Chapter 7: The Search Begins

(Jessie)

I woke up the next morning with the sun in my eyes. I looked over at the clock. 8.34AM!? I must have slept for 15 hours! Oh well, time for breakfast. Slowly getting up, I realised I was still in my Team Rocket uniform……oh no, and I remember why. James. I bite my bottom lip, I hope he came back. I looked around, he wasn’t in here. Well I’m not surprised. He’s probably sleeping on the sofa. I opened the bedroom door and walked down the stairs. I see a couple of blankets on the sofa. Phew, he did come back, and I bet he is still sleeping there. Oh well, better make out like nothing happened.

“Come on James, are you gonna sleep all day?!” I yell, picking up a cushion from a chair and chucking it at the lump under the blankets. Slowly, a head peeks out from the top of the covers and yawns…Meowth?

“Meowth? Where’s James?”

Meowth pushed the cushion of the sofa and got up.

“He never came back.”

Never came back? I stood there for a minute. James never came back. He was being serious when he said he would leave. I looked at the floor. I did that, I made him leave. What have I done? He’s, he’s my best friend, and now I’m, never going to see him again……no, snap out of it, this isn’t like you, you don’t care about James, and why should you after what he said?! But, something…

“I’m going for a walk Meowth.”

“Don’t hurry back.” he said coldly.

Humph, I won’t. I walk out the door shutting it hard behind me. Maybe James is just trying to scare me, maybe he’s sleeping somewhere out here. I look at the mess around me. Tiles had fallen of the roof, a tree and fallen over, leaning against another. No, he wouldn’t sleep out here, not last night, not during that storm. Okay, I’ll admit it, I am worried. If he’s not in the hideout, and he’s not out here, then where is he? Maybe, maybe he really isn’t coming back. I could feel a lump forming in the back of my throat. No, don’t cry, not now. I turn around to face the hideout again. Think Jessie. Where would James have gone? Thinking back to last night, I remembered James talking to a ‘Hopkins’ on the phone. Well the only Hopkins he knows is back at that Mansion of his. Would he really go back there? Well, at the moment it’s the best lead I’ve got. Maybe, maybe if I use the re-dialling number on the phone I can call that Mansion and see if he’s there! Yes I’ll, wait a minute, that’s going to sound a little too obvious that I’m concerned. Oh, who cares! Jessie you don’t know where James is and you’ve got to find him! I ran back inside the hideout and dialled 741. Then it hit me, what am I going to say? ‘Oh yeah, excuse but has your long lost son returned because his partner in Team Rocket would like him back so she can tell him how sorry she is. Oh yes, by the way, if that Jessiebelle has so much as looked at him, I will personally come around and chuck her in a pool full of Gyarados.’

Yeah well, that’ll go down well.

After a couple of ring tones, someone picked up the phone.

“-This is Hopkins, the Butler of the Madison Estate Mansion, how may I be of service?-”

‘Err, good question’ I think.

“Umm, is James, James Madison there please?”

“-Who might I ask is calling?-”

“Jess, Jessica.”

“-Jessica?-”

He didn’t answer. What’s going on? I thought I heard a very quiet voice in the background, and then Hopkins answered.

“I’m sorry Miss but Master James is not here, and he hasn’t come back for such a long time, I don’t know what we are going to do without him, Master and Mistress have been so…”

I put the phone down. I wasn’t going to listen to another dramatic tear works from that Butler again. He wasn’t there. Now what? I sat down in a chair. Suddenly, Meowth stood in front of me with a pile of pancakes on a plate.

“Here ya go Jess.” He said softly, putting the plate on my lap, “We’ll find him.”

I smiled softly, I wish I had his confidence.

“I know!” he said, “Why don’t we get a photo of him and ask people if dey’ve seen him?”

That wasn’t a bad idea. Maybe someone has seen him, and then they can tell me where he went! I leapt up of the chair, spraying the pile of pancakes all over the floor. Picking up the scratch cat, I hug him tightly.

“That’s brilliant Meowth, lets go right now!”

Now I had to find a picture of James. I put Meowth back down on the chair and run up stairs into the bedroom.

