Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, this is merely a work of fiction by a fan. etc., etc.
1979
In a stately southern mansion on an expansive estate lay a refined looking woman with her newborn. She wore an evil grin upon her elegant lips. "It's a boy." she muttered as the butler took the child. Tears of triumph streamed down her husband's mustached face. Joyously (and quite crazily) they pranced around the spacious room chanting, "We have a son, we have a son," until the woman remembered that she had just given birth. "Ahh! Hopkins!" She yelled collapsing on the elegant bed. The screaming baby was drowned out by the sound of his mother's orders. The butler handed the infant to his father, who lay it down on the bed. In the commotion no one noticed a tiny orange puppy climb up the patterned comforter. It had been a present at the baby shower. `Grow grow.' The Growlithe sniffed the tiny human. He quietly licked his face. The man picked up his newborn son. "James! Heir to the great Sandline name and fortune!!" It's seemed to the baby Pokémon that they cared a lot more about having a son than about the baby himself.
In a shabby northern hospital in a dingy village lay an exhausted looking woman with her newborn. She was shaking in fear from what her husband's reaction might be. "It's a... girl." She stuttered as the nurse took the child, expecting the worst. "A girl? Who wants a girl?" Tears of horror ran down her lovely face. The father looked at his daughter's face and softened slightly. "Aw, she's so cute." He whispered out of character. The mother startled at his sudden change of attitude. "Well, I guess we better name her. Why don't you do it hon?" She looked at the infant's minuscule features. "I've... always liked the name Jessica." Our little Jessy.
1983
A four year old girl peered out from behind the couch. Her daddy had come home walking and talking funny again. His breath was awful and he had trouble just making his way to the sofa. Jessy hadn't made a sound. Just then her mother came in from the kitchen. "Reggie! Damn it, how many times have it told you to sober up before coming home?!" The drunk rolled over and stared with bloodshot eyes at the mother. Years of abuse had filled her with a deep rage that was starting to bubble up to the surface. "What if you had hurt our daughter!?!" Reggie stumbled off the couch and swaggered toward her. "Don' tell me what to do woman!!" That straw broke the proverbial camel's back. Before he could attack she produced a large metal hammerlike object from somewhere on her back and swung hard. She knew this day would come, and she had prepared. It was the only thing she had found with enough force to knock him out of the house. The alcoholic went crashing through the wall out into the snow. Jessy's mother watched as Reggie slowly got back on his feet. He spat and lurched his way down the street. The woman turned around to see red hair poking out from behind the couch. She went to her little girl. "It's all right Jess, you can come out now sweet heart." She hugged Jessy close to her heart. "Mommy and daddy had a little fight. But I'm here for you." The small child sobbed into her mother's blouse, blinded by sadness and confusion. "Is daddy gonna came back?"………………………………..
1986
James wished dearly that Growly could have come to his parents' fancy dinner party. His mother had told him that some of their friends were allergic to dog type Pokémon fur. He wondered why they were even bothering to throw it. He had overheard his father say some words like "announcement" and "merger", so he figured it had to with business. All the adults seemed to be know a big secret involving him. One couple broke down in tears after greeting him. Grownups were way too weird. After all the guests had arrived James walked solemnly to where the other children were clustering. These parties were always a drag. The food was too complicated, the music was too old sounding, and none of the other kids ever wanted to play with him. He saw one girl with red braids and decided he'd try to make friends. "Hiya. I'm James." The girl blinked blankly. "Are you attempting to greet me?" Now it was his turn to blink. "I believe what you were tryin' to say was `Good evening miss. How do you do? My name is James.' Now try that again." He repeated the sentence bewilderedly. She smiled politely. "Why thank you sir. My name's Jessebell. It's a pleasure to meet you." she said curtseying. The boy opened his mouth, but was so afraid of messing up his words again that he didn't speak. The little girl continued to speak for him as walked toward a small group of boys. "`Excuse me while I go greet my other guests.'" James greeted them as Jessebell had taught him. "Good evening miss. How do you do?" The boys snickered. "Oh, I'm just dandy kind sir." one said in an imitation girl voice. "What an imbecile." "He's nothing but a big dolt." He frowned and walked off to be by himself. Something like this always happened. But one of the children was following him. "Oh James, don't listen to them. Your tongue slipped, that's all." He turned to thank her but stopped upon hearing his father ping a champagne glass. "Everyone, your attention please. I would like to announce our son James' betrothal to the daughter of the Fields' family, Jessebell!"
