True love... or something

Disclaimer: Pokèmon does not belong to me... if it did, I think that show would have been scary...

Well, this story is old, and when I started on it I had somewhat normal views on rocketshipping. It isn't like that anymore, but I wrote it anyway, mostly just to get it off my mind. Which is the reason it's crappy, and sort of ooc. Why so? Yes, because I honestly can't imagine James actually doing that. I also think I actually had a sensible reason for having Tracey in it once upon a time, too, but that was long ago forgotten, and he's still stuck here, most because of the end moral.
And because Charizard is the scariest pokèmon Ash ever had and because I actually live in a place where he still hasn't gone to the valley of wind or whatever to live happily forever and ever with Charizard chicks he's still here.

Rating: Pg-13. Swearing, sexual moral discussions and a fight that has very little to do with "just being afraid of getting hurt if showing true emotions", the usual rocketshipper excuse.

********

Team Rocket wasn't the easiest place to have a decent love life. Not only were all your colleagues criminals, which didn't demand any high morals about things such as "sex", "love", "save yourself for your wedding night", "only do it with somebody you truly love" or "at least make sure they are single", but since they also were equally evil and, at least supposedly, heartless, the chance for finding somebody that bothered to fall in love with you, admit that they were in love with you, or promise they wouldn't sleep with anybody else was microscopic. Of course, most had their permanent sex partners, and even some that kissed each other and held hands in public, but true love was a rarity, and it actually didn't help your social status either. An evil organization wanted evil members, and denounce truth and love was one of its purposes, and it did succeed.
The point was anyway that "being in love and admit that you are" and "working in Team Rocket" were two terms that did so not match.
Which was why James was a depressed young man at the moment. Beside having the worst rumor when it came to "be in sexual denial" and the only ones that cared to hit on him were fifteen-year old boys that was trying to figure out what side they were on, he also had a deep longing for something more than just find somebody alone like yourself, do it, and then go home... James wanted true love. Which was found in about the same amounts as truth in Team Rocket.
But the sad thing with the story wasn't only that James wanted true love; if he were desperate enough he'd just quit. No, the sad thing was that James also was madly in love with his partner, and wanted true love from her.
This might not seem as bad as it really was, and it probably wouldn't have been either for most 20-year old men; since you straight out where expected to sleep with your partner and never believed if you denied it unless you or your partner was gay (half of that problem was almost solved), Jesse and James did have quite a normal Team Rocket partnership. But James wanted MORE than just the occasional "two single people that are best friends of different genders and expected to sleep together anyway" sex from her, but he did not know how to get it... if it even was possible. Sure, sometimes she had her crying fits about how nobody loved her, but how did she think somebody could confess love for a person that would accuse you for "only want one thing"? And besides, knowing his partner and her violent tendencies, James wasn't even going to try.
So he had done something he never in his wildest imagination since the day he ran away from his fiancé: He had bought a ring.
That was truly desperate, but James did truly love her, and a proposal might just be what she needed to take him seriously.
But that had been half a year ago, and every time James had tried to work up enough courage to ask her he had come up with at least twenty good reasons not to, and he was at the exact same spot as when he had bought it, except now Butch had hit on him after a tequila contest in a dimly lit club. In drag.
No, things in James's life weren't the way he wanted them to be, and with his partners away in shower and cafeteria after another day of attempts to steal Pikachu he had a bit of time on his own, reasonably spent on looking out of the window and feeling sorry for himself. The sun, about to set, made the ring hanging from his fingertip in front of this eyes spark, and he wondered why he'd kept it at all. It wasn't like he'd ever do it or anything...
It had been a dream, he realized, a stupid daydream about how she would love him just because of it. But of course she wouldn't... and the ring was just a symbol of what he'd never have. Sighing, he let it slid down his gloved finger, and then down to the very tip again... and then in a burst of self-pity, caught it in the palm and threw it away.

Fortunately, or maybe not, fate wanted a certain trio, for the occasion of this fanfiction a quartet, to pass by just then.
"Yow!" Brock exclaimed and rubbed his head, "What was that?"
Tracey raised up again, holding a small golden item, "A ring."
"It's pretty..." Brock said when he got it handed to him. He had it for about two seconds before Misty snatched it.
"Aww..." she got a dreamy look, "Perhaps it is a rejected lover who..."
"Chucked it out the window? They're probably just fighting or something, I mean..."
"You have no idea of what you're talking about, Ash Ketchum!" she snapped, "The poor man..."
"Misty, that can be more or less anybody. For all we know, a thief getting rid of evidence, or a girl who's boyfriend cheated at her, or..." Tracey stopped talking after realizing that one more word would make his dead come very painful and very soon.
The four of them kept on looking at it for a while, but after five minutes when nobody came out looking for it and a brief argument about who was going to keep it they left for the pokèmon center, the ring safe in Brock's vest pocket.

