ote: I didn't make up Jessie, James, Lorelei, Meowth, or Jessibelle. They belong to their creators. All the pokemon mentioned don't belong to me.

Secrets, Lies, and Adventure

by, Charmander_gurl

Chapter #1 Golden Heart

At the first light of dawn, a small red haired girl awoke. The room was an attic one, the kind where the ceiling slants down. It was brown, and dusty, with a single, small, skylight on the roof. The room, however, didn't look plain, as it should have, because there were many pastel drawings of pokemon, including many with an ekans on it.

The girl threw off the baby blanket that was her only blanket, which she had grown out of long ago (after all, she was thirteen). She stepped out of her hard bed and got dressed. Normally she would have worn the tattered skirt and shirt that she always wore, but today was different. Today she put on the only clean outfit that she had, a pair of denim shorts and a white shirt with a butterfly on it. Swiftly she pleated her hair into two, long, skinny braids on the back of her head. On her way out of her room, she grabbed a newly done pastel drawing off an old easel. It was a drawing of an eevee, sitting in a flower garden, like the ones up on Puerta Hill.

She crept down the old stairs and down by the rooms where her mother and sister, Lorelei, were soundly sleeping. It was an old house, and there was no rent to pay for it. "If you want this house so bad, you can take it!" the landlord had told them. There was little money to go around, and the only money they had left over was to send Lorelei to collage. She walked out the door and into the street.

She walked along until she reached a tiny trinket shop called, "Jake's Junk". Slowly she turned the doorknob and crept inside.

"Why now, if it isn't my favorite customer!" the old shopkeeper exclaimed in his friendly voice.

"Hi Jake!" the girl called, "Here, I drew another one for you!"

Jake looked at the drawing with an art critic's eye, "I see you've been putting my old easel and pastels to good use! It's good to see that my old pastels still create works of art." He got a roll of sticky tape and taped the drawing on the wall next to a few others.

"you really like it, Jake?" Jessie asked hopefully. Her two goals in life were to train pokemon and draw them. She loved to draw, the feeling of the pastel in her hand and the satisfaction of creating a masterpiece.

"It's one in a million, Jessie, one in a million. I see you're wearing those clothes that I gave you."

Jessie blushed, for she wasn't proud to admit that she was taking charity.

"Haven't seen you in a while. How've you been?"

"Same," Jessie replied, "I'm the same thirteen year old nothing that you last saw two months ago."

"And your sister?"

"Mom's trying to send Lorelei off to collage."

"Now I don't see why your mother's sending Lorelei off to collage when she could be sending an intelligent little girl like you."

"It's because Lorelei's a genius, and I'm, well, Jessie the joke."

"Jessie! Don't go talking 'bout yourself like that! I may be a crazy, old man, but I know a good heart when I see one, and your heart is pure gold, that's what I said pure gold. And you're going to make a name for yourself, Jessie, you and your ekans. It'll grow up to be the strongest arbok in the world, mark my words."

"That's a little hard to believe. When I got ekans, they were about to put it to sleep because no one wanted to buy it. It was weak when it hatched. They said that it wouldn't do any good to anyone."

"Well, sometimes the biggest champions are the ones that everyone thinks is weak. And besides, you're a better pokemon trainer than any of those big time "geniuses" like your sister Lorelei! You understand the pokemon and that it has feelings, and that's what those big-timers lack! They treat pokemon like they are their slaves, you treat your ekans like a friend."

Jessie meditated on Jake's words for a minute, wondering if they could possibly be true.

"I've got something for you, Jessie" Jake said, breaking the silence. He reached under the counter for a moment and pulled out what looked like a folded piece of cloth. He unfolded it and Jessie saw the most beautiful dress that she had ever seen in her life! It was a bright, exquisite blue dotted with tiny white rose buds. The fabric looked like silk and Jessie longed to reach out and touch, but she didn't, afraid that her hands would ruin it. "It once belonged to my daughter, Becky," Jake said and he pulled a picture from under the counter.

It was a picture a girl about Jessie's age with long, curly, brown hair and blue eyes that weren't quite as blue as Jessie's. "Where is she now?" Jessie asked.

"Now, she's about thirty-two and she has a son, he's six, I think."

"I couldn't possibly take it," Jessie said, "it must hold so many memories for you."

"Jessie, I have my pictures, and besides, if Becky was a stand'n right here, she'd be happy that her dress was going to a honest poor girl like you."

Jessie clutched the dress in her arms. It was so soft and silky and beautiful. It was one of the fine things that she never thought she would own. "Thank you!" she whispered.

"Now let me see that ekans of yours," Jake smiled.

She let ekans out of its pokeball. The brilliant purple snake immediately crawled up Jessie's arm and rest its head on her shoulder. "Hi, there ekans," she crooned.

"That's one healthy little ekans you get there, Jessie. I can tell from its deep purple color. You're sure good with pokemon! Just like your father."

