"Are you sure this is a good idea? It looks kinda... well, it looks upset. Don't you think--"

"What are you, James, our resident Monster expert? Shut up and watch as I capture the elusive beast..."

"And what are you, our resident drama queen?" he muttered back under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

Irritated, Jessie turned back to concentrating on this capture. Over the past two weeks since they had left James' old home behind, things had pretty much returned to normal. If you could call their little mismatched group "normal". Still no town, still no decent food, still no...

Enough whining, back to capturing this Monster. Perhaps this would be enough to boost her spirits back to where they should be. Closing her eyes to concentrate more fully, she began to mentally outline the perfect plan. Stay low at first, and release her own Monster as quietly as possible, taking good advantage of the element of surprise. Raichu would probably be best. And within a couple of quick electric shocks, Scyther would be hers.

Okay, so it wasn't a really complex plan, but nobody's perfect.

She quickly opened her eyes to see...

Nothing. The Scyther was gone.

"Damn internal speech sequences..." she sniffled to herself.

"Umm... Jessie? This might be a good time to run away screaming." Jessie looked up to see James squinting at something overhead. The Scyther, obviously mad as hell, was circling above them. "I told you so..."

"Shut up and run!" She caught at his arm and pulled him off running over to a clump of trees where Meowth was already standing. But now the Scyther was swooping down low and slashing at them with it's razor sharp wings. She heard a pained hiss of breath beside her, and also the sound of cloth ripping, most likely her cape. Yet she didn't pause to worry until they were safely under the trees, the Scyther seemingly giving up and winging away into the early evening haze.

"You two..." she heard Meowth sighing. "Always getting into some kind of trouble, eh?"

"Oh be quiet, you little furball," Jessie muttered in reply, turning to see what had happened. James was trying to cover up the angry red slash on his forearm with his fingers, as though hiding it would make her think that he hadn't been injured. "Here now, what are you doing?"

"It... it's not much, nothing to worry about..." he replied shakily, actually looking close to tears.

Oh come on, stop acting so heroic," she scolded, looking back to where the Scyther had swooped over them. Her cape was there, as she had suspected, and totally ripped to shreds. Angrily mumbling about having to get a new one, she strode out to pick up a few strips of the tattered red cloth. She tied them around James' arm carefully, watching his face to make sure it wasn't too tight. He didn't say anything, but kept glancing out over to where she had just come from. She couldn't imagine what he could be looking at.

"Jessie? What... what is all that money doing all over the ground?"

That question stopped her cold. "Yes, I wonder... All of that money came out of your cape, didn't it?" Meowth spoke up slyly. "Does James even know about your little profession?"

She shot the cat an evil glare. Meowth had actually picked up on the fact that she was a thief, being a rather intelligent creature. James, on the other hand, still didn't have a clue.

"Profession? Jessie... do you have a job of some kind? I just thought you traveled around for fun... So what is it that you do?"

He looked genuinely interested. She wanted to kill Meowth and that Scyther both. "Well, you see..." Tell him the truth? And get called down for being "evil"? But if she lied, would he know? Meowth would probably tell him anyway... The words popped out of her mouth before she had the chance to deliberate any further.

"I'm a thief."

James took a step back, his eyes enormous. "You... you're joking, right?" he laughed weakly. "That's a pretty funny joke, you are joking... right?"

"No."

"But that... that..." His eyes managed to get even bigger, and on top of that, all watery and pleading. "That... that's bad...."

"You think I don't know that!? You think I care?" she shot back angrily in spite of herself. "It's my life and I figure if I have a talent, I should use it!" With those words, she stomped off to gather up the majority of the gold coins still littering the ground into the largest remaining piece of her deceased cape. Holding it tightly in her arms, she continued walking back over to the path they had been following, without waiting to see that anyone followed her. She wasn't in the mood for a silly speech at the moment.

Eventually, the boy and cat Monster caught up and walked on either side of her. She could see James casting nervous glances in her direction, then jerking his gaze away whenever it seemed she would turn her head. She fixed a continuous scowl on her face, hoping he would take the hint.