He couldn't hear anything after that name. The girl in question gasped for a second, then began attending to James' appearance. She straightened his tie, rebuttoned his shirt, redid his cufflinks, and dusted his shoes. But what really got him was how she did all this perfectly in less than three seconds. Jessebell then grabbed him for the numerous photos that the diners were taking. His mind was a total blank for the rest of the evening. Eventually he was brought to his senses by food. He began with a spoonful of soup. His fiancée gasped in shock. "James! Whatever are you doing? You seem to have confused your soup spoon with your flan spoon!" She yoinked the offending utensil from his hand, replacing it with a slightly different one. He moaned in his mind. I'd just as soon have it be that there is no spoon! James looked around the table. There's that snickering again. Who needs 'em? I guess Growly's the only friend I'll ever have. He abandoned the soup in favor of some spaghetti. But once again... "You forgot your napkin!" He snatched the cloth into his lap angrily. Why doesn't she just sit me in a high chair, slap a bib on me and spoon feed me?! James picked up his pasta fork and began twirling the spaghetti onto it. Jessebell shook her head in abhorrence. "AAUGGHH!!! WHAT DO WANT FROM MEEEEE!?!?!" He leapt from his seat with all eyes, adult and child on him. "I can't take it anymore!!" The poor little rich boy made a dash for the door. The tiny southern girl took out a Pokéball and threw it in her fleeing fiancés direction. "My sweet James, you can't escape me. I choose you Oddish! Stun Spore him!" The tiny weed type sprayed out it's toxic pollen. `Ooddrissh!' But the spores fell woefully short.
James burst out the main mansion's door and sprinted past the oversized doghouse. "Please, leave me alone, I can't stand it! Growly!" Growly followed him out the house. Jessebell was chasing them with the Oddish in her arms. `Growlithe!' "Where are you going James? I haven't finished teaching you the correct way to eat spaghetti yet." "I want to do things my way Jessebell." "You're not running properly. Let me show you the right way." Those were the last words they heard from the young nuisance before they were out of her sight.
On a lonely a Christmas Eve long ago, a beautiful, innocent little girl lay in bed waiting for Santa Claus. She looked out the window longingly. "It's getting late. You better bring me presents or else! Hyaah!" With a powered up fist she smacked her Achi doll against the fireplace. Then she heard the sound of sleigh bells in the air. "Ah! He's here!" Quickly Jessy pulled the skimpy covers over her. One azure eye peeked out from under the blanket. A strange woman in a Santa outfit appeared in the fireplace. `Jynx jynx.' It's a Pokémon! "Is that... Santa Claus?" she whispered. The black faced Ice Pokémon saw the girl's doll. `Jynx jynx.' she said as she took Jessy's only toy and put it in her satchel. `Jynx!' With that the Pokémon left up the chimney. The little girl leapt to her feet. "I saw it! I saw it with my very own eyes! Santa Claus... is a Jynx!"
Just as her father's drunken rage had been the last straw for her mother, Santa's thievery was the last straw for Jessy. That night she packed her few clothes and other possessions in an old duffle bag. She was going to run away, for good.
1987
It was a dark and stormy night. A boy was wandering far from home with his loyal Growlithe Growly. They were both freezing, and they hadn't eaten in days. The boy collapsed to the ground and Growly licked him. "Ugh.. Growly, I'm not going to make it. Leave me alone and save yourself." `Groow?' He began to see tiny cherubs flitting around in snowy air. "The angels have come for me. Farewell. I leave this cruel world for a better place. Remember me... Grow.. ungh..." The boy fainted and the Growlithe howled mournfully. Little Growly howled all night. The boy was found frozen solid...
