A/N: I'm beginning to think that there's this list of things intelligent people do when planning a long form story. A list including things like outlining a plot, setting up a posting schedule, staying a chapter or so ahead in case of writers block and having a calendar of in story events. Then there's the list of things I've done which include such highlights as spilling applesauce on my shirt, having way too much on my plate at work and forgetting what day of the week it is thanks to The Division….At any rate…I'm sorry I fail at updating and this chapter wouldn't have happened without many long conversations with Aetheron…but I sort of have an outline now?

Conversations with Dead People

It starts with a scream.

A low, anguished howl that sets Misty's teeth on edge and raises the hair on the back of her neck.

Or…

Should…

There doesn't seem to be any hair on her neck or head.

And the hand stretched out in front of her isn't hers. It's purple and huge and…wrong. Only three fingers with large purple balls at the ends. Still, when she raises her arm that hand goes with it.

So do the screams. Up, up, up; higher in the dark in front of her.

When she draws her arm in the hand comes as well, pulling in closer to her body until she can almost feel it resting at her chest.

The screams follow, closer and closer until something, no someone, pierces the dark.

Someone dripping blood.

Someone with a white Team Rocket uniform and purple hair.

James.

It's James.

He's bloodied and bruised and floating in the air while he howls in pain and anger and….

Misty's hand is clenched, almost painfully tense. She relaxes it and the screaming stops.

The laughter begins.

A slow, gurgling, wild laugh bubbles from the dripping man in front of her. He spits, a slow arc of blood and something heavy lands somewhere near her feet. Or…it hits somewhere in front of Misty and slides, like rain on a window.

Misty shivers in disgust but her body remains still, the movement rattling against her brain like a caged mankey.

"You can't kill them all," James chokes out in a voice that sounds nothing like the James Misty has ever known. It's a monotone mockery of James's smooth timbre. It's his voice at its barest; there's no...personality. And the accent…it's not James. It's not even a bad impression of James. It's…just words and tones spilling from his mouth. "More will come." He smirks, though his mouth is all that moves. His eyes stay just as empty and unfocused as before, like whatever is controlling him can only articulate so much at once.

Like whatever is controlling him? Misty has no idea where that thought had come from, but it seems right. There's no way that this….thing, is James. Unbidden, Misty can feel her mouth twist into a smile. "So they know they're an abomination?" Misty asks in a voice that's not hers. It's too deep and…empty. There's no emotion behind it. And the words, they don't even...an abomination? It doesn't mean anything, but her stomach sinks at the idea of it.

"They all know at the end." James sneers.

Misty's vision swims for a moment, her head swiveling up and down in what might be a nod. This isn't James. Somehow, Misty is sure of that. James's body it may be, but the person running the show is someone else.

"I will stop you from creating these...creatures. I will destroy them all." Misty clenches her hand, though not by choice, as the voice that isn't hers speaks. Across from her, James chokes and claws for air. Only breathing again when Misty's hand relaxes.

"Including yourself?" James's face twitches in the blood and Misty is sure that, if he could, his eyebrow would raise.

"When the time comes." Misty replies.

James laughs again, though his face never changes. That wild, burbling laugh rips from his throat through a face that is slack and empty. Misty shudders, though she never moves.

"Team Rocket can take and do whatever we please. We'll make as many…creatures as we want."

"It stops here. " Misty sneers. "I won't let you have the Pikachu. You'll make no more pokémon into monsters."

The laughter stops as suddenly as it had started. "Fool," James spits. "You can save your precious rodent if that's all you care about. It's the trainer we want. We'll leave the rodent alone if that's all you want."

"The trainer?" Misty asks, surprise rippling through her mind.

"You see, this. This is why you need a master." James laughs bitterly. "Of course the trainer, you idiot. You saw that power at New Island. With power like that...with an army with that power...we'd be unstoppable."

"I won't let you have the girl either. I'll kill her before I let you have her." Misty clenches her hand again and James begins breathing heavily.

"The girl?" He chokes out. "Why would we be after the girl?"

