Prologue

Giovanni fumed, steely eyes glinting. Persian, sensing its master's anger, was hiding discreetly under the
bed, not wanting to be a vent for the powerful man's anger.

"If they fail me one more time..." the gravelly, distorted voice spoke, "...that's it. I can't stand any more of
their idiocy."

"They aren't idiots, Giovanni."

Giovanni looked up sharply at the voice. A youthful-looking Rocket girl leaned against the wall there,
stormy blue-grey eyes glinting. Her long blond hair fell into and covered one. Her secretive, slightly
mocking smirk both infuriated and worried Giovanni.

"Then explain why they can't pull off something as simple as stealing a Pikachu from a ten-year-old boy."

"Two reasons. Neither of which I will tell you." Her eyes glimmered.

Giovanni snarled. "You will tell me, or..."

"Or what? You'll throw me off the team, and then you'll send your precious assassins after me? I'll kill all
your precious assassins one by one. You can't kill me, Giovanni." Her tone was heavily sarcastic, as
always. She had been coming closer to Giovanni as she spoke, and now leaned on his desk. Giovanni
found himself leaning back into his chair, as if trying to escape the girl. He wouldn't admit it, but he was
vaguely afraid of this insubordinate girl.

"Get out of my office."

"As you wish, Giovanni." She smirked and walked away. As she turned, she looked Giovanni straight in
the eyes, something very few Rockets had the courage to do. "Remember. The strongest of the weak, will
ultimately triumph over the weakest of the strong."

Giovanni opened his mouth to ask what that meant, but the girl was gone.
 Feathers and Foxtails

It was Jessie and James' last-ditch effort.

They were about done with trying to steal Ash's Pikachu. They never could manage, somehow.
Something always went wrong, resulting in pain, humiliation, and worst of all - failure. Finally, *finally*,
they'd gotten the hint. James had suggested that they go after the absolute rarest Pokemon to give the
Boss: Mewtwo.

So that was why they were standing outside the cave known as the Unknown Dungeon, where they heard
Mewtwo lived.

"Got the ball?" Meowth asked.

"Right here," James assured, displaying the Master Ball. *That* had been a challenge, stealing the Master
Ball. Fortunately, Ash and his friends hadn't been around to spoil it. The Master Ball was theirs. And soon,
Mewtwo would be as well...

"Well, we're not going to catch Mewtwo by hanging around here and reflecting," Jessie reminded sharply,
grabbing her partner's wrist and dragging him into the cave, stepping on Meowth's tail in the process. The
yowl echoed through the cavern, and both Rockets froze.

Nothing attacked.

They decided it was safe to continue. They entered the cave warily, two humans and one Pokemon.

This time, they *would not lose*.

"Jessie, I'm scared!" James whimpered.

"Shut up, we're close to Mewtwo," Jessie growled.

"But it's dark and scary in here!! I wanna leave!!"

"This was *your* idea, you dimwit!"

"But it’s *scary* in here!"

Jessie took a deep breath and forced herself to keep her temper in check. Not now. Mewtwo was
powerful, maybe strong enough to kill. They couldn't anger it, or it could be the last thing they would ever
do. Besides, she could always beat James senseless *after* they were done here. By that time, he
probably would've earned it, too.

A bunch of Golbat flew by. James glomped onto Jessie, terrified. The redhead completely lost her temper
and pried James off of her before decking him. (Of course, after working with her for so long, he'd
developed great defensive reflexes, and covered his head before she hit him, so she didn't cause any
injuries besides a big lump on his head.

"Hey, guys!" Meowth whispered urgently. "I found Mewtwo!"

Jessie and James, earlier fight forgotten, James with his head already totally healed, turned to look where
the little cat Pokemon was pointing.

The powerful, frightening psychic-type was curled up in a large, smooth, bowl-shaped boulder, fast
asleep. James smirked and grabbed the Master Ball, throwing it. The Master Ball couldn't fail. It
guaranteed capture.

Unless a long, thin tail with a thick tip whacked it back into the thrower's hands, in which case the
intended Pokemon remained un-captured and the thrower stood there looking completely dumbfounded,
while his partners started wondering *how* that could have *failed*.

The answer landed on the floor before them, looking angry.

It was definitely a Pokemon, but nothing the Rockets had encountered before. It was tiny, two feet at the
tallest. It had very tiny arms and large legs and feet, a pale bluish hide covering it. The tail was long and
thin, with a very thick tip, and two adorable blue eyes glared at the Rockets. James suddenly recognized
it.

"That's Mew!" he hissed.

"Mew!" Meowth choked, and bowed before the tiny Pokemon, trembling.

-=That is correct, blue-haired one. My name is Mew, mother of Mewtwo. I will not allow my son to be
captured!=- She narrowed her blue eyes. -=Before I can give a suitable punishment, I must learn about
each of you.=-

With that, she stepped forward and knelt before Meowth, putting her tiny hands on his head, entering his
mind-

---pent up rage, fury at the world at humans at everything, an outcast from his kind, rejected by the human
he thought he could trust, part of an embarrassing and pathetic team, so much anger, hatred, sadness,
loneliness--

Mew broke the link, unable to watch anymore. Her blue eyes were wide with horror.

-=You, Meowth, I will not harm. You have suffered worse than I could give.=- She shifted her gaze to
James.

-=Now I learn about you, blue-haired one.=-

She floated into the air and put her hands on James' head--

--fear, lust for freedom, a sharp hatred of rules and duties and requirements, a child in an adult's body,
forced to grow up too soon, an intelligence so often hidden by immaturity and naiveté, a sweet and
cheerful personality, a romantic, a poet, a timid angel, a truly good heart within despite being a criminal--

Mew pulled away, declining to comment. Without another word, she moved to Jessie--

--a coldness within, sinister and dark and cunning, a blue-eyed fox, a charmer, a plotter, intelligent and
competent yet afraid, confused and bewildered by an out-of-control life, a denied love--

Jessie could have SWORN Mew smirked as she pulled away.

-=I have made my decision. I will not punish you for your actions.=-

Jessie resisted the urge to hug James in relief.

Mew's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. -=But you will not leave unscathed. I shall change you both; raise
you to the levels such people belong on. You shall all awaken outside the caverns.=-

The human Rockets started trying to think of a reply, but weren't able to, as Mew began to glow, a glow
which quickly intensified to fill the cavern - and then, total darkness.

James groaned, waking up. The sun was out, and a cool breeze was blowing. Quite pleasant, really. He
was tempted to just lie there, but he started wondering what Mew had meant when she'd said she would
change him and Jessie. Sitting up, he looked himself over quickly. Well, he still seemed the same.
Something felt heavy on his back, but he didn't care at the moment.

Jessie moaned softly to herself, also waking up. James looked in her direction, and just sort of stared.
Jessie looked at him, also staring.

"...James?" she questioned.

"...Jessie?"

Jessie didn't *APPEAR* to be changed... until you noticed the long red fox tail. James couldn't stop
staring, for some reason he didn't quite understand at the moment.

Jessie didn't notice James' stare. She raised a trembling hand to point.

"James... look behind you!"

James looked slowly behind him, fully expecting to see some sort of ugly monster. What he *did* see,
however...

He couldn't stifle the shriek of surprise.

Wings!

He had a huge, beautiful pair of wings!

Trembling, he reached a hand to touch them, hoping they weren't some illusion. His hand met soft
feathers covering warm flesh. And more surprising; he could feel the touch of his hand on the wing!
Doubts dispelled, he tore his gaze away from the magnificent wings to look at Jessie. She'd discovered
her tail, and was currently fascinated with it, having found she could move it. Curious, James tried to
move his wings, only to find he couldn't. He was disappointed.

"Try pulling on one of them," Jessie suggested. "So you know what to move."

James shrugged (noting that the wings shrugged with him), and grabbed for the tip of one wing, pulling it
towards him. New muscles, stiff and unused to moving, stretched almost painfully, but in a way it was a
rather pleasant feeling. Cautiously, James tried flexing one wing. It moved freely. He grinned widely.

"You were right!" he cried happily.

"Of *course* I was right," Jessie said smugly. She stood up, and noticed Meowth, who had woken up a
while ago and been completely dumbfounded. "What are you staring at?"

Meowth quickly shook his head. "Nothing. I'm just wondering how we're gonna explain this one to dah
Boss..."

Jessie and James exchanged looks. They hadn't really thought about that...

"Oops," they said in unison.

If one looked at a certain path in the forest, one would see an incredibly odd sight. Two humans(?) in
Team Rocket outfits, one with long red hair and a fox tail, the other with shoulder-length blue hair and
enormous angel's wings, both moping along the path with an incredibly depressed Meowth.

"I can't believe we got *fired*!" James wailed from out of the blue. "I know we fail all the time, but couldn't
he have given us *one* more chance?"

"Obviously not," Jessie whimpered.

Meowth was, surprisingly, silent. He hadn't said a word since Giovanni had fired Jessie and James (and
made it rather clear that Meowth was also effectively fired).

James sat down in the middle of the road and started pouting, folding his wings around him. "What are we
going to do *now*?"

Jessie shrugged helplessly. But as she dropped her arms, one hand hit against the two Pokeballs at her
belt. In about two seconds, she had a plan and grinned.

"We could try as *legit* Pokemon trainers."

James gave her an 'are-you-out-of-your-flipping-*mind?*' look. "We're probably wanted everywhere!" he

whined. "Besides, we don't even look completely *human* anymore! We're freaks!"

Meowth cringed as he saw Jessie start getting mad, and ran for cover. Practically boiling over, Jessie
stormed over to James and grabbed one of his wings, pulling it into his line of sight.

"You call THESE freakish??" she demanded. "Okay, so we aren't the norm for the human race. SO
WHAT?? I've got a tail, you've got wings, but we're still human! And even if we are freaks, at least we're
good-looking freaks!!"

James said absolutely nothing. Partially because Jessie had a good point, but mostly because she had
just scared the living daylights out of him. Jessie, realizing that maybe she was being a bit *too*
intimidating, tried a different approach. Sitting next to James, she took his chin gently in her hand and
turned the scared and unhappy pretty boys head to face her. Something twinged in her heart as she saw
tears welling up in his eyes.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you, James," she soothed. "Don't worry. Things'll work out. We don't have to fight for
badges or anything, so we won't have to go into any towns, if we *are* wanted. It'll all be okay."

It worked. The tears went away, and James' normal cheerfulness returned. Smiling to herself, Jessie
decided that she should try the gentle approach more often. It got better results than yelling and whacking
with paper fans tended to.
A little part of her mind told her, 'Doesn't it feel good to actually be nice to James for a change?'

Jessie told that tiny part of her mind to kindly shut up. I don't feel anything for James, she told herself. I
don't feel anything for James, I don't feel anything for James....

Meanwhile, James looked at the two Pokeballs on his belt. Weezing and Victreebel, and Jessie had
Arbok and Lickitung. Yes, they could do pretty well as normal trainers.

Jessie lounged on a small hill, fox tail flicking contentedly. It was a very pleasant day, the kind that would
probably have James in seventh heaven after a good meal and a nap.

She started to contemplate her new career. It was much more fun than being a Rocket, and less
dangerous. It'd been somewhat difficult to get trainer's licenses, as some people recognized their faces
(that, and the wings and tail got more stares than either would have liked). Once they realized Jessie and
James weren't there to steal Pokemon, the two former Rockets had walked out of the town with
Pokedexes, some new Pokeballs, and their skins intact for once.

A shadow appeared on the hill, and James came in for a shaky but passable landing. He'd gotten the
hang of flight fairly quickly. Then again, he'd been practicing ever since he'd gotten his wings, so that
probably had something to do with it.

For no reason at all, Jessie suddenly noticed how incredibly handsome James was. Of course, he'd been
great-looking before, but with those wings... !!

It's only a business relationship, Jessie told herself calmly. Business relationship...

That was when Jessie remembered that she and James had been fired from Team Rocket. So it was
quite possible for them to be more than business partners... Jessie felt her face get warm.

"What's wrong, Jessie?"

"Huh?"

"You're blushing. Why's that?"

Ohhhhh boy...

