The Past Fourgotten
ByAmi (Duh!)
Warning: None of these characters belong to me, nor, my family, nor anybody I know. They do belong to Nintendo. I just use them because I am a bitter person and I am too lazy to think up my own. Thank you. I like this one, though :p
Jessie halfheartedly restrained a growl. She was a Gym Leader now, she couldn't just run around beating people senseless. This guy was really asking for it, though. "I don't know." She replied. "I don't think I get off work until after your bedtime." The doors opened, and she rushed out before he could think of a come-back.
"Men are sooooo immature." She thought to herself as she headed for the arena section of the gym. It was a huge building, much larger than it needed to be. She was beginning to wonder why people hadn't realized it was also Team Rocket headquarters. It had only taken her a few days to realize. "Oh well, I guess it doesn't matter." It's not like Team Rocket was something to be afraid of. In fact, she was beginning to think it sounded like a pretty cool organization.
"Please, leave me alone!" A rather high, girlish voice pleaded, shaking Jessie out of her thoughts. Jessie stuck her head into the coffee room. A young girl in a business suit was leaning against the wall, with a rather large, imposing man leaning over her.
"And just what are you going to about it, sweetheart?" The man taunted, leaning closer. The girl turned to the side, a strand of her lavender hair falling in front of her face.
"Leave the girl alone." Jessie commanded, leaning against the door frame. The man turned to her, then gulped.
"Miss Jessica!" He said nervously. "How are you this morning?" Jessie just glared at him, her lips tightening into a I'm-gonna-kick-you're-butt-in-five-second-if-you-don't-leave-her-alone frown. "Is this girl a friend of yours?" He guessed. Jessie just continued her withering scowl. "I'm sorry, ma'am!" he said hurriedly to the girl, then quickly ran out the door.
The girl's eyes followed until the man was completely gone, then she turned to Jessie. Her green eyes widened for a moment as they studied her face, then she hugged her tightly. "Oh that big, scary man! Thank you sooooooo much for saving me, Miss Jessica!" She squeaked.
"It's okay, really." Jessie assured her, slightly shaken by the girl's actions. She certainly had a strong hug, Jessie's feet were several inches off the ground. The young girl finally released her. "Please, just Jessica." She added.
"Sure, Jessica." The girl smiled. "My name's Jame... Jamie. I just started here today." She explained. "I'm not used to this place." She glanced around nervously, and her eyes landed on a box of donuts.
"Well, Jamie, it's nice to meet you." Jessie extended her hand to Jamie, who attempted to shake it between bites of donut. "Would you like me to show you around?"
"Sure, that would be wonderful! Would you really?" Jamie asked, her voice raising to a near-deafening squeal. "That's soooo nice of you!" She found a coffee mug and filled it, half with coffee, half with sugar.
"Sure, no problem." Jessie said, then leaned back against the table, watching in stunned stupor as the girl added even more sugar and some cream, then ate two donuts and downed the entire cup of coffee, which by now was the consistency of a muk. She started on a third donut as she struggled to refill her coffee. Jessie shrugged it off. Drinking her coffee that way was probably what made Jamie's voice sound so strange. Besides, she seemed to remember someone else who drank it like that. The Jamie leaned against the counter, accidentally setting off a pokéball.
"Char!" Arbok yelled, happy to be out of the ball.
"Arbok?!" Jamie protested. The snake turned to look at her, then burst out laughing. "Watch it." She muttered in a very un-ladylike voice. The large snake ignored her and turned to the other girl.
"Charbok!" It nearly squealed with delight when it recognized her. She blinked in surprise, and the snake lunged at her, giving a hug even more powerful than the one Jamie had given her.
"Your Arbok is certainly friendly." She commented, and the pokemon released her.
"Char, char! Bok" (Arbok is so glad to see Jessie safe!) The girl blinked in surprise. "Charboku bok bok!" (Jessie's boyfriend is a ditz) Arbok tested, seeing if Jessie could understand anything he was saying. She just frowned.
"Arbok, return!" Jamie commanded. Arbok shook his head, then turned to Jessie, ramming his face against a pokéball on her belt. With a flash, Kingler popped out, and Arbok went in.
"Well, he certainly seems to like me." Jessie observed. "Arbok? Won't you go back to your master?" The ball shook no, and she giggled slightly. "I didn't even know they could do that. Would you like to trade?" She turned to Jamie.
The girl was up on the counter, with Kingler snapping at her feet. "No, why don't you keep them both? Maybe you can teach it to obey." Jamie lifted her legs further and squealed in her shreiky way as the Kingler began to chip away at the counter. Jessie laughed and called it into a different ball.
