Legal Disclaimer
The only things I own here are: the plotline, occasional new characters and dreams of what could happen. I do, however, deny all rumours about me owning Ash and Misty. I don't want them and I definitely don't pretend to own them!
Friday, September 1st 2000.
Jessie, James and Meowth were waiting for the commotion in the lab to ease off a bit, anxious to deliver their prize as soon as possible. They were currently located in a darkened room two storeys above the lab in question with an unconscious Pikachu lying on the table. Although the adrenaline count was well above normal, they were all feeling a little jumpy since they were unsure what time the drug would wear off.
James was leaning against a long, metal counter; its edge almost as sharp as the equipment on it was, but not quite. He watched his partners discuss their best possible escape route, whilst at the same time contemplating whether or not he should go through with his plan or not. Maybe, just maybe she'll hear me out. But what if she laughs at me? I've nothing worth offering her, unless you count a free portable punch-bag if she accepts. I don't know He realised he must have been staring at her because she snapped her fingers in front of his eyes and asked him what was wrong. It was at this moment in time that James realised exactly how dry a person's throat could become. He swallowed to try and disperse the knot that was forming in his stomach out of nerves. Attempting to ignore the fact that Meowth was there, he faced Jessie and decided to go for it.
He began to take a small, gift-wrapped box out of his trouser pocket and express his non-platonic feelings for his best friend, but unfortunately Jessie failed to catch anything after: "Jess, you know how we've known each other…"due to the fact that after those few words light flooded the room and sirens blared throughout the building, indicating that they'd been discovered. Meowth cursed loudly, but words failed to describe how pissed off the human members looked. Just as James was about to suggest an escape route, Jessie grabbed a large glass jar which was behind him, the proceeded to scream at him "We're just about arrested and all you can think about is THAT?! What kind of moron are you?!"
The words pierced his soul, not only because of the unnaturally loud pitch, but it was mainly due to what actually left her mouth. His lack of a response seemed only to agitate her further, and in an instant she managed to cause the jar to collide with his left temple. Since the attack was unexpected, he didn't have sufficient time to protect himself against it, the impact also left him feeling overly dizzy and nauseous. Meowth called out:
"Quit playing around you guys, we have to make our escape"
They mumbled something in response, both feeling awkward when he said the 'playing around' part and Jessie accidentally bumped into him as she started to escape with Meowth. Unfortunately since James felt so off-balance from the jar he fell backwards and suddenly felt pain sear through his upper back as his skin was slit on the razor-sharp edge. The last thing he could remember before he fell unconscious was being aware of the high-pitched ringing in his ears along with the sight of his partners fleeing the scene, ordering him to bring the 'yellow rodent' without looking to see if he was still beside them.
The 'yellow rodent' in question was actually the first of them to come to its senses, and when it did it quickly became alert as it failed to spot anything familiar in the surrounding area. It spent approximately ten minutes gnawing through the ropes and released a squeal of delight when it achieved its goal. It leapt off the table and as it began to sprint out of the 'prison', it felt some sort of foreign substance sticking to its paws. It paused, clearly perplexed, and it sniffed at its arms curiously. It was more than a little taken- aback when the realisation hit it of what it had run through; blood. As it shook away the initial shock, it realised that the blood was fresh, worse still was that the scent smelt vaguely familiar. As it continued to ponder over whose scent it was that it could be detecting, it decided that whatever it was that was injured was probably in the vicinity of where it stood now. It was still unable to see little more than two feet around it, due to both the drug and also because the room was engulfed in an unforgiving depth of black, leaving an atmosphere almost as cold as the tiles it stood on. In an attempt to see what it was that was injured, Pikachu thunder-shocked the entire room. Although it had taken a fair bit out of it due to its weakened form, it had spotted an odd-shaped form roughly five feet to its right.
Pikachu was now scared; the form hadn't moved and was surrounded by the blood, which should have helped conduct the electricity. It bounded over to the body and finally figured out who the person was-James. Tears hindered the pitiful vision it already possessed, out of shock and sadness, mixed with relief as it could hear faint breathing coming from the direction of his fallen enemy. It decided to give its electricity bolts another chance and cried out ecstatically when it heard a faint grunt. It didn't really see James sit up; it was more like it sensed it, which perplexed it further as it usually only shared this bond with Ash.
