Disclaimer: Pokémon is property of Nintendo, Gamefreak, the WB, and whoever else actually owns the rights to it
Author's Note: I realize Jessie said goodbye to Arbok in an episode of Pokémon already, but for the sake of the story, I decided to use the character anyway.
Chapter Text
On top of the foggy Lavender Town Tower sat a young brown-haired boy of about eleven years old. His blue eyes were so wet with tears that he could hardly see. Beside him knelt a slightly younger girl, about ten. She was also wiping tears from her green eyes.
The two children felt extreme grief about what happened to their Pokémon. Roger, the boy, was taking it the hardest; ever since he got his Pokémon trainer's license, he heard people talking about "irresponsible trainers" who "neglect their Pokémon" and "give all trainers a bad reputation." Like most people, he promised himself he would never be one of those people. As he looked at the somber surroundings of the Pokémon graveyard, though, he felt like he betrayed his Pokémon and doubted himself as a trainer.
"I can't believe Pikachu died," Roger said with a sigh. His heart felt heavy; it was like his whole world, his whole dream of becoming a successful Pokémon trainer, had collapsed around him.
"Yeah, Pikachu was one of the best Pokémon we ever had," Ruby said. Ruby, his sister, was concerned about him. She loved Pikachu and was devastated when she heard what happened, but she noticed that her brother was crushed. He regarded himself no better than a murderer, and some of her sadness was because of what guilt was doing to her brother. He wasn't eating and was barely sleeping. She hoped things would change after the memorial service. She hoped there was some way to tell her brother that it wasn't his fault and that he was a good trainer.
Roger wiped a small tear from his eye and spoke, trying to keep his voice from cracking.
"It's all my fault, Ruby...all my fault..."
"I remember when we caught it...in Viridian Forest. It was so tiny and cute and yellow..." Ruby said. She was trying to remind him of the good times.
"...and a great battler. It helped you win the Cerulean City badge! Misty didn't know what hit her!" Ruby said, trying to put on a cheerful face.
Roger just looked at her and sniffed.
"...and at home, Pikachu was such a wonderful pet," Ruby said.
Roger wiped another tear from his eye and felt warm pressure on his shoulder. Shadows of two older figures, a man and woman, appeared in the fog. It was their mom and dad. Roger grabbed onto his dad's hand.
"It's okay; we'll get you another one," Roger's dad said reassuringly.
"I..don't...know...if I even want another Pikachu!" Roger cried, fighting his agony and guilt.
"Me, either!" Ruby agreed, noticing the pain on her brother's face.
"I wasn't responsible enough with him. I let him die. I don't deserve to be a Pokémon trainer!" Roger said, his voice straining from holding back tears of anger and regret.
Ruby and Roger looked at their parents. Their mom and dad had them in a tight embrace. Tears were running down everyone's cheek.
Roger sniffed and wiped his eyes. He had a glare on his face, and his fists were clenched tightly. He was shaking with rage and sadness.
"Honey, why don't you go and get some fresh air before we go to see the memorial site?" Roger's mom asked. She noticed the way her son was treating himself and hoped that removing him from the situation would calm him down.
"Besides, I don't think Pikachu would have wanted you so sad," Roger's mom added.
"It was my fault that he...died, though," Roger said bitterly.
"Stop blaming yourself. People die; Pokémon die; it's not your fault," Roger's mom said reassuringly.
"It is our fault, though. You weren't there," Roger said.
Ruby wiped another tear from her eye. She missed Pikachu, too, but she was very worried about her brother.
"Ruby, go with your brother. Your dad and I will look for the guides who were supposed to lead us to the memorial stone."
"Where did they go, honey?"
"They said they needed to go back to their car to get supplies."
Jessie and James, professional Pokémon thieves and Team Rocket members to boot, were out doing another scam and just so happened to cross paths with Ruby and Roger's parents earlier that day. They pretended to be fellow mourners and offered to guide them to the memorial stone for Pikachu. Jessie was having second thoughts, though.
"James, I can't believe you have us back in this spooky tower!" Jessie complained as she stumbled over old Pokémon memorials that were buried in the tall grass and tried to keep her long flowing locks of blood red hair from tangling in the tall weeds.
"Well, I figured if we were taking a break from chasing our usual twerps we could get a change of scenery," James offered in a friendly tone while brushing his own purple locks out of his face to reveal a smile; he always tried to stay optimistic and encouraged people to look on the bright side. Considering his cheerful demeanor, his line of work would have probably come as a surprise to some.
