Jessie settled back into the warm grass, heedless of how doing so made the straps of her swimming suit fall down past her shoulders. The day was just too warm and inviting to ruin by worrying about being indecent. In the week since they had left their "home", the weather had turned decidedly spring-like, with astonishingly warm temperatures. And today being the warmest day so far, it had only seemed right to get a little sunbathing in.

"Don't get used to it too fast. I'm sure it'll be sub-zero again before you--"

"Don't talk like that! Now it'll happen for sure!" Jessie scolded the blonde-haired girl to her left. She propped herself up on one elbow and lowered her sunglasses to see her better. Pearl hadn't brought a swimming suit, but the tank top and shorts she had chosen instead looked small enough to be one, in Jessie's opinion. Amused blue eyes met her own.

"Oh, I don't believe in that stuff. I'm just being realistic."

"Fatalistic is more like it," Jessie commented, earning a laugh from Pearl.

After Pearl lay back again, Jessie watched the Pokémon for a time. They had really been in their Pokéballs for too long; they deserved some time in the sun. Arbok, Weezing, Lickitung, Victreebel, Eevee, Oddish, and Butterfree - they were quite a... "diverse"... group, but they seemed to be getting along well. It almost looked like they were playing a game of tag - yet Victreebel was doing most of the chasing.

With a shake of her head, Jessie turned to look at Meowth, who was curled up asleep close beside Pearl. Lazy thing.

Finally, she turned to look for James, who she had been surreptitiously watching for the past half hour as he swam so many laps around the small pond they had found that she had lost count. He really was an excellent swimmer, diving and surfacing with an ease that spoke of years of practice. Really, she couldn't think of where he was finding the energy to swim for so long. Maybe it came from all the trouble he had had to go through to actually get in the water. She smiled in remembering.

"I want to swim!" he demanded loudly. He had been talking about nothing but since they had came upon the pond amidst the trees of the forest they had found themselves in. Jessie folded her arms and fixed him with one of her best glares.

"I said no, James. The water's still so cold... you'll get pneumonia and die!"

"I will not, Jessie! I want to swim!" If she hadn't known he wasn't five years old, she would have swore he was about to throw a tantrum. Actually, acting like a child sometimes didn't seem too much of a stretch for him.

"I said no and I mean it."

"But... you can't stop me anyway! I mean... forget that part... I just want to!"

She watched as his lips puckered out in a pout that she knew meant he wouldn't stop until he had what he wanted. At that point it was best to give in unless she never wanted to hear the end of it. "You're so spoiled," she told him in all seriousness. "Fine, go. But if you get pneumonia... it's your own fault."

It was rather amazing how fast his moods could change. Not unlike her own, of course. "Oh Jess, thank you!" he exclaimed, rushing to give her a brief hug before dashing off in the other direction.

Now he had swam to the edge of the pond, arms resting on the shore that dropped off sharply into deep water. He seemed to be comtemplating her, deep green eyes reflecting the silvery ripples of water that danced around him. Before she realized it, a breathy sigh escaped her lips. He was quite beautiful, even with darkened strands of wet hair still clinging to his face. It was almost difficult to believe that the pouting little boy she had seen in him not long ago was the same person as the attractive man she saw in him now. Almost. After all, she knew him much better than that. Much better.

"Care for a swim?" he offered nonchalantly, in the same way he might have asked her to dance.

"No, I don't want to get pneumonia and die too."

It seemed that he had swallowed a mouthful of water, from the amount of coughing and spluttering he was doing. "I'm not going to die!" he finally howled once he was done. Then he lowered his head so that only his eyes were peeking at her above the edge of the shore. "You don't... really think I will, do you...?

"If you get out now... maybe you won't."

As if he believed her, he scrambled up out of the water quickly and headed her way. She couldn't help but admire the way his shorts clung to his--

"Your face is red, Jess. You look hot. I know just what to do for you." Leaning down, he gathered her up in a hug that set her on her feet.

"James, you big idiot! That water is freezing!" she exlaimed, pushing his still dripping wet body away, not too hard so he would understand that she really didn't want him to let go.

"Mmmm... Jessie," he murmured, pulling her closer. "There are a couple of things that are really standing out to me here," he finished in a whisper that tickled her ear. She pulled back to look him in the eyes, one eyebrow raised.

"I can only feel one."

Abruptly he let go of her and fell backwards, landing hard on his backside and trying to look everywhere but at her. His face had turned a rather vibrant shade of red that she had never quite seen before. "Embarrassed James Red" could be a crayon color. She laughed at him, then sat down beside him on the ground. He kept casting nervous glances over at Pearl, but she was apparently asleep, and the Pokémon had all settled down too.