"A challenger has requested a battle for the Earth Badge. Gym Leader Jessica, please report to the arena." The intercom announced. Jessie looked up.
"That would be me." She said. "I've gotta go. Would you like to come watch?" She winced as Jamie finished the second cup of sludge-coffee.
"I really would." Jamie admitted. "I saw you on TV last week, when you got your Leader status. You were really good." Jessie blushed slightly at this.
"Why, thank you." She grinned a little, then took Jamie's hand. "Come on, I'll show you the balcony. It's really cool." The intercom repeated it's page, and she started for the door. "Come on, we need to hurry!"
"B-but..." Jamie protested. "This is getting out of hand." He thought. He had only meant to sneak in and see if Jessie was okay. He had planned to tail her and watch from a distance, but 'Big, scary man' had changed that. James shivered slightly. He had never protested to dressing as a girl. Truth to tell, he kinda liked it. However, only around Jessie. That way, if a guy was 'interested', she'd snatch them up or run them off before they ever got to him. He hadn't considered a mission without Jessie would be different.
He had seen her several times since she had been through that machine, but all had been through the television. This was the first time he'd actually talked to her. His imagination had been running wild, wondering what happened beyond the camera. Did they hook her back up when she wasn't working? Did she act as the boss's personal slave? Normally he wouldn't have thought that last part, but then, normally he hadn't thought of his boss as doing anything he'd done lately. Something about the man had changed.
However, Jess seemed to be pretty normal, even nice. That scared him. Was his Jessie in there? Part of him wanted her to stay this way. "That's awful." He told himself. He had to admit, though, she hadn't even gagged about his coffee. "Maybe I should look into this a little more." He thought. Any excuse to have Jessie treat him nice was a good excuse.
A young boy, no more than 11, stood in the challenger's box, full of nervous determination. "Trainer wants to fight!" The referee announced. The boy nodded. Jessie nodded, sitting in the chair on the balcony. "One on one!" He continued. The boy gulped and pulled a ball of his belt.
"Pi-chan, go!" he commanded as his pokemon came out.
"Trainer sent out a Pikachu!" The referee announced.
"How cute!" Jessie squealed, then caught herself. "Kelly, go!" The ring was filled with an icy mist as her Articuno entered the ring.
"Wow....." James said, forgetting his girlie voice in his surprise. That was one of the legendary birds, among the strongest and rarest pokemon in the world. And yet, it listened to her. "I mean, That's so coooool!" He added shrilly.
"Kelly, ice beam!" the pokemon shot a blast of freezing wind at the small Pikachu.
"Pi-chan, agility!" The small electric mouse expertly avoided the attack. "Now, use your Thunder!" The Pikachu blasted the huge bird with a bolt of lightning.
"It's super effective!" the ref. yelled.
"Kelly, Blizzard."
"Thunderbolt!" The two blast hit each other, exploding in a flash of frigid fog and killer electricity. "Now, another thunder!" The large bird was slightly disoriented from the light, and the second thunderbolt downed it.
"And The winner is Trainer!"(Yes that's his name. What did you expect?) As Jessie called her pokemon back, James nervously checked Jessie's face. He found it not angry, as he had expected, but surprisingly smug.
"Good job!" She called, standing from her chair. "Here!" She flung a small item that shimmered as it caught the light. Trainer caught it, then looked up in awe. She stood slightly at attention, giving him a small salute. "Good luck on the rest of them!"
The boy looked shocked for a second, then grinned back brightly, returning the salute. "Come on Pi-chan, we're going to be the greatest masters in the world!" The pikachu ran up, jumping on it's trainer's shoulder.
James continued to study her face. "You wanted him to win, didn't you?" Jessie nodded slightly. "But why?"
"This is his first badge." She explained. "He'll always remember this day. Someday, when he's trying to get his last badge and can't quite seem to, he'll be on the verge of quitting. Then he'll remember the day the leader of the Viridian Gym saluted him, and realize he can't quit now." She grinned at Jamie. "Team Rocket may be evil, but we're not in the habit of crushing children's dreams."
"Wow... Jessie with a heart? This is too good to be true." Then his eyes landed on some black-figured men with large red R's on their chests heading towards him, and he realized it was. "The boss wants to talk to you." The leader of the group said gruffly. He turned to Jessie, she seemed shocked that Team Rocket members would be so bold, in the gym no less.
"Well, you see, I, I can't... I have to, to, to...." He faltered, his voice rapidly lowering. "Bye!" He said quickly, running off.
