"Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double!"

They were actually doing it! Jamie would be squealing right now, if it wouldn't have ruined the whole mystique they were going for. Jessie was a genius! This was exactly what they needed! A motto all their own, to separate them from your average Rocket Grunt and make them stand out!

Brainstorming the motto and planning out the choreography had taken them both so much time that Jessie and Jamie had actually arrived in Pallet Town a little late. Cam hadn't been anywhere in sight, so they'd started looking in windows. Luckily, there was only three buildings in the entire 'town'. Personally, Jamie wasn't sure if that could even be called a town, but she supposed the fact that one of those buildings was a fully funded Pokemon Laboratory made it 'special' or something.

Regardless, figuring out where Cam was had been easy enough. As soon as Jessie told her that she'd found him interrogating some chick in one of the town's only two residences, Jamie had known just like Jessie did that it was the perfect time to put their plan into action! They would bust in and use their new carefully choreographed entrance to help Cam intimidate the girl he was extracting information from!

So far, everything was going perfectly. Jamie and Jessie had kicked in the front door of the house together, and stepped inside. Jamie had never felt more badass, playing off of Jessie's opening line with her own response. Call and response, that was the trick! That was what Jessie said would make them really stand out!

"To protect the world from devastation!"

Oh, Jamie's turn!

"To unite all peoples without our nation!"

And then, right back to Jessie!

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

But then, right back to Jamie as well!

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

And finally, the crescendo. Jessie had been very particular about this. No matter how cool their motto was, it wouldn't mean jack shit if no one knew who they were. No, they had to introduce themselves as well, or they would just be those two quirky Team Rocket Grunts forever and ever.

"Jessie!"

"Jamie!"

Both have their own take on things. Jessie shouts her name like a benediction, sharply and proudly. Jamie though, wants to sound different, so she puts a little bit of a curl on the end of it, going slightly lower and more seductive. She really think it adds some true pazazz to it!

With their names out of the way, Jessie goes for the kill, and Jamie follows after her.

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight, fight, fight!"

There's a pause at the end, and as before in every rehearsal they'd done together, Jamie does feel like something is missing. Unfortunately, she can no more discern what it is now then she could before. It's fine though. In terms of first-time deliveries, Jamie feels like this has to be up there. They'd never done this in front of an audience before though, so she's VERY interested in seeing Cam and his prisoner react.

The Team Rocket Admin sits at the table in the center of the home, staring at them wordlessly. But then to be fair, that's pretty normal. Beside him sits the young woman Jessie had mentioned, just as wordless as she holds a cup of tea in midair.

The two seem to be frozen solid by Jessie and Jamie's entrance. Absolutely stunned, even. Which means… it must be a hit! Looking to Jessie, Jessie in turn looks at her… and it's obvious they both feel the same way. Turning towards one another, the two Rocket Grunts let out a cheer as they clasp hands together.

"You did perfectly, Jamie!"

"So did you, Jessie! That was great!"

They spend a few moments more positively squealing before Jessie suddenly pulls back and clears her throat. Belatedly, Jamie realizes they've sort of detracted from their entrance a little bit with that subsequent display. Great first impression, bad second. She flushes and pulls back as well, straightening up and smoothing down her uniform as Jessie does the same.

Turning back to the onlookers, Jessie snaps a sharp salute in Cam's direction.

"Sir! Jessie and Jamie reporting for duty! We checked the Laboratory, but Oak wasn't there! Do you need our help securing this prisoner and torturing her for information, sir?"

Jamie blanches a little at that. T-Torture? Surely they wouldn't go that far, right? In fact, it didn't SEEM like Cam was going that route. He had a cup of tea in front of him as well, and from the look of things, he and this girl had just been talking. Wait a second…

With a scrape and a clatter, the young woman Cam is sat with abruptly stands up, fast and hard enough that her chair goes skidding backwards before falling to the floor. Glaring daggers at all of them, but mostly at Cam, she points a finger accusatorily at the young Rocket Admin.