"Umm... I'm sorry, Jess... I..."

"Shut up, James," she interrupted, pushing him down onto his back and resting her head on his chest. "It's time for our nap, too."

"I... yeah. I guess... it's a good time for that... ummm... nice weather too, huh..."

"I said shut up," she repeated, turning her head enough to kiss him firmly on the lips as though it was the only way to make him be quiet. When she pulled away, he looked slightly bewildered, but soon his face relaxed into a calm, soft smile. She couldn't help but kiss him again, this time as soft and sweet as the gentle breeze that played across their faces. She lay back down with her head on his chest, falling asleep to the sound of his faint humming and the feel of his hand stroking her back, wishing life could always seem so simple, yet complete.

Pearl sat on a rock at the edge of their latest "camp", fidgeting with the folder she had wanted to avoid looking at for so long. She turned it over in her hands again, trying to think of another reason to put it off. After all this time, she still wanted to know what had happened to her parents, but... There was that horrible fear that everything she had held dear for so long was about to be taken away from her. When she heard the others coming back, she quickly put the folder behind the rock, fully intending to look at it later. Tonight, unless she got scared again.

"It's time to eat, isn't it? Isn't it?" Meowth was jabbering, running in circles around James, who was, as usual, the designated cook.

"Yes, yes," James sighed. "How did we ever get stuck with the world's most hyperactive Meowth?"

"I myself often wonder how we got stuck with the world's biggest moron," Meowth commented in return, but neither of them sounded very serious.

"You two..." Jessie began halfheartedly.

"Yeah, food!" Meowth continued, still running in circles, resulting in James tripping over him and landing flat on his face. Watching them made Pearl smile. They seemed much happier than before, but she couldn't help wondering whether they would be happier if she had never gotten them involved with her troubles.

Jessie came over and sat beside with a curious expression. "You look so serious... something wrong?"

"No... just thinking. Umm... is he going to be alright?" Pearl replied, gesturing at James, who was still moaning on the ground.

"Oh, he's lived through worse. He's just being a big baby, as usual."

"I am not," James protested while dusting himself off. "I'll have you know that you hurt my feelings," he added, giving Jessie an indignant look.

"I'm sure," she returned calmly with a knowing smile. His eyebrows furrowed and he stuck his lower lip out at her briefly before turning away to walk toward the bags they had brought with them. "All men are babies, actually," Jessie confided to Pearl. "It's just that some of them are worse than others."

From the way James' back stiffened, Pearl could tell he had heard, but he chose to ignore it, instead asking, "Which bag is the food in, Jessie? I can never remember which one."

"That one," she replied, pointing.

"Yeah, I don't know why I..."

Pearl and Jessie both jumped at his sudden, bloodcurdling scream, followed by him running straight to Jessie and throwing his arms around her. In confusion, they looked toward where James had been a second ago. A brown, furry ear was poking out of the opening of the bag; soon it opened farther to reveal half of a little face, the one eye that was showing gleaming black.

"Ee?" it queried, testing the air delicately with it's nose. "Eevee!" it exlaimed happily upon spotting the object of it's attention, then came out and headed toward them.

"It tried to bite my hand off!" James shrieked while trying his best to make himself invisible behind Jessie. Pearl couldn't stop herself from laughing.

"James, you found Eevee's favorite game! She just loves hide-and-seek."

"I didn't know I was playing," he whimpered as he eyed Eevee hopping triumphantly around his feet. "What does it want now?"

"It's your turn to hide," Pearl replied with a grin.

"I don't want to play!" he protested, clutching Jessie again.

"Really, James... and you don't think you're acting like a baby?" Jessie asked. His face reddened in reply, but he let go of her and went back to the task of fixing supper, trying hard to act like nothing had happened.

Supper was rather quiet, as everyone suddenly appeared to be thinking or just in a bad mood. Afterwards, Pearl excused herself from the group with only a faint smile, which they barely noticed. She took a look at each in turn in order to gauge their moods. Jessie was tracing patterns in the dirt with one finger almost absentmindedly. James was staring at the ground, wearing a sulky expression that she remembered him using often when he was younger. Meowth had already fallen asleep and was snoring away quite peacefully.

Pearl grabbed the report before heading into their tent, which had been set up rather haphazardly at the edge of the clearing. She sat on a blanket near the back corner, looking up briefly at the Meowth-shaped hole in the roof. He claimed to have been sleepwalking the time he'd crawled into bed with Jessie and started kneading her back with his claws. It might have been true, but Jessie hadn't really cared if it was or not.

