Disclaimer: Whoever said they were mine, anyway?

Author's note: IMPORTANT: This fanfic is set the evening of that good ol' Princess Vs. Princess episode, which I recommend watching before reading this. Come on, they can't just leave Jesse with her losses to Misty and expect us to be satisfied, can they?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hopeless

by Rocket Jesse

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She spent the rest of the day letting them think they'd cheered her up. All evening long, James and Meowth wouldn't stop buying her trinkets of friendship or making Misty sound like the devil.

It warmed her seemingly insensitive heart to see her companions show their affection in such a manner. But even so… Jesse was still crestfallen.

She'd been *so sure* she was going to win. Maybe, she'd thought, my years of misery and losing are over, so now the rest of my life will carry nothing but victories. Starting with this one.

Then the rug had been pulled out from underneath her, sending the poor girl spiraling back to her early years of grief and sadness. Her trademark anger wouldn't come; not even a trickle of her normal fiery temper would show itself. Instead, she passively accepted the kindness of her two dear friends, knowing nobody, including them, *really* cared.

That night, she laid in her bed right by James, desperately attempting to stifle her sniffles and sobbing hiccups. He didn't need to hear her and then start worrying about her. He'd done enough already.

A quiet wail escaped her enviable red lips in the darkness, and she immediately held her breath to listen for any indication she'd been heard.

None came.

Jesse knew she couldn't keep her tears under control, so she threw the blankets back and stumbled out of the lonely cabin into a chilling forest of night sounds and eerie moonlight.

She ran.

Through the trees, past the whispers, over the dirty ground. Jump here, duck there. Don't let tears blur vision.

For how long she ran, she couldn't tell. All the while, she felt the glares of a thousand pairs of eyes, all of them hateful and unforgiving. "You're a loser," she heard hoarse voices from nowhere say. "You'll never win a thing!"

She tried to pick up her pace, but tripped over a root lying unseen among piles of dead leaves. Her momentum sent her crashing hard to the ground and rolling into a tree. It hurt a little, but she didn't pay attention to that. Any reason to get up eluded her mind.

A fit of tears suddenly forced its way out of her, leaving her laying on the cold, hard ground and totally powerless.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

James' feet pounded along the trail of broken branches and scattered leaves that Jesse had left in her wake. Something was wrong; Jesse was in trouble.

When he'd heard her tiny whimper in the stillness of their cabin, he'd suddenly realized that all the work he and Meowth had done to bring her spirits back up hadn't been good enough. His heart had gone out to her, not for the first time that day, and he'd found himself wanting more than anything to just simply hold her tight. Restraining hadn't been easy; he *knew* Jesse. That kind of comfort couldn't go from a nobody like him to a goddess like her.

But as soon as the cabin door had shut Jesse out, James had jumped up and followed her. He had to make sure she didn't carelessly hurt herself.

Jesse was a fast runner; her speed rivaled his own. And with the fifteen second head start she'd gotten, catching up with her was going to be quite a strain.

He heard a soft crash up ahead. His eyes widened and adrenaline pulled him to Jesse.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Only able to quiver and dart her eyes nervously around, Jesse hoped none of the beasts in seclusion would jump out at her. She couldn't find it in her to get up and move.

A Rhyhorn stepped out of the shadows. She had to blink twice through her drying tears to make sure it was real. Then, as if to verify its presence, it started stamping.

Something else rushed into the dim moonlight, but it seemed nothing more than a blurry blue streak to her. Before she knew it, it had picked her up and carried her into the tree she didn't even know she'd been laying against.

"Jesse, you okay?!" he asked, eyes deeply worried and hands holding her steady as though he was afraid he could break her delicate body. "That Rhyhorn looked about ready to kill you!"

She surveyed her new location, taking halting breaths that echoed inside her head. The branch he'd brought her to wasn't too far off the ground, but high enough so that the wild Pokémon hadn't a chance. It had disappeared.

