughed with glee. "I believe I've been dealt a victorious hand!"

And for once, the world seemed to agree with her.

…

Four performances later, and the five finalists were lined up on stage, awaiting the audience's judgment. The young women who had competed after Jessie had still clearly been attempting to recover from the obstacle course when giving their freestyle performances, and even now they all looked a bit flushed and out of breath from it. Jessie, for her part, had never needed any recovery period at all and was confident in how her performance had gone, but she still worried whether the audience was blessed with good taste or not. It always seemed to be her luck that the spectators at the showcases in which she participated could never recognize an outstanding performance even when it shone so clearly right in front of them.

But, surely, they'd have to be completely blind to fail to recognize the true winner in their midst today.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Pierre announced, "it is now time to vote for tonight's performing champion! Please light your glowcasters with the corresponding color of your favorite performer to cast your vote!"

The stadium exploded with light, so much so that it was difficult to tell if one color—and thus, one performer—was being obviously favored or not. Jessie couldn't blink, focusing only on the streaks of green zoning in to the key on her lapel. From his continued perch on her shoulder, Meowth gave her a squeeze, but Jessie was so absorbed on the incoming votes that she couldn't tell if the squeeze was a comforting one or merely bracing himself for an angry, losing outburst.

"And the winner is…"

That had to have been enough votes… it HAD to…

"JESSILEE!"

It had been.

Thunderous applause drowned out Jessie's smug declaration of "Was there any doubt?" although she was shaking a bit with her smile of joy and relief. Meowth, overjoyed, hugged Jessie tightly with an ecstatic "We did it!" before jumping down to the ground to celebrate with Gourgeist and Wobbuffet, who had clasped their hands together and were jubilantly spinning around in a circle.

Pierre approached a still pleasantly shocked Jessie, Klefki hovering near him and extending the princess key. "Sincerest congratulations are in order, Mademoiselle Jessilee! This, ladies and gentlemen, is Jessliee's second princess key. Only one more will qualify her for the master class!"

Jessie eagerly snatched the key from Klefki, the thrill of victory finally overtaking the surprise. She held it in the air triumphantly, and the crowd celebrated with her.

They knew it. They had confirmed deep down what Jessie had always known.

She was amazing.

"I AM AMAZING." Jessie's boast was lost in the applause, but the applause only served to more fully drive the point home, and so she proclaimed it again, knowing that, just this once, her statement was one hundred percent true.

"I AM AMAZING!"

…

Jessie and her Pokémon had celebrated their victory on stage long enough that by the time they finally made their way backstage to change out of their stage costumes, most of the other performers had already left. One girl was sitting at the mirror meticulously removing her elaborate makeup, while in the other corner of the room Shauna was exchanging comforting words with her disappointed-looking ivysaur, but other than that they were alone.

"Looks like everyone beat a hasty retreat," Meowth remarked, as he, Wobbuffet, and Gourgeist swiftly disrobed from their bulky getups.

Jessie snorted dismissively, removing her mask. "Couldn't stand to share the presence of a winner? Their loss."

Hearing Jessie's voice, Shauna looked up from her ivysaur and pranced her way over to her opponent. "Congratulations on your win, Jessilee!" she chirped. Jessie raised an eyebrow, surprised at the girl's sincerity. "I was hoping to win, of course, but you definitely deserved it!"

"Well," Jessie remarked primly with a light chortle, "I always deserve it. Today the world just happened to agree with me, that's all."

"Spare me," Meowth muttered under his breath.

"We're even now," said Shauna eagerly. "We each just need one more key! And the master class is coming up soon. I know there's more showcases between now and then but I'm not sure where they are. I guess I'd better find out." She laughed lightly. "I fully intend to compete in the master class!" She took out a Pokéball and returned her ivysaur before looking back at Jessie with a smile. "And if I don't see you in any showcases before then, I'll see you there at the master class competition!" And with a giggle she pranced out the door.

"She's far too happy about losing," Jessie commented, a bit confused. "Of course, simply being in my presence is enough of an honor, but still…"

"Not everyone takes losin' as bad as you do, Jess," Meowth reminded her.

Jessie frowned at him, but a new presence at the entryway prevented any further chastisement. "Jessie!" James exclaimed, rushing into the room and sweeping her into a jubilant, swinging hug, Jessie too surprised to react. He pulled her close to him and kissed her affectionately. "You were amazing!"

"I am amazing," Jessie corrected him with a smirk.

"Of course." James held her at arm's length, continuing to positively beam. "You always are—but tonight your talent triumphed, tenfold! The competition never stood a chance!"

"I believe this calls for popping open that celebratory bottle of wine we weren't able to enjoy last night." Jessie gave James a sly wink.

"Aw, come on, not everything needs to have alcohol involved," Meowth muttered, wiping off his stage makeup with the back of one arm. He hoisted himself up on a chair and raised an eyebrow at his human companions. "Ain't the thrill of victory enough?"

"Of course not!" Jessie proclaimed. "I plan to bask in the glow as long as I can."

