A cold wind rustles through the crevaces of Mt. Moon. Normally, the wind carries scent of predators to the Pokémon living peacefully there.
     Lucky for one certain Pokémon trainer, whom is currently stalking down a rare Clefairy, the wind’s blowing in her face rather than on her back.
     ‘My hundredth Pokémon, a Clefairy,’ this trainer thinks to herself, tugging at her concealing black trenchcoat. ‘I can’t mess this up. It took me forever just to find this one.’
     <Don’t worry yourself so, Faris,> a male voice sounds in her mind. <Move silently and swiftly, and you shall surely attain your goal.>
     The trainer smiles over at the source of the voice—her most powerful Pokémon, a Kadabra.  ‘Thanks, Batts.’
     <Now, are you going to make a move? If you wait too long, the Clefairy will notice your presence and run off,> Batts the Kadabra reminds her.
     ‘Yeah, yeah, I know . . . Batts, teleport to its other side,’ she orders. ‘Then we’ll attack.’
     <Yes.> Batts disappears in a shimmer of light, then reappears upwind from the Clefairy.
     “Cle?” The Clefairy blinks and stares over at where Batts had been, noticing the shimmer of light. “Clefairy?”
     It’s about then it notices the sudden scent of a Kadabra. “Clefairy!!!” it shrieks, jumping up in surprise from the sudden unknown scent.
     ‘Batts! Confusion attack!!’ the trainer orders, still hidden downwind from the Clefairy.
     Batts rises from his position. “...” he states clearly before sending a wave of psychic energy hurling towards the frightened Clefairy.
     “CLEEEEE......” it whines, falling over from the assault. Its eyes spiral in a very cute manner, signalling to both Pokémon and trainer that yes, it is indeed confused.
     The trainer stands. “All right, Batts! Psywave it over to me!”
     Batts nods, then concentrates. A surge of psychedelic mental energy forms at the star on his forehead, then sweeps forth in the form of reality-twisting waves. The Clefairy shrieks in pain as the waves overcome it, and falls several meters down the mountain to the trainer’s feet.
     “Cleeeee...” the Clefairy whimpers. The trainer shakes her head, then takes off her backpack and extracts a red and white ball—the customary Pokéball all Pokémon trainers use to capture wild Pokémon—then presses it to the Clefairy’s forehead. The Pokéball opens up and envelopes it in a red forcefield. The Clefairy succumbs to the forcefield, sucked into the Pokéball, and the Pokéball snaps shut. The ball wiggles once...twice...thrice...then lies still.
     <Congratulations, Faris,> Batts messages upon teleporting to her side. <You caught a Clefairy.>
     The trainer smiles, runs a hand through her silky lavender bangs, then yawns and stretches.  “About time, too,” she says, picking up the Pokéball. She winks one ruby eye at her companion Pokémon as she rummages through her backpack, searching for a potion. “That entire ordeal of trying to find one in the first place was a huge pain.”
     Batts chuckles mentally, closing his eyes. <Now that it’s over, what are you going to do?>
     She takes out a flask containing a potion, then presses the button on the Pokéball. Her recently acquired Clefairy pops out, still woozy from the attacks. “Cle...”
     “Heal my new Clefairy,” she informs him before spraying the contents of the flask on Clefairy’s wounds. A few moments after she does so, Clefairy’s eyes pop open with revived energy. “Cle?” it utters. It sees Batts, then shrieks, “CLE, CLE, CLEFAIRY!!!!!!!!” It then jumps into the trainer’s arms and buries its head in her trenchcoat.
     Batts bows. <I apologize deeply for my downright antisocial behavior before, Clefairy-san,> he tells it. <I am this Pokémon trainer’s servant, and I was merely following her orders. Now that she has captured you, she ensures your safety from myself.>
     “Cle?” Clefairy whimpers, staring up at the trainer with teared-up eyes.
     “That’s right, Clefairy,” she smiles. “Batts, my Kadabra, doesn’t attack anyone unless I tell him too. You don’t have to worry about him anymore, and you don’t have to worry about yourself anymore either. I’ll take care of you.”
     “Cle, clefairy...?”