Her legs dangled freely in the air, his hands resting on her upper arms from his own spot between her and the tree's trunk.

Once her eyes made it up to his, she came to terms with the fact that he had just saved her life. She tried to come up with some sort of thank you, or an explanation for why she was out there, or even an apology, but… when she parted her lips to speak, the thing she dreaded most happened. She cried.

As soon as the first tear escaped her eye, his automatic reaction was to crush her into his embrace. He almost didn't notice he was kissing her hair-- it was instinctual to him.

Her gentle sobs wracked her slender frame against his, and he tried to give her peace by rubbing his hands along her back and whispering into her ear. "Shh… it's alright, Jesse… don't worry…"

If she'd just been *pretending* to smile and laugh while he and Meowth worked so hard to make her feel better… he should have noticed it sooner. He should have recognized the deep sadness in her eyes and seen the slight hesitations she'd kept making for what they were. Because of him, she'd run out and almost been killed by that Rhyhorn.

"… Don't cry, Jess… I'm so sorry…"

She pulled away from him then, only so she could see him. "S-sorry? Why…?" Her dirty hand rubbed some of her tears away, smearing soil onto her perfect complexion.

It took all of his strength to keep his mouth away from hers, so instead he tenderly brushed some wetness and dirt away from her cheeks. "For not being able to cheer you up."

For one brief moment, the affection shone like heaven's light on her face. Then she frowned, rubbed away more tears with the base of her dirty palm and shook his arms off herself. "Who said I needed cheering up?" she growled in a dangerously volatile tone. "I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

He could tell he was walking on thin ice, now-- say one wrong thing and get shoved out of the tree. "I… I know that, Jesse. I was just trying to be friendly."

"If you want to be friendly, then leave me alone."

Confident that he'd eventually make her smile, he lightly responded, "Are you sure you want to be by yourself out here? All alone?"

It was then when his eyes darted down to the fan she held so hard that her shaking knuckles had turned white. "Down. *Now.*"

James couldn't see why she hadn't just hit him-- she'd *never* hesitated from doing so.

The fan raised, ready to strike.

Hastily, he began descending to the ground. "Don't be out too long, Jesse!"

Did he just hear a Pokémon growl?

He stopped dead, about two thirds of the way to the ground. If it *was* a growl… he'd be close enough to the bottom of the tree for the beast to have him for a midnight snack.

He heard it again; it *was* a growl. The Rhyhorn.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just as Jesse was about to yell her lungs out at him for halting, the same Ryhorn that he had saved her from before stepped out into the now chilling starlight, its breath visible in smoky puffs and its eyes gleaming with some supernatural glow. A malicious noise emanated from somewhere deep inside its throat.

The Rhyhorn lowered its head, narrowed its demonic eyes and scoffed its hoof in the dirt as if ready to charge straight at him.

'James!' she tried to yell. But she was beyond terrified; her fear had reduced her voice to an inaudible squeak. She did make another attempt, though-- she couldn't sit idly by and watch as her best friend got eaten. "James! Get up here!"

He snapped his head up, and with the one simple look he gave her, he told her he was too scared to move. The fear had paralyzed him.

Without a single hesitation, she scrambled down to James so quickly that even the Rhyhorn was stunned into stillness for a moment. She grabbed James' outstretched hand, yanked it up, and led him to the safe branch again.

Both were panting harshly while watching the Rhyhorn turn to leave, walk away, and finally be swallowed by the night's inky blackness.

Jesse didn't know she'd had the strength to do such a thing-- she'd felt so weak and hurt and useless before that she'd simply labeled herself obsolete.

When she lifted her eyes, she found James staring back at her, silently offering his thousand thank yous and praises. "Um… Jesse, I…"

"You're welcome."

A moment passed in which neither of them could think of a single thing to say. James' voice deserted him as she found that she simply could not tear her eyes away from his.

He seemed to reach some sort of conclusion; he slowly shut his mouth, then his eyes. When she saw his chin collapse and the single tear fall, she suddenly felt as though they had switched places. "James?"