"You knew my father?!"

"Well now Jessie, it's high time you got home so why don't you run along now," Jake said after some time.

It wasn't the first time anyone acted strange when Jessie asked about her father. It seemed that his very name, Isaac Chan, was a forbidden name.

As she walked home, Jessie had a funny thought in her mind. Now she had always wanted to go up on Puerta Hill, where all the rich people lived. Here there were beautiful gardens and houses that she always wanted to try and draw. But she wold never be able to get close with her poor appearance. But with her new dress, she could probably pass for one of them.

With this thought in mind, she rushed over to her run-down house and up to her room. She quickly changed into the dress then re-braided her hair. On her way out of the house, she looked at her reflection in the hall mirror. The result was shocking. Tears ran down her face because in the mirror she didn't see Jessica Annette Chan, the unloved, ugly, lower-class, failure, but Jessica Annette Chan, the beautiful cleaver princess.

She grabbed her pastels and a pad of drawing paper and set out toward Puerta Hill. It was a beautiful day, and it was soon to be one of the most important days of Jessie's life.

Walking among the rich was a whole new thing for her. There were houses that were bigger than any building she'd ever seen, and marble porches. The gardens were more beautiful than anyone could imagine. The flowers all were blooming, and there were ponds filled with water lilies, and magicarp swimming in its cool water. "What should I draw," Jessie wondered, still shocked by the beauty of the place. Then she saw the perfect scene to draw. There was a boy, a strikingly handsome one with purplish-blue hair. He looked about Jessie's age. He was hugging a small, puppy pokemon, called a growlithe. Jessie sat down on a nearby rock and began to sketch. It was a fairly easy thing to draw the growlithe, because her experience in drawing pokemon, but the boy gave her a little trouble. In her entire life, she only had drawn three pictures of people, two of herself and one of Lorelei. She looked up at the boy again to decide whether to use a deep blue, or a purple when she noticed him walking toward her.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Me? I'm Jessie, I mean Jessica."

"I thought I knew everyone around here, are you new?''

Jessie nodded, "And you are?"

"James," he answered, "What do you have there?"

Jessie frantically tried to pull her sketch pad away from him with no avail.

"You're an artist!" He exclaimed.

"Oh that's just a dumb drawing, I sure that there are portrait artists out there who could draw you much better."

James shook his head, "You draw better, portrait artists only draw what you want to see, yours looks real."

The growlithe came over and sniffed Jessie curiously. "Can I pet it?" Jessie asked hopefully.

"Go ahead."

Jessie ran her fingers over the pokemon's soft, fluffy fur. "He's such a good Growlithe!" Jessie laughed as the growlithe licked her affectionately, "Does he have a name?"

"Growly," James answered, "Do you have any pokemon?"

"Only an ekans," Jessie answered.

The boy took a bag of jelly doughnuts out of his coat pocket, and stuffed one in his mouth. He stopped in the middle of chewing, "I'm sorry, did you want one?"

"Yes…….please." Jessie bit into the doughnut happily, she rarely ever ate sweets.

"Sorry that I didn't offer you one before I started to eat," the boy apologized.

"It's okay, I never was one for that proper stuff," Jessie answered. Then she panicked, did she just blow her cover?

"Me neither," James answered. Jessie felt extremely relieved. James continued, "my parents are making me marry this girl named Jessibelle, who gets mad at me for not running or sneezing properly."

"How do you sneeze properly?"

"I don't know, but if I find out I'll tell you," James laughed. Jessie began to laugh, too.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" James asked her.

"I have a sister named Lorelei," Jessie answered.

"Lorelei? Isn't she that poor girl who is going to collage because of her unusual intelligence," a voice said from behind the two.

They spun around to see a girl, who looked like Jessie, except her hair was curlier and she was wearing a dress that looked like something out of Gone With the Wind.

Jessie knew that it was time to go. She jumped up and broke into a run down the hill and back to the lower-class neighborhood below.

"Wait! Come back!" she heard James call. Then she heard the crack of a whip, but no pain came to her. "That Jessibelle person must be whipping James!" she realized.

But there was nothing she could do. She just dashed down to her home below, not looking back. She couldn't bring herself to look back. She knew that she would never see the boy again.

Jessie woke up with a start. She was about to cry when she realized that she wasn't in her attic room. She was the Team rocket secret hideout, safe and sound. James was in the bunk below her, sleeping silently. She was no longer in those days of pain. James still didn't know that she was the artist that he had met that day. For who would think Jessie of Team Rocket would be such a talented artist? "Why do I keep remembering that day?" she wondered, "It haunts me in my dreams." Normally she would have just let it go, but these dreams had been haunting her for the past few weeks. "Something's going to happen, I just know it!" She said to herself.

The noise of a hinge creaking sounded. "Charbok!" arbok cried, waking in a start. It had been sleeping on the foot of Jessie's bed.