I jumped on and over the bed to the chest of draws. Pulling out the first draw, I scrambled around through the junk until I found a very small photo album. Quickly flicking through some very embarrassing pictures from Pokèmon tech, I came across the perfect picture of James. It was one from the Bridge Bike Gang, the day before we left to join Pokemon Tech. The gang had asked if they could have pictures of us before we left. We agreed, but what I didn’t know is that when I got to Pokèmon Tech, I found the picture they had taken of James at the bottom of my bag. One of them must have dropped it. Well I wasn’t going all the way back to Sunny Town to give it back, so I kept it. He was leaning against the railing of the bridge with his black jacket on and black sunglasses resting on the top of his head, smiling at the camera. He hadn’t exactly changed much, so it’ll do. Suddenly I heard the door open and Meowth walk in.

“I was just t’inking Jess, you should change outta your uniform so people won’t get suspicious dat Team Rocket is looking for someone. People might not help o’der wise.”

He had a point.

“Okay” I reply.

Closing the door behind him, I head towards the wardrobe. 15 minutes later, I was ready. I went downstairs to see Meowth wearing a mini-backpack.

“Find a picture Jess?”

The picture, I almost forgot. I ran back upstairs and grabbed it of the bed. Before putting it in my pocket, I glanced one last look at him. He looked so sweet standing there, with the sun behind him. I did miss him, already. We’ve been together for so long. I have to find him, I can’t imagine going on through the day without him by my side.

I put the picture in my pocket and walked back down the stairs.

“Okay, let’s go.”

(James)

I glanced down at my watch. 7.04AM. I had woken up about 10 minutes ago. I never found anywhere to sleep, so I took shelter under a very large tree, which luckily managed to keep my dry, despite the storm. Now I walked along a dusty road. The sun was up and everything was pretty quiet. I don’t know how I’m going to get back home, it was at least an hour away, and that’s if you’re driving. It’s funny; I don’t have any regrets about leaving yesterday. This has to be the best move, quite literally. Still, I may not regret leaving, but I do regret not telling Jessie the higher reason why I left. When I woke up, I realised I never told her about my parents. She must think that all of this was just about the argument, well its not. I would have left anyway, but it still would have been nicer if I could have left when Jessie and I were friends. Well I can’t do anything about it now. I was dirty, I was tired, and I’d do anything to have a couple of donuts in front of me right now.

As I trudged along heading in the rough direction of the Estate, I saw a cloud of dust coming down the road coming closer to me. It stopped by the side of me, and when the dust settled, I saw that in front of me stood a very long, black limousine. I recognised that limousine. It was my parents. A darkened window at the back wound down and a head stuck out the side.

“Master James! Thank heavens we’ve found you! We looked at where you were staying and no body was there! Now you must get inside immediately. We have a lot of business to discuss.”

Before I could think at what was happening, Hopkins leapt out of the car, grabbed my arm, pulled me inside and told the driver to drive back home.

¾ of an hour later, we passed the main gateway to the Estate. This brought back memories. Suddenly I remembered someone that I had completely forgotten about.

“Umm, Hopkins, is, is Jessiebelle still here?”

I prayed she wasn’t. That’s all I need. Having her following me around all the time, telling me what I’m doing wrong, and if I didn’t do something about it, she’d get that whip of hers out. I shuddered at the thought.

“Unfortunately, Miss Jessiebelle went back home to her parents last night. After hearing the news of the Master and Mistress passing away, she left. As you were not there to fulfill the marriage agreements, there was no reason for her to stay.”

WOW! That’s defiantly brightened up my day.

“YES! Err, I mean, what a shame, I was really looking forward to seeing her again.” I smiled. That was a close.

“Yes, well.” Hopkins frowned, “Now Master James as soon as we enter the Mansion we must get you cleaned up and into some suitable clothing for the funeral.”

Funeral? Oh God I had completely forgot.

“The Funeral's here?”

“Yes, we had a special part of the gardens set aside to make the prefect graveyard setting for them. Now Master James after the funeral we must discuss your maternal status.”

