I Saw You That Day
Chapter Two:
Jessie jumped out of the hot air balloon with James and Meowth in tow. She landed carefully on the pavement below and caught Meowth when he almost fell from the basket. She hushed him when he started complaining about not needing help. He was smart enough to listen.
Jessie, James, and Meowth walked up to the large building they'd landed their balloon by and pressed their backs against it, looking around the corner at the twerps. Ash was walking merrily along with Pikachu on his shoulder, Misty and Brock trailing behind. It seemed their journey was taking its toll on Ash's friends, they looked exhausted.
Turning back to her teammates, Jessie smiled mischievously, "let's go," she ordered. The other two nodded eagerly, showing their own smiles. The trio pulled away from the building and walked around it, heading in the direction of the twerps.
As they neared, the twerps noticed them heading their way and sighed in annoyance. Just when they were having a good time, Team Rocket had to show up. And they weren't even trying to make it discreet by dressing up or hiding.
"What do you three want?" Ash asked, though he knew the answer. As usual, they wanted his Pikachu. Knowing this, Pikachu crawled into its owner's arms, causing Ash to tighten his hold to protect it.
Team Rocket stopped in front of Ash, Brock, and Misty and pointed at Pikachu. "You know what we want," she said, "give us Pikachu and we'll let you get away unharmed." Despite the threat, Ash and his friends didn't feel the list bit worried or scared. Team Rocket had never made any attempts to physically hurt them before so he didn't see why now would be any different. And it was obvious Jessie didn't really mean what she'd said (the threat, at least) so Ash rolled his eyes.
"For the last time, you're not getting Pikachu," Ash forced out, "he's my Pokémon, my friend. He's not yours. I'm not going to tell you again."
"Well, we warned ya. We didn' wanna take 'I'm by force, but you leave us no choice," Meowth declared with a paw in the air. The Pokémon then turned to Jessie and James. "You know what to do," he said.
James jumped into action, whipping out some kind of machine he and Meowth had made in their spare time, and aimed it at Pikachu. "You ready, Jess?" James asked with a smirk on his face. "Jess?" All eyes turned to Jessie, and noticed she was miles away, looking across the nearly empty road. "Hey, Jessie?" James asked again only to get no response.
He lowered the device he was holding and turned fully to his teammate and friend. The woman didn't even notice, she was too busy staring across the road with a distant expression on her face. Curious, he placed a hand on her shoulder to try and get her attention. Jessie jumped at the unexpected contact and whirled around to face James. She angrily brushed his hand off her shoulder and glared at him. "What?" She snapped.
"Nothing," he defended, trying to avoid her wrath. He knew how bad that could be, "you were just miles away," he told her.
"I was not. I was just looking over at the store over there," she lied, crossing her arms across her chest with a defiant expression.
"Oh, well, you ready to catch Pikachu?" He smiled, already forgetting what had just happened.
"Whatever," she sighed and took out a control device from a purse she was carrying.
She pressed a red button on the device, causing a white light to shoot out of the machine James was holding. The light travelled forward and hit both Ash and Pikachu, surrounding them until it faded away and the light only focused on Ash. Both Brock and Misty made noises of shock as they watched the light cover Ash.
"Pika?" Pikachu questioned, looking up at his friend and owner who now had a dim white light engulfing him. Pikachu crawled from Ash's arms and went up to perch on his shoulder. It used its small legs to pat Ash's face when Ash made no move, and just stood there.
"It worked!" Meowth exclaimed, doing a little jump of victory. James happily laughed with Meowth whilst Jessie rolled her eyes at the antics.
"What did you do to him?!" Brock angrily demanded as he stepped forward with a worried Misty to get a better look at Ash. "It's a control device. Ash has to give Pikachu to us now," Meowth laughed.
"I think you're forgetting about us. You haven't used that on us which means we're going to stop you from getting Pikachu," Misty declared.