"Tracey?"
"Yes?"
"Do you think Nurse Joy will marry me?"
"You mean if she'll marry you if you just walk right up to her and propose to her in public?"
Brock nodded eagerly, and Tracey drew a deep breath.
"Well Brock, I'm sure it would be a sweet and affectionate thing to do and a nice way to show her that you love her, but honestly... no." he replied. Brock looked disappointed, and Tracey patted his back. "You'll find love someday, I'm sure. But it's just not worth going on every girl you can to see if she's the right one. Believe me, you'll know it is her when you meet her." He said. Brock leaned back in the sofa and sighed.
"But when will I meet her? It's not like I haven't searched, or..." his voice trailed of.
Tracey didn't know what to say, "Well...you know... there are lots of people out there who could love you... just give yourself some time. Or something." He sighed himself and looked away, his mind taken into tracks like when he would find love himself.
"Do you think we'll ever find true love?" Brock asked with a tiny voice.
"Nope." Tracey replied and bit is bottom lip not to cry. They looked at each other and was just an inch from breaking down in a good old Team Rocket fashioned collective crying fit when their female companion came in and sat down in front of the TV that for some unknown reason was in the pokèmon center.
"Why isn't the sound on?!" she snapped and yanked the remote from Brock to turn it up.
"Because it is old re-runs of Friends?"
"It is when Chandler proposes to Monica!"
"Haven't you seen that about 50 times before?" Ash asked and sat down as well. Misty rolled her eyes at all three of the boys.
"You guys just don't understand romance!" she growled and turned the volume further up, and all her three companions groaned.

The next day James started regretting the actions of the previous night. Not only had he started to look slightly more optimistic on his life, but he had also remembered how much he actually had paid for that ring, and had, after considering the value of it in both ways, decided to find it again. It was most likely that somebody else had found it, but he wasn't going to give up all hope. Just not yet...

Misty was having a few problems with her travelling companions. Ash wasn't morning person, that was for sure, but today both Brock and had Tracey denied to leave bed because they were convinced they would never find true love. She had tried to tempt them with food, but the only thing she managed was to get Brock up to do it for her so she wouldn't ruin his new frying pan, and Tracey at last reluctantly followed suit.
The smell of food woke Ash too, and they ate breakfast in silence, mostly because both Brock and Tracey looked very, very depressed and silent and Ash still wasn't quite out of sleep and kept yawning constantly.
Then, after devouring the food, fighting over the dishwashing, loosing, fighting some more with Ash, backhand him to the floor, trying to make the two older boys to cheer up and fail and at last being peeved enough at them to make Ash drag her out she was now trudging through Viridian city with him. Nobody said anything except the occasional "Togeprrriii!" her baby pokèmon chirped, and she was seriously considering to pick a fight just to get something to do when she noticed that somebody was crawling around in the dirt where they had found the ring last night. And not only somebody, it was James of Team Rocket.
Now, Misty was a girl, a teenager girl, and no matter how much her companion's brain was a bit slow at times hers wasn't.
"What are you looking for?" she asked him excitedly and clamped a hand over Ash's moth. And she could as well have started bouncing up and down when he, without taking the eyes from the pavement replied:
"A golden ring... have you seen it?"

