He was there, huddled on the ground and looking lost. Somehow she had known it was him, but it really couldn't have been anyone else. She went to stand in front of him, looking down at him by her feet, pitying him. When she reached a hand out to touch his shoulder, he flinched and looked up, horrified, plainly not expecting it to be her. His face slowly relaxed, but she couldn't stop from staring at him. It was so hard to believe that this boy was older than she; he seemed younger, far younger.

"What's the matter?"

"Oh, nothing, I just--"

"Her again, huh? Don't worry - you don't have to talk about it. I understand." Continuing to watch him, she sat down close by. He looked grateful, yet ashamed. "Have you ever thought about leaving?"

It was his turn to stare, mouth gaping wide open. "But I... wasn't it you who told me I couldn't run?"

She nodded. "But there are some times... when there's nothing else you can do."

He was considering that; his tear-washed face seemed older now, older than it should look.

"Don't decide now. Think about it first." On impulse, she reached out to hug him, burying her face in his soft, thick hair. "Because I'd miss you if you left."

"I'd miss you too," he whispered back without hesitation. She held on only a moment longer before pulling away and standing up. He was trying his best to return the smile she gave him, but it almost seemed like it was hurting him to do so.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk?"

"Yeah... I kinda want to be alone now..."

She nodded and waved a goodbye, which he returned halfheartedly before appearing to become lost in his own thoughts.

Leaving him behind, she walked around the corner and leaned against the wall to wait for him, her gaze drifting absently across the ground before resting on a small clump of rocks. Amidst the rocks, a tiny flower was struggling to reach the sunlight, stem twisted into unnatural shapes in it's desperate bid for survival. Even though it had managed to reach it's destination, it was dying; the lack of moisture in the very sun it had so arduously fought for a glimpse of was now killing it.

She found the resemblance between that flower and him to be very striking.

His eyes flew open to see nothing except the ceiling. Of course, it had just been a dream. But why had he been seeing it through someone else's eyes? Had he really looked that pathetic and weak?

Pushing himself up on one arm, he stared at the place where Jessie should be. Realization came back slowly; when it had, he wished he was still dreaming. Rescue. Yes, that was what was important, not silly dreams of a past best forgotten. But was he really strong enough to rescue her?

He lay back and tried to breathe deeply, clearing his mind in order to focus better. Odd - but he thought he smelled coffee. No, it was just his imagination. Just what he smelled every morning, so he thought he smelled it now. But then again...

He inhaled deeply a second time. Definitely not hallucinating. The smell was too strong. Nothing to worry about though, it was probably just Pearl. He looked for her, and she was laying curled up in her bed, heavy breathing suggesting she was still fast asleep. So who was...

He stumbled out of bed to look for Meowth. Cats don't make coffee, do they? The kind of question Jessie would smack him for and say, "Don't be absurd. Of course not." And she would be right - Meowth was snoring away on the couch.

By now he was completely bewildered. The only thing left to do was go in the kitchen and look. "What kind of wierdo broke in here so they could make coffee?" was his only thought as he slowly pushed the door open. However, that thought, along with everything else, soon vanished from his mind.

Because she was there. Jessie. Sitting at the table, drinking coffee, and looking at him like she had never been gone.

He couldn't think of words to say, so he just flung himself at her. With his arms wrapped around her, the words came easier. "You... you're here! I can't believe you... why didn't you come wake us up? How did you get away? Are you hurt or anything? Jessie...?" He pulled away to look at her; her face was just as calm as before. A tiny knot of fear began to form in his chest.

"James," she finally said, looking at him flatly, "could you please let go of me? It's very hard to breathe with you squeezing me like that."

"Oh... I'm sorry." He sat down next to her, fighting back the urge to grab ahold of her again. "Jessie... why are you here? I thought you--"

"When you turned the corner, I waited to shoot the guard, because I didn't want us being followed. And that's what I did. Then I tried to find you, but you were gone. You left me. I walked all the way back here."

Her hard tone hit him like a slap in the face. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat; the knot was tightening. "I'm sorry, Jessie... I didn't know that you... I didn't want to leave you, but Pearl said..." She appeared to be ignoring everything he said. Standing up, he motioned for her to stay where she was - which she also ignored - but she obviously wasn't going anywhere, so he hurried out to wake the others.