"It's only the mail, silly," Jessie laughed, as she stroked her pokemon. She cautiously climbed down the ladder and took the mail out from under the slot and sorted through it, "Junk, junk, junk, letter from the boss…junk, junk, and what's this?" She pulled out an envelop that looked important. "Miss Jessica Annette Chan," she read. No one called her that any more, because no one knew that was her name, not even the boss, not even James. The pang of fear that she had felt after her dream began to come back. Slowly she opened the envelope. "Mr. Jacob…..has been deceased and has wished to leave you something please come….." She read on and then the reality hit, "Jake," she whispered, "He wouldn't have left me anything if he saw what I have become." She remembered his words, "a heart of gold." She let out a wail that woke up the entire house.

Jessie went to the office of the lawyer with a heavy heart. Here she was going to get something, a sum of money perhaps that she didn't deserve. Normally, that wouldn't have bugged her, but the fact that it was from Jake, the one person who had ever believed in her, made it different. He had believed in her instead of Lorelei. Oh, Lorelei. Where was she now? Why, she was one of the elite four, that's where she was! And where was Jessie? Jessie was still Jessie the joke, except now she was Jessie the joke of Team Rocket.

James noticed her distress, "Do you want me to come in with you?"

"No, why would I?"

"I've never seen you look so pale," James answered. This was a time when Jessie normally would have hit him with her fan, but now she didn't even feel like doing that. The old memories of her past came beck and followed her wherever she went.

"You just wait for me right out here," Jessie commanded.

Inside the office she sat down on the chair and faced the lawyer. "Miss Jessica Annette," the lawyer asked.

"Yes?"

"Mr. Jacob Chan-ling has chosen to leave you this box, and a message, he says that if you can solve the secret of the box, you will be rich beyond your dreams." He handed her the box. It was a pale pink marble with a small white rose on it's lid.

"Just like the roses on the dress," Jessie thought. She walked out of the office without saying a word.

"So what did the old guy leave you?" James asked. Jessie explained about the box.

"Well, then what are you waiting for, we're going to be rich!" Meowth exclaimed.

Jessie followed her partners with an empty heart. The heart that Jake had called golden. "More like stone," Jessie whispered to herself. Then she thought about the box, what secrets did it hold? Where would this trail lead her? All her guesses never came even close to the adventures, secrets and lies she would soon discover.

Chapter #2 Family Secret

"Could you possibly find out anything about this box?" Jessie asked. She was at the Celedon City Historical Society headquarters.

The woman at the desk grew pale when she saw the box. "Jessie, where did you get this box?"

"How do you know my name?" Jessie asked. The woman looked strangely familiar. She had long greenish hair tied back in a ponytail. Then she knew. "Tara!" she exclaimed, "What're you doing here? Did the boss fire you?" Tara had been Jessie's guide when she first had joined Team Rocket.

"Nope! This is just my day job! So tell me, where did you get that?"

"A friend gave it to me. Why?"

"Because this rose here is a symbol of the secret society known as the Pokes. They understood pokemon in such a way that no one else could. But you had to be born with the talent. The boss's brother, Roberto, was one of these. But one day all the members of this disappeared, mysteriously. Since then, the boss has sworn to find his brother. But his dreams of pokemon side tracked him and he founded Team Rocket. If he knew that you had the symbol he wouldn't let you rest until you found the missing members. He was very close to his brother. And what's even more interesting, is that this is the first trace we found of it in years."

"So this box probably belonged to a secret society."

"Not probably, definitely."

"Thanks Tara! Now could you help me on something more personal?"

"Sure, what Jess?"

"Could you look up the Chan family?"

"Which one?"

"Mine."

"No problem, Jess! I'll give you a buzz once I find some info. And in the mean time, please come and visit. I miss you, Jess!"

"I will as soon as I have time!" Jessie promised. She walked out the door and into the street. Then she noticed that James and Meowth were stuffing their faces at the café next door.

"Aren't you supposed to be doing research?" she asked angrily.

"We did! It wasn't in any of the books about ancient artifacts!" James complained.

"Ancient artifacts!" Why would it be in there?"

"Because the guy said that the box would make us rich!"

"NO! He said the SECRET of the box would make us rich!"

"Well," Meowth said, "I bet YOU didn't have any luck!"

"Guess again! I found out that the box belonged to a secret society called the Pokes!"

"The POKES!" Meowth exclaimed, "didn't the boss's brother belong to that?"

"Yeah!"

"How do you know?" Meowth challenged.

"A little bird told me!"

They returned home that evening with a heavy sigh. "That was pointless!" Meowth said.

"Was not! That café had the best jelly doughnuts that I've ever tasted!" James said.

"And I found out the origin of the box!" Jessie added. Then she noticed James and Meowth leaving the room.

"Well be in the kitchen!" James called.

She sat on the dusty couch in the room. "Arbok," she asked her pokemon, "do you remember Jake?"

