A/N: I've been neglecting this in favour of other stuff, but since summer has given me more time, I've managed to buckle down and get a chapter done. It feels a little...disjointed to me, so any comments would be greatly appreciated.

Telyra - I'm glad that you thought the first chapter set the mood, as it will be a pretty big part of the chapters to come. Thanks for reviewing!

Disclaimer: See chapter 1.

2. Take Me Under

One day earlier…

The trio of Jessie, James and Meowth flew through the air with a scream as the remains of Pikachu's Thunderbolt attack crackled through their bodies.

"I guess dat's what we get fer not takin' out da electrical protection!" Meowth shrieked over the howling wind.

"It'd pay to do it next time," mused James.

"Next time?" yelled Jessie. "We paid good money to get the job done this time!" She fixed her partners with a steely gaze which promised a good thumping when they landed. "This is all your fault!"

James' heart sank. It didn't look like they were in for a pleasant evening.

A few moments later gravity began to regain its control over the three members of Team Rocket's bodies.

This is it, James thought as the ground came rushing up to meet them, bracing himself for the impact.

Thud.

The thieves groaned in unison as their bodies slammed into the ground. Meowth was the first to recover, rolling gingerly onto his side and trying to focus his eyes as the world around him span. Giving himself a few seconds to recover, he pushed himself onto his feet.

"Whoever said dat cats always land on deir feet was lyin'," he muttered, wincing as he put his weight onto his paws. "Hey, youse two, get up!"

James stirred at the sound of his feline companion's voice, lifting his head from the dirt. "Ugh," he moaned, "I swear that Pikachu's attacks are stronger every time we meet it!"

"I'm not surprised," Meowth answered, making his way over to his lavender-haired friend. "Wid all da experience dat da rat gets from battlin' us, it ought ta be strong."

"I guess you're right," James conceded, heaving himself up into a sitting position. Suddenly his eyes widened. "Hey, where's Jessie?"

"I'm over here, dimwits!"

From the tone of her voice, James and Meowth could tell that Jessie was furious. Grimacing, they turned in the direction of the voice, which was coming from directly above their heads. They had landed on the outskirts of a forest. Both James and Meowth had had the fortune to land on the grassy field. Jessie, however, had not been as lucky; she was currently hanging upside down from a tree, legs tangled in vines which swayed lazily in the breeze. Scratches from where the branches had clawed at her face bled little rubies. Her face was red, but James couldn't decide if it was from ire or the fact that the blood was rushing to her head. A little bit of both, probably. Either way, her eyes were flashing like an enraged Flareon, and James thought it wasn't wise to just leave her hanging in such a way. Standing up, he stretched to find that he could just about reach her fingers. Scrabbling for a more secure hold, he yanked as hard as he could. Jessie screamed.

"James, you ignoramus, stop it! Let go of me!"

He released his grip on her at once, as though he'd been scorched by a Charizard's Flamethrower, and she continued to snarl insults at him as she felt her foot beginning to throb with the pressure of being held even tighter by the vines.

"I don't know how to get you down!" James whined as he watched her sway.

"Bloody typical! You're useless!"

The words stung, but James wisely kept silent.

"How are ya gonna get down, den?" Meowth asked, unable to mask the amusement in his voice as another gust of wind set her off again like a Hypno's pendulum.

"By myself!" she snapped back. "I don't need you two idiots for that!"

For the next few minutes they watched as Jessie struggled violently to free herself from her viney prison.

Meowth sweatdropped. "An' she calls us da idiots? She can't even get herself down from a tree!"

Jessie's face was getting progressively more scarlet. It looked like she would blow at any moment. "Well, don't just stand there! Help me!"

Meowth's sweatdrop intensified. "Oh, jeez," he muttered. "Hold yer Ponyta," he shouted up at his female companion.

"Well, hurry up about it!" she snarled back at him.

"'S'gotta be her time of da mont'," Meowth mumbled. "Here, gimme a boost, Jimmy."

He did so at once, and the cat clambered onto the lowest branch and made his way laboriously up to his tangled friend.

"Allow me," he said to her, and sliced through the vines.

She screamed…and fell.

"Uh-oh," Meowth said, scratching his head. "Perhaps dat wasn't da best t'ing ta do."

