Revealed
by Amethyst
(Get it? Ami_Thest, Amethyst? No one understands me.)
I don't own any of these characters, and I'm not using them with Nintendo's permission or knowledge. Now you know why I do Team Rocket fanfics.
Okay, this is the first of a new series. As such, is has lots of intro, and less violence. Anyway, now Giovanni's gone, so I'm running out of villains. Now all I've got are... Butch and Cassidy! No, wait. I killed them too, didn't I? (^.^;) I'm sorry. well, find out for yourself.
James gulped and tapped a foot impatiently as the elevator went down. He hated elevators, but the only apartment he could find was one on the fifth floor. He normally didn't mind too much, but he was running late today. He checked his watch, then tapped his foot again. "Hurry up..." The elevator finally reached the bottom.
He stepped out, casually glancing to his side as someone entered the other elevator. His eye caught a flash of brilliant red hair... "JESSIE!!" The door had already closed, but he ran to it. "Jessie?!" He pounded on the door. It had already started upwards. "Jess..." So it was going to be one of those days. "It wasn't her." He tried to convince himself. He saw her quite often, even after all this time he still swore he saw her at least once a week. Even if Jessie was still alive, the chances of her being here, in this town, in his apartment building... They were far too small. He couldn't wait. He was going to be late for work. "Jess..." He gulped and turned around, ignoring the gawks of the others in the lobby.
As the elevator went up, Jessie looked nervously at the floor as she heard a banging sound. She continued her stare nervously until she was sure that the whole thing wasn't about to crash. Then she leaned against the wall. "Hey James..." She practiced. "Hello, James. How are you? No, no..." She tried again. "James, I missed you..." She wasn't quite sure how to greet him. What would she say to him? What would he say to her?
She wondered what would happen when they met. Would he be mad at her? Would he be glad to see her? Would he try to kiss her? She had a few blurred memories of a kiss. Were those real, or just in her mind? She couldn't remember. She wasn't even quite sure how she'd react if he did try. Although her precious ego wouldn't allow her to admit it, James was probably the best offer she was getting. She'd be a fool not to take him. He might not be a knight in shining armor, but at least he had the heart of one.
The door got to the floor, and she nervously stepped out. 532... She walked down the row of rooms, checking her slip of paper. 544, 545... 546! There it was! She gulped and gathered her courage, then knocked gently. Nothing. "James?" She knocked again, harder this time. "James, if you're in there, you'd better open up!" She sighed. He must not be there. He probably has a job, stupid. She reminded herself. Now what should she do? She couldn't just wait for him to come home. She'd better find a hotel room or something.
James slipped on his apron and went to the first table. "May I take your order, ma'am?" He said blankly, staring out the window.
"Yes, I'll have..." The woman rattled off the meal she wanted, giving specifications on how it should be cooked, but James hardly caught any of it. He was staring at the large crowd passing by the window. Suddenly, he saw the red-head from that morning.
"Jessie!" That was definitely her. The flaming red hair, the blue eyes, the pouting expression she so often had... He would recognize her anywhere. As he stood, frozen, she walked past the window, looking around. She apparently didn't see him, and headed in the door. "Excuse me , ma'am, I'll be right back." James said hurriedly, running off.
Jessie sat down in a small booth by a window and ordered a cup of coffee. She gazed out the window of the small cafe. It was overcast, and the ground was already damp from the mist, but a huge crowd had already began to form. Some festival or something. She glared at them. Idiots. she thought to herself. What is there to celebrate? Life is emptiness. Thanks to them, the city was packed. The Pokemon center was totally full, she couldn't even find a hotel room, there was no place to stay in the whole city. She would have to try to make it to Pewter city today.
"But it's already afternoon. I'll never make it. And I don't want to have to sleep out there." She said aloud to no one in particular, frowning at a cloud. The forecast said that it was going to get worse over the night. Much worse. She sighed and stirred her coffee again. It was getting cold, but she wasn't thirsty
"James! Get back here!" A voice called from behind her. Jessie froze. "You know it's not..." But she wasn't listening to herself. She spun around, spilling her coffee all over herself and the floor. The little boy running past slipped on it and fell.