Back at the place where the good guys had spent the night Brock and Tracey were, when most other guys (at least those who couldn't allow themselves to lay down and cry like little girls) would buy a Playboy or go to some bar and get totally wasted, taking the girl way out of heart problems: consuming large quantities of chocolate and watching Titanic, cry their eyes out already at the point when Jack showed Rose how to spit, surrender to the testosterone a few seconds as the boat goes down with all the cool special effects and then sob helplessly into appropriate hankies when the credits start rolling along with "My heart will go on".
"Do we have any more videos?" Tracey asked to when silence crept into the room. Brock walked over to his backpack and started throwing out various items.
"Independence day..."
"Too many UFOs."
"Bambi..."
"Too cute."
"Scream..."
"Too creepy."
"Romeo + Juliet..."
"Too sad."
"The Lion King..."
"What the hell is a lion?"
"The Lord of the Rings..."
"Is that out yet?"
"I don't know..." He had now emptied all backpacks and picked up the last tape, a plain home-recorded one and read the label, "SB. BaM's W?" he raised an eyebrow.
"I don't have a clue." Tracey replied and took it. After a brief investigation he handed it back to Brock, "It's Misty's so... probably something mushy romance thing."
Brock nodded, and three seconds later the two of them was seated beside each other eagerly waiting got the snow in the beginning to lapse over into action.
"A church..." Brock said breathlessly.
"...a bride...." Tracey added.
"... pretty bridesmaids...."
"...handsome groom..."
"...cute vicar..." Brock didn't notice what he said.
"...evil twin brother..."
"...supposed dead ex-wife with amnesia..."
They slowly removed their eyes from the TV to gaze at each other.
"This is Sunset Beach, isn't it?" Brock said. Tracey nodded dumbly and slowly reached for the remote. But just as he was to press the stop-button they heard the deep and British accented voice belonging to Ben Evans say "I do."
And once more they were lost in romance. They sat in silence for a while, and then Brock declared: "That ring was an omen! I'm getting married!"

"What is wrong with her?" The young man asked the boy who was now holding a nervous looking Togepi.
"I don't have a clue...." Ash replied and took a step backwards.
"It was you!" Misty sighed and clasped her hands together.
"I didn't do anything!" James replied nervously and desperately tried to recall everything that had happened since the last time he saw them.
"You were the rejected lover!" she continued.
"And he is also a thief that possibly was getting rid of evidence, like Tracey said..." Ash added.
"No, he is a rejected lover!"
"Thief!"
"Rejected lover!"
"Thief!"
"Rejected lover!"
"Thief!"
James scratched his head and discovered that Meowth stood beside him looking at the two fighting kids along with Pikachu.
"Pika chu pikahu?" Pikachu asked Meowth and pointed at James.
"I'd say the rejected lover."
"Pika?"
"He just thinks so himself. Well of course he might be right, but..."the cat shrugged, "You know, if he just got himself to do it there would be no problem, but he's too much of a wimp to dare it, I assure you."
"Chu?"
"Not in a million years."
"Chu! Chuchuchu!"
"Yeah riiiiiight...." He rolled his eyes.
"PikaCHA!" the mouse angry cried and thundershocked Meowth.
"Hey! What the hell was that for?"
"Chupika?"
Meowth studied him for a few seconds, and mirrored the grin as they shook paws.
"You're on!"
By now all the three trainers were staring at them.
"Pikachu, did you just take a bet with Meowth?" Ash asked. His pokèmon nodded, and the hugged James's leg, making both his trainer and thief glare at him. Ash glared, anyway, James prayed this wouldn't be the start of a nasty thundershock.
"He bet that he'll manage to get Jess to agree to marry him by this evening." Meowth explained. Misty got starry eyes. Ash looked confused.
"Pikachu, do you really think Jesse will marry you?"
Misty, James, Meowth and Pikachu all looked equally depressed at this, and Ash looked even more confused when Misty raised an eyebrow at him. Togepi chirped in his arms. He thought for a few seconds more, and then blushed.
"Oh."
He started to look uncomfortable and placed Togepi back in Misty's care and picked up Pikachu instead.
"You know, I didn't know you liked girls!" he told James, "But if you do I just gotta wish you luck, because if it is Jesse you'll probably need it." he said and started to walk away, and came about five steps before Misty grabbed him by the jacket and yanked him back.
"What?!" he cried at her. She just pointed at James who had started to walk back inside with the head hanging low between his shoulders.
"James, wait!" she cried and ran after him, and put a hand on his shoulder. The gesture made him turn and give her a hopeless look.
"No, he's right. I don't have a chance with her. Not with her..." he sighed and looked away and started to walk again.
"But..."
He had turned around and looked straight at her, "I am me, she is Jesse, at the moment she hates everything about me and I don't even have the ring... what are the odds?"
She looked at him for a while, and he sighed once more and turned to leave, just to get yanked back by his ear.
"This is a romantic proposal with a rejected lover, and I DENY to let it go!" Misty screamed at him, making Ash, Meowth and Pikachu hide behind a garbage can as Togepi started to cry.
"Really, I don't need..." James started nervously.
"I'm a romantic by heart and I know when I see true love!" she sternly told him. Ash looked up from behind the can.
"This isn't our problem, Mis..."
"It is because I made it so!"
"Last time you made us a problem like that it didn't do anything good..."
"Did they find true love or did they not?"
"They did not!"
"Yes they did!"
"Oh yeah? Did they kiss? Did they get married? Did they..."
"They found true love because of us!"
"They became friends because they beat those losers together!" Ash was by now standing in front of her and waved a hand in the direction of James, Meowth and Pikachu with an uncertain manner.
"WHO are losers?!" Meowth shrieked, but was thoroughly ignored.
"Oh!" Misty turned away from him and her eyes glazed over once more, "You were dressed as a bride and a groom!" she sighed.
"And James was the bride." Ash remarked and gained a bump on the head.

