Sky Resort was a well-kept secret in the Pokémon world.

Only the finest accommodations could be found there—the most luxurious hotels, the most magnificent spas, the finest dining in all the land. Or rather, above the land. As apparent by its name, Sky Resort was accessible only by flying, and a very long fly at that. No one was going to be reaching Sky Resort with a mere pidgey or zubat. Only the most advanced, dedicated flying-type trainers and their Pokémon were able to reach the exclusive area.

Well, them, and a ragtag group of miscreants who were used to blasting off into the sky.

As the resort area was mostly made out of clouds, the landing was rather soft, but they were still firm enough that James felt the sting. Not as big of a sting his pride had taken yet again, however. How many times were they going to lose to that little twerp, anyway? As embarrassing as this situation was, blasting off to Sky Resort again was probably the luckiest break they were going to get all week.

Jessie was happier about it than James, however. In fact, their defeat moments ago seemed to have been wiped from her mind the moment she realized where they'd ended up. "Oh, excellent!" she exclaimed, bounding up from the cloud ground like a spring. "Things are looking up indeed!"

"Oh, that's rich," grumbled James, pushing himself up more slowly, Meowth and Wobbuffet recovering from the landing at a similar speed. "Things are hardly peachy keen at all! We lost, again!"

"Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet threw in, unhelpfully.

"Yeah, but at least we landed at Sky Resort," Meowth pointed out, rubbing a paw behind his ear. "We coulda landed someplace a lot less fluffy."

"True, true," said Jessie, brushing her hand out in front of her disdainfully. "But it's not the fluffiness I was referring to. It's our stroke of good luck landing here at all! It's been ages! Look at what a mess my hair's been lately. And you know nowhere else does such a fine job on my hair and nails. So, if you'll excuse me, I'm—"

"—going to the salon," James and Meowth finished, the impatience in their voices thick. Wobbuffet also said "Wobbuffet" at the same time, which probably translated in this particular instance as "going to the salon".

Jessie's eyes narrowed and her lips thinned. "Well, excuse me for being so predictable. Hate to make things boring for you."

She turned and flipped her hair, her hair that still looked about ninety-nine percent perfect, James figured, but still not perfect enough for her, and strutted her way to the resort shops, swinging her hips with the rhythm and precision of a metronome, smooth, sleek, her ass bouncing so perfectly, so sensually…

James couldn't stop staring.

That ass.

That ass.

"So what are we supposed to do while you're getting all dolled up?" Meowth demanded, shouting so loudly that it shook James out of his stupor. Jessie turned a corner and was out of sight, unable to answer Meowth's question or distract James again.

Discreetly shaking his head to clear the enticing images out of his head, James gave an answer. "Aren't you bruised up a bit from that scuffle? Go to the Pokémon center with Wobbuffet and get healed up, you buffoon."

"Wo-o-o-o-obbuffet!" Wobbuffet crooned, already turning the opposite direction of the shopping district and towards the Pokémon center.

Meowth crossed his arms and threw James an annoyed glare. "You don't gotta remind me that I got hoit! And I know there's a Pokémon center here!"

"Really? You seem to forget every time we land here!"

"I don't forget! I'd just rather do other stuff!"

"Get rested up, then you can do 'other stuff'."

"Ya can't make me!" Meowth declared defiantly.

"You stubborn, bullheaded idiot!" James shouted in frustration. "Do you want to remain injured? Wobbuffet is halfway there already! Don't let him wander off by himself; goodness knows what kind of disaster he'd cause if left unsupervised!"

"Fine, fine, I'm going!" Meowth snapped. "But stop thinkin' of me as Wobbuffet's babysitter, will ya?" He stuck his tongue out at James before running after his fellow Pokémon.

With the two Pokémon gone, James exhaled loudly, trying to get his mind off of Jessie's ass and back on the mundane matters at hand. Their hot air balloon was damaged, again, and the responsibility of dealing with the repairs seemed to have landed on him, as usual.

…

When Jessie's hair got tussled, even a little bit, it was only barely more tolerable than breaking a fingernail.

She felt it. Felt it with every inch of her body, felt a nagging start in her scalp and eek its way through every vein. She had long since trained herself to act as if nothing was wrong, but the uneasy, broken feeling that pumped steadily through her body definitely didn't fool her.