"In a haunted house?" Jessie asked in an accusing tone.
"Tower, actually," James corrected.
"The last time we were in Lavender Town, we were almost made into ghosts! Why did I even let you talk me into this?" Jessie asked.
James briefly recalled the moment and rolled his eyes. Jessie was ever the pessimist.
"It's easier to steal Poké Balls in the fog," James said.
"Ooh! Even without Meowth here we're making air-brained decisions!" Jessie huffed, commenting on the absence of their usual loud-mouth Pokémon cat-burglar companion.
"I hope he's enjoying camp," James said, trying to change the subject and get Jessie to stop complaining.
"Why did he decide to go to Pokémon camp, anyway?" Jessie asked.
"I think he heard that Pikachu was going," James said.
"You know, I never thought I would say this, but if we ever get transferred, I'm going to miss that little yellow rat," Jessie said.
James sighed to himself. Finally, she was off the subject of how much she hated being out here in the fog.
The fog was very thick, though. It was like someone had dropped a couple of pounds of dry ice into a large bucket of water. It was so thick that it looked like there were clouds on the ground in some places. It was eerie, for sure, but also beautiful in a strange way. Jessie and James were certainly enjoying the amount of, eh-hem, privacy the cover of the fog provided.
"You know, when I look at you from this angle, with the moon shining on your face, you remind me of a princess..." Jessie and James said to each other.
Just then, Jessie and James' moment was interrupted when a shrill voice started calling them.
"What do you want?" Jessie demanded, showing her true colors in an unannounced temper tantrum.
"Excuse me, but you are our guides. We can't see anything in this fog, and we were wondering where the tombstone of our children's beloved Pikachu is," Ruby and Roger's mother said.
"Oh, of course, follow us," James volunteered cheerfully, brushing away sweat and purple locks while discretely grabbing Jessie's hand and dragging her along.
"Control your temper; don't blow our cover," James whispered.
Jessie leaned over and whispered to James.
"Do you know where we are going?"
"I don't have a clue, but they don't know that," James said.
Jessie scowled, looked down, and kicked the ground. It was typical of James to just act on impulse. She wasn't even sure he had a plan.
"This is the plan, Jessie. We lead these poor Poké-fools in circles while picking off their Pokémon belts one-by-one," James whispered.
Jessie pulled her head back up and gave James a sudden hug. This was a doable decent plan.
"I like the way you think sometimes, James," Jessie cooed.
The two thieves decided to use an old trick that professional pick pockets use. They would bump into the couple at pre-planned times and then palm the goods while they were pretending to help them pick things up. It would be easy to pull off. The thick fog was making it difficult to see anyway.
Jessie and James quickly started moving around the couple.
Ruby's mother was the first target. Jessie pretended to stumble and caught on to the woman for support. While she was in close physical contact, she loosened the woman's belt, causing it and the Poké Balls that were attached to it to fall to the ground.
"Oh! Clumsy me!" Jessie apologized while she carefully bent down and palmed the poké-belt.
As they continued walking, James stumbled into Roger's dad, knocking him flat on his back.
"Oh! Oopsie. May I help you up?" James asked in a cheerful innocent tone.
"Yes, but please watch where you are going next time!" Roger's dad scolded.
James smiled as he offered a hand, brushed the man's clothes off, and discretely placed the poké-belt into a bag.
"Oh, of course! Not to worry," James said while patting the man on the back.
Once Jessie and James were finished collecting the poké-belts, they led the kids' parents to a clearing.
"And...here we...are," Jessie and James said in unison. They kept their tones flat and even, because this was a memorial after all. The people coming to visit probably would have suspected something off if they were too gleeful about reaching tombstones.
The fog cleared and the parents saw a tombstone in the distance.
'Oh, thank you," the parents said.
"Don't mention it," Jessie and James said in unison before disappearing into the fog and leaving their poor clients alone.
The parents looked around.
"Tom, I feel like something is missing."
"Where are our children?"
"Where are our Pokémon?"
"Where are our guides?"
Jessie was using an escape rope to leave the tower and make a clean getaway. James was somehow already on the ground.
James giggled as he heard the parents calling for the guides.
To Jessie, though, the cries seemed sadder and more desperate. She usually didn't feel this way about people she didn't know. Maybe the fog was just playing tricks on her, distorting the noises or something?