Elsewhere, or to be exact, three stories over them, a hungry young woman awoke from her beauty sleep. She gave an annoyed sigh as she realized that both male and feline companion were gone, and decided to spend an hour in the shower to punish them. Well, one of them anyway. The other one... she thought for a moment, and instead decided that she probably would have used an hour in the shower anyway and settled for whacking both of them when they returned.

James had decided that Ash and Misty's argument could work fine as a diversion for him to get lost, but just as he was about to sneak away the yellow rodent beside his pokèmon teammate started to squeak loudly at the sight of his bet going to hell and making Misty look up at him again.
"James!" he cringed and turned slowly.
"Um...yes?"
"Don't go!"
"Yes, do!"
Her worried expression changed to one of anger as she whacked Ash again, but then looked back at James.
"We know where the ring is."
That got his attention.
"What?"
"We found it here last night, and we didn't know who it belonged to, but now that we do..." her voice drifted off, leaving a very eager James staring at her, "Ash! We're gonna get the ring!" she declared. "Do we have to?"
James didn't look much more comfortable than him. His love life was miserable, yes, but getting help two kids who's pokèmon he tried to steal every day wasn't something that would actually help him. "Look, if you just get me the ring I'll do the rest myself, and you don't have too..."
Misty had already left.

Jesse perked up when she heard the door open, and in a swift movement she was standing beside her two teammates who glanced nervously up at her and then fell to the floor covering their heads. The sight was so pathetic that she decided it was enough and turned around.
"We're going shopping today." She announced.
"Do I have to come?"
"Of course you do." When she realized how depressed he looked she decided to show a little sympathy, "We're going to the east city mall." She generously offered.
His face lit up, "The one with the bridal shop?"
"Yes." She replied to his smile and went back to occupy the shower.
"And weren't you gonna get a ring, Romeo?" Meowth asked as James started looking around for his wallet.
"Huh?"
"Aren't there things a bit more important than that you're going to that bridal shop?!"
"But... oh..." James suddenly remembered his previous appointment, "She'll kill me if I don't go with her, you know."
"James, she'll kill you anyway if you ever as much as shows that ring to her, but there's still some weird reason why I keep..." Meowth stopped himself and grinned widely at him, "On the second thought, I really think you should go. Those wedding dresses might be gone by tomorrow, you know, and..."
James had, unfortunately, already made his way over to the phone, and was dialing up the number. After a few seconds a brown-haired boy appeared on the screen.
"Hello, this is Mondo." He greeted him.
"Look, I need you to do me a favor." James said.
"What about?"
"Get me a ring from the red-haired girl."
"You mean steal it?"
"No! I mean, she'll give it to..." he thought for a moment, "Just look cute and say I couldn't come myself, okay?"