     “Yes, really! I promise you!” She hugs it close. “You’re my hundredth Pokémon. That makes you special.”
     Clefairy mulls over this a bit. “Cle, clefairy...” It brightens, then nods and hugs her back. “Clefairy! Cle clefairy cle clef!”
     The trainer smiles and nods. “I’m glad,” she replies. “Would you like a nickname?”
     “Cle...?” Clefairy says, tilting its head slightly to the side.
     “Yes. A nickname is what I call you instead of ‘Clefairy’. I personally think it gives Pokémon a sense of individuality; instead of just being another Pokémon, they’re someone special because they have their own name.”
     “Cle!” Clefairy cheers. “Clefairy cle! Cle, fairy clef?”
     “Hmmm...” the trainer mutters, tapping her cheek with a finger. “Well, you’re cute and pink and a relatively small female, so how about... Chibiusa-chan? Or Usa-chan, for short?”
     “Fairy! Cle, clefairy cle? Clefairy fair cle!”
     She smiles. “Usa-chan it is, then. Usa-chan, return.”
     “Cle!” Usa-chan smiles before being enveloped in the bright red forcefield of the Pokéball and returning into it.
She sighs, stands, and smiles. “I’m glad that could be resolved,” she says as she places Usa-chan next to her also recently acquired Geodude (which she nicknamed Takeshi).
     <You’re about to receive a call,> Batts tells her from out of nowhere.
     “Huh?” she utters just as a muffled ringing sounds from underneath her trenchcoat. “Who’d be able to call me while I’m all the way up here...?” she mutters to herself as she opens her trenchcoat (revealing a white top with a red “R” on it), retrieves a PHS hidden in an inside pocket, then presses the “TALK” button and holds the PHS to her ear. “Sami Hill here,” she frowns. “Who’s this?”
     –Sami, this is the Boss,– a harsh, echoing voice sounds over the PHS (due to the fact that Giovanni prefers to mask his voice through distortion).
     “Oh, hi,” she replies coolly. “I caught my hundredth Pokémon just now, so I think I’m ready to go out on some missions. Is that what you’re calling me about?”
     –Precisely. I’m pairing you up with the newest member, Starr Evans. She’s shown great potential as a member of Team Rocket, and I personally think you two would work well together. She’s waiting for you now, so return to Viridian City immediately.–
     “Gotcha,” she replies. “I’ll be returning ASAP. Sami Hill, over and out.” With that, she clicks on the TALK button once again to shut off the PHS, then replaces it in her coat. “Guess what, Batts!”
     <You’ve got a new partner, I know, named Starr Evans,> Batts guesses. <I heard.>
     The Pokémon trainer known as Sami Hill grimaces. “Sometimes I wish you wouldn’t listen in on my conversations.”
     <You would have told me about it anyway,> he points out.
     Sami shrugs. ‘I guess so,’ she replies mentally, shaking a finger. She winks and smiles at him.  ‘After all, with the psychic link we share, actual speech isn’t necessary, is it? We can simply speak directly thought-to-thought—’ she grins wickedly, ‘—as many an unfortunate Pokémon trainer have found out first-hand.’
     Batts chuckles mentally. <They don’t quite seem to grasp the concept that, if one can speak directly to one’s Pokémon via the mind, spoken commands are unnecessary. That’s certainly lucky for you, isn’t it? Especially since unspoken orders can be processed far more swiftly than spoken orders.>
     ‘Mmmm, quite,’ Sami smiles, running a hand through her lavender bangs. She places her hands underneath the portion of her hair which is hugging her neck, then pulls it out from under her clothing—revealing that her supposed short cut had really been back-length hair hidden underneath her trenchcoat and uniform. She fluffs it a little, letting it sway in the cool mountain breeze. ‘The really cute part is when they accuse me of cheating, and then I beat them, AGAIN, that time with spoken commands.’ Her grin returns. “It’s just too funny!” She turns her attention to the downwards slope of the mountain, dropping the current subject like a candy wrapper. “Kuso. I don’t feel like climbing all the way down again.” She sighs. “Batts, would you please teleport us to the base of the mountain? We can walk back to Viridian City from there.”