As Brock, Misty, Meowth, and James continued their arguing, Jessie's eyes wandered back to where she'd been looking a moment ago. Stood on the other side of the large road was a man wearing a black trench coat, smoking a cigar. The man's eyes were on her, just as hers were in him. He took the half-smoked cigar out of his mouth and tossed it aside.
Jessie watched him with wide eyes, refusing to look away. When the man took his first then second step towards her, she took her own step back despite there already being a large distance between them. Her movement caught the attention of the others and they turned to look at her. They immediately took notice of her panicked, distant look.
They followed the direction in which she was looking and saw nothing. Turning back to her, they noticed she looked a little pale. "What's wrong wi' Jess?" Meowth asked and placed a comforting hand on her leg. Jessie slowly blinked her eyes, trying to stay awake, but promptly passed out.
James was quick to throw the machine he was holding on the floor and catch her before she could hit the floor. He then placed the unconscious Jessie to the floor so he could get a better look at her. "What's happened to her?" Misty asked as she and Brock got closer.
"I-I'm not sure," James stuttered, moving some of Jessie's hair out of her face. "She just passed out..."
"She did seem awful distracted," Brock pointed out, "maybe she felt sick," he suggested.
"Maybe..." James sighed.
In Jessie's mind;
Jessie opened her eyes to complete darkness. She could just about see herself, but everything else around her remained dark.
A noise that sounded like a footstep drew her attention. She looked to her left, where the sound had come from, and frantically looked around with her eyes, trying to seen anything or anyone. The noise repeated itself and she stood up from where she'd been crouched.
"Hello?" She called out. She would have said more but she stopped short when she heard her voice. It didn't sound like her at all, it sounded more like a child. She placed a hand to her throat, confused. With a startling realisation, she realised her hand was a lot smaller and chubbier. A lot less slender than her hands had been just been mere seconds ago.
With horror, she looked down to notice she was no longer a seventeen year old, but her eight year old self. She wore her favourite orange, lace-trimmed dress, and had no shoes or socks on. This was what she wore nearly all the time when she was a child, not just because she was poor, but because she loved it.
She wiggled her toes, just to be sure she wasn't hallucinating, and frowned when she could feel her small digits moving with her command. She felt her chubby cheeks just to be sure and let out a sigh of disappointment.
The footstep sounded out again and she turned back to where she'd been looking before getting distracted by her appearance. "Hello?!" She yelled again in her high pitched voice. This time, an echo repeated her, getting louder and louder until eventually she had to cover her ears for fear of going deaf.
Her tiny heart thudded fast within her and she curled up on the floor with her hands still on her ears until eventually she could take it no more and she screamed out for it to stop. As if her echo was listening to her, it obeyed and cut off with one last echo. She cautiously uncovered her ears and listened to be sure it hadn't gone from shouting to whispering and was pleased to hear it had actually stopped.
She wiped away the tears that had fallen when she had curled in on herself. Pushing back her pink hair, she stood up from where she'd crouched and decided to try and find a way out from wherever she was. Using her logic, she avoided going the way she'd heard footsteps and headed to the right of her instead. Her bare feet padded softly on what she assumed was a floor, but she couldn't be sure because everything around her was black.
As she walked, she could feel every recent memory, every memory of her teenage life, of joining Team Rocket, of pursuing the twerps, of James and Meowth, being erased from her mind. As much as she wanted to panic and call out for it to stop, for it to stop deleting her life, she couldn't because when the memory was gone, she didn't even remember she had, had that memory.
Eventually, she started to see something bright in front of her. It started off as a small dot, but as she got closer and it grew, it looked more like a projection. She stopped in front of it, not daring to get any closer as she didn't know what would happen, and watched as the images being portrayed slowed down until it was more like a movie.
She watched curiously as the images flashed on screen. At first she didn't know what was being shown, but as it played on, she noticed someone familiar. A girl with an orange dress and long, pink hair. Her.