"...No reason, no reason at all!" She laughed nervously, putting her hand behind her head. James gave
her a highly skeptical look, but didn't pursue the subject, much to Jessie's relief. Instead, he put his hands
behind his head like a pillow, leaned back, and looked at the sky, smiling. Jessie found she couldn't stop
staring at him, fascinated for the first time by his unusual but attractive blue hair and his brilliant emerald
eyes... the little wisp of hair that fell into his face... snap out of it, Jessie.

Not that Jessie *could*. James' sky gazing was suddenly interrupted by something warm and soft
pressing against him. Crashing back to planet Earth, he looked down and saw Jessie snuggled up to him.
He blushed.

"James..." Jessie whispered, too quietly for James to make it out. Looking up at him adoringly, she moved
forward for a kiss...

The sound of paws clapping together diverted the former Rockets' attention. Meowth was standing there
with a stern expression that seemed to say 'No kiss-kiss while I'm awake to see it'. Jessie blushed until
her face matched her hair, jerking away from James.
'I swear, I'm going to feed that alley cat to a Growlithe one of these days...' "What is it, Meowth?" she
snapped. Meowth jerked his thumb (or what passed for his thumb) over his shoulder and made a quick
hand gesture. The cat Pokemon hadn't spoken since the three had been fired, and was relying on sign
language to communicate. This particular gesture meant that there was a trainer nearby that they could
challenge.

"You want to fight this one, James?" Jessie asked. James shook his head.

"I don't wanna battle right now."

Jessie nodded silently and stood up. "Okay, Meowth, where's this trainer?"

As Meowth led Jessie off, James started analyzing what had just happened, trying to make sure he
remembered it all right. He'd lay down on the hill, watched the clouds for a little while, and then Jessie
had snuggled up to him and tried to kiss him. He was almost sure he'd missed *something* in there, but
then again, if he hadn't... then that meant that...

...Jessie...

...liked him.

James' heart ached. If Jessie liked him.... well, he liked her too, didn't he? Sure, she was pretty, but...
James was terribly confused, trying to figure everything out. There was no way Jessie could like him...
right?

Jessie wandered back towards where James was, blushing at the memory of what had happened earlier.
She hadn't really been in control of her actions, it had just sort of... happened. That alone scared her.
How could she feel ANYTHING for James?

Easy, her mind told her. You worked with him for ages when you were a Rocket.

What does *that* have to do with anything?

You spent so much time with him, you grew to like him.

I did not! Sure, he's a nice guy, but... god. *Why* am I arguing with myself?

I'd say a better question is how. And you're arguing with yourself because you won't admit you l--

Shut up and go away.

Can't. I'm you.

Am I really this annoying?

Ask Ash.

Jessie rolled her eyes as the other her giggled, and, paying attention to where she was going, realized
she was already at the crest of the hill. With this knowledge, she sat down and sighed, her tail swishing
from side to side.

Looking over to one side, she noticed that Meowth was snoozing partway down the hill, and James was
either asleep or doing a good impression of it. She smiled a bit. He was cute.
The smile turned into a disgusted frown at herself. There was no way she could feel anything for him!...
right?

"It was Jessica, alright. Fox tail, weird hair and all," the trainer said. Sitting down in the lounge-ish area,
he took off his trench coat, revealing the black uniform beneath. Some of the other assembled Rockets
began looking through their Pokemon, trying to figure the best ones. The rest wanted to know more about
their targets' current status.

"Was that fruity kid James with her?"

"Nah, she fought alone. Did a good job of it, too."

"About where was she?"

This went on for a little while. The Rocket assassins soon had their Pokemon picked out, and everyone
knew where Jessie had been. The head of the squad ordered the three best assassins to go after Jessie.
The assassin squad hadn't failed yet, and these three were no exception.

Nobody left Team Rocket and lived, it didn't matter if they were fired or they quit. They never lived to tell
about it.

Jessie was about to drift off into a nap when she heard James whimper. Surprised and a bit worried, she
sat up and looked over in his direction, forcing her half-awake mind out of the fuzz it was in. The boy was
sitting up and rubbing his back, having to reach rather awkwardly around one wing to do so.

"My back hurts," he whined, apparently noticing that Jessie was paying attention to him. "I think I was out
flying too long."

"Well, what am I supposed to do about it?" Jessie snapped irritably. Something inside scolded her for
snapping, but she ignored it.

James wasn't really upset anyway, being rather used to Jessie's temper. He grinned almost slyly. "Do you
know anything about massages?"

"Yes, I-- oh no no no no no no!" she yelped, a bright red exploding over her face at the thought of James
shirtless. "I am NOT giving you a massage-- oh god, don't do that!"

James had balled his fists up under his chin and was giving her puppy eyes. Jessie, being human, caved.
She sighed resignedly.

"All right, all right already. You owe me big after this, though."

James grinned triumphantly and started to take off his shirt. Blushing again, Jessie closed her eyes and
covered them with both hands. She faintly heard him putting his shirt to the side, and then a quiet sound
that was probably him adjusting his position. She peeked through her fingers. Yup, he was sitting with his
back to her, waiting patiently.

Jessie took both hands away, still blushing a bit, and tentatively reached out to touch his back.
Embarrassment flared again and she jerked her hand away.

"You know," James said rather sourly, "it's not like my skin's going to burn your hands off or anything."
Jessie started to snap at him, but took a deep breath and forced herself to remain calm. She hesitantly
reached over again and started rubbing his shoulders gently, he relaxed visibly. Getting over her
embarrassment, Jessie rubbed a bit harder, forcing the tense, sore muscles to relax. Suddenly,
something about James' back registered on her mind and she stopped massaging, startled. Blinking, she
ran a finger lightly down a long, faint scar on the boy's back. Several other marks were present. From the
look of them, the wounds causing them had really hurt.

"James..." she said quietly, concerned.

"Yes?" Something in his voice... he was being nonchalant, but there was an undercurrent of hurt to his
voice.

As if he already knew what was wrong.

"Why do you have scars on your back? It almost looks like you were whipped..."

James turned around just enough to look into her eyes. "I was."

Jessie faltered under his cold stare and looked away. Then his words made it to her brain and her heart
skipped a beat. She stared at him in disbelief. He looked away.

"What... when...?"

"Before I ran away," James said quietly. "Jessiebelle had just gotten a whip, and wanted to try out her
new toy. Lucky me, I got to be the test subject."

His voice was unusually bitter. Fury mounted in Jessie, fury at Jessiebelle. How could she treat him like
that??

Okay, yeah, Jessie did tend to hit the guy with mallets and paper fans. But that was temper. Whipping him
was just plain sadism. Stifling her anger, Jessie ran her finger down one of the scars again, horror
beginning to replace the rage.

"Did she do this often...?" she asked quietly. James winced slightly.

"Sort of," he murmured, voice quavering. "Look, can we not talk about this?"

"All right... I'm sorry..." Jessie felt horrible.

She wasn't quite sure how James ended up in her arms sobbing, or when she started stroking his hair
and comforting him quietly. But that didn't matter; what mattered was that it was happening. And Jessie
had to admit, despite the fact that he was crying hysterically, it did feel kind of nice to be hugging him...

Oh, hell with the denials. She l--

"This is very sweet and all, but pay attention."

Jessie looked behind her. James fought to keep his sobs under control, wiping his eyes. He suddenly
realized he was unclothed from the waist up and quickly pulled his shirt on before looking where Jessie
was staring.
Three Rockets. Their outfits were pitch black, with only the red R to mark them as Team Rocket uniforms.
The one who had spoken, a small, attractive woman with short black hair and a red R on a silver chain
around her neck, stepped forward and studied Jessie and James coldly with startling amber eyes.

"Well, well. We didn't know you'd *both* be here," the woman said, smirking. "All the better."

Jessie and James exchanged fearful looks. They knew this girl. Her name was Eris, and she was the
deadliest of the Rocket assassins. Unlike the others, she worked fast and was grimly efficient.

"Ya na kanji," they whispered to each other.

Eris laughed harshly. "Yes, it's a bad feeling, isn't it?" She took a Pokeball from her belt. "Well, it's the last
one you'll ever have. Venomoth, go!"

The poisonous bug was released. Jessie and James needed no more warning - they RAN. Meowth,
awakened by the sound of his human companions fleeing, looked around blearily, took one look at Eris,
and ran too. Eris laughed.

"Venomoth, Poisonpowder," she cackled.

"Venoooo," Venomoth echoed, flapping its wings at high speed. The toxic powder drifted quickly on the
wind towards the former Rockets. Meowth thought fast and dived into Jessie's hair. The Poisonpowder hit
both humans.

Jessie faltered for a moment, feeling dizzy, but quickly recovered and continued running. James,
however, didn't fare so well. He faltered, stumbled, and fell, feeling nauseous, dizzy, and overheated.
Realizing James wasn't with her, Jessie skidded to a stop and turned around. She stifled a shriek and ran
to James, trying to help him up.

"James!" she urged. "Come on, get up!"

"... c-can't..." he muttered, doubled over and clutching his stomach. "p-poisoned..."

Jessie was afraid her heart might stop right then and there. "James... please..."

James made an effort to look up at her. His beautiful emerald eyes were dull and listless. "...sorry," he
apologized weakly.

Eris and her two companions approached at that moment. Eris sneered at the two.

"Isn't this sweet. Girl comforts dying boyfriend," the amber-eyed woman said mockingly. Jessie's eyes
widened for a moment at the word 'dying', then she narrowed them evilly. Standing up slowly and
purposefully, she glared into the smaller woman's eyes. She took the three Pokeballs from her waist and
threw them.

"Arbok, Lickitung, Beedrill, GO!" she commanded. The Pokemon emerged from their balls. Sensing that
their trainer was Not Happy, they were more than ready for battle.

Eris realized she'd only brought Venomoth.

"Come on!" she hissed at the other two assassins. "Call out your Pokemon! We're outnumbered!"

The two complied. A Tangela and a Graveler gave their battle cries.
Jessie stared at the three Pokemon coldly, and then at their trainers. Because of the three assassins,
James could die. Jessie was ready to kill for that alone. In particular, she wanted to kill the smug amber-
eyed woman who owned the Venomoth.

She *hated* Eris.

And for James, she was willing to kill.

"Arbok, use Acid on Venomoth! Lickitung, Lick Graveler! Beedrill, Twineedle on Tangela!"

"Venomoth, Stun Spore!"

"Graveler, Tackle!"

"Tangela, Constrict!"

Arbok thought quickly and bent down, using its hood to block the Stun Spore. Shaking it off, it spat acid at
Venomoth. The bug reeled, but stayed in the air, though not by much.

Graveler charged at Lickitung, but was met by the tongue and got paralyzed. No real contest there.

Beedrill Twineedled Tangela, but the grass-type survived and wrapped its vines around Beedrill's
stingers, holding them tight and then binding the bee.

Jessie snarled. "Arbok, Bite the Venomoth! Lickitung, Slam on the Graveler! Beedrill, use your Rage!"

Arbok's bite downed the venomous moth. Beedrill screeched a battle cry, breaking free of the vines and
attacking the Tangela with its stingers, eyes glowing red. Tangela couldn't stand up to it. Both Tangela
and Venomoth were recalled.

However, Lickitung was having trouble. It was slamming itself against Graveler repeatedly, but the rock
didn't seem to be fainting. Its trainer, the black-haired man, looked on, biting his lip.

"Lickitung, what's the matter?" Jessie asked, surprised.

"Li... licki," Lickitung complained.

At that moment, the trump card was played.

Meowth leapt from where he'd been hiding in Jessie's hair and attacked the Graveler with Fury Swipes.

Lickitung used Screech to lower Graveler's defenses, and then one final Slam accompanied by a Slash
finally downed the rock.

"Gah! Graveler!" The black-haired man recalled his Pokemon. Eris snarled at Jessie.

"We'll retreat for now. But we'll be back!"

With that, she threw down a small silver marble that exploded and filled the area with smoke. When it
cleared, the assassins were gone.

Jessie breathed heavily, letting the adrenaline rush fade. Exhausted, she called back her Pokemon and
fell to her knees. She looked at James, who was in even worse condition than before. She choked as
tears stung her eyes, clouding her vision, and began sobbing quietly. She only dimly heard the sound of
someone landing on the ground behind her.

