Wild Fire

By Shari

A/N: My first Pokémon fanfic in over two years! I first penned this fic four years ago but I didn't ever finish it or post it on it remained on my PC and was eventually wiped. Then, about three weeks ago, I happened to be going through my printouts of old fanfics and found it. The writing wasn't brilliant but I still liked my plot for it so I though I'd have another go and see what I can come up with. So here we have 'Wild Fire'. Massive thanks to my sister, Sarah (aka Mizu no Senshi) who listened to my ideas and encouraged me to post Chapter One. R and R, minna!

There are days when you wake and you feel somewhat lighter in your mood. That any worries or concerns that you might have are small and insignificant. You, your family, your friends and the life that you lead are not burden free but do not grant you any misery or pain. Those are the days when you can wake up with an almost giddy smile on your face, remembering only the fondest of recollections and look forward to what the day will bring. Those are the days when getting up is not a chore but is something that you do eagerly, whether it is to see a loved one’s face or just the chance to come up against new challenges. Even your wildest dreams are at your fingertips. You feel invincible. Nothing can harm you simply because you do not have the frame of mind to be harmed. Those days are good days.

Then there are the bad days.

Those are the days when you wake up with a frown upon your face and a sinking feeling in your heart. You do not feel ready to face the morning and curl further under the duvet, listening enviously to the hustle and bustle of those around you, seemingly so trouble free and you hate them for it. You hate them for having the courage to face the day when your world is crumbling around you. You have a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach; a combination of anger and your own self-loathing, coupled with fear.

Fear was a cruel emotion. It gnawed away inside of you, latching onto every doubt, every concern that you might have and twisted it into something far greater. When you were small it had the power to turn furniture into monsters as soon as the lights went out at night. When you were approaching your teens it took the form of first crushes and puberty. When you reached your late teens it would assume the form of parents, pressurising you into college or to get a job that you hated. Whatever insecurities you had, fear was sure to find them. It was a callous creature and one that no human could ever escape from. Fear lived inside your head and, unless you were devoid of any feeling, there was no escape from it.

For Cassidy, the present number of bad days had out numbered the good days for at least six months now. The fear had taken up permanent residency in her heart; not that she would ever admit this to anyone. She awoke with her stomach tied up painfully into knots. She would listen enviously to the sound of her partner moving about in the bathroom, some mornings humming to himself as he finished his shower before getting dressed and leaving the room they shared to go outside for his first cigarette of the day. She hated the fact that he could remain so calm, so strong when all she felt like doing was curling up in her bed all day wishing that the ground would simply open her up and swallow her whole. Yes, this was definitely a bad day.

As she, cautiously, opened her eyes and gingerly pulled down the duvet in order to peer over the top of it, she was relieved to find that Butch had already left for his first nicotine hit of the day. This was good. Her head was pounding and the music that the Rockets in the room next to her had been playing until the small hours hadn’t helped one bit. Of course Butch hadn’t heard them. Why should he? Butch could sleep through a hurricane and had, once, when they were little. In fact, last night, Cassidy distinctly recalled him adding to the noise pollution by rolling onto his back and starting to snore. She wrinkled her nose in disgust and debated simply staying in bed for the morning feigning illness. Cassidy hated the Rocket HQ in Viridian City. Ever since the gym fiasco they had been forced to use the HQ hidden deep under the basement. A basement that had managed to stay undetected for nearly two years now merely underlining the ineffectiveness of the local police force. It was a small wonder that Team Rocket hadn’t managed to take over the whole of the Kanto region by now, she mused to herself during her reflective moments. The Rocket Empire was most certainly big enough by now. Then why hadn’t they? Cassidy couldn’t claim to know much about the politics or, indeed, the brains behind the organisation. Not that she was stupid or uninterested, but simply because she just didn’t have the nerve to question Giovanni’s decisions. He was the undisputed leader and knew what was best.

Groggily, as her head was already beginning to hurt, a warning that one of her migraines that she had been having more and more as of late was coming on, Cassidy forced herself to sit up. The migraines were caused by stress and she certainly had a lot to be stressed about at the moment, she thought ruefully to herself.