A small girl pressed through the snow. It had been two weeks since she had left home. The only sound she had heard all night was the sound of a howling Pokémon being driven off in a pound van. She hadn't known what to expect when she ran away, but she had expected to be lonely. What she hadn't known was how awful it would be. It was almost dawn when she found him. A boy her age, frozen on the street. She shook him as hard as she could, but he wouldn't move. Tears ran down her face, though she wasn't sure why. "Somebody help! Please help! He's not moving, somebody, anybody! Help!" She put her ear to his chest. His heart was still beating, but just barely. After screaming for assistance proved fruitless, the girl made up her mind and took matters into her own hands. She began dragging him toward the town hospital. Fortunately she was strong and he didn't seem to weigh that much. But by the time she reached the clinic she had collapsed with exhaustion. She woke a half hour later to see a doctor's face. "Good, you're back with us." The child jumped to her feet instantly. "That boy!" She grabbed the woman's coat. "Where is he? Is he still frozen?!?" The physician answered in a startled tone. "He's in a room down the hall. Please lie down, you need to rest. Where are your mommy and daddy?" She shot an evil glare at the grown up. "None of your business!" Quickly she dashed out of the room.
He couldn't feel his body at all. The cold had completely numbed it. His eyes fluttered. After a few minutes the blurry face above him came into focus. It was a beautiful little girl who looked somewhat like Jessebell, but without braids. "I'm so glad you woke up." There was no southern accent, so he was sure it wasn't her. He must be in... "Am I in heaven?" "No, you're in a hospital," she answered. "I found you frozen solid. Are you feeling better?" Truth to tell, he was still exceedingly cold, confused, and very frightened by the tube coming out of his left wrist. But for some reason, none of that seemed to matter. "I'm all right, just kinda chilly." His breathing was heavy and labored. "I'm Jessy. What's your name?" "I'm James..." he stuttered for a moment, afraid to ask the question. "Did you see... a Growlithe?" Jessy nodded. "I heard one howling from a pound van." James felt heart sink in his chest. "I have to go get him!" He tried to get up, but was still too stiff to move. "Oh no you don't! You have to heal first." The girl frowned very seriously at him. "Your Growlithe has a tag right? They'll just call your parents to have them pick him up. So stop worrying and get thawing!!" He didn't want to hear it, but he knew it was true. Growly would be back home soon enough. But what if my parents come looking for me? Once they've got Growly they'll start searching this town... "What are you doing so far from home anyway?" "Well, no one at home really cared about me, so I got fed up and just ran away." he lied. He trusted her, but Jessy didn't need to hear his whole life story. "Wow. That's exactly what I did." Slowly he drifted back into unconsciousness.
~Lydia interrupted the tale by shoving her hand in front of their eyes. "But didn't you enter Pokémon Technical that year too? How did you do that without money?" "Who said I didn't take money with me?" James queried perplexed. Jessy and her avian friend exchanged a sideways glance. "Most people don't have copious amounts of money in their dinner clothes." "I grabbed my coat and hat as I left." "You should have said so then! It's confusing when you leave out details like that!"~
James grinned at his friend of nine months as he held up the flier. It looked just like the building they now stood before. "This is it, Pokémon Tech!" Jessy grinned mischievously. "I'll be a Pokémon Trainer in no time at all!" James blinked. "Two years is pretty long Jessy." His redheaded companion shot him another one of her angry looks. She didn't usually get angry unless someone insulted her. "I know that! But I'm going to work as hard as I can." The young vagabonds headed for the administration building to sign in. Many other children were there as well. James saw that they were all about as wealthy as the children who used to harass him at home. He frowned, but seeing Jessy's determined and innocent expression turned it upside down.
The months that followed were slightly rough. The others made fun of James and his over all effeminate appearance and demeanor. He was a complete throw pillow to anyone, especially Jessy. Both of them got well, decent grades, but let's just say they could have done better.
James was only a pushover because he had been taught that proper children always behaved. He realized about this time that even if he hadn't been engaged to Jessebell he would have eventually snapped and escaped from the chains of high society.
Jessy grew sad because the other girls all made fun of her lack of money. She was definitely the only student who came from an impoverished family. She came to have a bitter spot in her heart that often hung out with its neighbor depression: Rage. The first person she grew to hate was her father. All the other kids still had their parents, and in Jessy's eyes they took that for granted. Of course Jessy was strong enough to get by without her parents, but that wasn't relevant. Jessy tried to show up the other girls by making James buy her all kinds of outfits with his nearly limitless cash. She showed them off after hours when they were allowed to wear things other than uniforms.
