"Where do you want to go, Jessie?" Butch asked.

"Can we go to a bank?" she replied. "I need to cash my check."

"Sure, there's one not too far from here," Butch answered, pointing straight ahead.

Jessie thought for a moment. "Butch, how do you know this area so well?" she asked.

"I come here a lot, that's all. Cassi and I are around the headquarters a lot, so I like to come here," he answered.

They walked for about ten minutes, talking, until Jessie spotted people putting up a poster. She gasped, "There's gonna be a festival tonight!"

Butch smiled, "Do you want to go?"

"Yes! The last time I was at a festival was when that stupid Ghastly-oh, nevermind," she replied.

Butch laughed, "Then that's what we'll do tonight. Are you wearing a yukata?"

"Of course I am." she hyperly answered, smiling.

They walked a little further. "Well, here's the bank," Butch pointed out.

"Do you want me to come in or stay out?"

"You can stay out here. I'll only be in there about three minutes," she answered, handing Butch back his jacket.

He took is jacket and put it back on as he watched her go inside. He sighed and sat on the railing. He was drowned by millions of thoughts as they filled his head.

Jessie bounced happily out the door. "Kay, we can go now," she interrupted Butch's thoughts. "Come on!" she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him.

"Where are we going?" Butch asked, smiling.

"I dunno, let's just move on and we'll find something to do..." she pulled him more as they started walking, then dug her hands into her pockets.

Butch started raising his arm to put it around her shoulder, but he caught himself, put it behind his head, and sighed.

They walked for about 5 minutes in silence. Butch was still bothered by his thoughts. Jessie looked up at him and smiled as she thought, "He really looks like he misses Cassidy... though I don't know why he would..."

"Butch," she began as she threw her arm around his back, pulling herself close. "I know how you feel."

"You do?" he replied, putting his arm around her waist, thinking, "How does she know?"

"Yeah," she continued. "I feel the same way!"

"Really?" he asked. "How did you know?"

"Well, you seem lonely, like losing Cassidy was like losing a part of yourself. James and I have shared so much together, I feel like we're one person. I'm pretty sure he's gonna die, so when he left, I basically lost a part of me," she explained. Then she sighed and leaned her head onto his shoulder. Then she had an afterthought, "Crap!! Why'd I say that!?!"

Butch sighed, "Oh, Jess... I don't miss Cassidy," he stopped walking and turned Jessie to face him.

"Oh..." she hesitated, "then.... what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said, pulling her closer.

Jessie froze.

"Just that, I love you, Jessica." He held her tighter, then kissed her, deeply. Jessie pushed away and bent forward, grabbing her stomach with one hand, and putting the other on her head.

"What's wrong, Jess?" he asked quietly.

Jessie gathered her thoughts together and stood back up, staring daggars at Butch. She suddenly pulled a mallet out of nowhere and whacked him in the head, hard, making him fall off his feet.

"NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!!!!" she screamed, stomping away.

Butch stood up quickly and ran, following her.

Butch continued following her, pleading her to stop and talk to him. He kept it up for 25 minutes, when she turned around and yelled.

"What is there to talk about?!"

"I'm sorry, Jessie! I promise you, I won't ever touch you again! Just...please... don't leave me," he begged.

"Why do you want to be with me? I'm not your partner," she growled.

"I don't know.... I just do. I love you. You're a great girl," he replied.

"Uh huh, and I'm sure you do this to every 'great girl' you meet, am I right?"

"No. That's not right," he said. "I've only ever loved you."

Jessie looked him straight in the eyes, "You sure don't seem like you love me enough to give me a choice with something like that!"

"I'm sorry! I've never really dealt with love before in my life. I've always liked you, now I get my chance to be with you and I blow it. I just couldn't help myself... I was nervous.... I didn't know what to do!" he continued. "Please...just give me one more chance.." he pleaded, looking at his feet. He started to cry, but held it in.

Jessie sat down on a nearby bench. "Sit down, Butch," her eyes and voice softened.

Butch sat down and leaned onto his lap.

"I'll stay with you. I know how it feels to be alone, having no one to care about you. Just... don't pull anything like that again," Jessie said, curling her finger through the end of her hair.