Misty can feel her eyes widen, though she doesn't know why that would surprise her. She clenches her fist hard and the body drops. Misty has never heard bones break but she is sure the sound that follows is just that. She winces and it ends.

It ends with bones crunching and a body falling.

It ends with breath rattling around heavily in broken lungs.

It ends with laughter dying.

Misty eyes snap open and she chokes for air as her heart runs the Tour de Alto Mare.

She breathes deeply for a few moments as her eyes focus ahead of her on...her sleeping bag in the cot beside her?

What?

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, slowly exhaling through her nose. She'd fallen asleep in her cot.

She's sure of it. She'd glared at Brock who hadn't said anything and set her sleeping bag up right beside Ash's in the small room they'd been given to sleep in. And then she'd settled Togepi in her bag and fallen asleep.

So she has to be in her sleeping bag.

Right.

Heart slowing, she opens her eyes again and…

No.

That's still her sleeping bag beside her. She's had the same one since she was ten and Daisy had given it to her as a gift before she'd left on her journey. But, there had to be some explanation for this.

There had to be.

But Misty knows she'd fallen asleep in her sleeping bag on her own cot...but had she stayed there? Breathing in deeply and exhaling slowly, Misty pulls the sleeping bag she's in up to cover her shoulders, sighing as she settles into the warm, blue fabric.

Wait…

Blue...like Ash's sleeping bag.

Oh.

She'd woken up from a nightmare. Or really, Arceus, Brock had woken her and they'd fought. About something. And then...Ash had followed her and they'd talked.

She must have fallen asleep outside and Ash had...put her in his cot?

Well, she supposes, his cot is closer to the door. He must just have been tired from carrying her...or something. It probably wasn't worth trying to work out his reasoning, Ash's decisions, though logical from a certain perspective, rarely made sense to Misty without him explaining his thoughts. And even then there were often leaps that she simply accepted as being….well….Ash.

So she had woken up last night with nightmares, but why had she woken up so panicked this morning. And where was Ash and…

She stretches on the cot, tipping her head up so that she can see the third cot in the room and finds it empty.

Brock's missing too.

Her heart speeds up and her breath leaps to her throat.

Where could they be?

Were they hurt?

Missing?

Had something happened to them like...oh, Mew. James! She had….in her dream...

Misty's stomach drops and she can taste panic in her mouth.

The lights flicker.

She sits up and takes several deep breaths.

In and out

The sun must be passing behind clouds.

In and out

It was just a dream.

In

James was just in her dream.

And

She chokes on the out, a sputtering cough that leaves her sure that whatever she'd put in her body the night before was not going to stay down. Of course it's exactly as sitting up, sleeping bag pooling in her lap and trying to catch a breath between coughs that Brock walks in.

He freezes in the doorway, one foot in the room and one out in the hall, and stares. Though Misty can barely see past the tears driven by coughing and her dream, she can see Brock thinking. She can practically hear his brain whirring. And it's funny, in his shoes she's not sure what she would do. On the one hand they can barely talk to each other without fighting, but on the other Brock has always tried to take care of her, and Ash. Brock's mouth sets into a firm line and steps into the room. Caretaking must have won.

"Hey, Misty." Brock walks over to her slowly, hands up as though she might spook like a doduo. "You're up." He's smiling, but it's fake. The might not have traveled together as much as she had with Ash, but she still knows him. And this is not a real smile. No. This is an "I'm pretending everything is alight with the world smile" with splashes of a wry "now what has Ash done" grin. It's weird seeing it directed at her. Misty is so much more used to seeing it out of the corner of her eye as she too tries to work out just what prophecy Ash has stumbled into.

"At least...I think you're up?" Brock asks.

Misty groans in response and Brock sighs.

"Still as charming as ever in the mornings then?"

Misty grumbles and considers lying back down, pulling the blankets over her head and trying to go back to sleep. Maybe she'd dream less in the morning.

Brock takes a deep breath, carefully blowing it out through his mouth with enough force that even his spiky hair moves. "Do you feel any better?"

Misty pulls the blankets up further and turns away. Nightmares are better than this.