It was funny how quickly the mighty could fall.

It had started with one mistake; just one and one that Giovanni had been gracious enough to overlook if not forgive. It had started with that breeding centre. A pure genius of a scheme, which had prayed upon the vanity and gullibility of Pokémon trainers in the Kanto region. It was so simple and so effective that, for weeks it had worked. Trainers would bring in their Pokémon for treatment and then all Butch and Cassidy had to do was ship them out to the Boss; only the rare ones of course. Common Pokémon were locked in cages out the back of the centre. The trainers whose Pokémon went missing merely believed the line Cassidy had spun them about true beauty taking time and effort. This was, in actual fact, to some extent true, but Cassidy only believed this in humans and not Pokémon.

Then they had to come in and unmask them. They being three children, the oldest probably only being fourteen or fifteen. It was pathetic. The best two agents that Team Rocket had since Miyamoto and they had been bested by a couple of kids.

When Giovanni had come down to the police station to bail them out, it had been the single worst moment in Cassidy’s life. She had never felt so sick inside. Her stomach tied itself up into painful knots and she had been unable to even bring herself to utter an apology as Giovanni handed over a very large sum of money in return for their release pending trial. Not surprisingly, three days later, all charges against them were dropped. Giovanni had friends in high places as the respected leader of the Viridian Gym.

Giovanni hadn’t even shouted at them for their mistake. He had remained silent on the matter, which was strangely worse as this only showed his disappointment in them. Other teams were often caught and thrown in jail for thieving but not Butch and Cassidy. They were the best. Were the best. Now they were nothing. That one incident alone had marred their flawless record and none of the other Rockets let them forget it.

The first day back had been the hardest. Cassidy had kept what remained of her dignity by stoically ignoring the whispers, the taunts and even the outright abuse that she received from her own side. All of them had been in jail at some point but for Butch and Cassidy it was different. Cassidy knew all too well from her teenage years of looking up to rock idols and the like just how it felt when the person whom you held a great respect for did something to remind you that they were human after all. Butch and Cassidy, among their own team, were somehow put up on a pedestal long ago, only second to Giovanni himself, and thus the fall from grace was even harder.

It had been one mistake that she was not allowed to forget for a long time.

Getting out of bed, Cassidy grumbled her way to the bathroom, locking the door behind her and pulling off her nightgown before stepping into the show cubicle. The water was warm; a rarity seeing as how many other Rockets there were using this base. Back in their heyday, Butch and Cassidy had been given a room each and a separate heating system. Those were the days, Cassidy thought ruefully, suddenly feeling that same rush of hatred towards her teammates, her Boss, the police and all those who had contributed to her downfall within the Rocket Empire. She hated her teammates for placing her on that pedestal and then, when she made one mistake, were ready to turn on her and hate her for merely being human. She hated Giovanni for his silence, for his punishments and his desertion. She hated the police for their hand in their arrest those three times and more so she hated those trainer twerps for foiling her brilliant schemes.

Four times she had watched victory slide out of her grasp at the hands of those children. Those fools who appeared to survive on nothing but dumb luck alone. Cassidy was even starting to think that there was an element of truth in Jessie and James’s excuses for their every failure. It would seem that the brat with the Pikachu was always following them around and discovering their schemes and putting a stop to them. Cassidy had never thought Jessie stupid but she was petty. Why else would she side with the brat on two occasions rather than stand with her own teammates? She hated Cassidy and the feel was more than mutual but they should have cast that hatred aside for the good of Team Rocket. Then again Cassidy could never see herself fighting on the same side with Jessie either.

It was almost laughable. The great Miyamoto’s daughter being beaten by a ten year old with a Pikachu. Yet Cassidy could almost feel some respect at her rival’s dedication to catching the rat and beating that kid once and for all.

After all, who in Team Rocket didn’t seek to destroy their enemy? What else aside from that and fame and fortune did they seek?

Fame and fortune… Cassidy frowned. Why else would she and Butch have accepted the Lugia mission?

It had been Giovanni’s way of granting them again with a second chance. After two weeks in jail in Goldenrod City and a further humiliating return to the Rocket HQ, Cassidy was so desperate to make amends that she would have done anything that Giovanni had asked of her. Hence working with Professor Nanba.