Blood was the first thing that James could taste, the first thing he could smell, the first thing he could feel on his skin and he was pretty much certain that he was lacking a large amount of it. He felt dizzy and then swore violently when he remembered why he was there in the first place. He became very alert as he realised that he was not alone. He remained rigid on the ground, terrified of being arrested on the grounds of breaking and entering on top of his vast criminal record. He exhaled with relief as he heard a soft "Pika Pi", mingling with the dull buzz drowning out most of the other sounds. With some great difficulty he stretched across and scratched the top of Pikachu's head in an act of trust, and also as a symbol of friendship.
The pain gradually subsided to the extent that he could hear what was going on in the lab, but his actions were still hindered due to the excessive blood loss he had experienced earlier. He took his gloves and jacket off, then he proceeded to wipe away some of the blood that was on his face, resulting with him crying out in pain a couple of times. Luckily for them, the noises remained unnoticed by anyone else. He felt not only depressed for lacking the option of a two-way conversation, but also because he realised that he would have to remain in the dark room until the scientists had cleared out completely.
What appeared to be aeons later, there was silence throughout the stone building. James shakily stood up and received a pounding headache as he did so; it was far worse than any hangover he had ever suffered from. He felt a little disgusted with himself when he found thoughts of Jessie and Meowth's safety entering his head. He had to grab onto the side of the counter to stop him from collapsing again, then swore silently to himself when he felt a slight cut on his palm. He heard another worried squeak from the rodent, so he gently whispered: "It's okay, I'm alright. Now let's get out of this place"
Roughly thirty-five minutes later, the duo landed safely on the opposite side of a ten-foot high metal fence, which ran all around the lab. James' vision was becoming more accustomed to the rapidly fading light and he was finally able to move without wanting to throw up and/or pass out again. He grabbed his backpack out of the bushes and shoved his gloves, jacket and everything out of his pockets into it, including the present he had bought for Jessie. He looked up at the sky and decided that it must be roughly half seven in the evening, though he wasn't entirely certain. He wanted to do some private reflecting about the way he had been treated earlier, so he decided to return Pikachu. He may lead a life of crime, but he knew that it would only be the decent thing to do since he knew Pikachu had woken him up, even though it hadn't actually been expressed in words. They trekked through the wooded area until it was difficult to see little more than a ten feet in any given direction. They had just about decided to set up a camp for the night when Pikachu pricked its ears forward, having detected a crackle of dried wood not too far off in the distance. They picked up speed in the direction in question, then a major feeling of relief swept over them as they heard the familiar sound of Brock attempting to stop a blazing row, which was going on between Ash and Misty.
"Will you stop snapping at us?! We know you're upset about losing Pikachu, but there's nothing we can do about it at this time at night. I suggest you try and get some sleep so you'll be fit to help it tomorrow-what's the point of collapsing after two miles?"
"Shut up Misty, you know how worried I am. Imagine how you'd feel if it was your stupid egg. If only Team Useless were here, I'd wipe that stupid smirk off their faces. Especially that cross-dressing, idiotic fairy…"
Unfortunately for Ash, he said the last part just as James walked into the clearing with Pikachu. Glaring at him, he icily said "Care to call me that to my face? Or aren't you tall enough to do that?"
Ash suddenly became more obnoxious than usual and said, without turning around "Why would I want to see a Muk when I've already caught one?"
"Do you have any idea how long we've been looking for you, and this is the reception you give me? I'll tell you, shall I? For the last two or three hours in this light no less, not to mention the extra hardships we faced doing so"
"Who's this 'we' you keep talking about? Either we've got an alter-egotistical freak on our hands, or your ditzy partner has finally learned how to keep her oversized cake-hole shut"
"Or maybe I went through all this trouble just to bring you back your excess baggage"
Ash turned around for the first time with extremely widened eyes and saw Pikachu looking up at him from the ground with a shocked facial expression. He stammered out some pitiful form of apology, and then dropped to his knees to hug his beloved rat. James waited for a little while for some form of gratitude, but when it never came, he silently turned to walk away. Although he hadn't expected much from Ash since it was his fault anyway that they'd been separated in the first place, he sure as hell did not expect the sharp punch to the back of his neck. He spun around, rubbing his neck gently to relieve him of the stinging sensation, and then demanded to know what the hell he thought he was playing at. Ash's expression was grim: he not only gritted his teeth, but the fiery glare in his eyes mixed with his clenched fist made him look completely different, as if it were some sort of distorted image they were looking at. In fact, the contempt visible on the young boy's face surprised even James, not that he showed it.
