Chapter Six ~ Journeys
Forty minutes later, Jessie and James finally checked out of the hotel. It had been absolutely necessary to watch "Sailor Moon" before they left. Following the show, Jessie and James had had an extensive argument about who was the better Sailor Scout – Sailor Moon or Sailor Jupiter. This ended with Jessie kicking James and screaming, "Sailor Moon is better!"
"No, Sailor Jupiter is so cool!" James swung fists at her.
Jessie kicked him again and ran out the door.
Once the pair had left the Inn, Jessie announced, "We need other clothes."
James shrugged. "I thought we were fine in these."
"James! You're wearing a swimsuit!"
"Oh yeah." He thought for a minute. "Okay, fine."
Grabbing his arm, Jessie dragged James to the Old Navy down the street. 20 minutes later, Jessie was wearing capris, sneakers, and a flowered tee shirt. James proudly displayed his new Par-a-Pants, sneakers, and blue Old-Navy-logo tee shirt.
"Um, I have to go… get something," Jessie told James, "You can go and…" She glanced around her. "Meet me at that Dunkin' Donuts."
James eyes lit up. "Donuts!!" He skipped off singing the Old Navy Par-a-Pants commercial jingle.
Turning, Jessie walked to the 1-800-FLOWERS shop around the corner. Stepping up to the counter, she purchased a single red rose.
James, meanwhile, was facing a dilemma.
"Do you have any glazed donuts?" he asked.
"No, we're outta glazed donuts," responded the bored Dunkin' Donuts employee.
"Any jelly donuts?"
"No, we're outta jelly donuts."
"Bavarian crème filled donuts?"
"No."
"Cinnamon rolls?"
"No."
"Apple fritters?"
"No."
"Bear claws?!" James was desperate.
The man went to check and came back with the response, "No, we're outta bear claws."
James thought for a second. "In that case…" he began, "In that case what do you have?"
The employee smiled.
***
Jessie no sooner left the flower shop when she heard screams coming from the Dunkin' Donuts vicinity. She put her rose wherever she keeps her mallet, fan, frying pan, and Pokéballs and ran down the street. Turning the corner, she discovered James covered with weasels. He was screaming, waving his arms, and running and running and running like a constipated wiener dog. Jessie approached him and said, "Hey, you've got weasels on your face."
James stopped screaming and running. "Gee, thanks for noticing, Jess," he groaned sarcastically.
After helping him pick off the one dozen crazed weasels, Jessie asked, "What happened?"
"Well," James explained, they were out of everything at Dunkin' Donuts. All they had left was, and I quote, one dozen starving, crazed weasels. So I took the box and I opened up the lid and the weasels jumped out and they immediately latched onto my face and started biting me all over!" James began making gnawing noises.
Jessie cut him off. "Okay, that's… interesting James. Can we get going now?"
"Which way?'
"That way!" Jessie pointed right, pronouncing the "way" like "vey." (Author's note: It's from "West Side Story," okay?)
They began walking to the right. James said, "Where are we going?"
"This is the way to route 11. I figure the quickest way to Cinnabar Island would be to go down route 11, then follow routes 12, 13, 14, and 15 to Fuchsia City. From there, we can take a ten minute ferry ride to Cinnabar."
James stared at her. "How do you know all this?"
"I've been reading my official trainer's guide! The special edition for red, blue, AND yellow!" Jessie smiled proudly.
"Ooookay. Let's just go."
The pair continued walking eastward towards route 11. No sooner had they left Vermilion City when a youngster ran up to them.
"Who are you?" inquired Jessie.
"I like shorts. They are cool and comfy to wear," the youngster replied. He pulled out a Pokéball.
"I think he wants to fight us," Jessie whispered to James.
"How? We don't have any Pokémon with us."
"I do." Jessie pulled a Pokéball from somewhere. "Go Arbok!"
"Chaaaaaaaaaarbok!" cried the purple cobra.
The youngster sent out a Pidgey. "Piiiiiiiiiii!" it screeched when it saw the Arbok.
"Arbok, bite!"
"Chaaaaar!" Arbok bit.
The Pidgey fainted.
"Oh no! You win! I'll have to train harder!" The youngster handed Jessie ¥275.
"I won!" screamed Jessie. She threw her arms around James. "Huzzah! We won something!"
"Yay!" replied James. He and Jessie assumed one-leg-in-the-air-victory-hug stance and grinned like maniacs. The youngster was forgotten. Parting, they continued down the route, carefully staying seven steps away from any other youngsters, gamblers, lasses, bug catchers, and the like. The scattered trees quickly grew denser as they neared the end of the Route 11. Finally, it seemed as if they were in a forest. Jessie pointed this out to James, interrupting their loud and out of tune singing of Pokérap.
"A forest?!" he exclaimed in reply, "Look at the tree! It's so scary!"
Jessie rolled her eyes. "No, it's not."
"Yes it is! And there might be Onix! And… and Scyther! And Muk!"
"Oh my," Jessie sarcastically replied.
"Onix and Scyther and Muk, oh my!" James chanted. Jessie joined him the second time. "Onix and Scyther and Muk, oh my! Onix and Scyther and Muk, oh my! Onix and Scy-aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!"
A roar had echoed through the forest, causing Jessie and James to hit fear hug mode in less than three frames.
"Wh-wh-what was that?!" stammered James.
"I don't know. Let's just get out of these woods as fast as possible!"
Running as fast as they could, Jessie and James raced along the snaking path between the trees. Slowly, the trees began to thin out, then suddenly stopped. The forest path became the long wooden bridge that was route 12.
Abruptly halting her running, Jessie gasped, "Oh my God."
Beyond the bridge was water as far as the eye could see. But what had caused Jessie to gasp was the sunset. The deep red sun hung low in the sky, like a plump, ripe peach ready for picking. Behind it trailed every color of the rainbow. The entire sky was an artist's palette. It was indescribably gorgeous. Jessie walked up to the bridge's railing and, resting her arms on it, stared at the kaleidoscopic sky. She looked back at James. "It's so beautiful!"
So are you! Say, "So are you!" screamed a part of James's mind. He didn't though. It didn't seem right for the moment, plus it was cheesy. Instead, he walked up to Jessie and placed his hand on her arm, showing that he agreed. She looked up at his, smiling. The wind picked up and blew her dangling hair all around James. He grinned.
Now, Jessie thought, It's perfect: the sun, the mood, everything. Now. Taking a deep breath, Jessie closed her eyes and leaned forward. Her lips passionately met James's.
James was *amazed.* He had always had a crush on Jessie, but he never dreamed that she liked him too. He assumed she did though, since she was kissing him right then and there. James had no other choice but to return the affection. Shutting his eyes, he wrapped his arms around Jessie's waist and leaned into the kiss. Jessie let her arms drift behind James's neck as the sun sank into the sea.