"Charbok!"

"No? Well, he was an old man. He was very nice. And he…"

"Charbok, charboka, charbok!"

"That's right he gave you lot's of treats! Oh arbok, I miss him so much!"

"Charbok," arbok hissed in a sympathetic way that only a snake could.

Then Jessie decided to do something that she hadn't done in years. She opened her closet and reached to the very back. She pulled out a yellowed sketch pad and a box of old pastels.

"CHARBOK!" arbok cried, recognizing the old pastime.

Jessie smiled and sat down on the couch. She began to draw. It was a drawing of her, Jake, and ekans in the old trinket shop passing the time. She didn't know how she remembered what Jake looked like. It was like her hands just knew the way. Then she began to draw James and herself. In the drawing they were standing back to back in a pose that they would normally recite the motto in. Then she flipped back to a drawing that she had done four years ago. It was a drawing of a boy hugging a growlithe. She took out a purplish-blue pastel and colored the boy's hair. Then she drew a rose in the boy's hand. "Jessica A. Chan" she signed in the lower right hand corner.

"Why didn't you look back?" she heard a voice behind her say.

She turned around to see James watching her draw. "I couldn't bring myself to," she answered, "It's hard to know what I was thinking. At the time my world was falling apart." Then she blushed. She had just shown emotion, that was one thing she never did.

All further conversation was interrupted by a ring on the phone. Jessie picked up.

"Jess?" the voice on the other end asked.

"Yeah?"

"This is Tara, I looked up your family's past. It seems that your last name used to be Chan-ling. Ironically, that is the same last name of the strongest of the Pokes, Jacob Chan-ling. He had a son and a daughter: Isaac and Becky. Apparently Isaac was your dad, and, Jessie are you listening?"

Jessie had turned as white as she had been when she heard that Jake was dead, "Continue."

"Anyway, unlike your father, Becky chose not to be a member of the Pokes. She married and had a son."

"I have a cousin?"

"Yes, according to the info I have here, his name is Ash."

Jessie froze, "Did the man she married happen to have the last name of Ketchum?"

"Why yes, how did you know?"

Jessie had dropped the receiver and ran to the bedroom and locked the door. She had that sinking feeling again. That buzzing in her head and strange pain on the back of her neck. Her world was going break apart again.

Chapter #3 Deeper and Deeper

Jessie was running through a field of roses. The thorns scratched her legs and blood ran over her feet. All around her all the people she had ever hurt.

"Why are you so pathetic?" her mother asked.

"Why didn't you turn back?" James asked.

"Why aren't you like me?" Lorelei asked.

"Cousin, why do you want to steal my pikachu?" Ash asked.

"Jessie, why did you forget your heart of gold?" Jake called.

"I DON"T KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Jessie screamed at the top of her lungs.

Beads of sweat dropped of her forehead as she awoke. James was sitting beside her.

"Jessie, are you okay? You were talking in your sleep!" he asked, "Look, I know you don't like to talk about your past, but you're my best friend, you can talk to me."

"I don't know what's wrong with me!" Jessie cried. Tears began to run down her cheek, but for once she didn't hold them back.

"Nothing's wrong with you," James said.

"Look, on that phone call I not only found out who my father was, but I also found out that, that brat Ash is my cousin!"

"It's okay, Jess."

"But also, if I ever want to find the secret of the box, I have to learn about my past. The part of it that even I don't know."

"If you ever need someone to lean on, you can always turn to me!" James assured.

One look into his eyes told Jessie that he meant it.

Ash, Misty, and Brock walked down the long, dusty road. Team Rocket hadn't bothered them in a while and they were in great spirits.

"For your sake, your squirtle better be strong if you want to beat Blaine!" Brock said.

"Don't worry Brock! I'll beat Blaine easy as pie!" Ash said confidently, "not even Team Rocket can stop me!"

"I wonder what they've been up to," Misty thought aloud, "We haven't seen them in while!" She began to play with togepi, who was sitting in her arms.

"Preeeee Toga, toga," togepi cooed.

"Pika, pika, pikachu!" pikachu said all of a sudden.

"What is it pikachu?" Ash asked.

Then they heard a sound that was all too familiar. "To protect the world from devastation!" Jessie didn't sound like her heart was into it.

"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 blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

"Here we go again!" Ash sighed.

"Well, Jessie," James hinted.

"Ash…. Forget it! I can't do it!"

"You have to Jess, how would you feel if you were in his place."

"If I was in his place, I would rather not know! Hold on! I'm usually the one who pressures YOU to do something, not vice versa!"

"Jess, just tell him!"

"Fine, fine! Ash, um how do I say this, I'm your cousin!"

"This has got to be a trick Ash!" Misty said.

"I'M TELLING THE TRUTH!" Jessie cried.

"What proof do you have?" Brock challenged.

"Here," Jessie said. She handed them a rumpled family tree.