"I demand to know exactly what you did to my Pikachu, or else I'll make you tell me"
"I have no idea what you're talking about. The only thing we did was put a mild drug into its system, which is known to have virtually no side effects. The only thing the potion would have done is make your pet more alert than usual, and that will have already worn off at this stage"
"LIAR!!!"
With a sudden outburst of rage, he punched his nemesis full-force in his abdomen, causing him to drop to his knees and wrap his arms around himself. He had been completely winded, as the attack was unexpected, but it wasn't so much the sharp lack of air that was bothering him, or even the small amount of blood he was coughing out. Humiliation swept over him as he realised that his supposedly best friend and an eleven-year-old boy had hurt him within hours of each other. This emotion was quickly replaced with a burning sense of anger, and when he had regained his breath he stood up saying
"What is your problem? Is that how you were brought up to thank someone for doing you a favour?"
"I wasn't brought up to thank someone who hurt something I care deeply for, but maybe that wasn't the quote 'proper way to thank someone' Especially if that causes the 'pet' to bleed"
James had just about had enough of the rubbish that Ash was screaming at him so he decided to convince him to shut up. He took one look at Pikachu, then grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket and shoved him into the nearest tree. The campfire illuminated his face completely for the first time, which not only highlighted the dried blood on the side of his face, but also made him appear more menacing. Then through gritted teeth he hissed:
"For the last time I DID NOT HURT YOUR PIKACHU. All we did was drug it, which it has now recovered from, and then search in the wilderness just to return it. If I were you, which luckily I'm not, I'd get my eyes tested because, should you bother to look at Pikachu closely, you'd discover no cut on it, then your brain cell might be able to deduce that the blood is mine"
Ash blanched when he saw the blood surrounding the hairline on his left temple. They also heard a barely audible gasp from Brock and Misty, who had wisely decided to remain silent throughout the argument. James came to the decision that it was time he left, so after pushing Ash against the moss-covered tree one last time he glared into his terror-stricken eyes and spat out
"If I ever hear you talking about me or any other member of Team Rocket like that again, you'll go through far worse than whatever's happened to you before. Count yourself lucky that I was the only one who heard you, because let's just say that if Jessie was here, you'd be Ash by nature as well as by name. Do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal"
As he had received a satisfactory answer, he dropped Ash, and then shot a glare at Brock and Misty, which gave the distinct impression that, it meant 'that goes for you too'. With that, he picked up his backpack and walked away from the clearing. He could still hear their conversation after a couple of minutes, which consisted of:
"Can you believe he did that? Maybe he's not such a bad guy after all"
"Not so bad? He could have killed me over there and you did nothing to stop him. Some friends you are!!!"
"That's just because you provoked him. He did you a favour and you cause him to cough up blood!"
"Speaking of blood, how do you suppose he got to look like that?"
"And where were Jessie and Meowth? She is soooooo hot!"
"BROCK!"
"What?! She is!"
"Now is not the time to go all dopey over a girl who isn't even here!"
"Correction, Misty, woman"
"Grow up Romeo, she…"
At the mention of Jessie's name, James tried his hardest to blank out their petty conversation and also attempted to blink back the burning tears that were rapidly forming in his eyes. He was extremely tired and had nowhere to sleep as all of the vital supplies were in the stupid balloon. All he had with him in his backpack was a change of clothes, a very small supply of food and a towel. The latter had been used that morning after Meowth had fallen into some icy water and needed drying before he caught a chill. Not only was he lacking essential items, but also he was alone, felt sticky where the blood was still mildly wet, then to top it all, he was in far greater pain than any other time that he could recall. He couldn't believe his luck when he heard the sound of running water, so he headed off in the direction he thought it was in.