"Oh, god. He looks terrible," a girl's voice said quietly. Jessie wiped her eyes and looked behind her. A tall
girl with long blond hair that fell into one stormy blue-grey eye was standing there, looking concerned.
Jessie started to ask her for help, but then realized the girl was wearing a Team Rocket uniform like the
one she herself had worn. Grief turned to fury, and she started throwing punches. Luckily for the girl,
Jessie was too upset to aim right.

"Hey!" she said, dodging a punch. "Calm down!"

"THE *LAST* THING I NEED IS ANOTHER ASSASSIN!!" Jessie screamed. "YOU'VE ALREADY KILLED
JAMES, AREN'T YOU SATISFIED?!?"

"Che, Jess, calm down!" The girl ducked under one of Jessie's wildly flailing fists. "I'm not an assassin,
and James isn't dead, although he WILL be if you don't calm the bloody hell down and let me explain!!"

Jessie forced herself into check. "Explain then. NOW."

"Okay. I'm not an assassin, like I said, and I'm here to help." She whipped out a cell phone from
somewhere in her jacket.

"A *cell phone*??"

"What, you expected me to bring out some miracle cure and make it all better with the wave of a hand?"
the Rocket asked, raising one eyebrow as she dialed 911. "Not just yet, Jess."

"How do you know my name?"

"Sssh." The girl waved her hand. "Me making emergency call now. Go support James or something." She
listened to something. "We've got a *slight* problem... guy named James got poisoned by a Venomoth,
and he's in real bad shape. We need an ambulance kinda nowish. Location?" She gave directions.

The next several minutes passed by in a fluid nightmare devoid of time. The only thing Jessie could
clearly focus on was James. He'd lost consciousness a little while ago, and was shaking uncontrollably.
The best Jessie could do was hold him close to her and stroke his hair. At some point, the mysterious
Rocket put her hand on the redhead's shoulder and spoke quietly, in a comforting tone. Jessie didn't
catch the words, but she was grateful for the support, at least. At last, the ambulance arrived. Jessie
could only watch as James was loaded into the back, tears cascading down her cheeks. She was offered
a ride to the hospital, which she accepted. Just before she climbed into the vehicle, Meowth riding on top
of her hair, she felt a hand on her arm.

"Before you go, Jess," the Rocket girl said quietly, "listen to me. Remember the past. If you know the
past, you can change the future. And good luck."

Jessie blinked at her, then climbed into her seat. As the ambulance drove away, the girl sighed.

"It's up to you and Meowth now. God, I hope you pull through."

Jessie paced back and forth in the waiting room, her tail lashing from side to side. She sat down for a few
seconds, then got back up and started pacing again. Finally, she sat down again with her elbows on her
knees and her head in her hands, and whimpered. Meowth reached over and patted her shoulder
uncertainly.

"I hate them," Jessie moaned. "Because of those bastards, James is dying. I *hate* them and I want them
to die."

Meowth wasn't sure what to say, so he didn't say anything, but instead kept an eye on the door to James'
room. After what seemed a small eternity, a nurse and a doctor exited the room slowly. Jessie jumped up
and went over to them.

"How is he?" she asked, her voice showing a little more emotion than she would have liked.

"It's... hard to say," the nurse said quietly. "We were able to cure the symptoms temporarily, but the
poison's still there. We might be able to cure him, but it's... not very likely. He's got a bad case... and
Venomoth poisoning doesn't usually turn out well."

Jessie swallowed back a lump in her throat. "Thank you," she managed, chokingly, although she didn't
really know what she was thanking the nurse for.

"We'll do all we can," the doctor promised. Jessie nodded slowly and headed back to her seat, wiping her
eyes.

As she sat down, Meowth promptly jumped into her lap, eyes full of sympathy, and leaned against her
with a small sigh. Jessie absently petted the cat Pokemon, choking back the tears. It wasn't bloody well
fair. Just when they had a chance to turn their lives around, and just when Jessie was realizing what she
felt for James, THIS happened. Of course, life wasn't always fair.

That night, James had terrible dreams.

The first began with Jessiebelle's face. That in itself should have made him wake up screaming, but
strangely, it didn't. In the span of a few dream-moments, she was revealed to be her much younger self,
wielding her new whip and dressed all in black. Smiling sweetly.

"James, it's so *nice* of you to let my try out my new whip!" Dream-Jessiebelle gushed. Dream-James,
stripped of his shirt and jacket, struggled desperately against the ropes that prevented him from moving.
He finally gave that up and looked up at his fiancee with huge, pleading emerald eyes. Pleading with her
to change her mind, to just leave him alone. Dream-Jessiebelle ignored the eyes and circled around
behind him.

The whip lashed against dream-James' back. His scream, though muffled by his gag, was still rather
clear.

Giggling with delight, dream-Jessiebelle continued with the whip. By the time she decided she'd played
enough with her new toy, James just wanted to curl up, go to sleep, and never wake up.

'*I'm* her toy,' he thought, both the younger James and the older James. 'That's all I am to her, a toy that
she doesn't care if she breaks...'

That was when James woke up with a scream. He clutched the sheets as he gasped for air, recovering
from the nightmare. A throbbing pain in his head convinced him to lay back down, and he reluctantly fell
into sleep, and another nightmare...
This one began with Jessie's face, angry. Just before her mallet slammed into him.

"Stop acting like an ignoramus!" dream-Jessie snapped, dragging him off. The dream continued that
way... Jessie hitting him, insulting him, kicking him... hating him. Finally, the painful dream subsided to
nothing but a sobbing James, hurt deeply and filled with sorrow. What had he done to deserve her
hatred? It wasn't his fault he wasn't the brightest guy in the world...

And then Jessie's face again, angry. James couldn't bear to see this all over again, so he woke up. Again,
he fell asleep, and again, he dreamed...

The last one was the worst of all. Despite being wild and chaotic, it was painfully vivid, and instead of
reliving memories, like the first two, this was an entirely new situation.

Jessie's beautiful blue eyes were all he could really see. Beautiful blue eyes filled with hatred. Dream-
James stepped cautiously towards her, asking something. Forgiveness, an explanation, he didn't know.
But dream-Jessie's expression did not change.

"How could you." Accusing, not really asking. Startled, dream-James asked something.

"How could you do this to me?" Dream-Jessie's words echoed through the dream, sharp and hateful.

Dream-James repeated his question, slightly more pleading. He was starting to wonder why he couldn't
make out his own words, yet hers were painfully clear.

"You're dying." Her eyes were cold as an Articuno's breath. "I hate you for that, James."

Dream-James drew back, startled. He spoke something to Jessie, probably an apology. She looked
away, tail lashing from side to side in fury.

"No apologies now, jerk. I hate you. You've caused me too much pain." She looked him straight in the
eyes, glaring. "I hate you. I hate you. I HATE you. I HATE YOU!"

James' sobs could be heard all the way down the hall as he escaped from that night's final nightmare.

A single rose, in a vase on a table somewhere in the room, began to wilt.

Chapter 2

The next day was fairly uneventful, but far from relaxing. Jessie spent the whole afternoon in the waiting
room, crying on and off. Occasionally, another person in the room would offer sympathy, or one of the
doctors would unhappily tell her that James' condition was not improving and was in fact getting worse.
Meowth spent most of the day silently comforting Jessie, and the rest sleeping off some of his despair.

The next day started out even worse. Jessie was asleep on the couch in the waiting room, sprawled out
where she had cried herself to sleep. A doctor entered.

"Miss Jessica?"

Jessie groaned, stirred, and then woke up. Sitting up abruptly, she looked at the doctor fearfully.

"How is he?" she asked, her voice slightly hoarse from yesterday's crying. The doctor sighed.

"That's what I was going to tell you about. He's... I don't think he's going to get better. His case has
progressed too far for any hope of just medicine to cure him. The only hope now is a direct anti-toxin...
unfortunately, we're out of those. We've ordered some more, but by the time they get here..." He shook
his head. "By the time they get here, it won't matter anymore."

Jessie could feel a new flood of tears coming on.

"I'm sorry," the doctor added quietly and honestly, before leaving the room. Within a few moments,
Jessie's body was wracked with sobs. She had never, ever, ever, felt so helpless in her entire life. Now
James was going to die, and she had no hope of helping him.

A furry finger tapped her shoulder. Getting her tears under control, Jessie turned to look at Meowth,
knowing she must look terrible.

"What - is it?" she sniffled, the simple sentence broken by her body's spasmic gasps for air.

Meowth made a quick series of hand gestures: I have an idea.

Jessie sniffled and nodded to indicate she was listening.

Meowth signed again: You were stung by a Beedrill once, right? Were you poisoned?

Jessie blinked. "Y-yes to - both - questions," she answered. "I was - treated and - the - only con -
sequence - was that - I spent a few days - in bed."

Meowth smiled and signed again: Then there's hope for James.

Jessie's heart skipped several beats. "H-how?"

The cat Pokemon's hands moved rapidly and for a long time, and it was all Jessie could do to translate
them: That Rocket girl said to remember the past. Well, I remembered. You were hit by that
Poisonpowder too, and you weren't poisoned! Poisonpowder ALWAYS poisons when it hits!

Jessie was starting to catch on. "Unless the victim - is immune..."

Meowth nodded eagerly and related his idea. It was a simple one - donate some blood to James, and the
natural anti-toxins in her blood would counter the poison in his, and James could recover. It was a long
shot, but possible.

Jessie though it over as she gained control of her breathing again.

"There's just one problem."

Meowth gave her a look that clearly said 'how can there be a problem??'

Jessie took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I'm afraid of needles."

Meowth almost screamed in frustration, but instead scratched her face. When she glared at him, he
started signing again: What's more important, some stupid phobia, or James?

Jessie exhaled. "Good point. Alright... I'll do it."

The process went quickly. First, a small amount of blood was taken from James - who, Jessie noted,
looked horrible - to make room for the donation. Fresh needle. Jessie clenched her teeth, closed her
eyes, and steeled herself for the needle, the only thought in her mind being 'This is for James.'

After the needle prick was covered with a band aid, the blood was transferred to a fresh needle, which
was then used to inject James. He, too, was bandaged. The doctor sighed quietly.

"All we can do now is wait and see if it has any effect. If it does take, he has a high chance of recovering.
We'll inform you of any changes in his condition."

Jessie sighed, feeling exhausted. "I hope to god this works," she said quietly. She then left to the waiting
room, not noticing the nearly dead rose, and fell asleep.

"Miss Jessica?" a nurse asked a few hours later.

Jessie woke up and looked at the nurse standing in the doorway. "How's James?"

The nurse smiled. "It seems that your donation was just what he needed. At last check there were no
traces of poison remaining in his bloodstream, and he's recovering nicely."

If you'd told Jessie that she owned the world and that Eris had suffered a painful death, she wouldn't have
been happier. "Can I see him??"

"Sure."

Jessie nearly knocked the nurse over in her haste.

He WAS looking a lot better. His breathing wasn't as shallow and there was a lot more color in his face,
not to mention the tortured look on his face was gone. As a matter of fact, he almost looked like he was
smiling. Jessie smiled fondly and ran her fingers through his soft blue hair. He looked so cute. Noting that
the feathers on his wings seemed a little bit ruffled, she began smoothing them. She jerked her hand back
as one of the wings moved under her hand. James woke up and yawned quietly. His beautiful emerald
eyes opened slowly. Jessie's breath caught in her throat as she realized just how much she'd missed
those eyes. As his vision focused, James turned his head to see Jessie's smiling face.

"Jess?"
She nodded.

"Oh, Jessie!" He hugged her with surprising enthusiasm. Jessie hugged back briefly before disentangling
herself from his arms.

"Lie back down, you. You're not fully recovered yet, you need to rest."

James reluctantly lay back down in the bed. As Jessie pulled the sheets over him, he looked at her
curiously.

"How'd I get better?"

"I donated some blood," Jessie explained quietly. "It was Meowth's idea. I'm immune to poison, so the
anti-toxins in my blood countered the poison and cured you."

After his nightmares, James could hardly believe Jessie would do this for him. His eyes wobbled in anime
style. "There's some of you inside me?"