Brock and Tracey were of course not back when Ash and Misty returned, they were still busy with finding the love of Brock's life. Tracey had told him that whoever he married was to be confirmed by him first just to make sure it was a decent girl, and Brock had agreed, much to Tracey's relief. At least then they wouldn't have to bail him out or something.
They had passed a lot of girls, but every time Brock took aim Tracey silently shook his head and they moved on.
Thus, they had now walked through the entire city and Brock was still a bachelor. Tracey prayed he was about to give up when they ran into a girl in an old-fashioned white dress with lots of lace, bows and other ornaments all over. She had blond hair in a bun on top of her head and looked adorable innocent and helpless as she with tear-filled eyes looked at them and in a quarrying voice said:
"Oh, I'm so awfully lost and alone..."
Tracey blinked twice and didn't notice the cheesy grin that formed in his face. Being a teenager boy it was extremely hard not to notice that her dress was one of the more low-necked ones. One of the more extremely low-necked ones.
Brock on the other hand, was back to normal after a minor seizure. Back to 'Brock sees a pretty girl' normal, which was not helped by the already mentioned low-necked dress. Almost without knowing he did it, but with a sudden confidence in that it was meant to be, Brock knelt in front of the girl.
"Marry me!" he exclaimed and held up the ring. The girl's eyes narrowed as she studied it, but the she grabbed it in a swift moment and yelled:
"Butch! Get your ass over here!" That startled Tracey a little, but the girl put her littler finger in the corner of her moth and smiled shyly at him, and he continued to stare at her and grin like an idiot. A man with aqua-colored hair came running out of a nearby bush, and had a hastily conversation with the girl, and she handed him the ring which he stuck into his pocket. Something told Tracey that the fact that he wore a black Team Rocket uniform was wrong in a way, but with his attention turned to the girl those warning bells were pushed into the very back of his mind. She turned to Brock and Tracey again.
"You don't have any pokèmon, do you?" she asked with an innocent look. Both of the shook their heads, "Dammit!" she muttered, and then took the man's arm for support as they scampered of. Tracey stood there looking after them for a few seconds, and then turned to his friend.
"Did she just run away with some other guy?"
Before Brock got to answer Ash and Misty run into them.
"Brock!" Misty grabbed him by the collar of his vest and started shaking him, "Where's the ring?!"
"I think his fiancé has it..." Tracey said, still slightly dizzy.
"What?!" Ash and Misty yelled at once. Brock did at last turn to them.
"Perhaps it only was her brother..." he suggested.
"Who's brother?"
"My fiancé's brother!"
"You're not engaged!"
"He is now."
Misty felt a very strong urge to ripping the hair off her head, and started explaining the situation to the two of them.

Mondo had been hanging around outside the Team Rocket headquarters which were located in a tall building by the Viridian gym for quite some time when he saw a Misty and Ash coming down the road, the former looking rather glum and the later munching on a sandwich.
Mondo got to hear a sad tale about two over-hormonal teenager boys, a blonde in a dress and a man with green hair and a bad voice.

Somewhere in Viridian City Cassidy lay on a couch, the ring she had stolen earlier pinched between her fingers and dangling over her eyes.
It was pretty.
The major thought in her head was that the ring actually was very pretty. Probably an engagement ring or something. Talking about engagements... she glanced up at her partner, talking to Mondo on the phone.

"No, I don't give a damn about who had that stupid ring, the point is that we have it now!" Butch snapped at Mondo and hung up before he turned to Cassidy again. To his surprise she looked at him with an odd expression.
"Don't you think we should get married?" she asked softly.
"Um... sure..." he turned around and dialed up again, "Who did you say that ring belonged to?"

