"Jessie, I'm scared. Our boss hates us, and we aren't going to be on his good side today. I'm frightened that-" James, a boy of about eighteen, whined, travelling up the elevator to the eleventh floor.
"You're scared? That's just like you, always scared of something," Jessie, a seventeen-year-old, crossed her arms and turned away, making her hot pink hair fly behind her.
"Least I don't yell at you for speaking your mind," James sighed, fantasizing all the things their boss would yell at them- and most likely fire them- for. "But whatever. That's just me. I'm still not sure-"
"You better be quiet, James, or I'll show how I got all those A+'s in kickboxing," Jessie threatened, knowing James would probably coop up for the rest of the day.
"Shutting up," James squeaked, backing to the corner farthest away from Jessie.
"Wise lad," Jessie lowered her gloved fist. She was very annoyed with James always whining.
Of course, she was always ticked off no matter what.
Meowth, a Pokemon greatly resembling a feline, jumped onto James' shoulder. "Meowth! I tink Jimmy's right, Jess. We're not exactly his favourites, y'know."
"Well, that's obvious, Meowth. If we're not exactly his favourites, we should work harder- and TRY harder- to be his favourites."
"But I'm already trying my hardest, Jess. I-" James immediately stopped when Jessie turned to face him, her cold glare cutting through him.
"What did I say about kickboxing?" she demanded.
"…OK," James shrank back, realizing the command.
Jessie turned away again, wondering why the elevator was taking so long. Finally, the elevator dinged, and the trio stepped out into their boss' office.
"Boss?" Jessie asked confidently, hoping this would lighten his mood. (Yeah, good luck with that Jess…)
"You three again? You are really annoying me, you know," Giovanni spat as he petted his loyal Persain.
Meowth mumbled something barely audible, something about choosing favourites being stupid and all. Funny, he didn't seem to mind choosing favourites when he was the favourite….
"I get irritated too, like when James screws up all the time, and-" Jessie, obviously not thinking straight, was YELLING at her boss.
"Oh, Meowth, that wild temper of hers is going to be the death of us…" James murmered.
"IT LITTERALLY WILL BE IF YOU TWO DON'T KEEP YOUR TRAPS SHUT!!" Jessie cried.
"Geez, Jess tells me ta shut up so much, it's as if it's one of my moves or someting, eh Jimmy?" Meowth sighed.
James nodded in agreement. "Yeah."
"JAMES! MEOWTH! SILENCE!" Giovanni yelled, glaring at James and the small Pokemon.
James whimpered a bit, and nodded.
Jessie rolled her eyes. He does that every single time, she thought.
"And Jessica!"
Jessie winced at hearing her real name.
"James isn't completely at fault here. I don't really see you being all perfect and evil!"
"Thanks," James bowed, stepping back to dodge Jessie's fist, which, surprisingly didn't come at him at the speed of light.
Giovanni ignored him. "Anyway, you three will improve. I can feel it, because you are taking this," he held up a glass box with a glowing red orb inside it. "Whenever you three are on the job, take this out of it's box. Don't break the box, or it will wreak havoc on whoever's soul it takes- Um… ignore that…"
"OK…" Jessie felt a bit uneasy after taking the glass container. What was that about taking souls?
Meowth yawned, curling up beside James' pillow. He closed his eyes, ready to take a little nap. He noticed that glass container on James' end table, and shrugged. Whatever.
James walked in shortly after, smiling as he nodded off to sleep beside Meowth. Jessie, for some reason, slept very heavily that night. Probably all the yelling she did earlier….
After she drifted off, Meowth started to thrash his tail about, knocking the glass box off of the nightstand. As the box shattered, Meowth watched as the ball rose from the bits of broken glass, making it's way up to James' bed. Meowth half-hissed, half-yelped as the ball sped down towards James.
"Oh, crap. What've I done?" Meowth leaped off the bed, watching as the… thing, absorbed itself into James' body. "Oh… my… god…" was all Meowth could say. He raced over to Jessie's bed, leaped up, and yelled as loud as he could.