Suddenly I remembered their Will. Last time I was here I had to marry Jessiebelle, but if she’s not here…?

“I was wondering about that. Last time I had to marry Jessiebelle, but if she’s not here, what’s going to happen?”

“Well I must admit Master James, last time you were here, we made up that part of the Will to try and make you marry Miss Jessiebelle. The real Will is locked up safely in the vault...”

I grinned to myself. This means I don’t have to get married! Yes! This is going to be easy.

“…However, although I have not actually looked at the real Will itself, the Master and Mistress explained to me before they passed away that you are part of the Will and have to be here to read it and fulfill its wishes.”

That sounded ominous. Well, it can’t be as bad as marrying Jessiebelle, whatever it is. I looked out the window and saw Growly’s doghouse come into view. Growly! Oh I’m going to be so pleased to see him again. Following that, the Mansion came in view. Well, here goes.

The limousine stopped outside the Mansion and I got out to be greeted by my favourite pokèmon. Knocking me over, Growly jumped up at me, licking my face over and over.

“Growly, hehe, stop, hehe, hey come on.” I laugh.

“Come come Master James, the funeral is in an hour and I have a lot to get organised.”

Managing to get Growly off me, I pat him lovingly on the head before following Hopkins inside.

Wow, I’d forgotten how big this place was. Well it has been two years since I last came here.

“Now Master James I had your tailor pick out the best suit for this occasion. Its up in your room.”

With that said, he turned around into the kitchen.

“Chop chop everyone, we only have an hour and all the guests have yet to arrive.”

Guests? Oh, all my family must be coming. Oh great, now they are either going to be disgusted at me for the fact that I’ve returned after so long, or, pinching my cheeks and ruffling my hair saying how much I’ve grown the last time I saw them. Well, seen as the last time I ever saw any of my family was when I was seven, I’m betting on the last option.

A while later, I came out of my bedroom to see the hallway downstairs was full of lavishly dressed men and woman. Top hats and tails for the men, while long flowing dresses and ridiculously large hats for the women. Yep, that’s my family.

The only difference from what they usually were like is for the fact they were all wearing black, and a few of the ladies were silently weeping.

“Come along everybody, Master and Mistress’s coffins will be here any moment, we must make our way to the graveyard.”

I looked over the banister to see Hopkins being the owner of the voice, shuffling my family out the huge double front doors. After everyone was out the house, I ventured downstairs. Just then the phone went. Hopkins walked over to answer it.

“This is Hopkins, the Butler of the Madison Estate Mansion, how may I be of service?…Who might I ask is calling?…Jessica?”

Jessica? Oh no, it must be Jessie. I quickly run over and put my hand over the phones’ speaker.

“Hopkins I know who that is, I don’t want to speak to her.”

“Very well Master James.” I took my hand off the speaker and took a step back.

“I’m sorry Miss but Master James is not here, and he hasn’t come back for such a long time, I don’t know what we are going to do without him, Master and Mistress have been so…”

He stopped. Jessie must have put the phone down. I still can’t believe that Hopkins is still using that excuse. Suddenly, I heard something coming down the driveway. Looking through the window, I could see two black cars, the first holding a coffin with pink roses around it, the second holding another coffin, this one with blue roses around it. My parents. I suddenly felt very guilty, seeing them like this.

Hopkins slowly walked up behind me and put his arm on my shoulder.

“Come Master James, your parents await.”

I walked out the door and around the mansion. After a short walk down the gravel pathway through the trees, I came to one of my favourite places as a child. A wide stream with crystal clear water ran through the grounds. A very old Willow tree hang over it, dangling its long leaves into the water. Running along one side of the stream grew row upon row of red and white Rose bushes. I used to spend hours here playing with Growly as a child. The only difference now, is that two white gravestones stood gleaming in the sun under the Willow tree, and before them two long dug holes. All that was needed now was for something to fill up those two holes. I walked across the wooden bridge further down and across onto the other side. I didn’t want any of my family to spot me. I stood beside a tree in full view of the two graves, whereas the tree gave me shelter from my eyeing family.

I stood there in silence, leaning against the tree, as I watched the saddened ceremony take place.