7
Going Home Again

Thinking about going to the rocket base to get supplies was one thing, actually being there was another. A half hour into their experience, and Jessie, James, and Meowth were all in a bad mood. "Now I remember why we didn't go here before we went to Unova in the first place," Jessie muttered as they walked to the main lobby.

James nodded. Everyone familiar who'd seen them had acted surprised that they were even there. Conversations were awkward as even the ones who didn't mock them were just confused to see them at all. Most didn't even recognize them, or asked if they were new. A few even snickered as they saw them, then ignored the group.

"Let's just get what we need and then get," Meowth said.

"Mondo doesn't work with supplies anymore, does he?" James said. Mondo had been promoted a while ago. When he'd first started, he'd been so young, but he was definitely an adult by now. The kid that had been nice to them, always happy to see them, wouldn't be around to greet them. It was kind of sad.

"No, but it'll just be some other kid," Jessie said.

"Yeah, we can deal with some newbie," Meowth said.

"So let's go," Jessie said.

"This really wasn't a great idea, was it Jessie?" James said.

"We can deal with it. I bet I can get some receptionist to buy us our plane ticket back to Unova," Jessie said. "Maybe the boss would approve it if he doesn't see our faces. So, hopefully we won't actually see him."

Or anyone else they know too well, James thought to himself, but didn't say so. He supposed he probably should visit Cassidy while he was in the area, but he really didn't want to. Seeing her was always awkward and left him feeling bad, despite how pleasant she was around him. So hopefully, she just wouldn't be around.

No such luck. The lobby was crowded with various agents, including Cassidy and Butch. Right now there didn't appear to be any organization to the people, the agents just talked amongst themselves while going through various supplies. Just when James thought they might be able to slip down the hall and get their own needed equipment, it became apparent that they'd been noticed right away. Cassidy and Butch walked up to them. "Hey," Cassidy called. "So, you're all back in Kanto?"

"You see us here, don't you?" Jessie said.

"Yeah... So, is it permanent?" Cassidy said.

"Not that it's any of your business, but no. We'll be out of here and going to another region right after this," Jessie said.

"We can't ever expect you to stop running and just stick around, huh?" Butch said.

"What's that?" Jessie said irritably.

"We're not running, we're just scouring the world for powerful pokemon in the name of Team Rocket!" Meowth said.

Cassidy pulled James to the side as their partners argued. "Bad timing for us to visit together, but why don't you go and visit Jonathan yourself anyway?" she said.

Yeah, James thought, feeling guilty as he thought of his son. He really should do things like visit him, James knew. Where was Jonathan, anyway? Cassidy more or less lived here on the rocket base, was he around here as well? "Yeah, I'll do that. Is he-"

"Good," Cassidy said. "I'm not that happy with the home he's in right now. Even giving him a little time away from there would be helpful."

"The... Home?" James repeated.

"Yeah. The foster home he's in. It's not like I'm going to let him live here or something. But I don't really like where he is right now. They don't take care of him properly."

"They don't?" James said. He wasn't sure what to make of this information. On the surface it sounded pretty alarming.

"Not really. I'm trying to get him moved to somewhere else, but I don't want to transfer him someplace worse. He may only have to deal with it a couple more months, anyway. Now that he's old enough, I've gotten him accepted to a really good boarding school. So at the start of the next term, he'll be there instead. Until then, he might have to just deal with it. I'll appreciate any time you can pull him away, though."

James nodded. He supposed visiting was the least he could do, since he didn't do anything else for that kid, anyway. That Cassidy didn't even mention his numerous shortcomings related to this topic only had him feeling guiltier still. He supposed they were so apparent or irreparable that mentioning them wouldn't do any good at all.

But James still agreed to visit the kid, though he wasn't sure if there was any point to that, either. He couldn't provide anything just by visiting, and the kid was afraid of him. When James had seen Jonathan last, a few years ago, he had clung to Cassidy, turning away from James whenever approached, burying his head into Cassidy's hug to avoid looking at him whenever James attempted to speak to him. Their son was a shy kid, Cassidy had explained.

If he was going to be 'shy' again, James wouldn't force him to come along, he thought as Cassidy thanked him and said she'd go call ahead to the 'home' to say he was coming. James guessed that this would be a quick trip. He'd go and try and talk to Jonathan, he'd run away, cry, or otherwise be 'shy'. And then he wouldn't force any interaction. James had decided that it was the kid's own choice if he didn't want to see him or talk to him, no matter how young he was.

"There you are, James," Jessie said as James wandered back into the lobby.

"I have to go," James said.

"Why's that?" Jessie said, though she had a guess from who he'd just been talking to.