Brock sighs again, loudly, and walks slowly towards the cot Misty is on. He sits at the bed's end and Misty looks towards him, blinking back anger.

"Look," Brock says, hands playing along Ash's sleeping bag. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

"Where's Ash?" Misty replies, staring over Brock's shoulder. It's a pretty empty room, the one the old woman had let them sleep in. Just the cots and maybe a few shelves of pokémon medication and a desk stacked with some forgotten books and...what looks like badge holders. Though the insignia isn't one she recognizes.

"Talking to Rebecca." Brock replies.

Misty blinks, hard, and swallows, dizzy at the sudden refocusing of her eyes. "Rebecca?"

"She owns the house...I guess her parents were part of the League here."

"League?"

"There was one here...once"

Misty shivers. "Once?"

Brock hums a reply. "Before the war...anyway I' m sorry."

"What for?" Misty asks, sitting up straight as she can in the cot. Her hands slip as she readjusts, ruining the effect, but still she raises an eyebrow threateningly.

It seems to work.

Brock hangs his head and speaks towards the floor. "The way I've treated you...I guess. And Ash. I just….I didn't understand...or try to. I'm sorry. I'll…" He stands up and rubs a hand over his eyes. "I'll go get Ash."

He walks towards the room's door slowly, dragging his feet as though too tired even to lift them. He stops, just in front of the desk and turns around, eyes locking on Misty's own, and smiles sadly. "When did we get like this?" He asks, leaning on the doorframe. "We weren't ever as close as you and Ash but...we used to talk to each other." He shakes his head and turns to leave.

Misty sighs. "I killed someone last night." She says, hands clenched in Ash's sleeping bag. She cringes as Brock inhales sharply. "In my dream anyway."

Brock breathes out in relief and walks back over to the bed, slowly.

Like he's afraid Misty will run.

Or attack.

Or something.

A large tear hits the blanket by Misty's hand and she sniffles, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. "I was so scared, Brock."

Brock sits down beside her.

For a few moments, they're quiet. There's no sound beyond breathing and the wind outside the window.

Brock takes a breath, but Misty beats him to the words. "Don't tell me it was just a dream." She rubs at her eyes. "I know it was just a stupid dream. "It sounds childish even to her ears and she can practically hear her foot hit the ground in an imitation of a child's tantrum. She crosses her arms. "It didn't feel like just a dream."

Brock blinks. "Misty," he starts, but stops part of the way through the word and looks up at the ceiling for a few seconds before smiling and looking back at Misty. "When Cindy was really little, she used to have night terrors."

Misty opens her mouth to stop him, tell him that night terrors are nothing like her dreams, but Brock holds up a hand and she quiets, waiting for him to finish.

"It was just me at home with her and all of the other kids and...it didn't matter how many times I told her that they were just dreams or that nothing in them was real. They were real to her. And the more I tried to calm her down, the worse she felt."

"Why?"

"She told me that...she felt like I didn't believe her. Like she was just some stupid kid who couldn't get over a bad dream."

"So...what did you do?" Misty breathes.

Brock shrugs. "Sat up with her while she cried. Stopped telling her it was just a dream. Because it was...just a dream. But that didn't mean it didn't matter. It didn't mean she wasn't allowed to be scared."

"Being scared is a waste of time" Misty scoffs.

Brock shakes his head, "No," he sighs. "Not doing things because you're scared is a waste of time."

Misty breathes in deeply, wipes the last tears and then punches Brock as hard as she can.

"Ow! Misty, what in Arceus's name was that for." He cries, rubbing his arm and flexing his fingers to be sure that he can.

Misty smiles. "Because that's all you've got for me, Brock? That it's ok to be scared?" She shakes her head. "What amazing wisdom, oh Brock-child rearing genius. Next you'll be telling me that my body is going to go through some changes and…" she trails off, eyes widening at what she's just said. "I never said that."

"Agreed." Brock replies, nodding feverently. He takes a deep breath and looks her square in the eyes. "We're ok though?"

Misty nods. "Yeah." She breathes out, a steady stream that pushes her bangs from her face. She does feel better. Somehow. "Thanks," she whispers honestly, looking away from Brock's gaze. "Really. This…helped."

