Chapter 18 - "Frozen Memories"
James sat in Jessie's room alone that evening. The place was still in shambles, on the account of the battle that had waged earlier. He was devastated and everything he looked at reminded him of her. Her. Jessie. Why did all this have to happen? James wished everything was just as how it had always been. He wanted to be just plain Team Rocket again. He wished Jessie had never been a Princess on the Moon. He wished he'd never met Serena or Darien. He wanted all the magic to go away. He just wanted to be a normal Pokémon poacher, even if he was evil. James remembered how things were before Jessie was discovered to be royalty. Those were the days: Laughs, Pokémon Battles, mocking little kids, trying to snatch Pikachu. Yes, that was how things always should have been.
Footsteps were heard running up the stairs. James looked over to the open doorway and saw Meowth and Meowthy enter. He had thought Meowth was upset with her. Maybe he changed. James sobbed harder. Even Meowth had a love!
"James...?"
He did not move. He just sat on Jessie's bed crying. Meowthy looked at him sadly. "Meowthy is sorry," she said in her harsh-English voice. "Meowthy did not know what Mary do. Mary very evil." At this she leaned her head on Meowth's shoulder and let a few tears fall.
James half-listened. He did not really care about anything or anyone else but Jessie at this point. He felt lonely and lost, like a small child wandering helplessly in the woods. The child tries to call for help, but no one is around to hear him. This was how James looked, abandoned.
Meowth noticed how pale his friend looked. He told Meowthy to stay put and walked over to James' foot and jumped up on his lap. "I know it's hard..."
Finally moving, James shook his head furiously. "No!" he yelled, standing up so Meowth tumbled off his lap. "You shall NEVER understand!" His voice lowered a bit, but still kept its same intensity. "I have just lost Jessie, the one person I care about most in the entire world. She is gone and will never come back..." He sat back down on the bed again and cried. Meowth and Meowthy watched him and tears gathered in their eyes. "Just leave me alone." James said. The Pokémon sadly exited.
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Serena and Darien had Susan pick them up from Team Rocket Headquarters. She saw the tearstains on their faces. "Sometimes, even I cannot change the Future," Susan sighed regretfully as she drove her car on the highway. "Sailor Pluto knows everything that happens, has happened, and will happen, but she cannot change it." Her beautiful purple eyes became misty.
Darien kept his eyes down the entire time. A lot of this was his fault. He had been brainwashed by Bloody Mary and raised havoc. He had given Jessie much pain, and now, she was dead. He glanced over at Serena who sat in the front with Susan. Her face could not be seen, but he could hear her muffled sobs.
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Having lost their battle, the Rocket Brothers walked out to the piled boulders in front of Head Quarters. Mary had been killed by Jessie. Her plan had backfired on her. However, they were both dead. So much for listening to older siblings!
Jack ran to one of the boulders and began lifting it. The others watched him curiously. "Mary...? Where is she? Where's her body?" Jack told his brothers that she deserved a proper funeral. They nodded in agreement and began looking for their sister.
As they were digging, a few rocks stirred. It seemed there was moving underneath the rubble. Tack put down one of the rocks he was lifting and walked over to the shaking. Could Mary be alive? At once, he lifted the boulder. Light beamed out, knocking him aside.
"What the Hell?" Jack asked as he looked over. The edge of the cliff started shaking again.
"Oh my God!" Zack gasped. More rocks and boulders started tumbling again. "We're gonna die!"
The brothers screamed as the boulders came crashing down on them. They suffered the same, cruel fate as their sister had.
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Meowth sat with Meowthy outside the doorway. He looked at her. "I wish dere was something we could do to help..."
"Yes," Meowthy said with a monotone voice.
He then sighed and leaned back against the wall. "But it's not like we have Powers. We're plain Pokémon, nothing magical about us at all." Then Meowth remembered Matt. He may have been a human, but he was just a normal one. That also triggered the thought that he loved Meowthy so much. He couldn't keep any secrets from her. "Meowthy," he began as he took her paws in his. "I must tell you something..."
Meowthy looked up at him. "Yes?"
"I love you a lot, and I don't wanna keep anything from ya. Da truth is, I'm not really a Pokémon at all." Her eyes widened. "I haven't even told Team Rocket dis, but I am really human. When I was a boy, I was kidnapped by Giovanni and turned into the only talking Pokémon. Meowth was what I became, but my real name is Matt."
Meowthy laughed a little, unbelieving. "What? Meowth, why are you telling me this?"