"After him!" The man commanded
"HIM?!" Jessie yelled.
"Oh noooooooooooo!" James yelled, abandoning any girlish attitude as he raced off around the corner.
Jessie just shook her head. "I have a feeling I'll see her... him... it again." She commented. Her heart leaped slightly at the suggestion. She realized it had been racing since she had met Jamie. It hadn't made sense when applied to a girl, but now...
"Another challenger has requested a match." Jessie sighed and looked to the place she had seen him disappear, then headed back into the gym.
Jessie entered the coffee room and grinned. While Jamie wasn't there, a young man leaned against the counter nervously, in a full black Rocket uniform. His cap was pulled far over his eyes. She reached over and yanked it off, and lavender hair spilled down almost to his shoulders.
"Yoink!"
He grasped desperately for the hat, then sighed with relief as he realized who it was. "Hello, Jessica." He said, jokingly imitating the voice he had used the day before.
"It's Jessie." She shoved the hat into his chest. "You are a man, right?" She asked, and he blushed furiously and nodded. "Good." It came out a little more happy then she had planned. "So, who exactly are you, anyway?"
James looked around nervously. "This isn't a good place to talk." He explained. "If they find me again, I don't think I'll get away. Can you leave for a while?" She shook her head.
"I need to stay on the premises at all times in case of a challenge. If I leave without obtaining permission first, it'll set off the alarm. But come on." She took his hand. "There aren't any security cameras in my room."
In her room?! James mind was racing, but he tried to stay calm. He had always slept next to her, with sleeping bags only inches apart. Why was a bedroom so important? But they'd never been alone, Meowth had always been with them. And it had normally been out in the open, certainly never in a private bedroom. This was seriously challenging their unspoken agreements about their relationship. "Won't they see us go in?"
"They don't really care, as long as I don't leave." She turned a corner and opened a door. "Here we are!" She half nudged, half threw James into it. James looked around in shock. "Is something wrong?"
"It's so, so...." Girlie. He had never thought of Jessie as the frilly, pink curtain type. He had always thought she didn't even like pink, but the whole room was done in shades of it. "It's kinda small." Did she still think of girlie as an insult? He didn't want to find out. But it was small, the twin bed took up almost half the room.
She sighed and sat down on the bed, hugging a stuffed Pikachu and pushing several other dolls off the bed. "It's not that bad. I'm hardly ever in the room." She motioned to a space beside her on the bed. He gulped. "I don't have room for chairs. It's okay, I don't bite."
"I'm not worried about biting." He thought. If the real Jessie found out about this, he was dead. She motioned again, and he nervously sat down.
"Actually, I think it's an incentive program."
"Huh?"
"You see, when the room's this small, it's an incentive to sleep with the boss." James released a noise somewhere between a choke and a squeak as his eyes got around the size of dishes. She laughed. "Aren't you worried?" She giggled as he tried to suppress his surprise. "Don't worry, I've never taken him up on it. He's never even really said it outright." She looked at her feet.
"It's just.... He's always watching me and stuff. It's kind of creepy." She looked up at James. "I mean, I'll be sitting there, minding my own business. Then I turn around and there he is, just staring at me. He never talks or anything. He just stares. It's weird." She looked into his eyes, and he stared back in shock. "You probably think I'm crazy." She admitted with embarrassment, returning her gaze to her feet.
"No..." "He's the one who's crazy." The puzzle was beginning to fall into place, and it was an image that made James sick. It all made so much sense. He had assumed Jessie had just chosen a bad time to quit, and had been expendable the same time they needed an expendable person. Likewise, the boss had tried to kiss her to aggravate him. Now, it was all way to clear: The room, the new pokemon, He had even given her his beloved gym! He had done it all, for her. He had even changed her age so people wouldn't realize how sick he was. But why? The Boss had never shown any interest in her before. Naturally, he had favored her strict, down-to-business attitude over his more laid back attitude, but he had assumed that was where the approval ended. Apparently, it wasn't. Ewwwww...
"What?!" Jessie was becoming annoyed with his increasingly-disturbed look. "I told you, I've never done anything. What's you're problem?!" She insisted.
"Jessie, do you have any idea how much older he is?!"
"Sure, around eight years. It's a little old, but it was more common when he was younger."
"No, Jessie. No. You are seventeen, same as me, and that man is eightTEEN years older then you are. That is just sick."
"Seventeen, huh? You sure act sure of yourself considering you're telling me about myself." She said indignantly. "Since when did you know about me then I do?" He looked at her.