"Anytime."

"So," Misty asks, scratching her nose while trying to think of something, anything to say to break the sudden silence. It's never really awkward silence with Ash, but somehow, with Brock, that's where it always goes. "Do we...know where we are yet?"

"Mist, you're awake!" Ash calls, stepping through the door of the room. Togepi coos happily from his arms between the bites of riceball that Ash offers him. From Ash's shoulder, Pikachu chatters happily to see Misty awake before leaping towards her. Misty has a bare moment to brace before the electric rodent hits her and she tumbles backwards on the bed.

"Good morning, Pikachu." She sighs, coughing mouthfuls of fur. "I'm happy to see you too." At her feet, beyond what Misty can see over Pikachu, the bed shifts. Pikachu darts from her arms and Misty pushes herself, slowly, to sitting. Brock and Ash have traded places. Brock's standing by the desk, glancing through some paper or another that has caught his interest while Ash looks at her with what Misty knows is his worried expression. She coughs, lightly, and he blushes before taking a bite of his riceball.

"You hungry?" He asks, holding it out to her.

Misty starts to shake her head, blanching at the idea but her stomach betrays her with a loud grumble. Togepi giggles at the noise and Misty sighs, leaning forward to take a bite of the food.

"You know," Brock says, never looking up from whatever it is he's examining, "It's traditionally cake that couples share….not rice balls."

Misty is sure that, were she timing, Ash would have set some sort of record with the speed at which his face turns cherri berry red. Though, if she was being honest, he'd probably be competing with her for the title.

"Excuse you," Misty taunts, smirking devilishly. Brock shrinks back against the table without even looking up, the bite in Misty's tone carrying in her words alone. "I will have whatever I damn well please at my wedding."

Ash coughs, face turning colors Misty would never have thought it was possible for a person's face to turn. Taking pity on him, she pats his back until he takes a deep breath.

"And that, Pikachu, is reason number 15 why I won't be caterering Ash and Misty's wedding." Brock sighs. From his perch on Ash's shoulder, Pikachu nods solemnly and offers, what sounds like to Misty, a very conspiratorial chuu.

"Oh." Misty and Ash both jump as the old woman's voice-as Rebecca's voice-rings from the door. "Congratulations on your engagement," she says kindly before looking at the two of them critically. "Though...aren't you two a little young to be getting married?"

Misty blinks. For a second it's like everything has frozen. Then Brock starts laughing and Pikachu and Togepi join in. Slowly, Misty looks up at Ash and Arceus, was she ever wrong when she'd thought Ash had set some kind of record with the speed at which his face changed color. Sadly, charmeleon red was not a good look for him. Though her own face feels like it may as well be buried in a rapidash's mane. Feeling she needs to regain control of the situation, Misty opens her mouth to respond, but nothing comes out. She closes it again and looks at Brock helplessly. He doubles over laughing, unable to draw enough breath to help or hurt. Misty groans and falls back against the cot, pulling the sleeping bag with her. "Just kill me now."

Ash falls back in the other direction, pulling his hat over his face. "Me first."

Rebecca places something down on the desk by Brock and asks, confusedly. "Did I say something wrong?"

Misty moans in response causing Brock to begin laughing anew. "No," He sputters out, drawing breath as fast as he can. "They just aren't ready to admit it yet."

Misty, without sitting up, throws her pillow at Brock, knocking him to the floor. He laughs louder and begins to push himself up, only to hit his head on the desk and sit down with a loud thump.

"I surrender." He cries.

Misty laughs. "Good, maybe now we can figure out where we are? And where we're going?"

"That's a good idea, Mist." Ash cheers, sitting up to face her.

Rebecca nods and pulls a map from the desk. She walks over to the cot, glancing briefly at Brock, and spreads it between the teens. "We're here." She points to small hamlet on the map. There's very little immediately nearby beyond a building inscribed with a large R and the forest that they'd already come through. "Where all are you trying to get?"

"The coast." Ash supplies, already beginning to trace a path towards the nearest edge of the not quite region.

