It all began on a chilly winter afternoon, if my memory serves me right. The sun was low in the western sky, and the icy north wind whipped relentlessly at us. The road was dusty, and the wind was blasting all of that dust into our faces, making it difficult to breathe. Black thunderheads were forming in the east, illuminated by the occasional flash of lightning. Jessie shivered, and I protectively wrapped an arm around her, giving her the warmth of my body. She'd recently recovered from a bout of pneumonia after being caught out in the snow, and I was still worried about her. I'd be damned if I ever let her catch cold again!
Jessie smiled at me, and her shivering subsided.
I looked at the way her sapphire-blue eyes were glittering and returned the smile.
"Will youse two hurry it up?!" Meowth snapped, seeing that we had slowed our pace a little. "We gotta find a place ta stay for the night -- I don't wanna be outside when dat storm hits!"
"That makes three of us," I replied, pulling Jessie closer.
"I wouldn't worry about it," Jessie said calmly. "I think there's a town just over the next hill."
"Den whadda we waitin' for?!" the cat demanded. "Let's get goin'!"
With that, Meowth began running up the road, and Jessie and I quickened our pace again, so as not to lose him.
@->->-
Once we'd crested the hill, we found ourselves looking down at a small town. The wind was blowing tumbleweeds through the dusty streets, and the setting sun was casting eerie shadows onto the decaying buildings. The very sight of the crumbling city, set against the backdrop of the coming winter storm made my blood run cold.
"Are you sure this is the right place, Jess?" I asked in a quavering voice. "It looks like a ghost-town from one of those old-west movies."
"What does it matter?" said Meowth. "Abandoned or not, we still need shelter for the night."
"He's got a point," Jessie agreed.
The wind picked up again, and Jessie's shivering began anew. As I held her to me once more, I realized that she and Meowth were right -- we couldn't spend the night outside in this weather. It didn't matter how scared I was of this place -- Jessie had to stay warm! So, I offered no more protests as we made our way down the hill and towards the town.
As we approached the gates, we saw the words "Dark City" painted on a rotting wooden sign. Rather fitting name, I said to myself.
"Ya really think dis place is deserted?" Meowth asked. "It seems weird dat everybody'd just leave all of a sudden."
"Kind of makes you wonder what made them leave," I remarked. I still had a bad feeling about this town...and that bad feeling was growing worse by the second!
Jessie slowly shook her head. "No. It's not deserted. We're being watched...I can feel it."
"We are?!" I asked nervously. "By whom?!"
"I think they're...over there," she replied, pointing to a large building further up the street.
As the three of us went to investigate, however, I suddenly felt something whiz past the side of my head. Then, I heard Jessie cry out in pain. I looked over at her and saw that she was doubled over and clutching her head.
"Jess, are you okay?!" I cried.
She looked up at me, and I saw that a large, purple bruise was forming on her forehead. "T-they just hit me with a rock!" she gasped in a voice that was half-frightened and half-outraged.
I took Jessie in my arms again and smoothed back her hair. "Why would they want to do such a terrible thing?!" I asked.
"Hey! Yer real goddamned brave, hittin' an unarmed woman like dat, aren't ya?! Why don't ya show yerselves, ya cowards?!" Meowth challenged them.
Jessie and I looked in the direction that the rocks had come from and saw three little boys emerge from a dark alley. They didn't look like they were any older than seven!
"What do you kids think you're doing?!" I demanded. "You just hurt my friend!"
The boys scowled at us. "You and your friend are pokemon trainers, aren't you?" one of them said in a venomous tone.
"So what if dey are?!" Meowth replied, coming to our defense. "Ya got some kinda problem with dat?!"
"Yeah, we've got a problem with that!" the boy shot back as he and his two friends drew closer.
Before any of us could say something to defuse the situation, however, each of the boys brought out a large bamboo stick. The lead boy started beating Meowth with his stick, and the other two came for me and Jessie.
Well, this was an interesting dilemma. These kids meant business, and we had to defend ourselves, but how were we supposed to do that?! If they hated pokemon trainers so much, it was obvious that they didn't have any pokemon of their own, which meant that we couldn't challenge them to a match. And we couldn't very well fight them -- they were just children, after all, and we'd never use physical violence against children! (Hmmm...maybe that's why we always lose to the twerps. We've never once beaten them up or sicced our pokemon on them, yet they have absolutely no qualms about attacking us. Some heroes! Sheesh!)
"Pokemon trainers aren't welcome here!" one of the boys shouted as he took a swing at me.
I quickly jumped backwards and dodged the attack. From the corner of my eye, I saw Jessie wrench the stick away from the boy that was attacking her, and I knew that I had to do the same. When my assailant took another swing, I met the attack and caught the stick before it hit me. Then, I pulled it away from him and broke it over my knee. Now that he was disarmed, the boy backed off.
I looked and saw that Jessie's attacker had backed off as well. Meowth, however, wasn't so lucky. The boys had taken him by surprise and knocked him upside the head at the beginning of the fight, and he looked like he was too disoriented to defend himself. In fact, he looked like he was ready to faint!
Well, I wasn't going to just stand there and let those little bastards hurt Meowth like that...or let them get away with what they'd done to Jessie, for that matter -- I had to do something!
"You stop that right now!" I snapped.
As I grabbed Meowth and tried to pull him to safety, however, I felt my face explode in a white-hot burst of pain as the boy's stick smashed into me.
I screamed in agony, and Meowth and I reeled backwards and collapsed in the dirt.
"We said you're not welcome here!" he growled. "Get out of Dark City, and don't ever come back!"
"How dare you?!" I heard Jessie say a low, menacing snarl. I opened my eyes, and through the tears that blurred my vision, I could see her throwing her poke ball and releasing Arbok.
"Chaaar-bok!" the cobra hissed as she positioned herself between the three of us and our assailants.
The boys' eyes widened in fear when they saw Jessie's pokemon. They wouldn't dare attack Arbok the way they'd attacked us -- she was at least five times bigger than they were, and she could easily crush them with one swipe of her tail.
"All right, listen up, you little brats!" Jessie snapped. "I've had enough of you and your stupid crap! So, either you leave us alone, or the big, bad pokemon trainer is going to get her big, bad pokemon to EAT YOU UP!!!"
When she said this, Arbok hissed again and flared her hood, revealing the menacing markings on her underbelly. Then, she leaned closer to them and bared her fangs.
All of the color drained from the boys' faces, and they turned tail and ran. "WAAAHHH!!! SHE'S GOT A POKEMON!!! LET'S GET OUTTA HERE!!!" they screamed.
"Good girl!" Jessie laughed as she returned Arbok to her poke ball.
Despite the intense pain both of us were in, Meowth and I laughed, too. We knew that Jess wouldn't have really gotten Arbok to attack those kids -- she just wanted to scare them away...and it worked!
"Are you guys okay?!" Jessie asked, kneeling next to us.
"I...I think I'll be fine," Meowth replied. But we knew that he wasn't -- his voice was a little slurred, and he looked like he had vertigo when he tried to stand. We were going to have to carry him until we found a place to stay for the night.
Before I could do anything to comfort him, however, Jessie gasped. "James! You're bleeding!"
"I...I am?!"
I placed a hand to my nose and felt a warm, sticky stream of blood flowing from it.
"Shit! They really nailed you!" she said.
Now that Meowth and Jessie weren't in danger anymore, I remembered just how much pain I was in, and I began to cry.
"Shhh...it's okay, James," Jessie said softly. She reached into her pocket and brought out a white handkerchief. "Lean your head back and relax," she told me as she gently pressed it to my nose.
"Jessie, your handkerchief is going to be ruined!" I protested.
"That's not important," she replied. "Just keep your head back until the bleeding stops."
For several minutes I sat there with my head back and Jessie's white silk handkerchief (which was no longer white...and probably never would be again) on my nose. Jessie, meanwhile, stayed by my side and alternated between patting me comfortingly on the shoulder and scratching behind Meowth's ears. Before long, both Meowth and I found that we felt better. There was just something about Jessie's touch.
"How's your nose?" she asked when the bleeding finally stopped.
"It's better now, but it still hurts," I replied. "Thanks, Jess."
Jessie smiled at me. "You know, James," she said, "when I was a little girl, there was something my momma would do whenever I got hurt. Something that made me feel better every time."
I raised an eyebrow. "Really? What did she do?"
Her smile grew a little wider. "She'd give me a kiss."
I felt my heart flutter when she said this. Did she really want to kiss me?!
Jessie's lips parted a little, and she began to lean towards me. Her eyes were sparkling again.
Now my mind was racing as quickly as my heart. Oh, my God! This is it! She really IS going to kiss me!
Her mouth was now only a couple of inches away from mine. My lips trembled in anticipation, and I felt my face turning red. I didn't care if Meowth was watching! I didn't care that the storm clouds had rolled in, and it was going to start raining any second now! All that mattered was that Jessie and I were about to kiss!
As her lips continued to inch closer to mine, I started leaning in towards her. I'd been waiting for this moment for such a long time, and now it was finally here!
Just as our lips were about to meet, however, Jessie lifted her head slightly and kissed me on the nose. My lips ended up pressed against her chin.
Damn! I said to myself. Just a kiss on my sore spot! Well, deep down, I knew that was what she'd really meant when she hinted that she was going to kiss me. But the way she'd been leaning towards me...the look in her eyes...a guy can dream, can't he?
Even if it wasn't a mouth-to-mouth kiss, the feeling of her warm, soft lips on my nose was wonderful. It was certainly better than no kiss at all, and it felt so good that it really did make the pain go away!
Suddenly, I realized that I was still kissing her chin. I felt my face turn redder than ever as I quickly drew my lips away. Would she be angry with me if she knew what kind of kiss I'd really wanted? Wait a minute, she had to know -- there was no way my lips could have "accidentally" ended up on her, and it'd be kind of difficult not to notice something like that, after all.
But, much to my surprise, she wasn't angry. When she finished kissing my nose, she drew away slightly and smiled again. No, she definitely wasn't angry -- if she were, she'd have slapped me or yelled at me, or something. (And believe me, Jess isn't the kind of person who covers up her anger. Whenever something is bothering her, I'm usually the first to know about it!)
"Does that feel better?" she asked softly.
"Yes, it does. Thanks, Jess," I replied. And it did -- my nose didn't hurt anymore, and instead, there was a warm, tingly sensation where her lips had been. It felt wonderful!
"Good," she said. Then, her expression became serious again. "I can't believe how vicious those little brats were!"
"Yeah!" Meowth groaned. "We was just mindin' our own business, and dey smashed youse guys in the face and tried ta kill me! What in hell is up with dat?!"
When he said this, I suddenly remembered how those boys had hit Jessie in the head with a rock. The bruise on her forehead had darkened since I'd first noticed it, and she must have been in just as much pain as me and Meowth!
"Come here, Jess. Now it's your turn," I said.
She raised an eyebrow as she turned to look at me again. Her quizzical expression became a smile when she saw me begin leaning closer, and she started to blush a little...just like I had!
I wanted to keep going straight...straight for her lips, but I didn't have the nerve. Instead, I just did the same thing she'd done and planted my kiss where she'd been hurt.
"Thanks, James. Now I feel better, too!" she laughed when I finally released her. She was still blushing.
Jessie and I gazed at each other for a moment. The way her sapphire eyes were shining told me that she'd enjoyed my kiss as much as I'd enjoyed hers. Had she felt something?! Did she want a real kiss as much as I did?! There was only one way to find out....
"Hey! What about Me-owth?!" the cat piped up as Jessie and I started leaning towards each other again. "I got hurt, too, ya know! Where's MY kiss?!"
Jessie smirked at me, and I chuckled. I could tell what she was thinking -- if it was a kiss he wanted, it was a kiss he'd get!
With that, the two of us lifted Meowth into our arms and planted a big, wet, smacking kiss on either side of his face.
"GAHHHH!!! YUCK!!!" he cried as he began to wipe himself off. "I wasn't bein' serious! Baka humans!"
Jessie and I exchanged smiles again. Even though Meowth was complaining, he had a noticeably brighter expression on his face -- we really had made him feel better!
Just as we were about to point this out to him and start making smart remarks, however, there was a loud clap of thunder, and I felt an icy raindrop sting my face.
"Alright, enough playin' kissy-face!" Meowth snapped as he climbed onto my head. "Let's find a place ta stay before it starts rainin' any harder! I HATE gettin' wet!"
"You're right!" I said, pulling Jessie into another embrace in order to shield her from the rain.
With that, the three of us continued making our way up the street.
After a couple of minutes, we saw a dim light coming from the windows of a nearby building. Looking up at the sign, we saw that it was an inn...and that it had a restaurant!
"Heh! Just what we need -- hot meals and warm beds!" Meowth remarked. "Whatta the odds of dat?!"
"Looks like our luck is finally changing!" said Jessie.
"Yeah! It's about time we caught a break!" I agreed.
Oh, how wrong we were....
@->->-
"May I help you?" the innkeeper asked as the three of us walked through the door. There was a hint of suspicion in his voice, as if he didn't trust us.
"Yes. We'd like a room for the night, please," I told him.
"WAAAAAHHH!!!!! THAT'S THEM!!!!!" I heard somebody scream.
We looked and saw the three boys who'd attacked us earlier. They were all seated at a table in the far corner of the room.
"Those are the bad people we told you about!" the first boy whimpered to the innkeeper.
"Yeah! We were just minding our own business, and they tried to get their pokemon to kill us!" the second one informed him.
Jessie scowled, and that little vein she always gets when she's angry popped out on her forehead. "WHAT?! That's a lie!" she shouted.
The innkeeper looked at us again and frowned. It was obvious whose side he was on.
"Look, I know we frightened them, and we're sorry about that," I said calmly. "But we were only acting in self-defense. Those boys threw rocks at us and beat us with sticks just because we're pokemon trainers!"
"So you admit it!" the innkeeper snapped.
"Hey! Whadda you people got against pokemon trainers anyhow?!" Meowth demanded.
"Our city wasn't always like this," the innkeeper explained. "It was once beautiful and prosperous, but it was destroyed by the greed and ambition of pokemon trainers."
"But why give us such a hard time?" I asked. "We weren't responsible for what happened. We just want a place to stay for the night, that's all."
"Yeah! If we were here to cause trouble, believe me, you'd know it!" Jessie chimed in.
"I'm afraid your mere presence causes trouble," said the innkeeper. "I can tell from those uniforms you're wearing that you're with Team Rocket. You're not just pokemon trainers...you're evil pokemon trainers. Please leave my inn at once. We don't serve your kind here."
