A few moments after Steelix fell and the crowd was cheering, Jasmine returned it to its Pokéball and walked up to Ash. The plaza ground was kind of completely damaged as a side effect of the battle, but Whitney was too happy to care that this was going to be her problem later.
"Hehe, I guess I should have expected this to happen, but I really thought I was gonna win," Jasmine said, scratching the back of her head.
"Well, nothing wrong with wanting to win. Too bad you were battling me~" Ash teased.
Jasmine laughed a little. "Well, a loss is a loss, so you earned this." She reached down to her dress, unfastened a badge, and placed it into Ash's hand. "Here's the Mineral Badge. Congratulations, you more than earned it at this point."
As Ash pulled his hand back and looked at the badge, Heracross flew over and smiled, poking his side. He didn't say anything, but he had a little smirk.
Ash rolled his eyes. "Oh shut up, my guy." He flicked Heracross on the head and called off the transformation, making Heracross return to base form. "Go get some hot chocolate or something, you sweet addict."
Heracross' eyes lit up as he flew away in search of sweets, and Ash just let him go, watching him fly off, until suddenly, he felt a tug at his neck and was pulled backward.
It was Whitney, who had thrown an arm over both Ash and Jasmine's shoulders, pulling them into a headlock and rocking the two of them side to side.
"Best Christmas party ever! We should definitely do battles every year! Maybe get snow cones, set off fireworks, turn it into a whole tournament! I could get Morty and Bugsy and Falkner and—!"
Jasmine chuckled, lightly tapping Whitney's side. "Okay, okay, slow down. You're getting excited again."
Ash groaned. "Do all your party ideas involve turning Goldenrod into a battlefield?"
"Only the good ones!" Whitney beamed.
As Ash pulled himself free, rubbing his neck, he asked, "Hey, speaking of which, didn't you say Morty and Falkner would come?"
"Yeah, but they also have to take care of their own towns. We're all Gym Leaders, our towns kind of rely on us. They usually show up after the eggnog comes out," Jasmine replied.
Just then, they heard a whistle. Over by the stand was Morty, waving. "Yo, I heard my name, and you summoned me," he said playfully, hands in his pockets.
Whitney gave a mischievous smile. "Oh hey, Morty! I was just telling Ash here about the time you drank too much eggnog and got sick~"
"Hey, that was one time!" Morty immediately dropped the act and looked defensive. Then he sighed and turned to Ash. "Didn't think I'd see you again so soon. How's life been?"
Ash shrugged. "Can't complain. How about you? How've things been going since, you know… all that stuff happened?"
"Ahhh, don't even remind me," Morty mumbled, rubbing his head. "It's still such a pain, but we fixed up most of it."
"Good to hear that. It was a mess the last time I saw it," Ash muttered, remembering the whole incident.
Before Ash could say anything else, he felt someone wrap their arms around his waist. When he looked back, he saw Molly running up, she practically tackled Ash in a hug.
"Big brother! You were so amazing!"
Ash looked down at her, then glanced over at Delia, Yellow, Green, and Gary, all collectively watching with either a soft giggle or a smirk. You can guess who's who, as Delia had her camera up and was already snapping pictures.
Ash rolled his eyes and lifted Molly up, placing her on his shoulders. "Duh. I told you, as long as you cheer for me, I'll never lose."
"Hehe! I know! You're the strongest!" Molly cheered, holding onto his hair and beginning to braid it.
"Aww, is this your little sister? She's such a cutie!" Whitney said, cooing as she looked at Molly in her little Santa outfit.
Molly giggled proudly from atop Ash's shoulders. "I helped pick out his hair today too!"
Ash groaned playfully. "Helped? You dumped glitter in it and put it in a ponytail."
"Glitter is festive!" she chirped, tugging a strand to tie into a tiny braid.
"She's got you there," Jasmine added with a smile, hands on her hips.
Ash mock-sighed. "I'm surrounded."
But he smiled. "Anyway, I believe you said this Christmas party was just getting started? I promised my sister here a few things, so, what's next on the event list~?"
Whitney grinned and rubbed her hands together like she had an evil plan. "Hehe, oh we've got lots of stuff to do. You better be ready, you and your super cute sister!"
Off to the side, Gary watched while sipping hot chocolate. Delia was a lost cause, happily taking pictures of Ash and Molly. So he turned to Green and Yellow.
"Am I the only one that gets a bad feeling when she says that?" he asked.
"Dude, you got a bad feeling when we threw a surprise birthday party for you," Green said.
Gary gave her a blank look. "In my defense, you literally threw a cake at my face."
"In my defense… it was Ash's idea. Okay, and mine. But the cake was Ash's, and it was funny," she laughed, giving a gentle elbow to Yellow. "Even Yellow thought it was funny, right?"
Yellow flinched slightly. "I–um, w-well, I mean, it kinda was–b-but I mean not you getting hurt of course, just the cake, but I…"
Green laughed and patted Yellow's head. "We get it, Yellow. And please never change."