"Because I love you, and I don't want you ta think I'm weird, or anything." He voice trailed off.
Her eyes were as soft as her voice at this point. "Meowth, no matter who or what you are, I cannot stop loving you. When I first saw you, my heart jumped, and I felt as if it started beating with yours." Meowth and her both blushed.
"I've kept all dose frozen memories of my childhood inside of me for so long," Meowth said as he began to cry. "I've never forgotten what it was like to be human, and I never want to. But, I also never want to lose you, Meowthy."
The two huddled together and purred. Even Pokémon could be human.
Chapter 19 - "Touched By An Angel"
Serena sat in front of the pretty dresser in her room. She was in her usual bunny-pajamas and was combing out her golden hair, which hung loose and was not up in her normal style. She ran her comb through it, making it softer and lighter. Serena kept her focus on her mirror, not able to take her eyes off the reflection of her large blue eyes. Jessie had had blue eyes.
A creak was heard as her door opened. Serena did not turn around to look. Luna entered with a calm, yet sad expression on her feline face. She walked over to Serena and jumped on her dresser, talking to her reflection. "How are you doing, Serena?"
The young woman did not respond. She sat there, brushing her hair. She never glanced away from the eyes for a moment. Why would Luna care? She did not understand...
"Serena," Luna began again. "Susan told me everything. I know you must feel awful. You lost one of your friends, and..."
"You don't know!" Serena suddenly screamed. She stood up and knocked Luna off the table. Luna landed on her side with a thud, making a small meowing noise. Serena realized what she had done and knelt down beside her friend. "Luna," she cried. "I'm so sorry!" She took Luna in her arms and cradled her. "I didn't mean to..."
Luna growled a little as if in pain. "I know, Serena. You're very upset."
Serena nodded as tears fell from her eyes like raindrops. "Jessie was as important to me as my other Scouts. She was like an older sister to me during the Silver Millenium."
"I know, Serena-chan. I know."
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Darien was in his kitchen making himself a pot of hot coffee. It had been a long day, and he figured he would probably be up all night anyway, mourning. Why did he always fall victim of being involved in an evil scheme to hurt others? It always happened. Either some evil woman was totally obsessed with him, or he was brainwashed into doing something he'd rather not do. He loved Serena so much and hated to hurt her.
But Tuxedo Mask was nothing! He could not do anything. He was just some rose-throwing freak who could only talk and not do anything. Darien was more helpful than he ever could be. He pulled his mask out of his pocket. It still had a few blood-stains on it from the massacre. BLEACH could fix that...
As he walked down the apartment stairs to the laundry room, Darien heard many people chattering and a large commotion outside. He walked out the doorway and turned to a woman next to him. "Excuse me, but what's going on?"
The woman looked at him with large eyes. "My boy, it was...It was..." She turned away and continued looking upward. "...It was miraculous!"
Darien figured he wouldn't get anything more out of her. He looked around the crowd and saw Andrew close by. "Andy!"
The video game store owner took his eyes off the sky and saw his friend. "Darien! You won't believe what I just saw flying past your window!"
"My window?" Darien gasped. "Everyone's looking..." He looked at all the heads of the crowd. It was true that they did seem to be staring at Darien's apartment window in awe. "What was outside my window, Andrew?"
Andrew sort of smiled and his olive eyes were bright with enthusiasm. "I think it was an...Angel."
"What?"
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Serena's mother turned on the television set and changed channels to the news. She was washing dishes and wanted to hear about the world while she busily worked. She hummed a little tune to herself as she saw the broadcaster come on.
"Well, we have a very interesting story this evening," the reporter announced with a puzzled look.
Serena's younger brother Sammy entered the living room. "Hey, mom..."
"Shhh!" Mrs. Tsukino said. "I want to hear this."
"It seems as if many witnesses walking by this apartment all saw a natural phenomenon."
"That looks an awful lot like Serena's friend Darien's house," she said.
"Everyone here claims to have seen a beautiful golden Angel."
Sammy rolled his eyes. "You can never depend on what garbage the news'll throw on these days. That's why I watch cartoons..."
"HUSH!" Mrs. Tsukino howled as she bopped Sammy over the head with a large, wooden spoon. "This is beautiful."
"One witness describes what he saw."
An old man came into view on the screen. "It was a gorgeous, young woman dressed in golden light and surrounded by large feather wings. She was very graceful and seemed to watch the window of that apartment." He pointed up to Darien's window.
The broadcaster nodded. "Thank you. This is the man who's window was, shall we say, 'touched by an Angel'." Darien was now on the screen. Mrs. Tsukino and Sammy gasped. "Mister Shields, did you see the Angel?"