Jessie smiled at the childish, adorable question. "Yes, James," she said softly. "There's some of me
inside you. Now go back to sleep so you can recover."

James smiled and closed his eyes. Before too long, he was snoring faintly. Jessie ruffled his hair before
standing to leave him alone and let him sleep. She didn't notice that the wilted rose had revived.

A few more days and James was allowed out of the hospital, much to his happiness. Jessie had to smile,
thinking back to earlier that morning. She'd opened the door and promptly been whined at about this bed
is too small, my wings are sore, I'm bored, I wanna go home, etc.

Now, she, James, and Meowth were on their way out of the hospital. James was obviously happy to be
out. He stretched as he walked, letting out a happy sigh.

"It's great to be out of that bed!" he announced cheerfully. Jessie just smiled.

'Not as great as seeing you healthy again,' Jessie thought. If James had died, she probably would have
too.

She was about to say something when an orange blur bounded towards James, knocking him down.

The next thing that registered was a laughing James on the floor, with a Growlithe licking his face happily.

"G-Growly?" James laughed. "Is that you? Oh, let me up, you old fuzz ball!"

Growly complied, still with a big grin on his furry face. "Growwwlithe!"

"Growly, what are you doing here? I thought I left you with my parents."

Growly growled. "Growwwlithe grow growlithe grrooooowwwwwlllithe growl growlithe growlth," he said.
"Growwlithe growlithe growlithe!"

By this time Growly was done, James' eyes had gone huge. He blinked a couple times, staring at Growly
in disbelief. Jessie noticed that Meowth was doing the exact same thing.

"Okay, somebody is REALLY out of the loop here. Explain," she demanded. James turned his astonished
gaze on her.
"Growly said that he took one of the Pokeballs I left behind when I ran away, found and battled another
Growlithe, then *caught* that Growlithe, found a Fire Stone in my parents' mansion, evolved the Growlithe
he caught into an Arcanine, and left IT with my parents so he could come after me," he said, sounding
amazed. Jessie blinked repeatedly.

"That has got to be the smartest Growlithe in the world," she said at last.

"Growlithe!" Growly said proudly. James laughed.

"And he knows it," he chuckled. He stood up and stretched again, grinning at Jessie. "We're even now.
We both have three Pokemon!"

Jessie just laughed.

Meowth sighed, wandering away from the campsite. James had been out of the hospital for several hours
now, and was definitely all right. That was good. If James had died, Meowth didn't know how he would
react. He was more protective of the two humans than they knew. If James had died...

He was mercifully released from that train of thought when he bumped into somebody. He looked up at
the person, who was rubbing her face, and his breath caught in his throat for a moment.

She was a really cute female Meowth. Instead of gold, her koban was silver, and where most Meowths'
fur was brown, hers was grey. She looked up at him, and Meowth noticed she had the prettiest jade-
colored eyes.

"Meowth...?" she breathed. Meowth sighed and nodded. He knew he shouldn't be disappointed that she
didn't speak English, but...

"Oh, thank goodness!" the girl gushed, glomping him. "I've been looking for AGES for another Meowth!"
Meowth was startled, to say the least. He pushed her away and stared at her. "Y-you speak English?" he
asked, wincing at how hoarse and rusty his voice sounded after so much disuse.

"Yes!" the girl said enthusiastically, smiling widely. "I don't believe it! I thought I was the only talking
Meowth!"

"So did I," Meowth said, trying to get a grasp of this whole situation.

"Do you have a name?" the girl asked curiously.

Meowth shook his head. "I'm just Meowth. Giovanni never named me."

"*You* were trained by him?"

Meowth looked at the female cat in surprise. She looked very alert now.

"Yeah, I was. Key word: was. He dumped me for a Persian." He looked down.

A sympathetic paw rested on his shoulder. "Oh, I'm sorry, Meowth," she said quietly. "The same thing
happened to me."

Meowth looked up at her sharply. "Really?"

She nodded. "I was my trainer's favorite. She even named me. Then along comes this Persian, and
suddenly I'm not important." She sniffled.

Meowth frowned, hugging her before he realized what he was doing. He quickly pulled away. "If you don't
mind me askin' - what's your name?"

"Sakura," she said quietly. "Meowth, i-is it all right if I come with you, wherever you're going?"

Meowth smiled and nodded. "No problem. Jess and James might be a bit ticked, but..."

Sakura blinked in confusion. "Jess? James?"

"Jessie and James are two trainers who used to be part of Team Rocket, but dey got fired," Meowth
explained. "I was assigned to 'em back den, and I still hang out with 'em."

"Oh, I know, I'm just surprised you're still with them. You're running from the assassins, aren't you?"
Sakura said.

Meowth pikued. "How'd you know?"

"I know a lot more about Team Rocket than you might think," Sakura said softly. "My trainer was
Cassidy."

"Oh, man," Meowth muttered. "Dey ain't gonna believe dis."

"Hey, Jess! James!"

Dead silence fell over the campsite as Jessie and James froze. They turned and stared at Meowth. And
the Meowth with him.

"Meowth..." Jessie started.

"...did you just *talk*?" James finished.

"Yup!" Meowth said.

"Who's that other Meowth?" Jessie asked, looking oddly at the green-eyed cat.

"My name is Sakura," the girl Meowth said softly.

"ANOTHER talking Meowth?!?" James yelped.

"We're doomed," Jessie doomed.

Meowth scratched at Jessie's face. "Shadap!"

Jessie's eyebrow twitched. A vein stood out on her forehead.

Sakura cringed and sweatdropped as Meowth was introduced to the ground several yards away by a
paper fan. 'This is definitely Jessie,' she thought to herself. Then something clicked in her head. She
looked at Jessie. And stared.

And stared some more. Then looked at James. Stared even more. Blinked. Rubbed her eyes. Stared.
James was the first to break the silence. "What are you staring at?"

Sakura shook her head. "Oh man... A tail? Wings? I'd heard of you guys, but I never knew about that...
extra stuff," she fumbled.

"Oh..." Jessie looked behind herself at her tail, swishing it back and forth a few times. "They're sort of
recent."

Sakura sat down. "How'd you get them?" she asked curiously.

"Well, we were sort of trying to capture Mewtwo..." James said, rubbing the back of his head. "And Mew
sort of didn't like that..."

Meowth had picked himself out of the ground and by this time had returned to camp. "So she looked into
all of our heads, and for some reason decided she wasn't gonna punish us, but she was gonna change
Jessie and James."

"And this is how we came out of it," Jessie finished, holding her tail for some reason.

Sakura blinked. "Oh."

It wasn't until that evening that the full impact of what had happened really sank in for James. He had
been sitting on a large boulder, watching the sunset, when it hit him. His emerald eyes widened and his
body stiffened. He let out a frightened whimper.

Jessie looked up at him, concerned. "James? What's wrong?"

James didn't answer her directly. He was staring straight ahead, afraid. "Oh, god..."

"What is it?" Jessie stood and came up to him, laying a hand on his shoulder. Growly approached with
her, whining at his master's obvious unhappiness.

James whimpered again. "I just realized how close I came to dying..."

Growly made a whimpering noise and started licking James' hand in an attempt to comfort him. Jessie sat
down next to James and put an arm around his waist, concern plain on her face.

"James, it's alright. You're alive, and you're okay now. It's going to be fine."

"But..." James pouted, frightened tears welling up in his eyes. "Eris and her teammates... they'll be
back..."

Jessie hugged him gently. "We can handle them. They didn't call us the Survivors back in Team Rocket
for nothing."

James fought to control the sobs he felt coming. 'The Survivors' was a grudgingly respectful nickname
given by the other, slightly more competent Rockets to Meowth, Jessie and James. It was comforting at
times, but now James was terrified beyond such comfort. He lost the battle with the tears and starting
sobbing into Jessie's shoulder. She put her arms around him in response, stroking his hair.

"Don't worry, James," she soothed. "We'll be alright. We'll live. We'll be okay."
It took several minutes of this before James could calm down. Jessie let go of him to allow him to sit up,
and Growly licked the tears off James' face. This seemed to cheer the blue-haired youth somewhat, and
he smiled.

"Hey," Sakura said from behind them. "Sun's down. It's time for bed."

Jessie and James exchanged a glance.

"We'll keep watch," Meowth said. "If anything happens, we'll wake you up."

Jessie and James conceded. Growly jumped off James' lap, and the two humans got ready to sleep for
the night.

An assassin snuck up that night.

The group had found out that James had survived his poisoning. Now they were being more careful. The
black-haired assassin, Zangulus, approached the two former Rockets, both sleeping peacefully. He drew
a Pokeball from his belt. Scyther would make it quick and easy, he figured. He released the frightening
bug, making sure to be quiet about it.

"Scyther," he whispered, "Slash attack. Kill them both."

"Scy," the bug whispered back. It stepped slowly, deliberately up to James and raised a blade.

"Ahem!" a female voice said from a branch. Scyther looked up at the source of the voice, as did its trainer.
A cheerfully grinning female Meowth was there.

"Don't you know," she started, swinging down from the branch to kick Scyther in the face and knock it
back, "that it's not nice to sneak up and kill people?"

Zangulus hissed. Now he wished he'd brought more than one Pokemon. His Scyther was still dazed.
"Scyther, snap out of it! Kill the cat!"

"Scy!" Scyther swiped at where Sakura... had been. She had flipped up into the air and now kicked the
bug solidly in the back. It reeled forward, only to be met with a set of claws. Now Meowth was fighting.
After stunning the Scyther, he scratched the Rocket's face.

"Didn't figure with us, huh?" he mocked.

Zangulus growled. "Scyther!! Do something!"

"Scy... ther... scy..."

Meowth and Sakura showed frighteningly similar toothy grins and in the blink of an eye, were standing
next to the smugly grinning Growlithe in the bushes.

"Okay, Growly, you can torch 'em now."

Oh, shit.

The Growlithe opened its mouth and executed a Flamethrower attack.

Zangulus recalled his extra-crispy Scyther and ran, deciding now was a bad time to try for a kill.
Jessie and James had woken up by this time. James was looking about in a half-awake confusion, and
Jessie was not happy.

"Meowth!!" she yelled. "You SAID you would wake us up!"

"It wasn't like there was a whole lot of time!" Meowth retorted. "Otherwise we would have!"

"And we chased 'im off, besides!" Sakura contributed. "You're safe. No damage done."

"But next time, they'll try harder!!" Jessie nearly screamed. "They'll know about you! They won't be so
careless next time!"

"Look," a sleepy James mumbled, "can we discuss this in the morning?"

Jessie reluctantly agreed.

What a pleasant day. No Rocket attacks yet, the temperature was perfect, the sky was studded with a few
small clouds, and a steady, cool breeze was blowing. James felt the wind on his wings, and spread them
to savor the feeling.

Today was a perfect day for flying.

Before he had a chance to even start, though, a blond girl looked at him upside-down from one of the
branches of the tree he happened to be sitting under. She grinned.

"Nice to see you're still in the land of the living," she said cheerfully, ducking back into the tree before
jumping down. James panicked at the sight of her white Team Rocket uniform and got ready to run.

She threw her hands up defensively, taking a step back. "Whoa, wait. I'm no assassin. I'm on your guys'
side!"

"You're a *Rocket*!"

The girl rubbed her temple with two fingers. "Yes, dear, I'm a Rocket. But I'm not with the assassins. I fully
intend to help you guys. And cut out the skeptical look."

"Prove to me you want to help."

She looked him in the eyes. "I was the one who called the ambulance when you were poisoned. And if
you're still not convinced... Raichu, go!"

Panic flared again as the Raichu was released. James knew from experience that the voltage of a
Pikachu was bad enough, but a Raichu...

The girl surprised him by kneeling next to her Raichu with a smile and patting its head. It enjoyed the
attention.

"Rai rai!"

"Raichu, this is James," the girl said pleasantly, gesturing to the confused and scared boy. "He's the one I
was telling you about. Go say hello!"

James suddenly found himself with a furry bundle in his arms.

"Raichu! Cha!" the bundle said. The Raichu was hugging him. *Why* was the Raichu hugging him?