     <Viridian City is quite a ways away from here,> Batts points out. <It would be far more convenient to simply teleport all the way there.>
     “This is true, Batts, but you remember that Pokémon Center at the base of Mt. Moon where that idiot trainer stole my stones?” she reminds him.
     <Yes. The trainer stole your evolution stones while you were out looking at the injured Pokémon. We returned while he was taking some of your Pokéballs as well.> He shakes his head. <The commotion afterwards caused us to flee the scene with the Pokéballs, but without your stones.>
     “That’s right!” Sami snaps, clenching her hand into a Mighty Fist of Justice®. “I won’t forgive that guy! I intend to return and get my evolution stones back!”
     <By now, he has probably run away and sold them.>
     Sami winks and waggles a finger. “In that case, we’ll have find him and ever-so-politely request he graciously give us the income he received on our stones, yes? It’s only fair! They’re our stones, so it’s our money! And if he’s rude and doesn’t give us what’s rightfully ours—well then, we’ll have to give him a reason to believe in the unsavory reputation dear little Team Rocket has, right? That’s why I only want to go to the base of Mt. Moon: so we can find Mr. Idiot Trainer and pay him a nice little visit!”
     He shakes his head, smiling. <You’re so violent.>
     She grins. “Only to humans, Batts. You know that.”
     <That’s right. You don’t like the other members of your species, which Giovanni knows. Which causes me to wonder why he bothered pairing you up with anyone.>
     “I wonder too,” Sami replies. “He said he thought the two of us would work well together. That alone makes me want to meet this girl! Now, on to that Pokémon Center, if you will, please, Batts?”
     <Of course, Faris,> Batts chuckles before the two of them are enveloped in a shimmer of light, then disappear.
 

     “Heh heh heh heh,” a lone trainer chuckles to himself not too far away from the Pokémon Center located at the base of Mt. Moon. “What a haul!” (This particular trainer, nicknamed ‘Mr. Idiot Trainer’ by one Sami Hill, is referring to his latest Pokémon raid from the nearby Pokémon Center. This Team Rocket member wannabe has spent the last few months hanging out near it, stealing anything Pokémon-related which he deems valuable.) “Five Beedrils, two Raichus, an Oddish, a Scyther, an Eevee, and a Leaf Stone! I haven’t gotten this good since that one stupid trainer chick left all her evolution stones alone in her room!”
 

     <I remember his brainwave pattern,> Batts says once he and Sami appear outside the Pokémon Center. <I can sense it two hundred and fifty-seven yards south-south-west from here.> He pauses. <He seems to be happy.>
     “He won’t be for long,” Sami replies cheerfully, heading off in the direction of south-south-west. “That guy’s gonna find out the hard way what it means to mess with Team Rocket.”
     (In the very far distance, if one really cared what was going on in the very far distance, one would be able to see three figures soaring through the air without wings and screaming, “Looks like Team Rocket’s blasting off again!!!”)
 

     Mr. Idiot Trainer, as we’ll call him since his real name isn’t that important, cheerfully whistles to himself as he pulls out the other bags of loot he’d collected from the Pokémon Center during the last few months. “Lesse, time to count up everything again...” he mutters, smiling. “Hah hah hah hah! Lookit all these evolution stones! I still can’t get over it!” he laughs as he dumps out a pile of evolution stones which include a Leaf Stone, a Fire Stone, three Water Stones, two Thunder Stones, and one Moon Stone. He adds the second Leaf Stone to the pile of evolution stones, then pulls out the Pokéballs he’d collected.
     He adds the five Beedrils to a pile of three Beedrils, the two Raichus to a pile of two Raichus, adds the Oddish to a pile of four Oddishes, places the Eevee in the Eevee pile of one, and sets up a new pile for the Scyther. Then he counts out three Grimers, two Glooms, an Electabuzz, a Clefairy, three Charmanders, three Charmeleons, one Charizard, six Pidgeys, two Pidgeots, ten Rattatas, six Butterfrees, and one Porygon. (The Porygon, Electabuzz, Clefairy, and now Scyther are the gems of his collection, being that they’re so rare. Even Mr. Idiot Trainer knows that.)