Ash looked at it and turned white, "I'm just having a nightmare, right!"

"I reacted in the same way. Okay James, I told him, can we go now?"

"NO! They have doughnuts!"

For the first time since she had heard that Jake had died, Jessie bopped him on the head. "Let's go!" she yelled. They left leaving Ash and his pals to wonder.

"I did some research on the Pokes," Tara told Jessie, James, and Meowth.

"And?" Jessie asked.

"I found out why you can communicate with your ekans so well. According to this, if the family had more than one child, only one of the children would get the gift of pokemon communication. For example, Roberto had it, but the boss didn't. Isaac had it, but Becky didn't. And you have it, and not Lorelei."

"That last part has to be wrong!" Jessie said cutting in.

"Why?"

"Because Lorelei, who like me had practically no money, is now one of the elite four."

"The gift isn't by how well you trained pokemon, but how you understand your pokemon. Now, Jess, I've seen you and your arbok together, and it's so obvious that you understand each other."

"She's right, Jess," James agreed, "You and your arbok are as much of a team as you and I. And, you can understand what it says from just hearing 'charbok'"

"Yeah! You understand it even more than you understand me!" Meowth added.

"Then why…"

"It's because you never had a chance too develop it!" Tara said, "you probably were about one year old when your father disappeared. If you had the chance you probably would be an even better trainer than Lance the Dragon trainer!"

"Did you find anything else?" Jessie asked.

"Yes, it turns out that after the retiring of your grandfather, Jacob, one of the members began to get unruly. His name was Miguel. He suggested using their powers to take over the world. The others were shocked at this suggestion, and Miguel was kicked out of the club. After being kicked out, he swore to get revenge. Then the members disappeared."

Chapter #4 In The Lair of the Enemy

"I'm confused!" James complained.

"Join the club," Jessie groaned. The more they knew, the more confusing this puzzle got. The gift to communicate with pokemon, Miguel, a beautiful box, a past shrouded with secrecy, a cousin whom she hated, it was like something out of a dream, or a nightmare for that matter. It was like trying to put together a jig-saw puzzle with a piece missing.

"Well, we might as well try to work with the clues we have," Meowth suggested.

"Meowth, we only have one clue to go on and that's the Pokes and my connection with them. We won't be able to find out any more…unless," Jessie answered. She pulled her phone from out of her bag, and dialed a few numbers, "Tara, any chance you know where the Pokes' hideout was?"

"An abandoned DOUGHNUT SHOP!" James exclaimed when they reached the place, "Maybe they have some abandoned doughnuts!"

"Yeah, abandoned MOLDY doughnuts," Jessie yelled.

They walked inside the dark room that smelled musty.

"Where's a charmander when you need one?" Jessie mumbled. She felt along the wall until she found a light switch. "Just hope this works!" she said hopefully.

In an instant the lights flickered on revealing a room that looked like a conference room, not a doughnut shop.

"Hey! I thought that this was a doughnut shop!" James complained.

"That's just a cover," Meowth said harshly, "Even Jessie could tell you that!"

"And what's that supposed to mean you over-grown fur-ball!" Jessie shrieked. In her anger she tripped over a book. "What's that?" she picked up the book. Log it had printed on the front. "Maybe this has a clue," Jessie said picking up the book.

She began to read:

Here begins the log of Miguel G. Trar of the Pokes. I have been born with the power to communicate with pokemon. This power, as I have discovered, is so great that we could use it to communicate telepathically with pokemon. You can even use it to brain-wash pokemon. I can use this knowledge to finally have my revenge on those who betrayed me.

May 12

A spirit called Hiroshi came to me. He told me that I could rule the world. That I could become all powerful. That I could finally have my revenge. I told about this to our leader Jacob. He said that Hiroshi was an evil spirit who would posses the soul with evil. I will not believe him. I will join Hiroshi. He understands.

May 13

That old man Jacob finally decided to retire. Perfect! Now I can show the others Hiroshi and all his power. With our combined powers we will be all powerful.

May 14

Those FOOLS! All of them, even that old man Jacob. They do not understand the meaning of true power. Hiroshi and I will defeat them, all of them! We will have our revenge. We will destroy Isaac for taking my place. As soon as he was old enough, he tool my place as Jacob's successor. A place that was really mine! I will hurt him where it hurts most. Hiroshi and I will rule the world, and destroy them all, I swear it!

May 17

We have been designing a plan that will show them. We will use their power. They call me evil. Evil? HA! They are the evil ones, they don't wish to use their pokemon's power. Well Hiroshi and I will use my rapidash until its power has run out.

May 31

We have done it! Our revenge is complete. We removed their souls and locked them up tight in a ruby orb, which I will always wear around my neck. And if they do escape, they will have no body to return to and just wander the earth as restless souls. Heh! And soon I will get my revenge of Isaac!

