@->->-
This has to have been, without a doubt, one of the strangest days of my entire life -- everyone and everything has been all mixed up! In fact, the only thing I really could count on today was that somehow, all of our brilliant plans would go awry, and we'd end up blasting off again.
And I think it had everything to do with the moon. Not only was it full (people always tend to get a little strange when the moon is full, I've noticed), but it was red, too! And no good ever comes of a red moon. When I was a little girl, my momma always told me that when the moon is red, bad things happen. "Blood on the moon," she called it. That meant someone would die...or something that changes your life forever would happen.
And you know what? She was right....
@->->-
It started out as a typical day -- James, Meowth, and I were hot on the trail of the Twerp Trio, in hopes of capturing Pikachu, and we had followed them to a strange new island.
Once our Magikarp submarine started getting close to land, I sent up the periscope and saw a huge television crew interviewing a Nurse Joy. She was dressed like an archaeologist, and it looked like she was trying to explain something to the anchorwoman, but the brat and his new friend were hogging the camera. The little girl was tugging on him and screaming. (As usual.)
"Hmmmm...." I said, trying to figure out what was going on.
"What is it?" Meowth asked.
"Those twerps are on the beach with a TV crew," I replied. "I wonder what they're doing...."
"Well, just because you're watching them doesn't mean you have to stop pedaling!" James snapped.
I turned to him and raised an eyebrow. James was snapping at me? What was up with that?! He's the most gentle, even-tempered man in the world! Why would he be raising his voice to me?
Well, I was good and ready to snap right back at him, but there was just something about the look on his face. Sure, he was scowling at me, but the look in his eyes was one of weariness. We had been pedaling the sub all night, and he must've been exhausted...and making him do all of the work while I spied on the enemy sure wasn't doing anything to help! Poor sweetheart, I thought. No wonder he's yelling at me! Guess I can't blame him for being so cranky....
"Sorry about that, James," I said, resuming my pedaling. "Stupid Giovanni! Too cheap to give us a motorized submarine!" I added jokingly.
James gave no reply, just snorted at me.
Meowth could sense the tension that was growing between me and James. "So, whaddaya' think dose guys are doin'?" he asked, changing the subject.
"I don't know," I told him. "Looks like they discovered something...only one way to find out!"
@->->-
When we finally reached the shore of the island, Meowth and I jumped out of the sub and began to investigate the area. The news crew, the twerps, and Nurse Joy were long gone, so we didn't have to worry about catching any grief from them.
"Looks like dey're headin' up into the mountains," Meowth remarked as he leaned down to study the footprints they'd left in the sand. "Maybe dat's where the big discovery is...."
But I wasn't listening to him. For some weird reason, James was still in the sub. It wasn't like him to be so unenthusiastic about something like this, and I was starting to get worried. He'd looked so tired earlier, and he seemed to have a real temper! Was he getting sick?
"Hold that thought," I said to the cat. "I've got to see what's taking James so long."
Meowth nodded and continued to study the recently evacuated campsite.
@->->-
"Hey, James, are you okay?" I asked as I climbed back into the sub.
"I'm fine," he replied.
After being out in the bright sunlight, it took my eyes a few minutes to adjust to the darkness, but once they did, I saw James throwing something into a huge backpack. I noticed he had also changed out of his Team Rocket uniform and was now dressed in a red t-shirt and khaki shorts.
"What's in the backpack?" I asked.
"Stuff," he replied curtly.
"What kind of stuff?" I prompted.
"Just stuff, okay?!"
"What's with the new clothes?" I asked, changing the subject.
"It's too damn hot to wear my uniform in these tropical islands, okay?!" he shouted. "Quit interrogating me!"
Now, I'd been a lot nicer to James in recent weeks -- on the morning after the Pokemon League Games ended, I woke up in his arms after a night of passionate lovemaking, and I promised that I'd try to do a better job of showing how much I care about him. And I really thought that I was! Sure, I may have swatted him a couple of times when he was acting dumb in front of those twerps, but in private, I hadn't raised my voice to him or struck him once!