"I need to go see the kid for a while. He's a little while away from here. He's in... A 'home'," James said. He hoped that Jessie wouldn't ask for an explanation of what that meant.

Jessie knew exactly what James was talking about, having spent time in 'homes' herself while growing up. She rolled her eyes. So Cassidy had let it come to this, had she? This situation was something Jessie really didn't like about James. "So," Jessie began. "You're going to take, little, um, what's his name again?"

"Jonathan," James said. He wouldn't forget the kid's name. Again, that is. The last time he'd seen him, Cassidy's field partner had to remind him. That guy had scoffed at him, then mocked him saying that James had named Jonathan himself yet still couldn't remember, but hadn't mentioned it again, thank goodness. It had been kind of embarrassing, James recalled, so he wouldn't forget again.

"Right, yeah, so you'll go take little Jonathan away from his 'home' for what, a few hours? Maybe even a whole day?" Jessie asked.

"Yeah..." James said. He supposed Jessie wanted to get moving right away to Unova. "Did you want to-"

"Funny how Cassidy always appropriates you to her purposes whenever we're around," Jessie said.

"But-"

"Fine, fine, go ahead, James. I'll wait for your right here, even if it takes a while," Jessie said.

"You-"

"Don't expect me to come with you or anything. It's not my kid, after all," Jessie said.

"I know..." James said. This was his responsibility, and it inconvenienced the rest of his team. He picked up the directions that Cassidy had given and began to walk out the door.

"Wait, James. I'll come with you!" Meowth said, running over to him. "Better than sticking around here right now," it muttered.

"Okay," James said. It didn't matter much if Meowth came or not, since they'd likely not be there for very long. James and Meowth followed the directions that Cassidy had written down, going out of the city and into the more rural suburbs. James eventually found the house as described. It had a lot of toys out in front. A place like that seemed to be open to children. It couldn't be too bad... Could it?

James hoped so. Cassidy's declaration that they weren't taking care of Jonathan properly had disturbed him. There were a lot of ways to interpret that, and Cassidy hadn't even clarified, though James had asked for more specifics before he'd left. When asked, she'd just assured James that it was okay, that even if they Jonathan wasn't moved that he would soon be going to this boarding school, which was fairly prestigious and would give him a good education.

Though that wouldn't change how bad things were now, if they were indeed bad. James was apprehensive about finding out more. If Jonathan were being abused, he could just take him away, couldn't he? He wasn't heartless. He knew that kids this age counted on their parents, and he wouldn't just leave his own in that kind of situation.

James knocked on the door nervously. He could hear some loud voices and screaming from inside. A woman opened the door, and looking inside, James saw what he assumed was a normal sight for having a lot of little kids. A girl was walking after another older girl, screaming loudly as she grabbed at the girl's toy. Yeah, there was nothing really abnormal about this.

"James... Isn't it?" the woman standing at the door asked.

"Um, that's right," James said, looking back at her.

"We were told to expect you."

"Yeah..." James looked around. He became embarrassed as he realized that he didn't even know what Jonathan looked like now. Well, he was blond, and he had to still be kind of small...

"Dad!"

James looked down. The kid who'd just shouted that was now latched onto his leg, hugging him tightly. Well, this kid was small and blond, but how could he be sure it was Jonathan?

The kid eventually looked up, and James tensed up, gasping slightly. He was definitely Jonathan. James had never taken a good look at his face before, seeing as babies looked like anyone and Jonathan had just hid from him before, refusing to even look at him. And James had never asked for a picture of him or anything. But looking at him now, James saw that Jonathan looked a lot like himself as a kid. Jonathan really was his son. Not that James had ever denied it, but he hadn't ever consciously admitted it to himself until now, either. James looked away guiltily.

"So, when will you have him back?" the woman asked.

"Um..." James looked around, then back down at the kid who smiled back up at him, still latching onto his leg. "In a while, I guess..."

"So, tomorrow then?" the woman asked.

"Um... Yeah," James said.

The woman closed the door, and James was left alone with the kid, and just stood there a moment.

"James, are we going to leave or what?" Meowth asked.

"Right..." James said. "Let's go."

As they walked away from the house, Jonathan grabbed onto James's hand and held it tightly. He didn't say anything, James noticed, but did look kind of happy as they calmly walked along. Anything would be happier than the last times James had seen him, though. But here Jonathan was just genuinely content, even smiling, and didn't scream or cry at all. In fact, the kid didn't say one word. It was quite the difference.