The three boys snickered.
A fire sparked in Jessie's eyes when he said this, and she reached for Arbok's poke ball again. "Well, of all the nerve!"
"No, Jessie," I said, placing my hand over hers before she could throw the ball. "If we attack, it only makes them right!"
Her expression softened a little as she looked up at me. "Good point," she muttered. Then, she turned back to the innkeeper and said, "Hmmmph! I wouldn't spend the night in a seedy dive like this anyway! Come on, James! Meowth! Let's go!"
With that, Jessie turned her nose up at the innkeeper and the three boys and walked out the door in a huff.
"Yeah!" said Meowth, who was still perched on my head. "I've lived in dumpsters with more class den dis joint!"
"I wonder which is more evil," I said over my shoulder as I followed Jessie. "Pokemon training, or turning out paying customers on a cold, stormy night just because you don't like the way they look."
The innkeeper frowned at me again. He knew I had a point.
@->->-
"I can't believe this!" Jessie snapped as we continued up the street. "He just threw us out because of our uniforms! It's not like we were going to rob the place, or anything!"
"Yeah! What kinda screwed-up city is dis, anyway?! Didn't anybody ever teach dese people manners?!" said Meowth.
"Apparently not," I replied.
Before long, the wind picked up, and it began to rain even harder. It looked like the storm was only going to get worse as the night progressed. I looked over at Jessie. She was trying to tough it out, but I could see her shivering, and I could hear the chattering of her teeth -- she was catching cold again!
Meowth jumped down from my head as I pulled off my jacket and wrapped it around her. I knew it wasn't much, but it would at least help keep her dry. Then, I picked up Meowth again and let him climb under my shirt so that he could stay dry, too.
Once my friends were bundled up, I put my arm around Jessie again, and we continued on our way.
"Thanks, James," she said as she put her arm around me. "But won't you get cold?"
"I'll be fine," I told her.
Jessie looked at the bulge in my shirt and smiled. "Meowth's body heat must be keeping you nice and warm, huh?"
"Yeah, I'm a regular heatin' pad!" the cat replied in a muffled voice.
"Wish I could trade places," Jessie whispered.
"What was that?" I asked.
When Jess realized that I'd just heard her, she blushed and turned away from me. "Oh, nothing!"
But I knew it wasn't "nothing." It was pretty obvious that she was thinking about what we'd done on the night she came down with pneumonia. We'd been stranded in a mountain cave during a blizzard, and we'd kept each other warm by sharing our body heat. There had literally been nothing between us on that night...and even part of the next day!
You'd think it would have been an enjoyable experience for me, but that had to have been, without a doubt, the scariest night of my entire life! Jessie didn't know just how sick she was at the time, but I did. And I'd been so afraid that she'd get worse, or that we wouldn't be able to get her to a hospital in time. I was so worried she might die that the intimacy of the moment had been the last thing on my mind!
But don't get me wrong, it's not like I didn't notice at all -- once Jessie had received treatment, and we knew she was going to be okay, I got to thinking about what we'd done...thinking about it a lot! I knew she didn't mind that I'd seen her naked, and I didn't mind that she saw me. Yet, I still couldn't help but wonder what she thought of me. Had she liked looking at my body? Would she be angry with me if she knew that I'd liked looking at hers...that I thought she was beautiful?
As I looked at Jessie now, her face was turning as red as her hair, and I got the feeling that she was asking herself the same questions I was asking myself. Maybe our relationship really had changed on that night! There had been a spark between us while Jessie was in the hospital, and her behavior towards me had been a little different since then. Maybe the fact that her life had been in my hands for awhile, that she'd had to rely on me completely...and that I hadn't let her down when she needed me, made her realize that she could trust me...that I'd never hurt her or betray her like so many others have. Maybe now she realized just how much I love her...and maybe now I could finally find the courage to tell her so.
I held Jessie a little closer, and she smiled tenderly at me as we gazed into each other's eyes. I still wanted to kiss her...and she looked like she wanted to kiss me, too. My face began to turn as red as hers at the thought of it!
Suddenly, Meowth poked his head out from the collar of my shirt. "Hey, Jimmy, are you okay?! Yer heart's goin' a mile a minute!" Then, he looked at me and Jessie and saw just how closely we were holding each other and that we were blushing. "Ohhh! Am I interruptin' somethin'?" he asked slyly.
Jessie frowned at him and turned away. "Nothing! Nothing at all!"
Meowth smirked. "Aw, come on! I know youse two love-birds were gettin' ready ta play kissy-face again!"
"Shut up!" Jessie snapped as she shrugged my arm off of her shoulders. "We were not!"
Meowth snickered and began to make kissing noises at us.
"Knock it off, Meowth!" I cried, shoving him back into my shirt. "And mind your own business!"
Beneath my shirt, I heard him grumble something.
"Just ignore him, Jess. He's being an idiot," I said.
But as I reached out to take Jessie in my arms again, she backed away from me.
"Jess?"
She folded her arms defensively across her chest.
"Jessie, don't tell me you're actually taking him seriously! You know Meowth always makes cracks about stuff like that!"
Jessie looked at me again and returned to my side, but she still wouldn't let me touch her.
I sighed. The moment had officially been ruined.
And so, we continued on our way in silence, searching for an abandoned building or a sheltered alley where we could stay for the night.
After a few more minutes of walking, two young men emerged from a dark alley and approached us. They were both wearing purple jumpsuits with a big red "K" emblazoned on the front and red boots and gloves to match. Very tacky style, but the colors were nice.
"You're pokemon trainers, right?" one of them asked.
"Yeah, yeah, we've heard the little song and dance -- we're not welcome here!" Jessie growled. "So spare us the crap, and we'll be on our way...."
"Wait! You don't understand!" said the second man. "We don't want to run you out of town! In fact, we want you to stay!"
Jessie and I gave them a quizzical look, and Meowth stuck his head out of my shirt again. "Hmmm?" we asked in unison.
"We've been watching you three since you arrived in town," the first one explained. "We think it was really unfair how those kids were treating you, and we were really impressed with how you handled the situation. We believe you'd be valuable additions to our team."
Jessie raised an eyebrow. "Who are you?" she asked suspiciously.
"We're the servants of the Kas Gym," they replied.
"Gym? As in pokemon gym?" Meowth queried.
"Sort of," said the first one. "Technically we're only a fighting dojo right now, but the Pokemon League inspector is supposed to be here in a few days. If he finds our gym satisfactory, then he'll bestow us with official Pokemon League status!"
"That's wonderful! Congratulations!" I exclaimed.
"It's not that simple, I'm afraid," said the second. "You see, there's another gym in this town -- the Yas Gym...."
"So?" we asked.
"Only one gym in this city can have official Pokemon League status, and the Yas Gym seeks to obtain it, just as we do," they explained.
"Oh, I get it," said Meowth. "Youse guys are just lookin' for new recruits ta help ya get rid of dis other gym!"
"No! It's more than that!" the first Kas trainer interjected.
Jessie smirked. "Is that so? Then tell me. What makes you any different from that other gym? Why are you so much better than they are?"
"The trainers of the Yas Gym are cowards who have no honor!" they cried in unison. "Do you know why this city is falling apart?! Do you know why the citizens hate and fear pokemon trainers so much?! It's because of them! They don't deserve to become an official Pokemon League gym!"
"Heh. I'll bet if we spoke to some trainers from the Yas Gym, they'd say the exact same things about these guys," I muttered to Jessie and Meowth.
"No doubt," Jessie muttered back. "Meowth is right -- they're just spouting propaganda to get new recruits."
"Please. For the sake of Dark City...for the honor of Pokemon League, will you noble trainers help us?" they asked.
Meowth frowned. "Forget it, buddy!" he snapped. "Why don't ya find some other trainers ta scam? We ain't gonna become fodder in yer little gym war!"
"Yeah!" Jessie and I said.
"Wait!" they cried as we turned to leave. "We'll make it worth your while! You'll be paid handsomely for your services, and you'll have warm beds and hot meals...."
This made us stop for a moment.
"....And when Kas becomes an official Pokemon League gym in a few days, the three of you will be rewarded with official gym badges!" they continued.
Those were the magic words.
"Did ya hear dat?!" Meowth exclaimed. "Hot meals and warm beds! Dat's exactly what we was lookin' for!"
"And they said they'd pay us!" I added. "We could use the extra money!"
"Plus, we'll be helping them become an official gym!" said Jessie. "Maybe if there was a real gym in this town, the people would stop being so mean to pokemon trainers! And the best part of all -- we'd earn our first official gym badge!"
"You're right, Jess! Once we have one badge, earning others will be easy!" I told her.
Jessie got a sparkly, far-off look in her eyes. "Oh, I've always wanted my very own set of gym badges!" she sighed. "If we made it to Pokemon League, we could show the world what great trainers we really are...and put that arrogant little twerp, Ash, in his place!"
I closed my eyes and pictured it -- the three of us on center-field in Indigo Stadium, doing a victory-dance while Ash walked away in disgrace. (And it's not such a ridiculous notion, either! If he had to fight us in a fair match instead of getting his Pikachu to electrocute us, like he always does, I'll bet we really could win!) Then, after the twerp gets booed off the field, I'd take Jessie in my arms and tell her that I love her...and she'd tell me that she loves me, too. And then, we'd kiss, and the crowd would start cheering again....
*WHACK*
I felt Jessie's paper fan come down on top of my head.
"Stop day-dreaming!" she snapped.
Oh, well. Back to reality.
"All right. Ya got yerselves a deal," Meowth told the Kas trainers.
"But we insist on getting the money up front," Jessie added.
"Of course, of course!" they replied. "You won't receive the badge until everything is official, though."
"Of course," she echoed.
They nodded. "Excellent! Please follow us."
@->->-
The Kas Gym was a large fighting dojo on the south end of town. (And the Yas Gym was a large fighting dojo on the north end of town, we soon learned.) The two trainers led us through the alley from which they'd first approached us and down several streets until we arrived at our destination.
"You'll have to speak with our leader first," the trainers informed us as we entered the gym. "Before you join us, he needs to determine if you're worthy."
"How does he do that?" I asked.
"You've gotta face him in a pokemon battle," came the reply. "You don't have to beat him, of course. Nobody's beaten our leader's Electabuzz -- not even the Yas Gym's Scyther! But if you do well against him, or if he likes your style, you're in!"
"Sounds fair enough," said Jessie.
The two trainers took us down a long corridor. When we reached the end of it, they pushed a door open and gestured for us to enter the room. "Our leader is in here," they told us.
When we went inside, we saw a short, stocky man sitting cross-legged on a straw mat. A large, muscular Electabuzz was seated across from him. Both of them had their eyes closed, as if they were meditating.
"Dis had better be good!" the man growled as he opened his eyes and looked over at us.
"Sir! We've brought these two trainers and their pokemon to join the ranks of the great Kas Gym!" the trainers who'd brought us there said.
The gym leader rose to his feet and studied us for a moment. "Trainers?! Dey look more like a couple of drowned Rattattas ta me!" he remarked. He then frowned at me and began to jab at the big lump in my shirt. "And dis one's really outta shape!"
"Hey! Quit pokin' Me-owth!" the cat cried as he crawled out of my shirt and onto my head once again.
"A t-t-talkin' c-c-cat?!" the gym leader stammered. "H-h-how did y-y-you train it ta...."
"Hah! We're just that good!" Jessie laughed. She then winked at me and Meowth.
"Heh, heh. Yeah! Dey sure did a great job of trainin' me, all right!" said Meowth.
"Talk is cheap -- pokemon trainin' is all about power," he said as he regained his composure once again. "Care ta face my Electabuzz and find out just how powerful ya really are?"
"You bet we do!" Jessie replied.
"How are we going to do this, Jess?" I asked her. "Do we take turns fighting him, do we attack together, or...."
"I want youse guys ta hit me with yer best shot!" the gym leader replied before she could answer. "Electabuzz is used ta fightin' large groups of enemies -- go ahead and use everything ya got!"
Jessie grinned and took out her poke ball. "Bring it on!"
The gym leader nodded. "Go, Electabuzz!"
Suddenly, the pokemon's eyes flew open, and he began to roar and pound his chest.
Jessie and I held our ground and threw our poke balls.
"Go, Arbok!"
"Weezing, go!"
As our two pokemon emerged, I suddenly remembered something -- I'd captured a Weepinbell in the Safari Zone about a month ago!
Jessie's face lit up when she saw me bring out my other poke ball. "Oh! I forgot all about that one!"
I hadn't used Weepinbell much since I'd captured him, but I figured it was time to change all of that. It was time to work with my new pokemon and make him every bit as wonderful as my Weezing!
"Get in there, Weepinbell!" I laughed as I threw the second poke ball.
"You, too, Meowth!" Jessie said, grabbing the cat by the scruff of his neck and tossing him into the fray as well. (I certainly hoped that Jessie would catch another pokemon soon. It didn't seem fair that I had two now, and she had only one.)
"Dis'll be too easy," said the gym leader. "Electabuzz! Thunder Punch!"
The electric pokemon roared and pounded his chest again. Then, his biceps began to glow with electricity as he powered-up.
"Meowth! Fury Swipes!" Meowth commanded himself as he unsheathed his claws and charged forth.
But just as he was about to slash, Electabuzz swung his fist and sent him flying into the wall.
Meowth groaned and slid to the floor. "Ugh...first round knock-out...."
The gym leader laughed. "Now hit 'em with yer Thunderbolt!"
Jessie and I exchanged smiles. We'd faced enough electric attacks to know how to handle this situation!
"Weezing! Sludge attack!"
"Arbok! Wrap attack!"
As Electabuzz prepared to electrocute our pokemon, Weezing ducked in and spit a river of black sludge into his eyes. Unable to see, he forgot his Thunderbolt and began to thrash wildly about. Taking advantage of his vulnerability, Arbok wound herself around him and squeezed until he fell to the ground, unconscious.
"N-no! Nobody's ever beaten my Electabuzz before -- he's the Kas Gym's most powerful pokemon!" the gym leader gasped.
"Guess it's not always about raw power, after all," I muttered to Jessie.
"Yeah! It takes brains to win a match, too!" she muttered back.
"Youse two are stronger den ya look," he said to us. "How'd ya like ta be the number one bodyguards of the Kas Gym?"
"Number one bodyguards?!" Jessie said in disbelief.
"We're that good?!" I exclaimed.
He nodded. "Yer the best damned trainers I've seen in a long time! The Yas Gym better watch out now dat we've got youse guys on our side!"
The two of us exchanged smiles again.