It was getting late, and Jesse and James had finished their shopping trip and decided to do a last attempt to swipe Pikachu so they at least could write the accident statement for their boss, things had gone the usual way except for Misty looking a bit depressed at James and Pikachu had shocked Ash twice during their argument about him blasting off Team Rocket or not, and they were now facing a very angry looking Charizard.
Things didn't look too good for the next minutes of Jesse's life.
Just when she was about to jump behind James in a faint hope of avoiding being hit by the upcoming flamethrower someone shouted in the distance, and being distracted everybody in place turned to discover Butch running down the road.
"James!" he called again, and when he stopped in front of them a voice yelling in the distance was heard.
"It isn't important! I'll be back soon!" Butch replied when he had stopped panting too hard.
"... didn't hear what you said and these heels are KILLING me!" a female voice cried. Butch shrugged and turned to James, still slightly out of breath, and ignored that the fellow rocket was waving his arms and shaking his head panicked in front of him.
"It's yours, right?" he asked and pressed something into James's palm without waiting for the answer, "...and if not just keep it anyway."
"Butch! Didn't I tell you to WAIT for me?" Cassidy was now in full view, still in the white dress. Brock and Tracey's eyes widened considerably. She held up the skirt as she staggered down the road on extremely high heels and the hair in a bun on top of her head, "And why are you so hurried to talk to... Jesse?" she asked and frowned. Butch walked over to her and grabbed her arm, and she gratefully leaned onto him for support.
"I just gave James something from Mondo, okay? I think we'll still be able to get a few more if you just don't..."
"I'm sick of this stupid dress, and if we don't go home so I can get out of it NOW I can assure you mister YOU'LL be the one to wear it tomorrow!" she snapped. Butch sweatdropped and nodded mutely.
"We're having the rest of the day off." he agreed and dragged her with him as she continued to wince every five meter about her shoes. When they were out of view Jesse turned to James and tried to open his hand. When he suddenly fastened his grip she looked annoyed at him.
"What is it?" she asked demandingly.
"Nothing!" he gulped and started to turn, looking for any potential way of getting away as soon as possible.
"It isn't nothing!" she snapped and fastened her grip around his arm, "Now give it to me!" she barked and yanked him closer. He looked nervously around and shook his head.
"What?" she screamed and lunged for him, knocking him to the ground.
"Give it to me!"
"No!"
"Give it to me!"
"Never!"
"Why not?!"
"Because..." his voice trailed of, and instead he took a good grab of her hair and pulled. She bawled and let got of him and took her red coil and pulled back.
"You fight like a girl!" she sneered and at last managed to pull it away from his grip.
"I know!" he tried to take it again, but this time she pounced down on his chest and knocked the breath out of him.
"Just give it to me and I won't hurt you." She calmly told him, face mer inches from his.
"You would too!" he complained and pushed her up with all his strength, so she sat over him and struggled to bend down, and he lay under her trying to get her off, which of course none of them got anywhere with.
"Schyter!" he sudden yelled and pointed up behind her. Since the hand he'd used to point was the one to hold her left shoulder up she fell on him, and instead of running away she screamed and clung to him. She sat up a few seconds later and looked around and then whacked him.
"Liar!" she shouted. He ignored it and used the moments of distraction to roll over so she fell of, and started crawling away. Unfortunately she managed to get a firm grip around his left ankle the last second and yanked him down again, and before he could scramble up again she was sitting on his back, this time removing her gloves and rolling up her sleeves.
"Give..." she pressed his face down in the ground, "It..." she continued, "To..."
"Jesse please..."
"ME!" she roared and yanked it up by his hair. He whined and took his head with one hand and still held the other tightly to his chest.
"NO!" When she continued to pull his hair he desperately looked at the other present, "Meowth, help me!" he begged. The pokèmon just shook his head.
"I really think this is the sort of thing you should be able to get out of yourself." He sighed.
"Brock! Tracey! Ash! Please! Misty..."
"James, I'm sure you know a lot more about girls than me, but if this is the way you plan to..." Brock started.
"Okay FORGET ABOUT IT!" James said loudly and somehow managed to throw Jesse of, but didn't come long before she lunged and once again was sitting on his back.
"Why don't you just give it to me?" she asked him sweetly and pressed his nose into the dirt.
"Because this way you'll only beat me senseless, but if I give it to you you'll kill me." He explained. She pummeled his face harder into the ground.
"I think my nose is bleeding..."
"I give you a minute start-off?" she suggested. He was silent for a while.
"You wont do it anyway." He concluded. She groaned frustrated and climbed of him.
"Okay. I give you ONE last chance for giving whatever it is to..." she stopped and took a firm grip around his leg as he was about to run away, and he fell to the ground again, but this time he lost his concentration, and before he got to shake out the slight concussion she had bent his fingers away and picked up the item.
"A RING?" she said in disbelief. James was still dizzy and couldn't do anything but look dumbly at her. She twirled it between her fingers and looked at him again, "Why the heck were you afraid of showing it to me?" she asked again. When he just continued to stare at her she got impatient and whacked him upside the head.
"That HURT!" he whimpered, and she held her fingers right in front of his eyes, and he finally realized what had happened.
"NO!" he cried and tried to scramble to his feet again, but since she sat on one of his legs that was rather difficult. She calmly pushed him down again without even taking her eyes from the ring and spoke softly.
"Is there anything special about it?" he looked at the ground.
"That doesn't matter anymore..." he muttered and failed to get his foot loose.
"I think it does." She said.
The entire place was silent. Nobody said anything, it was like they didn't even dare to breath, as Jesse and James looked into each others eyes...
"Tell me or I'll make sure you'll never be able to give your parents grandchildren!"
"I don't want to give THEM grandchildren either!" he then realized what she'd meant, "Meowth help me!"
The feline pokèmon had major ethical problems. Of course, the right thing to do as the good friend he was would be to fury swipe Jesse so James had a chance in getting away. On the other hand, that wouldn't solve any long-termed problems as James probably would run home, where of course Jesse would find him and beat the crap out of him, just a little later. It also contained him getting beaten to pulp after 'ruining her perfection'.
Then there was the alternative in telling Jesse about the ring, but there were only two possible outcomes of that: She'd either kill James, or they'd start necking, none of which tempted Meowth considerably. Or, of course, she could just laugh over him, but that would mean James killing him later... And this seemed to turn out to be quite entertaining.
He shook his head.
"Shouldn't we do something?" Ash whispered to Misty. She looked at the scenario. This wasn't exactly the proposal of dreams... First off, James seemed very eager to keep Jesse from knowing about it. Second, she was sitting on him and screaming at him. Third, James was halfway passed out in concussion and had a pretty bad nosebleed as a result of the prior fight.
"Perhaps we should..."
There were no romantic music, no candles, and James didn't kneel unless sitting on the ground trying to avoid being hit by the girl sitting on your legs counted as kneeling, and the rose James had carried was now squashed flat in the mud.
"He planned to propose to you with it." she firmly said.
Both Jesse and James stared at her. James with a look like he was about to be executed, and Jesse in pure shock.
Nobody said anything for a minute. Jesse just stared, and James looked even more desperate and slowly removed his glove from the nose. At last Jesse closed her mouth, to ask:
"What?!"
"Oh brother, this is even worse than with the Schyters!" James gulped and yanked his leg away from under her, so she fell on her butt. She looked at the ring in her hand, and then moved her face to him, not looking angry, not looking happy, not looking surprised, just confused.
"You were to propose to me?!" she asked in disbelief.
"You'll still give me my start-off, won't you?" he stammered and raised up.
"Why...." She didn't finish.
"I'm out of here!" James cried and hauled ass down the road, but seconds later his partner were on her feet to and took off after him.
Tracey, Meowth, Ash, Misty and Brock just stood and looked after them.
"Misty, I don't really think that helped him all that much...." Ash nervously said. Brock and Tracey nodded in agreement.
"No, perhaps I don't know much about girls but I do know stuff about romance, and girls beating boys isn't specially promising for their relationship..." Brock added.
"She got him." Tracey silently said and lifted his binoculars.
"This will be bloodshed, won't it?" Brock nervously asked.
"Probably." Meowth sighed, "Probably.