     “Hi there! Whatcha dooin’?” a girlish, cheerful voice sounds behind him, strongly reminiscent of Kiryuu Nanami when she’s being all sugary-sweet. “Ooooh! Look at all the pwetty evolution stones and Pokéballs! Say, mister, where’dja get all those pretty stones and balls?”
     “I stole ‘em from the Pokémon Center near here,” Mr. Idiot Trainer snaps without turning around, true to his name. “Beat it, little girl, I ain’t got time for ya!”
     “Wow, COOL!!” the female voice continues. “You could steal that much? I’m just so impressed! You may as well be a member of Team Rocket!”
     “Gosh, you really think so?” Mr. Idiot Trainer smiles with his eyes closed, placing a hand on the back of his neck and finally turning around. “Team Rocket is my IDOL! I’d love to be a member! Hey, I’d love to meet a member!!”
     “Then today is your lucky day,” the same voice, except not quite as childish and girly, replies, malice clearly evident in the voice (like I said, strongly reminiscent of Kiryuu Nanami).
     “Huh?” Mr. Idiot Trainer utters, opening his eyes. What he sees is a wickedly grinning girl in a Team Rocket uniform. His heart sinks somewhere into the vicinity of his feet as he realizes this is the “stupid trainer chick” he’d stolen his horde of evolution stones from. “Uhh... you’re from Team Rocket, aren’t you?”
     “That’s right!” Sami replies, nodding, the wide wide smile still in place.
     “And, uh, you’re going to hurt me for stealing your stones, aren’t you?” he hesitantly continues. Sami cracks her knuckles in front of his face.
     “Right again, Mr. Idiot Trainer!”
     Right before our heroine opened a can of 100% pure whoop-ass on him, Mr. Idiot Trainer was noted to have said, “oh, $&!#.”
 

     Some time later, after Mr. Idiot Trainer has been beaten to a still-conscious semi-bloody pulp and hung upside-down from a nearby tree, Sami begins to rummage through his loot. “This is quite a collection you’ve got here, I have to admit,” she comments cheerfully. “I might have lost my evolution stones for a while, but now I’ve got ‘em back and then some!”
     <You don’t intend to return them?> Batts queries, frowning.
     “I know what you’re thinking, Batts,” Sami starts, closing her eyes. “You’re thinking that I, a Pokémon lover, should return these Pokémon to their rightful trainers, true to what I believe in.”
She opens her eyes and looks over her shoulder at him. “But you’re forgetting that I have a job too, and as a member of Team Rocket, I’m suppose to collect rare and unusual Pokémon and pack ‘em away to the Boss. My going on this little 3-year mission to collect Pokémon for myself doesn’t mean I can’t pick up a few for him as a souvenir of my trip.” She returns to her rummaging. “Provided I don’t find anything I don’t already have.”
     Batts sighs mentally. <What are you first, a Pokémon lover or a Pokémon trainer?>
     “If they don’t like me, I’ll let ‘em go free,” is Sami’s response.
     Batts sighs again, but doesn’t chase the subject any longer.
     “Hmmm...there’s a total of 59 Pokéballs here. Just how long have you been stealing Pokémon from that Pokémon Center, anyway?” Sami asks, turning to Mr. Idiot Trainer.
     MIT spits out a tooth. “A few monthsh now,” he grumbles.
     “Cool. I’ll make sure to turn you in to the authorities. Maybe I’ll get a reward,” Sami smiles. “I could use a little petty cash.”
     <What for? You’re already independently wealthy,> Batts reminds her.
     Ignoring him, because she knows MIT can’t hear him, she continues, “So, Mr. Idiot Trainer Whom I Easily Beat Up! What Pokémon do you have here? Anything worth keeping?”
     “I have lots of valuable Pokémon in that pile!” MIT replies heatedly, despite the fact there’s really only four exceptionally valuable Pokémon in the pile. “But I’m not telling you what!!”
     Sami stands. “Well that’s just too bad for you.”
     “Waitwaitwaitwaitwait!!!” MIT says hastily, not particularly liking the taste of canned whoop-ass (he prefers it freeze-dried). “I’lltellI’lltelljustdon’tbringdownyourMightyFistofJustice®again!!!!!!!”