James looked up when he heard his friend's shriek, startled; he had no time to react before her body slammed into his, knocking him off balance with a thud. Together, the two of them hit the ground, out of breath. Jessie was the first to recover from the fall; growling, she rounded on Meowth, who had slithered from the three, delivering him a swift smack to the head.

"That's for almost breaking my neck!" she yelled at him as he yowled and fell on his own tailbone. "And this," she continued, rounding on her partner, "is for not breaking my fall well!" James felt stars erupt in front of his eyes as he recovered from the same treatment.

"Well at least I had a way ta get ya down!" Meowth shot back. "Ya woulda still bin hangin' dere if not for my smarts!"

Jessie opened her mouth to fire back, furious, but James jumped in before: "guys, let's stop fighting."

It was a mistake; the ire that Jessie had previously been directing at Meowth was deflected back to him again. "You can shut it! If it wasn't for you screwing up again none of this would've even happened!"

"Don't blame it all on me," he whined, but she overrode him, clearly in her stride now.

"It's been one failure after another recently, and most of them have been your fault!"

"Have not!"

"Have too!"

"Have not!"

"Have–"

"Alright, break it up," Meowth sighed. "Let's just crash here for da night. We can lay da blame on each oder later."

Jessie glared at him as though she was considering yelling again, too, but as James shifted beneath her, it was clear that she'd only just noticed the position that they were in. With a sound of disgust she scrambled away from her partner, as though she'd been scorched. James followed suit, rubbing his sore behind.

Glad that the argument seemed to have dissipated for the moment, Meowth began to gather their fallen belongings. Jessie and James silently followed his lead, each still smarting internally.

"We need some firewood," Meowth announced after a time. "Any volunteers?"

"James," Jessie said at once.

"Me? I went yesterday!"

"Well, you can go today as well. I don't want you anywhere near me right now!"

The venom behind her final words almost took James' breath away. Staggering backwards as though she had physically struck him, he stared at her wide-eyed. She did not break the gaze, panting hard.

"What did you say?" he asked, voice much softer now.

"You heard me," she retorted. "Just leave me the hell alone."

"Aw, Jess, ya don't mean dat," Meowth said, his own eyes wide.

"Yes I do," she replied stubbornly. "Just get away from me."

It felt as though a thousand Hitmonchan were punching him all at once. "Jess," he said in the same soft tone, pleading with her now.

"Don't say my name," she hissed at him.

It was the final blow. Taking a few unsteady steps away from her, he felt tears welling up in his eyes.

Why am I crying? he asked himself furiously. She's a bitch all of the time, I should be used to it!

But he wasn't, and he wondered if he ever would be accustomed to being treated so badly.

If Jessie had noticed the tears that glassed his eyes, she pretended not to. Tossing her fiery mane disdainfully over her shoulder she turned haughtily, stalking away from her male partners.

Meowth was as stunned as his friend was. Glancing up at him, he placed a paw on his leg and said in what he hoped was a reassuring manner, "look, just go collect da firewood. It'll give her time to calm down an' she'll be fine when ya get back. Ya know what Jess' mood swings are like."

James nodded absently, gaze still fixated to the spot where his best friend had been moments before. In all of the time that he had known her, she had never been so cruel to him. Feeling the tears threatening to fall, he quickly turned away from Meowth, unable to speak past the lump in his throat, then disappeared into the forest.

Meowth watched him go, a thoughtful frown etched into his brow. He had known his two friends for a while now, and had grown accustomed to the way that they were both prone to act. In particular he was all-too familiar with Jessie's famous temper. She constantly took her frustrations out on her two partners, and each of them bounced back harmlessly when she did. However, there had been something different about James this time, as though Jessie's hurtful words had destroyed his very spirit.

Meowth just hoped Jessie hadn't crossed a line and torn the three of them apart for good.

James made his way through the forest, dragging his feet in a defeated manner. Kicking the loose twigs shed by the trees morosely out of his way, he blinked rapidly in order to prevent the tears he could feel gathering behind his eyes from falling. He wasn't going to cry over her, not when she probably wanted him to. His lip stuck out sulkily, and he rubbed the sleeve of his jacket defiantly across his cheeks. Well, he'd leave her alone long enough to calm down, but he wasn't going to return with wood. In this moment he felt strangely defiant despite the dull ache in his chest, which he was resolutely trying to ignore. He was tired of being smacked around and sneered at and blamed for everything that went wrong in their lives. He was half-tempted to go back in there and announce loudly that he quit, just to see how she'd react. Perhaps she'd even apologise for the terrible way she'd treated him…

Oh, who am I kidding? he thought. She'd probably be glad to get rid of me.