"She's a real sweetheart," the girl grinned, "especially around people she knows I approve of. Okay,
Raichu, you can let him go now. He's not used to being hugged by Pokemon belonging to strange
Rockets."

"Raichu rai," the Raichu said, bouncing back over to its trainer. The girl stood.

"You convinced yet? Cause you know, if I was out to kill you, I could've had her kill you or at least
paralyze you long enough for me to do the job," the girl told him, making eye contact again.

Well, it's hard to doubt someone who can look you in the eye. James stood up.

"Okay," he conceded. "I believe you."

The girl grinned happily. "Good!" She extended her hand for a handshake. "Call me L-chan."

James hesitated, then shook her hand. She stepped back, still grinning.

"Now, I'll leave you alone. I believe you were wanting to fly before I showed up."

"How did you--"

L-chan grinned and threw down a very small silver marble, which exploded and produced a small cloud of
smoke. James covered his mouth and nose. A few quick flaps of his wings blew the smoke away, but L-
chan and her Raichu were already gone.

"--know?" James finished his sentence.

"Just keepin' you on your toes," L-chan said grinningly from behind him. "To answer your question: I know
a lot more about you than you might think, James. I know about your past, I know about your present, I
even know your future."

James stared. "H-how do you know?"

"It’s a secret," she grinned. "Oh, and to prove I know about your past... how did you ever live with parents
like that?"

James started to answer but she grinned and held up a hand.

"Don't answer that. Gyarados, go!"

James screamed and started to run. L-chan laughed hysterically.

"Calm down, this one's not bent on causing you severe bodily harm," L-chan grinned, stepping up onto
the surprisingly placid Gyarados' back. "Ja ne, James. Okay, Gyarados, let's go."

The Gyarados roared in response and took off into the air (which, it should be noted, is a rather strange
sight, a Gyarados snaking through the air with a girl on its back). James watched it bewilderedly for a
while before sitting back down under the tree and hoping the rest of the day wouldn't be as confusing.

Three days passed with no assassin attacks. Three days of a relative peace. On the fourth day, all hell
broke loose.
There are few things in the world more exhilarating than flying of one's own accord. It loses its intensity if
done on a regular basis, but it's still definitely fun. As was proved by James gliding about thirty-five feet off
the ground just for the sake of flying.

Out of idle curiosity, he looked down at the ground. He stopped, hovering in midair as something he saw
registered on his mind.

The Rocket assassins.

Even from this height, he could see Eris' cruel smirk, and quickly tried to fly away. Behind him, he could
hear the assassins calling out their Pokemon.

He had to swerve very suddenly as a Scyther appeared in front of him as if it had teleported there. 'What
is it with them and Scythers?' he thought as he evaded. Its trainer yelled something at it, and it headed in
the direction of Jessie and James' camp.

'Jessie!!' James thought. He tried to follow the Scyther, but was cut off by a Butterfree.

'Oh, f--' he thought as the Butterfree started flapping its wings and releasing a fine powder. Sleep Powder,
he'd know it anywhere. Holding his breath, he tried to send the powder back at the Butterfree with his own
wings. It worked. The blue bug faltered and then fell asleep in midair, plummeting. It was called back
halfway to the ground.

Hearing wings behind him, James dodged just in time to avoid a Fearow's beak stabbing through the air
where he had been just a moment ago. Realizing the mistake, the Fearow righted itself, and dived at
James again.

Maybe James could be rather naive at times, but he was far from an idiot. He dodged quickly and went
into a sharp dive, hoping to lead the Fearow off-course. He had to just as quickly pull up as the Fearow
stabbed at where he would have been had he continued the dive.

It was a dangerous game they were playing, and loser lost all. Eris' companions started betting how much
longer James would survive. The bird Pokemon was more used to flying than James was, which basically
meant that despite James' skill, the Fearow was better. James didn't even have much of a speed
advantage.

He had never been so acutely aware of danger in his life. That beak was sharp, and if he even got
scratched, it was game over.

Eris' companions were having a great time. Zangulus had a good bet going with Vrumugun, the brown-
haired man. Eris pointedly ignored them, watching her Fearow only barely miss James several times. He
was afraid, she could tell - and the fear was giving him a slight edge. He might survive.

She couldn't let him survive. Screaming an order to Fearow, she started planning what she would do with
the body.

Meanwhile, James was trying for camp once more. Stealing a quick glance over his shoulder, he saw the
Fearow diving at high speed.

There was no time to think, just to act.

He folded his wings, letting himself fall.

The Fearow missed. James suddenly realized what a crazy thing he had just done and unfolded his
wings, flapping desperately. His descent hardly slowed. Terrified of what could very easily be an
approaching death, he flapped harder.

It was no use. He plummeted through the trees.

A young woman of about 18 or 19 was riding a Ponyta, which was walking through the forest with a
Chansey beside it. Her long red hair was done up in a ponytail, and she was dressed casually in a white
shirt with denim overalls.

The Chansey stopped, seeing something up ahead. "Chan chansey!" it alerted the red-haired woman,
sounding concerned.

"Wha?" the girl asked, surprised. "Ponyta, let's check this out."

The Ponyta gave a nicker and trotted towards the red and white heap. The girl's eyes bugged out about
halfway there, and she jumped off Ponyta.

"JESS-CHAN!" she screamed, running to the wounded girl. Ponyta galloped up beside her and Chansey
ran up as fast as her small legs could carry her.

"Holy Moltres, what the HELL happened to this chick?" the Ponyta asked, black eyes wide.

"S-scyther attack, it looks like," the older girl stuttered. She checked for a pulse, for breath. Jessie was
alive, but if left for much longer, she wouldn't be. The girl had an idea.

"Chansey, use Softboiled on her!"

Chansey nodded as best she could. "Chansey!" She then extended her stubby arms towards Jessie, and
her egg began glowing. Normally, this move would heal Chansey, but now Chansey was the healer,
sealing wounds and stopping bleeding.

Jessie's eyes opened a sliver as she was revived into a partially conscious state. Chansey fainted from
the effort, although her work wasn't done. The older girl swore and started looking through her backpack
for a Max Revive.

"....Jacquelyn...?" Jessie breathed, almost inaudibly.

"Yeah, Jess. It's me. You just lie still, I'll have you healed up in no time."

"... James... oh, god... where's James?..."

"I don't know, Jess," Jacquelyn soothed. "Just don't worry about him now." She found the Max Revive and
applied it to Chansey. The pink egg Pokemon got up, shook herself a couple times, and proceeded to use
Softboiled again without being ordered.

"... oh god... can't be dying... not now... James... where is he?... Jackie, where's James?..."

"I said I don't know. Please, Jess, just lie still and rest!"

"... James! James, where are you??" Jessie said, slowly becoming hysterical. "JAMES!!!"
She was abruptly silenced by Ponyta's hoof hitting her head, knocking her out. Jackie stared up at
Ponyta, who made an effort to shrug.

"You told her to lie still, and she didn't, so I helped," it explained. "I just knocked her out. She'll be okay."

"Oh," Jackie said quietly. She stood up. "Go look for James, okay? He'll be the guy with the blue hair and
green eyes. I have a feeling Jess'll need to see him."
Chapter 3

James sighed heavily, leaning against a tree. Lucky for him, the trees had broken his fall. Somewhat. The
very thick grass had contributed, too. Still, the fall had hurt. And he now had scratches all over from the
branches, and he'd lost several feathers in the fall. He winced at the memory. Losing the feathers had
been a new definition of pain. But he could walk without too much of a limp, and that was about all he
cared about right now. He headed slowly and painfully in the direction he assumed led to camp.

Jackie looked at Jessie in concern. The younger girl was asleep in one of the beds, but didn't look like
she was getting a whole lot of rest. Nightmares, probably. Then again, Jackie couldn't honestly blame the
girl. She'd have nightmares too if she were in that situation.

Jessie squirmed in bed and suddenly woke up with a scream. Jackie tried to push the former Rocket back
down in bed, but got her hand knocked away.

"James?" Jessie said in a small, uncertain voice. Her eyes were wide. "Where is he? Is he alright?"

"I don't know. Ponyta's looking for him," Jackie soothed. "He'll be here soon. Now lie down, Jessie. You
need your rest."

Reluctantly, Jessie lay back down in bed. Jackie got up to go prepare something to eat.

"Sis?" Jessie's voice came before Jackie made it to the kitchen. The elder girl sighed.

"What is it, Jess?"

"Thanks," Jessie said quietly. Jackie smiled.

"Anytime, Jessie."

'What a day,' James thought. 'Attacked by a Fearow, in pain, and now there's this talking Ponyta trying to
get me to go somewhere.'

"Yo!" The fire horse nudged James not-so-gently with one hoof. "You awake in there?"

James nodded distantly. "I'm just having a weird day."

"Yeah, deal with it. You're worried about Jessie, right?"

James nodded, not at all distantly. "Where is she? Is she okay?"

"She's in my trainer's summer cabin, and I'd say she's somewhere between okay and in bad shape."

James forced himself not to explode. "Will you take me there?"

The Ponyta nodded. "I was gonna anyway. Get on."

The door burst open. "WHERE'S JESSIE??"

"Ssssssh!!!" James stopped halfway in the doorway, confronted by an angry pair of grey eyes. The eyes
belonged to a woman who closely resembled Jessie, except her hair was up in a ponytail. "She just fell
asleep! You wanna wake her up?"
"Sorry," James apologized, keeping his voice down. "Is she alright?"

The grey-eyed girl nodded. "She's having nightmares, though. Come on in, and get yourself washed up.
What happened to you, anyway?"

"An aerial game of cat-and-mouse with a Fearow, then I fell through some trees."

The girl blinked. "Aerial?"

James nodded and shot a quick glance at the top of the doorway. Deciding that yes, it WAS high enough
to accommodate his wings, he entered the room. The girl's eyes went huge.

"WINGS?? Jeeze, first Jess grows a fox tail and now you've got wings. What HAPPENED to you two,
James?"

James stared at her. "Who are you, and how do you know me?"

"Jessie told me about ya whenever she wrote to me. And I'm her older sister. Name's Jacquelyn, Jackie
for short."

James blinked and took a seat next to Jessie's bed. She looked so weak. "What happened to her?"

"Scyther," Jackie said simply. "She's damn lucky I had my Chansey around."

James groaned, letting his head fall into his hands. "That was a bad pun."

Jackie blinked innocently, getting some tea ready. "What? That was a pun? ... oh, wait, I see. Lucky,
Chansey... yeah. That *is* bad, if you catch it. How'd you even notice it?"

"I have a lot of experience with puns. Trust me." That was when the word 'Scyther' fully registered. His
head jerked up. "She was attacked by a SCYTHER??" he shrieked.

"Not so loud!" Jackie hissed. "And yeah. I wasn't kidding when I said it was lucky I was there with
Chansey. It took about three uses of Softboiled to get the worst of the wounds healed, and I used first aid
on the rest. I was afraid of killing Chansey by making her heal Jess again."

James stared at Jessie numbly, getting terrible mental images of her lying on the ground in a pool of
blood, deep cuts all over her body... he shuddered. "No wonder she's been having nightmares."

"She's woken up twice already, screaming, and then she asks where you are and if you're okay. S'why I
had Ponyta bring you here." She took the teapot from the stove and transferred it to a trivet, getting out a
cup and pouring a glass. "Tea?"

James shook his head, still looking at the sleeping Jessie. Probably having more nightmares - her face
showed it.

She was afraid. Jackie nodded slowly and sipped from the cup. "She'll need you to be here when she
wakes up."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Good." Jackie headed towards the door. "I'm gonna go for a walk. If she wakes up and wonders where I
am, tell her."
James nodded. Jackie left the cabin and closed the door behind her.

(author's note: Rakki, or Lucky, is Chansey's original Japanese name.)

Jessie awoke, screaming James' name. The third nightmare had been even worse than the last two. She
didn't remember the details, but it had been terrifying. And she had to know where James was.

A hand found her shoulder and held her down gently, a sweet, familiar male voice speaking.

"Jessie, calm down! I'm here, Jess, I'm here!"

Jessie's screams subsided suddenly. She turned her head to the source of her voice and opened her
eyes slowly, finding herself looking into a pair of concerned emerald eyes. She blinked several times,
realizing exactly who she was looking at. "James?"