He was overjoyed to see that what met his tired eyes was a wide river, possibly a mile wide, with some rocks jutting out in the middle of the slow-pacing water. There were also a couple of caves along a really steep part of the bank, which seemed to extend back into the earth for quite a bit, but right at that moment, the only thing that interested him was the running water. It may not have been an en-suite deluxe hotel room, but he was satisfied with it.
He peeled off his dirty uniform, and then proceeded to jump into the water in his boxer shorts. It was hotter than he could have possibly imagined, as it still maintained all the warmth it had gathered throughout the day, and yet the temperature was sufficiently cool to remove the layered blood and sweat that had been building up on his body since roughly ten o' clock that morning. The tears that had been threatening him since he woke up finally escaped his eyes since he knew that if anyone caught him, he could blame it on the river. He inhaled deeply and dove to the bed of the river, then began to rub at the blood in his hair and around his temple regardless of the pain he suffered as he continued.
When he failed to feel any more alien substances around his head, he surfaced and gasped hungrily for air. He grabbed what used to pass off as 'clothes' and scrubbed at them until the unnatural stiffness disappeared from them. He had forgotten completely about his jacket until he went for some fresh clothes, but by then he just felt too tired to do anything about it. He had just pulled on a pair of jeans when he heard a familiar male voice say
"Ignore Ash. We all know how thick skulled he can be at times. I couldn't help notice how badly injured you were earlier, not to mention that you were alone, so I thought you might like to stay at our campsite tonight"
"That's very kind of you, but why are you being so nice to me? I could wait until you fall asleep, and then steal your pokémon"
"Yes, you could, but if you were really interested in stealing them, I doubt you'd return them a couple of hours later, would you? Ash can be a real jerk sometimes, but he only attacked you today because Pikachu is a touchy subject with him. Speaking of touchy subjects, I saw you flinch every time Jessie was mentioned. See, you just did it again. Care to talk about it?"
James felt relieved to be able to talk to someone about it, yet at the same time he was feeling a bit awkward when he thought about whom he would be telling. He swallowed whatever shred of pride he still had and told him the complete story whilst he finished getting dressed. He was pleased with himself when he discovered that he could say all of that without crying again, but he had had to interrupt the story a couple of times with some minor obscenities when he had moved his shoulders and/or head uncomfortably as he put his t-shirt on.
He gathered up his belongings and followed Brock back to the same area he had been in earlier, having been given the option to get his injuries looked after. Luckily for them, Ash seemed to have gone somewhere for a few minutes, for some more firewood, according to Misty. James took his t-shirt off for Brock to clean up the cut on his back first; his cheeks quickly started burning when he saw Misty staring at him from the corner of her eye. Just what I need, camping with a pre-adolescent who has a crush on me. I suppose it's still better than sleeping on my own without anything. And it does make a change from being the one going asleep with unspoken feelings with someone five feet away from me He put his t-shirt back on as soon as possible, feeling a bit better as he had received some decent medical attention for once.
He was talking to Misty as Brock began to make their evening meal, when a familiar "Pi-Pikachu!" rang out through the forest. He glanced up just in time to see a small yellow creature jump into his chest with a friendly force. He petted it until he saw Ash and said
"Want it back, so you can make sure that 'the idiotic, cross-dressing, fairy member of Team Useless' doesn't try to steal it?"
"I'm sorry about that, I was just worked up about not knowing how or where Pikachu was earlier. So how are Jessie and Meowth?"
An awkward silence lingered in the air for a few minutes, then James finally said:
"They're fine. They're both just on a different mission than I am right now"
Everyone there knew that it was a downright lie, but nobody said anything that would suggest anything otherwise by it. They all turned in for sleep at roughly twenty past nine, but James found it impossible to get to sleep, even with the spare blanket and pillow that Misty had given him. He got up after a non-eventful bout of insomnia, then decided to go for a quick walk to loosen up his stiff joints. Whatever he was expecting to see, it wasn't the image that met his eyes.