June 1

Noooooo! I underestimated the power of that old man! I write this in my log through the last telekinetic powers I have. He has locked my soul up in a stone heart. He threw my body into the sea. But I will get the last laugh in the end. Hiroshi will release me 16 years from the day of our revenge and I will roam once more. But I will not have to wander aimlessly. I can just return to my stone. This will only work for me because Hiroshi is on my side. With my limited powers I moved my stone the heart of a lapres belonging to one of Isaac's little bratty daughters. I chose the older one for surely it couldn't be the younger who possesses the gift! Now Hiroshi is talking to me for the last time before he leaves me for 16 years. What! I have chosen wrong! It is the one-year-old brat Jessica who possesses the gift! The stone in the older one's lapres won't effect her! No matter! I will have my revenge once I am free. And I am safe from the old man Jacob for he can't destroy me! Not as long as the stone remained intact! I will be all-powerful! HA HA HA….

"He's more evil than anything I've ever seen!" Meowth exclaimed.

"But surely all that stuff about Hiroshi and his revenge are just fiction, right Jess?" James asked fearfully

Jessie shook her head, "May 31st is the same day that Jake died. I think that Miguel's soul has been released!" As if on cue, ghostly writing appeared on the last page of the log:

Jessica Annette Chan-Ling, you can not escape me. I will come for you. I will have my revenge on your father by destroying all that is important to him: your safety and happiness. I cannot destroy your sister, for she doesn't possess the gift! I will destroy you, and your pokemon, and your love. Hiroshi and I will have our revenge!

Jessie clutched arbok closely. "What's this about a love?" Meowth snickered.

"NEVER MIND THAT!" Jessie screamed.

"Jessie, does this mean what I think it does?" James asked extremely frightened.

"Yes it does, we're in trouble, and I mean more than double!"

Chapter #5 A Ghostly Encounter

Jessie looked at the view from the rocket balloon. This was bad, very bad. An evil ghost was after her and she had nowhere to hide. It knew all about her: her fears, her weaknesses, and even whom she loved. She and all that was important to her would be destroyed unless she could do something about it.

James came and sat down beside her. "So what love WAS the ghost talking about?" he asked.

"Nobody," Jessie answered. She was in no mood to be angry. She just hoped that James hadn't guessed that her secret love was, well, him.

Then a huge wind arose and began to toss the balloon around. "It's the ghost!" the three rocket members all screamed. They franticly tried to steer the balloon with no avail. It came crashing down, down. Fortunately, the top of the balloon worked like a parachute. They landed in the road right in front of Ash and his pals.

"Ask next time before you drop in, cousin," Ash grumbled. "I feel the same, COUSIN!" Jessie groaned in return, "I'm still Jessie, you know!"

"If you think that this is going to make me give you pikachu then…"

"We didn't mean to drop in here," Jessie interrupted.

"You see, this evil spirit is after us, and…" James started to say.

"Evil spirit!?" Misty laughed, "And you expect us to believe that?!"

Then the bright day darkened and a chilling wind arose. The outline of a ghostly figure appeared. Slowly it began to fill in to show a man with a glowing, blue light around him. "So we finally meet in person, Jessica Annette Chan-Ling"

"MIGUEL!" Jessie yelled.

"Naturally. Lucky for me I can destroy you and all those things I told you about in one sweep. So what if there's a few extra casualties. After all, Hiroshi promised me the world."

There was only one thing to do, fight! But how did you fight against a ghost? Then Jessie remembered something that she had read in the log. It said that the gift could make you communicate telepathically with pokemon. It was a long shot, but their only chance for survival. "ARBOK GO!" she called.

"HEH HEH! I'll be able to stop it's attacks before it even strikes!"

Jessie began to concentrate hard. "Arbok, use poison powder." She thought. She could only hope that her gift was strong enough. She knew that poison powder affected ghost pokemon, but would it affect a human ghost?

To Jessie's relief, arbok leaped at the ghost and poisoned it. She heard the ghost scream in pain, then vanish. "You haven't seen the last of me, Jessica Annette Chan-ling."

Everyone was silent except for Jessie who called, "Good work Arbok!"

Ash was the first other person to speak, "You know Jessie, for a self-center pokemon thief, you're not so bad."

"Well I guess for a selfish little brat, you're not so bad either," Jessie answered. Everyone laughed.

"We still need to find out how to destroy that ghost!" James exclaimed. He looked around as if an evil spirit was going to jump out at any minute.

"There's only one Team Rocket member that I know of who is an expert on the paranormal," Meowth said.

"And that is," Jessie and James asked.

"Cassidy," Meowth answered.

"NO! There is no way, no how, and no sir that I'm going to ask that ugly, self-centered, creep for advice!" Jessie screamed, "You can't make me!"

Minutes later they were approaching a small cabin much like theirs only it was painted a bright ugly green.

"How did you guys talk me in to this?" Jessie shrieked.

"Well do you want a ghost after you for the rest of your life?" Meowth asked.