Though as James began to observe Jonathan, he could begin to see what Cassidy had meant when she'd said they'd not been taking proper care of him. Joanthan was dirty, maybe hadn't bathed in a few days. His clothing was dirty in addition to being worn out and ill-fitting. His hair was unevenly cut, like they'd just hacked at it without care and hadn't even tried to cut it properly. All together, the sight was somewhat pitiable.

But these were all small things, not like major abuse. Looking inside the 'home', James could see that they had a lot of kids there. It being so crowded, maybe they couldn't pay as much attention to Jonathan as would be ideal. But it wasn't like they were starving him or hitting him or something like that. No, they weren't doing anything like that, were they?

James was kind of worried about it. He looked at a map, then wandered around before they ran into a small stream. "Jonathan, can you swim?" Jonathan looked up at him blankly. Well, this kid probably hadn't had the luxury of learning something like that, James realized. "It's okay," James said. "I'll show you how."

"Why swimming?" Meowth asked.

"You can see how dirty he is," James muttered.

"Why not a public bathhouse, then?" Meowth asked.

"You aren't supposed to wash clothes in those," James said.

"That's right..." Meowth said. It could see that Jonathan's clothing was kind of dirty too.

James stepped in the water in his boxers, but only took off Jonathan's shoes when lifting him into the water. Jonathan flinched as he felt the coolness of the water, but then just relaxed as he sunk down into the bank. "Are you okay?" James asked. He hoped the kid wasn't going to sink down like a rock or something. But he just stood up, the water reaching a little below his shoulders. "Okay, let's get these off," James said. As he took off Jonathan's clothing, he ran them through the water, then rung them out, handing them to Meowth to place to dry in the sun. He kept a close eye on Jonathan, who moved around, seeming to start to have fun in the water.

That is, until Jonathan let out a yelp. When James made it over to him, he saw the kid's eyes filling up with tears, and Jonathan latched onto him again. "What is it?" James asked.

"A pokemon... I saw one," Jonathan said.

"Hm?" James's eyes fell down to the water. A poliwag jumped out. Jonathan hugged James tighter as he saw it and shouted again. "Hey... It's okay," James said. "It's leaving now, see?" James pointed. Jonathan looked down the stream but still didn't loosen his grip. "You don't like poliwag?" James asked.

"I don't like pokemon," Jonathan said.

"All pokemon?" James asked dubiously.

"Yeah," Jonathan confirmed.

"Why?" James asked.

"Because I don't like them," Jonathan said, and James could tell the kid was about to get worked up about it.

"It's okay. I'll stay right over here with you," James said. He sat down in the water by Jonathan, and began pouring water over his head to try and help wash his hair. Jonathan looked at him with a perturbed expression, and backed away. "Don't worry," James said. "I'm going to make your hair look nice... okay?"

"Okay," Jonathan said, becoming agreeable easily enough.

James washed his hair and face, then lifted him out of the water, and the two of them went to dry off by the shore. James took a look at Jonathan now that he was undressed, checking for bruises. He didn't find any, except for one on his knee that looked like it had happened normally. That was good.

But Jonathan now started to shiver. He was just a little kid, more sensitive to changes in temperature like this. James looked around, and then saw Meowth running toward them. "Here you go, I got one of these for you," he said, throwing a towel toward James.

"Thanks, Meowth," James said. He wrapped it around Jonathan, and Jonathan seemed to become warm quickly that way. After they'd both dried off and gotten dressed, James then took out the scissors that he carried around and began to cut Jonathan's hair, trying to make it look nicer. It would have to be even shorter now, but it would grow out eventually, James told himself. He snipped until the hair was even. He looked at Jonathan's face. "There you are," he said.

Jonathan looked at his reflection in the water. He turned back to James and smiled.

"Good job, James. You look a lot better now, kid," Meowth said.

Jonathan looked over at Meowth and frowned, then moved back closer to James, grasping onto him again, his lip trembling as he looked away from Meowth. "Why does it talk?" Jonathan asked.

"Hm?" James said. "You mean Meowth?" he asked. Jonathan didn't respond, just held onto his leg tightly. "Hey, a lot of pokemon are useful and friendly, you know. You don't have to be afraid of them. Like Meowth. Meowth went and stole- got this towel for you, you know. It's not going to hurt you or anything."

"That's right. No need to worry about me," Meowth said.

Jonathan looked around, back at Meowth, then turned around again, burying his head in James's pant leg again.

James sighed. This was pretty much how Jonathan had acted when first meeting him, James recalled. Only this time the kid was afraid of pokemon instead of another person. James wondered if there was a good reason for that. "Hey, are there some mean pokemon in that 'home' or something?" he asked.

"No. There's no pokemon there," Jonathan said, seeming horrified at the suggestion that there would be.