Maybe that was a mistake.
Maybe now he thought it was okay to be as mean to me as I used to be to him because there was no fear that I'd retaliate. How long would it be before this verbal abuse gave way to physical violence? Or worse, what if the only reason he had been sweet to me before was so he could get me into bed? Now that I had given myself to him, there was no reason for him to try and win my affections anymore!
My mind flashed back to the night we made love for the first time. Nothing will ever make me leave you, he had whispered into my ear as his strong arms encircled my waist and his warm body pressed against mine. But now, as I listened to him yelling at me and looked at the angry expression on his face, all of the beautiful things we'd shared seemed so hollow.
Well, I certainly wasn't going to put up with this kind of treatment! I had to nip his attitude problem in the bud, and I had to do it now!
"I wasn't interrogating you," I said softly, giving him the benefit of the doubt. (Told you I was trying to be nicer to him!) "I was just worried because you were taking such a long time in here. I wanted to make sure you were okay."
James said nothing. He was still scowling at me.
"Look, I know I can be really bossy and inconsiderate sometimes, and I'm sorry about that -- I'm glad that you're not letting me push you around so much anymore," I continued. "But that doesn't give you the right to be mean to me...especially when I'm actually trying to be nice!"
"Yeah...nice...." he muttered sarcastically.
Well that did it. Calm and Patient Jessie was being treated like garbage! It was time to revert to Mean and Short-Tempered Jessie and put him back in his place! So, without wasting another second, I walked over and slapped him across the face. Hard.
"Go to hell, James," I growled as I stormed out of the sub.
@->->-
"So, what's the hold-up?" Meowth asked when he saw me come back outside.
"Which way did those twerps go?" I asked, trying my best to hide the tears I felt stinging my eyes.
Meowth looked up at me and realized that something was wrong. "Trouble in paradise?" he quipped.
"Shut up."
"I'm sorry," he said softly. "It ain't none of Meowth's business...."
He was right -- this wasn't any of his business. Still, what had just happened was really bothering me, and I couldn't keep it bottled-up inside. "James is acting like a jerk, and I don't know why," I confessed. "I don't think I did anything wrong, but...."
"Of course ya didn't! Whateva his problem is, it ain't you, Jess," he told me in all sincerity. "Ya been like a different woman lately, and I can't imagine why he'd be angry with ya."
A tear escaped from my eye and spilled down my cheek. "Thanks, Meowth. I really needed to hear that...."
"C'mon," he said as I rubbed my eyes and tried to keep from crying. "Dose guys are headin' south. If we take the lower mountain trail, we should be able to follow 'em without bein' seen...and James can catch up to us when he's good and ready!"
There was a tight feeling in my throat, and I knew that if I said anything, I'd choke-up and cry. So instead, I just nodded and followed the cat.
@->->-
We'd only been on the trail for a few minutes when we heard footsteps approaching from behind.
"Hey! Wait for me!" a familiar voice cried.
I turned around and saw James following us. Apparently, the little "attitude adjustment" I'd given him had done the trick. Still, I wasn't quite ready to forgive him yet, so I didn't bother to stop or slow my pace and give him the chance to catch up.
And apparently, Meowth felt the same way because he stayed by my side and didn't question me.
The three of us continued like this for a couple of hours. Meowth and I picked our way along the mountain trail, always making sure that the brats on the road above us stayed within sight, and James lagged behind, still carrying that gigantic backpack. (Honestly! We were only going to be away from the sub for a day or so! Did he really need to bring along everything he owned?)
@->->-
"Jessie, I'm tired," James whined. "Can't we stop and take a break for a few minutes?"
"No, we can't take a break," Meowth, who was still angry with him for being mean to me, snapped. "Now hurry it up!"
But I felt sorry for James, so I turned and came to his side. "Well, nobody asked you to bring that thing along," I chided him as he collapsed under the weight of the backpack.
Suddenly, an angry light flashed in his emerald eyes as he tried to get to his feet again. "And nobody asked YOU to bring that nasty attitude, either, but now I'm stuck with them both!" he shot back.