He nodded. "It's me, Jess. I'm here."

Her hand wandered to his, holding it tightly. She started to notice how disheveled James was. "My god.
What happened to you?"

"I fell through some trees," he said, hoping he wouldn't have to tell her exactly what had happened. She
blinked and frowned, brow furrowing slightly.

"How did you fall? You're usually good in the air..." One hand wandered up to play with his hair. He
blushed slightly.

"Eris sent out a Fearow to fight me. I managed to get away by just letting myself fall, but I couldn't
slowdown in time to avoid getting hurt. It's just scratches and a few bruises, though, really," he added,
seeing her worried look.

"I'm fine."

He was suddenly hugged. Very tightly, and with lots of enthusiasm. No sooner had his brain adjusted to
and registered this, Jessie started crying quietly into his shoulder.

"Oh, James, I was having terrible nightmares about that Scyther attacking you a-and..." she couldn't finish
the sentence, her sobs quickly becoming hysterical. "I-I couldn't do anything a-and when I woke up you
were never there, it was just Jackie, and... James, I'm so scared!"

He put his arms and wings around her comfortingly, patting her back. "It'll be alright, Jess," he said softly.
"It'll be okay."

She sniffled. "It better be." Her hands wandered to the buttons of his shirt. James realized nothing until
she got the first two buttons undone and started on the third. He blushed brightly, suddenly quite aware of
what Jessie wanted.

"Err, Jess..." he stumbled, but was silenced by Jessie's lips pressing onto his firmly. His body went
completely limp in shock. He noticed two things dimly: Jessie's tongue had made it into his mouth, and
she had almost finished with his shirt.

Well, it was obvious that she fully intended to get what she wanted. And, well... damned if James was
going to deprive her.
Jackie groaned, wandering back to the cabin and being followed by three Pokemon.

"You *sure* Jess is alright?" Meowth demanded for the one-hundredth time.

"Yes! James is there with her, and she's had time to recover. She'll be fine."

"Growwwlithe," Growly muttered. Translation: She'd better be.

Silence for a few steps.

"Really absolutely sure?" Meowth asked for the one hundred and first time.

"AARRRGH!"

Sakura interrupted before Jackie had a chance to maim Meowth. "Is that your cabin up ahead?"

Jackie stopped, and looked, then put away the mallet. "Yep. That's it." She walked casually up to the
building, took a set of keys out of a pocket, and locked the door.

"What was that for?" Sakura asked puzzled, jumping up and catching the windowsill with her forepaws
before Jackie could warn her. She pulled herself up and immediately regretted looking.

"Oh," she said in a very tiny voice, letting go as fast as Meowthly possible and blushing something fierce.

That piqued Growly's curiosity. He stood on his hind legs and leaned against the windowsill. He too
quickly got down, with a small, timid "growl". Jackie grinned, not having known before that a Growlithe
could blush, nor that that particular shade of red existed.

"Wha? What is it? Let Meowth know here!"

Sakura's blush intensified. "They're, uh... that is, uh... Growly?"

Growly gulped. "Grrrrow... lithe growlithe growwlithe growl."

Meowth's eyes went even wider than normal, and he blushed too. "Dey're WHAT? Wha- no way! Dey're
not supposed ta do dat! I'm supposed ta ruin deir romantic hopes in every situation! Dey- dey can't..."

"They are," Jackie snickered. "I kinda figured they would. S'why I locked the door."

Six Pokemon eyes stared at her. "You FIGURED?" they all said in unison. Well, Growly said

"GROWWWLITHE?" but he meant the same thing.

"Well, after being attacked by a Scyther and then having nightmares, presumably about James, and then
put in a cabin with him... from the way she talked about him in her letters, I figured that in that situation,
she'd try to go at it with him whether I was there or not."

Meowth shook his head. "Praisin' him in her letters, and tryin' ta kill him in real life. I don't understand
humans."

Jackie grinned. "Actually, 99% of the time she was telling me how much she hated him. I dunno, it was
something in the way she wrote. Or maybe I can just guess my sister. Either way, I could tell she really
loved him."
Before any of the Pokemon could respond, they all blushed hard and tried to cover their ears. In a few
moments, Jackie heard what they were hearing and blushed too.

"My, sounds like they're having fun... Whatdoyousayweleave?" she asked hurriedly, scooping up the
Pokemon in her arms and running away from the cabin.

Meowth looked around at all the Pokemon and trainers. Wow. Were he still with Team Rocket, this would
have been a dream come true. Of course, even not being a Rocket Pokemon, he was impressed.

Since the cabin was pretty much off-limits for now, those stuck outside had decided to go to the nearest
town for a little while, and had found a Pokemon auction. Jackie had brought Chansey out so the pink egg
Pokemon could go out and meet people - she was a quite outgoing Pokemon and loved doing that.
Growly, Meowth, and Sakura were all staying close to Jackie.

"Hey, look at that," Sakura said, pointing to an area of the auction that had caught her eye. Eevees and
their evolutions were being auctioned off. The dealer held up a cage with two wary-looking Eevees in it.

"Next up is a breeding pair of Eevees! Bidding starts at twenty!"

"Twenty!" one person bid.

"Twenty! I have twenty, do I hear thirty?"

"Thirty!"

"Do I hear forty?"

Jackie headed towards the crowd. "Five hundred!" she yelled.

Dead silence fell over that part of the auction. The dealer cringed.

"Five hundred, do I hear five hundred ten?"

Nobody answered.

"SOLD for five hundred to the redhead in the back!"

As the cage was being brought down through the crowd, Meowth, Sakura, and Growly *stared* at Jackie,
who grinned sheepishly.

"It just seems appropriate. A breeding pair of Eevees to give to our breeding pair of humans."

"Here you are, miss," the dealer said at that moment, handing the cage to Jacquelyn, who accepted it
with a smile and dug out a note for five hundred.

"Thank you," she said politely, handing over the payment. The dealer tipped his hat and headed back up
to the podium.

Meowth stared at the two Eevees, having a sudden flashback. The team had stolen an Eevee, among
other Pokemon, and were arguing over what to evolve it into. He himself had wanted a Jolteon, and
Jessie and James had wanted Flareon and Vaporeon, respectively. He remembered how James had
insisted on the water-type, and Jessie on the fire-type...
"I got an idea!" he said.

Sakura, Growly, Jackie, and the Eevees looked at him. He grinned.

"Probably none a' you know about the time when Jess, James an' I ripped off a bunch of evolved
Pokemon an' an unevolved Eevee," he started. "But we all wan'ed to evolve it. Jessie wan'ed a Flareon,
an' James wan'ed a Vaporeon."

"Hey, I get it," Sakura said, catching on. She jumped up onto Jackie's shoulder to look at the Eevees. She
smiled non-threateningly. "Do you two mind if we evolve you into a Vaporeon and Flareon?"

The two Eevees looked at each other and talked among themselves for a little while, too quietly for
Sakura to understand them. They finally smiled at Sakura and shook their heads. Sakura grinned.

"They don't mind," she said. Assorted grins.

Meanwhile, Jessie and James had woken up, gotten dressed, and were waiting for Jackie to come back.
James was already out engaging in his favorite pastime - flying. Jessie was just sitting curled up in on of
the chairs, fox tail curled around her, being very happy.

If you don't know why she was happy, I shall have to beat some sense into your head with this green
onion.

Jessie's moment of contentedness was interrupted by a knock at the door. Snapping out of her dreamlike
trance, she stood up, headed towards the door, unlocked it, and opened it. A smirking Jackie walked in
and sat on a chair, followed by the three Pokemon.

"So, Jess," she grinned. "You and James have fun?"

Jessie turned an intriguing shade of red. Jackie laughed.

"Never mind, don't answer that..." Jackie paused and grinned evilly. "Raggedy Anne."

Jessie didn't get any less red, but now it was from anger instead of embarrassment. A vein stood out on
her forehead. She *hated* that nickname.

"Hey, don't be mad. We got you and James a present." She held up two Pokeballs. One was the standard
red, the other was blue.

Jessie's anger vanished. She grinned and snatched the Pokeballs. "Which one's mine?"

"The red one. Where's James?"

"Flying."

Jackie tried hard to lift up her jaw, but found it difficult. "Flying? You mean those things WORK?"

Jessie giggled, sitting in a nearby chair. "Yes, they work. Why are you surprised?"

Jackie blinked. "I dunno... it just seems weird. Then again, he DID tell me he'd gotten all scratched up
when he fell through some trees... huh. I must've been distracted."

At that moment, the door opened and James walked in, looking quite cheerful. Jessie got up and hugged
him happily. He blinked, surprised, as she pulled away with a grin and handed him a blue Pokeball.
"Jackie got us a present," she explained with a grin.

"Jackie, Growly, Meowth, and Sakura," Jackie corrected with a grin. "From all of us."

"Go on an' open 'em," Meowth grinned.

The two younger teens nodded.

"Pokeball, go!" Jessie said, throwing the ball. It hit the ground, releasing...

"Flareon!"

Jessie blinked, wide-eyed, for a few moments before shrieking and hugging the Flareon. "It's so CUTE!"

"She," Jackie corrected with a grin. The Flareon licked Jessie's cheek, already happy with her new trainer.

"Growlithe grow!" Growly encouraged. James grinned and threw his Pokeball.

"Come on out, whatever you are!"

Almost timidly, the Pokemon escaped the confines of its Pokeball and materialized. It looked up curiously
at the now starry-eyed James with wide black eyes.

"It's a Vaporeon!" James cried happily, hugging his new Pokemon. The docile water-type let out a purry
noise, approving of James.

"Flare?" Flareon yipped, twisting around to look at Vaporeon.

"Vap?"

After a few moments of staring at one another, the two evolutions rushed towards each other and
snuggled together happily. Jessie and James blinked.

"They're boyfriend and girlfriend," Sakura clarified cheerfully. "We evolved them from a breeding pair of
Eevees!"

Jessie and James blushed faintly, both getting the point about the breeding pair, but then looked at their
new Pokemon, who looked really cute cuddling like that. They looked at each other.

"I don't have the heart to put her back in her Pokeball now," Jessie said.

James nodded, feeling the same way about his Vaporeon. "We're gonna look like a walking menagerie
the next time we go to a city."

Flareon and Vaporeon smiled, liking their trainers even more now.

Jessie glanced worriedly out the window at the sunset. She did not honestly want to leave the safety of
her sister's summer cabin, but if the assassins found out that's where they were hiding...

"Jessie?" Jackie said quietly, putting her hand on Jessie's shoulder.

"Hm?"

"I just want you to know... however long you want to stay here, that's fine."
Jessie nodded vaguely. "But... if Eris and her cronies find out we're here, they'll wreck the place... maybe
even kill you trying to get to James and me."

"I've got Ponyta and Chansey, and they're as loyal as your Arbok. They'll protect me. Don't worry."

Jessie looked up at her sister, who smiled. Jessie gave a tiny smile in return.

"I'll have to ask James--"

"He'd be glad to stay. I asked him."

"Oh." The smile widened, just a fraction. "I guess we'll stay here for a while, until we can figure out how to
get away from the assassins."

Jackie nodded. "Okay. There's just one thing you'll need to know."

"What's that?"

"Next time you and James want to sleep together, try and keep it down, will ya?"

Jessie blushed.

A few days later...

Jessie stared out the window as she sat on the edge of the bed. She'd had a bad premonition about
James a few minutes after he had left the cabin, and was petrified in terror for him. Her slender form
sagged with sadness, and her tail was draped limp and motionless over the bed. Flareon butted her head
against Jessie's legs, hating to see her trainer sad. Jessie absently scratched behind the fire Pokemon's
ear, sighing. She felt the mattress sink down, and looked to her side. Jackie was there, grey eyes filled
with sympathy and worry. She put an arm around Jessie's shoulders comfortingly. Jessie totally lost it and
fell against Jackie, sobbing wildly into her sister's shoulder.

Eris searched the skies, gun at hand. If she knew her quarry, and she did, James would be flying. It was a
nice day, she and her cronies had given him and Jessie time enough for them to feel safe, and trying to
keep James grounded was like trying to keep a bird in a broken cage. It just didn't work. Can't give a guy
wings and teach him to fly, and then expect him to be completely happy on the ground.