Still in her uniform, Jessie was talking to Meowth with her back to him, and from the way her back was trembling erratically; he figured that she must have been crying. She had often let her guard down in front of him, but it was usually only when it was something she found really upsetting that she cried in front of Meowth. Could it possibly be that she regretted her actions?
He watched them from the concealing bushes at a safe distance, trying to grasp any information from their conversation that he could, which was difficult enough since Meowth found it hard to comprehend some things that she was saying, and he was sitting right beside her. She eventually decided to get ready for bed, as far as he could gather, as Meowth slinked off into the woods to do some nighttime hunting and she stood up and had a quick scan of the area; her usual ritual which indicated that she was just about to prepare to go to sleep. He watched her movements for a few minutes, one could say that he was enchanted by her stunning good looks, and then looked at the ground out of respect when it came to her taking off her uniform. He waited for roughly five minutes until he risked looking up, and by that stage, she was in her underwear, well tucked into her sleeping bag. Suddenly an idea hit him, so he stealthily returned to 'his' campsite.
Jessie sat up with a start after experiencing a troublesome sleep. She was drenched in a cold sweat and rubbed her eyes to try and rid herself of the horrendous images that had invaded her dreams. Flashbacks of how he tried to ask her out mingled with warped versions of what happened. The worst one she could remember was it being their wedding day. He was being asked to say, but all he could do was point and laugh at her saying:
"Her?! So she can try to kill me in bed? No thanks-give me Jessibelle any day!"
The last words rang continuously through her head and she had to bite her lip to stop herself from bursting into tears again. She glanced to her side and saw that Meowth still hadn't returned, and felt like she was being abandoned. Sighing, she turned around to get up, but stopped when she saw a box beside her. Underneath the box was a note, so she reached for that first instead, and to her delight discovered that James had written it after she had unfolded it.
Dear Jess,
I think we got off to the wrong start earlier, don't you? Although I'll admit I took that rejection more 'painfully' than I did any other, it doesn't stop me feeling and thinking the way I do about you. About us. This is very hard for me to write this, although I know that you'll be the only one to read this, it still feels so impersonal to me. What I'm trying to say is, will you at least think about what you could have, and what you could lose. I'll completely understand if you don't feel the same way-I just needed to tell you and get this out of my system. In case Meowth is around next time I see you, either put the necklace on if you think we have a chance together, otherwise I'm really sorry for bringing this up and I swear I won't mention it again. Always,
James X
She carefully refolded the message in shock, then she slowly opened the box. Inside was a light silver locket, which, when opened, revealed a picture of them with Meowth on their first successful mission. She laughed when she remembered that day; tears of ecstasy were now flowing freely down her face. Without any hesitation, she undid the latch on the chain and put her arms around her neck to close it again. What she didn't expect, however, was to find an extra pair of hands already there closing it for her. Before she could say anything, James had crawled around and sat facing her. He just looked at her for a minute, then said
"Does this mean what I think it means?"
She nodded mutely and after both of them feeling uncertain and a little nervous, they leaned forward and shared their first kiss. Nerves soon dissolved as they equally became more involved in the process; it just felt so natural that Jessie was left wondering why she had turned him away in the first place.
They gradually broke from their kiss, both sensing the need to talk about what they were doing, yet at the same time feeling reluctant to pull their lips away from their partners'. James was the first to speak, finding it difficult to talk whilst he sat, lost in the depths of her sapphire-blue eyes.
"That was well worth the eight years' wait for me anyway, how did you find it?"
She remained silent, then started crying again. All emotions she had taught herself to forget about were now surfacing all at once, and it was becoming too much for her to cope with
"Jess, what's wrong? Was it that terrible for you? I know you aren't a guy or anything but I still enjoyed it!" He joked, and got what he wanted from her: a laugh. He put his arms around her to comfort her and kissed her hair whilst she continued crying into his shoulder. When she finally had a good grip on her hormones, she said:
"I'm sorry, it was great, but that's just it. We went from best friends to a couple in .5 seconds. That was the best moment of my life so far, but I still don't understand what you could possibly see in a cold-hearted ice-bitch like me"
"I don't see you like that at all, what I see is the only person whom I've known for almost a decade who actually believes in me. I know that your ice-bitch routine is just a façade used for people who don't know what the real you is like"
"I guess so. Has someone been giving you a hard time about your sexuality again? Or, correction, what everyone assumes your sexuality is and not what it actually is"
James just sighed, then told her about the argument he had been in earlier. He finished with:
"I guess I'm just not mean enough. I mean, the rat was in our grasp and what do I do? Feel sorry for the poor thing and return it! If it was any other pokémon, I don't think I'd have bothered but I don't think it would be right if either of us caught and cashed in Pikachu without the other, do you?"