     The lavender-haired Pokémon trainer smiles big. “Gooood boy!” she says. Her smiles disappears, her expression becomes dangerous, and her tone turns dark. “What’s in the pile, baka boy?”
     “Ahh... well...” he fumbles. “A Porygon... a Clefairy... an Electabuzz and a Scyther... those are the most valuable ones...”
     “Sugoi na!” Sami cheers. “I don’t have a Porygon or an Electabuzz. They’ll be nice additions to my collection. You say the rest aren’t quite as valuable?”
     “I didn’t say that...” MIT trails off.
     Sami crosses her arms. “Then what else do you have?”
     “Hold on...I’ve got the inventory memorized...” MIT begins to tick off on his fingers, “Lesse, 8 Beedrils, 2 Eevees, 4 Raichus, 5 Oddishes, 3 Grimers, 2 Glooms, 3 Charmanders, 3 Charmeleons, 1 Charizard, 6 Pidgeys, 2 Pidgeots, 10 Rattatas, and 6 Butterfrees.” He adds in a quaking voice, “Is... is that to your satisfaction, O Glorious And Powerful Team Rocket Member Whose Feet I Do Not Deserve To Kiss?”
     “Sucking up doesn’t help with me,” Sami informs him matter-of-factly. “I already have one Eevee, but with those two other Eevees, I’ll be able to acquire all three evolved forms! I’ll take them... I haven’t gotten a Grimer yet, so I’ll snag one of them... and of course the Porygon and Electabuzz I’ll be keeping for myself... everything else I have, so I’ll give them to the Boss.” She blinks, then looks over at the Pokéballs. “Hmmm... I wonder how I’m going to be able to tell which one is which?”
     “I put them into piles, O Wonderful And Beautiful Pokémon Trainer Who Will Most Definitely Become The Best Trainer In The World,” MIT helpfully suggests.
     <You could try counting the amount of Pokéballs that are in a certain pile, keeping in mind the number of each Pokémon this trainer told you he stole, then summoning one of the Pokémon from the pile to see what it is, should the number be the same as another pile of Pokémon you do not desire,> Batts adds.
     Sami’s expression turns rather interesting as she stares at the piles of Pokéballs. “Okay. There were one of each of Scyther, Electabuzz, Porygon, and Clefairy.” She picks up one of the four Pokéballs lying by itself. “Let’s try this one first.”
     She commands, “Oide, Pokémon!” and tosses it a few feet away. In a burst of red light, an extremely cute pink Pokémon emerges. “Clefairy!” it says (cutely).
     “Kuso,” Sami mutters to herself.
 

     After more trial and error, Sami eventually does manage to pick out the Porygon, Electabuzz, Grimer, and two Eevees for herself. After returning them to their respective Pokéballs, she stuffs them in her backpack. She then returns the other Pokéballs and the extra Leaf Stone to one of the original sacks MIT had kept them in, and her evolution stones to one of the other sacks. Sami then picks up her trenchcoat from where she’d left it upon approaching MIT, puts it on (covering her back-length hair in the process), and continues on her merry way with Batts.
     “Um...hello?” MIT calls after her. “Aren’t you going to let me down?”
     Sami stops, then pulls a 180. She regards him for a moment, then pulls a black permanent marker from one of the pockets on her backpack (always be prepared!). She walks up to MIT, then scribbles a message to the world on his face. “I’ll send an anonymous phone call to the Pokémon Center,” she finally replies, then grins wickedly as she steps away. “If I remember to.”  ‘Batts, teleport us to Viridian City!’
     She and Batts disappear dramatically in a flash and dispersion of white light.
     A moment of silence passes. A crow caws in the distance. A random Pidgey nearby gives MIT a curious look; if it could read, it would have known that, written on MIT’s face in big black letters, was the sentence, “DON’T MESS WITH TEAM ROCKET”.
     And for the second time that day, MIT says, “Oh, $&!#.”

     Meanwhile, in the Viridian City Gym (which incidentally doubles as the Team Rocket base), a girl with dark red, messy hair and bright green eyes is getting very, very, VERY bored.