"A few weeks now." He said just as indignantly. "Besides, do you remember being twenty-seven, or are you just going on what Giovanni told you?"
"Sir..." She realized she didn't even know his name. "You do realize that you're asking me to listen to a strange, cross-dressing man I just met yesterday, instead of..."
"Instead of a creepy, peeping-tom old lecher you just met last week?!" He finished for her. She couldn't seem to find a come back for that, and just glared at the floor. "By the way, my name's..."
"James..."
"You remember?"
"No...." she frowned, her entire face crumpled as she thought about it. "But I really feel like I should. I can't really explain it. It's a little like a dream. You know, where you meet someone, and you know you've never seen them before... But in way, you feel like you've always known them? Have you ever felt that way?" He shook his head. "Anyway, he is pretty creepy. I guess I do trust you more. But why would he lie to me like that?" She looked a little nervous, but that was to be expected from a girl who just found out she was ten years younger then she had thought, and the girl she had met the day before was a boy. And a boy that she seemed to feel strongly for.
"Here." He put a hand on her shoulder. "I'll explain, and you tell me if anything sounds familiar." She nodded shakily. "You've been working for Team Rocket for several years..."
"Several years? Really?"
"Yeah. You and I. We were a team, the best team on the group!"
"Now, I know that's a lie." She said bluntly, and he grinned guiltily
"You see, you do remember!" He said triumphantly. "Now, we weren't the best, but we always tried the hardest. We spent well over a year chasing one trainer, to get a very special..."
"Pikachu!" Jessie yelled ecstatically, and hugged him.
"You see... It's in there." He hugged back happily. "Do you remember anything else?"
Her face got even brighter. "We had a pokemon of our own, a very special pokemon. It did something really cool, something no other pokemon could do. It..." Her face fell slightly. "That's all I remember."
"But that's great!" He encouraged. "You've remembered that much, and it's only been a few minutes. Now, Meowth..."
"That's right!" She interrupted. He looked at her. Did she remember something, or was she mindlessly repeating something she'd heard so many times? "He talked!!" she continued. "And that Arbok, it was mine, wasn't it? And that's why it wouldn't listen to you?" James nodded, then leaned close to her.
"Prepare for trouble." He whispered. She thought about it for a moment, then shakingly guessed.
"Make it double?"
To protect the world from devastation," He continued.
"To ignite... No, no, to unite all people's within our nation."
"To denounce the evils of truth and love,"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jessie." He grinned. She beamed back at him.
"James!" She hugged him again.
"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!" She pulled back. "Only I did the first part. And we said it a lot." She hugged him again.
This time, James was the one to pull back. She was certainly affectionate lately, but he wasn't sure that she was back close enough to normal to consider it her actions. She had never thought of him as more then a friend. Had she?
She looked at him slyly. "I never much liked Meowth. I always thought he got in the way."
His eyes widened. "The way of what?"
"You know..." She grinned mischievously. Of you, of me..." She ran a finger around his chest, tracing the 'R'. "Of us..."
"No, Jessie..." He scooted back a little. "That's not you. We were always friends. We were never anything else." At least you weren't. He gulped.
She squinted at him. "You lie."
"Honest. You'd hit me for talking like that." He assured her.
"Then that means that you did. Otherwise, how would you know?" He just shook his head nervously. "How do you know that's the way I felt inside? Maybe I always loved you. I just was too afraid to tell you." She scooted back up against him. "Although, I can't imagine how I could be afraid of you."
"Jessie, don't do this." He gulped, partially because he realized how right she was. Jessie had always managed to keep him guessing. He never really knew her. Then, at the dance, she had been... just like this. "Jessie..." She looked straight into his brilliant green eyes, then closed hers. "Oh Jessie..."
"Come on, I'm waiting." He took a deep breath and took her chin in his hand, tipping it slightly. She smiled slightly. He gulped again, then squeezed his eyes shut, still holding her face . Jessie began to pout. He's sure taking his sweet time. She thought. Suddenly, she felt his lips against hers, and gasped lightly.
"James..." She whispered against his lips. Memories began flooding back to her like waves, some of her most cherished moments finally returned to her. She ignored them all, choosing instead to focus on this memory in the making.
"Jess..." He mumbled back, holding the liplock for as long as his lungs could take. Finally, however, he couldn't take it couldn't take it and pulled back. Hardly had he gotten a breath, though, before she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him back in for a second one. James nearly giggled, if it would have been possible to do so without ending this incredible feeling. Jessie scooted over so she was sitting in his lap, and he hugged her tightly. This really is too good to be true.