Pikachu and Chuchu nodded in agreement as Vee simply stared at them, wondering if this was all normal.
"Yeah, but my point still stands," Gary said, pointing behind him toward Ash and Whitney. "You don't think two gremlins working together is gonna make this… I dunno, chaotic?"
"That… is a very good point, actually," Green tapped her chin. "We can barely handle Ash. A part of me is both curious and terrified."
"Terrified of what exactly?" Ash said, appearing out of nowhere behind them.
They both flinched as Molly giggled. "You guys are silly!"
Green sighed. "Oh nothing. Just, uhhh… saying Molly looks cute riding on your shoulders. You sure you're an only child? You seem way too casual."
Ash rolled his eyes. "You're just jealous Molly prefers getting spoiled by me."
Green huffed, "Hey… anyway, that's beside the point."
Gary nearly fell over as he looked at Green. "At least try to deny it!"
"Well, it's not my fault you don't have a little sibling to spoil~" Ash smirked. "Maybe you should tell your parents to work harder. You're the only one of us here with both parents around."
"Okay, one, gross. Two, I'm considering it. And three, I have Silver!" Green crossed her arms.
"Oh yeah? And remind me again, where is he? Didn't you say you were gonna invite him~?" Ash teased.
"He… said he had other plans…" Green deflated.
"My point stands. Now come on, there was a sledding competition. And if you ask nicely, maybe Molly will ride with you."
Green raised an eyebrow, trying to play it cool. "Pfft. Like I need to ask nicely. I'm the queen of sledding. C'mon, Molly, what do you say? Wanna team up with me and crush your brother's dreams?"
Molly leaned forward dramatically over Ash's head like a general surveying the battlefield. "Hmmm… tempting offer. But who has the better snacks?"
Green paused. "…Okay, that's fair."
Ash turned slightly to look up at her. "I'll buy you peppermint cookies. With sprinkles."
Molly gasped. "SOLD!"
"Traitor," Green fake-pouted as she stuck her tongue out
Ash chuckled. "Come on, let's go. Yellow, you coming?"
Yellow smiled and nodded. "Always!" she said, hopping in behind them.
As the group walked off, Delia stayed a little behind, smiling as she took one more picture of them all walking away.
—-
{With Ashtwo}
Ash was sitting in the cafeteria, scrolling through his phone after picking up another shipment of Bad Eggs, taking what he could and then grabbing a few more from the Egg Department.
Remember that Slakoth Egg? Well, he'd been looking into how much it would cost to replace it. Obviously, getting a weak ability like, say, Vital Spirit was affordable... but he wanted something better.
The best one he could currently afford was to modify the Egg to replace Truant with Guts, which would already be a solid upgrade, but what he really wanted was Pure Power, and that was still out of his price range.
But maybe there was another option.
All this time, he'd been focused on replacing the ability. But what if, instead, he created a mutation?
Maybe he could design one that replaced Truant with Pure Power. Of course, that alone would cost way too much. So, he'd have to offset it with a drawback. Maybe something tied to HP... or the type of Pokémon it's facing.
As Ash played with the numbers on his screen, mentally taking notes, nothing else around him was happening.
His so-called "team" of Domino, Helena, Enid, and Jay had been sent out on a mission. Pretty abruptly, too. It was another assignment from the Masked Man, and they'd been sent with Sayoko and Owari.
But Ash had been left behind.
At the time, the group had been upset. Some of them were outright furious. But they'd chalked it up to the fact that Ash had basically played MVP in the last mission, and got injured doing it. If he hadn't been there, they probably would've died.
So they left, assuming it was just "D" getting some well-earned vacation time.
Meanwhile, Ash sat there alone.
Surprisingly, he hadn't seen Jessie, James, or Meowth in a while. He wondered what they'd been up to.
—
{Meanwhile}
Jessie, James, and Meowth were sitting in a waiting room, sighing.
Why were they even here again?
Their Team Rocket IDs had expired, so they needed to get them renewed. And it was a process.
Well... not for James. He got his renewed in a day. And Meowth didn't even need one.
Jessie was the problem.
It had been nearly a month, and she was still caught in a bureaucratic black hole, delayed by Human Resources for petty, unexplained reasons.
Finally, Jessie had had enough. She stood up, fists clenched.
"That's it! I'm done sitting here and doing nothing!"
James and Meowth were in the middle of sharing a meatball sandwich. The sudden outburst nearly made them drop it, but thankfully, Mime Jr. was there to catch it midair with [Confusion].
They both sighed in relief as James looked up. "What do you mean? Are you gonna fill out the form again? We can help you if you need it."
"No way. This time I'm going to HR and demanding to know why they refuse to give me my ID!"
Meowth cut the sandwich in half with his claws and took a piece. "Jessie, I may be a cat and not understand all these things, but I don't think that's a good idea…"
"You shut up! You don't know what you're talking about! I'm going now!" Jessie turned on her heel and started marching off.