"I don't see why we couldn't have just gone to one of those places like Madame Sigali's Spirit Experts," Jessie said trying to think of an excuse not to ask her old rival to help.

"Haven't you heard, Nat and Sim own that place!" Meowth answered. Natalie (or Nat for short) and Sim were other members of Team Rocket.

"Oh so it's going to be much better to ask Cassidy?" Jessie challenged.

"The difference is, Cassidy is a real, genuine, expert in the paranormal and Nat is just faking it!" Meowth yelled, "So unless you want to be destroyed by some evil, possessed spirit, I suggest you just ask Cassidy!"

There was nothing Jessie could say to that. "Why me?" she grumbled and rang the door-bell.

"CADE!" a huge rat pokemon sprang at Jessie and knocked her over.

"Who's there raticade?" Cassidy called.

"Get your stupid raticade off of me!" Jessie yelled.

"Oh! So it's you, Jessie. Come to admit how much better I am then you?" Cassidy laughed.

"Why you little…" Jessie started.

"Umm, Jessie, that might not be the best way to make her tell you…" James started.

"You stay out of this!" Jessie said angrily.

"You want me to tell you want?" Cassidy taunted, "How to get a brain?"

"It seems that by some ill twist of fate, I have a ghost after me and…"

"OOOO! You want my paranormal expertise! You finally admit that I'm better than you then!"

"Hold on! There's a HUGE difference between admitting that you're better than me and asking your advice."

"And WHY should I give you any advice?"

Jessie thought for a moment. "Well, unless you want an ugly ghost to take over the world before you do then…"

"WHAT! No ghost, especially an ugly one, is going to take over the world before me! Alright, I'll help you!"

She led them into the sitting room where Butch was reading the newspaper. "What are THEY doing here?" He asked.

"If I don't help them, a ghost is going to take over the world before we do! Jess, James, sit down and tell me all about this ghost." Cassidy said.

1 hour and forty-two doughnuts later, they finally finished telling their story. "Here's what I suggest," Cassidy said, "You have to defeat your sister in a pokemon battle! Then, while her lapres is weak, cut out the stone heart, smash it, and the ghost will be no more."

"What!" Jessie screamed, "that lapres means the world to Lorelei!"

"Why do you care?" Cassidy asked, "I thought you hated her."

Jessie thought hard. She had always complained about Lorelei, been jealous at her luck, and happiness, and sometimes she was angry at her, but did she hate her? "No!" Jessie realized, "I never hated her. I just wished that I was more like her."

"Why are you lying to me, Cass?" she asked.

"I'm not, honest!" Cassidy said.

"I don't trust your word of honor!" Jessie replied.

"Look, Jessie, if this doesn't work, take my raticade, and feed it to your arbok. I won't stop you!" Cassidy screamed.

Jessie was silent for a long time. She knew that Cassidy loved her raticade as much as she loved her own arbok. Cassidy wouldn't make a foolish promise like that, unless she was telling the truth. "James, get the rocket balloon out of the repair shop."

"But Jess, where are we going?"

"I'm going to have to do something I thought I'd never have to do: face my past."

Chapter #6 Sibling Rivalry

Deep inside of Jessie a voice was screaming, "No!" She had run away for a reason. To get away from her mom and Lorelei. To escape from all the disappointment and jealousy. To run away from all the pain that knowing that she'd never be a normal child. She was just too different be part of her family. And society is just so cruel to the different ones. And now she was going to face her past. Face herself.

"Are you ready to face Lorelei?" James asked.

"I don't think I ever will," Jessie answered.

"Why?"

"Think of it this way, will you ever be able to face Jessibelle?"

"No."

"Well, I'll never completely be ready to face her. I left promising that I'll return when I'm famous and ending up returning a member of Team Rocket. I mean, what does that say about me?"

"And what's wrong with Team Rocket?" Meowth asked.

"Nothing, its just compare a member of Team Rocket to a member of the Elite Four."

"I see what you mean," James said, "it's hard to believe that they're even related!"

Jessie reached down and stroked arbok. "At least I can count on you," Jessie laughed.

"Charbok!" arbok answered as if to say, "You can always count on me!"

"Well, here we are," Jessie sighed as they landed near Indigo Plateau.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" James asked.

"Do I have a choice?"

Without warning James kissed her softly on the lips. "For good luck," he said, worried that he'd get a bop on the head as an answer. To his surprise, Jessie silently walked through the door that would lead her to Lorelei.

The room was covered in diamonds, made to resemble ice. On a blue cushion sat Lorelei, in all her ice-queen glory. Her blue hair was tied up as usual and her old tortoise-shell glasses still framed her eyes. She was wearing a blue dress and sat as if preoccupied with her thoughts. She didn't look up at the sound of the door opening.

