Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Yes, I have a firm grip on reality. Otherwise, I would actually believe I owned Pokémon and Slayers. :p
Episode 7 - Finders, Keepers...
"No, no, that's all wrong. You have to hold it higher. And tilt it... No, not straight up! Tilt it!"
James sighed his frustration at Jessie's attempts to learn to use his sword. It wasn't like he had offered to teach her anyway. No, she had demanded he teach her, and since the prospect of being crippled for life failed to be appealing, he was obeying.
"Oh, who the hell cares how I hold it. Just teach me how to use it!"
"Just remember, it's not like I'm giving it to you or anything..."
"I know! Now get on with it!"
He shook his head abruptly, trying to ignore the way Meowth was smirking at him from where it rested, leaning against a tree. "Okay. Now that you're holding it... sort of right... just place your fingertips on whatever symbol you want to use. Then, close your eyes and concentrate on exactly what you want the magic to do." He watched as she followed his instructions, and the sword began to glow a faint green. "You have to concentrate harder. Tell the magic what it can do for you."
All at once, the sword gleamed more brightly, and beneath James' feet, tiny yet strong vines began to grow, seemingly from right out of the ground. The leafy tendrils wrapped about his feet, then traveled up around his legs and up to his arms, binding his hands together in front of him. Once he was completely immobilized, Jessie looked up with a smile.
"How was that?"
"It was great... but you are going to let me go, right?"
"Oh, maybe," Jessie grinned devilishly, walking around behind him. "If I feel like it."
James squirmed against his bonds in vain; no amount of struggling would free him from those vines, which showed that Jessie definitely had the mental focus required to use the sword effectively. Someone with weak focus might have been able to make the vines sprout, but would not have been able to wrap something so tightly with them. But his main concern right now was that she'd walk back around to where he could see her again. Who knows what she was looking at back there. The embarrassed blush on his face hadn't faded by the time she did step back in front of him. She arched an eyebrow in silent question, but made no comment.
"So how do I get you out then?"
"You can't do it with the sword..." he answered slowly. "It can't reverse a process. You're just going to have to cut me out."
"Great. If I had known this was going to involve work, I would have done something simpler. How about I just steal your sword and leave you here?" she finished jokingly.
"That's really not funny."
"Yeah, yeah," Jessie sighed, tossing the sword on the ground a short distance away.
"Hey, be careful with that! You can't just throw it around, that sword has been in my family for--"
"Generations, millennium, eons, since the dawn of time, et cetera, I know," she scoffed back. "I just thought it would be easier to use this." She brandished her belt knife before proceeding to cut through every little vine covering his body, a tedious process which of course caused James to blush furiously the entire time, due to the way Jessie had to keep pinching them away from his body in order to slit them with the knife. Meowth seemed content to watch this little show in amused silence, so it was no surprise that no one noticed the moss-covered hand reaching out of a hole near where the sword had fallen. After feeling around for a few brief moments, it rested on the sword, slowly dragging it back into the darkness below.
"If you don't stop wiggling, you're going to lose some essential body parts... There, all done." Jessie stepped back to admire the pile of vines on the ground. It was nothing she couldn't have had her Ivysaur do, but knowing she could use a legendary Summon Sword gave a certain amount of satisfaction. "When's my next lesson?" she beamed at a very distraught-looking James.
"Not now..." he whined at her. If there was one thing Jessie really found annoying, it was whining.
"Yes, now," she said roughly, grabbing the front of his shirt in one fist. "Now is as good a time as any, and besides, that was kinda fun. Now get the sword." When she released him, he stared at her as though about to do the opposite of what she'd said, but apparently thought better of it after getting a good look at her expression. She waited until he shuffled off after the sword before turning to Meowth.
"Hey, don't you want to try this?"
"Me? Of course not. I'd rather rely on my own skill as a Summoner," it answered disinterestedly.
"Suit yourself, but you don't know what you're missing," she sniffed at the cat Monster. It was about this time that James started wailing hysterically.
"Oh my... God, it's gone! You! You threw it on the ground! Didn't it land there? Didn't it?!" he cried, frantically pointing at the spot on the ground where he had seen it land.
"What are you making such a big fuss about?" Jessie growled, stalking over to where he was standing. "It's right... there... Well, it was there... I don't understand. It was there."
"You lost it! I knew I shouldn't have let you hold it!" James wailed, sinking to the ground in a flood of tears. "My sword... been in my family for... for..."
"I know! Now snap out of it and help me look. It can't have grew legs and walked away." With the help of Meowth, the two humans combed over the entire glade looking for the treasured item, with no result.