Jesse was confused, actually to the limit that her only clear thought was that she couldn't let James run away, either because she had to sort this out with him or because she had to hit him into orbit. So when she was close enough she kicked of a little extra and threw her body after him, barely managing to grab him by the shoulders and knock him to the ground as she fell on him.
She heard him loose his breath, and then catch it again, and then a very, very wary voice.
"Jesse, is that you?"
"Yeah." She replied, trying to figure out exactly what had happened the last minutes. After some time he spoke again.
"Aren't you gonna kill me now?"
"I don't think so." She tightened her grip.
"Why not?"
She heard panting voices approach them and slowly sat up, and then crawled of him. He didn't move at all, but she saw that he looked away from her.
"Were you going to propose to me?" she asked him again.
"Kinda..."
"Do you want to marry me?"
"Not anymore! You made my nose bleed!" he snapped and then winced as he sat up beside her and held one of his shins tightly.
"That wasn't on purpose." She declared somewhat annoyed and took the tine wisp of hair that hang down in his eyes and yanked him close, "And I'll do it."
"Do what and let go of my hair that hurts!" he replied. Either because she ignored it or because she simply didn't notice it, his partner fastened her grip in the hair and gave it a hard yank.
"Don't DO that, you know I can't stand to get my hair pulled it hur---" the rest was muffled when she pressed her hand over his lips.
"Now stop the complaining before I get angry at you, and you don't want that, do you?"
"Mmmff mmffmf hmm?" he said, and she rolled her eyes and removed the hand.
"Weren't you mad at me already?" he repeated. She looked startled at him.
"No!" she exclaimed.
"You are lying! You can't possible hear that I wanted to marry you and then not be mad at me!" he replied.
"Yes, I can!"
"No, you can't!"
"I can!"
"You cannot!"
"I can!"
"You cannot!"
"Can!"
"Cannot!"
"Can!"
"Cannot!"
"Can!"
"Can!"
"Cannot!"
"See, you even said it yourself!" James smugly told her and pulled down the lower eyelid.
"Watch your step or I'll dye your hair like the little twerpette's!"
"You wouldn't!"
"Want to bet?"
"What is going on?"
"Does he say that he loves you?"
"Misty, he's scared to dea---oww!"
The twerp company and Meowth all looked equally confused. Except Ash, who was clutching his stomach as he bent over, moaning in pain.
James took the opportunity to grab Jesse's wrist and try to pull her hand away, but only succeed in making her yank harder and shove his hand away.
"Are you deaf?" she snapped and pulled his hand back again, forgetting that she still was holding his hair and causing a cry in pain from her partner. She then let go of it and opened the palm of her other hand, revealing the ring, and with an angry scowl yanked off her glove and shoved it down on her finger before she waved her hand in front of his eyes.
"There!"
"What?"
She slapped him with her glove and held her hand so close to his face that he had to push it away again before he looked at it.
"What did you do that for?" he asked her, and her face fell, for just a few seconds before she smugly spoke again.
"James, how much money are you going to inherit?"
"I don't remember..."
"Exactly."
Misty looked disappointed.
"Didn't you have to marry Je..." Ash went silent when she stomped on his foot.
There was a long silence as James just stared at Jesse's hand.
Pikachu pricked Meowht's shoulder, "Chu."
"GODAMMIT!" Meowth shrieked and furyswiped both of them, making them drop to the ground moaning in pain, and then was hit into the forest by a very angry Jesse. Pikachu wandered off after him to claim whatever he had won. When she at last had stopped screaming obscenities after the feline Jesse turned to glare at the four kids looking at her, and then grabbed James and hauled him to his feet.
"We're going home." She announced and wandered off, and he followed, looking more than anything like a puppy following its master.

