Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I know this may come as a shock to you, but... I still don't own them. :p
"Are you sure this is where he said it was?"
"Yes. Meowth said the tree was right over here... well, at least in this general direction. But he did say he had tied that marker around it, right?"
I just sighed. We had been walking maybe ten minutes, and the tree Meowth had told us about, the one where we could "catch lots of Pineco", had still not come into sight. Needless to say, I was becoming irritated. "I know he said that, you idiot," I grumbled at James, who didn't answer. We traveled in silence then. But I guess that's just normal, since he's always quiet after I insult him... he gets over it soon enough, though. I tried to think about what we were doing instead.
Our mission for today was to catch Pineco. That was pretty much all we had decided on so far. Of course we knew how hard it is to catch one before it self-destructs, but I had already made up my mind that I would just let James handle that part. He just didn't know that yet. As for Meowth, he had said that his part of the plan was done now that he had found the tree with the Pineco; he also said he wasn't going anywhere else until he'd given himself a bath. Stupid cat. I fervently hoped he would choke on a hairball.
And the rest of the plan? Well... we just figured we would see if we could get the Pineco first before we planned anything else. Otherwise it would be a waste of time. But I was sure having a lot of explosive Pokémon around would be useful for at least something.
"Hey look, Jessie! There it is!" James' excited shouting disturbed my thoughts, and I looked in the direction he was pointing. Sure enough, there was a tree ahead to our right, with a red marker tied to one of the knots jutting out of it.
But this isn't just any tree. It's huge.
"It's, uh... pretty big," James commented next to me, obviously in as much awe as I am.
"How nice of Meowth to neglect to mention it," I scowled at last, standing up on tiptoe as I looked up into the colossal tree. "I can't even see any Pineco... can you?"
"No... none at all. Maybe they're all higher up..."
"And who's going to climb up and see?"
He blinked at me as though he'd never considered it. "Well, I guess... I suppose... I think..."
"Oh, shut up. I'm going. If you go, it'll take all day."
"If you say so, Jessie..." Fortunately for him, my back was already turned and I couldn't see his satisfied smile.
This hadn't been in my plan... Originally I was just going to have James do all the work. But I figured I would just do something for myself this time... Besides, it might be interesting to discover what else I could see so high up.
I placed each foot with the utmost care on the huge knots that grew out of the tree until I reached the branches, about four feet from the ground. Then I moved from branch to branch up the trunk, and was making what I thought was good progress. I should have figured that with all my other talents, tree climbing expertise was buried in there somewhere.
So it was a complete mystery why I accidentally broke one of the branches when I grabbed it, forcing me to resort to grabbing at yet another branch, which in turn slipped out of my hand. Of course, by this time I had become rather desperate, and without thinking much on the matter beforehand, I spun about to grab the next closest branch.
When it was all said and done, I was basically hung up by the back of my uniform top on one of the aforementioned tree knots, both of my feet resting on separate, flimsy branches below me. If those branches hadn't been there, I probably would have fallen. And a fall of about ten feet might not have killed me, but I didn't want to find out.
Of course I was angry. And an object on which to focus that anger could be found easily enough.
"James!!"
He wasn't even looking at me. Still standing at the base of the tree, he was looking over at a different one. "Say Jess, do you think the Pineco could have moved to another tree?"
"James. Would you mind looking up?"
He looked up. And turned bright red.
"James! Stand over there and look up!!"
I supposed that my cute little miniskirt did have the occasional... drawback.
Once James had moved appropriately, he stood there gawking, the redness gone from his face as if it was never there. "Wow, Jessie... how did you manage to do that?"
"Gee, James, isn't it obvious? I was minding my own business, practicing my acrobatic routine, when the damn tree grabbed me and wouldn't let go! I slipped, if you'd been paying attention!! Now get me down from here!"
"Get you down? And how do you suggest I do that?"
"You're the one with your feet on the ground! You figure it out!"
"Can't you grab another branch?"
"There aren't any!"
"What about your feet? Why can't you just unhook yourself from the tree and then balance on the branches so you can find another way down?"
"I can't reach where it's caught!"