The problem, of course, was that most salons simply didn't have hairspray strong enough to deal with her voluminous mane. This, plus the fact that the nature of her job pretty much guaranteed that she found herself in physical, messy situations more often than not, meant Jessie had to put up the mask of her "usual" self to hide her inner writhing and screaming at her appearance, mainly her hair, on a nearly daily basis.

But then there was that glorious little institution hidden away in Sky Resort called The Mane Event.

Jessie hadn't discovered it right away. It was perhaps their third or fourth "visit" of the resort—still long before she had acquired her Wobbuffet—that, her hair in ruins, she ran down Cloud Lane in a panic, trying to find someplace, anyplace that could help her. The Mane Event was the first one she spotted, and she nearly broke down the door in her rush for relief.

And oh, did they provide it.

In all of their travels, Jessie had never encountered a hairspray that was as effective or long-lasting as what the hairdressers at The Mane Event used. It practically turned her hair into steel for a good few weeks, at the very least. And taking into account how many physical scuffles she got into during her attempts to capture rare and powerful Pokémon, the extra protection the spray offered was the most welcome gift she could ask for.

"I cannot tell you how much better you make me feel, Laura," she said, her eyes closed in bliss, every stroke of the brush through her hair cleansing her and washing away her anxiety.

"It's always good to see you, Jessie," said Laura, the salon worker who normally treated Jessie. "You really ought to stop by more often."

Jessie sighed. "Let's just say that I have little control over when and how I get here." That was an understatement. If she could, she'd be here every day. In fact, if she didn't enjoy her job so much, she would even consider living here, just to make sure her hair and nails were always being property cared for as they could be nowhere else.

"That's too bad," murmured Laura, deciding not to prod for whatever reason. Jessie's eyes remained closed, but an eyebrow raised anyway. The lack of curiosity so many people had was baffling. It of course certainly made her job easier, so she couldn't complain, but it still confused her.

Laura set the brush down and reached for the hairspray. "The usual style?"

"Nothing but." Jessie kept her eyes closed and sighed in contentment, feeling the last of her unease ebb away as the can of hairspray did its job. Now, finally, she felt perfect again. And she totally looked the part of the classy, poised villain she knew in her heart she was.

After all… if the rest of her team wasn't going to stun, she just had to put in all the extra effort to make up for their slack.

It wasn't really fair to blame Meowth or Wobbuffet for their appearance, Jessie did have to concede to herself. They were bound by the limitations of their species, after all. She was of course fond of them, and valued their contributions to their team more than she could express. Still, though, sometimes she wished she could have a majestic ninetails, or even a gardevoir. Something to take the pressure of making sure the group stayed elegant at least partially off her shoulders.

As for James, Jessie had pretty much given up on him, appearance-wise. Again, just like their Pokémon, James's contributions to their team were invaluable, and Jessie couldn't imagine doing this on her own, or even with a different companion. But the man just couldn't give a rattata's ass about his looks. His usual appearance looked as if he had just rolled out bed five minutes previous. Sure, he cleaned up nicely, but the only time he could be bothered to clean up at all was when a disguise required it. Keeping him looking presentable twenty-four-seven would have been a job and a half in of itself, so Jessie knew better to even try.

The spraying stopped. "There," said Laura, setting the can back down. "How does that look?"

Jessie opened her eyes and looked at herself in the mirror. A confident smile broke across her face as she saw her hair perfectly sculpted again, thick and curled away from her body. "Absolutely marvelous," she answered in complete satisfaction.

"Wonderful!" said Laura. She turned her head towards the manicure stations further down the hallway. "Looks like all of the manicure stations are taken right now, but it shouldn't be much longer until one opens up. While you wait, would you like some nuts?" She held out a tray of various nuts for Jessie to investigate.

Jessie smiled. "I suppose that would be nice," she said, grabbing a handful. And another. And another. And another.

Laura's smile faltered for the first time. "Uh… Jessie, please leave some for our other customers."

"Oh, I'm not taking all of them," Jessie answered coolly, pocketing most of the cashews and pistachios she had taken. "I'm just grabbing some for my teammates as well."

"Your teammates?"

"That's right."

"Oh." Laura's smile returned, apparently not needing any more explanation than that. "I'll go make sure Paula knows that you're next in line for a manicure, then." She scuttled off without a second thought.

"Hmm." Jessie smirked. Did no one here ask questions? Of course, their non-prying nature more or less worked out in Jessie's favor, so she also said nothing more, simply popping a cashew into her mouth and turning back to the mirror to admire her hair.