"Looks like there's a town ahead," Meowth commented casually. Jessie stared ahead at it, frowning, wondering why she wasn't feeling so happy about it. She should have been ecstatic. And it was all James' fault. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him start to turn toward her, opening his mouth as if to say something. She whirled to face him before he could start.

"I know what it is! You're jealous of me! You're jealous because I have a special talent and you don't! That's it exactly! You're jealous because you're not a thief! And you know you could never be one!" Even though it hadn't made much sense, she felt infinitely better now, for some odd reason. Then she realized she had probably made a mistake.

James was staring at her now with a scowl of his own, leaning forward angrily with his hands clenched stiffly at his sides. "Oh yeah? I could steal if I wanted to!"

Jessie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right! You don't want to because you're just a big goody-goody! And you know it!"

"I am... I am not! You take that back!"

"No!"

"I... I'll show you... I'll prove to you that I can do it, you just wait and see!"

"You two..." Meowth started in, sounding bored.

"Shut up!" Jessie screamed at it. Then she noticed that James wasn't there anymore; in fact, he was striding ahead of them and into the town rather rapidly. "James, will you wait a minute!" she called out, pushing past several people on her way into the town. She finally stopped in the middle of a bustling street, Meowth standing close by her feet. "He's gone."

"I noticed. What do you think he's going to do?"

"Isn't it obvious? He's going to try to steal something to prove he can do it. The idiot," she sighed halfheartedly. Really, it had been her fault that she had driven him to it, but...

"It's your fault for driving him to it."

"Will you shut up! We have to find him now! Before he gets into big trouble... because he's gonna get caught, there's no doubt about that," she sighed once again.

They searched for at least an hour through crowded streets, the day's light continuing to fade slowly. It seemed that this particular town specialized in magical items, by the amount of shops advertising such. Mostly nonsense and silly tricks, in Jessie's opinion. Still, James had the potential of getting into a lot of trouble here. She just hoped they could find him before nightfall.

And then he was walking toward them, looking smug and not as though he had found any trouble at all. "What the hell were you thinking?" Jessie snapped at him, grabbing him by the shirt angrily and shaking him. "You could have gotten yourself killed or something! Well?"

He just smiled at her, leaving her wanting to slap that smug expression right off his face. "Well, you see... I got something for you, Jessie."

She glared at him, her eyes narrowing. "Got something for me..." she repeated dryly. "And how did you get this something?"

"I stole it, of course. Isn't that how you'd prefer it?" Before she could answer, he held up a fist and opened it to reveal a small crystalline orb laying nestled in the palm of his hand. It was a golden yellow color, and actually very pretty, something that was probably meant to be used as jewelry. Jessie stared at it for a moment before shaking her head at him.

"I don't know where you got that, James... But you had better get it back somehow. This town sells a lot of strange magical things... For all I know, that thing might have a curse on it."

He frowned, bringing it closer to his face to inspect it. "It doesn't seem so bad to me..."

"Hey you! You there! Come back here!"

The three slowly turned around to see an old woman yelling and pointing in their direction, or more specifically, at James. "You idiot!" Jessie hissed at him. "I knew there was no way you could have got away with that!"

"Oh no... that lady..."

"There's no time to stand around staring! Come on!" she yelled, once again grabbing his arm and pulling him off running. Meowth followed close behind as the woman continued chasing them down every street. They whipped around a corner to see... a dead end.

"Great. Now we're stuck," Jessie sighed, turning to glare at James. "You'd better hide that somehow, or she's going to kill you."

"Maybe we should just give it back..."

"No! You stole it! Do you want to get thrown in prison? Or worse? I mean, I could end up in there with you! Now hide it!"

"But I don't know where..."

"Oh, anywhere, just hurry!" She could here the old woman coming closer to the corner; she frantically just grabbed the orb from James and stuffed it in his mouth. "There! She'll never think it would be in there!"

"Mmmmf," was all James had to say.

"Oh God..." Meowth muttered.

The woman finally appeared around the corner, her blue eyes accusatory beneath tangled windblown hair. "You, boy," she growled out, walking up to James and poking a bony finger into his chest. "I thought I saw you take something from my shop a little earlier this evening. And in this town, as you may or may not know, theft is a major offense. Well?"