Jessie made it to the bottom of the tower and sighed, her conscience tugging ever so slightly.
"Should we go back and help them?" Jessie asked.
"No! Team Rocket are supposed to be bad guys, Jessie! We can't stop and help every poor passerby with their problems, can we? We've got what we want!" James said with a little bit of playfulness in his voice.
"Right. Right," Jessie said as she tried to ignore the pitiful cries of the couple. She couldn't seem to shake the feeling that what she was doing was really bad this time, worse than usual, but she didn't know why. She shifted on her feet uneasily and pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to push back the guilty feelings.
James pressed a remote control which summoned a getaway van. The van stopped in front of James who effortlessly tossed the two bags into the back of the van.
Jessie and James got into the van and started driving away.
"I can't believe we got away with it this time!" Jessie squealed as she pulled James into an embrace of congratulations.
"Clean get away! Were you expecting anything less from the illustrious Team Rocket?" James said with a smirk as he kissed Jessie on the forehead.
"Well, I mean, you know, usually we..." Jessie said.
"We usually what?" James asked.
"I hate to say it, but you know that we fail miserably."
"Jessie, please don't Jinx us."
Suddenly, Team Rocket's getaway van came to a screeching halt.
"What's wrong?" James asked, a hint of frustration in his voice.
"A stupid Marowak's blocking the road!" Jessie said.
"Kill it." James said nonchalantly as he tossed Jessie a rocket launcher from the backseat.
Jessie sat flabbergasted, her mouth wide open.
"Where did you? Are you out of your mind?" Jessie asked, rising frustration and anger in her tone.
"Hurry up, Jessie, I'm getting tired. I want to go back home," James said with a mock yawn.
"You really aren't acting like yourself today. You've been acting strange ever since we got to this spooky tower," Jessie said.
Ha! ha! ha! You have no idea how right your instincts are!
"James, did you...say something?" Jessie asked.
"What's the matter, Jessie, where's your killer instinct?" James taunted.
"I...don't kill people or Pokémon; it's against Team Rocket's code of conduct. I'm sure you would know that, James. You attended the same training I did! You were in my class!"
Team Rocket doesn't kill Pokemon? I guess you should have told that to the guys who slaughtered the Marowak, then?
"James, please stop doing that creepy voice!"
Scared, Jessie?
Suddenly, strange discordant music started playing. Jessie felt an icy chill run up her spine. This was beginning to feel like something out of a horror movie. Fear gripped her. She knew something was terribly wrong; she could just feel it.
Don't turn around and look at your partner!
"Okay, I'm getting really tired of these game..." Jessie said, mustering up what little boldness she had left.
Jessie turned around and immediately wished she hadn't. Instead of turning to face her partner, Jessie turned to face what looked like an other-worldly mangled corpse with sunken in holes where the eyes were supposed to be. A spider crawled through the place where James' eyes were supposed to be.
She let out a scream.
"James! James, what happened to you!" Jessie said. Jessie felt a mixture of fear, anger, and guilt.
"James! Speak to me!" Jessie yelled as she bravely tried to shake the figure. Thousands of black things resembling spiders fled out of it.
"Boo!" The figure that looked like James shouted as it sat up with a sickening creak.
Jessie screamed and covered her eyes.
"Jessie, I never knew you were squeamish!" the figure taunted.
Jessie felt a hand on her heart.
"It's okay..." the figure whispered in a discordant voice that made her shake.
She shuddered but forced herself to look. The sight made her feel sick. Standing before her was a transparent James, and his hand wasn't on her chest, it was in her chest!
"Hmm...about 120 beats per minute... don't want to give you a heart attack, or do I?"
Jessie felt pressure tighten around her chest.
While the figure spoke, Jessie noticed one of her Pokémon was out of its Poké Ball. Her eyes lit up when she saw her Gourgheist, a creature that resembled a giant black jack-o-lantern with glowing eyes with a long thick fleshy stem on top that resembled a bed sheet ghost with long hair, out and ready to defend her.
"Gourgheist..." the Pokémon growled.
Without another word, Jessie's Pokémon used a special attack that caused the figure to disappear. Jessie hid behind her Gourgheist.
The creepy James-like figure re-materialized in front of her.
"Hiding behind your Pokémon, so typical of a coward."
"What did you call me?" Jessie asked in a momentary burst of anger that hid her fear. Jessie walked toward the figure taunting her and tried to strike it.
