The group had finally been reunited with the two Pokemon they'd been looking for. Meowth had been shocked at the new appearances of the humans, and Pikachu had only been glad to see them. After staring at James for a while, Meowth had opted to avoid him; Persians and Meowth just didn't mix. Renita had morphed a large tent to shield them from the sharp wind.
Pikachu was curled up between Ash and Misty, sleeping contentedly. Ash had given his blue-and-white jacket to Misty to keep her warm. Perhaps before this thing had happened, he wouldn't have thought of that, and Misty would have thought him insensitive, but as it was, he was glad for the insight.
Misty was, all in all, content. She didn't even bother to wonder at the strange bond Team Rocket now had with them; it was the bond of those who were all in the same boat, and had to depend on each other to survive. She was glad of Jessi's company now, and as bad as James' attitude may have turned out to be, he would be a valuable member of their team.
Brock lay sleeping fitfully not far from Ash and Misty. Renita's words earlier had struck a chord within him, and he was sorry for having snapped at his friends earlier. He couldn't really help how he was acting, but he still felt bad. He vowed to himself that he would be kinder in the morning.
Jessi was asleep in one corner of the Renita-tent, with Meowth right beside her. She had taken longer than the others to fall asleep, for thinking about their predicament and how their lives had changed in such a short time. She didn't really understand how the five of them could win something as important as a 'final battle'. She felt annoyed with Death for giving them such a hard task, and for making it even more difficult by changing their personalities. Of course, she wasn't against being peaceful and calm, but to be like that all the time when you could remember acting otherwise? It was weird. And she hated the way James was acting... She was so used to being the one in charge, who was free to whack anyone who challenged her and not get an answer. Besides, if she was being impossibly kind, wouldn't it be nice if James were acting normal? Then she might have an easy time of... of admitting... well, nevermind.
And James had not fallen asleep. He stared up at the inside of the tent, mind racing back and forth, thinking of something, everything, and nothing at all, all at the same time. He could feel part of his old self, hiding in the back of his mind, overrided by his new arrogant, rude and aloof personality. He didn't like it. Jessi didn't like it, he was rude to her and everyone else, but especially Jessi. Why couldn't he control it? He had attacked the Onix, earlier, but that had been out of instinct more than kindness. And now Meowth wasn't speaking to him. How bad could things get?
He decided that sleep wasn't going to come, so he slipped quietly out of the tent.
"Where are you going?" The voice was Renita's, in the form of the tent.
"Nowhere," he sighed, looking at his paws.
Silence. "Can I go nowhere with you?" Renita finally asked.
James turned to face the tent. "Can you do that?" he asked, curious. "You can't leave everyone sleeping here with no cover."
"Just watch." One small corner of the tent glowed for a second, and separated from the rest of it. The tiny Ditto now sitting beside the tent morphed into an Oddish. "I can create objects from myself, and if there's enough of me left over I can take a living form and leave myself behind," she explained.
James picked up Renita/Oddish. "I just can't sleep," he told her, making his way silently through the trees.
"I can't either," she informed him. "It's hard to when I'm in another form."
"I'm thinking of other things."
"Like what?" The pair came to a small pond, glowing in the last moonlight of the morning. James sat down by a tree, leaning against it and watching out over the water. With his Persian eyes, he could see perfectly through the semi-darkness.
"Like this whole stupid thing," he explained, setting Renita down beside him. "Why were we chosen for anything? Me and Jessi never win, and the twerps are just... annoying. What can anyone expect us to accomplish?"
"You know, you shouldn't be so down on yourself," Renita scolded, her leaves bouncing around as she spoke. "All of you are more powerful than you know. Death told you, you have to stay together, and you'll be strong."
James was about to answer, but he had a sudden memory of earlier that evening, when Jessi had said something like that to him. He had only nodded, he hadn't made a smart remark or snapped at her as he would probably do now. "And that reminds me of something else. Why did we have to change our personalities like this? What's the point?"
"Don't you like being a Persian?" Renita asked, answering a question with another question.
"Well... I do, I guess," James admitted. He thought about the fact that he hadn't tripped or messed up or done anything stupid since he'd changed. He had sharper senses and reflexes, as well. The grace and strength were totally new to him, and he liked the feeling. But he hated the new way he was acting- being rude to Jessi and everyone else, and arrogant. He had known that he couldn't have beaten an Onix by himself, for instance, but he made the comment anyway, as it was his new personality. He felt ungrateful for saying such a thing.
It had been silent for ten minutes. "But?" Renita prompted gently.
"But... I don't like switching roles like this."
"You and Jessi?"