"Come on," the gym leader said, opening the door and motioning for us to follow him. "I'll show ya around."
Jessie and I thanked our pokemon for a job well done and called them back. Then, I picked up Meowth, who was still lying on the floor, and we followed the gym leader.
He led us back down the corridor and into a large common area. There were about thirty young men kneeling at three long Japanese-style tables, talking amongst themselves and eating bowls of steamed rice. "Dis is the mess hall," he informed us. Then, he stepped into the room and shouted, "Hey! Listen up!"
The trainers fell silent and looked up at their leader.
"We got a couple of new bodyguards," he announced. "Dere names are...." He turned to face us again. "Who are youse guys, anyway? I never heard yer names."
Jessie, Meowth, and I grinned at each other and chuckled. It was time for a formal introduction!
"Prepare for trouble!" Jessie cried, stepping into the mess hall.
"And make it double!" I said, coming to her side.
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To unite all peoples within our nation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jessie!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"
"Meowth! Dat's right!" Meowth said, doing a back-flip from my arms and landing on my shoulder.
The members of the Kas Gym stared at us in wide-eyed shock for a moment. Then, they began to applaud!
"Wow! Is dat how ya always introduce yerselves?!" the gym leader asked.
"Yep! We can't make an entrance without the motto!" came Meowth's reply.
He raised his eyebrows. "I'm impressed! Youse guys must be real professionals!"
"Heh. Dat's a new one," Meowth muttered to me and Jessie.
"Yeah! Professionals!" Jessie and I replied, grinning at the gym leader.
He nodded approvingly. "Well, you seem pretty capable. I'll just leave youse guys ta get some dinner and get acquainted with the other trainers," he told us as he headed back to his quarters.
At the mention of dinner, I remembered just how hungry I was. "Sounds good to me," I said.
"Come on! Let's get some grub!" Meowth exclaimed.
"Yeah!" Jessie and I said in unison.
As we made our way towards the kitchen, however, I heard somebody say, "Hey, gorgeous! Why don't you recite a motto for me?" Then, I heard Jessie cry out. When I looked, I saw one of the trainers pinching her on the butt.
A fire began to burn in her eyes, and at least five veins popped out on her forehead. "HOW DARE YOU?!" she screamed.
The trainer chuckled. "Ooh! A little spit-fire! This'll be fun!"
When he said this, he and several other trainers began to crowd around Jessie, grabbing at her and using lame pick-up lines. The angrier she became and the more she threatened them and tried to fight them off, however, the more turned-on they became, and the more they kept hitting on her.
I was enraged! Who did these guys think they were, pawing at Jessie like she was some kind of object?! Why couldn't they take "no" for an answer?! Why couldn't they leave her alone?!
"Why, I oughtta...." Meowth growled, unsheathing his claws. He was just as angry as I was!
Now I realized something. Jessie couldn't handle this on her own! Those guys didn't take her seriously, and they weren't going to listen to her protests -- she needed help...and I had to be the one to help her....
"THAT DOES IT!!!!!" I shouted, pushing the trainers away from Jessie and standing protectively in front of her. "GET YOUR GODDAMNED HANDS OFF OF JESSIE AND LEAVE HER THE HELL ALONE, YOU PERVERTS!!!!!"
All of the trainers stopped what they were doing and stared at me for a moment. Then, they obediently backed away.
"Whoa! You tell 'em, Jimmy!" Meowth exclaimed.
"Hey, I'm sorry, man!" said the guy who had originally pinched her. "I didn't know she was your woman!"
"Yeah."
"Sorry."
"We didn't know."
Jessie sweatdropped when they said this, and I felt a river of sweat rolling down my face, too.
Meowth snickered. "So, dey think youse guys are a couple, huh?"
"Hmmmph!" Jessie grumbled.
My heart fluttered. Jessie and I as a couple? What a wonderful thought!
"We can use dat ta our advantage," the cat continued. "Think about it, James! You can demand anything ya want from dese guys because yer outraged about dem hittin' on yer woman!"
Jessie muttered something under her breath.
"Just go along with it, Jess!" Meowth said, jumping from my shoulder to hers. "Dese guys are gonna keep harrassin' ya if dey think yer single! I know it ain't fair, but ya gotta let me and James protect ya for awhile!"
She scowled and closed her eyes. "Fine. I'll do it," she grumbled after a moment of hesitation.
Well, I couldn't have been happier with the arrangement, but why was Jessie so repulsed? Was the idea of being my girlfriend (even if it was just pretending) really so horrible?
"Den come on! Let's milk dis for all it's worth!" Meowth exclaimed.
I nodded and steeled myself. Then, still keeping Jessie behind me, I addressed the trainers once again. "All, right, listen up!" I snapped. "A simple apology isn't enough to make up for you hassling my girlfriend!"
Jessie...my girlfriend...I just LOVE the way that sounds! I said to myself.
"Uh...what do you want we should do, then?" one of them asked.
"I don't want you people anywhere near my Jessie if you can't behave like civilized human beings!" I told them. "I don't want you touching her, I don't want you flirting with her...I don't even want you LOOKING at her the wrong way!"
"We understand...and we really are sorry!" said the trainer who'd caused all of the trouble to begin with. Then, to the man sitting next to him, he muttered, "Who could blame him for bein' so pissed? If I had a woman like that, I wouldn't let her near another man, either!"
Behind me, I could hear Jessie muttering a string of curses under her breath. I knew that none of them were directed at me, but somehow, I could tell that I was going to be getting a mallet-whack later.
I frowned at them. "Just stay away from her," I growled.
"And bring us some food, dammit!" Meowth added.
"Right away!" several trainers said, darting into the kitchen. A couple of minutes later, they returned with three bowls of steamed rice and three sets of chopsticks. Then, they poured us each a mug of hot green tea.
"Now dat's more like it!" Meowth said as he grabbed his chopsticks and dug into his rice.
The Kas trainers just sat and watched us as we ate our dinner. They were astonished by Meowth's ability to speak, and judging from the idiotic behavior and antiquated attitudes of these guys, it was pretty obvious that the gym hadn't had too many female members in its time. A talking cat and a beautiful woman were bound to attract an undue amount of attention!
Besides, word had gotten out that we'd defeated their leader's pokemon in our initiation battle, and the entire room was abuzz with whisperings of what powerful trainers we were. (Or should I say, what a powerful trainer I was? Even though winning that battle had been a team effort, those guys didn't want to acknowledge that a woman had defeated their leader, so I ended up getting all of the credit.)
Jessie, meanwhile, continued to fume. I wanted to say something in her defense, but I knew that if I told those trainers to give her the credit she deserved, they'd only patronize her. And what's more, she'd think that I was patronizing her, too. No, I knew it was better to say nothing at all. I knew Jessie well enough to know that she'd rather be ignored than mocked.
Once we'd eaten dinner, I demanded separate sleeping and bathing areas for Jessie and myself, arguing that I still didn't trust them enough to get anywhere near her. And, since they didn't want to anger me any further, my demands were quickly met.
Never in my life had I commanded such respect or power, but unfortunately, I couldn't enjoy it. How could I enjoy myself when my best friend resented me?
@->->-
"So, I'm your woman now, am I?!" Jessie snapped after we'd been shown to our sleeping quarters later that night. (One of the other bodyguards had given up his room for us and was now sleeping in the common area with the rest of the trainers.)
"Jessie, we're only role-playing, and you know it!" I said to her. "I'm doing this so those guys will leave you alone!"
"Yeah! We're only tryin' ta protect ya, Jess!" Meowth chimed in.
Jessie sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "I don't need your protection! I could've handled it myself, thank you very much!"
"Oh, really? Well, it sure didn't look like it, ta Meowth!" the cat retorted. "Dose guys were on you like flame on a Charmander's tail, and dere was no way ya coulda' fought all of 'em off! Dey thought you was just playin' hard ta get!"
"He's right, you know," I told her. "Jessie, I hate to say it, but the sad truth is that it's still a man's world. Even in this day and age, there's still a lot of idiots who think women are just sex-objects."
Jessie gritted her teeth and clenched her fists. "You think I don't know that?!" she shouted. "They were groping at me and ogling me like I was some kind of sex-toy...and talking about me like I wasn't even there! And then, to be treated like I belong to you...like I'm your property! Do you have any idea how aggravating...how degrading that is, James?!"
I closed my eyes and sighed. Yes, I knew how it felt to be treated like a piece of property rather than a living person...I knew all too well. Jessie knows that I ran away from home when I was a child because my parents abused me, but she doesn't know the whole story. You see, my parents are extremely wealthy, and I was the heir to their fortune, but I gave it all up. They wanted me to marry a girl who's even more cold-hearted and abusive than they are, just because it would bring more money to the family and put up a good face. My parents and fiance didn't care that I didn't want to get married...because they didn't see me as a real person. To them, I was just a piece of chattel...a vessel to carry on the Woodson family name. So, yes, I did know how Jessie felt. I knew exactly how degrading it was to be objectified.
"Yes. It sucks," I told her. "And it pisses me off that there are still men out there who don't have any respect for women! I know you don't like this arrangement, Jessie. I know you don't enjoy being put into such a vulnerable position, and I don't enjoy acting like I own you. I have all the respect in the world for you, Jess, and I wish more people could see us for what we really are -- equals."
Her expression softened a little when I said this.
"But as much as I hate acting like you belong to me, I hate the alternative even worse!" I continued. "Like Meowth said -- they weren't going to listen to you when you said no. They were going to keep grabbing at you and hitting on you, and...and I just couldn't stand it! And who knows? If they thought nothing of harrassing you like that, then they probably wouldn't have had any qualms about...."
Her eyes widened, and I could tell she knew what I was thinking.
Tears welled up in my eyes. "Jessie, I'd rather die than let anybody violate you!" I cried. "I don't want you to get hurt like that, and if it ever did happen, I'd never forgive myself!"
Jessie came to my side and brushed my tears away. "You really mean that, don't you?" she whispered as she began to cry, too.
I nodded.
Slowly, she put her arms around me and rested her head on my shoulder. I returned her embrace.
"I care about you more than anything, Jess. You're my best friend," I told her. "You've always protected me when I was in danger...now it's my turn to protect you."
Jessie stared into my eyes for a moment and slowly nodded when she saw how genuine my concern for her safety was. "Okay then," she said. "I'll let you protect me, James."
I couldn't help but smile as we tightened our hold on each other. Jessie wasn't the kind of person who liked asking for (or admitting when she needed) help, but she'd just accepted mine. And now that she'd accepted my help, I was determined not to fail her!
"Well, it's getting late," I said at length. "Why don't we get a nice, hot bath and get to bed?"
"Yeah," she agreed. "I've got to get out of these wet clothes before I get a chill!" With that, she pulled free from our embrace, grabbed her backpack, and headed for the bathroom.
Once I heard the water running, I reached into my own backpack and brought out my heavy winter blanket. I then spread it out on the mattress and unrolled my sleeping-bag on the floor.
"Nice sleepin' arrangements, Romeo!" Meowth commented as he unrolled his sleeping-bag next to mine.
"Shut up! We're only pretending, and you know it!" I shot back.
"Yeah, youse two are pretendin', all right," he muttered.
There was no missing the sarcasm in his voice. What had he been implying with that remark? Did he know about my true feelings for Jessie? Did he know that I was only pretending to be interested in her as nothing more than a friend? Did he know that the boyfriend act I was putting on now wasn't an act at all...that I really was in love with her? And was he suggesting that she'd given in so easily because she might feel the same way about me?
I could only hope.
Twenty minutes later, Jessie emerged from the bathroom. She had washed all of the spray out of her hair, and it was now tied back with a little ribbon. She had also changed into her long, pink nightgown and a pair of fuzzy slipper-socks. She looked absoultely adorable!
"I...I made the bed for you," I told her. "I didn't want you to get cold again, so I put my blanket...."
Jessie smiled at me. "Thanks, James," she said softly.
The sound of her voice was so tender, it was almost as if she were flirting with me! I felt my cheeks turning pink at the thought of it. "Well...uh...I guess I'll go take my bath now," I replied lamely.
Jessie nodded and smiled at me again.
Meowth said nothing, just gave me a knowing look and smirked.
@->->-
Oh, THAT was smooth! Why did I have to get so flustered when Jess was flirting with me?! I asked myself as I began to draw my bathwater. I could've flirted right back, and she wouldn't have thought anything of it because we're only pretending to be a couple....
While I was waiting for the bathtub to fill, I started thinking about what Meowth had said about pretending. He was definitely talking about more than just the act Jessie and I were putting on now -- he had to know how I really felt! Why else would he keep making jokes about me and Jessie as a couple? Why else would he have given me that look?
But he wasn't just cracking on me -- he said that both of us are pretending, I said to myself as I peeled off my wet uniform and climbed into the bathtub. Does that mean Jessie feels something for me too, and she's only covering it up?
I closed my eyes and sighed. The hot bathwater felt wonderful to my cold, aching muscles, and the thought of Jessie being in love with me warmed my heart and made me feel good all over!
Wait a sec! If she's really in love with me, then why hasn't she said something? I wondered. She's not the kind of person who minces words....
Maybe she's afraid to tell me -- she has been burned in the past, after all, I reasoned.
But I'm not like those other guys! I really do love Jessie, and I'd never hurt her! Doesn't she know that by now?
I sighed again. It had been a long day, and my mind was becoming too muddled to think clearly anymore. So, I decided to stop thinking about complicated things like my relationship with Jessie for awhile and just relax.
Taking a deep breath, I submerged myself completely in the water, washing away all of the dust and grime that had accumulated from such a long time on the road. I love the feeling of a hot bath. I just wish I could take them more often. It's not every day that Jessie, Meowth, and I get to stay at an inn or a Team Rocket cabin where there's hot, running water -- more often than not, we end up camping out, and we have to take our baths in an icy lake or stream.
But tonight was different. As I resurfaced and began to lather my hair with the rose-scented shampoo that Jessie and I always use, I found my thoughts drifting back to her. Even if we were only posing as a couple, I still felt hopeful. If she really did feel something for me, then maybe this "trial-run" would give her the courage to tell me so. And even if she didn't feel the same way...even if we really were "just friends," maybe this would make her think about me as more than just a friend...maybe it could be the beginning of a real relationship!
A smile spread across my face as I took the soapy washcloth and began scrubbing myself clean. The thought of us as a real couple and the fact that it was a distinct possibility now filled me with joy. Meowth was a genius for suggesting that we should pretend for awhile! (Who knows? Maybe he was doing this on purpose! Maybe he really did know about how I felt, and he was trying to get us together!)