The figure lifted a finger and she was immediately flung hard into a chair. She landed in it with a sickening thud. It felt like someone body slammed her.
"I'll repeat myself and go slowly so that you can understand. I said that you are a coward, c-o-w-a-r-d."
Jessie reached for another Poké Ball.
"Don't try to pick a fight, Jess, you'll lose, maybe more than the battle."
The figure disappeared briefly.
"You're not James! What's going on?" Jessie shouted to an empty van.
The figure popped back up beside her.
"How perceptive of you! It only took you about three hours to figure this out! Had I wanted to, I could have run this van off of the nearby cliff, drowned you in the frozen waters, or just let your drive yourself mad with fear."
"Gourgheist," Jessie spoke in stifled words as cold shivers of fear paralyzed her.
"Oh, you have every reason to be afraid, but imagine how the poor Cubone felt when it had to come back to the bloody and mangled corpse of its mother."
"What...is...this...about? Who are you?"
Jessie's inquiry was met by piercing self-righteous laughter.
"Oh, not who my dear... what?"
"Okay, what are you, then?"
Suddenly, Jessie felt the van shaking and moving. She looked out the window to see that it was several hundred feet in the air.
How did? I'll deal with it later. Jessie thought as she gave up on trying to rationalize all of the weird creepy things that were happening.
Just then, Mimikyu came out of its Poké Ball.
Jessie gave a look of appreciation to the little ghost Pokémon that insisted on dressing itself to look like a Pikachu doll. The head of the costume flopped down, and Mimikyu's eyes shined through the body of the costume as it prepared for an attack.
"Oh, you've decided to bring another ghost type to the party! I guess those are the only kinds a Rocket would be able to keep in her party, seeing as they are so hard to kill," the James-shaped figure taunted.
"Mimikyu!" Mimikyu shouted.
"Geist..." Jessie's Gourgheist let out a low growl. She had never seen it behave like this. It was acting like it was ready to maul the figure that looked like James.
The figure let out a laugh.
"Mimikyu!"
"Gourgheist, gorg!"
"Oh, your Pokémon want to rescue you from me; how cute; I'm sure that's more than you would ever do for them," the figure said in a mocking tone.
The figure leaned over to Jessie and whispered.
"You know, they can't rescue you, but I will give them an "A" for effort. I tell you what, Rocket. Once I'm finished with you, I'll let your Pokémon go free."
Jessie moved to slap the figure off of her, but her hand went right through him!
She stood up and growled. She suddenly felt very angry and she felt stupid for showing fear. She stood up and scowled at the figure.
"I don't know who or what you are, but you don't know who you're messing with. I'm a trained Team Rocket field agent," Jessie said.
The figure let out a menacing laugh.
"Is that a euphemism for murderer? Trust me, you don't know what you're dealing with, either, but you will soon enough."
"Mimikyu, shadow ball attack!"
"Gastly, dodge it!"
Jessie looked around with a confused look.
"You don't have any Pokémon out," Jessie said.
The figure laughed again.
"My dear, my dear...that's because, if you haven't figured it out already, I'm a Pokémon," the figure said as it faded away.
Jessie heard piercing maniacal laughter as the room filled with a pitch black haze.
"Don't blink, Jessica, dearest!"
Upon the suggestion, Jessie closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them, the haze was clear and a large menacing looking Gastly appeared. Gastly was a Pokémon that looked like a big haze-surrounded black ball with sharp teeth and piercing eyes. Jessie just scowled at it.
"Now, where was I? Oh yeah. Gastly, dodge it and use lick attack!"
"Mimikyu, dodge it!"
The words came out of Jessie's mouth just in time for her to see Mimikyu fallen to the ground with paralysis.
"Go, Gourgheist!"
"Use solar beam!"
"Gastly, use Confusion!"
Before Jessie's Pokémon could attack, her Pokémon was hit with a blast of pink blinking light.
"Gourgheist..." Jessie started.
"Hit yourself repeatedly until you faint!" Gastly yelled.
Jessie watched in horror as her disoriented Pokemon did just that.
Gourgheist fainted and Jessie knelt on the ground to call it back.
"Got anything else?" the Pokemon challenged.
Jessie stayed on the ground and didn't say a word.
"Didn't think so. Gastly, use Curse on Jessie!"
"Wait! What? You can't..." Jessie said upon realizing what was about to happen. Pokémon weren't supposed to use their moves on humans.
"I usually don't, but for a Rocket murderer such as yourself, I think I'll make an exception."