Nope.
He even tried scratching her.
No answer. She didn't even stir.
Now Meowth was just plain afraid. He broke the box, and… what did their boss say about souls? He shuddered as he realized he really didn't want to know. What was that thing doing inside James?
James felt a small pain in his chest as he woke up that morning. The thing was… he couldn't see a thing. Except what looked like… a huge TV screen? Was that him and his friends on it?
I don't like this, James thought.
Jessie opened her eyes, her nose hurting like someone scratched her.
"So, you're finally up," said an all-to-familiar voice beside her.
"Hm? Oh, Meowth? I'm not usually the last one up, that's odd. When did James wake up?" Jessie asked groggily.
"At de crack of dawn. His eyes just shot open and he knocked me off de bed by accident.."
Jessie thought he was kidding for a bit. "That's not like him. I wonder- WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BOX!!" Jessie cried, sitting up so fast it sent Meowth flying across the room. "Sorry."
"Dunno. It must've fell…" Meowth lied.
"OK…" Jessie decided not to inquire any further. "Where's James?"
"I tink he's on de roof, Jess ."
"OK. I'll go see him," Jessie got up and got a ladder, climbing up to the roof. "James?"
James was turned away, so she couldn't see his face. He started laughing.
It scared the living crap out of Jessie. It wasn't his usual, giddy, demented-clown/ horse-on-crack laugh. No, it was an evil, evil laugh. It sounded more evil than Giovanni's laugh.
Can't get much more evil than that.
"James? What's wrong? You sound so… odd." Jessie was shaken a bit by his laugh.
"OK? I'm fine, Jessie. Never been better!" James turned to Jessie, looking at her straight in the eye.
Jessie screamed.
"James? What… what happened to you? Your eyes… they…" Jessie couldn't finish. She nearly cried as she realized that his once soft, emerald eyes had been replaced with some sort of heartless, blood-red glare.
The way he either always had a smile on his face, or a look of complete fear, had been wiped away like a chalk drawing in the rain. Now, his face was just… feelingless.
His lavender hair had darkened to a deep mauve, and his face was deathly pale.
"I said I'm fine. Come on, let's go," he stood up, and jumped off the roof, landing like a cat on the grass. "If we want to capture Pikachu, we might as well try to find him and those twerps."
"What's wrong wit Jimmy?" Meowth asked Jessie, hitching a ride on her shoulder.
"I have no clue. He sure isn't himself…" Jessie sighed, and climbed down the ladder, running after James.
"Hey! Wait up!" she cried, sprinting around trees.
James stopped and turned around. Yep. That smile had been wiped from his face. Jessie prayed it wasn't forever that he wouldn't smile.
"WWWAAHH!! Jimmy, wat happened ta you?" Meowth yelled.
"What do you mean? I said I'm fine, three times. Hurry up," his voice was so… cold now.
Jessie nodded, stopping right beside him. "I heard some voices over there. It sounded like the twerps," she pointed to a patch of trees. Sure enough, Ash, Misty and Brock and Pikachu were all there.
"Nice. Come on, Jessie. We've got a Pikachu to catch," James motioned her over when her knelt down in the bushes. "Three… two… ONE!! Give us Pikachu!" Team Rocket jumped out of the bush.
Author's note: I'm sure we all know the motto, here. And if you don't, well, whatever.
"He'll never give you Pikachu! You twisted evildoers are- huh?" Misty stopped as she noticed James' change. "Why aren't you smiling, like you always are? And weren't your eyes green before?"
"What's wrong with a little change?" James yelled, raising his hand. A whirlwind swirled out of his glove, sending Misty screaming as she careened across the deserted road.
"Woah! Since when could you do dat, Jimmy?" Meowth cried, his mouth open in shock.
"Yeah, you couldn't do that before. That's really c-" Jessie was cut off.
"Shut up, Jessica!" James yelled, using the whirlwind on her.
Ash and Brock were uninterested, but Misty was just plain worried. What the hell has gotten into him? she wondered.