Her head tilted to the side for she didn't remember the event. She watched as the projection showed her running into a little cabin holding a snowball which she started to lick happily. The real Jessie smiled, a feeling of nostalgia washing over her when she saw the other her licking snow.
The projection Jessie stopped in main area of the small cabin, her smile dropping instantly when she saw her mother in her Team Rocket uniform stood next to a tall man smoking a cigar. The other Jessie stared at the man briefly then turned to her mother and held her arms up to be held by her. Her mother happily obliged, picking up her daughter in her arms and holding her close to her.
She took the melting snow from her daughter and placed it in the sink behind her. "Jessie, dear, mommy's gotta go on a mission. I won't be back for a few days," her mother said kindly and gave her daughter a brief hug.
"But, mommy! You can't leave me! What if you don't come back?" The projection Jessie and the real Jessie exclaimed at the same time, tears welling up in their eyes. "Whatever do you mean, Jessie? I'll be back, I promise," her mother reassured her. Projection Jessie nodded sadly, trusting her mother's word whilst the real Jessie shook her head, knowing her mother wouldn't be back.
"Whilst I'm gone, I've got Andy to look after you," her mother told her, nodding at the man that Jessie had almost forgotten about. Jessie looked over at the man who waved happily at her. Jessie smiled at him, figuring he seemed nice enough and they might get along. "Okay, mommy," Jessie said to her mother and rested her head in the crook of her neck to give her a hug. Her mother hugged her back eagerly, savouring the sensation of her daughter against her chest.
Her mother pulled her away from her chest so she could speak to her properly, "mommy's got to go now, darling. I can't be late or my boss won't be too happy," she giggled causing Jessie to laugh too, not realising the seriousness of the situation. "Okay, mommy, I love you," she whispered, hugging her one last time.
The scene then skipped to her mother standing by the door with her bags and work gear. Jessie was in Andy's arms now instead of her mother's. "Goodbye, Miyamoto," Andy said and the real Jessie cringed at his voice whereas projection Jessie looked at him curiously, having only just heard his voice. "Make sure you take good care of her, Andy," Miyamoto warned seriously. Andy nodded back, promising she would be perfectly fine. Miyamoto gave a quick kiss to Jessie and said goodbye once more before finally leaving to go on her mission.
Andy and Jessie watched Miyamoto leave in a helicopter that had arrived to collect her, and both waved though they knew she couldn't see them.
When the helicopter had flown away, Andy walked away from the window with Jessie still in his arms. "Okay, princess, time for bed," he told her. Confused, Jessie looked at him.
"But it's still daytime," she said, unhappy at being told she had to go to bed. Andy ignored her comment about it still being daytime and carried her through the house till he reached a door that had a wooden 'J' on it. He shifted her to his hip and opened the door with his free hand, taking her in and closing the door.
Andy placed her on her bed, but didn't tuck her in. He didn't even put her in the blankets. He then took a seat next to her and looked at the curious Jessie. "Now," he spoke, "how old are you, Jessie?"
"Eight," Jessie smiled and proved it by holding up eight fingers to show him.
"Wow, that old already?" He asked with mock disbelief. Jessie nodded with a giggle. "Well, you know what that means, don't you?"
"No... What does it mean, Andy?" She questioned, eager to learn anything new.
"It means you'll be getting a boyfriend soon," he told her, "you want a boyfriend don't you?"
"Yes! Of course!" She nodded frantically.
"And do you know what boyfriends want?" Jessie shook her head, confused. No one had ever told her boyfriends wanted something from her. "They want you to show them that you love them," he said.
"Oh," Jessie trailed off. That didn't sound too bad to her. She always told her mother that she loved her, she could tell her boyfriend easily.
"Do you know how to do that?" Andy asked her.
"Maybe... I just say 'I love you'," she said with a smile at the end, feeling smart.