Professor Nanba was a genius and, like all geniuses, he was completely insane. He could calculate how it would take to get to the Moon and back in a Moonstone powered spaceship in less than five seconds but anything remotely logical and straightforward as capturing a rare Pokémon was completely beyond him. Thus Butch and Cassidy were assigned to assist him in the capture of the Lugia and its child.

Lugia, when it came to rare Pokémon, was as rare as they came and what better way to restore their former glory days than to be the first team to capture the almost mythical beast.

It was tacky. The whole damned operation was tacky and badly planned. Butch and Cassidy would front the expedition, with Professor Nanba giving them orders – although most of the orders he gave them consisted of what he would like for lunch! He truly was a detestable man and Cassidy had loathed working with him. Still, he was the best in his field and that was why Giovanni had hired him. Unlike Giovanni, however, Professor Nanba hated Pokémon. As far as he was concerned they should serve him and all of mankind. Giovanni, despite his reputation, was a very good trainer and merely used Pokémon to further his financial gains. Giovanni was somewhat of a realist in his ideals and business operations. He knew that, in order to complete your objectives and get what you wanted, that sometimes Pokémon and people could get hurt, even killed. Giovanni was cold hearted and ruthless but he was level headed at least. Professor Nanba was none of these things and appeared to survive on nothing but his burning hatred for Pokémon. Cassidy felt uneasy working with such a man. Professor Nanba was walking time bomb and, when the mission failed, he had been furious.

It had failed for a number of reasons. One being that Butch and Cassidy had absolutely no back up aside from Rocket Grunts who were about as useful as a Charizard in a forest fire. Two being that their efforts were hampered by the interference of their own teammates. Jessie and James were hell-bent on stealing the Lugia from under their noses and delivering it to the Boss, despite the fact that, when Professor Nanba had finished his Pokémon rage experiments, that was exactly what Butch and Cassidy planned to do anyway! Three being the appearance of the twerp trio plus some friends that they had made along the way.

Of course, Cassidy had known better than to blame a ten year old kid and a Pikachu for their failures and had merely stated that the plan had been flawed from the beginning and that she would never ever work with Professor Nanba again. Giovanni had believed them. After all, Butch and Cassidy hadn’t been the only Rockets present this time and Professor Nanba had been leading the expedition not them.

With the other Rockets, however, things were quite different. It wasn’t before long that the rumours were flying again how Butch and Cassidy had once more failed the team. Only a few Rockets knew of Professor Nanba so, once again, their position as the best was questioned. The stupid thing was that they still were the best agents. Four failed missions were nothing compared to most teams’ but because they were the best, the fall out was harder.

Sighing, Cassidy turned off the shower and wrung her hair out before reaching for a clean towel. There were some advantages to living in the HQ rather than being out on the field, she mused to herself and one of which was that she could always guarantee that there would be clean towels in the bathroom. Rarely had Cassidy had to rough it out like most teams, but the times when she had had been almost unbearable to say the least.

Getting herself dry she then set about drying and styling her hair and had just about finished when Butch came back from his nicotine break.

Unlike Cassidy, Butch had not been born into Team Rocket; it was a path that he had chosen himself. Cassidy had never questioned it. She had heard other Rockets talking and their stories were all the same. All who had joined Team Rocket voluntarily had come from broken homes. They had no family to speak of and merely joined because they felt as though the world had failed them. Giovanni offered them a job, a home and payback against all who had wronged them. Cassidy supposed it must be the same for Butch, which was why he didn’t chose to talk about it and she wouldn’t ask.

Her own background, being a so-called ‘Rocket Baby’ was similar to that of Jessie’s and Domino’s. She had been born into Team Rocket. It was almost an inheritance from her mother, although she could have left if she so desired, Cassidy didn’t and stayed.

Cassidy had officially met Butch when they had been paired together at training. At first she hadn’t thought much of him at all. He was confident, and did tend to throw his weight around where he could get away with it. But, when he felt so inclined, he could be gentle. He was a curious combination of personalities all thrown into one. Cassidy could sum him up best by saying that if he liked you he was loyal through and through but if he didn’t then you might as well just forget any chance of him every liking you or even making time for you.