She smiled at the memory, then looked back at the folder. The edges were rough and tattered as though it had been used often, but she had only looked at the cover before, the way she was now. She felt numb as she forced herself to open it finally, slowy reading every word, a gradual coldness seeping inside of her. When she had finished, she set it down gently, still open to the last page, then looked for her hat, which she hadn't worn in days, fitting it down low over her eyes. Pushing through the tent opening, she walked out into the forest, without looking at the others, and without knowing exactly where she was going.

Jessie looked up when Pearl brushed past them, mind clearing from the haze of her thoughts. Since she was unable to see Pearl's face, she had no idea what she could be thinking, just walking into the forest alone like that without telling anyone. That thought set off a warning somewhere inside. Suppose she had...

She looked over at James sitting a short distance away; he was staring sullenly at the ground without noticing anything. Pouting over what she had said about him earlier, she thought. She reached over to poke him in the ribs with a finger, getting a grunt and a startled look in return. "James, Pearl just left, and she... she didn't seem... you don't suppose she..."

He leaned closer to her, his eyes widening. "She might have..."

Neither of them needed to complete their sentences to know what the other meant. One of the perks of being around one person for years, Jessie mused to herself, was being able to know exactly what that person was thinking. At least most of the time.

As expected, the folder was still in the tent and still open. Wordlessly, they knelt side by side, Jessie taking it in her hands gingerly as though it was made of glass and might break with too much pressure. Turning to the first page, she scanned it over for a few minutes before shock began to register on her face. "Listen to this..." she whispered breathlessly to James, who had put an arm around her and was straining to see what she was reading.

"'So in order to further extend our reach, the Mind Control Division, our newest laboratory section, is being assigned the task of furthering our knowledge in the areas of external emotional control, sensory stimulation, and behavioral control. We believe that the key to mastering these areas can be found in certain types of psychic Pokémon - the most significant of which appear to be Hypno and Alakazam. Using said Pokémon, the division's main goal is to learn effective ways to take control of a person's thoughts, emotions, behavior, and ultimately... ultimately creating a new person in terms of their mind.'"

Jessie had stumbled over that last part, visibly shaken. "So that's what they tried to..." she began, feeling James' arms go around her tighter. "There's more," she mumbled, turning to the last page.

"'On a separate, although related note, the MCD has recently performed an experiment that has been of great interest for some time - the melding of a Pokémon mind with that of a human. A sacrifice had to be made, however, to complete the experiment. As we do not wish to rouse suspicions outside the Team as yet, two members were chosen out, their exemplary performance in the field and their not insignificant intelligence making them the most promising choices. These two members - known as the Hart couple - were experimented upon using our most advanced technology in which parts of... of their brains were replaced with parts from a psychic Pokémon's brain - the parts that allow it powerful psychic abilities. If the experiment had been a success, we would have been assured of being able to create a breed of super-powerful psychic humans. But success was not reached, and the subjects were terminated due to this failure. There will be tests to ascertain what went wrong, and further experiments conducted in order to improve techniques. The success of this project is only a matter of time.'"

The silence that followed as Jessie put the report down was oppressive. She returned James' hug at last, noticing that Meowth had crept in close and had been listening as well. "What are we going to do..." he whispered, sounding very small and afraid. "Poor Poil..."

"I'm going to talk to her," James said after another brief silence. Jessie looked reluctant to let him go, still clinging to his hand and looking up at him as he stood.

"Are you sure you don't need..."

"I think I'd better go alone... I understand her more than you... don't worry about me," he finished softly, reaching down to delicately trace his hand along the side of her face. Then he was gone, silence closing in behind him again.

He was able to tell where she had gone simply by following the trail of crushed plants and earth she had left behind her. Normally she would have been more mindful of where she placed her feet, but obviously something much larger occupied her mind. He was having some difficulty thinking of what to say to help ease her pain. Possibly nothing he could say would help, yet he felt the obligation to try belonged to him. She had been his shoulder to cry on before; now he wanted to be hers.

He finally came upon her sitting on a large rock overhanging the edge of a cliff that afforded a beautiful view of the valley below. Her legs dangled from the edge and she was leaning forward in what seemed a very dangerous way to James. So he wouldn't startle her, he made as much noise as possible in walking up to the edge of the rock, behind her. After hesitating a moment, he said, "Pearl? Do you... do you want to talk... talk about..."

"Do I want to talk about how I've been lied to? Do I want to talk about how my parents were used as... as guinea pigs in Team Rocket's exploitative experiments? About how much pain and... and suffering they had to... to..." Her voice seemed soft, yet terribly sad, breaking up toward the end as she leaned forward farther over the edge.