"No, no," Andy said, and Jessie frowned, "a different kind of love. Do you want me to show you?" Jessie shrugged, unsure. She'd never heard of a different kind of love. She always thought there was only one kind.
The scene warped again, saving the real Jessie from having to relive painful memories. She had tears running down her face and was barely choking down sobs as she watched the scene clear to reveal a woman with the same colour hair as her. Though it couldn't be her because she was only eight and this woman looked to be around seventeen or eighteen. Maybe it was the future, Jessie thought.
The woman was in what looked to be the changing rooms in a store and she was trying on a short, black dress. The real Jessie didn't know much about fashion, but she could definitely say that the dress looked really nice on her. Jessie wiped away some of her tears, trying to forget the previous projection and watch the one before her.
As the woman on the projection was looking at herself in the mirror, she noticed a man come into view in the reflection. She turned around, a look of recognition and fear on her face. Jessie, too, recognised the man and she yelled at the projection for the woman to run, though she knew she couldn't hear her.
"Hello, princess," the man sneered, putting a hand by the side of the woman's head.
"Andy," she whispered in response and turned her head away as he tried to kiss her. "What's wrong, Jess? You were never this shy before," he laughed.
"Get away from me!" She growled and tried to push him away, but he only stumbled a little. "My friends are outside. All I have to do it scream and they'll hear me," she told him.
"If you wanted them to come help you, you would have screamed already," Andy said. With that, the woman opened her mouth to scream, only for it to be covered by Andy's large, clammy hand. Still, she tried to scream despite only making muffled noises. Desperate, she grabbed two of the coat hangers that were on a hook next to her and threw them as far as she could, listening to the loud noise they made as they fell to the floor.
Andy laughed and looked at the coat hangers on the floor behind him, "is that your attempt-" he was cut off by the call of the woman's name from outside the changing rooms. "Jess?" Someone yelled, "are you alright?" When she didn't answer, the sound of footsteps alerted them to the caller cautiously coming into the changing room. "We heard a loud noise, are you alright?" The man asked again.
Andy waited silently, hoping the man would leave, but when it was apparent he wasn't going to, he gave Jess a look and slowly removed his hand from her mouth. Without shame, he walked out of the changing cubicle and left altogether. The man that was calling for Jess glanced inside the cubicle that he had left and spotted his friend.
Immediately, he rushed in when he saw her stood against the wall in fear. "Jessie, what happened?! What did he do? Are you okay?!" He bombarded her with questions, checking her all over to make sure she wasn't hurt and she was okay. She slowly nodded in confirmation and leaned away from the wall. Without a word, she wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his chest with closed eyes.
As the scene faded away to blackness, Jessie cried out for it to come back as she was afraid of being in the dark again. Apparently whoever had stopped the echoing earlier had no intention of listening to her anymore because soon, the projection had completely disappeared and she was plunged into darkness again.
She cautiously looked around, trying to see anything or anyone, but saw nothing like before. She slowly started her journey again, continuing in the direction she'd been walking last time.
This time, she didn't reach anything as pleasant on her journey. This time she found breathlessness and suffocation. She fell to the floor when it felt like her lungs had been torn from within her and gasped for air.
Her small hand flew to her chest and her mouth fell open like a fish out of water, trying to reach something she had been deprived of.
She fell to the flaw and wiggled around, still trying to take in oxygen but having no luck. Each time she tried to breathe in, it felt like her chest was burning. Like she was sucking in ash and smoke.
Her eyes burned as she turned onto her back and spotted a giant hand reaching down from seemingly nowhere, about to grab her.
From around her, the echo came back only this time it wasn't repeating something she'd said. It was giving orders, telling her to breathe. And she would, but she couldn't. It was getting harder and harder, and the hand was getting closer and closer. That goddamned familiar hand.
"Breathe, Jessie!" Jessie sat bolt upright, coming from her dream, coughing and spluttering. Her hand reached for her chest like it had done in her dream, but this time she successfully sucked in oxygen.