Just as he had comfortingly done to her before, she stroked the tear away with her petite thumb. At the reassuring sensation, his eyes opened again. "I was just thinking… what if I'd lost you? What if the Rhyhorn had gotten you after all? If that… Jesse, I… you…"

When his signs of more tears to come appeared, she curled up against him, leaving her arms up around his neck, her legs across his lap, and her head in that sweet smelling somewhere between chest and chin.

She had no words to accompany her action, though James' near death experience *had* jolted her back into reality. The whole evening, he'd never thought about himself-- only her. Even if she hadn't admitted it to herself before, James had cheered her up considerably. It was *her* fault that both of them had almost been killed.

All she could think to do was listen to his quick heartbeat right under her ear. It was, amazingly, incredibly soothing, and she knew it would take an army to pull her away from him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sometimes, he couldn't believe his eyes when it came to Jesse. Seeing this cherished open side of her was like an oasis in fifty miles of barren desert. He was not going to have any regrets or post experience I-should-have mantras if he could help it.

He was about to tell her something that immediately slipped out of his memory when she whispered to him like they were the only two people in the world. "I'm glad I didn't lose you either, James. I don't think that either of us could go on without the other."

"Yeah," was all he could say, and quite dumbly at that. It was just that her statement had surprised him-- he didn't know she couldn't live without him. Not a light revelation.

A short lived pause hovered over them until she confessed, "Sorry, James."

This astonished him even more; so much, in fact, that he didn't even attempt to speak.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you," she continued. "Not just tonight. I'm sorry for hitting you, for letting my steam out on you, for taking you for granted… and for pushing you away when you were really the only thing I needed."

Somehow, he found the steadiness in him to pull her all the way onto his lap and lift her face with a gentle finger under her chin so he could see her. "You're forgiven. As long as we're always side by side."

Her close proximity was giving him a heady sensation he never wanted to let go of. "We're inseparable, James," she almost smiled, still whispering in that hushed tone so close to his face that when either of them said anything, electricity jumped between their lips. "I don't know why you put up with me. I'm so mean… and you're so much better than that."

"No way, Jess," he softly responded. "You don't know the half of it. *I* can't figure out why you put up with *me*-- all I do is whine and act like an imbecile."

Fondly and conservatively, she shook her head. "We're hopeless."

He was so near to her now that a kiss was just a breath away. "Hopeless," he smiled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every single ounce of James' attention was focused on her. On her movements, on her eyes, his arms draped around her waist… and especially on her lips.

In contrast to her earlier mood, Jesse was positive that she was living in the best possible moment that existed. He'd saved her life, she'd saved his life, and she'd apologized to him. To top it all off, she was sitting on his lap up in a romantic moonlit tree just a blink away from a first kiss that would certainly change everything forever.

"Hey, James?" she said, barely audible.

"Yeah?" he asked, just as quiet.

"Let's quit Team Rocket."

"And run away before anybody can catch us."

Her eyes slid shut and a ghost of a smile played on her lips as she dreamt of their future. "Because if we quit being the bad guys…"

"Then we can quit being the losers."

"We'll fly to Paris," she breathed more than whispered, knowing that he could and would kiss her any time.

"Because we've always wanted to go there," he breathed back.

"Nobody to ruin the moment."

"Just us," she felt rather than heard. "Nobody but us."

"Not a soul."

"Nobody is here to ruin it now," he voiced as she sensed his warm hand delicately trace her jawline.

"So what are you waiting for?" she exhaled.

As he moved his head to murmur into her ear, she couldn't help but to lean the side of her face into his. "Nothing, anymore."

He drew his head back to where it was, then touched her lips as lightly as a breeze with his fingers. The next thing that was touching her lips were his own.

The kiss was like none she'd ever imagined, and, to put it simply, it was indescribably enchanting. She never wanted it to end.

"Hopeless…" she whispered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~