"You see, James? I told you to be more careful." A woman, probably the boy's mother, walked over. She turned to Jessie. "I'm sorry. Did my little James startle you?" She turned back to her son. "James, apologize to this nice young lady immediately."
" Told you so." Jessie was disappointed, but she tried not to show it. "No, it's okay." She said to the woman before smiling at the kid. "I'm sorry you slipped on my coffee, James." She offered him a hand to help him up.
The boy refused it, choosing to struggle on his own. He finally got to his feet and stuck his tongue out at her. "Sorry, grandma!" He yelled before zooming off again.
"James! James! Get back here!" The woman turned back to Jessie. Except for her lack of pupils, she seemed to be taking it very nicely. "I'm so very sorry, ma'am. James! Stop running!" She ran off after him.
Jessie watched them go. She had half a mind to clobber the kid, but the other half her mind had been gone since she heard that name. "James." She whispered.
"Stop that! You're edgy enough already!" She reprimanded herself, and turned to look out the window. Outside was the same as it had been, the same dull crowd, dull people, the same boring old scene. So much for that diversion. She turned her attention to her reflection.
Gawd, look at those bags. You really do look like a grandma. "Shut up." She turned away from her reflection. Arguing with herself... She really was losing it. It's not my fault. I haven't had a good night's sleep since... She shivered. The coffee was soaking into her white dress, her last piece of clean clothes, but she didn't seem to notice. Most of her was already gone again.
It was eight, no, by now it must be nine months ago. Life as she knew it, as she had always known it, had been totally destroyed. First, she had quit. (Her first mistake.) Then Giovanni had... That machine. She shivered again, much harder. All those long weeks, she had been his slave, his puppet. The feeling of not having any control over her body had been horrifying. She had even agreed to marry him. If James hadn't come along... She didn't even want to think what would have happened. Mewtwo probably would have killed them all before the wedding. She wasn't sure which was worse.
Giovanni had tried to kill her when he realized Mewtwo had totally taken control of her body. James had pushed her out of the way, taking the shot in her place. He was so sweet... She blushed a little. That must have been what made Mewtwo rethink his 'kill all humans' policy. Once Mewtwo had realized that not all humans were evil, he had been much more reasonable. He had even healed James.
Then they had both gotten to safety. Everything had seemed okay. But no, she had to go back in for Arbok. "It's okay, sweety." She patted the ball in her bag. "I'm not mad at you." Then she had gotten Giovanni's pokemon. He was dead anyway... Or so she had thought. She had just been leaving the holding room when she had seen him.
Any trace of humanity had left him. He was totally insane. As his eyes had locked with hers, she had felt her blood turn to ice. He wanted her dead. She knew he would do anything to kill her. At that moment she had turned and ran as fast as she could, driven by fear beyond anything she had ever felt before. She had just barelly made it to an emergency exit when the explosion had knocked her off her feet, throwing her into a nearby river. She had hardly even attempted to swim to shore before she had totally given in to the impending darkness that had surrounded her.
She awoke nearly two months later in a small town, several cities down. After regaining consciousness, it had been several more months before she was deemed healthy enough to be released. When she was finally let out, she had just wandered aimlessly. The explosion had ruined those memories Mewtwo hadn't, and she couldn't even remember her own name. It had taken her weeks to even figure out who she was, let alone where she was. She only knew one thing, she had to find James. At the time, she hadn't even known who this 'James' was.
When she had finally wandered to her home town, her sister had recognized her. She had explained as much as she knew, and told her that James had survived. Zee had told her he was here, in Viridian, and even given her an address. That's why she had come here, wasn't it? But he hadn't been home. She had searched everywhere, with no trace of James. She didn't even know what she'd do if she found him.
"You'd hit him." She grinned, for the first time in days. "Yeah, I would." She quietly admitted. She missed having such a convenient way to vent her anger almost as much as she missed him. It hadn't taken long for her to find out that you couldn't treat just anyone like that.
"What now?" She was alone and scared. Even now, nearly a year after the explosion, she was still having horrible nightmares of Giovanni coming after her, controlling her. While they had been even more scary when she hadn't known who it was, they still shook her to the core whenever she had one. She felt so alone.
"Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please." A voice came from outside. Jessie looked, thankful for something to get her mind off of her current problems.