My smile grew even wider at the thought. Good old Meowth!
@->->-
After my bath, I changed into my blue pajamas and my fuzzy Growlithe slippers. (Who cares if I'm "too old" to wear pokemon slippers? I like them because they remind me of my pet Growlithe, Growly! Besides, I think they're cute...and so does Jessie!) When I returned to the bedroom, Jessie was already tucked beneath both of our winter blankets, and Meowth was sound asleep at the foot of the bed. I also noticed that my sleeping-bag was now rolled up in the corner.
"Uh...Jessie, why did you put my sleeping-bag away?" I asked.
Jessie looked up at me and pulled her lips into one of her trademark smirk-smiles. "Well, I thought you were my boyfriend, James!"
I raised an eyebrow. She really wanted me to share the bed with her?!
"You shouldn't have to sleep on the floor," she said in a more serious tone. Then, she peeled back the blankets and patted the spot next to her.
"Thanks, Jess," I said, climbing into bed with her.
She smiled at me again and pulled the covers over us.
"Jessie...you know that I don't expect anything...that I wouldn't take advantage of this arrangement, right?" I asked tentatively.
"Of course I know that, James," she replied as she put her arms around me and rested her head on my shoulder. "You're a perfect gentleman, and I know I can trust you. I wouldn't have asked you to share my bed otherwise."
My heart started racing again. The warmth of Jessie's body as she pressed herself against me, the scent of the rose shampoo that she'd used to wash her hair, the feeling of her warm, sweet breath on my neck -- it was thrilling! It was all I could do to keep from kissing her right then and there!
"Besides," she continued as she began to doze off, "I love it when you hold me...when you keep me warm...."
Slowly, I wrapped my arms around Jessie and returned her embrace. I love holding you, too, I said to myself. Then, I pressed my lips to her cheek and gave her a good-night kiss.
"Good night, James," she muttered.
"Good night, Jessie," I echoed. "Sweet dreams."
I stayed awake for a few minutes after she fell asleep and just enjoyed the feeling of her closeness. Now, more than ever, I was convinced of it -- we were going to be a couple for real someday! As Jessie and I held each other, I drifted off to sleep...and into wondrous dreams of the day when it would happen.
@->->-
When I awoke the next morning, Jessie was still in my arms...and I was still in hers! I couldn't help but smile as I watched her sleep. She looked so peaceful.
After a moment, she slowly opened her eyes and returned my smile. "Good morning, James."
"Good morning, Jess. Sleep well?"
She nodded. "Best night's sleep I've had in a long time!"
"Same here," I told her.
The two of us gazed lovingly at each other for a moment, and I found myself thinking about all of the near-kisses we'd shared yesterday. Now that we were "just pretending," however, maybe it would be possible for me to give her that real kiss!
Unfortunately, before I could muster the courage to attempt it, Meowth woke up and looked over at us. "Good mornin'! Did the two love-birds sleep well?"
Jessie frowned and kicked at him. "Get out of here, you stupid cat!"
Meowth laughed as he dodged her foot. "Oh! Was I interruptin' something again?"
"Shut up!" she snapped, throwing the covers off and jumping out of bed. Then, she grabbed a clean uniform from her backpack and stormed into the bathroom to get dressed.
Meowth's happy expression faded, and he hung his head. "I really was interruptin', wasn't I?" he asked sadly. "I'm sorry, James. I didn't mean ta get in yer way when you was tryin' ta kiss her...."
I blushed again, and a sweatdrop rolled down my face when he said this. He really DID know! But, if he knew, then why the hell was he making this more difficult for me than it already was?! I couldn't decide whether to be nervous because he'd discovered my secret or angry because he knew but kept interfering anyway!
"Oh, mind your own business," I grumbled as I got out of bed and began to get dressed.
Once again, the moment had been ruined.
@->->-
After getting dressed, the three of us went to the mess hall for breakfast, which turned out to be more steamed rice and green tea. Granted, it wasn't the most exciting menu, but it was better than going hungry.
And fortunately, our "cozy couple" act was working -- none of the trainers were ogling Jessie or trying to touch her anymore. They wouldn't dare try anything as long as her "boyfriend" was around!
We ate our breakfast without incident, but all the while, I could sense Jessie's mood becoming increasingly darker. I knew that it wasn't me or Meowth she was angry with -- she was just frustrated because these men wouldn't give her the respect she deserved. Who could blame her for being upset?
"Don't let them get to you, Jess. They're idiots," I whispered into her ear. "Just wait until they see you in action! Then they'll see just how strong a woman can be!"
"Yeah! Yer the best damned trainer in dis entire gym!" Meowth whispered into her other ear. "I bet you could kick all dere asses combined in a pokemon battle!"
This made her smile.
"Just have patience," I told her. "They'll learn to respect you soon enough."
"Thanks, guys," she whispered back.
@->->-
After breakfast, the three of us reported back to the gym leader for our orientation. He gave us official Kas Gym uniforms (those horrid jumpsuits I told you about earlier) to wear and briefed us on the daily routine.
A typical day at the Kas Gym consisted of: breakfast, morning training excersises, lunch, early afternoon training excersises, a late afternoon battle with the Yas trainers, dinner, a brief relaxation period, and finally, lights out.
And as bodyguards (who were considered to be the elite trainers, second only to the gym leader himself), Jessie, Meowth, and I had the added responsibilities of escorting lesser trainers who needed to leave the gym on official business and running errands for the gym leader.
"....And dat's basically what you'll be doin'," he said, bringing his briefing to a close. "Are youse three up to it?"
The schedule and the duties seemed simple enough. We were more than up to the task at hand...especially since there was a lot of money and an official Pokemon League badge in it for us as well!
"Oh, that reminds me," I said. "The guys we talked to last night said we'd be paid in advance for our services."
He nodded. "The Pokemon League inspector is gonna be here on Friday, and today is Wednesday. So, if I pay youse each $100 a day for today, tomorrow, and Friday, dat comes to $300 for each of ya. And you'll get yer Pokemon League badges on Friday, too. Is dat satisfactory?"
My eyes widened. $300 is about how much Jessie, Meowth, and I each earn per week. (Team Rocket field agent isn't exactly the best paying job in the world, you know.) Getting a week's worth of money for only three days of work in addition to our regular paychecks was a pretty sweet deal! And apparently, Jessie and Meowth had done the math, too...and reached the same conclusion that I had.
"You bet it is!" we said in unison.
The gym leader grinned and brought a large strong-box filled with money from a hidden panel in the floor. "Excellent!" he said, handing each of us $300. "Welcome to the Kas Gym!"
@->->-
Once our orientation was complete, Jessie and I changed into our new uniforms and reported to the common area for the morning's training excersises.
Jessie's new outfit was kind of baggy on her because it was actually a man's uniform, and it covered her entire body, but this didn't bother her. Now that she wasn't wearing her Team Rocket micro-skirt and halter-top, the men weren't gawking at her nearly as much, and she felt a little more comfortable.
I know this should have made me feel better too, but it only made me sad. Jessie doesn't wear revealing clothes to attract men or to impress anybody -- she does it for herself. She's got a gorgeous body, and wearing clothes that show it off and accentuate it gives her an air of self-confidence. Wearing that skimpy uniform is her way of telling the world that she likes who she is...that she's proud of who she is. And I certainly don't have any complaints about it! Like I said before, I think she's beautiful, and I really enjoy the view her uniform gives me!
But now, Jessie was covering herself up and trying to hide. These men had reduced her to a sex-object and made her ashamed of her body, and that broke my heart.
(It always makes me mad when people think she's a slut or that she's easy, just because of the way she looks. Nothing could be further from the truth! I know for a fact that Jessie is still a virgin. She once told me that she'd only give herself to a man when she knew for sure that it was true love...that he was the one she was going to spend the rest of her life with. She'd even proven it -- the boys she dated while we were in the bike gang all dumped her because she wouldn't sleep with them. And when we first joined Team Rocket, she'd dated a really sleazy sub-elite member called Antonio. It was pretty obvious that he was only using her for sex, but she didn't give in to him, either. And thus, she got dumped again.
I think it's admirable that she's waiting for true love. Maybe because I am, too. Like her, I'm not going to have sex with somebody that I don't love -- I'm only going to give myself to the woman that I plan on spending the rest of my life with. I'm saving myself for Jessie! And hopefully, that special man she's saving herself for will be me!)
Even though the men weren't staring at her as much now, Jessie still stayed near the back of the room, so as not to attract attention. It was strange to see how shy she had become all of a sudden. This treatment was destroying her self-confidence, and I knew that I had to do something...anything to bring it back!
"Come on, Jess! This is a golden opportunity for us to do some serious pokemon training!" I told her. "If we beef up Arbok and Weezing some, then maybe we'll have better luck the next time we meet those brats...and we'll finally be able to capture Pikachu!"
Her face lit up when I said this. "You're right, James!" she said, bringing out her poke ball. "Let's get to work!"
I smiled. That sounded more like the Jessie I knew!
And so, Jessie, Meowth, and I spent the entire morning in a secluded corner of the gym, battling our pokemon against each other. Arbok, Weezing, and Meowth enjoyed the workout, and it was especially good for my little Weepinbell! As it turned out, using him in the battle against the gym leader's Electabuzz the night before had been a smart move -- even though he hadn't really done anything, he still got loads of experience from being in that battle, and with even more training now, he must have gone up at least three levels! He looked like he was proud of himself for all of the progress he was making, and I was proud of him, too.
After awhile, some of the trainers gathered around to watch me and Jessie battle our pokemon. They laughed and applauded every time Arbok defeated Weezing. But it wasn't because they'd finally realized just how tough Jessie was -- it was because they thought I was just being a gentleman and letting her win. Even now, they still didn't want to admit that she was a more aggressive trainer than I was!
I could tell that this was making her angry again. But pretty soon, they'd have no choice but to admit that they were wrong about her....
@->->-
That afternoon, when the second session of training excersises ended, the gym leader summoned all of us so that we could start preparing for our daily battle with the Yas Gym. Once we were all present and accounted for, we left the gym and marched up the streets of Dark City towards our enemies.
When the citizens of the city caught sight of us, they all disappeared into the safety of their houses, locking the doors and windows behind them. Even those three little boys who'd beaten us up the night before turned and ran in terror at our approach. (Honestly! Why were pokemon battles so terrifying to these people?!)
After a few minutes, our group was approached by a bunch of trainers wearing orange shirts and green overalls with the letter "Y" on them. (Wow! Their uniforms were even tackier than ours!) These were the members of the Yas Gym, no doubt. A tall, lean man, obviously their leader, stepped forward and approached the leader of our gym.
The two leaders started hurling accusations and insults at each other, and all of the trainers shot venomous glares at the members of the opposing gym. I felt a knot forming in my stomach. Something told me that things were about to get ugly.
Suddenly, the Yas leader sent out his Scyther, and our leader sent out his Electabuzz. Once the two pokemon were locked in combat, all of the other trainers began sending out their own pokemon. Then, they began to jump into the fray themselves!
"What the hell is dis?!" Meowth demanded. "I thought we was gonna have a match with dese guys!"
"Yeah!" I agreed. "This looks more like a free-for-all -- they're just using their pokemon to beat the living crap out of each other!"
Jessie folded her arms across her chest and frowned. "Hmmmph! Well, I'm not going to insult my Arbok by throwing her into a street-brawl!"
I nodded. "And I'm not going to insult Weezing and Weepinbell, either!"
"Me-owth, too!" the cat chimed in.
For several minutes, the three of us just stood back and watched in disbelief as the trainers and pokemon of the rival gyms continued to beat each other up.
"Jeezus tap-dancin' Christ! No wonder the people in dis city hate pokemon trainers so much!" Meowth remarked. "If dis is dere idea of pokemon trainin'...."
"You're right!" said Jessie. "How dare they call this a pokemon battle if they're getting their pokemon to attack humans?! God, they're fighting like those twerps!"
Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say the twerps were as bad as these guys, but she did have a point -- attacking fellow trainers was pretty low. Neither of these gyms deserved to become part of the Pokemon League if this was how they used their pokemon!
I sighed. "What have we gotten ourselves into?"
Jessie and Meowth sighed, too, and we hung our heads.
Suddenly, we heard a scream. We looked and saw that one of the Kas trainers was being pummeled by a Hitmonchan, a Primeape, and a Machop. None of us wanted to get involved in this fight, but we couldn't just stand idly by while people were getting hurt -- we had to put a stop to this! Besides, as Kas Gym bodyguards, we had a job to do.
"I'll handle this," Jessie said, throwing her poke ball. "Arbok! Poison Sting!"
"Chaaar-bok!" the cobra hissed as she bared her fangs and fired a barrage of poisoned barbs at the three pokemon who were attacking the trainer.
Since all three of the pokemon were fighting types, they all fell instantly to Arbok's poison attack. Then, Jessie turned her on the other pokemon who were attacking Kas trainers. Before long, all of the Yas Gym trainers' pokemon (and even some of the Kas Gym's -- we didn't want the pokemon on our side attacking humans either...even if they were our enemies) had either been knocked unconscious or surrendered. The only one left was their Scyther, which was still battling our leader's Electabuzz. It didn't look like either pokemon was going to emerge victorious, and neither one was going to back down. It was a stalemate.
"What are we going to do now?" Jessie asked.
"We've got to put a stop to this fight before things get out of control again!" I told her.
"Yeah! But who's gonna break up dat Scyther and Electabuzz?" Meowth queried. "It ain't gonna be Me-owth -- dey'd probably just team up and kick my ass for somethin' like dat!"
"And you can't send Arbok out there again," I said to Jessie. "She looks too exhausted to handle a fight like that."
"You're right. Take a rest, Arbok. You've earned it!" she said, calling back her pokemon. Then, she cupped her chin in her hand and closed her eyes for a moment. "Hmmm...we're not going to put an end to this fight with power -- we need finesse!"
She looked up at me.
I smiled at her and brought out one of my poke balls. "Then I guess that old saying is true -- sometimes the best offense is a good defense!" I remarked. With that, I tossed the ball and released Weezing.
"Wee-zing, weez!" my pokemon greeted me as he emerged.
Jessie, Meowth, and I then approached the gym leader, who was watching the battle between his Electabuzz and his opponent's Scyther unfold.
"Call off your pokemon. This battle is over," I told him.
"No!" he cried. "I ain't backin' down! No way, no how!"
"Whaddaya tryin' ta prove?!" Meowth demanded. "Neither one of ya is gonna win at dis rate! Yer just makin' yerselves look like fools!"