Nasty attitude?! I thought. He's one to talk!
What was going on here? I honestly didn't know! He hadn't spoken to me like this since the day I stole those stolen badges from him! (And I'll admit, I deserved it then, but what had I done today?)
James glared at me, and I glared right back.
"Look, I don't know what's wrong with you today, James, but you'd better quit taking it out on me!" I warned him. "If you think I'm going to put up with this crap, you're sadly mistaken!"
James turned away from me.
"Will youse two hurry it up?!" Meowth called down to us.
I turned away from James and headed back towards Meowth without another word. How could I speak when I was doing my best not to cry?
@->->-
An uneasy silence fell over us as we continued up the path. James was still lagging behind us, and I was still trying my best to figure out what was going on with him. Meowth, sensing the trouble between us, was minding his own business.
Suddenly, I heard screams coming from above. Looking up, I saw boulders raining down from the top of the mountain.
"RUN FOR IT!!!" Meowth cried.
The cat and I jumped out of the way as the rocks crashed down around us, but James, who was still encumbered by that giant backpack, wasn't fast enough.
Time seemed to come to a standstill when I heard James cry out in terror and wheeled around to see him get smashed by one of the boulders. No! No, this can't be happening! my mind silently screamed.
The momentum of the rock was so great that it carried James along as it rolled towards the edge of the cliff. I reacted as quickly as I could, but it felt like I was in one of those nightmares where you can't run, no matter how hard you try, and I didn't make it in time to save him.
"Oh, this is gonna huuuurrrrrrt!" James whined as the boulder forced him off of the cliff. There was nothing I could do but watch helplessly as he fell to his doom.
@->->-
Once he was out of sight and his screams stopped echoing up from the ravine, the reality of what had just happened struck me with the force of a falling rock.
"No...." I whimpered as tears began to well up in my eyes.
"Jess," Meowth said softly as he placed a paw on my shoulder.
"No," I said in a louder voice. "No, NO, NO, NO, NOOOOO!!!!!!" I cried, my screams becoming progressively louder until they reached a crescendo. Lacking the strength to stand, I fell to my knees and began to sob uncontrollably.
"Jessie," Meowth whispered, putting his arms around me.
I pulled the cat into an embrace and continued to cry. His fur was getting soaked by my tears, but as much as he hated getting wet, he didn't complain.
"Do you know what the worst part is?" I muttered when I was finally able to bring my sobs under control.
Meowth didn't reply. He just looked up at me with his midnight-blue eyes, which were as full of tears as my own.
"The worst part...is that we were mad at each other when it happened...." I said in a quavering voice. "He was mad at me...I don't know why, and now I never will...but I was mad at him, too, and I'll never forgive myself for that...it was our last day together, and we wasted it being mad at each other...."
Hearing myself say this out loud made me start crying again.
Meowth hung his head. "Don't blame yerself, Jess. Ya didn't know dis was gonna happen...."
"I know," I said. "But it doesn't make me feel any better...."
My voice trailed off, and I hung my head, too. But as I peered over the edge of the cliff, a glint of white on an outcropping of rocks a few feet below caught my eye. Looking closer, I saw that it was a poke ball! It must have come loose from James's belt when the rock hit him!
"Meowth, hold my legs," I said.
He gave me a quizzical look.
"I see one of James's poke balls down there, and I think I can reach it if you hold onto me," I explained.
"Ah," he said. With that, he grabbed onto my legs and anchored me to the ground as I leaned over and picked up the ball.
There was just something comforting about holding that little poke ball. Maybe it was the knowledge that it was something that had belonged to James, or maybe it was because it contained something that James cared about. Whatever it was, it suddenly gave me hope....
"Come on out!" I said, tossing the ball to the ground.
Suddenly, Victreebel emerged in a flash of red light and emitted a high-pitched squeal.
Somehow, actually seeing James's pokemon made me sure of it -- he was still alive! He was somewhere down there, and he needed my help!