1988
By May James had been forced to undergo some of the most ridiculous hazing rituals ever conceived, and he still wasn't quite accepted. It happened that the boys gave him a final ultimatum. He had to spend a whole school day wearing a girl's uniform. This wasn't hard to pull off, but it would certainly be degrading. He asked Jessy if he could borrow one of hers, but she was hesitant. Not because she was selfish, but because she thought James ought to stand up for himself. James didn't exactly know what to say to that, and went ahead with the cross dressing anyway. In exasperation Jessy insisted he also put on makeup and brush his hair into a new style.
The next day the whole school looked on in silent awe. Some of the girls were even jealous of how pretty James looked in drag. Some of the guys laughed their asses off at the sight, but the fact was he didn't look ridiculous like you'd expect a boy to look in a dress. In fact one of the boys asked him out. James used this to his advantage. "Oh, I'm ever so sorry, but I already have someone." Then he glomped onto the hazer's ringleader. For once the boys (other than the glomped one) were laughing with James, not at him.
When the final exams came Jessy couldn't have been more excited. She and James crammed for a week voraciously. On the final night before the test she decided that they should take the night off for some heavy duty frolicking. They romped through the grounds after curfew, binged on the kitchen's secret staff of ice cream and soda, and then romped again on a serious sugar high. At one o'clock Jessy found a nice little moonlit spot. It was there that the terrible twosome danced an odd combination of flamenco, ballet and mambo. Jessy sugar crashed around 2:00. James quietly helped her back to her room before crashing himself. Needless to say they had huge ice cream hangovers the next morning and were severely under rested. As everyone knows this resulted in them getting the lowest test scores in the history of the school and getting expelled.
The redhead arrived at home and opened her front door. "Mom! Mom it's me Jessy! I've come back!" She looked in all the rooms and called out for her mother, but there was no sign that anyone had been there for years. Jessy sat down on the living room couch. "I guess… she went looking for me." Now she had no parents, no friends, and no James. She tried to make sense of it all, but nothing made sense. She had always been a good girl, but nothing but bad things seemed to happen to her. In the end she decided it was best to just stay put until her mother gave up the search and came home.
The neighborhood kids had never really known Jessy well, but in the years that followed she got to know a few of them better. One boy in particular: a soccer playing lad named Davy. He was the adopted son of the famous Lance the Dragon Master. He was tough and smart and made Jessy feel like she could take on the whole world. He was the boy Jessy considered her first love.
More to come!
1979
In a stately southern mansion on an expansive estate lay a refined looking woman with her newborn. She wore an evil grin upon her elegant lips. "It's a boy." she muttered as the butler took the child. Tears of triumph streamed down her husband's mustached face. Joyously (and quite crazily) they pranced around the spacious room chanting, "We have a son, we have a son," until the woman remembered that she had just given birth. "Ahh! Hopkins!" She yelled collapsing on the elegant bed. The screaming baby was drowned out by the sound of his mother's orders. The butler handed the infant to his father, who lay it down on the bed. In the commotion no one noticed a tiny orange puppy climb up the patterned comforter. It had been a present at the baby shower. `Grow grow.' The Growlithe sniffed the tiny human. He quietly licked his face. The man picked up his newborn son. "James! Heir to the great Sandline name and fortune!!" It's seemed to the baby Pokémon that they cared a lot more about having a son than about the baby himself.
In a shabby northern hospital in a dingy village lay an exhausted looking woman with her newborn. She was shaking in fear from what her husband's reaction might be. "It's a... girl." She stuttered as the nurse took the child, expecting the worst. "A girl? Who wants a girl?" Tears of horror ran down her lovely face. The father looked at his daughter's face and softened slightly. "Aw, she's so cute." He whispered out of character. The mother startled at his sudden change of attitude. "Well, I guess we better name her. Why don't you do it hon?" She looked at the infant's minuscule features. "I've... always liked the name Jessica." Our little Jessy.
1983
A four year old girl peered out from behind the couch. Her daddy had come home walking and talking funny again. His breath was awful and he had trouble just making his way to the sofa. Jessy hadn't made a sound. Just then her mother came in from the kitchen. "Reggie! Damn it, how many times have it told you to sober up before coming home?!" The drunk rolled over and stared with bloodshot eyes at the mother. Years of abuse had filled her with a deep rage that was starting to bubble up to the surface. "What if you had hurt our daughter!?!" Reggie stumbled off the couch and swaggered toward her. "Don' tell me what to do woman!!" That straw broke the proverbial camel's back. Before he could attack she produced a large metal hammerlike object from somewhere on her back and swung hard. She knew this day would come, and she had prepared. It was the only thing she had found with enough force to knock him out of the house. The alcoholic went crashing through the wall out into the snow. Jessy's mother watched as Reggie slowly got back on his feet. He spat and lurched his way down the street. The woman turned around to see red hair poking out from behind the couch. She went to her little girl. "It's all right Jess, you can come out now sweet heart." She hugged Jessy close to her heart. "Mommy and daddy had a little fight. But I'm here for you." The small child sobbed into her mother's blouse, blinded by sadness and confusion. "Is daddy gonna came back?"………………………………..