The Gastly, now in its Pokémon form, gave an eerie toothy grin.
"Well, I guess this is the end," Jessie said.
"Oh, don't be so down. I've heard the afterlife is a wonderful place...if you're not a murderer, that is. Any last words?"
"Yeah..."
Jessie took out a Poké Ball she had hidden under her sleeve.
Please don't let me down, old friend. Jessie thought.
"Go, Arbok!" Jessie said as she threw out the Poké Ball. In a flash of white light, the Pokémon appeared. Arbok looked like a giant purple cobra with black and red flame markings on the front of its hood. It towered over Jessie and growled at the Gastly.
"A poison type against a ghost type? Very poor choice. If you insist, then. I'm sorry I have to do this to you, poor snake. You are a much more noble opponent than your master."
"Charbok...charbok, bok, charbok (I'm only fighting you because she's making me; please go easy on me...)" Arbok pleaded in its language.
"As you wish," Gastly, the figure that looked like James earlier, said with a bow.
"Arbok, poison sting!" Jessie commanded. The snake-like Pokémon opened its mouth and growled, immediately shooting thousands of poisoned tipped needles in the direction of the opponent.
"Gastly, fly, dodge it, counter with Nightshade!"
The ghost Pokémon swiftly flew away from the poison needles and then shot a blinding dark purple and black light at its opponent.
The cobra Pokémon quickly moved out of the way at the last minute.
"Charbok, bok (hey! you don't have to tell us everything you are going to do!)" Arbok said, trying to be a good sport about the matter.
"Just trying to be sporting, snake," the ghost Pokémon said with a laugh.
"Arbok, leer attack!" Jessie said.
The cobra Pokémon's eyes grew red as it tried to intimidate the ghost Pokémon and see through his attacks.
"Gastly, lick attack!"
A large tongue came out of the ghost Pokémon and attempted to slurp the cobra-like creature. Arbok moved erratically trying to dodge the paralyzing kiss.
"Arbok, poison sting again!" Jessie said.
This time, the needles hit their target, but, quite anti-climatically, they went right through the ghost-like creature.
"You know, you really should have chosen a better Pokémon. Poison types aren't that effective against ghost types, you know," Gastly taunted.
"Arbok, bok, charrrbok (you do realize that I'm the only Pokemon she has left, right?)"
"Gastly, ghast, ghastly (yes, just predator teasing the prey, sorry if you were offended.) How unfortunate."
"Gastly, finish it off with a Curse attack!"
Jessie paused and made a time-out signal. She had to know, especially if this was going to be her last day on Earth.
Gastly let out a chuckle.
"Droll. I must say. Well, I might as well get into character," Gastly said.
In a flash, the Pokémon re-assumed its human disguise. A transparent James was now standing where Gastly had been.
"Yes? You know you're holding up the battle," the figure said.
"Sorry, but...what exactly is a curse attack? You're the only Pokemon I've seen use it," Jessie asked carefully while scanning the room.
"Charbok, bok, bok (it's like a poison attack; it'll make me lose energy until I faint.)" Arbok attempted to answer in its language.
"Maybe it would be easier to show you than tell you?" Gastly taunted.
In a flash, the Pokémon was back in it's Pokémon form. It looked at Jessie with piercing eyes and smiled at her with a toothy grin. A giant nail appeared next to Gastly and started jabbing itself into Gastly's own head with an invisible hammer. Jessie winced, even though it was probably all just a show. it looked painful.
"It's a potentially fatal attack that will completely destroy my opponent, but I don't really think you care," Gastly replied.
"Fatal...you mean my Pokemon could...that would be..."Jessie said with a gasp.
"That is the meaning of fatal, isn't it?" Gastly asked, yawning at the end.
"Charbok? (Why are you lying to her?)"
"Quiet! Besides, who says I'm lying, snake?"
Arbok shrunk back and shuddered.
"Charbok, bok (I would do anything for her!)"
Jessie lowered the Poké Ball.
Arbok looked at it in shock.
"Bok? Chaarbok? (Jessie, what are you doing? I'm trying to save your skin here.)"
"Arbok, return."
Jessie recalled Arbok in a flick of red light energy and fell to her knees in front of her attacker.
"You win. Just let my Pokémon go free, and you can do whatever you want with me."
Jessie sat on the floor shivering in front of the Pokémon. Her tears made a puddle around her as a dark mist closed in.