…

Nurse Joy knocked once before entering the spa-treatment room of her Pokémon center. "How's my favorite patient?" she asked with a smile.

"Oh, enough with the flattery," Meowth said, although too pleased with the compliment to really be annoyed. "This is really hitting the spot. I should be back to my one hundred poicent in no time!"

Nurse Joy gave a little laugh. "I'm glad! It's nice to be able to hear straight from one of our patients. We don't usually get that privilege!"

"You kiddin'?" Meowth asked, raising an eyebrow. "They can all tell you how they feel about this place, and lots probably do! You just ain't listenin', that's all."

"Oh, it's just too hard for us humans to understand them!" Nurse Joy's smile was still plastered on, almost mechanically. That was one of the things about her—and every other Nurse Joy—that didn't sit well with Meowth. No human—no living thing, period—could be so unflappable and stoically cheerful all the time. Especially not when identical copies of that living thing popped up all over the place. Meowth didn't buy their story that they were identical looking relatives. No, they were robots. Had to be.

"The only way you couldn't understand it is if you're brain dead," Meowth shot back.

Nurse Joy just laughed again. "You are always so funny, Meowth! I wish all of our patients were like you." She turned and practically floated her way out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Nothing. No sensible reaction at all. "Yep. Definitely a robot." Meowth shuddered.

On the other hand, though, her response about not being able to understand Pokémon was one hundred percent human. The fact that practically no human could acknowledge the changes of inflection, tone, and speed that characterized Pokémon speech continued to boggle Meowth's mind. How narrow-minded and stupid humans were to not be able to understand, or at the very least even try to understand? Meowth had made the effort to speak their language; was no one else, human or Pokémon, diligent enough to even try?

And that, there, was the other side of the coin. Meowth could mentally affront humans all he wanted, but Pokémon had their own set of problems. Sure, to humans, all they said was their own name and nothing else. To Meowth, they were actually holding conversations, true… but rarely were said conversations deeper than a puddle. Most Pokémon were pretty simple creatures intelligence-wise, and their speech reflected it. When translating for humans, Meowth often found himself embellishing or even flat-out lying, knowing that their simple sentences were of no help to the humans to which they were trying to communicate.

Basically, Meowth had concluded, he was too intelligent for both humans and Pokémon. He had all of the best traits of both, which meant he could relate to neither anymore.

How frustrating.

How lonely.

How boring.

Sighing at the indignity of it all, Meowth turned over a bit to soak in some more rays from the warm, bright lamp that hung above his cot. It was more or less the Pokémon equivalent of a tanning bed. That following the amazing massage he had received, plus the obvious berries and medicine to heal him up, was turning out to be just what the doctor ordered.

Meowth stretched under the healing warmth of the lights, feeling his joints crack in a satisfying manner as he did so. He was probably fully healed by now, truth be told, and another Pokémon was probably waiting for this booth, but he was in no real hurry to leave. For one thing, obviously, it felt amazing in there. But another big reason was because once he got out, he'd be stuck with Wobbuffet again.

Speaking of Pokémon who couldn't hold a deep conversation if their lives depended on it. Wobbuffet was one of those Pokémon who really didn't say much more than his own name, a kind of "hey, I exist!" at the most inopportune times. If Meowth had to translate, depending on the circumstances preceding Wobbuffet's outburst, he was usually only saying something like "I'm here!" "Yeah!" "HELLO!"… even if no one else had greeted him or even given him notice. There were no deep insights from him, no problem solving, not even a real acknowledgement of anyone else. He was just kind of… there. And he didn't want anyone to forget that fact, either.

One quick knock at the door grabbed Meowth's attention. Nurse Joy opened the door and poked her head in. "Looks like you're back to tip-top condition! And good timing, too—Wobbuffet's all ready to go as well!"

Speak of the devil. "Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet exclaimed, also peering through the open door.

Oh well… the R and R was nice while it lasted. Besides, Jessie was probably done at the salon, and James was probably done… well, done with whatever it was he was doing. "Alright, alright," Meowth said, jumping off the cot. "Farewell lamps. I'll miss your warmth. Keep 'em plugged in and charged for me for the next time I'm here, will ya?" He crossed the room to stand right in front of Nurse Joy and look up at her in a no-nonsense manner.

"They'll always be ready for you, any time!" Nurse Joy handed a small Pokéball to Meowth. "Here's Wobbuffet's Pokéball. Thank you for stopping by! Have a great rest of your day!"