"Oh?" James said. Well Jonathan hadn't had a reason to be afraid of him before, either. Maybe he just needed to get used to them. Maybe in a few years Jonathan would love pokemon just as much as any other kid did. Or, maybe James could show him now that he didn't need to be afraid of every pokemon. "Jonathan, I'll show you some of my cute pokemon, okay?" James said. Jonathan looked at James fearfully as he took out a pokeball.

"Oh boy, this'll go well," Meowth commented with a sigh. "Hey kid, you might want to back off."

Jonathan took Meowth's advice and watched as James threw the pokeball. "Go, Carnivine!" he said. Upon release, his pokemon wrapped itself around him and bit down on his head. Jonathan screamed and began to cry. James looked over at him. This wasn't really going as planned. "Hey, Carnivine, stop it," he said. "This kid's afraid of pokemon, and this is scaring him more. I'm just trying to show him that there's nothing to be afraid of, okay?"

Carnivine nodded, and loosened his grip on James, then hopped away from him. James ran to Jonathan and comforted him. "Hey, I'm okay," James said. "Carnivine's a little too affectionate, but it's still a really good pokemon. You don't have to be afraid."

Jonathan sniffled and held onto James's leg again as he stared warily at the grass-type pokemon.

"Go ahead, try to pet Carnivine, it won't mind," James said.

Jonathan shook his head no and held onto James tighter. James sighed and picked him up, walking up to Carnivine. "See? Carnivine's not going to attack, so you don't have to be worried about that," James said. Jonathan looked at Carnivine cautiously. He watched at James pat its head. "There you go, Carnivine. This is Jonathan. See Jonathan? Carnivine will be friendly to you, too. Won't you, Carnivine?" James said.

Carnivine nodded in agreement, grinning at James. "You won't show your love for him like you do with me, right? He's scared of stuff like that," James explained.

"It's kind of weird that you put up with it all the time, James," Meowth commented.

"Right... But don't do that to Jonathan, okay Carnivine?" James said.

"Carnivine!" Carnivine agreed happily.

"It said you don't have to worry about it, kid," Meowth said.

Jonathan still looked wary, but seemed to relax a little. As James put him on the ground, Jonathan looked up at Carnivine, who towered over him. Jonathan didn't take his eyes off the sharp-edged, spiky pokemon, but seemed to be a little less alarmed now that he'd been convinced that the pokemon wasn't going to immediately attack. James leaned down. "Go ahead, give Carnivine a pat on the head," he said. Jonathan shook his head again. "It's okay... How about if I help you, then? I'll try with you, okay?" James said.

"O-okay," Jonathan said. James took his hand, and both of them lifted it up to Carnivine's head. As Jonathan touched the pokemon's head, he felt kind of relieved. He started to believe his dad, and think that this pokemon was kind of friendly. Jonathan smiled, and even pat Carnivine's head again as James lifted his hand away.

"Now we can have some fun even with pokemon around, huh?" James said.

"Yeah," Jonathan said uneasily. "Your pokemon is okay. But other pokemon aren't... They'll attack!"

"Well then, my pokemon will protect us. That's how it works, right Carnivine?" James said.

"Carnivine!" Carnivine agreed.

They spent a while longer by the stream. Jonathan eventually loosened his grip on James and ran off to play. James just sat there watching him.

"Glad I came," Meowth said, sitting on the grass next to James. "It's a nice break here, huh?"

"Yeah," James said. He looked at Jonathan, who had been running around, but now just observed the stream, with Carnivine behind him. James could see that Jonathan was more comfortable now, and seemed to play happily, though he still didn't really interact with Carnivine at all. James began to relax, and his eyes drooped until Jonathan ran up to him, sitting on his lap.

"I saw the other pokemon again.. It's small. Maybe this big," Jonathan said, holding out his hands to show. "Your pokemon could beat it! Right?"

"Carnivine is a grass type, so it might be easy to beat water types even if they were bigger," Meowth said.

Jonathan looked at James with a wide-eyed, questioning expression, as if he wasn't going to believe what Meowth had said until James himself confirmed it. "Yeah... That's right," James said. He began to talk to Jonathan about the basics of pokemon, types and how even small pokemon could be powerful, and Jonathan seemed to listen intently, until he rolled over on the grass, looking away. James stopped, shrugging. He was just a little kid, after all. He couldn't be expected to pay attention too closely.

Jonathan looked toward Carnivine, then walked over and bravely touched it. "I like your pokemon," he said as he turned back to James.

James nodded. He was happy that it was easy enough to help this kid with this issue. He'd only been afraid of pokemon because he wasn't really used to them. "I have more... Would you like to meet them?"