"… I should have known it was too good to be true! You Rockets are all the same! Low-life scum… you came here for my grandfather, did you? Want to use me as bait to lure him out, huh? Well I'm sure you already know that won't work! He doesn't care about me OR Blue! Not nearly as much as he cares about his projects!"

There are tears pricking the corners of the young woman's eyes as Jamie blinks and exchanges a bewildered glance with Jessie. It felt like there was a lot of subtext there that they were missing, truth be told. However, before they can ask questions, the woman, who's apparently Oak's granddaughter of all things, reaches into her skirts and pulls out four Pokeballs!

"I knew a long time ago that the only one I could rely upon was myself. Not grandpa, and not grandma. Just me. You scum won't get anything from me! And I'm not about to let criminal thugs like you trespass in my home one moment more."

Well, she talked a big game, but what could some girl in a small, Podunk town like this possibly have any-? Holy shit, that was a Nidorina!"

"Go, Nidorina!"

Between Oak's granddaughter and Cam, a Nidorina appears, the second-form Pokemon snarling as it sets itself in an angry stance. Both Jessie and Jamie take a step back. While they had both managed to steal a few Pokemon here and there, with Jessie lovingly doting upon an Ekans and Jamie working with her Koffing to get him stronger… neither thought they had any real chance against a Nidorina. And that was just one of four Pokemon!

Their only hope was Cam. But while he was an Admin, who was to say he would have a Pokemon as strong as-!

"Go, Alakazam."

Taking a step back himself to make some space, the Rocket Admin tosses out one of his own Pokeballs, summoning forth a fully evolved Alakazam. Jamie can only gape at the human-sized Psychic Pokemon, as it faces off with the woman's Nidorina.

"Hah! Don't think you can mess with my mind so easily! If nothing else, I have training against resisting Psychic Pokemon! Nidorina, use Double Kick!"

The Nidorina races forward and lashes out at the Alakazam. A Psychic Pokemon like that, while incredibly strong mentally, could be notoriously weak physically. But to Jamie's shock, the Alakazam catches Nidorina's Double Kick on its palms while juggling it's spoons, without even needing an order! The attack still sends it back a step, but it looks no worse for wear as Nidorina bounces back.

Interestingly enough, despite Oak's granddaughter talking about Cam using his Pokemon to mess with her mind… he doesn't actually make any move to do so. Maybe because of her warning, but Jamie gets the impression that he never intended to. As soon as her Nidorina is done, Cam calls out his own command.

"Alakazam, use Psychic."

Immediately, the Nidorina lets out a screech of pain, despite no physical damage being done to it. The Pokemon's eyes roll back, and it shudders for a moment before collapsing into a heap on the floor. It LOOKS no worse for wear, but Alakazam has clearly scrambled it's mind in one swoop.

Oak's granddaughter looks stricken and a lot more afraid now, even as she quickly calls her Nidorina back and sends out another Pokemon.

"Raichu! Thunderbo-!"

"Alakazam, Psychic."

Cam let her have one free hit, Jamie quickly realizes. There was no other reason Jamie could discern for why he allowed that Nidorina to get off its Double Kick. Because the next three Pokemon, from her Raichu, to a Ponyta, to even a Chansey… none of them get a chance to do anything before the Admin's Alakazam lays them all out, one by one.

… These are some of the strongest Pokemon Jamie has ever even SEEN with her own two eyes. This random girl in this backwater town… she had a serious team of heavy hitters. But then, if she really was Samuel Oak's granddaughter, maybe it made sense. Jamie wasn't a complete ignoramus after all. She'd been a kid when it all had gone down, but she knew Oak was once Kanto's Pokemon Champion. He might have been a coward and a traitor in the end, but he had to have been good with Pokemon once upon a time.