Officer Jenny was standing in the middle of the street, sitting on her motorcycle. One hand propped it up, while the other held a megaphone. "We're sorry, but because of the rain, no fire Pokemon will be able to participate in today's parade. A collective groan came from the audience, knowing well that the trick ponytas and growlithes were often the best part of a parade. "Once again, we're sorry..." Officer Jenny's voice trailed off as she drove off to the next block to spread the unhappy news.
Fortunately, she had left Jessie with a much more welcome memory. Jessie giggled slightly, then burst out laughing.
"What's so funny, Jess?" The waiter asked.
"Remember that time we both dressed as Officer Jenny, to try to steal all those growlithe? You looked so funny!" She was still trying to catch her breath when she froze. "Jess? WE??!!" She spun around to find herself looking into a pair of familiar green eyes.
"JAMES!!!!" She squeaked, shooting back against the wall. As she leaned against the window, she weighed her options. On one hand, she wanted to hug him, but on the other, it had been a really rotten day. And she did have a reputation to keep... Instinct took over.
"What do you think you're doing, sneaking up on me like that?!" She yelled, hitting him upside the head with a large white fan and sprawling him out on the floor.
"Owch! I didn't sneak up on you!" He whined, throwing both hands over his head for protection. "I've been standing there for five minutes! You just didn't notice me!" He peeked up at her, still covering his head. "I missed you. I was worried about you. You looked awful."
"Thanks a lot." She growled, standing up from the table. She moved like she was going to hit him again, and he ducked behind a chair.
"You know what I mean." He was still whining, but not quite as bad. "Besides, I brought you something. He motioned to the table.
Her eyes widened. A triple-fudge sundae! "My favorite!" She squealed, digging in. Meanwhile, James had partially recovered, and pulled himself up in the chair across from her. He looked across the table.
"And then, all of a sudden, you got all happy. I don't understand."
"I'm sorry, but I saw Officer Jenny, and it reminded me of you, and..." She burst out laughing again as the image of James in a mini-skirt came back to her. It took several minutes for her to get under control. When she did, she looked up and gasped. A very un-amused James frowned back at her, wiping off some of the chocolate she had spit all over him. She cracked up again. "I'm sorry. *snicker* It's *snort* not funny." He had trouble believing she meant that.
James was rather annoyed. After all that happened, all of those sleepless nights he had lay awake wondering how she was, where she was, if she was even alive, all the people he had tracked down, trying to find out anything about her, all the times he had mistaken a complete stranger for her, after all the hell he had gone through because of her, couldn't she do anything but laugh at him? "She hit you, didn't she? That's something else." He reminded himself sarcastically.
"Jessie." She managed to give him some of her attention between the sporadic giggles. "That explains the laughing. But what about before that? Are you okay?" He reached over and stroked a small scar on her neck. "You must have been hurt pretty badly." She shivered lightly at his touch, and he quickly pulled away. "How on earth did you survive? I was so worried about you."
She looked up into his bright green eyes. He really did seem to care. Could she really let herself go, and tell him everything? She really wanted to cry. On the other hand, she really didn't want him to think she was weak.
"Giovanni... Had been worried about my safety. He made sure most all of my clothes were bullet-proof. They helped block some of the blast. The rest was just luck and experience. You know, blasting off all those times." She frowned. "But today, nothing's going right." She murmured. "I've got no clean clothes, I dropped them in the gutter.." She motioned to a muddy canvas bag by her feet. "I ruined these clothes." She motioned to the huge coffee stain on her dress. "I couldn't find you. There's no place to stay in this whole city...."
"You were looking for me?"
Jessie blushed until her face was nearly as red as her hair, realizing what she had just said. She cleared her throat and began explaining. "Well, umm, you see, I... Well, you know, I, I..." She coughed and tried again. "Well, I was just thinking about how awful things were last time we saw each other, and was wondering how you were doing. I was worried. And..." She paused, then admitted: "I missed you, too."
"You really missed me?"
"A little." She conceded.
She looked up and noticed he was grinning. "What?!" She asked defensively.
"Oh, nothing." He grinned some more, but not nearly as much as he was grinning inside. "So she does care." He wasn't quite sure why that made him so happy.