"Then just let your weight down on the branches and it should rip off."
"I'll fall!"
"I could catch you..."
"I seriously doubt that."
"Do you want me to climb up there?"
"You'd get stuck too, and then where would we be?"
"Well, how about I send Weezing up and you can float down on it?"
"No!"
"Why not?"
"I'm not floating anywhere on that stupid lumpy thing! Just get me down! NOW!"
"You're not giving me many options." James sighed, sounding almost frustrated. I don't know why. I was the one stuck up a tree, after all. It was at this point that I really felt like panicking. So I did.
"Get me down! You have to get me down! What if I'm stuck up here forever? What then?! I'll starve to death and die hanging on a tree! Help me!!"
"Aren't you getting a bit carried away?"
"No!"
"I see. But you really need to calm down. Hm..." James appeared to be thinking very hard, studying the ground in front of him as he did so. I was about to start screaming again when he just looked up at me.
He looked very... charming.
"You know, Jessie... you're beautiful when you're upset. Your inner fire lights a blaze in the azure sea of your eyes, while it dances playfully across the perfect ivory tone of your skin..."
I must have spent all of five seconds trying to fathom exactly what he'd said.
"GET ME DOWN!! GET ME DOWN NOW, DO YOU HEAR ME?!"
James sighed yet again, and his shoulders drooped as he looked up at me. "That didn't work..." he mumbled. "Look, Jessie, why don't I go get Meowth and we can--"
"No!"
"Why?"
"You're not leaving me here alone! And I swear, if you don't get me down from here in the next five minutes, I'm going to kill you!"
"If you don't get down, you can't kill me."
"I'll haunt you forever!"
"Fine, fine." James looked all around, hopefully for some way to free me from this nightmare. "Oh... Jessie? I'm going to go right over here for a minute, but I'll be right back, okay? Don't go anywhere."
"Where do you think I'm going?" I growled, but he had already disappeared. So I hung there in semi-patience for what felt like hours, even though it was probably only a few minutes. Then I began to hear the rustling noise of footsteps, as though someone is walking around my tree. I was about to ask what he thought he was doing, when an explosion erupted somewhere behind me.
My natural reaction, complete surprise, caused me to jump. Which in turn caused what little cloth had been holding me up to rip and my feet to snap the two small branches beneath my feet, sending me plummeting face-down toward the earth.
The feeling I got as I landed, however, implied that I hadn't hit the ground. Opening my eyes, I saw that I had landed on a large branch below my original position. I must not have seen it there before... and it explained the incredible pain all up and down the center of my body. From there I was able to swing myself down and drop the relatively short distance to the ground, where I knelt, all but kissing the dirt in my joy at being there. Eventually I became aware that James was kneeling across from me.
"Are you okay, Jess?"
"Oh, James!" I burst out, hugging him impulsively. "I'm alive! I'm down from that horrible tree! But how did you..."
"I went to find a Pineco in a tree... but the strange this is, I found one sleeping on the ground. I picked it up and carried it here, then I threw it up where you were, but behind you. I was counting on it to self-destruct, and it did; I figured it would scare you enough to get you to fall to that branch I saw below you, at least. ....I was just a little worried about what you'd think... but you'd never have let me do it if you'd known..."
"That's right! I thought I told you I didn't want to get down that way!" I declared angrily, letting go of him so I could whack him across the back of the head.
"Sorryyyy..." he whined, rubbing it gingerly.
"Well... at least I did get down," I sighed gently. What I was about to say next would be very hard, but...
"Thanks, James. I don't know where I'd be without you... besides in less pain."
"Oh, it was no problem. What are partners for?" he said, giving me a brilliant smile, which forced me to smile back. When James gives you one of those smiles, you don't have a choice.
"Let's go," I said quickly to cover it up, grabbing his hand to pull him up with me.
"Where are we going? To get some Pineco?"
"No, I don't want them anymore. I'm going to kill Meowth. You in?"
"I'm game," he grinned back.
So we set out to do just that. Or at least just give the darned cat some serious grief. The point is, we would do it together. That's what partners are for.