"Oh... No, you must be mistaken ma'am!" Jessie exclaimed cheerily. "My friend here has been with us all evening! I hardly think he could have stolen anything from you."

The woman looked her up and down, then jerked a thumb back at James. "Then why isn't he saying anything?"

"He's dumb." James' eyes widened in indignation before she added, "Which means he can't talk."

"Hmm. Well, if you say so. Just to let you know, however, what was stolen from my shop was a magic orb. The spirit of a Monster was sealed into the orb, and it can grant a person that Monster's power," the old woman spoke in a low, mysterious voice.

"Uhh... Yeah. But I don't think such things are possible," Jessie scoffed at her.

"Perhaps..." the woman replied, "But you can never be sure. Again, just for your information, the only way to obtain this power is by swallowing the orb. Then the only way to rid yourself of the power is to travel to the tower north of this town..."

"That's great, but... why are you telling us all this?"

"You just might need the information," the woman cackled. Then she disappeared around the corner.

"Huh. Funny old woman," Jessie commented. She turned to James. "What's the matter with you? You look like you're about to die."

"I... I..."

"Wait a minute, spit that out before you talk!"

"I swallowed it...."

"What? Why? You idiot!" was all Jessie could seem to scream at him.

"What's the big deal? You said yourself that you didn't think it possible," Meowth spoke up from below them.

"Yeah... that's right. No problem. Right, James?" she asked, slapping him on the back. "Nothing to worry about!"

"Pika."

"You're exactly right, you... yuh........ huh? What did you just say?"

"Pikaaa..."

"He said, 'Wrong'. Then he said, 'Very wrong'."

Jessie stared at Meowth, who was grinning in a rather unnerving way, then back at James, who looked scared to death.

"Great. Just great."

"Pika pii, pii chu."

"He said that it was an accident."

"Piii... ka pii."

"And that he's very sorry."

"Sorry? Sorry? You should be more than sorry!" Jessie sighed again, sitting back against the tall rock behind her. They had ultimately decided to spend the night outside the town, much to her disgust. But it really was the best thing to do, for now. James had basically been reduced to a blubbering idiot who only spoke in Pikachu-ese. Meowth had been translating, but all James ever seemed to want to say was "I'm sorry". She wondered why it was so important to him. And then every now and then he'd sniffle, making her think he was trying not to cry. And all this was adding up to make her rather upset herself.

"Look, James... You're just speaking like a Pikachu would. It's not like you've gained electrical powers or anything. So that old woman was only half right."

He shook his head, then reached out to touch her arm. A tiny jolt of static tingled through it. "Pika.. chu..."

"He said, 'No, she was right."

Jessie blinked at him. If he could handle large amounts of electricity, then maybe... No, he was a human, not a Monster. He deserved to be rid of this curse, or whatever it was. "In the morning, we'll go to that tower place. I don't know how going there will help you... but I guess that's all we can do."

"Pika pii ka?!"

"He said, 'In the morning?'"

"Yes, in the morning! It's too late now and I'm not going into some weird tower at night!"

"Pii ka chu chu kaaa!"

"Heh... I'm not going to translate that one..."

Jessie glared at James, who glowered right back. "Just watch it... or we won't be going at all."

She watched his face fall, then he sighed sadly. "Pii... ka pii."

"He said he's very sorry. Again."

"Don't start that again! Now go to sleep!" She turned her back on the both of them and settled onto the hard ground. Not having a cape to wrap herself in was making it rather uncomfortable; she reminded herself to buy a new one tomorrow. With that thought in her mind, she drifted into sleep, dreaming of a horde of Pikachu dancing in capes...

"Pika pii chu..."

"Stop whining! This place isn't that scary!"

"Wow. That time you didn't need a translation."

"Yeah, well, I think I'm getting used to it." Jessie stared up at the monstrosity of a tower looming in front of her. She was ready to get James cured more than anything right now. Besides annoying her by whining in Pikachu, he had also used a rather painful Thundershock attack in his sleep. Which hadn't been the best way to wake up. She shook it out of her mind to focus on the tower. It seemed to twist upward, rock and wood intertwining to form a building that was not only tall, but ugly as well. She had no clue how such a thing could be made, but there it was. There was also a large wooden sign in front of it, looking half rotten and about ready to fall over.