"Are you seriously suggesting to not have alcohol?" James looked at Meowth, aghast. "If ever there were a celebration that didn't warrant a congratulatory glass, then I want no part of it!"

Meowth rolled his eyes. "Humans. You're all alike. The best way to celebrate is to have other people pamper you, not knock back drinks and pass out."

"Oh, I intend to be pampered," Jessie smirked, trailing a finger up James's chest. James flushed a bit but smiled in affirmation.

Meowth sighed impatiently. "Okay, knock it off with the lovey-dovey stuff, I'm sorry I said anything. I'm just sayin' that all the celebratory activities I need are at the Pokémon lodges, and seein' as this is probably our last night at this here resort, I plan on takin' advantage of that while I can."

James nodded. "Quite understandable." He pulled his Pokéball out of his belt and released Inkay. "I'm sure you're all in agreement in that regard." Inkay zipped over to Wobbuffet and Gourgeist, who were now also out of costume, and the three of them spoke excitedly to each other, Wobbuffet and Gourgeist gesturing grandly, bolstered by their win.

"Yeah, we ain't wastin' anymore time around here!" Meowth jumped off the chair but gave Jessie and James one last smile. "See ya tomorrow, loveboids. And don't go too overboard with the drinking, I don't wanna hafta haul youse two out on a stretcher!"

James grunted glibly. "Your qualms are groundless and unwarranted," he shot at the feline as he scampered after the other three Pokémon, already halfway out the door.

"He thinks we don't know how to party responsibly? Pretty pathetic," Jessie quipped, a hand on her hip. "And yes, very much unwarranted." She directed a lidded gaze at James, snaking her hands up his chest. "We're adults… we can more than take care of ourselves."

Wrapping his arms around her lower back, James gave her a husky smile in return. "Yes indeed."

"You're going to take very good care of me tonight, hmmm?"

James let loose a short, derisive laugh, startling Jessie. "As if you need taking care of. I thought we agreed that worry was baseless."

Jessie roughly grabbed James by the shirt collar and yanked him within inches of her face. "Shut up and ravish me."

"With pleasure." Their lips met in a fierce kiss, Jessie as usual so fervent that she had James pinned to the wall in mere seconds.

For a few more moments they made no attempt to escape, lips still locked, tongues lapping, and hands frantically moving and groping. Suddenly, and with great effort, James twisted his neck and broke the kiss.

"Shouldn't we do this in our hotel room?"

"Oh. Right."

They awkwardly stumbled their way out the door and down the pathway back to the hotel, nearly tripping over their own feet in their haste.

…

"I was the best."

"Yes you were, dear."

"And everyone knows it."

"They can't ignore it."

Jessie sighed in contentment, settling down into the small deck chair. "Finally."

A gentle breeze slid in on the cold night air and rustled through Jessie's hair. She only barely took note of the rumpling it caused, steeped too deep in post-coital, wine-fueled bliss to exert her usual level of concern regarding her locks. Setting her glass down on the table situated on the balcony of their room, she grasped her two princess keys, gleaming with pride at her new addition. "Just one more of these babies gets me to where I want to be next—the master class! It's so close I can taste it!"

"That's the wine." From the corner of her eye, Jessie could see James smirk fondly with his words.

"They do taste like wine. When I win them. It's that exhilarating!"

"And I had no doubt that you would win. The competition was a bit lacking today—"

"But even so!" Jessie warned him, a dangerous gleam in her eye.

James recoiled a bit in his chair, and Jessie's anger immediately melted away. "But even so, your performance tonight would have blown them away even if they had been at the top of their game!"

"That's right." Jessie continued to smile at him, still marveling at how she had never noticed before now how beautiful he really was. And he was all hers. He was… the princess key was… the wine was…

"This is the perfect end to the perfect day," Jessie declared abruptly. "It kind of started out in the shitter but just got better and better."

"Any day with you is a good one in my book," James admitted, stretching one hand across the table to hold hers, entwining their fingers together.

"You are such a sap. And a liar," Jessie said, although she was still smiling and she could feel a flattered blush rise to her cheeks. "We're always together any day we get blasted by Pikachu."

"And imagine how much worse that would be if we weren't!"

Jessie shook her head, not even trying to fight the blush anymore. "You are so sappy. And—no, no." She quickly shook her head. "You might be a sentimental fool, but I'm not."

"You've already been far more sentimental than usual." James shrugged apologetically, still smiling at her. "Blame the wine, I suppose."

"Maybe I should have wine more often," Jessie blurted out without thinking.

"If you want to." Gathering both her hands in his, James told her sincerely, "But not for my sake. I like you either way."

Jessie laughed roughly, her face flushing with heat yet again. "Don't flatter yourself; any excess drinking I do will be just for me, myself, and I." Her words were sharp, but not enough to cut through James's heartfelt gaze. And her face still felt warm.

He was right… she was far more sentimental than usual tonight. Probably brought on by the alcohol, she reasoned. Or for once having a day where nearly everything went right.

Maybe that's why she was rarely sentimental like this… she normally had no reason to be.