His granddaughter had apparently inherited his skill, if she'd cultivated a team that strong here in a place like this. And yet… at the same time, Cam had defeated them all with one single Pokemon.

Staring at the Alakazam, and then down at the other five Pokeballs on Cam's waist, Jamie begins to get an idea of just what sort of man Cam really is. What sort of Pokemon Training monster he might be. He had started out as a Rocket Grunt at the same time as them. Jamie remembered it like it was yesterday… mostly because it was seriously only a few weeks ago at MOST!

She still remembered Cam getting his first Rattata right alongside her and Jessie. She remembered the two of them taking Cam under their wing and helping him beat his first little kid… in a Pokemon Battle, of course.

And yet, in that time… what had her and Jessie accomplished? They'd taken on a few heists. They'd made a few mistakes, but had a few good missions as well. Jessie had helped Jamie get a flying type so they could go to Mt. Moon together, even if that mission had ultimately turned out very poorly. They'd also gotten their Ekans and Koffing, and begun training with them on unsuspecting trainers throughout Kanto's Routes.

They were… doing pretty well for themselves, or so Jamie had thought. But now… now she knew. Cam was on a whole other level. He was so far beyond them in just a few weeks that it wasn't even funny. Had they not been trying hard enough? Or was he simply a monster at training, and they were normal? What was the answer here? Had they really been slacking off?

"Sir, I-!"

Jamie isn't sure what's been going through Jessie's head while she's been thinking about all of this, but the magenta-haired woman seems to have finally decided to speak up. Only, the moment Jessie steps forward and tries to talk, Cam whips his head around and fixes them both with a look. For the very first time that Jamie can remember, he almost seems to be glaring at the two of them.

For a man of few words like Cam, for someone who almost always seemed to have this blank face with dead eyes, there's no denying what he's trying to 'say' to them now, with how uncharacteristically expressive he's being.

Jessie and Jamie had intended their entrance to help him intimidate this girl into submission, but instead… instead the Rocket Grunts were the ones intimidated into submission, both taking an unconscious step back again as he stares them down.

Before Jessie can speak again, Jamie pipes up for the both of them, grabbing her friend by the arm and jerking her backwards towards the open door.

"W-We'll wait outside, sir!"

Cam's eyes slide over to Jamie for a moment, before he nods once, sharply.

"Good."

The smallest hint of irritation in his voice lets Jamie know they've definitely screwed up, and as she and Jessie step outside, she makes sure to close the door behind them as well to give Cam… privacy.

Turning away, reduced from Cam's back-up to door guards just like that, Jamie stands side by side with her best friend and partner as they stare out at the small, idyllic town around them for a moment.

"Jamie… I think we might have fucked up."

"Jessie… I think you're right."

There's a pause, and then Jessie speaks up again in the smallest voice Jamie has ever heard from the other woman.

"D-Do you think it was the motto we came up with?"

Blinking, Jamie gasps and shakes her head.

"What? No! That was perfect! We… we just need to workshop it a little bit. I'm sure with some minor tweaks here and there, we'll get it down pat! And maybe… maybe we spend a little more time assessing the situation before we go in with it next time."

Another pause, and then Jessie's voice returns, a little stronger this time.

"Right. You're right, of course. We'll… we'll workshop it. I think-!"

Jamie never gets the chance to ask what Jessie thinks, because the two of them both go silent as they hear a certain set of sounds coming from within the house behind them. Eyes wide, they look at each other for a moment in disbelief, as if checking to see if they're both hearing the same thing. Once they've ascertained that much, they quickly look away from each other, bright red blushes spreading across their faces as they keep their eyes forward from that point on.

… So, Cam was that sort of man as well…

-x-X-x-

If you'd like to read more of my work not seen on this website, check out Hentai-Foundry.com and QuestionableQuesting.com where I have over a thousand stories! I'm known as 'Cambrian' on those websites.

If you'd like to contribute to funding my writing at all, check me out on Patreon.com/Cambrian

Thanks for reading!