Once they had finished, they lay down to sleep. Meowth suggested a sentry.
"We know pokémon are roaming the forests, right?" He said, the know-it-all tone heavy in his accented voice. "We don't want to all be caught asleep."
Jessie was already asleep in the tent - there'd be no way she'd be a sentry. James and Jess looked at each other, then said as one, "Nice of you to volunteer, Meowth!"
Meowth just stood there dumbfounded as they unpacked their sleeping bags, then erupted into a fury. "You can't do that to me! What abo-"
"Watch us!" Jess smiled at him, then plopped down and started snoring.
With a snarl, Meowth leapt at them to wake them up cat-style. James simply smiled and, without opening his eyes, pointed at Meowth and made a circular motion in the air with his finger... and Meowth smacked into an invisible shield.
"Good night Meowth. Wake one of us up when it's our turn." James said, and then quickly fell asleep too. Meowth grumbled, but sat down for the watch.
"So what have you got for us tonight?" She asked the water wolf.
"Me? Nothing." It seemed sort of disturbing, hearing Suikun talk after so long listening to the psychic voice in her head... "However, we might have some visitors... Ah, here they are now."
Seemingly walking out of the blackness, James appeared. Behind him was another pokémon, just as impressive as Suikun... a shining pure white coat, very leonine features... a long mane of white hair flowing back and around the shoulders, or whatever the equivalent for four-legged pokemon was. The face was dangerous-looking, with a long fang stretching down each side of the mouth... but also dignified, held with a clean air of power. The legs were thick and muscled, retractable claws on the large paws. It was only slightly smaller than Suikun, but still looked like quite a fighter.
"Jessica, I'd like you to meet Sati." Suikun guestured to the huge pokemon. "She and I go way back."
"Well, it's nice to see you again, after all this time..." Sati said leisurely, her very voice radiating the levels of relaxation and contentment only available to felines. "Leave the humans to themselves, maybe?"
"Good idea. We're just going to catch up, Jess, James... it has been a matter of centuries since we last met." She smiled.
"So what are we gonna do?"
"It's your dream world. Technically you've got free rein to do whatever you want. Train, look through your old memories, whatever you want. Seeya!" And the two guardians vanished.
"Hmm... what do you say we do a little training, James?"
"What?" Fear showed on his face. "Training?"
"Yeah, we've got these powers..." She held up her hands, and they were surrounded by a cold blue aura. "May as well try using them."
"Uh... okay..." James seemed to have gone under a total personality switch since they were awake. Jess guessed it was Sati's influence.
"Get ready!" She cried, charging a full-power water gun and unleashing it. James cringed, closed his eyes and held out his hands to try to block some of it, waited a second, then cried,
"Team Rocket's bla... huh?" He opened his eyes and watched the attack dispersing off a barrier in front of him. He straightened himself.
"Sorry, force of habit. Now, let's see... Rock Throw!"
He held his hand back, and as she watched fascinated as a shape shimmered and materialised within it to show a smooth, medium-sized rock. He flung it at her, and she was too mesmerised by watching the appearance of the object to dodge. It hit her in the leg, and she fell over.
"Ooh, that hurt." She moaned. James was instantly above her, worried. "Are you okay?"
She smirked, and unleashed another Water Gun point blank. He was thrown back, and landed hard.
"If I was an enemy pokemon you'd probably be dead right now. I'm beginning to see why Sati started influencing your mind..."
James didn't say anything, but you could tell by the way he blushed he was embarrassed.
"Ah, you do whatever you want. I'll do some training by myself." She held out her hand, and a pokeball materialised. "Hmm... not bad."
"What are you going to do?"
"Train against pokemon, of course. Don't you understand how this place works? We can basically think 'I want to have this' or 'I want to see this' and it'll happen." She threw the pokeball, and a Flareon emerged, ready in fighting pose.
"Hmm... let's see, could use a proper arena, methinks..." and all of a sudden, the blackness retreated into a huge stadium. She stood on one side, the Flareon crouched to pounce on the other.
And the battling ensued...
"That's enough for now." She said to herself, and watched the stadium fade. James could be seen off in the distance, but she couldn't tell what he was doing...
She slowly snuck up on him, and found him crouched in a ball, crying softly, as a circular window into memory showed. She could see him talking to Jessie... The old Jessie, before the pokemon had run away. Meowth had been right, she seemed to strive for perfect looks, although her personality left something to be desired.
Image after image showed up, reminding Jess of the set of memories Suikun had pulled up... Jess and himself formulating plans with Meowth... trying out various scams... Caring for their pokemon, A Weezing for James and an Arbok for Jessie, the memories sometimes stretching back to before they were evolved...
Jess hadn't realised just how much such criminals - whose job it was to seperate others from their pokemon - could care for their own pokemon...
But quite often, the images would show a young boy, much younger than either Jessie or James, with a green backpack and spiky black hair sticking out from under a red and white pokemon leage cap. He was accompanied sometimes by an older dark boy with squinting eyes, sometimes with a tall boy with a red bandanna, but almost always by a red-haired pony-tailed girl...