"My sword... gone..." James had began continuously muttering under his breath for some time now.
"Quit your bawling," Jessie snapped at him. "It can't have sprouted wings and flew away."
"But look here," Meowth announced solemnly, pointing to a hole in the ground. It was roughly person-sized, and nearly invisible unless you were looking at it from just the right angle. "Perhaps it slid into the hole after you threw it."
The group gathered around to inspect the hole, except for James, who was still mumbling to himself sadly. "Would you look at that..." Jessie said in amazement. "There's a ladder going down the side... but I can't see the bottom from here. Maybe someone..."
"Or something..." James cut in with a moan.
"...lives down there," Jessie finished with an acid glare for James.
"Then I suggest we go down and look for it," Meowth said casually.
"Of course we will," Jessie shrugged. "And have you calmed down enough now to come with us?" she asked James.
"Yes... We have to get down there and find it. And I won't leave that hole without it." He had seemed to have calmed down, and was looking firmly resolute in a way Jessie had never quite seen him before.
"Okay. Good. Now, let's see... The hole doesn't seem big enough for us to fit down it with all our armor and stuff on. So we'll just have to leave it up here." Following Jessie's advice, they hid all of their bulky items in a clump of bushes at the edge of the glade, then slowly descended their way one by one into the mysterious hole.
They reached the bottom after a small amount of time, where Jessie pulled out the only Monster Orb she had brought with her - Ninetails. As she held it up slightly with a whispered command, the Orb began to float in the air on it's own, giving off enough light for the group to see several feet in front of them.
"I didn't know you could do that..." James commented wonderingly.
"Then there's a lot of things about Summoning that you don't know," Jessie replied with a smile. She turned to studying their new surroundings curiously. This was obviously not your everyday hole, but a complex system of tunnels, the earth packed hard to form the walls of a large central tunnel, spider webbed by multiple smaller tunnels. Every so often there was a torch flickering fitfully on the wall, but the spaces in between were very close to being pitch black.
"Say, Meowth... in your story..."
"I told you I made that up," the cat Monster muttered crossly.
"Yeah, whatever. Geez, we'd need a map to find our way around here. And since we don't have one..."
"I can't see my sword anywhere," James spoke up nervously. "So I guess that means that someone... something... took it. Oh my God... We have to get it back! They can't just take something that doesn't belong to them!" With these words, he took off down the dimly lit tunnel at breakneck speed, not a great idea considering the propensity for traps in such a place.
"You idiot, would you stop! You're going to... get caught in a trap," Jessie concluded upon hearing the distinct sound of cloth ripping up ahead. With a sigh, she hurried along the main tunnel with Meowth close behind her, the light from her Monster Orb finally illuminating the sprawled body of the blue/purple haired swordsman.
"Not a trap... just tripped..." he groaned through gritted teeth. Jessie grabbed his shirt to help him up, but didn't let go and instead used it to pull him closer. The seam had ripped partly on his sleeve, explaining the noise she had heard.
"James... you're getting hysterical again. You really need to calm down or I'm going to have to insist you stay behind." She suddenly thought of something that might do the trick. "Look... Do you think a real swordsman would be acting this way? Just because his sword got lost?" He appeared to think about that very hard.
"Actually, yes."
"Okay, let me put it this way!" she yelled loudly. "How would you like to die sometime in the very near future!?"
"Um... I think I'm going to be just fine now."
She pushed him away, concluding that the boy didn't have an ounce of sense in his body. "Now that that's settled... Let's go."
The trio commenced searching for the correct way to get wherever it was they needed to be going, taking random branches off the main route but always seeming to end up right back at the main tunnel. "Whoever made this place must have been suffering from acute insanity," Jessie muttered angrily as they arrived once more at the same spot.
"I suggest we just follow the big tunnel all the way to the end," Meowth offered dryly.
"Thank you, Mr. Logic, for that bit of wisdom," Jessie sighed, heading down the passage without waiting to be followed. Eventually a light appeared at the far end; what it turned out to be was a large, circular room filled with various small tables on which rested what seemed to be a jumble of tiny glass shapes. Also in the room was a girl, quite unlike any they had ever seen before.
On the short side for a human, she stood at roughly five feet, her wavy dirt-brown hair rippling down almost to the floor. Her pale skin seemed to be covered in patches of moss - she wore no other covering. Her large brown eyes studied them inquisitively from where she stood at the far end of the room.
"What are you?" she suddenly asked, cutting into stillness with a voice clear as a crystal bell.
"What are we? Excuse me, but I believe we should be asking that of you," Jessie scoffed at the human-like creature.
When she laughed, it was reminiscent of bells jingling. "Why, I'm an Earth Sprite. Haven't you heard of one?"