"Not another challenge," she grumbled. Then she looked up to come face to face with Jessie. Neither had seen each other for four, long years. Both had changed so much. And both had grown up. Lorelei was no longer the poor, little genius who expected things to ride smoothly. And Jessie was no longer the sad, misunderstood child, with no self-confidence. "Jess," Lorelei breathed, "is it really you?"

"Yes," Jessie said, holding back all the emotion that was welling up inside, "I have come to challenge you to a pokemon battle."

"You? Really? Okay, if you wish," Lorelei sighed. One thing was true about this battle, neither of them had their hearts into it.

"Jynx, go!" Lorelei called.

"Arbok, go!" Jessie called, "Arbok, bind it!"

Jynx was knocked out before Lorelei could say "Jynx, psychic!"

The battle raged on. No matter what Lorelei threw at her, Jessie threw back. But there was one thing that Jessie was dreading, when Lorelei would bring out the lapres. The lapres that she would have to kill to save the world!

"Lapres, go!"

Jessie's heart sank. "Arbok, bite."

"Lapres, blizzard!"

The icy stones dropped on arbok. "Hold on there, arbok," she thought, "whatever you do, just hold on!"

Arbok must have read her thoughts because a sudden courage came over it. It sprang toward lapres like a robin at a worm. "Now bind it!" Jessie called. Arbok used bind stronger than it ever had before. Lapres dropped to the ground in defeat.

"Jessie, you win!" Lorelei exclaimed happily. Jessie knew that she wouldn't be so happy once she was finished. Out of her pocket, Jessie pulled a small, sharp knife.

"Jess! What are you doing?"

"I'm sorry!" Jessie whispered, not knowing what else to say. She leaned over and made a cut in the chest of the lapres.

"JESSICA! DON"T!" Lorelei screamed.

Slowly Jessie reached in and pulled out the stone heart. It wriggled on her hand, as if knowing that it was about to be destroyed. Silently, she threw it against the wall, and it broke onto tiny pieces. "Nooooooooo!" a voice sounded. Miguel had been defeated at last.

Then Jessie remembered about all the power that she had with pokemon. Maybe she could use the gift to brain-wash the lapres into healing. It was worth a try. "heal!" she commanded, "Heal!"

The wound soon vanished without a trace. Jessie opened her eyes. She had done it!

"Lore, I.."

"So the tale was true, I wasn't dreaming." Lorelei mumbled.

"Huh?' Jessie asked.

"I remember hearing a voice that sounded like one of the members of the Pokes inside my lapres once. It said that he would get his revenge or something."

Jessie told her story to Lorelei, not forgetting any detail. It felt good to talk to her sister once more. It was like having a missing piece brought back to her. Lorelei had nothing much to tell. Being a member of the elite four, she barely had any privacy.

Finally, neither of them could take it any more. They hugged each other in a way that only sisters could. "It's good to have you back, sis," Lorelei said.

Then Jessie said five words that she never thought she would ever say, "It's good to be back!"

Epilogue

Jessie sat on her bed. She was happy, she had made friends with her sister, realized that she wasn't so worthless, yet she was sad, she still had no idea what the secret of the box was. All of a sudden she felt a hand on her shoulder. She spun around and saw a ghostly outline of Jake. "Jake!" she exclaimed, "or should I call you grandfather."

"Jake's fine, Jessie, perfectly fine."

"What are you doing here?"

"Saying goodbye."

"Why?"

"I'm dead, Jessie, and I want my soul to rest peacefully. But, I am aloud one last visit."

"I never discovered the box's secret, I'm sorry."

"Open it."

Jessie did as she was commanded. Inside the box was a flaming, ruby orb. It was beautiful. "It's the orb where the Poke's souls were kept!" Jessie exclaimed.

"These souls want to rest in peace, Jessie."

"How do I do that?"

"Give their souls a place to rest."

Jessie went out into the nearby woods. In a tree she carved "in memory of the Pokes". Then she poked a tiny hole in the orb. Ghostly spirits floated to the tree and disappeared. One paused to look at her. Jessie knew that this was her father.

"Must you go now?" Jessie asked Jake.

"Yes."

"Wait! I have one last thing that I want to give you!" She pulled out a drawing that she had done. It was a drawing of her and the other members of Team Rocket. She was sitting in a normal pose, while James was snacking on doughnuts. Arbok, Weezing, and Lickitoungue were running around playing some pokemon game. Victreebell was trying to run away, for it still refused to listen to James. As for Meowth, he was sitting, board and looked like he just wanted to get out of there.

"If I were to call for a group portrait, This is what it would look like!" Jessie laughed.

"Always, realistic," Jake laughed, "and still one in a million!" Then human and spirit gave each other a friendly hug goodbye, not a romantic one, but the kind that a friend would give if they were about to move away.

"Goodbye!" Jessie sighed.

"Goodbye, Jessie, and remember, a heart of gold can only be covered up by sorrow and anger, it never goes away.

And as long as she lived, Jessie never forgot his words.

The End!!!!!!!!