"But if I call off Electabuzz and retreat, den he wins!" our leader argued.
"Victory will be better won if you retreat now and rethink your strategy," said Jessie. "Sometimes you have to lose the battle in order to win the war."
He turned and looked at the three of us for a moment. "Yer right...yer right. But how are we gonna escape? The second I call off Electabuzz, dat guy's gonna command his Scyther ta tear us all ta ribbons!"
"I've already got something planned," I replied, nodding to my pokemon. "As soon as Weezing makes his smokescreen, call off Electabuzz and give the order to retreat."
He nodded.
"Okay, Weezing! Smokescreen!" I commanded.
Weezing drifted over to where the two pokemon were battling and clouded the air with thick, black smoke. Trainers and pokemon alike began to cry out in confusion, and the leader commanded all of us to retreat.
"Scyther! Clear the air with Swords Dance!" I heard the leader of the Yas Gym shout as we all turned and ran. Looking over my shoulder, I saw the clouds of Weezing's smoke being blown away by Scyther, who was spinning around like a top. His razor-sharp blades glinted with a blood-red light in the afternoon sun, and they made a hissing noise as they sliced through the air.
"That's one scary pokemon!" I muttered to Jessie.
"No kidding!" Jessie muttered back. "I'd hate to run into one of those things in the wild!"
Meowth shuddered. "You said it! I sure as hell wouldn't wanna fight one!"
Now all three of us were shuddering. There was just something about that pokemon...something about it that made our blood run cold.
Fortunately, by the time the air was clear and the Yas trainers and pokemon were able to give chase, we were a safe distance away, and they wouldn't be able to catch up to us. Still, we didn't want to take any chances, so we didn't stop running until we were safely within the walls of the Kas Gym once more.
@->->-
Once we were back at the gym, Jessie and I wasted no time in tending to Arbok and Weezing. While we were healing our pokemon, one of the trainers approached us. It was the same guy who'd been giving Jessie a hard time yesterday!
"What do you want?" Jessie growled when she saw him.
"I...wanted to thank you for saving me," he said tentatively. "If not for you and your Arbok, those other pokemon might have really messed me up."
She raised an eyebrow.
"I also wanted to apologize," he continued. "I was wrong about you -- you're a warrior in the truest sense of the word, and you should be treated as such. My behavior yesterday was disgraceful, and I'm sorry."
"Yeah? Well see that it doesn't happen again," she said coldly after staring at him in disbelief for a moment.
He nodded solemnly and took his leave.
A few minutes later, several other trainers approached us...and all of them apologized for the way they'd been treating Jessie!
"I...I don't believe this!" she muttered to me.
"Well, saving those guys after what they did to you took a lot of courage," I told her. "And that's what you are, Jess -- you're a brave, strong, intelligent woman! I knew it wouldn't take them long to figure it out."
"Yeah!" Meowth chimed in. "I'd be shocked if dey still didn't respect ya after dis!"
Jessie smiled at us, and her sapphire eyes began to shine. Now that she'd earned the respect of these men, it looked as if her self-confidence had returned.
I smiled back, but even though I was happy for her, I couldn't help but feel a little down. Now that she was safe from these men, she didn't need to pretend to be my girlfriend anymore. I know it was a purely selfish reason, but I had really enjoyed being her boyfriend...having an excuse to be close to her.
"What's the matter, James?" she asked, placing a hand on my shoulder.
"Oh, nothing," I chuckled, trying my best to hide my disappointment. "It's just that...now that these guys respect you and you don't need protection anymore, you're going to break up with me...."
"You're right -- I don't need you to protect me anymore...." she said.
I smiled at her and nodded, but on the inside, my heart was breaking.
"....But just because I don't need something doesn't mean I don't want it," she continued.
I raised an eyebrow. "Jessie...does that mean...."
She smirked. "Somehow, I don't think seeing one woman kick butt in a pokemon battle is enough to turn men like these into feminists. I may command a little more respect now, but something tells me that they'd start acting like a bunch of idiots again if they knew I was single."
"No doubt," said Meowth. "Dey'd all be fightin' over which one of 'em gets the honor of callin' the Amazon warrior his woman!"
"Precisely," she said. Then, she looked at me again and blushed. "And why would I have the slightest interest in any of them when I'm perfectly happy with the man I've got now?"
This made me blush, too.
Meowth chuckled and turned away. He was finally going to give us a moment of privacy!
Jessie put her arms around my shoulders, and I wrapped mine around her waist. Then, she began leaning closer to me.
Oh, my God! She's going to kiss me again! I said to myself. And this time, I think she means it!
I could feel her heart racing as she pressed herself against me -- it was racing just as quickly as mine! And before long, I could feel her breath on my lips, too! Slowly, I closed my eyes and pulled her closer, but just as I was about to press my lips to hers....
"I luv ya, James," she said softly, turning her head aside, and kissing me on the cheek.
Jessie gazed into my eyes, and I could tell that she meant what she'd said...but she hadn't technically told me that she loved me. She hadn't said, I love you, she'd said, I luv ya -- the friendshippy way of saying it...the way you'd say it to a good buddy. She hadn't meant it in a romantic sense.
Still, knowing that she loved me, even if it was only as a friend, was reassuring. It was better than if she felt nothing at all for me, and besides, the most romantic couples usually start off as nothing more than friends. If this was the beginning of a romance between me and Jessie, then it was getting off to a great start!
"I luv ya, too, Jess," I said, running my fingers through her hair and returning the kiss on the cheek that she'd given me. I love you so much....
The two of us smiled at each other again and remained in our embrace. Yes, this could definitely be the beginning of something more than friendship!
Things were starting to look up.
@->->-
"Heh. Youse two make such a cute couple," Meowth said as Jessie and I snuggled into bed later that night. "And I'm glad yer stickin' together, but we've still got a big problem...."
"Yeah," said Jessie. "These guys and the way they're fighting."
"If they keep this up, neither gym is going to be approved by the Pokemon League inspector!" I said.
Jessie frowned. "And if Kas doesn't become an official gym, then we won't get our gym badges!"
"Well, whadda we supposed ta do about dat?" Meowth asked.
I closed my eyes and assessed our situation for a moment. "We seem to command more respect than ever around here. We can take advantage of that," I remarked.
"James, it sounds like you have a plan!" said Jessie.
I looked at Jessie. She was smiling at me, and a light of pure adoration was shining in her eyes. My heart fluttered, and I returned her smile.
"Well," I began, "I was thinking that maybe we could use our sway to show these guys a different style of fighting."
"I dunno, Jimmy," Meowth said dubiously. "Dat's a pretty big endeavor! How're we supposed ta completely retrain dese guys in just one day?!"
"Do you have any better ideas?!" Jessie demanded, coming to my defense.
"I never said we had to turn them into Samurais," I continued. "Just show them a thing or two about conducting themselves with dignity. That way, when the inspector has to choose between the Kas Gym and the Yas Gym, it'll be pretty obvious which one is deserving of official Pokemon League status and which one isn't."
"Yeah!" Jessie chimed in. "And besides, it's not completely hopeless -- they were able to admit that they were wrong about me. Maybe they'll wise-up and listen to us on this one, too!"
Meowth closed his eyes and considered what we'd just said. "Point," he conceded. "After everything youse guys have done, dey really do respect ya...and if youse guys tell 'em ya know a sure-fire way ta beat the Yas Gym, dey'll do anything ya tell 'em ta do! Maybe dis really can work!"
Jessie smiled at me again. "I know it will!"
I raised an eyebrow. "You mean that?"
"Yes," she replied as she put her arms around me and rested her head on my shoulder, just like she had the night before. "Come Friday, these guys will be an official gym, we'll have our very own official badges...we'll all have everything we want."
"Everything?" I asked.
"Everything," came her reply.
The tender smile she gave me as she drifted off to sleep made me sure that she was talking about more than just badges. Could she have been talking about us becoming a real couple?
I could only hope.
@->->-
The next morning, the three of us reported directly to the gym leader. After all, we couldn't just usurp control of the gym -- we had to do this through him.
"Ah! Just the three I wanted ta see," he said when he saw us.
"Y-you did?" Jessie asked.
He nodded. "I remember, yesterday youse guys told me dat I had ta rethink my strategy in order ta beat the Yas Gym. I wanted ta know what ya had in mind."
Jessie, Meowth, and I grinned at each other. We weren't going to have to convince him to try something new -- he was already willing to do whatever we said! This was going to be easier than we thought!
"Well first off, the way you and your followers are fighting the Yas Gym is all wrong," Jessie told him. "You're dreaming if you think the Pokemon League inspector will approve this gym with the way you're running things!"
The gym leader sweatdropped. "W-what exactly am I doin' wrong?" he asked.
"Hah! Why don't I tell you what you're NOT doing wrong? It'd be a lot quicker!"
That's my Jessie! Not the most tactful person in the world, but she always tells it like it is.
"For starters, Pokemon League generally frowns upon trainers who get their pokemon to attack humans," I told him.
Jessie scowled. "Yeah! That's about as low as you can get!"
I looked over at her, and judging from the angry expression on her face, I could tell what she was thinking about. How many times had that little brat gotten his Pikachu to Thundershock us, his Bulbasaur to Vine Whip us, his Charmander to flame us, his Squirtle to Water Gun us? We'd lost count a long time ago. But he always seemed to use at least one of his pokemon to attack us and send us blasting off again. (Not very heroic, if you ask me.)
"It don't look good when humans jump into the battles, either," Meowth added. "Pokemon battles are for pokemon only!"
"Yeah. When humans get involved, it's just disgraceful," I said.
Suddenly, I found my thoughts drifting to Ash again. I remember, one of the first times we ever battled him, that's exactly what he'd tried to do! Ekans and Koffing had defeated his Pikachu and Pidgeotto, and when he thought he'd lost the battle, he came charging at us with his fists flying and tried to beat us up himself. What a loser!
"Well, how are we supposed ta beat the Yas Gym, then?" he demanded. "If we play by the rules, dey're gonna kick our asses!"
"Not if you listen to us, they won't," said Jessie.
The gym leader gave her a quizzical look.
"Just give us control during training excersises today," she told him.
"Fine," he said. "I don't see how bein' a bunch of wimps is gonna help us win, but I'll give youse guys a chance. We ain't got nothin' ta lose."
The three of us exchanged smiles again. It was time to put our plan into action.
@->->-
"All right, listen up!" the gym leader shouted as he entered the common area.
All of the trainers stopped what they were doing and turned to face him.
"Dese three have a plan for how we can finally get rid of the Yas Gym!" he announced, nodding to us. "Dey're gonna show us how we can win the battle against Yas and become an official gym, so pay attention!"
Suddenly, all eyes were on us.
"Well, first things first," I said after a moment of uncomfortable silence. "We need to work on your battle technique."
The trainers all began to mutter amongst themselves. They obviously didn't see anything wrong with what they were doing!
"Shut up!" Jessie snapped.
Everybody fell silent.
"That's better," she said.
With that, Jessie nodded to me and brought out her poke ball. I did the same.
"Go, Arbok!"
"Go, Weezing!"
"Now watch and learn," Jessie said to the trainers as our pokemon faced each other. "Arbok! Body Slam!"
I reacted quickly. "Weezing! Counter attack!"
Arbok charged towards Weezing, and Weezing met her charge. The two pokemon reeled backwards from the force of their impact.
"Arbok! Paralyze Weezing with your Glare attack!"
"Don't let her treat you like that, Weezing! Fight back with your Smog attack!"
As Arbok's eyes began to glow with an eerie blue light, Weezing pumped out a cloud of black vapor and obscured her vision, making the attack useless.
I chuckled. "Now use your Tackle attack, Weezing!"
As Arbok tried to get her bearings, Weezing charged in again and slammed her. Arbok then fell to the floor and surrendered. (The two of them weren't really hurting each other, you know. Arbok and Weezing are best friends -- just like Jess and me! They'd never actually attack each other in a pokemon battle, and Jessie and I would never dream of forcing them to. They just play-fight when we battle each other.)
Once the smoke in the air cleared, Arbok and Weezing nuzzled each other for a moment before Jessie and I returned them to their poke balls.
"Any questions?" I asked.
Every hand in the room shot up.
"What the hell were we supposed to learn from that?!" one of the trainers demanded.
I rolled my eyes. The subtlety of teaching by example had obviously failed.
"Did any of you see me command Weezing to attack Jessie?" I asked. "And did she sic Arbok on me?"
The trainers all exchanged dubious looks, as if they'd missed something.
"No, we didn't," I answered for them. My patience was wearing thin.
"And did James and I start fighting with each other? Did we get involved in that battle ourselves?" Jessie asked. "No! We left the battling to our pokemon!" She didn't even give them a chance to reply -- she was even more fed-up than I was!
Again, the trainers just exchanged looks.
"What's your point?" one of them asked.
"Yeah! How do you expect us to beat the Yas Gym if we can't use all of our power?!" said another.
Jessie closed her eyes and exhaled in a loud huff. I could see that little vein on her forehead again.
"GRRR! DIS AIN'T ABOUT POWER!!!" Meowth shouted. "CAN'T YA GET IT THROUGH YER THICK SKULLS DAT IN ORDER TA WIN, YA GOTTA SHOW THE POKEMON LEAGUE INSPECTOR WHAT DEY WANNA SEE?!"
Now everybody was staring at Meowth.
"Look," he said, somewhat more calmly. "Ya just gotta trust us and start battlin' the way Jess and Jim showed ya how. I know it ain't as powerful as an all-out assault...and the Yas Gym will probably kick yer asses, but you'll still be the winners!"
"How does getting our asses kicked make US the winners?!" somebody asked.
"That's a very good question," I replied. "But it's very simple -- it's better to fight a battle with dignity and lose than to fight dishonorably and win. If the Pokemon League inspector sees you playing by the rules, you're going to be the ones who're chosen to be an official gym...even if the Yas Gym does win the battle."
The trainers exchanged looks and began muttering amongst themselves once more.
"Shut up!" Jessie shouted again.
Again, the room fell silent.
"Now, here's the deal," she said more softly. "There will be no battle with the Yas Gym today -- you're going to stay here and practice battling your pokemon the RIGHT way!"
"The pokemon battle is a duel...an art form!" I chimed in. "A real gym wouldn't treat it as nothing more than a street-brawl, and neither should you!"
The members of the Kas Gym considered this for a moment.
"Hmmm...maybe you're right," somebody in the back of the room said.
"Yeah! It's worth a try!" said somebody else.