Pearl was awake and staring at him when he entered the bedroom. "James, are you making coffee? I thought you--"

"Shh. Jessie is here."

She's what? How can she--"

"She just is." Somewhat reluctantly, he told her what Jessie had told him. "I don't know, but... I think something is wrong with her."

"Strange... Wake Meowth up and we'll try to talk to her. Something may have happened, but we'll just have to see if we can get her to tell us what."

Once Meowth was awoken and told what was going on, they all went into the kitchen, acting as though nothing out of the ordinary was going on. Jessie did the same, sipping her coffee and barely even acknowledging their presence as they sat.

"Jessie," Pearl began slowly, "James told us about how you got away. But I need to know some--"

"What's your plan for getting out of here? Where are you going?"

Jessie's sudden questions made everyone stare. "What... what do you mean? We don't have a plan yet. We were going to rescue you and then--"

"What do you mean you don't have a plan? I come all the way back here, and you don't even have a plan!" Jessie slammed her coffee cup down so hard the table shook. Placing both hands flat on the table, she stood up and glared at them, continuing, "Maybe I shouldn't have come back at all, if you don't have a plan!" And you." She fixed James with her frigid glare. "You left me! It's all your fault any of this happened! If it wasn't for you... you... if you weren't such a weak idiot, everything would be just fine!"

Her voice seemed hard enough to drive nails. He flinched back from her as though he'd been struck. But then she did hit him. The force of her backhand was enough to make his nose bleed. Ignoring his cry of pain, she stomped out of the room.

Pearl and Meowth were staring at him, open-mouthed in shock. He held both hands up to his face as he stood to follow Jessie. Pearl might have called out for him to stop, but he really wasn't paying attention. That single knot had become thousands.

His presence was comforting, a beam of light in an oppressive, swirling blackness. She tried to remember a time before he was there, but gave up when it became painful. A time without him wasn't worth imagining. They were two parts of a whole; without one, the other would be insignificant. Worthless. Purposeless. Or so she told herself.

The blackness was still roiling all around her, yet the light beam was following her. If only she could reach out to it.

Eyes locked on the bedroom door, James tried to calm himself a little. Dark red flecks of blood stained his hands and the front of his clothes, most likely his face too, but he didn't notice. At the very least, his nose had stopped bleeding, although pain still radiated hotly from it. He wasn't noticing that much either. All he had the energy to focus on now was finding out what was wrong with Jessie, so the other things, trivial matters really, had no place in his mind. Steeling himself for anything that would happen, he opened the door and walked in.

She was sitting on the floor in the corner, staring emotionlessly at the ceiling.

"Jessie," he began as he shut the door, "I'm sorry that I did this to you. I didn't mean to leave you. I was going to come back for you, no matter what would happen to me. But--"

"Don't give me that load of crap," she hissed at him, not sounding very much like herself at all. She crossed the room and was standing in front of him so fast that it seemed she had teleported. Shoving him up against the wall, she continued in the same menacing tone, "I know you planned it. Trying to get rid of me at last. Well, you failed. James. Do you know why you failed?"

Her fingernails were digging into his arms, sharp needles of pain to match the accusations she had stabbed into his heart. "Why... why are you doing this?" was all he could ask, tears beginning to blur at the edge of his vision.

"It's because you're a failure. Nothing more. Well, a failure amongst all the other horrible things you are. I try not to be a failure like you, but there was one time. The time I tried to leave you behind. That really was the biggest mistake of my life. I--"

Without knowing how he did it, James grabbed Jessie by the arms and swung her around so that she was the one against the wall. He pinned her to it with the weight of his body, face flushed with rage.

"Now you listen to me. That time, you didn't leave me. I chose to stay there more than anything. I told you to leave me, and I know you didn't want to. I tried to stay with you, but it was impossible. You know that more than anyone!"

He hadn't realized he had been screaming at her, and he also hadn't realized that he had hit her, until he found himself staring at the red marks on her face. She was likewise staring at him, a shocked expression along with what he took to be revulsion.

He couldn't stand this. It wasn't him. Just like she wasn't acting like herself, this wasn't him either. He soon sank to the floor as he had many times as a child, with his knees drawn up to his chest and his face pressed into them, weeping brokenheartedly as though he had just lost everything he could ever have.