—
"No, Jessie, it's not worth it," James tried to stop her. "Besides, you don't need one. We can always go to my pa— I mean, that one random mansion in Kanto and steal more money," he said, correcting himself.
Meowth nodded. "Yeah, think about this!"
Jessie looked back and punched them both over the head. "You two shut up. I'll decide what's best for me!" she said, marching off.
James and Meowth were now lying on the ground with spirals in their eyes. Meanwhile, their sandwich didn't go to waste, Mime Jr. and Jessie's Cubone had started eating the halves.
Meanwhile, Jessie marched into the HR department. There was only one person sitting behind a computer.
She had green hair and red eyes, and she looked like she'd been expecting her. Jessie recognized her, it was Wendy. They used to be friends, at least back in the academy, before being sent to different branches. Jessie had gone to Kanto, and Wendy to Johto. She hadn't even known Wendy was in HR now.
"Wendy?" Jessie blinked.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Jessie. I've been expecting you. You're probably wondering how I'm here. You thought you could escape what you did," Wendy said, petting a Skitty on her lap like she was trying way too hard to look evil, but it didn't work.
"Uhh… I mean, not really. What are you talking about?" Jessie tilted her head.
"Oh, you don't remember what you did to me?" Wendy scowled. "After all, you're here for your ID, right? Well, I'll never hand it over. There's a debt that needs to be repaid, and I'm going to make sure you pay for it."
Jessie was still confused, but she had a bad feeling. After all, Wendy and her used to be friends. What could she have done to make her act like this?
"What did I do? I'm serious, I don't remember."
Wendy's gaze darkened. "Of course you don't remember. You never remember the people and debts you leave behind. Fine, I'll tell you. I'll make you feel the guilt you should feel."
Wendy pointed at her. Jessie braced herself, expecting a tragic backstory about Wendy's family or some deep betrayal. But then Wendy opened her mouth.
"Remember back in the academy? We got smoothies and you said you'd pay me back for one, and you never did!"
Jessie was completely silent, wondering if Wendy was being serious. She looked around, half-expecting hidden cameras.
"Are… are you serious?"
"Of course I'm serious! What, does learning that make you feel guilty? Are you suffering? Good. Suffer more! I waited and waited, but you never paid me back!"
Jessie stayed silent, then walked up, grabbed her wallet, and pulled out a five-dollar bill.
"Here."
Wendy blinked. "Eh?"
"You… you actually had the money?" she asked, stunned.
Jessie put a hand to her face. "Wendy. You're holding a grudge over a smoothie from when we were teenagers? You don't think I just forgot I owed you five bucks? We were in the academy. We had bigger things to worry about. Why didn't you just call me to ask for it?"
"…I mean," Wendy muttered, her villainous composure cracking like a poorly made façade, "that's not the point…"
Jessie raised a brow. "It kind of is the point."
"No!" Wendy snapped suddenly, slapping her hands down on the desk, making the poor Skitty leap in surprise. "It's the principle! You said, and I quote, 'I'll pay you back someday,' and then you never did!"
Jessie blinked. "…Wow. You even remembered the exact words."
"I practiced that speech for years."
Jessie opened her mouth, paused, then just shoved the five-dollar bill onto the desk, "You need therapy."
"You... are probably right…" Wendy mumbled, thinking about how much sleep she'd lost over five dollars. "Dear lord, looking back at it, I really do need therapy… I mean, I even find Petrel attractive…"
Jessie looked at her like that was the worst thing she'd said yet. "Wait… Petrel? As in the Executive? Not like Archer, or even Proton, but Petrel, the purple-haired guy who looks like he smokes five packs of cigarettes a day?"
"I don't know why, I just keep thinking I can fix him," Wendy cried out, trying to defend herself.
"Yeah, no. I'm taking you to therapy. This is where I draw the line. You are too far gone to keep working here," Jessie said, walking over and grabbing Wendy by the shoulder. "Come on, let's go, for your own good."
Wendy was half being dragged, half walking under her own will, still mumbling about Petrel. "But he has depth, Jessie! You just don't see it!"
Jessie didn't slow down. "No, Wendy. What I see is a man who probably hasn't changed his socks since the Rocket Ball Gala."
"He said that was because of fieldwork!"
"He also said indoor sunglasses were 'tactical'—girl, please." Jessie rolled her eyes and dragged Wendy out of the HR room.
—
{Back with Ashtwo}
So yeah, he was just working, analyzing how he could exploit this system. He was running the numbers, and he might have actually found a way to do it.
Speaking of the empty cafeteria, again, actually, half the grunts on the base were gone. Like they'd all been sent out on a surprise mission. It was weird… and not in a good way.
But as he was thinking, he heard footsteps on the floor. He looked up and saw three Team Rocket members approaching, but they were all wearing masks.
Ash said nothing as he quietly tightened his scarf around his face.
They stopped in front of him.
"Agent D, you are being summoned by the Masked Man. Come with us so we can take you to his office."
Ash narrowed his eyes. He had a feeling he knew what this was about. He really didn't have a choice, so he nodded, stood up, and followed them.