Jessie screamed as she flew back into a tree, knocking her out.
The James who was plunged in darkness, (who I shall call "Pure James") was crying. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? YOU IDIOT, DON'T HURT HER!! I LOVE HER!!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. He couldn't tear his tear-filled eyes away from the screen.
He could only watch as he hurt his only friends.
Jess!" Meowth scrambled over to the unconscious girl. "Wat have you done?"
"I blasted her, you idiotic ally cat! You're not even good for battling anymore! I bet we wouldn't be such failures if you weren't here!" James bellowed.
Meowth stepped back as James' words ripped right through him. Did James really say that? Why would he say things like that to him? Is he really that stupid?
Now the "twerps" were just… plain confused, wondering the same things as Meowth and Pure James. "What the hell are you saying, you moron?!" Pure James was just mad, now. "Why am I doing this?"
"You aren't…" a voice came from everywhere and all around him, chilling him to the bone. "You're physical body is, but I've possessed it. You are the soul."
"S-soul? You mean I'm dead?"
"No, no. Not yet. As you hurt your friends, you may decide to close those eyelids of yours, allowing me to take you. Sure, you'll NEVER see them again, your physical self will eventually kill them, but you won't see it happen."
The "physical" James, (the one who's possessed) raised his hand again. A black rope came out of his hand this time, snaring Pikachu and rendering him helpless.
Caught.
Jessie stirred a bit, and opened her eyes. "James got him?" she wondered aloud, fully alert. She remembered what he had said. Shut up.
That was nothing compared to what he would do tomorrow.
She reached down her shirt and pulled out her half of the shell she had given him.
Flashback:
"Here James. My mom gave me these half shells on a string so I can give them to my friend! When we put them together, they make a whole shell, meaning that we're best friends!"
End Flashback:
"Oh, James, I hope you still have yours. I hope we are still friends… Meowth, what's wrong?" Jessie looked down at a very upset Meowth, wondering what was wrong.
Meowth told her what happened while she was knocked out, and she gasped.
"What is wrong with James? That's not something he would say…" she widened her eyes slowly, realizing what was wrong. "That box…" she whispered, just audible to Meowth.
This is all my fault? he wondered, feeling so horrible with himself he could just cry. Meowth sighed. I don't believe dis. I made Jimmy…. a monster…
"How could have that thing just have fallen? The end table was perfectly flat…" Jessie wondered aloud. "Meowth, are you sure you didn't knock it down in your sleep?"
"Maybe I did, in my sleep. I remember waving my tail…" Meowth said with ease. Well, it wasn't EXACTLY lying, after all.
That night, Jessie was woken by a soft padding on the floor. "Meowth? What are you doing here? Don't you always sleep by James?"
Instead of answering , he asked a question of his own. "Jess, can I sleep wit you tonight?"
She nodded, and picked Meowth up, setting him on her pillow. Jessie sat up, looking out her window at the stars. Meowth hopped onto her lap, nearly crying. "Dat glare… dose words… dey just cut right trough me…"
Jessie started stroking him in an attempt to cheer him up. "It's OK, Meowth. He would never say that to you. That wasn't James talking," she smiled when Meowth looked up, his eyes watering.
He nodded. "I suppose, but it still hurts my feelings…"
Jessie sighed, lying back down. "Yeah. James… he's a… a monster now."
Pure James felt his heart rip. His eyes watered. "I'm sorry Jessie. I can't control myself… I really didn't mean those things. I'm sorry." Oh, what's the use? She can't hear me… Meowth can't either. He put his face in his hands and felt tears on his cheeks. Never in his life has he been this sad, felt this horrible, cried this much.
If only Jessie could hear him…
"Meowth! Did you hear that?" Jessie sat up again, careful not to shoot Meowth against the wall again.
"Hear wat, Jess?" Meowth opened one eye, looking up as Jessie.
"I swear I heard James… not the dark James, but the original James. I heard crying, and someone saying sorry…" Jessie looked around, noting that James' voice was also a bit deeper than before.