Darien shook his head. "No. I had no idea about any of this up until a few minutes ago."
Mrs. Tsukino went to the bottom of the staircase and called for her daughter. "Serena, I think you'd better come see this..."
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"Jessie! Where are you?"
"Help me, James!"
"Jessie! Jessie!"
"If you don't stop Bloody Mary, I'll die!"
"No! No..."
James opened his eyes and felt his surroundings. Soft. Cushion. Bed. He sighed and sat up. It was only a dream. Still, Jessie was alive in that dream. He looked around Jessie's torn-apart room. Everything around him was a part of Jessie. His hand reached for something on her dresser. It was a Pokéball. Arbok.
He got up and walked all the way down to the cafeteria. James had to eat something. He hadn't eaten anything for almost twenty-four hours. Maybe even longer. On his way down, there was no sign of Meowth or Meowthy. "At least they're happy," he grumbled aloud. When he reached the cafeteria, he found it empty, to his surprise. Sure, he was usually the first customer down to eat, but the cooks were always there ahead of him. "Hello?" James called. His voice echoed throughout the desolate corridors. It seemed the whole Headquarters had just vanished. Where was everyone? "Am I the only one here?"
There was a long pause. Suddenly a voice answered him. "No..."
James whirled around. No one was there. "Who...?"
"I am here." the voice piped out again. It was sort of sad, and melancholy.
Again, James turned toward the direction of the voice. Again, no one was present. "What's going on?"
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Serena had run as fast as she could to Darien's apartment. If there was something strange going on, she should know about it. Was it a new enemy? The description of the character seemed somewhat familiar to that of Sailor Galexia. All she could think about were the words 'Golden' and 'Angel'.
When she reached the apartment, most of the crowd had dispersed. Serena frantically ran up the stairs to his room. She knocked on the door. "Darien! Are you alright?"
"Serena?" came a voice. Serena breathed a sigh of relief. Darien answered the door. "What are you doing here, Serena-chan?" he smiled.
She pushed him out of the way and ran into the room, inspecting it closely. Darien watched her curiously. "Are you sure nothing has happened?" she asked suspiciously.
Darien shrugged. "Nothing except for the Angel thing. You heard about that, didn't you?"
"Yes. That's why I'm here..."
"I didn't even know about it. I just heard others."
Serena's eyes narrowed. "It's probably an enemy," she said. "I'll bet she was watching you because she somehow knew you were Tuxedo Mask. I think it's Sailor Galaxia..."
"Slow down, Serena!" Darien laughed. "If it is anything, I think it's good." The meatball-head looked at him questioningly. He smiled and nodded. "When they said Angel, it reminded me of you."
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James turned in every direction looking for the person beckoning him. "Who are you...?"
The voice danced in a mournful way. "Follow me, James."
He followed, still asking questions and not once stopping to think about if he was walking into a trap of some sort. The voice kept calling to him in a sad tone, almost monotonous. He was led all the way back up the stairs into Jessie's room again. After he entered, the door shut behind him tightly. He spun around and grabbed the knob. James began pulling, but the door wouldn't budge. "What do you want?" He looked around his shoulder and saw a golden light hovering above Jessie's bed.
"Don't try to leave me, James, because I won't let you!" the voice replied, almost stubbornly. At once the light shifted into a familiar figure.
James' eyes widened and filled with tears. He at once let go of the handle. "...J-J-Jessie...?"
Jessie sat on her bed. She looked almost like her normal self, Team Rocket uniform, and all. However, on her forehead was the symbol of the Star inside the Crescent Moon and huge Angel Wings were on her back. "Hello again, partner. Prepare for trouble!"
James fell to his knees and crawled over to her bedside. "Jessie," he sighed. "You're..."
"...An Angel, yes." Jessie said gravely. "I am dead." James cried, leaning his head on her lap. She rubbed it gently. "But, how I wish I was alive again, and could be near you. I did what I had to, and Mary will no longer bother you again."
He wept. "How could you do this to me, Jess? Even if Mary had taken me, at least you still would've been alive. Now you leave us both in misery."
Jessie took up his chin. "Tell me you wouldn't have been in misery with Mary!" He didn't say anything. "That would have been better? Knowing we were both alive but could never see each other?"
"But now I'm alive and can't see you..."
A small tear fell down Jessie's cheek. "I know. But, I will always love you, James. No matter what happens."
He nodded. The two spent what little time they had caressing that moment together.
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