"Anything to show that lousy Yas Gym that we're the REAL trainers around here!" said yet another trainer.
The gym leader nodded at us. "Dey're all yers. The Pokemon League inspector is gonna be here tomorrow. If youse guys can whip my men into shape by den, not only will I give ya badges, I'll double yer salary, too!"
Our eyes widened when he said this. Now we had even more incentive to help these guys become a real gym!
"Cha-ching!" Meowth exclaimed.
Jessie and I smiled at each other.
"What are we waiting for?!" Jessie asked.
"Yeah!" I replied. "Let's get busy!"
@->->-
And that's exactly what we did -- for the rest of the day, Jessie, Meowth, and I did our best to train the members of the Kas Gym in the art of the one-on-one pokemon battle. First we got them to face-off against us, and then we let them try it on their own. By the end of the day, it actually looked like they were learning how to play by the Pokemon League rules.
Still, we wanted to make sure that they were going to play by the rules when it really mattered, so the next morning, we continued our training session. (And besides, if they were going to be an official gym, it was imperative that they continue to behave themselves. After all, our Kas badges would be worthless if their gym status were revoked for misconduct!)
Fortunately, it really did look like they'd learned their lesson. All throughout the morning excersises, the trainers conducted themselves with dignity during their battles with each other.
At lunchtime, the gym leader and a small group of the other bodyguards approached us.
"I heard the Pokemon League inspector just arrived in town," the gym leader informed us. "I'm goin' out ta meet him...ta make a good impression, ya know?"
"Sounds like a good idea," said Jessie.
He nodded. "I want youse guys ta come with me and the rest of my bodyguards...just in case any Yas scum shows up."
"Hey, Jess, I just thought of something," I whispered.
"What?" she whispered back.
"I'm really impressed with how much these guys have improved over the past couple of days," I told her. "I think we should reward them...pick up something for lunch while we're out. All they ever eat around here is steamed rice and green tea -- let's give them something tastier...and more substantial for a change. I think they'd fare better with better fare, and quite frankly, so would I!"
"Yeah!" she agreed. "I'm getting kind of tired of nothing but rice, too. A decent lunch would be a great morale booster before our big battle this afternoon!"
The three of us nodded at the gym leader. "Count us in!" we said in unison.
@->->-
After leaving the gym, we started heading up the street and into the city. And just like they had the last time, all of the citizens ran in fear and ducked into their houses when they saw us.
It broke my heart to see how paranoid the people of Dark City were just because a few pokemon trainers didn't know how to behave themselves. I hoped that the lessons we'd taught the members of the Kas Gym would stick with them.
"So, where do you think the inspector is?" Jessie asked.
"I'm not sure," came the gym leader's reply.
As he began to speculate about where to find the inspector, I looked and saw that we were approaching the restaurant that we'd been thrown out of the other night.
I gave Jessie a gentle nudge with my elbow. "Hey, Jess. Let's go pick up lunch now!"
"Are you crazy?!" she hissed. "I wouldn't give my business to that dump if I were starving to death!"
I smiled. "But these people are afraid of gym members," I told her. "We can give that jerk a little scare now that we're with the Kas Gym...and score some food in the process! We can just put it on the gym's tab, anyway -- we won't have to pay him ourselves!"
Jessie chuckled. "Hey, you're right! Good thinking, James!"
With that, we approached the gym leader and told him of our lunch plans. He agreed that it was a good idea, and since we hadn't yet seen any Yas trainers, he decided to let us go.
"Just meet us back at the gym in an hour," he told us. "We've still gotta prepare for dat big battle dis afternoon."
"An hour! You got it!" said Meowth.
The three of us giggled as we approached the restaurant. This was going to be fun!
@->->-
Sure enough, the moment we stepped through the door, a sweatdrop formed on the innkeeper's face, and he blanched. We were bundled up in big cloaks and scarves since it was such a chilly day, so he didn't recognize us as the travelers he'd thrown out of his inn earlier that week, but there was no missing the Kas logo on our uniforms. He knew that we weren't people to be trifled with.
"Wh-wh-what d-d-do y-y-you w-w-want w-w-with m-m-me?!" he stammered.
The three of us stepped closer, and he backed away, tripping on his own foot and falling to the floor in the process. We weren't really going to hurt him, but it was fun to watch him squirm!
"Hey, cook! Give us the lunch special for thirty people!" Meowth replied.
"And make it quick -- we have to be back at the Kas Gym in less than an hour!" said Jessie.
"And throw in a large order of onion rings while you're at it!" I added.
"I can't do that," the innkeeper replied nervously. "The Kas Gym hasn't paid its bill in over two years!"
"You mean we can't put it on our tab?!" Jessie snapped.
"Don't you know that we're Kas Gym bodyguards?!" I said, coming to her side.
"Please! I don't want trouble!" he whimpered.
"Heh. Ya won't give us food, but ya don't want trouble?" Meowth said sarcastically, placing a paw on his shoulder.
Jessie chuckled and knealt down next to him. "You're talking to the wrong people if you don't want trouble!"
"I don't want any trouble!" the innkeeper repeated more loudly.
Oh, he was asking for it! How could we resist?!
Jessie's ears perked. "Trouble?" she said.
"Trouble?" I echoed, my ears perking, too.
Jessie sprang to her feet and came to my side once again. "We have to say it!" we cried in unison.
"Prepare for trouble!"
"And make it double!"
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To unite all peoples within our nation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jessie!" she exclaimed, pulling off her cloak.
"James!" I announced, pulling off my own.
"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"
"Meowth! Dat's right!"
Well, now that he saw who we really were, the innkeeper became more terrified than ever. He knew that we were back for revenge.
"Go, Arbok!" Jessie shouted, throwing her poke ball.
"Go, Weezing!" I shouted, throwing my own.
With our two pokemon hovering over him, the innkeeper looked like he was ready to pass out. (But like I said before, we weren't really going to attack him -- we just wanted to scare him a little more since he still insisted on giving us such a hard time.)
Before we could ask him to reconsider and give us some food, however, I heard an annoying voice shout, "Go, Pikachu!"
Oh, no! Not HIM again! I said to myself.
Then, I heard a little girl's voice shout, "Go, Staryu!"
Jessie looked at me and frowned. She was probably thinking the exact same thing I was.
Then, a deeper voice shouted, "Go, Vulpix!"
Just as we were about to command our pokemon to attack, Brock's Vulpix sprang forth, and the three of us were engulfed by the raging inferno of her fiery breath.
"Rare," Meowth moaned, staggering backwards a little.
"Medium," Jessie groaned, taking out her compact mirror and examining the burn marks on her face.
"Well done," I (who'd been in the front and gotten the brunt of the attack) whimpered.
Well, this was an unexpected (and unwelcome) turn of events! If the twerps were in town now, they were going to screw everything up! They were probably going to try and turn the Pokemon League inspector against both gyms and shut them down...which meant that all of our hard work would be for nothing!
We couldn't stay and battle them -- we and our pokemon had been too badly burnt by that Vulpix's Flamethrower attack. Besides, we had to get back to the gym and rethink our strategy. We needed to think of a contingency plan...and fast.
So, Team Rocket went dashing off again.
@->->-
"Damn it all, what're dose brats doin' here?!" Meowth growled when we returned to the gym.
"Screwing everything up for us, that's what!" came Jessie's reply.
"Yeah. What else is new?" I sighed.
"Well, whadda we supposed ta do now?!" the cat demanded.
Jessie and I exchanged looks.
"Ya know all dat stuff we taught dese guys yesterday ain't gonna amount ta nothin'!" he continued.
"Yeah," Jessie grumbled. "If those stupid kids were at the inn, it means they managed to get on the citizens' good side, somehow. They're probably going to put on their little goody-goody act for the Pokemon League inspector and get both gyms shut down before we even get a fair chance to prove ourselves!"
"Dat ain't what I'm talkin' about," said Meowth.
"Then what are you talking about?" I asked.
"Didn't ya see the gym leader and the other bodyguards?!"
"No," Jessie and I replied in unison. (We'd been too busy running for our lives to notice...or care what the gym leader had been up to.)
Meowth sighed. "Dey ran into the Yas trainers again," he told us. "I guess dere leader was lookin' for the inspector too, but all he found was our leader. Dey was fightin' again...street-brawl style."
Jessie and I frowned.
"Dey just don't care," Meowth continued. "Beatin' the crap outta the other gym and runnin' 'em outta town is more important to 'em den becomin' official. Pokemon League inspector or not, dese guys ain't gonna play by the rules dis afternoon. Dis ain't nothin' but a big ol' gang war. Nobody's gonna win."
I hung my head. "So much for our brilliant plans...."
Jessie ran a hand through her hair and began to pace about the room. "Well, where does this leave us? I don't want to be a part of this stupid war!"
"I say we leave town before things get even more ugly than they already are," I suggested. "We put in our three days, we got paid for them up front, there's no way this gym is going to be approved by Pokemon League -- there's nothing left for us here."
"You're right, James," said Jessie.
Meowth nodded. "Let's get outta here."
Just as we were about to return to our sleeping quarters to get our belongings, however, the gym leader and the other bodyguards stormed into the room. All the rest of the trainers of the Kas Gym were with them.
"Dere you are!" the leader cried when he saw us. "I been lookin' all over for youse three!"
Jessie and Meowth sweatdropped, and I could feel sweat running down the side of my face, too.
"Heh, heh. How did things go with the Pokemon League inspector?!" Meowth asked, trying his best not to sound nervous.
The gym leader frowned. "We didn't see no inspector -- he ain't here yet!" he snapped. "Dat whole thing about him arrivin' early was just a hoax! Goddamned Yas probably started dat rumor ta flush us out and run us outta town before the inspector really does show up!" He then turned to his followers and began screaming about how they were going to crush the Yas Gym once and for all later that afternoon.
The Kas trainers, who'd merely been angry before, were whipped into a battle-frenzy by their leader's heated speech.
"But the cultists are my friends -- dey even offered ta wash my brain," Meowth muttered sarcastically.
Jessie and I frowned as we looked at the members of the Kas Gym again. Meowth was right -- they were all brainwashed! Now more than ever, we were convinced that the impending battle with Yas was going to be a disaster...and that we had to get away from Dark City as quickly as possible.
Just as we were about to take our leave, however, the gym leader turned and faced us again. "And where do ya think YER goin?!" he demanded.
"Uh...we ran into an...unexpected glitch while we were in town," Jessie replied lamely. "We still have some important matters to attend to, so...."
"Oh, no ya don't!" he snapped. "Ain't nobody leavin' dis gym until I give the orders! I don't want none of my men gettin' captured by dose Yas dogs...and no traitors feedin' 'em inside information!"
Jessie, Meowth, and I exchanged despairing looks. It was hopeless -- all of our plans had fallen apart, and we were caught in the middle of this war, whether we wanted to be or not.
@->->-
The next few hours were spent in preparation for the big battle with the Yas Gym. All of the trainers were busy pumping themselves and their pokemon up, but the three of us kept to ourselves in a far corner of the room.
"How are we going to get out of here now?" Jessie whispered.
"I dunno...I dunno...." Meowth whispered back.
I hung my head and sighed. How did we get ourselves into this mess anyway? I asked myself. I just wanted a place to stay for the night so that Jessie could stay warm and dry and not get sick again. And look what happened -- we get stuck with a bunch of jerks who tried to make her their sex-toy, and now we're their prisoners and have to fight in some stupid war that we don't have anything to do with! Why did everything have to go so wrong?
At that moment, I didn't just feel helpless -- I felt worthless, too. I'd been trying to protect my Jessie, but instead, I'd only led her into even more danger. Tears welled up in my eyes as I thought about it. I loved her with all my heart and soul, but I knew that she could never love a man she couldn't trust. And how could she ever trust me after the way I'd screwed this up?
"Hey! Don't cry, Jimmy!" Meowth said softly when he saw the expression on my face. "We been in worse positions before -- we'll find a way outta dis!"
I looked down at the cat. Then, I looked at Jessie. And as I gazed into her sapphire-blue eyes, I realized that this was no time to wimp-out -- I had to do something!
I turned and watched the Kas trainers for a moment, and I suddenly got an idea.
"James?" Jessie said when she saw the smile spreading across my face. "James, what do you have planned?"
"It's so simple!" I told her. "Look at how these guys are battling -- the fight is the only thing that exists to them. We can take advantage of that!"
Now Jessie and Meowth were smiling, too.
"You're right, James!" said Jessie. "When that battle with the Yas Gym breaks out, those guys will be so busy fighting that they won't be paying any attention to us -- we can just sneak away!"
"Precisely!" I replied. "All we have to do is go along with them until the big battle. Then, we'll make our escape!"
Jessie and Meowth nodded, and we continued to watch the Kas trainers. Soon, we'd be free of this accursed gym...free of this accursed city.
It was just a matter of time.
@->->-
Before long, the gym leader returned and brought an end to the training session. Once he had everybody's attention, he started rousing his men with another speech about how they were finally going to crush the Yas Gym once and for all.
The Kas trainers started screaming bloody murder as the gym leader unlocked the doors and we began our march into the city. Once again, all of the citizens ran in terror at our approach, and they looked more frightened than ever -- they knew that this was the decisive battle.
Not that it mattered to us. We'd be long gone by the time it was over.
Presently, we were approached by the forces of the Yas Gym, and once again, the two leaders started spouting every cliche in the book about how the city wasn't big enough for two gyms, how they were going to make each other pay, etc., etc., etc.
The intelligence of these Neanderthals was certainly nothing to brag about.
As the screaming-match intensified, the trainers from the rival gyms started lobbing their poke balls at each other, and when the enraged pokemon emerged, they started beating the daylights out of everything in sight.
Now was our chance.
Taking advantage of the utter chaos that surrounded us, Jessie, Meowth, and I quietly slipped away. And just as I'd predicted, nobody noticed us taking our leave because they were too intent on the battle.
"Ya know, it'd be a lot safer if we went above the fray," Meowth suggested. "We're less likely ta be noticed and dragged back into the fight if we're up on the rooftops instead of in the streets."
"Good thinking, Meowth," said Jessie. "We can just roof-hop until we get to the edge of town...."
"....And then we'll be home-free!" I said, finishing the thought for her.
With that, the three of us nodded and ducked into a back alley. Using a rickety fire escape, we climbed to the roof of an old building and continued making our way out of town.
The battle in the streets below raged on, and the fighting became so fierce that some of the pokemon were sent flying. Everything in the city was falling apart to begin with, but the building we were standing on was particularly dilapidated, and the force of the impact when the battling pokemon slammed into the building was enough to shatter the foundation and raze the entire structure.