She watched silently as James sobbed... he wasn't even watching the fleeting memories anymore, but she was. The boy's Pikachu was his main weapon, and the one they seemed anxious to steal all the time, but it was what most often defeated them... one good thundershock laid them out for the birds or sent them flying... Jess wondered how they'd managed to survive all the electric attacks and long falls.
"So... that's Ash, is it?"
James jumped up and spun around, tears still flowing freely. The memory window winked out. "How long have you been watching?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Jessie... she means the world to me... she's the only real friend I've got, now that the pokemon have gone..."
"I understand..." Jess said. James said nothing, just curled up again and rocked slowly.
Suddenly, Suikun and Sati came walking out of the blackness.
"Hmm... you two certainly seem to be enjoying yourselves." Suikun noted dryly, seeing James crying in the foetal position.
"You didn't hit my human too hard, did you?" Sati said, but with a touch of humour evident in her voice. Jess shook her head sternly at the guardians, pointing at James and mouthing 'bad memories.'
"Oh..." Suikun lowered her head, good mood shot down slightly. She was about to say something when a voice called down from... somewhere.
"Guys? Wake up!" It echoed around the empty dream landscape, and James looked up.
"That's Meowth..."
"Guys?!"
"Something's wrong... you'd better wake up." Sati said quietly.
"How do we..." Jess and James suddenly found the Guardians further away. Soon they disappeared, and then they started moving away from each other, until they were all alone travelling towards a point of light in the distance at incredible speed, without any indication of movement...
"Wake up!"
Both of them suddenly sat bold upright, to see Meowth standing between them, looking nervously at the woods ahead. They followed his gaze.
"Oooh, shit." Jess said simply. Five pokemon stood there, watching them - A Sandshrew, a Venonat, a Rattata, a Bellsprout and an Ekans.
"I think... this is the time to fight."
"Right... Meowth, take your pick." James said, slowly getting out of his sleeping bag
"I've got the Rattata." Meowth said.
"I'll take the Sandshrew and... the Ekans." Jess suggested. "The other two might have attacks strong to water."
Suddenly, the Ekans hissed loudly, and all five of them leapt into battle.
Rattata used a flying tackle, but was quickly intercepted by Meowth's Fury Swipes. Jess's Water Gun made short work of the Sandshrew, and James laid a massive kick into Venonat's furry body, tumbling it end over end into a tree, unconscious.
The other pokemon, however, would not be so easily disposed of.
Bellsprout's low mass meant that James's blunt physical attacks did little, and Ekans was extremely fast, dodging Water Gun after Ice Beam without tiring. Rattata and Meowth were pretty evenly matched, however.
Bellsprout unleashed a Vine Whip, which was blocked by a quick shield. Ekans was using all it's energy just to avoid the elemental attacks. But soon it got an opening, and leapt.
"Whoa!" Jess yelled, as she barely dodged the long, venom-dripping fangs. Ekans flew back, and landed on the ground again, near the tent.
Jessie chose that unfortunate moment to check out what all the commotion was about.
Ekans hissed in glee and dived at this new, weak-looking target. Jessie cried out in suprise and pain as the poisonous fangs sank into her leg. James and Meowth immediately turned to look.
"Jessie, no!" James cried. A transperent blade appeared in his hand and he cleaved the Bellsprout in two, then ran over to his friend's side. Meowth quickly dispatched his Rattata.
Jessie sank to the ground slowly. The poison was fast-acting, her face was turning a very unhealthy greenish-purple. With a quick grab, Jess scooped up the gloating snake, holding it's neck so it couldn't bite.
"Now for that, you'll die." She said, slowly strangling it.
"Tshtshtsh..." It sniggered. "Sssso I diessss..."
"Wait, you can talk?"
"Who caresssss?" It hissed smugly. "I diessss now... Sssshe dies now... Yousss die ssssoon."
"What?"
"Assssh knowssss... You diessss..."
Jess had had enough. Almost without thinking about it she channeled cold through her hands, and within seconds the Ekans was a snake-shaped iceblock. Her rage was such that it snapped and crumbled beneath her grip.
"Jessica! Do you have any antidotes?" Called James. She didn't answer for a moment, fuming and holding some of the crumbled ice beneath her fingers.
"JESSICA!" James screamed desperately. She snapped out of it and rushed over.
"Err... antidotes, antidotes..." She fumbled through her belongings... Nothing. "No..." She answered weakly.
"Meowth?"
"No... we never carried antidotes. Remember? All of our pokemon were poison. There was no point."
"James..." Jessie said, slowly and painfully. James immediately turned to her.
"Yes Jessie?"
"No... Antidote. Better... no point living... without Arbok... Likitung..."
"No! Jessie... we need you!" James pleaded.
"If pokemon... come back, someday... take care of them."
"Don't..." James started, but she fell limp. "No, Jessie! You can't leave me to this!"
Sati's probably not happy in there... not one for the emotional outbursts...
"This is not time for your snide comments, Suikun."
Sorry, I've seen a lot of death in my life... I've lost loved ones. Hell, I've died myself for god's sakes. It doesn't register much anymore...
James just sat there, hugging the limp body of Jessie, crying silently and rocking slowly. "I can't believe... not you too, Jessie..."
Meowth tried to comfort his friend, but James couldn't feel, see, think of anything but Jessie. His only human friend..