"Let's see... 'Those who enter the Tower of Healing are not guaranteed to come out alive.' What kind of sign is that?! Like people are going to want to go in?"

"You missed the fine print," Meowth piped up below her. "'This tower is haunted.'"

"Haunted? A haunted 'Tower of Healing'? This is too weird..."

"Pika chu!"

"He wants us to hurry."

"Hey, this is a haunted tower! And you want me to go inside? I don't think so!"

"Pika... pika... piiii...." James whimpered, his eyes big, misty, and looking exactly like a Pikachu's.

"He says please. Actually, to quote him, it's 'Please... pleeeease... Jessie...'" Meowth shivered as though it had just said something vile.

"Oh, come on! Now you're starting to look like a Pikachu! I give up, we're going in." Jessie sighed, then went on ahead of everyone.

The entryway was large, and just as ugly on the inside as it was on the outside. Some truly horrendous pictures hung on the walls around the central spiral staircase, probably by someone who only thought they were an artist. Otherwise there was nothing else to it.

"Guess we have to climb these stairs, then whatever is gonna heal him is at the top," Jessie suggested to no one in particular.

"Pure genius," she heard Meowth mutter wryly. She paid him no mind and started up, hoping the slightly shaky wooden frame wasn't going to give way under her feet. James followed directly behind her, mumbling Pikachu in a monotone. And then came Meowth, talking to himself mysteriously, as usual. She shook her head. Lunatics... I'm surrounded by lunatics...

The stairs continued on and up, gradually getting narrower the closer they came to the top. A good ten minutes of climbing later, they found themselves below a small hole in the ceiling, a strangely carved wooden ladder leading up into it. With a shrug, Jessie clambered up to blink at the room above.

It was completely light in the room, and there was no visible source for that light. The only thing the room contained was a large book on a wooden pedestal. "Heh... no ghosts in here!" she announced, pulling herself up into the room, the others following quickly.

"Probably just a ruse to keep away anyone not truly desperate," Meowth added. Then they all just stared at the book.

"Chu... pii ka chuu?"

"He asked what now?"

"I guess the answer would be in the book," Jessie shrugged, walking over to it and blowing a layer of dust off the cover. "Wonder how long it's been since there was someone up here... Anyway, there's no title on it." She flipped open to the first few pages. "Gee, how nice of them to include a table of contents."

Everyone had crowded around her, Meowth having to jump up on James' shoulder in order to see. "Let's see here... Here we go, 'Possession by a Monster's Spirit'. They have possession due to a ghost, possession due to psychic power, and possession due to swallowing an object imbued with the Monster's spirit. Thorough, ain't it," she muttered, turning to the "swallowing" section.

"Pika chu!"

"Don't rush me! Okay, here it is... 'Any person who is endowed with a Monster's spirit by swallowing...' blah blah blah... 'must do the following to regain normality: Wait for the power sealed in the object to subside. This usually takes... twelve hours.'" She stared blankly at the paper. "And we... climbed up this tower... for that?"

"Oops... Guess we should have just waited," James smiled at her. "But thank you for wanting to cure me anyway! Even if you are a thief, you are a noble and true-hearted friend. And that's good enough for m--"

"Cut the speech! But... it's good you're talking normal again." Jessie sighed heavily.

"Say, do you suppose there's a remedy in there for being turned into a walking freak of nature?" James grinned. "We could help Meowth out."

"Hey.. why didn't I think of that," the cat Monster grumbled, jumping down to flip through the book itself. Jessie walked over to lean against the wall, looking bored. "What a waste of my day..." The last thing she saw was a strange white object floating in the air in front of her, and then...

James smiled to himself happily. It was so good to be normal again. Having that much electricity running through his body had not been a pleasant experience, nor had talking like a Pikachu. At least now things could go back to normal. And then he noticed Jessie staring at him funny. Drooling.

"Jessie... what's wrong? Are you... are you okay?" He took a step back as she started toward him, Meowth still too engrossed in the book to pay them any notice. He thought she was about to attack him, when she did jump on him, knocking them both to the floor and landing atop his body in a rather... distracting way.