"Thanks, Jessie," Butch looked up and smiled. They sat there for about 15 minutes in silence.

James, Mondo, Kazuyuki, Clint, and Bobby had finished eating and had been walking for about 15 minutes. Bobby hadn't said or done anything. He just stayed behind the others with his arms crossed. The others had been joking and laughing about things that their partners had done.

"And then she fell right into the pool!" Kazuyuki said, laughing.

The others laughed, hysterically.

"Ha ha! That reminds me of something Sierra did," Clint continued laughing.

They all stared, waiting eargerly to hear it.

"Well, we were walking, then she turned to talk to me. She crashed right into a small tree, then a bird's nest fell right onto her head!"

They all laughed again.

He continued, "Her face looked exactly like a wheezing!"

The laughter continued.

"Hey, Bobby," James said, cautiously.

Bobby looked up, "What?" he said smugly.

"What about your partner?" James continued.

"Yeah? What about her?" he walked up behind James, eyeing him.

"Nevermind," James tensed up.

Kazuyuki looked at Bobby, giving him the 'I'm warning you' look. Bobby backed away from James.

"Hey, James," Clint began.

James looked up.

"Tell me more about Jessica," he begged, with hearts in his eyes.

Kazuyuki joined in, "Yeah..... more about Jessica..." He also had hearts in his eyes, which made James smile.

Mondo laughed.

"There's nothing much to tell. She's just a great girl," James blushed.

Clint smiled and laughed. "Ohhh ~ I get it, James. You love Jessica, don't you!!!" Clint teased.

"Well, I, um... that is... no I don't!"

Clint and Kazuyuki laughed. "James loves Jessica! James loves Jessica!" they both teased.

James' face got as red as a pokeball. "I do not! We're just really good friends!"

"Ahh, but a great friendship is usually the beginning of a life-long relationship," Kazuyuki pointed out.

"Yeah, but for some people, going further than friendship ruins the relationship and they end up hating each other," Bobby added. "Believe me, that's what happened to me and my partner."

"Really?" James replied, his face slowly going back to normal. "I'm sorry, Bobby."

"Yeah, Stephy and I were great friends. Then one day, we admitted to each other that we thought it was more than friendship. We remained as lovers for a little while, then..." he got quiet.

"Then what?" Mondo pushed.

"Then... I don't know what happened. We got into a big argument and just hated each other all of a sudden," he continued as he tried to hold back the tears of a painful past.

"Ohh..." Clint said quietly.

"The last thing she said to me before I left for this mission was, 'I hope you die the most horrible, painful death ever'," Bobby finished, wiping away an escaping tear.

"Wow, she sounds like a real witch," Clint added.

Bobby continued walking in silence.

"Speaking of your partners' last words to you, what were they?" Mondo asked everyone.

Kazuyuki went first, "Well, Yoko rubbed my back and said, 'Make the team proud', then she smiled and walked away." He brushed his bangs out of his eyes.

Clint went next, "Sierra gave me my backpack, full of stuff she packed just for me. She acts like my mother or something."

"That's really nice, though," Mondo replied.

"Yeah, I guess," Clint continued. "Then, she kept running her fingers through my hair and kissing me. I said, 'see ya,', then I started walking up the stairs. The last thing I heard from her was, 'I love you, Clint,'." He shook his head.

"Aww, she sounds like a real sweet girl," Kazuyuki added quickly.

"What about Jessica, James?" Clint asked, ready to drool.

"Well, Jessie had been crying because she's been afraid that I'm going to die on this trip. She gave me her pokemon, just to back me up in case I need more types. She hugged me, so I hugged her back. Through her tears, she said, 'Please be safe,', then we hugged a little tighter and let go. When we let go, I could tell she didn't want to let go of me," James replied.

"You're right, James," Kazuyuki began.

"Right about what?"

"Right about Jessica being a great girl."

"Yeah....she really is great..." James gazed dreamily up at the clear blue sky through his beautiful emerald eyes.

Clint opened his mouth to say something, but stopped himself and thought, "I'll just let James deal with it himself. I won't bother him about it anymore," and smiled.

They exited the town and entered a forest. James continued gazing into the sky.

Wanting to warn James, Mondo quickly said, "James! Watch out for the,"

*CRASH*

"tree..."