When she felt something solid strike her, once, twice, and then a third time, the blackness shattered abruptly rather than fading slowly - a thousand shards of blackness falling from her eyes to reveal the sight of the room before her. How she had got there was eluding her for the moment, so she stood trying to remember. But that sound kept distracting her. Looking down, she saw James crying on the floor, incomprehensible words scattered here and there amidst choking sobs.

Then she remembered everything.

Kneeling down beside him, she tried to pull his arms away from his legs, surveying in horror the bloody gashes left by her fingernails. How could she have done such a thing... She tried to get close enough to put her arms around him, but he didn't let her, keeping a death grip on his legs. Some of his words were understandable now.

"...why... if it wasn't for me... terrible... just like everyone said... I can't..."

She quickly put her arms around him from behind, placing her mouth as close to his ear as she could. "James? Can you hear me?" He stopped muttering, so she assumed he could. "It's alright now. It isn't dark anymore - I can see you again."

He probably wouldn't understand that, so she tried to put it another way. "I'm me again, James. I wasn't before, but now... something you did made me come back. I'm me again," she added again to reinforce it. That had sounded better.

He had gone still - still, and perfectly silent. The pain and sorrow she saw in his eyes when he looked up startled her. "You... you're Jessie," he whispered as he understood what she meant. He peered at her face as if trying to be sure. "Jess... yes, it must be," he said, then reached out to her.

She held him close for what felt like a long time, stroking his hair gently while fighting back tears. Remembering what she had said to him hurt her deep inside, a knife twisting into her heart. How could she have said and done such horrible things... But it hadn't been her. Yet that was hardly a comfort, as she was holding the person she cared about most in the world while he was in despair over words her lips had spoken, whether someone else had put them in her head or not. He didn't seem to be crying; his breathing was fast and shaky, but that was all.

It surprised her that he was the one to speak first. "Jess..." he said, pushing her away slightly, "you didn't mean what you said about... what happened then... did you?"

What he was referring to was a long ago memory from their gang days; long ago, and best forgotten in her opinion. Rival gangs were at war, not battling with Pokémon - instead, people fighting people. James and herself, not caring much to fight, had run away, hoping to escape unharmed. But a group of at least five had followed them. When James tripped, hurting his ankle, he just couldn't run fast enough. He had pleaded for her to just leave him, but she wouldn't listen, and made him promise to try to keep up. He couldn't manage it, and she had unknowingly left him behind. Once she realized, however, she went back, only to find him laying still in the dusty grass, badly bruised and with blood covering his face. Later, he had told her how they had took turns hitting him. It had only taken a few minutes. One had had a knife, but not the intention to kill, since he had only sliced a shallow gash into James' chest. Jessie had never forgiven herself for that time and had swore never to leave him like that again. Altogether, it was one of the most terrible memories she had from all the time they had been together.

"I didn't mean a word. I wasn't myself, like I told you... they did something to me while I was there... wherever I was... All I remember is some kind of machine... there was a Pokémon there too, I remember that. They put it inside the machine - the man did, I couldn't see his face or if there was more than one - and then... I don't know what happened next. All the time that I've been here, I could see you, but it was like... someone else had taken control of my body, and my real self was in a dark place."

When she had finished, he nodded slowly. "But how did you come back to yourself?"

"I think when you hit me... I felt pain, and then I could see everything the way I should, through my real eyes. It's so hard to explain," she concluded with a sigh.

"I'm sorry that I hit you... I don't know what came over me. I could believe you would say something like that to me, but I didn't want to--"

"You don't have to be sorry. If you hadn't..." She left it unfinished, helping him stand up instead. "We'll ask Pearl about what happened to me. She might know something about it. She knows a lot."

He just looked at her, smiling softly. It looked much better than his face from before, but the effect was thrown off somewhat because of the blood that still covered it. That seemed too much like what had happened in the gang.

"But first, I'll clean you up a little."

Pearl and Meowth both jumped up when they came out the door, Jessie leading James by the hand as though he couldn't find the way himself.

"Are you two alright? I didn't come in because I thought you might not..." Pearl began, trailing off when she noticed James' arms.

"Everything is fine," Jessie assured her, looking to James for affirmation.

"Yes... now it is," he said faintly, still with the same smile.