Misty watches his hand as it follows the biggest road towards the coast and has to stop herself from screaming out loud when the road crosses what looks like a large city under a day's journey away.

"Ash!" She breathes.

Ash is smiling widely, he's seen it too. "I know. Mist, maybe we can call out!"

"Your mom is dying to hear from you, Ash." Brock agrees, walking to look at the map. "You didn't exactly call her the last time you could."

"We were a little distracted, Brock." Misty scoffs.

"I'll say." Brock leers. Misty rolls her eyes and hits him lightly.

"What do you mean?" Ash asks, puzzled. Pikachu smacks his own face and offers an apologetic pika.

"I'll tell you when you're older." Misty and Brock chorus.

Rebecca laughs. "Yeah, there are a few big cities left over from the war. Some can still call out. Which are you looking at?" She peers closer to the map and Misty can see the moment she's able to make out the city's name. Her face goes white and she begins shaking her head. Her Houndour runs into the room and pushes her head under Rebecca's hand, growling at Misty as she does. "No, no, no." She says firmly. "You can't go to Mana Fields."

"Why?" Ash looks up from the map to meet her eyes.

"Them two," Rebecca gestures at Brock and Misty. "Are gym brats."

Misty inhales sharply. Gym brat, that's not a phrase she's heard in a long time.

"We're the children of gym leaders. If that's what you mean." Brock says in a careful tone.

"And former gym leaders." Misty adds. "Why does it matter?"

"Look, most places around here...it doesn't matter that you're League." Rebecca spits the word 'League' like it's something unfit to be wiped off of her shoe. It sounds ominous when she says it, dangerous even.

"We're not," Ash cuts in.

Rebecca glares at him. "No, you're not. They may as well be."

"So then we're League, why is that important?" Brock asks calmly.

Rebecca turns her glare to him. "Because the very idea of a League invites corruption. No trainer living under one can understand how to care for pokémon."

Misty blinks, surprised at the anger coming from someone who had been so nice just the night before. "And you believe that?"

"No." Rebecca smiles. "Not at all. My parents ran the gym here. But they believe it in Mana Fields. It's where our champions used to be."

"Used to be?" Brock asks.

"Well, I suppose some of them still are. Most of the tunnels under Victory Road collapsed during the war."

For a few moments the three of them are silent, the only sounds that break through are the wind and Togepi chirping and Houndour growling.

Misty swallows hard. "We're not from this League though."

Rebecca shrugs. "And that might matter. Or it might not. They do have the best center there. But...if you can camp…"

Brock nods. "We'll try to camp." He walks over and begins packing up his sleeping bag, prompting Ash and Misty to do the same. They work in silence.

It's only after they've waved their farewell to Rebecca and gotten into the forest, just past the house turned center that Ash voices what Misty has been thinking.

"We don't have the supplies to camp, do?"

Brock turns around to face Ash and shakes his head sadly, "No." He replies. "We don't." He keeps walking backwards as he talks, moving forward with the conversation.

Misty spins on her heel so that she too can look at Ash as she asks her next question with a groan while still moving. "So we go to the city then?" She doesn't stop as she talks. They don't have time to stop if they want to reach the city before dark.

"Yup." Brock answers, pushing into a clearing.

Ash opens his mouth to say something, but whatever it is swallowed by a gasp.

"Ash?" Brock asks, stopping in his tracks to blink at the younger boy.

Ash says nothing in reply but instead raises a shaking finger to point ahead of him on the path, leaving Pikachu to explain with an almost frightened kaaa.

"Wha...:" Brock starts, but whatever he is going to say is cut short by a low, wet, laugh.

Slowly, Misty turns her head to the sound but...it's like a puzzle. All the sound drains from the world as she takes in the pieces and tries to fit them together. But it's like nonsense-a tree, rope, pale skin, blood, a bright red 'R', magenta hair-there's nothing there. Until suddenly there is...it's Jessie. She's strung up on a tree beside the road, bruised and beaten and bloody. Her uniform is more rust colored than white. If it weren't for the hair...Misty would never have known. There's a roaring in her ears and suddenly...there's sound in the world again. But it's not the sounds of a forest in late afternoon, no. It's a wet laugh and Brock puking beside her and Ash swallowing loudly. It's Pikachu on her shoulder, chattering at Togepi with a strained pii and Togepi cooing back. Its Misty herself, breathing deeply as her world spins.