As Jesse and James walked away into the setting sun Misty looked after them with starry eyes, hands clasped together and Togepi franticly chirping by her feet.
"It's so romantic..." she sighed, and her companions exchanged glances.
"I wouldn't use that..." Ash started.
"I want a boyfriend I can marry too!"
A sudden silence fell over the little group, and Ash, Brock and Tracey simultaneously stepped backwards at the memory of James's day. Misty looked confused at them.
"I'm gay!" Tracey squeaked desperately, "Gay! Queer! Homosexual!" when he realized she didn't believe him, he threw himself on Brock and kissed him, somehow managing to keep the squirming body of his friend on spot. At last he broke away and gasped for air, shuddered and waved his hands in front of himself, "See? I like boys!"
She moved her glance to Brock, who paled.
"Me to!" he quickly said, "I wanted him to kiss me! Really!" he pointed at Tracey, who still was panting slightly and nodded in reply.
"Ash?"
He suddenly found three pairs of eyes fixed at himself, and terror stroke him as Misty's filled with tears, and she looked pleadingly at him. The feeling of that not saying anything could be translated the wrong way in her pre-teenager girl brain crept onto him, and he backed further back, desperately trying to come up with something to say.
"You won't abandon me, will you?" she asked softly and walked towards him. He took another step back and opened his moth to speak, but just didn't know what to say.
"Ash?"
He started to walk faster, still with his back turned to the direction he walked in and looking at Misty.
"Gary!" he squealed at last.
"What?" she stopped for a moment, and he took the opportunity to turn around and run like a sheep down the road.
"Gary!" he repeated, "I like Gary!"
"Ash!" she cried and ran after him. Togepi happily chirped and bounced after her.
"No! I like Gary! Not you! Gary!"
"No, you're not gay! Ash I know you're not gay!"
"Gaaaaaaryyyy....." was the last thing Brock and Tracey heard as the dust settled down on the road again.
They stood in silence for a while, and then looked at each other.
"Did we just reject the only female that has ever shown a slight interest in us?" Brock asked, and Tracey nodded. They exchanged a look filled with pain and mutual understanding.
"I got my first kiss from a boy!" Brock whined.
"We're gonna DIE virgins!"
They stood in silence for another few minutes, the sun casting the last rays over them, and Brock took something out of one of his vest pockets.
"Uh..."
Tracey turned to him, "What?"
"I have the room keys, and Misty and Ash will probably be busy for the rest of the night..."
Brock looked at Tracey, Tracey looked at Brock, and the sun at last sunk under the horizon as desperation seized the last control over them.
"Oh, to hell with it." Tracey said and took his hand, and they walked down the same road as Jesse and James had done before them.

*********

And the infamous end moral which is the reason Tracey is here?
Never be too narrow-minded, hating and bombastic when I can see it. At least not if I'm not agreeing with you.
You see, the thirdwheelshipping (Brock/Tracey relationship if the name isn't painfully obvious) was not planned, but I happened to see one place too many that Tracey doesn't deserve love when I was writing this, and... well, a lot of people literary asked for this one.
I really and honestly do hope I grossed you who think so out and that you at the moment is really peeved over the fact that not only did I give him a happy ending, but a happy ending with Brock none the less *smiles*. Well... sex, true love, I think those to go fairly as one in my characterizations of the two of them anyway. Talking about characterizations, you are all welcome to comment on how I could've made James stay more ic here, too, because I'm sure that could've been better. Some people have beta readers, but alas, I am most unfortunately not one of those (whether that be for me or you), and thus don't really have any ideas of the quality of this when I claim to be finished.