"James?" A woman's voice yelled from the kitchen. Jessie looked over, and giggled.
"Is it that kid again?" She asked, looking for the little James. She looked up at James, he was really nervous.
"Opps! I've been over here for half an hour! My boss is going to kill me!" He ran a few steps, then ran back. "Listen, I get off work in an hour." He said quickly. "Can you wait?" If she couldn't, he'd leave. She was more important then some stupid job, anyway. But still, no reason to be fired if she'll stay around.
"Of course..." she said. "...I'm in a hurry, and too late to wait around for you." She finished quietly in her head. She didn't want to sleep out in the storm. She really didn't have the time, but she'd been looking for him too long to leave already.
"Great." His smile alone was worth it. "I'll see you then." He ran off.
James hung his apron on a rack, grabbing his jacket. He began to put it on, then turned and looked at Jessie in her sleeveless mini-dress. "Um, have you got a jacket?" She shook her head no, and he handed his to her.
He opened the door and held it for her as he checked the weather. It was starting to rain, so he pulled out his umbrella, and motioned for her to walk next to him. As they walked, she looked up at him. Up? Since when did she have to look up at James? "Have you gotten taller?" She remembered when they first met, she had been the taller one. I guess men do get their growth spurts latter.
"A little. I didn't think you would notice." He was glad she did.
They walked for a little while in silence, until Jessie couldn't stand the awkward quiet anymore. "Hey, James? What made you decide to stay here?"
"I don't know. It's far from home. Jessibell's been looking to bring 'her poor renegade James' back where he belongs, now that he's out of that 'evil society' of his." He laughed uncomfortably. "But most of all, memories, I guess."
"Memories?"
"Yeah. A lot of stuff happened here, you know. This is where we first met, where we went through training to enter Team Rocket, stuff like that. Remember when we had control of the Viridian gym? I was so impressed. You knew all the attacks for Giovanni's Pokemon."
She shuddered lightly at the mention of her former Boss's name. "I still failed." She whispered.
"But you tried. I didn't know any of them. And then, you were a real leader. You were incredible, totally unbeatable." He smiled at her uneasily. "You were really impressive." He wasn't sure quite how she'd react, but he had to talk about it. He really wanted to know if she had been in control at all during it.
Her bag dropped to the ground, and she stopped walking. He looked over nervously. "Jessie?" he said questioningly
"James!" She threw herself against his chest, sobbing. She hadn't let herself cry about it once since it happened, but she couldn't stop herself now. She felt James drop the umbrella to hug her.
"Jessica." He whispered worriedly. He was the only one he knew who was ever allowed to call her by her full name, and even then he saved it for important events. This was one of them.
"James, it wasn't me, none of it was me!" She sobbed, hugging him closer. "The fire, the fighting, the explosion... I can't even remember most of what happened... " She didn't want him to think she had beat him that badly by her own free will. "I think Giovanni blew up the gym just to kill me. James, all those people died because of me! It's horrible..."
"Don't be so hard on yourself. It wasn't your fault." He softly stroked her hair as she pulled closer. "It's okay, just cry..." He comforted, trying to hide his own pain. If that wasn't her in control, she probably didn't even remember how close they had been. When the explosion went off, he was sure he had just lost his best friend, his first love. For the last several months he'd been loosing it, blaming himself for whatever happened to Jessie. He was so glad she was alright.
Jessie hugged him a little tighter. She'd almost forgotten what it was like to have someone care about her, but she didn't want to send the wrong message. He hadn't mentioned that anything had happened between them, so he probably still thought of her as just a friend. She pulled away, smiling at him so he wouldn't know it still hurt. It felt so nice, but she didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable.
"Are you okay now?" He asked, and she nodded. "Good." He handed her the bag she had dropped, and picked up the umbrella. They walked in silence until Jessie noticed they were heading into an apartment building.
"Uh, James? Where exactly are we going, anyway?" She asked nervously.
"My place." He said casually.
"WHAT?!!"
"What's wrong?" He turned and looked at her. She quickly turned away, blushing furiously. Suddenly he understood. "No, no! It's nothing like that!" He yelled, waving his hands and blushing even worse than her. "Idiot. That's a good way to ease her back into things."