1986
James wished dearly that Growly could have come to his parents' fancy dinner party. His mother had told him that some of their friends were allergic to dog type Pokémon fur. He wondered why they were even bothering to throw it. He had overheard his father say some words like "announcement" and "merger", so he figured it had to with business. All the adults seemed to be know a big secret involving him. One couple broke down in tears after greeting him. Grownups were way too weird. After all the guests had arrived James walked solemnly to where the other children were clustering. These parties were always a drag. The food was too complicated, the music was too old sounding, and none of the other kids ever wanted to play with him. He saw one girl with red braids and decided he'd try to make friends. "Hiya. I'm James." The girl blinked blankly. "Are you attempting to greet me?" Now it was his turn to blink. "I believe what you were tryin' to say was `Good evening miss. How do you do? My name is James.' Now try that again." He repeated the sentence bewilderedly. She smiled politely. "Why thank you sir. My name's Jessebell. It's a pleasure to meet you." she said curtseying. The boy opened his mouth, but was so afraid of messing up his words again that he didn't speak. The little girl continued to speak for him as walked toward a small group of boys. "`Excuse me while I go greet my other guests.'" James greeted them as Jessebell had taught him. "Good evening miss. How do you do?" The boys snickered. "Oh, I'm just dandy kind sir." one said in an imitation girl voice. "What an imbecile." "He's nothing but a big dolt." He frowned and walked off to be by himself. Something like this always happened. But one of the children was following him. "Oh James, don't listen to them. Your tongue slipped, that's all." He turned to thank her but stopped upon hearing his father ping a champagne glass. "Everyone, your attention please. I would like to announce our son James' betrothal to the daughter of the Fields' family, Jessebell!"
He couldn't hear anything after that name. The girl in question gasped for a second, then began attending to James' appearance. She straightened his tie, rebuttoned his shirt, redid his cufflinks, and dusted his shoes. But what really got him was how she did all this perfectly in less than three seconds. Jessebell then grabbed him for the numerous photos that the diners were taking. His mind was a total blank for the rest of the evening. Eventually he was brought to his senses by food. He began with a spoonful of soup. His fiancée gasped in shock. "James! Whatever are you doing? You seem to have confused your soup spoon with your flan spoon!" She yoinked the offending utensil from his hand, replacing it with a slightly different one. He moaned in his mind. I'd just as soon have it be that there is no spoon! James looked around the table. There's that snickering again. Who needs 'em? I guess Growly's the only friend I'll ever have. He abandoned the soup in favor of some spaghetti. But once again... "You forgot your napkin!" He snatched the cloth into his lap angrily. Why doesn't she just sit me in a high chair, slap a bib on me and spoon feed me?! James picked up his pasta fork and began twirling the spaghetti onto it. Jessebell shook her head in abhorrence. "AAUGGHH!!! WHAT DO WANT FROM MEEEEE!?!?!" He leapt from his seat with all eyes, adult and child on him. "I can't take it anymore!!" The poor little rich boy made a dash for the door. The tiny southern girl took out a Pokéball and threw it in her fleeing fiancés direction. "My sweet James, you can't escape me. I choose you Oddish! Stun Spore him!" The tiny weed type sprayed out it's toxic pollen. `Ooddrissh!' But the spores fell woefully short.
James burst out the main mansion's door and sprinted past the oversized doghouse. "Please, leave me alone, I can't stand it! Growly!" Growly followed him out the house. Jessebell was chasing them with the Oddish in her arms. `Growlithe!' "Where are you going James? I haven't finished teaching you the correct way to eat spaghetti yet." "I want to do things my way Jessebell." "You're not running properly. Let me show you the right way." Those were the last words they heard from the young nuisance before they were out of her sight.