"Same to ya!" Meowth awkwardly passed the Pokéball between his paws as he headed towards the exit doors, Wobbuffet following with a self-assured "Wobbuffet!" Awkward as it was, when Jessie and James sent Meowth and Wobbuffet to the Pokémon center on their own to get back to full health, Meowth was obviously the only option to take care of Wobbuffet's Pokéball. It was logical, but it still always felt weird to hold that thing, even with Wobbuffet out of it. A Pokémon entrusted with a Pokéball. He was only one small step away from actually owning one of his own kind, in a sense.

Not that there was really anything wrong with that, Meowth admitted. Maybe it would take a bit getting used to, but still… not a bad idea, really…

"Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet was now side-by-side with Meowth, giving him his usual over the top smile.

"Listen, Wobbuffet, can ya say anything more than that? Your hopes, your dreams, heck, even asking about the weather? It would be nice to actually have a convoisation with you one of these days!"

"Wo-o-o-obbuffet!"

Meowth scowled. "You're an idiot and I hate you."

…

"So… you want us to fix something that you don't even have with you?"

James sighed in frustration, fighting the urge to facepalm. "Yes, not only do I want you, I expect you to. I'm a paying customer and I believe I've given you a reasonable estimate as to where my hot air balloon is."

"You think 'on the ground somewhere below here' is a reasonable estimate?"

"It's been enough for you before!"

"Not me. Must have been someone else at the desk that time."

"Then get that person out here so I can deal with him or her instead!"

"Look, fine, whatever, we'll do it." The clerk at the desk of Ken's Repair Service had a lilt to his voice that seemed to convey a belief that he was going above and beyond to make an unreasonable accommodation. James definitely heard it, and it irked him almost more than anything else had that day. "But it'll cost you extra to do the little search and rescue effort."

James paled. "How much extra?"

"I dunno. One thousand Pokedollars, I'd think to start with? We can take it from there if it takes longer."

James winced, digging through his pocket for the extra cash. "This is robbery," he muttered, finally finding the required extra amount. "And believe me, I know robbery!"

"If you want extra work done, you gotta pay for it," the clerk said in a condescending tone. "Now what are some identifying marks of your damaged balloon?"

"The balloon itself is a giant meowth head. That should be identifying enough."

"Should be. And the extent of the damages?"

"I tell you, I don't know." James was aware of how unhelpful this exchange was. "I was kind of being blasted in the air at the time of the damage, so I wasn't directing much attention to it."

"This is incredibly unhelpful," the clerk said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, I'm aware," James sighed.

"Well, we'll give you a call when we find it and will let you know if there are any additional charges. Can you leave me your name and contact info—"

"It's James, and you have all of my contact information. I've been here before, many times!"

"I've never seen you before in my life!"

"You must be new then! Talk to your boss and—"

"Well, this is my first day, but—"

"Of course it is!" James finally flew up his arms, no scrap of patience for the clerk left in him. "Just tell your supervisor that it's the James with the giant meowth balloon and he'll know exactly who I am."

"Well, I should hope so. We'll contact you. Have a nice day." Sarcasm as thick as a snorlax.

"How do you expect to keep your job with that kind of attitude?" James shot back before spinning on his heel and storming out of the shop before the clerk could get another rude word in.

Once outside, he leaned against the sleek, polished outside wall and groaned, his anger fading into exhaustion. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the pitiable amount of money he had left, counting it three times to make sure that he was counting correctly. It didn't take long. He could barely afford a candy bar with what he had left.

"Well doesn't that just take the cake," he muttered. And what if the repair charge was indeed raised? Asking the boss for more money was pointless. The amount they were allotted was practically pocket change, and James could count on one hand the number of times they'd been allotted extra funds. The vast majority of their income actually came from Meowth. Most nights, instead of sleeping, Meowth prowled along whatever town Team Rocket happened to be in or near and always returned with handfuls of coins. James had long since grown desensitized to stealing objects, and obviously Pokémon, but the idea of stealing money still didn't sit right with him. But with that said… well, telling Meowth to stop doing what he wanted was an exercise in futility, and would be idiotic besides, seeing as how the team benefited from it. Meowth himself didn't seem to care much about the money after he initially stole it, so James or Jessie would usually swipe it when Meowth wasn't looking and he was none the wiser for it. He seemed to enjoy the taking more than actually having, which worked out in the favor of the whole team.