The roof split apart and gave way beneath our feet, and Jessie, Meowth, and I plummeted back to the ground. Somewhere in the distance, I could hear that twerp, Ash, shouting something. As I tried to regain my bearings and get back to my feet, however, I looked up and saw three large barrels rolling down the cracked eaves of the roof.
"Wha-what's going on?" Jessie moaned, rubbing her sore head.
As if in reply to her question, the barrels came open, and several gallons of red paint spilled down on us.
Red paint?! I said to myself. What the hell is....
Before I could conclude my thoughts, however, the lids of the barrels fell from the eaves and smashed into our faces.
The world around me went fuzzy, and everything faded to black.
@->->-
When the three of us came to, everything was quiet. It wasn't the eerie quiet that had enveloped the city on the night we'd arrived, however. Instead, it was more of a peaceful quiet.
Looking around, Jessie, Meowth, and I saw the trainers of the Yas Gym and the Kas Gym walking through the streets and acting like the best of friends, as if nothing had ever happened. They were all working together to help rebuild the city that they'd destroyed. We smiled as we watched this, but our smiles quickly turned to frowns when we saw the Twerp Trio proudly looking on. A Nurse Joy with an official Pokemon League inspector badge and the two gym leaders were standing around Ash and thanking him.
"What the hell?!" Meowth hissed. "We try ta teach dose morons how ta act like civil human beins and get completely screwed over, and dat twerp just marches into town, paints everything red, probably gets his little rat ta shock everybody, and he's a goddamned hero?!"
I sighed. My entire body was aching, and we probably had lots of scrapes and bruises underneath all of the red paint that coated us. It's not fair! I said to myself. It's bad enough that we always get blasted off when we try to steal pokemon, but why do bad things have to happen to us when we try to do the right thing, too? Why can't things ever go our way, no matter what we do?
"Well, that was a complete waste of time," Jessie groaned. She was every bit as frustrated about this as I was, no doubt.
"It's all over," I moaned.
Suddenly, Meowth's eyes widened. "Uh...not yet, it ain't," he said nervously.
Jessie and I looked as the cat pointed up the street. The gym leaders' Scyther and Electabuzz were charging towards us at full-tilt, and it looked like they were out for blood.
Our blood.
The three of us turned and ran as fast as we could, and Scyther and Electabuzz gave chase.
"Why?!" I cried as I felt the Scyther's blades slashing at me. The back of my uniform was being ripped to shreds, and if I were any slower, I probably would have been, too. "Why are they after us?! What did we ever do to them?!"
Jessie screamed as she jumped forward and missed a Thunder Punch from Electabuzz by mere inches.
"It's the red paint!" Meowth shouted. "Scyther and Electabuzz go into a battle-rage whenever dey see the color red! I guess it makes 'em think of blood, or somethin'!"
Oh, great! That means they're never going to stop chasing us! That was when I got another idea. Or does it....?
Taking care not to slow my pace, I grabbed one of the poke balls from my belt. "Weezing! Smog attack!" I commanded.
"Wee-zing!" my pokemon replied as he intercepted Scyther and Electabuzz and clouded the air with his noxious black vapors. The smog blinded them and made them choke.
While they were temporarily unable to see, I called back Weezing, and Jessie, Meowth, and I wasted no time in making our escape.
@->->-
We didn't stop running until we'd reached the forest several miles to the west of Dark City. The trees didn't provide much cover since most of them had shed their leaves for the winter, but it was still better than being out in the open. Confident that we'd finally lost the enraged Scyther and Electabuzz, we paused to catch our breath.
There was an uncomfortable silence between the three of us for a moment, but it was quickly broken by Meowth.
"Well, today sucked, but look at the bright side!" he said.
Jessie frowned. "There's a bright side?"
Meowth smiled. "Yeah! Think about it -- how long d'ya think the buddy-buddy act is gonna last between dose two gyms? Dey're probably just behavin' now cuz dat Nurse Joy is watchin' 'em, but I guarantee ya, as soon as her back is turned, dey're gonna go back ta fightin'!"
"What makes you so sure?" I asked. "And why is that a good thing?"
"Dose guys are morons!" he replied. "We tried our best ta make 'em behave, and dey didn't learn a goddamned thing! So what, exactly, are dey supposed ta learn with dat stupid kid teachin' 'em? I'll tell ya -- dey ain't gonna learn nothin'! I give 'em a few days...a week tops before dey go back ta fightin' and tearin' the city apart...."
Now Jessie was smiling, too. "And then, the heroic deeds of Ash Ketchum aren't going to mean a thing to the people of Dark City!"
I sighed. "I still don't see why that's such a good thing. If it means putting an end to the fighting and bringing peace and prosperity to the city again, I'll admit it...I'm glad the twerp was able to do something...."
Jessie's smile quickly became a frown again, and she whacked me over the head with her paper fan. "How dare you take that little brat's side?!" she shouted.
Well, normally I just keep quiet whenever Jessie's temper flares, but my day had been every bit as rotten as hers, and I was in just as foul a mood as she was. The last thing I needed was for her to be yelling at me when I had a point to make.
"Then who would you prefer I sided with?!" I shot back. "Those idiot trainers who used us and harassed you?! I'm sorry, but I don't see how them not learning anything from this works out for us!"
Jessie folded her arms across her chest and turned away from me.
I gently placed my hands on her shoulders and turned her to face me again. "Jessie, for once, the twerps had the same goal that we did. Sure, they had different reasons for doing it, but the fact remains that they wanted to end that war as much as we did. So, even though we failed, we should still be happy that they were able to do something...that the greater good has been served."
Tears welled up in her eyes as I said this. "I know, James. I am glad the war is over...and I do hope that those gym trainers really learned something," she replied. "But why is it always the twerps who get to be the heroes? Why can't it ever be us?"
"Jessie...."
She shook her head and pulled away from me.
Meowth looked up at us. "I guess yer right, James," he said sadly. "Dere ain't nothin' good about dose guys bein' idiots. But Jessie is right, too, ya know. Greater good or not, it ain't much of a comfort dat dose twerps beat us again."
Jessie closed her eyes and sighed.
Suddenly, Meowth's expression brightened once more.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I just thought of somethin' -- maybe it wasn't just the twerps...maybe we had somethin' ta do with it, after all," came his reply.
Jessie opened her eyes again.
"What do you mean?" we asked in unison.
"Well, dey may be idiots, and dey may be tryin' ta learn from an idiot, but it ain't hopeless -- the fact remains dat dey're tryin'!" Meowth explained. "Even when we were at the Kas Gym and we told 'em dere was a better way, dey really looked like dey wanted ta learn...and dey were even able ta behave for awhile!"
Now Jessie was smiling again. "So, that's the bright side...that there's hope."
I nodded. "Hopefully, what we taught them, what those kids taught them, and what Nurse Joy told them will make an impression. Maybe it wasn't a total loss after all!"
"Hey! I just thought of somethin' else!" the cat exclaimed.
Jessie and I looked at him.
"We got somethin' outta dis, after all!"
"What's that?" we asked.
"Well, we may not have gotten any gym badges outta the deal, but dey didn't completely take us for a ride -- we're up $900 now, ain't we?"
"Hey! You're right, Meowth!" I said.
"So, it wasn't a total loss," said Jessie.
The three of us smiled at each other. Maybe things really had worked out for the best -- we'd played a role (even if it was only minor) in restoring peace to Dark City, we'd managed to survive and escape in one piece when things got ugly, and we'd even made a little profit from it!
It had been a good few days, after all.
And yet another good thing had come of our ordeal, as I was about to find out....
@->->-
Knowing that it would be more prudent to stay hidden while we were still coated with bright red paint, the three of us decided to remain in the forest rather than venturing back onto the open roads. We found a little path that led deeper into the woods and followed it for awhile, and as luck would have it, the path brought us to a Team Rocket safe-house just a couple of hours before sunset.
"First things first," Jessie said as we walked through the door. "I have GOT to take a bath and get changed out of this horrid outfit!"
"Definitely," I agreed as I looked down at myself. I needed a bath just as much as she did, and so did Meowth, for that matter.
Jessie went into one of the bedrooms so that she could get undressed, and I looked around the cabin for a few minutes. With two bedrooms, a den, a kitchen, and a dining area, the whole setup was pretty cozy, but sadly, there was only one bathroom. Since I couldn't very well barge in while Jessie was bathing, I was going to have to wait my turn...and as messy as that paint was and as long as it takes Jessie to wash that mane of hair even when it isn't dirty, I was going to be waiting awhile.
But I didn't feel like waiting -- the paint fumes smelled awful, and they were giving me a headache. And on top of that, I was sweaty and grimy, too. I couldn't sit around like that, but I didn't really have a choice.
While I was waiting, I went into my own room and peeled off my Kas Gym uniform, which was now stained and shredded beyond recognition. (Thank goodness it was just that fashion faux pas that got ruined instead of my nice Team Rocket uniform!) As I looked at the slashes that Scyther had made across the back of the uniform, I breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that it hadn't ripped me apart as well.
It felt good to be out of those filthy clothes, but now that I was wearing nothing but my boxer shorts, I suddenly realized how cold it was. Since it wouldn't make sense to put on clean clothes while I was still dirty, I decided to start a fire and warm the place up.
As I left my room again and started piling some logs and kindling into the fireplace, Meowth approached me. "Heh, heh, heh. Nice underwears, Jimmy!" he remarked. "Dey match yer face!"
I looked down at the cat and frowned. Who cares if I was wearing black boxers with red hearts all over them?! What business was that of his?! But just as I was about to tell him to shut up and that I didn't need his fashion report, I noticed something -- he wasn't covered with paint anymore!
"Hey, Meowth, how did you get cleaned up so quickly?" I asked as I struck a match and set it to the kindling.
"Well, dat's what I came ta tell ya," he replied. "Whoever picked the location of dis cabin sure knew what dey was doin' -- dere's a hot spring out back! Pretty sweet setup, if ya ask Me-owth!"
I did a double-take when he said this. "A hot spring?!"
He nodded. "A big ol' lake of steamin' hot water, just perfect for bathin'!"
I smiled. I wasn't going to have to wait for my bath after all! "All right!" I exclaimed.
With that, I went to the linen closet in the hallway and got a towel. Before going outside, however, I knocked on the bathroom door. "Jessie?" I said. "Don't rush on my account, Jess -- take all the time you want. Meowth found a nice hot spring out back, so I'm going to take my bath out there."
And Meowth was right -- as soon as I stepped outside, I found myself standing on the shores of a big lake. Steam was rising off the surface of the water, and I could feel the heat radiating from it.
I hung my towel on the branch of a tree. But just as I began to pull off my boxers, there was an immense splash as something leapt up from the surface of the water. The sudden noise and movement startled me, and I fell over backwards.
"AAAAAHHHHH!!!!! LAKE MONSTER!!!!!" I cried, covering my face with my hands and cringing from whatever it was that had jumped out at me.
"Who are you calling a lake monster?!" a familiar voice demanded.
Removing my hand from my face and opening my eyes, I saw Jessie standing in the shallows of the water just a few feet away. And she was completely naked.
Beneath the paint, I could feel my face turning seven shades of red, and my heart started racing a mile a minute. Oh, boy, was I in trouble now!
"J-J-J-Jessie?!" I stammered, turning away from her. "J-Jessie, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to see you...I mean...I didn't mean to...I...I...I...."
"James!"
I stopped babbling and just sat there quietly, waiting for her to start hitting me, or screaming at me and calling me a pervert.
"James, calm down!" she said more softly. "I'm not mad at you!"
"Y-you're not?" I asked, still facing away from her.
"No, I'm not," she replied.
Slowly, I turned and looked at her again. Jessie had submerged herself to the shoulders so that nothing was visible, and she was blushing a little.
A long, awkward silence ensued as the two of us just sat there and stared at each other, our faces growing redder with each passing second.
"So...uh...what are you doing out here, anyway?" we suddenly asked in unison.
After another awkward pause, I decided to speak. "Well, I didn't want to wait for my bath, and when Meowth told me that there was a hot spring out here...."
Jessie raised an eyebrow. "That's strange. While I was getting undressed, Meowth came into my room and told me the exact same thing. He convinced me to take my bath out here and let you use the bathtub...."
That's when the realization struck me.
"Why that little....!" I snapped. "He did this on purpose! I'll bet he's watching us right now and laughing his ass off!"
I looked back towards the cabin, and sure enough, Meowth was watching us through the window. He was covering his mouth with his paws to stifle his laughter, and his face was about as red as ours. I shot him a venomous glare, and he quickly ducked away.
Jessie shook her head and sighed. "That Meowth...."
I frowned. "I'm really, really sorry about this, Jessie. I had no idea you were out here -- I'd never spy on you or try to...."
"I know you wouldn't James," she said, cutting me off. "You're not a pervert like those other guys -- for as long as I've known you, you've always been a perfect gentleman. That's why I don't mind you seeing me like this!"
My eyes widened.
"When I had pneumonia a few weeks ago, it wasn't just my fever talking when I said I didn't mind being naked with you -- I really meant it!" she continued. "Any other man would've taken advantage of me, but you didn't. I know that you respect me...that I'm more than just a sex-object to you. I'm comfortable with you because I trust you, James."
"You do?"
"Yes."
I blushed again. "Thank you, Jessie. That means a lot to me."
Jessie smiled. "It means a lot to me, too."
There was another pause as the two of us stared into each other's eyes, and again, I was the one who broke it.
"Well," I said, getting to my feet, "I guess I'd better go inside and get my bath now, before I make an even bigger fool of myself."
"Wait," Jessie called after me as I grabbed my towel.
"What is it, Jess?" I asked.
"Why go back inside for your bath when you're already out here? There's more than enough lake for the both of us," came her reply. She was blushing more than ever now.
"Jessie?"
"Besides, I need somebody to wash my back...and you'll need somebody to wash yours, too," she continued.
"Are you sure, Jess?" I said. "You're really, really okay with this?"
She nodded. "Come on in, James! The water's fine!"
I smiled shyly at her, and she turned around so that I could take off my boxer shorts. As I was removing them, however, I saw her turn her head ever so slightly and watch me from the corner of her eye. I also saw a smile spread across her lips. So, it wasn't just wishful thinking -- she really did like looking at me!
Once I was naked too, I quickly slipped into the water, and Jessie turned to face me again. I was still incredibly nervous, but I relaxed when I looked into her eyes and saw just how comfortable she really was with this.
She smiled at me again. "Come on. Let's get cleaned up."