Jonathan nodded, though it seemed that he still had reservations, since he still held onto James as James sent out his two remaining pokemon, Weezing, and then Victreebel, who tried to bite him, but James was able to duck. Jonathan tensed up and held onto him tighter, but then relaxed and just looked at the pokemon as he was introduced to them. Jonathan eventually let go of James and began to poke at the pokemon, then run around and play with them.

James sat back and watched. "It's good he's getting over that. That's a pretty bad phobia to have," he muttered.

"But it makes sense that he'd be scared of pokemon since he's never been around them before," Meowth said.

"Why?" James asked.

"Well... He's pretty small," Meowth said.

"But there are small pokemon, too. Like you. You don't get scared like that," James pointed out.

"Depends on the size of the other pokemon," Meowth said.

"But still, you can't just get frightened by every-"

"You can't really compare humans to pokemon, anyway," Meowth said. James was silent before Meowth continued. "Humans are pretty weak. That's why you need pokemon partners to protect you, huh? If I was a human that small that hadn't spent time around pokemon before, I'd be pretty scared, too. "

"...Right," James said. He got it already. Jonathan was a tiny, helpless kid. Just like James relied on his pokemon to project him in certain situations, Jonathan was relying on him now, trusting him to give the right information about pokemon. Jonathan was only able to happily play with James's pokemon now because he'd trusted when James had said they were safe.

Jonathan eventually wandered back to James, tugging on his pant leg. "Dad. Dad! I'm hungry."

James sighed a little. He could barely feed himself a lot of the time. They'd hadn't eaten much since they'd arrived in Kanto a few days ago. But he couldn't just not feed this kid. James counted what remained of their small amount of funds, and when he went into town, bought something for him from the first stand he found. "Dad, why don't you eat too?" Jonathan asked.

"I'm not hungry," James said.

"Really?" Jonathan asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine..." James said, trying to sound convincing.

Meowth sighed. It was also kind of hungry. Too bad there wasn't an opportunity to just steal something right then.

"Oh. I'm done, I'm not hungry anymore, either. Talking pokemon, do you want it?" Jonathan asked.

"You bet! Thanks for the meal!" Meowth said.

"Huh?" James said.

"Hm, I guess a miniature size human doesn't need a full-sized meal," Meowth commented to James.

"Ah..." James said mournfully as he watched Meowth polish off all of the food.

Again, Jonathan tugged on his clothing for attention. "Dad, can we go swimming again? With your pokemon, too?"

"Alright," James said. He supposed that Jonathan hadn't noticed that wasn't just for fun, but rather to get him clean. But it was something they could do to pass the time easily enough. They went back down to the stream and got in. Jonathan seemed to have a lot of fun splashing around. James kept a close eye on him, knowing that he didn't know how to swim. "Look!" Jonathan pointed as he watched the poliwag jump out of the stream. "It's that swimming pokemon again."

"Poliwag. Pokemon have names, it's good to remember them," James said.

"Yeah. Poliwag. It's not scary," Jonathan said. Jonathan watched Carnivine hop out in front of him from underneath the water. James watched him fall back and caught him, and then Jonathan started to laugh. "That pokemon's Carnivine, right?" he said.

"Yeah," James confirmed, surprised that Jonathan hadn't even gotten upset at the pokemon's sudden appearance. What a difference this kid was from the frightened and quiet one he'd picked up just a few hours ago.

As the sun started to set, James pulled Jonathan out of the water. "Okay, that's enough for today, it's starting to get dark."

"Okay," Jonathan said. His level of activity had died down, James noticed, so maybe he was getting tired. After they had dried off and just sat down, Jonathan jumped into his lap again, hugging James this time. "I love you, Dad," he said.

James looked down at Jonathan with surprise. Similar as it had been with Cassidy several years ago, Jonathan's 'love' for him seemed kind of abrupt and inappropriate to James. He'd never really been around him until now, after all. But he couldn't say anything. He shouldn't tell a four-year-old kid that it was wrong to feel affection for other people, no, for his own family. It was Jonathan's right to feel that way, though it just brought up feelings of guilt for James.

Jonathan fell asleep quickly, and James wrapped him in the still slightly damp towel and put him on what seemed like a somewhat soft patch of grass. He looked at Jonathan's face. In sleep, it held an expression of contentment. It was kind of peaceful to see. James lay down next to him, and also fell asleep.


Jessie sat in corner in the mess hall of the rocket base, hoping no one would notice her. She'd gotten the approval for place tickets back to Unova, and some limited supplies that they might carry, such as specialized rocket pokeballs for catching powerful pokemon, a tracking device that had been configured for a different pokemon they'd been tracking, and not much else, really. But it was still a good idea to come there, Jessie confirmed. No one would be looking for them in Unova by the time they returned.