"I'm sorry, Jessie…" Pure James wailed.
"There it is again!" Jessie darted her eyes back and forth.
"Hey, I tink I hear it too! Jimmy? Where are ya?" Meowth called.
"Meowth? Jessie? You can hear me?" Pure James stopped sobbing.
"Yes, we can!" Jessie smiled.
"I don't know where I am… I can see all of you, even my 'possessed' self. I hate seeing you guys hurt; I feel like it's my fault…" Pure James cried again.
Jessie was touched.
"It ain't your fault, Jimmy!" Meowth cried. "You're possessed!"
"I should have fought back…" Pure James' voice echoed throughout the cabin.
"You couldn't, Jimmy! You was possessed by dat ting while you was sleeping!" Meowth told him.
"How do you know? You were asleep!" Jessie asked suspiciously.
"De breaking glass woke me up, and I saw it go INTO Jimmy," Meowth said truthfully.
"Oh."
Pure James realized Meowth was right. How would he fight back, sleeping like a rock? Still, how could he have been so cruel to Meowth back there? And why did he blast Jessie, the one he loved?
Damn that demon!
James woke at the crack of dawn again. He looked at Jessie, then in the mirror. Has his hair gotten darker, or had his skin got paler? Or both?
"Whatever," James thought out loud. He didn't care. Wait, why were his eyes so glazed?
Stop taking interest in stupid thoughts like your appearance! he thought, scolding himself. "What is this?" asked himself, taking the shell in his palm. Inscribed on the back was "Best Friends" in neat handwriting.
"What the hell?" he murmured.
He noticed the other half of the shell held by a gold chain around Jessie's neck, like his. "Oh, I see. We were best friends."
The words echoed through Pure James' head. "Were? What does that mean?!" he asked, knowing the devastating truth.
Today he would shatter Jessie's heart.
Jessie woke up to find James -again- not there in his bed. Meowth was sleeping on her chest, all curled up. "Wake up," she said, shaking him gently.
"Huh? Oh. Hi, Jess," Meowth yawned. "You got any plans for getting back de Jimmy we all know and love?" he asked counting down in his head. 3...2...1...
Jessie blushed. "I do not love him!"
"Yes you do, human. I figured it out, human. How 'bout dat, human?" Meowth counted down again.
"SHUT UP YOU STUPID FELINE!!" Jessie cried, shaking Meowth waaaaaaay harder than she did before.
"Right on time…" Meowth snickered.
Jessie sighed. "Sorry."
"It's OK."
"Jessie? You up?" James' voice echoed in Jessie's head. It still scared her a bit.
"Yeah, I'm up. And yes, I'm coming with Meowth," Jessie answered, opening to the door.
"We're assigned to catch a Chimchar. Come on," James said roughly, walking north.
Jessie just nodded, and ran to catch up with James.
The gang, once again, ran into Ash, Misty and Brock. This time they wanted his Chimchar. (Duh.)
Author's note: What did I say earlier about the motto?
"James, use that… black rope thing you used on Pikachu. That was really neat!" Jessie smiled, looking at James.
"I'll use it when I want to, Jessica," James hissed coldly.
"Woah, Jimmy. She was just saying to catch dat Chimchar wit dat ting you used de oder day," Meowth said, regretting it after what James was going to do next.
"I know!"
"Then why were you so damn cold!?" Jessie yelled.
"Because," James said, taking the seashell. "Just because." On the last word, he pulled, snapping the chain, and threw the fragile white shell to the ground.
The shell shattered.
"Get my drift?" James glared at her icily.
Jessie knelt down beside it, ready to bawl her eyes out. There were too many pieces for her to pick up.
A perfect replica of her heart.
James rolled his eyes and walked away.
Between sobs, Jessie yelled, "James you heartless, cold man! What about your promise? You lied, James!"
James froze in his tracks and turned around, and revealed his frosty, piercing look. "That was then. This is now. Then, we were friends. Now… now ... I hate you, Jessica."