Sighing wistfully, she turned and looked back off the balcony, over the blue-black ocean twinkling and shimmering in the moonlight. "I wish it could always be like this," she admitted softly.

James looked out over the ocean too, but saying nothing, the dull rumble of waves breaking on the beach below them the only sound for a few moments.

"It… it could be," he finally said, hesitantly.

Jessie looked at him, surprised.

"We could find some place like this and… and stay there. Permanently. We could quit Team Rocket. We could do things the right way for once."

Jessie smiled sadly. I'm glad he said it first, she thought to herself, even as she was shaking her head. "No. We can't."

James's eyes were wide with a hundred unspoken questions.

"We promised Meowth, remember? That us being together wouldn't change things between the three of us."

James's shoulders sagged, and Jessie instinctively squeezed his hands reassuringly. The weight of reality had never felt so crushing before now, and the physical contact was every bit as much for her comfort as it was for his.

"You're right," he admitted quietly. "Team Rocket means everything to him."

"Maybe someday." Jessie, continuing to grasp James's hands, lifted them up and set her elbows on the table, looking James straight in the eyes again. "We can't hold out forever and neither can Meowth. Someday he's going to get tired of this whole thing too and want to just settle down. And then we can have our happily ever after. We can run away, start a new life, have a nice little house with a picket fence and a big backyard for all of our Pokémon to play in and maybe even a kid or two. When all three of us are on the same page… it'll happen. We'll be ready."

"If we make it until then," James sighed. "There's a very real chance that we'll get caught and thrown in jail before then. Or we might not even… live to see that day."

"If that's the case," Jessie declared, "then even imagining that day right now will be enough for me. It's probably more than I deserve, anyway. All of this is. This day, this victory, you…" She leaned in closer to him. "Of course I want more, but no matter what happens, as long as I'm with you, I'll get by. We both will. And even if this is the best we're ever gonna get… it's more than I ever thought would happen to the likes of us." She gulped; even with the wine, she felt the usual abhorrence to letting her guard down and getting openly sentimental. But as James continued to gaze at her with love and wonder, she had no choice but to tear down her inner walls once and for all. "I… I love you. And—" Wait, of all the times she'd insisted that he tell her he loved her, had she ever actually said the words to him in return? Voicing what they both already knew was a silly, meaningless distinction, he'd implied so himself—

James grasped her hands tighter, the love in his eyes now shaking with happy tears. Jessie smiled. She should have known better. After all, the reason she kept demanding it was because there was nothing as affirming as hearing those words.

"—and having you in my life has already made it a life worth living, even with all of the mayhem and havoc," she finished. Sliding one hand out of his, she reached for her wine glass and lifted it a few inches above the table. "So… here's to someday."

James hastily grasped his wine glass and lifted it up to clink against hers, still smiling and sniffling back grateful tears. "Yes. To someday."

It was an uncertain toast, to be sure, but Jessie and James had made do on far less than that before. And for now, as this soft, intimate moment embraced them, it was more than enough.

…

The Pokémon in the lodges were largely settling down for the night, with the exception of some of the more nocturnal species. The chatter between them was still a constant white noise, although none of it was human speech. After eating his fill of some delicious gourmet fish and poultry, Meowth had retreated to a quiet, round bed near the back of the lodge, distancing himself away from any further interaction. Pokémon were lousy conversationalists anyway, he reasoned to himself while fluffing up his pillow.

Plus, he was just plain exhausted. It had been an insanely busy day—the past couple of days had been, in fact—and although he was definitely residing on cloud nine at the moment… well, cloud nine was feeling mighty soft and soporific right about now.

As he curled up on the bed, his tail already swishing slowly and dreamily back and forth, he couldn't shake the underlying melancholy feeling that he was so accustomed to, despite today being the perfect day to push it aside, if only just once. Not even the comforts of his current lodgings were enough to quell it.

Well, of course, Meowth realized, his eyes fluttering shut. I know this ain't gonna last. Tomorrow I'll be back out, a wanted criminal at large again.

Oh sure, he always said he loved his Team Rocket life, enough so that he pretty much believed it himself. But during those rare times like this… tasting success, experiencing genuine luxury and sanctuary, being treated respectfully rather than disdainfully… well, seeing how the other side lived really made it hard for him to defend his usual wretched existence.

And yet come tomorrow he knew he'd be singing his usual Team Rocket praises until kingdom come. When the only escapes from the life you'd become accustomed to only came in short snippets like this showcase weekend, you've gotta do what you've gotta do to be okay with the crummy-in-comparison normal, right?

Meowth tried to make peace with this as sleep overtook him. Truth was, part of him would actually like living a life like this. But the logical part of him knew that the cost was too great. Team Rocket was so important to Jessie and James, after all, and he knew that he couldn't leave them.

Still, though… this whole relationship upgrade of theirs might lead to one or both of them wanting to go straight and settle down. And when that day came… they'd find a way to make this work. They'd cut their steel ties to Team Rocket somehow.

Meowth smiled as the last of his gloom slipped away along with his wakefulness.

Someday.