"Breathe, Jessie!" She heard from the side of her. It sounded just like the person she'd heard telling her to breathe when she was dreaming.
She looked up and to the person next to her. There stood a man with shoulder length, lavender hair. It was funny because she recognised this man, but couldn't quite put her finger on it. He was her... friend. Yes, her friend. And his name was... Jack... No, James. Definitely James.
All of a sudden, like she'd hit a button when she recognised her friend, everything came back to her. She'd been confronting the twerps with James and Meowth when she'd seen him across the road and he started walking towards her.
That was all she could remember because she must have passed out after that through fear.
"Oh, James!" She sobbed and wrapped her arms around her friend's neck, crying into his chest.
James hesitantly wrapped his arms around Jessie's waist, hugging her back. He was unsure what to think of this unusual display of affection, but he guessed she needed a hug after whatever she'd just been through. After all, she did pass out and then stop breathing.
Jessie slowly pulled away from James, apologising and wiping away her tears. "It's okay, Jess," he reassured her and placed a hand on her shoulder for comfort.
"How ya feelin', Jess?" Meowth asked, making his presence known as he stood next to James. "I feel fine, thank you, Meowth," she told him and flashed a small smile.
"Why did you pass out?" She heard. She turned around to see Brock, Misty, and Ash stood behind her. She was unsure of when Ash had been released from the mind control, but she couldn't care less. She was actually thankful they hadn't stolen his Pikachu. "I'm not sure," she lied, "I guess I've just been feeling under the weather lately."
"You should probably get home then, can't have you passing out anymore," Brock suggested and stood to his full height, followed by Misty and Ash. "Yeah, you do still look a bit pale," Misty agreed.
James stood up then and held out his hands to help her up. She gratefully took them and allowed him to help her stand. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. But I guess I should rest, just in case," she told the twerps, eager to get out of there.
They nodded and told her to feel better soon. She thanked them and said goodbye, along with Meowth and James.
They let the twerps continue on their journey after the whole ordeal and slowly started to make their way back to their Meowth balloon.
As they reached it, James offered her a hand to get in ther balloon like he sometimes did due to her wearing a skirt and it being a bit diffucult sometimes. She kindly declined and used a nearby rock to step up and get in.
Meowth hopped in after his two human friends and started up the fire that would get the balloon flying. James sat down on the bottom of the basket and started rummaging through their few possessions for some food.
With a sigh, Jessie leaned forward on the side of the balloon as they flew away, looking down at the short distance that had been put between them and the floor so far.
Just as they started getting further from the ground, she spotted a familiar face stood on the pavement beneath their balloon. She let out a startled gasp and quickly stepped back from the edge of the basket. I didn't imagine it, she thought, I really saw him"Jess, what's wrong?" James asked as he stood up and left his food on the floor. She looked at him and swallowed, "nothing. I just felt a bit faint and didn't want to fall out of the basket," she told him.
"Oh, maybe you should sit down and eat something," he said and sat down with her as she nodded. He passed her half of his bread loaf and smiled in satisfaction when she started eating some of it.
Jessie's mind was far from satisfied, though. She was still thinking about the man she'd saw today, the man she painfully recognised. She leaned her head back against the green basket as she thought about why he had been there, how he had found her, even.
She didn't have the same surname as she did back then, she'd changed it when she'd joined Team rocket, so it must have been hard for him to find her.
As harsh as it may sound, she just wished he would die and leave her alone. She wanted to live her life without having to think about her past every time he decided to show up and follow her.
"Are ya 'kay, Jess?" Meowth asked as he stood on the edge of the basket. "Fine. Just, let's go far away. Give the twerps a break for a while, eh?" She said. The other two looked conflicted for a moment, but they soon agreed.
A/N: Annnndd, that's that. This story is finished. I hope you liked it :)