"Victreebel! Vi-"
*CHOMP*
"Mmmmph...mmmmph...mmmph...."
Now, I was enraged. James was in trouble, and all his pokemon could think about was trying to eat me? I began to kick and flail as hard as I could, and I felt Meowth grabbing onto my legs again. Before long, I was free of the carnivorous plant's mouth.
"How DARE you bite me, you insolent bag of aphids?!" I screamed, grabbing Victreebel and shaking him as hard as I could. "James may let you get away with crap like that, but for now, I'M your master, and I DEMAND respect! So you do exactly what I tell you to do, or I'll pump you so full of weed-killer that...."
"Whoa! Take it easy, Jess!" Meowth cried, prying Victreebel out of my grasp.
"I'm sorry," I whispered, sinking to my knees again. "It's just that...I know James is down there, and I can't save him unless...." But by then, I couldn't continue because I was crying again.
Suddenly, I felt something on my face. Opening my eyes, I saw that Victreebel was brushing my tears away with one of his leaves.
"Does...does this mean you'll listen to me and help me rescue James?" I asked.
Victreebel made that screaming noise again.
"He sez yes," Meowth translated.
With that, I smiled and got to my feet. "In that case, use your Vine Whip, Victreebel! Lower me over the edge of the cliff and make sure I don't fall!" I commanded.
Victreebel wrapped his vines around my waist and held tightly as I began to climb down the cliff.
@->->-
After several minutes of steady descent, I saw another large outcropping of rocks. And sure enough, James was lying there!
Alighting on the rocks, I quickly ran to his side. His entire body was scraped and bruised, but my intuition was right -- he was still alive! "James! James! Wake up!" I said, shaking him gently.
"Hnnnnnh...." he muttered as he began to stir.
"Come on, James!" I said, taking him in my arms and caressing his face.
Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked up at me. "Jessie?"
"James, are you okay?" I asked.
He gazed into my eyes for a moment, as if he were trying to recall what had happened. Once he did remember, his eyes sparked, and he threw his arms around me.
"Jessie! Oh, Jessie...." he said as sobs began to wrack his body.
"It's okay, James. It's over now," I said, returning the embrace and running my fingers through his hair.
"It's not that," he whispered. "It's just...well, I've been treating you rotten all day, and you still came down here to rescue me...."
"Like I said, it's over now," I told him as he began to cry again. "It's not an issue anymore."
I smiled and held James closer as I remembered how he'd said those exact same words to me after our last big fight. They'd been so comforting to me, and he needed to be reminded that he wasn't the only one who made mistakes.
"It is to me," he replied. "Jess, I didn't even HAVE a reason to be mad at you -- I just was! I haven't had a good night's sleep in ages, I'm sick of pedaling that damned Magikarp sub from island to island, the heat down here is really getting to me...and I was taking it out on you. I had no right to do that to you, Jess, and I'm sorry...."
I brushed his tears away and kissed him on the forehead. "James, I can't count the number of times I've felt awful and taken it out on you," I told him. "And somehow, you've always managed to stay my best friend. So, you of all people should know that it's no big deal!"
"But I really hurt you today, Jessie," he sobbed. "I could see it in your eyes when I was yelling at you, and I did it anyway!"
"Do you want to know what hurt even worse?" I asked.
He looked up at me, tears streaming down his face. "What?"
"When I saw you fall off the cliff," came my reply. "I thought you were dead, and suddenly, all of the arguments we've ever had just didn't seem important anymore. James, I love you, and the thought of you dying...especially while we were mad at each other was more than I could stand! So, I'm not mad at you anymore, and I forgive you."
"I love you too, Jessie," he said, pulling me into another embrace.
I cupped his chin in my hand and pressed my lips against his. "Come on! Let's get out of here!" I said.
James nodded. "How did you get down here anyway?" he asked.
"Victreebel. I climbed down with his vines," I told him.
"You mean he listened to you?!" he said in disbelief.
"Never mind that," I said. "Just grab onto me, and he'll pull us back up."