"I know what you mean. I thought it was weird enough, us being apart earlier, even if it was just for a couple of hours. I guess it's because we've been by each other every day for the last few years. I don't quite know how to say it, but I felt somehow awkward earlier, like I was incomplete. Guilt played a major part in it anyway"
"There's no sense in beating yourself over what happened earlier, it's in the past. Okay, maybe I should have phrased that better, but the point is that I survived and still came back to you. If I resented you for doing it, why would I bother returning to see you again?"
"I guess you're right, but I still feel awful about hurting you in the first place. You have no idea how I felt when we were outside and realised that you weren't. All I could think about was that you'd think we'd abandoned you. I wanted to go back in to see if you were all right, but Meowth said that we should wait until dark, but we never saw anything when we went back in. I began to feel that I wouldn't be able to see you again until we would have to collect our salaries next month. When I was talking to Meowth before he went to find a midnight snack a terrible possibility struck me; what if you didn't make it out safely and I never saw you again. It was such a threat to me that I actually cried in front of Meowth, can you believe it?"
James stopped himself from saying 'I know, I saw you' just in time, so instead settled for:
"Wow, I didn't think it would have ever come to that. Speaking of that scratch-cat, what do you intend telling him about us? I think it would only be the decent thing to do if I stayed at the brats' camp tonight, to repay them for the food and medical treatment they gave me earlier, so my suggestion would be to tell him together tomorrow. What's with me lately, I'm being so mannerly lately that soon you won't be able to recognise me anymore "
"Trust me, I'll always be able to recognise you. I can't understand why you joined Team Rocket in the first place; you're far too considerate for that cold-blooded, corrupt organisation"
"I would only consider leaving if you did too, we're in everything together, remember? We always agreed to accept both good with bad, and also it isn't the worst job that I've ever had. In fact, at times I think Giovanni is a little bit too lenient with us, considering the amount of times we've failed to complete this one basic assignment"
"But think of all of our other successful assignments. He must obviously take them into consideration, or else he'd have brought it to our attention ages ago. There's no way he'd bother with us unless we hold some potential, he's too much of a miser to do something like that. Can we please stop talking about him anyway? Otherwise I'll end up having more nightmares!"
"You know I'd do anything for you. Besides, let's see if this will make your night good and worry-free"
As he finished saying that, he leaned towards her and kissed her again, this time neither of them hindered their pleasure or technique with nerves. James was first to pull away after a few minutes, saying:
"It's getting late, and as much as I want to stay here with you, I think it would be for the best if I returned to the twerps' camp. Oh the joys of knowing that the twerpette has a crush on me!"
She sat up properly in her sleeping bag, clearly shocked, and said:
"You're not serious! How do you know?"
He told her how she had been looking at him when he'd had his t-shirt off earlier, then playfully asked if she was jealous. When he saw her familiar self-possessed smirk, he brushed his lips against hers one last time and said
"Goodnight Jess"
"'Night James"
And with that, he stood up and walked away from her and back to the others' campsite to get some rest. As he stripped down to his underwear before getting under his blanket he felt two aquamarine eyes watching him and heard slight whispering, but strangely enough, he could honestly say that he didn't care. Visions of what had occurred over the last few hours were recreated inside his head; along with the exact words of each of their most recent conversations as he closed his weary eyes. The final thoughts that ran through both his and Jessie's heads simultaneously were:
"Well, that worked out better than I imagined"
They both quickly surrendered to slumber with faint smiles on their faces, trying to anticipate what events would take place the next day.