And it really wasn't a terrible thing for James to visit his kid. Jessie had often gotten annoyed before, thinking of what a deadbeat he'd been. But he was doing something now. It didn't even bother her that much that it was getting kind of late and James hadn't returned yet. She could deal, even if it was here.

Oh no, Jessie thought. She saw Cassidy and Butch entering the room. Cassidy had spotted her, despite her trying to hide. She spoke to her partner a moment, then wandered over to Jessie alone. "Hello, Jessie," she said.

"Hi," Jessie said, wary of her despite her pleasant demeanor.

"James is taking Jonathan until tomorrow. I don't think he'll be back until then," Cassidy said.

"Yeah," Jessie said, looking away. "Thanks for letting me know."

"Jonathan's really a sweet kid," Cassidy said. "He's really adorable. I think he takes after James more than me. Here, take a look."

Jessie just sat there silently as Cassidy pushed a picture in front of her. Looking at it, she saw a picture of who was probably Cassidy and James's kid. Cassidy began to show her several more. Yeah, he did look like James a little. But what was Jessie supposed to do about that? She did love James, but it didn't exactly please her that he'd choose her over his own kid. "I guess you're annoyed that you can't rely on James to help you out with your little bundle of joy," Jessie eventually spoke in her own annoyance.

"Hm?" Cassidy frowned now, narrowing her eyes at Jessie. "No, not at all," she affirmed.

Jessie turned around and met Cassidy's eyes now. "Really? You aren't just a little angry with him?"

"I'm not," Cassidy affirmed seriously. "I wouldn't rely on James even if I could. I actually love him, you know."

"And?" Jessie said.

"You can't really love someone you need to rely on," Cassidy said. "When love is real, it's completely unconditional."

"Aren't you a mom?" Jessie said. Love definitely involved relying on people, unless she was implying that children couldn't love their parents.

Cassidy frowned. "Don't even imply I'm neglecting my son. I'm going to do everything I can for Jonathan. You don't really know anything, so don't say anything about him."

"I wasn't," Jessie said. "But then, what are you saying?"

"Oh, right." Cassidy tone was more relaxed. "Just think about it, Jessie. If you have things set up so the person you love can fail you by relying on them, it's not really love. You're just going to end up hating that person. But that won't happen for me. James can't fail me because I don't need him, I want him. So I'll always love him and never hate him."

"Even though he's not with you at all?" Jessie pointed out. She then decided to push the subject. Cassidy would probably hear about this eventually, anyway. "Actually, I'm with James now."

"With as in what?" Cassidy asked coldly.

"As how you're thinking of," Jessie said, not seeing a reason to elaborate on that.

"Hmph." Cassidy sat back, closing her eyes. She smiled now, her icy demeanor completely disappearing. "We'll see how long that lasts," she said. Then she opened her eyes and looked right at Jessie. "Even if it lasted forever and ever, I could handle it. Like I said, I don't need him."

Then Cassidy stood up, leaving the rest of her meal on the table. She walked away, leaving the room completely. Jessie stared after her. Years ago, she would have loved to have the guy Cassidy was sweet on choose her instead. She'd tease her and have fun lording it over her rival. But now, it didn't seem like that would be a satisfying thing to do at all. The whole situation left a bad taste in Jessie's mouth.

James had dumped her years ago anyway. It wasn't Jessie's fault. Jessie repeated that sentiment to herself. She'd never told him to avoid Cassidy or his kid at all. That was just something he'd been doing on his own for a long time. He just didn't like her.

Cassidy had some weird views of relationships, anyway, Jessie considered. Depending on the loved ones was not only acceptable, but absolutely necessary. They were the only people who could be counted on, if for nothing else than for the assurance of being loved in return. Jessie absolutely depended on James for that right now. Even with all of their other hardships, it was a relief to be able to do that.


When morning came, James knew it was time to head back. He led Jonathan along the way back to the 'home' that he was staying at. Jonathan seemed as happy as he'd gotten to be the other day, walking calmly with James and Meowth. But Jonathan tensed up when he saw the 'home' in front of him. He looked up at James questioningly, a devastated expression on his face.

James looked away sheepishly. "It's time to go back, now..." he said.

Jonathan sunk against James, hiding his face against James's leg, even trembling as he tightened his grip. James looked down. The kid was getting really upset. It was almost like he was going to...

Jonathan looked up at James blankly. "I won't cry," he said, as though he'd read James's mind.