James put his arms around my shoulders, and I wrapped an arm around his waist. With my free arm, I grabbed onto Victreebel's vines and gave a tug, letting him know that I was ready to come back up.
As the vines tensed and we began our ascent, I could feel James trembling. He was scared!
"James, remember the St. Anne?" I asked. "I will NOT let go! I promise!"
I felt him relax as his green eyes gazed into my blue-violet ones. He knew his life was in my hands once again, and he felt safe.
@->->-
"Hey! Are youse guys okay?!" Meowth cried once the two of us were safely on the trail again.
James nodded and fell to his knees.
"We're fine, Meowth," I replied as I knealt beside James and embraced him. "Everything's going to be just fine...."
After a few minutes, James recovered from the shock and went to change clothes and get cleaned up. (After all, we can't face-off against those twerps until we look our best!)
"So, ya worked everything out?" Meowth asked.
"Yeah," I said. "Nothing like a brush with death to put things in perspective."
@->->-
"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!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"
"Meowth! Dat's right!"
I can't describe how good saying our motto felt! Especially after what we'd been through earlier. It looked like things were finally starting to go our way!
And now I realized why Nurse Joy, the brats, and that TV crew were so worked-up -- the walls of the cave we were in were made of Kabuto fossils!
Oh, wow! Look at all of the rare, extinct pokemon! The boss will give us a promotion for sure when we bring him these! I said to myself. And as I looked over at James, I could tell he was thinking the exact same thing!
"Meowth! Dese'll make a great door-stop for the boss!" the cat said, holding up one of the fossils!
Predictably, the brats started whining about how we couldn't steal the fossils because it was wrong, but we weren't going to let them stand in our way! After the ordeal James and I had just faced, these little pests were nothing to us!
"Here! I've got a present for you," James said, tossing them a flash-bomb.
I couldn't help but laugh. James still wasn't feeling well, but at least he had found a better target for his foul mood. Watching them get smoked was going to be fun!
And the show they put on before the bomb exploded was just as entertaining! They all started throwing it around to each other, like it was a high-stakes game of Hot-Potato. When Ash caught it, he just sat there with a dumb look on his face and watched as the fuse burned down. He tried to throw it away, but it detonated just as it left his hand, and he reeled backwards from the force of the explosion.
As an added bonus, the explosion also blasted all of the Kabuto fossils loose from the walls and blinded our enemies in a white cloud of smoke. Taking advantage of the moment, James, Meowth, and I grabbed as many of the fossils as we could in a large net and made our escape before those idiots could figure out what was going on!
@->->-
"This is perfect!" James laughed as our Meowth balloon took to the sky with all of the Kabuto fossils in tow!
My heart was soaring as high as the balloon as I gazed up at the heavens. The fading light of day was nothing more than a pink smudge on the western horizon, and in the east, the black night sky was illuminated by the red glow of the full moon. In the back of my mind, I remembered my mother telling me that bad things happened when the moon was red, but I figured that James's brush with death already had that covered.
"Not even that big, red moon can stop us now!" I exclaimed, daring fate to stand in our way.
I should've kept my mouth shut.
No sooner than I had said this, the moon began to glow on the Kabuto fossils...and they started coming back to life!
Before long, the little crustaceans were everywhere -- crawling through my hair, biting James, and climbing up onto our balloon! And of course, one of them used its pincers to burst the balloon.
"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again!" the three of us cried in unison as the balloon lost all of its hot air and went spiraling out of control.
@->->-
We finally landed in the shallows off the coast of a tiny island several miles away.
"Meowth! I hate bein' wet!" the cat whined once we'd waded to shore. With that, he stormed off into the woods so that he could get dry in peace.
James went off on his own, too. Blasting off couldn't have been good for his dark mood, and I guess he wanted to be alone so that he wouldn't take his anger out on me any more.
And me? I just collapsed in the sand and gazed up at the moon, reflecting on our day.
I sat there for about an hour, completely entranced by the red moon. A strange cacophony of everything my mother had told me and everything that had happened earlier raced through my mind. Suddenly, it was broken by the sound of footsteps approaching from behind.