"Yeah. She used to be the one who... kept me and Meowth in line. Now she's not, and I'm supposed to, I guess, but I just end up making a mess of things." James leaned forward, resting his chin in his hands. His ears were at half-mast in a peaceful position. "Jessi always liked being in charge. She didn't like to show it when she was weak, most people couldn't even tell... except me and Meowth, since we'd known her for so long."
Renita settled down, curling her leaves down to rest. She liked listening to people tell stories about themselves or what they've done. The first rays of sunlight were appearing over the horizon, lighting up the surface of the pond and casting shadows all around where the two sat.
"If she were still herself, she wouldn't like this at all. She hates- no, hated- the twerps... well, I can't call them that anymore, can I? We're on the same side." Renita nodded, not wanting to interrupt. "Anyway, I wonder if she can hate anyone or anything in that form. If she can she probably hates me. I've been so stupid..."
"No," Renita said firmly. "She doesn't hate you! Believe me, I know these things."
James glanced at her, wanting to ask how, but thought better of it. "She looks so nice like that, anyway... she always does, but now..." He shook his head, realizing what he had just said out loud, and glanced at Renita, blushing.
"I won't tell," the Ditto girl said happily, winking, "if you don't want me to!"
James shook his head vigorously, ears flopping back and forth. "Really..." he continued, "I don't think she knows how much I care about her. She always seemed... just..."
"How you are now?"
"Pretty much, yeah. But I always knew her so well, I couldn't get mad at her. We've been friends forever, you know. I remember, when we were young... we both ran away from bad homes. We had nowhere to go, we had to join Team Rocket. Jessi was excited, and I didn't want to... Giovanni scared me... but Jessi was my only friend. I couldn't leave her."
Both of the forms beside the pond were getting drowsy. As James talked, his eyes were slowly closing, and the sound of his voice was lulling Renita to sleep.
"I wish I could tell her how I feel... but I'm afraid of what she'd say. She doesn't like me... I can tell... maybe one day I'll tell her... maybe..." And with those last words, James was asleep, face buried in his arms, back against the tree. Renita yawned, then morphed to a very thin blanket, draping herself around his shoulders. She thought about what he'd said... about Jessi not liking him... She knew that wasn't true. Maybe, with a little luck, she could make this easier for Jessi and James, at least. After that, perhaps she could work on Ash and Misty... They seemed like a likely couple...
It was afternoon before the humans and Pokemon sleeping in the tent woke up. Jessi took one look around and realized James was missing.
"Did any one hear James leave last night?" she asked nervously, thinking of Misty's Onix/Renita encounter. In fact... "Renita?" she called. The Ditto tent trembled but didn't respond.
"What a good rest...!" Misty yawned. She immediately blushed when she opened her eyes and looked into Ash's face. She backe up. "Sorry, Ash," she apologized. He shook his head, smiling a bit, purple eyes glittering.
Brock sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Good morning," he said, in an attempt to sound cheerful. He wasn't a morning person, Primeape or not.
Jessi walked out of the tent. Meowth followed her. During the night her crimson hair had fallen out of its usual style, and it now flowed spectacularly about her shoulders.
"Meowth, you didn't hear James leave?" she asked gently, tail drooping. Meowth glanced at her, still uneasy with his friends' new, different personalities. At another time, Jessi might have said somethi
ng less kind, and she definitely wouldn't have shown this much worry about anyone, not even her best friend. "I didn't hear anythin', but I can sniff 'im out," the Pokemon offered. Jessi nodded, so the cat began smelling the air, following the scent trail of their partner.
"I smell Renita, too!" Meowth said, surprised. "Dey were walkin' together."
"But she morphed the tent, didn't she?"
"Well, I smell her."
After a while the two came upon the sleeping forms of their friends. Actually, they came upon the sleeping form of James, with Renita as a blanket curled around his back. Jessi was hesitant to wake him up; Meowth was hesitant to go within twenty feet of him.
Jessi knelt in front of her partner, and, making sure Meowth wasn't looking, brushed his hair out of his eyes, gently, so he wouldn't wake up. The movement woke Renita, who took one look and pulled back, moving away to leave the two alone. She stopped behind the tree, morphed a Rattata, and climbed up onto an overhanging branch to listen in. Eavesdropping was better than getting information from the source, she thought happily.
Jessi put one webbed hand on James' shoulder and shook him gently. He opened his eyes, still tired and wishing for more sleep, but when he saw Jessi he forgot about that. She was right beside him, her blue eyes staring into his green ones, looking scared and hopeful at the same time. He realized that she expected to be yelled at or shunned by him again.
"Hi," Jessi said, trying to sound cheerful.
"Hello yourself," James muttered. In his mind he cringed at his tone. Everyone else could handle their personalities, why couldn't he? When it was so important that he was nice to Jessi, he practically couldn't be.