The two of us swam out to the deeper water, and Jessie led me to a rock, where she'd set the shampoo and soap. She grabbed a washcloth and poured some of the soap onto it. Then, she gently began to scrub all of the paint off of my face and neck and out of my ears. When she finished, she rinsed out the washcloth and handed it to me so that I could do the same to her.
After we'd scrubbed all of the paint from each other's skin, Jessie poured some shampoo into her hands and began to lather my hair. I'm a little taller than she is, so she had to step closer in order to do this. Her body brushed against me as she reached up and ran her fingers through my hair, and her face was so close to mine that I could feel her warm, sweet breath on my lips! The closeness of her body made my heart start racing again, and I trembled with excitement -- I wanted to wrap my arms around her waist and pull her completely into me...I wanted to press my lips to hers and finally give her the true love kiss I'd always dreamed of giving her! But I couldn't do that. I didn't have the nerve, and I wasn't quite sure of how well she'd take it. I loved how she trusted me enough to let me get this close to her, and I'd be damned if I ever did anything to violate that trust. So instead, I just poured some shampoo into my own hands and began to lather her hair, too.
Neither one of us spoke a word as we bathed each other, and once we were cleaned and rinsed, we continued to sit quietly together. I was too excited to speak, and I knew that if I tried to say anything to her, I'd just end up sounding like a blithering idiot.
"You know, I really missed this," Jessie said at length. "When we first started out on our journey, we used to take baths together all the time, remember? It was a lot quicker than taking turns, and it was more fun, too!" She closed her eyes and smiled. "I remember that we always used to play together once the actual bath was over...we had that little plastic boat, and we always pretended to feed the little plastic sailors to the rubber Gyrados. Then, we'd swim around in circles and make a big whirlpool and watch the little boat as it sank...."
I chuckled as I listened to her. Shipwreck had been one of our favorite bathtime games, and I still had fond memories of it...even though the exact same thing had almost happened to us the previous summer.
Jessie's voice trailed off, and she looked at me again. "What happened, James? Why did we stop?"
Jessie, you know why, I said to myself. It's because we grew up. It may have been about just getting clean and playing games when we were kids, but it's not that simple anymore! There's more to it now.... I blushed and turned away from her. I couldn't say something like that aloud -- I was afraid she'd be angry if I told her that I was attracted to her.
"Well, I guess I do know why we stopped," she said, as if she could read my mind.
I looked back at her, and she started blushing again.
"I...I just don't think it's a very good reason," she continued. "I mean, who cares that we're almost adults? That hasn't changed who we are on the inside, has it?"
"No, it hasn't," I replied.
She nodded. "Then I really don't see a problem with what we're doing. I don't see a reason why we can't still bathe together...unless it's because I'm the one who's making you uncomfortable...."
"It isn't that," I told her. "Well...I mean...sure, it feels kind of weird, and I'm a little self-conscious about...."
"Don't be," she said, cutting me off. "I'm not judging you or laughing at you. In fact...I've always thought...that you're...really...handsome...." Her face turned redder than ever before as she buried it in her hands. "Oh, God! I can't believe I just said that!" she giggled.
My heart fluttered. So, Jessie really did find me attractive! Sharing that with me couldn't have been easy for her, but now that she'd broken the ice, it was time for me to tell her something, too.
I wanted to tell her that I was in love with her...ask her to be my girlfriend, but now wasn't exactly the right time. At the moment, I didn't think she'd take me seriously, and I didn't want her to laugh at me or think I was joking about my feelings for her when I couldn't be more serious...or sincere! So instead, I decided to tell her something else that was always on my mind but that I'd never really shared with her before.
"It's okay," I said softly. "If you want to know the truth...I've always thought you're really...beautiful."
Jessie looked up at me. "You do?!"
I nodded and felt my face turning red again. "I guess that's why I'm so nervous about being with you like this. I mean...I can't not notice that you're...not wearing anything, and...I didn't want you to think that I'm like those other guys just because...."
She silenced me by placing a hand to my lips. "James, I already told you that I know you're not a pervert. Even if you do like looking at me, I don't have a problem with it. I know that you see me as a person first...and that's what sets you apart from all those other guys. That's why I don't mind."
I smiled at her and relaxed again. "Thanks, Jess."
"So, are you okay with this now?" she asked.
"Yeah...yeah, I'm okay," I replied.
"Good," she said, inching closer to me and putting an arm around my shoulders. "Because I really missed my bathtime buddy!"
"I missed you, too," I told her.
"James?"
"Yes?"
"Do you know what else I missed?"
"What?"
A sly smile spread across her lips. "THIS!!!" she cried, scooping up a handful of water and splashing it into my face.
I shook the water away and returned her smile. "Right back at you!" I replied, splashing some water into her face.
"Oh, yeah?"
"Yeah!"
For a moment, we just sat there and looked at each other, but then we began to laugh as an all-out splash-fight ensued.
(I remember, aside from Shipwreck, having splash-fights was our other favorite thing to do in the bath. We'd always try to see who could make the biggest waves and get their opponent to surrender. Jessie was almost always the one who emerged victorious -- even though she's smaller than me, and even though she's a girl, she can kick my butt any day!)
"Take THAT!!!" Jessie shouted, lunging at me and pushing me under the water.
Now, Jessie always plays rough, but I didn't feel like giving in tonight -- I wanted to fight back! As I began to sink, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her down with me. Once my feet were planted firmly on the lake bottom, I launched myself back to the surface. Still keeping my hold on Jessie, I forced her backwards until she was pinned against the rock.
"I surrender!" Jessie cried. "I surrender."
Suddenly, I realized what I was doing -- I had Jessie pinned down, and my entire body was pressed against hers! When I tried to pull away, however, she wrapped her arms around my waist and kept me pressed to her.
"J-Jessie, I...."
She smiled.
As I looked into her eyes, I saw that she didn't mind the position I had her in. In fact, she was enjoying it! My heart started to race, and my brain became flustered, but I instinctively knew what to do. Slowly, I put my arms around her again, and when she didn't protest, I pulled her closer to me.
Jessie sighed contentedly as her body responded to mine. Even though her lips hadn't said it yet, every aspect of her being was asking me to make love to her. A light of desire was burning in her sapphire eyes, and I knew that she wouldn't say no if I did.
I couldn't believe this! I'd wanted to make love to Jessie for the longest time. I fantasized about it during the day and dreamed about it at night, but I'd never dared to think that it would actually happen! And yet, here she was, offering herself to me! With one slight movement of my hips, I could fulfill one of my fondest dreams!
But even though I could, and even though I wanted to, I knew that it would be wrong. This wasn't something Jessie had planned -- it was a spur of the moment decision. She may have wanted it now, but what if she regretted it later? I didn't want her to regret sharing her body with me, and I didn't want her to resent me for sharing my body with her. And what of the other potential consequences? If I took her now, I'd just be taking advantage of her -- I wouldn't be any different from those other men if I did something like that to her. And we didn't have any kind of protection with us at the moment -- what if she got pregnant? Sure, I wanted to have children with her someday, but I wasn't ready for that kind of responsiblity yet, and neither was she. If we had a baby now, we'd never be able to support it!
One night of physical gratification wasn't worth losing a lifelong friendship or ruining an innocent child's life over.
If we made love, it needed to be something we'd thought through and planned in advance. We had to have time to be in a relationship and be a couple first. (In all of my dreams and fantasies where I make love to her, we're always either married or committed to each other somehow.) I wanted Jessie to be absoultely sure about her decision. I loved her too much to do any less.
Through a tremendous act of will, I resisted all of my physical urges and pulled myself away from her. "I...I can't do this, Jessie!"
There was no missing the look of disappointment in her eyes, but I couldn't give in.
"It's...not that I don't want to -- I just...I'm not ready, Jessie!" I continued. "I'm not ready...and I don't think you are, either."
Jessie hung her head and sighed. She looked every bit as humiliated as I felt. "I...I think we should get dressed now," she muttered. With that, she brushed past me and swam back towards the shore, where she'd left her towel.
My heart sank as I watched Jessie wrap her blue towel around her body and run back inside. So much for being bathtime buddies again.
@->->-
"Youse guys sure was out dere a long time," Meowth commented when I came back into the cabin.
"What's your point?" I asked him.
"Well, I said the exact same thing ta Jess when she came in a few minutes ago," he told me. "Her face turned red, and she told me ta shut the hell up and dat it wasn't none of my goddamned business. So don't hold out on me, James -- what happened?!"
Yeah, he'd definitely planned for me and Jessie to be out there at the same time. But was it just because he wanted to have some fun at our expense, or was he trying to play match-maker because he knew how I felt about Jessie?
Well, I certainly didn't want to tell him about how we'd almost had sex. If I did that, he'd just make fun of us. Still, I couldn't tell him to shut up or curse him out like Jessie had either -- I wasn't really mad at him for what he'd done. So, I just decided to leave him guessing.
"Meowth, a gentleman NEVER kisses and tells!" I replied slyly.
Meowth began to snicker. "Oohh, Jimmy!"
"And even if nothing happened, he still doesn't tell," I quickly added. "Wouldn't want his friends to think he's a loser, now, would we?"
He gave me a confused look. "Wait a sec. Does dat mean....?"
"I guess YOU'LL never know!" I chuckled as I reached down and tweaked the golden charm on his forehead.
"Aw, come on! Yer killin' me! Talk already!" he pleaded.
"No way!" I said, turning away from him and heading towards my room.
"Ah, ta hell with ya both!" he called after me. And then in a much lower voice (which was still audible, even though he hadn't intended it to be), "See if I ever try and get youse two together again."
I couldn't help but smile as I went into my room and closed the door. So he really had been trying to set me up with Jessie! He knew how I felt, and he'd been trying to help me!
I chuckled. Good old Meowth....
@->->-
As I changed into my pajamas and got into bed, I got to thinking about what had happened (and what had almost happened) between me and Jessie, and my mood darkened once again. I know I didn't do anything to her, but she'd still made herself incredibly vulnerable in front of me, and I couldn't help but wonder if she resented me anyway. Or worse, what if she thought I'd rejected her? If she really did love me, the last thing I wanted to do was push her away or make her think that I wasn't interested in her!
I leaned back on my pillow and sighed. Now that we'd both cooled off, I really needed to talk to her. We couldn't just go on pretending like nothing had happened -- we needed to sort this mess out and make sense of it!
Suddenly, there was a soft knock on my door, and Jessie poked her head inside. "James?" she whispered. "James, are you awake?"
"Yeah, I'm awake," I whispered back.
"Good," she said, coming into the room and turning on the light. "Because I really need to talk to you."
I sat up in bed and nodded. "I need to talk to you, too."
"James," she began, her cheeks turning pink, "about what happened in the lake...I...want to thank you for...for what you did."
"More like what I didn't do," I said.
"I...I got carried away in the heat of the moment," she continued. "And I'm sorry for doing that to you."
"It's my fault, too," I told her. "I got carried away while we were playing, and I'm the one who put you in that position to begin with. Maybe not taking baths together anymore really is for the best."
"No, James," she said. "Things may have gotten a little out of control tonight, but you didn't take advantage of it. If anything, I trust you more than ever after the way you handled that situation."
"You...you do?" I stammered.
"Yes," she replied. "James, everything you've done over the past few days -- the way you protected me from those guys at the Kas Gym, the way you slept in the same bed with me and didn't take liberites...and tonight, the way you had the strength to say no to me -- you've got to be the most trustworthy person I know!"
I smiled.
"You're the only man in this world who respects me," she continued, seating herself next to me on the bed. "I've...I've never known a guy like that before."
"Well, you're the only person in this world who's ever done so much for me," I replied. "How could I NOT respect you?!"
Jessie put her arms around me and rested her head on my shoulder. "I couldn't ask for a better friend than you, James," she whispered.
"Same here," I told her. "And that's why I couldn't go through with it tonight. Real friends don't take advantage of each other."
"I wouldn't have said no if you did...and at first, I was kind of ticked off that you didn't," she admitted.
"But in the long run, it still would have hurt you," I replied. "And nothing is worth that. You're too important to me, Jess...and so is our friendship. I'd never do anything to jeopardize what we have."
"I know," she said. "After I went to bed, I got to thinking about what happened, and I realized that was why you didn't take me. I figured I owed you an apology for the way I treated you, and I wanted to let you know that I'm not upset about what happened. I just hope you're not mad at me."
"I'm not," I said. "I'm just glad we have this sorted out now."
"Thanks, James. I feel a lot better."
"So do I."
The two of us sat together in silence for a few minutes, continuing to embrace.
"James?" Jessie said at length. "It's really cold in my room -- I think there's a draft. Can I stay in here tonight?"
I looked into her beautiful blue eyes again. She didn't want to make love anymore, but she still wanted to be close to me...and I wanted to be close to her, too. I wasn't going to say no to her this time.
"Of course you can, Jess."
Jessie smiled again as she climbed under the blankets and wrapped her arms around me. I hugged back as she cuddled into me.
"Good night, James," she whispered, kissing me on the cheek. "I luv ya."
"Good night, Jessie," I whispered back, returning the kiss on the cheek. "I luv ya, too."
Before long, Jessie fell asleep, and I couldn't help but smile as I watched her and reflected on the events of the past few days. It amazed me how everything that had seemed like torment at the time had all turned out for the best. If we hadn't gone to that miserable Kas Gym, Meowth wouldn't have gotten his chance to play match-maker, and Jessie wouldn't have pretended to be my girlfriend for a few days. And if we hadn't gotten painted red and run out of town, Jessie and I wouldn't have had that wonderful bath together, and we wouldn't be sleeping in this cozy cabin now! It seemed as if every bad thing that had happened only served to bring me and Jessie closer. Our friendship was stronger than ever now, and that meant more to me than money, fame, or gym badges ever would.
And who knows? Maybe all of the trials we'd just faced would hasten the onset of our romantic relationship! Our trial-run as boyfriend and girlfriend had been extremely successful, and Jessie had even said that I'm the only man who respects her...the only man she trusts. She'd even admitted that she found me attractive! That had to mean I was the one!
But she still wasn't ready for that kind of relationship. Not yet, anyway. She'd been hurt by men in the past, and no matter how much she trusted me, it would still be awhile before she'd be able to open herself up to love again. In the meantime, I'd still be there for her. I'd always be her best friend, and once she was ready, I'd be her boyfriend, too.
One day soon, I'd find the courage to tell Jessie that I loved her, and when I did, she'd tell me that she loved me, too. After everything we'd been through together, I knew it was going to happen!
It was just a matter of time....
The End