I didn't even have to turn around to know that it was James -- somehow, I just knew. And my suspicion was confirmed when I felt the velvety petals of a red rose brush against my cheek.
"Hey," I said softly, turning to look up at him. James always looked handsome to me, but the romantic red glow of the moon made him even more so now! "Are you feeling better?"
James nodded and placed the rose in my hand. "You know, something just occurred to me," he said. "I never showed you what was in my backpack earlier!"
I raised an eyebrow.
"Come on," he said, pulling me to my feet.
@->->-
James led me to a secluded spot further down the beach. When we reached a small clearing of trees on the shores of a crystal lagoon, I saw a picnic-blanket spread out. It was loaded with marinated fish, grilled vegetables, black beans and rice, and fresh fruit salad, all made from scratch! Two red candles glowed, illuminating the area.
"James, what is this?" I asked.
"It's what I brought with me in my backpack today," he explained, placing his hands on my aching shoulders and massaging them.
"You brought a candlelight dinner in your backpack?" I said dubiously.
"Well, no, but I did bring my cooking-utensils," he replied. "Jess, here we are in a tropical paradise, and we haven't even taken the time to enjoy it! I figured since we'd be away from the sub for a couple of days, I'd bring my gear with me so that I could make us a nice dinner. That's why I didn't want to tell you when you asked about it earlier -- I wanted it to be a surprise!"
"James," I said, turning around and putting my arms around him. "That's so sweet."
James wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer. "I'm sorry I was mean to you earlier. Even if I was trying to keep it a secret, I had no right to yell at you the way I did."
I reached up and caressed his face. "Even when you're at your worst, I still think you're the best, James!" I told him.
"So are you, Jess...so are you," he replied as he smiled and kissed me tenderly on the lips.
@->->-
After our romantic candlelight dinner, the two of us went for a walk along the beach. When we returned to the place where I'd been sitting earlier, we stopped and turned to face each other.
"Jessica?" James asked, taking my hands in his own.
"James?"
"I wanted to thank you again...for saving me," he said. "Once again, you had every reason to leave me to die, but instead, you risked your life for me."
I leaned closer and rested my forehead against his. "You once told me that nothing would ever make you leave me," I said. "....And I want you to know that I feel the same way. Nothing will ever make me leave you!"
"I love you, Jessie," he whispered as a tear rolled down his cheek.
"I love you too, James," I replied, brushing it away.
With that, he took me in his arms and kissed me again. As I returned the kiss, I slowly sank to my knees and brought him with me.
"Jess, what are you doing?" James asked as I began to pull off his white jacket.
"Well, we had a fight earlier today, James," I told him. "And our day won't be complete until we get to the best part...."
James raised an eyebrow as I pulled off his black t-shirt. "Best part? Of a fight? And what might that be?" he asked slyly.
"Making up, of course!" I laughed as he removed my jacket and tossed it aside.
Our lips met in a passionate kiss once more, and James laid me down in the white sand. I gazed into his beautiful emerald eyes and ran my fingers through his soft purple hair as his body became one with my own.
The red moon was over his shoulder, and as I looked up at it, I remembered what my momma had told me about it when I was a child -- she said that whenever there was blood on the moon, either someone would die or something would happen that changes your life forever.
And she was right! On that day, my relationship with James had changed. Once again, our friendship...our love had been put to the test, and once again, we had managed to work through it and emerge closer than ever before.
Never again would we keep secrets from each other when something was bothering us. The ordeal we had faced made us forge a new bond of trust, and it reminded us why we had fallen in love in the first place!
At that moment, the two of us shared a perfect union -- our bodies, our hearts, our souls, and our minds had come together, forming one glorious whole, and I knew that I would never doubt James again. His love was so wonderful and so pure, and as he held me in his arms and gazed into my eyes, I could tell that he felt the same way about me.
Yes, our relationship had definitely changed for the better on that day. I would love and cherish James forever, and he would do no less for me!
Never would we doubt again.