She saw the unmistakable form suddenly, one that could easily have been mistaken for an angel in flight.
She smirked, raising her gun. A dead angel, maybe.

Three shots rang out, followed closely by a scream of intense pain. Then, silence as the blue-haired form
plummeted.

Zangulus and Vrumugun got there first. They grinned cruelly at the fallen youth. He was sobbing and
rocking back and forth, clutching his now ruined wing, feathers surrounding him. Blood flowed freely from
the gaping wounds, the red a stark and frightening contrast to the white feathers. He was nearly
paralyzed from the pain. Zangulus and Vrumugun shared a smirk. No way he could get away now.

Eris soon approached, sharp amber eyes taking in the sight. She smirked, seeing James.

"Pathetic," she said. "The angel seems glorious in flight, but take that flight away and there is nothing."
She moved towards the crying, helpless boy and knelt by him, taking his chin in her hand and tilting his
face up harshly to look at her. His emerald eyes were squeezed halfway shut in agony, and his face was
soaked with his tears. A few strands of blue hair clung to his face, plastered there by the moisture.

"Please," he whispered. "Just do it fast."

Eris smiled cruelly, tilting her head and looking at James through half-closed eyes. "Now, why should I do
that? You've caused me, Zangulus, and Vrumugun enough trouble. I think I'd like to see you suffer."

James shivered and wiped his face, his hand leaving small trails of blood. She was evil.

"Wh-what are you going to do?" he whispered, fearful and in pain.

"Well, let's see. I could tend to your wound so you won't die yet, and then poison you again--"

"I'm immune now..."

"Drat. There goes that fun. Well, I guess I'll let you bleed to death. And I'll make your stay in this life as
bad as possible." With a truly evil smirk that made James shiver again, she yanked him to her and
pressed her lips onto his.

James stiffened, immediately disliking this. Eris chuckled low in her throat, knowing that James would
only want to do this with Jessie. She leaned forward, deciding to have a little more fun. It could be difficult
to get him aroused enough to do it, especially with his increasing blood loss, but it would certainly--

She yelped and jerked away from James, putting a hand to her mouth. She tasted the hot saltiness of her
own blood in her mouth. James made a point of wiping his mouth and spitting, as if trying to destroy
whatever remained of the kiss itself.

Eris hissed, spitting blood. So he did have some life left in him, if he felt strong enough to bite her like
that. She backhanded him, glaring. He looked up at her with a truly piteous expression, tears streaming
from his eyes.

"Give me one good reason we shouldn't kill you very slowly and painfully now."

James looked down, and was silent.

"I didn't think so. Vrumugun, call out your Kadabra. Give him the most painful death imaginable. Break his
mind and drain the life out of him."

James swallowed. "For Jessie."

Vrumugun stopped in the middle of calling out his Pokemon.

"Pardon?" Eris said.

"Do it for Jessie," he whispered, slightly louder. "I-it'll break her when she finds out I died a slow, painful
death."

Zangulus snorted. "So? Easier to kill. She won't resist."

"But sh-she'll already be dead... her soul, I mean. Her mind. W-what would be the satisfaction in k-killing a
shell...?" he whispered, trembling. Whether from pain, fear, or sadness, even he didn't know.
Eris thought that over. "Good point. Change of plans. Zangulus, call out Scyther. Cut off his head or
something. Nice and quick."

Zangulus nodded and called out the vicious bug. Screaming its name, Scyther brought one blade
swinging down to James' neck.

An instant before the blade cut the flesh, a bright blue-white flash filled the small clearing, knocking the
assassins and Scyther back. It cleared only about three seconds later.

James was still on the ground, hunched over. But now he was encased in a faint white aura. And his
wing, which had been almost blown apart, was now fully healed. As though it had never been injured.
Slowly, purposefully, he stood, and glared at the assassins. His emerald eyes held an unusual sharpness.

-=Leave him alone, murderers!=-

The mental voice had come from James, but somehow it didn't seem like he himself had sent it...

-=Leave him be, or suffer the fate you have inflicted on so many others!=- As if to prove the point, one of
James' arms raised stiffly, fingers spread and palm facing towards the assassins. A ball of blue psychic
energy gathered in it.

Vrumugun's eyes widened. "That's a Pokemon's Psybeam attack!!" he screamed, just before James' eyes
flashed blue and the ball exploded into a beam of pure psychic force, slamming the three assassins into a
tree. The tree broke.

Eris looked up at James, amber eyes wide. "RETREAT!" she screamed. Zangulus and Vrumugun didn't
need to be told twice.

"Kadabra, teleport us out of here!" Vrumugun ordered, throwing the Pokeball. Kadabra carried out the
order.

As all trace of the assassins disappeared from the clearing, the aura faded from James. Dazed and
disoriented, he fell against a tree, trying to get his bearings.

"What in the world was that?" he breathed to nobody really in particular. Holding his head, he stumbled
back toward the cabin.
Chapter 4

A small white cat breathed a sigh of relief. That had been too close for comfort. A taller, much more
intimidating white cat leaned against a pillar that had been formed when a stalactite and a stalagmite
grew together.

He raised an eyebrow at the smaller.

"Don't you think that was a bit drastic, mother?"

"Perhaps. It was all I could do on short notice. Any less and he would be dead."

"Maybe you should explain it to him. The poor guy's probably confused out of his mind by now."

"True. But there will be time later for all necessary explaining."

"Really? You sure?"

"Trust your mother's premonitions, Mewtwo," Mew said, grinning maddeningly and flying off. Mewtwo
cringed, sighing.

A few days passed, and the former Rockets had kept themselves locked up tight in the cabin. Jessie told
Jackie not to leave either, as the assassins would kill whoever they suspected of helping their quarry.
Even James was afraid to leave, even though his wings became stiff and sore from disuse and he
desperately wanted to fly. Sakura worried that the assassins would break into the cabin, or worse, blow it
up and thereby kill everyone and everything inside. She had said that she same had happened to Cassidy
once; the assassins had instructions to kill her if she did not join Team Rocket, and Cassidy had chosen
the team after her house had been destroyed. Faced with that knowledge, Jessie and James had made a
tough decision. They both had called out all their Pokemon and told them of the plan.

Arbok, Flareon, Weezing, Growly, and Vaporeon protested the most loudly. Beedrill and Lickitung simply
looked dazed and shocked. Sakura was not pleased that her observation had led to this, and Meowth
feared he'd soon have to resort to sign language again. Even Victreebel, who wasn't James' biggest fan,
looked unhappy.

Jessie and James had decided to leave the cabin and expose themselves to the assassins. And not
resist.

They were just about to leave, when Jackie tapped Jessie on the shoulder. The younger girl turned
around and was met with a tight hug from her sister. Tears were streaming from Jackie's eyes.

"Goodbye, Jess-chan..." she whispered hoarsely. She didn't want her sister to do this, but Jessie had
made up her mind. And Jackie had learned long ago that when Jess made up her mind, there was no
swaying her.

"Goodbye, Jackie..." Jessie sniffled in return, her own eyes starting to water. She didn't want to do it
either.

She just felt that she had to. James felt the same way, she knew, or he wouldn't be doing this.

James watched the sisters bid each other goodbye, and sighed. Jessie was lucky. She had family who
cared. Him? He was the only child of two people who didn't give a damn about him. He was willing to bet
that if the news of his death got to his parents, they'd barely frown. He heard Growly whimper and
frowned, kneeling by the Growlithe.

"Growl," Growly whimpered. "Growwlithe growll.."

James squeezed his eyes shut to hold back the tears, rubbing Growly's head. He opened his eyes to sad
emerald slits, water trickling from them. "Goodbye, Growly..."

The fire dog let out a heartrending whimper and licked James' tear-streaked face. James hugged him,
knowing this would be the last time he would get to see his first Pokemon.

After the last goodbyes had been said, Jessie and James left the cabin, not looking back.

A sense of danger flared in a mind far away. The danger was communicated to another...

The former Rockets were not happy with their situation. Both their heads were hung in sorrow as they
walked, each with an arm around the other's waist. James had one wing draped around Jess. The other
one hung limp, feathers dragging against the ground. Jessie's tail also hung limp and motionless, a sure
sign that she was sad.

James had carried Jessie in his arms as he took one last flight, higher than he'd ever gone before.
Neither had wanted to land or to let go of the other. James had even been tempted to fly on, far, far away,
where they'd be safe. But they knew Eris and her cronies would kill their friends before tracking them
down to kill them.

So Jessie and James had savored their remaining time together. Near the forest, James had found a
small mountain with a cave near the top, and they had landed there. In the privacy and solitude this
afforded them, they again enjoyed one another, wanting to make their last day alive a good one. Though
they would have liked nothing better than to stay that way for a long, long time, they had eventually had to
leave the warmth and security they found in each other's arms. And now they were walking towards their
doom.

Both stopped, hearing footsteps, and looked up. Eris stepped out in front of them, flanked by Zangulus
and Vrumugun.

Stormy eyes gazed fearfully into the viewing sphere her psychic friend had conjured.

"God, I hope they'll pull through..."

"We won't fight you, Eris," Jessie whispered sadly, unable to meet the small woman's sharp, cruel amber
eyes.

"Do what you will," James added miserably, head also hung.

Eris quirked an eyebrow. "You think I'm stupid enough to believe you won't resist?"

James looked up at her, his sad emerald eyes filled with an undeniable, childlike truth. "If we resist, you'll
kill all our Pokemon, Jackie, her Pokemon, Sakura, and Meowth."

"We couldn't live knowing we were partially responsible for their deaths," Jessie pouted.

Eris' eyebrows raised in surprise. "Well, then. Just for being so cooperative, we'll kill you quickly and
leave your friends alive." She threw a Pokeball. "Come out, Fearow!"
"Feeearooooow!"

"Fearow, kill them both. Drill Peck."

The bird screeched in acknowledgement and reared its long neck back, aiming first for Jessie's heart.

From behind the former Rockets, a flurry of sharp, five-pointed stars flew at the assassins. Only one hit,
cutting Eris' arm. Her cry of pain distracted Fearow as it turned to see what had happened to Eris. Jessie
and James turned around, surprised. A strangely-shaped figure stood there, It had one arm raised, palm
stretched towards Eris.

"MEWTWO!" Jessie and James screamed, hugging each other.

"MEWTWO??" Eris hissed.

"Hai," Mewtwo rasped. He stepped forward. "Leave them alone, Eris."

"Why should I?" she hissed back.

Mewtwo's hostile purple eyes narrowed. "Because I will kill all three of you if you do not."

"So?"

Mewtwo's eyes glowed blue, and he entered Eris' mind.

-=You are to let them go and never trouble them again, if you value your life.=-

~Eris Satsujin values no life. Not theirs, not mine, not my Pokemon's, not yours.~

-=Then you have chosen.=-

Mewtwo's mental presence surrounded Eris' life essence, like a child's hand around a beetle.

The beetle was crushed.

Eris fell limp to the ground, the last breath escaping her. Fearow felt itself freed and cawed, flying away
from the cruel woman. Zangulus and Vrumugun stared at her corpse for a few long moments, before
finally understanding she was really and truly dead. Mewtwo gazed calmly yet piercingly at them.

"Your choice?"

Zangulus and Vrumugun exchanged a look. Vrumugun gulped.

"We won't do anything to them or any of their friends ever again," Vrumugun said, Zangulus nodding so
hard it looked like his head would fall off.

Mewtwo entered each of their minds in turn. They meant it. They valued their lives over Jessie and
James' deaths. Mewtwo nodded. The two assassins ran like hell. The powerful psychic cat turned to
Jessie and James, who were still hugging each other, with a serene gaze.

"You are now free," he rasped. "They will never trouble you again."

Before Jessie and James could react, Mewtwo had teleported away.
"We're... free?" James whispered.

"We're not going to die?"

They looked into each other's eyes for a long time in wonder and amazement.

A loud cheer could be heard.