Cassidy wouldn’t describe him as a sensitive guy. Butch wasn’t the type to, when she was suffering from PMS, to get her a hot water bottle and try to make her feel better, but he wasn’t the type to shout at her and tell her to stop complaining and get a move on either. If Cassidy was upset about something, and there were few things that really got through to her bad enough that she allowed Butch to see, he would always know but would never out rightly mention anything. The occasional smile and considerate act such as reporting to Giovanni alone so that she could sit quietly, or setting aside a packet of aspirin for her migraines was all that he would do and all he needed to. Butch was a great guy but seldom showed it to anyone else but her.

They could be described as best friends, although Cassidy would never use that term herself. She and Butch maintained a strict platonic working relationship and nothing more. She didn’t even spend time with him when they were given days off. Cassidy would go and see some of her female friends in the black squad and Butch… well she wasn’t really sure, as they didn’t really talk much at all really. It was a curious relationship and Cassidy could say that she wasn’t that comfortable with it, especially when she saw how close other teams had gotten, in particular teams who had been together for as long as they had. Still, her duty as a member of Team Rocket came first and Cassidy and Butch both believed that such closeness harmed a team’s ability to complete missions as effectively as they would sometimes like to. To even think of her partner as anything more than her teammate would not help to further her career so she didn’t. It was as simple as that… or at least Cassidy liked to think so.

“You took your time” she commented as he set his lighter down on the desk and started to leaf through some papers.

“I was talking to some of the other guys in our unit” Butch replied, not even turning around when he spoke to her, but this was normal between them and Cassidy proceeded to make her bed as she waited for Butch to continue.

“Apparently the Boss is recalling a lot of teams from Johto in the next few days or so.”

“Recalling teams? Why?”

Butch shrugged, “Lack of success in the region would be my best bet.”

Cassidy flinched slightly at this, thinking of their own failures in Johto. “I suppose he’ll tell us more at the briefing later on this morning?” she commented.

“I suppose so” Butch finished shuffling papers and looked up, as though sensing the small amount of concern in her voice as she mentioned their briefing. Cassidy was sure that Giovanni was going to give them a horrible next assignment in order to punish them for the Lugia disaster. Cassidy wouldn’t honestly blame him if he did. She had the rare Pokémon within her grasp and she had allowed it to escape. It was unforgivable.

“What are you looking for?” she asked softly as she perched on the end of her bed, her eyes following Butch as he continued to search the desk.

“The mission papers. The Boss said that we were to bring them when we returned. I guess he wants them destroyed.”

Cassidy sighed and twirled a loose piece of orange hair around her forefinger. “Did you try the drawers?”

“I did” Butch confirmed, “But I suppose it won’t matter. We can just assure him that we will have them destroyed ourselves.”

“Whatever” Cassidy winced at the harder tone that had entered her voice, but, if the truth were known, she wasn’t looking forward to this briefing with Giovanni one bit. A familiar wave of nausea threatened to overtake her and Cassidy stood up.

“He doesn’t want us until 11.00, right?”

Butch nodded.

“Well then I’m going to go for a walk. Being cooped up in this little room is starting to give me a migraine.”

“Another one?” there was a hint of concern in his voice as he said this, but Cassidy dismissed this in an instant.

“I didn’t sleep well, that is all. I’ll see you later.”

“Cass--” Butch started but Cassidy ignored him and stepped out into the corridor. There were few teams about which was good. She just wanted to go somewhere quiet for a while and reflect. Her migraine was starting to come on stronger again and the last thing she felt like doing was socialising.

Meowth chuckled to himself as James flinched at the furious tone in Jessie’s voice and as he once again consulted the rather crumpled map in his hand, peering at it hopefully for a few seconds before his face became dejected again. “We’re not lost, Jessie” James started, “We’ve just got a little turned around, that is all.”

“A little turned around?” Jessie all but shrieked at him, “We are miles off course, James. I thought you said you could navigate?”

“I can, but not at night” he whined.