The thought of her turning around and telling him that he'd always dragged her down anyway was enough to finally break through the dam in his mind. The first tears began to flow down his cheeks, scalding them red. Sobs choked him, making his shoulders shake, his knees giving way so that he sank miserably to the floor and continued to weep.

He didn't want Jessie to hate him. He wanted her to like him, to be proud of him every once in a while. She was his best friend, and he wanted her to approve of him.

He'd genuinely thought they'd become closer, too, especially since she'd learned the truth about his harrowing past. She'd certainly tried harder to be nicer to him at first, as though she was mindful of the fact that he could leave her at any time for a better life that she couldn't offer him.

So what had gone wrong today?

It wasn't as if they hadn't ever messed up as badly before. They had. Numerous times. But they'd always bounced right back from those, still emerging with a strong bond of friendship between the two of them. Why had today's defeat affected Jessie so acutely?

It must be the constant failures, James sighed, sniffing. Losing day after day after day was obviously weighing her down. James was content enough to just get up and try. Meowth and Jessie both knew what it was like to be seen as losers, as lesser mortals. Meowth had grown up on the streets and Jessie had been passed from foster home to foster home like a toy that soon lost its appeal. Although James had never really had the love of his parents, he'd still had a stable home and everything a young boy could wish for. Jessie in particular hated losing with a passion – she didn't want to be seen as a pathetic thief, a terrible trainer. She wanted her name to be known and feared, to show the world that she wasn't the loser it had branded her all those years ago. That was why she'd lost her temper so badly today; it was from the stress of never achieving anything to make her feel worthy.

Feeling as though he understood the situation a little more, James wiped his sleeve across his eyes one last time and stood up. He would try very hard to swallow his own hurt and anger. He would collect the firewood like Meowth had told him to do after all, and he'd linger out here for a while until he was sure that Jessie had calmed down a little. He would then return to their camp and apologise to her. If she accepted his apology, then great – they could put the whole fiasco behind them and make up. He doubted that Jessie would apologise as well, but knowing that she forgave him would be enough. If she wasn't ready to accept his apology just yet then he'd have to give her some more space. It might involve him sleeping away from the camp for the night, but she'd probably have cooled off enough to forgive him in the morning.

This sounded very good in his head, and with this in mind he began to resolutely gather an armful of twigs together.

Suddenly, a branch snapped behind him.

James whirled around at once. Beads of sweat erupted at his hairline. His eyes began to search the immediate vicinity at once, but he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

"Jessie? Meowth? Is that you?" he called out, hoping that it was but knowing deep down that it wasn't when no one replied, for neither Meowth or even Jessie would put him on edge like this.

Must've been my imagination, he tried to tell himself, stiffly going back to collecting sticks and resolutely attempting to block out his scare. He'd almost convinced himself that the noise really had existed only in his mind when he heard it again.

His blood ran cold.

"Alright, I know someone's out there so you might as well show yourself!" he commanded much more bravely than he felt, surprised a tremor wasn't present in his voice, turning in the direction of the noise.

A pause – and then a figure came forward.

For a wild moment James was sure that Jessie had followed him out here to apologise to him and help him with the task that she had set him.

And then the figure stepped into the dappled light of the forest, and a scream tore itself from his throat, so loud that he thought that he would deafen himself.

Jessibelle.

"Finally," she said, shooting him a smile laced with poison. "Yuh've no idea how long I've been searching for yuh, James deahest. Yuh certainly have the most annoyin' habit of disappearin' whenever Ah get close. But now yuh can't escape me, mah sweet."

"No…" James began to whimper, dropping his twigs and beginning to back away. "No! I won't marry you, Jessibelle! Leave me alone!"

"James, deah, it's your duty tuh marry me," Jessibelle said with the air of berating a small child. "I have allowed yuh to pursue those ridiculous goals of yours for a long time now, but it's time for yuh to accept the responsibilities yuh were born with."

