By Phoenix
Chapter 6
Somewhere on Loridale Island...
Jessie trudged through the tropical forest gasping and panting. Her eyes stung with sweat and her legs throbbed unendingly. She had long since lost the Archimage. After dark, Meowth and Jessie had set up camp, but she could not sleep without the comfort of James' arms around her. Being too restless to sit awake all night, she decided to leave camp and go out to search for him. The more she walked, the more worried she got over him. The two were usually very good about separating their private lives from their business lives, but she had never been in a situation like this before.
Jessie's throat was parched. It was now midday and the sun was high overhead, blazing bright and hot. She was regretting ever leaving the camp. Meowth must be looking for her now. She was hungry, thirsty, tired, and now she was getting angry and frustrated. "Where are you, Archimage?!" She shouted. "I know you're here, you son-of-a-bitch monster!" She stumbled, tripped over a rock and fell, swearing.
The Archimage skillfully snuck along not far behind her. "Arki?" It said in a small voice, slightly hurt at the way she was talking about it. "Hm!" it sniffed indignantly. It'd show her. "Mage!" it attacked her from behind with a psychic attack it had made up earlier. This ought to show her!
"Uhn!" she gasped as the attack hit. Then: "Mommy!" she cried childishly as the force of the attack caused her to pass out.
Not far away...
"Did you hear something?" Asked Pikachu. He, Ash, Misty and Tracey were taking a short cut through the forest to the Loridale Island Gym. They were puzzling over the map when Pikachu suddenly jerked away.
"Huh? I didn't hear anything," Ash said.
"It came from over there!" Pikachu took off.
"Hey, wait!" Ash and the others followed.
"There!" Pikachu exclaimed when he reached his destination.
"Oh my god!" Misty cried, putting a hand to her mouth. Jessie from Team Rocket lay sprawled on the ground.
"togi togepi!" Togepi babbled happily.
"She looks terrible!" Tracey remarked. "Is she okay? Hey, where's James?"
Pikachu ran to her side. "She's breathing," he said. He shook her gently. "Hey! Wake up!" Jessie didn't move.
"Let me handle this," Ash said. "HEY YOU! WAKE UP BEFORE THE PIKACHU GETS AWAY!!!" he shouted into her ear. She jumped up, covering her ear.
"Ow! What was that for?!" She yelled. "Who are you... oh yeah. Prepare for trouble- hey, where is that pikachu of yours, anyway?"
"None of your business!" Misty answered angrily. "Is that all you care about? Don't you realize that we came over here to help?"
"You aren't any help at all! I was fine on my own! She replied, stumbling. She wasn't talking like she usually did. She sounded foolish and childlike. "If you don't have your pikachu, then I don't want to play with you three twerps at all... or is it four?" Jessie peered at Pikachu closely through bleary eyes. "Where did that guy come from?"
Pikachu spread his hands wide and grinned. "Here's your missing pikachu, lady."
"We had a little run in with a weird pokemon," said Tracey.
Jessie looked slightly interested now. "What kind of pokemon?"
"Why do you care?" Ash yelled.
"I don't!" Jessie yelled back, stomping her foot and turning her back on him.
"Fine!" Ash sniffed.
"Fine!" She retorted. Ash started to walk away, but he hesitated when he heard Jessie make a sudden distressed noise. It sounded like a sob. He turned around quickly, embarrassed.
"Look, uh, I'm sorry-" he said quietly.
"It's James!" she bawled. "He got stoled by a pokemon!"
Misty coughed suddenly and uncontrollably.
"I... I see," Ash replied awkwardly. "Uh, well... um... I see."
"Some weird pokemon-thing the boss made got loose and caught him in a pokeball and now I can't find him!" She looked exactly like a little girl that had lost her doll. She sniffled and hiccupped.
"Uh, Jessie? Are you alright?" Tracey asked. "You aren't acting like you usually do."
"I have a tummy-ache."
"Okay... um, you said this pokemon was made by Giovanni?"
Jessie nodded pathetically. She tried to explain through her tears. "The thing was causing problems in the lab... it kept on coming up with weird attacks that it wasn't supposed to use. Meowth called it an Archimage. James tried to capture it to give it back to the boss but the pokemon caught him. I was up all night looking for him but I can't find him. The boss wanted us back in an hour and now we're late and now I'm in even more trouble because I wasn't supposed to tell you tha-a-a-at!" She sobbed miserably into Ash's T-shirt. Ash squirmed, more uncomfortable than ever. Misty was hacking away from a distance.
"We'll help you find him," Tracey said. "I think this Archimage thing could have been the one that turned pikachu into a human."
Jessie sat bolt upright. "Pikachu is a human?!" She was still gripping Ash's shirt like a security blanket.
Ash, doing his best to ignore the fact that his shirt was being lifted half off, said "Why are we helping the enemy! She tried to take pikachu so many times, maybe we should let her suffer for a while!" Jessie blew her nose sloppily into his shirt. Ash's expression changed entirely at the sound. "Uh, I take it back."
"Why don't we let you get some sleep," Pikachu said cautiously, trying to pluck her off of Ash. "We'll find James as soon as we can."
"No!" she said stubbornly, and promptly fell to the ground in a dead faint.
Chapter 7
Misty was still giggling when she felt a slight tug at her sock. "Huh?" She said innocently as she looked down. A little monkey face was looking straight back up at her, grinning foolishly, as always. "YAAAAH!" she yelped, hugging Togepi close. "It's here! It's here!"
"Damn! Just don't make any sudden moves you guys!" Tracey said. "What do you want?" He asked the Archimage.
It grinned wider. "You!" It produced an empty pokeball out of nowhere.
"Hey, that's mine!" Ash said. "I thought I was missing a pokeball. You little thief!" He lunged for it, but it skipped away and promptly threw the ball at Tracey.
"Wha...?" Tracey gasped as he disappeared in a red beam of light. The red light blinked several times before it was still, and Tracey was caught.
"Didn't it just do that to that girl's partner?" Pikachu asked.
"Hey, give him back!" Misty fumed, going after the Archimage.
The Archimage nimbly stepped out of reach and produced a second pokeball, in which, ladies and gentlemen, James was confined. "ARki" it shouted, banging the two pokeballs together and. As the two forms came out of the pokeballs and fell to the ground, the Archimage snuck away, laughing to itself.
"I thought I'd never get out of there," Tracey said rubbing his neck. His eyes widened at the sound of his voice.
"How embarrassing," James sighed, stretching his back. "Hey! What the..."
"Tracey! What happened? Are you okay?" Misty rushed over to help him up.
"Tracey? Get your hands off me, twerp!" Tracey snapped. "Where am I? What's going on? Where are Jessie and Meowth? What's wrong with my voice?"
"If you're not Tracey," Pikachu said slowly, "then who are you?"
"I'm James!" He picked himself up and dusted himself off.
A little distance off, James cleared his throat. "Hey Misty?" He said. "I'm Tracey."