Meowth grinned and waited. There it was. Seconds later Jessie had produced one of her paper fans and had smacked James over the head with it before grabbing the map and studying it herself.

The pair’s relationship was, if anything, turbulent, Meowth mused and he again looked over the side of the balloon at the vast expanse of ocean beneath him lit up by the light of the Moon reflecting on the water. Travelling across sea made him uneasy to say the least, but seeing as they didn’t have the funds for another submarine, this was the quickest and cheapest way of getting from Johto back to Kanto.

The decision to leave had not been theirs to make. Giovanni had issued the order that he wanted all teams to withdraw from Johto immediately. Meowth couldn’t say that this upset him in the slightest. In fact he was even relieved that they could, at last, come off the Pikachu mission without danger of losing face.

Jessie and James, however, felt differently. They were still convinced that, one-day, they would beat Ash and capture Pikachu. Meowth had seriously doubted this for almost a year but Jessie and James were his closest friends and he had stayed with them. They had been through so much since that Pokémon Centre heist in Viridian City and had been electrocuted so many times that Meowth’s fur was beginning to permanently have static in it. And it wasn’t just Pikachu. Every other Pokémon that was in some way connected with the twerp would attack them. He just didn’t give them a break. Even when they were retreating he would send Pokémon after them! Now that was all over and Meowth couldn’t be happier. Perhaps this would mean that they could start succeeding again. Their position in Team Rocket had always been debateable and now they were a joke to other teams as well but now their fortunes had changed. Meowth was certainly looking for a chance to get back into Giovanni’s favour again and, more importantly, oust that infuriating Persian at the same time. The idea of Giovanni banishing the rival feline to a Pokéball brought a smile to Meowth’s face.

“And what are you grinning at?” Jessie demanded and his good humour quickly faded when he saw the dangerous glint in her eyes.

“Nothing, Jessie, just thinking about how good it will be to get back to the HQ, that’s all.”

“Well” she answered to this, “Seeing as you are so keen, you can get up top and scout ahead for us seeing as this map is completely useless.”

“What?” Meowth started to protest, “Jessie, wait…” but she ignored him and grabbed him around the neck before hurling him upwards to the top of the balloon.

Meowth, never being one for liking heights despite being a cat, let out a terrified screech as he hit the top of the balloon and started falling down the side. Yelling, he dug a clawed paw into the cloth in order to gain a grip and save himself.

As he did so, he felt a tearing noise and looked down. His claws had cut through the balloon.

That was an understatement and Meowth laughed nervously as the rush of air that escaped through the hole hit him. Screeching again, he clung on for dear life as the balloon started to spin and then took off at an amazing speed. He could also hear Jessie and James screaming and saw them clinging to the sides of the basket in fear as they spun through the air whilst all the while getting lower and lower in the sky.

Meowth shut his eyes and held on even tighter but despite this he could feel himself losing his grip. Then suddenly the balloon came to an abrupt halt. The basket struck solid ground and sent the two humans sprawling out into the forest floor. Meowth, too, flew forward at the jolt of the impact and rolled twice before coming to a stop near James’s head.

“Well, that was fun” the purple haired man groaned sarcastically.

“Meowth you idiot!” obviously the crash landing hadn’t affected Jessie’s lungs, “Look what you did.”

The cat Pokémon scowled and sat up, rubbing at his charm on his head as he did so, “I found us land didn’t I?”

“Shut up” Jessie scowled and sat up, peering around in the dark to try and see where they were.

Meowth sniggered at this; being a cat, he could see almost perfectly.

James, wisely, was keeping out of their exchange and had started gathering up their supplies from the balloon.

“We’ll have to walk it from here, Jess” he said nervously after a few minutes silence.

Jessie pursed her lips in a pout but then thought better of shouting at him again and sighed as she slung her backpack over her shoulder.

Encouraged, James continued by suggesting that they find a suitable place to camp out for the night and continue their journey in the daylight. Meowth could see sense in this. If they started walking around at night then they would only serve to get lost further and, besides, he was tired and didn’t fancy directing those two for the entire night.