"I just... I just came to wake you up," Jessi told him, obviously hurt. She stood to leave, and James sighed, figuring he'd messed up yet again. An acorn fell from a branch above his head, hitting him on the forehead. He looked up and saw a Rattata- a purple-tinged Rattata- looking angry at him.
"Jessi, wait," James said, trying to keep in a pleasant tone. His friend turned around, ears and tail drooping, wondering what he might say this time... and were those tears in her eyes? Jessi?
"Jessi, I... I'm sorry for being so rude. If I could help it I would, especially with you, but I just can't. I hope you aren't too mad at me..." James spoke this in one breath, struggling not to slip and sound rude.
Jessi smiled, relieved that it wasn't anything she had done to make him so mad at her. She went back to where he was still sitting down against the tree.
"I was just worried that you were mad at me," she said hesitatingly. "I'm glad you aren't... and I'll try to remember that it isn't really you talking to me when you lash out like that. I know I've acted like that, and worse, before, but I think now you understand how I... how I felt..." As she was speaking, she had sat down beside him, and leaned forward slightly as she spoke. They ended up, when she finished, with their faces only a few inches away from each other. For a moment they just stared, then Jessi blinked and stood up, walking away quickly.
James watched her go. It was perfectly silent in the part of the forest that they were in, and he could still hear Jessi's footsteps walking away. Out of nowhere, a Rattata fell out of the tree and landed on the ground in front of him.
"Oh, real smooth, 'Nita," the girl mumbled to herself. "And by the way," she added, "that wasn't bad. I'm proud of you, Jimmy!!"
"Don't call me that," James said, ears back and teeth bared. "Or do you want me to eat you? It isn't very smart for a Rattata to call a Persian names."
"Oops..." Renita quickly changed back into an Oddish. "Better?"
James ruffled the leaves on her head. "Nita, why don't I act rude to you like I do to the others? I can talk to you and I don't feel like a Persian, I feel like my old self."
"Well, I dunno... maybe since I only just met you..."
"Or maybe..." James trailed off, and he shifted his gaze to the pond, where the sunrise was reflecting beautifully. "You remind me of my sister..."
"I thought you didn't... um..." Renita stopped, realizing why he had gotten so quiet all of a sudden.
"She died when she was your age, when I was only three..." James continued, eyes clouded. "I was too young to realize what death really meant... I still talked to her all the time, when I was alone. My parents thought I was crazy... but I missed her..."
"I'm sorry..." Renita said softly. There was an uncomfortable silence. It was soon torn by the sound of screaming, two terribly familiar screams. Without a thought, the two friends jumped up and ran back to their camp.
When they got there, they saw nothing out of the ordinary, except... Jessi and Misty... were gone.
Ash knelt on the ground, his position hinting that he had fallen while trying to run after someone- or something. He stared off above the treetops. Brock stood a little way off, looking in the same direction.
"Misty..." The single, whispered word that escaped Ash's lips was so full of sorrow, it weighed upon the hearts of all who heard him.
Renita quickly dove into the fabric of the tent, melding with it and then morphing back into her human form. Brock slowly walked over and helped Ash up. He turned and looked at James, who was still looking around, shocked.
"What happened?" he asked softly.
"They... they took Misty..." Ash sobbed. He covered his face with his hands. Brock quietly patted his back, giving his friend as much comfort as possible.
"Who took her? And where is Jessi?" the feline youth demanded, stepping forward.
"The... the people riding Fearows and Pidgeots... they got both of them... carried them off..." The moment this statement had left Ash's mouth, he was tackled to the ground by James. The boy pressed his paws to Ash's throat; his ears were pressed back, tail lashing furiously.
"You let them take her!!" he yelled. "It's your fault... it's your fault...!!" Ash struggled to push James off, but the older boy was bigger and stronger, and this action only caused James to tighten his grip on Ash's neck. A few seconds later, Brock pulled James away roughly and threw him to the ground. Renita watched in grim fascination.
Ash didn't move, he simply lay on the ground, tears streaming down his face. Brock pulled him up, more carefully. Renita went to James and knelt beside him. His green eyes were open... but he didn't seem to be seeing anything... The Ditto girl gently sat him up, watching him blink back into reality.
"Ash... Ash, she'll be okay!" Brock said to his friend. "I know Misty, you know her... she can take care of herself!"
"James is right..." Ash moaned, closing his eyes."It is my fault... I could have stopped them..."
Renita looked around at this scene. Her new friends, and the five who had to unite to win the final battle for the mortal world, were being torn apart. Without Jessi and Misty, they couldn't stay strong. Death had given Renita the job of keeping them together, and she had failed. Now the three that were left would have to find their friends, or be banished to the Dark World when the time for the battle arrived...