James's guilt increased as he heard this and observed Jonathan further, looking upset though his eyes were still dry, and he walked cooperatively ahead. Jonathan gripped onto James's hand as they walked up to the door. "Back already?" the woman James had spoken to yesterday said with a sigh. "I don't suppose you've already had breakfast?"

"No, not really," James said.

"Of course not. Jonathan, hurry up, get to the table," the woman said.

Jonathan squeezed James's hand tighter and looked up at him hesitantly.

"Don't whine if you aren't quick enough," the woman said.

Jonathan eventually let go of James's hand and walked to the next room. James took a quick look around the place. The living room that he stood in was small, dirty though not overly so, and overcrowded with various junk. Looking to where Jonathan had gone, James saw a room with a lot of kids. Several yelled as Jonathan sat down at the table with them, frowning as he reached for the pot in the middle. Another kid grabbed the serving spoon from him, and Jonathan sat frowning, tears welling in his eyes even as the spoon was shoved back to him.

James turned his back and left. Meowth followed him. "A far cry from how you grew up, huh James?" he said.

"Yeah," James said, starting to get a sick feeling in his stomach. "But Cassidy said he'll be going to a nice boarding school, soon. He won't have to deal with this for long. He'll be okay."

"How soon?" Meowth said.

"A few months... I think," James said.

"That long? Why can't you move him someplace else? Maybe a place like the pokemon breeding centers?"

"He's not a pokemon," James said.

"I know that. I just mean a place like those, only for little humans. Pokemon breeding centers are clean, and they wouldn't shove as much pokemon in a little space like that as they did with the tiny humans in that place. They give the pokemon specially made and portioned meals, too. Isn't there a place like that for little humans?"

"I guess not," James said. "Cassidy said she was looking, though. There's nothing else I can do."

"She can't take him? What about you? Just for a few months?" Meowth said.

"It's not that simple for me, you know that," James said. "I guess it's not as simple for her, either."

"I guess so," Meowth said, shrugging. Then its face perked up. "I know! What about your parents, James? Why didn't you think of them? They could take care of him, couldn't they?" Meowth suggested, then nodded to itself. "It's good idea, huh?" Meowth praised itself with a self-satisfied smile.

"No. That's not an option," James said firmly.

"Why not? They can afford it! And they wanted you to have kids, right? They'd be happy to meet him and help out, wouldn't they? I know you don't get along, but-"

"They won't do it," James said.

"Why not?!" Meowth said, annoyed that its good idea was so easily dismissed.

"The answer to that is obvious," James said.

"What answer is that?"

James sighed, looking over at Meowth with a frown. "Do you really not know?" he said.

"Not at all," Meowth said.

James paused. He didn't really want to talk about it, but he supposed he could offer a quick explanation at least. "Well... As you know, Jonathan is illegitimate," he said. Hopefully that would explain it all.

"Huh?" Meowth said, blinking staring at James cluelessly. "James, he looks pretty real to me."

"That's not what 'illegitimate' means," James said.

"Then-"

"Illegitimate means when someone's parents aren't married. Cassidy and I aren't married, so Jonathan is illegitimate."

"Yeah," Meowth said. It now got the meaning of the word, but still didn't get why James was so upset. "And so?"

"And so, everything that goes along with that..." James said.

"Like what?"

James's hands trembled as he thought of it. Even if it seemed pretty human-like, Meowth was still a pokemon, so it seemed that it wouldn't understand something complicated like this.

"It doesn't matter at all, does it?" Meowth said.

"Of course it matters! My parents won't accept that! They'd barely want anything to do with him if I'd married someone they didn't approve of. They won't even look at my illegitimate kid!"

"But how can you be sure of how they'll react? Maybe they won't care as much as you think," Meowth said.

James paused. Maybe they wouldn't. Maybe they'd welcome James back home after all this time, embrace Jonathan as the family he was, and just be happy that James had even-

No, James shook his head. He wouldn't even start thinking like that. He couldn't let himself get all optimistic just because Meowth, someone who didn't know the situation fully, was. James knew his parents. If he went to them with this, he'd be punished for such behavior, Jonathan's existence would soon be ignored, and they'd again concentrate on getting him to live his life the way they wanted him to. "They will," he said to Meowth.

"But why is it such a big deal?" Meowth said.

Couldn't he just leave it alone, James thought to himself. "It's just how they are. They'd shun him."

"Too bad," Meowth said, starting to realize just how bad of an idea it had been. James's parents were sort of crazy, treating him like they did. Yeah, it wasn't really that great of an idea in the first place. "But what about you, James? You could just come with us to chase those pokemon later. After this kid gets into his school. Right? Maybe you could even take him to Unova or something."