     She leans on the wall, arms crossed over her chest, then stands up and uncrosses her arms, revealing a bright red "R", denoting a member of Team Rocket, marked on her sweater. She looks at the ceiling, sighs, then grins evilly, draws a deep breath, and sings at the top of her lungs, "Boring......this is so boring.....so bored......I may just diiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeee......."
     "Rai RAIIIIIIIIIIIII..." her Pokémon Raichu harmonizes. He's taken possession of the chair since Starr has gotten up to wander around.
     Starr laughs, then turns to Raichu and says, "What I find weird is, when I get bored, I sing. But when I sing, I'm not bored anymore, so I'd be lying if I sang that I'm bored, but if I stop singing, I get bored again."
     "Rai?" Raichu looks confused.
     Starr grins and shrugs. "Yet another fabulous example of precisely how weird my mind is...damn't. Now I'm bored again."
     Starr wanders over to the vending machine for what seems like the fiftieth time and tries to decide whether or not she is actually hungry. As she examines the array of chocolate bars inside the machine she decides she is, so she kicks it a few times, causing a pack of Skittles and a Mars bar to drop out.
     Raichu looks at Starr sideways.
     "Hey, I have to practice my skills at the five-finger discount somehow," Starr shrugs. "So, you want Skittles or a Mars bar today?"
     "Rai!" Raichu jumps up, grabs the Skittles, and jumps back into the chair.
     "See the music, feel the colours, taste the rainbow ®," Starr comments, taking a huge bite of the Mars bar.
     Suddenly she freezes and listens hard. A faint whistling noise has begun outside, like a large object rapidly descending from a great altitude.
     "Mppphyrst?" Starr wonders, swallowing the bite of Mars bar.
     Screaming can now be heard as well as the whistling. Both noises get progressively louder until...
     WHAM!
     Starr and Raichu jump about fifty feet, hit the ceiling, and come down with a thump.
     "OWW!" Starr says indignantly, getting up. She stares at the Skittles scattered all across the floor and notes unhappily that she can't find her Mars bar anywhere. "What the hell was THAT?"
     Suddenly the door slams open and three figures stagger in.
     One is a girl with insanely styled dark-pink hair.
     One is a guy with short bluish-purple hair.
     One is a Pokémon, a Meowth.
     Both the guy and girl wear Team Rocket uniforms, and all three are kinda charred.
     They all stand there swaying for a second, then crash to the floor.
     Starr and Raichu blink, look at each other, and acquire large sweatdrops.
     Starr pulls a stick out of her pocket and pokes the guy with it. "Boy, they really got trashed this time."
     "Chu," Raichu agrees.
     "I wonder if they're okay." Starr crouches next to the guy and takes his pulse. He's still alive, but he's out cold and drooling a little. "Ew. Hey, wake up." She shakes the guy's shoulders.
     "Mommmeeeeeeeeee, I don't wanna..." he mumbles before rolling over and clinging to Starr's arm.
     "YEEEEEEEEEEEK!" Starr shrieks. "GET OFF!" She pulls her arm away and orders, "Raichu, thundershock these nutcases awake, will you?"
     "RAI!" Raichu obliges.
     In a few seconds, the three are on their feet, a little more charred, but at least conscious (and no longer drooling).
     "WHEN WHERE WHO WHICH?!" the guy and girl yell, looking around wildly for the culprit. Their gaze lights on a smiling Raichu standing in front of its trainer.
     When they see who the trainer is, they both glare.
     "Oh, it's just YOU," the guy says, nose in the air. "What are YOU doing here?"
     "Being bored while waiting for my new assignment, James, what's it look like?" Starr grins at the expression of annoyance on James's face. "Would you rather I just left you guys unconscious?"
     Instead of answering the question, the girl with the insane hair looks at Starr. "You got an assignment?"
     "Yes."
     "After only this short a time?"
     "Yes, Jessie." Starr is feeling slightly irritated at the disbelief. Jessie and James both have a real ego problem and tend to look down on just about everyone else around them, despite their own constant stupidity. In fact, Jessie and James have not completed a single mission successfully. Starr sometimes wonders why Giovanni puts up with them.
     "Wow," says Meowth. "The Boss must think you have real talent! Congratulations!"