On a lonely a Christmas Eve long ago, a beautiful, innocent little girl lay in bed waiting for Santa Claus. She looked out the window longingly. "It's getting late. You better bring me presents or else! Hyaah!" With a powered up fist she smacked her Achi doll against the fireplace. Then she heard the sound of sleigh bells in the air. "Ah! He's here!" Quickly Jessy pulled the skimpy covers over her. One azure eye peeked out from under the blanket. A strange woman in a Santa outfit appeared in the fireplace. `Jynx jynx.' It's a Pokémon! "Is that... Santa Claus?" she whispered. The black faced Ice Pokémon saw the girl's doll. `Jynx jynx.' she said as she took Jessy's only toy and put it in her satchel. `Jynx!' With that the Pokémon left up the chimney. The little girl leapt to her feet. "I saw it! I saw it with my very own eyes! Santa Claus... is a Jynx!"
Just as her father's drunken rage had been the last straw for her mother, Santa's thievery was the last straw for Jessy. That night she packed her few clothes and other possessions in an old duffle bag. She was going to run away, for good.
1987
It was a dark and stormy night. A boy was wandering far from home with his loyal Growlithe Growly. They were both freezing, and they hadn't eaten in days. The boy collapsed to the ground and Growly licked him. "Ugh.. Growly, I'm not going to make it. Leave me alone and save yourself." `Groow?' He began to see tiny cherubs flitting around in snowy air. "The angels have come for me. Farewell. I leave this cruel world for a better place. Remember me... Grow.. ungh..." The boy fainted and the Growlithe howled mournfully. Little Growly howled all night. The boy was found frozen solid...
A small girl pressed through the snow. It had been two weeks since she had left home. The only sound she had heard all night was the sound of a howling Pokémon being driven off in a pound van. She hadn't known what to expect when she ran away, but she had expected to be lonely. What she hadn't known was how awful it would be. It was almost dawn when she found him. A boy her age, frozen on the street. She shook him as hard as she could, but he wouldn't move. Tears ran down her face, though she wasn't sure why. "Somebody help! Please help! He's not moving, somebody, anybody! Help!" She put her ear to his chest. His heart was still beating, but just barely. After screaming for assistance proved fruitless, the girl made up her mind and took matters into her own hands. She began dragging him toward the town hospital. Fortunately she was strong and he didn't seem to weigh that much. But by the time she reached the clinic she had collapsed with exhaustion. She woke a half hour later to see a doctor's face. "Good, you're back with us." The child jumped to her feet instantly. "That boy!" She grabbed the woman's coat. "Where is he? Is he still frozen?!?" The physician answered in a startled tone. "He's in a room down the hall. Please lie down, you need to rest. Where are your mommy and daddy?" She shot an evil glare at the grown up. "None of your business!" Quickly she dashed out of the room.
He couldn't feel his body at all. The cold had completely numbed it. His eyes fluttered. After a few minutes the blurry face above him came into focus. It was a beautiful little girl who looked somewhat like Jessebell, but without braids. "I'm so glad you woke up." There was no southern accent, so he was sure it wasn't her. He must be in... "Am I in heaven?" "No, you're in a hospital," she answered. "I found you frozen solid. Are you feeling better?" Truth to tell, he was still exceedingly cold, confused, and very frightened by the tube coming out of his left wrist. But for some reason, none of that seemed to matter. "I'm all right, just kinda chilly." His breathing was heavy and labored. "I'm Jessy. What's your name?" "I'm James..." he stuttered for a moment, afraid to ask the question. "Did you see... a Growlithe?" Jessy nodded. "I heard one howling from a pound van." James felt heart sink in his chest. "I have to go get him!" He tried to get up, but was still too stiff to move. "Oh no you don't! You have to heal first." The girl frowned very seriously at him. "Your Growlithe has a tag right? They'll just call your parents to have them pick him up. So stop worrying and get thawing!!" He didn't want to hear it, but he knew it was true. Growly would be back home soon enough. But what if my parents come looking for me? Once they've got Growly they'll start searching this town... "What are you doing so far from home anyway?" "Well, no one at home really cared about me, so I got fed up and just ran away." he lied. He trusted her, but Jessy didn't need to hear his whole life story. "Wow. That's exactly what I did." Slowly he drifted back into unconsciousness.