"Oh my god...." A voice came from the doorway.
Gotta remember to stop thinking that. It seemed to destroy him... He recognized the voice. "Hello, Boss." He said disdainfully, pulling away.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you." Giovanni hissed. Before James answered, before he could even open his mouth, Giovanni aimed a pistol at his head. "DIE!"
"Stop this!" Jessie yelled, standing between James and the gun.
"Jessica."
"Jessie." She corrected. "Did you really think you could control me like that forever?" she grinned smugly. "Game over, sir. You lose."
"No." Giovanni chuckled. "I haven't lost. I'm afraid..." He grabbed her arm and wrenched it, yanking her against him. "That you've lost." She stared back at him, her blue eyes wide with fear. He pulled her in for a kiss, there was nothing she could do about it this time.
"Jessie!" James stood up, and the Boss pulled away, thrusting the gun into her slender neck. He froze, raising both hands in surrender. "Let her go!" He yelled.
"One move, and I kill her." Giovanni grinned sadistically. He shook her violently, making her squeal, then turned to James. "You see, child... I'm not going to lose, especially to you." Two guards appeared, one on each side of him. "Give this little boy a good 'straightening out', then take him to my office." He commanded.
"Jessie!" James yelled as the man left, dragging Jessie after him. He had to help her.
"Sit down!" The guard commanded, pointing a gun at him.
"Yessir." He sat down obediently. Getting killed wouldn't help. He reasoned.
Several minutes later, the two guards dragged a badly beaten James into the huge office. The Boss wasn't there, but the wall was open. The two guards looked at each other questioningly, then dragged him over.
Giovanni stood in the center of the room, a limp Jessie re-attached to his hideous creation. He greeted the guards with a smile. "Well, if it isn't the guest of honor." Just set him down anywhere, boys. You're excused." The two men dropped James in a heap and hurried for the door. Giovanni lifted him up by his collar.
"Since you're the one who ruined all my beautiful work and gave her back her memories, I've decided to give you the pleasure of watching her die before I end your life." He growled, then shoved him back against the wall. "Enjoy the show."
He walked over to Jessie. "Jessica!" She weakly struggled to raise her head. He lifted it for her, then slapped her with the other hand. "Congratulations, Jessica. You've regained your memories." He taunted. "So what. I can always take them away again. You'll never win." He walked to the control panel, and Jessie hung her head in defeat.
"No need for a warm-up, eh? You've already done that." He grabbed the switch and shoved it as high as it would go, even further then he had set as the highest for her before.
This time, there was no screaming. There was no crying. There was no time. Jessie hardly had time to lift her head before the machine exploded around her. Both men watched, frozen, as the dust settled.
Jessie, her head still lifted high, seemed frozen in place, her eyes open, but blank. She made no attempt to close them, even as soot and dust settled on them. They had a bizarre glow, a deep purple that seemed to come from inside her. "Jessie?" Giovanni whispered, horrified. She dropped her head slightly, the blind stare still on her face.
James looked away. At least she didn't suffer. He tried to console himself, as a few tears escaped his eyes. Besides, he would be with her soon.
"Look what you made me do!" Giovanni yelled, thrusting the gun to James's head.
"I didn't make you do anything." James said blankly. "You couldn't have her, but you couldn't stand the though of someone else having her. It was your own greed." Blast away, you old freak, you can't do any more damage. He thought sadly.
"Master?" A very unemotional version of a voice both men knew dearly made them both freeze. "Would my Master please let me down?" Jessie continued in a voice as warm as a winter storm, and nearly as inviting.
"Jessica!" Giovanni grinned. "How are you feeling?"
"How would my Master wish for me to feel?" She stared straight at him with those dead eyes.
"It doesn't matter." He undid the restraints, and she pulled away. She didn't seem to mind the pain as the wires and the tape that held them in place were pulled from her body. "Jessica, would you remove this boy?"
"Whatever my Master wishes will be done." She grabbed James by the back of the collar, dragging him out with a strength she normally only possessed during her most angry moments.
He tried to squirm out of her grasp, but couldn't free himself as she headed for the main doors of the gym. As she threw him out the door, he turned to her. "Jessie, what happened to you?" He asked worriedly.
"You shall not refer to me by that name." She said coldly as she began to close the door.
"But, Jessie... Are you okay?!" He yelled as the door nearly closed. She stopped and stuck her head out, her purple eyes piercing him like daggers.
"The one known as Jessie is no longer here."
To be continued....
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