"Ha. That's just some kind of myth... There are no such things," Jessie answered disbelievingly. Then she noticed the way James was staring at the "Earth Sprite's" clothing. Or rather, her lack thereof. She elbowed him hard in the ribs, which made her feel much better, at least for the time being. Actually it seemed that both James and Meowth were captivated by this girl. She growled deep in her throat, but didn't have time to do much else before the girl was hurrying toward them, a cloud of concern crossing over her delicate features.
"Whyever would you do such a thing?" the girl asked almost indignantly, reaching out to carefully feel James' side. "There now, is that better?" she questioned him soothingly, taking her hand away with a smile.
"It's... yes, it doesn't hurt at all... Th... thank you..." James barely managed to stammer out, blinking wide-eyed at the girl.
"Now look here, what did you just do to him?" Jessie demanded angrily.
"I just used a little healing," the girl smiled back, brushing a few stray wisps of hair out of her eyes. "Of course, my powers are limited to the underground, seeing as I am an Earth Sprite, so if we had been above ground I couldn't have done a thing."
"Wait... Would you hold on a minute? What are you really? And what are you doing down here?"
The girl took a moment to study Jessie's angry-looking face before laughing shortly. "You for one are most certainly a human... always so quick to mistrust something. In any case, I can answer your questions. I was telling you the truth about being an Earth Sprite - Em is my name. And I live here, underground. Part of being what I am, I suppose," she laughed musically.
"That's all great, but what do you do down here?"
"Do...? Oh, you mean all this," Em replied to Jessie's question, her graceful hand making a sweeping gesture at the glass shapes. "Why, that's simple. I carve objects from crystal. That's not just glass you see there, if that is what you were thinking."
"Carving in crystal?" Meowth spoke at last, his rapt staring at Em finally broken by this new topic. "Don't you need any special tools for that?"
She smiled, apparently greatly amused by the idea. "No." She walked over to one of the tables, picking up a small block of crystal. Turning it over in her hands, she hummed quietly as a shape began to form, tiny chips of material seeming to flow off like water and land in a neat pile on the table.
"Like I said about my power underground..." she began, trailing off as she held up the new shape. It was a tiny yet exquisite figure of Meowth, rendered perfectly right down to the stony patches and flowing cape. Still smiling widely, she handed the figure to Meowth. "You can keep this. You surely must be a special Monster if you can talk."
After scowling for a moment at Meowth's stuttering acceptance, Jessie looked around the room again, nodding slowly. So she was telling the truth about being a sculptor - the crystal objects on the tables ranged from Monsters to plants to human shapes. Then another thought occurred to her.
"So what do you do with all these things?"
"I sell them. Even an Earth Sprite's gotta be able to pick up a couple extra bucks here and there."
"Eheh... heh... right," Jessie muttered. "Now, to get to the point of our visit, which I'm sure you've been wondering about too--"
"Have you seen a sword lately?" James blurted out in a rush, as though he had been holding himself back from yelling that same question the whole time.
"Oh! So that sword is yours..." Em gestured at one of the table on which lay the sword, previously unnoticed in the confusion of earlier events. The eager swordsman was instantly over and hugging it close to him, crooning to it as though it were a baby.
"Oh, my sweet little sword! You're safe now, I've got you... I'll never let anyone take you away again, I promise..."
"Oh God..." Jessie sighed. "Forgive my friend, he's just terminally insane. I'm assuming you'll let us take it, considering that it does belong to him..."
"Oh, I don't know... I was getting sort of attached to it. It's so pretty," Em giggled. "And I had planned on using it to prop up the leg on that table over there... It wobbles terribly since it's uneven."
James had quite understandably fallen over in shock, hugging the sword even tighter, if that was possible. "My beautiful sword... used to level a table? There is no justice in that... no justice at all..."
"Well, you humans do have a saying... 'finders, keepers'..." Em commented reflectively. "But if you're really so set on keeping it, I would give it back if one of you could best me in a Monster battle. Surely one of you must have some Monsters."
"I do, and I'd be more than happy to beat you," Jessie challenged, clenching one fist in front of her. "What are the terms?"
"One Monster apiece should be fine," the Earth Sprite smiled. "First we'll go outside. It wouldn't be too terribly fair down here."
Jessie readily acquiesced to this, and soon they were heading back down the tunnel to the ladder, Em in the lead with Meowth following and Jessie managing to drag James along behind.
"So how does this work, anyway? How do you battle two ethereal beings...?" Meowth was trying his best not to sound curious, but failing as the trio waited for Em to finish selecting her Monster.