James quickly moved behind her, begging, "Please Pearl... don't do this to yourself... please, let's talk, and--"

"James," she interrupted quietly, in a voice laced with fear. "Am I alone?"

"No... you're not. Not as long as I'm here, and Jessie, and Meowth. We all care about you, and we want you to stay with us." She finally turned around, allowing him to take her hat off to reveal a tear-streaked and anguished face that he had never wished to see on her. She was supposed to always be the happy one. He hugged her as she cried quietly for a time, wishing for a way to make her stop hurting. But before he could, she began to talk slowly.

"When I was little... my parents always made sure I had everything I needed, even if I never had everything I wanted. Once they took me to the spring festival, when the fruit trees were flowering and the whole world seemed full of new life. We had the most wonderful time, I remember, laughing and talking, just enjoying being together. We looked at some of the Pokémon that were for sale there, and I saw the most adorable little baby Eevee that you can possibly imagine. I jokingly said how much I would love to have it, because I knew they didn't have enough money to buy it for me. But before we left that day, we went back and they did. Words can't describe how happy I was when they placed it in my arms, how warm and soft it was, how it's tongue tickled when it licked my face. I could just look at it and be reminded of how much they loved me.

And that's the way I thought of the Team from then on too, as something that would always be there for me and always take care of me, because my parents thought it did those things for them. But they were betrayed. I'm starting to see now that Team Rocket doesn't care about anything but their own agendas, their own goals. If a few people get sacrificed or go without what they need, it doesn't matter as long as it furthers their schemes.

My parents died two years ago, and I've already laid them to rest in my heart. But I want to prevent Team Rocket from making more people suffer. What they did to Jessie is an example. I don't want them to hurt anyone I care about, or anyone else, ever again."

She sounded resolute now, nothing like what she'd sounded five minutes before. James pulled back and blinked at her slowly. "I guess I'm not too good at comforting..." he began with a weak smile. "You did it all yourself."

She smiled then, one of her old smiles. "You were just wonderful... I only needed someone who would listen. You were perfect," she added, kissing him on the cheek. He blushed appropriately, looking down as she clapped a hand to his shoulder and stood up. "I think I'll head back now... it's getting dark. You coming?"

"Oh... I guess I'll stay a bit. To think..."

"Need someone to talk to?"

"Well, I..."

"Ohhh, I see," she said, winking at him. "You need someone else to talk to." From the way his face was coloring, she could see she was at least close. "I'll see you later tonight then." With another smile and a wave, she was gone.

He didn't have to turn around to see who was approaching behind him now. It couldn't be anyone else.

"James, don't sit so close to the edge. Are you trying to fall off?" Jessie's sharp voice snapped at him. With a sigh, he turned around to see her smiling at him, her face completely denying her tone of voice.

"For your information, I'm at least four feet away from the edge."

"But knowing you, you'll find a way to fall off," she laughed, plopping down beside him and hugging him so hard he was sure his face was turning blue.

"I wish you wouldn't do that..." he said faintly when she was done.

"Hug you?"

"No... I mean... Well, when you..."

"I tease you too much about things, don't I? You shouldn't be so scared to tell me. It's not like I'm going to bite your head off."

"Uhh... yes you would," he muttered.

"What?" she demanded, moving toward him threateningly.

"Oh, nothing, nothing," he said quickly while making smoothing motions with his hands. "I don't mind every now and then, but..."

"I'll try not to so much... I promise." She put her arms around him again as she changed subjects. "Whatever you said to Pearl... it helped her. She seemed much better when she came back."

"I didn't say anything much... she talked it through herself, really."

"You had to have said something..."

"I guess... I did tell her that she wasn't alone. That you and me and Meowth would stick by her. I didn't meant to speak for you, but..."

Jessie shook her head. "I used to think about taking advantage of her, because of all the things she had access to. But now, I... I really think of her as a friend, and seeing all she's been through... I want to help her."

"Everyone needs to feel appreciated by someone," James added softly.

Jessie turned a lazy, slow smile on him. "You're right... I appreciate you, for example."

"Oh... I... really?" he managed to squeak, trying not to pay too much attention to where she had just placed her hands. Or the way her eyes were smoldering in a way that made it obvious what she wanted.

"Really... would you like me to show you how much?" she purred breathily into his ear, the sudden warmth making him swallow hard. He looked her in the eyes and smiled, suddenly feeling much less nervous.

"Yes... show me."

Chapter Eight
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