He tried to explain. "I mean, you don't want to go out with that stain, do you? Um, you said you didn't have any other clothes... You can take a shower, wash your clothes... I'll make some dinner. My couch folds out into a bed." He thought about what he had just said, then got even more embarrassed. "I mean if you want to stay, of course. There's no where else to stay, right? But you don't really have to. I mean, if it makes you nervous..." He said quickly. "Shut up." He told himself. "Before you say anything else stupid, and really scare her off."
James sighed. It had all made so much sense in his head. Out loud, it sounded perverted, if not just plain stupid. "It shouldn't bother you that much." He reminded himself. "Remember, you two always shared a room as Team Rocket." But this was definitely different. Did she remember? He found himself starring at her face. Could he still just be her friend? Would he lose her forever if he couldn't?
"Sounds good." She had calmed down. James just smiled and nodded, thankful he didn't have to explain it to her. She probably thought he was crazy now, but deep inside, James suspected that she had always believed he was a bit insane. "Of course he means as friends. James isn't that kind of guy." She felt a little stupid for thinking he would kiss her like that. It must have been her imagination.
They finally got to his apartment. He opened the door, and she walked in, looking around. "Nice Place." She commented with only slight sarcasm.
"Sorry. I don't get visitor's often." He explained, clearing some junk off the couch. She sat down as he embarassedly began collecting cans off the floor. (The pull-tabs had already been removed, James had always had a bizarre fascination with pull-tabs and bottle caps.) She watched him for a while, then got bored and began to pass time looking at the walls. There were several paintings, mostly of Pokemon. One in particular caught her attention.
It was of a little girl in a straw hat with ribbons and a frilly dress, laughing and hugging a growlithe. But it was the little girl that surprised her. "THAT'S ME!" She yelled, jumping back from the picture. When he heard her yelling, James ran in. He seemed embarrassed when he saw what she was looking at. "Did you paint that picture, James?" She asked with surprised.
"Yeah, sort of, I guess." He blushed, putting one arm behind his neck.
"I had no idea you were an artist."
"Yeah, well, my parents made me take a lot of classes on that sort of stuff. You know, 'perfect gentleman' and all that." He looked over at her. "So, what do you think of it?"
"I was never that cute." She tried to make it sound like a bad thing. "It is very good, though." She admitted.
"I think you were." He grinned. "So, what brings you to these parts? Are you staying very long?" "Please, please, don't go soon." He begged in his mind, crossing both fingers for luck.
"I have no idea." She hadn't worked her plan out that far. Her whole plan had consisted of finding James. She turned around. "Boy, I'm starved, James. What's for dinner?" She was a master at changing the subject, at least in her own eyes.
James sighed. "I'll get to work on it. Jessie. Why don't you start washing your clothes? You can take your shower, too. It'll be ready by then. The washer is...." She had already started off down the hallway, completely ignoring him. He sighed again, this time more longingly.
After what had happened between them, he had trouble keeping his eyes off of her. But she said none of that was her. Did she even remember it? She must not, or else she would have said something about it. Now what? He wanted to be her best friend, and be there for her always, but he wanted to be more, too. He wanted to hold her the way he had that day, nearly a year ago, and he wanted her to look into his eyes the way she had then. He wanted to be everything for her. But most of all, he wanted to be with her.
He cared about her so much, he didn't want to frighten her off and be without her forever. He shook his head. He'd give her more time. That was all he could do. Hopefully, she'd either regain her memories, or she would realize and accept how he felt about her. If not... He would have to pretend. It was better then losing her totally. He stared a few more seconds, then turned and went into the kitchen.
Jessie stopped by the bathroom, grabbing a towel. When she got to the laundry room, she shoved all of her clothes inside, then peered in. "There's still room." She thought, glancing nervously at the door. Then she quickly pulled off the dress she was wearing, shoving it in with the other clothes. Hurriedly, she wrapped the towel around her, threw another glance at the still-closed door, and sighed with relief.
"James?" She called, walking over to the bathroom.
"What?" he looked around the corner as she ducked into the bathroom.
"Can I borrow some clothes?" she asked, peeking around the door.
"Huh?"