"I need to take care of him before we can talk," Jessie added, not waiting for Pearl's nod before leading James into the bathroom and shutting the door behind him. At her insistence, he sat down at the edge of the bath while she wiped the blood from his face and hands with a little water. He didn't say anything, just followed her every move through half-closed eyes. It made her feel slightly uncomfortable, but more than anything else very much aware of his presence. Which made her move much more slowly.

He flinched a little when she worked on his arms, carefully bandaging what was still bleeding. The blood on his shirt just wouldn't do, so she assisted him in taking it off, fingers lingering briefly over bare skin before she ran out to get him a clean shirt. She ran back in just as fast to help him put it on, although rather more reluctantly than she'd helped him take it off.

Suddenly she wondered why she felt like this now, the almost guilty urges and feelings coming back to the surface after being denied for so long. Since she had joined the Team, come to think of it. Maybe now was the time for a bew beginning. A happier future.

Realizing that she was daydreaming, she looked down to see James smiling up at her. She leaned close to kiss his forehead, wondering if he was thinking the same way as he put his arms around her waist. Yes, a much happier future. She pulled him up, taking his hand again.

"C'mon, they're waiting for us."

Pearl was beginning to wonder if they would ever come out of the bathroom when the door finally opened. James looked infinitely better; Jessie still clasped his hand tightly. Pearl smiled at them. They looked so much happier.

"It's about time! I dunno, but it shouldn't take that long to... well, I'm glad you're back anyway," Meowth said, losing the sarcasm at the end. He must have noticed too.

"Now you two..." Pearl began as soon as they were seated. "I hate to be pushy, but would you mind telling me..."

They told her everything, only seeming to leave out a few parts by the looks they shared at certain points in the story. She wasn't about to pry into those private moments of theirs, whatever they were. When they were finished, they both sat back as if it had tired them out. Most likely it had. Pearl nodded thoughtfully as she considered the information.

"Well... I'd have to say they used hypnosis."

"Hypnosis...?"

"Yes. You mentioned seeing a Pokémon... it was most likely a Hypno. Team Rocket has been doing a lot of research with them lately, if I remember correctly."

"And a Hypno could be powerful enough to make me do... those things?"

"It could be at a very high level. But I was thinking about the machine. They put the Pokémon inside it... I've never heard of a machine like that before, but you know there are things that I don't have access to. It's possible that the machine amplified the Pokémon's powers so that the effect was much stronger. But their machine isn't flawless, since you were able to break the trance."

"Wait," James interrupted suddenly. "I remember... the last time we saw Cassidy and Butch, they had a machine that their Drowzee was hooked up to. It amplified it's... whatever you call it."

"I remember that too..." Jessie said. "But the machine was completely blown apart."

"They could have built another one. A more 'improved' one, so to speak."

"There's still one thing I want to know," Jessie asked Pearl slowly. "Why would they hypnotize me to... to attack James like that?"

"Well... it could just be their idea of a joke. Or maybe they were trying to get you to kill him, or..." Noting their horrified expressions, she decided to stop listing suggestions. "I don't know, it could really be anything. By the way, when you wanted to know our plan for escape so badly, I'd bet anything you would have reported that to someone."

"Speaking of which," Meowth added, "we really do need to get out of here. Before someone comes an' takes us out."

There was no question that that was what to do next, and quickly. They began packing, necessary things mostly - food, sleeping bags, a tent, clothes. Basically just what they could carry on their backs. James lamented over leaving most of his books behind, besides the few he begged Pearl to put in her space-compressing device. Jessie watched in near-amusement, but promised him he would have them back someday.

They took the jeep out of town to begin with, where they would soon leave it somewhere along the way since it would attract too much attention. Pearl drove with Meowth beside her, as Jessie and James had seemingly decided to share the back. She watched them through the rearview mirror; Jessie was laying her head on James' shoulder tiredly as he gently patted her hand. She turned her attention back to the road. They all just needed a nice long rest. But it might not end up being so long.

Meowth distracted her from her thoughts as he tugged on her sleeve. "Hey, Poil... ain't ya gonna look at those files you wanted to get so bad?"

She nodded. In her worry over Jessie, she had forgotten all about them.

"Yes... I'll have to do that soon, won't I?"

Chapter Seven
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