"No!" James yelled again. His fingers leapt to his belt, where his Pokéballs were. "Weezing–"

"Ah don't think so," Jessibelle said, and with reflexes quicker than a Fearow's, she gestured to something lurking in the shadows. "Vileplume, mah lovely, use Stunspore tuh stop James from gettin' away from me again!"

"Vileplume!" the atrocious weed said, and before James could even open his mouth to scream again, it had sprayed the area with the sparkling orange powder.

James turned to make a fast getaway, but before he could even blink the powder had begun to take effect on his body, seizing up his muscles, freezing his body in place, a scream halfway up his throat.

The last thing he saw before the darkness took him was the devil disguised as an angel advancing on him like a Persian on a Pidgey.

Present day.

The creaking of the door was what awoke James. Blearily lifting his head, his neck muscles screaming in protest, he listened as the dainty footsteps approached him. He knew who it would be. It would only ever be one person. He began to tremble, a sharp whimper escaping his quivering lips.

Candlelight flooded the room as Jessibelle entered, and James was forced to narrow his eyes to slits in order to stop it from blinding him. She was wearing a long, flowing white gown which hugged her in all the right places whilst still leaving it all to the imagination. Jewels glowered iridescently on the dress' bodice – beautiful sapphires, elegant emeralds, ice-cold diamonds, bloody rubies. On Jessie that same dress would have had him lost for words, so breath-taking was its beauty. On Jessibelle, it only made the bile claw its way up his throat.

She was carrying a suit over her spare arm.

"Now, James deah," she said in that hateful syrupy tone, balancing the candle atop one of the strange pieces of gym equipment situated in the room. "Yah really need to get out of that awful costume you're wearing. It's positively hideous."

She was, of course, referring to his Team Rocket uniform. At once sweat broke out on his forehead and his limbs began to tremble more violently than ever. She advanced on him, holding the suit out in front of her, her bright smile not hiding the terrible, calculating look in her eyes.

"Don't come any closer!" James shrieked, pulling uselessly at the chains which were keeping him bound to the wall. "Stay the hell away from me!"

"Such language, deah," she said lazily, paying him no mind. "Ah really should wash your mouth out with soap. You're an upper class gen'leman, James, not some rough vagabond."

Now she was in front of him, and he could do nothing to stop her as she began to run a hand up his side. He moaned in horror, hating the way her soft hand felt through the material of his Team Rocket shirt.

"Keep away from me…" he said again, weakly now that she was so close to him.

She ignored his protests, like she always had done. She simply began to creep her fingers under his shirt, raising it up so that his pale stomach was exposed to her. James' whimpers intensified as he felt her eyes, like icy fire, on his skin.

Suddenly, she jerked his Team Rocket shirts, and they came away from his body with a sickening ripping sound that was not dissimilar to the way that James' heart lurched in his chest.

"You won't be needin' those anymore," she told him, smiling sadistically. She then turned to the Vileplume which had followed her in and was standing by the door awaiting command. "Now, sweetie, use your Stun Spore on James again to stop him from movin' so that Ah can dress him."

"Vileplume," the huge flower agreed, waddling forward to carry out its owner's wishes. Jessibelle had covered her face with a mask, and the Pokémon released a spray of the golden power from its head, covering the helpless young man in its spores. He gave one last terrified cry before slumping forward, clearly unable to move.

Jessibelle removed her mask and unlocked James' arms from their shackles. "Now," she said sweetly, "allow me."

It's not proper for a lady to see a gentleman naked before the wedding night! James wanted to scream at her, but his vocal cords had seized up with the Stun Spore, and he was unable to make so much as a choking noise. All he could do was hang there helplessly as Jessibelle ran her hands greedily over the territory that she wanted to claim as her own.

Oh, please, he thought feverishly, feeling himself break a little more inside. Please, anyone, save me. Growly, Meowth, Jessie…

…Jessie, help me. I need you.

No one answered his telepathic pleas.

James was alone with no one but Jessibelle as company, and it looked as though she would finally get what she'd wanted all along: James, forever caught in her web.

A/N: I'm not sure when the next update will be, but I'll try not to let it fester too long. Once again, comments are much loved. :)