     "Thanks, Meowth!" Starr reaches to shake his hand, but Jessie and James both clobber the unfortunate feline before she can.
     "TRAITOR!" Jessie hollers.
     Meowth twitches a couple times.
     Starr sweatdrops. "Geez, how can you expect to succeed at anything if you're this mean to your teammates?"
     "What would YOU know about teamwork?" James demands.
     "Obviously a heck of a lot more than you. If you three new anything about teamwork at all, you wouldn't end every mission by 'blasting off' and you wouldn't have to drag yourselves back here charred and zapped and grass-stained and clobbered and full of dust every day..."
     The remainder of Starr's sentence is lost as she collapses on the floor laughing.
     James scowls and stomps forward, about to step on Starr's stomach. En route, he skids on a Skittle, falls backwards, and lands on Raichu, who promptly thundershocks him.
     James stands there for a second before uttering, ".... Ow." and collapsing on the floor, charred even more.
     Starr surveys the chaos around her, sighs, and shakes her head. "Deranged. You guys are completely deranged. Why don't you go take a shower to get rid of that burnt smell, or something?"
     Jessie catches sight of her reflection in the vending machine and gasps. "Good idea."
     She and Meowth each grab one of James's ankles and pull him out of the room.
     Starr shakes her head and retrieves the broom to clean up the Skittles.
     Once the multicoloured sugar pellets have been cleaned up, Starr looks at Raichu. "Now what?"
     As if on cue, the videophone on the table comes to life. *Ring ring ring, phone call, phone call!* an overly cheery electronic voice announces.
     Starr pounces eagerly on the phone. "Hello? Starr Evans speaking!"
     -Starr, this is the Boss.- A shadowed image of Giovanni appears on-screen.
     "Hello, sir," Starr says politely as Raichu hops up on the table and peers at the screen.
     -I assume you're ready for the assignment I gave you. I contacted your new partner Sami Hill not too long ago.-
     Starr nods. "Don't worry, sir, I'm as ready as I'll ever be. Raichu's in top condition."
     "Rai!" Raichu agrees.
     -Good. Sami should be arriving here any second.-
     As if to accentuate 'any second', at that precise moment the door opens and a lavender-haired figure walks in. Whoever-it-is is wearing the guys' team Rocket uniform. Standing beside the person is a Kadabra.
     -That's Sami now.-
     "That's what I call punctuality," Starr remarks to herself, moving over slightly so Sami can see the phone's screen as well.
     -Starr, Sami, your assignment is to go to Topaz City. There's a rare Pokémon convention scheduled for later today. People at those conventions tend to be careless with their Pokémon, so you two should have no problem retrieving them.-
     Starr says, "Yes, sir." Sami nods.
     -Oh, yes. The two of you will be working with another team for this mission. The more of you there are, the more Pokémon you can collect.-
     "You won't be disappointed," Sami says.
     The image of Giovanni disappears, and Starr turns to face Sami.
     "So you're Sami Hill. I've heard a lot about you," she says, extending her hand.
     It's then that she gets a good look at Sami.
     He is possibly the cutest guy she's ever laid eyes on.
     Fortunately, in this kind of situation, Starr knows enough not to babble like an idiot or be a ditz, so she calms herself as he shakes her hand.
     "It must take a lot of dedication to go out and capture 100-some Pokémon," she comments.
     Sami nods, then says, "So, do you know what team we're being paired up with? I prefer working with as few people as possible, but this won't be so bad if the other team isn't as mindless as some I've seen."
     "You're talking about Jessie and James, right?" Starr says.
     "The Idiot Squadron, you mean." Sami smiles faintly at the (slightly disturbing) thought of them.
     "I wouldn't call them that... They just pretend to be idiots to make themselves look smarter. You would, too, if you were like them and you didn't have two brain cells to rub together to make a spark."
     Sami's faint smile gets a little bigger. "Let's get going. I want to get to Topaz City as soon as possible. We're taking the helicopter since there's not enough room in that balloon Jessie and James are so fond of, plus that thing's much too conspicuous."
     "We should probably get rid of the R on the helicopter, too, if the Boss won't kill us for painting over it," Starr suggests as she and Sami head off to the bay where the helicopter is parked.