James closed his eyes and stopped. He then opened them again, and kept walking forward quickly without comment.

"James?" Meowth said, running after him. "Wait up!"


Waiting impatiently in the deserted lobby, Jessie looked up as she saw him approaching. "James, finally," she said. At last he was there. She was sick of waiting, sick of hearing people crack jokes about blunders from years ago, sick of Cassidy shoving pictures of her kid in Jessie's face. Now that James was back, maybe they could leave. "Where's Meowth? Are you ready to go?" she asked.

"Um... I don't know," James said.

"Hm? You want to stay here longer? I've been here a while and I can tell you it's not fun."

"I-" James paused, looking down. "I don't know what to do, Jessie."

"What do you mean?" Jessie said. "We know exactly what our plan in Unova is, don't we?"

"I went and saw him... Saw my kid..." James said, fidgeting. Jessie said nothing, so he continued, bursting out with what had been on his mind. "That 'home' he's in, it's dirty and crowded. It's awful!"

"Oh? You don't approve of what Cassidy's doing with him, then?" Jessie said.

"I know, Jessie. She's doing her best," James said.

"And so?" Jessie said.

"Maybe he shouldn't be in there... Maybe someone should take him out..." James said.

"So, you going to go let her know that her best isn't good enough?" Jessie said. There might be more fireworks here before she could finally go, she thought to herself. But she was willing to stay and support him. Unova could wait.

"No," James said in surprise. "I wouldn't do that."

"Then?" Jessie said.

"Maybe he should be with me. He's my son, after all," James said.

"Hm?" Jessie said, blinking in surprise. Did he actually want to take an active role in the kid's life? Jessie expected James would want to years ago when the kid was first born, but she'd eventually decided he never would after he continued to avoid the situation. That he wanted to do something now couldn't be what he was saying, could it?

"I should just take him away from there and keep him with me. I have the right to, don't I?" James stated more than asked. That was right, he affirmed to himself, Jonathan was his as much as Cassidy's. He had every right to comfort the kid as he took him away from the misery where Cassidy had decided was 'best'.

"Hey... Are you saying you actually want to take him?" Jessie asked.

"Y-Yes," James admitted. "I think he wouldn't mind coming with me, either. I could watch him all the time and make sure he's alright... Wouldn't that be better? Wouldn't it? Right?"

"Yeah... Sounds like it," Jessie said. "Well, should we go and get him now then? How far away is it?"

James felt some relief at listening to Jessie. So, she was alright with it then. He'd still make the same decision, but he was happy that he had her support. They could go and get Jonathan now. Jonathan would probably be happy to see him, and then James could make sure he was clean and paid attention to and taken care of... Just like he had...

James's relief vanished in an instant as he thought of the situation where he'd visited with Jonathan. It had been hard to take care of him even then. Kids as young as Jonathan needed near constant supervision. James couldn't leave him somewhere if they were to do something. He also needed all the basics, including food. James had given up his last dollars for just one meal, but he couldn't be sure he'd have that all the time. What would happen to Jonathan with them? He'd be unsheltered and hungry eventually, wouldn't he? James couldn't provide better than what he already had, could he? James looked down, devastated at this realization.

"James? What is it?" Jessie said.

"We can't really just go and take him," James said.

"Why not? You afraid of what Cassidy will say or something? You have to stand up and say something to her, then. You do have a right to your son, James," Jessie said.

"It's not that I'm scared of her... It's just, what will he get with around me, Jessie? He'd have to go through what we do. He's helpless, but he trusts me so much. So I can't just take him with me so he can go hungry and maybe even get hurt," James said.

Jessie didn't respond. That all might be true.

"I want to take him! He wants to come with me, too. But I can't, he can't," James put his hand to his face as he said this, beginning to cry.

"James," Jessie said, sighing. Maybe it was right. The adult had to make the tough decision, and it seemed Cassidy's decision was the best after all. She still wanted to think that it wasn't and that there was another, better option. But it was James's decision. It was his kid, not hers. He was going to decide what he thought was best.

"B-But after we reach our success... Then I can go get him, right? I can have a house and food for him. I can give him everything he needs then... Right?"

"Yeah..." Jessie said. "We have one more reason, so we'll reach our success all that quicker, right? Then you can go and pick him up to live with us right away. Right, James?"

James began to wipe his tears off his face. "Right," he said. He stared forward confidently, and grabbed Jessie's hand as they made these declarations to each other. They'd head back to Unova, and then capture those legendary pokemon. Then he and Jessie would fly right to the top of the rocket ranks. Then he'd be able to do everything he hadn't before, including take care of his son.