"Well, if it isn't the twerps." Jessie laughs. It's a wet sound, like a muk slinking across the cobblestoned paths of Celadon's gardens. It drips and rattles and sounds...just...wrong.

Misty winces. "We have to get her down."

"Oh," Jessie laughs again, a giggle slipping through ruined lips.

Misty fights back a shiver. James had looked like this, in her dream. He'd been beaten and bruised and now Jessie. Misty swallows hard.

"It's too late for me." Jessie warbles, carrying on the "e" like a child singing. Togepi chirps in time with her voice. "Too late for you." The "oo" of "you" is extended too, dragging on like the chorus of a song Misty's never heard.

Jessie's eyes are glazed over, staring blankly ahead at the forest. Despite the relative warmth of the forest around her, Misty shivers.

"What is she talking about?" Ash asks.

"She's delirious, "Brock shrugs "I doubt even she knows what she's saying." He cups his hands to his mouth to call up the tree, "Jessie! We're going to help you."

Jessie's head lolls and she laughs thickly, "don't bother. You can't save me..," Blankly her eyes roam, unseeing until they lock on Misty's and she smirks, a cruel twist of shredded lips. "All of us die in the end."

Misty shudders-James had said that, in her dream. She swallows at the memory, a deep gulping breath, and shivers, her teeth clatter like an ekans tail. Brock glances over at her, an eyebrow raised but swallows whatever it is he wants to say. Ash looks between them and sighs, before walking over and handing Misty his jacket. Misty starts to protest but Ash ignores her and takes Togepi to place in Misty's bag.

"How do we get her down?" Ash questions, replacing Misty's bag over his jacket.

Misty shrugs, easing into the large jacket that feels too familiar to be Ash's and not her own. Arceus, she's worn it so much lately it may as well be.

"There's always more..." Jessie rambles, head rolling forward. She spits out a bitter laugh that trails into a cackle. "More of me. More of them. More of us. They can always make more…"

"Them?" Brock asks quietly, looking around. "Who's...wait...where's James?"

Misty shrugs, looking around them in a circle. They're nowhere. Which is weird. And wrong. Jessie is never alone. She always has James and...

"What about Meowth?" Ash adds quietly, reading Misty's thoughts.

Brock spins in a circle and, seeing no signs of the rest of the team, cups his hands to shout up at the tree. Jessie doesn't let him, coughing a rattling breath that cuts off Brock's query.

"Always more of us." Jessie giggles once the cough ends. She sags in the ropes binding her, finally quieting for a moment while she takes a pained breath. They need to get her down.

Brock cups his hands to his mouth when her breath ends but is no more successful in this second question as Jessie yet again cuts him off to ramble a laughing, "There'll be more of you too soon. An army!" Jessie's eyes roll wildly in her head before once again finding Misty.

Misty shivers and Pikachu runs over to her, sparking by her feet.

"Definitely delirious," Brock clucks, shaking his head. "Jessie, stop. You're making it worse." Brock turns his back to the tree to face Ash and Misty. "Do either of you have a knife?"

Together they shake their heads.

Jessie laughs wildly, breath rattling between every sound. "He messed up," she coughs, spraying the ground beneath the tree with a heavy sludge of blood and spit. "Mew did he mess up."

"Who messed up? James" Brock sighs.

"We just wanted the boy but we know about her now. We saw the tapes from New Island. We know what she can do."

"What who can do?" Brock asks over his shoulder as he searches his pack.

"And now we're going to get you both." Jessie continues tonally. Togepi trills along with her, a child repeating a rhyme.

Misty shivers and Pikachu rubs against her leg. Absentmindedly she scratches him, still watching Jessie. "What will you do when you get them?"