~Lydia interrupted the tale by shoving her hand in front of their eyes. "But didn't you enter Pokémon Technical that year too? How did you do that without money?" "Who said I didn't take money with me?" James queried perplexed. Jessy and her avian friend exchanged a sideways glance. "Most people don't have copious amounts of money in their dinner clothes." "I grabbed my coat and hat as I left." "You should have said so then! It's confusing when you leave out details like that!"~
James grinned at his friend of nine months as he held up the flier. It looked just like the building they now stood before. "This is it, Pokémon Tech!" Jessy grinned mischievously. "I'll be a Pokémon Trainer in no time at all!" James blinked. "Two years is pretty long Jessy." His redheaded companion shot him another one of her angry looks. She didn't usually get angry unless someone insulted her. "I know that! But I'm going to work as hard as I can." The young vagabonds headed for the administration building to sign in. Many other children were there as well. James saw that they were all about as wealthy as the children who used to harass him at home. He frowned, but seeing Jessy's determined and innocent expression turned it upside down.
The months that followed were slightly rough. The others made fun of James and his over all effeminate appearance and demeanor. He was a complete throw pillow to anyone, especially Jessy. Both of them got well, decent grades, but let's just say they could have done better.
James was only a pushover because he had been taught that proper children always behaved. He realized about this time that even if he hadn't been engaged to Jessebell he would have eventually snapped and escaped from the chains of high society.
Jessy grew sad because the other girls all made fun of her lack of money. She was definitely the only student who came from an impoverished family. She came to have a bitter spot in her heart that often hung out with its neighbor depression: Rage. The first person she grew to hate was her father. All the other kids still had their parents, and in Jessy's eyes they took that for granted. Of course Jessy was strong enough to get by without her parents, but that wasn't relevant. Jessy tried to show up the other girls by making James buy her all kinds of outfits with his nearly limitless cash. She showed them off after hours when they were allowed to wear things other than uniforms.
1988
By May James had been forced to undergo some of the most ridiculous hazing rituals ever conceived, and he still wasn't quite accepted. It happened that the boys gave him a final ultimatum. He had to spend a whole school day wearing a girl's uniform. This wasn't hard to pull off, but it would certainly be degrading. He asked Jessy if he could borrow one of hers, but she was hesitant. Not because she was selfish, but because she thought James ought to stand up for himself. James didn't exactly know what to say to that, and went ahead with the cross dressing anyway. In exasperation Jessy insisted he also put on makeup and brush his hair into a new style.
The next day the whole school looked on in silent awe. Some of the girls were even jealous of how pretty James looked in drag. Some of the guys laughed their asses off at the sight, but the fact was he didn't look ridiculous like you'd expect a boy to look in a dress. In fact one of the boys asked him out. James used this to his advantage. "Oh, I'm ever so sorry, but I already have someone." Then he glomped onto the hazer's ringleader. For once the boys (other than the glomped one) were laughing with James, not at him.
When the final exams came Jessy couldn't have been more excited. She and James crammed for a week voraciously. On the final night before the test she decided that they should take the night off for some heavy duty frolicking. They romped through the grounds after curfew, binged on the kitchen's secret staff of ice cream and soda, and then romped again on a serious sugar high. At one o'clock Jessy found a nice little moonlit spot. It was there that the terrible twosome danced an odd combination of flamenco, ballet and mambo. Jessy sugar crashed around 2:00. James quietly helped her back to her room before crashing himself. Needless to say they had huge ice cream hangovers the next morning and were severely under rested. As everyone knows this resulted in them getting the lowest test scores in the history of the school and getting expelled.
The redhead arrived at home and opened her front door. "Mom! Mom it's me Jessy! I've come back!" She looked in all the rooms and called out for her mother, but there was no sign that anyone had been there for years. Jessy sat down on the living room couch. "I guess… she went looking for me." Now she had no parents, no friends, and no James. She tried to make sense of it all, but nothing made sense. She had always been a good girl, but nothing but bad things seemed to happen to her. In the end she decided it was best to just stay put until her mother gave up the search and came home.
The neighborhood kids had never really known Jessy well, but in the years that followed she got to know a few of them better. One boy in particular: a soccer playing lad named Davy. He was the adopted son of the famous Lance the Dragon Master. He was tough and smart and made Jessy feel like she could take on the whole world. He was the boy Jessy considered her first love.
More to come!