"You know, just until my clothes are clean." She grinned. "I'll take any old shirt. Oh, and a pair of boxer shorts. You still wear boxer shorts, don't you?" She ducked back in and slammed the door, silencing any of his protests and winning the argument.
Jessie grinned at her reflection as she brushed her hair. It had been days since her last shower, and even that had been at a grimy old Pokemon center. This bathroom wasn't exactly the cleanest she'd ever been in, but it was still much better then a Pokemon Center. Just about anything was. Their bathrooms always stunk, and there was always a line, so you had to hurry. . James, on the other hand, hadn't seemed to notice that she had been in the shower for more than an hour.
"Well, I had to shave my legs, didn't I?" She reasoned. As she finished brushing her hair, she set the brush down on the counter. "He won't notice a little more mess." She walked to the door and opened it a crack. "James?"
He didn't answer, but as she opened the door slightly more, something fell off the handle. "Thanks, James!" She grabbed the clothes and went back inside. She quickly pulled on the boxers, then held up the shirt and gasped. It was plain enough, a short-sleeved black turtleneck. But it was very significant. It was the one he had always worn under his rocket uniform.
"James." Was this 'any old shirt' to him now?' She had come to hate Team Rocket, and everything it stood for, but the uniforms held special meaning to her. Because they stood for more than just Team Rocket, they stood for their team. It stood for all those years they had been together, all the things they had been through together, their friendship. She lovingly ran her fingers along the fabric, smiling as random memories popped into her mind. Then she slipped the shirt on. She missed those old days so much... But they were gone now, and there was no sense dwelling on the past. "Alright, alright." she thought to herself. "I'll leave as soon as my clothes are done." She really didn't want to, but things had changed. There was no reason to drag James down with her.
"He's got his own life now." She opened the door. The house was totally quiet, and dark except a single light in the kitchen. She tiptoed in. The room was empty, except for a plate of food and a note. She began to eat as she read:
My boss called.
The storm broke the window down at work.
I went to help fix it.
If you're still hungry, there's some leftovers in the fridge.
Be back soon,
James
A chilling realization that she was alone came to her, and she shivered as thunder rumbled in the distance. "Calm down. It's just a storm." But she hated storms, she always had. "What's the big idea, leaving me alone, anyway?" He knew she hated storms. "All those Thundershocks and Thunderbolts." She thought. Then again, this could be for the best. It would probably be best to leave before he got home.
Another crack of lightning sent her zooming under the table. "Better find a flashlight." Fortunately, James was always thorough when it came to food. His kitchen was clean, even if his house wasn't. and it didn't take long to find one. She grabbed it out of the drawer just before another crash plunged the house into total darkness.
She flipped the switch and breathed a sigh of relief as a comforting beam of light came out. "It even has fresh batteries. James, you astound me." She tried to eat as the storm raged on outside. Soon, however, she became aware of some thumping in James's room.
"It's just your imagination." She tried to convince herself. But the noises got louder. "Better go check it out." She gulped. She really didn't want to, but she knew she should. "It's probably just the window. It got knocked open, or broken, or something."
She gulped again and slowly tiptoed down the hall. As she got to the end, she paused for a moment, then gingerly opened the door. She flinched, half expecting something to jump out of the darkness and grab her. When it didn't, she shone the flashlight on the window.
It was open, just as she had suspected. She sighed with relief and went to go shut it. Halfway there she heard a noise around her, and whirled around. She found herself facing one of the biggest men she had ever seen. From behind, a gloved hand clamped down on her mouth, another wrapped around her waist. She screamed and squirmed, stomping on her unseen attacker's foot. His grip loosened, and she dug her elbow into his side, forcing him to let go.
She jumped onto the bed and spun around to access the situation. From the dim light of the flashlight she had dropped, she could see two people, both of them much taller than her. It was hopeless, she knew it. "But I'm not going without a fight." She thought grimly as one of the men headed towards her.
To Be continued.....
Can any of you guess the significance of James's apartment number? If you can tell me, I will bow before your incredible knowledge. (It is Rocket-related, from one of the cartoons!) I had to look it up.
Coming soon: Loyalties Challenged. Who sent those men? What are they after? And just how far will James go to save his best friends life? Stay tuned!