"Oooh, James..." she murmured breathily in his ear. "I'm sorry I never noticed it before... And I never told you... You're so incredibly... incredibly... mmm..." She finished this statement with a kiss. And this wasn't just a friendly kiss.

"Oh my.... God, what are you two doing?" Meowth finally noticed, with considerably more shock than it had ever displayed before.

"I think..." James said shakily, staring up at Jessie's white-glazed eyes as her lips hovered over his again, cooing at him in a sultry way, "She's possessed... Umm, Meowth? Look up the remedy for this.. quick..."

"Heh. Are you saying you don't like it?"

"I didn't say that! But... well... she'll kill me if she ever finds out I didn't stop her... Jessie, don't touch that!"

"Errr... fine, fine. Possession by ghost..." Meowth began looking quickly. "Okay. We need to exit this tower before the ghost will leave her body."

"Good, let's go." James managed to get to his feet, Jessie still clinging to his body and touching him in... distracting ways.

"Gonna need some cold water later?" Meowth smirked as it descended the ladder ahead of him.

"Just shut up and get going," James snapped back, blushing furiously. "Listen, Jessie..." he said next, gathering her up into his arms to carry her; she practically purred, wrapping her arms around his neck. "We need to leave here now."

"Oh yes, we can leave... Let's go some place more comfortable... soft, with sheets... yes?" she giggled maniacally.

"Oh.. umm... sure, whatever you say," he stuttered, trying to sound agreeable so she would go along with it. Not as though it sounded like a bad idea... but it wouldn't be right. Sometimes he cursed himself for being so noble.

The descent down that horrible twisted staircase was as close of an experience of hell that James had ever had. He was certain that Meowth was constantly snickering in front of him, while Jessie continued trying her hardest to make him blush bright red, which he was also certain he was doing the whole way down. But they finally exited the tower without being bothered by anymore ghosts, and he made sure to quickly, but gently, sit her on the ground as soon as they were outside. The white glaze faded from her eyes, and...

"Yes! We made it! Out of the tower with no problems!" Jessie cheered triumphantly. The group was sitting around a table at an inn, stuffing their faces with as much food as they could manage. Jessie was particularly happy; she had a new cape, some decent food, and a soft bed to sleep in tonight. As for her companions, Meowth was grinning in a ludicrous and decidedly uncharacteristic way, and James seemed to be only concentrating on his food. For some reason, whenever her eyes so much as met his, he blushed hotly and looked away. Strange boy.

"You truly are incredible, Jessie," Meowth commented dryly, glancing around at how all the inn's other patrons were staring at them. "Who would have thought you could elude any ghosts trying to possess you... truly amazing." She thought it sounded mocking, but she couldn't think why; to the best of her memory, they had found the pitiful excuse of a cure for James, and then left. Simple as that.

"I just wish we had more time to look in that book... But I wouldn't risk going up there again," Meowth was continuing, casting sly glances at James. Jessie sat up and stared at James herself.

"What's going on with you two, anyway? And why are you acting so strangely?" He blushed again, and her eyes narrowed. "If you won't tell me... Anyway, I'm full. Time for bed." When he was slow about rising along with her, she grabbed him by the ear and dragged him along. With him whimpering along behind her, she continued down the hall, leaving Meowth alone to find it's bed on it's own. She stopped at last in front of the door to his room, then let go of his ear, patting his cheek gently.

"You know.. You were cute as a Pikachu, but..." She smiled. "I don't know what happened in that tower, and I'm not going to ask, because maybe I don't want to know. Anyway... Good night." His face looked as though it had been attacked by a red paintbrush, and he didn't seem to be capable of speech. She smiled again, then kissed his cheek lightly to see if that got a reaction. If she had thought he was red before...

She left him standing there gawking after her to go into her own room. Normally she would have been disgusted by her actions... But tonight it wasn't bothering her. She snuggled into the soft sheets of her bed, the first she'd been able to sleep in for months, smiling to herself.

Maybe she was just going soft in the head, but... Maybe that "tough girl" image was fading a little. But not too much.

Okay, now send me comments. I mean it! Pleeeeease? (Reduced to petty pleading... It's truly sad. *sniffle*) :p

Episode 5
Back
Main Page