A thick aura of sadness permeated the cabin. Jackie was asleep, weary from her tears. Ponyta lay on the
floor, looking subdued. Growly had been howling earlier and was now just whimpering. Vaporeon and
Flareon comforted each other, crying. Arbok and Weezing were doing the same thing. They remembered
when they had thought Jessie and James might have abandoned them, back when they were Ekans and
Koffing. Somehow, this was worse. Beedrill and Lickitung were in total shock. Meowth was crying into
Sakura's shoulder, and she was hugging him and comforting him, ignoring her own tears. Even the
perpetually cheery Chansey was depressed. Victreebel stared out the window, sad.

"I never... I never gave him a chance," the plant whispered in its own language. "And now he's dead, and
I never even gave him a chance..."

"Everyone has to die sooner or later," Beedrill tried reasoning, somewhat weakly.

"But did it have to happen like THIS?" Growly demanded, starting to cry. "That evil Eris woman.. SHE'S
killed them both! If James had died any other way... any way would be better than this!"

Flareon whimpered through her tears. "I hope that woman dies. Jessie-san didn't deserve to die..."

Victreebel's eyes went huge as it looked out the window. "Oh, sweet Goddish..."

"What?" Vaporeon asked, blue-black eyes wide.

"James..."

"WHAT ABOUT JAMES?" Growly bounded to the window and stared at what he saw. He grinned and
barked happily. "He's alive! He's alive! James is ALIVE!"

Flareon and Vaporeon hurried to the window. Flareon yipped happily. "So's Jessie-san!"

The door opened, and Jessie and James were mobbed by their ecstatic Pokemon. Meowth and Sakura
jumped at them too, gushing at them never to do that AGAIN. Chansey jumped up on Jackie's bed and
woke her enthusiastically.

"nnnh?" Jackie whimpered, only barely awake.

"Chansey chansey chan!!"

Jackie's eyes flew open. "JESS-CHAN!" She bolted out of bed and ran across the cabin, hugging her
sister tightly and laughing like a maniac. "Jessie! Oh, good god, I thought you were dead, what
happened?"

"You're not going to believe this," Jessie chuckled after her elder sister let go, "but Mewtwo - yes, that
Mewtwo - killed Eris, and the other two retreated. They'll never bother us again!"
Jackie was struck dumb. The Pokemon, however, redoubled their happy greetings. Victreebel allowed
James to hug it, even.

After all the greetings were finished, Jessie and James decided to go for a walk again. This time, though,
they knew they'd be safe.

Jessie and James were giddy, laughing as they walked and talked. Jessie couldn't remember the last
time she was so happy. She hugged James, not wanting to let go.

"Want to fly again?" James asked, grinning.

"Do you need to ask?" Jessie giggled.

James grinned cutely and took Jessie in his arms. He was about to spread his wings, when a gravelly,
distorted voice spoke.

"So, we meet again."

The former Rockets blinked and hugged each other tightly, suddenly fearful. They knew that voice.

"G-Giovanni?" Jessie whispered as she and James looked towards the red-clad figure. The sun was
setting behind him, enshrouding his face in shadow as always. But he was their old boss, without a doubt.

"What are you doing here?" James asked, putting aside his fear for a moment.

"To succeed where my assassins failed. Alakazam! Kill them!"

"Alaaaa! Kazam!"

Before Jessie and James even try to run, the Alakazam's eyes glowed red. James found himself being
forced away from Jessie and paralyzed. He could only stare in horror as his love was encased in an all-
too-familiar blue aura.

Jessie screamed in pure agony.

Pain pain pain oh god pain pain oh god oh god it hurts James where are you what have they done to you
James oh god James I need you JAMES!!!!!

"JAAAAMES!!!!!" Jessie screamed out. She was experiencing the worst pain possible. James wanted
desperately to stop what was happening, or at least hold her and let her know he was there for her, but he
couldn't move a muscle or even speak.

After an agonizingly long time, the blue aura faded, and Jessie fell limp to the ground.

A cry of sorrow and agony could be heard from Unknown Dungeon.

James suddenly felt himself able to move again, and he ran towards Jessie, holding her limp, motionless
form in his arms. He checked desperately for a heartbeat, breathe, anything. Nothing. He began to cry,
holding her to him. She was dead. And the worst part of it was, she looked so serene, so peaceful. Aside
from the pale hue of her skin, and her horrible stillness, she looked like she was merely asleep.

He felt pain of his own began to course through his mind and body. Before, he would have given in. But
now...
He glared up at Giovanni and his Alakazam with cold emerald eyes. He rose slowly, fighting the mind
intruding upon his, taking ragged steps towards the increasingly frightened Pokemon. It redoubled its
efforts, and James faltered only for a moment. He swung his leg around, his foot colliding solidly with the
Alakazam's head. It cried out, losing its mental hold as it was knocked across the ground. James took
ragged breaths, feeling the pain subside. He looked Giovanni straight in the eyes.

"I hate you," he whispered, grabbing Giovanni's suit.

Those three words, simple to say, somehow made Giovanni's blood run cold. Or maybe it was the look in
James' emerald eyes that said he meant it.

He had not suspected the innocent, childlike James of being capable of hatred.

...reaching across a mental link, to the battered and lifeless mind...

"You killed Jessie," he hissed. "She's dead, and you killed her, Giovanni. The only reason that Alakazam
is alive now is because it was only following orders."

Giovanni managed to overcome his fear long enough to say, "Get your filthy hand off my suit."

James smiled mirthlessly and yanked his hand back, tearing the red jacket. He then removed his hand.

"I really hate you."

...capture the soul in flight, hold it in this world...

Jessie felt light and airy. And she knew exactly why. Feeling herself surrounded by a psychic power, she
panicked until she realized it was benevolent. She turned to see James...

...shuddering as she realized she could sense his emotions in this form. Anger, sadness, loss... and
something she'd never thought he had the capacity to feel. Hatred.

He was so frightening now. She looked away and drew her awareness from him, unable to stand the
force of his hatred.

...revive the empty shell, give it breath...

James' hands closed around Giovanni's neck. "You're going to die. You killed Jessie. And now I'm going
to kill you."

And he meant it. Burning rage and hatred combined with a cold emptiness within him. He wanted
Giovanni dead more than anything else.

...heal the broken mind, the wounds caused by a death from within...

Jessie wanted to cry, unable to stop looking at James. She whimpered, wanting so badly to tell him not to
kill Giovanni, not to become like him, but knowing somehow that she couldn't.

...and bring the soul back.

James began to squeeze, cutting off Giovanni's air supply, and trying to break the neck. He was unaware
of the pale form stirring behind him, pushing herself up.

Until he heard.
"James..."

James' emerald eyes went wide. His hands fell away from Giovanni's throat and he whipped around,
turning to look at Jessie.

She was sitting up, looking frail and weak. But alive. Well and truly alive.

"J... Jessie..." he whispered, his earlier fury and hate melting away.

Then a fist collided with the back of his head and his world went dark.

"Shouldn't have let your guard down," Giovanni scoffed, looking at James.

Then the ultimate physical pain for a man shot through him. He let out a distorted squeak and fell to the
ground, doubling over and clutching at his vitals. Jessie stood over him, furious.

"You shouldn't have, either," she hissed.

Giovanni looked up at her. "I thought you were dead!" he yelped, his distorted voice about an octave
higher.

"I was."

James woke up halfway, groggy. He looked up. Jessie stood over Giovanni, her back to James, tail
lashing back and forth in anger. In the full moonlight, she looked ethereal.

Oh, of course... a ghost. Satisfied with this answer, he fell unconscious again.

"If you ever... EVER hurt James like that again... I will kill you. Understand?"

Giovanni rose somehow to his feet. "You won't be able to kill me," he snarled, throwing a punch. Jessie
sidestepped and flipped him over her, sending him tumbling. He got partway up, watching the angry
young woman approach. With surprising speed, he rose and kicked her in the stomach. She cried out,
doubling over in pain and falling to the ground. She normally would have been tougher, but now she was
weak from her death and revival.

Giovanni prepared to crush in her skull with his foot, but was stopped by a voice in his mind.

-=That is enough.=-

He looked around for the source of the voice, and found it - a small white cat floating in midair, glaring at
him with baleful blue eyes. He recognized it. So did Jessie, as she looked up.

"M-MEW??" she shrieked.

Mew nodded once and continued glaring at Giovanni.

"Go away, cat!" Giovanni snarled. "This is not your business!"

-=Oh, but I think it is very much my business. The mother will fight tooth and nail to protect her children,
so I will fight you to protect Jessie and James.=-

Giovanni's eyes narrowed. "Over my dead body, you mangy alley cat."
Mew's eyes narrowed as well, to cold sapphire slits. -=Then so be it.=-

She glowed blue. So did Giovanni. Jessie watched, eyes wide, as Giovanni suffered a fate similar to,
although quicker than, her own. He never even had a chance to scream. She stared in surprise at Mew as
the psychic cat bowed her head solemnly.

-=I did what I had to,=- Mew informed Jessie softly, before giving a gentle smile. -=James is reviving now.
You should go to him.=-

Jessie nodded numbly and crawled to James, who was only a few paces away. She ran her fingers over
the feathers of one wing. James gasped faintly at the pleasant sensation and opened his eyes. Jessie
was sitting over him, smiling lovingly at him as the full moonlight illuminated her face beautifully. He
whimpered, fully believing he was seeing a ghost.

"Jessie..."

"Shh..." Jessie shushed him quietly, taking him in her arms and hugging him. He hugged her back,
shoulders shaking. Jessie felt a hot moisture on her shoulder and blinked. He was crying.

"James, what's wrong?"

"Th-this is a dream, isn't it?" he cried. "It c-can't be real... you've come to me in my dreams to say
goodbye one last time, i-isn't that it? Oh, Jessie... I'm sorry..."

"Don't apologize," she told him. "It wasn't your fault, so don't act like it was. And I'm alive again, so
everything's okay..."

He jerked back in surprise, staring at her with wide, tearful eyes, searching her face for any trace of
deceit. None.

"A-alive...?" he whispered. "A-are you really...?"

Jessie nodded with a small smile. "If you don't believe me, take a pulse." She held out her wrist.
Uncertainly, James held her wrist in one hand, pressing two fingers of the other hand against it. His eyes
widened as he felt a beat, and he looked at her in surprise. He hugged her tightly, crying again.

"N-now I know it's got to be a dream..." he whispered. Jessie sighed.

"You're awake, James. I really am alive. Damned if I know how, but..."

-=I would be the one responsible for that,=- Mew said, landing next to the two. -=Perhaps I should explain
things now.=-

"Yes, explanation would be good," Jessie said, a touch sourly.

Mew chuckled apologetically. -=I did intend to punish you severely for trying to capture my son... but
when I looked into your minds, I decided against it. You have all suffered much, so I felt that I should
reward you somehow. I changed your bodies to reflect what I saw in your minds.=-

James blinked, unfolding and refolding one wing. "So that's why you gave me wings... after you saw me
as a... what did you call me again? A 'timid angel'?"

Mew nodded, and motioned to Jessie with one tiny arm. -=And you, the blue-eyed fox.=-
Jessie looked behind herself briefly, flicking her tail.

-=I changed you so that you could start over, as I sensed you were not happy with your lives. Changing
your bodies gave me a psychic link to the both of you, so I knew what was happening with you at every
moment.=-

James and Jessie looked at each other, blushing as they both got the same thought. Mew giggled,
continuing.

-=That is why before either of you could die, and after you died,=- Mew added at the loud clearing of
Jessie's throat, -=something would occur to help. L-chan is a friend of mine, incidentally, and she was
happy to help.=-

"Wait a minute... what about Jackie?" Jessie asked. "Don't tell me she was working with you too..."

Mew shook her head. -=It was luck of the draw that she happened to be there to save you.=-

James piped up. "Why would you even bother to help us?"

A gentle smile from Mew. -=I made you what you are now, and so I consider you adopted children of
mine, in a way. And so I would not abandon you.=- She rose a few inches in the air and floated forward,
placing a small, motherly kiss on first James', then Jessie's forehead. She then flew up and backwards. -
=I must leave now. Enjoy your freedom, and remember, if you ever need me, I'll be there.=-

With that, Mew vanished, leaving her human children to reflect and wonder.