Jessie laughs, a faint sound against her straining breath. "We'll make more. Two by two, an army marching to destroy you," she croaks.

Ash dumps out his bag, frantically searching for something to bring Jessie down, but there's nothing. He shrugs and repacks his things.

"Ash, what are you doing?" Misty asks.

"Trying to find something to cut Jessie down?"

"And it's all because he messed up. " She practically spits out the word 'he' spraying blood down the tree at them to join an already worryingly large pool.

"We'll get you help." Brock replies through gritted teeth. "Ash, Misty. Do you two see any rocks? Maybe there's one sharp enough."

Jessie just laughs again, cruelly, the giggles backed by a deep wheezing that sounds painful. "We know about the girl and he can't protect her." She breathes deeply, eyes still following Misty while somehow remaining blank and unfocused. "It's all his fault." Jessie laughs again, deep wheezing noises that end in wet heaves but Misty can't shake the feeling that Jessie is finding this somehow hilarious. Like she and James and Meowth will laugh about this later.

Misty cringes, if they could just get her down...maybe….maybe it would all stop. But they need something to cut the ropes...and some way to reach them...maybe a poke-Arceus, they're being stupid. Misty's eyes widen. "Pikachu." She says. Ash and Brock don't even notice while search for rocks and sharp sticks. Misty rolls her eyes as Pikachu jumps to attention. "Swift." She says. Pikachu nods and, with a determined Pika, star shaped rays shoot towards the ropes at Jessie's arms and feet and she falls. "Shit." Misty shouts, inhaling sharply.

Brock's head whips up and he calls Onix to catch Jessie before Misty even has time to come with a plan. "Good thinking." He quips.

Misty drops to her knees, exhaling in a steady stream.

Ash steps over from his search and absentmindedly pats her head. "Is Jessie ok?" He asks.

Jessie coughs wetly as though in response, her breath trailing off into a painful rattle. Misty's body stiffens, she's heard that rattle before in Cerulean when pulling people from the ocean. It's not a good sound. It's the sound of water in lungs and an ambulance and a funeral. Jessie's breath rattles and chokes as Onix places her on the forest floor. She breathes once more, a low moaning sound escaping with the heavy breath, and then stops.

For a few seconds the forest is silent until Brock walks over to Jessie and leans down. Misty squeezes her eyes shut and turns away, knowing what's coming. Brock's fast footsteps back towards her and Ash only confirm what Misty is sure of. Jessie is dead. They were too late.

"Now what?" Misty asks quietly.

"Is she ok?" Ash asks again.

Brock opens his mouth to say something, but shuts it again just as quickly, like a magikarp floundering.

Ash's eye widen and he breathes deeply, Pikachu huddles into Misty. "We can't just leave her." Ash says, panic coloring his voice.

Misty pats his leg comfortingly. "No, of course not." She says, soothingly, biting back the thought that, were she alone, Misty would do just that. "Brock?" She looks up at the older boy who nods his head towards her. "Can Onix dig a hole?"

Brock nods. Without turning around he whispers the command to Onix.

At the sound of Onix scraping against the dirt, Ash leans into Misty and she strokes his hair. Brock kneels beside Misty and the three of them wait in stunned silence as Onix carves a grave from the dirt.

Misty winces each time Onix pulls a mouthful of soil, muscles sore from an eternity of clenching and releasing. It's the first time Misty can ever recall thinking of Onix's digging as slow

Once the hole is dug, the three trainers force themselves back into motion. They don't speak as they bury Jessie and once it's done, they brush their hands and legs in numb silence.

The silence is only broken when Ash starts moving again, slowly spinning in a circle and staring at the forest around them.

Before Misty can ask what he's doing, he steps off to grab a large flat stone which he places on top of the grave like a headstone.

"James will want to know where to find her." He says it with certainty in his voice, though it's a certainty undercut by a quick glance to Misty. She's not sure why Ash feels he needs her permission, it's a good idea, or at least it will give him peace.

Misty nods silently and bows her head, before straightening up and continuing down the road, the light fading behind her.

They can't stop now if they're going to reach Mana Fields by dark.

It will be better there.

It has to be.