Me: I Don't own Pokemon.

Meowth: And good thing too! I don't want two Jessies running around! She can be very scary you know!

Jessie: I HEARD THAT! *begins to chase Meowth, fuming*

Meowth: *runs away from Jessie*

James: Calm down Jess. Let's get on with the story.


The trio stood on the dirt road, looking at the scene before them. The town that they had chosen to avoid. It was slightly different now. Beautiful vines now were hanging in diagonal patterns above the streets. Everything was decorated festively for some reason, in natural or green decorations.

Green eyes darkened with emotion, his eyes narrowing too. His two companions both cast a glance over at him, trying to be discrete about it, but they knew. They were just as surprised about ending up here as he was.

His heart was breaking inside his chest, the wounds raw like they had been on the day they had first gone their separate ways. He had given his beloved Cacnea up to Gardenia, the Eterna City gym leader. She had promised to care for him and to train him. He had heard that his Cacnea was getting really strong under Gardenia's command. It made him so proud to hear that, but it also made him sad.

Sighing, he flicked a piece of dust off of his shirt. He didn't want to be back here, but now, here he was. Clenching his teeth together in a determined manner, he took a step forward. He wouldn't let his emotions get the better of him. Perhaps he'd even see Cacnea while he was here. He really wanted to see Cacnea, but he was afraid of the sadness that would envelope him if he did.

With Jessie and Meowth following him, they walked down the street. Somehow, they ended up at Town Square. Or the Twerps did, and they had followed them there. It did not matter how or why they ended up at Town Square, what matters is that they did.

Up on stage, behind a podium, stood a stout man with a handlebar mustache. He was beaming down at the audience, and rambling on about something. After a few long moments of listening to various things about one unknown topic, the man finished his speech.

"And thank you for listening! I hope that everyone will be attending the Forest Festival!" His jolly voice called out as he stepped away from the podium to the sound of applause, and made his way off the stage.

So there was a festival coming up. Interesting. That explained the street decorations. Town square was now almost empty. People in this town moved fast. Other than a fruit stand and a jewelery stand, plus a few customers, Team Rocket were the only ones left in the Town Square. Even the Twerps had manged to vanish with the crowd.

Then, a young woman with orange and black hair walked past them. He quickly pinned up a poster on the massive bulletin board that was nailed up between two large posts. The poster was light green, and featured a few Grass Type Pokemon on the front, below the title, which was written in dark green.

When she turned around and spotted them, her orange eyes lit up in recognition, though the last time she'd seen them was over a year ago. She smiled at them, and walked towards the trio. Jessie looked uncertainly from the young woman to James.

"It is good to see you again. I hope you are well." She spoke quietly, her tone sweet and also careful.

"Hello. Yes. And I trust that you are well too?"

"Yes, I am thanks. So, what brings you to Eterna? The Forest Festival?"

"Actually, we're here on business." Came James' response. It was much better if the answer to the young woman's question was not "here to steal Pokemon".

"Will you be staying for the Festival though?"

"Most likely."

"At the Festival, I will be hosting a mock gym-elite tournament. Cacnea is one of the Pokemon that I intend to use for the tournament."

The conversation was only between James and Gardenia, with both Jessie and Meowth standing by quietly, not even in the conversation. They did however, keep exchanging glances. They didn't want a scene with James in tears. They knew how much he missed Cacnea.

"You should stop by the Gym later. I have a new challenger, and I told him that the battle is to be tonight. I'm sure Cacnea would be glad to see you."

James nodded, and Gardenia smiled sweetly at them, before heading off. She was doing something at the Forest Festival? Sure, James would check it out. Come to the Gym later, see Cacnea, and how strong it had become? Yeah, he could do that too.

"You're not actually thinking of going to the gym later, are you James?" Jessie asked softly.

"Yeah, actually I am. I want to tell Cacnea how proud he's made me."

"And you're not going to cry when you see him?" That was Jessie again. Meowth was just standing back and watching the conversation.

*

"Shinx, I choose you!" Came the voice of the challenger.

A girl with pure black hair, pulled up into a ponytail on the side of her head, and pool blue eyes shining with determination, she threw a Pokeball into the air. White light flashed from the Pokeball, and materialized into a Shinx.

"An electric type, against a grass type? Grass types is resistant to electric type moves! Does she not know that it's best to choose someone who is strong against a grass type, like a fire type?!" A female voice spoke from nearby. A girl who could have been Jessie's double, save for the fact she had blond hair, not pink, and she was only about 11 or 12 years old.

Her blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail, but to look at her face, she looked just like Jessie. Nobody but James seemed to actually notice this fact. It didn't matter, it wasn't important. Jessie was back at the Pokemon center, getting a massage.

Meowth and James chose a place to sit so that they could watch the battle. They could easily see both gym leader and challenger. They wondered what other Pokemon the challenger had, and which Pokemon Gardenia planned to use in this battle.

"Let's go, Torterra!"

Gardenia's Pokemon was massive. Especially compared with the challenger's Shinx, who now seemed to be shaking with fright. The Shinx was clearly afraid of this massive monster before her.

"You may have the first move, Starr." Gardenia called to the challenger.

"Alright then, Shinx, use Spark!"

"What is she, crazy? So little power against Gardenia's Torterra! She'll lose for sure!" The little blond Jessie said. At first, James thought that she was talking to herself, when he realized that there was a boy sitting beside her, on her other side. He was nodding in agreement to her words.

"Torterra, use Earthquake."

Torterra won against the girl's Shinx. The blond haired girl laughed in triumph, while Gardenia gave a warning glance her way. The blond haired girl either didn't notice, or didn't care, because she didn't stop her triumphant laughter until she was finished laughing.

Then, the girl sent out a Ponyta. Ponyta took out Torterra. Ponyta defeated Gardenia's Roserade too. Gardenia was down to one Pokemon. Her choice? Cacnea.


I hope that you like Chapter 1!

Please Read and Review!