Yawning, the cat Pokémon jumped up onto James’s shoulders to hitch a ride. James gave him a half smile and started to, uncharacteristically, lead the way. Meowth held onto his friend tightly and yet making sure that his claws didn’t dig into James’s back. From the beginning he had always gotten along with James best. James was gentle and patient with Meowth and had taken time to get to know the cat Pokémon and, when he needed it, offered him comfort.

It had taken Meowth longer to befriend Jessie properly. He always supposed it was because they both were somewhat of a short fuse. They used to argue a lot in the beginning and still did. But Jessie was also very kind hearted, deep down, and had looked out for both Meowth and James over the years and had been fiercely loyal to her teammates no matter what, putting them always before herself.

Meowth didn’t know what he would do without either of them.

“This looks like a good place to set up camp” James declared at last, drawing Meowth from his thoughts.

“Thank goodness” he said in relief as he jumped down off of James’s shoulders, “I’m exhausted.”

“You’re exhausted?” James pouted as he set his bag down, “I had to carry you all the way!”

“Pipe down the pair of you” Jessie grumbled, “I have a headache.”

Then, turning her back on them, she proceeded to unwrap her sleeping bag.

“Meowth, why don’t you go and find some firewood?” James suggested quietly.

Meowth knew the underlying meaning to this too well and nodded, but the idea of going deeper into the woods alone made him a little uneasy. Houndour roamed the woods at night and they were more than a match for a Meowth.

James guessed his thoughts and unclipped the Pokéball containing Weezing from his belt. “If you get into any trouble, Weezing will protect you.”

Meowth smiled and took the Pokéball. He might complain about Jessie and James a lot but they were the best friends he could ever have.

Without speaking, Meowth turned away, keeping up the pretence of leaving and, when James turned his back, the cat Pokémon ducked behind a tree and continued to watch his two friends.

James, wordlessly, placed his sleeping bag out beside Jessie’s and then placed a hand on her shoulder in a gesture of comfort. Jessie smiled and, encouraged, James drew her into an embrace.

They stayed like this for a few minutes and then Jessie pulled away. Her irate expression had melted into a shy smile and she leaned forward to meet James’s lips in a gentle kiss. Meowth mentally gagged and looked away at this.

Although they had tried to hide it from him, Jessie and James had got their acts together and finally told each other how they felt. It had been obvious from the day that they had been first paired together, that they were made for each other but they had both been too stubborn to see it until now. Meowth was glad for them and could understand why they felt that they had to keep their relationship a secret. In Team Rocket, the Boss frowned upon such relationships among team members and, as they weren’t exactly his favourite team to start with, it would be better to keep it that way for now.

Grabbing up some twigs that had fallen onto the forest floor, Meowth made as much noise as he could on his way back to his friends.

As he expected, they had parted by the time he reached their campsite again. James thanked him and proceeded to try to light a fire whilst Jessie berated Meowth for making so much noise!

“You don’t know what Pokémon could be about” she huffed, “Do you really want to get us into more trouble?”

Meowth bit his tongue and sat down by the newly lit fire and rummaged through their supplies for something to eat but there was nothing. Sighing, he curled up at James’s feet and started to purr when his friend reached out and petted him behind the ears.

It was strange but, despite having no food and the very real possibility that when they got back to Viridian City they were going to be screamed at by the Boss for failing him yet again, there was no place Meowth would rather be at that moment.

Meowth woke with a start the next morning. He opened his eyes and looked wildly around for the source of the commotion and saw that Jessie had James by the shirt and was shaking him with one hand whilst pointing to a sign that they were standing next to with the other.

“James, you idiot”

Meowth grinned, wondering if now would be a good time to bring up the fact that he had seen the two of them playing kissy-face in the forest last night. Hmm… judging from Jessie’s expression obviously not.

Wondering what on Earth she was so angry about, Meowth stretched and then padded over to them, whilst thinking how no one would believe that last night had happened at all.

“What is it?” he grumbled.

“Look” Jessie gestured to the sign. It read ‘Viridian City: Three miles’ and there was an arrow pointing straight ahead.

Meowth groaned, “I don’t believe this.”

It was definitely going to be one of those days.