This meant, though, unfortunately, James had to hope that Meowth had accumulated some extra cash if he wanted to be able to pay the possible inflated full charge needed for the repairs. Either that or just hope that the repairs were done before the full payment was demanded and just fly away. Given the circumstances, a "fix and ditch" seemed far more appealing. It would give Team Rocket a jump-start on their next shot at stealing the Pokémon of Twerp and Co., too. James already had a few new ideas swirling around in his head. Having a little extra cash in the pocket certainly would be a plus to any of those ideas.

Of course, they were going to need their balloon repaired first.

Pushing himself away from the wall with a huff, James started walking down the street, back towards the massive park, ornately decorated with exquisitely sculpted topiaries and quaint cobblestone footpaths, that sat at the very center of the resort. His business was as finished as it could be for now; time to find the rest of his team and discuss their plans. Meowth and Wobbuffet were surely finished at the Pokémon center by now, and Jessie had to have gotten her hair back to perfection… perfect hair to match that perfect ass of hers…

James shook his head violently. Stop thinking about her ass, stupid brain of mine!

Very well then. Hard to get the image of her perfectly sculpted body out of his head, though, especially when coupled with that perfect pair of full, perky boobs…

Oh yes those amazing glorious perfect boobs…

"No! STOP IT!" James smacked himself in the head, earning a confused look by a couple of onlookers. "Would you stop thinking about that already? Where did this even come from?!" Jessie was his friend, his colleague, his partner for who-could-remember-how-long now. And while they were on their missions, their attentions turned one hundred percent on the task at hand, James didn't even notice Jessie's body. Well… okay, he did notice it. He would have had to been blind to not notice. But her attractiveness was just another straightforward fact about her, as simply stated and unimportant as the color of her hair. It didn't distract him one bit.

Except during their downtimes. Like now. Heck, Jessie wasn't even there and that gorgeous body of hers was still distracting him! He wasn't sure when, or why, or how this had happened… but it happened, and this new… revelation that some baser part of his mind had made seemed there to stay.

Stopping to sit down at a bench at the park, James looked around for Jessie, like an addict looking for his next hit. No, no, he reasoned with himself, Jessie was his teammate and he wanted to reunite with her so they could press onward. Of course. It took him a second to remember that he should be looking for Meowth and Wobbuffet, too.

And they were who he found first—or rather, who found him first. "Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet cried out in a happy greeting.

"You're a sight for sore eyes!" Meowth said with a smile, quickly crossing the patch of lawn to climb up on the bench and sit next to James, Wobbuffet following. "Although they really ain't sore anymore. Nothing is. That Nurse Joy is creepy, but she sure knows her stuff."

"Glad you're feeling better," said James. "Did you happen to swipe any money on your way here?"

"Why d'ya ask?" Meowth asked suspiciously.

"Because the cost for repairing our balloon may be higher than I bargained for." James decided to keep his idea of just leaving without paying when the repairs were done to himself. What Meowth didn't know couldn't hurt him… especially if it meant extra money.

"Aw, come on. You've never had trouble before!"

"They've never been such jerks to me before."

"That's a bummer. Here ya go. I wasn't gonna use it anyway." Meowth handed James a fistful of cash.

"Much appreciated," James smiled, carefully depositing the money in his pocket. With that taken care of, his mind snapped back to the other issue at hand at the moment. "Have you seen Jessie?"

"Nope." Meowth shrugged. "She's probably still at the salon."

"How long does it take to get doused in hairspray, anyway?" James asked, rolling his eyes.

"Long enough." The new voice caused James, Meowth, and even Wobbuffet to jump in surprise. It was of course only Jessie, standing behind the bench, her hands on her hips but looking more amused than annoyed.

"H-how long have you been there?" James stammered, trying to keep his eyes on her face and not her boobs.

"Oh, calm down, I only just got here. I had a wonderful time at the salon." Jessie flipped her head back with a self-assured smile, running a hand along her perfectly sculpted mane. Her bare midriff jutted out a bit, her miniskirt that was more mini than skirt revealing a few more inches of leg…

"We're all very thrilled for you," James said quickly, trying to get his mind back on track. "We've all finished up, too."

Jessie made her way around to the other side of the bench. "Here, I picked something up for all of you." She deposited a handful of mixed nuts into Meowth's paws. "The salon offered me some free snacks, so I wanted to make sure you all had some, too. The perfect snack after a hard day's work."

"Gee, thanks a bunch!" Meowth said, shoving his entire handful into his mouth at once.

"Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet said gratefully as Jessie gave him his portion.

As Jessie handed the rest to James, she said, "Oh, and I have something extra for you, James."

"Extra?"

Jessie plopped a couple of foil-wrapped rectangles in his hand. "Breath mints. I hate to have to be the one to tell you this, dear… but your breath stinks." Despite this assertion, she was close enough to his face that she could certainly smell it and yet was not recoiling. In fact, if anything, she was pressed too close, her perfectly firm breasts touching his body…

James snatched them up, hoping she'd either move away or get closer. "You know, it's hard to focus so much on personal hygiene in our line of work." He slid his gifts from Jessie into his pocket as discreetly as possible, trying not to jingle the coins too much.

"And that line of thinking is precisely why I have to take care of you!" Jessie said, playfully flicking James's nose. "Whatever would you do without me?"

"Good question," James mumbled lamely, giving up against trying to push thoughts of her boobs out of his mind for the time being.

"So what are we doing now?" Meowth asked, oblivious to the chemistry he had just witnessed. Well, one-sided chemistry, James figured, since Jessie seemed equally oblivious to it.

"I doubt we're getting much else done today, especially since the balloon…" Jessie gave James an inquisitive look.

"Is out of commission for the time being," James finished.

"Right. Let's take advantage of where we ended up and just enjoy the evening. I'll get us a room at the Hotel Aviary. We can even have supper at the restaurant there."

"We can't afford that," James countered. "We can barely afford repairs to our ship."

"I have money," Jessie said lightly. "I'll buy." James didn't want to know where she got the extra money, and so he didn't ask.

"If Jessie's got extra dough just lyin' around, can you give me back that money I gave ya?" Meowth asked James.

"No," James said flatly.

"Wobbuffet!"

"Come on. After a day like today, I'd say we've earned taking a relaxing bath in a luxurious hotel room." Jessie smiled, seeming to already be picturing the scene in her mind.

"I'm just looking forward to the TV!" Meowth said, already heading towards the hotel in question.

"Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet agreed, quick on Meowth's tail.

Jessie moved to follow them, but stopped herself, looking at James expectantly. "James? Aren't you coming?"

"In a bit. I need to finish up with the boneheads in the shop." It was difficult to force himself to look her in the eyes while telling a not-exactly-truth.

Jessie harrumphed. "They sound very unprofessional. You ought to find a different repair service."

"Too late for that now."

"I suppose so. Well then, I'll just get a table ready for us at the restaurant. Try to not be long. I'll order us an appetizer. What would you like?"

"Calamari? Or shrimp cocktail? Order what you like. I'll be happy with anything."

"Calamari it is then. See you there." She gave him one quick smile before following Meowth and Wobbuffet towards the hotel, hips swinging, ass bouncing, her tight skirt leaving little to the imagination, and yet James was imagining plenty…

Snapping his head away from her, James forced himself to sit back down on the bench and pick at his gloved fingers for a few moments, trying in vain to silence his thoughts. It was good that he'd given himself a bit longer to himself so that he wouldn't be distracted by Jessie's ass again, but at the same time it was disappointing that he was by himself because he wouldn't be distracted by Jessie's ass again.

His attempts at thinking of anything else proving futile, James finally stood up and made his way out of the park and down a different path.

…

"Hey James! Good to see you again!" The bartender of The Hungry Hippowdon, a bar and grill that served up the best burgers and sandwiches at the entire resort, knew James and the rest of Team Rocket by sight, as they often patronized the restaurant when their defeats landed them there. He looked a little confused as he saw James was by himself. "Just you?"

"Yes, just me. I'll catch up with the others in a bit. Just need to take care of something." James surprised the bartender even further by sitting at the bar rather than a table.

"No problem. What can I get you? The bacon burger? A club sandwich?"

They all sounded delicious, but James knew that dinner was waiting for him at the hotel. He shook his head. "Not today. Just a shot of whiskey will do for now."

The astonishment on the bartender's face was almost comical to observe, James noted, hiding a smile. If he did drink while he was here, he usually just ordered a glass of wine. He'd never ordered hard alcohol straight from the bottle before.

"A shot of whiskey? Are you sure?"

The bartender seemed so concerned that James quickly reevaluated the chain of events that had brought him here.

Losing to that stupid kid… again.

Making sure that the balloon was repaired in due time.

Lack of funds to complete said repairs, let alone for anything else.

Jessie's ass.

Sighing, James nodded. "And make it a double."