"You're a Summoner, aren't you?" Jessie snapped. "You should know that a Summoner is able to "summon" a Monster in ethereal form by throwing the Orb overhead, or call it out in a solid, physical form by throwing it on the ground! That's the only way to battle two together anyway," she concluded in disgust.
"Well, it's not like I've been a Summoner for long," Meowth grumbled back.
"Whatever. Now go sit over there with James and keep out of the way. I have to get that sword back for... for me. Since I know he'll end up giving it to me someday," she finished in a rush. A quick glance over in James' direction, however, told her that was unlikely, with the way he was staring at it so longingly where it rested in the grass behind Em. But she had to win, otherwise he more than likely would go insane.
"Keep dreaming," Meowth tossed over it's shoulder at her, finally seating itself at the edge of the glade they had all occupied only a short time ago. Jessie ignored it and turned to Em.
"Done yet?"
"Yes," the Earth Sprite smiled, turning around and holding up a single Orb. "All done. But I'll let you call yours out first."
"Fine." Jessie smiled too, biding her time for drama's sake. When she felt the time was right, she tossed her Orb down so that it rolled smoothly across the grass. With a flash of light, Raichu appeared in it's physical form, hopping from one foot to another in it's excitement at being able to battle. Em didn't waste any time in throwing hers out too; it was a...
"A... Doduo? You've got to be kidding!" Jessie laughed. "Are you ready to fry that little twerp, Raichu?"
"Rai rai rai!" it chorused happily.
"I'll even let you have the first move," Em offered calmly, as though she hadn't noticed Jessie's taunting.
"Fine with me! Raichu! Why don't you give it a good Thundershock!"
"Rai!" it agreed, launching a sizzling volley of lightning straight at the hapless Doduo. Em didn't say anything, but her Monster quickly began to dodge the bolts, moving so fast it was a blur.
"That's some... agility..." Jessie said with an unbelieving stare. The birdlike Monster then began to peck at Raichu's head, the twin heads moving with the same speed that it's whole body had just a moment ago. "D... don't let it do that to you, Raichu! Try a Thunder Wave to paralyze it!"
But the electric Monster was apparently still dazed from the amount of hits it had taken, allowing the Doduo to easily knock it to the ground with a well-placed Drill Peck. Jessie ran to her fallen Monster to hold it in her arms, still staring in disbelief at the Doduo, now resting quietly while Em patted it's heads.
"How did you... you didn't even..."
"Doduo and I are very connected to each other," the Earth Sprite answered Jessie's unfinished questions. It knows what I want it to do without me even telling it. And we really make a great team, don't you think?" she continued, still smiling in that annoying way. Jessie just scowled. With a whispered word of encouragement for Raichu, she returned it to it's Orb, rising from the ground and dusting her knees off vigorously.
"Alright James, Meowth, let's go," she sighed, already turning away from Em and the sword.
"Wait a minute," she heard the other girl's voice say, then turned just in time to see her approaching a rather devastated James. She leaned down, placed the sword gently in his arms, and kissed his cheek. "You can have it," she said, almost too quietly for Jessie to hear. James looked so happy that he seemed about ready to kiss her back, but fortunately for him, he didn't.
"Thank you," he whispered instead, his eyes shining brightly with gratitude.
"Hey!" Jessie stormed indignantly. "If you were just gonna give it back, why did you--"
"Doduo needed the exercise. And I did mean to give it back anyway... 'cause he's cute," she giggled. "Be good to him for me," she said to Jessie, and with an enigmatic wink, she was gone, back underground where she had came from, leaving the three dumbfounded companions staring blankly after her.
"If you're done making out with your sword... can we leave? I'm getting sick of this place," Jessie grumbled at James, who had been cooing over his sword for quite some time now. Meowth was scouting the land ahead; hopefully they were near a town where they could get a decent place to sleep before nightfall.
"She doesn't mean anything to me," he spoke up in reply, not even looking up from him treasured sword. Jessie wondered if he had really been talking to her. Then he turned his head to look at her, and she nodded slowly to show she had understood. In that instant, when his eyes were connected with hers, she wished that the gratitude and happiness she had seen in them when Em had returned the sword would have been directed at her instead, no matter how stupid that sounded.
"After all," she heard him continue reflectively, "she was just cute... with pretty hair... and no clothes..."
"You just don't know when to keep your mouth shut, do you?!"
She left him there to catch up with her later, the lump on his head where she had hit him with his own sword hilt hopefully teaching him an important lesson. And of course that lesson is to never make the great Jessie Inverse angry.
Not even if she might be in love with you.
Another episode of weirdness completed... Comments, anyone?
